According to Kevin Rudd, when it comes to political debate the Australian public wants to get back to basics: jobs, unemployment, infrastructure, education, a robust economy.
The former prime minister told Lateline last night that these basics are more pressing for Australians than “gender wars”.
“It’s unrealistic in a two-party system for us to have a perfectly common vision so if we can’t, a policy based debate on the alternatives for Australia’s future.” he said. “I believe the appetite of the country is, for God’s sake, I want to know what the future of our economy is.”
As for his feelings on Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s 15-minute attack on sexism in Parliament last week, Rudd said there were other “watershed” moments for women in this country.
“I believe the watershed in Australia has been the passage of legislation which makes it illegal to discriminate against someone on the basis of gender. That’s where the watersheds lie,” he said.
However, he did say it’s “entirely understandable” that women responded to the speech “given what many women in this country including my wife Therese have experienced in terms of the reverse end of discrimination over a long period of time”.
And he also used the opportunity to have his own attack on the Opposition leader’s record on women.
“When we look at the alternatives and the policies put forward by Mr Abbott, they are, in my view, regressive. Remember this is the man who said when it came to universal paid maternity leave that it would be over his dead body that we’d ever have such a provision in Australia. A bloke who on an attitudinal basis said that women were biologically or psychologically non predisposed to positions of authority.
What do you think? Do the “gender wars” factor into the policy debate? Have your say below.
And don’t forget to tell us what you want from the 2013 election.