What Australian newspapers say on Tuesday, December 5, 2006

AAP General News (Australia)
12-05-2006
What Australian newspapers say on Tuesday, December 5, 2006

SYDNEY, Dec 5 AAP - A dream-team honeymoon for newly elected Opposition Leader Kevin
Rudd and deputy Julia Gillard will enliven the politics of the holiday period and add
a new dimension to Prime Minister John Howard's calculations for a poll next year, The
Australian says in its editorial today.

Labor cannot expect to win office from a popular Howard government during a time of
economic prosperity by default. It must develop a reform agenda that captures the public
mind and is designed to deliver long-term prosperity.

Mr Rudd's challenge is to modernise the party and make it relevant to the realities
of globalisation and competition, in the reform mould of the Hawke-Keating years.

The reshuffle will be the first test but there are still plenty of Labor family squabbles
that could bring the Rudd-Gillard honeymoon to an abrupt end.

The Sydney Morning Herald says the new Labor leadership team of Rudd and Gillard has
given the party a breather until Thursday, when it votes on a new front bench.

Earlier this year, Ms Gillard suggested, as a first step to easing the factions' stranglehold,
the four party leadership positions (leader and deputy in both houses of parliament) should
be removed from factional influence.

It is an important move, necessary to attract talent to the party and liberate it from
the tyranny of petty bosses. The Rudd leadership should act quickly to implement it.

Once he has shaped his team, Mr Rudd must set out Labor's manifesto. The first step
towards change must be a Labor Party that offers a genuine alternative to the Howard government's
settled, pervasive dominance of Australian politics. It is to be hoped Kevin Rudd and
Julia Gillard can reinvigorate Labor and provide that alternative.

Sydney's The Daily Telegraph says for all his considerable political and personal qualities,
Kim Beazley failed to enunciate a clear economic case for Labor, and failed to demonstrate
the brand of reformist efficiency which he had seemed to possess as a government minister.

Labor's failure under his leadership has been its failure to articulate a cogent set
of workable policies promising a believable prospect for better government. Simply put,
Mr Beazley's Labor has not been a saleable alternative.

Voters will watch Kevin Rudd with interest. He comes to the leadership with little
time to convince voters he has the stuff of prime minister, to prove his mettle as the
actual contender rather than a mere barracker.

The Australian Financial Review says it is hoped the new leaders can reinvigorate the
contest of ideas and policies and take the fight up to a government that has been made
to look better than it is for a decade -- achievements in managing the economy, tax and
workplace reform notwithstanding -- by a weak and divided opposition.

The government and its next generation of leaders will benefit from being put on their
mettle and challenged to produce ideas for the next 20 years as well as the next two or
three.

Melbourne's Herald Sun says a major reason for federal Labor's inability to break through
and win office has been the coalition's record in government.

Another reason is the "factional self-destruction" that has plagued the ALP.

Mr Rudd will need the party united behind him if he is to beat John Howard. Despite
its good record, the coalition's survival has had a lot to do with Labor's inability to
provide a credible alternative.

Recent polls suggest that Labor led by Mr Rudd would win handsomely. The polls may
be premature, but at least they indicate voter curiosity about this new brand of ALP leader
and his plan for the nation.

Melbourne's The Age says Labor has jettisoned one of its most respected and loyal servants
in Kim Beazley.

It has turned to its "next generation" in appointing Mr Rudd as new federal ALP leader,
in recognition that if it is to have any hope of winning, it needs to change radically.

Labor now takes on the coalition with the leadership team of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard
as his deputy who bring an unquantifiable but powerful element to the leadership -- youth.

It is dangerous to equate Mr Rudd with that other recent and previously untested Labor
leader, Mark Latham. Unlike Mr Latham, Mr Rudd does not appear to carry the potential
to self-destruct.

Brisbane's The Courier-Mail says in electing Mr Rudd, 49, as Opposition Leader, federal
Labor has elected a man of the future.

Mr Rudd will need to be a strong and sufficiently magnanimous leader to embrace his
opponents in the leadership struggle. To maximise the chances of the best possible talent
being promoted to the front bench, Labor would best allow a genuine ballot on Thursday
as opposed to rubber stamping a backroom deal worked out by factional string pullers.

While it is understandable the ALP would reject the government's IR measures, Mr Rudd
and his team need to blend Labor sensitivities with modern pragmatism.

Flexibility is central to the modern workplace, and many employees, as well as employers,
have embraced Australian Workplace Agreements. Blind adherence to the structures of yesteryear
could cost Labor a further long period in opposition while diminishing Mr Rudd's chances
of ever becoming prime minister.

Queensland will be critical at the next federal election, and Mr Rudd's elevation will
guarantee more attention is paid by both sides to Australia's most dynamic region.

AAP dr/rs

KEYWORD: EDITORIALS

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