The speech Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard made where she slammed leader of the opposition Tony Abbott, accusing him of sexism and misogyny happened a week ago and in the modern news world that easily could mean an old story – unimportant, blasé. But, as Mr. Gillard noted herself while speaking during a young Indian leaders’ forum held at the Australian High Commission after expressing her surprise that the speech went viral, it appears that the story hasn’t gone away at all. “I hadn’t quite expected at the time that I gave that speech that it would be looked at on social media in India and beyond. But I understand that it has been and so I suspect that I will be talking about these issues for a long, long time to come. But that’s a good thing because it means we’re all focused on thinking about it,” Mr. Gillard said, as reported by Phillip Hudson for the Herald Sun. “When Julia Gillard appointed Peter Slipper as speaker of Australia’s federal parliament, it seemed a clever tactical ploy to bolster the standing of her minority Labor government,” an article posted by The Economist over the weekend wrote. It continued, “‘Slippery Pete’ had fallen out with his conservative opposition colleagues. His elevation deprived them of a parliamentary vote. Less than a year later, the ploy crumbled. Mr Slipper quit tearfully on October 9th over sleazy text messages he had sent to a former staff member. The drama erupted amid a broader debate over sexist political attacks against Ms Gillard, the first woman prime minister.” Click here to read the full The Economist article that gives more background information about what went down in the the Australian house of Parliament. | Raymond Matt, CFP, CLU, TEP, CHS
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