Within seconds of Kevin Rudd’s concession speech in which he announced he would be stepping down as leader of the Labor Party so the new opposition could start fresh, the hashtag #Plibersek16 lit up my twitterfeed.
Sydney Morning Herald columnist Peter Fitzsimons asked his twitter followers to reply with the words ‘aye’ if they agreed the next leader should be Plibersek. He was immediately inundated with ‘ayes’.
However, Channel Nine’s political reporter Laurie Oakes stated with some confidence that the next leader would be Bill Shorten. The other two names tossed up on Saturday night were current deputy leader Anthony Albanese and Senator Penny Wong, who would have to do a Barnaby Joyce and move house.
But I’m with Fitzsimons. There are many reasons why Plibersek would be a great choice. Here are just six:
- She’s smart. Plibersek has never let her side down when confronted with tough questions on policy by the media. She is always completely across the issues. Intelligent, considered and insightful, it was Plibersek that former prime minister Gillard sent out to explain the government’s position on climate change, even though it wasn’t her portfolio.
- She’s fair. Her focus is on communicating her team’s message rather than engaging in personal attacks on the opposition. Her sense of fairness has also been demonstrated in her advocacy for social inclusion. Two years ago in a speech on social inclusion to The Sydney Institute she said: “I am truly optimistic that driven by our love for our country and our love for our fellow citizen we can continue to work towards a society in which each of us can reach our full potential and the future of our children is not determined by the postcode in which they are born.”
- She’s gutsy. Anyone who saw the heated Plibersek-Mirabella exchange on Q&A on July 1 will know not to underestimate her. She gave as good as she got and refused to back down when provoked. She puts on her business face, takes a deep breath, and then fights back on message. Plibersek didn’t hesitate to defend a woman’s right to breastfeed in public after Sunrise’s David Koch urged mothers to be discreet earlier this year.
- She’s classy. There’s no doubt that it couldn’t have been easy for any of the Labor Ministers to be on a televised panel watching the election results unfold on Saturday night. But Plibersek spent the night defending Labor’s reputation, refusing to give up until she had to. She reminded Australia of Labor’s strong record of managing the country but admitted the party let itself down with poor internal management. All class, she stopped short of blaming any one in particular for the result.
- Everyone actually likes her. The call for #Plibersek16 brought the hardened and devastated out across the weekend. It seems that most people respect her as the polling undertaken by a number of media outlets and commentators on the future of the Labor leadership delivered the same result: Tanya Plibersek.
- And yes, she’s a woman. Her gender may be why she’ll be a great leader but it’s not the reason her name has risen to the top of the Labor leadership list. Men and women are behind her because she is all of the above first.