After a week away - summiteering in exotic places - Julia Gillard was back in town yesterday. Ready for her close-up.
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With the carbon tax coming to a smelter near you and asylum seeker policy needing a quick but profound fix, Gillard could have expected to be the centre of parliamentary attention.
And indeed, to begin with, she was. Question time started the traditional way: a Tony Abbott question to the PM on the carbon tax. Will other aluminium sites get bailouts like the $42 million in ''hush money'' for Point Henry, Abbott wondered? ''We have always worked to protect jobs,'' Gillard explained, after Deputy Speaker Anna Burke ruled the hush money bit out of order. But even though Gillard fielded further carbon tax questions from a veritable Who's Who of the Coalition (Warren Truss, Julie Bishop, Joe Hockey and Greg Hunt), the Opposition's focus was elsewhere.
At two minutes past three, Abbott got on with the real gig - trying to suspend standing orders, so he could talk about Kevin Rudd. Sunday was two years to the day since the faceless men decided a ''good government had lost its way'' and the member for Griffith lost The Lodge. In full indigno-mode (how dare you reach a milestone!), Abbott demanded that Gillard ''immediately explain'' why she removed Rudd.
The Opposition benches exploded with angry roars - that could have been mistaken for a crowd scene in Gladiator - as the PM packed up her stuff and left the chamber. Abbott jibed that she was ''seeking asylum'' in the whip's office, perhaps forgetting that just an hour before, he had mourned the estimated 90 people who died when their boat sank last week.
''It's like the anniversary that she doesn't want to mention,'' Abbott said of June 24. Next, Bishop - brandishing a glossy booklet from the Rudd era - got all nostalgic about the days when Labor publicly celebrated its anniversaries. ''They would set out their glorious achievements in 75-page documents,'' she said, relabelling June 24 ''Kevin's Fundamental Injustice Day''.
Rudd wasn't around to hear the Coalition's thoughts about the last two years, having left the chamber with the majority of his government colleagues. But he was conspicuously early when returning for Albo's reply, sauntering in ahead of the Labor crowd. It was just enough time to check his watch, get his papers set and make sure that everyone (photographers included) had a clear shot of him, sitting lonesomely up the back.
Jobs may be something that the Gillard government works to protect. But when it comes to career prospects, it pays to look out for yourself.