Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard may have survived a challenge from within her own party, but the dissent that forced Monday's vote isn't going away.
Gillard defeated Kevin Rudd, her former foreign minister, 71 votes to 31 in a ballot of Labor Party lawmakers, ending Rudd's attempt to recapture the job Gillard took from him in an internal party coup in 2010. But she remains unpopular with voters, and unless that changes she could lead Labor to huge losses in elections slated for next year.
Though Rudd said he will not challenge Gillard again, his supporters predicted that party powerbrokers will simply nominate someone else to do so within months.
"If Julia Gillard wins today and we end up in the same position as we are now, in terms of the polls, in several months' time, then my view is the same people who installed Julia Gillard will be looking for a candidate to replace Julia Gillard," Senator Doug Cameron, a Rudd supporter, told Australian Broadcasting Corp before Monday's vote.
Gillard described her win as "overwhelming" after months of "ugly" infighting within the ranks of the center-left party. She said that if the infighting ends and the party is united, Labor could "absolutely win the next election" against the conservative opposition.
Rudd, who warned during his brief leadership campaign that Gillard would lead Labor to certain defeat next year, called on Labor to unite behind her.
Gillard has largely failed despite a string of policy successes to convince voters that their position and prospects compare favorably to much of the rest of the world.
The discontent puzzles policymakers who have tried to ensure businesses and consumers don't turn their glumness into a reality.
"Perhaps we as a society tend to not give sufficient weight to the fact that we are in a long upswing," Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Glenn Stevens told lawmakers last week, highlighting the country's low unemployment rate, subdued inflation, strength in government finances and attractiveness to foreign investment.
The resource-rich country of just 22.8 million people has grown almost without pause for over two decades. Indeed, it was the only developed nation to dodge recession during the global financial crisis.
Its jobless rate of 5.1 percent is half that of the European Union and comfortably below the United States' 8.3 percent.
The country's banks are sound, government debt is small and the budget is well on the way to surplus. Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth recently made the Economist magazine's top10 list of the world's most liveable cities.
Yet you can't turn on a TV or pick up a newspaper without being bombarded by negative headlines, focusing on the political crisis, job losses and the rising cost of living.
Questions:
1. How many votes did Julia Gillard defeat Kevin Rudd by?
2. What did Rudd call on the Labor Party to do?
3. What is the jobless rate of Australia?
Answers:
1. 71 to 31.
2. Unite behind Gillard.
3. 5.1 percent.
雅思阅读考场常见问题集锦
Matching题做法
八种类型阅读题应答全攻略(4)
雅思阅读材料主要从哪些渠道选取
雅思阅读猜词义的方法:上下文与构词法
雅思阅读8分经验谈
雅思阅读判断题的解题方法:镜像法
雅思阅读考雅思阅读考试怎样拿满分
雅思学术类阅读一网打尽(三)
雅思阅读备考经验--痛并快乐着(上)
G类阅读背景:英文租房广告用语解析
雅思学术类阅读
阅读详细回忆-版本号(05124)
阅读中要注意的连接词与连接语
雅思金牌讲师韩梅阅读实战指导(下)
雅思阅读能力提高实用技法(英)
G类阅读租房用语解析
八种类型阅读题应答全攻略(3)
如何有效地备考雅思阅读?
04年雅思阅读文章频率表更新版(11.27)
雅思考试阅读测验题的类型和策略
攻克雅思阅读SUMMARY题型
提高雅思阅读题型分数的诀窍(1)
如何搞定雅思阅读的单词和长句?
9分雅思状元谈--如何结合上下文猜词?
雅思阅读三个基本点
IELTS阅读方法与技巧(英)
雅思的各类阅读题型剖析
雅思阅读名师张岳无忧雅思访谈实录(中)
雅思8种类型题应答全攻略
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |