In an historic first for both “modern democracy and modern technology” Australia’s Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, took to an online Google+ Hangout this morning for an hour long Q&A that – so far – has prompted a pretty divisive response on social media. What was supposed to be a new forum for democracy has done what an open thread is wont to do on the internet and turned into a platform for some serious flaming (please, no red head jokes). The video has also received twice as many dislikes in the time since its airing.
Below are thirteen things we learned from the user generated questions in the Google+ Hangout with Prime Minister Gillard, largely edited for the sake of brevity/sanity. Think of it as a live-blog/recap, but with hopefully less bullshit colonic enemas!
Education
The first question came from Ricki, a former teacher who asked the PM “When the government would take leadership and implement the Gonski (education reform report) recommendations?” The PM replied that “We’ve been working on all the technical stuff and will be announcing our response well before the end of this year. We’re all going to be called on to do better and better, including what happens in Australian schools. I’m more optimistic… about the future of Australian kids.”
The Pursuit of Happiness
The second question came from Joshua Awesome Hat, who asked the PM “If she was happy and what happiness means to her?” To which she replied, “I’m happy when I feel like I’m achieving things. The thing that makes me happiest in my professional life is when I can say that there was a real issue… and I’ve been involved in designing the policy solution that we’ve implement it, made change and something better is happening now that wasn’t happening before. For my personal life, it’s about family and friends and some pretty simple things. Getting to spend time with Tim, with mates and doing all the things people usually do when they’re trying to wind down a bit.” See, she’s just like you. Except you are not the Prime Minister.
Health & Obesity
Then it was Moira/Myra/?’s turn to ask “What action can [the] government take to prevent obesity and improve the food system in Australia?” Gillard said “There was no one simple fix. [The issue] has been a long time in the making [resulting from lifestyle changes]. Government can help by resourcing education and information. [Things like] The Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden program in Australian primary schools… will make a long term difference. It’s a complex area and will require the best efforts from all of us.”
Discussion then switched to the newborn the carbon tax policy. Sigh. Mark asked “By how much, measured in thousandths of a degree celsius, will the earth’s temperature be reduced through the carbon tax?” This was a question Gillard said she’d fielded many times, and proceeded to make inclining/declining temperature and some all around crazy hand gestures. “I can tell you with very great confidence that because we’re pricing carbon in 2020 we’ll see 160 million less tonnes of carbon in our atmosphere. That’s the same as taking 45 million cars off the road.”
Technical Difficulties/Employment
Next question – uh oh. Tracy’s audio doesn’t work. Poor Trace. This is a failure of modern technology/democracy! After cutting to a Twitter question, we turn back to Tracy who is still plagued with terrible echoing on her mic. She says something like “*echo* What can your government *echo* do to keep creating jobs and *echo* opportunities for all Australians (particularly in QLD public sector)”. JG replies ‘HEY WHY DON’T YOU ASK CAMPBELL NEWMAN SOMETHING ABOUT THAT HUH?‘ Kidding, she didn’t actually say that. She did say: “We’ve created 800,000 since Labor was first elected. That’s a remarkable achievement [in light of the GFC]. We are incredibly well-placed to exploit all the opportunities that come with that growth [in the Asian region]. We will continue to be seen as a manufacturing country.”
WHO RUN THE WORLD?
Orsi, who founded Women As Entrepeneurs asked “How does it feel to be the first female PM of Australia and what message would you send to girls around the world dreaming of becoming PM?” After some serious breaking it down, Julia responded “I don’t really wake up and think I’m the first woman to do this job. It comes to me in both positive and negative ways. The kind of endless commentary about the hair and the jackets and the fashion is not something we’ve ever had before. I do hope that me doing this role has reinforced there are no closed doors any longer and that women can aspire to any job in our society, including being Prime Minister.”
Teenage Suicide (Don’t Do It)
Ehon, who lost a friend to suicide, said that “only 13 per cent of men with mental health problems accessed help. So how do we insure that we are able to invest in innovation in mental help to ensure that men have access to mental health services that engage them?” Gillard responded “This is an incredible tragedy. Particularly for Australian men, who take their lives in far greater numbers. These are really complicated things in part about government but in part about all of us as a society. Programs that help men speak to men [make available] programs that do some really practical things.”
Couch-surfing. Not as fun as it sounds.
A nice lady standing in a lovely outback location said “Every night there are 44,000 women are couch surfing because they can’t afford a safe place to live. What are your government’s plans to encourage investors and developers to increase the supply in the affordable end of the market?” From a very uncomfortable-looking couch, the PM replied “We’ve made some big new investments in social housing available through public housing. We’ve worked with the provide sector through the national rental affordability scheme to… create affordable housing.”
Marriage Equality
12,000 popular votes allowed Shane to ask the Prime Minister that “As the first female, atheist, unmarried Prime Minister of Australia, and leader of a self-described socially progressive party, how do you explain your opposition to same-sex marriage and ‘deeply held’ belief that same-sex couples should continue to be discriminated against by a piece of legislation (being the Marriage Act)? Why are heterosexual relationships more valued than same-sex relationships?”
Julia, speaking from the set of Q&A earlier in June/The Dark Ages, replied “I don’t think that heterosexual relationships are more valued than same-sex relationships. I think people who are in loving committed relationships – all of those relationships should be valued.I’ve got a view about the cultural status of marriage in our society, so it’s not about my view about valuing relationships, it’s my personal view about the cultural status of marriage in our society. You don’t agree with me – a lot of other people don’t agree with me. what I’ve said is that there should be a conscience vote in Labor, so we will have a vote on changing the marriage act before the end of the year.’
Discrimi/nation
Mariam, a lovely young girl asked PMJG “Why can’t we have enough actions or laws to stop bullying from happening? Why can’t I just feel comfortable to just walk on the street without being harassed?” Tough question. Gillard responded “I think this is part of a problem about bullying in schools. What we need to do is keep working in schools to try and address those bullying behaviours. Difference and diversity is a great source of Australian strength.”
“Won’t somebody please think of the children?” Helen Lovejoy / “This is a public school! God has no place within these walls!” Superintendent Chalmers*
David, the president of the Atheist Foundation, asked about federal funding for the school chaplaincy program, saying “Against the strongly expressed concerns of mental health professionalists, teaching unions and secular organisations, why do you allow the outrageous situation to continue where largely unqualified, religious evangelists have access to young children in public schools?” A less than satisfied David heard a response entailing: “The feedback I get from schools is the chaplains are highly valued and have made a difference to school culture on a welfare basis. People do have to have an appropriate qualification in youth work and development.”
Binge Drinking
This one from a vegan on Twitter: “Can I ask your opinion on alcohol consumption by teenagers in Australia.” Julia responded “I’m concerned about alcohol consumption… more generally. We’ve seen some shocking incidents of street violence recently. I know an aspect of the problem is teenagers and binge drinking. We have tried to tackle that. Making sure the price of alcopops went up was pretty controversial. We don’t want to see [a social drink] turn into binge drinking, self harm and violence in our streets.”
And finally, The Future
This took forever. Luckily, a nice young chap wrapped things up by looking toward the bigger picture, asking “How do you see Australia evolving over the next ten years? What more needs to be done so we don’t get left behind the rest of the world?” Julia Gillard looked skyward, wrapped herself in an Australian Flag and replied**, “What I want to achieve is all about driving a long term vision for this country, I can see us over the next 10, 20, 30 years being a stronger nation, more prosperous, but much fairer. I think we can really prosper in this time… in a way that means all of us have a fair share. I’m not going to rest whilst it’s true that a kid from a poor home is getting less of an education. While our indigenous Australians are more likely to be left behind that non-indigenous Australians. I’m really passionate about the National Disability Insurance Scheme.”
If that wasn’t enough for you, you can watch the full hour-long hangout below.
*Both quotes from The Simpsons
**Didn’t happen
