Australian Labor Party falling further behind opposition

After a humiliating defeat at the state level the Australian Federal Labor Party is now falling in the polls at the federal level. A Nielsen poll taken March 29-31 showed the Labor Party with 27 per cent national support compared to 47 per cent for the opposition coalition headed by Tony Abbott. In a poll taken Feb. 22-23 Labor had 34 per cent and the coalition 44 per cent. The situation is obviously getting even worse for the Labor Party.

Elections are due in 2013. The party led by Julia Gillard suffered a huge loss in Queensland. It will probably end up losing 44 of 51 seats it held. Even now Gillard is in a minority position federally and needs the support of Green Party members and Independent members to pass legislation. For much more see this Bloomberg article.

The federal parliament does not convene until May9. The government will then introduce the annual budget. Even though a drop in revenue is predicted the government has promised to deliver a surplus through June of next year.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard gets an A plus on report

The Australian Graduate School of Management released the report to mark International Women's Day. Gillard is Australia's first female prime minister.

The School gave her an A plus for conflict management, legislative change, and her relations with the public service. The report applauded Gillard for her ability in managing a minority government and being able to pass a great deal of legislation in a short time in spite of being in a minority.

However many are critical of Gillard. Her handling of a mining tax and carbon tax have been widely criticized. The report said that Gillard was judged more harshly than her male counterparts.

Recently Kevin Rudd resigned from the government and plans to run against her for leadership of the Labour Party. I doubt he would give Gillard an A plus. He wants to give her the boot! For more see this ABC article .