1ST Female PM For Australia.

Someday, it was bound to happen..and it did.

Although I don't see it happening yet for America or Malaysia, primarily in any kind of chauvinistic societies, but I was surprised that happened in Australia today, in the wee hours of the morning. Okay, probably power shift rumblings were already happening invisible to the public eye, but today, I think most were taken by surprise that Julia Gillard decided to step up after Kevin Rudd lost his majority votes for the Labour party, Australia's ruling party in parliament.

Kevin Rudd has given up the leadership of the Labor Party before completing his first term, conceding defeat to Julia Gillard before the spill was even put to a vote, resulting in the installation of Australia's first female Prime Minister. Ms Gillard will be sworn in at lunchtime by Governor-General Quentin Bryce, and will hold a press conference shortly, with details expected to emerge on the mining tax and possible ETS commitments.

There is also speculation an election could be held sooner rather than later due to the leadership change. Yesterday's dramatic crisis within the Labor Party resulted in the positions of party leader and deputy leader being declared vacant at this morning's caucus meeting. According to Labor Party returning officer, Michael Forshaw, Mr Rudd gave a gracious speech to the party room, in which he declared he would not be standing for the position of leader. This left Ms Gillard elected to the position of Labor Leader and consequently Prime Minister unopposed. Wayne Swan was then elected to Ms Gillard's former position of deputy leader, also unopposed. Ms Gillard arrived at this morning's minute at 8.59am accompanied by both Treasurer and now Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan, and a security detail. Upon departing the meeting Ms Gillard said: "I feel very honoured and I'll be making a statement shortly."

Mr Rudd's popularity had been in freefall in recent months and Labor powerbrokers yesterday acted on the dire polling, confronting Mr Rudd urging him to make way for Ms Gillard. Mr Rudd fought the move by putting the leadership to a vote at today's caucus meeting. However, after a night of working the phones, Mr Rudd failed dismally to garner even a respectable amount of support and this morning decided not to put his name forward for re-election as party leader. He is expected to remain on the back bench until the election, when he will most likely leave politics.

How sad.... u know, I did think he started his career in a very good way and built good bridges both locally (with the aborigines) and internationally (China). Mr Rudd listed the apology to the stolen generation, keeping the country out of the global financial crisis and the education revolution as some of the achievements he was most proud of. "I was elected by the Australian people as Prime Minister to bring back a fair go for all Australians, and I have given my absolute best to do that — I have given my absolute all," he said. "I hope I've been able to demonstrate to you that this has been a very busy two and a half years." A pity it had to end in this fashion. Australian politics is hard to crack.. it will be interesting to see what unfolds in the next few months with this new shift in power...

ANNA BLIGH: AUSSIE'S 1ST ELECTED FEMALE PREMIER

Writing this rather late into the week, but ok, known fact .. the Labour party won a fifth consecutive term in Queensland last week, in a historic vote that handed Anna Bligh the honour of being Australia's first elected female premier. She said she grew up at a time when Queensland was considered a 'backward' state but her win has proven people wrong. She thanked Queenslanders for entrusting the state to her amid such tough economic times, vowing "to stare the global financial crisis in the face and to bring Queensland out of it stronger, not weaker". "Queenslanders, you can count on me."

QUEENSLAND ELECTIONS 2009

MARCH 21ST--> The Queensland elections. If you are a citizen and don't vote, you get fined.

There are 2 main political parties vying for ruling party- the Liberals (LNP) headed by Lawrence Springborg and the Labour party (the ruling party at the moment) - headed by Premier Anna Bligh. But to date, it looks like the Liberal party may sweep the votes.

The Liberals are sorta like the Democrats in America, but not quite- they believe in tax cuts and less infrastructure spendings. Many feel that the Labour party are spending way too much money on economy stimulus, community and development projects,,, but then the majority of Queenslanders may still vote for the Labour people as the economy takes its toll on the state and as more people lose their jobs, the crutches the government hand out to the people will be rather welcomed. ...

21K subsidy off your first house purchase if you buy it 100% new or build your own home b4 June 30th is pretty good incentive. Seniors were handed 1.4K cash b4 Christmas last year as part of the economy stimulus package. .. so who will Queenslanders vote? The Liberals have edged ahead of Labor for the first time in the Queensland election campaign. In what may be a significant turning point in the campaign, a Galaxy poll has the LNP leading Labor 51-49 on a two-party-preferred basis, which raises the prospect of Queensland having a hung parliament as the state tries to respond to the economic crisis.

However. most research on voter perceptions ahead of the March 21 election has found Queenslanders still expect Labor to win a fifth term in office.