Goodbye Kevin, hello Julia: what does this mean for the G20?
It has been a tumultuous 24 hours in Australian politics, as Julia Gillard today replaced Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister. With the G20 Leaders Meeting in Toronto just two days away, what does all this mean for the Robin Hood campaign?
After his resignation this morning, Kevin Rudd will not be attending the G20 this weekend. The Treasurer and new Deputy Prime Minister, Wayne Swan, will go instead.
As a result, we will no longer be holding the planned Robin Hood action outside Parliament House tomorrow (Friday) morning, despite the great organisational work of many of our colleagues, especially from Oxfam. Unfortunately, because the stunt was heavily centred around Mr Rudd, there was really no choice but to cancel it now that he is no longer leader of the country nor attending the G20.
We will also no longer be presenting a physical list of signatories to the Prime Minister.
The good news is that your supporter emails that you sent to Mr Rudd were copied to Mr Swan as well. So, your efforts have still been extremely effective. Mr Swan will be traveling to Toronto with a strong message from the Robin Hood campaign about what he must do.
Moreover, if you have not yet taken part in the e-action, you can and should still do so. We have adapted the letter to address it to Mr Swan alone.
It is too early to say at this stage what Julia Gillard’s appointment as Prime Minister will mean for the Australian Robin Hood Tax campaign. At the moment we should instead focus on getting as good a result at the G20 as possible, and consider the implications of these events, and of the G20 Meeting, in the coming weeks.
Many thanks
The Robin Hood campaign team
