Australia has a new Prime Minister...not that most of you will care, but AUSSIES, sign in and share your triumph / sorrow here

[Astrophe]

Kevin Rudd wins Federal Election

I for one think it's time for new blood. Kevin Rudd is only slightly more charasmatic than JH, but has far better eyebrows.

I thought Little Johnnie was very gracious in defeat, and think it is refreshing to see Kevin Rudd openly agreeing with some of Liberal's policies and saying he will continue some of them - its so much better than wasting resources and effort slagging off the opposition.

I hope he is good to his word and gives education, health and maternity leave the funds they need.

A toast - To Prime Minister Rudd, may he lead and serve well.

Not even fellow Australians care!

I'm not Australian but have Aussie friends
We are celebrating Howard's defeat! (Though tbh not sure what Rudd is like at all!)
Howard was hideous

I'm in NZ and certainly celebrating here. What a snivelling monster Howard was, with terrible right wing, selfish policies. Hurray for Rudd! Good luck Aussie friends. Hope it works out well.

not australian
but
was glad to see he will pull out troops from iraq
engage with kyoto agreement
howard came across as smug and i cannot forgive him his governments actions towards refugees in boats
fantastic that he looks likely to loose his seat too..

now,if only we'd had a change here too..

VERY much agree with Hairy about Howard and those people in the boats - I was really sickened by that (sorry to sound like a Sun leader writer but I was SICKENED and OUTRAGED and probably lots of other hyperbolic adjectives as well). Someone should strand him on a raft in an open sea surrounded by lots of other people without water, food or sanitation.

Oh yeah, I am f**king overjoyed. Even better that he lost his own seat. To do so a female former ABC journalist is just the cherry on top of the icing on top of the cake.

Howard was a dinosaur.

Am I shallow if I say that I am uncomfortable having a PM called Kevin???

I think some fresh blood in Canberra can only be a good thing.

very sad to see a government that has had such a good control of the economy and brought Australia back from a huge deficit and high inflation and high unemployment go. Dh thinks it is similar to when Blair came to power in the UK - so interested to see what will happen.

Think it is ironic he is pulling troops out of Iraq ( where we have had so few casualties) YET staying in Afghanistan - what is the difference there - except that people care more about Iraq than Afghanistan.

Hopefully he keeps his promises and we will continue to go from strength to strength.

THe greens gained some points which is always good. Maybe one day we will have more than a two party system...

I am glad the rest of the country has a new government
Over here in the West it may as well be The Moon. Very right wing over here, but then here is where all the nation's mineral assets are so what do you expect?

I am not thrilled about the "Kevin" thing either . It's one of those names that I've really never understood how you could look at a squirmy little newborn and think yes, you look like a Kevin.

Malcolm Turnbull is apparently sniffing for leadership of the Liberals. He scares me. Wish he'd lost his seat too, but he's going to think he's invincible now - signing off on the Gunns mill and surviving.

Hmm... We need to talk about Kevin.
Can he really be taken seriously in world politics with a name like Kevin?

Where was the swingometer?
What was all that shredding business on Channel 9?
Anyone fancy leading the Liberal party then?

Can any Australians explain what happens to the 20 % in each area that didn't vote? Do they really, seriously get round to fining them all?

not sure but I got sent a show cause letter in 2000 or so. I think it may have been a state election - anyway - it was called and held whilst I was overseas and did not know ( due to travelling etc) about it and how I would be able to vote - no real embassy near where I was staying.

Anyway I had to photocopy passport pages and plane tickets etc to prove I had been out of the country during that time or else I would be fined.

Just worry that we seem to have a total Labor country - here in QLD Labor has stuffed a number of things - education, health, infrastructure BUT due to no viable strong alternative - Labor keeps getting in.

Be interested to see who makes up the ministerial group.

I suspect there are other moves afoot and I would not be surprised to see Julia Gillard emerge as PM later on down the track - be quite a coup for Labor.

Whilst the coalition did well - I think John should have stepped aside as PM and when it all come to the fore about the agreement - I think Peter Costello should have gone for the ballot and leadership then. He has been a very successful treasurer and a shame he did not make it to PM.

think I would rather Turnbull than Abbott - did laugh out loud when he was going on about how he had the right people skills for the job!

Good point about Abbott - he's profoundly creepy. If I wanted religious people to think they had control over my body, I'd move to the US.

ninedragons lol!

I LOVE that we have Kevin Rudd as our New and much BETTER Prime Minister.......I am ALL FOR LABOUR love them and think personally that though they have had problems i hope they can fix. I Will never want Libral back.....Love the name Kevin...it is my Dad's name ;)