Julia Gillard - Woman, Atheist, Single, Labor Politician

People keep forgetting to add that last bit on when describing Julia Gillard. I've seen the first three mentioned on the twitters any number of time since she got the job, and this sense of "wow, it's all going to change" has been building amongst certain parts of the community. Except it's not, not one bit.

Gillard may represent a number of firsts for Australia, but what she isn't is Australias's first Labor Prime Minister, and she sure as hell doesn't want to be the last.

She's already decided that the "fears of western sydney" regarding boat people need to be validated rather than managed and dealt with in any in depth manner. The ETS remains dead (sorry, postponed until 2013 - notice that's after the next election, not just this one), and the government will be negotiating with the Miners until after the coming election. These are not the actions of a social reformer, rather a political player trying to damp down the fires of discontent in the electorate so she can clear the way for the election.

Oh yes, she's also declared that she's going to continue the Labor Party policy of denying gay couples the right to marry. She has declared this as her personal belief, so don't expect any movement on that any time soon.

Labor has been moving steadily to the right for a number of years now. I do not see Gillard arresting that move, particularly as she owes her position to the Right of the Party. If you want socially progressive policies then you're going to have to look to the Greens (who have their own issues).