Fed: Uncertain start for Rudd at national conference

AAP General News (Australia)
04-27-2007
Fed: Uncertain start for Rudd at national conference

By Maria Hawthorne, Chief Political Correspondent

SYDNEY, April 27 AAP - Kevin Rudd looked a little lost after finishing his speech to
the ALP national conference this morning.

He'd just been speaking for 48 minutes - probably about 15 minutes too long - and his
speech seemed to end abruptly, with no big build-up.

After a pause, the applause started.

The 400 delegates and hundreds of other observers gave him a standing ovation and Labor
vice-presidents Mike Rann and Linda Burney raced over to congratulate him.

He embraced his wife, Therese Rein, and three children.

But then he didn't seem to know quite where to go.

Eventually, the party faithful claimed him, calling him down from the platform to accept
their congratulations after his first address to the conference as leader.

There were cheers as he put his arm around deputy leader Julia Gillard and they posed for photos.

Then the conference proper began.

Three years ago, Mark Latham bounced into the national conference to the sounds of
New Sensation, the old INXS hit from the 1980s.

Within a year, he'd been bounced out of politics after scaring voters.

Mr Rudd is not making the same mistakes.

Instead of a big rock number, Mr Rudd entered this year's conference to the tune of
a specially-commissioned song, A Change In The Weather.

Expect to hear it a lot over the next six months - Labor owns the rights and is planning
to use it as an election campaign theme.

The soft rock song asks: "Now do you remember/I promised in winter/That our hearts
would be lighter one day?/And sooner rather than later/The sky would be brighter/And everything
would be OK? So you see it?/ Do you feel it?/Yes you knew it was coming/The waiting is
over/There's a change in the weather."

Mr Rudd hopes voters are looking for that change when the federal election rolls around
later this year.

His speech this morning was aimed at geeing up the party faithful while trying to convince
undecided voters that the Howard government is tired, out of touch and arrogant after
11 years in power.

He deviated from his prepared script with lines that got the biggest laughs - that
Prime Minister John Howard's denial of climate change was like believing Elvis was still
flipping burgers in Florida, and that Mr Howard did not believe in a single idea which
had not been on black-and-white TV.

He pledged to throw out the Work Choices industrial relations laws "lock stock and
barrel" and pledged his support for the manufacturing industry, saying he did not want
to be prime minister of a country that did not make anything.

He launched a scathing attack on Mr Howard, saying he had turned his back on battlers
by declaring that ordinary working Australians had never been better off.

With personal debt levels at record highs, housing less affordable than ever, and students
facing record debt levels, how could families be better off, Mr Rudd asked.

"If ever there was a single statement from Mr Howard that says that he has now become
arrogant and out of touch, it is his statement only a few weeks ago that working families
have never been better off," he told the conference.

"It's the sort of statement that political leaders make when they have been in office
far too long."

There were no big announcements in today's speech, no new policies.

In many ways it was similar to Mr Howard's address to the Queensland Media Club earlier
in the week.

Flagged as a big picture speech, Mr Howard's Australia Rising address lacked any major
announcements or policies, concentrating more on attacking Mr Rudd.

Both leaders claim to be the man with the plan to keep the economy strong, the nation
safe, and the people happy.

Both argue that this year's election will be about the future versus the past, with
both claiming to be the future.

Voters will spend the next few months deciding who is right.

AAP mfh/it/sp

KEYWORD: NEWSCOPE FEDERAL (AAP NEWS ANALYSIS)

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