Monday nights are for listening

Three days ago, Prime Minister Julia Gillard, was the sole panel member on the ABC’s QandA with Tony Jones. The just-over-an-hour question and answer session with the PM was extremely interesting and captivating to watch as it gave a number of people the opportunity to ask questions of the PM. Some may say that it was almost an ambush, and it did put her on the spot yes, but also allowed her to answer questions that everyday people had in relation to a wide range of topics. These included Gay Marriage, the benefits of the Carbon Tax and the compensation that will ensue, Kevin Rudd, Julian Assange, schools, Mabo and her hobby of knitting. The questions that were asked came in via email, in person and video from different sections of the community and there weren’t any areas left untouched as even questions about the Peter Slipper and Craig Thomson scandal were asked. I found the program fairy informative in that it allowed people an uncensored view at the PM; however I found that I was disgruntled at times with host Tony Jones because he came across quite blunt and rude when trying to get a direct answer out of the PM if she had not fully answered a question. This was the biggest downfall of the segment and re-watching the show I found that I became quite annoyed at Mr. Jones because in most cases it was uncalled for and just plain nasty, saying that I did enjoy it all the same. Ms. Gillard I think tried to answer as truthfully as possible especially when asked about the issue of Marriage Equality, and Gay Marriage. Her answer yes may not have been to everybody's liking but at least it was honest, and I think the positive thing that came out of her comment was that she said the Labor Party would be allowed to have a conscience vote if the time arose in Parliament. The closing comments from the PM about what advice she has for someone aspiring to be the PM I thought closed the show beautifully, because it showed how she deals with the criticism that gets directed at her, about her fashion (especially the jackets she wears); but more importantly it just reinforced the reason why someone goes into politics in the first place, which is because they are passionate about a particular issue or something you ‘desperately want to change’. For me personally this was the most important point that PM made as that was the idea that has stayed with me, because when I fell in love with politics in 2007 it was because I was upset with the lack of knowledge people had about politics and I wanted to change that. Since then I have started to radically alter my life, I read as many articles, newspapers and blogs as I can, and every day I watch as many news programs as I can manage, to try and absorb as much as I can, in the hope that I can better understand an issue. My goal leaving school is to make sure that people understand an issue before they make a concrete opinion about it. I don’t care if my opinion differs from somebody else so long as their opinion is based in fact, because I believe that it is a crime when people who are misinformed about an issue tell the world and then become disgruntled when someone tries to correct them. If they had the right information and still had the same view then fine, but until that happens it will be one of my goals, to make sure people know the facts, and on Monday night I believe that, that is what the Prime Minister tried to do.