First Sheila

Hi Everyone,

Australia's Labor Party changed leaders today. That means that, even though there has been no election, there is a new Prime Minister. And get this... She's a "Sheila!" That's right, Oz has its first female head of government.

This is an usual but not unheard of event in parliamentary democracies. Parliamentary systems are organized around parties. The head of government is the leader of the party that has a majority of seats (or leads the coalition of parties that has the majority of seats - usually). When that party loses confidence in their leader, they can change who their leader is. That's what's happened in this case. Apparently, Labor Party members were upset at former PM Rudd because of his backing off a number of policies widely supported by Labor members, including a green house gas emmissions trading scheme designed to help Australia meet their Kyoto Protocol goals.

This is a big deal for Australia and Australian women. Good on ya'!