ginger ninjas rock!

I've been glued to the TV and radio over the last few days because politics just got a whole lot more interesting in our country! We have a red femme for PM!!!!

While I'm sad the old PM got ousted in the manner in which he did, this is a massively significant event in history. Though there have been many women in the top job across the world (Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi and Angela Merkel immediately spring to mind), it's the first time it's happened here. It's the ultimate shattering of the glass ceiling, the highest office in the country. But more significantly than her gender, she is fiercely intelligent, socially inclusive, consultative, compassionate, determined, and - rarely for a politician - 'human'. She uses everyday language that everyone can understand, she doesn't condescend, she has her own foibles and readily admits to them. This makes her 'accessible', people can understand her and relate to her.

This is so important in politics, given the amount of political apathy in our times. It doesn't surprise me that so many people don't give a stuff about politics and have no idea who our politicians are and what they stand for. I used to be one of them. It all seemed so beyond me, so boring, I had no idea what they were talking about half of the time. It didn't seem relevant to me, because it wasn't accessible. It was so confusing, it was so much hard work to try and find out who stood for what and why something was happening, that it was easier to check out. To stay away from it all and not care. After all, I only had one vote and that couldn't change the outcome of an election. It took me a long time to realise that that very apathy is what politicians depend on so that they can simplify a message, use emotional language and wedge issues to sway people, and vote by vote it all adds up. When people are uninformed they are blank canvases. But by making politics a little more accessible, by making herself more human and easier to relate to and understand, she's undoing some of that obfuscation and over-complication that has left so many disenfranchised. This means some people will like her and some will dislike her, but they will be more aware and more engaged, and this changes the game.

I bumped into her once. Literally. I have a habit of walking around in a state of utter vagueness. My partner has a running tab of all the famous people I've walked straight past in airports and shopping malls, and I have no clue whatsoever. I even walked straight past Molly Meldrum wearing his trademark Akubra hat. I had no idea. And at the airport one day I was fumbling through my bag on the way to the security check area and bumped straight into someone. "Oh sorry" I mumbled and kept walking, vaguely registering a"no worries" reply. My partner tapped me on the shoulder and said "do you realise who that was?". I turned round and there she was, flanked by two federal security people with their badges and guns, forced to take her shoes off and walking through the metal detector, laughing and charming the airport security guards. And I thought to myself wow, she's so 'human', going through the same annoying security check we all do. She even had to take off her shoes (though of course the federal staff walked straight through with their guns and flashing their badges - weird). And from then on I really liked her. Apart from the fact she could have got those two scary look people with guns to tackle me to the ground for bumping into her, she was just so everyday, so normal. And a redhead too!

Seeing her as our PM now fills me with excitement and pride. She will be a wonderful PM, despite the enormous challenges she faces. I'm ready for the barrage of criticism to come her way for the way she talks, the colour and style of her hair, the clothes she wears, the fact that she is neither married nor a mother. All of the things that male politicians are rarely if ever subjected to. Because I know she'll handle all of it with dignity, a rapier wit, and an intelligence that leaves the opposition dead in the water. Tony, she's coming for you, and I can't wait...