Party Lines: What makes a good leader?

Each week SBS asks two bloggers, one Labor and one Liberal, to discuss issues that have arisen on the campaign trail. This week we ask them: what makes a good leader, and do either Abbott or Gillard possess those qualities?

The bloggers have had their say - tell us what you think. What makes a good leader?

Former Labor Premier of NSW, Barrie Unsworth:

'Game On' were the first words spoken by the newly elected Labor Leader and Prime Minister Julia Gillard to Opposition Leader Tony Abbott in the parliamentary chamber on June 24.

In this riposte Julia Gillard indicated her belief that the real struggle had just begun between the leadership of Australia's major political forces.

Now less than four weeks later we are about to witness one of the most interesting election campaigns in the 110 years of the Australian Federation.

Labor and the Coalition are led by starkly divergent politicians, neither of whom have previously experienced the responsibility of leadership in an election campaign.

Both leaders have only recently replaced their predecessors in their respective roles, Julia Gillard with the full support of her party and Tony Abbott by one vote over the vanquished Malcolm Turnbull.

This relative inexperience in leadership will ensure that they are fully tested by the campaign and will consequently demonstrate to the Australian electorate who is best suited to be entrusted to lead Australia into the future.

My money is on Julia Gillard as I believe that she has had the upbringing and developed the life skills to truly reflect the aspirations of all Australians.

The legal training she successfully undertook was put to good effect in service of working people, and her determination to represent them in the Parliament was rewarded in the difficult environment of the internal political process of the Australian Labor Party, culminating in her elevation to the Pantheon of Labor Leadership.

Now Julia Gillard is entrusted with the responsibility to articulate and present the Labor Government's program for ensuring that Australia maintains it place in the world as the most desirable place to live.

By way of contrast her opponent Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, a John Howard acolyte longingly looks back to an Australia from which we have long moved on.

The John Howard and Tony Abbott image of a 'White Picket Fence' country has long been subsumed by the eminently successful, diverse and multicultural Australia of the 21st century.

Led by a Labor Government Australia has successfully survived the vicissitudes of the Global Financial Crisis of the past two years, as the result of the implementation of an effective stimulus package which created employment and maintained productive economic activity.

Tony Abbott and his minions opposed the stimulus package, and had they been successful would have caused Australia's jobless to rise to the levels experienced in Europe, such as Spain's 20 per cent unemployed.

Opinion polling during the election campaign thus far has indicated that Australians are receptive to Prime Minister Julia Gillard's vision and future direction, whilst Tony Abbott has not secured an endorsement of his leadership ability.

Liberal Member for Mitchell, Alex Hawke:

Since the election of the Rudd/Gillard Government in 2007 effective and consistent leadership has been lacking at the national level. Instead there has been an ongoing pattern of policy confusion, back-flips, and broken promises.

Political Leadership is about having conviction and seeing a policy through if you believe it is in the national interest, whether it is popular or whether it is unpopular.

Failure to stand up for his conviction is what sealed Kevin Rudd's demise. When Mr Rudd abandoned his own Government's policy on climate change, regarded by the electorate as his strongest conviction, he lost the moral authority to continue as leader, in the eyes of many.

But Prime Minister Julia Gillard was also central to the policy failures and broken promises which have been plagued Labor since they were elected in 2007.

Labor now wants us to forget its past failures in leadership or distance its current leader from them. But why would we trust Labor to deliver on its 2010 promises when they have so comprehensively reneged on its 2007 promises?

Under Labor's economic leadership we have seen a $20 billion surplus turned into a $57 billion deficit. We have a Government that is borrowing $100 million every single day, and a Government that is threatening to impose a great big new tax on our most successful industry.

There has been a clear lack of leadership in the delivery of multi-billion dollar programs. The bungled $2.4 billion Home Insulation program fiasco, and the $16 billion Building the Education Revolution have included appalling examples of waste right around Australia.

Leadership is about conviction and courage. Tony Abbott has demonstrated leadership as an experienced and successful Cabinet Minister in the Howard Government. Indeed under Tony Abbott's leadership, the Coalition team includes seven former Cabinet ministers and 15 former ministers, and a group of men and women from a broad range of community backgrounds.

Australia needs strong leadership again that can deliver on real action.