I’ve been given a regular column in the Townsville Bulletin Savvy magazine writing under the moniker Gen X Girl. This is the piece that appeared in last week’s mag.
Gosh that Anna Bligh is a multi-tasker. I’ll go so far to say she’s a woman for all seasons. Or maybe a woman for all disasters. Yep, that’s probably more accurate.
Let’s just sit back and take a look at what she’s achieved in the last two months. She’s turned around appalling opinion polls on the back of two natural disasters. From zero to hero in less time than you can say assets sell off. She’s forged herself a potential career as a newsreader demonstrating an outstanding ability to deliver dire warnings on information provided and collated by someone else. She’s culled dead wood from her cabinet, given herself a brand new portfolio as the minister for cleaning up and now, smack in the middle of all that, has added covergirl to her resume.
I’m not convinced that she’s done the right thing with the covergirl thing though. You would think she’d learned her lesson from the whole Masterchef debacle. That was very embarrassing because a) she lost and b) she lost. I hope that whoever advised her that that was a smart PR choice got flicked faster than an aged cabinet minister. Her popularity in the polls plummeted too, but that was expected. She effectively showed that not only was she stuffing up the Queensland economy and telling porkies by omission, but she proved that she couldn’t cook, and let’s be frank, pretty well anyone can cook—look at Hewey.
So by having her dial plastered all over the front of the Women’s Weekly, Anna Bligh has opened the way to a whole new wave of criticism. Let’s look at her motive for the photo shoot. She says it was to keep the Queensland disasters in the public eye. That’s a noble sentiment until you realise that she doesn’t actually talk about the floods and the promoted disaster is only for Queensland readers. Newsflash, no one in Queensland needs a reminder. Many of us can look out our window and see for ourselves. Forgive me for being cynical but the photo shoot wouldn’t be anything to do with a potential election in our “year of rebuilding” would it Premier Bligh?
She also goes on to wear a range of different, very fashionable outfits. Really? Is this how we want to leader of our state to be represented? Aren’t anorexic fourteen years olds employed to model clothes? One would surely think that an elected leader would somehow be above this. I don’t recall ever seeing British PM Margaret Thatcher doing a fashion shoot for any magazine. Though to be fair, our PM Julia Gillard did the same thing, so the bar has been set low. At least Julia and Anna avoided the feather boa. Remember when politician Cheryl Kernot posed for the Weekly with an ill-considered red feather boa that made her look like an extra from Best Lil’ Whorehouse in the West? Killed her career. Stone. Dead.
As a consequence of all that fluffing around in ill-advised flouncy skirts with utilitarian jackets, Anna has left the door open for us all to legitimately discuss her choice of clothing. So Anna, let’s start by discussing those skirt suits you wear. Did you really go to a Vietnamese tailor, pick one pattern and order one in every coral shade? For that’s how it looks. Collarless jackets, slightly straight A-line skirts. It must make dressing in the morning a breeze for Anna does love to work a theme. Brisbane day, skirt suit; disaster inspection, button down shirt and akubra; disaster announcement or football presentation, dark wash jeans.
But that’s enough discussion of her clothing choices. I really, really wish you hadn’t opened that door for me Premier Bligh. For it goes against everything I believe as a fuzzy-round-the-edges feminist. I really would like to treat you like a male politician. Can anyone remember a remarkable outfit worn by Kevin Rudd? Actually he’s a bad example due to the hair dryer incident in the Middle East. I’ll try again. Does anyone remember a remarkable outfit worn by former PM John Howard? I’d say no, because he dressed conservatively, unremarkably in fact and never, never once poonced around in a cravat for GQ magazine. It would have been undignified. Image
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