Home Rule from the new Australian PM Kevin Rudd

Its quite interesting. I think it fits the uphold of equality and hatred of aristocracy. No matter Mr Rudd is doing it for the votes or he's doing it whole-heartedly, I would wonder when Asian could learn it from our neighbour?

Its no absolute right or wrong.

Mr Tung Chee-Hwa tried doing this partially but I think his intention is to get rid of the colonial smell and he does not want to spend a penny to build another residence for the Chief Executive.

The most important thing is - in addition to these formality - whether we have the mindset of upholding equality of human beings.

Home rule: why the Australian PM prefers to run the country sitting on his veranda
Paul Larter in Brisbane

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article3026081.ece

International relations has developed a new branch – veranda diplomacy. While President Bush hosts guests at his Texas ranch, Kevin Rudd, whose Labor Party swept into government two weeks ago, met Helen Clark, his New Zealand counterpart, yesterday on the back deck of his modest, wooden 100-year-old Queenslander-style home in suburban Brisbane.

Here, the seat of power is a wicker chair and the platform of authority is a timber deck surrounded by lush tropical foliage. It was from this humble abode, under a scorching tin roof, that Mr Rudd had phone conversations last week with Wen Jiabao, the Chinese Prime Minister, in fluent Mandarin, and Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary-General. That same afternoon it served as the venue for Mr Rudd and his finance minister, Wayne Swan, another Queensland native, to prepare for their first Cabinet meeting. “I’ve held most of my meetings here since the election,” Mr Rudd told Ms Clark, who seemed impressed.

Mr Rudd, a former diplomat who has been cultivating an image of “the average bloke”, seems in no rush to leave his family’s four-bedroom, two-bathroom house for the official prime ministerial residence in Canberra.

John Howard, whom Mr Rudd defeated after almost 12 years in power, last week handed over the keys to the 40-room Georgian-revival style mansion in four acres of grounds. But Mr Rudd, 50, has yet to make a decision on whether to relocate. The Rudds have lived in Brisbane’s relaxed but trendy Norman Park for 13 years – their longest period in one house.

While their eldest daughter, Jessica, 23, lives nearby with her husband Albert, sons Nicholas, 21, and Marcus, 14, live under the same roof as their parents. Nicholas is likely to complete his law studies in Brisbane if the family relocates, but Mr Rudd and his wife, Therese Rein, face a tough decision about the immediate future of their youngest son and last week she visited several Canberra schools.

Ms Rein must also take her own career into consideration. Her international job placement business In-geus, which runs the welfare-to-work services of WorkDirections in the UK along with operations in France and Germany, is based in South Brisbane. She has already sold off her domestic interests to avoid any conflict of interest with her husband’s political career.
Mr Rudd has said that he expects to host many national and international meetings in Brisbane, Australia’s third most populous city of 1.8 million.

His approach may be low-key and methodical but his demands are anything but. His ministerial team is said to have worked constantly since the election to set in train the framework of his electoral promises on education, health and workplace relations.

Ms Clark said that she had enjoyed the setting and her lunch with Mr Rudd, during which they had discussed a long-term carbon emissions goal – key to negotiations under way at the UNsponsored climate change conference on the Indonesian island of Bali. Mr Rudd, whose first official act as Prime Minister was to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, will tomorrow leave for Bali. “We’ll be in close contact as governments on the challenges we face with climate change, plus the negotiating agenda over the next couple of years,”' Mr Rudd said. He then walked Ms Clark to the gate. “Thanks for coming around,” he said.

Perfectly placed
- Median house price in Norman Park last year was A$444,500 (£193,000)
- Kevin Rudd’s house, now worth about $1 million, was bought for A$384,000 in 1994
- 6,000 people live in the suburb, with an average age of 33
- In 2001, average individual income was between A$500 and A$599 per week
- The Gabba cricket ground is a five-minute drive away
- Native river mangroves grow in the nearby Norman Creek. Mud crabs, mullet and prawns can still be found in the lower reaches
- A flying fox colony lives in the trees near by
- Locals play barefoot lawn bowls at Norman Park Services Bowls Club

Source: Times research