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The shimmy factor and effect !

Today sees the Kevin Rudd "team" sworn in as Australia's new Government - and Rudd as Australia's 26th PM.

There can be no doubting that a new broom is sweeping across the landscape after over 11 years of Liberal-National Party government. It's too early to make any informed assessment where the new government will go and how well it will travel. However, things just seem "different" with the new government, not the least being now having a female deputy PM, an Australian first.

In a piece, "Exciting, defining times for women" in The Age, Tracee Hutchison puts a "shimmy effect" on the outcome of the election:

"It's hard to identify the exact moment I knew Australia was experiencing a seismic shift in identity and direction over this past week. There have, after all, been so many monumental occurrences to choose from, it seems impossible to rank or compare them.

John Howard's comeuppance. Julia Gillard's sustained grace in the tally room. Maxine McKew's unbridled euphoria as she resisted the temptation to gloat. And Peter Costello's smug exit. All of it gold.

But if I had to nominate a flashpoint when I felt my body jolt upright with exultant anticipation and gushing love of country, it actually came courtesy of the first lady-elect, Therese Rein.

When Kevin Rudd walked on stage to claim his place as Australia's 26th prime minister, the woman he calls his life partner stood with her hand in his beside him, and shimmied. She leant forward and, with a cheeky glint in her eye, shook her shoulders from side to side and shimmied. And it was glorious.

If ever there was an image to differentiate the old from the new on election night, it was Therese Rein's shimmy. As surprising as the revelation that I've placed a shimmy above Australia electing its first female deputy prime minister and Maxine McKew's "in heaven no one's blind" moment might be, the shimmy said it all."

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