Panel member Germaine Greer, introduced as a feminist, historian and intellectual, was talking about the fine job Julia Gillard was doing as our PM.

Greer said people needed to realise what a difficult job Julia Gillard has to do; that she is part of a coalition where she has to negotiate every single policy position that involved camel trading on the floor and that it was “what she is good at.”

Responding to a comment from marketer and panellis, Toby Ralph that Ms Gillard had an ‘image problem’, that Tony Abbott was defining her and he would like to know what she really thinks and believes she said it didn’t matter what she believed in because that wasn’t going to happen.

She continued that the PM had been “badly directed” by those “worried about her dry matter of fact, unglamourous style”, but that she had shown that she understands what needs to happen: she gives people jobs that need doing and gets things done.

Finally, I thought, a move away from the expectation of the palatable packaged politician and acknowledgment of what is important: substance.

This was refreshing, particularly as only minutes before blues singer Christie Hughes said perhaps the reason why the electorate appeared to be idiots, was because of the way we were spoken to.

“Our PM speaks to us like idiots – so who’s the idiot?” she asked in a voice mimicking Julia Gillard.

Hughes likened her to the substitute teacher, perhaps seeing her as a poser in the role; someone just filling in until the real Prime Minister arrived?

Then Greer reminded us all, that despite her living in Australia only four months of the year, she still has one very Australian trait.

“What I want her to do is to get rid of those bloody jackets. They don’t fit” and continued that the PM had a big “a---”, or bottom for those unable to fill in the letters.

The secateurs were out of their holder, the tall poppy cut down and we were back to the superficiality that, only minutes before, Greer had admonished the Australian media over.

But I doubt there will be the same outcry as that evoked when she “raised the ire of the nation” following her comments in 2006 following the death of Steve Irwin that that the animal world had taken "revenge" on him when he was killed in a stingray attack in northern Queensland because unfortunately our PM and many women in positions of power are judged not by their deeds, but by their looks.

How easy it would be for them if they could wear the uniform of the male politician – suit of a dark blue or black hue, shirt and tie – and not worry about the fit, or on their days off don a swimsuit or red Speedos without fear of ridicule or analysis of what the wearing of such garments says about their political abilities.

The response to Greer’s comments has ranged from disappointment and a sense of betrayal that this doyen of feminism has bought into the “clothes maketh the man/woman” mentality to “lighten up it was just a joke.”

Another of Q & A’s panellists, writer, Benjamin Law may be right when he observes that it’s so much easier to grab onto messages like “Stop the boats” than read through the commentary and digest it.

I’m afraid Greer’s comments will form the basis of one of these messages.

Robyn Young is a Border author and poet.

http://robynewithane.wordpress.com