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Julia Gillard - Source: Getty Images -
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The political road is full of potholes and speed humps and the Julia Gillard bandwagon has got a puncture.
The new Australian Prime Minister couldn't put a foot wrong in her first fortnight after slaying Kevin Rudd for the top post.
She put to rest the mining super tax issue which was threatening to blow up Labor's run in to the election later this year, then moved on to another sticky issue, stemming the flow of asylum seekers to Australian shores.
The Gillard idea: To build a regional processing centre in Dili to house hundreds of asylum seekers who attempt the deadly boat crossing from Indonesian to Australia each year.
Those people with legitimate asylum claims would be resettled in Australia and New Zealand with the rest being sent back to where they came from.
So, here's what were dealing with. In 2008, there were just seven boat arrivals with 161 people seeking asylum. A year later, 2726 asylum seekers arrived on 60 dodgy boats. So far this year, (9/7/10) 76 boats have already left Indonesian shores for Australia with more 3575 people on board. There are now some 4000 illegal maritime arrivals in detention in Australia.
The opposition party leader Tony Abbott was beating the panic drum, making the Australian public nervous and Ms Gillard had to act.
On the face of it, the regional processing centre plan appeared to be another slam dunk for the new Prime Minister, but one crucial person missed the memo, East Timorese Prime Minister, Xanana Gusmao.
Ms Gillard spoke to the East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta who was open to the proposal, but the man who pulls the strings in East Timor is Xanana Gusmao and he is clearly miffed he wasn't approached first.
And so out roll the news headlines: GILLARD EATS HER WORDS OVER REFUGEES, PM RETREATS ON TIMOR PLAN & JULIA'S BOAT POLICY SINKS.
Having hit her first major speed hump, Julia Gillard now finds herself in unfamiliar territory. She now has to regain control of her bandwagon before the Australian public lose faith in who is behind the wheel.
An intriguing federal election campaign looms.
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