Contrary to my dark mood yesterday about Australia becoming an international laughing stock, it looks like the whole thing was something of a non-event for the foreign media, particularly if you compare it to the international stir Julia Gillard caused with her misogyny speech. As for the blogs, a Google Blogs search on 'Australia Gillard Rudd' rakes in some very thin returns, especially from foreign sites, and a Technorati search for the same terms returns precisely zero items. Some highlights:
- On Twitter, Enda Curran points out that the spill made the front page of the WSJ Asia. Spill-related tweets topped 1500 per minute yesterday.
- The Guardian's Paolo Totaro, writing before the leadership vote yesterday afternoon, labeled the Rudd-Gillard contest 'one of the most vicious battles in world politics'.
- The New York Times on Prime Minister Gillard's 2010 leadership 'coup' and the 'tenuous' nature of the minority government.
- The NZ Herald says 'there is still no certainty Rudd supporters will accept yesterday's outcome.'
- The BBC's Nick Bryant on Australia's 'coup culture'.
- The UK Daily Telegraph called it 'a bizarre and damaging day for the ruling Labor party.'
- Business Insider: 'few doubt that the day's events have damaged the Government's reputation.'
- CNN refers to the events as a 'challenge flop'.
- The UK Daily Mail's Anthony Bond noted that financial markets did not react to news of a leadership challenge.
- The Jakarta Globe ran a news story. I can't find anything by the Jakarta Post, although as I write, its front page does feature the following Australia story.