Saturday, June 25, 2011

a new "wave" of Greek migration to Australia?

I notice from this article today in The Age read it here that from third hand evidence that I've been hearing about huge Visa enquiries about migration from Greece is finally making it into the mainstream press.
While migration is always a hot button issue to joe public, this push for streamlining of the migration process by the Greek-Australian community is a potential win-win for anglo Australia.
I mean think about it, the average Australian can usually be seen complaining about there being too many Asians or Indians etc in the country, so what better way to appease the racist beast than to accept more young white Christian educated Greeks who are almost always fluent in English?
While Australia's immigration policy is (theoretically) non discriminatory, I can see a great opportunity here for the Greek community to be able to sell this notion to the Government. If worded correctly, the message will get through to the Government that you've got a potential migrant pool at your disposal which already has close cultural ties to Australia, and would seamlessly integrate very quickly into Australian society.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Greek language controversy in South Australia

I thought the purported comments by the South Australian Opposition Leader see here were very curious indeed. By supposedly taking offence that an ethnic Greek SA Government Minister spoke in Greek to the visiting President of Cyprus, I don't know whether this reflects her inexperience in matters of diplomacy or just an ignorant mono cultural view of the world (which would be my guess)?
If Madam Opposition Leader cared to ever step out of her South Australian backwater, she'd see that in most countries of the world guests are often addressed in their own language when a member of the host Government is a fluent speaker - it is purely a courtesy extended to a guest.
But it would seem that the Howard era Anglo supremacy mentality remains?

Melbourne's grumpy train commuters

I couldn't help but chuckle after reading about this survey of Australian train commuters see here . It would seem that Melbourne has the grumpiest commuters in the country? But perhaps it's not that surprising, as Melbourne's train operator - Metro Trains - appears to be completely out of its depth when it comes to running this State's complex and antiquated rail system.
As I've mentioned previously, their management style has not endeared them to their workforce, and while you can push around a hapless customer service attendant, try that with the train driver's union (perhaps the last dinosaur on earth?) and you'll soon realise what you're up against.
In order to play hardball you need to have leverage, and Metro management are quickly finding out that when the system is run entirely on goodwill, perhaps the carrot is a better tactic than the stick? Metro have met their monthly performance target three times since taking over in November 2009......an appalling statistic! But what's so curious about all this is that the Government AND Opposition have had virtually nothing to say about it. The reason being that the previous Government recruited Metro, an embarrassing blight on their CV, while the new Government is stuck with them and probably just praying that everything will magically get better......one day?
But with each passing month the pressure just keeps building on the operator, and each new excuse starts to look tiresome. At some point that pressure will explode when least expected and the Government will go into panic mode and start to make rash decisions.
The State really is in a bind at the moment, while their natural conservative leanings may have them cheering on the union busting tactics of the Operator, they also well and truly know that at the end of the day, the public will always blame the Government for inaction and poor performance. Just ask John Brumby, the Frankston corridor of seats cost him Government.
But there is one ray of sunshine for the Government, their new State transport planning authority is in the works, which will (hopefully?) be modeled on its world's best practice equivalents in Zurich and Perth. And considering that Perth had the best commuter satisfaction rating in the country, this new body can't come soon enough!

Monday, June 6, 2011

stay away from the UAE

I have previously written about the Australian woman who was allegedly drugged and raped in Dubai, and was sent to prison for her troubles see here . Well as reported in the media today read here she is planning to sue the Australian Government over inadequate consular advice. But while that action is a matter for the courts, I think she's misdirecting her anger, it should all well and truly be on the God awful country of the UAE.
A nation of corrupt sheiks and fast money, where the ruling elite pretend to be Muslims, yet live debaucherous secular lifestyles, while demanding that the populous live under archaic medieval style laws.
The victim made a very good point about the UAE when she said; "the UAE is being promoted hugely here as a tourism destination. They are not complying with human rights, women's rights and migrant workers' rights".
So my advice to everyone is avoid the UAE like the plague, they may have a nice airport and pretty buildings, but like their "ski resort", they're a totally artificial country that should be avoided at all costs!

Friday, June 3, 2011

Simon Overland should go immediately

It looks as if even more evidence has emerged read it here of the slimy Victoria Police Chief Simon Overland being involved in even more intrigue. As can clearly be surmised from the news article, Overland is more a professional political operative than a law enforcement officer, and to allegedly arrange to have a respected figure like Sir Ken and his family bugged (on the way out mind you) for something as trivial as suspected leaking to the media is just an appalling abuse of power (in the ethical, not legal sense).
The Baillieu Government which clearly wants the tainted Overland gone, is now trapped like a dear in the headlights, because it didn't have the guts to just sack Overland when it had the chance, instead setting up the Rush Inquiry to slowly kill off Overland via a thousand cuts. So now it looks like they'll have to wait for the Inquiry to run its course, which means political paralysis for the next few months.
But if we can look to the bright side, at least the awful Brumby creation - the OPI - is set to go the way of the dodo, to shortly be replaced by a REAL anti corruption commission. Every major expert and commentator said at the time that the cardigan cops OPI creation was a bad idea, but the previous Government just wouldn't listen, they just wanted to sell that they were doing SOMETHING about police corruption, as they very well knew that a real anti corruption body would create non stop bad publicity for the Government, as they haul in bent coppers  before the star chamber.
But it would be ironic in the extreme if the new anti corruption body's first victim was the Chief Commissioner? Ironic indeed.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

playing politics with "law and order"

A good piece of writing in The Age today from Josh Gordon putting the law and order hoopla into some sort of perspective read it here .
It's good to see some sense in the broadsheet media after hearing of Baillieu's silly plans to;
  • lock up minors
  • anti swearing laws
  • community survey on sentencing (online mind you)
Let's just hope that this newly elected Government is merely running interference to disguise its modest achievements elsewhere, and once it settles properly into power some sense and proportion will prevail? Indeed lets hope!

Monday, May 30, 2011

Michael Pascoe's views on the current state of Australian politics

I recommend anyone who's interested (or disgusted?) by the current state of Australian politik, to have a read of business commentator Michael Pascoe's latest article on the topic. I was struggling to find anything in it that I didn't agree with.
Have a read of it here .

Friday, May 27, 2011

Israel-Palestine, Obama....and The Australian newspaper

Following President Obama's speech suggesting that Israel-Palestine peace talks should be convened on the premise of a return to the 1967 borders sparked the expected horror in Israeli circles as if this was some sort of ground breaking game changer. And it even led to the remarkable spectacle of the Israeli Prime Minister giving his host (the US President) a public dressing down in the Oval Office see here .
But why should this be at all remarkable to anyone outside the deluded prism of the Israel lobby and its supporters? It's recognised by everyone that it is occupied land and Israeli settlements are clearly illegal by any one's definition.
But as I've argued elsewhere, America has always had within its power the ability to end the Israel-Palestine dispute, just not the political will to do it. Any type of staged withdrawal of their diplomatic (and financial)support will very quickly bring Israel to the table, as Israel is completely friendless without American backing (as the UK, Australia etc would very quickly follow suit). But what would be the political cost to any sitting US President? Can an American President who criticises Israel survive ?....probably not in normal circumstances, and especially not a Democrat. But this is a rare occasion where there is no credible alternative for 2012 so Obama is virtually guaranteed victory.
Despite everything that has been said about Obama, he is still very much an establishment figure who has not deviated greatly from the script of his predecessors, a little more nuanced perhaps, but I don't expect him to push Israel too far on settlements. And really, Obama has not gone that much further than Bush's proposal when he was President, but he should be congratulated nonetheless for at least stating the obvious (which Bush couldn't bring himself to actually say).
So all this now brings us to the pro Israel (and anti Muslim generally) The Australian newspaper, and today's ridiculous editorial read it here which parrots the usual tired rhetoric against the Palestinians (while ironically using the phrase "rhetoric" against them).
Netanyahu (and The Australian) demand that the Palestinians recognise a "Jewish State". Putting aside the blatant racism of endorsing a State based on religion and what that means for it's minorities within its borders, this argument has no legitimate basis when you analyse it more closely.
Does Israel "recognise" a real Palestine as a State? A State with real sovereignty, with legitimate borders, with a military, with its own air space, and the right to defend itself like every other sovereign country? The answer to those questions up to this point from Netanyahu are a resounding NO. So really his challenge to the Palestinians on recognition are nothing more than weasel words. "Recognition" on mutual borders and sovereignty are something to be negotiated between the protagonists, they're not going to the negotiating table as friends, but as mutually suspicious enemies. And it's at this table where these issues have to be decided, not BEFORE negotiations begin.




 

Monday, May 23, 2011

who's the best ever Opposition Leader?

I noticed this quirky article by Barrie Cassidy today which lamented the lack of great Opposition Leaders in recent memory see it here .
Well apart from the nature of the job which makes is hard enough to produce "great" leaders, it got me thinking that there's really only been one of note. That surely would have to be Kevin Rudd?
He came to the job in late 2006 with the next election less than a year away, and while he had a public profile as a quirky policy wonk nerd who appeared on morning television to discuss the politics of the day, this alone was surely not enough of a CV to wrestle the levers from a political animal like PM Howard?
So over the following six months he built his reputation up as a serious policy driven politician who was going to do something about climate change (an issue that Howard eventually faced up to kicking and screaming all the way), reduce cost of living pressures, get out of Iraq, yet keep the American alliance strong.....and of course rip up Workchoices.
So looking back over that time, he never really put a foot wrong, he often led the political agenda, addressed the Chinese Premier while on a State visit in Mandarin while Howard churlishly looked on, and much to Howard's frustration, offered bipartisan support every time he tried to wedge Labor.
So I would disagree with Cassidy, we HAVE had at least one great Opposition Leader in our time.

Dennis Richardson must resign

A few weeks ago a story surfaced that added further weight to the seemingly now undeniable claim that the Howard Government turned a blind eye to an Australian citizen being tortured in Egypt see the story here .
But while Mamdouh Habib has (rightfully) received plenty of air play for his ill treatment at the hands of the State since, it appears that one person has suffered no sanction for his sorry role in this sordid little affair, that person being none other Dennis Richardson.
On February 15 2005 Richardson (the then head of ASIO) told a Senate Committee that ''we have no information as of fact about that,'' in relation to whether he knew if US terrorism suspects were sent to Egypt for interrogation. However his successor Paul O'Sullivan admitted that the Americans had indeed told Richardson about the rendition to Egypt.
Richardson is now the head of DFAT, and it seems has suffered no sanction for apparently lying under oath. Not only should he be terminated from his position, but the AFP should seriously consider charging him with perjury.
A despicable and sordid period in Australian political history in my view.

why Asia?

After reading this story on mysterious tourist deaths in Thailand see here it just helps to reinforce why I NEVER holiday in Asia. People ask me all the time, "why do you go to Greece every year?" and "what have you got against Asia?". Well I guess that there's a chance that they'll feed you rat poison is a disincentive for a start!
I'm sure I don't need to highlight the attractions of Europe here, but all I can say is that Asia just offers no incentive for me. The fact that its a poor region with high corruption and unforgiving law enforcement does not endear me it at all. Or perhaps it was Paul Keating's (alleged) remark back in 1990 that "Asia is the arse end of the world" and "somewhere you fly over on your way to Europe" that struck a cord?
In the meantime, you all can continue getting drunk in Bali, or visiting sex shows in Bangkok, but if you're looking for me, I'll be on a sandy beach somewhere in the southern Peloponnese.

State funerals for pedophiles?

Back in December I commented about awarding State funerals to celebrities see here , and it appears not much has changed since? Lionel Rose was recently awarded a taxpayer funded State funeral, and included in the mourners paying public tribute were none other than Premier Ted Baillieu.....as well as notorious thugs like Mick Gatto and Jeff Fenech.
While my views on  awarding State funerals to celebrities are well known, what is not so well known is that the current recipient had a terrible cloud hanging over him. In October 2004 he was alleged to have sexually abused an 11 year old girl read it here , his conduct was allegedly so bad that even the Herald-Sun chose not to publish the details.
While this matter never went to court, it surely was a big enough cloud over Rose's reputation that a Premier of the State would want nothing to do with him? It's a question of judgement (not guilt or innocence), and the Premier failed miserably on this occasion.
So no doubt we'll continue to memorialise celebrities and sports people, completely white washing their past evils. No doubt then that when one very famous ex footballer dies, no one will remember that he (for all intents and purposes) killed a girl in his hotel room, while I didn't see anyone mentioning the late Bob Davis' criminal activities either?
And I don't expect things to change anytime soon either?

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Baillieu going down a dangerous path

I was bewildered recently when I read of the Transport Accident Commission's (TAC) plan to sponsor low alcohol beer from brewers see here . Not by the scheme itself, but by Premier Baillieu's extraordinary intervention to kill it as an issue, just because (shock horror) the Herald-Sun was going to run a front page story on the plan.
The Baillieu Government has been very slow in making decisions (on anything) since coming to power, in fact verging on paralysis on occasion, but this little saga is a dangerous precedent that Baillieu is setting for himself. You have to govern by conviction, not just kill off every out of the box idea because the News Ltd tabloids are going to write a beat up on it. Instead Baillieu should've praised it as an "innovative idea" that's worth trying in the road toll battle etc etc.
You know it just never ceases to amaze me that despite all the evidence to contrary, politicians keep thinking that pleasing the tabloids will bring electoral success. Well it won't, the electorate will reward conviction every time (assuming arrogance is kept in check?).

Gillard (finally) fires up

From the reported remarks at the Victorian ALP Conference today see here it appears that PM Gillard has finally found the right way to attack her conservative opponent. Instead of bland sloganeering and focus group tested catchphrases we finally saw here a Keatingesque line of attack, which was exactly what was required to deal with a political animal like Abbott.
I think she was channeling Keating when she came out with phrases like "acting like the love child of Sarah Palin and Donald Trump", and "the fight was not between right and left, but between right and wrong", while getting stuck into the self-important "shock jocks", and devastatingly, praising up Conservative Prime Ministers Cameron and Key. This is a key point for me, she's clearly showing that climate change is not some trendy lefty cause, but a REAL issue that needs REAL answers from serious people. And the recently released Australian Election Study see here clearly highlights that Abbott is generally reviled by the electorate, in fact rating lower than Keating at the disastrous 1996 election landslide.
So the lesson in all this is that it's all in Gillard's hands; she has to sell this tax, stand firm on her beliefs (assuming she has any?), and stare down and ridicule the Opposition's obstructionism.
The Australian electorate will usually reward conviction politics; they don't like Abbott, and they're scared of the Carbon Tax, so it's up to Gillard to explain to us why we need it....and why we don't need Abbott!

Friday, May 20, 2011

Australian women politicians

While sitting around and musing about the performance of Prime Minister Julia Gillard, I got to thinking about the standard of senior women politicians in recent political history, and I've come to the conclusion that it's a pretty embarrassing state of affairs.
I won't add any new polemics about Gillard, other than to repeat that she's not up to the job. But what of the others? Unfortunately the only word that readily comes to mind is failure!
So lets have a look at who else has made a name for themselves in the not too distant past;

  • Ros Kelly....of the famous whiteboard incident......enough said
  • Carmen Lawrence....the former WA Premier (allegedly) perjured herself on the stand, not to mention having the death of Penny Easton on her conscience for the rest of her life Easton affair
  • Bronwyn Bishop...the Minister for "kerosene baths" and other assorted embarrassments
  • Julie Bishop...the current Deputy Leader of the Federal Liberal Party, who seemingly can't be sacked from that position regardless of how many times she embarrasses herself, due to her power base in WA
  • Joan Kirner...the much ridiculed former Victorian Premier, who's probably better remembered for this performance on The Late Show
  • Cheryl Kernot...former Leader of the Democrats, who had delusions of grandeur of becoming PM and switched to the Labor Party, where she humiliated herself on a daily basis.....but at least she had the loving arms of the married Gareth Evans to help sooth the pain
  • Anna Bligh...the current QLD Premier....showed some leadership during the floods crisis, which did no more than disguise her other failings. But the polls are now back on track to show an humiliating defeat for Labor at the next election
So have I overlooked anyone? Unfortunately there is just not alot to show for 100 years of the suffrage movement in Australian politics. Other western democracies can seem to produce quality female politicians, so what's wrong with Australia?

Abbott's (quiet) embarrassment

A funny thing happened today when I opened up the News Ltd tabloid - The Herald-Sun - I flicked through pages of waffle before hitting page 10, where I saw what I would've thought was a hugely embarrassing headline of Malcolm Turnbull rubbishing and (essentially) ridiculing his leader's "direct action" climate change plan read the follow up here .
Make no mistake, to have a senior front bencher of substance come out and make those remarks is devastating for Abbott....or at least it should be? And what page of the newspaper do you think a similar contradiction by Labor would've ended up on?
Unfortunately this incompetent Prime Minister doesn't have the ability to take full advantage of the opportunity presented, and once again it's been left to Greg Combet to do the heavy lifting on behalf of the Government.
And perhaps Combet's star will really get a chance to shine when Gillard (eventually) gets around to actually releasing the Carbox Tax detail? Combet may even in fact be in the position to almost single handedly save the Government from defeat, getting the detail (and sales pitch) right are THAT important.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

more public transport shambles

I was interested to read about the rail chaos caused last Friday when an "unprecedented" amount of train drivers allegedly went off sick read it here .
My sources in the rail industry tell me however that while there were "sickies" on the Friday night, it was nothing far different from any other miserable cold winter's night. The issue is one of competent management (sadly lacking apparently?), like I've stated previously this antiquated rail system relies on the goodwill of it's staff to operate at a respectable level. For example, if train drivers choose to not work on their rostered day off, then that immediately increases the chances of a driver shortage on any given day.
And as has been explained to me, the way the rosters and pay structure works, if drivers have already had an additional shift during the pay fortnight, then many consider it not worth their while to work on the last Friday of the pay fortnight.
So it should be highlighted once again that it's not the drivers that create the roster scenarios, but management, which as I've stated, does not appear to be the greatest?

more Combet, less Gillard?

After reading this defence of the Carbon Tax see here by Climate Change Minister Greg Combet, it left me wondering, what the hell is PM Gillard doing? Granted every time she opens her mouth you just want to cringe, but as the PM she should be articulating the arguments that Combet is making. Why isn't she out there saying things like;
  •  Australia risked long-term economic damage if the proposed reform was abandoned
  • If we let this chance pass us by, climate change policy will become the poisoned chalice of Australian politics for the next decade
  • The consequences of this would be profound for all Australians, especially for those businesses that are now so reluctant to take responsibility for their actions and refuse to see beyond next year's prospectus
  • The eventual cost of economic transformation would also become more expensive as Australia struggled to catch up with the rest of the world
  • We would not learn how to live in, let alone how to prosper in a carbon-constrained world, while our trading partners would increasingly see us as industrial dinosaurs
But instead of this type of reasoned argument, all we get out of Gillard are comments about her favourite football team, and speculation about marrying the First Bum....what's his name?
We do live in barbaric times I think.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

promoting torture

As I predicted see here following the death of bin Laden, the sadistic neo-con torture supporters have been out in force sickeningly trying to claim credit for bin Laden's entrapment. However The Nation magazine has written an excellent debunking of this sick notion of promoting torture, you can read the article here .

Murdoch's anti Aborigine bashing

I came across this opinion piece today read it here by one of my favourite rabble rousers, John Pilger, which pretty much negates the need for me to take another shot at News Ltd this week, Pilger has written a beautiful little polemic.
He makes some interesting claims, including that;
  • Murdoch controls 70 per cent of the capital city press
  • the first Australians have the shortest life expectancy of any of the world’s 90 indigenous peoples
  • Australia imprisons Aborigines at five times the rate South Africa during the apartheid years
  • Murdoch’s London tabloid, the Sun, once described Aborigines as “treacherous and brutal”
  • Out of 7,433 Aboriginal children examined by doctors, four possible cases of child abuse were identified, about the same rate of child abuse in white Australia
I don't know how accurate Pilger's figures are, but if true, they're a damning condemnation of Rupert Murdoch and his war on Aborigines.

Monday, May 16, 2011

worst MP ever?

While sitting around and thinking about the plight of the Australian Labor Party, I got diverted by the thought of who was the worst ever Member of the (Victorian) Parliament? And immediately two names came to mind; the branching stacking (alleged) wife beating Turk, Tayfun Eren, and the ex winter Olympian Kirstie (I don't know nothing about nothing) Marshall.
(Allegedly) beating his wife was actually the least of Eren's faults, he spent almost his entire Parliamentary career on "sick leave". I mean if sitting on the cushy red velvet Opposition benches of the Legislative Council wasn't an easy enough gig, he actually lost his pre-selection for the unforgivable sin of not showing up to "enough party functions".
And Kirstie Marshall's credentials for a Parliamentary career revolved around her skiing at the Winter Olympics or something?.....I mean who the hell cares about the "winter" Olympics?......and I don't care about the summer ones either admittedly.
If I remember correctly, at her first press conference alongside Steve Bracks, she made some embarrassing comment along the lines of "I don't know nothing about nothing", but of course in Australian politics that's no barrier to success. But if only it stopped there, this dimwit decided in this new age of equality and PC politics, she'd take her newborn into the Parliamentary chamber and breast feed the child there and then! The act of breast feeding in such a public place didn't offend me so much as the fact that there was another person in the Parliamentary chamber (where votes are cast). It's an appalling oversight that this idiot would commit the cardinal sin of (theoretically) increasing the Government's numbers, and then be so blase about it.
So there you have it, my top two contenders for the worst MP ever award.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

"planking" death the media's fault?

A week or so ago I had no idea what "planking" was, but thanks to the mainstream media I've since discovered that it's an internet fad involving photographing a person lying still in an awkward position....apparently this is amusing in some way? And now of course we read that a young person has accidentally died from this silly prank read it here . The police spokesman stated that "it is what we've been fearing". However my guess is that the victim (much like myself) had never heard of "planking", and only decided to do it because he read about it in the tabloids? For everyone knows, if you want youths to do something, tell them NOT to!
But as usual the media is never wrong (or responsible for anything), so now they can play up the "outraged" card.....and sell a few more newspapers!

Saturday, May 14, 2011

targeting sub-contractors...good!

I couldn't help but chuckle the other day while reading this polemic against the poor old innocent "self-employed" sub-contractors read it here . They've come out with the usual tired lines that claim "we've reached a point of no return with this government...the Gillard government is deeply hostile to the self-employed...I have not seen such a blatant and intentional attack on the self-employed as this budget".
So while they're bleating, each and every comment along those lines just draws me a little bit closer to the Gillard Government (which as previous blogs indicate, I'm keeping at arm's length). For during the Howard years the one group I considered the most responsible for the awful direction that Australia was headed in, was the self-employed contractor. While it's unfair of me to lump everyone into the same boat, I just couldn't help but get frustrated by what these people represented, and was seething as to when was I going to see the day of their political destruction? While I guess that day has finally arrived?
This is the group that legitimised Howard's power and perfectly represented his anti humanitarian agenda. For your average sub-contractor - thanks to the skills shortage that became entrenched during the Howard years -  represented the country's nouveau riche, uneducated toothless moron types with the southern cross usually tattooed on their arms earning well over $100K living in McMansions in suburbs like Melbourne's Wantirna (and whatever its interstate equivalents are?). These people of course suddenly threw off their working class roots and considered themselves too good to join a union or vote for Labor anymore. Their existence revolved around the car, because they chose to live in areas without public transport (which they're also too good for), with three or four car families being the norm. A peoples whose existence outside of their work or family was extremely minimal, a peoples easily influenced by tabloid journalism and shock jock radio (and naturally climate change sceptics). But the common thread that linked all these people together, was an inherent underlying racism boiling below the surface, which thanks to Howard, was allowed to bubble over as acceptable in the mainstream.
The key defining moment of course was the Tampa and asylum seekers. Almost overnight you saw the political dynamics change, with seats like Richmond in NSW expected to be certain Labor gains, returning to their conservative roots (with the Labor candidate virtually getting spat on post Tampa). The politics of race had entered the mainstream for the first time since "Asian immigration" was the hot button issue of 1988, and ended up destroying Howard's leadership the first time around. But this time it was a very different story, Howard knew what he was doing, and a month later came September 11, almost like a gift from heaven (Allah in fact) which just cemented this inherent racism as acceptable.
Sadly this was the constituency that was deciding elections in the Howard era (and maybe the Abbott era?), and in my more idealistic days I just couldn't reconcile that with the Australia I wanted to live in.
But finally we've caught up with them, and the Labor party is ready to get its revenge on this tax avoiding, gas guzzling, climate change denying, hate filled constituency. And the only word that comes to mind to describe it is.....schadenfreude!

Overland the careerist

As I eluded to in a previous piece, the problem with Victoria Police Commissioner Simon Overland is that he appears to be nothing but a opportunistic careerist, as is mentioned in today's article in The Age read it here . Former Police Union head Paul Mullett was pretty much on the money when he stated ''there's seems to be a course of conduct, where instead of using good management practices, Simon Overland calls on his mates at the Office of Police Integrity to either defend his position or to further his own personal position''.
But as Overland is now finding out, when you play politics to get ahead in life and you use and manipulate the media for your own ends, eventually that creature will turn against and swallow you whole.

"proselytizing" in government schools?

 This story of proselytizing in government schools is an interesting pick up by the secular Fairfax media read it here , although I'm not sure it warrants front page banner headlines? Of course in some countries stories of alleged attempted conversions can result in riots and death, so the media needs to be careful how they handle stories like this. Having said that, I'm now naturally waiting for the News Ltd papers to pick up and run with it and try and provoke a reaction from the Muslim community with headlines along the lines of "Muslims seething with anger over conversions" etc, and from that point on, the script pretty much writes itself.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

when did Perth become so ugly?

And now for something a little more flippant, when prey tel, did the once lovely city of Perth become so damn ugly? I thought it was just me than thought that all this new found money and affluence had helped this once classy city turn ugly and sinister? But after reading this piece from the local social pages see here , I realised it's not just me.
When I first went to Perth in the early 2000s, I remember a quaint yet beautiful city with a Mediterranean climate, classy eateries and outdoor dining. But with each passing trip I've seen an increasing body of evidence that's unsettled me. All small things and trivial on their own, but added up they've left me in no hurry to return anytime soon.
But maybe I'm just a paleo-conservative at heart? Maybe it's just the nouveau riche that I don't like?

Stanhope a champion for human rights

Just a quick comment on the retirement of ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope. He appears to be unique in Australian political history as a major party leader (with the exception of Doc Evatt) leading from the front with a human rights agenda see here .
While leaders like Kevin Rudd squibbed it on a proposed human rights charter following a sustained attack from News Ltd, not helped either by internal opposition from the disgusting figure of Bob Carr (what did that sad weasel ever achieve?), Stanhope led with a moral authority lacking in this generation of political apparatchiks.
But most interesting of all for me was the comment of the (Croatian) Leader of the Opposition, Zed Seselja, who accused Stanhope of having a "personal obsession" with human rights. The question I'd ask however is why is your average Croatian so vehemently opposed to human rights? Curious indeed.

Victoria Police is a shambles

I must admit I've been enjoying the spectacle that Victoria Police Commissioner Simon Overland has thrust upon us in the last few days. While News Ltd's campaign to remove a public official who they don't like from office would normally have me cheering for the other side, in this case I've got the popcorn out and enjoying the show see here .
Overland is a lightweight careerist who's played for the tv cameras his whole senior policing career, always saying the right things to the right people (radio host Neil Mitchell even once labelled him "Simon the likable") in order to increase his chances for promotion. Appointing the "plastic fantastic" (formerly from the AFP) Overland was always a recipe for disaster considering his new offsider (and unsuccessful candidate) was none other than the experienced and respected Sir Ken Jones. You don't have imported knighted commanders sitting around as numbers twos....especially when they're smarter than their boss. Overland almost certainly was jealous of Jones and saw him as a threat, so when the opportunity arose, he couldn't wait to stick the knife in.
And the Bailieu Government - no supporter of Overland - was caught completely off guard by Overland's churlish display. And to further show you the type of personality Overland is, instead of seeing the writing on the wall that the Government would like him to quietly disappear, took to the airwaves like a Treasurer selling the national accounts on Budget day. And to make matters worse, he didn't actually have anything substantial to say, while accusing Sir Ken of leaking to the media. He really is a piece of work this guy!
So it looks like now the ever cautious Bailieu, doesn't have the stomach for the fight, and has created an inquiry with surely the intention of finding fault in Overland's performance so he can sack him.....but no doubt hoping he'll have the decency to fall on his sword......which I predict he won't!

Sunday, May 8, 2011

a nutter for Baillieu to keep an eye on

While the Liberal Baillieu Government has come across as a pretty moderate outfit (which is why I supported them over Brumby) during its first 6 months in office, it should be remembered that they are still a "conservative" Government, and eternal vigilance is required.
And as an example, it looks like they've got a real right royal wiredo on the back benches by the name of Geoff Shaw see here . This bloke belongs to those God awful pentecostals (who are the worst of the worst), and while the angle of the story has focused on his gay/child molester jibe, I think equally insulting have been his comments in his maiden Parliamentary speech where he acknowledged ''the original owner of the land on which we stand - God, the Creator, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of the Bible''. This was nothing but a deliberate slap in the face directed towards Aborigines, a not so pleasant reminder that there's still plenty of people in the Liberal Party (and not just in West Australia) who don't go for this land rights justice mumbo jumbo for the "original owners", and that they'll need to take second place to God.
Of course while the Aborigines were the original peoples of this "Terra Nova", for a Member of Parliament to go into the chamber and make a speech to essentially claim ownership of the land to an abstract being, is plainly ridiculous.....but perhaps fitting for a pentecostal.
But to give you an example of how these pentecostals operate (and going back to the original story), instead of replying to his constituent with something along the lines of "thank you for your feedback etc etc", he just got nasty, in fact brutally nasty. From the reported remarks, what way is that to speak to a 20 year old constituent? But no doubt the "red rag to a bull" was the fact that this kid was gay, so immediately in the eyes of your average hate filled pentecostal he's "evil" and no longer needs to be treated with the respect deserving of a constituent.
A nutter for Baillieu to keep an eye on indeed.

Gillard out of her depth.....again

While having a read of this opinion piece on Gillard the other day see it here , I just couldn't help but shake my head at how incompetent and out of her depth she is in relation to foreign affairs (and generally for that matter).
After her embarrassing performance in Washington while addressing Congress, she then goes and makes a (diplomatic) fool of herself in Beijing, as was perfectly summed up by the correspondent, "if she was serious about improving human rights in China and the defence co-operation proposal was on the agenda she should have made it conditional on verifiable improvement in China’s human rights record".
The Gillard Government really is an amateur hour operation, and the really sad thing is that hiding in the shadows to take full advantage is none other than the dark lord himself - Tony Abbott......sad indeed.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

public transport causing early grief for Baillieu

Franchised train operator Metro Trains, through its incompetence, is causing some early grief for the Bailleu State Government. As I've mentioned previously, to divert attention from their own poor management practices, they tried to blame the driver's union for their appalling train performance figures, and now they're taking a caning over their new timetable which starts next week read here .
A suburban train timetable is a very complex beast, and by untangling it there's bound to be "winners and losers" out of it. But they (and the Government) seem to be like rabbits in the spotlight, totally gobsmacked for a response. Take this quote from the newly elected Liberal MP for the area covering Laburnum station which is losing 10 morning peak services; ''there is a reduction [in train services at Laburnum], but … we have to look at the future and how can we improve the problems on that line if we don't deal with the fundamental problems?''. Now I know she's only new to the game, but this has to be just about the most  nonsensical response to an issue that I've ever heard. At least the Brumbles.....sorry....Brumby media machine woud've spewed out all sorts of distracting data to back up their decision. Whereas all we get here is some sort of mumbling about the future from the local MP, and a "our hands are tied" response from the Minister.
So if they're having trouble selling that, lets see what their response will be when the media get a sniff that in the new timetable travel times have been lengthened on the Caufield group lines to make them more "realistic", ie. poor punctuality figures are covered up by adding more minutes to the journey. I wonder if we'll get any more babbling about the"future" on this one?
But the Baillieu Government's troubles are just starting if my sources are correct, apparently this Monday (to coincide with the new timetable) there's going to be a train driver's sickie boycott. So there'll be plenty of media there to film angry commuters screaming obscenities at Metro and the Government. Indeed plenty of uncomfortable days ahead me thinks?

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Canadian election lesson for the ALP?

I notice that the reviled arch conservative Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper has been returned to power with an outright majority see here .
The natural party of government (or Opposition), the Liberals, have suffered the ignominy of losing Opposition status to the New Democratic Party, a leftist party on the rise.
While I'm no expert on Canadians politics, the parallels with Gillard Labor couldn't be more ominous. As I've stated previously, the days of Labor being able to command a one party government may be over, as they alienate progressives and follow the script of the corporate elites, they're finding out that there'll be other progressive parties out there ready to fill the void.
So if I was Gillard right now, I'd be taking up a crash course in Canadian politics.

the death of bin Laden, American gloating....and "enhanced interrogation"

One of the most frustrating things upon learning about Osama bin Laden's death was that it coincided with my busiest period at work, making it difficult to read all the available information and analyse it properly.
So while Americans are (not unsurprisingly) gloating over the news, and the Democrats in particular scoring points that their man Obama got him instead of Bush. In fact, no sooner was Obama flashing his birth certificate, he was then flashing Bin-Laden's death certificate around (as so eloquently described by Robert Fisk), the Democrats should probably temper their enthusiasm as we're already seeing reports emerge claiming that Guantánamo captives provided information that led to the eventual tracking down of bin Laden.
First of all we have no way of knowing if any of these claims are correct, but you can be certain that Republicans will try to claim that torture....sorry....enhanced interrogation led to his killing, thereby justifying the brutal technique.
But before we put this manhunt down to the success of torture techniques, a little perspective is required;
  • the location, Abbottabad, is a Pakistani military garrison town.
  • is 100 yards away from a Pakistani military academy.
  • The house was much larger than others in the area.
  • It had a 18 foot wall in front, topped by barbed wire.
  • The third floor had an 8 foot privacy wall.
  • All garbage was burned on site, not placed outside for collection. 
  • Entrance was controlled by two stainless steel gates. 
  • The house had no phone lines or internet attached to it, unusual for such an expensive home
The most basic of intelligence and investigation techniques should've led the Americans to this location, apparently bin-Laden had been there for years? So as I've mentioned before, torture and "anti terror" laws are no substitute for decent investigating, almost without exception you'll have a better chance of success, instead of chasing down false leads from a person who'll say anything to make the pain stop.
It should not be forgotten that we've been in the midst of a Muslim awakening in the middle east in recent times, ordinary people wanting to throw off autocracy, not institute an Arab caliphate which was the aim of  Bin-Laden. What he represented was rapidly diminishing in the eyes of those who count, Muslims. In fact up until the recent bombing in Morocco targeting tourists, Al Qaeda appeared to be rattled by the Arab uprisings.
So while the world's headlines are dominated by the death of bin Laden, I'm of the opinion that the Al Qaeda brand was on the slide, yet it remains to be seen whether the American military and policy makers turn a positive into a fiasco.......an option that can't be ruled out?

Saturday, April 30, 2011

will the carbon tax, or refugees kill off Labor first?

A while back I offered my first praise of the Gillard Government see here over her "courage" in arguing for a carbon tax. But since that brief moment of sunshine, not alot has gone right for the Government, and it's all pretty much their own fault.
They're getting killed every day in the media over carbon, but have been completely inept at arguing why we need this tax on carbon so much, and what the benefits will be for all of us. But part of that slow burn has been caused by the lack of detail released which has allowed the dooms dayers to speculate at will at how expensive everything will be, and how many jobs and investment opportunities will be lost etc.
So while even wily commentators like Laurie Oakes have all but written of the Government  read it here , I'm prepared to wait until they release their budget, and release their carbon plan in full before writing their obituary.
But if carbon isn't enough of a bogey man for Labor, their asylum seeker policy is completely up in flames. East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta finally stuck the knife into the whole silly East Timor Processing Centre proposal, an idea that was never going to wash, and only designed to clear the decks for the election.
But Labor really only has itself to blame on this issue, they've been completely spooked by voting suburbia's inherent prejudice to "illegals" since the Tampa incident in 2001. A party with real leadership would argue that asylum seekers are a reality that we need to accept, and as a civilised tolerant country people escaping oppression will want to seek refuge here. And in the great scheme of things it's not really that big of an issue compared with Europe, for example in Greece between 2004 and 2008 the tally of arrested illegal immigrants rose from 44,987 to 146,337, and that's just the ones they caught! But Gillard (and Rudd before her) didn't have the courage to face down the populist chest thumping, and as punishment for their smoke and mirrors routine, they're now well and truly looking down the barrel.
But like I said earlier, I'm prepared to wait a little bit longer before writing them off completely, but to give you an idea of just hard it will be to turn things around, according to Essential Research, 61% of respondents see Labor as out of touch with voters, a devastating figure for a 3 and a half year old Government, and only 28% think Labor is clear on what it stands for. Very ominous numbers indeed.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Melbourne's train shambles continues

I'm actually quite surprised that it has taken 16 months into Metro's franchise contract for running Melbourne's rail network before the you know what has hit the fan. While the previous Labor Government tried to buy some time in its dying last year in office by turfing out Connex and bringing in the Hong Kong operator MTR in a pathetic attempt to show that it was "doing something" after a decade of maladministration (in public transport), the current operator has the dismal record of achieving its monthly punctuality target 3 times in 16 attempts see here .
But what you're seeing now from the operator is a pathetic public relations diversion onto the big bad driver's union as a cover for their own incompetence and poor performance. Behind the scenes my spies tell me that Metro has gone after the union in an attempt to show them who's boss, which is actually a reaction to the perception (and perhaps the reality?) that the unions were running the show in the Connex days.
Metro has apparently referred a huge amount of internal disputes to Fair Work Australia for adjudication as they're not willing to bow to the union's demands. But what Metro is very quickly finding out is that thanks to 50 years of under investment, the network is run entirely on "goodwill". And when you have train drivers who bust a gut trying to run their trains on time by making up the time from a previous delay being questioned and threatened with the sack for doing a few kms over track speed, what do you think that does to morale and future performance? No, this is entirely an issue of the failure of the Metro management team to understand the realities on the ground, and take their people with them on the journey. But instead what you have is the worst of both worlds, a Hong Kong company which combines an autocratic Communist Party Politburo mentality with an executive team made up almost entirely of British managers with a master-servant attitude.
What these people fail to realise is that the drivers union can strangle the entire system by simply advising their members to "work to rule", ie work strictly by the book and don't do anyone ANY favours. The system is that dilapidated that that is all it takes to bring it to a grinding halt.
The British based National Express Group barely lasted 3 years with their master-servant attitude before they packed up shop and headed back to the mother country with their tails between their legs, and so the question being asked now is, will Metro even make it to 3 years?

Monday, April 25, 2011

Lest we forget......the war mongers

While on this sombre day where we remember the Anzacs (and alternate views are not welcome), I personally prefer to remember the war mongers and policy makers who place the selfish geopolitical interests of themselves ahead of the greater human good, and send young men off to their likely deaths. For in fact if we care to at all briefly analyse Australia's past military engagements, we find that (in my view) about the only honourable campaign they have been involved in is WWII, a war where Australia's sovereignty was directly attacked.
In the Boer War Australians helped prop up British colonial might in South Africa, while WWI was a European power play whose result was unlikely to affect Australian sovereignty, but we were obligated to participate for the good of God and Empire.
Probably not much needs to be said about the motivations of America's self interested entry into the Korean, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, the script pretty much writes itself.
So while the beer swilling yahoos in footy jumpers stagger drunkenly towards the dawn service at Gallipoli in remembrance of the fallen, I'll continue to look at matters of war and peace from a completely different perspective. For I believe we can only truly do justice to the fallen by understanding why they died, and whose interest that served?

Sunday, April 17, 2011

cigarette packaging restrictions

It has been interesting to note while reading the views of the critics of the Federal Government's anti cigarette packaging measures read a typical example here they seem to have focused on two lines of defence;
1) the measures won't reduce smoking
2) the nanny state is imposing on us again
One of the intents of the Bill however is to de-glamorize the effect of pulling out a cigarette from a shiny cigarette packet and smoking with friends, if it's in a drab olive cardboard packet (the theory at least) is that will have an effect on future sales.
And interestingly the other thing that the critics of the bill are yet to pick up on is that if this Bill becomes law, just watch the skyrocket in sales of shiny "glamorous" cigarette cases. Why carry an olive packet around when you can use a cigarette case? Just watch them come back into style.
And while I have some sympathy for the nanny state defence, at the end of the day if the state is going to impose laws on us "for our own good", the cancerous addiction of smoking is not a bad place to start.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Dubai is a disgusting place

I'm so glad to see my prejudices confirmed in relation to my views on that God awful city Dubai read here . A Vanity Fair journalist has apparently written a beautiful polemic against the city of Dubai, and with typical authoritarianism, the authorities have removed the article in the local UAE edition. And with the typical obfuscation that you'd expect from the shifty sheiks that run the country, they're all pleading ignorance.
There's a million things wrong with Dubai, but I think the author sums it up best with this;
"Dubai has been built very fast. The plan was money. The architect was money. The designer was money.... And if you ever wondered what money would look like if it were left to its own devices, it's Dubai".

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

a villains convention?

After reading this piece see here about the upward looking career prospects of right wing columnist Andrew Bolt, it started to make a little more sense as to why he's so "successful" at his craft. For a start billionairess Gina Rinehart is a fan, who is reportedly keen to have a "right-wing Fox News-style show" in her network stable......so I guess they've come to the right guy there?
But if one billionaire as a patron is not enough, then there's also the Scientologist worshiping James Packer, who virtually stepped over dead bodies to (metaphorically, if not literally) embrace Bolt at the (of all places) Alan Jones Tribute Dinner.
And Packer remember is a guy thats failed at everything he's ever dabbled at in business, so perhaps Mr Bolt may wish to be weary of getting too close to that one?
And then of course there's his present employer and patron Saint himself Rupert Murdoch. So indeed, perhaps it's not such a mystery after all as to why Andrew Bolt is so "successful"?

Monday, April 4, 2011

Labor vs the Greens..and the future of progressive politics

There has been alot said in recent times about Labor's attack on the Greens "extremism", and alternatively the conservatives attack on the minority Labor Government being in bed with the Green monster.
While Opposition Leader Abbott's spinning of PM Gillard's attack on the Greens as a faux fight for the cameras is only distracting attention away from the Labor Party's very real concern over their long term ability to shake off the Greens menace on the progressive side of politics.
Gillard's comments that the Greens are "well intentioned", while in the same breath accusing them of not sharing "Australian values" is a transparent attempt to woo back those transient progressive voters who have strayed from the flock back to mother with horror stories of what evil lies beyond the hill. No wonder Bob Brown returned volley on that one.
Labor's real problem is that it is in danger of  perhaps never being able to govern in its own right again? The Greens are the only party standing up for true progressive causes; Palestine, anti war, equal rights, anti discrimination, climate change etc.
With a party membership (Labor) of about 45,000, and with the vast majority of that being inactive (ie stacked) members, you now have no intellectual base coming through with ideas and vision. You're essentially a dying party run by a nomenklatura at party headquarters.
While the inner city seats still rely on Liberal preferences for the Greens to win, its only a matter of time before their vote is strong enough to roll labor. There's now too many educated "elites" who won't fall for Labor's empty branding and sloganeering in those seats. So once you've lost that intellectual base of your Party, who's left? The lower socio-economic class migrant seats with their rusted on voters?
Former Liberal Party Senator Reg Withers once scoffed at the idea when asked that the Liberals may be finished as a major Party, primarily because any Party that regularly polls 40% of the primary vote is only a step away from Government. And this is Labor's problem, their days of breaking 40% may be well and truly over?
So where is Labor to go, "moving forward" (to use their own cringe worthy slogan)? Do they follow the US Democratic Party model of morphing into what were once moderate Republicans, leaving a massive void on the Left which the Greens will gladly accept? You can (maybe) get away with that in the land of "enterprise", but a recipe for disaster in this country.
Former PM Keating pilloried the current Party apparatchiks for not believing in anything, and the next generation of power hungry young men are (believe me) no better!
Perhaps the Labor Party needs to reconnect with its base, and that doesn't mean listening to ambitious union leaders sniffing out a future pre-selection either. But the men and women of the branches, good people with ideas on climate change, human/equal rights, a balanced foreign policy, economics, national identity and a wealth of other important issues which can help define the Labor Party.
But the real danger is that it may already be too late?

The Bolt irony

Currently before the courts is a racial vilification case against News Ltd flame thrower Andrew Bolt see here . As part of his defence, Bolt has argued that "the offending pieces ought in any case to be protected by the implied constitutional right to free speech".
This is marvellously ironic due to the fact that he has been an ardent critic of the Victorian Human Rights Charter, as well as being one of the leading voices who successfully scuttled a federal version being introduced. And as this court action is under federal law, there is no Charter to turn to for protection, instead he's being forced to rely on an "implied" right to free speech.
But he may very well find out that relying on "implied" protections are no substitute in a civilised society against the power of the State, or litigious or wealthy individuals.
Irony indeed.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Keating right on the money once again

After reading about ex PM Paul Keating's intervention in the machinations of the NSW Labor Party, I have to agree 100% with what he had to say read it here . John Robertson is one of the key players responsible for the fourth term Government going completely off the rails into Greek tragedy, and now he wants the leadership as a reward? And I'm so glad to see him also fingering that God awful Mark Arbib for special mention too.
Keating is one of a dying breed of Labor figures with a vision, courage and character. A man who was never interested in opinion polls, but rather led from the front and changed the public's view of a policy through the force of the argument, not the other way around of listening to a bunch of whingeing Wendys in a focus group.
In fact Keating was the first to publicly warn Rudd when he was still Opposition Leader that listening to mealy mouthed advisers who need to rely on a focus group to "decide which side of the bed to get out of" was a recipe for disaster. But after a barrage of criticism, he stayed silent thereafter to give Labor a clear run through to the election.
So while it's easy for every blow in commentator and party hack to come in now and take a shot at NSW Labor, the record clearly shows that when Keating has something to say, party figures should listen.

rape and adultery in UAE

Here is another example of the dangers of being a woman and seeking financially attractive employment in God awful places like the United Arab Emirates read here .
While the liability of the hotel's actions is before the courts, the issue I'm interested in has always been why westerners (especially women) continue to see the UAE is a place to live and work?
This is essentially nothing but another propped up dictatorship where working migrants from Asia are in essence treated no better than serfs. But so long as the money keeps flowing in and we all keep silent, who really cares about the reality on the ground?
The governing classes of this fake country can only be described as awful human beings, which makes it not very surprising that a white hotel worker can be raped, then charged with adultery for having the temerity of reporting the crime (which causes unnecessary "inconvenience" to the authorities).
The lesson in all of this is that, unlike in say Turkey, you can't (as a woman) live a "western" lifestyle of making good money, nightclubs and alcohol without the risk of consequences.
But as we've seen with other western backed autocracies in Tunisia and Egypt (despite very different circumstances), people power can bring them down very quickly, and in the case of the UAE.....I hope they will!

Sunday, March 6, 2011

dodgy parking companies get their just deserts

The Victorian Baillieu Government had its first new consumer law triumph with the recent passing of the Fair Trading Act amendments see here . It looks like these rogue car parking companies will finally start becoming accountable for their actions (to a point), as they've been getting away for far too long with the scam of issuing pseudo parking "fines" to vehicles that have overstayed the time limit in parking bays controlled by these private operators.
Instead of actually running a proper parking lot where you need to go past a barrier gate to enter/exit and are aware upfront of what the cost will be, these money grubbing cowboys prefer to let cars enter at will and have their pseudo parking officers issue "fines" to vehicles that have overstayed. And who is to decide what this "fine" will be, and with no accountability or governmental oversight? The parking operator of course, they seem to think they can charge what they like so long as they mention it in the fine print of that massive sign on the lot. Well sorry, but any bush lawyer can tell you that a business's conditions of entry do not override the applicable state laws.
But the real reason these cowboy operators have been able to flourish in this state is because the previous State Government allowed these companies to access the Vicroads database for the purposes of sending people threatening payment demands. Despite all our strict privacy laws, it's almost incomprehensible to think that the State allows outside private entities such access to privileged information. The only other example I'm aware of private companies accessing the Vicroads database are the private franchised public transport companies, but their officers are proscribed Authorised Officers and are governed by appropriate legislation.
While it's not clear in the article whether these companies will still be able to access the Vicroads database, at least the practice of continuously sending out threatening follow up letters will cease once a request has been made for the matter to be heard in court.
And just like the god awful car clamping cowboys that roamed the streets of Melbourne in the early 90s until the Kennett Government killed them off via legislation, hopefully Baillieu is taking the first step to doing the same thing with these guys.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Gillard finally grows some cahoonas

After spending the best part of the last six months criticising and ridiculing PM Gillard, I've finally gained some respect for her. And how did this occur? Well bizarrely it involved the cynical and deliberate tactic of rejecting a carbon tax on the eve of the election, knowing full well that's exactly what you're going to introduce straight afterwards.
Now while a broken promise (on such a game changing issue) is nothing to be proud of, at least we're now having a proper old fashioned political debate about an issue of immense importance. While the complex issue of climate change (and what to do about it) can be argued elsewhere, what really impressed me was that Gillard threw away the focus groups results playbook and decided for the first time to act like a leader, ie leading from the front and arguing a case of why we need this carbon tax. A leader must lead from the front while facing down their opponent's scares.
The script is pretty easy to follow, whether it's a GST or a carbon tax, the Opposition will argue that the sky will fall in if it's introduced, while the Government must be able to stare down the hysteria and tell us why this policy is for the greater good etc.
So despite all the mouth frothing and analysis thus far over who's winning and who's losing, for me this "courageous decision" has not only put the Government back in the game, it's given them a raison d'etre which they've so sorely lacked since the election.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

post Mubarak Egypt....and Obama's smoke and mirrors

Today I awoke to the news that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has stepped aside as President and handed over power to the military, this of course was conceding the inevitable after yesterday's bizarre "sort of, but not really" handover to his closely allied Vice President which so enraged everyone further.
And after watching Obama's reaction to the news of Mubarak's demise, I couldn't help but chuckle at his references to people's struggles for freedom and democracy, for he really is the salesman in chief.  His reference to 1989 reminded me of Chomsky's quote; "One 1989 comparison has some validity: Romania, where Washington maintained its support for Nicolae Ceausescu, the most vicious of the East European dictators, until the allegiance became untenable. Then Washington hailed his overthrow while the past was erased"
And this is exactly what is happening now, Mubarak is being quickly transformed from our "great friend" to a Hitleresque character.
Obama's inspiring words of Egyptian "moral force" and  "this is the power of the human dignity, that can never be denied" would actually mean something if it wasn't the USA that was responsible for that denial of human dignity for the last 30 years!
So where to now for Egypt? With the fall of eastern European communism, and the return of democracy in Latin America, their are plenty of templates available on how to peacefully transition to democracy, and if ever the United Nations has a role to play, it is now. Washington on the other hand will try to pull the strings as best it can, but how far it's willing to push remains to be seen? The political forces to the Right are very strong however, and they still speak completely without irony of their right to impose a government of their liking on Egypt. The Billy McMahon of American politics, Sarah Palin even today said "we should not stand for that", in reference to the Muslim Brotherhood potentially coming to power.
And America still wonders why most people in the Middle East hate them with a passion?

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

sticking the boot into multiculturalism...again!

Following on from British Prime Minister David Cameron's recent cynical Muslim bashing exercise see here , the Australian tabloids decided to get in their two cents worth as well. The Melbourne Herald Sun's editorial read it here was especially disappointing, considering it originates from a city that is probably world's best practice in interracial harmony. Both sides of state politics have always been supportive of multiculturalism, yet this hasn't stopped the Herald Sun dog whistling to some of its less than enlightened readership with comments like; "what needs to be asked with some urgency in this country is not what Australia is doing to accommodate ethnic minorities, but what these groups are doing to assimilate with the Australian community" and that some "do not embrace the Australian way of life and remain apart". This of course is a thinly veiled jibe at the Muslims, the great ogre of western civilisation. And in case you didn't get the point, the former Immigration Minister, the badly tainted Kevin Andrews came out with a bizarre rant about not wanting to eat meat that's been slaughtered "in the name of Allah" see here .
Of course what the underlying issue really is, is that mono cultural, monolingual Protestant Anglo Australians like Andrews cannot adjust to the fact that Australia is no longer a British colony of Anglo-Celtic stock (who like to eat fish n chips on Fridays). While these conservatives promote freedom and liberalism, they just can't seem to accept people with a slightly different view of the world are Australians too. They constantly talk about acceptance of "Australian values", but what exactly are they? Values change over time, they're not written down, just as at one time slavery what an intrinsic British "value".
In a free society people can associate with whoever they want, speak whatever language they want, hate cricket if they want, and wear a veil in public if they want. We have a proud multicultural pedigree in Victoria, and history has shown that by embracing tolerance rather than demonising minorities, we've managed to build a pretty decent society. Lets not allow the Kevin Andrews' of this world to talk down what we've achieved.  

Tony Abbott's "Latham moment"

While I had some sympathy for Tony Abbott following the initial furore over his "shit happens" comments regarding the death of an Australian soldier in Afghanistan - I mean after all shit does happen in a war zone, and there's no reason to doubt Abbott's sincerity over the death - his follow up deer in the spotlights interview  see here was just about the most embarrassing thing I've seen from a major party leader since Alexander Downer's "things that batter" gaffe.
I would even go as far as to say that this is a career ending performance? A Beazley or a Turnbull may've survived that type of performance because they were at least considered politicians of substance, but Abbott has so many question marks against him already that he just couldn't afford such an embarrassment. For a man who's considered a dangerous ideologue and a bully, to do a Latham and look like you want to punch the reporter in the face is a horrible mis-step.
And this performance comes at a time when Abbott is defending the insensitive Liberal Party donation campaign to stop the flood levy (you know, any money you have to donate to a worthy cause, don't give it to the flood charity, donate it to us instead so we can use it to score political points).
So while the Prime Minister shakes off her wooden image with that cynical use of the flag as a prop in the Lower House (which undoubtedly will play well to the masses, but not with me), Abbott just comes across as nasty and mean spirited.
Like I've said previously, I don't expect either of them to be leading their parties at the next election.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

British PM bags multiculturalism

After reading this article where British PM David Cameron intends to criticise state multiculturalism, my immediate reaction was, gee this bloke must be in trouble if he's slagging off at the Muslims so early into his term? This is normally a tactic used by long term stale leaders who are on their last legs and are looking for a cheap popularity boost, but it's surprising for a first term "moderate" Conservative Government.
In the proposed speech Cameron brings up all the usual gripes about multiculturalism;
different cultures are encouraged to live apart
need of a stronger sense of citizenship and national belonging
Muslims don't believe in our "values" (my interpretation of his argument)
I can't help but roll my eyes at these same old arguments reappearing over and over again. Ok, let's start with the "stronger sense of citizenship" argument, as has been used here in Australia so politically brilliantly by then PM Howard, what this means is wrapping yourself in the Union Jack and identifying with the majority Anglo culture. And if you're not of Anglo stock....well you're not really one of "us" are you? Best that you be kept at arm's length. So is it any wonder that when the majority culture thinks that way of its minorities, some of these people will begin to feel marginalised and rebel? I mean think about it, how many properly qualified people even in enlightened liberal democracies like Australia or Britain have missed out at job interviews because their name is Mohamed or Habib? So we treat them like second class citizens, ensure their long term unemployment, then criticise them for bludging off the welfare state and refusing to assimilate.
And the other main argument being that Muslims don't share our "values" of  "freedom of speech, freedom of worship, democracy, the rule of law, equal rights, regardless of race, sex or sexuality, and that "to belong here is to believe these things". Am I the only one who sees the irony in celebrating freedom of thought on the one hand, yet if you have different thoughts on any of those subjects you don't "belong" here? So we're free to believe some things and express them, yet some free thoughts are non negotiable?
But as usual it's the Muslims who get a bad wrap, don't most religious Jews lead separate lives however and owe their allegiance to Israel (and to God)? Where is their loyalty? And what about the Hindus with their forced marriages and honour killings?
My point being that if the authorities take this line of singling out minorities, where does it end? If you turn the electorate against these people and create a culture of hate, then you end up with a self fulfilling prophesy.
We have adequate laws in place to deal with people who step over that line and resort to some barbaric cultural village practice (which usually has nothing to do with religion) against their wife or daughter.
The positives of multiculturalism really do bloom however with the second generation who are born in their parent's adopted homeland, people who as they grow to adulthood usually have loyalty to their country of birth, yet don't see the world through the blinkered eyes of their Anglo neighbours. We the offspring of migrants are an untapped resource, multilingual in an embarrassingly monolingual world (Australia, UK, USA), a living link with other societies that can easily be exploited for trade/business/cultural links, yet our governments prefer to downplay that as much as possible.

Friday, February 4, 2011

the future for post Mubarak Egypt?

As the inevitable demise of the Mubarak regime gets closer by the day (and who knows what will follow after Friday prayers tonight?), we are seeing yet more column space being taken up by trepidation of what's in store for a post Mubarak (see Islamic) Egypt here's an example .
The usual arguments are put forward, the Islamists are wolves in sheep's clothing, once they take power they'll "destabilize" the region etc. Well pardon me, but western interests have done such a great job thus far at "stabilizing" the region....I mean give me a break!
The reason that there's a power vacuum in Egypt right now is due to the fact that opposition groups have been horrendously persecuted over the last 30 years by Mubarak, with the usual nudge and a wink from Washington. So it's a bit rich now to be wringing out hands at the thought of a possible Islamic takeover of the country?
And perhaps it wouldn't be such a bad thing afterall? I mean when you get a guy like Israeli PM Netanyahu begging Obama to "go easy" on Mubarak, it almost makes you want to go running into the arms of the Muslim Brotherhood!
I mean the arrogance of the western mentality is almost beyond comprehension, these commentators and "policy makers" speak as if they have some sort of right to meddle in the affairs of these countries, well they DON'T. If the people elect an Islamic regime, and they turn out to be brutes, then so be it! Just give the Egyptian people a chance to sort out their own affairs without imperial meddling.
And who knows, they may even surprise you?

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Gillard, Abbott, the flood levy....and the lack of leadership

Ross Gittins of the Sydney Morning Herald recently wrote a piece bemoaning the destructive partisanship in the federal political sphere at present read it here , with comments along the line of "what he's saying (Tony Abbott) to the nation is: I'll do all in my power to make Parliament unworkable until you make me leader".
Well Gittins is certainly correct in criticizing Abbott - just about the most objectionable Opposition Leader we've had in modern memory - and the public in general for not supporting the quite mild flood levy. But in order to understand why that's happening, we have to look at the other side of the political divide, and there I think lies our answer?
In power at present we have the extraordinarily lightweight Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who since rolling Kevin Rudd last year for the top job has gone on to underwhelm us all with her performance. While Deputy Prime Minister, she took on the role of Question Time comedian in chief, and revelled in the all puff piece profiles of our lady in waiting by the journalistic sisterhood. So as the speculation continued to mount about a possible challenge, I naively held to the belief that the factional warlords wouldn't roll a first term PM who led Australia successfully through the GFC. And I didn't want to listen to my contact (who likes to ingratiate himself with those same warlords) who prophesized that Gillard would come to power with enormous fanfare, and be swept to victory in a honeymoon election a few months later.
Well he got the first part right, she successfully knifed Rudd, but only fell over the line in a hung parliament election, and this only because the Opposition were led by the unelectable ideologue Abbott.
So she came into the job a pragmatic centrist with no strong ideological views (a careerist in my view), and with me being a cynic my expectations for her were very low to begin with, but since taking over she has managed to prove to everyone that even I had overestimated her talents! She is showing the nation with every passing day that she is dangerously out of her depth, and her wooden, scripted responses to issues are certainly not endearing her to the electorate.
So getting back to Gittins' point, I believe the reason that Gillard has suffered such blow back to the levy, with Abbott feeling empowered to attack it, is because everyone can so clearly see through her; she inspires NO ONE, with confidence in the institutions of Government being at historic lows.
I came to the conclusion that after her embarrassing wikileaks comments late last year that her position was now terminal, and only a matter of time before her demise. This of course doesn't necessarily mean that Abbott will be the next Prime Minister, it's quite possible that there'll be two new people sitting in the PM and Opposition Leader's chairs by the time of the next election?
And Gillard?.....well she may take up her rightful place as a Madame Tussauds exhibit?

Monday, January 31, 2011

Justin Madden and Scientology

I've never particularly been much of a fan of former footballer and Victorian Planning Minister Justin Madden, but I usually tolerated his awkward goofiness, that is until now. His decision to come out on the weekend and ingratiate himself with the wicked cult Scientology at the opening of one of their new churches in Melbourne read here was the straw that broke the camel's back. He's now made my metaphorical Nixonesque "enemies list".
When we even take just a cursory look back, this guy seems to have had poor judgement his entire political career? But that's what you get when you pick "celebrity" candidates for high office.
It all started for me when he first entered the Parliament (and the Ministry) in 1999 where at the swearing in ceremony photo op he made a bizarre reference to being thrilled to be getting a State funeral when he dies.
While that may've been a display of poor judgement for a green MP, his record since then hasn't been much better.
Let's see; his Turkish staffer Hakki Suleyman, right under his nose, was up to all sorts of mischief in Brimbank Council while his daughter was the Mayor.
He's responsible for corrupting the planning process in the Windsor Hotel redevelopment.
Fast tracking planning approval of property owned by his first cousin.
And this is the same guy who has the audacity to say he wouldn't mind being Premier one day. Unfortunately for Madden, a potential Premier has to have sound judgement, and for a guy who comes out heaping praise on a vicious cult, his judgement is sadly lacking.

the Right are terrified of Arab "democracy"

Just at the moment that Arab people power is on the brink of overthrowing a corrupt brutal regime with passionate calls for democracy to be introduced into Egypt, the usual right wing flame fanners are suddenly back tracking on this whole democracy thing see here .
But here's what's troubling the "democracy seekers"; when a western sponsored dictatorship crumbles, who is left to fill the void? The Islamists of course, who have a genuine grass roots following and can at least be counted on to act ethically in a country rife with systematic corruption. If they rise to power, then so be it! So despite the reservations of the Right, do you think that a country like Egypt which has had so much exposure to the western world (compared with Afghanistan) will fall into the trap of tolerating Taliban style fanatics in power? I can't envision tourist resorts with bikini clad women being shut down by the religious police should the Islamists take power, their economy relies way too heavily on tourism for that.
But once again, it's a case of stay tuned.......

Saturday, January 29, 2011

the Egypt "dilemma"

Following on from the Tunisian inspired protests, the Egyptian people are courageously taking a stand against the western backed autocratic regime of President Hosni Mubarak.
At the time of writing, the President has sacked the government and is installing a "new government".....whatever that actually means?
But herein lies the dilemma for the President, does he take the usually accepted method (by the west in any case with a nudge and a wink) of bringing in the security forces and brutally crushing the rebellion and showing everyone who's boss?
Or does he take option B, which involves accommodating the wishes of the people and bringing in some democratic reforms?
In this day and age with satellite tv, internet, social media etc, it's alot harder to crush a revolt without having to deal with the blow back of all the uncomfortable pictures flashing around the world of your brutal regime in action. You're probably not likely to win any Nobel Peace Prizes after that?
Or as we've seen with option B already, once you provide oxygen to the protesters demands, they become empowered and ask for more freedoms (ie, real democracy)...the cheek of them?
Mubarak really seems to have painted himself into a corner now by trying to "appease" the protesters. While it's difficult to see someone who's been in (autocratic) power for so long voluntarily stepping away into a quiet retirement, it's increasingly looking like he may have no other choice? Unless he decides to unleash a wave of brutality? Stay tuned.......

Friday, January 28, 2011

Olympics are not worth the money

As the preparations get into full swing for the 2012 Olympics in London, one again has to step back for a moment and look at the enormous cost of hosting this monstrous event.
And when we look at the recent history of this event (when held in democracies), it's not a pretty site.
Many Greeks still blame the Games for the beginnings of their current state of crisis, and one can't help but have some sympathy for that position. Their security costs just kept skyrocketing on the back of massive pressure from America and its Anglo allies to "do more". One of the guiltiest offenders in this regard were the Australian media who pummeled Greece for months with terrifying stories insinuating that the only surprise would be if a bomb DIDN'T go off. So when it was all over and done with, the Greeks were left to pick up (essentially) the American's tab.
Sydneysiders are not far behind either, they also pinpoint the beginning of their decline with the closing ceremony at Homebush.....admittedly the've had an incompetent State Government the whole time which hasn't helped.
The Atlanta Games were a well documented disaster, so you'd have to go back to 1992 to find a city that actually benefited from the event?
So while London gets deeper and deeper into debt ensuring we have a safe Games (by having the military parading around with machines guns on every street corner like a tin pot dictatorship presumably?), who is going to pay the bill once all the corporate jets have left the tarmac?  The taxpayer of course, or more accurately, their offspring.
So once again the question needs to be asked, with most sports already discredited with steroid abuse, how many billions need to be wasted before we say; "that's too much" to pay for a two week ego boost? 

Obama and the deficit

It was recently reported that the US budget deficit has now hit $1.5 trillion, or in more ominous language, 9.8% of GDP.
We're talking about some serious debt here, so bad in fact that it's getting close to the tipping point of being unmanageable. So what is Obama to do? He's recently caved in on the high income tax cuts (with the obvious plan of opposing then when they expire in an election year), and the Republican vultures are now circling around "Obamacare", and to a lesser extent Medicare. Republican House Leader John Boehner joined in the ridiculing of Obama with the jibe that "America's Sputnik moment is the fact that we're broke, and the American people know we're broke and we've got to do something about our spending''.
Well Boehner is dead right about that, and any responsible government would start looking at what's massively bloated and in need of a trim? The obvious logical answer is the Defense budget, which is around 5% of GDP. But this of course is the untouchable sacred cow of US politics, not even the Democrats want to touch this one and be accused of being "soft". But sooner or later the US will realise that it has no other option than to abandon its overseas follies. But as they say, pride comes before the fall, and the only real danger here in the years ahead is just how far are the political establishment going to allow the US to tumble before they face the inevitable? My instinct tells me they have a Saddam Husseinesque pigheadedness to these things, and they will fall embarrassingly low before admitting the reality?

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Broadmeadows pre-selection

It now looks increasingly likely that non ALP member Frank McGuire (or as he will soon be known as, "Eddie's brother") will be parachuted into the vacant seat of Broadmeadows at the upcoming by-election (if he survives the threats of legal action?).
Despite the embarrassment of not even being a member of the party (what do political beliefs have to do with anything anyway?), lives in plush Brighton, and used to work for an ex Democrats leader, the Shorten-Conroy cabal have brushed aside the normal pre-selection procedure to install yet another celebrity candidate (anyone remember Kirsty Marshall?).
While this would normally call for cynicism, I guess it's better than having that branch stacking Turk Burhan Yigit propped into one of Labor's safest seats. And it is oh so safe, the simpletons of the Broadmeadows region are not smart enough to vote for anyone else on an issue by issue basis, they're completely rusted on (and there to be taken advantage of by the ALP).
I guess voters in safe seats get the representatives they deserve at times?

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

drugged up athletes denying the undeniable

While I was reading a recent article about celebrity (or socialite to be exact) Totti Goldsmith getting busted for allegedly being in possession of cocaine at a rock music festival, her denials of the allegations got me thinking of all those god awful athletes (especially cyclists and track and field competitors) who when caught, immediately switch to plausible deniability mode, and plead that there's been some kind of terrible mistake and that they're innocent of the allegations. Well there's been a mistake alright, they didn't use enough masking agent and got caught! While making no aspersions on dear old Totti, this appalling mindset that exists in professional sport that we just deny everything really has got to change. And perhaps it might if we had journalists who actually took these athletes to task for their crimes, instead we usually see an instinctive maternal response where the media laps up their denials while continuing to portray them in the best possible light.
And if the media are not bad enough, when these allegations finally go before the relevant authorities, (as an example I'll use cyclist Nathan O'Neill) they're found guilty of a violation, yet the Arbitrator slaps them on the wrist with a "no significant fault or negligence" finding! I mean no wonder these guys can just keep blatantly taking drugs, because they know that even if they get caught with something in their system, they can usually come up with a plausible denial that we'll gladly swallow. The media won't vilify them too much, they'll keep their sponsors, and at worst they'll have a short ban for an "unintended" violation. That's how these things seem to work I'm afraid.
And btw, does anybody still remember that Shane Warne is a convicted drug cheat?

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Australia day

As we approach Australia Day, it's that time again to see the usual jingoistic articles and photos of drunken blond haired cultureless teenagers draped in the Australian flag chanting oi oi oi telling us how "proud" they are to be Australian.
Well I'll tell what I'm proud of this Australia Day, I'm proud of;
universal health insurance
quality public schools
compulsory voting
having a national broadcaster
While I'm certainly NOT proud that we invaded a peaceful peoples and virtually made them extinct,
that we have (or are) fighting others colonial wars
that we have a head of state who is hereditary (and not even Australian)
that we have a "Queen's birthday" public holiday (which is not even on her birthday)
that we demonise the less fortunate (ie refugees) while espouting the Aussie fair go.
Australia is a country with alot going for it, but constitutional maturity is not our strongest virtue. Perhaps when (or if?) we become a Republic that has acknowledged our ancestor's mistakes, I'll have something to be proud of on Australia Day.

real policing, not terror laws catches criminals

Following the Moscow airport bombing today read here we are likely to see a crackdown from the Russian Security forces against the predominantly Muslim Northern Caucasus, with the predictable round up of the usual suspects for their annual beatings and the like. But this of course will not solve the problem (in all likelihood exacerbate it?), and nor will blaming the perceived lax security at the airport. While less than enlightened governments rush to bring in draconian legislation in order to look tuff after a terrorist attack, there's very little evidence to show that standard competent police investigations wouldn't have brought in the same result. If the state is relying on bag searches at airports, train stations etc to stop a suicide bomber then they're in for a sad reality check. A potential terrorist needs to be caught at the plotting stage, ie alarm bells should be ringing when person X purchases excessive fertiliser, or components for other terror making equipment. This is how real police catch criminals, not rounding up "enemies" for a beating...which is valuable time lost looking for real criminals.