Shivers Looking For A Spine To Crawl Up

Australian politics used to be a joy to watch. 

Especially Question Time, even as a 15 year old I used to record the sitting of the house at 2 am and watch it the next day once cartoons were over after school. What a boring nerd I hear you say. Well, yes. But it did give me a great education in how to insult somebody in a polite and clever way. 

Part of my attraction to Australian politics was the wit and cutting remarks made by Paul Keating. You can say what you like about him as a Prime Minister but has there ever been another sharply witted politician ready with an array of verbal barbs to throw across the chamber?

When I look at Question Time these days it’s tamer than a domestic cat. Sure, it has its moments but there is no real talent for wit anymore, all we get now is more of the same old shouting but no actual cleverness with responses. Perhaps that’s due to the symbiotic culture of focus groups and bland generic responses that the governments since Keating have attached themselves to?

 And it’s not just in this term from this this government either.  It’s been in decline since Howard took the helm.  One of Howard’s flaws was he could never come up with stinging one-liners unlike Peter Costello who in my opinion was the Heir to Keating’s throne of wit. Howard, who was an excellent Prime Minister, lacked that gut reaction in the House. 

Today we have the boring robospeak of Julia Gillard and the unfunny comedy styling’s of Anthony Albanese to contend with. Albo’s talent as a Parliamentary performer is so defunct that the mute button on my remote is wearing out. 

If any of the Labor front bench has a knack for wit it’s Count Dracula himself Craig Emerson. Though not a great mind of our political times he does come up with comparable material to Keating. Barnaby Joyce also holds his own in the wit department, though he could use some refinement.

What I think is wrong is that Kevin Rudd is too folksy, Julia Gillard is too robotic and Wayne Swan is just a waste of space.  Tony Abbott is too staunch, Turnbull is too self-interested, Scott Morrison is passionate but lacks the dryness and Joe Hockey often comes up with some real bangers but fails in the delivery.

I’ll give credit to Penny Wong and Eric Abetz both of whom often give good verbal jousts in the Senate but lack the decency of audience awareness to keep up a theme against each other. 

Then there is the Greens, well they’ve yet to say anything of value on any topic at all. Let alone be witty and smart, instead they act all “holier than thou” sitting like pious fairies waiting to catch that next rainbow to Unicorn land.

I’d like our leaders to be jovial and witty once again. I’d like to see decent debates with genuine answers and memorable one-liners to keep me amused. Sadly, my desire to see a return to the old and much better style of political attack is probably never going to happen. So I guess I’m lucky that I have twitter and the #QT hashtag to read during Question Time.

(It was a quick post today as I've got many a thing to do.)

What's Right with Auspol?

So, what's wrong with Auspol? Some people seem to be getting worked up into a fever over it. To me, the whole point of twitter is to micro blog. If that means you want to blog about Australian Politics then tweet about it.

If you don’t want to be known by the millions of users who use twitter then good for you. It’s not up to somebody else to come and dictate what twitter is or is not. 

Twitter and the people I've come to speak with on the 'dreaded' Auspol hashtag have turned out to be very decent people. That's from the Left and the Right. 

Auspol is a place of many things, from serious political discussion to pointless insults and even parody accounts of Australian politicians (some funny, some pure nonsense). That is the charm and the cesspit of Auspol. I don’t have a problem with other people expressing an opinion using the Auspol hashtag; in fact I find that having a twitter feed like Auspol is a good thing that helps us build a better and more robust discussion on issues we find of importance to us as a country. We can disagree with each other and throw insults but I find on other issues and in normal discussions that people are just people with opinions. Sometimes we agree at other times we don’t.

There are light moments when tweeple joke around and then there are times when I have to sit back and bite my tongue because somebody made an idiotic comment. I'm also one of those people who have made such idiotic comments before so I'm not making out as if I'm beyond reproach.  

My point is that Auspol is a unique part of Australian political chatter. It can be improved upon and people should have the right to engage in political discussion without fear of bullying or being called names. BUT, you have to admit that the population of Auspol are very passionate about our future, regardless of what side of the divide they sit on. This at least makes me think that we have hope yet. 

I couldn’t care less if you don’t use your own name, as long as you are making a contribution in what manner you like to political discourse then that's okay with me. If you don’t want to hear what people have to say on Auspol then the solution is not to visit it. Block the hashtag and find other ways to engage on twitter. 

At the very least be around long enough to know how people tweet and what they mean by those tweets. Not everybody has the ability to type exactly what they want to say in 140 characters, so you need to take people's opinions lightly until you get to know them better.

What's right with Auspol is what's right with Australia. We all like to have a dig at each other but for the most part it is not malicious or slanderous, it’s just the way we are.

(Okay, the Auspol Wars image is lame but I can’t be bothered finding a more suitable one.)

The Reform Option

The day and age of having one white and one black Australia is over. It’s time that we as a Nation stood together and started taking the Reform issue more seriously than just as an occasional issue that pops up.  The political football that governments use to hide behind when the heat is on.

By reform, I mean real reform not tweaking bad policy or announcing new initiatives that continue only to serve the fiefdoms that have controlled Indigenous earmarked funding for the last 25 years. Real reforms are what will achieve on the ground results in Aboriginal communities.

 It’s time that we reformed Land Rights into an easier and more workable piece of Legislation. It’s not fair for Traditional Owners to have to deal with a bastardised bureaucracy that again only serves those within the fiefdom structure. Land Rights reform should be about making sure that Land is available for cultural use and not for the gain of Land Council CEO's and families. It is not their Land. Land Right Reform should be about diluting the power of Land Councils and having them absorbed into Local Councils as another Department. Is should be about conservation of Land Assets and not about pimping it out the highest bidder. Of course when I talk of this type of reform I'm referring mainly to the Urban Land Councils. The remote Land Councils have a whole set of different issues that I am not familiar with so I won’t speak about those, even as an opinion. 

Reform of Aboriginal Medical Centres must be made to prevent those within the community who can afford private Health Care from using the system. It is not there as a Right. It is there for those who cannot afford other Health Care systems. I’d be more than happy to see the whole system scrapped and the money spent on other areas. It’s about making the right investment choices on how Tax -Payer money should be spent. What’s the point of having segregated Health Systems?

Indigenous Leaders like Noel Pearson should be the ones who we listen to when it comes to creation of sustainable Employment. It should be those who put up or shut up that we listen to when it comes the hard sell of Welfare Reform not because Aboriginal people are dole-bludgers (I’m sure that many are) but because Welfare Reform is important for all Australians. It’s important to have a purpose in life that doesn’t revolve around every fortnight and Dole Day.  Programs such as CDEP looked great on paper but nothing was ever achieved in the long term for most participants.

The Apology to the so called ‘Stolen Generations’ was a milestone in our national history and a highlight in our nations pride. But what has Labor done since then? If you just heard crickets in the background then it must be nothing much. 

Why is it that when I attend Indigenous based meetings the Aboriginal people can say White C*nt this and White c*unt that and no White people get offended? I’m half Aboriginal and the European in me is offended by this double standard. If I am to speak up about it almost as the last of the air pushing my words out is weakening the claims that I am a traitor fly flying thick and fast. I’m not a traitor to anything. I believe in Australia for all Australians.

I don’t want there to be a divide down the middle that makes each side resent each other. I’m sick of explaining why some Aboriginals drive Fleet Cars when I think unless you have a damn good reason in your job then that money should have been spent on hospital beds and better roads, for all Australians.

So let’s cut the bullshit and start making reforms that work for all Australians. Let’s find the grassroots support that exists and exploit it for the betterment of everybody. Let’s stop the waste and double-dipping from the Tax-Payer trough. Let’s make it fair for everybody. That’s what I think anyway.

(This article is far too short to be considered a thought out view but it drives me bonkers and I had to get it off my chest.)

The World According To Bob

I am fed up with the Greens. Never in the history of my somewhat 'short' life have I seen such an arrogant and politically loose Party, ready to sell its principles out for a quick political advantage. Look at the Malaysia People Swap deal. It goes right against a central policy platform of the Greens but if it suits them to ignore it that's what they do. Any Party worth its sense of pride would have dumped support for this Government over such an abhorrent deal. Its just like they did when Kevin Rudd tried to introduce his ETS. It wasn’t good enough for them so they voted it down. It was a start and could have been worked out in more detail over time. Still, there was no advantage in that for them to do that though. So it was a big old Bob Brown, No.

Bob Brown and his supporters are not all there in the head. They are a fringe party full of current, ex-socialists and latte sipping inner city yuppies who earn more than enough so that the bizarre policy they want to introduce won’t affect them and hippies who don’t care about anything but getting stoned and feeling like they're out there saving the planet, at the same time they use grocery bags made of plastic and toss used bongs away into land fill when they are too old to be of use anymore. They drive, they smoke, they use chemicals that go down the drain. They think they will save the Earth through they're own sense of self-satisfaction. They have no cares about people doing it hard. They don’t care if power prices are so high that Pensioners and low-income earners can’t afford to live decent lives. They want to 'Save the planet' or at least that's what they pretend. They are ideological thugs.

What may be worse is the rabid loyalty that Bob Brown commands over his followers. This is a man that in the opinion of Greens voters or sympathisers can do no wrong. To them, he is beyond reproach. He is Bob Almighty. The Leader...The Chosen One. If all this sounds familiar then I suggest you hop into your time machine and travel back to Berlin, around 1930 should do it. Just watch out for you know who. How can Bob Brown command such respect? He hasnt done anything of importance to the planet. Ranting about saving the environment doesnt actually save it does it? I'm not one to deny Climate Shift but I'm not going to bend over backwards to support a cause because some old tosser says its happening. Let's look at the Greens response to MSR? Its a No. What about regular Nuclear? No. Seems like the real Party of No is the Greens.

Now, to be balanced I think that some Greens policy has merits. But those policies that I agree with are policies that would never work. They are pie-in-the-sky fantasy. Rainbows and Unicorns. I hate the fact that the Greens are willing to do nothing to help Developing Nations with Climate Shift. In a way it is almost racist. As long as Australia does something to hell with the poor and those who cant do anything because of civil unrest. That's a fail, Bob.

I have one major problem with the Greens and that is the views they hold on Australia. The dumping of the ANZUS treaty is perhaps the most idiotic policy I have ever read. Why on Earth would any Australian want to remove our most strategic and important treaty? I can’t even begin to imagine the logic they used to come to the conclusion that it’s a bad treaty. What is so bad about it? Don’t they know we live in a very unstable region? Don’t they know that China is growing so fast that they are running out of room and resources? Who will be our key allies then? Sweden? The Netherlands? Some back water socialist cess-pit? No, none of them care too much about us. But the United States does. We are a unique asset. Our alliance with America and New Zealand is part of our National Identity. 

Just like ANZAC day, another area where the Greens seem to reject our history in favour of more 'we're rebuilding Australia according to Bob' I think that sure you have a right to be part of the democratic process but at what point does that right cross into an excuse to change our National Identity? Bob Brown's disgraceful behaviour towards former President Bush in the House of Reps was far more disgusting than Tony Abbott's politics during the visit of John Key. That's how I see it anyway.

Why can’t Bob Brown answer questions when he is asked to explain his policy? Instead he gives a vague answer and accuses everybody but him to be wrong or to rant about how the media are against him. Maybe the media are against him because they want to know more but never ever get more? Maybe they just don’t like shadowy politics and backroom deals? I don’t know but it drives be up the wall.

Bob Brown and the Greens are a threat to our economy, our cultural identity and to how we engage with our region. The world according to Bob is a dark and scary place. The world according to Bob is the rebirth of facism and to an extent National Socialism. Dont be conned. Vote Liberal or at the least Labor and keep Australia Australian.


(These are just my views if you dont like them dont read them. Simple.)

What's Wrong With Julia?

This is the question a majority of Australians have been asking themselves over the last year. Well, just what is wrong with her? Is it the monotonous robospeak? Is it the aura of arrogance that surrounds her? The answer in my opinion is more than yes, to both of these questions. There is a raft of other problems she carries around with her. I don't want this to be a personal attack on her because I'm sure she is genuinely convinced she is doing the right thing when it comes to the Carbon Tax. At least to keep her Boss Bob Brown happy anyway. 

I think that her problems are far more deep than what people give her credit for. Take for example her and the factional ALP thugs knifing of Kevin Rudd. She had no scruples about taking his job for failing to accomplish the task of introducing an ETS that she in essence along with Wayne Swan made him drop. This is an act of pure political bastardy. Kevin had his flaws but should it not have been us to make the call during the election? I know many left wing commentators will give the tired excuse of "That's how our system operates, we don't elect the PM..."  I know that. But if you turn up to a polling booth on election day the most common answer people give when you hear Party faithful handing out How-To-Vote cards is "I'm voting for Kevin Rudd" or who ever the leader may be. They hardly ever walk in and say "I'm voting for Joe Blow from the Labor Party!" This leads me to think that part of Julia's problem is that she never built up the respect of the Party Grassroots. Knifing Rudd was a mistake and I think despite the calls from goons like Bill Shorten and Paul Howes, they know it was a big mistake. Julia Gillard is not a dumb person, she is intelligent and cunning. She is not the shy little girl that she pretends to be when criticism is directed at her. The shy excuse is nothing more than a deceptive way of continuing to play coy and treat the public with contempt. 

Labor under Julia Gillard has switched to a 'one main policy' tactic to cover up for the endless list of failures that they have committed. Its easy politics and gutless leadership. Look at the knee-jerk reaction over Live Exports. How much did that overreaction cost the economy? How much further did that hasty un-thought out decision make the lives of cattle-men more miserable? I could go on and on about this but I wont.

So, lets look at what Gillard been doing on Indigenous Affairs? What has she been doing in regard to housing affordability? A quick google search reveals that she and her Government have been doing nothing of any real substance. And when it comes to a PM the one thing I look for is substance. I didn't agree with John Howard on some of his policy initiatives but at least he was consistent in terms of delivery and competence. Julia Gillard on the other hand is the complete opposite. She is not about saving the environment, she is about staying in power and saving her own skin. She always has been.

A female PM should have been a thing that Australians could look to as an inspiration for women everywhere but instead it has been tainted by Gillard's inability to connect with average Australians and put her best foot forward. Under Gillard we have taken one step forward and five steps back. We have squandered Billions of Dollars on empty air because Labor and Gillard cant get things right. That's why we are so concerned about a Carbon Tax not because we deny Climate Shift but because we fear that it will be an unmitigated disaster in an already unstable global economy. 

There is more to this Carbon Tax then the Government is telling us and I for one would like to know the truth. I don't mean having advertising campaigns to brainwash me into thinking its a good plan for the country. I don't want GetUp! to run campaigns in soft friendly voices as if to indicate everything will be fine, just don't worry about it. I want to know more. I want to know why? So far all I've gotten as an answer is the same old lines about "Its the right thing to do..." I think we the public should have a say in this issue before it becomes another Pink Batts or BER waste-a-thon. An economic reform of this scale is to important to leave to a group of bumbling fools who cant even get the simple things right.

I recall reading in the Latham Diaries about how the ALP Machine Men want a weak leader they can control. I think they may have found that leader. That is what is wrong with Julia Gillard.

Dan J

What's Wrong with Australian Media?

I've come to the conclusion that there is something seriously wrong with the media landscape in this country. I think the problem arises from the fact that indeed there are too many journalists and not enough news worthy events to cover. So the media resorts to the sort of News that is popular in the United States. Full of commentary and no actual hard-line reporting of facts. 

Do we really care if FORMER cricketer David Boon is dumping Australian Beer to promote a Canadian spirit? That's not worthy of reporting at all. The News should be about things that matter to us on a national and local scale. Tabloid News is a cancer on the word News. I opened the paper a few days ago to find out that the Beckhams had named their daughter Harper Seven, now who on Earth finds this tidbit of information relevant or useful? I mean, sure its a laugh when somebody has a name that sounds like a science fiction television show but really, where is the hard hitting News? Where are our Lois Lanes and April O'Neils? Where are our Deep Throats?

A 10 second sound bite is not News. The events around that sound bite are. I remember seeing Tony Abbott give a press conference on the dreaded Carbon Tax and the media in its genius ran 30 seconds of one comment that was taken totally out of context. But the same applies to the Prime Minister as well. The story where she was supposedly confronted by an angry voter in a shopping Mall was not News. It was an event that happened but its certainly not real News. The next part of the same story was even worse, it was along the lines of chaos breaking out in the Mall. I seen a few people having discussions over the Carbon Tax. There was no looting or burning cars but the tone that the media put to it was only adding to the inflamitory language that both the PM and Leader of the Opposition are using.

Lets not even mention the Greens because they have yet to answer any questions on policy at all. Answering tough policy questions at a press conference is far different than quoting verbatim from a policy booklet.

But back to the problem of the Media in this country. I'm all for an open press but in a world where I get my News from Twitter, I'm seeing the need for mass Media outlets in decline as more people connect to likeminded people to share and express views that they find important. The program QandA on ABC1 and News24 is a good example of media stupidity. Are the people who watch this show and attend the studio audience actually believing that the public figures on the panel are actually answering them? (I think more people just watch to tweet about it anyway in the hope they get On-Screen!) All I hear is generic answers that could be applied to any number of questions. 

The PM is an excellent example of this habit. She doesnt answer questions but to congratulate the questioner for a good question and then resumes to read the scripted answers that her minders have given her. I say this because she is taking advantage of the Media and knows that the less she says the better off in the long term she will be. I find that to be gutless leadership and gutless reporting by the Australian Media.

Its about time we as Australians of all persuasions Liberal, Labor or Green stood up and said that this is not acceptable. Vote with your remote and turn it off.

Real issues dont have to be bad News either. I'd be happy to read about good things that people do as well as the bad.

Dan J

(This is my first blog and I find it hard to read from the little window so if you find a mistake let me know and forgive me.)