Chicken scratchings
Another hurdle for the new Libs
Life in the new Opposition party looks like it might be filled with more challenges than their time in Government ever presented. The latest challenge has come over the future of Australian Workplace Agreements with the Opposition having to decide if it should try to defend them or give them up as a lost cause.
Their problem is the AWA’s are closely linked with WorkChoices, a system that had the belt tightening inflicted on the poorer classes rather at the top end where folk would appear to be living a much more comfortable life style. Initially they were able to slip these changes past the “Battlers” but then the implications of what it did to job security and the future working conditions started to hit home.
There was always a certain unreality with how the Libs thought the rule changes would play out. To those of us a bit closer to the lower end of the market, it was obvious that exploitation of the powerless was going to hit the headlines. Sure there would be a few beneficiaries for higher skilled workers but they have never been in a powerless situation in wage negotiations. The traditional victims were always going to cop it.
The Libs further complicated their position by running a spin campaign that insisted all was wonderful for everyone, which had a snowballs chance in Hell of ever succeeding. Now they are stuck with voters not trusting them and the impression that they are deliberately ignoring Public Opinion.
What makes them worth watching now is about half the party want to step away from a difficult sell and start working on the new Party while the others want to continue the status quo. Good luck with that position, folks. You did lose the Election on the strength of WorkChoices.
To my delight, The Age did a proper report of the party debate including which MP supports which position. This gives us a better view of how the Lib recovery is going and an opportunity to make predictions of how successful they might be as different power plays are made.
For the record those in favour of supporting AWA’s are Deputy Leader Julie Bishop, the culprit who designed WorkChoices Kevin Andrews, Andrew Southcott, Scott Morrison, Don Randall, Ironbar Tuckey, Russell Broadbent and the Nats Luke Hartsukyer.
Those who are horrified of being tied in to and linkage with WorkChoices are Christopher Pyne, Chris Pearce, Bill Heffernan (surprisingly to me) and the Nats Barnaby Joyce. Simon Birmingham joined them as did Mitch Fifield.
In a wonderful addition to the article good ol’ Rod Kemp stayed locked in the past and lashed Business Groups for not helping to sell WorkChoices. Gimme a break Rod. A lot of money was wasted by Business on a cause they recognised as lost before they spent the first cent. Nice to know some old blokes still can't take responsibility for their actions.
Has Labor infiltrated the Liberal campaign HQ?
The early part of the 2007 election campaign has produced some odd approaches. Firstly, and the reason for the heading to this article, is Howard's extraordinary comment "Love me or hate me. You know me". Who is running their campaign?To break it down for the strategists, if the polls are telling you the Public think you can't be trusted and they prefer the other bloke, how smart is it to say you are going to give them more of the same? Surely you should have an epiphany and suddenly discover Global Warming or something.
Another interesting tid bit was Cardinal George Pell anointed Kevin Rudd as capable of leading the country. Hmm. That wouldn't be anything to do with him taking a quick look at the polls and jumping into damage control in the hope that Labor forgets he sided with Howard last time around, would it? Don't like your chances on that one George.
And how about this one? George's buddy Tony Abbott decided to tell the Churchies to stop telling him how to be a good Christian by restoring protection for the Workers. Happily the Church leaders took him to task most effectively on responsibilities when in Government. Don't go there Tony. Safer to keep "mum" and hope they go away.
Very interesting start to proceedings. Plenty more to come I'm betting. Especially when things get desperate.
Honor in short supply in the Liberal Party
Perhaps I should attach the song lyrics that go "History never repeats. I tell myself before I go to sleep." I think it was from Neil Finn.The disgusting race card being played out by Howard and Andrews shows just how desperate Little Johnnie is to retain Government. Despite data to the contrary they are still persisting with the race attacks in the hope that something will stick. This is terrible news for Pauline Hanson who wants to stand again and has now discovered Howard has pinched her racial line for the 2nd time.
It does show that Howard is prepared to suffer this blot on his historical record when his PM-ship has ended. The trouble for Howard is he doesn't get to rewrite history when he is gone. An honest view of his time will be describing how he floundered when it came to preparing this country for the future and describe him as the last (hopefully) incumbent PM to play the race card in a desperate lunge to retain power.
The way he is going he might leave his party in the sort of disarray that Thatcher left the Tories in the UK. They still look miles away from government.
Kevin's new White Australia Policy
Now we have him attacking African Refugees (and not for the first time) with the promise to reduce their numbers under humanitarian intakes. As per usual, the untrustworthy Andrews is trying to quote statistics selectively and I just hope he gets shot down the same way he got nailed over the Haneef case.
News link
I guess he owes John Howard big time for destroying the Liberals re-election chances but playing the racial card really is the bottom of the barrel politics.
Time for Kevin to sit the Citizenship test. Clearly he is not a genuine Aussie. The concept of "a Fair Go" is totally foreign to him.
Howard. Decision maker or ditherer
There has been a bit of a Liberal campaign to paint Little Johnnie as the bloke who can make the hard decisions. I'm guessing this relates to the WorkChoices damage and not a myriad of other important areas.Consider.
1. He has been frozen in time over the serious threat of Global Warming even to the point of being incapable of setting up Carbon Trading which Big Business is begging for. The only reason I can see for this is the Coal Industry must be sinking a lot of cash into Liberal Party funds. More than other businesses who need direction are donating.
It's certainly not over the concern for the workers in that industry. If that were the case he would have gotten off his ass and started investigating Clean Coal technology well before now.
2. Iraq. He claimed we were going to protect the locals but he has never shown the slightest interest in standing up to Bush over the killing of Iraqis. He knows it's a lost cause but is incapable of making a decision in favor of us and Iraq. Being such a coward, he finds it easier to make no decision and just let it drift.
3. WorkChoices. It's painfully obvious the legislation was ineptly drafted. The safety net is damaged and the Voters know it. If he was the hard decision maker he would roll it back and try again. Doing nothing but crossing his fingers and bombarding the Voters with spin does not count as a decision.
4. Water and the Environment. After being asleep at the wheel for nigh on ten years, Howard finally had to accept the environmentalists were right and things were getting desperate. Finally he had to react but not understanding the problem, he cobbled together an ill thought out scheme that has yet to be made sensible. He seems unaware of what action the States had been taking so wasn't able to leverage off the existing plans. To hide his ineptness he simply blamed the States
And a couple more to go on with.
He was too weak to sack Downer after the AWB disaster even after the Minister had initialled the pages he claimed he hadn't read.
He was too weak to sack Kevin Andrews after the WorkChoices debacle. Too weak to sack Daryl Williams when he refused to initiate an enquiry into the sex slavery problem in Australia.
I'm sure he would like to think he is a decision maker but he looks like a bloke out of his depth to me. Perhaps we should be happy that he hasn't stuffed up more things by repeating the Water solution.
When fear is all that is left
Fear is Howard's last hope
As the life drains from the current Liberal coalition, its interesting to observe how they are scurrying around trying to generate a reason for folk to vote for them. This last week has been quite an eye opener with Howard caught short coming up with a reason why he should have another crack at being PM.
I guess it's hard to turn the good ship "Lost Cause" about when your whole strategy has been to attack Rudd. Having failed to impress the Voters with this "one shot" solution, they now find themselves trying to come up with forward looking policies when their natural tendency is to look back. Particularly unhelpful has been Alexander Downer who has failed to learn what Tony Abbott has worked out. Namely that putting the boot into Rudd is a plus for Rudd.
To add insult to injury, Howard seems to think he can tell the Voters what to think rather than actually listening to what the Voters are saying. Global warming is a classic example. While the Public were clamouring for the government to start planning for the future, they were running flat out with a denial campaign. Same with Hicks. Same with WorkChoices. Hey, its fun to play hard ball but at the end of the day the Government is supposed to listen to the Voters. When you decide that spin can beat listening, you risk a reaction and that’s exactly what we have here.
Can Howard survive? I think it comes down to if he can restore the trust. Current utterances would suggest he hasn't worked it out yet. Perhaps if he burned the inept designer of WorkChoices, Kevin Andrews, it would at least show some understanding of how the Public feel about the trashing of the Safety net. It would probably help if he showed some good ideas about dealing with Global Warming too but it looks like he still doesn't believe it. He hasn't even managed to help the business world by setting up a carbon trading scheme and that’s just a minor part of dealing with the problem.
What has Howard got left? Fear. Standby for ramping up the fear campaigns on Terrorism, Unions, Interest rates, Net porn, States Rights, US acceptance, border security, non-Christians. Howard's low opinion of the Aussie Voter may be about to come crashing down around his ears. I certainly hope so. When you forget who the Boss is, it's time to go.
My new blog
Hi folks,
Didn't realise I had not mentioned my new location.
Townsville rocks
Hey folks,
I am currently drawing to the end of my 5 days in Townsville and struggling along on a cramped keyboard so this will be brief. I'm keen to get back into the Blog and particularly to comment on others.
Townsville has been sensational with the only fly in the ointment being the unfortunately attempt at snorkling 2 hours of Tville. I have snorkled before but the sea sickness got the better of us. Out to Magnetic Island was easy peasy but once we hit the open water things got ugly real fast.
I discovered something interesting about the human body. Even when your stomach is empty, you can just about break something trying to keep chucking up. For about 90 minutes on the way out is was bucket time but the expected breather of anchoring didn't happen. I continued to be sick even as others were tucking into their lunch.
OK I thought. Once I'm in the water things wil settle down.
Nope. It continued. Chundering and using a snorkle at the same time doesn't work at all well. Back into the boat to lie down and await the trip home. Finally came good about a half hour out.
Had a rest day today, and tomorrow it's off to Magnetic Island for some shallow water snorkling. Looks like a brilliant spot. And it should be easier on the bod. Timed for tea now. Better go and top up the carrot bag.
Wolfowitz amazing!!
How out of touch is Paul Wolfowitz? And does this explain why Bush is out of his depth?The former Bush Staffer is trying to keep his job after his own corruption was revealed at the World Bank. After joining the World Bank and expressing his intention to remove corruption in this august body, he got well and truly caught with his hand in the cookie jar but doesn't feel he should step down.
What is it with these guys? Stealing is wrong. You can't put any other face on it.
Anyone with an ounce of honour would pack up his desk and leave in total embaressment. But not our Paul. Fresh from his stint working for Dubya, he seems contaminated with the Bush outlook that only he knows what needs to be done.
Give it up Paul. It's not as if you are scratching for a penny. Pretend you have a conscience and walk away with the money you earned wasting all those American lives in Iraq. You should have enough to build a wall big enough to keep out the angry parents.
Dr Nelson you have gotta be kidding
What better way to celebrate the 100th entry in this category, than to mention a shocker from SBS news this evening.The much vaunted Dr Nelson (Defence Minister) had a quick grab for the news which I think related to the Taliban (no rewind on live telly), but the comment went along the lines of "at least they have stopped shooting women for sport".
Now those of us who had to sit through the demonising of Germans, Japanese, Communists (name your poison) have heard all this claptrap before and I might say, delivered by more credible folk. Can't wait for the posters to go up showing Afghans eating babies.
It's a sorry world indeed when the Minister can repeat history and confidently expect the Aussie Public to cope this without a murmer. The way things are lining up we will be able to inter the non-Christians in a tragic echo of the treatment of Aliens in the 2nd World War.
John Paul II - Saint??
With the 2nd aniversary of the late Pope's death, apparently he is now one step closer to Sainthood.How can this be? Surely his behavior in at least 2 areas disqualify this from happening. I guess its possible that the infallibility of the Pope can cover the problems but wouldn't this mean that all Popes become saints?
The 2 areas that set my nickers in a twist are
- The protection of high ranking pedophile Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado by John Paul II was a disgraceful act. Since belatedly and ineptly rectified by the new Bishop of Rome. The late Pope did not want to proceed with action against this serial offender because he founded the Legionaries of Christ. Nice to know that a Saint in training has more consideration for the founder than the victims.
- Inattention to the role played by South African bishops in spreading untruths about condoms. At least 2 of these "Gentlemen" openly preached that condoms are ineffective against AIDS. Who knows how many deaths can be attributed to these fine chaps, but the Pope is supposed to manage his subordinates and he continually ignored the bullshit.
Perhaps its just a sign of how weakened the status of Saint is under the late Pope's new guidelines. At this rate they will carry as much weight as a British Knighthood.
Miss Saigon - stage show
And now for something completely different.On Sunday Liz and I went to the stage show Miss Saigon which is playing in Melbourne at the moment. I did see it in Sydney many years ago so I had a fair clue of the story line although I had forgotten some of the finer details. I have to say the current production has retained the highlights of the original show plus some nice hi-tech additions. It's amazing how much can be achieved with stage craft.
However I ended up feeling quite depressed when I thought about the current situation in Iraq. Despite the pollies trying to avoid the comparisons, I can't see a difference between Nam and Iraq.
The simple fact is that when the US come to town
- they flood your economy with US dollars,
- generally think that they should control the new Government,
- have trouble discerning the "goodies" from the "baddies" so dispense death and destruction on both sides,
- help build a thriving black market,
- and get all high and mighty when folk suggest they should be subject to the Geneva Convention.
I was wondering if they should have rebadged the show as Miss Baghdad to get the message across but I imagine it would not travel well with the Public. We are still in the demonising phase so we have a long way to go yet. Hell. The Yanks haven't even cut and run again even though it's inevitable.
One more comment on the show. I have seen a few Lloyd Webber shows. Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita and this one. I like the proper tunes he writes but the musical linkages are not tuneful enough for my ear. I guess I'm a 42nd Street kinda guy.
Howard blackmails Hicks
Poor little Johnny. As if he isn't in enough trouble with his back bench, today he confirmed how far away he is from Aussie Voters by proclaiming the Hicks guilt. How far off the boil can he get? The Libs are still struggling to work out how the Hicks fiasco fell apart last year and Howard's effort confirms he just doesn't get it.It's pretty simple when you line up the details.
- David versus Goliath. (The US Political system)
- Government versus the little bloke.
- A US system that claims they don't have to abide by the Geneva Convention.
- Examples of just how professional the US guards were at Abu Graib.
- A trial system that mirrors the disgraced Soviet show trials complete with an arrogant Prosecutor.
- And to top that lot off, a PM who thinks he can spin this past the Aussie Voters
The Airshow
I live at Lara near (Geelong and consequently near the Avalon airshow) and the lure of the show is drawing me to attend again this year. After the last one I was so pissed off with Airshows Downunder I swore I wouldn't go again but I guess the upset has subsided.Last time I carefully examined the weather patterns and decided on the Saturday because the temp was going to be about 10 degrees cooler and out on the flat airstrip 10 degrees can save your life. However, there was one thing I had not considered. The day dawned overcast and stayed that way the whole day and although this is a little inconvienent for the high level stuff, I didn't realise the Yanks would not fly their high tech stuff under those conditions. Gimme a break. They go to extraordinary lengths to bomb the crap out of non-Christians, but a little cloud cover sees them wimp out.
To add insult to injury, Airshows elected to reduce the program and effectively ran half the program twice. I don't remember them telling us until after the offense. Previous to this I had recognised there is a certain "Groundhog Day" to the show but this really rammed it home.
This time around I am going to the night show so that should expand the experience some what and remove the temperature pressure. I do note however, that a change in the weather is predicted so I may well be disappointed again. Fingers crossed.
A helpful note to anyone intending to go.
- Take a plastic water bottle
- apply sunscreen under your chin. (Its true!! Lots of folk have been sunburned there)
- It's worth taking a thermos so the first few coffees are a bargain.
- REALLY IMPORTANT. Catch the train. This will save you a couple of hours on the way home. Some years it has taken 3 hours to get out of the car park especially on the Friday night.
Fred Nile man of hate
The NSW State Election is going to get real ugly judging by the latest reports. The Reverend Fred Nile has discovered a new minority to suppress. After having no success at driving the Gays out of Sydney, he is now targeting the Moslem Community. It's not that long ago the Jewish community gave the flick to Professor Israel (I think he is a professor) after some outrageous comments about the percentage of Moslems in Oz.The good professor will be pleased to know that the Rev Nile has had a bit of a read and decided he can push the same barrow with no risk of being given the big A. Sadly, this racist stuff can always find a home in the weak minded and when you get the media prepared to run the same line every weekend, these things can grow legs.
Next weekend. check out the station promos on Channel 7. It's pounds to peanuts that they will run an anti moslem teaser for that tragedy of a show that runs after the 6 oclock news. They do it every weekend. Oh. And they will also have a story about weight loss too.
I guess I should take heart. Both 7 and 9 have programs that reckon they cover Current Affairs, both are dying a slow death in the ratings.
Burke dudds Howard
Priceless. Howard dumps Campbell because of a meeting with Brian Burke but then shows how out of touch he is by appointing another West Aussie. It's pretty simple. As a political lobbyist, Burke has met with all the WA players and a few Canberra ones too. Is Tony Abbott going to be dumped?A dumb campaign that the wheels were always going to fall off of. The only surprise is that it lasted a week.
Dumb mate gets smarter - sort of
That crazy US prosecutor must have had a phone call from Howard asking him to back off on Major Mori. Playing another delaying tactic would not be in Howard's interest by a long shot.However, he has dudded himself again by attacking Terry Hicks (David's Dad). Obviously this clown was too full of himself on the SBS program to pay attention to Terry Hicks. The program showed Terry to be a decent chap who has had to put up with a lot of crap from Howard and co. An arrogant US Prosecutor who dishonours his country by his behaviour, is hardly going to win any fans in this country by attacking Hicks senior.
Looks like little Johnnie is going to have to make another call to close this bloke down.
Major Mori rocks
I slipped away for the Wedding last weekend so didn’t get
around to reporting on Major Mori’s visit to the BMW Edge in
Last Thursday I nipped into Melb hoping to catch a glimpse of
David Hick’s
Now I had a bit of good fortune here. I thought the good Major would pull a bit of an audience so I headed down early. Planning to knock back a Maccas coffee and a couple of nice cake thingies from BreadTop while waiting for the doors to open. Lucky I did because the crowd had gotten rather larger than they were expecting and they opened the doors early. Even better, the middle seats were taken so I scored myself a wooden bench seat just along from where the guests were to sit.
And the icing on the cake was I ended up facing the crowd so my BlogNow new T shirt design was viewable to a good part of the audience. (Hope it scored some new members.)
The first speaker was Professor Larissa Behrendt who made some very interesting points about Indigenous Rights and their linkage to other behaviors displayed by the current Government. Some food for thought here I can tell you. She made some linkages I had not thought about.
Next cab off the rank was Julian Burnside QC. The current President of Liberty Victoria. On some previous Conversations, I had hoped that the Presenters would take off the gloves and name names. Well I didn’t have anything to complain about this time. I think the Legal fraternity have decided to call out Howard as the liar he is and dare him to take it to court. Much more enjoyable when they don’t pussy foot around.
Then it was the Star of the show, Major Michael Mori’s turn to take the stage. This contribution was outstanding as Major Mori explained some of the dirty tricks played by Howard and Co. One that had slipped past me was that old chestnut that Hick’s lawyers had prevented the trial from going ahead and getting a result. Howard has used this line a few times.
The actual challenge to the last show trial came from
another detainee. Then the finding was that the charges were illegal and the
whole system got dumped and they started again. Sadly, not with anything
realistic. If it wasn’t for the good Major, the
One point I'd like to make about the Conversations program. There are a lot of older folk attend these sessions (older than my 53 years) and I'm guessing that is why it is such a genteel evening out. Folk are able to present opposing views without someone wanting to throw a punch. It almost seems like it's acceptable not to follow the Black or White TV comentator line.
Howard's dumb mate
Poor John. Just as he thinks he can wriggle out of the Hicks debacle, up jumps the US Prosecutor to throw an obstacle against the trial proceeding. I refer to possible charges against Major Mori.
Now we find out just how hard the Man of Steel is when he demands Hicks return due to another delay.
I suppose I should feel some sympathy for Howard, stuck up that well known creek and surrounded by idiots but he has bought it on himself. When you build your case on bullshit it's only fair that it collapse under the weight of logic.
Howard wedged
A classic week in Parliament with Question Time proving to be too hot to handle for the Libs. After all those years of wedging Labor, the boot is now on the other foot.Questions over the Nuclear enquiry and Howard's "Heads up" were not a problem for little Johnnie, BUT it stuffed up McFarlane 7 questions in a row and wedged the Back Benchers. Now the fear factor is clicking in and every door stop interview has the potential for folk not to support the Party line.
Having lived in the comfort zone of an easy peasy Beazley Opposition, the Liberal Backbench is not used to the discipline required to present a united front when bad decisions are being made. It has turned Question Time back into interesting listening just like the Days of Gough. Looks like Rudd has found a couple of issues to destabilise the Government and is bringing them out one after the other.
It reminds me of the implosion of Labor when Keating was facing re-election. Most of the damage came from inside the party in spite of Keating looking far smarter than Howard as the PM.
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