What makes a good political speech? PM Keating’s Redfern speech

9/01/2012
Ad astra

This is a further speech for your appraisal in our change-of-year series of political speeches. Like the Kevin Rudd speech, it is about indigenous issues. Although there is still controversy about its authorship – between Paul Keating’s speech writer Don Watson and Keating himself – it is generally regarded as one of Keating’s finest, and one of great merit. It is a little over 2000 words. Here it is for you to judge for yourself.

Here is the source of this address.

Prime Minister Paul Keating’s Redfern address, Sydney, 1992

Ladies and gentlemen

I am very pleased to be here today at the launch of Australia’s celebration of the 1993 International Year of the World’s Indigenous People.

It will be a year of great significance for Australia.

It comes at a time when we’ve committed ourselves to succeeding in the test which so far we have always failed.

Because, in truth, we cannot confidently say that we’ve succeeded as we would like to have succeeded if we have not managed to extend opportunity and care, dignity and hope to the indigenous people of Australia – the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

This is a fundamental test of our social goals and our national will: our ability to say to ourselves and to the rest of the world that Australia is a first rate social democracy, that we are what we should be – truly the land of a fair go and the better chance.

There is no more basic test of how seriously we mean these things.

It’s a test of our self-knowledge. Of how well we know the land we live in. How well we know our history. How well we recognise the fact that, complex as our contemporary identity is, it cannot be separated from Aboriginal Australia. How well we know what Aboriginal Australians know about Australia.

Redfern is a good place to contemplate these things.

Just a mile or two from the place where the first European settlers landed, in too many ways it tells us that the failure to bring much more than devastation and demoralisation to Aboriginal Australia continues to be our failure.

More I think than most Australians recognise, the plight of Aboriginal Australians affects us all. In Redfern it might be tempting to think that the reality Aboriginal Australians face is somehow contained here, and that the rest of us are insulated from it. But of course, while all the dilemmas may exist here, as we all know, they are far from contained. We know the same dilemmas and more are faced all over Australia.

This is perhaps the point of this Year of the World’s Indigenous People: to bring the dispossessed out of the shadows, to recognise that they are part of us. That we cannot give indigenous Australians up without giving up many of our own most deeply held values, much of our own identity and, indeed, our own humanity.

Nowhere in the world, I would venture, is the message more stark than in Australia.

We simply cannot sweep injustice aside. Even if our own conscience allowed us to, I am sure, that in due course the world and the people of our region would not. There should be no mistake about this – our success in resolving these issues will have a significant bearing on our standing in the world.

But however intractable the problems seem, we cannot resign ourselves to failure – any more than we can hide behind our political opponents contemporary version of Social Darwinism which says that to reach back for the poor and dispossessed is to risk being dragged down.

It seems to me not only morally indefensible, but bad history.

We non-Aboriginal Australians should perhaps remind ourselves that Australia once reached out for us. Didn’t Australia provide opportunity and care for the dispossessed Irish? Did it not for the poor of Britain? The refugees from war and famine and persecution in the countries of Europe and Asia? Isn’t it reasonable to say that if we can build a prosperous and remarkable harmonious multicultural society in Australia, surely we can find just solutions to the problems which beset the first Australians – the people to whom the most injustice has been done.

And, as I say, the starting point might be to recognise that the problem starts with us – the non-Aboriginal Australians.

It begins, I think, with the act of recognition. Recognition that it was we who did the dispossessing. We took the traditional lands and smashed the traditional way of life.

We brought the diseases and the alcohol.

We committed the murders.

We took the children from their mothers.

We practised discrimination and exclusion.

It was our ignorance and our prejudice. And our failure to imagine that these things could be done to us. With some noble exceptions, we failed to make the most basic human response and enter into their hearts and minds. We failed to ask – how would I feel if this was done to me?

As a consequence, we failed to see that what we were doing degraded us all.

If we needed a reminder of this, we received it this year with the Report of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, which showed with devastating clarity that the past lives on in inequality, racism and injustice. In the prejudice and ignorance of non-Aboriginal Australians, and in the demoralisation and desperation, the fractured identity, of so many Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders.

For all this, I do not believe that the Report should fill us with guilt. Down the years, there has been no shortage of guilt, but it has not produced the response we need. Guilt, I think we’ve all learned, is not a very constructive emotion.

I think what we need to do is open our hearts a bit. All of us.

Perhaps when we recognise what we have in common we will see the things which must be done – the practical things.

There is something of this in the creation of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation. The council’s mission is to forge a new partnership built on justice and equity and an appreciation of the heritage of Australia’s indigenous people. In the abstract those terms are meaningless. We have to give meaning to ‘justice’ and ‘equity’ – and, as I have said several times this year, we will only give them meaning when we commit ourselves to achieving concrete results.

If we improve the living conditions in one town, they will improve in another, and another. If we raise the standard of health by 20 per cent one year, it will be raised more the next. If we open one door others will follow.

When we see improvement, when we see more dignity, more confidence, more happiness – we will know we are going to win. We will need these practical building blocks of change.

The Mabo judgment should be seen as one of these. By doing away with the bizarre concept that this continent had no owners prior to the settlement of Europeans, Mabo establishes a fundamental truth and lays the basis for justice. It will be much easier to work from that basis than has ever been from any case in the past.

For this reason alone we should ignore the isolated outbreaks of hysteria and hostility to Mabo in the past few months. Mabo is an historic decision – we can make it an historic turning point, the basis of a new relationship between indigenous and non-Aboriginal Australians.

The message should be that there is nothing to fear or to lose in the recognition of historical truth, or the extension of social justice, or the deepening of Australian social democracy to include indigenous Australians.

In fact, as all of us I think here know, there is everything to gain.

Even the unhappy past speaks for this. Where Aboriginal Australians have been included in the life of Australia they have made remarkable contributions. Economic contributions, particularly in the pastoral and agricultural industry. They are there in the frontier and exploration history of Australia. They were there in the wars. In sport to an extraordinary degree. In literature and art and in music.

In all these things they have shaped our knowledge of this continent and of ourselves. They’ve shaped our identity. They are there in the Australian legend. And we should never forget – they helped us build this nation. And if we have a sense of justice, as well as common sense, we will forge a new partnership.

As I said, it might help if we non-Aboriginal Australians imagined ourselves dispossessed of land we have lived on for 50,000 years – and then imagined ourselves told that it had never been ours.

Imagine if ours was the oldest culture in the world and we were told that it was worthless. Imagine if we had resisted this settlement, suffered and died in the defence of our land, and then were told in history books that we’d given up without a fight. Imagine if non-Aboriginal Australians had served their country in peace and war and were then ignored in history books. Imagine if our feats on the sporting fields had inspired admiration and patriotism and yet did nothing to diminish prejudice. Imagine if our spiritual life was denied and ridiculed.

Imagine if we had suffered the injustice and then were blamed for it.

It seems to me that if we can imagine the injustice then we can imagine its opposite. And we can have justice.

I say we can have justice for two reasons: I say it because I believe that the great things about Australian social democracy reflect a fundamental belief in justice. And I say it because in so many other areas we have proved our capacity over the years to go on extending the realms of participation, community and care.

Just as Australians living in the relatively narrow and insular Australia of the 1960s imagined a culturally diverse, worldly and open Australia, and in a generation turned the idea into reality, so we can turn the goals of reconciliation into a reality.

There are very good signs that the process has begun. The creation of the Reconciliation Council is evidence itself. The establishment of the ATSIC – the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission – is also evidence. The Council indeed is the product of imagination and goodwill. ATSIC emerges from the vision of indigenous self-determination and self-management. The vision’s already become the reality of almost 800 elected Aboriginal Regional Councillors and Commissioners determining priorities and developing their own process.

All over Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are taking charge of their own lives. And assistance with the problems which chronically beset them is at last being made available in ways developed by the communities themselves. If these things offer hope, so does the fact that this generation of Australians is better informed about Aboriginal culture and Aboriginal achievement, and about the injustice that has been done, than any generation before has so been aware.

So, we are beginning to more generally appreciate the depth and the diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. From their music and art and dance we are beginning to recognise how much richer our national life and identity will be for the participation of Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders. We are beginning to learn that the indigenous people have known for many thousands of years how to live with our physical environment.

Ever so gradually we are learning how to see Australia through Aboriginal eyes, beginning to recognise the wisdom contained in their epic story.

I think we are beginning to see how much we owe the indigenous Australians and how much we have lost by living so apart.

I said we non-indigenous Australians should try to imagine the Aboriginal view.

It can’t be too hard. Someone imagined this event today, and it’s now a reality and a great reason for hope.

There is one thing today we cannot imagine. We cannot imagine that the descendants of people whose genius and resilience maintained a culture here through 50,000 years or more, through cataclysmic changes to the climate and the environment, and who then survived two centuries of dispossession and abuse, will be denied their place in the modern Australian nation.

We can’t imagine that.

We cannot imagine that we will fight it.

And with the spirit that is here today I am confident that we won’t fail.

I am confident that we will succeed in this decade.

Thank you for being with me today.

The ABC has classified this as ‘An unforgettable speech’. If it is, what makes it so? What do you think of it? How does it compare with its predecessors in this series? There are still more to come.

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D Mick Weir

9/01/2012Tap Tap Bang Colours firmly nailed to the mast. The best and greatest (political) speech in (my) living memory. Watson wrote it and Keating OWNS it. No matter the spat all speech writers know it is the speech giver that takes credit for the speech when it goes well and takes the blame when it flops. [i]cest la vie[/i] In a wide ranging chat on [b]Late Night Live[/b] mostly about Keating's book [b]After Words[/b] Adams relates the story of the day he told Keating that LNL listeners had voted the speech the second best of all time and Keating only begrudging acceptance of second after he learnt that it was some bloke's [b]Sermon on the Mount[/b] speech that had pipped him at the post. The LNL chat is well worth the listen http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/latenightlive/lnl-1-december-2011/3700054 There are many reasons that this is a fine speech. The craftsmen wordsmithing, the delivery, the fact that it turned an unintersted audience into an an intent group of listeners and many more. The standout reason for mine is that it spoke of previously unspeakable things in a simple and matter of fact way and rather than laying blame it accepted responsibility on behalf of the nation. [i]Pièce de résistance[/i]

Feral Skeleton

9/01/2012Feral Skeleton Sigh. Paul Keating says what right thinking people think. He, and Don Watson, put into words, and found the appropriate platform for, the expression of the sentiments we all wish we could have uttered to this much-maligned group of people who are at the core of our very existence in this country. He also spoke to them, and not down to them. So the speech is very forthright and frank, but it spoke to all of us to tell us that we should recalibrate our approach to our Indigenous Brothers and Sisters. It provided the leadership that had been sorely lacking from the Coalition since the end of World War 2, when the nation was reshaping itself away from the White Australia Policy, and in the wake of the Referendum on recognition of Indigenous Right to Vote, Wik & Mabo. I also like how Paul Keating doesn't resort to Polly Waffle. Instead of using the amorphous term, 'The National Interest', he used the much more direct and specific, "This is a fundamental test of our social goals and our national will" And what a beautiful way he swept all of us up together with our Indigenous people and their problems, by making the point that we can't just put them and their troubles in a box and label it, 'Hopeless cases', because the troubles they manifest are faced by Australians all across the country, they just blend in better in our suburbs and towns than the Indigenous people do. Genius. Such a way of not allowing us to run away from responsibility for these people and their troubles because they are OUR troubles too. We just had to be told that to our faces., and be left with nowhere to run and nowhere to hide from the facts. As he says, brutally but realistically, and succinctly: "We simply cannot sweep injustice aside." The way that he employs a sort of eliptical logic, almost like a rhetorical boomerang, that he throws out there and then it hits home: "With some noble exceptions, we failed to make the most basic human response and enter into their hearts and minds. We failed to ask – how would I feel if this was done to me?" Then, when Keating has gone right down into the heart of Australia's psychic darkness, he pivots, seamlessly, to hope: "Down the years, there has been no shortage of guilt, but it has not produced the response we need. Guilt, I think we’ve all learned, is not a very constructive emotion. I think what we need to do is open our hearts a bit. All of us." From the depths of our dark hearts he asks us to let in a little sunshine, because sunshine is the best disinfectant, and it lets us rise above the negative thoughts and behaviours that drag us down as individuals, and as a nation. But, he doesn't let us off into the airy fairy ether like balloons, he brings us back down to earth again, with a short, sharp dose of reality because he doesn';t want to let the opportunity be wasted to tell us what he thinks needs to be done: "We have to give meaning to ‘justice’ and ‘equity’ – and, as I have said several times this year, we will only give them meaning when we commit ourselves to achieving concrete results." He then brings the reality check part of the speech to an end by telling us, in a more dignified exposition of the old Australian colloquial term, 'And if you had any bloody common sense, you'd do this..' Before he turns on a dime again and lets our imaginations run with the hope of a better Australia if we just join hands with our Indigenous citizens, instead of spitting on them. Then he nails his core theme to the post by tying together the two strands of the speech, of 'justice' and 'injustice' with this: "It seems to me that if we can imagine the injustice then we can imagine its opposite. And we can have justice." Which, to me, more than anything else about this speech, exemplifies the genius of it. Paul Keating says something that has needed to be said by someone, anyone, but had never been said before. And he said it using the simplest of language and the fewest of words. Sadly, what he didn't imagine was the bastardisation that would beset this hopeful beginning down the track when you reflect on what went so very wrong with ATSIC due to the opportunists in the Indigenous Community that took advantage of their own brothers and sisters just as much as any Whitefella ever did, for their own self-agrandisement. Which seemed to go hand-in-hand with Howard's undermining of the system that Keating left behind. But Keating wasn't to know that when he gave that speech, as, with any great dreamer, any great leader, he only saw what might be, not what might be the cause of the failure of his dream. If you could say only one thing about this speech, it is that it was Paul Keating's 'I Have A Dream' speech. And, in the Australian context, it was just as important.

D Mick Weir

9/01/2012Well said FS, I beg to offer a small change to one bit you wrote [i]... It provided the leadership that had been sorely lacking from the Coalition since the end of World War 2, when the nation was reshaping itself away from the White Australia Policy, ...[/i] to '... lacking from [i][b]government[/b] (on this issue)[/i] since the end of World War 2 ...' We will never know the alternate history if there had been a Labor government in any of those wilderness years from 1949 - 1972 and whether Whitlam would ever have become PM if there had been a Labor government elected in say 1961 (the Killen / Communist Party Preferences election) but I would suggest that the 'social maturity' of the country would not have evolved to the point that we would have been ready to hear the message until about the time that Keating spoke those words.

2353

9/01/2012T'is the exception that proves the rule. In this case the general rule is the shorter the speech the better. Not only is it a relatively long speech and it resonates well today - Keating nailed the delivery. You'd have to ask what happened to the Country that was prepared to accept the intent of this speech - the Country that stood back and supported the Northern Territory intervention, paternalism in Far North Queensland and even the invective directed at those on this "civilised" blog that have an opinion that is different to the beliefs of a certain political party.

Feral Skeleton

9/01/2012DMW, Hard to say. However, I reckon that if Australia had joined hands across the water with the American Civil Rights movement, we could have seen that better day grow out of the 1967 Referendum to grant Indigenous Australians the Right to Vote and be full citizens of Australia. If only we hadn't been hamstrung by a Conservative Coalition government, who granted Charlie Perkins the referendum for those hard fought for concessions, but nothing more.

D Mick Weir

9/01/2012FS, fair call will have to put that into alternative history thought tardis

D Mick Weir

9/01/20122353 unfortunately the alternative history thought tardis got well and truly misdirected and broke down in some outer galaxy around the turn of the millennium and well yes umm shudder and we have a long way to go to get back to where were in 1996 in some ways.

TalkTurkey

9/01/2012Not on thread (again) but I foreshadowed this on the last thread. [i]And I am proud of it[/i]. [BTW in that same post I addressed individually each of those who have responded to my question re AS processing. I hope you all see those replies because [i]I really want people to turn the heat up on the Greens until they wilt[/i]. I think the discussion has been helpful so far but now I want to see some fight! Remember that whoever else you thought less than covered in glory, [i]less than one person had anything at all good to say about those bloody hypocritical Greens[/i], the mob who have cast stumbling blocks in Labor's way at every turn. Fie on them, wilt thou not help to wilt them? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Now, a friend of mine who obviously reads both Poll Bludger and the Political Sword, alerted me to these posts today in PB. I must say that it is exactly what I had hoped would be the response throughtout the blogosphere, not just for PB and TPS neither but for all decent political blogsites, and hopefully the same sorts of messages are passing around. I don't write on other blogs, but I'd be delighted if someone posted my warm appreciation to Victoria and Cuppa, or better still directed them here. There are 3 posts concerned. [This was what I wrote when [i]not[/i] awarding any blogsite the ultimate Ad astra Sword Award . . . Oddly, in spite of my words Victoria decided that "they" had really awarded it to PB anyway! :) Well I had no control over "them", so PBers, enjoy!] One thing though: December 2012 there [i]will[/i] be such an award made, if I have anything to do with it, and it will be on a [i]popularly-decided basis[/i], as hinted at in my rave below. But hey, TPS is off to a great start with Victoria and Cuppa saying unsolicited such nice things about us. I want the same goodwill between all decent blogs, I hope everybody feels the same way. [i]Power to the People![/i] Remember, here's what I said on TPS just before Christmas, today quoted verbatim by Cuppa on PB:: 153 victoria Posted Monday, January 9, 2012 at 10:54 am | Permalink BB I found this over at the political sword recently Well Swordsfolks and others, I regret to tell you that, much as I might like to, I cannot award The Political Sword the dazzling prize for Political Blogsite of the Year. There are more reasons than one for this, each of them absolute in itself. One, I am unfamiliar with most sites, so how would I know? Two, I would be presumptuous to judge, even if I were across them all. Three, I acknowledge of course that some sites attract far more traffic than TPS though we don’t do badly I’m sure. Each site has a different character, I tend to think that the ever-so-popular Poll Bludger relates to TPS a little as doth a dictionary to a thesaurus . . . or maybe Jack and Mrs Sprat . . . PB has lots of quick posts . . . TPS much fewer, but many rather longer . . . but while I do think that the contributors to The Political Sword acquit themselves wonderfully well, I do not presume to make the Best Political Blogsite Award for any site myself, and [u]for this year it must go unawarded.[/u] There will be many more years. But I must say, Poll Bludger and William Bowe most certainly deserve to take a double bow. Well done Bludgers all. You are, I hate the word usually but it’s true of you, awesome. my say please take a little bow too on behalf of Bilbo’s wonderful site and your own amazing contributions. Or you may curtsey if you feel more comfortable doing that ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 162 Cuppa Posted Monday, January 9, 2012 at 11:07 am | Permalink Victoria, The Political Sword is a fine blog with some outstanding writers. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://www.thepoliticalsword.com/ 163 victoria Posted Monday, January 9, 2012 at 11:09 am | Permalink Cuppa Yes it is. [i]The fact that they awarded PB best blog[/i], was noteworthy!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Well Victoria, *We* actually [i]didn't[/i], but PB did do well, and *We* wouldn't want to rain on your parade . . . so celebrate PBers, look out for us in December!

Michael

10/01/2012Bad Abbott Speaking about the upgrading of the Pacific Highway following upon the truck crash and deaths in Urunga, Shouldabeen applied his standard crass abuse of tragedy and crisis to make political hay. "The federal Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, said yesterday he doubted ''very much'' whether the federal government would complete the highway's duplication by 2016. Mr Abbott said it was far more important to spend money on the Pacific Highway than the national broadband network." http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/leaders-at-odds-over-bill-to-finish-highway-20120109-1prwj.html

2353

10/01/2012The Curious Snail is reporting this morning that the Queensland State Election will be held in late February. Maybe you read it here first instead of Poll Bludger (I haven't checked). DMW - Agree completely. The Tardis went in for a service in 1996 and lost 13 years!

Sir Ian Crisp

10/01/2012[quote] "The federal Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, said yesterday he doubted ''very much'' whether the federal government would complete the highway's duplication by 2016. Mr Abbott said it was far more important to spend money on the Pacific Highway than the national broadband network." [/quote] I disagree with Tony Um-Err-Ahh on this point. It is more important to fund Asylum Airlines than it is to spend money on a road that captures the zeitgeist of the 30's and 40's. I wonder if a window seat on Asylum Airlines provided a good view from 25,000 feet of the accident at Urunga. I wonder if AUD$1 billion would provide a suitable Urunga bypass. On the matter of the alleged politician P Keating he is the only person in the world who needed a personality bypass.

Jason

10/01/2012Sir Ian, I see your rant ties in nicely with the main Liberal talking point today! MIGRANTS should be taught about the importance of wearing deodorant and waiting in queues without pushing in, the Federal Opposition says. Cultural awareness training should also be given by employers bringing skilled migrants into Australia under the 457 visa program, the coalition's citizenship spokeswoman Teresa Gambaro told The Australian. In an interview with the newspaper, Ms Gambaro said she was concerned about new migrants on work visas not integrating into the community because Australia had failed to teach them about cultural issues related to health, hygiene and lifestyle. "Without trying to be offensive, we are talking about hygiene and what is an acceptable norm in this country when you are working closely with other co-workers," she said. Wearing deodorant and waiting in line politely were about "teaching what are norms in Australia". The MP for Brisbane said while her comments may upset people, migrants also needed to be educated about their rights and how to improve their chances of getting work. Read more: http://www.news.com.au/business/migrants-dont-know-how-to-wear-deodorant-or-queue-up-say-liberal-teresa-gambaro/story-e6frfm1i-1226240418996#ixzz1j0HioNEI

Sir Ian Crisp

10/01/2012Hey J guy, I have to agree with Ms Gambaro. I was shopping at Victoria's Basement and I happened to be standing next to a Pakistani woman who was badly in need of two cans of Rexona deodorant. How did I know she was from Pakistan? She told me she was on a holiday in Oz and was having a jolly good time. On my return home I dropped to my knees and thanked >insert deity< that I wasn't the poor slob who would be seated next to her on the return flight to Pakistan. Parenthetically, Australians have a certain BO uniqueness as well. The thought is that due to our high consumption of dairy products our bodies give off an odour. J guy, check this out: http://www.oceanicaus.com.au/

10/01/2012Feral Skeleton Dost thou yet doubt the power of Dog to make straight the paths of Men? (oh and btw in the Canine Canon there may also be Women, better deal than yous female lot get in the Bible!) It is a bloody brilliant animation. Ta FS. I hope Dog finds Abbortt (because Abbortt will never find Dog!) and bites his Budgie! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I heard Gambaro on ABS news Raduo today, they gave her about five hours, she is like Vampirella Mirabella's litter mate, ohhhh, she is disGUSTing! Gambaro I'm told means [i]Prawn[/i]. Can you imagine [b]Gambaro Personal Deodorant[/b], half a day in the sun, [i][b]MOZ[/i]za~[i]RELLL[/i]la![/b] 'Course we never stink to ourselves do we. (Well I don't anyway of course, I'm a redhead.) Ms Prawn wouldn't of course. Reminds me of one ABC Adelaide afternoon radio hostess, she's like the Girl with the Delicate Air most of the time, you know like [i]"Your hands need never touch the (insert preferred brand)"[/i] but this one time many years ago she was interviewing some bloke about [i]home-brewed beer[/i], Cor, then she says, (verbatim I swear) [i]"It's like with farts, your own's not bad!"[/i] Delicate air, :). There is a terrible obscenity about this Gambaro, and Mirabella too. Voices of hate. This year we will [i]de-flate [/i]them, [i]hope you can hold your breath[/i], and [i]nobody strike a match! [/i]

10/01/2012Jason, For the exact reason that George's photoshopped images are so funny is why I am going to miss Acerbic Conehead's contribution to TPS this year. We don't have a resident satirist anymore. :(

Feral Skeleton

10/01/2012Someone saying what I think(so I don't have to bother :D ): http://citizen-cam.tumblr.com/post/15371270057/beating-the-drum

2353

10/01/2012FS - the Queensland LNP has a reputation for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. One famous occasion was when the Liberal Leader (Junior Party in the Coalition) was asked on day one of an election campaign who would be Premier if the Liberals won more seats than the Nationals. He couldn't answer! Last time round, Springborg was too busy fighting off challenges from his own party to seriously take it up to Anna Bligh (by the way I don't think Beattie's dog would have won!) who didn't really do that well. THis time the LNP strategy is that Newman can win Ashgrove (with a 7% margin to the ALP) and the LNP will win enough seats to form Government. It's a fair call to speculate that if Newman wins Ashgrove, the 2nd part will occur as well. If however Newman doesn't win Ashgrove - and Kate Jones is a young Mum with some real personality - not a long term MP that should be superannuated out of the seat - who'll be Premier? The current Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament, Jeff Seeney, apart from being a recycled National Party Leader of the Opposition has already stated he doesn't want the job, another Newman clone (ex-Brisbane City Councillor) Tim Nicholls seems to fill in frequently for Seeney and Springborg, Flegg and a (from memory) couple of other ex- Leaders of the Opposition are still hanging around as well. The conservative vote will also be split between the LNP, the rump of One Nation and Katter's mob in an election with optional preferences. The ALP will also have a problem with exhausted Greens votes. In essence at a Queensland State election - you can just Vote 1 - something that has been effective for the ALP in the past. Far be it from me to suggest strategy to the ALP on a public forum - but who is going to be the Premier if Kate Jones & the LNP win?

11/01/2012TT, thanks It helps to have some tips, tricks and guidance from an expert & to have some tipoffs from a top secret tweetie (nudge, nudge, wink, wink say no more) FS, one of the better things about the silly season slowdown, apart from finding great put downs of Gambaro type brainfarts is having the time to read some longer insights of our political and social history.

Miglo

11/01/2012What a blight it was that everything Paul Keating initiated for the betterment of Indigenous Australians was ruthlessly dismantled by John Howard. Does anybody remember his 1996 and 1998 election speeches? He promised to end Indigenous suffering in this country. Oh how he added to it.

2353

11/01/2012And Migs, the Australian population sat there and let it happen which is something we all should be hanging our heads in shame about.

D Mick Weir

11/01/20122353, Miglo the problem/challenge may best be summed up as: [i]Never get in the way of a conviction pollie and his ideological rewriting of history'[/i] JWH set out wit a firm (and mostly hidden at the time) agenda of rewriting the history to suit his ideology. It is sad that most did not believe the few who saw it and spoke up until it was a bit too late.

Miglo

11/01/2012As a Liberal politician whispered while I was at ATSIC; Aboriginal bashing is good politics.

Feral Skeleton

11/01/2012Migs and 2353, What I think I should add to this discussion is that, now that the Churches and Private Schools have opened their doors to Indigenous students, Aboriginal bashing has virtually stopped. There are shows on SBS and ABC, 'Living Black' and 'Message Stick', and the one about Indigenous Sport whose name I can't remember, plus 'The Deadlies' and the successful careers of musicians like Jessica Mauboy, and Indigenous filmakers and, of course, artists, which are living proof which cannot be denied by any White-skinned Conservative politician seeking to gain advantage at the expense of the dignity of these people, that they have come a long way, because they have been given half a chance. However, to my eyes, the Aboriginal people of this nation are now being exploited again by the Whitefella, in a much more sophisticated way, such that they are being pitted against each other, in a sort of 'Two Tribes' scenario. The ones who agree with the basically assimilationist policies of the Conservatives, up against those who are aligned with the Progressive Deterministic mindset of the egalitarian, socially-democratic Left. Which, in essence, to me, allows for a celebration of the difference between 'Black' and 'White' Australia, due to the Indigenous Peoples' unique heritage which sets them apart from everyone else. A sort of unique subset in the Multicultural Australia spectrum. 'Same, same but different', as the saying goes. This emerging battleline was evidenced most acutely last year with the racial profiling court case involving Andrew Bolt, and his 'Reverse Racism' theory, which attempted to portray those Indigenous Australians with fairish skin, not negatively because they WERE Aborigines, but negatively because they wanted to identify as Aborigines. And, ipso facto, they were panhandlers because they were taking advantage of opportunities that should only have been open to 'Boot Black' Aborigines. As if you could put that fine a line on Aboriginality and Non-Aboriginality anyway. An argument which was especially hypocritical because, on the other hand, Andrew Bolt argues that there is no such thing as uniquely Aboriginal Australians, they are all just Australians. So you can see the hypocrisy of his initial argument which only sought to quarantine scholarships etc. for the Pure Blood Aborigines; as he would really prefer they didn't get any preferential treatment at all. Truth be told. Anyway, as I said before, the next big battlefront in the ongoing storyline that is the contemporary history of Indigenous Australia, will be that which plays out the fight and battles amongst themselves for what it is to be an Australian Aboriginal in the 21st century. Will they dance to the Assimilationist's tune, or will they seek to reinforce their unique position in Australian society? And be 'allowed' to do so. Yes, of course, they can and do do both, but the wider context is what I'm talking about.

Feral Skeleton

11/01/2012Beautiful photos of our lovely PM in Queensland: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150519373864674.393894.7861714673&type=3&l=db79e67bec

Ad astra

11/01/2012Folks I've been busy these last few days and will be so for the next few. So you won't see much of me until the weekend. Thank you for keeping the site active with your comments. I'll post another political speech over the weekend.

2353

11/01/2012FS - you're right about the photos. Beautifully shot and show Gillard's charm. I'm not on Facebook - so can't comment there. I'd also like to think that you were right about the Aboriginal bashing virtually stopping - but I don't think we're quite there yet. There seems to me to still be a lot of latent discrimination expressed at times in likely and unlikely places that the Aboriginals get something extra, don't look after what they're given; don't suffer like we do etc regardless of the other ethnic groups who do the same or worse not being tarred with the same brush. I do agree that there are a number of groups playing Aboriginal politics (for want of a better term) where once they have outlived their "usefulness', the people they claim they are "assisting" will again be forgotten.

D Mick Weir

12/01/2012Micks Media Mix [b]clubs, daily telegraph go after garrett[/b] cyenne [i]The local papers of NSW have a long history of publishing pro-clubs, pro-poker machines articles that are heavy on sensationalism and light on facts. That’s no surprise given that the clubs industry across the state is a major source of support and advertising revenue for such publications. But when the story involves someone like Peter Garrett, the Federal School Education, Early Childhood and Youth Minister, then the big guns get involved. And this morning’s story in The Daily Telegraph is a prime example.[/i] http://www.cyenne.com/discussion/clubs-daily-telegraph-go-after-garrett/ [b]Tony Abbott's perspective on 2012[/b] Ian @TheBlowfly HatTip a special tweetie linkhound [i]The Blowfly wants you to imagine that you are in Tony Abbott’s shoes at the moment. 2012 has dawned. This time last year you were confident that if you went at the Gillard Government with all your energy, spin and bluster you had a reasonable chance of causing a hung parliament to become ‘unhung’.[/i] [b]Security and sovereignty: the truth behind foreign investment[/b] Paul Barratt @TheDrum [i]There the Coalition goes again, banging the populist drum about foreign investment in agriculture and trying to get some mileage out of an issue that it likes to suggest constitutes some kind of threat to Australia's food security.[/i] http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/3766318.html [b]Judge slams mandatory sentence for people smugglers[/b] Christine Flatley @TheAge [i]A judge has criticised the five-year mandatory minimum sentence for people smugglers, saying it robs the courts of any ability to consider offenders' personal circumstances. Brisbane District Court Judge Terry Martin handed down the obligatory sentence today to Hasim, a 29-year-old poverty-stricken fisherman from Indonesia.[/i] http://www.theage.com.au/national/judge-slams-mandatory-sentence-for-people-smugglers-20120111-1puvi.html#ixzz1j8YJxR1S [i]Excuse me while I hang my head in shame -Ed (DMW)[/i] [b]United we stand: are we harmonising the right OHS law?[/b] Niki Ellis @The Conversation [i]Modern OHS laws are a form of self regulation. They aim to have employers protect their employees from harm by creating safe and healthy working environments. They also establish a voice for workers in identifying, assessing and mitigating risks at work – as a means of “keeping the bastards honest” as the saying goes.[/i] http://theconversation.edu.au/united-we-stand-are-we-harmonising-the-right-ohs-law-1013 [b]The Strike Threat System[/b] Rafe Champion @OnLineOpinion [i]The Strike Threat System is the name of a book by the English economist William Harold Hutt (1899-1988). He also wrote The Theory of Collective Bargaining on the history of the trade union movement and the principles and practice of collective bargaining. He examined several of the historical claims which support trade union demands for special privileges, especially the use and the threat of physical violence which would normally be illegal.[/i] http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=13107&page=0 [b]The car industry’s (not so) merry-go-round[/b] Bernard Keane @Crikey [i]Here we are again, just over three years on from the last effort to save the automotive industry … In November 2008, it was an extension of what became the Automotive Transformation Scheme to 2020, a Green Car fund (since mostly nixed in budget cuts) and some structural adjustment support for component manufacturers. Total cost over a decade: several billions of dollars, to support around 50-60,000 jobs.[/i] http://www.crikey.com.au/2012/01/11/stop-me-if-youve-heard-this-one-before-on-car-subsidies/ [b]Australia’s handout-addicted car industry needs some tough love[/b] Henry Ergas @TheConversation [i]Do direct bailouts of this variety serve to ensure a sustainable future for the car manufacturing industry? The experience to date is that it steers it towards further external, tax-payer funded bailouts. We have a long history of providing these bailouts now.[/i] http://theconversation.edu.au/australias-handout-addicted-car-industry-needs-some-tough-love-4907 [b]Big bank bash continues in 2012[/b] Michael Janda @TheDrum [i]The core issue in Australia's banking market is whether four major banks, and their much smaller rivals, are enough to promote sufficient competition to keep prices down for consumers. The answer to that is not clear cut. A senate inquiry into banking found a lack of competitive pressure, ...[/i] http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-01-11/janda-big-bank-bash-continues-in-2012/3767722 [b]Environmentalism for people on low incomes[/b] Elizabeth Jakimow @OnLineOpinion [i]Whether it's a store devoted to green products, a fruit and vegetable shop that sells mostly organic food, or the organic aisle in the supermarket, there's often the feeling that people with little or no money don't belong. There's the sense that this store is for people who have more money to spend. You realise that you're shopping in a place that is not catering for people who often have baked beans for dinner because they can't afford anything else.[/i] http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=13111 [b]Wanted: leaders with principle and purpose, whether right or wrong[/b] Elizabeth Farrelly @NationalTimes [i]One of The Iron Lady's surprisingly frequent touching moments is shot in a Dartford driveway. It's October 1959 and Margaret Thatcher's twin six-year-olds, Mark and Carol, chase her car into the leafy street. ''Mummy, mummy,'' they cry, ''come back, mummy!'' She does not, of course. Mummy is late for work. It's day one, Westminster.[/i] http://www.nationaltimes.com.au/opinion/politics/wanted-leaders-with-principle-and-purpose-whether-right-or-wrong-20120111-1pv7j.html Looking at Politics through the Lense of Sport [b]Fleet-footed Abbott needs to be playmaker[/b] Richard Stanton @NationalTimes [i]I've got a mate who is fond of observing Australian politics. He makes frequent informed comments, usually in the form of text messages after he has read a few things about a policy or event. A recent message, however, was puzzling: ''Put the abbott on the right wing and give him a run''.[/i] http://www.nationaltimes.com.au/opinion/politics/fleetfooted-abbott-needs-to-be-playmaker-20120111-1pv7i.html

D Mick Weir

12/01/2012Just in ... [b]The frozen gales of political bluster are near[/b] Greg Jericho @TheDrum [i]And so we turn our eyes from the smouldering car wreck of 2011 politics to 2012 with freshness and buoyancy in our hearts. Oh God. Already? Surely the break was meant to take longer than this? But no, let us realise that the evitable cold winds commeth, ...[/i] http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/3768324.html

Feral Skeleton

12/01/2012DMW, Interesting point Grog made about Tony 'His Masters Voice' Abbott, running around linking every financial ask on the government purse with the NBN, so as to attempt to stem the tide which is turning against his master's squirrel grip on 70% of the media in this country plus the tendrils it has extended into the ABC, as a result of the spread of the NBN around the nation. Expect to see the anti-NBN hysteria ramped up to 11 this year, especially the red herring thrown about that people are not embracing it, hence it's useless.

TalkTurkey

12/01/2012Greg Jericho is special. Thanks DMW, + wink I think :) Read the article Folks, guard your lions, armour yourselves with the facts Mr Jericho provides. Then please try by all means to spread them around the [i]Menzies[/i] voters in your family and close circles, they who have voted for Holt and Howard in their time because they see them as His successors, (they were wrong about Menzies at the time but they have been far wronger ever since.) The grey generation is the single worst for Labor (bodes better for the future! :)) and though a hard dose of facts won't dislodge many, we only need a few. Softly softly, but hard facts. If a few die because they can't come to terms with the facts, well :)! Read Greg Jericho and weep. For many reasons, sad and glad.

Feral Skeleton

12/01/2012Oh noes! The party is hopelessly split! No, not the Labor party: http://www.afr.com/p/national/car_handouts_split_libs_fPCH30bcIHzubqYvAX5APM :D I think this is the first shot in Labor's 'Campain'(sic) ;-) against the Liberal Party this year.

TalkTurkey

12/01/2012FS, 2353, Doesn't *J*U*L*I*A* look lovely in those photos, yes, happy relaxed and unaffected, pretty and sincere and sparkling. Not the sort of shots of her we see in the MSM, [i]ever![/i] Compare with the shots of Abbortt running on the beach, flat out, looking like his boiler's about to burst, the laughing youngsters running alongside of him doing it (doing [i]him![/i] ) so easy . . . He looks ridiculous, as indeed he is. [i]The Ides of September,[/i] Antonius, [i]beware the Ides of September![/i]

13/01/2012Micks Media Mix [b]Drum Piece–Winter is Coming[/b] Greg Jericho @Grog's Gamut [i]God I hate those start of the year predictive pieces that do the rounds. When will Gillard be challenged? Will Abbott survive the year out? Honestly, who gives a damn. It’s all guess work and conjecture and standard pap churned out without any need to actually do any thinking (which is probably why there are so many of them written ...[/i] http://grogsgamut.blogspot.com/2012/01/drum-piecewinter-is-coming.html [b]Spot the difference: are all News Limited bloggers the same person, or a piece of automated software?[/b] @Watching the Deniers HT: VSTSLTweetie [i]The bloggers over at News Limited have all perfected a similar style, so much so that it is becoming almost impossible to distingush “who” is actually writing individual posts.[/i] http://watchingthedeniers.wordpress.com/2012/01/10/spot-the-difference-are-all-news-limited-bloggers-the-same-person-or-a-piece-of-automated-software/ [b]Elsewhere: what exactly is the point of The Drum publishing “opinion” from the actual politicians?[/b] Jeremy Sear @PurePoison HT: VSTSLTweetie [i]Blogger “Citizen Cam” asks what’s the point of the ABC’s “The Drum” being simply a mouthing-off spot for what are essentially political press releases?[/i] http://blogs.crikey.com.au/purepoison/2012/01/09/elsewhere-what-exactly-is-the-point-of-the-drum-publishing-opinion-from-the-actual-politicians/ [b]Underarm stink also underhand[/b] Waleed Aly @NationalTimes [i]Such outbursts may not be Coalition policy, but they express a certain political logic that Coalition policy does express, just in more moderated tones. The individual who goes too far (like Gambaro) is transgressing only in degree, not in essence.[/i] http://www.nationaltimes.com.au/opinion/politics/underarm-stink-also-underhand-20120112-1pxf8.html [b]The rebel is the pure soul[/b] Greg Barns @OnlineOpinion [i]The common garden variety American liberal supports Barak Obama, votes Democrat and is generally a supporter of gay marriage and abortion rights. But according to Hedges it is the failure of the liberals to dismantle corporate greed, to end US foreign policy adventurism and to meaningly reduce inequality that is their evil. You don't expect the Right to do any of this but you do expect their political opponents to have a crack, goes the logic.[/i] http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=13114 [b]The anti-shopping movement goes mainstream[/b] Sean Sands @TheConversation [i]Once thought of as on the fringe, consumer resistance movements that eschew consumption are becoming increasingly mainstream. These so-called “inscrutable shoppers” are commonly anti-globalisation, anti-sweatshop, anti-chain store movements, and anti-technology.[/i] http://theconversation.edu.au/the-anti-shopping-movement-goes-mainstream-4804 [b]Healthcare reform in 2012: whose health system is it anyway?[/b] Peter Brooks @TheConversation [i]As many of us recover from the festive binge of overeating, drinking too much and not exercising enough, spare a thought for the new health minister as she plans for 2012. An exciting agenda looms – will we finally see a national dental scheme? And will the government finally manage to address escalating healthcare costs?[/i] http://theconversation.edu.au/healthcare-reform-in-2012-whose-health-system-is-it-anyway-4905 [b]Greens' true colours tested[/b] Daniel Flitton @NationalTimes [i]The tantrum Brown has thrown this week over the Tasmanian forest deal is only the latest example of a party full of conviction but lacking courage to govern.[/i] http://www.nationaltimes.com.au/opinion/politics/greens-true-colours-tested-20120112-1pxf6.html [b]Age of media mediocrity[/b] Mark Latham @AusFinReview (Public) [i]One of Tony Abbott’s mantras is to return Australia to the glory days of the Howard government. Last Thursday the Channel Seven-Yahoo! news service took him seriously. Under a timeline of January 5, 2012, 2.44pm, it reported that “Prime Minister John Howard has again warned ...[/i] http://www.afr.com/p/opinion/age_of_media_mediocrity_rJS67aMY0vsQV3INhBoNVI [b]Weight and baggage arbitraage for airline passengers[/b] Stephen King @CoreEconomics [i]There has been some controversy in the last couple of days about the potential for airlines to price discriminate on the basis of passenger weight. Weight is a major factor in airline costs and some airlines already set different prices depending on whether or not a passenger has check-in luggage.[/i] http://economics.com.au/?p=8276 [b]Fast internet is taking too long[/b] Canberra Times [i]Australians can be forgiven for wondering if they will see the national broadband network unrolled in their street. Their frustration with the slow pace of the project is understandable, given the Federal Government's hype of the project.[/i] http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/opinion/editorial/general/fast-internet-is-taking-too-long/2419033.aspx?storypage=0 [b]EXPLAINER: Why your broadband seems slower[/b] Paul Budde @TechnologySpectator HT: VSTSLTweetie [i]More often these days, both in our email boxes and during radio interviews, we are being asked questions and hearing complaints about the quality of broadband.[/i] http://technologyspectator.com.au/industry/internet/explainer-why-your-broadband-seems-slower [b]Doubt cast over Telstra buyback[/b] John McDuling @AusFinReview (Public) [i]The Labor government’s move to squeeze telcos for spectrum licence fees to shore up its budget position has cast further doubt on Telstra’s ability to return capital to shareholders.[/i] http://www.afr.com/p/business/companies/doubt_cast_over_telstra_buyback_IAdT9UZNWZIAz2fAhek0vO [b]Holiday Reading. Economics, "the most male of the social sciences"[/b] Peter Martin @HisBlog [i]"The knowledge that every problem has an answer, even and perhaps especially if that answer may be difficult to find, meets a deeply felt human need. For that reason, many people become obsessive about artificial worlds, such as computer games, in which they can see the connection between actions and outcomes. Many economists who pursue these approaches are similarly asocial. It is probably no accident that economics is by far the most male of the social sciences." - John Kay[/i] http://www.petermartin.com.au/2012/01/holiday-reading-economics-most-male-of.html [b]My heart is breaking[/b] John Ward @IndependentAustralia [i]The John Howards (Australian prime ministers) of the day, after being exposed as butchers who carelessly threw our poorly trained, badly equipped and shamefully led volunteers onto the wrong beach, then went on a campaign to glorify the slaughter of our sons as an emergence of the Australian nation out of the boiling, maggot-riddled, putrefactive corpses of no-man’s land.[/i] http://www.independentaustralia.net/2012/politics/my-heart-is-breaking/ [b]The Antikythera Mechanism: The Story of Humanity’s Oldest Analog Computer, circa 150 B.C.[/b] Maria Popova @BrainPickings [i]In 1902, however, archaeologist Valerious Stais made the most momentous discovery of all, and he did so from the dry safety of the National Archaeological Museum in Athens — embedded in one of the pieces of rock, he noticed a discernible gear wheel. Nicknamed the Antikythera mechanism, this object became known as humanity’s oldest analog computer[/i] [b]Car handouts split Libs[/b] AusFinReview (Public) [i]The Gillard government’s job-saving handouts to car makers have prompted Coalition backbenchers and influential conservative businessmen to ramp up pressure on Opposition Leader Tony Abbott to reject subsidies for the car industry and other vulnerable manufacturers.[/i] http://www.afr.com/p/national/car_handouts_split_libs_fPCH30bcIHzubqYvAX5APM [b]Hockey fights car handouts[/b] AusFinReview (Public) [i]Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey has told colleagues he will counter any move to reverse the cut not only because of its importance to the Coalition’s overall savings plan, but also out of concern at the mounting federal payments to the big car companies. The decision escalates the political brawl over industry assistance as former Labor finance minister Peter Walsh warned the federal government against “propping up” the car companies if they could not sustain commercial operations in the long term.[/i] http://www.afr.com/p/national/hockey_fights_car_handouts_omeeluYDR3I8k7NkZIYl7N

Gravel

13/01/2012NormanK That was just excellent, I needed that little boost. I hope you do nurture your talent with or without AC's absence. Ad Astra We will be going from satellite to ADSL and I'm looking forward to a faster download.

13/01/2012I'm off on a tangent. One of the things I like about Twitter and one of the challenges of the micro blogging format is how to get your message across in 140 characters or less. Challenging and entertaining. Imagine trying to write a love letter restricted to 140 characters or any type of letter. Legal people get paid in very small time increments (six minute intervals I think) which encourages them to write long and laborious letters that waffle on forever. Imagine if they had to restrict themselves to 140 characters. Anyway what I also wondered what would it be like if we had to pay to make a comment? What if we had to pay say, 1,000th of a cent for every character we typed (including spaces) would we get to the point sooner and would it change the way we think and behave? Would you for example type discombobulate when confuse would be cheaper (by half) and as a bonus probably better understood by most readers? Just a wayward Saturday thought bubble

Esta Njeri

13/01/2012am unfamiliar with most sites, so how would I know? Two, I would be presumptuous to judge, even if I were across them all. Three, I acknowledge of course that some sites attract far more traffic than TPS though we don’t do badly I’m sure. Each site has a different character, I tend to think that the ever-so-popular Poll Bludger relates to TPS a little as doth a dictionary to a thesaurus . . . or maybe Jack and Mrs Sprat . . . PB has lots of quick posts . . . TPS much fewer, but many rather longer . . . but while I do think that the contributors to The Political Sword acquit themselves wonderfully well, I do not presume to make the Best Political Blogsite Award for any site myself, and for this year it must go unawarded. There will be many more years. But I must say, Poll Bludger and William Bowe most certainly deserve to take a double bow. Well done Bludgers all. You are, I hate the word usually but it’s true of you, awesome.

Feral Skeleton

14/01/2012Goodness, gracious me!

NormanK

14/01/2012TalkTurkey You are absolutely right - I won't be responding to your diatribe, detailing as it does poorly remembered exchanges (on your part) and grossly exaggerated slights (attributed to me). You don't like me? That's fine. Look for the rose and scroll on by.

TalkTurkey

14/01/2012Other bloke Three lies in one sentence Poorly remembered - Lie. Grossly exaggerated slights - Gross lie. [i]Won't be responding . . . er . . .[/i] Everything I said is true including your nose so far out of joint you haven't been able to bring yourself even to acknowledge me for a year. A sniper not a fighter. And lacking the moral ************ to climb down from your sniping tower and say sorry. Huh. Parsley.

D Mick Weir

14/01/2012[i][b]Mad Mick's Media Mix[/b][/i] The I think it is Saturday Edition Good Morning All, before I get stuck into today's links I'd like to mention a couple of things about the madness in my method of coming up with articles for you to click through to. As it is summer, at least it is somedays in some places, we are in the 'silly season' and, as they say somewhere else, [i]because we don't live by politics alone[/i] I have been searching out stuff that ain't exactly politics though sometimes there is a bit of learning related to politics in some of the articles. In the process I have come across many good articles (about politics) from last year. One thing I toyed with doing was to bring you links to some of the best articles from the last year but then I thought why rehash the past?, what makes it a 'best article'? and mostly 'cos it was too hard to choose. I have also been cautious about giving links to the 'top ten' and 'best of' articles of others as, mostly it is tedious to rake over old coals. Sometimes it's better to leave the past in the past or something like that. Anyway today I am breaking my self imposed 'rules' not once but at least twice. First up something from last year from a site I just stumbled across and I think might be worth keeping an eye on so we can tap into the 'political zeitgeist'. If you choose to follow the link have a poke around and see what you think. [b]Labor in deficit on surplus[/b] Graham Young @WhatPeopleWant Thursday, 08 December 2011 [i]On balance Wayne Swan's sliver of surplus spent far more political capital than it saved. Australians have a nuanced view of government spending, understand that times are difficult, and aren't too concerned whether the government achieves a surplus or not.[/i] http://whatthepeoplewant.net/polls-blog/december-2011/labor-in-deficit-on-surplus.html And second up a Top Ten article. I chose to link to this top ten for a few reasons but mostly because I think The Conversation is one of the best developments over the last twelve months for providing food for thought. There is always some varied and interesting reading offered and the top ten lest gives some great samples. [b]The Conversation’s top ten articles[/b] [i]In case you missed them the first time, we’ve packaged up the Conversation’s ten best read articles for 2011…. Enjoy![/i] http://theconversation.edu.au/the-conversations-top-ten-articles-4929 Something else I've tried to do (and failed) is not [i]editorialise[/i] or make comment on the links. Just let the links speak for themselves. Well as it is a [i]Silly Season Saturday[/i] and I have already broken 'the rules' an editorial comment to start todays offerings: An economist finally talks about one of the important things in the Aus way of life - BEER - well sort of. [b]Electricity versus Beer versus Mars Bars[/b] @TheKouk [i]One of the popular and certainly headline grabbing ways that opponents of the price on carbon try to demonise the issue is to create an impression that there will be a huge impact on electricity prices and therefore household budgets will be under increasing pressure.[/i] http://stephenkoukoulas.blogspot.com/2012/01/electricity-versus-beer-versus-mars.html [b]Austerity & Equality[/b] Chris Dillow @Stumbling and Mumbling [i]The 1945-51 (UK) government inherited a debt-GDP ratio three times today’s level and yet built the modern welfare state, created the NHS and increased income equality* whilst running a budget surplus. Poor public finances, therefore, are no obstacle at all to egalitarian policies. So what are?[/i] http://stumblingandmumbling.typepad.com/stumbling_and_mumbling/2012/01/austerity-equality.html [b]The Disability Support Pension's False Crisis[/b] Peter Horbury @Ramp Up [i]The Gillard Government has now made a series of changes to the DSP; new impairment tables are now in place for all new DSP applicants and those subject to review. According to Centrelink modelling, 40 per cent of current DSP recipients will no longer be eligible under these new provisions.[/i] http://www.abc.net.au/rampup/articles/2012/01/12/3406656.htm The following is given as I found some of the comments to the article umm dare I say 'informative'. [b]Gambaro in Brisbane[/b] Peter Brent @MumbleBlog [i]If you hadn’t heard of Teresa Gambaro before this week, you have now.[/i] http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/mumble/index.php/theaustralian/comments/gambaro_in_brisbane/#commentsmore [b]Decisions from the Coalition[/b] Andrew Elder @Politically homeless [i]The Federal Coalition starts 2012 on the horns of a number of policy dilemmas. In each of these there are good reasons for going one way or another, but in each of these decisions will have to be made and defended in such a way that makes them look like a credible alternative government. The Coalition is ill-equipped to make those decisions, and to stand by them, ...[/i] http://andrewelder.blogspot.com/2012/01/decisions-from-coalition.html [b]Writer asks for similar aid offered to carmakers[/b] John Birmingham @TheDrum [i]John Birmingham says his industry deserves the same support. "JB directly employs at least one Australian right across the country and is a real economic driver of many pubs and cafes," he said.[/i] http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/3771848.html [b]The costs of unemployment – again[/b] Bill Mitchell @billy blog HT: VSTSLTweetie [i]One of the strong empirical results that emerge from the Great Depression is that the job relief programs that the various governments implemented to try to attenuate the massive rise in unemployment were very beneficial. At that time, it was realised that having workers locked out of the production process because there were not enough private jobs being generated was not only irrational in terms of lost income but also caused society additional problems, such as rising crime rates.[/i] http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=17740 [b]Truth, truthiness and balance[/b] Professor Q @CrookedTimber [i]Arthur Brisbane, Public Opinion editor for the NY Times, has copped a well deserved shellacking for a column in which he asked whether reporters should act as ‘truth vigilantes’ in relation to statements made by public figures. Having observed the silliness of asking whether newspapers should (aspire to) tell the truth, the obvious question is: How should they telll it. Here are a some suggestions[/i] http://crookedtimber.org/2012/01/13/truth-truthiness-and-balance/ [b]The Global Economy - On A Knife Edge[/b] [i]While no real surprise, the credit rating downgrades meandering through Europe only go to reinforce the parlous nature of the global economy and its financial markets. This is not just because the eurozone, as the world's largest economic entity is almost inevitably lurching into a recession, but because when the public finances of the US are considered, it too is likely to be downgraded further over the course of 2012.[/i] http://stephenkoukoulas.blogspot.com/2012/01/global-economy-on-knife-edge.html [b]Midst of the silly season and the nonsense goes on[/b] John Huxley @NationalTimes [i]… ANYWAY, as I was saying, after going to the cricket and to the movie The Iron Lady, ...[/i] http://www.nationaltimes.com.au/opinion/politics/midst-of-the-silly-season-and-the-nonsense-goes-on-20120113-1pzd1.html [b]Tariff rhetoric driving a wedge in the Coalition[/b] Lenore Taylor @NationalTimes [i]Kim Carr was the first politician I ever heard say the truth out loud. Without tariff walls or government subsidies, a country just can't make cars. Take away protection and payments, and car makers will go somewhere else they can get them.[/i] http://www.nationaltimes.com.au/opinion/politics/tariff-rhetoric-driving-a-wedge-in-the-coalition-20120113-1pzbt.html [b]Out of our league: the global auto affair[/b] Annabel Crabb @TheDrum [i]The world loves cars. Cars are an object of desire; a status symbol for the wealthy, an aspiration for the poor.[/i] http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-01-13/crabb-global-auto-affair/3771826 [b]Without car manufacturing, we are on the road to ruin[/b] Ian Porter @NationalTimes [i]What the situation requires is not so much a job for ministers. This is a job for the World's Best Treasurer, Wayne Swan, who has to make some big decisions if Australia is to avoid becoming just another South Pacific quarry.[/i] http://www.nationaltimes.com.au/opinion/politics/without-car-manufacturing-we-are-on-the-road-to-ruin-20120112-1pxf9.html [b]What Happened With The NBN This Week?[/b] Nick Broughall @Gizmodo HT: VSTSLTweetie [i]Tower troubles, tide troubles, Tony troubles… It’s been a tough week for NBN Co this week, as you’re about to discover in this week’s roundup…[/i] http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2012/01/what-happened-with-the-nbn-this-week-47/ [b]Wealth Problems[/b] Henry @CrookedTimber [i]John Sides posts some results suggesting that while voters mostly understand that Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are rich, they are more likely to think that Mitt Romney doesn’t care about their interests because he is rich, than Barack Obama.[/i] http://crookedtimber.org/2012/01/13/wealth-problems/ [b]Safety ads not a sign of a nanny state, just one that cares[/b] Brian Owler @NationalTimes [i]I wish I was not in the ad. Like me, the other participants also wished they were not in the Don't Rush advertisements conceived by the Australian Medical Association and the Roads and Maritime Services.[/i] http://www.nationaltimes.com.au/opinion/politics/safety-ads-not-a-sign-of-a-nanny-state-just-one-that-cares-20120112-1pxeg.html [b]Elevator Groupthink: A Psychology Experiment in Conformity, 1962[/b] Maria Popova @BrainPickings [i]What vintage Candid Camera can teach us about the cultural role of the global Occupy movement.[/i] http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/01/13/asch-elevator-experiment/ Sacre bleu - is this world full of heathens with no culture? [b]Mahler, Interrupted[/b] Bo Kim @AllThingsD http://allthingsd.com/20120113/mahler-interrupted/ [b]The Politics (and lies) of the Apostrophe[/b] Michael Rosen @hisblog [i]... in the explosion of the written word with texting, blogging, forums, chat rooms and the like, people are making up their own rules, they're testing each other's tolerance of what's acceptable and what isn't. Hundreds of new abbreviations are coming in and, I notice, the apostrophe is losing out.[/i] http://michaelrosenblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/politics-and-lies-of-apostrophe.html [i]Umm some astute readers may have noticed a subtle change bought about by my reading the above[/i] :$ [b]Howard's award: is there Merit in a Republic?[/b] Bruce Haigh @TheDrum [i]What has John Howard in common with, Joseph Lister, Florence Nightingale, Thomas Hardy, Henry James, Edward Elgar, John Galsworthy, ... Nothing at all, except ...[/i] http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/3770580.html Oh by the way in case you wondered, HT (HatTip) VSTSLTweetie = Very Special Top Secret Linking Tweetie and no, I will not reveal the identity of the secret agent not for love nor money :P [i]That's all folks[/i] at least for now. Thanks to the support crew here @ Mick's Media Monitoring Madhouse. So long and thanks for the fish.

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Behind every successful man is a proud wife and a surprised mother-in-law.
Hubert H. Humphrey

Imagine there's no heaven, It's easy if you try, No hell below us, Above us only sky.
John Lennon

It is one thing to show a man he is in error, and another to put him in possession of the truth.
John Locke

All happy families resemble one another, but each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
Leo Tolstoy

Sufficient conscience to bother him, but not sufficient to keep him straight.
David Lloyd George

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