Filed under politix …

Oct 03 2004
1 Comment
politix

Holy backflip, Batman

The Sunday before a federal election always promises a few surprises – Sundays are usually slow news days, and so there’s a substantial opportunity for the leaders to pull one last rabbit out of the hat and get it on the evening news.

Latham has just announced he’ll cut the cost of prescription medicines if he gets in – a maximum co-payment of $4 per script for pensioners and concession card holders (down from $4.60), and $25 for others (down from $28.60). He’s also promising to double the immunisation allowance paid to new mothers.
Continue reading →

Oct 03 2004
1 Comment
god, politix

Families First

Just watched Laurie Oakes grilling the Short Man on Sunday. Howard looked decidedly worried, and the Sphere of Influence was very much on the attack, especially over the coalition’s preference swap with the conservative Christian “party” Family First, also known as the Assemblies of God pentecostal church.

Hot on the heels of their success in winning last year’s “Australian Idol”, the Assemblies of God are keen to reach even higher and crowbar their way into the Senate, and if they succeed, they’ll be doing so on Howard’s coat-tails.

Oakes read some excepts from a letter from the FF Senate candidate for Queensland, who is an AoG pastor, claiming that FF/AoG were planning to make Australia “the great south land of the holy spirit.” Family First will be the beneficiary of the coalition’s second preferences, ahead of Meg Lees’ proto-Liberal Progressive Alliance, and Oakes put Howard under the spotlight pretty effectively on that.

Separation of church and state? We don’t have any of that rubbish here.

UPDATE, 11.55: The transcript of the interview is online now; I’ve cut and paste the relevant bits below the fold.
Continue reading →

Oct 03 2004
politix

Bellwether

This morning’s Sun-Herald in Sydney is running with the results of an opinion poll showing Labor ahead in Eden-Monaro, which is considered a “bellwether” seat because it has followed the national trend in every election since 1972. It’s also the seat in which I spent my formative years, and the seat in which I joined the Labor Party at the tender age of 15, many years ago. (I’m no longer a member of the ALP.)
Continue reading →

Sep 16 2004
1 Comment
politix, war

What have we done?

UN secretary-general Kofi Annan has told the BBC that the Iraq War was illegal. Presumably this means that John Howard is a war criminal.

An independent legal report has found that David Hicks is unlikely to receive a fair trial at the hands of the US military commission, which the investigator says is not independent and lacks proper rules of evidence. Australia’s attorney-general, Phillip Ruddock, says the government will not protest against the sham trial.

Howard is asking that he, his attorney-general and the rest of his gang of thugs be re-elected.

Shame, Howard, shame.

Sep 15 2004
politix

This election is about trust

this election is about trust

John Howard, on television about 20 minutes ago.

Sep 14 2004
politix, war

Australians reported kidnapped in Iraq

There are unconfirmed reports this morning of two Australian security guards kidnapped in Iraq. A statement by a group calling itself the ‘Horror Brigades of the Islamic Secret Army’ says it has captured two Australians and two Asians. The men will be executed unless John Howard withdraws Australia’s troops from Iraq within 24 hours. ABC News story.

Australian officials are treating the claims with appropriate urgency and circumspection. At this stage they are saying they cannot confirm the accuracy of the claims and none of the 88 Australian citizens registered at the embassy in Baghdad seems to be missing.

Of course both Howard and Latham have said, quite properly, that they will not negotiate with terrorists. If Australians really have been captured they will most likely end up dead, just as other western hostages have been executed with increasing regularity since the start of the US-led occupation. It’s a horrible outcome of a foolish and misguided escapade, and I guess it was only a matter of time before Australia was the target.

Coming in the midst of a federal election campaign only makes it worse, if that’s possible. In the coming days our leaders will maintain a firm and statesmanlike resolve not to make political capital of this, just like last week’s bombing in Jakarta. But it quite possible that this week we will be treated to the kind of gruesome images that other nations have had to endure as their reward for supporting the US in Iraq. Add to that my strong opinion that this election campaign will turn a lot nastier in the coming weeks, and once the gloves are off, it’s not gonna be pretty.

Let’s hope the reports turn out to be false.

Sep 12 2004
politix

The worm turned

Just finished watching the debate – not the live-to-air version on 44 minutes plus ads, the delayed version on the National Broadcaster. Australian Idol gets priority, even in my house.

I thought Latham won, and I’m not alone. The early signs from the blogosphere are similar, and the audience of “uncommitted” voters in the Channel Nine studios agree, giving Latham the win by 67 to 33. Very pleasing.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this is that Latham came out swinging on national security and pretty much nailed Howard over what is supposed to be the incumbent’s strong suit. In between Howard repeating the old “cut and run” palaver, Latham convincingly argued that the real job for national security is in our region, not in Baghdad.

Obviously last week’s bombing of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta didn’t do this line of argument any harm, but it was not the expected outcome. The received wisdom is that the coalition’s strengths are the economy and national security, and the ALP’s are health and education, so for Latham to have (seemingly) trumped Howard on national security is a surprising and encouraging sign.

We have a lot of distance to cover before we get to October 9, but this result means that the game is on, at least.

Sep 09 2004
death, politix, war

Jakarta

flag.jpg

Not good. Not good at all.

The Australian embassy in Jakarta has apparently been the target of a massive car bomb this afternoon. Bad news at the best of times. Sad, very sad, for the victims (somewhere between six and nine so far) and their families. But during an election campaign … not good at all.

Numerous commentators are already saying it would be wrong for anybody to try to make political capital of this, and of course they are right. It would not just be wrong, it would be cheap, cynical, vulgar, desperate opportunism of the worst kind. I’d like to think that our politicians are above this kind of grubby behaviour but, let’s face it, they’ve done it before.

The next few days will be interesting and, I fear, awful.

Sep 01 2004
politix, virus, wandering

To the black heart of our democracy

Both Brent and I are going to Canberra later today for the annual conference of the Australasian Society of HIV Medicine. We’ll be in Canberra until Saturday night and, as these events tend to sap the very life force out of your humble scribe, I doubt I’ll have the energy or time to post much if at all during that period.

I am hoping to find time to nip off and have a wander through the NGA or the National Museum (which I’ve never seen) but the program looks pretty full from touchdown to departure, and of course Canberra in September isn’t somewhere one lingers any longer than duty requires.

With Parliament having been prorogued for the election, the national capital will, at least, be mercifully devoid of politicians, although I note that both Tony Abbott and Alexander Downer are on the program for the opening ceremony of the conference. I won’t be too disappointed if it turns out they’ve withdrawn at the last minute due to campaign commitments – there’s no more reason for them to be wandering the windswept streets of City Hill than me.

The pollie they should have booked is the always-entertaining Trish Worth, who is in the news this week, causing a stir with some really stupid remarks comparing asylum seekers to animals:

Ms Worth told hecklers at the forum, organised by Justice for Refugees, that there were “some very practical reasons” for mandatory detention.

“I mean, if you bring a dog into this country, or a cat from some countries, they … look can you just hear me out? There are certain tests to be carried out, there are health checks,” she said. [SMH]

Worth, who holds one of the most marginal Liberal seats in the country (not for much longer, I suspect) reckons she’s been taken out of context and that she didn’t really mean to compare refugees to mangy dogs as such. The PM has (surprise surprise) stood by her.

Several refugee groups have also come to her defence, pointing out that Ms Worth is one of the more compassionate members of the government when it comes to asylum seekers.

She’s not a bad person, just an exceptionally stupid one. And she’s not alone among our legislators in wearing that mantle. Alas.

Tagged , , , , ,
Aug 29 2004
politix

Here we go, here we go, here we go

Election date is October 9.

Howard had made it pretty clear the announcement would come this weekend, repeatedly refusing to give a straight answer to questions about whether Parliament would sit next week. And with the Labor Party threatening to reconvene a Senate inquiry into the “children overboard” affair, and to subpoena government staffers, it’s not surprising that Howard wanted to get his sorry arse to Yarralumla before they got the chance.

He’s a liar and a coward. Now let’s vote the evil little fucker into oblivion.

← Older posts
Newer posts →