Hi Julia,
Just wanted to congratulate you on managing to retain the top job, even if just barely.
Before the election, I was really hoping for a sweeping victory. With a female atheist leading the one side, and a misogynist former seminarian on the other, I saw it as a fight between good and evil, between tolerance and oppression, between a belief that doesn't include an fatherly imaginary friend who rewards people based on adherence to a set of often abstract rules (and occasionally smites on the basis of same), and a belief that does. And only your being actually elected was really going to make me feel we had Australia's first female PM. (Let's be honest, deposing the fallen-from-grace leader is not really the same thing!).
Unfortunately, when it actually came to the crunch, the fight was between some pretty poor policy, and slightly worse - but surprisingly similar! - other policy. And this is why we ended up with the results we got.
I thought I'd just quickly break those down for you, Julia - you don't mind if I call you Julia, do you? - because I just want to make sure you've grasped the full impact of the results.
Basically, the real winner of this election was progressive, small "l" liberal politics. We have the first ever Greens MP elected at a general election, we have six - six! - new Greens senators, meaning they firmly hold the balance of power in the Upper House, and we have a general swing to the Greens of just about 4% - almost 3 times the swing towards the Coalition.
While I couldn't be happier about this, I'm disappointed by what it says about the Labor party, and I really think you should be too.
What it says, in a nutshell, is that the Labor party is no longer left wing enough for Australia.
Now this shouldn't come as a surprise to you, I wouldn't have thought - seeing as how much of your policy during the election campaign was virtually indistinguishable from the Coalition's, or indeed in some cases (Pacific Solution Labor's immigration policy, I'm looking at you) actually pretty much was the Coalition's (and I hope you credited John Howard in your references, otherwise it's plagiarism!).
But maybe it was a surprise to you? I have to admit, while I didn't approve of the line you were taking, I personally thought it was going to appeal to the nation. And so I was very surprised when on election night it became clear that you and I just hadn't given Australia enough credit when we were working out our lowest common denominator of conservatism.
As it turns out, Australia is not entirely as full of conservative xenophobic climate change sceptics as one might have thought. Now my excuse here is that I find it very hard to gauge the general sentiment of the country, as most of the people I know have very similar politics to me. In the past, Australia has always been much more conservative than me and mine, so I just naturally assumed this would once again be the case.
But presumably you have access to much better data than I do - annoying telephone polls, and the like - which leads me to wonder: how did you get it so wrong?
Clearly, what Australia was crying out for was strong, decisive leadership, leading to strong, decisive policy, which would then become strong, decisive outcomes. This is what you failed to present us with. Instead, you came across as weak, indecisive and all too quick to deal out or stick by some really crap policies that would clearly carry a large cost - and I don't just mean financial - yet be completely ineffectual (Pacific Solution Labor's immigration policy, I'm looking at you again. And your mate the internet filter).
The good news is, now that you've managed to form a minority government, there's a real chance for you to make up for the dismal election campaign. Show us your strong, decisive leadership.
Act now on climate change.
Kill the internet filter stone dead, and while you're at it, send Conroy back through the portal to his home world.
Legalise same sex marriage, so we are no longer denying basic freedoms to our fellow Australians.
Put time and resources into healing the mistakes of the past and redress the disgraceful imbalances between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians.
Stand up and have the balls to say that asylum seekers will no longer be a political issue, and inform the Australian public of the true facts surrounding this "problem". Show compassion to these people who are exercising their basic human right to seek asylum, and stop treating them as though they are criminals. Above all, stop the downright shameful locking up of their children.
These are obviously just a few of my concerns, Julia (and I should point out, appear in no particular order), but I'll leave you for the moment to get on with these.
If you can give just these few points a good crack, when we have our next election - be it in three years, or sooner - I might just get my epic good vs evil showdown, and be able to really get behind it.
Yours sincerely,
Ricki
P.S. The NBN's good, though. I probably should have mentioned that too.
Friday, 17 September 2010
Saturday, 11 September 2010
Major blogging fail
Alright, so the whole blogging-with-regularity thing isn't working for me. But I'm going to try and turn it around, starting right now.
My sister recently introduced me to the Day Zero Project, in which you make a list of 101 things you'd like to achieve, and pledge to complete them all within 1001 days. This is a similar concept to 43 things, which I am already doing, however for me I think the time limit makes things a little less abstract. In fact, I'd say the general flavour of the Day Zero Project is slightly less abstract, with more focus on specific tasks and experiences, rather than say, general values that you'd like to live your life by.
So, while I haven't made my Day Zero Project list yet, I definitely know that doing the blog more regularly is one of the things that is going to be on it, and with that in mind, I'm getting the jump on the 1001 days, and starting out right now.
Read on, for fun and entertainment! Or something like that, anyway.
Tuesday, 12 January 2010
The Year in Review: December 2009
December 2009
1. Opposition leadership spill.
The issue of whether or not to support the Government's Emissions Trading Scheme stretched the Liberal Party as far as it could go, culminating in a tightly fought leadership spill that saw Malcolm Turnbull deposed, Tony Abbott victorious, and Joe Hockey out of contention, or - as I rather think - waiting in the wings for the moment when the Libs look like having half a chance at getting a majority.
The leadership spill also left me very confused. Generally, on basically any issue if the Libs are on one side and Labor on the other, then I'm with Labor. But not on the ETS. And I also love Malcolm Turnbull (my favourite Lib!) and loathe Tony Abbott, so generally if one of them's saying one thing, and the other disagrees, I'd be with Malcolm. But . . . not on the ETS.
And then if I had my druthers, I'd rather Turnbull was the leader of the opposition, because I hate Abbott so much. But then I think the Mad Monk is less likely to get a good result in an election than Turnbull, so I should be glad that it's him leading now . . .
Like I said, confusing.
2. Pineapples have seeds.
Pineapples! Have seeds! I really can't stress enough how amazing I find that. I have been on this planet for 28 and half years, and I only just found that out, despite the rather large number of fresh pineapples I have seen/cut/eaten in my time.
SEEDS! Amazing.
3. Mary MacKillop expected to be canonised.
The Vatican recognised a second miracle attributed to Mary MacKillop, making it virtually certain that in 2010 she will be canonised, and become Australia's first saint. In addition, she would be in exclusive company as one of the only saints to have been previously excommunicated from (and then accpeted back to) the Church.
4. Avatar revolutionises cinema.
Honestly, if you haven't seen Avatar, and you're wondering whether all the fuss is justified - yes, it is. Emphatically so.
Sure the story is a bit basic, and a little bit Fern Gully. And it is possibly, in the way of these things, a bit long. But the visual effects - particularly the motion capture and compositing - are stunning. Completely convincing, such that it is possible to forget at various points that the big blue people are not carrying/touching/kissing the humans. In fact, the humans would have been in an entirely blank green set.
So if you haven't seen it, do go, straight away. This is the Citizen Kane of this generation, and in 20 years you're going to want to say, "I was there when . . .".
1. Opposition leadership spill.
The issue of whether or not to support the Government's Emissions Trading Scheme stretched the Liberal Party as far as it could go, culminating in a tightly fought leadership spill that saw Malcolm Turnbull deposed, Tony Abbott victorious, and Joe Hockey out of contention, or - as I rather think - waiting in the wings for the moment when the Libs look like having half a chance at getting a majority.
The leadership spill also left me very confused. Generally, on basically any issue if the Libs are on one side and Labor on the other, then I'm with Labor. But not on the ETS. And I also love Malcolm Turnbull (my favourite Lib!) and loathe Tony Abbott, so generally if one of them's saying one thing, and the other disagrees, I'd be with Malcolm. But . . . not on the ETS.
And then if I had my druthers, I'd rather Turnbull was the leader of the opposition, because I hate Abbott so much. But then I think the Mad Monk is less likely to get a good result in an election than Turnbull, so I should be glad that it's him leading now . . .
Like I said, confusing.
2. Pineapples have seeds.
Pineapples! Have seeds! I really can't stress enough how amazing I find that. I have been on this planet for 28 and half years, and I only just found that out, despite the rather large number of fresh pineapples I have seen/cut/eaten in my time.
SEEDS! Amazing.
3. Mary MacKillop expected to be canonised.
The Vatican recognised a second miracle attributed to Mary MacKillop, making it virtually certain that in 2010 she will be canonised, and become Australia's first saint. In addition, she would be in exclusive company as one of the only saints to have been previously excommunicated from (and then accpeted back to) the Church.
4. Avatar revolutionises cinema.
Honestly, if you haven't seen Avatar, and you're wondering whether all the fuss is justified - yes, it is. Emphatically so.
Sure the story is a bit basic, and a little bit Fern Gully. And it is possibly, in the way of these things, a bit long. But the visual effects - particularly the motion capture and compositing - are stunning. Completely convincing, such that it is possible to forget at various points that the big blue people are not carrying/touching/kissing the humans. In fact, the humans would have been in an entirely blank green set.
So if you haven't seen it, do go, straight away. This is the Citizen Kane of this generation, and in 20 years you're going to want to say, "I was there when . . .".
The Year in Review: November 2009
November 2009
1. "Freddo Boy" retardedness.
Australia proved that we have our share of hang ups that make us act like retarded dickheads - in this case, on the issue of what to do about indigenous offenders. It's a thorny issue, and one that is particularly difficult to solve - mostly because police and politicians insist on treating it as a law and order issue, rather than addressing wider social issues that are the root of the problem.
Case in point - a 12-year-old Aboriginal boy was charged with receiving stolen goods after a friend of his gave him a stolen Freddo frog. Largely due to a huge outcry over the sheer ridiculousness of the matter, the police referred the matter to a Juvenile Justice Team, and the charges were subsequently dismissed by a magistrate.
However, the police insisted that they were correct to charge the boy, on the basis of his having come to the attention of police in the past, though he was never charged. But for me, that kind of makes it even less dignified for the police - it makes it look like they were clutching at any excuse to charge the boy, regardless of how ridiculously petty the incident was.
2. Asylum seeker retardness.
Another issue that Australians are particularly retarded on are asylum seekers. We're faced with the problem of having lots of boats full of illegal immigrants trying to make their way to our shores, but instead of working out an effective management plan, we try and make it into a Somebody Else's Problem.
Unfortunately our new approach fails to work, because actually, it isn't somebody else's problem. It's our problem and we need to deal with it. This was thrown into stark relief with the Oceanic Viking standoff, which saw asylum seekers rescued by the Australian Navy taken to Indonesia, and told they had to get off. But they refused, and left us with no idea what to do.
We tried to force them off, we tried to get New Zealand to take them, but finally we were forced to offer that we would assess their status, and, if found to be refugees, we would process and resettle them within 3 months. After this offer was given, the asylum seekers left the ship . . . but a little too late for our dignity.
3. Thierry Henry retardedness.
During the playoffs for the 2010 World Cup, Frenchman Henry turned himself from a sporting hero into a dirty cheat. Unseen by the ref, he twice handled the ball in the penalty area, setting up the goal that allowed France to qualify at the expense of Ireland.
Now of course it can by no means be said that cheating that robbed Ireland of their spot in the World Cup. What it did do was rob Ireland of their chance to play their way into the World Cup, fair and square. And for most people (possbily not the French) it robs them of the chance to appreciate Henry for the first class sportsman that he is - being blinded by how classless he has proved himself to be in sportsmanship.
1. "Freddo Boy" retardedness.
Australia proved that we have our share of hang ups that make us act like retarded dickheads - in this case, on the issue of what to do about indigenous offenders. It's a thorny issue, and one that is particularly difficult to solve - mostly because police and politicians insist on treating it as a law and order issue, rather than addressing wider social issues that are the root of the problem.
Case in point - a 12-year-old Aboriginal boy was charged with receiving stolen goods after a friend of his gave him a stolen Freddo frog. Largely due to a huge outcry over the sheer ridiculousness of the matter, the police referred the matter to a Juvenile Justice Team, and the charges were subsequently dismissed by a magistrate.
However, the police insisted that they were correct to charge the boy, on the basis of his having come to the attention of police in the past, though he was never charged. But for me, that kind of makes it even less dignified for the police - it makes it look like they were clutching at any excuse to charge the boy, regardless of how ridiculously petty the incident was.
2. Asylum seeker retardness.
Another issue that Australians are particularly retarded on are asylum seekers. We're faced with the problem of having lots of boats full of illegal immigrants trying to make their way to our shores, but instead of working out an effective management plan, we try and make it into a Somebody Else's Problem.
Unfortunately our new approach fails to work, because actually, it isn't somebody else's problem. It's our problem and we need to deal with it. This was thrown into stark relief with the Oceanic Viking standoff, which saw asylum seekers rescued by the Australian Navy taken to Indonesia, and told they had to get off. But they refused, and left us with no idea what to do.
We tried to force them off, we tried to get New Zealand to take them, but finally we were forced to offer that we would assess their status, and, if found to be refugees, we would process and resettle them within 3 months. After this offer was given, the asylum seekers left the ship . . . but a little too late for our dignity.
3. Thierry Henry retardedness.
During the playoffs for the 2010 World Cup, Frenchman Henry turned himself from a sporting hero into a dirty cheat. Unseen by the ref, he twice handled the ball in the penalty area, setting up the goal that allowed France to qualify at the expense of Ireland.
Now of course it can by no means be said that cheating that robbed Ireland of their spot in the World Cup. What it did do was rob Ireland of their chance to play their way into the World Cup, fair and square. And for most people (possbily not the French) it robs them of the chance to appreciate Henry for the first class sportsman that he is - being blinded by how classless he has proved himself to be in sportsmanship.
Sunday, 10 January 2010
The Year in Review: October 2009
October 2009
1. "Balloon boy" retardedness.
The "balloon boy" incident started off dumb and just got worse and worse. Initially it seemed that a six year old boy had stowed away on a home-made helium balloon. The balloon eventually landed hours later, near the Denver airport, causing the airport to be closed down while National Guard helicopters and local police pursued it. On arrival at the landing site, there was no sign of the boy, prompting fears that he had fallen or wandered off, and causing a huge search and rescue operation to be launched.
But it then transpired that the boy had apparently been hiding in the garage at home. Which might make you think that it was a whole lot of fuss over a kid being naughty - still, not much you can do about it except ground him.
But it then transpired that actually, the whole thing may have been a hoax cooked up by the parents. And so an investigation was pursued, to get to the bottom of the matter.
And then, it turned out that indeed it had been a hoax all along, and that the parents had gone through with it in order to try and make themselves more marketable for a reality TV show. Which actually kind of makes sense when you consider that these people believe in aliens, and named their child "Falcon".
2. Nobel peace (sur)prize.
In a move that shocked, well, just about everyone, the Nobel Prize for peace was awarded to Barack Obama "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples". To be honest, it was a little bit hard to see what the man had actually done to earn the prize - though I quite like Michael Moore's take on it.
3. Castle doctrine my ass.
In personal news, October saw my house (which I had been in for about a month and a half) get broken into. It wasn't a surprise, really - I'm not in the best neighbourhood - but it was something of a shock to come in and see the back door just open.
Fortunately, all of the (collarless) cats were still inside, and in fact the only thing taken was my eMac computer, which was so old that in getting it replaced by my insurers, I'm actually getting a far superior model.
Still, the incident left me feeling like my house was not really all that safe, and shook me up a bit. Though I can say, it still hasn't led me to buy a samurai sword.
1. "Balloon boy" retardedness.
The "balloon boy" incident started off dumb and just got worse and worse. Initially it seemed that a six year old boy had stowed away on a home-made helium balloon. The balloon eventually landed hours later, near the Denver airport, causing the airport to be closed down while National Guard helicopters and local police pursued it. On arrival at the landing site, there was no sign of the boy, prompting fears that he had fallen or wandered off, and causing a huge search and rescue operation to be launched.
But it then transpired that the boy had apparently been hiding in the garage at home. Which might make you think that it was a whole lot of fuss over a kid being naughty - still, not much you can do about it except ground him.
But it then transpired that actually, the whole thing may have been a hoax cooked up by the parents. And so an investigation was pursued, to get to the bottom of the matter.
And then, it turned out that indeed it had been a hoax all along, and that the parents had gone through with it in order to try and make themselves more marketable for a reality TV show. Which actually kind of makes sense when you consider that these people believe in aliens, and named their child "Falcon".
2. Nobel peace (sur)prize.
In a move that shocked, well, just about everyone, the Nobel Prize for peace was awarded to Barack Obama "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples". To be honest, it was a little bit hard to see what the man had actually done to earn the prize - though I quite like Michael Moore's take on it.
3. Castle doctrine my ass.
In personal news, October saw my house (which I had been in for about a month and a half) get broken into. It wasn't a surprise, really - I'm not in the best neighbourhood - but it was something of a shock to come in and see the back door just open.
Fortunately, all of the (collarless) cats were still inside, and in fact the only thing taken was my eMac computer, which was so old that in getting it replaced by my insurers, I'm actually getting a far superior model.
Still, the incident left me feeling like my house was not really all that safe, and shook me up a bit. Though I can say, it still hasn't led me to buy a samurai sword.
Saturday, 9 January 2010
The Year in Review: September 2009
September 2009
1. Samurai death.
Proving that no matter how insane I think the US is, they can always go one better, a university student dealt with an intruder in his house by breaking out his samurai sword and killing the guy . . . and then wasn't charged with anything at all. This is because it's legal to have a samurai sword in Maryland, the state where the incident occurred, and apparently they also have some version of what is known as "Castle Doctrine".
The castle doctrine basically says, if someone illegally enters your house, you have the right to do whatever you want to them to "defend" yourself and your property, so long as you don't do it with an implement that is illegal.
So the erstwhile burglar loses his right not be murdered, while the 20 year old has an horrific death on his conscience, over a couple of hundred bucks' worth of electronic equipment?? I think that US in general may have a problem with excessive force.
2. He's like the wind.
Poor old Patrick Swayze lost his battle with pancreatic cancer, his passing prompting the most frequent playings of (I've Had) The Time of My Life since 1987.
3. Silvio Berlusconi puts up his nomination for the dumbest world leader ever.
OK, so there's pretty much no way that anyone but George W. Bush would win that award, if it ever came down to it, but Italy's PM Berlusconi would have to be in the top 10. Not only does he incessantly refer to both Barack and Michelle Obama as "suntanned", he insists that anyone who thinks that might be a bit rascist would have to be an "imbecile". Quite.
1. Samurai death.
Proving that no matter how insane I think the US is, they can always go one better, a university student dealt with an intruder in his house by breaking out his samurai sword and killing the guy . . . and then wasn't charged with anything at all. This is because it's legal to have a samurai sword in Maryland, the state where the incident occurred, and apparently they also have some version of what is known as "Castle Doctrine".
The castle doctrine basically says, if someone illegally enters your house, you have the right to do whatever you want to them to "defend" yourself and your property, so long as you don't do it with an implement that is illegal.
So the erstwhile burglar loses his right not be murdered, while the 20 year old has an horrific death on his conscience, over a couple of hundred bucks' worth of electronic equipment?? I think that US in general may have a problem with excessive force.
2. He's like the wind.
Poor old Patrick Swayze lost his battle with pancreatic cancer, his passing prompting the most frequent playings of (I've Had) The Time of My Life since 1987.
3. Silvio Berlusconi puts up his nomination for the dumbest world leader ever.
OK, so there's pretty much no way that anyone but George W. Bush would win that award, if it ever came down to it, but Italy's PM Berlusconi would have to be in the top 10. Not only does he incessantly refer to both Barack and Michelle Obama as "suntanned", he insists that anyone who thinks that might be a bit rascist would have to be an "imbecile". Quite.
Friday, 8 January 2010
The Year in Review: August 2009
August 2009
1. Australia loses the Ashes. Again.
For the second time in a row, Australia lost the Ashes in England. This second time hurt less than the first, possibly because it's less of a shock when it hasn't been so many years between losses, or possibly because this time we really were pretty much outplayed (as opposed to last time, when we didn't have McGrath, and the Poms cheated as much as possible . . .).
Basically, this time around we brought it more or less entirely on ourselves, with conservative captaincy that failed to go for the jugular in the very first test, and the indifferent form of various players that time and again saw us unable to perform to our best. In fact, what we were really missing . . . was McGrath.
Compare this to the English having a couple of players that nobody much rated (even the English) bringing some of the best performances of the tour, and Strauss leading from the front as the Man of the Series, and you pretty much have a situation in which it was always going to be hard for Australia to retain the Ashes. But of course, all this simply means that we're gearing up for another 5-nil drubbing when the Poms make it back over here.
Even without McGrath.
2. Triple J's Hottest 100 of All Time.
Triple J announced the results of their poll "The Hottest 100 of All Time". With over half a million votes, the poll was pretty massive, and the top ten came out pretty much exactly how you would think it would, with the #1 position going to Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit.
In fact, the entire list turned out pretty much how you would expect it to, though for me TV On The Radio's Wolf Like Me appearing in the list - even at #99 - is a bit weird. But even though the list is pretty predictable, that didn't stop various people scenting a conspiracy. This included Triple J's own show, Hack, who did an investigative report into the results that was never aired due to the fact that they had used incomplete data to fuel their allegations.
One of the big points that a lot of people made was that there were hardly any women on the list, and this was therefore very suspicious. Or at the very least, biased. I would argue (as a woman, and a feminist) that this is because an awful lot of music that women put out is thoroughly shit*. I'm not saying women can't make awesome, popular, moving, anthemic musical masterpieces. It's more like, they just don't. I mean, really, if I made a list of my personal "Greatest songs of all time" I'm sure they would largely be by male composers and performers - and I think most people would say the same.
*When I say "shit", I mean "not my cup of tea" rather than say, "poorly composed and/or executed."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)