the state of playLoretta Napoleoni- Rogue Economics loretta napoleoni- rogue economicsDo you know that almost a perfect correlation links the spreading of democracy and the rising of slavery? if the number of democratic countries increases so does the global pool of slaves. And that today the price of a slave is a fraction of what was during the Roman Empire? How many people are aware that the fall of the Berlin Wall boosted the globalized sex industry? That piracy is on the rise everywhere and money laundering, a multi billion dollar business involving banks and financial organizations, is booming? And do we know why house prices are skyrocketing? not because banks are suddenly good Samaritans but thanks to the fall in Western salaries that kicked-started the global deflationary era. These are some of the fantasies and illusions that populate our world; we live in a planet plunged into deep commercial and economic turmoil, run by a new breed of entrepreneurs, globalization outlaws: Chinese counterfeiters, Russian oligarchs, internet porno-businessmen, Bulgarian mafia, urban gangs and politicians turned great illusionists. This is also the kingdom of rogue economics, a feral force endemic to any great transformation, a phenomenon that since the fall of the Berlin Wall has resurfaced. The most dangerous conduit of rogue economics is the global market. Almost every product we consume hides a dark secret: the shelves of supermarkets are full of products brought to us by slaves, 75% of the fish we eat has been fished illegally and the housing market is infested with money launderers. The global market makes all of us, the consumers, the unaware business partners of globalization outlaws. When we buy a wedding ring made with the gold extracted by Congolese children enslaved by pitiless war-lords, gold illegally trafficked into Uganda by gangs of smugglers, and sold with fake certificates provided by rogue trading companies, we tie important commercial knots with the sinister underworld of the illegal and criminal economy of Central Africa. We ignore the dark secrets of what we consume because we are trapped inside the market matrix, a complex network of political illusions, commercial and economic fantasies. We believe that the global village we inhabit is an idyllic world. To glance at reality we have to escape from the market matrix and look at the global village from outside its boundaries, through the eyes of the victims of globalization outlaws: the slaves, the one billion people who live with less than a dollar a day, the Western middle class which is sinking into poverty, those who loose their home because of the subprime mortgage crisis and those who loose their savings because of that. But there is hope! This is not the first time humanity sinks into these illusions. It happened during the Industrial Revolution, when the rising English middle class ignored that their prosperous life style was directly linked to the inhuman exploitation of children, women and penniless people inside the English work-houses. Rogue economics is the underlying current of progress, always looming in the background of history, ready to take over at times of great transformations. When politics fails to sail throughout the tempest of progress, profit-making takes the lead and people loose track of reality. Today rogue economics is once again reshaping the world by promoting the partnership between Chinese economics and Islamic finance. The signs of this alliance are already apparent in Africa where Islamic banks and Chinese industrialists are cooperating to access its resources. A new axis running from China to South Africa via the Middle East will be the epicentre of the future system and Western countries will rest at the periphery of the new world.
dpp drop chaser caseDPP: Today I have directed that there be no further proceedings on all charges against 11 persons involved in The Chasers War on Everything entry into a restricted area during the APEC Meeting in Sydney in September 2007: Julian Morrow, Charles ("Chas") Licciardello, Nathan Earl, Giles Hardie, Lauren Howard, Geoffrey Lye, Alexander Morrow, Benson Simpson, Esteban Alegria, Mark Kordi and Rodrigo Pena. The matters are listed for mention in the Local Court tomorrow, 29 April 2008, when the charges will be withdrawn. Reasons clive hamilton in crikey 4/3/08Someone should hand out valium at the offices of The Australian. All last week the paper devoted front pages, editorials and opinion pages to feverish attacks on Robert Manne’s new book Dear Mr Rudd. The book is a collection of essays with policy suggestions for the new Government from a range of thinkers (including me). From the way The Australian has been carrying on, you’d think Manne had reissued The Communist Manifesto. Judging by the jeering editorial on Wednesday and the hysterical opinion piece by Janet Albrechtsen on Thursday, in which she lashed out at just about everyone The Australian has grown to hate, the whole place seems to be in uproar over this modest little book. The fury has been vented even before the book had gone on sale. Displaying its cavalier attitude to journalistic ethics, The Australian broke the publisher’s embargo, unleashing Howard sycophant Dennis Shanahan who immediately found a conspiracy in it. The book is not a collection of ideas from a variety of thinkers, Shanahan deduced, but a clumsy attempt by "the Left" to lay out its demands before a pliant Mr Rudd. But Shanahan thinks the Left is in for a nasty shock. He knows that Kevin Rudd is as conservative as they come and won’t have a bar of the demands of "the Left". Just to prove that Manne and his co-conspirators have got it wrong The Australian sent its chief political correspondent Matthew Franklin to ask Kevin Rudd about the book. His response was such big news that The Oz devoted its page one lead on Saturday to it under the banner “Rudd says no to Left agenda”. Franklin triumphantly reported that Kevin Rudd will not be embarking on a program of radical social and cultural change. Thank God that’s been sorted out. Even cartoonist Kudelka was drawn into tilting at ideological windmills, with an undergraduate gag showing a cup of latte smashing Rudd’s window and Manne’s book poking out of a waste-paper basket. No, I didn’t get it either. After slavishly promoting the Howard Government for 11 years, the Labor victory has thrown The Australian into confusion as it frantically tries to work out how to be relevant again. But unless you are beyond embarrassment -- like Paul Kelly who has moved effortlessly from being the foremost defender of Keating to the standard bearer for Howard and, after a few short weeks, is now a fervid Ruddite – if you run with the hares and hunt with the hounds you are likely to end up eating yourself. prelim to the apology"I give notice that, at the next sitting, I will move: That today we honour the Indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human history. We reflect on their past mistreatment. We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were Stolen Generations - this blemished chapter in our nation's history. The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia's history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future. We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians. We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country. For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry. To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry. And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry. We the Parliament of Australia respectfully request that this apology be received in the spirit in which it is offered as part of the healing of the nation. For the future we take heart; resolving that this new page in the history of our great continent can now be written. We today take this first step by acknowledging the past and laying claim to a future that embraces all Australians. A future where this Parliament resolves that the injustices of the past must never, never happen again. A future where we harness the determination of all Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to close the gap that lies between us in life expectancy, educational achievement and economic opportunity. A future where we embrace the possibility of new solutions to enduring problems where old approaches have failed. A future based on mutual respect, mutual resolve and mutual responsibility. A future where all Australians, whatever their origins, are truly equal partners, with equal opportunities and with an equal stake in shaping the next chapter in the history of this great country, Australia." There is a link to the actual apology on the right of this page. Editor of The National Indigenous Times Chris Graham in crikeyAs a member of the Canberra parliamentary press gallery, I had the substantial honour of sitting in the House of Representatives chamber this morning to watch the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd deliver the long-awaited national apology. In fact, Pearce was so against an apology, that he also sat and read through his own leader's entire speech. When Rudd finished and received a standing ovation, Pearce was the only member of parliament to remain seated. It begs the question, why did he even show up? Shortly after the chamber emptied, I ran into Valerie, an Aboriginal woman I've known for quite a few years. She was removed as a child, placed as a domestic with a white family, and then repeatedly raped (over several years) by her 'protectors'. "This was supposed to be our day, Stolen Generations. He had to go and try and ruin it by saying that," Valerie told me. His speech, ultimately a homage to the conservatives inside and outside his party, will be remembered for what it was. Dog whistling. That Nelson chose to do so during a national apology occasion is a personal tragedy of epic proportions. I feel genuinely sorry for him. Someone else's fault. So where to from here? Of course, Rudd must deliver on his promises to halve the infant mortality gap. He must deliver real health, housing and education to Aboriginal people and having defined his leadership so early on this issue, I have little doubt many in the media will seek to hold him to account. For Indigenous Australia, the talk over the next generation will be of a treaty, or a national settlement. Whatever you choose to call it, Australia has an opportunity, not to mention a mood, for change. qantas memoBBI aren`t too sure if this overseas maintenance is working out. Sure, its a money saver, but is that really the bottom line when you are 20,000 feet in the air?
private school fundingTHE secretive Exclusive Brethren religious sect is to receive more than $10 million from the Federal Government this year, despite Prime Minister Kevin Rudd having described it as an extremist cult that breaks up families. The money will be paid to five schools run by the Brethren. The largest, in the north-western Sydney suburb of Meadowbank, known as M.E.T. Meadowbank, will receive $4.3 million. Over the next four years, the schools, which operate across many campuses, will collect almost $50 million in subsidies. NSW Greens MP John Kaye, a critic of the private school funding system, said the Rudd Government was caught by its promise not to change the former government's subsidies formula. "Funding of the Brethren schools is growing at a massive rate," Dr Kaye said. "Our analysis shows that from $7.4 million in 2005, (funding) is on track to blow out to $10.1 million in 2008. exclusive brethren- letters to john howardThe Age 18/1/08 CORRESPONDENCE between the Exclusive Brethren and John Howard reveals the religious sect had a warm and familiar relationship with the former prime minister and offered regular political advice. The Age has obtained four letters in which unidentified sect leaders congratulated Mr Howard on the Iraq war and gave political advice about Medicare. The group also recommended massive water projects funded by the sale of Telstra. The letters show Mr Howard met two Brethren leaders in his Sydney office on the day New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark referred sect members to police because they hired private detectives to tail her and her husband, and spread rumours that her husband was gay. After that September 2006 meeting, Mr Howard wrote to the Brethren — whose members do not vote — to say he "enjoyed our recent discussion" and to commiserate with them about the "campaign against you by Senator (Bob) Brown and others". Earlier that year, Senator Brown, leader of the Greens, had tried to launch a Senate inquiry into the sect's involvement in the 2004 federal election and the Tasmanian state election. The Age obtained the letters after a 14-month-long freedom-of-information bid during which Mr Howard's office stalled at each step. The sect's letters offer "continual" prayers for Mr Howard, his wife and his family. In the first letter, sent in April 2003, sect leaders congratulated Mr Howard for being invited to George Bush's Texas ranch in the same week the US President declared "mission accomplished" in Iraq. "God has clearly supported and vindicated the initiative taken (in Iraq), and we are assured He will continue to do so as there is dependence on Him for guidance," they wrote. In September that year, Brethren leaders wrote complaining of the "tens of millions of dollars" the Medicare levy had cost the Brethren but cautioned Mr Howard about a Medicare overhaul package proposed by then health minister Kay Patterson. "We strongly believe that if you change Medicare in any shape or form before the next election, you will lose it. If you consider it necessary to change Medicare we suggest you leave it till after the next election." Two weeks later, Senator Patterson was sacked and Tony Abbott installed as health minister to radically boost the package. There are links to each of the letters in the Age if you go to the link above. john howard still in gainful employmentFrom Crikey 18/1/08 Former Prime Minister John Howard has signed with powerhouse public speaking agency Washington Speakers Bureau. The agency represents a who’s who of the political, media and military establishment. Other recent high profile Washington Speakers Bureau recruits include Tony Blair, former US Senate leader Trent Lott and Arianna Huffington. Former world leaders such as Valery Giscard d’Estaing, Jose Maria Aznar and Brian Mulroney are on their books, along with international political figures like Colin Powell, Joschka Fischer, James Baker and Chris Pattern. Bob Dole, Newt Gingrich, Jeb Bush, Norman Schwarzkopf, James Carville, Barbara Walters, Bob Woodward, Donald Trump and the Duchess of York are also on the Bureau’s roster. The Washington Speakers Bureau publicity material describes the former PM as "one of the most thought-provoking world leaders in modern history". John Howard is the "ideal choice to bring high-level international insight to your next event," it says. The Bureau also provides a full – and fulsome – biography of the former Liberal leader:
Howard is offering two speech topics. In Leadership in the New Century , he discusses "the role of world leaders in a new century, detailing steps for handling the growing concerns of globalization and global economics, the environment, and threats to international security". The Global Economic Future canvasses the future for the world economy and the ways and degrees "China, India and the Pacific Rim will participate". Role of Public Feedback in Government Policy MakingWhat is the Role of Public Feedback in Government Policy Making? Contribution by Bruce Hammond. It is common to read that politicians need to keep in touch with the issues that are of concern to their constituents. Every time a political party is voted out of office there is a lamenting cry amongst its faithful that the party had lost touch with these community concerns. Expensive consultants are hired to carry out surveys trying to determine where they went wrong, what policies were unpalatable to the voters and what issues needed to be brought to the fore. They survey in depth the voting public’s feelings toward the leader or who the public think should be leader. The information is then collated, studied, argued over and then used to formulate the platform from which the party will kick start its resurrection. The whole process is however an expensive and useless waste of time and one which I doubt has ever been successful. The mere fact that a party should need to go through such a mindless sham demonstrates nothing more than it is completely devoid of any senior members capable of moving the party forward. In the SMH of 3/1/08 I read that “Get Up” have gone off line and has been conducting interviews in houses around the country to gather direct data on the issues that most concern Australians today. They intend to summarise the data and present it to the Rudd government as an indicator of the issues that current Australians have placed at the top of their priority list. Having just won an election in a landslide I doubt that there will be any new news for Labor within the submission. What is interesting however is that “Get Up” feels it necessary to do this in the first place and as Gomer Pile would say, “Surprise Surprise”, a key finding was that Governments need to listen to their constituents concerns. A self perpetuating finding for the requirement of more surveys and continual public feed back emerges. I can understand that a sitting member needs to remain visible, known and available to the constituents of his electorate but only in the sense that by doing so he or she can’t hurt their chances of re-election. These actions however fall way short of being the major determining factor in whether they survive an election or not. The key factor is definitely the performance of the party leader and his/her status within the community. I suggest that incumbent Governments do not respond to community concerns in the setting of major policy but that policy is set in direct response to the ideology of the sitting cabinet only. Community feedback will only influence the margins of that policy after it has been implemented. Our recent experiences, for example with the Howard Governments Work Choices demonstrate that this is the case and in the USA it seems that community feedback has even less influence upon policy adjustment than here. For voters, the most worrying fact is that at election time only the ideology of the sitting government is known as that of the opposition has not had an opportunity to emerge from behind the electioneering façade. Exactly what feedback from the populace is required in order to set appropriate policies and implement appropriate actions with regards to protecting and promoting civil liberties, respecting the dignity of people of all races, ensuring that people are not marginalized or demonized and that the misfortunes of others are not used for political advantage? Who needs direction on whether to promote unity and higher ideals amongst the population? Any claim that a government has lost touch with its community on such foundation stone moral issues merely exposes the callousness and unsuitability of the party requesting feedback. And how I ask is it possible for any government of any persuasion in a country such as Australia to claim that it simply ran out of ideas when all and sundry are in despair with regards our health system, public schools, the current chronic lack of skilled workers, aged care and the looming crisis being brought about by our ageing population None of these things requires public feedback in the form that it is currently collected. They require good sensible policy making procedures that develop good sensible policies that advance ours’ and future generations lives. government knew of habib`s tortureFrom SMH 1/12/07 SENIOR members of the Howard Government, including the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister, were given a detailed briefing on Mamdouh Habib's horrific allegations of torture in Egypt as early as mid-2002. But they never told the Australian public of the allegations, did little to investigate them and, three years later, were still protesting they did not know Mr Habib had even been in Egypt. Justice Peter McClellan of the NSW Supreme Court yesterday released a welfare report sent to John Howard, Alexander Downer and others in late May 2002, just after Australian officials first visited Mr Habib and David Hicks at Guantanamo Bay. "[Mr Habib] said he was tortured," says the report, which is marked "secret". "Water was dripped on his head and he was administered electric shocks ... "Mr Habib said he was trussed upside down and his body beaten. He said he sustained broken ribs, two broken toes and bleeding from his penis." The report, titled Australian Government Visit to Guantanamo Bay: Welfare Aspects, goes on to describe how Mr Habib said his "captors made him listen to noises that resembled ... the sound of his wife being raped and children being beaten." He said he was "placed neck-high in water for extended periods of time and not allowed to sleep." As late as 2005 Mr Downer said he was not even sure Mr Habib had been to Egypt. Howard`s significant board appointees
that pamphlet - libs dirty tricks dept.Alex Mitchell in Crikey says.. There are few certainties in politics but it is odds-on that the NSW Liberal Party director Graham Jaeschke won't be keeping his job after the federal election. On his watch, the NSW Liberal Party has failed to tame the far right fundamentalist Christian faction which has been encouraged during Prime Minister John Howard's 11-year term in office. Now some high-profile party members have been caught distributing racially and religiously offensive leaflets in the Liberal-held western Sydney seat of Lindsay portraying Labor as the party sympathetic to Islamic terrorism. And in The Australian.. The Coalition will spend the last three days of the election campaign fighting off claims of gutter tactics after Liberal Party members were caught handing out bogus leaflets designed to inflame anti-Muslim sentiment against Labor in the marginal Sydney seat of Lindsay. Telegraph Editorial... So, here was the Liberals' dirty plan; to tell voters in Lindsay that if they voted for Labor, they were voting for supporters of terrorism. A more disgraceful lie, a more profound attack on democracy, is difficult to conceive.
dawn cohen- australian christian values instituteI scanned a an advert put out by the Australian Christian Values Institute in the Herald marking all the parties contesting the Federal election on 27 Christian values. I was keen to see who won on humility and forgiveness. I wondered which party loved their neighbour as themselves, and who was most grateful for their daily bread. But it turns out love, justice, compassion, charity; forgiveness and gratitude are so low down in Christian values they don’t make it to the top 27. Far more important is to destroy homosexual marriage ( value number 9) to oppose State’s rights to make independent decisions about registering same sex relationships ( value number 10) to prevent babies being born by denying IVF to same sex couples and single women ( value number 12) and to oppose a Charter of Rights for Australians (value number 22). The advert wants Australians to have some rights though. We should have the right to vilify people on the basis of their sexuality and their religion (value number 21). Religious organizations should be able to discriminate against any body they don’t like (value number 23). Oh yes, and to teach Australia’s Christian heritage in all schools, presumably promoting the above values. That one is so important it makes it to number two. Keen to know what’s the most important? Value number one is forcing pollies to pray every day with prayers opening Parliament. And I bet the prayers they have in mind don’t make room for the Buddhists or Wiccans either. It turns out God opposes heroin trials, and drug injecting rooms, the decriminalisaton of illicit drugs and the promotion of abstinence models. I am often surprised that people pushing their own values as if they are God’s aren’t frightened the Universal Presence could take offence. Surely She would be pissed off at looking as if she’s incapable of taking a nuanced view of the best way to treat substance abuse when the research clearly indicates that the way to go. After 20 years as a psychologist working with drug abusers, I like the abstinence model too. But the abstinence model itself talks of attracting not promoting addicts to its cause. A silly advert by a bunch of ignorant, irrelevant cranks? Ignorant yes, but irrelevant? Sadly, no, the two-colour l advert must have cost a packet. The Institute is well resourced and profoundly supported by powerful groups in the US and Europe. They are confident and have long-term strategies. They make no apology for smashing through the Aussie suspicion of religion pushers poking around outside their proper domain. Once before this country forced religious values on its people through sweeping national action. It wrought devastation for generations thereafter. Christianity justified the theft of Aboriginal children from their communities. The history we have refused to fully own we are now doomed to repeat. Now, they want to steal all our souls. We dismiss the threat to our peril. BBI: A copy of the Christian Lobby`s how to vote chart is in this section further down nats are genetically designed to rort.David MacCormack in Crikey writes.. The surprising thing about the emerging scandal over the maladministration of the Regional Partnerships program is that anyone is surprised. What do you think happens when you put a National Party minister near a very deep - several hundred million dollar deep - pork barrel? The National Party is different from the Liberal Party, the Labor Party, or for that matter just about every other political party from the lunar Right to the raving Left in Australia. It has no interest in the welfare of the nation, in good public policy, or achieving outcomes for the whole community. Its parasitic purpose is to leech off resources from the rest of the community to a minority interest of limited economic or social value. It has always been that way and always will be. It isn't a political party, it's a conspiracy to defraud. That's why National Party politicians are a priori unfit for public office. They are genetically designed to rort. We saw it in Queensland under Joh and we've seen it for years under the Howard Government.... And, as usual, when Nationals are caught out, they attack the people who've exposed them. De-Anne Kelly was today blaming the ANAO for revealing the partisanship and lack of accountability in the program she administered. Just like it was the media's fault that the National Party in the 1980s was riddled with corruption. Even so, it is exquisite timing. The Government's reputation for prudent economic management has been taking a battering for the last fortnight. The Nationals just might have helped kill it off entirely. guy rundle in crikey- wentworthgate.Guy is writing about the Australian newspaper`s demise as a credible newspaper. There's so many lowlights and hilarious moments in The Oz's conduct of the culture wars, it's hard to know which to pick as a favourite:
And now Bondigate. (Caroline Overington asking Dani Ecuyer to preference Turnbull before Newhouse, then flirting with Newhouse before threatening to stalk him) christian values checklistThe Greens refused to answer these people and look at how they have been rated. They asked that their board members be named, (we did that too) and received no reply. A group of people who refuse to be identified should not have influence over voters (shades of The Exclusive Bretheren) and this group has been dismissed by many christian groups. At the institute we want religion out of politics. Surely it is obvious that to go down the USA path is not sensible. And note that Fred Nile`s mob has received the most ticks. There`s a man who`s got his finger on the pulse.
anti-terror laws izhar ul-haqueGreg Barns in Crikey 13/11/07 writes. When the Howard government and its allies in the ALP fell over each other in their mad scramble to pass draconian anti-terror laws, there were some wise heads warning that such legislation would open the door to abuse by law enforcement and security authorities of their powers. Well guess what – surprise, surprise – it’s happened. The decision handed down by NSW Supreme Court judge Michael Adams concerning the case of Izhar Ul-Haque makes for disturbing reading. It’s a case of ASIO officers scaring the bejesus out of an individual in their quest for a result. “At 7.25pm on 6 November 2003, twenty or so ASIO and four or five police officers, all in plain clothes, attended with a search warrant at the home where the accused lived with his parents and three brothers.” Yes, it’s not a misprint – twenty five or more Federal Police and ASIO officers go to this man’s home. What were they expecting to find there – a nuclear arsenal? The boys from ASIO met Mr Ul-Haque and his 17-year-old brother in a railway station car park on that November day. They told Mr Ul-Haque he was in serious trouble, bundled him into a car, took him to a local park and forced him to answer questions. They took his frightened brother along as well – an action described by Justice Adams as "highhanded". And here’s what Justice Adams thought of the spooks taking Mr Ul-Haque to a park: “The officers were dealing with a young man of twenty-one years. It is obvious that any citizen of ordinary fortitude would find a peremptory confrontation of the kind described by the ASIO officers frightening and intimidating. Furthermore, the fact that he was being taken to a park rather than any official place would have added an additional unsettling factor. I do not think it can be doubted that this was precisely the effect that was intended.” No doubt those commentators like Janet Albrechtsen at The Australian will complain that Justice Adams is an interfering busybody and a dreaded judicial activist. But most sensible people would say – thank goodness for gutsy judges prepared to expose rampant abuses of power by the state. And maybe now our politicians will see with their own beady eyes the post-9/11 monster they have created. young liberals environmental policy
Just so you know where this progressive group stands. Number 5 is especially progressive but isn`t that what this government has been doing? Nothing. newspoll brings out another shanahan spin masterclassDavid MacCormack in Crikey; All lovers of quality political spin should go out right now and buy, or preferably steal, today's edition of The Australian. It's a keeper. With any luck, the political commentary will feature in Public Relations courses all over the world for years to come. Dennis "Comical Ali" Shanahan continues his Sisyphean task of reinterpreting Newspoll's massive Labor lead as an imminent Howard victory. According to Shanahan, the comparative rating of Howard and Rudd as economic managers – about the only thing still in the Coalition's favour – is the important figure in the polling. Or, at least, it has been since Rudd became preferred Prime Minister. You'd never think there had been an angry debate just three months ago between Shanahan and bloggers over his insistence that preferred PM was the key indicator. Lucky interest rate rises are such good news for the Government. Imagine how bad the polls would be if they weren't. Shanahan thinks it's not as bad as expected. Yes Dennis, it's only a flesh wound. Meanwhile, noted pugilist Glenn Milne is still trying to breathe life into the line that economic turmoil is a boon for the Coalition. Contrary to the Prime Minister's view, Milne says, the sky really IS falling in. And, worse, journalists are ignoring all the evidence. Good to see conservatives are already blaming the media, even when they run it. Milne's column is clunky and chock-a-block with finance jargon – he seems to have done no editing whatsoever to the copy handed to him by the Treasurer's office. Perhaps Glenn isn't even in the country. It would come as no surprise to hear he's paddling about in the South China Sea, trying to whip up a tsunami. john howard can`t help himself, can he?David MacCormack writes in Crikey 9/11/07 Whether it's the "stolen generations", kids overboard or the 2004 interest rate promise, the Kirribilli Casuist has parsed sentences, tortured meaning and twisted words for so long, it is now an automatic reaction for him. Maybe it's a semantic form of nervous twitch. Yesterday we were pondering the arcane question of whether the Government could somehow spin a rate rise into a positive. What complex explanation could save the Coalition's electoral fortunes? This was political debate at its most complicated and nuanced. But all that became moot when the Prime Minister stood next to his Treasurer, in that awkward Little-and-Large pose the "agreed agreement" condemns them to, and declared that he hadn't apologised for interest rate rises at all. As they say in the classics, WTF? Howard was smart to say sorry on Wednesday. It may not have gained him a single extra vote, but it suggested he was aware of having dudded Australians in 2004, no matter how he tries to wriggle out of that. But in offering one of his trademark dips into the dictionary, he undid all that in an instant. Not merely did it extend the dominance of interest rates in the campaign another day, it would have annoyed punters no end. The footage on the commercial news bulletins was deadly, especially with "Howard takes back his apology" commentary. Howard of course did no such thing, but "apology" versus "sorry" is a distinction without a difference for those Howard battlers out there in the mortgage belts. Most of them wouldn't own dictionaries, and the ones that do will now probably have to pawn them to finance their house repayments. sol lebovic - don`t expect even numbers on polling dayIn The Australian 7/11/07 State variations also appear likely in this year's election with the Newspoll marginal seat polling conducted last week in four states showing swings to Labor ranging from just below 5 per cent in NSW to almost 10 per cent in Queensland... The recent Newspoll marginal seat polling, however, showed the swing in NSW to be just under 5 per cent. If repeated at the election on a uniform basis this would give Labor five or six seats. These would include John Howard's seat of Bennelong and Malcolm Turnbull's seat of Wentworth. Given the high profile of these two sitting members it would not be surprising to see a smaller swing in these seats on election day... Queensland has been talked about as a key seat for Labor but this has been Labor's poorest performing state over the past 60 years with an average of only 45.8 per cent and its maximum just 50.7 per cent. Its 2004 result was 42.9 per cent, leaving much room for improvement. In the 16 most marginal Coalition seats only two are from Queensland. In recent times, though, the largest state swings have occurred in Queensland, in 1996 an 8.6 per cent against Labor then in the following election the reverse with 7.1 per cent swing to Labor. The interesting point with Queensland is that if it once again records a larger swing than the national average, a large number of seats come into play. A uniform 7.5 per cent swing in the sunshine state would see Labor gain seven seats. Last week's Newspoll marginal seat polling showed the largest swing to Labor was in fact in Queensland with a swing of almost 10 per cent. This would be a 60-year record swing for Labor in this state and would deliver the ALP 10 seats if repeated on election day. Another key state for Labor is South Australia. Labor's maximum two-party support in the past 60 years was 54.2 per cent in both 1961 and 1969 compared with its 2004 level of just 45.6 per cent, one of its weaker states at the last election. This leaves a large potential for increased support. Three out of the five Coalition seats requiring a swing of 1 per cent or less to change hands are in SA.... The eastern seaboard states and South Australia are therefore Labor's key states in terms of the number of seats Labor can pick up. Any slip-up in other states, though, means Labor will need the bigger swings in these states to win government. If present polling levels hold through to the election though, not much analysis of state differences will matter with Labor romping in. topmedia freedom crikey 5/11/07Dennis Muller writes An audit of the freedom of information available to the Australian media, released today, makes a powerful argument that free speech in Australia is being subtly whittled away. The factual basis for the proposition that the media’s freedom to obtain and published information is being whittled away is incontestable. The anti-terrorism laws alone are oppressive enough to justify this statement. Then there is other evidence: Australia has slipped from 12th to 28th place on an international index of press freedom. There are 335 Acts of the Commonwealth Parliament with specific secrecy provisions to stop information on subjects ranging from gambling revenue to livestock disease. There are endless accounts of how the executive government perverts and frustrates the freedom of information laws in every jurisdiction. topfranklin`s gay immigrants , crikey 1/11/07Happy gay resident of what some call Australia's Kansas City, Rodney Croome, writes: This week, leaders of Australia's religious right have positioned themselves to influence a future Labor Government on key issues including gay rights. On Tuesday, Jim Wallace from the Australian Christian Lobby launched the ACL's new election website with an attack on Labor's commitment to legal equality for same-s-x de facto couples. Wallace says de facto recognition is tantamount to same-s-x marriage even though the ALP has ruled out changes to the Marriage Act, and all the states currently recognise de facto couples without any changes to the definition of matrimony. But Wallace was careful not to attack Kevin Rudd. Rather, he wants to drive a wedge between the Labor leader and "libertarians" within his party. He is doing this by highlighting Rudd's Christian credentials, noting Rudd's weak defence of his party's pro-gay policies, and directing Christian constituents to vote for candidates rather than parties. Clearly Wallace wants to demonstrate to Labor strategists that the ACL can breach the partisan divide and has influence over potential Labor voters. Cardinal George Pell is also waking up to the possibility of Labor in power. He used the launch of his new book to attack the idea that s-xuality anti-discrimination laws should cover religious institutions, and, of course, same-s-x marriage. He wouldn't bother preaching so loudly on either issue if Howard was sure to win. Attempts by religious conservatives to increase their influence over Labor's gay rights policy raises the question of whether there is a countervailing gay constituency, and whether Labor will suffer at the hands of this constituency over its stance against same-s-x marriage, or, in the event it retreats from the more positive same-s-x commitments it has made. For all their cant about knowing the electorate, party election strategists have a very poor understanding of gay voters, where they live, what motivates them, and what broader social influence they have. There is still a strong perception, re-inforced by the media, that the overwhelming majority of gay voters are young, footloose and individualistic residents of inner-city seats like Wentworth and Melbourne Ports with little concern for politics or connection to their communities. A spate of recent demographic studies has exploded this myth. According to reports of the latest US research, "l-sbians and gays are more likely to be older, 'responsible' suburbanites sharing a mortgage payment and listening to country music than young turks partying in the Castro or Chelsea." As notable as the emergence of the pink suburban mortgage belt is the population shift from urban to rural and regional areas, due both to an exodus of urban dwellers and the decision of those who grow up in the regions to stay there. topthomas hunter in crikey 31/10/07If admitting you have a problem is the first step in overcoming it, we should be offering Federal Environment Malcolm Turnbull generous praise today for sharing the following emission, sorry, admission:
Here are some facts and figures in support of Mr Turnbull's brave announcement, just in case anyone doubts Australia's leadership on changing the climate. Kyoto targets Australia was one of two countries that negotiated an increase in our emissions. We got +8 per cent while the EU got –8 per cent. We’re continuing that trend with the Federal Government’s own our emissions forecast by the government, to rise by 27% above our 1990 levels by 2020, while the EU has committed to reducing its by 20% by the same date. Fuel efficiency standards for vehicles China’s fuel efficiency standards are more stringent than Australia’s. By 2008 China’s vehicle fleet will be almost twice as efficient as Australia’s, at 6.4L / 100 km. Australia does not have any mandatory fuel efficiency standards for passenger vehicles. Australia’s car manufacturing industry has voluntarily agreed to achieve an average fuel efficiency of around 7L / 100km by 2010. The Government estimates Australian transport emissions will rise by 62% above 1990 levels by 2020. Car ownership On a per capita basis, Australians own more cars than any other nationality apart from Americans. De-forestation and re-forestation In China, policies to promote reforestation have helped increase forest coverage from 13.92% in the early 1990s to 18.21% in 2005. From 1980 to 2005, improved forest management has sequestered an estimated 3 billion tonnes of CO2, or five times Australia’s total annual emissions. Exports According to Greens Senator Christine Milne, Australia leads to the world in the export of renewable energy technologists, sending our best researchers and developers flying offshore seeking a government that will support their work. Greenhouse emissions generated from waste According to the World Resources Institute’s Navigating the numbers: Greenhouse gas data & international climate policy part 2 , on the league table of greenhouse emissions generated from waste, Australia is number one per capita and 15th overall. ** Compiled with the assistance of the Australian Conservation Foundation thomas hunter in crikey 30/10/07If you were only to read The Australian today, you could be forgiven for thinking the Coalition is storming back into contention, and it’s all Peter Garrett’s fault. Dennis Shanahan and Patricia Karvelas write:
His crime? On AM yesterday morning Garrett committed to signing a global emissions target agreement even if it didn’t include developing nations, but later changed his position, saying commitments from developing countries would be a pre-requisite for Australia signing a post-2012 commitment. Paul Kelly adds:
Meanwhile, this morning’s Newspoll shows a move back to the Government. Dennis Shanahan again:
A few pages later, former Newspoll chief Sol Lebovic is more circumspect:
But if you to get your hands on any other papers, you’ll get a different picture. The Fin reports on another cabinet rebuff of Malcolm Turnbull, this time on water, while neither The Age nor the Sydney Morning Herald have taken to the Newspoll results or Labor’s policy kerfuffle with quite the same gusto as The Oz. Howard’s tech school announcement shared a story with the Newspoll results on The Age’s front page, while Jo Chandler prefers the Costello cactus story:
But there’s another poll out today, one commissioned by Labor. According to a Courier-Mail report, swinging voters have all sorts of nasty labels for Peter Costello:
cheney, howard struck deal over hicksSMH 23/10/07 US Vice-President Dick Cheney and Australian Prime Minister John Howard cut a deal to release Australian inmate David Hicks from Guantanamo Bay, according to a report published in the US on Monday. The report quotes a US military officer. "One of our staffers was present when Vice-President Cheney interfered directly to get Hicks' plea bargain deal," the unnamed officer told today's edition of Harper's magazine. "He did it, apparently, as part of a deal cut with Howard. "I kept thinking: this is the sort of thing that used to go on behind the Iron Curtain, not in America. "And then it struck me how much this entire process had disintegrated into a political charade. BBI: It certainly seemed like a political charade to us at the Institute. A political solution to take Hicks out of the newspapers. We want him back in the news now. He represents one of the worst features of the Howard tenure, that he could abandon an Australian for political reasons. Hicks' plea deal surprised observers at Guantanamo for his trial because it was not negotiated by US Colonel Morris Davis, the chief prosecutor for Hicks' military commission, but by the commission's convening authority, Susan J Crawford, a former top official of Cheney's Defence Department staff. Mr Howard, after the deal was announced, denied involvement in the plea bargain. After the plea deal was made public, Australian Greens leader Bob Brown said, "the message has gone very clearly from Canberra to Washington to Guantanamo Bay: don't allow Hicks to be released until after the elections and certainly don't allow him to speak". Mr Howard rejected this too. "And the suggestion from (Greens leader) Senator Brown, that it has something to do with the Australian elections, is absurd," Mr Howard said at the time. BBI: We are not convinced that Bob Brown was wrong in his assessment. topintegration of african refugeesFrom Education reporter Neil McKenzie It seems that Mr Andrews is not happy with the way Sudanese (and other African refugees) are integrating into mainstream Australian society. I work in a local public school which has about 20 Sudanese, Congolese and other African refugee children amongst its school population. I marvel everyday at how well these children are adapting to life in regional Australia, which is about as different from their troubled early lives as it could possibly be. They have unusual names and are as beautifully black as it’s possible to be, but they are essentially no different to any of the other children. Many are shy, some are very outgoing; some are learning English very quickly, others are struggling; a few are even learning “attitude” from their native-born classmates and would be right at home at Summer Heights High! My message to Mr Andrews is this: these children enrich our school and our society. They are not a homogenous group. Some are integrating very quickly and others are taking longer. Surely this has been the case with all migrant groups since multi-culturalism become government policy. Each successive generation blends more easily into the cultural mix and enriches our society in so doing. We should welcome them with open arms and learn from them. michael kirby-"a fair go"Excerpts from SMH 1/10/07 "Last week, the High Court published its reasons for orders made earlier in an important case. Those orders took the always serious and solemn judicial step of invalidating an act of the Federal Parliament. That act, passed last year, had taken away the right to vote from all prisoners in Australia. The High Court declared that, consistent with the constitution, this could not be done." "The 2006 law excluded about 8000 citizens from the vote. More than 20 per cent of them, like the applicant before the High Court, Vickie Roach, are indigenous citizens." "The High Court was told that a similar total exclusion in Canada was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2002. In Britain last year, a similar law was held to infringe the fundamental rights in the European Convention on Human Rights, to which Britain is required to conform." "However, in the United States, 4 million citizens, no less, are banned from voting for life." topthe fear campaignMick Keelty some time ago admitted that Australia was at more risk because we had joined the U.S. in the war in Iraq. Fridge magnet aside, the Federal government seems to have gone overboard with their security measures. This is an account of an elderly man (accompanied by his elderly wife) on a trip from Ballina to Sydney and return. It is not only a case of security overkill , it seems that the type of people employed by Federal Security sometimes relish the opportunity to throw their weight around unnecessarily. Posted 24/09/07. To all those aged and infirm readers may I point out the dangers and complexities of travel by air in Australia, in this instance from Ballina to Sydney particularly if through age or a physical disability you have prosthetic devices fitted such as titanium knee or hip replacements. I have had two such devices fitted, one in each knee, these have sufficient density to set off the warning alarms at the security checks. Aware of this I informed the clerk at the check point before passing through the gate what would occur. I may point out that I am aged 85 and was accompanied by my wife who is aged 83. My dress was “neat casual”, my hair and beard are white, I don’t think I look violent or likely to destroy the aircraft I will be travelling in. As forecast my knees set off the warning alarm. Expecting my knees to be checked with the electronic measuring device I was surprised when I was told to remove my shoes and then subjected to a full body search feeling round my waist up my spine under the armpits down the outside of my legs then up and down the inner leg from my anus to my ankles. All of this done in public view. Eventually having passed all the tests we were permitted to proceed to the waiting room and eventually to board the aircraft. I was doubly cautious returning from Sydney particularly in view of the large numbers of heavily armed and violent looking Sydney police, but as a well known American comedian used to say “You ain’t seen nothing yet”. The clerk at the checkpoint was confronting and ordered me to “ Stand there” gesturing towards a cupboard. “Don’t knock that cupboard”. The clerk then commenced the same procedure as the Ballina clerk except he patted rather than rubbed. Upon my objecting I was told if you don’t like it you can wait outside the compound. When I viewed the police and looked at the clock I put up with it. Eventually I was assessed as not likely to destroy the aeroplane. topruddock- bill of rightsSubmitted by gopaleen 5/9/07 In an opinion piece in the Sydney Morning Herald Philip Ruddock in an attempt to disparage bills of rights wrote: "In Britain last year a suspected car thief climbed onto the roof of a home and threw bricks and tiles at police. Officers provided him with Kentucky Fried Chicken and cigarettes, just to be sure that his "human right" to sustenance while being "detained" could not be called into question."( http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/08/30/1188067275092.html) This didn't sound like The Bill we know and love and sure enough an internet search showed his source was a beat-up by the english tabloids. Now either Philip Ruddock believed this reporting without corroboration which could only mean a weak intellect and poor legal training or did check and found it to be false as did Martin Kettle of the Guardian. "I asked Gloucestershire Constabulary why they issued the human rights claim. "That certainly didn't come from this office," a police spokesman told me. "What happened was nothing to do with the Human Rights Act. It was a negotiation. He said he would come down if we gave him food and drink." (http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1794330,00.html) The only conclusion to make is that the Attorney-General is dumb or dissembling - either he foolishly believed the tabloids or knowing the story to (be) false presented it as true. . How safe then are our essential freedoms if he heads the department responsible for the maintenance and improvement of Australia's system of law and justice and its national security and emergency management systems? Can we have faith in the legislature if he is formulating the legislation? If the choice is trust Philip Ruddock or a bill of rights, it has to be a bill of rights. topwage increasesAverage worker=3.7% Says it all really topequine influenza
Is it true? Has the government admitted culpability by saying that they had been notified some 2 years ago that their softening of qua |
