antiminke's john howard is a fool archives

A new date for Australia Day - which would you choose?

I've realised I can't imagine ever being able to think of January 26 as something to celebrate, but I like the idea of celebrating the good things about Australia so I'd like Australia Day to be on a different date. Kevin Rudd said 'sorry' on behalf of all Australians, but January 26 is still 'invasion day' to me.

After all, it's not like January 26 just marks the date I borrowed your lawnmower that I subsequently forgot to return. It marks the day Aboriginal people had their land nicked from them; the start of everything from genocide to appalling infant death rates.

I was going to suggest May 27, the date of the 1967 referendum about Aboriginal Australians. It's a pretty symbolic date because 90% voted for it, though its meaning isn't straightforward according to Wikipedia:

The overwhelming support for the 'Yes' vote gave the Federal Government a clear mandate to implement policies to benefit Aborigines. A number of misconceptions have arisen as to the outcomes of the referendum some as a result of it taking on a symbolic meaning during a period of increasing Aboriginal self-confidence. It was some five years before any real change occurred as a result of the referendum but federal legislation has since been enacted covering land rights, discriminatory practices, financial assistance and preservation of cultural heritage. The other aspect of the constitutional change, enabling of Aborigines to be counted in population statistics, has led to clearer comparisons of the desperate state of Aboriginal health.

I like the idea that not only is it a day off work, a day for catching up with friends and family or just lazing around, it's also a day where the nation can examine its conscience and test its actions and statements against the spirit of May 27, 1967.

'Freedom through shopping' in Dalston Lane

A random find on Flickr the other day - a nice bit of culture jamming captured at Dalston Lane: "Freedom Through Shopping".

Is Rudd really better?

Rethinking indigenous policy is worth reading if you're curious about how Rudd differs from Howard - is he going to fail us after all? At the moment it seems he's definitely left room for improvement:

rather than simply punishing parents for their children's non-attendance, the Government should be providing schools, teachers and resources that meet the needs of the Aboriginal community.

This actually made me incredulous:

When the school attendance policy was introduced, it was not done in a way that targeted parents who were not sending their children to school. Instead of a case-by-case approach, the Federal Government prescribed certain Aboriginal communities to be affected by the policy and all people in that community were subject to quarantining if they were on a welfare payment -- whether their children were going to school or not, whether they were parents or not.

C'mon Rudd, pull your finger out.

Two reasons to like Australia again

via Paul's buggery.org:

'Chris Evans is Australia's best immigration minister in a dozen years' - go read it, it'll gladden your soul.

It's worth repeating why immigration is such an important issue:

The immigration portfolio is probably unique in the degree to which the minister hold in his or her hands the lives and aspirations of individuals - real people. With a stroke of the ministerial pen, the immigration minister has the power to break the spirits and crust the souls of ordinary human beings whose only hope is the chance of a life in a new country where opportunity, not oppression, is the norm. That's what Evans was referring to when he spoke of "playing God".

And also - 'Starbucks to close 61 Australian outlets'.

Zoe Williams on Boris, the blond buffoon

I guess at least I don't have Howard in Australia and Boris in London - that would be too much to deal with. But look what we have now as the Mayor of London. Zoe Williams writes in the Guardian:

Two mistakes we make about Boris: the first is that, because he says "unacceptable" things, then he must be honest; he must be outside the airless bubble of PC. This is bilge. He is no more honest than any other philanderer before him. He has lied flagrantly, flamboyantly, to save his marriage, and given how little else he's prepared to do for it, one must conclude that he doesn't put a very great premium on telling the truth. So if he gives out these apparently harsh truths about gay people or Liverpudlians or the people of Congo, it is not because the fire of truth burns so brightly within him that he can't snuff it out. It is because he genuinely despises these people. He despises gays and he despises provincials (you are all right with Boris if you come from Liverpool but don't sound like a Liverpudlian. Once you've been to public school, then you are from postcode POSH), and he despises Africans. He despises them, and he despises those of us who would hold such judgments to be bigoted and inhuman.

...

It ought to beggar belief, oughtn't it? Not that this self-satisfied creature of privilege should hold such views, but that he should be able to spout them and then have us all instantly forget about it. What are we, idiots?

Sadly enough people in London are idiots. I guess (John Howard's own) Lynton Crosby's dog whistle worked on the poor neglected fools in the outer suburbs of London.

Rudd says, go home

I missed this cos I was away but it would have been ace to go and bear witness to his Ruddness. OTOH, fat chance I'm going home any time soon.

Go home, Rudd tells expats in London

What was one of the hottest gigs in London this week? Kevin Rudd's lecture at the London School of Economics on Monday.

A thousand people, largely expatriates, attended and all tickets were snapped up within 15 minutes. Another 300 people queued outside, hoping for a spot.

Mr Rudd, half in jest, urged the 200,000 Australians living in London to think of returning home, or at least contribute ideas, via the internet, for the 2020 summit the weekend after next.

Time overseas was "time well spent", he said. "I know it's great being here but we need you back home, too: there's a lot of things to do, big challenges. If you choose to stay here, I'll be speaking to [the British Prime Minister] Gordon [Brown] to make sure some of your visas are revoked."

(I'd laugh at the last bit if Gordon Brown didn't already seem so keen to make it harder for evil foreigners to stay in the UK.)

They really were taking submissions for Australia 2020, which is cool.

Is Australia racist?

Interesting. Based on my experience as an Australian in Europe, Tampa changed how Australia was viewed - I'm not sure how that perception can be repaired, and while it's heartening to read that 'Australia generally is one of the least racist countries in the world', even one 'pocket of racism' is too many.

The Age: We're not racist, but ...

There seems to be agreement among the experts that Australia generally is one of the least racist countries in the world. Instead, they point to "pockets of racism" across the country.

...

But Kevin Rudd's apology might be the stimulus for changing attitudes towards indigenous Australians. Waleed Aly says it tapped into a sense of unease that perhaps Australians weren't doing all they could on race. That, he says, suggests that we are aware of the criticism that Australia has problems with racism and that we want to shed that image.

"I would argue that Australia is among the least racist societies on earth," he says. But he has no doubt that Australia is perceived poorly by other countries on matters of race. He believes past policies on refugees, Tampa, the stolen generations, the White Australia policy, Hansonism and Cronulla have damaged Australia's reputation -- somewhat unfairly.

"The reality of Australian society is complex, but the international vision of Australian society is usually simple." And superficial.

One leading multiculturalism researcher, the Australian National University's James Jupp, argues it is the outdated images -- of Anzac, of battlers and of the outback -- that should be a starting point for change. "Lots of countries have myths that are out of date, in fact most countries do, but it makes people who weren't born here feel that the country doesn't belong to them," he says.

Go Kevin! Australia to regain political conscience?

Australia to speak up in the world: PM

The Prime Minister has declared that Australia will adopt an ambitious new "activist" stance on international issues where it believes it can make a difference.

Before leaving today on a round-the-world trip, which starts in the US and ends in China, Kevin Rudd said last night that Australia's voice had been "too quiet for too long across the various councils of the world".

He said the Government was committed to "creative, middle-power diplomacy as the best means of enhancing Australia's national interests".

Admittedly I've been busy with deadlines over here (because of course the end of the financial year is April 5 or whatever) but I haven't seen Kevin really stuff up so far. This is so much more than I hoped for... to be very mature about it, Johnny Howard can go suck eggs.

For the future...

From the Age: Hands across the nation, 'The apology to indigenous Australians is not about dwelling on the past, it's about building a future.':

I know of no indigenous person who told their story to the inquiry who wanted non-indigenous Australians to feel guilty -- they just wanted people to know the truth. They wanted to tell the stories of their lives, to have the truth of their experiences acknowledged. Many people who gave evidence to the inquiry said that the telling was itself healing -- knowing that at last they were being officially heard.

Governments inherit the laws and practices of previous governments, and so, too, do they inherit responsibility for past actions. We as Australians need to acknowledge the effects that past policies had on indigenous people, the hurt that has been caused to a group of Australians on the basis of their race, and we should rejoice, and take great pride, in today's apology in our Federal Parliament.

Ultimately, we have chosen not to turn away from what was done to those children. We have chosen to face it for what it was, and I know that Australians will feel great relief having done so.

This is not about taking a "black armband" view of history. It is not about dwelling on the past for its own sake. This history is not someone else's history. Today's apology is about healing and reconciliation for the benefit of us all.

Finally

Kevin Rudd says 'sorry'

Two different views of Melbourne

Monstrous Melbourne presents Melbourne as the city that just keeps growing, and Melbourne dreamtime a reality looks back to the people, flora and fauna that was there before white settlers.

Melbourne seems both utterly familiar and completely strange to me now. It's 'home' and yet it's also a city I'd have to get to know again. I could live here again, but it would be an adjustment.

At least I don't have to feel ashamed of being Australian now Howard is gone. Such a simple thing, but it's such a big change.

Go Maxine!

I'm so excited about going home to a Howardless Australia. And I might even get to check out Maxine on the local news.

And after all the months of caution, control and campaign courtesy, she is finally ready to say what she really thinks about the former prime minister.

"Mr Howard has always presented himself as a courteous man, a civil man, a man with a great sense of history," she says.

"But I'd have to say what struck me and what struck a lot of people in Bennelong and elsewhere ... was a sense that Mr Howard presided over a government where there was diminished respect for our institutions.

"Be it the rule of law, the separation of powers, or the importance of institutions such as the universities, or the ABC and the CSIRO. And I think there is a message there."

...

After months of intensive canvassing around the streets of her new domain, McKew also feels bold enough to proclaim a further, deeper mood shift in the populace - towards a national apology.

"I see this as a victory, importantly, for Bennelong's people. I mean, consider the name of the seat.

"It turns out that Bennelong, one of the first Australians, who had a very interesting relationship with Governor Phillip, is buried in an unmarked grave in Kissing Point in Putney, right in the middle of the electorate of Bennelong.

"I think we're on the threshold of something fine in this country. Jenny Macklin this week has talked about the importance of saying sorry to the first Australians. And I know that the new Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, is very conscious that this be done in a very special way. It marks, I guess, a new generosity in the way we engage with the first Australians, and I would like to think that Labor's win in Bennelong connects with that generous spirit in some way."

McKew is not overly concerned with the questions of formal legal liability that have for so long attached themselves to the prospect of a formal apology to Aboriginal Australia.

"[In] most state governments, where the apology has been made in state assemblies, this has not been the case at all, so I think we have to look beyond all that, and be big about

this. It is high time now that the Commonwealth of Australia, in our federal parliament, that our parliamentarians take this step, and let's hope that it is a bipartisan exercise. That's my hope. It really is."

SMH, Chinese whispers that built to a roar

Oh yes! Australia signs up to Kyoto

Australia pledges to sign Kyoto protocol on climate change

Australia won applause at the start of UN-led climate change talks in Bali on Monday by agreeing to ratify the Kyoto protocol, isolating the US as the only developed nation outside the pact.

Soon after an Australian delegate promised immediate action on Kyoto, the new prime minister in Canberra, Kevin Rudd, took the oath of office and signed the ratification documents, ending his country's long-held opposition to the global climate agreement.

In a piece of funny timing, I'll be in Melbourne by NYE, so I'll have a chance to see how Rudd is going for myself.

Rudd to apologise to Aborigines

BBC:

Australia's new government will issue a formal apology to Aborigines for the abuses they suffered in the past, prime minister-elect Kevin Rudd has promised.

Oh, yes.

Back from Tokyo, btw. It was ace, more later.

Yes! Goodbye Howard.

Australia sweeps Rudd into power

Australia's opposition Labor Party under Kevin Rudd has won a sweeping general election victory, removing PM John Howard after an 11-year term.

Mr Rudd said Australia had "looked to the future" and that he would be "a prime minister for all Australians".

Unbelievably happy about this. But it's a long way back to an Australia I can respect and be proud of. Let's hope it starts now.

Putting things in perspective

An incredible story from one Sudanese woman who came to Australia as a refugee, from the Age: An indomitable spirit

Oh just shut up! you pathetic, petty worm

Howard, you are an arse. Hurry up and call the election so you can be booted out and stop ruining our country.

Prime Minister John Howard yesterday dismissed the significance of Al Gore winning the Nobel Peace Prize for his work highlighting climate change, declaring that no one had a monopoly on wisdom.

Mr Howard congratulated Mr Gore on winning the prize but said it would not make him rethink his refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol.

The Age

Letter to the Editor of the decade

In The Age, The bigotry and cynicism that has diminished us all:

When governments use racism and bigotry as cynical tools to get elected, it rubs off on the community and diminishes us all. For all their faults, Paul Keating and Malcolm Fraser never resorted to racist epithets to get elected. John Howard's win-at-all-costs mentality has unleashed xenophobia and racism in the electorate. The targeting of a religious minority has obviously given him power and it is smart politics, historically used so well by the Nazis.

I always thought our politicians were meant to be enlightened and compassionate. Howard and the current Federal Government have, alas, shown us the opposite is true.

After Apec, most Sydneysiders are saying "Never again"

BBC: Apec security leaves bitter taste in Sydney

Like many, he is incensed by what he regards as the needlessly aggressive and restrictive policing, which carried a heftier security price tag than the 16-day-long Olympics and led to the construction of the 5km ( three mile) "great wall of Sydney".

"I'm so embarrassed and annoyed. Where was the sense of proportion? We replaced Olympic volunteers with riot squads," he says.

"Somebody in the security operation got very carried away with their own self-importance, and nobody in the state or federal government counterbalanced them.

"It was totally and utterly disproportionate."
...
For many Sydneysiders, comedians from the already popular The Chasers War on Everything have become folk heroes - they managed to breach the million-dollar security set-up with a few shiny black hire cars, some wrap-around sunglasses, a few fake passes, a colour printer and a handful of bonnet-mounted Canadian and Australian flags.

Almost 5,000 New South Wales police officers, 1,500 defence personnel, 450 federal police, teams of sharp-shooters, patrol boats zipping across the harbour, Black Helicopters swooping above - all upstaged by 11 members of a TV comedy show.

Go Kath and Kim!

"Oh bloody Howard! I'd like to take away his toot breaks and see how he feels in his jolly lower house".

Via The Age.

Australians to lose the right to call for a boycott?

So if you're asking Australians not to buy lipstick tested on caged rabbits, rugs woven by Pakistani slaves or suits made with mulesed wool, then pray your boycott calls don't succeed, for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is about to be given the power to sue you out of the water if they do. ... But Costello's bill is designed to protect businesses of any size - all the way up to BHP Billiton - not by outlawing intimidation, but by punishing persuasion.

Hurt a business simply by arguing that it's ethically repugnant to buy its products and the commission will be able to step in and sue to recover the company's lost profits.
...
No free-speech defence is immediately available. You won't be able to go to court to plead the pros and cons of open-range chooks or gentler methods than mulesing to save sheep from fly strike.

The new law will catch lone campaigners, community groups, NGOs, lobby groups and even the media - anyone whose campaign for what the law calls a "secondary boycott" actually hits the mark and causes financial pain.

The emphasis in the quote above is mine, and thanks to DD for the link.

Two classic quotes from the Kevid Rudd strip club thing:

Greens leader Bob Brown said the issue should be kept in perspective. "Four years ago Kevin Rudd got drunk and took himself into a strip club," Senator Brown said. "Four years ago John Howard, sober, took Australia into the Iraq war. I think the electorate can judge which one did the more harm."

Premier John Brumby said his last visit to a strip place would have been in the 1970s when he was a student. "It was probably in Sydney, three decades ago with a group of mates, male and female," he said. "That's the main reason people go to Sydney, isn't it?"

Howard out, now

Gay couples face overseas adoption ban

"For a government to deliberately set out to stigmatise same-sex couples and their children to win a few votes in the lead up to an election is beneath contempt".

Also, Gay lobby hits out over adoption bill.

I didn't think I could hate or despise John Howard more, yet it turns out it's possible. What is his problem? I can't believe he can be so callous.

The story is absurd enough, but why a baseball cap in your emergency kit?

This has cheered me up:

THE Howard Government has been accused of failing to provide moral leadership on crucial issues by the newly named Younger Victorian of the Year.

Tom O'Connor, Victorian director of the youth poverty-fighting group the Oaktree Foundation, used yesterday's award presentation to launch a blistering attack on the Federal Government.

While he was "humbled" to receive the award, Mr O'Connor stressed he was accepting it on behalf of a generation that expected moral leadership from government.

The Age: Young state award winner lets fly at Howard Government

This was on the front page of the Age online: Divided in sport, united in love

First they played against each other, then they fell in love. Now two of the world's greatest women hockey players have had a baby together.

That's the story of Australian Olympian Alyson Annan and her partner, former Olympic rival Carole Thate.

It's a charming story, and it's a great balance to Howard's homophobia which at this distance otherwise forms my opinion of Australia's attitude to all things gay.

Oh, and al-Qaeda can go fcuk themselves.

Muriel Bamblett, "chairwoman of the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care, the main body for Aboriginal and Islander Children and Family Services", writes in The Age: Please listen to us, PM:

The Prime Minister says the "old ways" have failed and the time for talk is over.

We would like to believe you, Prime Minister, but your own "old way" of dealing with Aboriginal people is to disregard our voices. We have been trying to talk with you for years about the lack of services for health, education and child protection. We have been giving you examples of Aboriginal communities that have begun to turn around the drug and alcohol abuse and poor health outcomes, communities that have succeeded because they were empowered and resourced to take action.

We have been talking about a human rights and culturally respectful social investment approach. But the approach by the Federal Government is a policy of disinvestment. It promotes mainstreaming and denies community control. It has no evidence base.

The evidence from overseas and in Australia points to the fact that when there is properly resourced indigenous community control and effective culturally based programs, social dysfunction indicators, such as poor health outcomes and youth suicide rates, decrease.

The Prime Minister says the measures he has announced will stabilise and protect communities. We would like to believe you, Prime Minister, but your measures are disempowering and punitive.

Just so I can find it again: Australian National Sorry Day.

Aussies knocked off as world's most friendly

""Although Australia still has a strong reputation as an aspirational destination, we must focus more on our cultural heritage, national parks and alternative, more accessible holiday options to encourage a broader tourism appeal," Mr Harcourt said."

Or maybe we should just stop being arseholds in immigrants and refugees. Why spin it when you can just be nicer?

More names for John Howard

I thought of a good one: sequacious scumbag. Or for a direct Keating quote, 'mangy maggot'.

What to call John Howard?

I can't remember if I've posted about this before, but if you had to think of a phrase to describe John Howard in his role as Prime Minister of Australia, a la miserable failure, what would they be?

Suggestions so far have included Recalcitrant Weasel, Duplicitous Bigot, Mendacious Throwback, Reactionary, Machiavellian Despicable Derelict Misanthrope and finally Myopic Fear-monger.

More on Amnesty International report

This is the ABC's take on Amnesty's report:

This year Amnesty's annual report into global human rights abuses focuses on the politics of fear, and argues fear thrives on "myopic and cowardly leadership".

The Government is singled out for criticism for its portrayal of "asylum seekers in leaky boats" as a "refugee invasion", which Amnesty secretary-general Irene Khan says contributed to John Howard's election win in 2001.
...
Amnesty spokeswoman Katie Wood says Australia also failed to act strongly on claims of mistreatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.

"Australia should have been fairly sceptical of the assurances given by the United States, given the amount of information about torture and other ill treatment practised by the US in Guantanamo and elsewhere," she said.

"It should have been enough to put them on notice to really insist upon an independent and proper investigation into all those allegations made not only by David Hicks but also Mamdouh Habib."
...
The London-based group also says it is seriously concerned about the low rates of prosecution for violence against women and the "lack of support services for Indigenous women".

"The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women expressed concern about the high level of violence against women, and the low rates of prosecution and convictions in sexual assault cases," the report said.

"The committee was also concerned about the continued violence and discrimination faced by women in Indigenous, refugee and migrant communities.

Amnesty hits Aust on refugees, women's rights, ABC

John Howard 'PM a short-sighted fear-monger'

I notice the headline and the focus of the story have changed since I first saw the article. I guess the SMH fears Howard more than they fear Amnesty.

Anyway, the headline is now 'Amnesty claims a shoddy caricature, PM says'.

And the lead in:

"Prime Minister John Howard has robustly defended his government against claims by Amnesty International that it is as divisive as Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's regime.

The human rights pressure group has accused Mr Howard of portraying asylum-seekers as a threat to national security.

In a report released overnight, it also criticised Australia's role in the war on terror and its treatment of female victims of violence.

Amnesty secretary-general Irene Khan said the fear generated by leaders such as Mr Howard "thrives on myopic and cowardly leadership".

Ms Khan lumped Mr Howard in with Mr Mugabe, US President George W Bush and Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir in a paragraph about leaders who used fear to suit their political agenda."

I like what Howard's done here:

"In statement today, Mr Howard rejected the way Australia was characterised in the Amnesty report."

But Amnesty weren't taking it:

Ms Khan stood by her comments today, accusing the Howard government of having an "appalling" domestic human rights record regarding its treatment of asylum seekers and indigenous people.

These failures had undermined its good work overseas

Howard said:

"I believe many Australians will be as offended by this report as I am"

Not if they've got any sense, they won't. Living in Europe gives me far too clear-sighted a vision of the damage Howard has done to Australia's reputation overseas.

Final word to Amnesty:

Ms Khan also urged Australian voters to think about giving others a "fair go'' at this year's election.

"An Australian senator has caused a storm of protest for describing a female politician as "deliberately barren" and therefore unfit to govern.

Bill Heffernan said Labor Party deputy leader Julia Gillard did not understand the public because she had no children." BBC

If I didn't need it I'm so tempted to hand back my Australian passport at times like this.

Fab.U.Lous: "Too often in the media, currency is given to the theory that everyone should be allowed to marry regardless of gender, outlook and whether the two people are creating a suitable family environment in which to bring up children.

Well, it is time to ask some hard questions about this attitude. The only way we will save marriage is to reclaim the institution for the mainstream. Marriage is for normal people who want to raise children in a healthy and secure environment. This is why we should ban religious fundamentalists from marrying." SMH

"Prime Minister John Howard has clashed with Sir Nicholas Stern over climate change, saying the former World Bank chief economist's views should not be treated as "holy writ" and could do great damage to the Australian economy.

Sir Nicholas has called on Australia to be an international leader in the fight against climate change by slashing its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 60 per cent by 2050, ratifying the Kyoto Protocol and being at the forefront of new technologies, such as clean coal.

But when asked by Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd if he would commit to the 2050 target, Mr Howard declared he would put the national interest first." The Age

Is he really that short-sighted? Or does he think a political win justifies the environmental damage? From this distance it seems Australia is already suffering the effects of global warming, I don't understand why it's not the first country to respond.

"It's a real worry that Aussies in Europe are now being tagged "New Yanks"."

"In failing in its duty to David Hicks, the Government has failed all Australians and shaken the foundations of Australian law. Ultimately, the Hicks case is not just about Hicks, it is about the rule of law. If the Government can recklessly abandon the law in the case of one Australian, it can much more easily abandon the law and its duty to other Australians." Abandoning principle of law endangers us all

Someone asked why I'd still vote in Australian elections when I haven't lived there in so long. I guess it had never occurred to me that I wouldn't have an interest in Australian politics. Even though I've left, I'll probably return some day. And as I said, somewhat rantily, "I hate Howard with a passion, and I hate what he's done to Australia and I want him out so the country has some chance of claiming back 'mateship' and 'a fair go' and everything else he's co-opted into his slimy xenophobic misogynistic homo-panicked puniverse.

And on a personal level I want a leader who doesn't hate gay people."

Same-sex relationships register in Victoria?

"Melbourne City Council has dipped its toe into the legal minefield of gay civil unions. As Kenneth Nguyen discovered, it may prove a catalyst for change across the state." The Age

Nothing particularly new - reports about Australians in the UK have said that people are now using as a chance to extend their professional skills and build up their savings before, but Why pulling pints is passe for the new breed of Aussie overseas is still a reasonably interesting read, particularly on returning expats:

"But knowing people who return to Australia is a different matter. Last March, based on a 2003 study by researcher Graeme Hugo, a Senate inquiry concluded that 30 per cent of expatriates were undecided on whether to return to Australia.

More contemporary research also shows that expats are staying put. The head of the Menzies Institute for Australian Studies in London, Carl Bridge, says growing numbers of Australians (particularly heterosexual couples) indicate they will never return."

I wonder if they thought to ask homosexual people whether the Australian governments' shocking record on gay issues puts them off returning.

It's just embarrassing: US veteran joins chorus of outrage at Howard

This article is old but since David Hicks is still in Guantanamo I think it's worth posting. It's also a fantastic example of the power of the arts.

"In June an open letter to the Prime Minister, signed by 76 of Australia's top legal minds (including four former Supreme and Federal Court judges), urged Mr Howard to take immediate action on Hicks' behalf to secure his rights under international law.

He is an Australian citizen and as such it was the Australian Government's duty to protect his rights; his incarceration was illegal, they argued; and Hicks, whether innocent or guilty, at least deserved a fair trial. The Australian Government's refusal to act, they said, has profound implications for the nation.
...
Even the British Attorney-General, Lord Goldsmith, whose own government is an active participant in the war on terrorism, condemned the goings-on at Guantanamo, describing its procedures as "unacceptable" and calling for its closure.

To all of this Prime Minister John Howard, speaking on our behalf, responded: "We make up our own minds about these things."

Theatre director Nigel Jamieson has also made up his mind on certain things. One of them is that what is happening to David Hicks at Guantanamo is unconscionable - whether he is innocent or guilty.

"If he were an axe murderer he would have rights," Jamieson says. "He would have a lawyer, he'd be free from physical and psychological abuse. David Hicks, as an Australian citizen, has rights. That's the first thing. But the second thing is that this is a country that defines itself by the belief in things like trial by jury, innocence until proved guilty, the Geneva conventions, the Declaration of Human Rights, those incredibly important documents. We were part of forming and forging these documents.

"These were things we thought incredibly important, the things we thought to be the bedrock of our civilisation and which defined our system," Jamieson says.

"What troubled me about the whole Hicks thing was that if we were going to accept a system which threw away a lot of those things, got rid of those safeguards, surely we owed it to ourselves and to the country to have a look at what that means.

"Not to have a look, not to have a debate, but just to quietly acquiesce, that really seemed shocking to me."
...
"My imagination is primarily a visual one," he says, "and when the project was first put to me, I was left with a strong image in my head of this human figure spinning and turning in a void.""

Doing the Guantanamo shuffle - it's really worth reading the rest of the article.

More of me thinking about Australian identity. I don't know if this writer is just an optimist or whether there is still hope for Australia.

"Perhaps it's a reflection of the more dangerous international climate in which we live, but in the political and media arenas particularly, there seems a growing insecurity that not being able to narrow the essence of the national psyche down to a particular object or symbol makes us somehow less of a nation.

I beg to differ. One of the things I've always felt proudest of about living in this country is the very fact our character can't be so easily typecast.
...
We don't need another posturing, po-faced portrait of a popular figure cloaked in the national flag to tug at our heartstrings. That's likely to make as many of us roll our eyes and cringe not just a little as feel our chests swell with pride.

Some would argue that's unpatriotic. But that mild sense of cynicism, or what I'd prefer to call perspective, is a healthy Australian trait.
...
The love of a good, hard tussle, played in the right spirit, by men and women who get the job done without the need for boorish, egocentric self-promotion — that's Australian. So is the team ethic, the love of the underdog, and the belief that enduring the hard times with grace makes the triumphs all the sweeter." Blind barracking for the Aussie is not our way

Not being a sports fan, I can't say how much the last paragraph is true, but I suspect those are exactly the values politicians are currently trying to undermine or co-opt.

The BBC's perspective: Controversies cloud Australia Day.

"In past elections, Prime Minister John Howard has proved himself particularly adept at exploiting voter fears about the threat to Australian identity from asylum seekers and new immigrants.

This year, a rejuvenated Labor Party, under its new leader Kevin Rudd, is determined not to be outflanked.

In condemning the organisers' decision, Mr Rudd was wrapping himself just as tightly in the flag as Mr Howard."

Just lovely. The two major parties are building their platforms on xenophobia.

I'd like to propose that being unAustralian is the new Australian:

"Prime Minister John Howard regularly touts his ideas for a so-called "Aussie test" for new immigrants hoping to become citizens - an examination both of historical knowledge and Australian values, like "mateship" and fair play.

In announcing a major cabinet reshuffle this week, he also renamed the Ministry of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs.

Quite deliberately, he dropped the reference to multiculturalism and replaced it with "citizenship". "

John Howard wouldn't know mateship if it shouted him a beer in the pub.

And this is equally hilarious and scary:
"Speaking on Egyptian television, Sheikh Hilali said that Muslims had a much greater right to be in Australia than whites.

"Anglo Saxons came to Australia in chains," he told the chat show Cairo Today, "while we paid our way and came in freedom. We are more Australian than them. Australia is not an Anglo-Saxon country - Islam has deep roots in Australian soil that were there before the English arrived.""

I'll be sure to tell my Irish ancestors that they're due a refund because they shouldn't have paid their way to Australia.

Big Day Out bans national flag

"The Australian flag has been banned by the organisers of a major Sydney rock music festival, who fear it may be used as a symbol of hate.
...
The event tours six cities in Australia and New Zealand but the ban will only affect Sydney, where the festival has been shifted to the day before its usual Australia Day date to avoid nationalistic overtones.

Last year in Sydney, festival-goers were intimidated by music fans brandishing flags and demanding people pledge their allegiance.
...
Event organiser Ken West said the fans' behaviour last year in the wake of the Cronulla riots and the recent ethnic violence at the Australian Open tennis tournament had forced his hand.

"The Australian flag was being used as gang colours. It was racism disguised as patriotism and I'm not going to tolerate it."" Age

What's happening to Australia? I really don't get it. Were these people always there and I just didn't notice, or can things change so much in only a few years?

"Late last year, I shared a podium at the NSW Parliament House with a radical cleric for the first time. That religious leader refused outright to condemn a terrorist organisation responsible for more suicide bombings than any terror outfit on earth. The cleric called on his religious group to take over politics in Australia. He also asked his congregation to pray for the houses of worship of other faiths to be pulled down.

But far from being condemned or threatened with prosecution, The Age reported yesterday that this cleric and his group are to receive a special video message from the Prime Minister." The Age

Ok, I'll stop now.

Secondly, the cover of a report from the Australian Liberal Party about the 'Achievements' of the Coalition Government since 1996.

The title, 'Strong Direction, Mainstream Values', sends a chill through my heart. Isn't a democratic government meant to represent all citizens of its country? In the case of modern Australia I won't waste anyone's time by suggesting the government should represent everyone resident in Australia because we all know that won't happen.

As Kirsty says, "Check the white faces on the front page. I can't believe it."

And further, look at the gender roles represented. What do women do? Have kids and work as hairdressers. What to men do? Manly stuff! Business! Welding! Work in the outdoors. Oh, and breed. Because we need more White Australians.

John Pilger, writing in The Guardian, Cruelty and xenophobia stir and shame the lucky country:

"Australia is not often news, cricket and bushfires aside. That is a pity, because the regression of this social democracy into a state of fabricated fear and xenophobia is an object lesson for all societies claiming to be free."

"Flag-waving and an unctuous hand-on-heart jingoism, about which sceptical Australians once felt a healthy ambivalence, are now standard features at sporting and other public events." That's incredibly depressing if it's true. Australians used to mock Americans for exactly that kind of thing.

I'd like to be cheered by the final paragraph but the truth of the first sentence is too strong for me to ignore: "Howard faces no real opposition from the compliant Labor party."

"During the recent Ashes series, Ian Chappell, one of Australia's most admired cricket captains, walked out of the commentary box when Howard walked in. After seeing for himself conditions in a refugee prison, Chappell said: "These are human beings and you can't just treat them like that ... in cricketing parlance it was like cheating. They were being cheated out of a fair go.""

Thanks to Kirsty, Grant and KD for the Howard tip-offs today.

Why I won't live in Australia while Howard is in power

To add to the "reasons I'm never going back to Australia while John Howard is in power" pile:

"Prime Minister John Howard has defended his decision to record a goodwill message for an Australia Day prayer event organised by a controversial group involved in an anti-Islamic court case."

According to Howard, "Christianity has been an enormous force for good and has done more than anything else to shape the lives, not only of millions of Australians, but the character of our nation."

Every time I start to comment on that my blood pressure rises, so for the sake of my own health I won't - there is so much wrong with that statement I'd be dead by the end of the sentence.

So let me close with this quote:

"Member of the prime minister's Muslim Community Reference Group and former president of the Islamic Council of Victoria, Yasser Soliman, said Mr Howard should have thought twice about making the DVD.

"Of course the prime minister is free to address anyone he chooses," Mr Soliman told AAP.

"But what he says is extremely influential and what he fails to say is also influential.

"I would hope that he would clearly condemn hate speeches in all their forms irrespective of who the perpetrators are.

"It could be perceived that he might have a different standard for some sectors of the community than he has for other sectors in the Australian community, and that would be sending a very dangerous message here and overseas.""

The Age

In the interests of fairness, I look forward to John Howard's goodwill messages for Australia's LGBT communities at Midsumma and Mardi Gras.

"John Howard believes that young Australian women have entered a post-feminist era where they have "moved on" from the need to measure their lives by success in a career."

Daily Telegraph

I've "moved on" from the need ever to return to Australia again.

In an article titled "What value our passport?" I came across this:

"Instead of a guarantee of support, [the passports] value lies in the strength and good sense of the government of the day, he said. Australia was the only Western country not to have enshrined the rights and obligations of its people in a legal charter, he said.
...
"But when that system breaks down, particularly in a climate of fear, goodwill and good sense tends to go out the window and opportunism and other issues come to the fore."

Law Council of Australia president Tim Bugg said a bill of rights had not seemed necessary until the war on terror, which saw the commitment to due process discarded. "We ought not need to have a bill of rights, but I think we now have to look at having one," Mr Bugg said.

"The Australian passport means nothing if political considerations are involved.""

I was sent this ages ago but never got around to blogging it. I don't agree with it all but it does raise some good points about opportunities that just aren't available in Australia. Personally one of the main reasons I left was that I couldn't face life under a Howard government and because I wanted to travel, but I can't imagine going back anytime soon.

"In this extract from his new book, Ryan Heath, author of Please Just F* Off, It's Our Turn Now, writes about the generation of young Australians who live overseas - why they leave and why they really hope to come back and what it means if they don't." Ful article in The Age

Interesting. Given the way Australian politics seem to have been swinging more and more to the right, I'm almost surprised by this:

"The right to a "fair go" is the thing almost all Australians put at the top of their list when it comes to values.

A survey released today shows 91 per cent of people believe a fair go is important, with most listing the need for rights to welfare, housing and indigenous reconciliation to make the country fairer."

This is kind of sad, considering people could take a 'fair go' into their own hands, but I guess at least it could be applied as a test to new legislation:
"The survey found 82 per cent believed it was government's responsibility to make the country fairer." Age

An article on the state of satire in Australia contained this line, which made me wonder exactly how bad are things over there:

"Because the Government and the Opposition agree - the ABC is too "leftist". This is a landmark moment in Australian political classification."

Lovely news on a Friday afternoon:

"Australia's state of Tasmania has unveiled a AU$5m (£2m) compensation plan for Aborigines removed from their families as children by the government.

The proposed bill - a first of its kind in Australia - offers one-off payments to the so-called "stolen generation"." BBC

"Mr Beazley has written to the Australian Tourism Export Council asking it to help with establishing the best way to ensure all people visiting Australia know and understand Australian values." Age

Perhaps a quiz at the airport, like when you go to a boat party.

I missed this at the time: Susan Sarandon called John Howard a fool

Howard's a fool, says actress

Terry Lane: Sorry mate, no such thing as a fair go

"But one has had reason to take another look at Mr Howard's words these past few days and one has spotted a semantic error in the juxtaposed qualities a dinkum Aussie must keep in tension. We understand that excellence and fairness are euphemisms for profit on the one hand and a damn good thrashing if you ask for a decent wage on the other. And we understand that independence and mateship are code words for well-deserved wealth over dole bludging.
...
The essence of mateship, as a universal virtue, is that it is an impulse to help strangers, assuming the best of them until they prove themselves unworthy of an altruistic helping hand. Mateship is a shorthand way of describing a system of social organisation based on the moral imperative of doing one for others without calculating that one day you may need them to do one for you. It is a sort of bucolic golden rule that even affects social interaction in the cities."

A collection of articles about the gay marriage ban in Australia:

"Australia's conservative national government has overruled a local law allowing gay unions.

The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) became the first part of the country to legally recognise gay relationships when it voted on the issue last month.

But now the federal government has stepped in to invalidate the new law."
Australia overrules gay union law, BBC.

The latest:

"The Australian Greens and Democrats tomorrow will seek to overturn the federal government's decision to block ACT laws allowing same-sex civil unions.
This morning Federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock announced that Governor-General Michael Jeffrey had agreed to use his powers to disallow the ACT law, which would have allowed gay couples to have their relationships registered and legally recognised."

Minor parties fight gay marriage ban, The Age.

"Coalition Senators are being urged to cross the floor and over-ride the Government's move to disallow ACT civil unions laws.
...
ACT Attorney-General Simon Corbell has attacked the Governor-General's decision, calling it arrogant and undemocratic.

Mr Corbell says the issue of same sex unions will not go away and he will continue to push for legal recognition for gay couples.

"We will pursue all options to provide for equality under the law for people in same sex relationships," he said."

Senators urged to protect civil unions, ABC.

One reason Australia needs to allow gay marriage:
"Mr Walters said the inability of gay people to have their relationships formally and legally recognised caused great damage.

"The implication that (homosexuality) is in some way shameful or second class cannot be avoided when we treat people in this way," he said.

"We have a high rate of youth suicide in Australia - one of the highest in the world - and one reason for that is where people's sexuality is not accepted by the wider community and the message that sends is very damaging to those who are just finding out about their sexuality," he said."

Rights group slams gay marriage ban, The Age.

And a bit of a conspiracy theory:
"The federal government's decision comes just after a push by United States President George Bush for a constitutional ban on gay marriage."
Gay couples to lose right to say 'I do', The Age.

"Gay couples will be able to say "I do" in Canberra within two weeks, after the ACT yesterday fast-tracked its civil union laws in defiance of the Commonwealth's decision to scuttle them.

ACT Attorney-General Simon Corbell said the Government would reduce the notification period for people wishing to enter into civil unions, to enable ceremonies to begin within a fortnight.

The new laws — which would entitle same-sex couples to the same rights as married couples under ACT law, such as rights to property in the event of a relationship break-up and power of attorney — were intended to come into effect on August 1.

However Mr Corbell last night said the commencement date would be brought forward after Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said he would ask the Governor-General to disallow the laws on August 1, to "defend the fundamental institution of marriage"." Age

The moral midget in the world

"Yet [John Howard's] behaviour lately on two issues - AWB's improper payments to Saddam Hussein's regime and refugees from Indonesia - raises the question whether his political skills may have more serious consequence for Australia than simply keeping him in office.
...
In public debate, the Prime Minister nips and tucks, using words, especially adjectives, carefully so that he can later disown sentiments that he had seemed earlier to be endorsing. As he is neither a blatant bigot nor simple-minded, he does not appear to be lowering standards, whether of competence or morality. He appears, rather, to be trying to be sensible. But the effect is that the issue is allowed to crumble or evaporate in a flurry of self-protective corrections, refinements and denials, as well as complex, bureaucratic outcomes." (Age)

"The United Nations has warned Australia not to punish people fleeing persecution or deflect its international responsibilities to refugees.
...
Under the changes, anyone entering Australia illegally by boat - whether they make it to the mainland or not - will be sent to one of three offshore immigration detention centres for processing.

The government hopes to send even those found to be genuine refugees to a third country.

But the United Nations refugee agency has raised concerns about the implications of the new hardline policy." (Age)

Will Howard get off scot free?

"What is all too often overlooked is that the $290 million paid in kickbacks to Saddam was money originally earmarked for medicines and food for the Iraqi people. Year after year, AWB inflated its contracts to redirect this money from an escrow account supposedly overseen by the UN.

Howard and Downer have since 2003 wanted to be seen as champions of ordinary Iraqis. But for a long time, although warnings about AWB and oil-for-food kept popping up, they and the people who worked for them demonstrated almost zero interest - even though any rorting would have added to the suffering of many Iraqis.

If the real business of a government is to remain in government, such things probably do not matter. And there is a fair bit of evidence around that for most of us they do not." (Age)

"Internet prank targets Berlusconi

An apparent internet prank targeting Silvio Berlusconi days before a general election is causing a Google search of the words "wretched" and "failure" to bring up the Italian premier's CV posted on the government's official website." Age

We need to do one for John Howard. But which two words sum him up best?

Since it's doing the rounds... Where the fscking hell are you?

"The Australian government has said it will oppose any new laws legalising gay civil unions.

Prime Minister John Howard said he did not intend to allow the institution of marriage "to be in any way undermined".
...
The head of the ACT government, John Stanhope, said Mr Ruddock's reaction revealed homophobia in the Howard administration.

"One has to pose the question of whether or not the real reason (for Mr Ruddock's stance) is that there is no place in John Howard's Australia for homosexuals," he told ABC radio." (BBC)

"The Federal Government will try to override laws introduced to the ACT Parliament this week that would allow marriage celebrants to officiate over civil unions between same-sex couples.

The move is reminiscent of the Government's 1997 disallowance of a Northern Territory law legalising euthanasia." (The Age)

So, where the bloody hell am I? I'm in a country that doesn't treat queer people as second-class citizens, and I'm staying here until John Howard is gone.

Government orders spoof site shut

"A spoof John Howard website that featured a soul searching "apology" speech for the Iraq war has been shut down under orders from the Australian Government.

Richard Neville, an Australian futurist and social commentator was "mystified" to discover his satirical website johnhowardpm.org had been blocked on Tuesday with no explanation from either his web hosting company, Yahoo or the domain name registrar, Melbourne IT.

He said that after two days of silence, a customer service representative from Melbourne IT today informed him by telephone that the site had "been closed on the advice from the Australian Government".

Mr Neville's satirical "apology" speech ran on a mocked-up version of a spoof website that resembled Mr Howard's own, and after going live on Monday, received 10,500 visits within 24 hours.
...
Mr Neville describes the parody as an act of satire and culture jamming, and is now running a link to a PDF copy of the speech on his website." (The Age)

Ridiculous. Even the US lets the parody site whitehouse.org co-exist with the official whitehouse.gov.

It prompted me to look into what rights Australians have to freedom of speech.

According to this research note on Free Speech and the Constitution from the Parliamentary Library of the Parliament of Australia, "Members of the Commonwealth Parliament reaffirmed the principles of the [Universal Declaration of Human Rights] during a sitting on 10 December 1998 to mark the 50th anniversary of the UDHR and pledged to give wholehearted support to the principles enshrined in the Declaration."

Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."

However, "The Australian Constitution does not have any express provision relating to freedom of speech."

"The Australian media's coverage of Muslims and Arabs is tainted with a racism that portrays them as "tricky, sleazy, sexual and untrustworthy", according to one of the country's most experienced journalists.

Muslims are portrayed as uniformly violent, oppressors of women, and members of a global conspiracy opposed to Australian values, said Peter Manning, former head of ABC News, now Adjunct Professor of Journalism at Sydney's University of Technology. He said that the words "Arab" or "Muslim" were associated with terrorism in 89 per cent of articles that appeared in Sydney's two major newspapers in the year after September 11, 2001.

He did not confine his criticism to the media, however, adding that it was time politicians stopped "stoking up the embers of racist hatred"."

The Age

"The Australian Government has joined the United States to oppose efforts by the United Nations to protect world heritage sites such as the Great Barrier Reef from global warming."

My emphasis, and my disbelief. I never realised the Australian/US 'special relationship' would go that far. I think we need to describe Howard as a PIMBY - "Please, In My BackYard".

The Age

Oh, if only:

"Gay marriage could be legally recognised in Victoria by the end of the year, with an independent MP preparing to introduce legislation into State Parliament." (Age)

It's been interesting reading the reactions to Kerry Packer's memorial service:

"So how did we come to the conclusion that a life spent turning an inherited fortune into an astronomically bigger one is a life well lived? We didn't. Rather, as Orwell showed in 1984, those who control the means of communication control the language itself, and can assert, and have a large enough number of people actually believe, that freedom is slavery, war is peace, or that a life spent gorging oneself, squandering amounts on blackjack tables that could help solve, say, the global malaria epidemic, avoiding one's civic duties and speaking to everybody with barely concealed contempt, is a life of generosity and grace.
...
Beazley and Hawke are both Rhodes scholars. It's more likely they know that their party now stands for nothing, and think it's better to be present at the memorial service of a devout enemy of working people (despite Packer's love of sport, pies and swear words), than risk offending the owners of a vast media conglomerate whose "opinions" hold more sway over elections than any well-formulated policy.

The memorial service was broadcast without advertisements. Thus viewers could experience, for once, what it is like to watch a program on Channel Nine for an hour without fools screaming at them for 15 minutes to buy things. The only people who protested against this disgraceful, taxpayer-funded event - four members of the noble Kerry Packer dis-memorial society - were arrested." (Age)

I was amazed to read of the arrests. The BBC said: "Six people were arrested outside the Opera House, for protesting against the memorial service because it was funded by taxpayers' money." Arrested? Charged with what? Don't they have the right to protest?

Sometimes it feels like the Australia I left five years ago was a completely different Australia.

Sadly, this doesn't seem to be a joke:

Abortion will lead to Muslim nation: MP

"Australia could become a Muslim nation within 50 years because "we are aborting ourselves almost out of existence", a Government backbencher says." (SMH)

Even if it mattered that Australia became a 'Muslim nation', her argument doesn't make any sense.

Mr Abbott get your rosaries off my ovaries

"It's not the T-shirt that needs changing, it's the prime minister's attitude, which we are seeing increasingly is about bringing fundamentalist religious views into the parliament."

Via buggery.org: "The application form for an Australian passport is the latest official acknowledgment of the validity of same-sex relationships"

Interesting analysis of the Canadian election in light of John Howard's campaign tactics.

"Mr. Howard's phrase for those who have switched their support from the ALP to his Liberal Party is "mainstream Australians." These voters, who primarily live in the western suburbs of Sydney and southeast Queensland, don't like gay marriage. They fear social change; Muslim and Asian migrants moving into their neighbourhoods scares them. They believe aboriginal Australians get too much welfare. They like tough-on-crime policies. And they focus on their economic bottom line - they like tax cuts and low interest rates.

The beauty of capturing these voters' support is that, for a left-of-centre political force such as the ALP to win them back, it has to shift to the right - and that causes public brawling among its membership and makes the party seem a weak alternative to Mr. Howard's."

Rather unlikely headline from an Australian newspaper article today: Gay couples can register here for same-sex union

"The first legal registrations of same-sex unions in mainland Australia are set to take place next month.

Following new legislation in Britain that allows same-sex couples to have their unions legally recognised, British citizens in Australia in gay or lesbian relationships will be able to register their relationship at British high commission offices around the country.
...
But while the union will be recognised under British law, it will not be legally recognised in Australia federally."

(SMH)

Of course there's a 'but'. Obviously every 'traditional' family and every heterosexual marriage in Australia would fall apart if gay couples were allowed to even think about getting married. I don't know how British society has managed to cope in the past few weeks.

Interesting article by Richard Woolcott, "former senior Australian diplomat, ambassador to the United Nations and secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade":

"Australia today is not the country I represented with pride for some 40 years. This country of such great potential risks becoming a land of fading promise.
...
We have seen Australian democracy diminished by government hubris and arrogance, opposition weakness and a curious public detachment and apathy. Our national self-respect has also been eroded by our excessively deferential attitude to the Bush Administration's foreign and security policy, especially in Iraq. ... Moreover, truth in Government has yet to be restored.

"Our nation's standing abroad has never been higher," John Howard said in his New Year message. Australia is quite widely regarded overseas as a tolerant, generous and egalitarian society."

Really? In my experience, people increasingly regard Australians as racist rednecks. I was living in Amsterdam when the Tampa thing was going on, and people used to ask me, puzzled, "why are Australians so racist? We thought you were nice". I used to defend Australia but now I'm not sure it's defensible.

The article goes on, "I travelled extensively in 2005 and I observed how our standing has been undermined in much of the international community and some important countries in our own region. Our standing is suffering because of a recrudescence of those atavistic currents of racism and intolerance that we have inherited from our past. Given the history of the White Australia policy and the colonial dispossession of the Aboriginal population, opposition to racism and intolerance requires strong and continuous political leadership, rather than any hint of opportunistic, politically motivated tolerance of such prejudices. Multiculturalism, which is irreversible, should be promoted by the Coalition Government; not simply tolerated.
...
The health of Australian democracy is being threatened by such obscuring of the truth, by the discrediting of individuals who do not agree with particular policies, by the myth that the Prime Minister is the sole repository of wise judgements and sound decision-making, by a largely compliant public service and a strangely apathetic wider community.
...
Howard has said there is "no underlying racism in this country". The truth is that there are currents of racism, which our political leaders should have recognised much earlier and acted decisively to resist."

(The Age)

I used to think Australia was on its way to being a truly multicultural nation, but in Howard's Australia, multiculturalism is reduced to the availability of takeaway food from many nations.

We will be haunted by our history until we deal with it - saying 'sorry' is a start but we need to deal with the underlying racism. Howard might have created a public culture that permits its expression, but it must have always been there to emerge as it has done now.

WHAT!?!

"The Federal Government has moved to obstruct gay couples wanting to get married in countries that recognise same-sex nuptials.

The Attorney-General's Department last year told at least two of Australia's embassies in Europe to refuse help to citizens requiring proof of their single status for a same-sex marriage.
...
It stated: "Following the advice of the Australian Attorney-General's Department we herewith certify that Australian law does not allow the issue of a Certificate of No Impediment to Marriage to persons wishing to enter into a same-sex marriage."" The Age

How DARE John Howard let his personal beliefs affect Australian citizens overseas?

Increasingly, the alliance with the United States is not in Australia's strategic best interests (The Age)

What would Jesus do? In this case, he'd be charged with sedition.

"Victorian Premier Steve Bracks has warned that public holidays such as Melbourne Cup Day are no longer guaranteed under the Howard Government's workplace reforms." (Age)

Generally I find Howard's reforms too depressing to comment on but I couldn't let this pass.

Sad but true.

"The heat was turned up on the Howard Government ahead of the official start to the Kyoto Protocol on Wednesday, with protests in London and political pressure at home.
Australia and the US are the only major industrialised countries to have resisted signing the protocol, which will limit greenhouse emissions and introduce an international carbon trading scheme.
...
[B[y not ratifying the treaty, Australia would miss out on any global economic opportunities that came with ratification, including carbon trading schemes worth $6 billion.
...
Mr Albanese said it concerned him that both the US, the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and Australia, the largest emitter per capita, were the only two countries in the developed world not to have ratified the protocol, named after the Japanese city in which the initial climate change conference was held seven years ago. " (n.c.a)

"The real reason the Prime Minister is allowing and encouraging the abortion debate is to send a message. The law won't change, but after a long and costly parliamentary fight - which will monopolise media coverage for weeks and involve senior Liberals appearing on television agreeing with church leaders - morally conservative working-class Australians will know that, secretly, if only those rotten elites would let him, John Howard would love to move against abortion." (Age)

It wouldn't all be so painful if election stunts in the UK didn't mean that it's far more likely that I might have to move back to Australia before I wanted to. I don't think I could cope with going back while Howard is still in power.

Otoh, I've been asked to speak on a panel at a museums conference in November. Woo!

"The Howard Government has warned that all states except South Australia will forfeit funding for major road projects unless they adopt tough anti-union measures for the building industry.
...
Queensland Premier Peter Beattie responded angrily to what he described as "blackmail" and declared his state would not change its industrial relations system.
...
Industry observers regard Canberra's linking of road funding to workplace relations as unprecedented." (n.c.a)

I was very taken with this interview about weasel words. It's particularly good on corporate- and political-speak.

"I think Mr Howard quite cleverly redefined the notion of trust as simply trust us to run the economy properly."
"Eric Alterman said about the US election recently that Americans now live in a post-truth environment"

I've decided rambling about personal stuff is just boring. Here's a sample: stayed in Monday, went to a party, went to a party, had friends over for dinner, went to a party, went to a friend's club, went to a party, went to a wedding reception, went to a party, went to a leaving do, went to see friends' band.

"John Howard has supported a parliamentary debate on abortion as conservative MPs push for a public inquiry into the number and timing of terminations." (n.c.a)

vs.

"Abortion row 'manufactured'
The Women's Electoral Lobby (WEL) has accused Federal Government ministers and Governor-General Michael Jeffery of manufacturing a crisis over abortion.

Spokeswoman Eva Cox said ... there was no need for a major inquiry into abortions because statistics showed the number of terminations was stable or slowly falling.

"Ministers, the Governor-General and others are manufacturing a crisis about abortion to promote their own moral views," Ms Cox said.

"The current highly-misogynist dialogue about women who make casual decisions and 'abort for convenience' is an insult to many of the women who have considered this difficult decision."" (n.c.a)

I knew I shouldn't have read the Australian news.

"John Howard has vowed to push through the Senate all of the Coalition's workplace reforms blocked since it took office, signalling the biggest crackdown on union power in the nation's history." (n.c.a)

"We run the risk in this country of a shortage of employees because of the shrinking participation rate and the shortage of skilled people."

It might be time to write another 'Dear John' letter. At least a tiny part of the reason for any skills shortage is that people with desired skills are choosing to stay out of the country while he's in power.

What can I say? Buggery.org has said it better anyway.

Random depressing quotes: "They were both willing to make forestry an issue, but for Labor it was evidently a national issue of national heritage, whereas for the government it was a marginal seats strategy for picking up seats in Tasmania." (n.c.a)

"Early Senate results show the Coalition may also command a majority in the Upper House, which would allow Mr Howard to proceed with the sale of Telstra and other controversial government plans held up by the opposition over the past three years." (n.c.a)

"The Liberal Party today defended its use of pre-recorded phone messages from Prime Minister John Howard, with which it is bombarding households across Australia in the lead-up to polling day." (n.c.a)

I'm so glad I'm not in the country. Getting one of those calls would probably lead to me destroying my phone in an incandescent rage. I'm not sure whether the American-style recorded message or hearing Johnnie's voice would annoy me more.

"Howard terror plan gets brush-off" (BBC)

Well, der. If Australia had waited for the UN before falling over itself following the US into Iraq and if the Howard government hadn't pulled away from the region so determinedly, maybe they'd have some credibility now.

"Australians - made nervous by the Bali bombings two years ago - may now feel increasingly under siege.

In such uncertain times, they could well turn again to the safe hands of Prime Minister John Howard, who has been in office since 1996." (BBC)

Please, no. Time to email Mum and remind her I'm not moving back until he's gone. John Howard is a bad, bad man.

I really do love Bill Bryson. In this interview, he manages to talk sensitively and intelligently about 'new' Australians' relationship with Aboriginal Australians.

"Australia went from being a pink-skinned, sunburned, Britannic nation in the 1940s to, in a generation or so, one of the most ethnically diverse nations anywhere. And they did it all very successfully. There's been hardly any downside to this change in immigration policy. Most of it has gone very smoothly. The people have been assimilated, and everyone realizes that it's made the country a richer and more interesting place. Most people are really proud of that.

Still, you have this great, fundamental paradox: why doesn't this extend to the Aborigines, the indigenous people? Australians are not a racist people. They really do have a sense of fair play. And Aborigines are not hated or treated with contempt. It's more a puzzle: how do we bring them into society? No one has come up with any approaches at all. The gains have been almost entirely marginal.
...
It's not that they're universally marginalized, but in terms of social policy the Aborigines are without question Australia's greatest failure. That's hardly a contentious assertion to make. Everyone agrees. The question is, What do you do about it? They've tried lots of things. Nothing has worked so far."

Australia's inability to find ways to live up to the responsibility to provide the opportunity for equality in life expectancy, quality of life, education, etc is one of the reasons I'm no longer proud to be an Australia. (John Howard and the xenophobic, homophobic attitudes he encourages are most of the rest of the reasons). It's a difficult issue. How do you reconcile 40,000 years of history? How do you find a lifestyle that works for people who have been dragged into the 21st century without any say?

Forget sucking up to the US and freaking out about refugees: finding the right questions to ask, and looking for the answers should be Australia's first priority.

"Australian Prime Minister John Howard is at the centre of a growing row over using unsolicited e-mails, or spam, to promote his election campaign.

Mr Howard hired his son's firm to send e-mails to voters in his Sydney seat of Bennelong ahead of national elections expected in the coming weeks." (BBC)

Go Bob!

"In a lengthy speech delivered at Sydney University, Mr Hawke claimed Australia's reputation had suffered as a result of the Government's willingness to blindly follow US foreign policy.

It was a far cry from the days when Australia had taken a more uncomprising view of international relations, Mr Hawke said.

"It is sensible to have a relationship with the United States, but where we did not agree with the United States, we said, 'Get stuffed'," he said.

"Are we going to get back to that position, or are we, if we re-elect Howard, simply going to be in effect signing up to being the 52nd state of the US." (news.com.au)

Howard rejects 'serial liar' tag

"It follows the weekend release by Labor of a document titled Truth Overboard in which it outlined 27 cases when Mr Howard allegedly lied or misled the Australian public."

"He said Mr Howard had come up with a new term - core and non-core guarantees - to account for the government's failure to honour its promises." (Age)

"The Federal Government was warned repeatedly by intelligence analysts before the Iraq war that the conflict would harm the war on terrorism by fanning Islamic extremism and spurring terrorist recruiting.

An investigation by the Herald, which has included interviews with several serving and retired intelligence figures, has uncovered that John Howard and his senior colleagues were briefed on the dangers, verbally and in written reports.

Yet the Prime Minister told Australians on the eve of the conflict that the war would lessen the terrorist threat, contradicting his intelligence advice.
...
The sources also said the Government was told there was no operational link between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein, and the Iraq war could not be seen as part of the broader global war on terrorism." (Age)

I think I'm going to stop reading the Age and SMH because I can't expect everyone to register to read their articles.

Gay marriage ban passes parliament (Age)

"Senator Greig said it was deeply offensive for anti-gay campaigners to argue that love and commitment between gay people was less or different to that between people of the opposite sex.

Democrats leader Andrew Bartlett came to the verge of tears as he spoke of the high rate of suicide by young gay people who were vilified by such laws.
...
Greens leader Bob Brown said the government had successfully wedged Labor on an issue that not even President George Bush could get through Congress because it breached the US constitution."

Thank you, Liberal and Labor politicians of Australia. I love being a second-class citizen and a political pawn.

Also, a "ban on gay marriages has been given priority over new terrorism laws, sparking claims that the Howard Government is "soft on terror but hard on homosexuals".

Asked yesterday whether this meant the Government considered gay couples more of a threat to Australia than terrorists, Prime Minister John Howard demurred.
...
Democrats leader Andrew Bartlett accused the Coalition of being "soft on terror but hard on homosexuals" and of "shelving its 'war on terror' propaganda legislation for its 'war on homosexuals' marriage bill"." (Age)

"Our destiny: an expat's perspective" says a lot of what I want to say about John Howard. Since I'm wicked and I'm lazy, I'm going to post the relevant bits here.

"It's also been interesting to note that of late I'm received differently when entering countries or talking to people of other nationalities than I used to be, and that's disappointing."
...
One of Howard's favourite and most upsetting tricks: "the Prime Minister of the country overrode popular opinion and the opinion of his own party and used the Constitution to force his own morale code on to the public."
...
"John Howard would like Australians to see him as a compassionate man, yet this is a man who refuses to fight for the rights of Australians being held unlawfully by the United States military; a man who willfully ignores the doctrines and conventions of the United Nations; a man who unlawfully detains people seeking entry to this country under refuge status to flee persecution in their lands of origin."
...
"How to win an election? Make people afraid of something and then find someone to attach the fear to so the people have someone to direct their anger at"
...
"calling anyone with enough intelligence and audacity to question the government un-Australian."
...
"Keep asking questions and you will "rip the mask" from John Howard's and the government's face so that they have no discourse, nowhere to hide and will have to finally be accountable for their actions."

"United States President George W Bush wants to visit Australia to not only thank the country for its help in the war against terror, but also because he's heard it's a bit like Texas." (Age)

I almost didn't bother, because what is there to say?

This later article "He bristled slightly when asked why his own popularity, according to current polling in the United States, had suffered since the war while Prime Minister John Howard's had remained high in Australia. "Well, it must be his charisma," he replied. "He married well, and he's smart.""

John Howard is a much more ruthless and perhaps cunning politician than John Major ever was. (BBC)

"It appears that John Howard's protégé, Cabinet Minister Tony Abbott, had set up a special fund to help encourage disaffected One Nation members to bring court cases against their leader."
...
"But while some people are asking questions about the appropriateness of a senior minister financing legal cases being brought against a rival party, any scandal is unlikely to stick to John Howard."
...
"In a post-11 September world, the Labor party couldn't decide whether to oppose or back the government - and so appeared ineffectual."

And finally, "Even though two-thirds of Australians believe they have been misled over the case for sending troops to fight in Iraq, John Howard still holds a commanding lead in the opinion polls."

What's going on? If he mislead us, he should be out.

I know it's late in the day, but surely "[t]he then opposition leader, Kim Beazley of the Labor party lost the Federal election in November 2001 due largely to his support for strict, new measures against boat people" is a more accurate statement than "[t]he conservative Prime Minister, John Howard, won a third term in November 2001 due largely to strict, new measures against boat people". (BBC)

Not new, but a goodie: George Bush's inbox.

In other pseudo-political news, check out what I found when googling for images of John Howard.

A depressing trip down memory lane...

"An editorial in the influential newspaper The Australian launched a scathing attack on both John Howard and Kim Beazley before Saturday's poll.

"The system has failed to produce candidates who offer what Australia needs - to look beyond the war against terror and the phoney war on boat people," said the paper.

"In this leadership election, both Howard and Beazley are losers - and Australia will pay the price for years." " (BBC)

"The al-Qaeda terrorist network has singled out Australia for mention while claiming responsibility for last week's bombing of the Marriott Hotel in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, CNN reported." (Age)

Thanks, John Howard.

When sarcasm works...

"True, "survival of the species" wasn't a term which had been used a lot lately - at least not since the planet's population had passed 6 billion last century - but these people were no fools. They'd never gone in for this talk from the trendy lefty pinkoes that the greatest threat to the human race's survival was global warming, failure to ratify the Kyoto Treaty, the AIDS crisis and the US starting World War III through over-capitalised hubris.

For each of them knew that the real threat to the planet was gay people being accorded even the most basic of human and legal rights. They understood that if society as a whole was obliged to recognise that the gays loved each other too, then the bonds between men and women, their very desire to procreate, would inevitably dissipate. The horror, oh, the horror.

Fortunately it wasn't just John Howard saying this. As a matter of fact, the Pope himself recognised all that just last week when he authorised the Vatican to release a paper where it specifically stated that the whole concept of gay marriages was "evil". The paper was further emphatic that "there are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or analogous to God's plan for marriage and family. Marriage is holy, while homosexual acts go against the natural moral law".

See? True, some did find it a little strange that a man who had never had sex and who was presiding over an institution which has been hemorrhaging hundreds of millions of dollars in legal suits because of wayward priests sexually abusing minors - to the point where Time magazine had a recent cover article saying "Can the Catholic Church Survive?" - should be so doggone dogmatic on a subject you'd think he would be running a million miles from, but there you go. Those who said the Vatican should be concentrating on cleaning up its massive mess - borne of its ancient dogma - instead of calling committed gay people "evil", just didn't get it."

Peter FitzSimons in the (SMH)

"Prime Minister John Howard has aligned himself with the Vatican and US President George W Bush in ruling out gay marriages, saying they do nothing to support "survival of the species"."
...
"That's not an expression of discrimination - it's just an expression that marriage as we understand it is one of the bedrock institutions of our society.

"It's very much about the raising of children ... and the continuation of our species."

So he'd be against any rights for childless married couples then. He should at least have the courage of his convictions and admit he wants to discriminate between gay and straight couples.

He makes Costello look positively enlightened: ""Obviously I understand and accept that there are many people of the same sex who have a relationship and a partnership and sometimes long term partnership, I understand that, I respect that."". Why, who would have thought those nasty gay people would have long term relationships? It's almost as if they're normal.

(Age)

"Three top agencies responsible for Australia's intelligence, foreign policy and defence assessment - the Office of National Assessments, the Foreign Affairs Department and the Defence Intelligence Organisation - have now admitted being aware that the US State Department doubted claims that Iraq had sought uranium from Africa for a nuclear program. Yet all say they didn't tell their political bosses.

For a man apparently seriously and embarrassingly dudded by his experts, John Howard appears extraordinarily forbearing. You have to wonder why.

ONA let him make a claim it knew was highly dubious, and yet the PM finds excuses for it. When it comes to the missing weapons of mass destruction, the PM wants to move on." Age

John Howard is an insignificant twerp.

A succinct summary of why John Howard is bad: "The Howard prime ministership will leave enduring footprints on gun reform, East Timor and tax reform, and be remembered for its role in opposing a republic, the hard line on asylum seekers and the refusal to say sorry for past injustices to indigenous Australians.
But the decision to join the coalition of the willing in the war in Iraq will, more than any other, define the Howard era and, potentially, have the greatest influence on the nation's future." ()

I think my John Howard, Web Server Administrator and Prime Minister of Australia page has made it into someone's thesis.

"O Muslims, take matters firmly against the embassies of America, England, Australia, and Norway and their interests, companies, and employees." ('Al-Qaeda' statement, BBC)

Thanks, John Howard. How much do you suck? A lot.

On a related note, Suicide Attacker Wounds One

Bali victim's dad hits out at PM
"Linking war against Iraq with the Bali tragedy was cynical and the prime minister should immediately withdraw his remarks, the father of Bali bomb victim Josh Deegan said today."

Look what John Howard's done

Look what John Howard's done now: Australia was now fourth on the world's terror attack hit list, with Qantas the most likely target, the country's leading terror expert said today.

On the good news side, The full bench of the Family Court of Australia today rejected a federal government bid to quash a transsexual marriage.

More from the Age, "Prime Minister John Howard has accused peace demonstrators of giving comfort to Saddam Hussein and harming the chance of a peaceful outcome to the Iraqi crisis." vs "Mr Howard had given comfort to Saddam Hussein by undermining the UN, [Opposition Leader] Mr Crean said."

Age: Labor and US clash

Age: Labor and US clash over Iraq

"As Mr Howard prepared to leave for talks with President George W Bush, the US warned that the personal nature of some anti-American Labor rhetoric on Iraq was not helping the US-Australia alliance. [Diddums!]

Opposition Leader Simon Crean replied that US Ambassador to Australia Tom Schieffer was naive if he thought the debate on Iraq would not become passionate.

Labor opposes war with Iraq which is not sanctioned by the United Nations, and some ALP members, notably frontbencher Mark Latham, attacked President Bush during this week's parliamentary debate. [You can always count on Latham to speak his mind.]

Mr Latham said he was flaky and the most incompetent and dangerous president in living memory."
...
"Mr Howard said that, far from simply doing what Washington wanted, he had real influence." [Is he fooling himself, or trying to fool us?]
...
"However, the US was a very powerful country and, in the end, would take its own counsel, Mr Howard said." [No shit, Sherlock.]

Various articles from the Age

Various articles from the Age on the deployment of Australian troops to Iraq.

"Australian Greens senator Kerry Nettle addressed the band of peace supporters, telling them the Howard government was putting Australian troops and civilians at risk by supporting the potential US-led war on Iraq.
[...]
Dr Chesterfield-Evans [said]
"We followed an earlier American president into an illegal and immoral war in Vietnam - that should never happen again, and it wouldn't if John Howard had learned the lessons of history," he said."

"Australian troops were being put at risk by being deployed for a possible war against Iraq ahead of possible UN authorisation, Opposition Leader Simon Crean said today.
[...]
"There are only three countries out of a United Nations of 191 that are involved in forward deployment.

"Australia is one of them and it shouldn't be." "

The Independent on John Howard.

The Independent on John Howard.

"Visitors seduced by images of a diverse, progressive nation are startled to find it run by a grey man who belongs in the 1950s.

For those who believe the hype about Australia, generated by tourism advertisements and the 2000 Olympic Games, Howard, in his early sixties, seems out of step with the times. Why did he sabotage a republican campaign that wanted a modern, self-confident country to stand on its own feet? Why has he steadfastly refused to apologise to Aborigines for past injustices? Why does he feel so threatened by the arrival of penniless people with beards and burqas?"

...

"Under his stewardship, the country has turned in on itself – turning its back on Asia, cosying up to the United States, defiantly proclaiming white, Anglo-Saxon values."

It's irritating to see yet another article implying that John Howard's hardline stance on refugees won him the election without acknowleding that Beazley's support for harsh immigration laws deprived voters of a sensible, viable alternative.

According to googlism, John Howard

According to googlism, John Howard is...

john howard is mr job loss
john howard is a fascist
john howard is mean and tricky
john howard is planning to record a cover version of stand by your man
john howard is not the smoothest commentator on cricket around and i
believe he would be the first to admit that
john howard is not sexy
john howard is short
john howard is prepared to tolerate women who are forced to parent
without a male partner when that male partner has rejected his
responsibility
john howard is a lecturer in american history at the university of york
in the united kingdom and the editor of carryin' on in the gay and lesbian
south
john howard is a terrapin for life

Googlefight says john howard is a fascist

Last night I dreamt I had a pet turtle, does that mean I'm secretly dreaming about John Howard?

Stick with us in Iraq

Stick with us in Iraq campaign, Powell pleads
As if Australia hasn't already paid enough for Howard's arse-licking support of Bush.

The Australian Prime Minister, John

The Australian Prime Minister, John Howard was in England meeting the
Queen at Balmoral. They were discussing Australia and Howard's plans
for the future.

Howard asked the queen if it was possible to turn Australia into a
Kingdom to increase its force in the world market. The Queen replied,
"One needs a King for a Kingdom and you are most certainly not a
King."

He then asks if it is possible to turn Australia into an Empire. The
Queen replies, "For an Empire one needs an Emperor you are most
certainly not an Emperor."

Howard thinks for a moment and then asks if it is possible to turn
Australia into a principality. The Queen replies, "For a principality
one needs a Prince and you Mr. Howard are certainly not a prince."

The Queen adds further, "Without meaning to be rude Mr. Howard I think
Australia should remain as a country."

John Howard blogs. I can't

John Howard blogs. I can't believe no-one's thought of this before.

More on the bum-kissing John

More on the bum-kissing John Howard comments, this time from Carmen Lawrence, quoted in the Age, "It isn't a word I would use, but the sentiment is about right," she said.

"Everyone I have spoken to is deeply offended by Mr Howard's sycophancy in the United States. He appeared like a little boy with George Bush ... it was really embarrassing."

John Howard is the world's

John Howard is the world's biggest suck-up. From The Age, "Later, at a dinner at the White House for the conservative leaders hosted by George Bush, Mr Howard proposed an effusive toast to the President.

"Can I simply say to you, Mr President, thank you for what you are doing not only for your own nation for the cause of freedom, but also for mankind generally around the world. The leadership of the United States has been magnificent," he said."

I wonder what John Howard

I wonder what John Howard would be like if he smoked dope.

I've updated the John Howard/IIS

I've updated the John Howard/IIS stupidity page to include the wonderful wehavethewayout.com fiasco. Thanks to djc for the screenshot.

Also, new hate mail.

I've updated the John Howard/IIS

I've updated the John Howard/IIS stupidity page to include the wonderful wehavethewayout.com fiasco. Thanks to djc for the screenshot.

Also, new hate mail.

From The Age: John Howard

From The Age: John Howard has only himself to blame for the leadership speculation that threatens to disrupt the cohesion and stability of his government over the next 14 months.

John Howard makes belated play

John Howard makes belated play for credibility in refugee overboard mess.