Rudd - and a report card

On Kevin Rudd's way to the Prime Ministership, Miss Eagle was hopeful - but with many reservations. The reservations had their genesis in too much me-too-ism. Memories of the worst of the Goss Labor Government in Queensland for which Rudd was the right hand man. These reservations led to a few posts with this picture:

While Kevin 07 performed the necessary gymnastics on the way to The Lodge, Miss Eagle wondered out loud what it was that Kevin Rudd would stand for, would not resile from.

We are now at the end end of the first parliamentary sitting week of the new Labor government. Michelle Grattan has published her review of the performance so far. Miss Eagle's report card is in the form of an edited version of the picture.

Miss Eagle remains unhappy with Rudd's decision to keep the full impact of changes to industrial relations until 2010. Similarly, she does not favour delaying changes in the excesses of private school funding until 2010. All this makes as much sense to Miss E as saying to Kevin Rudd on election night that he had been elected but John Howard would remain in power for another three years. Corporations - whether they are major employers or classy corporate schools - don't think twice about delaying their impositions on others. They - if they were bright enough, flexible enough - would have factored in their risks from a change of government. So there would have been no shocks and few surprises. But still they received the soft end of the wedge.

However - and Miss E does wince slightly at the "however" - after Wednesday's superb and visionary and inclusive performance Miss Eagle can forgive much. It is undergirded by Rudd's very first call on business - to deal with homelessness. If Rudd continues to prioritise justice in this way, Miss Eagle will be able to wear the other stuff. Miss Eagle must also comment on the manner in which Rudd is setting the pace: business-like in his attention to the tasks at hand; informed by the hallmarks of Labor in government; intent on setting fresh standards of civility and vision. And all this in a down to earth manner with few, if any signs, of pretension of office.

Miss Eagle looks forward to more of that which has made such a great beginning.

HENDERSON & SCRYMGOUR: Another generational change

Generational change is the name of the game all over it seems. In half an hour from now Paul Henderson will hold his first Press Conference as Chief Minister of the Northern Territory following the resignation this morning of Clare Martin. Miss Eagle is all excited. She knew Paul before he entered Parliament in the late 90s. He was an energetic man of ideas then and, it seems, is still so to-day.

Syd Stirling stepped down with Clare. Fare thee well, Syd! You have been there a long while - and done (pardon the bad pun!) stirling service to the NT and the people of Nhulunbuy.

Stepping into Syd's shoes is Marion Scrymgour. Marion is an Aboriginal woman who knows from experience about the hard decisions a political life demands. She knows what leadership is about. This is the highest ranking political position ever held by an Aboriginal person in this nation. Proud of you, Marion.

Miss Eagle thinks that with you two in charge and a new tenant at The Lodge that good will come considering that the two architects of the Military Intervention in the NT have lost their seats in Parliament. Clearly, the people of Australia took note - and such poor policy is not on. We wait to hear the good news of a sound policy substitute from your own government in collaboration with the Commonwealth.

Hell hath no fury like a preference deal scorned...

Family First got one Senator up at the 2004 Federal election. With a primary vote of one-point-infinitesimal-per-cent and an array of very c-u-t-e preference deals, they got their man in Victoria up.

They were so chuffed about this that they are r-e-a-l-l-y determined to get some more of their people into the Senate - especially since s-o-o many people have tried s-o-o hard in 2007 to get the Christian vote and its family values (well, a certain brand of Christian vote and a certain brand of family values) up front and taken seriously in the political debate. Seems that there's a lot of Christians out there determined to give it to Caesar!

And Preference Deal Season - or, at this stage, its final results - is upon us. Family First is most amusing. Probably they are so amusing because they were so clever last time, their Senator so energetic and determined to be Everywhere Man on his trendy scooter, they are so publicly Good, and - it now becomes clear - so DETERMINED TO WIN AT ANY COST.

It is being reported that Family First preference deals have been made with the Liberty and Democracy Party (a bunch of libertarian nutters) and Pauline's United Australia Party. This is the evidence for Family First putting winning above anything else. Funny that. I thought Christians were against an "ends justify the means" attitude.

You see, dear Reader, Pauline Hanson's political adventures have always carried racist undertones if not, indeed, full blown overtones. Now there is a report that a Liberty and Democracy Party candidate in Tasmania has spoken out in favour of decriminalising incest. In regard to the latter, I am waiting for the jokes from all those funny people out there. You see, if you are an overseas reader, you may not know that there have long been jokes in Australia about Tasmanian family life, incest, and people with two heads. These unkind jokes relate to the fact that Tasmania is an island with a small, insular population. Now we have someone in a political party who has taken the whole thing seriously and turned it into a political policy. Wow!

Please note: If you go to the comments, dear Reader, correspondence has been entered into by Terje of the Liberty and Democracy Party. Based on his comments, Miss Eagle has issued a non-John-Howard type apology and agreed to forbear from references to nutters and the legalisation of incest in relation to the Liberty and Democracy Party. Miss Eagle has issued a full reply in the comments section. Thursday 8 November 2007 4.40pm

Well, if Pauline having another adventure and keeping her name in front of the Australian public - perhaps she wants a reprise of Dancing with the Stars - and the Liberty and Democracy Party turning an Aussie joke into political policy were not funny enough....

then amuse yourself with the idea of the good Christian supporters of Family First entering into preference deals with such racists and libertarians. OK, dear Reader, up off the floor. You are making a display of yourself.

But, on second thoughts, dear Reader, stay there a while longer while I tell you that Family First is outraged. Absolutely outraged. Its rage is out and there. Why, you ask dear Reader? Because there is a preference deal between the ALP and The Greens. Ooooh-wah! Naughty aren't they. And why, again you ask dear Reader? Because of the drug policy of The Greens!

How outrageous! Harm minimisation policies in relation to drugs are beyond the pale - but racism and incest are not! Not when it comes to Family First winning it seems.

Miss Eagle - as well as a lot of others in that tiny factional group known as Rusted-on Labor Who Vote Green - will be pleased to know that the ALP has listened and noted that the ALP constituency prefers its preferences (ok, Lexicon Harlot, I can hear you listening!) to go to parties of the left - not parties of the ultra-right. This howl of protest was heard loudly in last year's Victorian election when the Demo(n)cratic Labor Party (the dreaded, historic enemy of the ALP, the DLP) got one of theirs into the Upper House on the strength of ALP preferences.

So - if Pauline gets up - will Family First take responsibility? If people with two heads (do they get two votes), vote for the Liberty and Democracy Party will Family First publicly apologise?

What is taught at City Life Church, the second biggest Christian church in Australia after Hillsong, where Senator Steve Fielding and his family worship? Traditional Christian ethics?

Has John Howard been wedged?

John Howard has long been hailed as the master of wedge politics. In fact, it has become his stock in trade to thwart political opposition and drive forward political policies which a lot of Australians thought were not part of our national ethos anymore.

As the Liberal Party plunges in the polls with a Federal election only weeks away, and as the possibility of John Howard becoming the second Prime Minister in Australian history to lose his own seat, the question now needs to be asked:

Has John Howard been wedged?

Now geometry and higher forms of mathematics were never Miss Eagle's strong suits. Arithmetical calculations and mystical algebraic contemplation are more her speed. But Miss Eagle does venture to ask the following:

1. Does a wedge have boomerang-style capabilities? In other words, is it possible for it to come back and bite you in the b^m?
2. Bearing in mind the flying wedge strategy - so useful in war and Rugby Union - what is the trajectory of a wedge in flight: short and steep? long with deep coverage? able to encompass ministers and backbenchers in its flightpath? is it a guided or unguided missile?

There seems little doubt that Kevin Rudd has developed an effective shield against the wedge. The first person in modern political history to effectively do so, or so it would seem. The poll that counts will tell.

Meanwhile, there are noises in the barnyard of chickens coming home to roost.

Thanks for not announcing your retirement, John.

Hang in there, John - even if it's by your fingernails.

Hang in there! Until the electors of Bennelong give you your marching orders.

Then your chickens will have come home to roost.

Rod Cocks -v- Greg Pargeter and the people of La Trobe

Rodney Cocks and Greg Pargeter: contenders in the seat of La Trobe

The word to Miss Eagle is that Greg Pargeter has re-nominated for the re-opened pre-selection process in the Victorian seat of La Trobe for which late-comer, new-comer Rodney Cocks is rumoured to be endorsed.

Miss Eagle congratulates Greg on his decision to re-nominate for the seat for which he has been a hard-working candidate. Why go down without a fight? Silent indignity in the face of dis-endorsement in favour of a person who was not even a member of the ALP a week ago is not the best way to go.

A couple of comments Miss Eagle has received:

• I think any preselection less than 12 mths out from an election is a waste of on the ground campaigners time. Whats the point?

• I have great concerns over the dumping of Pargeter. Firstly several months ago, the Fed's were happy to leave La Trobe alone, it was seen as unwinnable. But Pargeter and a dedicated campaign team have worked hard, Pargeter is out every weekend running mobile offices, attending fetes, shows,anywhere he can engage the electorate. And it's started to bite, we are now seeing letters in the local papers critical of sitting member Jason Wood (whose time in the house is being seen as filling the numbers). The undecided of La Trobe have realised there is an alternative to just another Howard lackie. Pargeter was local, was family, was worker and he took an interest in the community. The incumbent Lib' Wood on the other hand is aloof, arrogant and unwilling to engage the community on the big issues, whilst he is happy to give Boy Scouts water tanks, he is unwilling to comment on IR for fear of bad press, his stance on climate change was similar. Rodney Cocks is the unknown and hence my concern. Firstly give the man his dues, he's a national hero and that's a good thing as it counters Jason Wood's "trust me I'm an ex-counter terrorism copper" On national security Wood talks the talk, but Cocks will walk the walk. But in politics, all politics is local and Cocks may lack credibility if he is not up to speed on local issues.

Miss Eagle believes that the National Executive of the ALP will vote on the pre-selection to-day.

We wait to see what wisdom emerges from this process.

Philip Freier: Aboriginal voices of prophecy

People - Christians among them - frequently get the concept of the prophetic voice all wrong. In the Biblical tradition, there is a future context within the prophetic call and voice. Closer examination of the prophetic voice clearly shows that it has a quality of forth-telling, not merely fore-telling.

Philip Freier makes this plain. He also makes it plain that politicians who pander to certain sectors of the body politic are merely re-inforcers of the status quo. They are not people who can move in a prophetic way

• to provide leadership;
• to bring justice to those treated unjustly; and
• to bring clarity to our journey into the future.
  

Leadership and critique on the Howard Shock and Awe Intervention

Many people, black and white and blog, have drawn attention to shortcomings in the Northern Territory State of Emergency otherwise known as Howard's Shock and Awe Campaign.

The Labor Opposition under Kevin Rudd has provided no leadership on the issue. While attention is drawn to this, a lot of us go along with it in the hope that as he leads the opinion polls so it will be on election day and we have Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister. The only problem with this is - what if he doesn't win; what if he turns out to be nothing like the Prime Minister that we want and the nation needs.

At last, a leader has spoken up. Not caustically, as this blog has the freedom and inclination to do. An old lady can do little else but snipe from the sidelines. But a knowledgable, experienced and forthright Archbishop? Well, he might actually have an opportunity to discuss something with a Prime Minister sometime, somewhere. He needs to have channels of communication to be kept open. He does not have the same freedom as Miss Eagle - even if this was his inclination - to sound off.

So the Archbishop of Melbourne, Philip Freier, makes his point moderately while bringing into focus THE major issues - community consultation, communication and respect.

Last night, Rudd and Howard presented their respective viewpoints on a national internet presentation hosted by the Australian Christian Lobby. Tens of thousands of Christians gathered at over 700 [or 850, depending on which report is read] venues across Australia to watch a live webcast featuring speeches from John Howard and Kevin Rudd. [Please note, dear Reader, the numbers. The megachurches love the numbers and the income they provide. So do politicians. Twin species?]

Miss Eagle made no attempt to get involved in this internet hook-up. The mind-set of the ACL is not Miss Eagle's except that we both claim the name of Christian. In no media coverage that I have heard to-day, and there is nothing on the ACL website as at 10.25am to-day, which would indicate that the welfare of Aboriginal people got a guernsey in this For Christians Only debate. Clearly, Howard thought the people at the For Christians Only debate gave highest priority to pornography. Who can say he's wrong?

[Miss E is anti-pornography too. I am anti-pornography not only for all the usual reasons but because a family member is a victim of the pornography addiction of a spouse. My take on pornography is much more sophisticated than any arguments that I have heard from the ACL constituency. I also contest the high priority given to pornography in that constituency in contrast to matters such as poverty and employment. ]

Miss Eagle, at the time of writing, has been unable to find transcipts of the Howard and Rudd speeches.

Supersize me - but do it where I live

Miss Eagle seldom is on message with Paul Kelly of The Government Gazette. However, his analysis yesterday of what Howard is up to at the moment - and it is a moment by moment policy roller-coaster ride - is sound. Governance, not only under Howard but under any future Federal Government, is the issue.

Australia has a three tier system of governance: Local, State, Federal. Governance is on a declining scale of parochialism from Local up to Federal. Until now, when a Prime Minister who has been able to gain neither traction nor momentum against Opposition Leader, Kevin Rudd is becoming desperate. Howard has long demonstrated a bottomless capacity for buying votes but this attribute has now reached proportions which are both grandiose and parochial.

The Shock and Awe intervention appears to have some sort of policy identification and the place, the Northern Territory, seems to have been merely the place over which the Commonwealth had power to intervene easily.

John Howard, with Member for Braddon Mark Baker, make the most of a celebrity welcome at Mersey Hospital, Devonport as part of their Stick it to the States Campaign

The Shock and Awe modus operandi has continued week by week. Last week, it was the intervention in Tasmania singling out one hospital in one small community (the 70,000 population figure by Abbot is a blatant lie and does not describe the population of the community serviced by the Mersey hospital). This week it is offering disaffected local councils in Queensland funding for plebiscites in their municipalities on amalgamations proposed by Peter Beattie's Labor Government after long consultation with local government.

The ACT is the latest government in Howard's "Embarrass a Government To-day" program. This time he is offering to fund timber mill employees' entitlements to the tune of $5 million on the condition that the NSW Government issues the mill with a long-term licence. Now, there appear to be a number of interests coalescing here.

1. Most of the employees are resident in the electorate of Eden-Monaro. Eden-Monaro is known as a bellwether seat. Eden-Monaro, since 1972, has been held by whichever party forms government.
2. The purpose of the proposed funding and the request for a long-term licence is that the mill can be sold as a going concern. So, while employees may benefit and continuing employment in a marginal electorate are supported, the main beneficiary could well be the employer/company. Another case of business welfare?
3. The relevant union is the CFMEU. This union is a blessing and a curse to the constituency of the Federal Government. Its members employed in the timber and forest products industry cost Labor two Tasmanian seats at the Federal Election of 2004 and have forced the ALP this time into a me-too Howard-image policy which dares not deviate in any environmentally responsible way or it will pay dearly in Tasmania. On the other hand, Howard and Co loathe the CFMEU's members employed in building and construction and have done everything they can to legislate against and prosecute the CFMEU's officials and members in this industry. But...timber and forest products industry union members appear to be a well-beloved species!

So since the Shock and Awe Campaign, Howard has struck at two states and two territories. Three states if one considers the position of the NSW Government in relation to a long-term licence for the ACT timber mill. So WA, SA, and Victoria are still to come. WA is open to vilification because they were the one stand-out state against Howard's armed intervention in Aboriginal affairs. Victoria has been a stand-out on the Howard Government attempt to nationalise water policy with all its private sector market-driven consequences. So there is room for Howard nastiness and meanness to operate against WA and Victoria.

So what will happen in SA? Undoubtedly, somewhere along the line will be incursion into Pitjantjatjara lands. And, just as certainly, the excuse will that Pitlands cross the border of South Australia and the Northern Territory.

So Back to Reality.Yesterday, the Northern Territory National Emergency Response Bill 2007 [NTMERB] passed through the House of Representatives in spite of Labor attempts to amend the legislation and in spite of the difficulties faced by Warren Snowdon and Senator Trish Crossin.

CEO of NITV, Pat Turner AM, at the Indigenous leaders press conference in Canberra yesterday.
Valda Shannon, a significant Aboriginal woman from Tennant Creek, at the press conference
Bill Heffernan, Homo Horribilis, puts in an appearance and an interruption at the Indigenous leaders press conference in Canberra yesterday

And who should raise his head above the parapet but that shameless and nasty old homo, Bill Heffernan. Homo, you ask? Homo Horribilis, don't you think Dear Reader? Aboriginal leaders came to Canberra yesterday to discuss the NTNERB and held a press conference. Bill the Buzzard came along, clearly seeing fresh meat to pick over, more dreadful people to put on his hit and smear list. He had the hide to interrupt. But good manners have never been the hallmark of of our hero, Homo Horribilis.

But perhaps I sell him short. Perhaps he only wanted to see what Aboriginal people look like. Maybe there haven't been many around his property in Junee lately. Maybe Bill just wanted to get to know some Aboriginal people before he sunk his ploughshares into their land as he farms Northern Australia!

Anyway, they told Bill where to go. Miss Eagle loves the photograph of Jack Ah Kit eyeballing him.

So, if Bill Heffernan was shameless yesterday, another Senator, Stephen Parry of Tasmania, found himself feeling shameful. Stephen, it is now believed, has learned not to open his mouth in lifts when uncertain of the discretion of all present. Parry has thought about this. So have the clinicians who have resigned from Mersey at the prospect of a Howard take-over. And then there is the Tasmanian Labor Government and its view.

So John Howard has let it be known that, if anyone anywhere in the nation has a proposal which is believed to have been neglected by a State Government, get in touch and they will put it on the list. Word has it that people are queuing up.

Parochialism across the nation is standing up and demanding to be supersized by superhero government. Damned is good governance.

Thoughtful policy is for the birds when making it up on the run and trying to shaft Labor is much more fun.

And Mal Brough is expressing concern about whether his legislation can survive a Federal Labor government. Well, Mal, when you carry on like this why would you expect the legislation produced to stand the test of time? When you expect everyone to toe the line when you say the magic words "child abuse" because they fear being labelled as unsupportive of efforts to combat it, why should you be surprised when more considered opinion will want to override your legislation? And when people realise that you have lead them up the garden path by failure to implement the recommendations of the very report you have used to force action after a decade of neglect, you still expect them to say you did the right thing?

Miss Eagle wonders what the so-called committee hearing will produce on Friday. What can it produce that will be meaningful? Some sound grabs?

And, dear Reader, if you are still not clear about what good and sound governance in this nation might look like, you can get an idea of it here. Whatever happened to this process, Miss Eagle wants to know? Buried between the manila folders and red tape of bureaucracy or withering for lack of funding by a grandstanding Prime Minister and his political, advisory, and bureaucratic lackeys?

John Howard: more shock and awe. Part 1

It seems that there is a week-by-week plan to impose Howard's presence across government policy in Australia - irrespective of any other properly constituted forms of government. Now it is direct intervention - announced via You Tube in the early hours of the morning - in the running of hospitals. A desperate grab for headlines and votes and an election win!

Miss Eagle is no fan of the states. In the best of all possible worlds, Miss Eagle would opt for a two-sector model of government. Abolish the states, abolish local government and have the national government plus regional government based upon geographical and historical communities of interest.

But Miss Eagle is no fan of the centralizing tendencies of John Howard - the most centralizing Prime Minister in the history of this nation. Without debate, without national consultation, without referendum, he is putting his nose in everywhere - Aboriginal affairs, technical education, and hospitals. Can you imagine, dear Reader, if Paul Keating had acted in the same way? There would have been uproard - particularly from Howard and his constituency.

And does Howard not think that what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander too?

Miss Eagle, dear Reader, does not expect Kevin and Krew to protest too much. Firstly, Kevin is not into protesting too much lately; and, secondly, Kevin probably thinks - why not? Let Howard roll it out and see where it leads because you never know when we might find it useful to do the same thing.

The issue here is that we have erosion of constituted government without debate, without a referendum, and without consultation. Do you think, dear Reader, that this is the work of a dictator?

Remembering the despicable days of Joh Bjelke-Petersen - what better excuse for Commonwealth intervention could there have been?

Kevin Rudd, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Ethics of State

Martin Flanagan has to-day questioned Kevin's Rudd ethics particularly in the light of his admiration for Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Miss Eagle is reflecting on this issue here.

Re-birthing John Howard?

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday,

Mean Prime Minister

Happy Birthday to you.

MANY HAPPY RETURNS, JOHN HOWARD,

BUT NOT TO PARLIAMENT

Pop over to The Sydney Morning Herald to see birthday cards from readers.

Amazing Grace and amazing activism

Last night, Miss Eagle flew into Carlton to the Cinema Nova where - a preview screening of Michael Apted’s Amazing Grace was co-hosted with Liberty Victoria. Amazing Grace gives a portrayal of the adult life of anti-slavery pioneer William Wilberforce.

The movie has a star-studded cast:Ioan Gruffud as William Wilberforce, supported by - among others - Michael Gambon, Ciaron Hinds, and the brilliant and indefatigable Albert Finney. Miss E confesses, dear Reader, that in each of the three scenes in which the inestimable Mr Finney appeared as John Newton, leading Evangelical Anglican minister and hymn writer, that she was reduced to tears. Finney's power and longevity - 47 years of making movies with the three score and ten years already notched up - are impressive.

After the movie - which received much applause from its audience - there was a Q & A with a distinguished panel of social and political activists. The panel was led by prominent QC and civil libertarian, Julian Burnside. (After the show, also spotted his magical spouse Kate Durham.) Burnside was ably assisted by Keryn Clarke, Mordy Bromberg SC, and Kon Karapanagiotidis.

Keryn Clarke works for the Uniting Church of Australia as a Social Justice Officer. Her prime involvement is with Just Act. However, last night Keryn was speaking for Stop the Traffik which campaigns against human trafficking in its modern form.

Mordy Bromberg SC is a barrister working in the area of human rights specializing in labour rights.

Kon Karapanagiotidis is CEO of the Asylum Seekers Resource Centre, Australia’s leading asylum seeker aid, health and advocacy organization.

The tenor of the evening was how an individual or group of individuals working together can, with determination, over time bring about change. The lesson of the evening was to go out there and do something to make this world a better place.

Andrew Bolt says Howard must quit

Well, whoda thunk it. That arch-conservative and all round verbal brawler and unattractive man, Andrew Bolt, says Howard must quit. Bolt reckons that even if there were to be another terrorist attack, God forbid, the public is now so cynical it's as likely to blame Howard for provoking it as it is to admire his firmness in handling it.

Miss Eagle thinks Howard should hang on a bit longer.

You, dear Reader, will recall that this blog has not been anxious for John Howard's resignation. She is anxious for Howard to go away and take his meanness with him. But the policy of this blog is that Howard should not go until all the chickens come home to roost.

There is a sound of roosting chickens in the air - but there are still some out in the barnyard.

If Miss Eagle could have her druthers, she would serve Howard the Bruce option. Stanley Melbourne Bruce, Prime Minister from 1923-1929, is the only Prime Minister to lose his seat. And who better to administer the coup de grace than Maxine McKew in the Prime Ministerial seat of Bennelong?

Scoring National Security, Howard, Rudd and Public Opinion

There are two areas of public policy which conservative parties are usually held to do better than the social democratic side of politics. These are the economy and national security. The Liberal-National Party Coalition under Prime Minister John Howard is suffering from its implementation of draconian wages policies, an integral part of the economy. Now, in to-day's The Age, the Coalition's management of security issues and even Howard's reputed personal rapport with servicemen and women is called into question.

While 77% of Australians were supporting the Prime Minister on "border security" and the children overboard affair in the lead up to and at the 2001 Federal election, the 77% were actually supporting the oppression of sailors who didn't sign up to be cruel and heartless to women and children while being forced to be away from their wives, partners and children for unhealthily long periods of service.

So where are the 77% now? The polls favouring Labor seem likely to be garnering a host of the "border security" proponents of 2001. But then Labor itself under the slack leadership of Kim Beazley was in there supporting the government too. This is why Miss Eagle is insistent on knowing the quality and firmness of Kevin Rudd's backbone. X-rays, MRIs, CAT scans, PET scans, lumbar punctures - but give us something Kevin!

Because you see, dear Reader, Kevin is right behind the Prime Minister on the Haneef Affair - every bit as much as Beazley was behind Howard on the children overboard affair. And look where that is going and what a laughing stock that is making of our national security and the powers the Federal Government has taken to itself. National security - heading downward. Mos Australian's wages - heading downward. Roosting chickens are in the offing for John Howard and the wood is on Maxine McKew to defeat him in his seat of Bennelong. It's your national duty, Maxine. National security and the economy depend upon it.

But, Maxine, can you ask Kevin to show us the colour of his money?

Can Australia build a netroots nation?

Australian politicians - at least on the left of the political spectrum - are making it across to My Space. But do Australian pollies want to build a netroots nation? That icon of left-wing blogging, Daily Kos, has an annual festal gathering in The DailyKos Convention which will be held this year in Chicago from August 2-5. Last year it was Vegas - so it gets around.

This year's convention will be of major interest as the American political cycle heads into the primaries. Next year's, of course, will be vital as the cycle comes full circle to the Presidential election.

Now Australia has a smaller population base than the USA and the take up rate of blogging has not been as penetrating as the take up rate of the mobile phone and colour television. So Australia may be a while away from organizing its own serious, full-blown, politician-laden political convention.

And who in the blogosphere would take on the job of organizing such a gathering? Miss Eagle suggests Larvatus Prodeo with that eminence gris, John Quiggin, as conference patron. Any other suggestions?

Tony Abbott, WorkChoices and The Communion of Saints

There's little doubt about it - but PolMin's campaign against Howard's workplace relations laws is hitting home if Tony Abbott's rave to-day in The Oz is anything to go by. Abbott might be on message with Cardinal George Pell but he doesn't seem to be with Bishop Kevin Manning. Surprise, surprise!

And - since when did Tony Abbott have an aversion to pre-Vatican II intensity... with its invocations of authority, dogmatic pronouncements and references to the natural order even if it did manage to apply to PolMin. Abbot says he's nostalgic as anyone for the church triumphant but wonder about this application of pseudo-theological rigour to political rather than to religious faith.

Miss Eagle got the giggles at that last quote. Abbot doesn't seem to have an understanding of the ancient Christian doctrine of the Communion of Saints. He should be referring to the Church Militant (those of us still on Planet Earth). Tony, it's not only trade unions who get militant - the church does too!

The Church Triumphant is all those in Heaven so I'm not sure whether all those nuns and brothers have managed to co-opt them to the PolMin campaign at this time - but I'm sure if there was a late Nov/early Dec election and a concerted appeal was made by PolMin to the Church Triumphant on 1 Nov celebrations (All Saints Day) then anything might be possible.

Tom Burns: a personal reflection

A great and unique political figure of Australia will walk no more with us. Miss Eagle speaks of Tom Burns: formerly State Secretary of the ALP in Queensland, Federal President of the ALP, Queensland Opposition Leader, Queensland Deputy Premier, and devoted husband, father, and fisherman.

To read more about Tom's achievements, read here. Miss Eagle will talk about some things that won't be in the official obituaries.

Miss Eagle first met Tom back in 1970 when he was State Secretary of the ALP. These were the tough times of the Bjelke-Petersen dictatorship in Queensland and Labor looked like a non-event, an irrelevancy in Queensland and on the national stage. In those days, Tom did not have the sartorial elegance he was later to effect. Miss E would call the style more racecourse spiv - checks, hat and all. You had to tune in to listen to Tom. He spoke rapidly and not necessarily clearly.

Tom entered the State Assembly and became Leader of the Opposition. Along the way Tom married Angela. Things changed. Miss E's guess is that Angela grounded Tom and gave him a more relaxed outlook on life. The clothing style improved a thousand per cent. Miss E has never forgotten bumping into Tom one Saturday morning as he caught a quick breakfast in Toowoomba. He was wearing a trendy three piece denim suit - and no hat. What an improvement!

Then there was his speech. It slowed. It was easier to understand and to listen to. This was thanks to Brisbane and Queensland's greatest communicator, Russ Walkington of Radio 4BH. (Allow Miss E to have a little boast here - back in 1971 Miss E defeated Russ Walkington in a public speaking competition. This thrilled Miss E - but she knew and knows who the better speaker was.)

Miss E believes Tom to be unique because of what she perceives to be an unusual gift among politicians. Tom could take a complex issue and reduce it to such simple and succinct language that the person in the street without great education could comprehend. Tom, unlike many politicians, did not bamboozle people. This great gift of communication and the fact that he was fair dinkum is what has made Tom Burns so well beloved.

Finally, who can forget the night of December 2, 1989 when Labor defeated the long reign of the corrupt National Party in Queensland. Tom was the cheshire cat that night. Winners were definitely grinners - inspite of Goss telling everyone to take a cold shower!

Tom lived at Wynnum - where Miss E embarked on life - close to The Esplanade and his beloved Moreton Bay. Because Tom loved his fishing - wherever he was in Queensland. And he died on Moreton Bay. There will be a State Funeral next week for Tom. Don't know if he will be cremated - but perhaps, if he is, Moreton Bay is where the ashes will be scattered?

Vale, Tom. You have been a great contributor. Miss E hopes the fish are biting where you are travelling. Best thoughts, best wishes to Angela and the girls at this time.

A remembrance for C. Wright Mills

Those of us who have dipped deeply into that marvellous well labelled Sociology will be aware of C. Wright Mills. While relating to the American tradition, the writings of C. Wright Mills served as an impetus for critiquing Australian society as well. He set afire the sociological imagination. The Power Elite is not only seminal. It is timeless. This week, the forty-fifth anniversary of the death of C. Wright Mills was commemorated. For more, see here and here.

And if, dear Reader, you wonder about whether the personal is political or the political is personal, think on this:

Do not allow public issues as they are officially formulated, or troubles as they are privately felt, to determine the problems that you take up for study. Above all, do not give up your moral and political autonomy by accepting in somebody else's terms the illiberal practicality of the bureaucratic ethos or the liberal practicality of the moral scatter. Know that many personal troubles cannot be solved merely as troubles, but must be understood in terms of public issues - and in terms of the problems of history making. Know that the human meaning of public issues must be revealed by relating them to personal troubles - and to the problems of the individual life. Know that the problems of social science, when adequately formulated, must include both troubles and issues, both biography and history, and the range of their intricate relations. Within that range the life of the individual and the making of societies occur; and within that range the sociological imagination has its chance to make a difference in the quality of human life in our time.

C Wright Mills (1959) The Sociological Imagination, page 226

Something on the air....

This morning when Michelle Grattan was speaking to Fran Kelly (approx 7.45am) on Radio National Breakfast about the Howard, Rudd & Burke imbroglio, Michelle said to Fran, when asked where it would all end, that the matter would continue until

it either blows itself out or something fresh comes up.

Miss Eagle believes something has come up in the priceless words of one P.J. Keating. Apparently the words were heard on radio and those who haven't heard them wish they could. Read some of them here.

Miss Eagle nearly fell off her perch when she saw P.J.'s reference to her old cobber, Johnno Johnson, as the model of ubiquity in Sydney. For those of you who have never had social intercourse with Johnno, you will not be aware of his motto where two or three are gathered...hold a raffle. Johnno has made a science out of the selling of a raffle ticket. Don't know how? Johnno will show you.

The Sydney Morning Herald - at the recent ALP election launch in NSW - noted

The only person resembling a tribal elder was the former long-serving Labor MP and raffle ticket seller John "Johnno" Johnson: "They dare not start without me."

And in case anyone thinks the rephrasing of Jesus's words on prayer and the numbers necessary are blasphemous, nothing could be further from Johnno's mind. You see, here is an upright Catholic and any Catholic - well anyone with an Irish name even - ought to dodge Johnno for the next month or so. Otherwise, a casual phone call or an accidental meeting in George Street will find Johnno checking up on whether you've made your Easter Duty yet!

Let's hear it for good governance

Parliament House, Perth, Western Australia

Miss Eagle has from time to time posted on the topic of governance. Miss Eagle believes that good governance is conspicuous by its absence at state and federal levels of government in Australia.
Miss Eagle was interested in David Cohen's The Strife of Brian in to-day's The Age which outlines the wreckage in the trail of Brian Burke and Julian Grill. In fact, the Burke and Grill's political and lobbying expedition has been disastrous for good government, particularly ALP government, in The West and has done extensive damage to many political careers and personal lives.

Midas and his Golden Touch are well known. This is a story of legend and myth. The Corrupt Touch, however, is commonplace around the globe. It is accompanied by a unique stench and lays waste to governments, corporations, shareholders and various innocent parties. The following quote is striking in Miss Eagle's view.
None of the CCC revelations have surprised Larry Graham. Graham was a Labor MP from 1989 until he was dumped in a preselection stoush in 1999: he then served as an independent until he retired in 2005.
"This will be a contrarian view, but the problem is not with Burke and Grill: people always get lobbied," he says. "The problem is with the talent pool in WA: it's drained, it's gone."
The combined membership of the Labor and Liberal parties in WA is about half that of the West Coast Eagles, Graham says.
"Between them they don't even have a decent suburban football club." He believes WA MPs are unable to delineate between public affairs and private interests.
"These people took an oath to serve without fear or favour - do they?
"There is no one of substance in the WA Parliament... Here, the influence- peddling and the warping of the system has happened because WA's political system has been so potently inbred for so long," Graham says. "It's impossible to get ahead unless you kowtow to the numbercrunchers."

WA throws up some tough and unusual characters on both sides of the political fence. Let's run through some:

• Peter Walsh, ALP
• Graeme Campbell, ALP
• Wilson Tuckey, Liberal Party
• Ross Lightfoot, Liberal Party
  

This list is not definitive and nor would a complete list be a men only affair.
Larry Graham's points are well made and deserve a hearing. However, if anyone thinks that these flaws are restricted to Western Australia then they should think again. The drive in the political parties for power over values and hard work at community level has led to a race to the bottom at the local level.

Once, in the long, long, ago, the ALP required a minimum three year membership to be eligible for election to major party forums and to be eligible for pre-selection to state and federal parliaments and municipal elections where an official Labor ticket was run. Not any more.

Spend your life making money or a name for yourself. Don't even bother to be an office bearer on the local P&C, as long as you are a top dog local people will be trampled over to give you a seat. And what sort of seat do the top dogs get? Why they receive the golden parachute into safe, iron clad ones of course. Not marginal seats where a well-known name might just give the ALP an edge to get a candidate over the line and take a seat from one of the conservative parties. Miss Eagle congratulates Maxine McKew on her decision to run against the Prime Minister in the seat of Bennelong. This is a good use of her high profile name and her skills.

So there is little future in local people joining a local branch to enhance and/or enrich the candidacy/career of another. Time was when people joined a local branch of a political party as an expression of their personal and community values and they were prepared to assist a candidate who share those values and would promote them in parliament.

To-day, values have gone by the board. Kim Beazley has never given any indication that movement away from Labor values in relation to "boat-people" was a factor contributing to his inability to secure federal government for the ALP. There seemes to be some awareness of the disaster that has been the ALP on immigration by Tony Burke, Labor's Shadow Minister for Immigration, Integration & Citizenship. The latest round of people being herded on to Christmas Island will give Labor and Burke plenty of opportunity to strut their stuff and show how diligent they are in attacking John Howard and the Liberal Party on their draconian immigration policies.

Graham hits the nail on the head when he speaks of there being no delineation between public affairs and private interests.

Look around Australia. The old adage says that a people gets the government it deserves. Perhaps our governments without good and sound governance are a true reflection of the people who elect them. Are we Australians as self-interested as that?