The National Day of Community Protest - Post 1

The National Day of Community Protest
I caught the 7.30 am train from Upper Gully this morning. The rally in Federation Square was advertised as commencing at 9am. Now I knew there would be people when I got there - to get there very early meant getting up far too early at the Upper Gully Trad Pad. I was flabbergasted to find, when I crossed Swanston St from Flinders Street Station,the rally-ers shoulder to shoulder already and Fed Square jam packed. I came in on the train with a group of AWU members in my carriage who exited Flinders Street Station through the Elizabeth Street exit because they were gathering to march. As photographs will show - St Kilda Road was packed across the bridge, crowds back up Swanston St to Collins Street, and I think they were up Flinders Street as well. During the rally we were asked to "shuffle towards the river" to make room for more people. How many? I don't know. I walked across the Sydney Harbour Bridge as part of Corroboree 2000 when organisers estimed 250,000 people and I did not doubt the number at all - people just kept coming for hours. I was in Sydney for the march against the Iraqi War when it was an estimated 100,000 and I think that could have been conservative. So I don't know: but if organisers say 175,000 and the critics say 150,000, what's the diff. The simple fact was that the city was jam-packed and tied up with crowd upon crowd of good-natured by determined to protest people.

So you'd like a Bill of Rights........

So you would like a Bill of Rights, you think? Something like the USA has, perhaps? Yeah. I'm certainly not convinced. The USA where the Bill of Rights can assist the individual and destroy a community? No thanks. Michael Kinsley describes the situation brilliantly. The two things that can ensure and undergird our freedoms are our vigilance and our own all-out sense of freedom. Without these, no Bill of Rights - whether included in our constitution or merely parliamentary legislation - can ensure our rights, our freedoms, our humanity to one another.

I don't mind John McCain

I saw John McCain on The View this morning. Y'know I like him. Now I know he's a Republican and he's still all for the war - but the lights are on and someone's home. I think you could have a reasonable conversation with him and he would comprehend what you were saying to him. I think it might have registered with him that New Orleans was under water. I think he would care about humanity in general not just his cronies in particular. Now, if John could replace Dick and then if Dubya would move over, McCain for President? He's telling Dubya what to do:

Sen. John McCain has advice for how President Bush can rebuild support for the
Iraq war. Try candor

He also has it write on the torture issue.

Do you think Dubya knows what that means?

Day of protest on Tuesday

Publicity will increase to-day and to-morrow leading up to the major protest on this Tuesday, 15 November. People will gather across Australia to express their views on the Howard Government industrial relations legislation. The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) is leading the charge with the support of its member unions. You don't have to be a union member to turn up. If you feel strongly about what is happening to workers and to this country, come. Down tools if you have to - but come. If you knew in advance that a dreadful dictatorship was about to take over Australia and you had the opportunity to protest - would you? Sensible people would. People who care about their country and their countrymen would. Now is your chance. It may be the first time you have protested, have turned out in public to put your point of view. That's cool. You are welcome and together we will be heard. I will be at Federation Square, Melbourne, at 9am on Tuesday.

Faith and science traditions have their difficulties

His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Well, it is not just Christians, not just the Intelligent Design-uhs who have difficulty communicating with scientists. The Dalai Lama is not universally acceptable either. Faith can take different forms. It can reside in the heart of an athiest, the heart of a marxist, the heart of a secularist as easily as in the heart of a christian, a buddhist, a jew. The dark side of faith - bigotry - can also reside in the heart. Atheists, marxists, and secularists are not free of bigotry either.

God, politicians and our anthem

Hat Tip to Pacific Highlander for drawing attention to the move to put God into Advance Australia Fair and the false claims that Peter Dodds McCormack wrote a God-inclusive verse which has been missing and is now rediscovered. I would remind Christians who have enthusiasm for including a 'God' verse that our politicians are about as good at being theologians as theologians are at being politicians. I come from Queensland where there have been a few politicians (and on all sides of politics) who have claimed to be Christian. Trouble was, with some of their actions, it might have been a bit difficult to convict them of following Christ.

Aussies don't like dobbers (2)

Back in September, I mentioned that Aussies don't like dobbers. Obviously, John Howard didn't get the message. :- ) He called on Australian Muslims to dob in the fanatical Muslims. Reminded me a bit of the Irish and Ned Kelly. They weren't ready to dob in Ned either. John ought to have a think about what happens to people like him who encourage others to dob in the schoolyards of the nation. Aussies learn this lesson at a young age. Clearly, those Muslims out there - the dreadful Others - are learning to become dinkidi Aussies. How else could they have refused the Prime Minister so insistently?

All you ever wanted to know about Intelligent Design?

Have they - the fors and againsts - bamboozled you on Intelligent Design yet? See if you can sort your mind out here.

The Double Helix

The Darwinian legacy?

Pellegrino University professor emeritus Edward O. Wilson poses the following question:

Religions continue both to render their special services and to exact their
heavy costs. Can scientific humanism do as well or better, at a lower cost?
Surely that ranks as one of the great unanswered questions of philosophy. It is
the noble yet troubling legacy that Charles Darwin left us.

Take a look at his thinking here.

Baby boomers no spent force

Surprise! Surprise! I am not a baby boomer. I'm a bit ahead being a 1944 babe. I can tell you that - on the inside - I'm an eighteen year old with experience!

Bullied clergy

Full marks to the Uniting Church of Australia for highlighting the plight of clergy in the face of bullying, powerful, and agressive parishioners. My friend, Rowland Croucher, over at John Mark Ministries, has been working within a specialised ministry to Australia's and the world's pastors, ex-pastors, church leaders and their spouses since 1991. He has found out a lot about ministers, their families, their churches in that time. Not only has he counselled, he has done academic research as well. Often there has been nowhere else to go and it is to Rowland's door that the wearied and worried pastor has come.

Give common sense a go

John Howard is noted for his doggedness. The USA since 9/11 has become noted for bloody-minded vengeance. Trying to penetrate these dingo traps with thoughts of mercy and a fair go - well, it would be easier to climb Everest without oxygen.

Danna Vale, the Federal Member for Hughes, has called for David Hicks to be brought home from Guatanamo Bay. Vale says:

Let's get real. The case of David Hicks clearly fails the commonsense test. It fails the commonsense test not only in the educated minds of the legal profession, but in the gut feelings of ordinary Australians who believe in a fair go, and who believe that truth and justice and that old hand-me-down from the Magna Carta that says men are innocent until proven guilty, still deserve some currency in our world.

A few things to remember:

1. The Brits stood up for their citizens and wouldn't allow the Yanks to try them.
2. Howard & Co have not had the same gumption to defend their own as the Brits and have left Hicks to rot in the hands of a foreign government.
3. The goal posts keep getting shifted for Hicks and, once again, the kangaroo court being organised by the Yanks is being postponed to an unknown date.
4. Hicks has already served four years - longer than many serve after the death of a person in this country.
5. Hicks has served four years in cruel and inhumane circumstances shameful to all Americans.
6. Australians can and have been and will be found anywhere in the world. They served with the international brigades in Spain in the 30s. The Howard Government would not have agreed with that either because they were communists or left-leaning. Hicks, as a convert to Islam, was serving as a matter of principle at a time, at least when he first went to Aghanistan, when Australians were not involved there.

Australians in the future will undoubtedly be found in similar circumstances - making unpopular political stands in other countries for causes their government does not agree with. Their cases need to be treated in a transparent manner with the speed and openness that justice requires. Common sense and common humanity demands that the Australian Government bring Hicks home.

Truce reached over white poppies

I posted recently looking for some white poppies for Remembrance Day. No success, unfortunately. There is an outbreak of peace though, in Britain, among those who sell red poppies and those who sell white poppies.

In all the remembrances of war, I don't think sufficient remembrance is given to those who oppose war. In democratic societies - and these are the only polities in which such opposition can occur - those who oppose war serve a very important function. Their cause against war seldom triumphs - but they can be a warning to politicians and to wider society that there are dangers in militarism and its triumphal takeover of society in times of hostility.

I think of the hundreds of thousands of people in Australia who marched against the war in Iraq. They disbelieved the propaganda about weapons of mass destruction. They got it right. The politicians from Howard down got it wrong. Is credit given for this? No. Does the Prime Minister apologise and say I should have listened to you? Resounding no. When all the soldiers come home the nation will be expected to stage welcome home parades. Where will the recognition be for those who warned - and were right - of the dangers both political and humane in military aggression?

Hypocrisy for the homeless

They're an ungrateful mob of wretches over at the Homeless People's Association. I recently posted on $60K given by the Victorian Government to provide accommodation for the homeless during the Commonwealth Games. Now the HPA has the hide to look a gift horse in the mouth. They think, like me, that it is a ploy to get the homeless out of sight and out of mind for a couple of weeks while a major international event is on. There is a bit of competition in the hypocrisy stakes in all this.

Victorian Premier, Steve Bracks, says there will still be homeless people on Melbourne's streets during the Games. "There will still be, even though we reserve and set aside accommodation, some people who choose not to take up those options," he said. This is only excelled by the statement of that great friend of the homeless, Robert Doyle, Leader of the Opposition. He said that the Government needed to find permanent homes for the homeless, not short-term solutions. "This is to hide the homeless, not to fix the problem of homelessness," he said. "This is cruelty — this is saying, 'We'll put a roof over your head for the Games, after that you're back on the streets.' " Note, please, that he has not actually told the homeless that HE, if he gets to government, will put a roof over the heads of the homeless.

Not the Burning Bush. Burnt by Bush

The trial of the Pitstop Ploughshares has come to a halt because the judge had once been photographed with George W Bush and so had to disqualify himself and dismiss the jury.. Archbishop Desmond Tutu and actor Martin Sheen made their contribution too. For background to the trial of these peace activists go here.

Bethlehem: unsafe for Jesus, unsafe for Christians...

Bethlehem, the place of Jesus' birth, became unsafe for him and he had to flee, becoming a refugee in Egypt. Now, it seems, Christians living in Bethlehem are finding life precarious and many have already fled. This is a sorry state of affairs. However, the citizenry are not taking the matter lying down. They have declared Bethlehem an open city - in defiance of the wall hemming them in - and they have launched their own passport. Israel asks us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. How about they return the favour and have regard for Bethlehem?

Of roosters and feather dusters (2)

See previous post for how roosters turn into feather dusters. It is interesting to follow the careers of past politicians. The one I most admire is Jimmy Carter. A true man of peace and justice. His Christian ideals inform his deeds - with humility and without the controversy, the dogma, the holier than thou. To-day - on the thirtieth anniversary of The Dismissal - it is interesting to look at a couple of the more interesting Australian roosters: Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser. Gough has maintained the rage and has become the grand old man of Oz Pol. But, if I have to pick, it is Malcolm - and am I amazed to say this. Malcolm's commitment to the fight against racism; to working for the poor and powerless; to speaking out for rights and liberties and his general and generous wisdom has truly made him a respected Australian elder statesman. In the years after 1975 I would not have shaken his hand. Now I would be proud to. Isn't time a wonderful thing.
Ones to watch are Bob Carr and John Howard. Bob has joined Macquarie Bank. While I understand that Bob is by no means old and it is no surprise that he finds himself in the private sector, people do wonder when a former politician - on the way to feather-duster-hood - goes to work for/with a company with whom he has had a political/economic relationship while in power. Is it just a use of skill and talent or is the person concerned being looked after and rewarded? This is why when John Howard resigns - and as you know I don't want him to do so for a while - I will watch with interest his career. I expect to see him internationally looked after.

Of roosters and feather dusters (1)

I started to do this post - about politicians and their jobs after politics - and thought of what Fred Daly used to say about politicians: Rooster to-day; feather duster to-morrow. I've chortled quietly over this for years - as I'm sure many others have. And I think "Oh, that Fred Daly was a wit". Then I thought I would feed it in to Google where, undoubtedly, I would find a link to give some verity to my quote. No link to Fred. Instead, I've found that Fred was no original! It seems the quote may be Russian. And then I found here Proud peacock to-day; feather duster to-morrow. I tried to sort the whole darn thing out with Wikiquote to no avail. Wit to-day - unsourced quote to-morrow!

Police in conflict of interest?

In the wake of Tony Blair's defeat in the House of Commons and failure to pass legislation allowing imprisonment of terrorists for 90 days without charge, the Tories have accused police of lobbying MPs in favour of the legislation. The Tories suggest the politicization of police. Police seeking extension of powers is nothing new. They always have - prior to current counter-terrorism measures.

Australian Federal Police have been accused of a conflict of interest because - apart from expected operational implementation of policy, to which the AFP always gives emphasis - they also are represented on policy bodies as decision-makers. So the AFP, in some areas, not only has an executive role put a policy role. I have seen no suggestion that this has resulted in politicization of the AFP but it has called into question relationships within Indonesia where there is policy co-operation in areas of mutual interst at one level and assistance in criminal investigation in another. This has come to the fore in matters affecting the Bali Nine.

A nation must always be alert to the powers and roles it gives police forces within its borders. The priority of police forces (or services as they are sometimes called) is to serve the public. Police, therefore, should be given sufficient - and only sufficient - powers that enable them to serve the public and allow it freedom to build a community, an economy, and a just society. When police become involved in decision-making warning bells need to sound. Police roles must remain executive. When police roles move to policy they risk becoming political.

Cry, the racist country

So you think we are all treated equally in this country. The sooner we face the facts that we are a racist, bigoted little island nation with all the insularity that this implies the better. Then we might be able to recognise ourselves for who we are, do something about it, and get on with building a better society.

Welcome to the illth system

Vale, Sharon Brophy.

May your death not be in vain.

So you thought we had a heal-th system. Well, I have news for you. It is an ill-th system. What I want to know is that if this is how we manage health issues in a small country of 20 million people, how would we manage with a population of 200 million. What happened to the medical oath and ethic of doing no harm?

Sleep tight, the games are on

I was at UN Women's Forums in Nairobi in 1985 and Beijing in 1995. It was said that the homeless and the undesirables were removed from these cities for the duration of the events. Is this a compulsory agenda item for major event organisers?

Or is the Victorian government just being considerate?

It is providing $60,000 for the homeless people to sleep in motels and hostels during the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne from 15-26 March 2006. $40,000 dollars will be spent in Melbourne. Not sure where they are spending the rest. The most recent survey of homeless numbers in Victoria was in 2001, when about 24,000 people were either homeless, "couch-surfing", or living in places such as caravan parks. So if $40,000 can buy accommodation for 24,000 people for twelve days - that's less than an incredible $2 per day - why are we not funding more accommodation for homeless people!

Who is the Vic Govt considering? The homeless or the expected visitors.

Anyway I hope that the homeless have a good time and that they get to watch some great cable television. Oops - forgot. The accommodation won't even be three star.

What are we worrying about?

Over at The New Republic Richard Posner has an article well worth reading. You may think like me that there are questions we should ask of our governments, expectations which we - the electorate - should be ensuring that they live up to irrespective of their political colour. The world we love has had a big year:

1. The Asian Tsunami
2. Terrorist Bombings and associated evil
3. Hurricane Katrina and other whirlwinds
4. Earthquakes in divers places
5. Global warming and associated questions
6. Avian flu - and associated panics as in Melbourne this week
7. Wars and rumours of wars

This does not include our personal and familial woes or the big picture debates on modernity and globalization.

Posner looks at the competency that can be expected of government in dealing with major catastrophes even including risk from asteroid collision! His analysis is lucid and helpful. He points out that effective defence against attacks, including "attacks" by nature, has four dimensions.

• threat assessment, or identifying vulnerable high-value targets;
• intelligence designed to identify impending attacks on those targets in time to prevent them (the Weather Bureau is to hurricanes what the intelligence services are to terrorist attacks);
• measures to harden potential targets against attack; and - all else failing -
• emergency response measures designed to minimize the losses from a successful attack or a natural catastrophe.

Richard Posner then takes the circumstance of Hurricane Katrina not only to comment on the US response to this domestic catastrophe but also to use it as a criterion for how an attack by humans or by nature on a large city might be met.

As the Australian focus on terrorism increases, we are entering the season of flood, fire and cyclone: the season when Australian communities can be under threat from nature, not just the threat, as our governments would remind us, of human terror. How competent are our governments to respond to natural and terrorist attacks on major Australian cities and on communities across the nation?

One thing Posner mentions is that the US Government is taking on too much. Too many things which should be delegated to other levels of government. Getting embroiled in many of these issues could remove the focus from things that only a national focus can implement effectively.

Take a look at the Howard Government: it wants to take over TAFEs; dictate the values of schools; take over hospitals and health; and is legislating to take over industrial relations. All state responsibilities. I know there is a case for over-government in this nation of 20 million souls and I know that the states continue to act as the colonies they were founded to be. But do we really need a Federal Government which centralizes some of the most important and controversial areas of government in its own hands? Can a Federal Government that embroils itself in every controversy that comes along - whether it is moral or fiscal - focus on the things that only a Federal Government can do well? Or will it be distracted to the point of incompetency?

State governments have their competence questioned in many areas: Queensland with health and NSW with transport spring to mind. But they can be competent. Present failure does not have to lead to eternal centralization. Remember the old adage about a shoemaker sticking to his last. Let's tell our governments to stick to what they can do best - that way we can rely on them to be competent in carrying out their first duty to us - protecting us.

Ladies who don't lunch

Scarlet says she wasn't given a lunch break and they begrudged her going to the toilet. What a surprise! My experience as an AWU organizer in the services sector of the economy is that this is about par for the course. I recall back in the 90s when Woolworths in North Queensland started employing older women in part-time positions on check-outs. This was a sudden turn around. Prior to this the face on the check-out had been young people, predominantly female, working in full time positions. The Shop Assistants Award (Northern and Mackay Division) provided for part-time employment on one condition: that periodically the AWU would be notified with a list of the part-time employees. So Woolworths would not employ part-timers. There were changes to the Award and its part-time provisions. No longer was the AWU involved in notification of part-time employees. All of a sudden there came into the stores part-time employees - and they were older women, not the usual Woolworths teenagers on lower hourly rates. This was quite a change. One of my Union members, a supervisor, explained it to me. These women are employed for four hours at a time. The main purpose of the part-time employment was so that management did not have to be concerned with how to staff check-outs while full-time employees took a lunch break. On top of this, the older women (this generally meant married women) were not given work during school vacations when cheap casual student labour was available. So, all of a sudden, there were next to no full-time employees in Woolworths stores. Where once a career could have been built in retailing starting as a check-out chick, this now would be next to impossible. And all the while Woolworths would be able to say that it put more people in jobs. A bit of a hint - always ask what sort of jobs!

Egg-ing on: Hack-ing into the whole story

Herself has contributed this information to-night. When is she ever going get too old for JJJ? The team from the Hack apparently have the whole story on that fracas outside the court in Melbourne to-day at the bail hearings for the alleged terrorists. There may have been hooligan trouble makers there but happy to egg them on were the media, so it is said. C'mon guys. Let the story tell itself without your on the spot editorial intervention.

Egging on

Work in Freedom

Damien Carrick, the two Rons, and Justice Paul Munro get their heads down on the new IR legislation over at The Law Report. Be afraid, be very afraid.

The Halliburton Candidate

Now surely you didn't think that Dubya was running the Empire of the United States on his own. No - he's got Dick Cheney to help him. Now you might like to hear how he makes the globe safe for Halliburton and USA Inc. Check it out.

De Beers to reverse apartheid legacy

Can they spare it? De Beers is generously giving out of over 100 years of riches. It is giving a black investment company a 15% stake in the company. Wow! Colonise 'em. Disenfranchise 'em. Patronise 'em.

Terror raids (2)

Follow up on Sydney shooting. It has now been announced that the person shot in Sydney to-day is a suspect who, according to independent witnesses, pulled a gun on police who returned fire.

Terror raids

A shooting to-day in Sydney has not yet been confirmed as being part of the terrorist raids in the western suburbs. The stockpiling of chemicals is said to have been the initiating factor for the raids. Muslim cleric, Abu Bakr, has been arrested in raids in Melbourne.

As I write, in Melbourne nine men have been arrested. Only two have applied for bail. The bail application continues to-day. It is expected that this will be opposed. The other seven have been remanded in custody to appear on 31 January for the matter to proceed.

A huge and significant legal action has commenced in Britain. More than 5000 police officers, traumatised by three decades of sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland, have taken their employer to court on Monday in a landmark case that could cost the British government 150 million pounds ($358 million).

As Australia enters a period of extended counter-terrorism measures and on the day when police raids in Sydney and Melbourne - 400 police have been said to be involved in Sydney alone - one has to ask what protection and training has been given to state police forces as the state Premiers have committed themselves to support in so many structural ways to the Federal Government's anti-terrorism legislation.

Police arrested eight people in NSW after executing warrants in Lakemba, Belmore, Wiley Park, Greenacre, Illawong, Punchbowl, Hoxton Park, Condell Park, Ingleburn, Belfield, Bankstown and Kemps Creek. The nine from Victoria were arrested during raids in Dallas, Hoppers Crossing, Fawkner, Preston, Haberfield, Coberg, Yarraville, Meadow Heights, Hadfield and Mount Druitt.

Boyer Lectures

The 2005 Boyer Lectures begin on Radio National at 5pm, next Sunday 13 November. This years lecturer is Peter Jensen, Anglican Archbishop of Sydney. The evangelical Anglican Archdiocese Sydney is a problematic world nationally and internationally within the Anglican communion. Peter Jensen, while promoting his brand of evangelicalism energetically, should not be treated too stereotypically. While I don't subscribe to the puritan origins of Sydney Anglicans, I find Peter Jensen quite wearable. His first statement as Archbishop pointed to a biblical sense of social justice. Soon after that I had a long telephone conversation with him - which was most gracious of him in such a busy period - which further impressed on me his commitment to a Christian sense of values and justice. Further statements on social justice during his episcopate have only reinforced my confidence in this aspect of his ministry.

Archbishop Peter says he will call on both major political parties to look carefully at their notions of contemporary liberalism and to re-examine their parties' origins, values and the freedoms they advocate in the context of the changing society. 'Can we trust each other to use our freedom well? Will my freedom to bargain be at the expense of your ability to look after your family?' I want to provoke a national debate with the Jesus of the Gospels,' says Dr Jensen. He aims to inspire widespread adult reading of the Gospels and recognition of the significance of Jesus for a modern world in which religion is increasingly on the agenda.

I hope that Peter Jensen is given a good hearing. Secular bigotry is alive and well in the Land of Oz and frequently rears its head to deride and undermine. May we listen to what he has to say with grace and good judgment.

Science and religion

Philaskolia at Ars Theologica (a fave of mine) has a great post on Science and Religion. What gets me is the hubris of those evangelicals who promote creationism and their own take on intelligent design. There is an old adage that those who don't learn from history are condemned to repeat it. I believe this will happen to them and their pseudo-scientific dogmas over time. Beyond this, lies two things in refusing to take on board the Catholic experience with Galileo. Firstly, bigotry. Many of these evangelicals would not acknowledge Catholics as truly converted nor that they are truly Christian. Secondly, the evangelical sense of of history seems connected only to the English speaking world since the seventeenth century.

Philaskolia, please note, draws a connection to the economic welfare of the US and declares it is heading towards a future where America becomes "Wal-Mart writ large". Where does this leave Australia - particularly when the Federal Minister for Education considers intelligent design an educational option? Considering how Woolworths takes much note of what Wal-Mart does and that it has, over the years, former Wal-Mart executives acting as consultants - I guess Australia will become Woolworths writ large.

Can we make it a red and white day?

Is anyone in Australia doing white poppies for 11 November so I can wear one with my red poppy?

A new reality show

C'mon Amanda and Phil and John. How about getting into this. A sort of new reality show on the block. A church agency in the UK is challenging Christians and others to take on the life of someone who has been refused asylum. You could do a blog about the experience. It might give us a whole new insight into each of you. C'mon now.

The business that dare not say its name

He said it. The Pope said it. He used the word usury. Now about that credit card.....

Keep up the bad work, John...and don't resign

I don't want John Howard to resign. Please, John don't do it. Don't resign. Not yet. Not until. Hold on.

Hold on John...until all the chickens come home to roost, until the pendulum swings, until the seeds you've sown are shown to be noxious weeds and it is quite clear that you are to blame and that you will wear the consequences.

I once had a desk calendar that said that the best thing to do with a bad law is implement it. This is a painful action I know but some of us don't learn easily - and certainly not by having a good think. We learn by doing. We learn not to play with fire by putting our hand in it.

If you think I'm unrealistic, just look at what is happening to Dubya in Washington. Y'know the one. The one who has access to the gravy train that Howard hopped on. I think it is a dreadful thing if the USA has to suffer through a lame-duck presidency for the next three years. This will be three years of insufficient contribution to the weal of the world. But this is what is got - and the US has to learn it. George will stay - four year immutable terms will see to that. John could resign. It would be a cold day in hell for the US President to do so. But John and Dubya are inextricably linked. John has linked his retirement benefits to the Bush gravy train. Let's watch the star-linked friends decline together - so that the history books won't write about them with gratitude.

Riding well on the swell?

Is the new Fair Pay Commission going to be fair? Points of comparison with the UK's Low Pay Commission outlined by Robin May show that comparing the FPC with the LPC is not comparing apples with apples. The untested princple of the Howard Government is that if there is a strong economy it will benefit everyone - that if the tide comes in and lifts boats, all boats will be lifted. This attitude is a clear sign of putting an economy before people, the rich and able before the poor with low ability. All boats will not be lifted by the tide. The ones that have had the benefit of good design, a good level of investment, full maintenance, and strong unfrayed ropes will lift and move well on the swell. The boats that are of poor design, have not had good maintenance, have a poor level of investment, and weak frayed ropes will not lift well on the swell. They will take water on board, the weaknesses in the vessel will show, and they will sink.

Java: the way to justice

The kulcha change is on at DIMIA and it has hit the coffee cups. Clearly, DIMIA is going to java its way to justice. Now, I'm the sort who has great difficulty taking Mission Statements seriously. You know those things that are one sentence statements about what an organization is about. They must not, so any business consultant will tell you, be confused with Vision Statements which are completely different beasts - so they say. Now I figure if you have to sweat over a Mission Statement and reduce it to a statement (instead of getting on with business) then I think something is missing. Someone's left something out. Someone's not telling their colleagues and comrades what their doing there. As for Vision Statements, if a Vision is worth two bob it is worth more than two sentences. It is about ethos and energy and commitment and achievement and it is built into everything an organization thinks, feels, and does. What I want to know about DIMIA is:

1. What is it doing about NOT locking up the mentally ill in detention centres?
2. What is it doing about NOT forcing newcomers to our shores into mental illness?
3. How will it prevent locking up Australian citizens?

And, really, I think the only way to deal with DIMIA is to abolish the whole department and start again from scratch with new people and a new ethos and then, it would be hoped, a new culture.

Anti-terror legislation: risky business for judges

Professor Alistair Nicholson, AO RFD

former Chief Justice

of the Family Court of Australia

Onlookers have not needed to be Einstein to calculate that there has never been any love lost between Alistair Nicholson and the Howard Government. But if you were ever in any doubt, it was there out of the mouth of Ruddock on the evening news to-night. There was Ruddock with taunts and barbs for the former Chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia because Nicholson made some salient comments about the anti-terrorism legislation introduced by the Howard Government following on the smart round-up job they did on the Premiers of the States and Territories. Please note, though, the job didn't quite take on Jon Stanhope, Chief Minister of the ACT. Of course, Ruddock in his role as Attorney-General would not be biassed (cough, splutter, hiccup) so it must be believed that his manner had nothing to do with the fact that Professor Nicholson was a Labor appointment and can actually spell the words s-o-c-i-a-l j-u-s-t-i-c-e.

The great parliamentary chuck

They didn't go quietly. Here is the roll call of those who were chucked out of Parliament by the Speaker in the debate on the Howard Government's industrial relations legislation. Hat Tip to Modia Minotaur who has slaved over a hot TV and spicy Hansard to gather this information for you.

1. The Member for Rankin, Dr Craig Emerson
2. The Member for Charlton, Kelly Hoare
3. The Member for Fowler, Julia Irwin
4. The Member for Grayndler, Anthony Albanese
5. The Member for Oxley, Bernie Ripoll (a matter of seconds after Albo)
6. The Member for Ballarat, Catherine King
7. The Member for Corio, Gavan O'Connor
8. The Member for Calwell, Maria Vamvakinou
9. The Member for Holt, Anthony Byrne
10. The Member for Canberra, Annette Ellis
11. The Member for Melbourne Ports, Michael Danby
    The Member for Grayndler, Anthony Albanese (with a `OH THAT'S FAIR, ISN'T IT?')
12. The Member for Lilley, Wayne Swan
13. The Member for Melbourne, Lindsay Tanner (after a particularly odious rant by Peter Costello)The Member for Sydney, Tanya Plibersek
14. The Member for Cowan, Graham Edwards (after an equally odious slang by Tony Abbott, who, as Kim Beazley correctly pointed out, once had to restrain himself from dashing across the chamber to bop the Member for Cowan on one occasion. Don't forget, gentle readers, that the Member for Cowan lost both his legs in a landmine explosion and is wheelchair bound ...)
15. The Member for Fowler, Julia Irwin
16. The Member for Shortland, Jill Hall
17. The Liberal Member for Bass, Michael Ferguson

Thanks folks.

Please note: This post is best read with Joni Mitchell's song "You don't know what you've got til it's gone" playing in the background.

Suzanne Dooley has given a good description of unemployment and its consequences. Hers is no academic or romantic description. It is real life happening to good people. The Howard Government, academics, and idealogues will tell you that if wages are lower it will solve the unemployment problem and get unemployed people into jobs. Horsefeathers! It is expected that over time minimum wages which will be set by the new Fair Pay Commission - along with the wages of all Australians with the exception of CEOs - with the introduction of Howard's new industrial relations legislation. I can recall when the Hawke/Keating Government's emphasis on training and wage subsidies meant that employers could put on trainees for well under $3 per hour. Meanwhile, time and again I would hear employers in the media berating that youth wages were too high and how they could not afford to employ young people to get high youth unemployment rates down. Poppycock!

What is happening here is a collision of conservative/business bloody mindedness, international trade, and the threat of the growing economic power of China. Combined with political opportunism based on a newly won Senate majority, there is a coalescence to get a long-hoped for agenda on the go. Turning Australian into serfs and slaves is not going to safeguard the Australian economy against a future global dominance and hegemony by China. The government would be better occupied by encouraging democracy in China and the provision of basic human and economic rights to its people.

There used to be a way of giving employers a level playing field with wages in Australia. It was through the award system. It is a pity we in Australia had such closed and racist minds dominated by a White Australia Policy. If we had not been racist; if we had truly valued what we had we might have tried to export to Asia a system of industrial relations which for generations undergirded a high standard of living in Australia (in the white picket fence Australia Howard likes to remember).

Fiddling the ballot books

So you think democracy is on the retreat. You think your views make no difference. You think no one in the major parties thinks like you and you don't know where the minor parties fit at all. You go to the Ballot Box at the appointed time, grudgingly. This compulsory voting - so you think - is overrated. Why bother?

And then there is the conservative politician. He or she (and its mostly a white he) can take part. The conservatives are in power in Australia now under the guise of a party called Liberal. Believe me, it is far from liberal. They get rather tired of all this voting stuff.

For instance, they know that overseas in the UK and the USA non-compulsory voting favours dedicated conservatives. They know that lower down the socio-economic scale people are not going to vote for them and what's more and better is that they don't always turn up at the Ballot Box. In fact, in the USA, they don't turn up in droves so that frequently the US President is elected by a minority. That's fright, er that's right. A minority of those who would be eligible to vote should they choose. So. With the tempting view of a conservative government being kept in power in Australia by a minority of voters, what can be done? There is compulsory voting - not written into the constitution, mind you. It is there and has been for a hundred years by the good grace of the Federal legislature. Now, as Senator Nick Minchin longs for, compulsory voting could be wiped out over night if the Howard Government decided to do so. But - the natives might get restless. So, the conservative politician thinks, let's try another tack. Let's tinker at the edges.

How can we tidy up the electoral rolls? OK, the conservative politician hears you. Yes the Australian electoral rolls are among those with the highest integrity in the world. But take a look at who is getting the vote. Those who can't be bothered enough or are too forgetful when they change addresses to change their enrolment are not sufficiently dedicated to the democratic ideal to warrant us keeping the rolls open to make up for their slackness. And why should the prison population be entitled to vote if they have committed to a serious crime? The conservative politician (as we said, predominantly white male) has tested the waters at his local pub and found his mates at the bar don't want these sort of people to vote. Of course, most of the population in most of the bars comprises white males. The fact that the largest slice of the prison population is Aboriginal won't cut any ice for reasons I'll leave you to guess at - and you'll probably be right.

So the screws are tightening. The population is concerned with the security of the Ballot Box and that it is locked up tight. The conservative politician is concerned with the security of the Electoral Roll and that it is locked up tight.

If he (the conservative politician who is predominalty Anglo-Celtic white male) can have his way, voters as a proportion of the Australian population and as measured on the Roll will decline. Over time, the number of voters on Election Day will dwindle and then, if the conservatives are still wielding power, it will be a cake walk to take away compulsory voting and leave it to the dedicated few.

Checking the probabilities

I am indebted to Rooster over at The Pen's Temporary Pen. A hat tip, Rooster. And I came to it via Modia Minotaur and a Rooster comment.

Light and Darkness

If there is one thing to be learned of the Peaceable Kingdom of God, it is the message of The Light. I am reminded of this when the Howard Government - purporting to have Christian values - introduced to-day the Workplace Relations Amendment (Work Choices) Bill 2005. Reports suggest that under the new Industrial Relations changes it will be a criminal offence for an employee to reveal that he or she is working under an AWA [Australian Workplace Agreement].

The Christian message has been about Light since the birth of Jesus. The opposite of Light is Darkness. Light shines for all to see. Darkness hides its deeds and cloaks them in secrecy. These types of provisions, which also appear in the proposed anti-terrorism legislation where one parent cannot tell another if a child has been detained and disappeared, are the works of a dark spirit: a spirit that has to hide, dissemble, trick and control to get its own way. It cannot consult, interact, convince, treat equitably. In short, it cannot and will not operate in the Light.

Just as George W. Bush and his cohorts - with a preconceived idea for the invasion of Iraq - were able to use the excuse of 9/11 to talk the Iraqi war up with lies so the Howard Government is using the talk of terrorism (not actual deeds please notice) to exert its control and mould Australia in its own dark image. There WILL be control in the workplace. There WILL be control in the community.

The Diva did it - brilliantly!

Makybe Diva's Men

Left to right: Tony Santic, Owner - Glen Boss, Jockey - Lee Freedman, Trainer

Makybe Diva did it brilliantly. Xcellent, who Margaret spoke about, came third and paid well. Tony Santic. the Australian tuna fisherman of Croatian origin who owns the Diva, has announced, in an emotional speech, that the Diva will now retire. Nothing more can be asked of her. She's a great gal - or, to be perfectly Australian, a bonzer sheila. She has made the history books by winning three Melbourne Cups and it will take a super effort to take her from the history books because not only did she do the three - she did them successively. All honour to her and Freedman, Boss and Santic.

The constant student

My Cup Day ritual is to ring Margaret. From 1986 to 1993 I was a union organiser in the Northern District of the Australian Workers Union (AWU) in Queensland. Now it may surprise some people to know that the real power in the Northern District is not with Bob Boscacci, the District Secretary. No, no, no. It is with the Livock women. Who? I hear you ask. Back to Margaret. Margaret was the cleaning lady at the AWU's Townsville office for 24 years. [This is nowhere near a record. Agnes has that. She was Secretary to the Branch Secretary in Brisbane and was at the AWU for 42 years]. She was the cleaning lady; her husband, John, did the garden; her niece, Janelle, is the bookkeeper; and her sister-in-law, Kerry, is Bob's Personal Assistant. When Margaret went on holidays, her sister Jean filled in. Now that Margaret is retired, her daughter Selena - the beautiful Selena - cleans the office.

At the AWU, if you went to the loo, you would always find a copy of the form guide. Margaret was a constant student. Margaret and her sister Jean were constant students of the form guide. It was said that, on Saturday mornings, Jean would get her copy of Best Bets, the phone would be off the hook, and woe betide anyone who knocked at the front door. Jean needed quiet and a complete lack of interruption to decide on the winners. On Saturdays, Margaret and Jean would dress to the nines and off to Cluden. It is as if their community of faith in the religion of racing brings its zeal here.

So Margaret is in Melbourne - all the way from Townsville - for the Cup. She is frequently here for the Cup in recent years. So the ritual is accomplished. It is Makybe Diva, according to Marg. However, I am informed (if my memory is correct - I could have taken it in incorrectly) that Xcellent is trained by the same trainer, Michael Moroney, who first trained the Diva. Therefore, Margaret says, it is likely that a few tricks are known about the Diva which might help on the way home.

So make up your own mind. Start with information on the field for Race 7 at Flemington, the Emirates Melbourne Cup, here.

Can the Diva do it: a hattrick in the air

If Makybe Diva does it to-day, history will be made. No horse has ever won three Melbourne Cups - and a win to-day would be three consecutive Melbourne Cups. Martin Flanagan is a keen observer of Australian life and culture. Read him here to think about what it all means. And he says it is a gender issue. Now I think that is nice. We have that big strong male hero, Phar Lap. Flanagan is almost certainly correct. Nothing will unseat Phar Lap in the heart of an Australian. And we never forget the perfidy of the Americans in regard to his death. But if the Diva wins to-day there will be a great lady by his side. Now I think that is neat - and a peculiarly Australian symbol of equality.

Religion and politics: uneasy bedfellows

The stories coming from the USA of right-wing evangelical christian politics sickens many Australians, Australian christians included. Then from time to time a voice penetrates across the waves of ocean and air and we are reminded that there are those within the USA who share our views. Here is a clear sighted comment on religion and politics in the USA which Australians can take to heart as a christian religious right gets attention in this country. This blogger is giving thought to it as well considering the things discussed on this blog. I am indebted to one of my favourite bloggers (in spite of the fact that he is a former Republican staffer), Willzhead. A hat tip, Will.