BS: Politics in Oz

Subject: BS: Politics in Oz
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 03 Apr 05 - 09:40 PM

I have been going to start this thread for some time - meant to do it when we found that lady with mental health problems in Immigration Detention, but didn't get around to it. It looks like Little Johnny & his 'special mates' are starting to be noticed at overstepping the line....

It's mainly for us Aussie to show the rest of the world - not for teh low standards of US political discussion to take over....

Robin

Subject: RE: BS: Politics in Oz
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 03 Apr 05 - 09:46 PM

You see, US political games just don' work quite the same in Aus, even though the Libs have taken on all the 2nd rate failed US political advisors.... oh, and who made child care only affordable to the rich?   ;-)
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Subject: [democrats.media] 6 yr olds should not be left home alone, Mr Costello
Date: Sun, 3 Apr 2005 21:50:04 +0800
From: Democrats Email Subscription

6 yr olds should not be left home alone, Mr Costello

Senator Brian Greig
Democrats Senator for Western Australia
Australian Democrats spokesperson for Family & Community Services

Treasurer Peter Costello is out of touch with the community if he thinks it is acceptable for a six year old child to be left alone while the sole parent of that child is compelled to fill Australia's skill shortages.

Australian Democrats Family and Community Services spokesperson, Senator Brian Greig said he was dismayed at the Treasurer's statement that single parents should work once their kids reach school age, as a means to address skills shortages.

"Compelling sole parents of children as young as six to work when there is no available, affordable quality child care out of school hours renders those children at risk and exposed to danger," Senator Greig said.

Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows that approximately 160,000 women would work, but cannot because they do not have ready access to childcare.

"A six year old cannot safely walk to and from school unsupervised. A six year old ought not remain at home for hours without an adult present," Senator Greig said.

"Parenting is a very worthwhile activity, providing children with a safe and secure environment. Parents are best able to determine when their parenting responsibilities will allow them work.

"Mr Costello is happy to pay Family Tax Benefit Part B from to wealthy stay-at-home parents whose children may be as old as 17, but at the same time he is compelling less fortunate parents, including those with children with disabilities, to leave them unsupervised in order to fill unskilled job vacancies.

"The Government seems happy to let wealthy parents minimise taxation through trusts and companies while insisting that low income families must boost the economy," Senator Greig said.

Senator Greig says the Government is not content stigmatising Australians with a disability as 'bludgers with bad backs' but has now turned its sights on sole parents, portraying them as unproductive and devaluing their roles as parents.

Senator Greig is calling on the Treasurer to provide a sensible work and family policy, that allows parents to find work while at the same time not leaving children unsupervised.

"Provide the policies, provide the childcare, equip parents with the choice and allow them to keep their children safe," Senator Greig said.

To view this Press Release, follow this Link
http://www.democrats.org.au/news/index.htm?press_id=4479&display=1

Subject: RE: BS: Politics in Oz
From: Ebbie
Date: 04 Apr 05 - 12:48 AM

Sorry to inflict my USA-standard policy on you, Robin, but it occurs to me that if 160,000 people would go to work if they only had affordable, good child care, the problem might be solved if 50,000 of them were trained and certified in subsidized child care.

Subject: RE: BS: Politics in Oz
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 04 Apr 05 - 07:28 PM

Good point, but now to take care of children, you need to have University degrees !!! and Uni graduates seem unwilling to work for pennies - much less than $10 an hour.... (this is the economic push to low wages USA style) ... :-)

Indeed, because of the recent 'blue card' system for those around children, even some parents can't get one, so can't go on the property of their own children's school...


Thus the cheaper old 'Grannie' or 'elder child' or even 'home alone' system has been discouraged.

And when you have to pay more per hour (non-tax deductable) for childminding than you earn before tax per hour (Aust has one of the highest rates of personal tax) ...... Doh!

And then, once you start working on welfare, the 'effective' increased tax/loss of benefit rate can actually send you backwards economically.

Subject: RE: BS: Politics in Oz
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 07 Apr 05 - 10:30 AM

Networks face court over Timor ad ban



Networks face court over Timor ad ban
By Julian Lee, Marketing Reporter
April 7, 2005

Killing fields ... a still from the TVC.

Channel Seven and SBS have refused to air an ad campaign condemning the Prime Minister, John Howard, for "stealing" billions of dollars of East Timorese oil and gas revenues, a stance that may trigger court action and highlights the thorny issue of freedom of expression.

The boycott has echoes of a similar action by Channel Nine in the late 1990s when it refused to air a commercial made and paid for by anti-advertising group Adbusters that encouraged Australians to take part in a global "Buy Nothing Day".

This time, however, Channel Nine has agreed to run the Timor ad, made by businessman Paul Melrose. The ad claims that the Australian Government, through its actions, is responsible for "killing children" in East Timor.

Mr Melrose and the pressure group with which he is aligned, the Timor Sea Justice Campaign, are considering taking Seven and SBS to court, saying their refusal to run the ad constitutes a breach of equal opportunity legislation.

The submission of scripts for the next TV commercial tomorrow would be the litmus test, campaign director Tom Clarke said.

"If future ads are also banned or delayed, we will take legal action against the networks for discrimination on the basis of political belief or activity," Mr Clarke said.

"The figures in the ads are conservative and are based on publicly accessible financial reports published by the relevant companies, so one has to ask if the networks have been pressured by the Australian Government.

"I'm sure the Government is not keen for the public to learn that billions of dollars have been taken from East Timor ... while Timorese children are dying from preventable diseases."

The next TVC will feature World War II veterans condemning Mr Howard for Australia's position on the Timor Sea oil and gasfields and is due to run on Anzac Day. Mr Melrose and Timor Sea Justice have vowed to continue dogging the Prime Minister at public events until the international dispute is resolved in East Timor's favour.

SBS aired the ad mistakenly last Wednesday and then pulled it for the last two days of the campaign. It said it would not air the ad until it had sought clarification from Mr Melrose on the revenue figure of $2 billion used in the ad, whether he is able to substantiate claims about killing children and that Australia withdrew its recognition of an international court to determine maritime boundaries. SBS has done this only once before: in 1997 it refused to air an ad by the National Farmers Federation over a native title issue.

Although Seven ran the ad that kicked off the Timor campaign during the Australian Open, it said the latest ad failed to "meet required broadcast standards". It declined to elaborate.

Kalle Lasn is the founder of the Media Foundation, the Canadian organisation behind the Adbusters magazine and website that runs campaigns highlighting diverse issues, among them the amount of money spent by fast-food chains on marketing.

Mr Lasn said that only a tiny proportion of his ads - many of them made on the sly by leading ad creatives - made it to air.

CNN is the only American network that will run his ads. "They [the networks] have various reasons, such as [the ads] don't meet the technical requirements - but when you get behind the scenes what they really mean is that you are talking back against the car and fast-food industries.

"So it's like: 'Do you really think that for a lousy $US25,000 we are going to piss off our major sponsors?"'

Late last year Media Foundation launched legal action against four of Canada's biggest broadcasters - CanWest Global, CBC, CTV and CHUM. Mr Lasn said it was a case that could change the rules.

"It's going to take a long time. But if we win, it would give anyone the right to go to the networks, put down their cash and give them the right for their ad to be run."

Subject: RE: BS: Politics in Oz
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 08 Apr 05 - 07:40 AM

Bag handler took my camel suit
By Stephen Gibbs
April 8, 2005

My jaw dropped ... David Cox, inset, and the camel suit.

Twenty minutes after David Cox checked in his bags at Sydney Airport, he watched astounded as a baggage handler was driven across the tarmac wearing the camel suit he'd packed in his luggage.

Images of Schapelle Corby - and her claim that an airport worker had
hidden drugs inside her boogie board bag - came to mind on Wednesday
morning at the domestic terminal.

The 34-year-old marketing manager was heading to Melbourne with a
crocodile suit and the camel costume, both checked in as luggage 40
minutes before the departure of QF425 at 10.30.

Twenty minutes before take-off, as he sat at Gate 4, directly in front of floor-to-ceiling glass, Mr Cox's attention was drawn to the occupants of a baggage trolley tug being driven across the tarmac below.

"I'd heard a little kid say: 'There's a guy with a moose head', but I
didn't even think to look," Mr Cox recalled. "It was a good three or
four minutes later when I saw this thing go past."

What went past below was the trolley tug driven by a man, with a passenger wearing the top half of Mr Cox's camel suit. Gobsmacked, he watched the vehicle - and the camel-headed handler - being driven back and forward between the terminal and the plane.

"My jaw dropped," Mr Cox told the Herald last night. "And it wasn't just the one run, it must have gone around a couple of times."

Mr Cox hoped his experience with the camel's head helped the defence of Schapelle Corby at the Gold Coast woman's Bali cannabis-smuggling trial that Brisbane baggage handlers planted drugs inside the cover of her boogie board. "The only question mark here is how it got from my bag onto his head."

At Gate 4 on Wednesday morning, things happened very quickly once Mr Cox had spoken with a Qantas worker at the customer service desk.

"I said to them: '20 minutes ago I checked my luggage through. I've just seen someone wearing part of the contents on the tarmac, and I want to know right now what you're going to do?' They were down within two minutes."

Qantas has advised Mr Cox the incident is now the subject of a full
inquiry by the airline's internal investigations team and that it will reimburse him for dry-cleaning the camel's head.

"I don't see it reflecting poorly on the airline, they were as appalled as I was that it happened," Mr Cox said.

Corby's lawyer, Vasu Rasiah, said the incident had important implications for her case.

"I will see how we can introduce this," he said.

"They [Qantas] have said that security is fantastic, that nothing can
happen. Here is a chance we can tell that is not so."

Subject: RE: BS: Politics in Oz
From: John O'L
Date: 12 Apr 05 - 04:10 AM

I heard on the news last night that Eddie MacGuire has been approached to run for parlt. as a Labor candidate.

When he declined to confirm the report, the interviewer asked if he would rule it out. "Nah, I won't rule it out, but I'm not rulin' it in either."

He's a natural.

Subject: RE: BS: Politics in Oz
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 12 Apr 05 - 07:40 AM

We had another popular footballer signed up to run for election.

He got as far as his first media conference. He appeared, sweated, said partly under breath "I can't handle this" then left.

End of political career.

Subject: RE: BS: Politics in Oz
From: hilda fish
Date: 13 Apr 05 - 01:40 AM

That was Mal Maninga and given that, he would have been our first honest polli. Eddie McGuire seems to me the best way to do Labour in but also but the final nail in the coffin on hope and credibility in politics. It would be just another Channel 9 reality show and who runs Channel 9?????????????

Subject: RE: BS: Politics in Oz
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 13 Apr 05 - 07:10 AM

So what happened to all those hopefuls that were supposed to be running in 'The Election Reality Show'? Did they really fall foul of The Australlian Electoral Commission?

Subject: RE: BS: Politics in Oz
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 16 Apr 05 - 06:15 PM

Perhaps this should be in the British Election Thread...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They think not: Bananas in fracas over Tory campaign slogan.



They think not: Bananas in fracas over Tory campaign slogan
By Annabel Crabb in London
April 17, 2005
The Sun-Herald

Australia's own Bananas in Pyjamas have been drawn into the British election campaign, with a surprising allegation that their signature "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" slogan has been shamelessly nabbed by the Conservative Party.

London has for weeks been plastered with billboards promoting the opposition Tories, raising a series of themes with the appeal: "Are you thinking what we're thinking?"

Political commentators have attributed the idea behind the slogan to Lynton Crosby, the former federal Liberal Party director who late last year took control of the British party's quest for government as campaign director to Tory leader Michael Howard.

But the BBC flagship news program Newsnight last week suggested the idea had been filched from Australian children's television.

Newsnight suggested that Mr Crosby had perhaps watched too much children's television, or at the very least vastly underestimated the mental age of the British electorate.

A Tory campaign spokeswoman told The Sun-Herald the party's ideas had certainly not been sourced from the sandpit; she said it was merely a coincidence that the slogans bore a superficial resemblance to the Bananas' war cry.

ABC management declined to comment.

The Banana-gate controversy is but one of the unusual media offerings witnessed this week on the British campaign trail.

Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Chancellor Gordon Brown made an extraordinarily polished cinematic attempt to dispel suggestions that they can't bear each other's company.

A short film, directed by Oscar-winner Anthony Minghella (The English Patient) which screened on British television on Monday night, depicts the two antagonists relaxing after-hours in Mr Blair's office and mounting a stirring analysis of the socialist objective and their own proudest moments in government as reassuring statistics waft across the screen.

Subject: RE: BS: Politics in Oz
From: John O'L
Date: 16 Apr 05 - 06:46 PM

Blair and Brown - B1 and B2?

Subject: RE: BS: Politics in Oz
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 17 Apr 05 - 04:54 AM

Well, Sneaky (Never Ever a GST!) Johnny has done it again.

After throwing several billion dollars around in the election, and introducing a new system whereby you could claim part of the gap between the official Medicare payment to a doctor and what was charged after you had paid a certain amount "the safety net" - now that figure of expenditure has been increased "for reasons of financial responsibility". It has been calculated that the new figure is such that you would have to go to the doctor every 10 days to reach it. It is claimed that the knowledge that it would blow out was known to the Govt during the election campaign, but they kept quiet about it, thus that they misled the electorate (again!).

Always turn a political stuff up (or the revelation of political misleading) into a claim for responsible government.

Subject: RE: BS: Politics in Oz
From: hilda fish
Date: 17 Apr 05 - 08:06 PM

I just can't believe all those people voted for the guy. His lying and manipulation go back a long long way. The 'children overboard' was the most public indication of this and STILL people vote for him! I don't think it is the excuse of labour not offering a good alternative although split votes Greens/Labour/etc is obvious mathematics, but people actually support this sort of governing.

Subject: RE: BS: Politics in Oz
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 24 Apr 05 - 08:57 PM

A Queensland political instution has passed on.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sir Johannes Bjelke-Petersen: Corrupt populist

By Quentin Dempster

Johannes Bjelke-Petersen always seemed to have a problem with the concept of conflict of interest.

Although the senate of the University of Queensland infamously awarded the former premier an honorary doctorate of laws and his 1984 knighthood citation from Buckingham Palace declared he was a strong believer in the Westminster parliamentary tradition, the record shows that Bjelke-Petersen was deeply corrupt.

Full story at:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/indepth/featureitems/s1348134.htm

I have elsewhere here posted on being present at the alleged "riot" for his Honary Doctorate presentation ceremony.

~~~~~~~~~~

And here's something for those worried about the current state of US politics to think about...

How Joh inspired a generation
SMH - April 25, 2005
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Opinion/How-Joh-inspired-a-generation/2005/04/24/1114281450821.html

The Bjelke-Petersen regime left Queenslanders with an unintended legacy, writes Liz Willis.

When I was in year 3, one of my classmates informed us we had a new premier, Mr Johannes Bjelke-Petersen. And we all laughed - mainly at her pronunciation of his unfamiliar long name. We didn't know or care that the name would still be stamped on Queensland almost 20 years later, and continue to bother us for 28 years after that.

I do not have to go into detail about Joh Bjelke-Petersen's government. He led a corrupt, violent and unprincipled regime, as the Fitzgerald inquiry showed. Yet his almost 20-year reign also produced a magnificent byproduct: a remarkable oppositional culture manifested in music, theatre and art; media, comedy and satire. Bjelke-Petersen unwittingly trained an army of politicised Queenslanders who, in any other time, may have lived the relatively uncomplicated lives of their forebears.

Joh Bjelke-Petersen united people in Brisbane in ways he could never have imagined - in fact in ways he may have deemed immoral and illegal. His approach to law and government threw together an unlikely alliance of people who otherwise may never have had the chance to meet, work and play together.

Media such as the community radio station 4ZZZ FM flourished as an unintended and unstoppable consequence. Under Joh's reign we also learned practical social justice. We did not have to go to university or read newspapers to know the desperate circumstances of Queensland Aborigines; of the reality of police violence and corruption; of the consequences of the blurring of the separation of powers: it was the stuff of our daily lives.

Through Bjelke-Petersen we grew to understand the importance of Aboriginal land and the special value that it could hold to all - especially mining companies and property developers. His government pushed through the substandard "deed of grant in trust" leases and laid the basis for the grog-based economies of Cape York communities.

The Rock against Racism concert held in Brisbane during the 1982 Commonwealth Games signalled the popularising of the national fight for indigenous rights. It would never have happened without Joh. The marches were deemed illegal and people were arrested daily.

Joh Bjelke-Petersen was a hardworking and driven man and he made those of us who were on the other side of his political fence work even harder unwittingly steeling and skilling up his political opponents.

The Queensland political scene is now populated by many who may have never been driven to politics had they not encountered the effects of the strongarm politics of his government in their jobs in law, community services, media and education or in their daily grind as foot soldiers in the army of the unemployed.

I am not angry we were denied the rich, varied and comparatively relaxed life that young Queenslanders now enjoy. I am proud to have lived through that time and also proud that Brisbane and Queensland emerged from being national jokes to be the desirable locations they are today.

Goodbye, Joh. You ruthlessly moulded Queensland in your image and marked all of our lives forever. I offer my sympathies to your family in their loss of a beloved father and grandfather. I also pay tribute to those who survived your regime and remember those who didn't.

Liz Willis, an adviser to Senator Aden Ridgeway, worked at 4ZZZ from 1980 to 1986.

Subject: RE: BS: Politics in Oz
From: John O'L
Date: 24 Apr 05 - 11:01 PM

I find it impossible to feel any sorry at his passing.

Think I'll just leave it at that.

Subject: RE: BS: Politics in Oz
From: DaveA
Date: 25 Apr 05 - 07:34 AM

Amen to that John,

An evil old man who thankfully lived long enough to see his works rejected.

A corrupt, bigoted, self righteous hypocrite!!

Not wishing to speak ill of the dead, I'll also leave it at that

Dave

Subject: RE: BS: Politics in Oz
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 25 Apr 05 - 07:47 AM

He may not technically have been corrupt himself, even though many around him were. I do wish that he had been brought to trial for perjury, and not been given a 'get out of jail free' card because he was allegedly 'too ill to stand trial' - how many decades ago? Unless it was mentally ill...

Subject: RE: BS: Politics in Oz
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 25 Apr 05 - 08:20 PM

The State Govt offered a State Funeral. Now there is a group going to picket his funeral to protest at taxpayers money being spent on the funeral of a power-mongering dictator who ran a brutal Police State...

Subject: RE: BS: Politics in Oz
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 22 May 05 - 07:58 PM

Now "Fair" means everone gets screwed


Howard moves on wages revolution
By Louise Dodson and John Garnaut
May 23, 2005

Sweeping away 100 years of industrial relations practice, federal cabinet is set to install a new Fair Pay Commission which will have the power to set all award wages - not merely minimum wages.

The Fair Pay Commission will take over the wage determination role of
the Industrial Relations Commission.

[SNIP]

All those damn second rate US ex-Nazi neo-Fascist neo-con political advisors!

Subject: RE: BS: Politics in Oz
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 22 May 05 - 08:04 PM

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Howard-moves-on-wages-revolution/2005/05/22/1116700595140.html

Damn broken brackets!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Politics in Oz
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 25 May 05 - 08:38 AM

Apparently there will be a one-off arrangement to allow Ms Corby to serve her sentence in Australia, if the full agreement is not in place.

So when are we reintroducing the Death Penmalty?

Subject: RE: BS: Politics in Oz
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 31 May 05 - 07:37 AM

A friend of mine wants to leave her Job at Ipswitch Hospital and has applied for the soon to be vacant position of Hospital Administrator. She has promised me that I can be director of Surgery.

Subject: RE: BS: Politics in Oz
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 04 Jun 05 - 10:28 AM

Schapelle Corby thread.

Subject: RE: BS: Politics in Oz
From: Tam the man
Date: 04 Jun 05 - 11:02 AM

I feel sorry for all the people that are forced to vote in Australia, a country where if you voice your opinon by not voting you're fined and slung in Jail because you don't agree with the government. Some democracy that eh! Here in britian you get a choice weather to vote or not in Australia you don't get a choice you vote or they send you to jail.

Tom

Subject: RE: BS: Politics in Oz
From: GUEST,JennyO
Date: 05 Jun 05 - 07:37 AM

Tom, I agree with you that we should not have compulsory voting here, however they don't sling us in gaol.

Mind you, I was surprised at what can happen if you don't pay the fine. During a period after I moved and my mail redirection had run out, I was apparently sent a fine for failing to vote, which must have gone to my old address.

It wasn't until much later, when they apparently caught up with where I was through the electoral roll, that I received a rather startling notice from a collection agency in the mail which said in big black letters "Suspension of drivers licence", without saying WHAT fine I was supposed to have not paid. Of course this arrived late on a Friday afternoon, as all worrying letters seem to, when you can't find out anything about them till Monday morning.

When I eventually did find out what it was all about, I was told it was for failing to vote. All I could manage was "You're kidding! They can suspend your licence for THAT?" Of course by that time the fine had gone up from $25 to $125, and it was too late to protest that I never received the original fine. So I was FORCED to pay it because I need my drivers licence. That made me very angry. Yeah, so much for democracy!

Jenny

Subject: RE: BS: Politics in Oz
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Jun 05 - 06:49 PM

YOU PAY PEANUTS YOU GET MONKEYS