Spilt Milk

There will be many people like myself, waking up this morning in Australia, feeling a little sad. Unsurprisingly, it was only about four hours after the polling booths closed and the vote count started, that  Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd officially conceded defeat, on behalf of the Australian Labour Party.

Later this week, our new Prime Minister will be sworn in by the Governor-General, and those of us who are disappointed by the election result and unimpressed by the man who will lead this great country for the next three years, will just have to learn to live with it. Australia has decided. The government has changed. How much Australia will change as a result of the resounding election victory by the Liberal/National Party coalition remains uncertain. I have grave concerns. I have read some very alarming pieces of information put out by Coalition opponents with respect to the aggressive, and I would add regressive, policy agenda of the incoming government. I'm hoping they are exaggerations, but I must admit to honestly being a little worried about the future.

Tony Abbott, Prime Minister elect, waged a relentless 5 year campaign. He offered nothing positive because he and his team were hell bent on completely discrediting the government. They did a good job. They convinced enough people that the Labour government was a failure, despite the facts. With the support of Australia's largest media network, who rabidly attacked and ridiculed the Prime Minister from the beginning of the campaign until the end, the Coalition won office with a collection of uninspired and inferior policies.

When I opened the fridge door this morning I found a lot of milk where it should not have been. Someone had failed to tighten the cap on the bottle and laid it down on a shelf. Milk spilled from the middle shelf to the bottom shelf, forming a white lake with little islands of cheese, ham and creme caramel. I cleaned it up, and was struck by the poignancy of the moment. What a timely metaphor.


Australia has a new Prime Minister: a man I don't like, who doesn't inspire me, and with whose policies I do not agree, but there's no use crying over spilt milk. Life goes on. We'll probably be all right.

Photo sources:
http://www.sbs.com.au
http://www.smh.com.au
http://www.blog.foodily.com

The Most Persecuted Woman in Australia

Sadly the level of politcal debate in Australia, and the quality of politicians and media represenatives involved in that debate hit an all time low this week. The lack of respect shown for the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard has been appalling. From having her body parts described in a derogatory fashion as items on a menu for a Liberal party function, to being asked if her partner was gay because they aren't married and he's a hairdresser, Julia Gillard has been treated disgracefully. Where is the respect for the leader of our nation?

Unfortunately her whole time in office has been marred by personal attacks on her: trivial comments about her appearance, and vicious, unreasonable assaults on her integrity. Why has it been so intense? Because she is a woman. The media and opposition party led campaign against her has gone into overdrive, machine gunning her credibility. Barring the largest political election day miracle in history, her government will be defeated on September 14.

The media drives the policy agendas of both the government and the opposition, and our politicans pander to their media masters. Policy discussion is characterised by personal attacks, hollow slogans and myopic superficiality. We are suffering from a lack of leadership and a lack of ideas. Or so it appears according to the media reports we hear and read. Our response is disrespect, but when we disrespect others, we disrespect ourselves. The current pathetic state of politics in Australia is our fault as well.

The things people say publicly about our Prime Minister represent an abuse of political freedom. I know it's a colonial thing. Since Governor Arthur Philip first raised the flag in 1788 we've been rebelling against authority. If this week has proved anything to me it is that many Australians are simply dumb convicts who wear their prejudice and ignorance as badges of honour.

How do you feel about personal attacks on the democratically elected leader of your country?

My Nightmare Draws Closer

I'll say it up front. My worst political nightmare is Tony Abbott becoming Prime Minster of Australia. The current Prime Minister, and the man she replaced in a backstabbing party room coup,former Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, will go head to head tomorrow in a leadership ballot which will determine whether Ms Gillard continues to lead the party and thus the nation, or whether K Rudd 2012 resumes control of the good ship Terra Australis.

Since the infamous betrayal of Kevin Rudd which was supposed to save the Labour Party and restore the confidence of the people in the federal government, the Australian Labour Party has continued to disappoint everyone but themselves, and their most ardent and severely vision impaired supporters. They have made the act of shooting oneself in the foot, an artform, and in the process delivered a wealth of material for the ultra negative, twister of truth, policy vacuum, leader of the opposition, Tony Abbott. He has been lapping it up and spitting it back in the government's face.

Julia Gillard is now less popular than Kevin Rudd was when his party dumped him as a leader. If you believe the annoyingly frequent polls, K Rudd 2012 has the backing of the people as preferred Prime Minister. If the polls are all that matter, and our politicians are merely populists then we are to be pitied. If we have an incompetent government, and a potentially worse alternative government waiting in the wings, then who can we blame but ourselves.

I expect so much more than I get from our political leaders.

Give Me a Dictator

All right, I don't really want a dictator. Just because Hosni Mubarak unified and protected Egypt, made her strong, and got her out of debt and back into the Arab Alliance, does not mean that I, if I was an Egyptian citizen, would be prepared to put up with that degree of corruption, despotism and fascism. The prospect of being locked up simply for criticizing the government is not one which holds any appeal.

Australia would need to start a penal colony in the desert or on some far flung Pacific island if our government starting arresting people for bagging it. Thank God that's not the case, and I am free to write of my extreme disappointment with our political leaders.

Our Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, and her predecessor, Kevin Rudd spent a great deal of time talking about making tough decisions. All the government minsters do the same thing, as they dribble out the nausea inducing phrase, 'what's best for the national interest'. They don't follow through though. Lots of talk, and very little action.It happens at the state level as well. They make some big announcement, they encounter opposition, they say they will resist that opposition and make it happen, but the criticism increases, the political heat rises, and they back down.

Kevin Rudd gave the states an ultimatum on health. Sort yourselves out, he said, or I will. When he first talked about nationalising the health care system, I could have hugged him. There is insufficient time here to go in to the details as to why this was and still is, not only a great idea, but absolutely necessary. The point is when the deadline arrived the Prime Minster caved in and went for a namby pamby compromise which he tried to sell to the public as some sort of revolution. It was nothing of the sort, but it was at least a start. Julie Gillard announced this week that the government has decided to ditch that allegedly revolutionary deal. Why? Too much opposition from the states. Who wears the pants in this country, Julia?

Politicians speak as though their every word, tone of voice and facial expression will become the subject of intense scrutiny. That's because it will. They waste endless words justifying and explaining themselves. They can't talk straight and they can't back up their rhetoric with action. Why? No courage. They are afraid of the polls, afraid of the media, afraid of being unpopular. Tell me how many great leaders throughout human history cared about their popularity. Great leaders, I said. Whether they were good or bad men or women is beside the point. I'm talking about leadership.

Where are the true leaders; the courageous, the visionary, the passionate and the single minded? I'm so sick of poll driven, media boot licking, indecisive political leaders who talk the talk but don't walk the walk.