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Politics and Culture - March 2007

Howard releases his Attack Dog

March 14th 2007 12:39
The Howard government is looking desperate and increasingly rattled by the performance of Kevin Rudd and its descent into the mire of dealing with Rudd’s personal life is a very risky strategy.

The use of chief government attack dog Tony Abbott does nothing to dispel any belief that this is an increasingly desperate tactic.



Abbott is know to the Australian public as one of the grubbier politicians around, one who is not adverse to using personal insults and rumour to attempt to smear the credibility of his opponent , though he has also been on the receiving end himself but more of a consequence or retaliation to his own attacks.

The Health Minister lead an attack on Rudd’s credibility today suggesting that Rudd was embellishing his life growing-up to make his life look harder then it actually was. This follows a report where the children of the man accused by Rudd of throwing his mother and her family of his property after Rudd’s father died have defended him and have said that he was prepared to let the Rudd’s stay.

His attack on Rudd’s credibility over his recollection as a ten year old of what lead to his mothers eviction is unbelievably shallow.

There would not be many people out there who have not in either family or friendship relationships be given interpretations of different disputes that did not concur with the interpretation of the other party.


Rudd was ten years old what his mother may have told him may not be as it happened but are we to hang Rudd out to dry for this and suggest he is not fit to hold office simply because he believes his family was thrown off the farm. Do not also forget that if the property owner did evict them he may well not have told his children what had happened out of embarrassment or shame. It is only one family’s word against another.

No one is disputing his father was not killed at the time and that the family did not move from the farm his father ran.

Abbott should be the last to attack someone for not knowing all the facts in family stories. It was Tony Abbott who for years thought he had an illegitimate son only to discover that it was not his. Are we to suggest this shows that Abbott is a bit to gullible to be a Minister or future Prime Minister?

Politicians must tread very carefully when heading down this path as the higher they raise the ethical and moral bar they might well find more of their own members not able to clear it.

“Journalists belong in the gutter because that is where the ruling classes throw their dirty secrets”
Gerald Priestland
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Well I began my usual browse through the Sunday papers yesterday and because I reside in Brisbane I feel it necessary to read the Sunday Mail. You know I have to find out how we are running out of water and wether Heather Beattie will run for Lord Mayor.
As I did I found myself flying through it scanning the pages for something that maybe news worthy which is generally a struggle. I did find out that Heather would not run and that she must be a rose fan as we had a picture of her tending to hers and Peters garden.

Anyway I got to the politics section and the usual culprits were there, the punching gnome Glenn Milne and the conservative head kicker Andrew Bolt.

I have a kinda love-hate relationship with Andrew Bolt he writes outrageous things and I get suitably outraged and I have developed a usual method for reading his column without getting too outraged.

My method is to usually read the first couple of pars and then his concluding par at the end that way I get an idea of who he is tipping a bucket on from the left straight away and then I usually do like his conclusion as they are more often then not filled with self-righteousness and conservative bile.

So today as I sat down and read his article on Kevin Rudd I was prepared for him to come out swinging attacking Rudd for meeting with Brian Bourke, for not revealing all and calling on him to resign or commit Harri karri or something.

I began to read and I felt i was descending in to some strange opposite world (much like the Seinfeld episode) here was a perfectly reasonable take on the whole Rudd/Burke Affair if anything a pro-Rudd piece.

He argues the Burke Affair actually helped Kevin Rudd and that it added toughness to his character that had been widely question by the media, the government and his own colleagues. Always considered a bit of a Nancy-boy who was always helping to start the fight but who would go missing immediately the gloves came off.

Like Bolt I can not help but agree that the government having cornered him on this forced him into to taking the gloves off and to begin leading with a few punches as he did.

Now had it not been for Minister Ian Campbell’s meeting with Burke and then an AFP raid on three of there own members things may well have travelled down a different path but politics is unpredictable and Rudd had not backed down and Howard knew the police raids had been carried out but decided to continue to try and take the high ground response.

Rudd has come out of this stronger and recent polls seem to bear this out. The old adage “that which does not kill me makes me stronger” seems to have been Rudd’s outcome here. Faced with his first real test of character Rudd has emerged triumph and Howard and his government appear to look foolish which is so often the case when politicians go looking to stand on a very high piece of moral ground.

The moral make-up of most political organisation is never a particularly high one.
These are exciting times in federal politics at the moment and barring another Tampa or 9/11 emerging in the next few months it would appear Rudd will be issuing a very credible challenge. His main challenge maybe keeping some of colleagues in check and ensuring there are no skeletons in their closets waiting to emerge.

Politics though just becomes to weird when I can read an Andrew Bolt opinion piece and emerge having actually read it all and find myself agreeing with everything he wrote.

I even thought his last sentence was very to the point and summed up the Burke Affair well. Bolt explained that even if Rudd had not meet Burke to shore up some sort of deal or support that having emerged from this affair in a seemingly stronger position “Brian Burke may have well delivered Rudd a favour”
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Australias Refugee Shame.

March 7th 2007 12:55
I am posting part of a reply that i made to an earlier posting by opnionatedranter here to allow peole to explore the two links that i included on the reply.


The first deals with the shameful episode of the Sivex and the other is an interview with a refugee who arrived in Australia on a boat. Both highlight the Governments horrendous treatment of people who risk their lives to seek refuge from persecuation and better lives in the most part for their families. Please read:

The treatment of refugees who come to Australia risking everything on unseaworthy boats is a fairly recent event and one that does not sit comfortably with many Australians.

We have in the past accepted many people who have arrived in this fashion and i believe Australia is a much better place for having done it. While these is often a reluctance from those who have left behind their home country and cultures to assimilate into the country the successive generations following have done nothing but to enrich this country.

Look at some of Australia's leading doctors, business people and those who make up the general population and you will find personal and family stories of how they came to Australia in harrowing circumstance. They will tell you how these events conditioned them to wanting to do so much for the country that had given them a chance at a new start.

If you believe that turning away people on unseaworthy boats and leaving them to perish is some how a noble thing to do then i feel truly sorry for your lack of compassion toward your fellow human beings. Read the story of the SIVEX and how over 300 asylum seekers drowned while the Australian government did nothing to help them. This is not the Australian spirit of a fair-go.

Do you really believe some trials and tribulations with bureaucracy is anything compared to a journey on a unseaworthy over crowded boat.

If you think that once they arrive in Australia asylum seekers are suddenly given homes upon their arrival into Australia then you are sadly mistaken as well. Thankfully there have been some changes made but in recent years women and children have been locked up behind razor wire in the middle of central Australia for years while they are processed. The majority of these people are found to be genuine refugees who then emerge from these prisons with major mental and health problems.

Not only that but the Government has also deported people who have lived here since they were children back to their country of origin because of a criminal record. They have dumped people in a country where they have no ties, no family and no language skills.

The current Governments treatment of refugee and immigrants is appalling and is a shameful page of Australia’s recent history. It sits there next to our appalling treatment of Indigenous Australia.

I am a proud Australian but I am not proud of this government at all!!!

Finally I would like you to use the following link to listen to the podcast of an interview with a former refugee Mortezza Porvadi and his story of his treatment by the Australian Government. If his story does not move you then i suggest you head to cardiologist to confirm wether you have a heart or not. Refugee Mortezza Poorvadi Link
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The resignation of Ian Campbell from the Howard Ministry has stepped up the pressure on Kevin Rudd in the “Brian Bourke Affair” which threatens to derail the momentum Labor and Rudd had been able to build since his leadership victory.
Rudd under Pressure


The Howard Government was severely embarrassed this morning when it had been revealed that Ian Campbell had meet with Brian Bourke only a few months ago


[ Click here to read more ]
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Costello lands punch on Rudd

March 1st 2007 14:26
Today in Federal Parliament the government lead by Peter Costello landed their first major punch on the “Rudd for Canberra Campaign” by exposing three meetings the now Labor Leader had with disgraced former Western Australia Labor Premier Brian Burke.
Costello attacks Rudd


Costello exposure of this meeting was a major embarrassment and set-back to Kevin Rudd’s creditability


[ Click here to read more ]
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