John Howard Just Doesn't Get It

In spite of Rudd's slipups and despite the largesse of Costello's budget and even 'finetuning' of Work Choices, the gap between Liberal and Labor does not lessen. Howard just doesn't get it that after 11 years many people have had a gutful of the trickiness and the lying - kids overboard; weapons of mass destruction; blind subservience to a zealot in the White House; IRAQIRAQIRAQIRAQIRAQ;the AWB scandal; Kyoto; coming late to climate change; coming late to David Hicks; coming late to water management; the hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to sell their messages in the media; Peter Reith (phones); Herron (ABC); Heffernan (homophobia and misogyny); Santo Santori (share dealer); etc etc etc etc etc, and the spin, the bloody spin!
As Matt Price put it in The Weekend Australian: 'Long regarded as the nonpareil (unrivalled person) of guile and artifice, a perception of Howard as too-tricky-by-half seems to be embedding itself in the national psyche. Not least because Labor has been banging on and on about it for years'. Yes Matt, not just Labor but many of Howard's 'battlers' are sick of the lies and the shit and the arrogance with which the Government thinks it can get away with it.
NO MORE! Governments become complacent and arrogant after ten years and people get sick of it. We got sick of Fraser, then Hawke/Keating and now it's Howard's turn. Yes, poor performing and arrogant governments that have been in for ten years or more can get re-elected but only where the the opposition is about as useful as a lead parachute. This happened in NSW this year and in Qld last year. With Kevin and Julia and the team most Aussies think they will bring a breath of fresh air and some good things, (at least until they inevitably become tarnished with the ten year trance).

Aborigines

27th May was the 40th anniversary of a constitutional referendum where 91.7% of Australians voted to amend the constitution to give Aborigines a better deal in this country. I have read much in the weekend press and seen TV programs which recalled the euphoria of that result long ago in 1967. I could go on at length about the analyses that have been done to explain why the expecations of 40 years ago have not been fully realised. I will just say that it is depressing that in spite of an unprecedented declaration of goodwill and unanimity 40 years ago, the 'Aboriginal problem' is still the biggest blight on the Aussie landscape. After billions of dollars and countless inquiries and even with the good will of many good people, many Aborigines by a range of measures are still the most disadvantaged Australians. Lower life expectancy, preventable diseases, 3rd world living conditions, unacceptable literacy levels, child abuse, domestic violence, debilitating drug and alcohol problems ..............the list is depressing. Of course there have been achievements and there are many Aboriginal Australians who have experienced the good life, but that so many have not is a shame on all of us.

Petrol Prices

As petrol prices again approach $1.50 a litre in many centres we hear the usual platitudes from oil companies and politicians. PM John Howard said this week that there was no magic bullet for this chronic problem. Indulge me while I repeat the letter that I had published in The Age last August:

Step on the Gas John

John Howard invited us to ring him at The Lodge if we had the solution to high petrol prices in Australia. Well I did ring but he doesn’t live there so perhaps he’ll read my solution here. I’ll even waive my $150,000 consultancy fee for saving the nation billions. The solution is to use what we have got heaps of – natural gas. Mr Howard says of high petrol prices, ‘everybody’s got the problem, America’s got it, Europe’s got it, Asia’s got it’. Notice how he didn’t include Middle Eastern countries who are sitting on oceans of oil! They don’t have a problem. In fact Saudi Arabia cut the price of its petrol by 33% on 31 May this year to about 21 cents per litre. In other words they are driving around on the product that they have an abundance of. If Australian governments had shown some leadership in the past twenty years or so most of us would be driving around in natural gas powered vehicles instead of gloating over huge contracts with China and Japan to whom we give it for a few cents a litre. Instead we have a handful of cars and some highly publicised public buses running on the fuel that is to us what oil is to other countries. Why hasn’t this happened in Australia on a large scale? Because John Howard and his predecessors have not displayed the leadership needed to put relentless pressure on car manufacturers to develop affordable natural gas cars and to stand up to the oil companies who would resist that course. The political clout of the oil companies (Exxon recently announced it was making one billion dollars a week profit) combined with the readiness of Mr Howard to follow George Bush into the Middle East to protect America’s (and Exxon’s) thirst for oil makes the quest for a solution very elusive indeed. Not utilising our abundant natural gas for our cars is like the Saudis driving around on two dollar a litre ethanol made from date peels!

On My Knees; Depression; Bungendore

Just got back from a flying visit to Canberra where I spent 4 days on my creaking knees helping my son and his wife lay slate on the floor of half their house. It went well and when finished will be a striking feature of their home. Coincidentally they used the same slate (from India) that I had used in my house at Bungendore 25 years ago. It is a great material with a multitude of colours and form. Five days on and I’m still blowing stone dust out of my nose from the cutting process. A highlight of the trip was to attend the opening of Sharon’s latest exhibition at Old Parliament House. It is on the Great Depression and is an excellent portrayal of that difficult time in the 1930s. It is well named with Scarred and Strenghthened. I recall that it was in 1932 that my father went to Cullen Bullen at the age of 16 to work with his brother Vic cutting mine props to make a meager living while they started to clear the timber on what was to become their farm. On my last day I made a quick trip to Bungendore to check the hut and change a leaky tap and get some books and just take in the ambience of that magnetic place. Here is a photo.

Cost of War

If you can handle being shocked, disgusted, incredulous, angry, and overwhelmed by the absurdity of it all just click on www.costofwar.com
And this does not even take into account the human cost for all those who have suffered and lost in the fiasco in Iraq.

World Laughter Day

The first Sunday in May is World Laughter Day. Don't laugh (oh yes you can). This is no joke (yes it is). World Laughter Day was created in 1998 by Dr Madan Kataria from India, founder of the worldwide Laughter Yoga movement. The celebration of World Laughter Day is a positive manifestation for world peace and is intended to build up a global consciousness of brotherhood and friendship through laughter. Its popularity has grown exponentially and Laughter Yoga is practised around the world at laughter clubs, laughter studios, in the workplace and in many specialized applications including schools, government departments, military & police, hospitals & hospice and more. There are more than 5000 laughter clubs and studios in more than 50 countries with new venues opening daily.
Wendy and I go to what is called laughter class most Saturday mornings at a stunning venue at Cotton Tree , Maroochydore at the mouth of the Maroochy river. There are plenty of laughs which happen as part of a loosely structured exercise programme. We do breathing exercises and laughs with names like the Haka, the Kookaburra, the Clam, the Mad Professor,the Machine Gun and many more. Between 12 and 25 people turn up and we go for about 40 mins. Then we adjourn to a nearby coffee shop and sit and chat looking across the sparkling river and sandbanks. A good way to start Saturday. Check out www.laughteryoga.org HaHaHaHaHaaaaaH!

A fair go for the word fair

The past week has seen both sides of politics trying to outdo each other with their commitment to fairness. Labor wants to scrap Australian Workplace Agreements and introduce a fairer system embodied in Forward with Fairness and Fair Work Australia. Howard responded immediately to make his Work Choices fairer with some 'finetuning' to protect workers on less than $75000. Big Business condemned Labor and we had CEOs of some of our biggest companies saying the sky would fall if Work Choices was scrapped. I have to smile at CEOs who are on multi million dollar salaries pontificating about threats to whole sectors posed by collective bargaining. The just retired CEO of Rio Tinto was the saddest: Leigh Clifford earned $6.7 million last year (about $18,356 a day) bemoaned Labor's union driven agenda. How can these people relate to some 20 year old kid on $14.00 an hour in the retail sector being screwed out of penalty rates?Of course Labor is not averse to a little fairness bypass as the shafting of the Labor member for Newcastle to make way for ACTU secretary, Greg Combet shows. AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!.......fairness....... like beauty it is in the eye of the stubbyholder.

Sunset from our front door last night.

We often have beautiful sunsets and this was a beauty. How fleeting they are though. Perhaps Nature's quick toast at the end of another wonderful day. Salute!