New Broom

Well enough has already been written and said about the 2007 Federal Election Result.  We now have an almost non-conservative government for the first time in a generation.  The question now is – Will the Rudd Regime be demonstrably different to his predecessors?

I for one had great doubts until news broke that one of Rudd’s first decisions as PM was the ratification of Kyoto.  In itself, this doesn’t represent a ‘major’ break from his stated intententions, but I must say that I was surprised at the speed with which he took the plunge to bring Australia up to speed with the vast majority of concerned countries  in the world that have come to the inevitable conclusion that climate change abatement is a matter of urgent world action the likes of which hasn’t been seen since 1938 and the invasion of Austria by Hitler.

The fact that he sought a mandate to do so, and acted on it with alacrity says to me that perhaps we now have a leader who is prepared to make and accept responsibility for the tough decisions that are coming up in the not too far distant future for Australia.

While the Rudd days have only just begun, it is heartening to see a leader so early into his tenure show that he means business.  It bodes well for us as the challenges for Australia over the next few years will require a leader with character who is prepared to take tough decisions to ensure our continued growth and propsperity, not a spineless whimp like Howard, whose only deeds that will be remembered in years to come will be the attempted dissmantling of our society with WorkChoices, the near total capitulation of our great nation to the whims and deceit that characterise the USA and the Bush Administration, and for being only the second prime minister in our nation’s history to not only lose an election, but lose his own seat as well.

Brand New 108 Inch Plasma TV $499.00!…..only kidding…

At the risk of being bombarded with right wing neo-con diatribe in the disguise of ‘thoughtful analysis’, I offer this question for John Howard to answer:

“If our economy is so powerfully strong thanks to the outstanding economic stewardship of John Howard and Peter Costello and is evidenced by the record high exchange rate of the Australian Dollar, when can we expect a corresponding substantial drop in the retail price of imported domestic consumer products?”

If John Howard is really the ‘Best friend’ the ordinary battling Aussie has ever had, when will John Howard demand a Substantial Decrease in the price of imported consumer products right across the whole spectrum including:

• Substantially lower prices for New Houses (a substantial amount of fittings and features are imported)
• Dramatic cuts in the price of a new car (more imported cars sold now than locally produced)
• Finally affordable prices on household items like plasma televisions etc. (practically all imports)

Of course prices haven’t been “Slashed”!

…and don’t hold your breath waiting for them to.

…The Guru of economic rationalism wouldn’t have it any other way.

John Howard, you’re kidding aren’t you?

A future referrendum on Aboriginal Reconcilliation?  Yeah Right!

This would have to be John Howard’s most strident example of the cynicism, hubris and outright deceit that have been the hallmarks of his sadly overlong stewardship of our great country.

For him to announce these intentions (reconcilliation) mere days prior to announcing the upcoming federal election date is the absolute height of arrogance and a clear demonstration of his belated awakening to the fact that the overwhealming majority of decent Australian people have had a gutsfull of him, his government and his dogma. 

His decision to hold a referrendum on the subject “IF WE ARE KIND ENOUGH TO RE-ELECT HIM” and his band of ultra right-wing regressionists simply smacks of a last ditch attempt to try to con us all into trusting him ONE MORE TIME!

I for one Do Not and WILL NOT, and I urge all decent thinking Australians to do the same.

Let us all make sure that our future Australian History books (yet another area of belated interest by John Howard) will rightly note that he was one of only two Australian prime ministers who lost office AND their seat in parliament via a federal election.  It is also interesting to note that the first to do so was also an ultra-conservative who tried to dissmantle the ordinary Australian worker’s pay and conditions to the advantage of no-one bar big business.

Coincidence?  I think not!

Brand Nu Clear™ Energy

The Nuclear Power Industry has a long and not altogether wholesome history.

Now it seems that instead of a sensible debate on the pros and cons of going down a nuclear energy road, we are virtually being told by this government that we should look on it as a ‘fait au complix’.

If this current government or for that matter any future government thinks that they have an automatic mandate to make such a far reaching and in my opinion dangerous decision as this without asking us the people who put them there, they are in for one hell of a shock!

This current government has demonstrated time and time again that it cares little for the opinions or the well being of the majority of Australians and makes the majority of it’s dubious decisions based purely upon the advice and support it recieves from its ‘unions’ - the various employer and industry bodies in this country whose sole purpose is to further feather the nests of the top 10% at the expense of the majority.

Perhaps this nuclear energy issue will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back and Howard is finally forced to concede to the wishes of us the 90%, the collective vision we have for the future of our country.

But, i’m not holding my breath…

Off to greener pastures…

Well, i’ll be damned if an old friend didn’t catch up with me just before Christmas with a proposition too good to refuse.

I’m saying goodbye to the rural lifestyle, and going back to the coast (not the city!).

When you get an offer to be part of a fantastic property development on the Fraser Coast, it’s a bit hard to say no, so I didn’t.

My family and I have spent 10 great years in Mungindi NSW, a small rural community on the QLD /NSW border and have for the most part been very happy.  Now it’s time to move on to the next phase of the adventure.

I’ll still be maintaining this site when I can, but might not post for a couple of weeks due to work committments, so please don’t give up on me yet and as the Governator of California says “I’ll be back”.

WB

Shame on you John Howard, Shame!

Following is an excerpt from a story from the OZ, which should make every mother and father in Australia who loves their kids angry as all hell -

“AN excommunicated member of the Exclusive Brethren sect has been ordered by the Family Court not to expose his children to television, radio or non-members of the church in a landmark decision granting him access rights.

Despite finding Exclusive Brethren members and the mother had been “abusive” in denying the father access visits after the Tasmanian couple’s 2003 separation, his bid for full custody was denied because it would be too traumatic for the children to be removed from the secretive Christian sect.

The ruling, which took effect yesterday with the children’s first visit to their father, followed revelations about the sect’s attempts to lobby the Family Court and federal Government to bend legislation so that former members were kept away from their children who remained in the Exclusive Brethren.”  Court lets sect kids see dad, but not TV

How long are we the ordinary people of Australia going to put up with this totally intollerable situation where we’ve got a Prime Minister who openly backs the goals and asperations of this most evil of sects?

Howard needs to be reminded of the long held and cherished political tenets of the separation of the Church and the State before it’s too late.

What has happened to our society and the free will of the people?

Bankruptsy of Benevolence

The principles of a fair go for all people, the concept of helping a mate in trouble and the acceptance of the differences between the races of man are among the foundation stones of the Australian Society.   Here perhaps more than practically anywhere else in the world those concepts have been instrumental in the wide perception of Australia being one of the most egalitarian societies of the 20th. Century.  Indeed, Australia and Australians up till comparitively recent times were seen as the most benevolent, tolerant and widely admired country of people in the world.

What has changed?  Why has it changed?  What can be done to regain that respect and prestige we have lost?

These are important questions that require urgent attention by each and every one of us who call ourselves Australians.

Firstly, what has changed?

In the latter half of the 20th. Century nation building projects like the Snowy River Scheme brought together people from all walks of life and from all corners of the world to Australia.  This melting pot of cultures and ideas was greatly responsible for the adoption of what is now termed multiculturalism.  We as a nation embraced the newcomers with open arms and hearts with the result that our international stocks and fiscal success rose at the greatest rate in our short history as a nation.  Well what has changed?

We now actively discourage diversity of ethnicity in our population and indeed treat newcomers with suspicion and disrespect.  Both attitudes nurtured and encouraged by Howard Government policy over the last 10 years.

What can we do to turn this deplorable situation around?

Again open our hearts to genuine outsiders, let the moths out of the purse and again instigate nation building projects like the Snowy Scheme.  What is the good of having massive surpluses stagnating in government bank accounts while the country is in desperate need of infrastructure?

History will say that the most notable and deplorable aspects of the Howard Government years were their total lack of nation building initiatives and their negative engineering of Australia and Australian’s attitudes to outsiders and the less fortunate in our society.

It’s definitely time for a change.

Happy 2007 Australia! (get your teeth into it?)

I unashamedly lean towards the left side of politics for several reasons and not the least of them my strong views on society’s obligations regarding social justice and public health issues.

Well, another year over and we’re all one year wiser right?  Wrong!

In what I view as probably the most cynical edict our sharing and caring Prime Minister John Howard has uttered in the past 10 years, he has asked the parents of Australian children to make sure that they make their kids drink a glass of tap water every day to combat his new-found knowledge that our children’s dental health has deteriorated under his ’stewardship’ (negligence).

This is the same as the new-found knowledge Howard gained about Global Warming. 

Obtained through the opinion polls!

This is one thing that Howard CAN”T blame the Labor Opposition for, after all it was his Coalition Government who destroyed Australia’s Public Dental Health Capability (once the envy of much of the Western World), to help pay for his ‘program’, which includes amongst other things the $1,280,000,000.00 of taxpayer’s money he has wasted on ‘essential’ government advertising (propaganda) over  the last 10 years!

Expect that figure to explode this year as he unashamedly uses our money to tell us all why we should give him yet another 4 years to rip the guts out of the fabric of social justice Australia used to be famous for.

Our kids don’t need to drink any more water Mr. Howard, they need the Public Dental Health System that YOU have DESTROYED!

RESTORED!

WB

P.S….

Just got back from obtaining our pig for the Christmas Lunch spit roast, so I thought i’d share some quick thoughts on living in the country.

Christmas in “The Bush” is a wonderful time of year.  Where else can you go for a short drive in your Hi-lux ute to a friend’s property, crack a six pack, slaughter Christmas lunch and have a yack with friends you don’t see every day?

I was born and bred in the city and have only been living in the country for the last ten years, but wish i’d done it a lot earlier.  A bit like the old days when you and your family could get the kids bathed and in their PJ’s and dressing gowns and you wandered around the neighbourhood critiquing the Christmas light shows in every second front yard.  You would be at some personal risk doing that in some suburbs of Sydney, today, and that’s unfortunate.  :-(

Well that’s Christmas Lunch looked after now, and all we’ve got to look forward to is a nice juicy crispy skin spit roast piggy….yum!  Poor us!  It’s a real bugger living in the bush?

WB

A Very Merry Christmas to All (Including John, Kevin…)

That just about wraps it up for me this year.

I’m going to take some down time as far away from a computer as I possibly can (as soon as my BAS quaterly is done).

I hope that your Christmas is everything you are hoping for, and that our neighbours fighting argueably the worst bushfire season ever in Victoria and Tasmania, remain safe along with their houses.

Look for more of my ramblings first week in the New Year, till then…

A Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You and Yours.

Wallaby Bob