Archive for June 2013
Posted on: 28 June 2013
- In: ACT OPINIONS | Environment | Global Warming | Science
- 3 Comments
My latest blog is always available at: https://donallan.wordpress.com. To make direct contact e-mail me at: dca@netspeed.com.au
Fusion energy is the real climate changer
The following article is addressed to young people who, claim climate change alarmists, are very worried about the future of the planet. The only reply I can give to that is: when I was a young man one of my main worries was the disappearance of young women from my usual haunts. So if the young today are worried about the planet’s future I’d like to know from them where they get the information that worries them, from other than that put out by alarmists.
Another question: when the alarmists talk about the young what do they mean by young? Do they mean 16, 18, 20, 22, 24 0r 26 or is young only in comparison to themselves? That apart, what do the alarmists mean when they say the science of climate change is settled? Does it mean that no further examination of their proposition is needed?
I can only say that these people are strange scientists; science is never settled. Indeed, if over the ages people had taken the view that science could be settled, some of the greatest innovations in the world today would have some of the world’s greatest legendary engineering, medical, astronomical and myriad other scientists – think Copernicus, Galileo, Newton – gasping in amazement.
That these scientists became legends is due to the fact that like all great scientists, they were always sceptical about claims from alchemists and other so called scientists that they had discovered the elixir of life or how to transmute base metals into gold.
Not a physicist, or engineer or scientist but just an ‘ordinary (whatever that means) member of the community it is unlikely that at my late stage in life, and much as I am a sceptic it is unlikely that I will invent or discover something that will put me into the legendary category.
But I have made it my business to read as much history as I can about how the weather has changed over millenniums – apart from personal experience of variable weather over my lifetime. From my reading I have come to the conclusion that mother-nature has always determined, and still does, without recourse to advice from the IPCC or the Australian Climate Commission, when and climate change will occur.
I have concluded also that climate change has been a constant in the life of planet earth, and that AGW (anthropogenic global warming) has had little to do with it.
But the strangest thing of all is that the very people who see themselves as being the ‘experts’ at the summit of climate change science have done little else except promote the cure of AGW as a range of equipment that will produce the very thing they say they want to cure. If they wanted to walk in the footsteps of the legendary scientists, they would be spending their efforts bringing to fruition as soon as possible, commercial nuclear fusion plants that will generate clean and limitless power not only in Australia but across the world.
Like many others, however, I suspect many of them are so ambitious to be seen as saviours of the planet that they put their own overweening ambitions before the saving of the planet and its various communities.
The problem of course is as usual, that some of the IPCC scientists and Climate Change Commission suckle on the money teats of various Government funding bodies because their vanity will not allow them to be seen as less than best.
But the strangest thing to me is the absence of any mainstream media reports about how the Particle Physicists at the ANU are helping fusion stride towards being one of the main cures for global warming. Rarely, indeed, are they ever interviewed.
On the other hand economists and non-scientists members of green and environmental groups are often interviewed with the latter talking about the danger of nuclear energy. They are perpetrating a fraud, because the dangerous nuclear energy is fission not fusion- let me say it again: FUSION!
Their alternative argument is that fusion will not be available until the year 2100 – if ever. I shall be polite and say Balderdash. Clearly they do not keep up with fusion development or they would never say fusion energy is nothing but a dream.
Comment welcome.
If you would like to receive these Articles automatically you can RSS them or become a follower by using the ‘follow’ connection at the bottom right of the published page.
An (Un)believable Prime Minister
Posted on: 26 June 2013
- In: ACT OPINIONS | elections | Government | Politics
- 1 Comment
My latest blog is always available at: https://donallan.wordpress.com. To make direct contact e-mail me at: dca@netspeed.com.au
An (Un)believable prime minister
You’ll note I’ve used lower case letters in the words prime minister. I have done that to show I no longer believe that, because of their previous actions in government, either of the candidates for the position deserve to hold the position of Australia’s most senior politician.
Some people may disagree with me but it is my belief, that not only have both of them brought the position of Prime Minister into disrepute but that they also have done the same to federal government MPs and federal parliamentarians as a whole.
Since Kevin Rudd’s reign as Prime Minister was extinguished in 2010 by a cabal of spineless politicians who were instrumental in replacing him with Julia Gillard, the Labor Government has lived on borrowed time something that showed clearly at the 2010 election when it couldn’t get a majority.
There’s no doubt Gillard was also a partner in the cabal led by Bill Shorten, albeit a silent partner, that removed Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister. But what does that say about the other partners in the cabal. I think the behaviour of these people puts all government members in an unfavourable light, a character image that some do not deserve.
It was inevitable that Rudd a man of ambition who has cast himself in a messianic role, would ever accept that Giilard was better than him and set out to prove it. The result, following the election of 2010 Gillard had to fight a battle to demonstrate she possessed the right qualities to be Prime Minister and love her or hate her she delivered.
Naturally she made mistakes but making mistakes and recovering from them is what makes a person strong. However it is said that a chan is only as strong as its weakest link. That this is true can be seen by the fact that Bill Shorten suddenly, or so it seemed, continued to support Julia Gillard until push came to shove when, as he did with Rudd, showed himself a Judas Iscariot.
Not that he was alone. Many other MPs showed themselves to be in the same category. And so on the last two days before the current parliament and just over two months to the next election, Shorten and his troop of fellow Iscariots mounted a challenge to unseat her. But even if he manages to do that, there’s no guarantee Rudd will become Prime Minister.
That this might not happen is because Labor only managed to form a minority government based on an agreement the Independents had with Julia that they would support her, and only her, as Prime Minister. So if Rudd wins the ballot, will they support him?
If you’ve drawn the conclusion from what I’ve written that I am not a Rudd supporter or Gillard supporter but a supporter of Tony Abbot, you would be wrong. None of them impress me. On the other hand the messages from Rudd and Gillard as they spoke to the media before the leadership vote were not so much about policy and what they could for voters, they were, in essence, messages of hate directed at Tony Abbott.
With that in mind following and now that Rudd expects to be Prime Minister, after the next election Australians could again be faced with a government that isn’t supported by the majority of Australian voters and a government led by a man who not only is not to be trusted but also has lied his way to power?
My final comment however, is that I firmly believe that come election time, Australians will show they are much wiser than the politicians think.
Comment welcome.
If you would like to receive these Articles automatically you can RSS them or become a follower by using the ‘follow’ connection at bottom right of the published page.
- In: ACT OPINIONS | elections | Government | Politics
- 1 Comment
My latest blog is always available at: https://donallan.wordpress.com. To make direct contact e-mail me at: dca@netspeed.com.au
Clearly the time has come for new political parties
Recently any mention of ‘federal politics’ in relation to Australia, made me to fall into deep ennui and caused Boadicea, my consort, to worry. That said I won’t be surprised if other Australians are also suffering ennui, including some parliamentarians.
After posting my last blog, I hoped that during the next few days, which are also the last few sitting days of the current parliament, I hoped I might hear something that would make my ennui disappear and restore my optimism about politics and federal parliament. What added to my hope was the announcement that Kevin Rudd was leaving for China on Thursday afternoon.
To some degree the announcement lulled me into the belief (later proved wrong) that the end of the current political saga was in sight. No such luck. No sooner had the thought entered my mind than fresh reports on the saga surfaced. Unfortunately, fresh is the wrong word as the news was not new but simply a rehash of old reports. And so my ennui returned, stronger and deeper than ever.
But there’s one thing that parliaments and politicians do well: spring surprises. One such surprise came yesterday when Independent MP Rob Oakeshott, one of the political props that enabled Labor to form a minority government, made the surprise announcement that he would not be contesting the next election.
On hearing the announcement it seemed to me the ‘expert’ pundits who throng Canberra, and whose opinions daily flood the media as news, should have been tossing their crystal balls into the nearest dustbin. In a sense Mr Oakeshott had scooped them. Not one of them had even hinted this was likely to happen particularly as it would have an effect on what might happen at the next election.
However, I don’t think Mr Oakeshott’s announcement precipitated Independent MP Tony Windsor, also a prop of the Labor’s minority government, into scooping the political ‘experts’ although the Oakeshott and Windsor have given heart to many people who want Labor to lose the next election. As for the ‘experts’ who had not tossed away their crystal ball, perhaps the two announcements will now make them change their minds. Experts apart however, the most important opinion of all is that of the general population
While Oakeshott and Windsor might not like being described as props for Labor, without their support Labor could not have become a minority government. Indeed government could have become a rabble because the Liberal/National Coalition could not form government. To some degree, their support of Labor ensured anarchy did not come to Australia though some might argue this is not the case.
Yet I must say I was extremely disappointed by some of Mr Windsor’s remarks when being interviewed this morning on ABC Radio by his indulging in a brief diatribe against Mr Abbott. This confirms the view adopted by many people following the heated misogyny and misandry debate that political behaviour has degenerated to such an extent they now wonder why they bother to vote.
That said: what lies ahead? Australia will have to wait until after 14th September, to find out. Will they opt for change and give government to the Liberal/National Coalition. If they do, what changes will they want made by a Liberal/National Government? These changes could prove interesting.
As I write this blog, ABC Radio has just announced that a petition is now being circulated among Labor Members of Parliament about a ballot to challenge Prime Minister Gillard with a view to replacing her with Kevin Rudd. Apparently the result of the petition and ballot, if any, will be known tomorrow morning.
Earlier I used the word rabble to describe the goings on in parliament and also used the word anarchy. I can only add that such goings on are really not much different to what has recently taken place in birthplace of Democracy. Have the people benefitted?
Comment welcome.
If you would like to receive these Articles automatically you can RSS it or become a follower by using the ‘follow’ connection at bottom right of the published page.
- In: ACT OPINIONS | elections | Government | Politics
- 3 Comments
My latest blog is always available at: https://donallan.wordpress.com. To make direct contact e-mail me at: dca@netspeed.com.au
From political pantomime to political tragedy?
When you have a government in which everyone thinks they are more capable of leading the nation than the person they elected as Leader, then you have a parliament in trouble. At the moment it seems Australia’s Labor Government fits this description.
Unfortunately to most people, Plato, a philosopher in Classical Greece 2,400 years ago, who was also a mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world, is unknown. But clearly he was a man before his time as evidenced by his saying: “One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.”
That this saying describes what took place in Australia when apathetic voters entrusted Government of the nation to two consecutive and inadequate Labor Governments although it must be said say the same thing happened under non Labor Governments.
Contrary to received political wisdom, the apathy does not lie entirely with young voters. It can also be sheeted home to older voters because for many of them voting has become a matter of habit rather than thought. Even those who don’t vote out of habit, only vote for policies they feel will affect them. And, having heard it all before, few believe the hyperbole dished up by politicians that the policies they promote as secure them and the future for generations yet to come. What they are promoting is their own security.
The fact is that because most have heard it all before they know that while some politicians may well be interested in the future many have become strong believers in the saying tomorrow never comes and in any case their future will be considerably shorter than that of most politicians. I say so as an older voter cynical about politics and politicians.
My cynicism has increased as the finale of the current political pantomime approaches. On reflection however, no longer is it a political pantomime but more a political tragedy that we ourselves, the young, the tween ages and the older ages created by handing not just our future but our present to a handful of selfish and untrustworthy politicians.
As this is an opinion site I won’t waste readers’ time by reiterating the same arguments that are being made ad nauseum on radio, television, newspapers and in the inappropriately named ‘social media’ which attracts some current politicians like moths to a flame about what is happening in Parliament.
In common with those who wannabe political moths, the latter are seduced by the thought that with as few as 140 words and spaces they can present irresistible arguments that will not be consumed in the searing flame of public opinion but guarantee their place in the next federal parliament. Unfortunately, some will be successful.
However, as the fight for roles in Federal Parliament heats up, and if Tony Abbott, the third actor wins the star role following the public auditions of 14th September (some people might label that a political tragedy), what will the future be for Juila Gillard and Kevin Rudd?
While they won’t play roles in government, the Julia and Kev sideshow could keep voters entertained for some time.
A final comment. Voters will have much to think about between now and 14th September. If Julia Gillard leads Labor to the election and Kevin Rudd remains – perhaps he could be Shadow Minister for Destabilisation – they must weigh up carefully who to vote for. In light of the recent past if they make the wrong decision, Australia could become a country where Democracy has been captured by politicians for their own use.
Comment welcome.
If you would like to receive these Articles automatically you can RSS it or become a follower by using the ‘follow’ connection at bottom right of the published page.
- In: ACT OPINIONS | Community | Disability | Education | Government | Politics
- 1 Comment
My latest blog is always available at: https://donallan.wordpress.com. To make direct contact e-mail me at: dca@netspeed.com.au
Australia readies for new political pantomime
Australians elect 150 people to represent them in the House of Representatives, one of its two Houses of Parliament. The other house, the Senate, has 76 Members. But today it’s the former that’s of interest because on Saturday 14th September, voters will be called on to elect these 150 representatives.
Failure to vote can lead to a fine. However despite being called compulsory voters don’t have to vote, the only thing that‘s compulsory is their need to get their name ticked off the electoral roll as having received ballot papers. If they then don’t vote they still have complied with the rules
That said, in the case of the next election if every voter gets their name ticked off the electoral roll then decide not to vote there, would be no House of Representatives, an unlikely outcome I admit, but because it is theoretically possible, it’s not an outcome that can be dismissed.
If the latter happened what a finale that would be to the pantomime called parliament which, if the voice of the voters over the past three years is to be believed, is what they think of the performance of the House of Representatives over the past three years.
The panto opened following the last election with a significant political event, the first time a female, Labor MP Julia Gillard, became Prime Minister of Australia. Unfortunately, the significant political event became the start of the worst political pantomime in the history of Australian Governments to which, sad to say a great many politicians contributed.
Because the number of seats held by the major parties, Labor and Liberal, couldn’t govern in their own right, the script for the pantomime was written when pragmatism came before principle on the question of who would become Prime Minister. The Greens a minor party anxious for power and Independent MPs cast in their lot with Julia Gillard so that she could form a minority Government as opposed to supporting the Liberal/National Coalition led by Liberal MP Tony Abbott., whom they disliked intensely.
However, as the months slipped past the Greens and Independents delighted in exercising their power over Julia Gillard to whom they had given support. They had forgotten the saying ‘uneasy lies the head that wears the crown’ applies equally to Prime Ministers who gain status by what most people consider foul means, which was the case with Julia Gillard and in doing so virtually sealed their own political fate.
Indeed the whole term of this Government has been mired in controversy with broken promises, reversal of policy, new taxes and much more, leading to voters to no longer trust her or Labor. That they don’t trust her isn’t surprising when one considers how she first became PM. This was achieved when Labor power brokers, as if replaying an act of regicide in mediaeval times proverbially stabbed Labor PM Kevin Rudd in the back and replaced him with Julia.
In reviewing the Panto, for a brief period of time, two performers, M&M – Misandry and Misogyny – the identical malicious twins, became stars. Hopefully their time has passed, never to be revived. Unfortunately, Julia’s poor performance has led to a clamour from some MPs for her replacement with Rudd, who initially was thought to be politically dead but has stayed very much politically alive and able to talk, much to the daily discomfiture of Julia Gillard and Labor.
Continuing the review, while many people think the Gonski Plan for education is good, only a minority of State and Territory Governments which have responsibility for their own education programs have, as yet, signed on to implement it. On the other hand the new Disability Care policy has been accepted though many in the disabled community remain sceptical about its likely success while many people also have doubts about the Government’s NBN policy.
At the same time, many voters are still bitter about the introduction of the Carbon Tax that Julia Gillard said would never be introduced. But credit where it’s due. Over five hundred pieces of legislation were passed by the Government although over ninety per cent was passed with the support of the Opposition.
Finally, however, it seems to me Kevin Rudd’s protestations that he does not want to become PM is given the lie – ‘accidentally,’ – no doubt, by his protestations general opinion of all the political ‘experts,’ is that Labor will lose the election in September. That being the case I think voters would rather have a majority Government than again sit through a poor the political panto for another three years.
Comment welcome.
If you would like to receive these Articles automatically you can RSS it or become a follower by using the ‘follow’ connection at bottom right of the published page.
.
- In: ACT OPINIONS | Environment | Global Warming | media
- 1 Comment
My latest blog is always available at: https://donallan.wordpress.com. To make direct contact e-mail me at: dca@netspeed.com.au
Is the National Broadcaster still Your ABC ?
It seems to me after forty four years of listening to the ABC for up to date news and opinions about issues facing the community in which I lived, of which 39 years have been spent in Canberra., that the ABC is denying the right of people whose opinion seems to be at odds with some in the ABC, to make their views known. In a sense the ABC seems to have stopped being Your ABC and has become the property of ABC staff making it: ‘Their ABC.’
This comment is made because of what seems to me the ABC’s abuse of its role as the community broadcaster following the Community Forum in Canberra held Monday evening 17 June held in the Playhouse Theatre, Canberra Theatre Centre to find out community views on the Australian Climate Commission’s report on global warming and climate change.
On Tuesday 18th June, Sarah Clarke the ABC’s national environment and science correspondent reported the Forum on both ABC radio and television but the only people interviewed were alarmist global warmers with their dire climate change predictions. Alternative views were nowhere to be heard.
I make this comment because this is the pattern the ABC seems to be adopting on the subject of climate change thus it came as no surprise when on Tuesday, Professor Will Steffen from the Australian National University Canberra and Member of the Commission was interviewed.
That apart, the ABC’s continued reporting in this manner reminds me of Goebbels who said the best way to get people to adopt your views is by telling them long enough and often enough what they are. This is the best way to describe the ABC’s reporting of global warming and climate change and better described as not so much informing the community but brainwashing the community.
The community at large would not be aware that among the people at odds with the Commission and its members, are scientists, engineers, economists, academics who make or have made their living by using their intelligence to make the world a better place. Yes, they are sceptical of the information the Climate Commission uses to substantiate its views. But aren’t true scientists sceptics? Indeed, over the centuries had there been no sceptics the world today would be in the parlous state predicted by the alarmists.
As parents and grandparents these people are as concerned about the future of the planet as Members of the Commission. I am one of those parents but not, unfortunately, a grandparent, scientist, engineer or economist. Apart from disabled, the only other appellation I can add to my name apart from an Australian honour, is Australian Tourism Research Institute Fellow Rtd, an industry that would be seriously affected if the alarmist predictions of the Commission and, I must add, the predictions of the Inter – Governmental Panel on Climate change came true.
It is unfortunate that the ABC, with its capacity to provide the community at large with information about the differing arguments about global warming and climate change seems to have adopted the paternal position: we know best. The ABC, it seems to me, has to some extent lost its role as broadcaster and source of information for the public. Indeed, at times it is almost indistinguishable from commercial radio and television. Worse, many of its staff exhibit clear signs of supporting the philosophy of a particular party.
A final comment. The ABC should stop being the cathedral of environmentalism from whose pulpit sermons about the effects of global warming and climate change are regularly delivered and return to being ‘Your ABC.’
Comment welcome.
If you would like to receive these Articles automatically you can RSS it or become a follower by using the ‘follow’ connection at bottom right of the published page.
The call for a Republic sounds again
Posted on: 16 June 2013
- In: ACT OPINIONS | elections | Politics | Republic
- 13 Comments
My latest blog is always available at: https://donallan.wordpress.com. To make direct contact e-mail me at: dca@netspeed.com.au
The call for a Republic sounds again
The idea of Australia becoming a Republic is like an active volcano which from time to time erupts and spews out lava like streams of hot words that say goodbye forever to the Queen. The stream of words then dries up until a politician in need of a distraction from his/her problem creates a new republic eruption clothed as patriotism.
The usual form of this eruption is that the world sees Australia as a colonial outpost with Australians as serfs of the British monarchical system which, according to Republican Movement has already reached its use by date.
Of course, as usual there are views to the contrary expressed by Australians who can’t see any benefit in the change. Surprisingly, these Australians are not only confined to one section of the community but across the full range of the political spectrum.
(A brief digression: I would be in favour of Australia becoming a Republic if, in doing so, the change would help create a million new jobs or the money saved by the change was invested in something with a practical application. At the same time I would want the Republican movement to give support to Scotland becoming Independent.)
Cynicism aside, the recent eruption of the republican volcano has been caused by Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer Wayne Swan, in what seems the forlorn hope that media reporting of it will make voters sympathetic to him and his Government and so avoid both of them being ditched by voters at the election in September.
On the basis of news reports it seems doubtful that more than media reporting will help either his or the Government’s re- election. If anything, I think both Mr Swan’s performance as Treasurer plus the Government’s will re-inforce voters views that if there is to be a Republic, the President should be elected by popular choice, which in turn, raised the question: how would the public make its choice? Well I’ve got an idea about how the public could make its choice.
Save the odd madman/woman among them, I doubt Academics would consider nominating, while Captains of Industry and Union Bosses too, would surely rule themselves out, in the latter’s case because they already wield more power than a President and would be loath to give it up just to preside over afternoon tea parties.
So who does that leave? The only people left are me and you – the common herd – ex-politicians and myriad ex others. I could be wrong but I think the common herd has too much sense to want the job. On the other hand many ex – politicians so love the limelight they would probably queue up to get on the ballot paper. On the other hand it could turn out to be the longest queue in history and good for an entry in the Guinness Book of Records. If that happened, the queue would be reduced in the following way.
First: This could be done by forming a panel of 14 voters, two from each state and one from each territory, all drawn at random from the electoral roll. Second: The panel would set an examination paper with questions that asked candidates why they wanted to be President. The six top scoring entrants would then become Presidential candidates.
This election would be first past the post and to ensure each candidate had the same chance they would then be given equal time on radio and television and equal space in newspapers, to present to the nation in what I will call their Eureka Address as to why they should be elected President. I would suggest, also, that the Eureka Address be not any longer than the 272 words of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.
A voting slip and pre-paid envelope would be given to every voter before the candidates addressed the electorate. After the address the voting slip indicating the voters’ choice would have to reach the Electoral Commission within seven days.
However, just in case I’m wrong and some of you fancy being president why not put your reasons in no lmore than 272 words in the comment section at the end of the blog.
Comment welcome.
If you would like to receive these Articles automatically you can RSS it or become a follower by using the ‘follow’ connection at bottom right of the published page.
- In: ACT OPINIONS | elections | Government | Politics
- Leave a Comment
My latest blog is always available at: https://donallan.wordpress.com. To make direct contact e-mail me at: dca@netspeed.com.au
Canberra: a school for wannabe political rulers
It’s clear from some e-mails I receive that Canberra has many people who think free speech is a privilege available only to a few members of society and that they are one of the chosen few.. Perhaps this occurs because politics is Canberra’s raison d’être and permanent or temporary home to many suffering from the delusion they are born to rule.
Canberra of course, is known as the Bush Capital a definition that when examined makes the claim questionable. The claim is questionable because architecturally, nothing about it suggests any bush connection. Apart from the National Parliament House and an ex Parliament House plus a few other buildings housing national institutions its building infrastructure is nothing to shout about. Subconsciously this does not fit with the ambitions of those who wish to rule because they no wish to rule a Bush Capital because it suggests a capital of lesser quality than say London, Washington or Paris.
That apart, Canberra will have but few residents who remember it as a bush town where residents, male and female, wore clothes suited to the bush unlike the business suits of today’s bureaucrats. But credit where it’s due: when the wind blows down its windy and broad streets bare of people, straying dogs or children playing football, Canberra does resemble some bush towns.
But let me return to politics and Canberra’s raison d’être. Apart from the same mix of political parties that one would expect to find in city where life revolves around politics, it also has individuals who view political parties everywhere – I shall be polite because some of their views might not be printable- as the biggest collections of confidence tricksters in the world.
And here is the list of Parties that stood candidates for the Assembly at the last ACT election.
- Australian Labor Party (ACT Branch)
- Australian Motorist Party
- Bullet Train for Canberra
- Liberal Democratic Party
- Marion Lê Social Justice Party
- Liberal Party of Australia (A.C.T. Division) (Canberra Liberals)
- Pangallo Independents Party
- The ACT Greens
- The Community Alliance Party (ACT)
Three further organisations—Pirate Party Australia, Australian Democrats and No Carbon Tax Climate Sceptics stated they intended to nominate candidates to be listed on ballot papers as Independents
With regard to political parties, many voters think most Labor Party MLAs have never Labored in their lives while they wouldn’t leave most business/manager oriented Liberal Party MLAs in charge of a business they owned. And not to forget the Greens, the Party of principles which seems devoted to returning the environment to the state into which it evolved post the Big Bang.
As it turned out the election provided no ruling party with both Labor and Liberal each picking up eight seats Unfortunately the Greens lost two seats and, according to people who trusted them with their vote, when its sole representative decided to throw his lot in with Labor in return for a strings attached ministry so that it could take Government, it also managed to lose its principles.
It is thought that over the centuries politics had changed for the better. However, on the basis of how political life works today it has to be said that, in practice, nothing much has changed. Politicians have only replaced the mediaeval power brokers and still act as rulers who want to govern the big kingdoms; the bigger the better.
And if only to prove that nothing much has changed politicians still make a lot of big promises which are exceeded only by their big mistakes.
Comment welcome.
If you would like to receive these Articles automatically you can RSS it or become a follower by using the ‘follow’ connection at bottom right of the published page.
Does “Flirting’ have a use by date
Posted on: 14 June 2013
- In: ACT OPINIONS | History | Humour
- 3 Comments
My latest blog is always available at: https://donallan.wordpress.com. To make direct contact e-mail me at: dca@netspeed.com.au
Does ‘Flirting’ have a use by date?
Since reading a column about ‘flirting’ in the London Times many years ago, I have flirted with the idea of writing this column. That it has taken so long might indicate my real flirting days are over which is what I say Boadicea, light of my life and direct in line descendant of the warrior queen, who has held me in thrall for fifty four years, when she catches me looking at particularly attractive young females.
For whatever reason, the article treated ‘Flirting’ with frivolity perhaps because the lady who wrote it, sadly I cannot remember her name, was young and unaware of its seriousness.
In truth I was surprised to find this article in ‘The Times,’ long having laboured under the impression that as a newspaper it was as stuffy as the Conservative establishment it allegedly represented. Indeed, I had heard it referred to as a staid and stuffy.But was it staid and stuffy or was this just a rumour put about by its enemies?
Maybe it had been staid and stuffy and was the ‘Flirting’ article a sign of the times and a way of making the point that conservative British society was now in free-fall. On the other hand, was it something I could sympathise or was it that a staid and stuffy old lady old was hitching up her skirts and kicking up her heels in a final fling to prove she still had it?
Better late than never I must make clear that ‘Flirting’ is not a matter of frivolity but an art and a serious subject. It is not simply the preliminary eyeball jousting males and females engage in before moving to the more serious battles when the latter valiantly engage in protecting virgin territory.
As an art however, ‘Flirting’ not only seems endangered but so endangered that I’m thinking of asking the Government to fund a program for its protection. That it is an important art is clear also because so many people consider it a necessary pre-requisite to marriage. And though it might not be well known, ‘Flirting’ is also important in historical economic terms. For example how many young people today know that, ‘Flirting’ played a major role in the economic recovery of Britain, Europe and the United States post World War II? I suspect it might have played a similar role in Australia and New Zealand.
You might think that last statement fanciful and flirting with the truth but it’s true because, as I read the article, my mind raced back to a time when ‘Flirting’ was one of my life’s major activities. In fact had I spent as much time on schoolwork as I did Flirting, perhaps I could have grown up and been appointed ‘Flirting’ Correspondent of ’ The Times.’ .
As to my ‘flirting.’ Most of it was done between ages 12 to 17 as I travelled to and from high school on the No 55 bus. And to show my ‘flirting’ was serious let me tell you my preparation started hours before I caught the bus. Not that I was the only one who did such preparation, millions of schoolboys and schoolgirls across Britain did the same.
I cannot speak for the girls of course, or even for most boys, but as I think back my preparation for ‘Flirting’ was a ritual of planning that the Generals in World War II would have been proud of.
Part I of the ritual was me making sure I smelled as fresh as I could, consistent with a boy’s natural inclination to avoid too much water knowing it was bad for the skin. Part twol was an application to the teeth of Gibbs dentifrice known for its capacity to make teeth bright enough to dazzle the eyes of flirtees. Part three was the removal of blackheads and squeezing of pimples after which cream would be applied to cover the bruises caused by their removal. Part four was to shine my shoes with Cherry Blossom boot polish while the final part of the ritual was to groom my hair in the style of swashbuckling International English footballer and Test cricketer Dennis Compton – flat and parted in the centre, an effect that in my case could only be achieved by applying generous dollops of Brylcreem. As for the flirtees, their hair- styles followed that of the day’s most popular female movie stars.
Once on the bus my ‘Flirting’ campaign would get under way. To give me an advantage over competitors, I would try and sit as close as possible to my flirting target because without such a seat even my careful preparation could have been in vain with the result that I would be cast into a pit of despair so deep as to make life seem not worth living – at least not until my next attempt the following morning. After all, faint heart never won fair lady.
However, more important than personal feelings, although I didn’t know it at the time, ‘Flirting’ made the economy boom because, week after week, in an effort to keep ahead of their competitors, millions of young male ‘flirters’ bought every jar of Brylcreem, pimple cream and tin of Cherry Blossom shoe polish to keep up with demand. Unfortunately even though these flirting aids made the economy successful they could not guarantee personal success as I can confirm personally.
However, I wouldn’t like to give people the impression that only boys contributed to the economy, so too did the girls as they snapped up the jars of pimple cream the boys didn’t buy and forced manufacturers to invest in new plant and equipment to meet their demand for hair ribbon, cosmetics, shampoos and conditioners.
Sadly however, Brylcreem, pimple cream, Cherry Blossom, hair ribbon and the simple pleasure of eyeball jousting, now seem to have given way to mobile phones, credit cards and cars. Or does that indicate my use by date for flirting is now past?
Comment welcome.
If you would like to receive these Articles automatically you can RSS it or become a follower by using the ‘follow’ connection at bottom right of the published page.
My latest blog is always available at: https://donallan.wordpress.com. To make direct contact e-mail me at: dca@netspeed.com.au
I hope truth is on today’s political menu
Theoretically, Australia’s political menu for the nest three months should be the policy dishes the major parties contesting the election, Saturday 14th September, think so good that the electorate will reward them with the gold medal of Government. Whatever else can be said about the policy dishes each party is optimistic that their policy dishes are more likely to favour them than their opponents.
It being said the proof of the pudding is in the eating and because there’s no try before buy in the electoral system, come Election Day, voters have to take these policies on trust and that’s a very big ask of many politicians.
Nonetheless for a while it looked as if voters would get a chance to get their teeth into the main policy dishes of both parties, they found out that often these policy dishes had replaced with minor dishes by people with big egos. And worse still these dishes were getting more publicity than the main dishes.
In fact rumour now seems to be playing a bigger role in Government, than policy. Day after day the media is wash with rumours about the peccadilloes of various MPs. That it is changed days is clear because gossip is now categorised as news. Making it worse, is that no one seems to check whether or not the gossip is accurate.
The result is that a piece of political mendacity can grow and grow and seen as true is posted to that ‘paragon ‘of accuracy Facebook. In part this is what happened yesterday when a so called piece of political ‘news’ was being reported as if it had happened twenty four hours earlier and referred to a three months old piece of gossip.
And what was this great piece of ‘news’? The news was that three months ago an imbecilic cartoon menu of PM Gillard that should never have seen the light of day had been used at a Liberal Party fundraiser in Brisbane for a candidate standing at the next election. When questioned, the candidate said he had no knowledge of the men and condemned it out of hand as did Tony Abbott, the Liberal Leader.
Sadly and unfortunately as it turned out, the PM’s staff failed to check to check the story properly with result that she launched a vitriolic attack on Abbott, the Liberal Party and the candidate. Unfortunately the PM’s information was wrong as the real culprit owned up and said the menu had not been used at the fundraiser.
During today’s breakfast show on my local ABC radio, during an interview the presenter sad to an interviewee, as if to prevent bias being inferred, that he had not heard of anyone at the function denying the story. Apparently around 200 people attended the function which made me wonder had he heard of anyone at the function confirming the story.
There are many such examples in the media of lies being accepted as truth and stories being edited so as to present somebody in a more positive light which has given rise to the saying: never let the facts get in the way of a good story; but are such stories good stories?
Sad as it is and in contrast to much political rhetoric about democracy it seems to me that in the past although democracy has often been subverted, the subversion of democracy today is at an unheard of level. This does not bode well for the attempts of people genuinely interested in democracy for what it can do for society, rather than for transient fame and status.
In ending let me say, truth is a value whose worth is immeasurable. At one time or another most of us having strayed from the truth will now know the damage this can so let me abjure people to speak it more often.
Comment welcome.
If you would like to receive these Articles automatically you can RSS it or become a follower by using the ‘follow’ connection at bottom right of the published page.
- In: ACT OPINIONS | Government | Politics
- 5 Comments
My latest blog is always available at: https://donallan.wordpress.com. To make direct contact e-mail me at: dca@netspeed.com.au
Who’s your choice as Australia’s next Prime Minister?
To be or not to be, who, not that, is the question. On the basis of today’s political climate it seems as if the Australian Party can’t make up its mind. In turn this makes the electorate worried about the quality of the people Labor is talking about as prospective Leaders. That, of course, is premised on Julia Gillard standing down voluntarily as PM -an unlikely event – that if most Labor MPs ones currently serving in her Government were re-elected, she’d be better off out of it.
There are wannnabe leaders starting with previous Leader Kevin Rudd, who clearly has recovered physically from the wound in his back that caused his removal as Prime Minister on 24 June, 2010. However, while he seems to have recovered physically from the wound clearly he has not expunged the memory of it from his mind.
Indeed, at times, unless one knew better, it would be easy to think as he flits around Australia from electorate to electorate delivering his ambiguous prolix messages about his political ambitions, that he was still Prime Minister. Nevertheless, even if pre-election, he beat JulIa Gillard in a popularity vote, I am not sure that come the election, voters would hand the helm of government back to him.
The reason for that, in his time as PM, although seemingly a man of politeness and intellect, he was exposed by his personal staff and senior bureaucrats as a man of crude verbal violence. But more than that, he was given to displaying an authoritarianism and arrogance more associated with dictators than democrats.
It would be easy to harp on about Rudd’s faults but to do so would be to accord him publicity he doesn’t deserve. What I find surprising is that a party which boasts of its belief in egalitarianism didn’t know of Rudd’s faults. I suspect it did but chose to cover them up to avoid being labelled as being the same as the Opposition.
To some degree it could be said also that cover up has replaced transparency in politics. That said, let me add that politicians would be wise to remember the words of Lincoln: “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”
Next in the queue of wannabe PMs is Bill Shorten. Said to be a smart cookie, one would have to say his political vision was somewhat impaired else he wouldn’t have initiated Rudd’s deposition as PM so that Gillard could take his place. Once installed as PM Gillard clearly hoped for electoral success and more than one term as PM.
And if Shorten hoped his time as a Union official would be to his benefit in his drive to become Leader and PM, adds to the idea that he has impaired vision. With union membership in decline, such an outcome was unlikely. (Think Lincoln)
As to the election Labor seems to expect that Tony Abbott’s perceived anti women reputation and previous comments of many years ago in relation industrial relations will be deciding factors at the election. I think Labor is badly mistaken.
However, it must be said that some Shadow Minister and Current Government Ministers, some Coalition MPs some wannabes, some Labor MPS and some wannabes have something in common. They have to habit of putting feet in mouth because they have not learned the value of silence.
With the election three months away election watch could prove interesting. Three months has given front – runners enough time to demonstrate their ability and foot in mouth people time to demonstrate their skill.
Comment welcome.
If you would like to receive these Articles automatically you can RSS it or become a follower by using the ‘follow’ connection at bottom right of the published page.
- In: ACT OPINIONS | Community | Disability | Education | elections | Government
- 1 Comment
My latest blog is always available at: https://donallan.wordpress.com. To make direct contact e-mail me at: dca@netspeed.com.au
Paranoia is directing the course of the Federal election
From the behaviour of a good many of its Federal MPs clearly the Australian Labor Party now leads in the paranoia stakes because every day a new reason for getting rid of PM Julia Gillard breaks out in party ranks. In fact the only person on the surface, who seems unaffected by paranoia, is Julia Gillard herself.
Indeed suggestion after suggestion has been floated about how to cure the ills dogging Labor that even if Gillard was removed who would take her place? Bill Shorten? Not that he will admit it, but Shorten has actively stoked the fires of paranoia with his statement that if Labor doesn’t change leaders it could experience a landslide at the next election.
Much as he is promoted in the media as a straight shooter, this statement is a piece of political ambiguity which shows Shorten is still a political assassin prepared to do to Julia Gillard, whom he professes to support, what he and his cohort of assassins did to Kevin Rudd. However, to try and keep his image squeaky clean, he has, as yet, not said it would be in the interests of the Party to remove the PM. However, if her removal ever came to pass, I doubt he would choke over the words.
Another aspect the forced removal of a second PM in a very short period of time does not seem to have been considered in an allegedly stable Democracy like Australia. Could it affect the view of leaders in other Democracies? Some of these leaders might view Australia as being less stable than it seems and the words of its political leaders not to be trusted.
In any case, regardless of Shorten being an ALP Powerbroker, what seems to me is that with the exception of a few, most politicians seem more concerned with their own welfare than that of the people who elected them. And with reference to the current brou ha ha about Labor’s leadership, how many of those seeking election as Labor MPs ever mention in their campaigning who they think should be Leader? If the party observed true democratic principles this would make electing a leader a more open process.
Of course the same could be said about the Opposition except for the fact that Tony Abbot won in democratically controlled ballot, albeit by one vote. On reflection however, and considering the negativity expressed towards him by Government Members and at times members of his own team perhaps he regrets winning.
However, it must be said in his favour that like Julia Gillard he, too, has steadfastly stared his enemies in the face while his own facial expression says do your worst but I’m staying where I am. Indeed, outrageous as the suggestion might be, perhaps Julia Gillard has copied him.
The truth of the matter is that both sets of MPs are paranoid, Labor MPs at the prospect of them being washed out in the forecast landslide and Coalition MPs at the thought that with the holy grail of Government within their grasp, Mr Abbott’s unpopularity might save the Government and the PM.
There’s no use asking MPs to cease their conspiracies. By this time voters know that most of them don’t give a tinker’s cuss about what people think. Being of ‘superior’ mind they expect voters to take their word that will face a bleak future if their party doesn’t get elected.
Voters of course will have their own views on the matter. Will they think the Gonski education plan makes education better; will the NBN make their experience of computers better; and will Disability Care, a subject of great personal interest to me, make people with a disability jump for joy? As yet there no clear answers.
And so the questions remain. Do voters think that Labor has handled these policies so badly that, regardless of what might be seen as possible benefits, they will become financial nightmares that will haunt the community for many years to come.
On the other hand the Coalition must be able to persuade them that they have the answer and that a vote for the Coalition will prevent financial nightmares.
As time goes by we’ll see which of the two possibilities gain favour with the voters. I can’t wait to see the result.
Comment welcome.
If you would like to receive these Articles automatically you can RSS it or become a follower by using the ‘follow’ connection at bottom right of the published page.
- In: ACT OPINIONS | elections | Government | Politics
- 1 Comment
My latest blog is always available at: https://donallan.wordpress.com. To make direct contact e-mail me at: dca@netspeed.com.au
The Insiders’ opinions are only as good as yours
Judas Iscariot really started started something when he sold his loyalty for thirty pieces of silver. History shows, that in century after century since Judas, the selling of loyalty by people of influence in all spheres of life is still going strong.
If rumour is right, thirty two Members of the Australian Labor Government have done a Judas and sold their loyalty although, if their scheme doesn’t work as planned, the net effect will cost each of them more than thirty pieces of silver. Not only will they lose their seats they will also lose the respect of their former constituents. Worse, if they have family, it is more than likely that it, too, will be affected.
But the most serious effect is likely to be felt when the MPs try to find a job. Unfortunately, they will find out, as others before them have found out, that without integrity, finding a good job is fraught with more difficulty than they ever experienced as an MP. And though leprosy has almost vanished ex politician tainted by disloyalty will be treated as Lepers by people they once thought of as colleagues and friends.
In this case the MPs have sold their loyalty to former PM Kevin Rudd. Effectively, it is an attempt to bribe former PM Kevin Rudd because if restored to the Prime Ministership and they are re-elected they hope he will look kindly on them. Any remarks they make that they became disloyal on behalf of the Party is just pie in the sky.
But how would Mr Rudd be restored to the Prime Ministership? Apparently some people believe the negative publicity currently surrounding PM Gillard is so strong that she will buckle under the pressure and offer herself up a candidate for martyrdom on behalf of the ALP. I have to say that just as Maggie Thatcher was a ‘lady not for turning’ PM Gillard is a ‘lady not for buckling.’
At the same time the rumours about the PMs possible martyrdom are being fed less by the Opposition than by the disloyal MPs, a former leader of the ALP and the media. Take last Sunday’s ABC Insiders program for example. Sympathetic to Labor and at times acting almost as a Labor publicity forum, last Sunday’s programme managed to convey that Labor would be better off with a new Leader if the negativity about the PM didn’t abate.
That apart, umpteen comments on what should happen are being made by various members of the commentariat as if they receive information about what the PM is thinking. The fact is, whether Insiders or Outsiders the only thing they can give you is their Opinion and I am yet to know how their opinion is better than yours.
And while I too have an opinion the only comment I’m going to make about the next election is: that if the predicted Coalition landslide occurs, the number of Labor representatives in the next parliament could probably be accommodated in an old style telephone box.
It seems to me also that Mr Rudd, ho suffered political martyrdom at the hands of PM Gillard and her supporters, is hastening the idea of replacing the PM. Ubiquitous and unctuous as usual, he keeps telling people he will not offer himself as a leader while urging all MPs to support her. Such urgings however sit ill with the fact that he has accepted the invitations of the thirty two disloyal MPs to speak at their election campaigns.
As for the other leader involved in the election, I suspect Mr Abbott thinks the focus on the negative attitude of many Labor MPs to the PM as an unexpected political bonus but will leave it to Labor to carry on the good work on his behalf.
Comment welcome.
If you would like to receive these Articles automatically you can RSS it or become a follower by using the ‘follow’ connection at bottom right of the published page.
Colosseums and gladiators still exist
Posted on: 8 June 2013
- In: ACT OPINIONS | Disability | Sport
- 20 Comments
My latest blog is always available at: https://donallan.wordpress.com. To make direct contact e-mail me at: dca@netspeed.com.au
Colosseums and gladiators still exist
Sport stadia, indoor ones included, are merely old Colosseums under a new name. While you might only know Colosseums from history they were arenas where gladiators satisfied their need to show themselves as strong, ruthless men with the killer instinct and tried to satisfy the blood lust of the thousands of spectators who had come to witness the killing.
Although the killing today is not physical but mental, the underlying motivation is a case of plus ça change plus c’est la même chose, with one significant difference: it is more common today for women to become gladiatrices (mow more commonly called battleaxes) as recorded by Roman writers Tacitus and Petronius in the reign of Emperor Nero and Suetonius in the reign of Emperor Domitian.
In some respects however, today’s gladiatrices of tennis have at least one characteristic in common with the gladiators of Rome. As they fire their serves at their opponents their accompanying screams and shouts probably sound more terrifying than anything a gladiator served up to his opponent. And probably the screams and shouts of spectators also match those of the spectators at the Colosseum.
When the tribal war system which maintained gladiatorial killing throughout the ages collapsed, it was replaced with sport, a gladiatorial system that did not involve killing. This spurred all kinds of organised sporting contests such as rugby union, rugby league and soccer that were played in stadiums.
It was only to be expected the man’s world of that time it would be men only sports that were supported. This is why soccer became the number one sport in Britain and then around the world where it is now growing stronger in countries where previously it struggled. I suspect the reason for its growing popularity is that it has being taken up and supported by women who stopped being spectators in favour of participation.
Some sport such as tennis and hockey that had been played for a long time by women continued to be played but without ever reaching the popularity levels of the gladiatorial sports. Nonetheless, women eventually started asking why they couldn’t play the gladiatorial sports and finding no good reason why, began their own organised contests.
But it was Baron de Coubertin’s Olympic Games and sporting philosophy that he sold successfully to many countries that became the catalyst that advanced women’s contests making it inevitable that contests between women became part of the sporting gladiatorial scene. But that’s not the only reason it advanced, it also advanced because sport became part of school curriculums.
And as more and more women took up sport, more and more sporting opportunities were opened up to them so that today women participate in the myriad athletic events that are part of today’s Olympic Games. Indeed women’s sport is now featuring prominently on the sporting calendar of many nations and perhaps more importantly sport now has a major role to play in the life of people with a disability through the Paralympic Games.
Sadly however, some men playing at the top level of football in Australia seem to have succumbed to using violence like gladiators in the old Colosseum claiming that violence such as king hitting, biting your opponent or felling them to prevent goals being scored is only to be expected.
Perhaps they might remember that the Colosseum in Rome and the many Colosseums built elsewhere in the old Roman world, are either now nothing but ruins or have vanished completely. And they might care to note also that the almost continuous stream of violence that bedevil the world today does not produce winners.
That said let’s keep the violence of the old Colosseums out of the new ones.
Comment welcome.
If you would like to receive these Articles automatically you can RSS it or become a follower by using the ‘follow’ connection at bottom right of the published page.
- In: ACT OPINIONS | Business | Community | Politics
- 1 Comment
My latest blog is always available at: https://donallan.wordpress.com. To make direct contact e-mail me at: dca@netspeed.com.au
Letters to the editor
Have you ever written a letter to the editor? As a male ex letter to the editor writer, let me warn other males they should beware of taking it up as a hobby because writing letters to the editor can become even more seductive than your wife or the woman of your dreams.
Apart from being seductive, and depending on much you hope your efforts are successful, letter writing can also become obsessive with some letter writers becoming so consumed by writing them that occasionally their day passes in a daze. What they don’t know is, that if successful in getting them published could start them on the road of serious consequences.
Not that I wish to make men feel uncomfortable but, like an Afghanistan road planted with IEDs, the road of serious consequences has IEDs marked divorce, psychiatrist, murder, moneylenders, suicide and, nearest mental facility.
Although you might never trip any of the latter you’ll find out how expensive your hobby can become if you want to be taken seriously. For this to happen, you must keep up with the news from around the world. Unfortunately, the internet today, the main source of overseas news, can be expensive. Of course if you’re interest is confined to your own locality your main news source is likely to be either your local newspaper, local radio and TV stations.
And beware of addiction to a particular subject, politics for example, a fate that befalls some letter writers. A short digression: Politics is an addiction which is why so many politicians seem to think voters are there to serve them, not the other way round.
Digression over I can only add that food is not often featured on the letter pages despite it reaching epidemic levels with various TV programmes and glossy magazines with inserts designed to appeal to the glutton in us. This seems odd in an affluent society like Australia when so many newspapers run features about churches and other organisations setting up programmes to help society’s neediest keep the wolf from the door.
Other subjects prominent on the letters page are education, health, planning, science and climate change. Letters about religion are of a different kettle of fish. They are more a war of words between Christians and Muslims that looks as if it will continue for some time to come. My hope: that this war keeps being fought on the letters pages and never reaches the streets. Optimistic as I am, I am braced for disappointment.
Even though there are many letters about community issues, sadly, I have to say, the underlying theme in many of these letters is not the offer of sensible alternatives but a spruik in support of a political party.
Effectively the letter writers use the letter pages as a means of gaining unpaid (?) political advertising. While you might question this statement just start reading the letter pages and you’ll soon see what I mean.
What rescues the letters pages from these writers are letters from writers who have resisted party political indoctrination and have opinions that run contrary to those of all political parties. For me, some of these people should be in parliament.
I’d like to end by stressing that the purpose of this blog is not to discourage people from writing letters to the editor but to point out to those considering the idea that the letters page can be a great vehicle for giving community the opportunity to read about ideas that, while not necessarily earth shattering in importance, nonetheless offer the sensible solutions to problems that elected politicians fail to offer.
I can but add that if you don’t like the idea of writing a letter to the editor you can always start a blog of your own.
Comment welcome.
If you would like to receive these Articles automatically you can RSS it or become a follower by using the ‘follow’ connection at bottom right of the published page.
Apology for a wrong post
Posted on: 7 June 2013
Apology for a wrong post
Yesterday I posted a blog titled Letters to the editor. Today, to my discomfiture, I found that I had posted a draft of the blog not the finished article.
As to why it happened I won’t weary you with an excuse except to say it occurred because I was trying to do too many things at the same time. Unfortunately, these were not chores that could be put aside.
And so I am posting today the finished blog that should have been posted yesterday.
Apologies again..
Yours sincerely,
Don Allan
The Battle of B Day
Posted on: 5 June 2013
My latest blog is always available at: https://donallan.wordpress.com. To make direct contact e-mail me at: dca@netspeed.com.au
The Battle of B Day
Every year a day is set aside in the ACT Legislative Assembly for B Day. If you haven’t already guessed, B Day is the non- lethal budget battle even if, on occasion, some of the combatants might wish otherwise. The Treasurer in his wisdom has called this a budget for a rainy day and as an alternative a visionary budget. I find this surprising given most voters want budgets of sunshine.
However, in this set piece battle the Opposition tries to upset the Government on the matter of how much money it needs to run and expand ACT services and facilities now and in the future. In a sense it tries to rain on the Treasurer’s budget.
As to the budget itself, unfortunately for householders some budget announcements look as if they are going to experience many rainy days, caused by the Government’s increases in fees and taxes. As he tries to put a good face on it the Treasurer’s in his most sympathetic manner will plead, that without the rises Canberra could go to hell in a hand basket.
Indeed, voters worried about the future could find the Treasurer’s face so sorrowful they might be inclined to say the rises should be greater. On the other hand the first impressions of the mass of voters suggest they have no particular love for his rainy day proposition. Whether his visionary propositions will receive a better hearing is yet to be seen.
Of the budget battle itself I am in no doubt the Opposition will argue with the Government about: a.) The amount of money the Government says it needs to run the ACT properly, and b.) How the Government intends to raise the money.
That said and regardless of what the Government says it needs, its first and most important priority is to get a majority vote of approval for the proposed budget from the 17 Assembly Members. A few days later following the Opposition’s budget reply that important vote is taken. Should the Government not get the majority it needs the possibility exists of it being replaced by the Opposition.
Should this happen the former Government will bewail that giving Government to the former Opposition will ring Canberra’s death knell. Parliaments are not called theatres of the absurd for nothing. That being the case I wonder what Shakespeare might have called this performance? ‘Battle of the Hams’ perhaps?
Not that there is any indication that such an event will occur, so during the budget speech in reply what will be the Opposition’s budget targets? The Opposition will say the Government has failed and continues to fail Canberra; that it has been a government of austerity not a government dedicated to prosperity; that it is a government of misery with its failure to give voters a sense of being a government that cares.
However, some Property Developers will say the Government cares and who’s to blame them, with the budget having treated them well. And so will many in the Arts world which has been the beneficiary of large dollar sums dedicated to the centenary that thousands of homeless Canberrans would have found useful.
And what will the growing numbers of Canberra’s aged feel, many of whom, through no fault of their own become prisoners of poverty standing behind the curtains in houses that speak of affluence staring in grim despair at the world outside.
I couldn’t depart the blog without mentioning our ‘poor ‘sporting Brumbies and Raiders. Had the ACT government not poured thousands of dollars into keeping them in the pink they might have been in danger of dying from hunger or thirst.
Comment welcome.
If you would like to receive these Articles automatically you can RSS it or become a follower by using the ‘follow’ connection at bottom right of the published page.
Allan Takes Aim Blog 