The convoy of no confidence 2013

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The media are rattling hollowly around their cages. I have never seen Australians as angry as I have this weekend. They may not seem it when you meet them but the fact the election is not a topic for discussion on Monday morning, it has been totally sidelined, the fact that people are getting the facts really clear on Twitter and Facebook is full of rude and vulgar messages about what we have done as a nation means Australians have drawn a line in the sand. We are not going to take this. People are angry Tony Abbott was voted in because he simply does not have the skills to work at that level and that was demonstrated well by his behaviour in parliament over the last 6 years and then the lack of capacity to show articulate and well considered policy. He has nonetheless been voted in. Not by much. Labour has the primary vote and so any notion they have not done well is nonsense. The price we have paid for biased , interfering and unbalanced media is the loss of two credible Prime Ministers. There is a third in the wings who is hog tied by the conspiracy of silence in the party and then the knowledge the change we have been offered is the change right back to the Howard era. So many of them are the same. They were ousted solidly in 2007 for a reason so people are angry they are back. People are angry we have someone who has no credibility and we are angry we stood by and let it happen. The media wrote the script and ascribed our roles. Sunday morning was a bitter, bitter taste. Britain investigated its press. France went through  the nonsense of its silly President who was not cut out for the job and have gone for someone very conservative even though he is from the socialist party. Australia then has elected an odd assortment of people into the senate some of whom are coming back to haunt us from the past and so there is a real feeling of uneasiness. Those who did not vote for Tony Abbott do not understand why you would let him be in charge with all the case evidence before us and those who did vote for him thought what? Nobody knows because nobody anyone knows voted for him. This election was corrupt. There were too many chiefs and not enough indians, too many cooks who spoiled the broth, too much scrutiny of some and none of others. The stuff of linguistic and advertising study. The election has been called a wash up in the news and yet The ALP experienced the single smallest seat-loss of any outgoing government since McMahon in the early 70s. Media are trying to interfere in the choice of a new Labour leader. Don't you think they'd have enough sense to leave well alone and keep their big noses out? Some are advocating that politics be taken off the main course in media and that people should take themselves off social media. Labour still has the primary vote so who is saying Kevin Rudd did a fine job in spite of a very brutal media bashing? Who has acknowledged that Julia Gillard actually kept this lot under control but couldn't contain the relentless stirring of rumours by the media? Who has noticed we can't think because everything is shouted at us? This election was the most corrupt I have ever seen because it was neither fair, nor balanced nor reported without opinion.One by one competent politicians are targeted and taken out. The Greens got quite a bashing too and yet the so called disaster for Adam Bandt did not occur. We are angry all of this is misreported, misrepresented and then ends us up in a place we have absolutely no wish to be - no respect , no pride , the laughing stock of the world and no leadership choices. The world watched it happen and saw what we did. This is why Australians have taken to some very colourful expression of their feelings. It has hit hard. We have some lessons worth learning but we need to learn them without interference. A psychologist says we shall find it hard to accept - someone quite rightly pointed out that many will simply never accept what has happened and the repercussion of that in Australia will be interesting to say the least.

Caucus Summer Collection 2012

When you lead a team there will always be those who would put poles in your back, poles in your chest and poles in your side. There will always be those who do not support you. All you can do is attempt to get them onside but carry on regardless if you don't. The nay sayers and black hatters will always be there. A 71-31 win at the caucus vote was pretty impressive for any leader. When your opponent is well liked and respected and has some high level skills, then it is a remarkable result. It is unfortunate it had to be done this way but when you have two really competent leaders in one party and they both have good things to offer, there will be a power struggle and in the end the party has to decide and they did. Julia Gillard is not at all flimsy. She has stood up to an onslaught of of challenges and one at a time she has been able to rise above them and keep a clear head. Her resilience is remarkable as is Anna Bligh's and one day both those women will be given credit for their capacity to endure exceptional circumstance. They are worthy leaders and they are able to withstand the battering of life in Australia and Australian politics. If Kevin Rudd will now use his talents and skills to continue his own good work for the party in his state and his country then he will see that he is still able to lead but not in the way he thinks. He actually needs to be flexible in his thinking. His sporting loss means he can walk away and get on with his new life and new Kevin in that comfortable, assured manner we like. That said, I'd now like to appreciate the fact our politicians got out on the runway today with some pretty dapper clothes. Conservative, yes, but they were impeccably dressed and it is something I'd like to see continue. I do not expect Canberra to be the fashion capital of Australia but I'd like to see our politicians show, as they did today, that Canberra is worthy of quality clothing, good cut, a certain je ne sais quoi and a dash of panache when it comes to dress. Clothes do not maketh the man but a certain standard and style of dress is what we need and what has been missing. Perhaps I am with Mr. Slipper and his attempt to put a level of finesse into our federal parliament. I do like what I saw today. Even our reporters showed a real sense of occasion with their dress and demeanour. I like it and it suits us!

The divine oracle of the polls

Image: News

I feel like saying divine orifice. Honestly. I am waiting to hear we have brought out the sacrificial goat or virgin to seal it all. The media always point to the polls as though there is something divinely , mystically right about them. They are a small sampling of the population. They are by a biased media because so much of it is owned by one interest . They are not at all independently or scientifically constructed and yet we have polls in our heads. Polls , polls, polls. Polls are another form of media manipulation as are comments. It is far too easy to create a bias one way or the other and , frankly, polls are not helping us at all and we know it. There is no way we should be running our country and its people by polls.

So, the media today have reported much with regard to the Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard power struggle . We still have no idea what it would look like should Tony Abbott become PM. Mr. Abbott tried to give us an idea but the media have avoided this notion completely even though they are quite happy to claim certainty with regard to a Labour defeat at the next election. I love the crystal ball gazing which goes on.  To be honest, I have enjoyed what has been brought to me today via the media. I feel like I am getting to know my politicians in a very real way and a way which has been denied me until this hung parliament. Julia Gillard took Kevin Rudd into her cabinet because it would have been foolish not to. He is highly competent, hugely popular and the job as foreign minister suited him and us well. She battled those early days with great courage because the way she was treated had our mouths gaping and that is the thing we are still talking about now in SA. Perhaps it is because we were the first state to give women the vote. We are always conscious of how systems and institutions can harm and disadvantage women and it's one of the first things we note. So we are talking still about the way she was treated, what she had to put up with, how men just assume they can be Prime Minister. Remember when Costello wanted to be Prime Minister? Bad luck. John Howard was the Prime Minister and his party did not want to remove him. We vote in the party. The party decides on its leader. Labour is showing us this time that you can actually do that out in the open and it's quite nice being included. It is better than being excluded. We've noticed the Labour strategist just expects Ms Gillard to give up being Prime Minister because Kevin Rudd wants to be Prime Minister. He is popular. He is certainly very popular in his home state of Queensland.  Yet you don't judge your good boss by how popular they are nor if they can draw a crowd in the street. Sometimes bosses are unpopular when they try to bring about structural change and it is not fully understood what that means. Popular is important but John Howard stayed in power for far too long and I don't think anyone would claim that popularity was what kept him there. So I think we need to think a bit harder here. We have two really good politicians and it is a shame they are in the same place at the same time but history will depict it more clearly. Their style is different and they both represent something we want to see. We want a Prime Minister who can give us a good image internationally and both of them can do that. We want a Prime Minister who can effect the changes we need. They can both do that. Is it really about Tony Abbott? So where's that part of the picture?

Gillard vs Rudd vs Abbott

Image: Cheezburger

Both Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd care about their party, that much is clear and it is also clear they care about Australia. I watched the whole thing unravel today because I could and because  it was really hot and I wanted something quiet to do. They were both calm and composed. They were both confident and capable and they both delivered rational, well thought out speeches. Kevin Rudd probably thought he was evening the score a bit? It's not a war. It's not a crisis. They are both strong, skilled people who represent the same policies but have a different way of approaching things. A differing leadership style. I really valued the input we had today from other party members. You could see there was no animosity and they would be glad to relieve the air because they had all reached the stage where the power struggle between Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard needed to be resolved. Julia Gillard is representing our nation, her party and then has the responsibility of being the first female Prime Minister in Australia. Given that countries like America and France haven't been able to achieve that, then it is a very unique flag for her to be flying. It really is important in a free nation that girls and women can see themselves holding the top job and that there is a model for that. Kevin Rudd is still flying the flag that Australia did clearly elect him in  and gave a very firm and resounding defeat to John Howard. Much was made today of how Australians will send their leaders packing with a baseball bat. That is so wrong. We hate people taking to others with a baseball bat. It is anathema to us. It is more the feeling of a grand final victory that we achieve. We also need to be constantly reminded we only elect the party. We do not elect the leader and there is room for debate on that, but as it stands, the leader is picked by the party we elect. At one stage we really wanted Kevin Rudd back. Then we went through a phase of wanting to see Kevin Rudd go up against Malcolm Turnbull. We have since seen a female Prime Minister go through the hoops and rings of fire and then grow into the job of being a female Prime Minister and it is not the same as having a male Prime Minister yet we are still  coming back to the mindset the only right way is to do it the men's way. I don't have a problem with exploring how to get a woman to succeed in this job. I do not have a problem with having a party sort out its balance of power and for me to know how that is happening. The media brought us all the information but it was focussing on what would happen if Kevin Rudd won and then if Julia Gillard kept her leadership position and then the belief Labour was now in the position of being well set up to lose the next election. This was echoed by Adam Brandt of the Greens. That's where it stopped. With all this ill founded and idle speculation. I was really surprised they were not looking at how we would look under an Abbott Government. Much was said about how Tony Abbott would win the next election but nothing was said about what that meant in terms of changes, policies, likely ministers etc etc and yet that was examined in detail with regard to the Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard scenarios. If it is such a certainty why hasn't the media got onto it?

Blogging for Poverty

Nobody should be without a home or food in Australia. Even those who wish to live on the land can live that way if they want to. We used to have a Breakfast Club in Australian primary schools, in particular, which helped bridged the gap for those children who were homeless, but the funding was pulled.Most of our homeless children have homeless parents as well, so the news we might resurrect it is promising. There are those teenagers who couch surf because things go wrong at home or because they make the wrong lifestyle choices, but we also have families living out of cars and that is wrong. When our government first got into power, Kevn Rudd really put the spotlight on homelessness and made his ministers go and see and feel first hand what it was like and who these people were. The few stories which came back were intensely moving. Andrew Denton also focussed on some of our homeless people and that too was a moving show. Then we have had The Choir of Hard Knocks which Jimmy Barnes got going and the people of OzHarvest who work tirelessy to bring food to people. So we can do some great things which make a difference when we want to.Part of the problem is the housing gap. There is no low income housing. Things like lodging and boarding don't really exist here and we have no social etiquette arrangements for it so that it is a safe alternative. We sold a lot of our state funding housing because many of the houses were being vandalised. So I think we have two things to achieve. We need to get food to children who need it. We need to get food to families. Many of us have good incomes and good lifestyles and we are over catered to. For us to have a way of helping others would work because we have that tradition here. Then we have to teach peole how to be lodgers, how to show respect and how to board and not be a problem. Most people wouldn't rent available space because they would fear their home being taken over, being ripped off or violent consequences. That is how it is and it is something we need to fix. We also need to teach people to look after rental accommodation. The prices have sky rocketed so that landlords get professionals as tenants. We need better social skills. Our anything goes lifestyle is bringing a lot of people down and it means some good people and families are living on the street, without proper amenities and food. That is an indictment of our society. We are warm and generous. We need to use that side of our nature to overcome the oppression and hardship which is occurring.

Boosting Bank Deposits

Image via WikipediaKevin Rudd at least listened to the outcry last week when he was only going to underwrite deposits to 20,000 dollars. That was never going to succeed nor make a difference. To now boost all the bank deposits has made a difference. It is making peole feel safer and it is helping us to stay optimisitic. That Malcolm Turnbull wants to work with the Government in helping stabilise Australia's financial position is good too. We need to be helping each other and we need to be told what we can do to help. We need recommendations and guidelines because we will do it. It has become claear that risky decisions have been made to get quick profit and qucik riches. That approach to finance has blown out world wide and we need to look at the safer options. We have come to realise that global financial stabiltity is very important to everyone. Without it there is mayhem, panic, a lot of personal pain and then a bleak outlook which doesn't help anyone to think their way out of it. Good move.