ALP Party Reform: a long time waiting

ALP members have waited a long time for party reform. We have watched the Federal party waste the promise of the 2007 elections, tearing itself apart with personality politics, factional feuds, and backroom deals and bullying.

The party administration and campaigning, at both Federal and State levels, have been woeful to say the least. We must breakdown the wall between the insiders and the membership if this is to improve.

Clearly we face a crisis within the ALP that requires some major changes. The dead hand of the factions requires members to take a strong stand to ensure democratic decision-making throughout the organisation, not just at local level. As I wrote in an earlier post, "It is a joke to be promoting community campaigning with local candidates and at the same time reverting to the worst of factional politics that goes in the opposite direction."

I have nominated for election as a delegate from Goldstein electorate for the Victorian State Conference and will be supporting others who are prepared to work for rules changes and a changed culture. The time has come for those who have been tied up at conference and the Public Office Selection Committee by faction loyalty or favours to move aside or embrace a new path. We must not have any more preselection debacles. We must have real policy debates where we can be proud of the outcomes whichever point of view prevails.

We need to thrash out the kinds of changes that Local Labor and Open Labor have been proposing. Many of Labor's warlords are more interested in dividing the spoils of opposition than winning office with progressive policies.

We will not get a broad base unless we are prepared to stop whispering in the corridors and walking past the totally unacceptable.

I hope other members will join in nominating as candidates to help revitalise our party. [As an ALP life member of 42 years standing, I won't be tempted to sell out for career ambitions.]

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John Howard: Still a Dead Parrot

 

Since his head keeps popping up on TV lately, it seems an appropriate time to reprise John Howard's Dead Parrots Society. Enjoy!

 My apologies to all the copyright toes that may have been tread on.

No pythons were harmed during the making of this video.

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Australia's Brand Spanking Clean Feed Internet Filter

A brand spanking new Internet filter is on the way. Senator Stephen Conroy's Clean Feed is another step closer. This follows the release of the ISP Filtering Live Pilot Report. Government decisions were announced the same day. Why bother to release the report at all?

The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy has announced:

1. Introduction of mandatory ISP-level filtering of Refused Classification (RC) –rated content.
2. A grants program to encourage the introduction of optional filtering by Internet Service Providers, to block additional content as requested by households.
3. An expansion of the cyber-safety outreach program run by the Australian Communications and Media Authority and the Cyber-Safety Online Helpline – to improve education and awareness of online safety.

Media Release 15 Dec 2009Measures to improve safety of the internet for families

There are many questions that need to be addressed:

The Blacklist

How many sites will be blocked? The report suggests that 10s or 100s of thousands are possible. 1000 were tested. In what ways is the current blacklist ineffective? the blacklist will be passed to ISPs in an encrypted form to avoid the list falling into the wrong hands. After the recent East Anglia climategate hacking, it won’t be long before that hope is dashed.

Passing on the Cost

ISP will be required to bear the costs. This could well be a disincentive to competition as small providers may be discouraged.

Non-sexual Content

As well as sexual sites Refused Classification RC (sic) list will include websites that contain "detailed instruction in crime, violence or drug use and/or material that advocates the doing of a terrorist act".

There goes boxing and several other Olympic sports. How will the list deal with different crimes in different States? If euthanasia is legalised in one State, would sites explaining how to use the laws be banned? Would sites arguing for a change in the law face censorship? Would links to “undesirable” constitute the grounds for black listing?

What about literature, which is full of detailed examples of crime, violence and drug use? Trainspotting? Fight Club? Crime and Punishment? Film and Television sites also pose a risk.

Inaccuracy

"The Government will also establish a grants program to encourage and assist ISPs to offer additional filtering services on a commercial basis for those families that wish to have a wider range of material filtered..."

However, "All six ISPs achieved 100 percent accuracy in blocking the ACMA blacklist. This was a requirement of the pilot. In blocking additional categories of content all six ISPs achieved 78 percent to 84 percent accuracy..." Only 22 percent got through. That’s encouraging.

The FAQ includes No.17. “Why does the Government consider demand exists for additional ISP-level filtering services?” The answer doesn’t mention demand just choice. The general public didn't use the free service and it has been discontinued. Why would they pay for an inaccurate service, especially one that may include over-blocking? But that's a sideshow, as filters for parents are already available on the market. You can already spy on your kids from work if you so desire. Big Father knows best!

Scope of Censorship/Protection

The RC system is not a filtering mechanism that will protect children from accidental or deliberate access to pornography, just the "illegal" stuff. Nor will it catch out child pornographers and paedophiles. Apparently, "Telstra found its filtering solution was not effective in the case of non-web based protocols such as instant messaging, peer-to-peer or chat rooms." ACMA will only list a very limited number of specific internet addresses (URLs).

Circumvention

According to the report, "A technically competent user could, if they wished, circumvent the filtering technology." Technical competence is widespread, including amongst the young. So why spend money on something that is easily circumvented.

Political Equations: In the Wink of an Eye

Kevin Rudd’s Labor government is unlikely to win many votes from this initiative. It’s uncertain if it will lose many in a climate change dominated election. What it faces is a major loss of goodwill from those who object to the filter's authoritarian potential. Imagine Tony Abbott or Kevin Andrews in charge of deciding what's appropriate. Don't mentioned RU486?

The good news is that the internet speeds should not be affected very much. It will be done in the wink of an eye, or as Telstra reported, a delay “equivalent to one seventieth of the blink of an eye”.

Kevin on Facebook: “The Rudd Government's approach to cyber-safety has been informed by the trial of internet filtering and extensive industry feedback about the most appropriate way to improve safety for families online.” What about community consultation? It’s the sort of action you would announce the week of COP15 in Copenhagen and ten days before Christmas. Most of those affected won’t read past the headline.

If the government’s aim is to protect children from inappropriate content, then this scheme won’t achieve that. If it wants to stop illegal material on the web, then it should be confined to criminal material of a sexual nature as proposed in the ALP’s policy in 2007. If it’s trying to increase its popularity amongst “families”, then it’s wasting time and money.

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Spinning the Higgins and Bradfield By-election Numbers

Lots of talk about an Abbott triumph. How does it measure up against the stats? Some data comparing Saturday with the 2007 election results:

Bradfield
2009 Turnout 74.24%, Fletcher 36,628 votes
2007 Turnout 94.03% Nelson 49,817 votes

Fletcher's vote was down 4.47 %.

Higgins
2009 Turnout 71.70%, O'Dwyer 32,779 votes
2007 93.77% 2007, Costello 43,761 votes

O'Dwyer's vote was up 0.34%

The 2009 By-election figures do not include postal votes.

It appears that 10,000 less people voted for each Liberal candidate this time.

Replacing Malcolm Turnbull and walking away from the climate change consensus may have shored up the true blue Liberal heartland, just. Could be the Palin effect at work.

An interesting comparison is the 2008 by-elections:

Gippsland turnout 89.68%,
Mayo 80.12% and
Lyne 87.41%.

This is the stuff of which myths are made. Anyway, a win is a win is a ...

Now it's on to Copenhagen.

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2007 Remembered: Howard's Swift End

24 November is the 2nd anniversary of the election of Kevin Rudd's Labor governemnt in Australia. 'The Poll the Counts' videos from election day were taken around Canberra polling booths and at the National Tallyroom. My favourite is Tallyroom Spectators:



The others can be found at YouTube or Teacher Tube.

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Fair Work Bill buries neo-con labour laws

The end of Work Choices! Congratulations Julia!

Also to Greg Combet and the other true believers who said we would defeat Howard's industrial relations misadventure.

And to Emily and Terrina who are featured in the video.

24 November 2007 seems so long ago.

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Bush's mate Howard back in Washington

A cross post with Voices without Votes:

The upcoming inauguration has taken an Aussie turn. Barack Obama's displacement from Blair House was caused by former Australian Prime Minister John Howard who is to receive the US Medal of Freedom from his mate George W. Bush.

U.S. bloggers were outraged apparently. Australian bloggers were just as vocal.

For more.

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Howard's End: Join the Tallyroom Spectators

The National Tallyroom in Canberra on election night 2007 was a rowdy, raucous place. The crowd were after scalps, none more so than the Prime Minister John Howard's. Every time one of the TV monitors showed the latest counting in the PM's electorate of Bennelong or the ALP candidate Maxine McKew, there was loud cheering and screaming.

The Tallyroom was divided into three sections. The media were roped off at the front near the traditional wall of tally boards for each House of Representative seat. At the other end were most of the national TV panels, perched high above the crowd. The poor cousin SBS were on the side with the other media.

The guest politicians were barely visible from the public area but when shots of Julia Gillard, deputy leader of the opposition, appeared on the screens the revellers erupted. Added to these catalysts were the shenanigans of The Chaser who taunted the likes of Liberal Senator Bill Heffernan, Howard's close friend and head-kicker. In fact ABC anchor Kerry O'Brien blamed them for the crowd noise that disturbed his coverage. The irony was that his own TV monitors were a much greater cause of the jubilation.

The noise level did not abate until John Howard came on to the screens to give his concession speech, having lost government and his own seat. Calm and quiet fell as the crowd watched this seemingly impossible event unfold. 'Tallyroom Spectators' records this silent celebration.

This is final reprise from 'The Poll that Counts' video series to mark the last episode of The Howard Years - Walking On Water

For those who can't bring themselves to watch the ABC program, try this instead. Should bring a smile to your face if you've read this far.

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Howard on top: Luck, Lies and Latham

Watched Part 3 The Howard Years: Commander-in-Chief last night. Decided that my post yesterday should have been called: Luck, Lies and Latham.

Tony Blair and George W. Bush were his political referees for the Iraq war. Funny how the three of them are still sure that they were right about WMDs and Saddam Hussein's support for Al Qaeda. Howard is still not prepared to accept any responsibility for the debacle.

The children overboard spin tested the government ministers' memories again. Peter Reith, the Defence Minster in 2001, must have old timer's disease. The blatant political misuse of the military was obvious. The removal of captions on the photos of refugees in the water was disgraceful. This attempt to make them appear to be throwing children into the sea speaks for itself.

Looking forward to Howard's self-destruction next week. As Peter Costello might have suggested, the Prime Minister should have walked before he ran himself out.

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John Howard's Commanding Performance

Tonight is Episode 3 of The Howard Years: Commander-in-Chief

So here's another installment in 'The Poll that Counts' video series: Tallyroom Tension. It has a small contribution from Fran Kelly the narrator of the ABC program.

The lead up to the 2001 election was a hard time for John Howard. We saw the ultimate pragmatist who avoided a post GST recession by spending his way out, after a quarter of negative growth. Yes, Johnny could be a Keynesian when survival counted.

In John Winston Howard : the definitive biography by Wayne Errington and Peter van Onselen, Peter Costello criticised Howard's budgetary adventures in 2001 and 2004 as unsustainable. But they were effective.

That was Howard cunning working overtime. In 2001 we saw Lucky John emerge. In August the Tampa arrived with its ship load of Muslim refugees. He was in the States for September 11 and didn't go into hiding like George W. Bush. What a double! All it needed was a large dash of jingoism mixed with a twist of lies for Labor's chances to go overboard.

His good fortune with ALP leaders also helped to build his reputation as the consummate politician. First, Kim Beazley adopted a small target strategy during 2001. His me-too approach to terrorism and asylum seekers made him appear irrelevant during the election.

2004 saw the Mark Latham experiment which Howard exploited cleverly. He seemed unbeatable after the comfortable Coalition win that year.

But many Australians had other ideas. And Howard's luck was about to change. But that's next week's story.

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Howard Made History - Happy Anniversary!

From 'The Poll that Counts' video series from the National Tallyroom in Canberra, to celebrate the first anniversary of the election of the Rudd government.

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The Howard Parrots

Another video from 2007 to celebrate The Howard Years: John Howard's Dead Parrots Society.

They're not dead, they're resting!

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Reprise: John Howard: not, not... responsible

For those who missed some of my videos from last year, The Howard Years has prompted me to give them a re-run. Also if you missed Episode 1, Change the Government, Change the Country, you can watch a broadband version by clicking the link.

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The Howard Years: first impressions

Some first impressions on the 1996-8 first term of The Howard Years:

• Peter Reith says he didn't know Dubai was a port. But he had the support of the children which meant Janette's favour.
• Graeme Morris, JWH's Chief of Staff in the early years is a real charmer. His machiavellian behaviour eventually resulted in his forced resignation. He would have enjoyed shooting parties with Dick Cheney.
  
• Speaking of guns: his response to the Port Arthur massacre was Howard at his authoritarian best and worst. Set the tone for the rest of his regime. Johnny decides, they follow.
• Peter Costello's portrayal of himself as gallant hero when drawing up the 1996 budget cuts and the tax reforms which gave us the GST. The El Cid of the Liberal Party.
  
• The weakness of the Cabinet. Even in their lack of support for Reith and Corrigan during the waterfront dispute. The PM is still not amused.
  
• The Pauline Hanson factor: JWH's refusal to take her head on. He even had words with Alexander Downer.
• The impotence of the National party when dealing with Howard, especially Tim Fischer and John Anderson. Their role was to soften up the bush over anything controversial.
  
• Howard's near hysteria at the Reconciliation Conference when the audience turned their backs on him.
  
• How the GST almost got rid of his government.

The program has been touted as being in their own words without commentary. Yet the voice over "history" by Fran Kelly accepts a very conventional view of what happened. Most of it could have been written by Howard's old press office. There is no coverage of any opposition from the Labor Party. It's hard to imagine how Kim Beazley won the two-party-preferred vote in 1998.

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Relentless Cross-promos for The Howard Years

What do the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and John Howard have in common?

They are relentless!

The cross-promotions for the documentary The Howard Years on ABC TV and radio are ubiqitious. Not just ads but ceaseless items on the News and other programs. Even the News-in-Brief. For a sample try the online promo which was under 'Just In' yesterday: Howard dug heels in after 'deal' note revealed

ABC2 Breakfast is interviewing the program producer Deb Masters as I write. One of the key participants in the Howard story who would not talk for the cameras was Janette Howard. I wonder what her one word is to describe little Johnny. Obedient? Please feel free to add your suggestions in Comments.

Virginia Trioli called it "ummissable".

Was thinking of just watching the fourth and final episode. That's the one with the happy ending. We have to learn from history. Don't we?

This is not a paid promotion. Unless the ABC publicity department chooses to send money, of course.

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Work Choices: Gone but not forgotten!

The Senate has passed the bill to roll back John wHoward's Work Choices legislation.

To all those who fought so hard to defeat AWAs and the rest of the Coalition's attack on workers' rights and working conditions: THANKS!

A very special thanks to all those who worked before the election and on polling day to bring about real change.

To Emily and Torina at the Queanbeyan booth handing out Your Rights at Work how-to-vote cards.

The video of polling day around Canberra is worth replaying:



To Greg Combet and Sharon Burrow for sticking to the task and leading the way against overwhelming odds.

They said they would do what it takes but it was very hard to be optimistic in 2005 when Greg said:

I am confident that if we have the courage to stand up for our values, to provide the leadership, to fight for our cause, to reach out to others and invite them to join us, we will win.
Work Choices - the challenges ahead 15 November 2005

A real cause for celebration!

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Welcome to country

Watching the opening of Federal parliament with its welcome to country definitely brought a warm inner glow. For many reasons. Tomorrow's sorry story will be hot stuff.

Today was only spoiled by Barry Haase, MHR for Kalgoorlie, whingeing about not seeing the wording of the apology which he does not support in any form. Barry had the largest swing in Western Australia against him in November.

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Heffo Biffo

This is a better, extended version of the “heffo biffo” on election night in the Canberra Tallyroom. The original is part of Bill Heffernan’s Payback which includes the senator watching Howard’s concession speech. Thanks to the ABC’s Alex Morrow for the sound file.

You can watch the full series of The Poll That Counts in Laborview videos in Youtube (links are in the righthand column) or TeacherTube.

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Getup! Confab

Bill McHarg : Planet First

The last kind of person I expected to meet at the Getup! Refresh Conference last weekend in Sydney was a corporate high flier. With the frenetic activity of the last week of campaigning I missed the work of Bill McHarg and his Kookaburra family. His full page ads were in the Sydney press and he slipped under the Broome radar. So it was a great pleasure to meet him and hear his story. Won’t bore you with it all here but his surprise attack on John Howard and Bennelong was clearly sensational. Watch the video and read Green businessman bids to oust Howard (The Age 15 November 2007)

His video Bill McHarg : Planet First was posted on YouTube on 15 November. The Kookaburra van toured the CBD and Bennelong for rest of the campaign. The assault on Howard cost about $200,000. Bill resigned from his business and positions on a number of organisations to focus on his Climate Change passion. His family were his campaign team.

His next target is the US policy makers. They don’t know what they’re in for.

Political Satire:

1. John Howard's Ladies Auxillary Fan Club

Two of the ladies auxillary presented a live sketch of their campaign best at the Getties awards. There was also a workshop presentation by Zelda explaining their tactics and lessons for this kind of satire. Go to their Youtube Channel: joholafaclub for a run around the tan with the PM and a day at the Melbourne Cup, plus other brilliant videos.

2. Cyrius01

Winner of the best satirical video was Cyrius01 aka Stefan Sojka. He was my favourite on Youtube in recent months. If you missed his stuff, visit his Channel.

3. Dan Ilic

Dan made a presentation of some of his videos. He made some for the Getup campaign, others through Fairfax Media and many solos. He describes himself as a writer/performer/director/broadcaster. He's at Channel DanIlic.

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"The Poll That Counts" DVD

I have produced a DVD of "The Poll That Counts" series. If you are interested in a copy, please email me and I will send the details.

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