If/when Tony Abbott wins the Liberal leadership, we'll be facing the real enemy at last after 2 years of phoney war. My very first 10 second YouTube video seems a touch relevant.
Except that for the tongue in cheek 'Next Liberal Prime Minister of Australia' is unlikely to apply to any of these pretenders. Unless Turnbull does a Lazarus after the shellacking that the climate dunces are about to bring their Party.
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.
Cross post from Global Voices:
Asylum seekers and illegal migrants must be in the top five hottest issues around the developed world. After the arrival of the Tampa, a cargo ship that had picked up refugees at sea, Prime Minister John Howard used border security as one of his catch cries in the 2001 Australian election with telling results.
This week his successor Kevin Rudd became embroiled in another controversy:
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says he spoke to Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on the weekend before Indonesian authorities intercepted 260 Sri Lankans on a boat who were on their way to Australia.
Heavyweight blogger Mark Kenny is Political Editor of The Advertiser, a News Limited paper in Adelaide. He blogs at The Punch, an online venture that brings together both News Limited staff and dozens of independent writers from a wide variety of backgrounds and interests. His response was scathing of the PM:
In just one interview in Adelaide this week, Kevin Rudd used the terms “tough” and “hard-line” over and over again and repeatedly declared the Government made “no apology” for its hairy chested approach to boat people.
His condemnation of both leaders is unequivocal:
Yet there is no more pressing moral question before the world than the human rights of the forcibly displaced - some 42 million of them at present. And like capital, the movement of people is a global reality also.
The Government should now have the courage of its convictions and stare down the fear campaign being waged against it. If ever there was a case for evidence-based policy, it is here and now. That would be real moral leadership - voters respect that too.
Mark Henderson, at The Australian Conservative blog, has the opposite view:
Kevin Rudd unwinds the Howard Government’s tough but highly successful measures against boat people and almost two thousand illegal immigrants find their way onto Australian territory.
… What a joke.
The “most hardline measures” involves nothing more than a phone call to the Indonesian president.
Rudd is not prepared to make the really hard decisions the Howard Government took, decisions that made it deeply unpopular with large sections of the media and the elite commentariat, but decisions that actually stopped the flow of illegal immigrants and stopped the tragic loss of life at sea.
Guy Beres’ presents his self-titled blog as: ‘Reflections on social democracy, economics, the media, and spin in an age of incorrigible cynicism’. In a lengthy and impassioned analysis of the issue he argues:
The Opposition seems desperately keen to contrast its own historical rhetoric on asylum seeker issues with the slightly softer, more humane approach being taken by the Rudd Government. Forgetting for a moment the rather ugly and sometimes disturbing human rights issues raised by the previous government’s mandatory and indefinite scheme of detention, the Opposition wants to remind us that they were “tough” on boatpeople when in government, and that Labor is “not so tough”. In concert with this mode of attack, every rickety boat that happens to depart Colombo or elsewhere on its way to Australia apparently represents a failure of Rudd Government policy in comparison with the Howard Government’s illustrious record.
Incidentally a ‘furphy’ is an Australian term for a red herring or false report.
Meanwhile we haven’t heard the last of these Sri Lankan asylum seekers as they are on a hunger strike:
THE 255 Sri Lankan asylum seekers staging a hunger strike last night remained defiant, insisting they would not leave their boat or even consume liquids, despite the blazing heat.
A young girl who made a plea for asylum on their behalf has been the subject of a personal attack:
Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan high commissioner, Senaka Walgampaya, cast doubt on the account of a nine-year-old girl on the boat, Brindha, who made an emotional appeal for the Tamils to be helped. ”She is crying and weeping and said, ‘We were in the jungles for one month',” he said. ”But she is quite well nourished and she spoke very good English. She is not from Sri Lanka.”
There are seemingly no innocents in this ongoing struggle. It is not an issue that will disappear soon as a visit the news website of Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) will attest. A click on the refugees tag brings up dozens of recent stories involving Australia.
A cross post for Global Voices:
An upturn in the arrival of refugees to Australia by boat has brought tragedy and controversy. The issue of border protection that dominated the 2001 Federal election has re-emerged with extra venom.
A refugee boat has exploded off the north west coast.Three people are dead, two are missing and more than thirty have been injured, some with very serious burns. Three members of the Australian Defence Force, which was towing the boat, are among the injured.
Western Australian police say three people are dead and two are missing following an explosion on board an asylum-seekers' boat being escorted to Christmas Island this morning.
Three dead, dozens injured after explosion on asylum boat ABC News Online 17 April 2009
Allegations that the fatal explosion was caused by asylum seekers have also revived the political storm surrounding the children overboard affair.
Claims that fuel was deliberately poured over the small wooden fishing vessel before the blast will be the focus of inquiries by police and the Northern Territory coroner.
Sabotage fear on boat blast The Age 17 April 2009
A political stoush has erupted with Opposition parliamentarians accusing the government of causing the increase in boat people and encouraging people smuggling through its changes to border protection.
Bloggers are also taking off the gloves. Gary Sauer-Thompson at Public Opinion bemoaned the attempts to politicise asylum seekers again:
Doesn't the old hang on. The Liberals are banging the drum about border security, bad asylum seekers, boat people and soft on security. It is just like a replay of the old children overboard affair with undercurrent of Asian hordes invading Australia because they read The Australian and realized that Rudd Government has gone soft on the processing of asylum seekers.
The reality is that most asylum seekers arrive by plane, many are sent back, whilst the asylum seekers who arrive by boat are processed on Christmas Island. Children are treated more humanely, the so-called “Pacific Solution”, which had people sent to Nauru has been abolished and it has scrapped temporary protection visas, as well as reforming detention policy.
Mark Thomson’s blog, Seeking Asylum Down Under, has a clear purpose:
Yes, we remember! Blame the victims for their own plight, extract as much sensationalism out of the role of people smugglers, put words in the mouth of ADF personnel who cannot answer for themselves, and then whip up public sentiment against refugees. Throw in dollops of confected outrage over your political opponents complete lack of preparedness to face down the ‘threat' and you have the typical Lib's stock in trade response to the terrible plight of some of the most vulnerable people on the planet.
Oh, I forgot - then you set about making weak neighbouring countries complicit in policies that violate human rights!
Human rights in Australia - the fear & smear Liberals are at it again over asylum seekers!
Another progressive blog, Club Troppo, was more restrained:
Yesterday’s “boat people” explosion near Ashmore Reef west of Darwin, in which 3 people were apparently killed outright and many more seriously injured, has eerie if obvious parallels with the “children overboard” saga of 2001 which helped John Howard to his third successive election victory.
Returning to the present, there is a crucial difference between the situation the “children overboard” and “Tampa” asylum seekers faced and that of yesterday’s group whose boat apparently caught fire and exploded. The current group didn’t face being towed back out to sea, and they almost certainly didn’t face prolonged immigration detention while their protection visa applications were processed.
In those circumstances, WA Premier Colin Barnett’s claims that the asylum seekers deliberately doused their vessel and the surrounding waters with petrol doesn’t seem to make sense. There must be more to it than we’re being told, unless these particular asylum seekers simply hadn’t heard that the old Howard government “towaway zone” or ”lock ‘em up offshore and throw away the key” policies were no longer operative. There’s a lot more to be told about this story.
The alternative view was put strongly by Andrew Bolt, newspaper columnist for Rupert Murdoch’s Herald-Sun and perhaps Australia’s best known and controversial right-wing blogger:
AT least three boat people now dead. So how much “kinder” do Kevin Rudd’s policies seem now?
John Howard was supposed to be the cruel one, said Labor. It was Howard when Prime Minister who put in the Pacific Solution, whisking illegal boat people to Nauru, rather than land them here.
Too harsh, said Kevin Rudd, and scrapped it. It was Howard who cut the legal circus that allowed illegal immigrants to play the system for years, until we gave up trying to deport them.
Too harsh, said Rudd, and laid on lawyers. It was Howard who cut the lure of benefits and then imposed on illegal immigrants the imminent threat of return.
Too harsh, said Rudd, and scrapped the Temporary Protection Visas, giving all illegal immigrants—including well-heeled ones fleeing no particular danger—instant access to permanent residency with all the tempting benefits and rights.
Too harsh, said Rudd. And enlightened opinion cheered. Now we were nice. Really? So how nice is it to have now lured at least three people to their deaths? To have not one child overboard—oh, what a confected scandal that was—but a whole boatload of 49?
Yes, indeed. This is a “people overboard” scandal, but for real this time.
Possum Comitatus at Pollytics did not show any restraint when condemning Bolt’s post:
… there is no larger magnet for outright bigotry than asylum seekers.
With refugees it’s literally Moral Panic Bingo; Islam, terrorists, race, xenophobia – refugees are the ultimate canvas upon which the shallow end of the public affairs pool can paint their own preferred pathological animosities. If you don’t believe me, then undertake an experiment:
Write down 9 favourite themes of the small minded nutjob set, not specifically about any given thing, any old generically bigoted idiocy will do – then pop on over to the usual creatures that prey on such feeble minded antipathy and read the comments sections on any post they have about asylum seekers. Every time one of your predicted themes is mentioned by a commenter, mark it off - you won’t have to read far before you’ll be shouting “Wingnut Bingo!”.
Of all the Wingnut Bingo halls in the land, there is none bigger than that hosted by The Undescended Testicle.*
He started yesterday with his sneering innuendo, of asylum seekers being “Lured by Rudd to their deaths?”. There really are no boundaries that Bolt’s hysterical Rudd Rage refuses to cross – although the only thing really being “lured” here are miscreants by the bucketful into Andrew Bolt’s site –herding the dross of the internet into News Ltd advertising by playing up to their shallow and spiteful little fantasies.
Why Andrew Bolt should be Sodomised with a Calculator – Part 142
Not the usual sort of criticisms we expect from a statistician and psephologist. For his data analysis you’ll have to visit Possum’s post.
It appears that most of those on the boat were fleeing Afghanistan, a country where Australian troops are currently fighting the Taliban.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Another video from 2007 to celebrate The Howard Years: John Howard's Dead Parrots Society.
They're not dead, they're resting!
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.
Some first impressions on the 1996-8 first term of 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.
Don't mention the war!
John wHoward and Alexander Downer have sneaked in and out of Broome while we've been living here. It was the US Ambassador Robert McCallum's turn last week. According to the Broome Advertiser: "a small media contingent gathered at Notre Dame [University] to quiz the ambassador on a range of issues." Naturally no citizen journalists were invited.
The results of the quiz were less that cutting edge. He's for trade and tourism, against global warming, and neutral about gas projects in the Kimberley. It seems that Basil Fawlty wasn't there to mention the war.
It goes without saying that his qualification for the job was that he was a College mate of George W. He has to resign next January so the holiday's almost over. I wonder which mate of Barack's will visit next time.
Apart from a few Uni students and the every vigilant press, the visit passed unnoticed. Even the Advertiser put it as the the second story on page 4. Even the Shire President was out of town on other business.
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
We should all feel better tonight knowing that the Howard government's disgraceful Pacific solution to asylum seekers is over. 'Sorry' next!
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.
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)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.
