Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Joe Hockey's Paris Hilton Sexist Slur

Could Joe Hockey, self appointed small 'l' liberal, possibly have read much less written his disgusting sexist slur against Paris Hilton? It doesn't bare repeating.

Send Joe a message: not nearly good enough, Joe!

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Peter Costello a Two-Bob Snob

Was this man really a contender?

Peter Costello's sneering attack on Julia Gillard's Australian accent yesterday was disgraceful.

Must be what passes for humour at the old boys' club.

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Sunday, July 18, 2010

Tony Abbott: Nope!


Thanks to Nigel Featherstone for the graphic. I comes from his post Game on: Julia vs the Mad Monk that I enjoyed immensely.

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Saturday, July 17, 2010

Julia v Tony #1

Just been watching Julia's announcement of the election date.

Today's thought:

Gillard - down to earth
Abbott - dumbed down

I'm off to the MCG for the other important contest.

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Friday, July 16, 2010

The Ass Has Bolted


Without comment!

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Laurie Oakes: Please Confirm or Deny

We were returning to the Herald Sun in my taxi. John Gorton’s 1970 half-Senate election campaign launch at Springvale Civic Centre had just finished with a group of anti-war demonstrators being freed from the paddywagons. They had been arrested during the PM’s speech when some Young Liberals attacked them after they had displayed cardboard coffins.

My passenger, a very young Laurie Oakes told me that he had threatened to make the police frontpage news on the Sun newspaper if they didn’t release the protesters. Anyway that’s not the real story. Any journalist can find themselves part of the story even if it’s supposed to be against the code of ethics.

What really stunned me was his next revelation. At the 1969 Federal election Gough Whitlam had soundly outgunned Gorton who just scraped home on DLP preferences. The Prime Minister had seemed tired and jaded. Rumours about his drinking and female philandering had become common. Laurie explained why he thought this was the case.

His inside information was that Gorton had believed that he had a terminal illness and dropped his bundle. The diagnosis had been wrong and he was back on track. As history shows, his political revival didn’t last long. He did mange to live to ninety and was always a colourful character.

I emailed Laurie Oakes a couple of years ago, asking him to confirm or deny this story. I also indicated that I might publish this tale one day if I didn’t hear otherwise. Now I don’t know what a citizen journalist’s code of ethics might allow but I was just a cabdriver in those days.

Perhaps Laurie was just trying to impress his driver with a couple of tall stories. Perhaps one or both is true.

Laurie, please confirm or deny the Gorton revelation.

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Thursday, July 15, 2010

Abbott's Opposition Under Great, Big Cloud

Our local member, Andrew Robb, excelled himself yesterday. It must be difficult competing with Christopher Pyne and Joe Hockey for the crudest catchphrase or meaningless mantra. Joe has taken to adding "and stop the boats" to the end of his pronouncements no matter what the context. Andrew had the country under a "great big cloud" yesterday on Radio National's Breakfast program. It's times like these when it's a pity to have given up sarcasm.

It is the opposition that is under a cloud, especially when it comes to economic policy. Anyway, you have to love the ockerisms that flow no-stop. It's fair-dinkum, dodgy authenticity.

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Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Australian Election: Enrol to Vote Online

Better hurry if you want to enrol to vote or change your address for the upcoming Australian Federal Election 2010. It can be completed by downloading the form online and emailing a scan to the AEC.

Links here.

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Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Gillard's East Timor Solution for Asylum Seekers

After all the dog whistle doom and gloom around Julia Gillard and asylum seeker policy, the last thing you would have expected today was the Refugee Council of Australia praising her on the midday news.

"Refugee Council of Australia president John Gibson says Prime Minister Julia Gillard's plan to process asylum seekers in East Timor is a positive policy change."
Video interview here.

The announcement of a proposed regional processing centre in Timor-Leste left a lot of people flat-footed:

JULIA Gillard has held talks with East Timor's leader to establish a regional processing centre for asylum-seekers on Australia's doorstep.

The Prime Minister revealed today she has also spoken to New Zealand Prime Minister John Key and the UNHCR about a regional centre.

Ms Gillard said she would not oversee a return to the Pacific Solution and warned there was no quick fix to the problem of deterring asylum-seekers.
Gillard in talks with E Timor leader to establish processing centre for asylum-seekers

It took the longest headline in memory to catch up with the latest. Strange there were no leaks or scoops.

Not everyone has been as please as the Refugee Council. Bernard Keane at Crikey called it "unedifying". Not the harshest of criticism from a master of invective.

So it appears to be 2-0 Gillard v. Abbott. That would be a winning lead in any of this year's World Cup matches. She said 'game on' and meant.

Steady on! The election hasn't even been called, despite Joe Hockey's wrong call.

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Monday, June 28, 2010

Oz Bloggers on the Sudden End of Kevin Rudd

My post for Global Voices: Australia: Dramatic Fall of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd

Australian bloggers give their views of last week's events.
Not the usual suspects. Even has a 'Pome'.

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