What does Clive want?
Will Clive roll over and wave the bills through the senate or will he make Abbott and Hockey sweat?
The
first Joe Hockey budget is about to be presented to parliament and to the people. There has been plenty of speculation about cuts to pensions and introducing Medicare co-payments, but it would still take a brave journalist to try and pre-empt what it will really contain. However, if any of the language being used both by Hockey and other ministers is close to the mark, it seems this government will dodge what is really needed. The one unknown they will have to contend with is Clive Palmer and his senate team. Will Clive roll over and wave the bills through the senate or will he make Abbott and Hockey sweat? Labor would do well to take a much closer look at this interesting development in the Australian political setting. Is it possible that the Palmer United Party isn’t all that concerned about the carbon tax and the mining tax…
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A Soldier’s Story
One such story is that of my grandfather, Frederick Harrison Capper, who prior to serving on the Western Front in 1916, also served in the Boer War of 1899 in South Africa.
Anzac Day
stories abound this time of year and remind us of sacrifices made, heroic deeds undertaken and the absurdity of wars. This day is special because of that. We take time out to remember. We listen to stories of great heroism in the face of incompetent decisions by senior military staff. We revile at the carnage on both sides and in the process are forced to examine what makes humans treat each other this way. Three constants stand out among these stories. They are all interesting, they are all informative and they have embedded within each of us an indelible connection to someone or something associated with those who have served. They also enrich our knowledge and have contributed to an ever more revealing and grander story of our country’s history. Yet, despite the great victories and defeats, the logistics, the weaponry, the massing of great armies, it is…
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He Wouldn’t Dare
As an aged pensioner, I can tell you how I longed for the day when I turned 65. I literally counted down the last 5 years, day by day as I continued working a 60 hour week making an average $10 an hour driving a taxi.
No
matter what Joe Hockey says, he wouldn’t dare upset today’s aged pensioners…would he? As much as he would like to, the consequences of such an act would terminate his tenure as treasurer very quickly.
Yes, he will probably increase the pension qualification age to 70, but it is unlikely it would come into effect before 2024 when the increase to 67 introduced by Kevin Rudd was to take full effect. That will give those in their forties and early fifties time to think about their future. Sound alright? Of course, it might also make them sufficiently angry enough to change their vote though….like now!
As an aged pensioner, I can tell you how I longed for the day when I turned 65. I literally counted down the last 5 years, day by day as I continued working a 60 hour week making an average $10 an hour driving a…
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In the Clash of Ideologies, Language Wins the War
The rhetoric of conservative ideology is cleverly employed over time to erode the positive public perception of ideas and institutions which are seen as contrary to the the right-wing world-view.
Image courtesy of the australian.com.au
Jim Morrison famously and prophetically said, “Whoever controls the media, controls the minds”.
This is certainly the case in Australia.
In this guest post Loz Lawrey looks at how the media – the Murdoch media in particular – shape out attitudes and opinions.
In 1988, Professor Noam Chomsky reminded us that the media “serve, and propagandise on behalf of, the powerful societal interests that control and finance them” (1). Never has this fact been more blatantly obvious than it is today.
The glaring anti-Labor/Greens bias on display by the Murdoch-owned news media during the term of the Gillard Government exaggerated Labor’s dysfunction and gave credibility to a Liberal/National opposition devoid of policies or ideas, other than a plan to hand decision-making over to commercial vested interests.
Today much of the mainstream media’s energy is spent fulfilling the roles of apologist and spin doctor for a…
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Where have all the Leaders gone?
As long as the media continue to call the shots on image and visual performance of our politicians, we will always get what we deserve, and those with real leadership quality will be left on the sidelines.
John Stuart Mill
once wrote that not all conservatives are stupid, but most people who are stupid are conservative. That is probably because they are afraid of what they don’t know. People seek guidance at every turn and accept the time honoured practices and formulae of the past; they view such a strategy as safe. In short, they don’t know any better and don’t want to. They just want to be reassured. Conservative politicians are good at offering that. It’s politically clever but it’s not leadership.
Prior to the time when Gough Whitlam came to power I was apolitical. Back around the late 1950s my parents were DLP voters which was hardly surprising coming as they did from an Irish-Catholic background. They thought they were supporting a Catholic breakaway party resisting what was perceived as an unhealthy communist influence within the Labor party.
This was the era of Bob Santamaria…
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