The coming Oz election thread ...

And - Howard's golden moment from the past election - fanning racism AGAIN by beating up the story that would-be asylum-seekers had thrown their little kiddies from the boat, in a ruthless blackmailing of the Oz Navy - to force them to pick up said kiddies, hence getting the privileges of folk who get to shore - (the government keeps moving the shore to try to stop this - we are a shrinking nation!)

This lie was an important one for the government's rracist anti-refugee campaign. Those damned Asians who would flood our country if they could don't even really care about their kiddies! They aren't HUMAN!

The truth - as the navy tried, and succeeded, in informing the PM's office, even as the lies continued, was that the boat was sinking, and people were abandoning ship.

http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&q=children+overboard&btnG=Search&meta=cr%3DcountryAU

Go for it.

It is the litmus test for this country - and we were beginning to pass, under the last Labor government - Keating's finest hour, IMO.

I cannot forgive this lot for their mean-spiritedness and - yes, actual EVIL - on this one.

Yes - it is hard to know what to DO - but this government have deeply wounded these unspeakably traumatised people with their awful words - and their lack of good ones.

Now - ATSIC - BOTH parties supported ending that - it seemed an inextricable mess to me????????????


You have more info???

If only we could behave at least as well as canada, dammit!!!

Or even NZ, with their treaty.

ATSIC/ATSIS was failing due to the board of commissioners - some were there to help their people, others, Geoff Clarke for example, had that lower on their list of priorities. Never the less both parties had ATSIC on the chopping block before the Clarke imbroglio. And arguably for good reason - it wasn't succeeding in it's stated aims.

The Shergold report recommended a raft of changes. Howard, yet again, didn't go with any sort of change management strategy, just sent out an edict that the board would get no more money and that ATSIS would be mainstreamed (staff divvied up between big departments) and the ICC (Indigenous Coordination Centre would act as a sort of Centrelink for indigenes. In 6 weeks. God knows how many babies were thrown out with the bath water. Now indigenous affairs is at the mercy of interdepartmental rivalry and the ongoing problems of accountability and fraud continue. The successes of ATSIS are buried, good regional councils consigned to the trash heap all for want of actually considering how best to serve indigenous interests because it was much more important to put the boot in quickly and sate Australia's racist streak in an election year.

I thought about this but is there any point?

http://www.pm.gov.au/email.cfm

Yes - I would have thought that a new structure was the thing.

But - Howard was committed from the very start to destroying "the Aboriginal industry" (which was not ALL a bad desire - but his intent was just wrong, and hence his means have been terrible)

Point? Dunno - I know they tend to count public opinion stuff.

Good morning, Oz! Quite a hangover I have here ....

Let's hear the details, msolga.

What'd you do last night?

Just an observation here, but I find the Aussies are fairly well informed on their political process and the American process as well.

Is that because Americans lack the collective political inquisitiveness of the Aussies or are the Aussies so scared of Bush's incompetence that they feel it necessary to be vigiliant, to always keep an eye open?

..I drank, shed a tear or 2, gasped often, then turned off before the victory speech ... Came home & babbled away on A2K .... I wonder what I said?

You don't remember our conversation last night, msolga? The lap dance? The conversational cuddling? None of it?

I feel violated.

<heehee>

The thing is, Gus, Mr Bush has been governing US, too, via his "deputy sherrif, here in Oz ..... So we HAVE to watch what happens in the US, coz sure as hell, it's gonna happen here! Bush'es words are Howard's words ... we are about to have our 2nd election very soon. I hope the result is a better one than what we Oz folks got last night!

2nd election?

Nah, it's all gone, Gus! I have a few dead brain cells, too! Was it nice? :wink:

Was it nice! I haven't stopped smoking cigarettes since.

The US one, littlek, when John Howard receives clarification & directions on what direction we're going! He's a very, very loyal deputy to Bush. <sigh>

Oh, good! The "nice" bit, I mean, Gus. Sorry about the smoking, though ...

... & I'm so sorry you feel violated, too, Gus. :wink: