Is the Voice a Labor Party initiative?

I believe that many on the YES side also genuinely believe that the VOICE will help end the 245 year long stasis that is the rusted on legacy of European claiming of this country. That stasis is the enormous and systemic gap between First Nations peoples and the rest of the country. I suspect that NO advocates cannot - whatever their motivations - achieve anything other than NOthing. A NO simply strengthens the rust bond. No-one collects anything and we all slide back to some place behind GO.

A hopefully comic interlude interrogating one of Mr. Brandis’s opinion pieces

Photo by Nicholas Swatz on Pexels.com In a July 9 opinion piece in the Sydney morning Herald, we meet this shouty headline: Left’s identity crisis means Dutton can be a champion for equality. The piece is by the ex Liberal Senator George Brandis; he doesn't disappoint us with opinions we'd never expected from him. Let's … Continue reading A hopefully comic interlude interrogating one of Mr. Brandis’s opinion pieces →

Les voix sont de la même

The omission in the 1901 formulation of the Australian Constitution of INDIGENOUS peoples, and the legacy of the otherness with which FIRST NATIONS people were treated, denied them a place. If they did not count, if they had no VOICE then – we need to fill the VOID. Give them a constitutional VOICE; it's an act of restitution.

Sky and the sounding of Trumpian clarions

Political commentary Sky Australia’s RWNJ crew are arguing, just two days after the electoral blueblood bath that was Labor's (& a Greens/Teals') win, that the Liberal Party needs to shift even further to the right. (See this Guardian article.) My first thoughts are that we are indeed becoming more of an underpopulated America than ever. … Continue reading Sky and the sounding of Trumpian clarions →

Bad government 4

A quick one re two key aspects of this Lib-Nat government that deserve further pillorying: It's always someone else's fault with this PM & government. See https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jul/14/scott-morrison-blames-atagi-doctors-for-australias-slow-covid-vaccine-rollout? This was my response (Lordy, that's all we need: more ham-fisted, pork-barrelling right wing "money is the only thing that matters" nutters running for office) to a friend … Continue reading Bad government 4 →

On humanity and the lack of it

To the extent the government is exercising compassion now, it is compassion driven by the bad publicity it is suffering...

Bad government 2

Viral government Here is a definition of good government from a book for kids (The big fat NO debates – Government) by yours truly. If kids can get this, so should most adults. All… people want pretty much the same things as you and me. • Love • To feel safe/secure • A bit (or … Continue reading Bad government 2 →

Bad government 1

We need to retrain ourselves to see and do something about corruption. Training politicians is difficult because any attempt to fix the problems with independent corruption watchdogs or greater transparency threatens their positions and power. So using anti-corruption bodies and agitating for greater transparency won't work, Keane argues. We need to 'address the structural incentives for corruption'.