The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that the DPP have dropped charges against the Chaser. The charges relate to an incident during last year’s APEC meeting when the Chaser team impersonated an official motorcade and managed to progress almost to the “Red Zone” close to where many many Heads of State were accommodated.
The controversial event can be viewed here.
A victory for commonsense methinks.
Rudd’s declared it inevitable that Australia will become a republic but <irony>heavy-weight Liberals</irony> have struck back bagging the 2020 a left-wing love-in and pledging their allegiance to the Queen. Lizzie will be distinctly underwhelmed by the declarations of former Foreign Minister Downer and enfant terrible Chris Pyne and will probably know that Charlie’s inheritance will soon shrink. The Lib’s continue to struggle to identify a strategy for responding to Rudd however whatever it is, Downer’s surely not part of it. Stripped of his Ministerial warrant, Downer looks and sounds precisely what he is, an anachronism - if he’s to lead the defence of the realm, the Monarchists are truly stuffed.
The Australia 2020 summit has ended with a warm glow emanating from Canberra. Cate’s returned to Sydney, new new babe in tow, the initial report is already available, and the good and the great will be facing up to the banal realities of work. How long will they retain the bonhomie of their weekend’s retreat?
A number of big ideas appear to have gained favour, amongst them, a major reform of Australian governance. A republic is a potential centre-piece for this reform, so too the creation of a genuinely national economy - or at least significant economic and regulatory reform. However, some commentators have already noted the many structural and political impediments that lay ahead - one of them may be the Opposition Leader but his own future is uncertain. A new $30 million investment fund looks likely to be established for small regional business development (the NAB will certainly come out of the summit looking good), some graduates will be able to reduce their loan (HECS) debt through community work and a Bill of Rights has been proposed.
Rudd has again rewarded the electorate with something to feel good about - the opportunity to be intimately engaged in defining a new policy agenda (after years of the policy agenda being defined by a very small man gazing through a very narrow lens). There’s few countries that could host this kind of event, NZ can and has, and although cynics will say Rudd is operating more like a market-surveryor than a PM, it’s clear the 2020 summit will be used as a further endorsement for his government’s agenda (though he’d be foolish to imagine that the delegates will not pull him into line if they feel he abuses their good will).
PM Rudd has broken tradition to appoint a women, Quentin Bryce, to be Australia’s next Governor General. Although numerous state governor’s have been women, Australia’s not previously had a female GG - if symbols matter, and I suspect they do, then this is a major step forward for gender equity (interestingly, there was suggestion that Rudd might appoint Kim Beazley, though this rumour was quickly squashed).
Quentin Bryce, the name threw me initially, is currently Governor of Queensland will have residences in Canberra, Government House, as well as Sydney, Admiralty House - next door to the PM’s Sydney residence (great views of the harbor and Opera House). I know little about her beyond her bio above and what’s reported in today’s media.
She takes over from Major General Michael Jeffery who succeeded controversial Peter Hollingworth (controversial for his management, or lack thereof, of allegations of sexual abuse while he was Archbishop of Brisbane). Although I don’t wish to diminish the significance of the appointment, I hope her Excellency is the last a GG appointed.
From the latest issue of Crikey comes this story of a classic bit of Aussie larrikinism.
In 1956 runners bore the Olympic flame across Australia, on a path from Cairns to Melbourne, where the summer games were to be held. But before the flame even got as far as Sydney, it had to endure a series of setbacks. Torrential rains soaked it. Burning heat almost overwhelmed the runners. The flame even went out a few times. Then in Sydney itself it encountered a situation unique in Olympic history.
Cross-country champion Harry Dillon was scheduled to bear the flame into Sydney, where he would present it to the mayor, Pat Hills. After making a short speech, Hills would pass the flame along to another runner, Bert Button.
Thirty-thousand people lined the streets of Sydney waiting for Dillon to arrive. Reporters stood ready with their cameras to record the historic occasion. Finally the runner appeared, bearing the flame aloft, and everyone began cheering. As the crowd pressed forward a police escort surrounded the runner in order to keep order.
With this escort around him, the runner made his way through the streets all the way to the Sydney Town Hall. He bounded up the steps and handed the torch to the waiting mayor who graciously accepted it and turned to begin his prepared speech.
Then someone whispered in the mayor’s ear, “That’s not the torch.” Suddenly the mayor realized what he was holding. Held proudly in his hand was not the majestic Olympic flame. Instead he was gripping a wooden chair leg topped by a plum pudding can inside of which a pair of kerosene-soaked underwear was burning with a greasy flame. The mayor looked around for the runner, but the man had already disappeared, melting away into the surrounding crowd.
In amongst all the commentary about NZ’s trade deal with China, it’s worth noting that newly installed PM and sinophile, Kevin Rudd, has given China a serve about their actions in Tibet. Rudd has commented, reportedly in Mandarin:
Australia, like most other countries, recognises China sovereignty over Tibet but we also believe it is necessary to recognise there are significant human rights problems in Tibet. The current situation in Tibet is of concern to Australians. We recognise the need for all parties to avoid silence and find a solution through dialogue.
The full text of his speech is available here.
Although there were initial reports that China had formally objected to Rudd’s comments, albiet his comments from a speech in the US, DFAT has denied this.
Rudd’s ideally positioned to take a lead role in diplomatic relations with China, not simply because of his earlier diplomatic experience there, but also because his government will play a critical role should Chinalco become a player in the BHP Billiton/Rio Tinto takeover. Australian exports to China were over AUD $21 billion in 05/06, one third of which was exports of iron ore. Does this give Rudd some parity in his dealings with China? I suspect he may think so. Moreover, unlike NZ, Australia has the advantage of a trade deal with the US (such as that is).
DPF is getting into a bit of strife because of his loud tutting about a group supposedly appropriating the sacred ANZAC name. It’s a little ironic for DPF to be concerned about given, as our resident troll Bruv points out in KB’s comments, Farrar’s recent splurges about the unspecial nature of Easter. The true irony about the misuse of the ANZAC name is the willingness of some politicians including those favoured by Farrar, such as former Australian PM, John Howard and assorted others, to frequently and quite grossly trade on the ANZAC tradition to score cheap political points. In my experience those who talk about the need to protect national emblems and other patriotic talisman, such as flags or words like ‘ANZAC’ are precisely those who will liberally (if you pardon the Howard pun) use the concepts for their own purposes as if they’ve got some kind of exclusive right. Go to a National or Liberal Party convention and it will be decked with more patriotic bunting than the Queen’s coronation. You will also frequently hear them decry the younger generation squandering the hard-fought freedoms secured by their forefathers….yada, yada. Howard in particular loved this kind of stuff and frequently tried to associate himself and his politics with the struggles of Australia’s “diggers”. Frankly, I find the ugly appropriation of these terms and ideas by conservatives as offensive as some group of jerk-offs trying to score a cheap bit of publicity.
Charges have been laid against several Liberal Party activists who, in the last federal election, produced a fake leaflet purporting to be from a fictional Muslim group professing support for the Labor candidate for Lindsay (south-west Sydney). As this story states, two of the five people charged were the husbands of the retiring Liberal member and the new Liberal candidate. Shortly after the story broke, the retiring member kicked her husband out of the house and claimed she had no knowledge of their actions - so too did the candidate - fortunately for the two women involved there were no emails to prove otherwise.
Even though the NZ Labour government has cleaned up electoral law, I still expect to see some dirty campaigning in this year’s election. There’s simply too many angry activists with poor judgment to expect otherwise. I don’t doubt for a minute that whaleoil and Farrar will try more stupid stunts (which increasingly appear to backfire), likewise Act on Campus. Interestingly, the Young Labour mob appear to be well managed.
Perhaps we’ll run a book on who gets charged first and from which party they’ll expelled? Initial odds are:
Any others you think should be there?
Losing in politics often, but not always, results in a catastrophic change in lifestyle. Richard Prebble famously tells the story of arriving in his office the day after the 1991 election to discover a large wheely-bin in his office and being unsure whether he was to clear up his office or get into it. Whereas once journalist were desperate to take down your every utterance they now largely ignore you, your entourage disappears and the crown car is replaced by cab charges. Only those who imagine a return to the Treasury benches handle it; they have too. Mid- and late-term MPs struggle. Struggle not only with the loss of status and influence, but also the intimidating prospect of having to find something else to do. Some, of course, have options having had earlier careers or particular expertise. Nothing, however, can be enough for some - like John Howard.
John Howard’s legacy is in tatters. I don’t imagine it will be repaired, at least not in his lifetime. Far from being remembered as the second longest-serving PM, he’ll be remembered as the PM who hung-on too long, depriving the party of renewed leadership and ruining it’s reelection chances. The second only PM to both lose government and his own seat. But worse still, little of what Howard stood or stands for will survive the new government or the new opposition. Not only is the new PM rolling back Howard’s radical policies, but the new Leader of the Opposition is following the disciple Peter’s footsteps and has now thrice denied Howard (on apologising to the Stolen Generation, on Workchoices and on Kyoto).
It is not surprising then that no one had heard a thing from Howard since his concession speech. His defeat in Bennelong saved him the ignominy of a return to Canberra but what a return to the spotlight - this speech to a bunch of dyed-in-the-wool conservatives at a friendly get together in Washington DC. Rather than focus on new opportunities or graciously accept his time at the top was over, Howard instead criticised the democratically elected government for changing IR laws (despite its clear mandate), criticised it’s position on Iraq (despite its clear mandate) and repeated his skepticism about climate change (despite the scientific consensus and the new government’s clear mandate). He might have thought that his comments might be more tolerable having been made offshore. He is wrong, wrong, wrong.
John Howard once said:
If I am wrong and you are right then the democratic process of the Australian community will vindicate you and condemn me.
He appears to have either misunderstood the election result or forgotten his own counsel.
We’ve a great deal in common with our trans-Tasman cousins so it’s hardly surprising that they’re looking at reforming electoral finance rules. The division between business and government has always been a little more fluid that is the case in NZ, however this looks set to change with PM Rudd announcing major reform including capping donations. Rudd also said:
You can go to a function with 100 bizoids paying $10,000 each and no one ever knows. That’s just extraordinary - that’s $1million in the evening - it’s wrong.
Perhaps Helen had a word on her recent trip to Canberra? Liberal leader-in-waiting Malcolm Turnbull suggests even more radical reform including banning donations from companies, interest groups and unions…
