Opinion

The last week of the year for the parliament was an action-packed one to say the least - the like that goes “one week’s a long time in politics” was shown to be quite true. Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard replaced Beazley at the top of the Labor party, something which I would consider just about the smartest move made by the Labor party over the least 5 years. Beazley had lost it somewhere in his mumbles, and someone who’s lost that many times just within his own party was never going to be a serious contender against the master of Australian politics that is John Howard. Rudd started the week with a couple of strong lines against Howard, willing and able to drudge up the 22% interest rates from when Howard was Treasurer. The electorate in general is adopting a wait-and-see approach so far. Rudd doesn’t have the down-to-earth populist appeal that Latham originally had, but he’s got savvy and, more importantly, he knows the areas in which he can pitch battles. To put it briefly, he’s about 10 times more likely than Beazley to have an impact. In a world where China is steadily growing in influence, Rudd’s ability to speak Mandarin (fluently, apparently) should hold him well in the future, should he get past Howard. ...

The ‘family’ lobby is at it again, with calls for Australia to follow the lead of the Europe in forcing the removal of the game “Rule of Rose”, which puts the player in the shoes of a girl whose world is shaped by a bunch of other girls, the ‘bullies’. It’s a twist on the survival horror genre, but otherwise appears to be entirely devoid of truly original content or technological advance. In summary, were it to have been released without any fuss, it is likely it would have quietly flopped without a trace. ...

Dyske writes on Feminism: He points out a provocative argument: Feminists cheapened the value of the traditionally female roles by implicitly assuming that traditionally male roles were nobler human endeavors… reinforc[ing] the notion that traditionally male roles were superior. It’s certainly a different take on things. Your thoughts?

Things are a little political around the place these days, and I hope you’ll indulge me if I post this here. Long rant ahead. See no Evil This week has seen Mark Vaile, Deputy Prime Minister, Leader of the National Party, Minister for Trade, appear before the AWB enquiry into the Oil for Food program bribes. The AWB (Australian Wheat Board), monopoly holder for Australian wheat exports, was caught by the UN giving a 10% bribe on all wheat sales to Iraq from 1999 to 2003. The bribe equates to $300 million, so this involved serious money in anyone’s terms. Mark Vaile, as Minister for Trade, should have had his eye on something like this - a large domestic company operating in a risky environment dealing with large sums. Indeed, it appears his department, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), at the very least has keep tabs on this, with 21 diplomatic cables crossing the department’s desk. ...

I was going to write about this sooner but following the completition - for the most part anyway - of the site’s design I decided to go for a full format and in the process have been busy, as well as loosing internet for the better part of the day. Anyway. There’s plenty of news reports around - CNN, BBC, Forbes (problems grow to Adelaide & Perth), The Age (mostly AP reports); hell, Google News has 1000+ stories on it - so it’s pretty much reached international incident status [aside: this is what it takes for Australia to get on the news? sheesh]. Each report has its own spin, as the media is wont to have, inevitably, but these are the facts that i’ve gathered so far: 2 Lifegaurds get bashed by a gang of “youths with Arab or Middle Eastern appearance” (all of which have now been arrested by the way). A week of simmering tensions ensue, with much anger at the supposed “attack on the Australian way of life”, since lifegaurds are an integral part of the Aussie beach culture. Sunday: Rally of “white” Australians in Cronulla - a prominent beach suburb with a overwhelming majority of Australian residents, generally above average economic profile. Majority of ‘rally’ participants are from other parts of Sydney as Cronulla is easily accessible by train, young, and fuelled by alcohol. Rally quickly turns ugly as people with non-“white” skin are attacked simply for being in the area. Police step in and riot ensues. Ambulance attacked while treating on the victims of the mob. Sunday night, Monday night - gangs of “Arab youths” go to suburbs of Cronulla and Maroubra - a similar suburb, but further north and closer to the city. Cars smashed and various other incidents of violent vandalism. A number of arrests made. ...