Tony Abbott, the man who would like to tell all Australians how to behave in bed, and wants to have control over womens' bodies, has called Krudd a control freak. That's a bit rich doncha think?
I'm rather forthright with my opinions of our servants in blue. They're all bent as a peg. My reasoning here is that I've seen enough petty and very serious corruption, whether it's collusion to suppress evidence to cover up for cops who assaulted people (there's names for that: conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and plain old perjury), passing a blind eye over major offences, letting off their mates and the like, to allow me to reason that every NSW copper has either been bent, or has witnessed and not reported bentness.
Yes, I hold coppers to a high standard. A higher standard than for ordinary citizens. I think that's reasonable when you consider the enormous amount of power we give them individually and organisationally.
Now we see a report showing coppers in revolt because a number of them have been accused of very serious dodginess. These are the same fuckers who would use the "if you've got nothing to hide..." argument, so why are they scared of a little investigation?
One line from one of the coppers describing the Police Integrity Commission (hmmm, just like Military Intelligence) could just as easily describe the NSW Police Service: "It's damaged careers and reputations, for what? Someone needs to pull this organisation into line."
I don't know what the solution is to the bentness of coppers, but certainly the government should back the PIC to the hilt. I doubt they will though. A Wood-scale Royal Commission every five years would probably be a good idea.
The key problem is that the sort of people who want to become coppers, low-intelligence frustrated bully-victims-turned-bullies, are the last people you want as coppers. NSW Police recruitment processes have an upper as well as lower IQ range, from what I've heard, with the excuse that smart people would get bored being coppers. My interactions with most coppers bears this out.
As BDP put it: You were put here to protect us, but who protects us from you?
So apparently when the economy was tanking and interest rates were high, Brendan Nelson took out another mortgage and ran his business on credit. I bet he wasn't paying his employees' super or keeping money in the bank for their entitlements like holiday and long service leave either.
Just the man to be hoping to one day run the country.
You might want to take a seat. You could be here for some time.
In case you haven't heard, the Tories just elected a man who believes "intelligent design" should be taught in schools.
What is it about proponents of "intelligent design" that makes you think the designer was a bit hung over that morning?
Our new PM told his staff to limit their celebrations to a strong cup of tea and an Iced VoVo before getting down to work. I doubt he meant it this way, but the hilarious thing about this is that one of the ingredients of an Iced VoVo is, of course, desiccated coconut.
Well I was amused.
On another note, was it just me or was Maxine gurning like a coke fiend on Saturday night during her victory speech? They must be putting something a little stronger in Iced VoVos these days.
What an exciting time. Our new overlord, Kevin Rudd, wiped away 11 years of reactionary rule under lying rodent John Howard. The weather has brightened. The mood has risen. The future looks bright. I'm sure he'll manage to disappoint within the week, but for now I'm pleased.
Last night I had three bottles of bubbly ready to go. One was for Howard conceding government, one was for him conceding his seat and the final was for Malcolm Turnbull conceding his seat. The first two went surprisingly early in the night, and when it looked like Turnbull would hold onto his seat we drank the final one to try to forget.
After the result was clear, we left the party at Leonie and Mikey's place and headed to the People's Republic of Newtown for Good Rid Dance but by the time we got there it was winding down.
We moved on to a free party in Alexandria, which was shut down before we got there. Bit of a shame but it was 02:00 already, so it'd been a big night of celebration.
Disappointingly the booth I spent six hours on yesterday only scored 194 people. In this area it's not surprising though, as it's rusted on Labor. More surprising is the number of Tory voters! Hell, even the decidedly slimy-looking Socialist got a couple of votes. The hours spent in the 20,000 vote Australia House polling booth were much more productive.
Nationally The Greens did well, with the vote holding despite a massive swing to Labor. Unfortunately it looks like Kerry will miss out in the Senate for NSW, which is a real shame as she's been an excellent representative there.
Tomorrow is the big day, Howard's End. Something I've been waiting 11 years for. The day his particular breed of reactionary politics is shown the door.
There's really only one thing you must remember when voting tomorrow. Regardless of who wins government (and it looks like a Labor landslide is in the offing), the most important vote is the Senate. The conservatives, in conjunction with the hard-right "Christian" party Family First, currently hold the balance of power. Labor has no chance of winning control of the Senate in their own right, so the best option is to get Greens onto those red benches.
The best outcome is a Labor government with the Greens holding the balance in the Senate. This means the Senate becomes a house of review again, rather than the rubber stamp it's been under Howard. Labor will be forced to compromise to get support from the Greens, but the threat of support from the conservatives and religious nuts will force the Greens to be reasonable.
Only the Greens support the full reversal of Howard's divisivle Workchoices, and we will support and hopefully strengthen Labor's plans to dismantle it.
Both major parties are planning to build the pulp mill in Tasmania. Only the Greens have opposed it throughout the dodgy approval process. Both major parties also support increased uraniam mining and nuclear power. Yes, even Peter Garrett.
The Greens support public education, not tax cuts to the rich. My uncle (a public school teacher) had a great comment about government funding for private schools. Just because you build a pool in your backyard doesn't mean you should get a rebate for not using the government-funded public pool.
Finally, The Greens are the only party that support full equality for GLBTI relationships.
Isn't a vote for a minor party a wasted vote?
No. Unlike some other countries, Australia has a system called "Preferential Voting" or "Instant-runoff voting". You number the candidates according to your preference and, if your first candidate isn't the winner, your vote is transferred to your next preference. I explained it in some detail on my blog and there's a great video explaining it by the Greens.
What about this <insert minor party>
Beware the little parties you've never heard of. While they might have a nice fluffy sounding name, some of them have very sinister agendas.
- Family First has a very narrow definition of "family" and is quite obsessed with sex and sexuality, namely controlling yours.
- Non-Custodial Parents are preferencing some very dodgy parties, so I doubt they really have the interests of most single parents at heart.
- Climate Change Coalition have done some very shonky preference deals, including putting The Fishing Party ahead of The Greens, with Family First and One Notion ahead of Labor!
- Democratic Labor Party, to paraphrase the old joke about the Libs, are neither democratic, nor a party. These are incredibly conservative Catholics who are still convinced there's a red under every bed, preferencing the Coalition, Family First and Fred Nile ahead of Labor.
- Conservatives for Climate and Environment will never get a seat in the Senate, and their preferences go straight to the Coalition. The only circumstance it might make sense to vote for them is if you want to vote Coalition but also want to send a message about climate change and the environment. I guess.
I've gone through the NSW Senate preferences in more detail on my blog before.
If you're voting tomorrow afternoon at St Peters Public School, you'll probably run into me. Be sure to say hello.
The 7:30 Report last night followed the campaigning in the so-called bellwether seat of Eden-Monaro, which is where I grew up. Watching the incumbent Tory campaign against the Labor candidate, I had a sudden realisation about how Labor have so cleverly differentiated themselves, while still actually promising and porking in much the same way.
When Nairn was pointing to things he'd achieved for the electorate, and things he was promising for the electorate, he placed large emphasis on the amount of money. It was "$100 million for the Pambula bridge upgrade". The Labor guy, while dispensing just as much promised pork, emphasised the outcome rather than the cash value. The party itself, and the press releases, still include values, but his own message was very much the outcome.
Could it be that the public subconsciously realise that they're being bribed with their own money? Or perhaps the fiscal responsibility message that Rudd so cleverly picked after Howard's incontinent campaign launch (as I prediceted the day before the Labor launch, though it was an obvious option) has actually sunk in?
Stig asks if I have an RSS feed without all the political crap. The election is this Saturday, so by Monday I'll be over it and the realisation that Rudd is almost (but thankfully not quite exactly) the same as Howard...
Come Monday, this blog will be back to its usual programming of complaining about my bunions, or something.
A party in People's Republic of Newtown is planned for election night to celebrate the (expected) ousting of 11 years of Tory government.
There's a MySpace page and in keeping with MySpace tradition, it'll attempt to burn your eyeballs out.