Mood:  sharp

..............................

The feeling of dread has begun. Howard steps forward to welcome and shake Kevin's hand at the disused Lodge on the vision last night. Similarly the email arrives from Bega;

Hi greenies
Martin Ferguson is the new Minister for Resources, Energy and Tourism in the Rudd Government. This is a real worry. He is the politician who hates greenies and wants to burn 5million tonnes of native forest a year and call it "renewable."
regards
harriett

................................ 

Where is the true Opposition in a wall to wall ALP reality, not that we were impressed with those poorly reproduced Coalition scare adverts totally unsuitable for newsprint hardly revealing the brickwork metaphor.

Well the real Opposition is the community media, maybe the Big Media and certainly the Green party from a low base of maybe 10% public support.

Yes sir, the unrestrained ALP is a real worry. They have their Kyoto Treaty figleaf and decimated Garrett 'Environment Minister' Portfolio and not much else:

It's an anti ecology, brown and vandalistic ALP full of sleaze terms like "clean coal" and "bio banking" which means destruction of half not all of the 10% left after 200 years. All PR consultants' dirty work for the Dark Side woven in with expanded uranium mining, land clearing and chipping,

These people are professional liars, who sound good but mean and do great harm.

Take Minister Penny Wong replacing threadbare brand Garrett post election in the Portfolio Water and Climate Change. We recently responded to Simon Benson of the Sydney Daily Telegraph about this:

..............................

#1 of 7

Posted by editor at 9:37 AM EADT

Updated: Friday, 30 November 2007 11:19 AM EADT

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Mood:  energetic

Dear socially/environmentally/future aware colleagues,

• The Premier (thepremier@www.nsw.gov.au)
• The Deputy Premier and Minister for Finance (John Watkins, dp.office@watkins.minister.nsw.gov.au)
• The Minister for Education and Training (John Della Bosca, office@smos.nsw.gov.au)
• The Treasurer (Michael Costa, Fax 9228 5699)
• The Minister for Community Services (Kevin Greene, office@greene.minister.nsw.gov.au)
• The Minister for Local Government (Paul Lynch, office@lynch.minister.nsw.gov.au)
• The Minister for Youth and Volunteering (Linda Burney, linda.burney@parliament.nsw.gov)
• The Minister for Science (Verity Firth, office@firth.minister.nsw.gov.au)
• The Leader of the Opposition (Barry O'Farrell, LOP@parliament.nsw.gov.au)
• The Shadow Minister for Education (Andrew Stoner, oxley@parliament.nsw.gov.au)
• Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council (Michael Gallacher, michael.gallicher@parliament.nsw.gov.au)
• The Shadow Minister for Local Government (Chris Hartcher, terrigal@parliament.nsw.gov.au)
• The Shadow Minister for community Services (Katrina Hodgkinson, burrinjuck@parliament.nsw.gov.au)
• Sylvia Hale MLC (Greens) (sylvia.hale@parliament.nsw.gov.au)
• John Kaye MLC (Greens) (john.kaye@parliament.nsw.gov.au)
• Lee Rhiannon MLC (Greens) (lee.rhiannon@parliament.nsw.gov.au)

Posted by editor at 8:01 AM EADT

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Mood:  sad

But we couldn't help noticing that our 'talking points' circulated widely before the meeting became the overall focus. Andrews was spruiking our environmental sustainability agenda with an invited speaker, a high priced consultant trawling for work from Pidcock Architects. She wanted to pursue corporate sponsors AMP and ANZ. Or maybe the GM position on $65K or more p.a. Then ex Board President Mamouney calling for greater openness and cooperation (but no practical suggestions). Even Don's sidekick Abdi telling this critic "we wish you well" in the spirit of Gandhi while ruling out any elegibility to an election franchise (similar but much less than ill fated Newhouse recently).

1. Do you think the Board has a Labor Party stack?

2. Do you support the mediation/greivance procedure on the books of the ARC, or not?

3. Ian Laird [former GM] has now left for some high powered job in the Community Broadcasting Association. I understand Yvette Andrews wrote to him in his last few days. What did you say to him? [A vicious poison letter apparently.]

4. The website is the modern gateway to the centre and it probably has been crucial to the success of the market. But it's 3 months out of date. Why? [the Board sacked this website developer from the work in a blatant example of victimisation.]

1. Associate Members can't vote. There are only 22 Ordinary Members who can vote [for a 7 member Board]. Isn't that a bit unfair for a 3.4 hectare community centre with a 50 year lease?

2. To Cr Olive [Green Party, Marrickville], do councils put their minutes and draft minutes on their website, and if so why not the ARC as well like they do at Waverley?

3. To Cr Olive, what's your view of the deal struck with the Gallery. [read on for this one]

Cr Peter Olive, only recently returned to the ARC Board, effectively gave the same advice to the meeting over the vexatious attempt at a blocking point of order by Abdi desperate to keep the whole house of cards aloft. But rather than really address this short changing or misuse of rentable space they preferred to whine about electricity usage of the highly successful Sunday Market who were not in the room. I wonder what the Inner West community who visit the market might think if they knew many of the "Ordinary Members" don't like them: Too many cars in the car park, loss of trade to Reverse Garbage, don't bring their own bins, 'can't' access my office on Sunday blah blah blah. The market must be "reviewed". There must be an "audit". Good for the goose but not otherwise. Failure is fine, success is the real problem.

 

Abdi was returning officer for the Board election when his colleague Mamouney at Sidetrack Theatre had nominated a friendly tenant for the election. This was despite a genuinely neutral returning officer in Peter Talmacs, acting general manager, being available. Mamouney even blatantly nominated Abdi to be returning officer with no hint of embarrassment by anyone this might be a conflict of interest . Just another slick closed shop operation at the ARC.

Posted by editor at 10:49 PM EADT

Updated: Friday, 30 November 2007 8:30 AM EADT

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Mood:  chatty

[Media Release of Greens follows]

Tuesday 27 November 2007

Greens pass million milestone

The Greens' vote in the Senate has exceeded one million. The final count
will near 1,080,000 compared with 917,000 in 2004.

In other outcomes the Greens:

* Supplanted the National Party as Australia's third
largest political party - by a country mile;

* Rescued the Senate's balance of power through winning a
seat in South Australia (Sarah Hanson-Young) as well as Nick Xenophon;

* Busted the Senate quota barrier (14.2%) for the first
time - In Tasmania, with 17.74%;

* Scored a new record high percentage national Senate vote
(9.02%);

* Scored a new record high percentage Senate vote in any
electorate (ACT - 22%);

* Gave Labor the preference flow to win 21 seats,
including Bass, Braddon, Bennelong and Bowman;

* May well pass the Liberals in Melbourne to score over
22% (with candidate Adam Bandt) and will peg Labor's Lindsay Tanner to
closer than 55-45 in two party preferred;

* Will go into the next Senate with between 5-7 seats
(1998 - 1 seat; 2001-2 seats; 2004 - 4 seats) and hold or share the
balance of power;

* Increased the Greens Northern Territory vote to 9% from
7.7% after opposing the Howard government's intervention laws which Rudd
Labor supported.

"In the Howard-Rudd context, this has been another electoral advance for
the Greens, who do best when Labor, rather than the Coalition, is in
office," Greens leader Bob Brown said today.


Contact: Prue Cameron 0408 473 379

Posted by editor at 5:45 PM EADT

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Mood:  energetic

Margaret Simons writes [Monday 26th Nov 07 crikey.com.au]:

I’ve never been entirely convinced by that saying of Keating’s that has become political cliché – change the government and you change the country.

It seems to me that the changes of the last eleven years have been mainly do with what gets articulated, rather than with fundamental changes of national character. The nation itself changes much more slowly than the political cycle.

I argued this with Robert Manne once, and he replied that a change of articulation is a change to the nation, and I agree with him to a point – but can’t forget all those legions of Australians who have never heard of Robert Manne, or of me, and for whom there is no culture war, let alone victors and losers in that war. Just their lives and the pragmatic, close-up politics of lived experience.

Nevertheless, there will now be at least a change in what elements of the national mindset are articulated in the public sphere, and this will mean a change in the networks of media power.

I am not talking here about proprietors – although the fact that News Limited newspapers split in their pre-election editorials signals that Murdoch gave no binding direction - perhaps a measure of his lack of interest in the Australian branch of empire these days.

I am talking about individual journalists. I have seen the type of change that is now likely once before. When Howard came to government in 1996, over the succeeding months individual editors and journalists were eased out. Canberra Press corps were recast to get rid of those who, rightly or not, were seen as having been too close to Keating. Over the following years editors changed too, and of course new stables of columnists were brought to the fore.

It took at least 12 months, but it happened, and the battlefield and the cultural warriors were established.

No newspaper that wants to be on the Canberra drip can continue with a line-up of reporters and opinion writers which, rightly or wrongly, is seen to have closed its ears to the ideology of government.

The line-ups are allowed to be critical, certainly. But they must at least have ears to hear and understand the new tune.

So we can expect a big shift in the journalistic world over the next year. This will open up opportunities for some, and close careers for others.

Watch for the changes. This will be the hint to what gets articulated in the future.

There are a few words and phrases I hope will die, or at least be challenged. One is “mainstream”. So many columnists in sympathy with the Howard Government have declared themselves to articulate “mainstream” Australian opinion, which includes enormous hostility to the so called left wing “elite”.

I doubt that these people ever articulated the mainstream. Certainly I don’t believe the levels of intense hostility towards intellectuals expressed by columnists and shock jocks have ever been echoed among ordinary people in the suburbs and regions.

And now look at how out of touch, how old fashioned, these people – the Alan Jones’s, the Akermans and others – are looking.

The so-called articulators of the mainstream largely failed to catch the mood of the nation on David Hicks, or Dr Haneef, or Iraq, or workchoices.

But what, in any case, is the mainstream? How do you divine such a thing among all the rivulets and backwaters of Australian life experience and opinion? The truth is the mainstream is taken to be the thing that those with the power of publication decree it to be – until reality rises up and bites them in the bum.

Meanwhile most Australians get on with living their quite diverse lives, with political points of view arising from their lived experience.

The Rudd Government has as one of its defining polices fast Broadband Internet. This carries symbolic as well as practical importance. The power of the op ed writers, the journalists and the commentators is not as complete as it was in 1996.

As we have seen in this election there is always an alternative, published, point of view, accessible to anyone who wants to look for it.

So watch for the players of the media game to change – but watch, too for the game itself to alter.

Posted by editor at 9:14 AM EADT

Updated: Wednesday, 28 November 2007 5:44 PM EADT

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Mood:  irritated

[Direct lift from CBAA on Sydney Indy Media 25th Nov 2007]

No cash for Community Radio & TV

The community broadcasting sector is unhappy that, on the eve of the election (and the sector’s annual conference) neither of
the major political parties have committed anything to sustain the future of community broadcasting.

Politicians of all persuasions have been very strong in espousing their support for the sector throughout the more than 100 meetings
that the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia has had this year. Those comments haven't been backed up with firm
policy commitments though, according to the CBAA.

CBAA General Manager Barry Melville has told radioinfo:

"All of the politicians and candidates we've met have been warmly supportive of community broadcasting [but] despite this, neither
the Coalition nor the ALP have responded positively to our funding requests."

Earlier this year, community broadcasting sector representatives presented a funding submission to representatives of all political
parties, hoping to underscore the future sustainability of the sector. Key elements of the submission included:

1. Content production: $7.2m

2. Infrastructure: $5m

3. Training: $2.8m

4. Sector coordination: $1.8m

“Given the budget surpluses of recent years these figures seem a remarkably modest ask,” says Melville.

The only party to release a policy on community broadcasting is The Greens. Their policy ‘Supporting Community Broadcasting,’ i
ncludes a commitment of an extra $10m per year in core funding to the sector. The Greens also support a recently released report
from the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Information Technology, Communications and the Arts which commits
to funding for stations to subsidise management, training and improved governance.

Under its Arts Policy, the ALP has announced a commitment to fund the Australian Music Radio Airplay (AMRAP) project, which
is “very welcome,” according to the CBAA. The project, which has successfully connected thousands of independent Australian
musicians with community radio stations, is due to be wound up in early 2008 should it not receive further funding.

The CBAA opens it 35th annual conference in Melbourne today, without the hoped for funding promises. Over 350 community
broadcasters from around the country will attend the event.

At the conference the CBAA will be calling on the major political parties to “show their appreciation for the integral role the sector
plays in supporting local communities and enhancing Australia’s broadcasting landscape.”

Melville says: “It would have been simply fantastic to open the conference and say that no matter who wins the federal election
on Saturday, the community broadcasting sector would receive strong support from Government. I guess instead we’ll open it
with ‘great work everyone – sorry about the government’.”

http://www.cbaa.org.au/

Posted by editor at 9:07 AM EADT

Updated: Wednesday, 28 November 2007 9:13 AM EADT

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Mood:  quizzical

Picture: Orange is the theme colour of the Sydney City Hub December 07 cover (rescued from the paper recycler with 9 other copies at Addison Rd Centre on Nov 25th 2007). Appropriate as orange is the Get Up livery as well. And by 'coincidence' its also the colour of choice of leading Left ALP MP Anthony Albanese on all his korflutes throughout local seat of Grayndler.

When you are called to serve the country, one must accept the invitation. But how best to serve? Brett Solomon has been covering his Evan Thornley/ALP aligned tracks for quite a while now. The 230,000 progressive movement (churning?) of Get Up is a marvellous form of political capital.

But will Get Up strengthen and consolidate what it has in terms of non aligned character, and cut the strings from mother US Democrat/ALP, with all the cruelling of access and fundraising opportunity?

Where the touchstone issue of forest protection is no longer "off the table". That specific approach is bogus. To be agnostic about a crucial issue of our time - Tas pulp mill/forest slaughter - is frankly not good enough. Lacks spine. Lacks credibility. Echoes the mediocrity and in the end moral confusion of the captured and wasted Peter Garrett MP.

We noticed on 10's Meet The Press vision some weeks back Brett Solomon in person on the picket line with the Greens inspired street protest with Senator Kerry Nettle in Phillip st federal govt offices. So agnostic about forests doesn't even wash dear Mr Solomon.

What's it to be? Perhaps we will find out soon with some 'Refreshing' honesty that Get Up seeks to promote?:

Sent: Monday, November 26, 2007 2:04 AM

Subject: An extraordinary night

Dear friends,

What an extraordinary night - and now, a new beginning for Australia.

Saturday night, as we were in the tally room, we saw a clear march of voters back towards the progressive issues that we've all been fighting so hard to put back on the agenda - with our campaigns on climate change, a fairer economy, indigenous rights, and the war in Iraq all having a major impact on this election. And GetUp members have been right there at the centre of it all - emerging as part of a powerful people-centred movement for change.

Last election we did not exist. Now we are 230,000 strong, having built the foundations of an unprecedented grassroots movement for the 2008-10 parliamentary cycle. In the words of one commentator, GetUp has "evolved from political experiment to a voice Australian politicians cannot afford to ignore."*

Allow us to express our profound gratitude to those of you who have worked so hard with us in this election year to inject accountability, honesty, and progressive policies into this pivotal election. Together we've run the most ambitious and effective non-partisan grassroots electoral program in Australian history:

- In Bennelong alone, over 800 GetUp volunteers campaigned on the ground over the last eight months, with every single polling booth staffed by GetUp volunteers handing out party comparison scorecards on Election Day. Your presence was unmissable and instrumental.

- Yesterday, thousands of you flooded polling booths nationwide with a sea of orange to distribute GetUp materials - ensuring that the issues you care about were front and centre in the minds of over half a million voters. (If you volunteered at a polling booth, tell your day's story here.)

- Our campaign to restore balance to the Senate is looking to have succeeded, with the Coalition set to lose one Senator in Tasmania and one in South Australia - enough to end one party control of the Senate (Victoria and the ACT are still too close to call).

There's a lot more that we could say about the implications of last night's election results and your work over the past six months, but enough from us. Join the discussion on our election blog.

Finally, we all know our job didn't end on Election Day. In fact, our task of keeping politicians from all sides accountable to you is just beginning. We, like you, will take the next few days to catch our breath, but later this week we'll be in touch with our new GetTogether program, the next steps with Promise Watch and our exciting plans for this grassroots movement - to ensure the new Government builds the progressive Australia we all have in mind.

Today, we begin the journey to reshape our future.

The GetUp team

PS - GetUp's Refresh Conference, a national meeting of Australia's progressive movement to evaluate the election, share skills, and plan next steps, will take place Dec 7-8 (Fri-Sat) in Sydney - and you're invited! It's fillling up quickly, so RSVP now - and apply for one of our travel scholarships available for those from outside Sydney.

*Larissa Dubecki, The Age, 29 Oct 2007

...........................................

Postscript #1 30 Nov 07

Crikey.com.au seem to have cottoned on to this emergent Orange theme yesterday 29 Nov all set in train by Get Up livery. This image here itself echoes an orange korflute Mal Turnbull used to sledge Peter "we'll just change it all" Garrett in the seat of Wentworth with a call to "don't risk it". Given Big Mal rebuffed a national adverse swing and is known from Ozemail days to be a net savvy guy, we presume he bummed the livery off Get Up too.

But maybe all these serious players should recall that the original Orange People, or Rajneeshies, including here in Australia were very unusual if not strange like here deifying a rich guy in a Roller. It may be that's enough orange for everyone now?

Posted by editor at 9:53 AM EADT

Updated: Friday, 30 November 2007 1:36 PM EADT

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Mood:  special

Matt Price has died at 46 (45?). He was a rascally, bright, kind, dedicated toiler in the big media with an eye to the compassionate approach. The fellow with the gasp at the forefront of the vision on the close election of Mark Latham to ALP leader 3 years ago, and shown above with John Howard in his role with the Canberra Press Gallery.

On the centre leftish side of The Australian press gang, perhaps as a foil to Dennis Shanahan or other right wingers, Matt was a regular on ABC too.

He stumbled intellectually about mid year and now we presume it was almost certainly the brain tumour that has now taken him. How many ferocious deadlines did he make, how many pressure cooker news rooms, did he endure? Was it the genetic lottery? Lifestyle? It hardly matters. He's gone before us. But we are all going down the same road.

Trioli has spoken of his death this morning on 702 ABC radio. He would have revelled in analysis of the Rudd years. Especially this image of the 'Jed Bartlet/West Wing' stance (episode #43 on Wikipedia if memory serves), ie hands in pocket, made up his mind, set his course with that high power intellect, only this time it's no actor but new PM Rudd in Price's own newspaper this morning:

It's an image with a subliminal for the insiders like Matt who surely enjoyed the USA power sit com drama. He was visited by PM Howard last week indicating his credentials.

Just yesterday Barrie Cassidy gave a brief soliliquy for Matt Price on Insiders ABC as "strong and positive and that's the way forward". Such irony, maybe intended, maybe not.

Damn, damn, damn. God bless your soul Matt Price. We never met but we liked you alot.

Posted by editor at 8:46 AM EADT

Updated: Monday, 26 November 2007 9:15 AM EADT

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Mood:  lazy

Stay tuned.

................................advertisement ......................................

Picture: Osti at Addison Rd Sunday Market 25th November 2007 agrees with PM elect Kevin Rudd that "a strong cup of tea" to celebrate all big occasions ...hot chai tea in fact ... is well in order.

....................................................

Author’s general introductory note (skip this if you know this regular weekly column):

This is not a well packaged story. It’s a contemporaneous traverse of the Sunday television free to air political talkies indicating the agenda of Establishment interests: Better to know ones rivals and allies  in Big Politics and Big Media.

Indeed it’s the tv version monitoring task similar to what Nelson Mandela refers to here in his book Long Walk to Freedom (1994, Abacus) written in Robben Island prison (where he was meant to die like other African resister chiefs of history in the 19C), at page 208

“..newspapers are only a shadow of reality; their information is important to a freedom fighter not because it reveals the truth, but because it discloses the biases and perceptions of both those who produce the paper and those who read it.”

Just substitute ‘Sunday tv political talkie shows’ for "newspapers" in the quote above.

For actual transcripts go to web sites quoted below except with Riley Diary on 7. And note transcripts don’t really give you the image content value.

Media backgrounder

Last two days press hedged a bit on Howard coming back in the late poll but their real preference was summed up in the front pager of the Saturday Telegraph on Saturday (?) with “Whoa ho ho ho”. As in whoa there tradies, don’t swing back to the old guy, and we all know father Christmas is a fiction and the phrase in the banner headline is subliminally like the laugh of the villain Mwha ha ha ha. There was no serious swing back. Final result 53.4 to 46.6 two party preferred.

10 Meet the Press

It’s a “Ruddslide”. Talent is Mike Rann for his mild tones, don’t scare the horses in a new govt to keep big capital from revolting or sly capital strikes.  Softly softly catchee monkee is the federal ALP game. True tribal nature revealed by this comment “Jackie Kelly in Lindsay was the rabbit punch on the way down”.

Bit of chat about national water deal.

Panel Patricia Karvelis and Mal Farr both ‘News’ Limited hacks.

Get Up with some kind of advert with a kid brushing his teeth, missed it.

Transcript in due course www.ten.com.au/meetthepress ,

Myspace web address: www.myspace.com/meetthepeople

7 Weekend Sunrise, 8.35-40 am Riley Diary  -

Gushy tedious (?) piano retrospective on Howard ex PM, likely ex Bennelong [in fact so]. ‘People rejected Costello as PM too’ strong line. ‘Libs will have to match New Leadership with new leadership’. Ominous for PC, rings true, and sure enough next day was proven correct with PC resignation [Bolt on Insiders pushes same line].

http://www.seven.com.au/sunrise/weekend

Insiders 2

- wrap up footage of the election night. Stuck with Downer as guest while Oakes has the juice with Gartrell (below)

- Paul Kelly becomes more interesting than Gartrell after all. But Kelly too over eggs the pudding – saying there was “no” ALP mythology in Rudd’s victory speech re “true believers (wrong ‘toiled in the field and we have prevailed’) missing “union alliance”  – could have fooled me, reference to trade union safety role and Bernie Banton heroism. Kelly argues Rudd calls for a consensus message, unite the country.

[yeah true enough he does as all new PM’s do, BUT really Kelly is projecting his own newspapers thin ice here. They need a friendly rapproachment after their right wing fangs attacked climate change and unions and the ALP for years under Howard. The only word Kelly couldn’t use was “mercy, mercy”.]

Meglogenis with strong insight about Brough repudiated in swathe of seats for single mothers welfare to work. Lost his seat and others turned too.

[Rudd victory speech, joined the ALP 25 years ago which makes it 1982 the height of the Franklin River Dam campaign, how ironic with the massive disgusting pulp mill today. What a shameful eco dunce ALP]

Bolt Costello repudiated too not just Howard. Echoes Gallup from the left yesterday.

Home page is http://www.abc.net.au/insiders/

Sunday 9

Great opening question by Oakes with  Tim Gartrell as ALP national campaign manager ‘You were supposed to be no good, what happened?’ – quotes senate control/work choices in echo of Geof Gallup on abc RN with Doogue morning before re ‘mortal sin of Australian politics is extremism’.

- Gartrell presents as very rhetorical and dogmatic as a tribalised warrior (suggesting the lack of class Keating was referring to).

- Great interview footage with Sinodinis as ex Howard man who got out when Howard couldn’t.

http://sunday.ninemsn.com.au/sunday/default.asp

Posted by editor at 11:09 AM EADT

Updated: Sunday, 10 February 2008 10:06 AM EADT

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Mood:  hug me

 

We are busy drafting our invoice (!). Should it go to Mark Arbib? Or maybe Senator John Faulkner? Both are well known machine men. About $5,000 for good community media service would be my guess.

A donation of course, not for actual cash for comment. But a valuable contribution to the  ALP federal election win all the same:

Who can forget that 'Uh oh Rudd's vote goes up' headline of ours at 6.30 am one Sunday morning after the strip club front page blowtorch, backfired through courage under fire before Laurie Oakes some 3 hours later?

 [Posted by editor at 6:26 AM 19th August 2007]

Uh oh Rudd vote goes up after NY strip club scandal from Sept 2003
Mood:  cool
Topic: election Oz 2007

Well I'll be horn swoggled as the yankees would say. The Big Meeja have switched to vaudeville at Ruddy's expense, from a Costello barracker in the Press Gallery no less, feral News Ltd journo Glenn Milne in today's Sunday Telegraph who ever regards his role as a player not just reporter:

But here's the kicker - Rudd's vote will actually go up. Eh, how so?

There's one thing about the Christian evangelical vote - it's all about redemption of the sinner. So as long as Kevvy the Silly Lad can grovel and confess and plead human frailty and isolated lapse of judgement, well then he's one of us brothers and sisters in Christ. Even my old man DLP and father of 9 used to watch Alvin Purple, I could hear him chortling across the hall as I drifted off to sleep suffering serious envy.

On the other hand the red neck hard drinking hard working blokes in the back blocks will give a sigh of relief, thank heavens (there is the religion aspect again) he has actually got red blood in his veins. Drinks and likes women. Therese (his loyal wife) get him in the dog house, woof.

The ALP proper will see the ghost of reformed hard drinking Bob Hawke who won his big election star turn in 1983.

The Costello backers will see Rudd's polling go up and get the leadership yet, in a draft from aging sinking but wily battling PM John Howard? Greater good and all that.

The balance of the Right of politics will shake their head knowingly about those free thinking lascivous Democrat towns like New York (the blue (!) ones, or is that red on their electoral maps?).

As for the rest of mainstream society. Well, we all think about such places even if we haven't been there on a 'fact finding tour' as the parliamentary jargon goes.

So we will all have a damn good laugh at his expense but not in a censorious way which is against our Convict heritage of calling a spade a shovel. Sex is another management issue in Australia, not an impeachment crusade. Just as long as he didn't do anything or catch anything to hurt anyone including himself or his sainted wife.

We always said grog was a real problem in society so mitigate your folly Ruddy and do something about the grotesque influence of those clubs & pub lobbyists as per front page of the Sydney Fairfax press same day (story about $150M alcohol driven project for Sydney's CBD).

And for God sake win the election, sooner rather than later too, we are all getting bored senseless (as per Mike Carlton column), and as Max Walsh formerly of The Bulletin stated on Breakfast RN with Doogue yesterday, the polls have stabilised for the ALP. Which probably explains the lurid attack story. Or maybe it comes from malcontented ALP types of the Lathamesque pursuasion annoyed by Rudd's success - a bit of tickle up as the burly crew coiffured one might say.

Our traverse of Sunday political free to air tv talkies later today should be a quite a doozy. Never done a prequel before either.

.............

Or the psychological insight that whatever kernels of grief, genetic id, or emotional confusion of the boy in the man from his farmer dad's sad death in a DUI, Big Kev actually defines his own adult professional character now. Not his father RIP. Not his DLP mother RIP. But this ALP PM in a new chapter of his life. That 80 hours of watching the West Wing straight was quite useful, especially this one when Jed, err Kev, can't sleep combined with some of this writer's own hard won lessons in life.

Picture: 3 snapshots of PM elect Kevin Rudd's victory speech last night with our interpretations for what they are worth:

1. checking his speech notes on the next topic - the terminal illness of Bernie Banton in hospital and his praise of the loyal and effective trade union movement on toxic asbestos. A moment of deep emotion like the impending death of his father all those years ago? Notice Therese also on track with the script over his shoulder.

2. A moment of pause at the rousing sincere loyal trade unionist cheer at this acknowledgement of their successful honourable role of support to dying Banton. Looks like an "I do" organisational consolidation moment of leader and formidable ranks.

3.  A monkey off his back, carried for 40 years? The big break through personally and professionally for the brilliant Kevin? Just prior to this is a  light hearted reference to the death of his father. 'He would be surprised being in the Country Party' was the gist. This shot is a bare moment of reverie. And then what we call the Jed Bartlet stance as Mrs Landringham might say : "You know what? Without family we are nothing". And on he goes like a politician version of Bob Dylan in the sense of a constant work in progress - maybe left, maybe right, maybe green, maybe brown. Sui generis (ie one of a kind). A lonely reality in many ways but the only one he's got so do your best.

During the victory speech if you watched carefully at one point Rudd looks down and we imagine travels back decades, maybe even to his father's hospital bedside. And returns instantly by teleporter and on with the Kevin Rudd Story. Indeed this could be the strong cup of tea reference to avoid the booze on big occasions because it's not for you Kev, just as it's not for me, worse luck. We did like our booze, past tense.

As the senior journos have been noting these last few days: The guy is starting to grow bigger as a personality and indeed grow into the job. In this sense he is ready, just as he calmed the exuberance of the crowd at the set piece victory speech to the ALP faithful with an understated authority.

We might have been happier for the PM (!) except for a few things. Certainly we felt the history of the moment as did no doubt Tanya Plibersek quoting Vaclav Havel. Classy comment.

And Julia Gillard moved to deep emotion before the camera on one station (as all 5 free to air SBS, ABC, 7, 9 and 10 and the ABC radio took the live feed, but not thankfully TVS Ch31) and yes admiration for Rudd her leader, no doubt about that.

Yes even Arbib seemed to evidence some boyish charm with his brash grin over powered by a greater stellar force. Shades of the "f*cked by Keating" glow of pink cheeked lobbyists who lose their script close to the throne.

Nothing exceeds like success but Rudd even seems to get that concern with ironic references to "a strong cup of tea" as a heady extravagance. Which reminds being tea total this last 18 months is just another line item on "the invoice". With the attached credit card statement at $3,972 in the red on a $4,000 overdraft, and underpaying the last monthly rent, no outgoing mobile calls for the last 2 weeks.

Yep we would have felt happy for Kevin, Therese, kids and Aussie Chinese son in law Albert if we weren't so worried about the environment and just so bugg*red since starting this non aligned micro news and political website on January 3rd 2007, writing every day, slowly getting better at it. Re-learning our editing and grammar skills, with plenty more to go.

Only we got called in to Plybers' (aka Flubbers') seat of Sydney at 10.30 am. The AEC had "lost our expression of interest" - unlikely as it mentioned this website in relation to the declaration of neutrality. Seems they had 'a situation' and could I go to the Redfern booth in Albert St pronto. Yep a queue of 150 and a watchful police eye in this humble area.

I wore my "Globalise Love" T-shirt, a bit threadbare now, printed by veteran greenie Peter Schnelbogl (!). They threw me in as queue monitor. Gee thanks. We got it down from 20 minutes to walk through, from chaos to kindness imbued by the democratic buzz like some down market concierge:

"sir, come through please, 2nd from the end lady in the pink top/ black top/ black singlet/ 3rd from the end/ just here/ right at the end on the right".

By 5.30pm it was quiet on a booth of about 2,000. Soon it was down to counting and after a nerve jarring exhausting grovel, leavened by the marvellous provisions via the Greens scrutineer to all the booth workers gratis,  and the working class grace of Jackie of Fairfield uncanny resemblance to Helen Santos character in the West Wing. Cute and smart, 2 kids both with red hair. "It's alll go with the kids" she says with dignity, been doing this since 2001, training to be a nurse. The stern Islander lady Nas with the sharp wit, classy international studies student Ivy, the highly efficient Thai Aussie guy, 'Newtown' Jill and range of others on the absentee table ably led by Cary.

By the wrap at 10.30 pm my teeth hurt. Really hurt. The 30 year old cap punched out by the school bully. The collapsed molar in the upper right for lack of dental care. I'd already spent the AEC cheque in my head. The only question which dentist and how soon I could get there. 6 months of Listerine and sugar free had got me over the line, but only just as we crashed to our bed with an aching headache. [A prescient form of solidarity, read following post.]

We might have been happy for Kevin but we had other things on our mind.

Posted by editor at 6:40 AM EADT

Updated: Monday, 26 November 2007 9:50 AM EADT

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