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sydney alternative media - non-profit community independent trustworthy
Sunday, 18 February 2007
Premier Morris Iemma's 'civic theatre' for the ALP bruvvers and sisters
Mood:  party time!
Topic: election nsw 2007

Picture above: This surly lad has a curious expression and doesn't seem too comfortable with democratic protest perhaps. The irony of the 'civic theatre' signage was well demonstrated outside on this occasion.

SAM's editor could not resist the democratic frisson around the State ALP campaign launch and tracked down to Hurstville this morning 18th February at 10.30 am. To give the Iemma team credit it was held in a down to earth location like Hurstville civic centre without the big headed "luminaries" and that approach does have a resonance. The party elders look like so many snouts in troughs, cliquey closed shop condescending hierarchical elitist snobs, not least ex Premier Bob Carr.

The burdensome symbols of lengthy ALP history are not the message the 'new fresh' Iemma Government wants to send after 12 years. They want more time a bit like W Bush and John Howard do in Iraq after 5 years, because they have "more to do" and are "heading in the right direction". So they all say.

There is a real sense of resentment about ALP arrogant born to rule postures, and apparently there was not one 'ALP' slogan anywhere, hence this report next day by Anne Davies Monday 19th Feb which itself echoes one of the major tv stations the night before (7 or 9) of the 'disappearing ALP':

It's more time: a jingle that jangles

It appears there's a new political party in NSW, writes Anne Davies.

After 12 years in this ALP city and state SAM found some at the security cordon at the front of the hall pretty defensive about democratic cut and thrust too, both police public servant and ALP functionary, and there may be some crossover as will be revealed. The latter couldn't quite hide that sense of arrogance that comes with power.

Perhaps the worst was the attempt by a junior copper to send this activist, admittedly geared up in "woodchipping sux" stickers, off the frontage of the hall to the other side of the road with the rest of the protest display 'rabble', until I told her it was "public land", "an unlawful direction", and flashed my solicitors card at her and told her to "follow the NSW Police Handbook".

The tv cameras got a bit interested and a senior ALP party functionary looking lean and hungry like Cassius (pictured below) tried to order me away too. Perhaps they were worried to keep the protesters bundled up. But I was having none ot it. A more senior police man tried the same tactic and even when I said it was an unlawful direction he said he was still asking me to leave for the other side. I said no.

I took this older copper's image but it's shaky given the above exchange left me a little intimidated. Interestingly the same copper got a big hand-shake only moments later from a very large man, I was told soon after his name is one Brian Robinson a councillor (presumably ALP) at Canterbury Council. Robinson refused to give his name to me directly and refused any questions about how long he'd known the policeman. You can draw your own conclusions.

Picture above: A small well organised section of the crowd.


Picture above: Opposite the Civic threatre, about 50 metres of placards, banners, singalong amplified music, chanting and harangue of Frank Sartor who got a big boo, Treasurer Michael Costa, Joe Tripodi (I was the one who called out 'go on a diet Joe' which was quite gratuitous but it was a parade of laughs by that stage)

From Right: Bob Walsh, Keith Muir and Graham Daly, all well known environmental campaigners in Sydney

 

 

The transcript of the leaders debate on tv last Friday is here in due course Stateline NSW The debate was well reported in mainstream press such as here with other related coverage:

 

Trust me: leaders plead for a chance

This is a water referendum, says Debnam

Creating a stink: election scare tactics in the offing

Rivals want more - but do viewers?

No answers to the tough questions

Gloves are off as campaigns get dirty

Ads turn nasty as parties get out the dog whistles

Muscle men in the shadows

Shooters' group factions clash on political funds

 

But it was notable for the ABC confirming its own role in the open ALP/Coalition conspiracy to gerrymander the electorate such that the 30% who don’t vote for either get no leader's debate, as per the prefacing comments of host Quentin Dempster. In other words democracy here is broken and the ABC are part of the problem. Notice Ben Wilson for instance in the revolving door from ABC to chief media manager for Premier Iemma as a case study. All legal and quite broken in democratic terms. The best democracy money can buy.

 

Iemma last Friday looked notably tired with circles under his eyes. And more grey hair showing than I can recall. Was it the lighting angle or genuine fatigue from the intensity of the campaign trail? TV is a cruel medium. He did come across as bright and dedicated and achieving real change in the infrastructure budget especially, but Debnam looked a lot more personally appealing and relaxed, if less expert and maybe “risky”.

Picture: Left, a Mr Allen from memory, tries to pompously order me off the street frontage in a ham fisted attempt at micro managing the protester/alternative media work of this author with camera in hand. He backs off a little when I take his picture. At right the senior copper  who also tried to shoo me away a moment later shaking the hand of one chunky ALP functionary Brian Robinson.

Next picture reveals it's a hopeless objective of the authorities to keep the public off their own street as the mob of supporters, protesters and the curious close around us in a pretty happy atmosphere with the ABC TV's Simon Santow towering over the crowd. At bottom right is one Shoquette Moselmane former mayor of Rockdale who was happy to chat and suggested Debnam has a Hansonist agenda going on against ethnic Australians.


Picture immediately above: The author in daggy protester mode, and at right two ALP 'Josh Lyman wannabes'.

Picture: Jim Towart retired oyster grower with placard "Desal guzzles energy and money" and colleague Milton Cockburn both of umbrella group Botany Bay & Catchment Association (BBACA) this author is also a member of, covering 33 local groups and the catchment of roughly 2 million Sydney siders.


Picture above: Some other 'trouble makers' on the street frontage to the Civic Centre Hall with the author. At right appropriately in white hat is Andrew Woodhouse President of the Australian Heritage Institute Inc, "an Australia wide umbrella group of local heritage societies" tel. 0415 949 506 protesting against "Sartorisation - overdevelopment at the expense of our heritage - has reached epidemic proportions": Media release 18th Feb 07 referring in particular to North Head Quarrantine Station, East Darling Harbour scheme, Royal Rehab. Centre at Ryde/Putney.

Postscript #1

An agitator writes to us as follows:

----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2007 8:07 AM
Subject: Three and a half hours at Hurstville, it is a shame there weren more protesters!  

SAM, (Thanks Many of us have missed the opportunity provided by  "free press" of [Sydney Independent Media website, still offline])

There were well over a hundred protesters at the Hurstville Civic Centre on Sunday 18 February, and if you include the Special Protective Services, fifty police to secure a whole city block! Education Minister Carmel Tebbutt was there and made a little media speech on the way out. It is interesting to note the education department is supposed to protect school children in uniform from political exploitation. But the Labor "family man" hit the hustings with music and the support of a large gathering of local school girls in uniform, showing why the Labor Party is in trouble their usual contempt for community rules. Why am I not surprised.

[author sign off]


Posted by editor at 1:03 PM EADT
Updated: Wednesday, 21 February 2007 12:50 PM EADT
Wednesday, 14 February 2007
Patriarchal ALP/Iemma political bimbos for the tv picfac, or emancipated sisters smashing the glass ceiling?
Mood:  quizzical
Topic: election nsw 2007

Picture: From left: ALP MPs Kristina Keneally MLA (Heffron), Angela D'Amore MLA (Drummoyne), Jodi Mackay (preselected candidate Newcastle), Virginnia Judge MLA (Strathfield)
 

Preface:

 

Perhaps subconsciously this writer being a single straight sort of bloke has set upon this story as a result of today by coincidence being Valentines Day here February 14th 2007. We can only honestly say the line of inquiry has been with us for about 2 weeks well before we heard of this marketing day arriving again.

 

We realised a certain probably cynical pattern from watching the pressers on Stateline and other recent ABC and other tv news over the last 2 months. 

 

Quite a coincidence and maybe appropriate to publish today, yet quite a serious issue about spin in Big Politics and Big Media in NSW at the moment around exploitation of gender equity and social values.

 

 

Story

 

 

Political observer hacks like this writer can still recall the withering attack by John Hatton MP (Independent) on former Liberal Police Minister Terry Griffiths for sexual harassment in NSW Parliament, by calling him “a boy”.

 

The attack was worse for the fact Hatton, who was more than most the father of the Wood Royal Commission into police corruption, felt he was deceived by ex Minister Griffiths on matters of personal behaviour and had therefore maintained an agnostic political judgement on the Ministers fate for longer than was warranted: Refer Griffiths speech in Hansard here before being forced to resign at the 1995 state election:

 

Honourable Member For Georges River Sexual Harassment Inquiry ...

 

Far be it for photogenic female backbenchers to be disrespected by this writer for their undoubted personal achievements in life. Having looks should not be a cause for reverse discrimination. But then experienced observers of political spin cannot help but notice the positioning of these junior politicians to boost the appeal of Premier Morris Iemma on the campaign trail.

 

The ALP MP's above are consipicuously silent window dressing usually in view of the camera just over Iemma’s shoulder. When they do talk like Jodi Mackay 3rd from the left it seems to be froth and bubble about being “excited” to be representing the ALP (not to mention all that personal financial security of a backbenchers wage with little policy responsibility).

 

Iemma should watch himself with his official launch this weekend about getting too clever: Griffith’s was described back in 1994 by colleagues and visitors, turned witnesses, as having an office of “pretty girls” suggesting a fairly deliberate decorative hiring intention over actual qualifications for such a crucial ministerial portfolio.

 

And what about negative stereotyping of good looking intelligent capable individuals as bimbos? Are they not similarly disadvantaged by cynical presentations, and treated as a book cover rather than allowed to expand their responsibility and talent, like so many Donna Mosses to the Josh Lyman alpha male in West Wing tv series? It works to discriminate against the good lookers as well as the plain.

 

And it is not just this writer who seems to have noticed a certain PR pattern to the Iemma machine visual presentation:

 

Brown slams ALP 'political yuppies'

FORMER federal government minister Bob Brown has made a stinging attack on the endorsed state Labor candidate for Newcastle, Jodi McKay, calling on her to resign. Newcastle Herald 06/02/2007     Cost - $2.20     427 word

 

Is Iemma's ALP treating the voters and democracry of NSW like a glossy tv advertsing account?  Is this how elections should be determined by the window dressing or by the brains and genuine political talent?

 

The sisters in the NSW political community should be heard on this, not silent like so many women in a Morris Iemma press conference we have observed in Big Media this last 2 months.

 


Posted by editor at 12:35 PM EADT
Updated: Wednesday, 14 February 2007 1:30 PM EADT
Friday, 9 February 2007
Miranda Devine airbrushes bushfire arson motive at Goonoo, backs redneck attack on scientists, public servants
Mood:  down
Topic: election nsw 2007

Picture reference: "Instance of land clearing 100 km north west of Dubbo." in Sydney Morning Herald story "Cleared land to be farmed as regeneration plans go up in smoke" Date: April 3 2006 By Elicia Murray, including this quote

"VAST tracts of cleared land in north-western NSW are being prepared for farming, after the State Government failed in its attempt to have the area returned to its original bushland state.

Green groups and the Government have accused a Nyngan farmer of tearing down up to 2000 hectares of native bush on his property since 2002, in what they say is one of the state's worst cases of unauthorised land clearing."

..........

In the age of global warming where every carbon store is a boon, there are agriculturalists who demand the right to continue to log and clear established woodlands. Anyone who watches An Inconvenient Truth and the awesome melting patterns of Greenland and West Antarctic would be planting them not the opposite.

 

When these redneck farmers and loggers lose the argument as they did at Goonoo Pilliga in North West NSW in early 2005 it seems they want to take it out on innocent public servants.

 

Climate change sceptic Miranda Devine had this malicious article Jan 28th 2007 p15 Sydney Sun Herald:

 

http://www.smh.com.au/news/miranda-devine/firefighters-anger-still-burning/2007/01/27/1169788740783.html

 

It’s a holy commandment of the volunteer bushfire figher community that politics should not interfere with the cooperative effort of the local community. Everyone in the country should pull together to deal with the common threat. But Miranda Devine stirs up potentially devastating division and conflict amongst locals in the Dubbo area leveraging contested land use decisions that farmers lost in 2005, just as the pro land clearing farmers at The Land did in 2005.

 

Her article reads in part

IT'S THE talk of Dubbo. Two weeks ago, as a bushfire was raging through the Goonoo Community Conservation Area, an angry showdown between Rural Fire Service volunteers and National Parks and Wildlife Service employees threatened to derail firefighting efforts.

The streets are abuzz with the story of how, at the height of the blaze, greenie NPWS workers drove their vehicles in front of a bulldozer driver trying to clear a firebreak in order to stop him damaging any more vegetation.

And over the next few days, furious firefighters said every time they cleared a firebreak, a NPWS crew was behind them, infuriatingly pushing vegetation back onto the track.

The fire was eventually extinguished last week, having ravaged 60,000 hectares of the national park and threatened adjoining farms. But the white-hot anger among local volunteer firefighters still burns.

"There's a lot of bad blood out here," local farmer and retired RFS fire control officer Kevin Brown says.

NPWS spokesman John Dengate says the story is simply a "misunderstanding" that has spread like Chinese whispers.

He says it was only one vehicle, containing two NPWS employees who had driven from Sydney, who "happened to park their car in front of" the bulldozer driver. "The idea that Parks [and Wildlife] would try to stop the firebreak is ridiculous."

Dengate concedes there were arguments about the width of firebreaks, with NPWS staffers trying to tell bulldozer drivers to make them narrower, "because it's faster and more effective". He confirms that one overzealous NPWS employee was stood down.

RFS incident controller Don Jenks, called in by Dengate to further clarify matters, says some firebreaks were so wide "you could land a 747 on them". But he agreed his crew were upset when NPWS staffers started "refurbishing" firebreaks before the flames had been extinguished.

As for the bulldozer incident, Jenks was initially furious, but later discovered only one NPWS car had stopped the driver because "they just wanted to talk to him".

Much of the disagreement stemmed from the fact that NPWS people thought a D8 bulldozer was too big, whereas the firefighters wanted a big dozer for wide tracks to ensure the fire wouldn't escape to neighbouring farms, as it had to devastating effect from nearby Goobang National Park in December, 2001.

It's no wonder there is bad blood between the NPWS and local farmers, most of whom are volunteer firefighters.”

But the redneck firefighters were not so keen to fight any fire in this conservation area back in May 2005. Back then according to The Land the farmer clearers were flirting with bushfire revenge for losing the farming land use decision intent on logging and clearing.

 

Picture: Street posters by The Wilderness Society taken by this writer in late 2006 on City Rd at Camperdown and Carrington Rd Waverley in Sydney in the approach to the March 2007 NSW election.
 

Back in 2005 this writer reported on a Sydney independent media website the following situation in rural land politics:

 

“Peter Austin and The Land, cracks up, exhorts fire bugs in the Pilliga?

 

The latest issue of The Land, published by JB Fairfax/Rural Press from memory, a stand alone news company, goes dangerously close to exhorting firebug revenge on the Carr government for its latest forest conservation decision. Some other assumptions in its coverage are also hysterical, misleading and ultimately a disservice to a rural readers.

 

Here is a link to a previous imc post on the mass media details of the decision for north west forests: http://www.sydney.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=54957

 

[refers to Goonoo Pilliga conservation decision covering some 348,000 ha which outraged the farmers who wanted to use the land. It was Bob Carr’s conservation decision swansong and a very good one despite his pro woodchipping broken promises in south east NSW.]

 

The front cover of the May 12th editon has a Bob Carr graphic in Pinocchio 'liar' mode on the allegation Carr changed his tune from an interview in 2003 extracted inside the paper for a more redneck final decision. But perhaps that was before the logging union national leadership betrayed federal Labor in Tasmania helping to return a dishonest Howard Government?

 

Also perhaps the editor and senior writers like Peter Austin understand how the ecologically minded felt in 1998/99 when it became clear that the east coast logging/conservation decisions made it clear Carr had no intention of keeping his 1995 election promise to end woodchipping of native forest by the year 2000. That promise is now 5 years broken.

 

Irresponsible firebug talk in The Land

In The Land's press tantrum they include dangerously irresponsible prose virtually exhorting firebug behaviour from supporters of the logging industry who know all too well about starting and organising 'controlled burns' after logging. Further it is well known that anti conservationists have started fires before such as the infamous Dunbogan koala colony despicably burnt by a corrupt apparently alcoholic NPWS officer in an attempt to ease approval of a white shoe canal estate real estate project just south of Port Macquarie in the 1980/early 90's.

 

These pro fire bug quotes in The Land include:

 

Quoting Opposition spokesperson Duncan Gay at page 7: "Years of careful forest management to keep fuel levels down has the potential to go up in smoke"

 

"NSW is faced with the prospect that 348,00 hectares of locked-up forest could turn into a destructive and unstoppable forest fire"

 

The Land continues"

 

"(Local brigade captian and NSW Farmers executive councillor, Rod Young, Purlewaugh, said his members would not be volunteering for future fire fighting duty inside any new reserved areas.)"

 

The Land editorialist then writes at p12

 

"Hundreds of thousands of hectares of woodlands ... will now be locked up to await the inevitable and frightening firestorms which will do far , far more damage in a few hours than a century of sawmilling."

 

Putting aside the inconsistency of quoting fire damage as a problem, and yet supporting firestick management so often praised by farmers and loggers based on the known recuperative ability of native bush, are these quotes above code for tacit support for firebug revenge? That could well be one interpretation.

 

Responsible fire management is indeed a definite aspect of proper management of the area to mimic natural and Aboriginal land management history over the last 100 and thousands of years.  But that doesn't equal an outdated hunter gatherer logging industry.

 

Ecological case for decision

The Land argues that the whole forest area is really just a human artefact anyway of only the last 100 years or so (p8, "Forest's roots not in the 'dreamtime'). That sounds a little weak and folksy but it is a fair question to ask again what is the public interest in this latest decison for the welfare and good government of all urban and rural and regional voters together.

 

Certainly looking to the past is no final answer for what is best to do now. As the UN has pointed out at:

 

http://www.millenniumassessment.org/en/index.aspx

 

humanity is using up the ecological space at a frightening rate threatening civilisation as we know it within only possibly fifty years. There is no point living in denial about this.

 

I asked David Butcher head of Greening Australia last week, a really quite conservative green group, what he thought and he said it was a pretty good decision and wondered about the detail of the newly invented  management tenure: multiple use Community Conservation Zone. I asked about the timing and he said it was due back in February 05 and years in the consideration.

 

Then there are the arguments of the ecologically minded Western Conservation Alliance emphasising the nature values and eco tourism values of the region (recognised with  $2.5 million govt fund for a new centre): Refer

 

http://www.npansw.org.au/wca-bbs/html/media.htm

 

with extensive posts there. You can be sure there will be a great array of threatened and endangered species. That's the reality of the high consumption world we live in now and forever more.

 

 

Water production issues

Look at the other indirectly related coverage in the same issue of The Land. The NSW Farmers Association's Mal Peters column dwells on the "nightmare" drought in NSW at page 13, and another story talks about a $30 million project to better manage the existing water in the Barren Box Wetland at page 27. This disruption of water supplies is very likely related to landscape scale vegetation clearance of some 1 million hectares in NSW alone of the last 10 years, and much more over the last 100 years. Vegetation, and especially mature forest, acts as a water sponge and reservoir with a constant clean trickle in times of low rainfall, but a dust bowl holds none.  It is very well known too that regrowth forest is a major net user of water. This implies conservation not regrowth conversion or ongoing clearfelling.

 

Prevention of salinsation threat

Then there is the imperative to protect the remnant native vegetation of the central and western division to avoid the devestating impacts of salinisation on the future of agriculture. Already over the last few years we have seen projections from scientists of ten million hectares or more of prime agricultural lands destroyed nationally by dry land salinity from rising water tables. This is the direct cause and effect of vegetation clearance. In this regard the high impacts in the WA wheat belt is the alarm bell to Qld, NSW and Victoria. Only a fool government and big agri business would ignore the creeping destruction of their best productive land, as well as disintegration of regional infrastructure in roads, bridges, building foundations including flooded cellars of country pubs from rising salty water. This in itself is a compelling case for managing the north west forest as a mature ecosystem to maximise a lowering of the water table over whole landscapes.

 

Real politik lead up to 2007
There is little doubt in this writers mind that the Carr govt are revisiting their successful nature conservation wedge strategy of the Lib/Nat Coalition in the 1994 lead up to 1995 election, in that case east coast native forest conservation. Further that this strategy applied to the sparsely populated central and western divisions will help moderate traditional urban Labor and Green anger from grotesque and corrupt developer agendas in the urban/Sydney environment.

In an indirect way ecologically minded people can thank the effective opposition under John Brogden for the re-emergence of this previous successful Carr strategy.

Whether it will be enough to win in 2007 is an interesting question that John Brogden should be addressing. He could afford to get a bit more green in the urban areas and promise not to undo what Carr has done regionally, get over the idea of no second dam (forget silly Costello on this point) in favour of water recycling and thus outflank Carr for the greater welfare and good government of NSW.

cpppcltrust.com/ecologyactionsydney "

[SAM editor: All this has happened with Iemma water and greenhouse tv advertising campaign, when before it was ‘saving trees and jobs’ with forest images, and Debnam instead of Brogden pushing water recycling.]

 

……………………………………….

 

 

The clearer-farmers have been attacking everyone ever since 2005 via their media spin doctors. Parks Service firefighters via Miranda Devine’s story above. Michael Duffy story reported below. Scientists in this story back on 23rd October 2003.

 

 

THE LAND, EDITION NEWS : AGRIBUSINESS AND GENERAL  'Out of control...'   By Alan Dick   Thursday, 23 October 2003

 

NSW Farmers Association president, Mal Peters, has called on the NSW Government to suspend immediately the NSW Scientific Committee which determines which plant and animal species are declared endangered or

threatened.

….. He said in the case of the most recent preliminary listing, the coolibah-blackbox woodlands of northern NSW, the listing seemed to have been made solely on the personal opinion of John Benson of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney.

  … Mr Peters said the Scientific Committee was far from independent, with many of its members from State government agencies such as the National Parks and Wildlife Service which had a huge vested interest in seeing more listings.

  ….. But Mr Benson said on Tuesday his views on the coolibah-blackbox community of the northern plains had been based on a review of dozens of scientific papers and the committee had had access to the entire data base.

……He said also the 150,000ha land clearing figure had been chosen by journalists when he had suggested in 1994 land clearing in NSW between 1980 and 1995 had run between 100,000 to 200,000ha a year. In 1995 he had modified that to about 50,000ha for 1995 onwards, then with native grassland factored in had lifted it to 60,000ha. Mr Benson said also he had always supported stewardship payments for landholders …"I'm the person who helped them get the $120 million (for on-farm works to protect native vegetation)," he said.

 

Wildlife campaigner for the Humane Society International, Averil Bones, said the nomination process for threatened species was rigorous and demanded good peer-reviewed science. She said the society's nomination of the woodlands had cited the work of at least 20 scientists and several Government departments.

 

……………

 

The question is worth asking how the fire at Goonoo conservation area got started. This writer is well aware of a rogue government staffer and alcoholic who was known in the 1980’s to light up Crowdy Head National Park near Laurieton/Dunbogan on the central coast, to burn the Dunbogan koala reserve being targeted for canal estates by a developer. Canal estates that were banned by Bob Carr, one of the first actions his government in 1995.

 

Not by coincidence in any respect, a marginal seat in proximity of Goonoo Pilliga is being contested at Dubbo held by Independent Dawn Fardell, and this is the real target of grubby Miranda Devine. Similarly veteran Alex Mitchell carries bitchy gossip in Naked Eye in the same Sunday Herald Fairfax paper on Feb 4 07 “Dubbo’s left fuming” over a total exaggerating of the local MP opening a renovated PCYC facility instead of the police minister. I mean WTF? That’s what local MP’s do, as is quite proper. With or without the government minister.

 

This is also the subtext to the outrageously biased article by Michael Duffy in favour of land clearers recently here Saturday 3rd February 2007:

 

Why Nyngan and Waverley are poles apart

 

airbrushing the highly contested problem of landclearing rates. Duffy treats unscientific unproven anecdote as fact by referencing a suspect Ch9 Sunday story by Ross Coulthard on the land clearing issue broadcast in August 2006. It just so happens and it is well known in the non government groups that Peter Wilkinson (pictured at right), a media consultant here

 

http://www.wilkinsonmedia.com.au/dsp_content.cfm?CAT_ID=7

 

is a colleague and ex staffer at Ch9 to Ross Coulthard, and that Wilkinson has been paid a 6 figure sum to generate PR spin for NSW farmer interests on this land clearing issue (source pers comm. Reece Turner The Wilderness Society). For instance Wilkinson Media carry this paper:

Dec '05: Want to change a law? Or manage change?

 

With this opening line

 

 Wilkinson Media has outlined some key questions to consider for a successful campaign by industry to change laws. And remember – a partnership with Government is critical to managed and sustained change.”

 

Obviously Wilkinson, who also appears on the abc radio Trioli “spin doctors” segment occasionally, is behind the Sunday show story, and thus Duffy referencing in the flagship Sydney Morning Herald: A PR fix to undo a sound government measure to help combat amongst other things global warming and species extinctions.

 

Earlier this week this writer left a complaint to this effect with the editorial at the Sydney Morning Herald namely Duffy treating Wilkinson’s spin via Coulthard as fact when it is surely paid for opinion for NSW farmer clearers and resplendent with undeclared apparent conflict of interest as regards Coulthard, Sunday, their mate Wilkinson and the farmers money.

 

Postscript #1 9 Feb 2007

 

NSW Stateline leads with a strong story first programme back this season with Jock Laurie of the NSW Farmers Association that they want to engage in the carbon trading market in this new global warming, climate change reality. Quite a show, and possibly a balancer to this quite deliberately brutal story above. The detail will appear in due course here:

http://www.abc.net.au/stateline/nsw/default.htm

 

We have also notified Miranda Devine via her public email address with a note that this has gone to the NSW political community which is true.


Posted by editor at 8:40 AM EADT
Updated: Friday, 9 February 2007 9:44 PM EADT
Tuesday, 6 February 2007
Desal plant is democracy 4 sale: Rhiannon, Greens
Mood:  rushed
Topic: election nsw 2007
 [SAM editor: Premier Iemma appears desperate to pump prime 'economic activity' at any cost, no matter how cynical as below, and almost certainly ignores scientific predictions of serious sea level rise at the construction location, as for all of coastal Sydney. What a mess.]
MEDIA RELEASE 6 February 2007

Desal plant tender process corrupted by $1 million donations to NSW ALP

Greens MP Lee Rhiannon today revealed that NSW Labor has received over $1 million from the Iemma Government*s preferred builders of the proposed desalination plant.

"It's no surprise that these companies are the preferred tenderers for the desalination plant - the process is corrupted by political donations before it even starts," said Ms Rhiannon.
 
"John Holland, Sinclair Knight Merz, Multiplex and Theiss have been massive donors to the NSW ALP. Their combined donations for the last eight years have been over $1 million.

"We knew the Kurnell desalination plant was bad news for the environment and for the economy, now we know it is bad news for democracy. 

"We don't know what deals these companies did with Premier Morris Iemma and his ministers behind closed doors, but we believe they did not give more than $1 million in donations without a plan to boost their own
profits.

"The desalination plant was already on the nose. But the Premier's invite to top ALP donors to tender has just added to the stink.

"Theiss' donations alone went up four fold last year to $33,000. Veolia donated to the ALP last year for the first time.

"The Government will continue to make planning blunders so long as it does business with its big donors," Ms Rhiannon

For donation figures, see: 
www.democracy4sale.org

For more information:  9230 3551; 0427 861 568
Postscript #1 7th Feb 2007

Posted by editor at 9:04 PM EADT
Updated: Wednesday, 7 February 2007 6:49 AM EADT
Saturday, 3 February 2007
Iemma Govt cops some big hits from Big Press, the real Opposition?
Mood:  accident prone
Topic: election nsw 2007

In a rerun of the Marrickville Byelection farce in October 2005

 

Marrickville by-election gallery 9/05

 

the NSW Govt have been caught out suppressing very sensitive urban land use information in a front page mugging by the Sydney Daily Telegraph in it's Friday 2nd of Feb 07 issue. Back in 2005 this writer lodged a $40 Freedom of Information request for the Kevin Cleland Commission of Inquiry Report into the expansion of Port Botany, which is a long way from Marrickville until you realise the trebling (and more) container traffic will transit the marginal seat, and indeed raises the real proposition of a truck tunnel.

 

And with a truck road tunnel come ventilation stacks, and with those toxic air pollution like the long running sore of the M5 East pollution stack and health studies for the last 3 years. Planning Minister Sartor refused to release the tax payer funded report, and had been considering it for months. It was a shocking abuse of open government principles. The ALP beat off the Greens by a few percentage points in the vote.

 

The tough, honest, negative Cleland report was released (by way of rejection of its finding) by Sartor two weeks after the vote getting the ALP's Tebbutt over the line.

 

Now Marrickville and many other suburbs are in the news over another secret infrastructure disruption of social amenity just as the Green Party are back with electioneering in Marrickville and Balmain seats in particular prior to the general State election:

Picture: Cr Fiona Byrne, Green Party candidate fields press and other barrackers in front of a recycled computer pyramid at Reverse Garbage (Addison Rd Community Centre, Marrickville) next to Ian Cohen MP, last Thursday. Press release below.

 

The Daily Tele “TWO YEARS OF TOTAL CHAOS” carries the proverbial black background with large type bullet points

 

“EXCLUSIVE: What Labor didn’t tell you about its water desalination plant”

 

“Hundreds of streets dug up for pipes”

 

“Houses demolished, roads closed”

 

“15 suburbs hit by noise and pollution”

 

“Plans kept secret ahead of election”

 

The satellite map on pages 4 and 5 show the snaking pathways of disruption. The government disingenuously argues in radio reaction that they took 700 submissions on the project from the public in “consultation”. But there was no real notification of the literally tens of thousands affected. Premier Iemma is on ABC TV news at 7 pm saying the report is “wrong” but it looks anything but on the detail and past form. The 7.30 Report runs interviews with editors of both major press on the travails of the NSW Govt.

 

And well the ABC should. The conventional wisdom is that if the ALP lose in NSW they will likely win in the Federal election later in 2007 which is the real prize in Australian politics.

 

But what the damaging coverage doesn’t address is the reality, whether it is massive recycled water interventions, or an Opposition desalination plant at Malabar rather than Kurnell, there will be massive infrastructure disruptions to “drought proof Sydney”.

 

In this sense the Daily Telegraph is right to expose the subterfuge of the politicians but also opportunistic in loading up the ALP alone for the inevitable disruptions of any equivalent project. The truth is there is no easy way out of our water worries in Sydney.

 

Greens Media release relating to their photo op above follows:

 

The Greens NSW - Media Release - 1 February 2007

Greens build computer pyramid to highlight e-waste

Today the NSW Greens are using 150 old computers, supplied by Reverse Garbage, to construct a dramatic pyramid to highlight the problems of toxic 'e-waste'. Greens MP Ian Cohen is calling on the Iemma government to make it mandatory for producers to take responsibility for collecting and recycling old computers.

"Less than 2% of computers in Australia are recycled by individuals or businesses. The rest go into landfill or are shipped offshore," said Ian Cohen, who gave notice of the Greens E-waste bill in NSW Parliament last November.

"This amount of e-waste is an appalling toxic legacy to leave future generations.

"The Iemma government should act to force this billion dollar industry to do more than just produce and distribute computers and pocket the cash.

"NSW already has legislation in place that allows the Government to implement a mandatory scheme if the computer industry fails to implement its own voluntary code on e-waste. The NSW government, at a Federal and State meeting in November 2006, admitted the voluntary scheme is not working but has failed to act.

"The Greens bill proposes a simple amendment that would make it compulsory for manufacturers to take responsibility for their products to the very end," Mr Cohen said.

Greens candidate for Marrickville, Councillor Fiona Byrne, says, "The Iemma government has been captured by this powerful industry and is reluctant to compel manufacturers to tackle the problem of e-waste.

"Some impressive efforts been made at the grassroots level. For instance Reverse Garbage, the Marrickville co-op, has employed a full-time worker to restore old computers and send them out to people in need," said Cr Byrne.

"Unfortunately initiatives like this by Reverse Garbage are the exception.

"The Greens on Marrickville Council have decided to push the issue along by asking Council to audit the amount of e-waste collected in our LGA and the cost of disposing of it in an environmentally sensitive way.

"We will present this information to the government and industry bodies to illustrate the need for change," Clr Byrne said.

*Media conference and photo opportunity at 12.30pm, Reverse Garbage, Addison Rd Centre, 142 Addison Rd, Marrickville. *

*Contact:*  Ian Cohen: 0409 989 466; Derek Maitland (for Fiona Byrne) 0406 316 612


Posted by editor at 7:31 AM EADT
Updated: Monday, 5 February 2007 8:20 AM EADT
Thursday, 1 February 2007
Kaye exposes slashing of education programme for western Sydney teens
Mood:  irritated
Topic: election nsw 2007

As the Sydney Daily Telegraph education reporter Maralyn Parker notes the "arrogant" and "complacent" attitude of Minister Carmel Tebbutt, who is also MP for marginal seat of Marrickville in an article yesterday

Voters can count, too

Greens aspirant and favourite of the Teachers union, Dr John Kaye, slams the education policy of the ALP on their own credentials of social equity, and he does look to have a very sound point:

Struggling teenagers in Western Sydney getting a raw deal

Media Release - 31 January 2007

The Greens today called on the Iemma government to reverse its
appalling decision to dismantle a number of highly successful
educational programs targeted at disadvantaged young people in
Western Sydney.

Greens Education spokesman and Upper House candidate John Kaye,
said  "Youth Outreach, Chifley Centre Programs and volunteer tutors
with TAFE have contributed to keeping young people in school who
would otherwise drop out.

"It is a disgrace that these valuable and highly effective programs
are being sacrificed, when the 63 wealthiest private schools continue
to receive $59.6 million each year from the state government.

"These programs support young people who are not going to school, by
employing youth workers who are able to liaise between school and young people.

"Each of these programs is a triumph for good practice in public
education that deserves the full support of the Iemma Government.
Long term, sustainable funding for these programs is a start to
making sure the most disadvantage young people get the help they need
to stay at school.

"These cuts are a short sighted approach to education and will strike
hard at young people who are finding life tough. The Greens are
committed to making sure that all young people have the best start in life.

"The Greens are also concerned that funding for Plumpton Babies is
inadequate and may have been reduced. This program allows school aged
mothers to bring their babies to school while continuing their education.

"There couldn't be a more stark contrast. Youth Outreach programs
cancelled while SCEGGS Redlands gets $1.3 million a year from the
state government. Chifley Centre and TAFE tutor training programs
de-funded while Trinity Grammar gets $1.7 million a year.

"If Labor is serious about addressing the welfare needs of students
in the West and South West of Sydney, they will take on the wealthy
private school lobby and free up the funds needed to continue these
important programs.

"The money is there. It is the political will in Macquarie St that is
missing," Dr Kaye said.


Posted by editor at 5:40 AM EADT
Tuesday, 30 January 2007
Election rivals must transcend their neurosis over the artificial 1998 Sydney water contamination 'crisis'
Mood:  cool
Topic: election nsw 2007

We have a shared problem in Sydney of insufficient accessible water and yet 450 billion litres of water resource lost to ocean outfalls per year.

 

By my tally ABC 702 radio listeners reckon it’s a no brainer to recycle Sydney’s extravagant dumping of water. Certainly the public have clued in that all water is in fact recycled and a hell of a lot better than dying of thirst.

 

 

 

Similarly crikey.com.au ezine ran this opening editorial which goes to at a guess 30 thousand subscriber email boxes yesterday 29th Jan, a pretty diverse mob in government, industry and community:

 

 

 

The Queensland government’s decision to abandon its referendum on recycling drinking water from treated sewage – because the water shortage is too acute and there’s no time to waste – will probably be cited as an example of government autocracy or even dumb politics.

It is neither. Rather, it’s an example of what governments are supposed to do – govern. Be decisive in the interests of the electorate. Accept the mandate and exercise it.

The same applies to Peter Beattie’s blunt and aggressive sales job -- "These are ugly decisions ... but you either drink water or you die ... There's no choice ... It's liquid gold ... it's a matter of life and death". Beattie is doing what he’s paid to do: communicate.

Queenslanders should be relieved they have a government prepared to shortcut the “system” to ensure they get water that is treated just like Orange County’s "toilet-to-tap" project which will purify enough sewage water to serve for 140,000 families.

The real referendum question in Queensland should be: do you want to drink recycled water or no water at all. It's a question Peter Beattie answered, with alacrity, on behalf of everyone.

 

 

 

Stirring stuff. But that’s Qld. Even when ostensibly rival PM John Howard fully endorses the Beattie approach in Victoria Premier Bracks, despite broad concern as per this group

 

 

 

http://www.cleanocean.org/index_general.asp?menuid=020

 

 

says its not necessary to go down that path yet:

 

 

 

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/bracks-rules-out-sewage-recycling/2007/01/29/1169919275238.html

 

 

What about NSW? The Iemma government are hanging tough too despite a front page last Saturday in the high circulation News Ltd Sydney Daily Telegraph, PM Howard’s favourite newspaper, last Saturday 27th January 2007 “Australia drink this” with a picture of a purified beaker of water on high.

 

 

 

The subtext was pretty clear. It’s okay to go in the recycled water, because big tough News Ltd are cool with it, complete with quotes from Howard fixer Senator Bill Heffernan, a farmer by trade in …NSW. On the front page. Their flagship edition for the week.

 

 

 

But Iemma is stubbornly resistant as here

 

 

 

Don't rule out recycled water, Turnbull urges http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200701/s1834969.htm

 

 

 

and more of that below.

 

 

 

That’s a whip hand you might think: PM Howard with an integrated $10 billion policy platform, Premier Beattie in Qld, 70% of Australian press backup (maybe) in News Ltd. Matter of time for the dominoes to fall. Indeed the story running last night on tv and today was whether the dominoes are telling the truth about falling or not under pressure from the cashed up federal government:  

 

Debnam 'PM's puppet over water' January 30, 2007 http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21140715-1702,00.html

 

 

 

As if to to underline the curious political waters we are in its not all one way traffic either:

 

 

 

Acclaimed Aussie scientist won't drink recycled water 1/29/2007 4:02:57 PM

 

 

This same expert was effectively buried in the Sydney News Ltd press by running front page of the MX (metro express) free daily of the same afternoon “I won’t drink to that/Water expert cans recycling”. This from the same News Ltd boosting recycled water in the much bigger and powerful Daily Telegraph 2 days earlier front page too. The expert, Professor Don Bursill may well be Premier in NSW Morris Iemma’s scientific figleaf. But it looks more fear than science.

 

 

 

 http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/recycled-water-rejected-out-of-fear-say-critics/2007/01/29/1169919274749.html

 

 Plenty of other experts at say UNSW say its fine technically, while the good professor Bursill refers to human error in 75% of cases of contamination in Europe over 80 case studies.

 

 

 

But this writer strongly suspects the real political obstacle is not science, or even human error which can be managed. It is corporate memory from a nasty political experience 8 years ago of a local water contamination crisis, where recycled water had no role to play, proving if anything that contamination can occur regardless.

 

 

 

Minister Craig Knowles was in charge of resolving the crisis around cryptosporidium, giardia etc which apparently are naturally occurring at low levels anyway, but are no good for the immune suppressed, or for food preparation etc. For weeks there was no ice for business from tap water. Bottled water and boiling became a back up strategy. The Big Media including Sydney Daily Telegraph were pumping out the political alarm bells full bore.

 

 

 

But this was 1998 when Warragamba Dam supplies were full. When climate change scepticism was still plausible, and respectable even. It was even before google existed as a tool on the internet, and thus you may not find very much history on the web. We at SAM probably have a few choice articles tucked away in our extensive files but this Hansard from 1998 gives a taste (!) of the intensity of the times:

 

 

 

http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/PARLMENT/hansArt.nsf/V3Key/LA19981118020

 

 

This looks to be pretty balanced analysis too (though not fully checked out) about reality versus pereception in 1998, in the lead up to the 1999 March election in NSW:

 

 

 

http://www.activedemocracy.net/articles/02_sydneywater.htm

 

 

and here is likely to be a carefully researched and balanced reference document only partly extracted here:

 

 

 

http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/publications.nsf/0/19C04E52FEA11A35CA256ECF00096CEA

 

 

 

The point is that 1998 is a very different time to now. Not least the bipartisan desire for sustainable water solutions and the political imperative to avoid being seen as counter productive in a quite urgent debate: Notice still ‘political’ debate as all big issues are, but evidence based and constructive, or be condemned for wasting everyone’s time as well as scarce water.

 

 

 

Could the NSW ALP government and Opposition be stuck in that 1998 time warp of emotional impact still over a superficial contamination ‘crisis’? It feels like it.

 

 

 

Some corroboration comes too from the environement writer for a major daily who suggests to this writer by phone today that Murray Hogarth environment writer at the time for Sydney Morning Herald ran a big feature in the Good Weekend colour magazine showing that essentially the 1998 water scare was a beat up and phoney.

 

Mmm. There is that perception versus reality thing again: In 1998 unrecycled pretty clean water said to be risky for scandal mongering reasons, and in 2007 recycled water even cleaner than drinking standard yet again somehow risky?

 

 

That's no way to make good public policy. Leadership is the question not water quality. The same journo asked this writer what do you think the Premier will do - water recycling or desalination plant, or both? The cynic in me said expensive desal plant from ocean water to make the construction unions happy, the idealist said water recycling as more sustainable, but quite possibly both.

I also suggested the best outcome for NSW was a minority ALP government like the Greiner/Fahey Coalition 1991-95 subject to the discipline of impressive cross bench independents.


Posted by editor at 12:22 PM EADT
Updated: Wednesday, 31 January 2007 10:49 AM EADT
Thursday, 25 January 2007
Non disclosure by Big Media of pollie vested interests is crook
Mood:  loud
Topic: election nsw 2007

Whether its Tom Switzer failure to disclose, George Williams, questions of Maxine McKew domestics, Patrice Newell access to abc radio (arguable tho as below), the Big Media/Politics revolving door is spinning ferociously at the moment.

How totally unsurprising: Democracy is only for rich folks obviously in an echo of the insightful political movie Bulworth

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulworth

with Warren Beatty

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Beatty 

In this election period yesterday we had George Williams, a professor of Law indirectly backing up ALP Premier Morris Iemma's vicious attack on Magistrate Pat Oshane here:

'We should have a say on who judges us'

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,21105497-5001031,00.html

Yeah George, yeah Daily Telegraph. Why no disclosure of his very public appeal for a political career having joined the ALP recently. This was admitted from memory in this abc conversation hour here:

Tex Perkins and George Williams [24/10/2006]

http://www.abc.net.au/queensland/conversations/stories/s1772397.htm?queensland

which is all well and good George, an ornament to any political party to be sure, but failure to disclose? That's wrong. Very wrong.

And my memory of admirable humanitarian George is reinforced by this:

"Professor George Williams spoke at the ALP Conference in favour of a Human Rights Charter, as did the Attorney General Bob Debus. George Williams repeated the argument he used at a recent Evatt Seminar "Australia is unique, unfortunately". Professor Williams has been in the leadership of the six month community consultation in Victoria, that has led to draft legislation, that will be introduced later this year. In this Newsletter, Williams updates on the Victorian leadership."

http://evatt.org.au/news/398.html

Just declare it, is the rule.

We read yesterday about Tom Switzer, senior editorial biased favouring of Malcolm Turnbull yesterday on MIM here:

'Crikey.com.au expose Turnbull's hypocritical mate at The Australian'

at

http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2007/01/137676.php

At least Crikey scribbler Stephen Mayne was overt in his political allegiance to People Power Party in the recent Victorian state elections while posting for the ezine.

Switzer in turn was whining about recruitment of ex senior ABC journo Maxine McKew to new ALP leader Rudd's team, domestically tithed to a senior ALP fellow: There is always the question of spouses as stand alone professionals independent of partners in this age of gender emancipation. The pain in Switzers whine was stark when it became clear he was hypocritically involved in profile boosting of his own spouse's employer (senior minister Malcolm Turnbull) via the pages of The Australian.

Should have been disclosed too as much as McKew's situation surely.

The rules of disclosure of family vested interest should at least be consistent is the obvious point. And dislosure should be the rule not the exception until it becomes tedious, but then even then too.

Now Patrice Newell turns up on ABC 702 radio with sharp announcer Trioli this morning. Newell is a greenie climate change, stong achieving, published author, and media professional, who just happens to be the partner in life of one high profile abc broadcaster. No disclosure: She is an independent running for the Upper House in NSW, but will her candidacy help rather than hinder the ALP, or does she have a real chance of winning? It's way too early to know about preferencing at this stage but one wonders.

I ring their producer and chat about this: They advise the ABCrang her, not the other way round, based on her high profile lead letter in the Sydney Morning Herald today, which fits the news cycle today too. She is a professional obviously. Her letter is a cracker and sincere. But whereas disclosure for the Herald is irrelevant, it becomes a real question for valuable access to abc listening voters.

On balance they should have disclosed her spouse is an abc broadcaster, perhaps not who specifically, and explained how her independent credentials were conclusive, not the family relation. They did list these credentials but not the abc connection and that is just not transparent enough given the perception if not actual conflict of interest: A minor sin that should be rectified, feminista emancipation or not.

Also prominent in the news today is this outstanding cartoon that is just breathtaking in conceptual beauty, and reinforcing articles by this writer that 'ecology does indeed underpin the credibility of all future governments':



The Turnbull federal Env Minister character (independently wealthy strong thinker and speaker, above the fray often) is at risk of munching by Garrett Opposition Water spokes (and long time professional greenie agitator turned mainstream pollie), playing off the real life fantastic escape of abalone diver on ACA ch9 tv last night, Garrett with the shark smooth skull.

"Poke him in the eye" calls Howard figure to Turnbull, just as real life Eden based diver explained was his instinctive survival tactic.

One of Moir's best ever. David Rowe the awesome Australian Financial Review cartoonist ought to give Moir the cartoonist equivalent of The Ashes back (albeit temporarily).

All reinforced by the following editorial too:

"With this speech [by W Bush State of the Union yesterday on related matters], there can be no more excuses for John Howard. Australia's problem with climate change - not mere drought - must be at the top of the Australian political agenda after 10 years of relative neglect by the Federal Government and the Labor premiers. Mr Howard's elevation of Malcolm Turnbull to cabinet as Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, following the elevation of Peter Garrett as the Opposition spokesman for the environment, is an acknowledgement that both major parties see the environment and energy use as a top priority. Two political heavyweights will now battle for public attention over the issue."

Postscript #1

A version of this article was published on Melbourne Indy Media and Professor George Williams posted there with a verifiable email address as follows:

Professor
by George Williams Thursday January 25, 2007 at 09:41 PM
[email: xxxxx]

I think its a bit rough to say I have failed to disclose my interest in standing for Parliament. When I made the decision last year (some months after chairing the Victorian process) one of the first things I did was contact journalists to inform them. I have hardly been keeping this under a bushel then or since.

In the time since my interest has, as you mention, been on ABC radio’s Conversation Hour and has been mentioned several times on other shows like AM and PM. It’s also been reported on in many newspapers such as the Australian, Sydney Morning Herald and the Canberra Times. Eg:
<
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/constitution-expert-wants-labor-seat/2006/07/12/1152637740380.html>
It's also been mentioned recently in the Daily Telegraph itself and on TV such as on Insiders.

My point is only that this is already in the public domain. Even given this, it needs to be remembered that this is all merely about a possible future aspiration. I have not actually stood for, let alone been pre-selected for, anything.

Otherwise, thanks for the kind bit about ornaments!

Cheers

George

It was rough
by Tom McLoughlin Friday January 26, 2007 at 01:19 PM

When I heard the Conversation Hour I thought the ALP would be foolish not to court your impressive mind in some way. Lord knows we need a strong sense of human rights law in this country, with now retired appeal court judges of Victoria publishing against the scandal of legal abuse of a citizen (Hicks).

It's enough to make one quite queasy.

Good luck George, but as always without fear or favour has to be the approach here at the indymedia blogger 5th estate.

I read the transcript of OShane's decision. She was treated rough too, and that put you and Iemma in play.

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

A moving article about Magistrate OShane ran with a picture in The Sydney Morning Herald yesterday, which indeed was a good balancer to all the baiting she has been getting: O'Shane makes peace with her demons

 


Posted by editor at 10:04 AM EADT
Updated: Saturday, 27 January 2007 7:29 AM EADT
YouTube white supremacist hate videos are the other side of the coin
Mood:  don't ask
Topic: election nsw 2007

As posted yesterday SAM didn't find a reverse racist hate video promoting ethnic takeover of traditionally white euro dominated Australia (which till the 1960's actually had an official White Australia policy). The provocative intent was obvious on free to air tv news all stations last night: 7, 9, 2, SBS28, presumably 10. 

It appears to have been taken down from YT. But the spin and cynical politicking was clear once revealed the video had been there on YT since November 25 2006 (as reported by community media website Melbourne Indymedia). Why the big controversy just before Australia Day Jan 26th 2007?.

Why indeed. As repellant as the hate video featured on tv was, amply rejected by elders of the Australian Lebanese community here, will there be similar outrage at glorification of white supremacist racist hate videos still on YouTube seen yesterday and found there again this morning?

Here is one only example:

The battle for Cronulla 03:47 The battle for Cronulla. www.stormfront.org Tags:WPWWAdded: 8 months ago   in Category: News & BlogsFrom: Maka56 Views: 3,047

 

There are plenty of others and we took to posting a link to Gandhi's 10 principles of nonviolence in the comment section of these hate videos as well as the ethnic posted ones:

 

Gandhi nonviolence

 

Selectivity of racist video intolerance and ethnic versus white supremacism is not helpful and feeds a view of systemic social bias. Big Media can rise to the challenge by equally exposing posts by such as 'Stormfront', or '88AngryAryan88' as here:

 

Cronulla Riots aftermath 02:10 Tension after the Cronulla Riots Tags: Cronulla   Riots Added: 1 week ago   in Category: People From: 88AngryAryan88 Views: 2,406

 

Sure the video on free to air tv last night taken down off YT had the extra news value of possible involvement of public school symbols under government control, ultra violent symbols like machine guns and knives, and a criminal rapist, making it serious and sensationalist news created by stupid teenagers. No doubt. But the point is: There is a racist dynamic of spiralling intolerance and who really doubts just as aggressive intent in both directions? That indeed is the infectious disease of racism.

 

White supremacist evil on YouTube is the other side of the coin. Politicians engaging with this nastiness as they feel they must like rats trapped in a maze, only makes it worse in many ways.

 

Until PM Howard vigorously denounces White Supremacism, as per YouTube, which he refused to do with Pauline Hanson's One Nation ( which grew out of his own Minister Abbott's Manly electorate office via staffer, later independent MP David Oldfield), the overall circumstances bespeak Howard is a covert supporter of the junked White Australia policy:

 

cronulla uprising 01:58 This is my firsts video people im sorry it mite be a little dodgy but enjoy Tags:cronulla   riots   uprising   10   000   fists   disturbed Added: 1 month ago   in Category: News & Blogs From: Devilsreject06 Views: 1,017

 

It may be these videos will be taken down by YouTube in due course. That would be a good thing too. As this story was being assembled this message came up: Searching for videos is temporarily unavailable

 

A few minutes later: Video results for 'cronulla'  No Videos found for 'cronulla'

 

Amen to that. 

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

 

Postscript #1

Regretably it's a feint hope. The Cronulla hateful videos are all up there on YouTube at 7.28 am 25th Jan 07 AEST, seemingly jammed for higher usage as I posted this story.


Posted by editor at 6:42 AM EADT
Updated: Thursday, 25 January 2007 10:39 AM EADT
Tuesday, 23 January 2007
ALP and Big Media's systemic exploitation of Iemma's children, moral cowardice on white supremacism
Mood:  sharp
Topic: election nsw 2007

Picture: A big media image from 2006 on the ascension of Morris Iemma to the fraught job of ex Premier Bob Carr.

 

The inspired West Wing tv series which I review here:

 

Thursday, 4 January 2007

West Wing tv series, bourgeoisie wank or worthy response to Ed Murrow's example?

 

last night carried this episode

 

"A Good Day" (first broadcast March 2 2005)

 

with argument over whether children deserve the vote because their world is being foreclosed on (environmentally and from discrimination over poverty levels versus older people), and they have effectively no voice. They get the brush off initially until the ‘Tubby Stickler for ethics in politics’, that is Toby Ziggler character is responsive to the policy depth of their case.

 

Pres Bartlett takes their question in front of the whole shrill National Press Gallery: ‘A vote for children is worth considering” he suggests to the media pack, and making the young lobbyist's dream come true.

 

Which calls up the whole issue of the character piece by Imre Salusinszky glossy article in the Weekend Australian magazine 20-21 Jan 2007 called

 

"Hey Dad

 

NSW Premier Morris Iemma promised his wife he’d be a hands-on father, but can he keep the voters happy as well?"

 

The 5 page glossy spread featured his 3 year old twin sons, older brother and sister, and loyal wife, similar to this picture:

 

But it’s systemic child exploitation. All senior politicians do it. John Anderson at his most vulnerable as Deputy PM and leader of the Nationals put his kids on the front page of The Australian newspaper some years ago .

 

Iemma and the ALP are doing it here. PM Howard does it on election night with his children on the podium most election nights. Kevin Rudd on election to leadership with kids on the beach. Senator Barnaby Joyce and gaggle in the precincts of The Senate. The innocence, the charm to warm the most cynical heart. But it's pure emotional blackmail and manipulation. You couldn't throw the parent of these kids out of work surely?

 

The children have no say over their image being used in the electoral process. They have nothing probitive to say about whether Iemma is good at his job or not. You don’t even need a licence to have children but this is somehow his great virtue?

 

This writer is not anti child by any stretch. 3 years on Bondi Beach Primary School P&C, uncle to a whole gaggle, fighting for intergenerational equity on the environment. But unlike the precocious character in the West Wing putting his argument to the Tubby Stickler character always concerned for ethics in politics, Iemma’s kids are window dressing aggrandisement of the parent.

 

A proud parent to be sure but the kids have no real informed free will in the matter. They are too young. It’s qualitatively no different to the child abuse of religious cults like Exclusive Brethren who think they own their children like little emotional slaves to promote their business political social and legal agendas.

 

It’s wrong. In fact its pretty evil. It’s a fraud on the voting public. Sure it’s relevant to Iemma’s ‘character’ that he has a healthy happy family, and sound partnership in life, but as a footnote, not the main deal. None of this goes on a job advert or in a resume. In fact it would be grounds for a legal action for discrimination if it was. And the Premier’s job is a job application like all other important jobs.

 

But there will be more with news of Packer's Women's Weekly running a spread on the Iemma domestics soon also.

 

Politicians are still allowed in our culture to parade morally perfect young children to cover their own flaws.

 

This disgusting systemic habit of exploitation carries over to other opportunistic behaviour: Take Iemma's moral cowardice on covert and overt white supremacism and conversely PM Howard's aggressive support for same.

In terms of the veil being lifted on latent white supremacism in our society encouraged and nurtured by divisive Howard govt with their fascist tendencies, Iemma wants to win the vote on March 24 in the euro dominated white middle class heartland. This is the game staked out by white euro elitist types like radio shouter Alan Jones.

So Iemma scorns the Big Day Out concert organisers’ common sense on discouraging tub thumping nationalism in their Sydney venue.

The Premier energetically attacks cleric Egyptian Australian Hilali for not being mainstream in his views and politics (though H actually is mainstream for opposing the Iraq war).

Hr attacks Aboriginal Magistrate OShane when the transcript of the case shows she runs a tight ship and is endorsed by 3 judges of the Judicial Commission.

Similarly Monarchist Howard exhorts the Australian Flag with its white supremacist Union Jack.

The thread in all this folks, is white supremacism, which is the unvarnished Pauline Hanson agenda: Some limited tolerance and patience of coloured folks but always, always white folks on top.

It's sometimes subtle, sometimes crude like Cronulla, it’s sometimes opportunistically plausible when ethnic gangs are exposed, but the unifying theme is ugly white supremacism when reallly the vast majority of the world is coffee coloured.

Iemma's moral cowardice is around the fact he is an Italian immigrant's son (as I am 1/8 Italian also via Calabria) and is acting more white than a UK pomme, in some kind of weird denial of his own ethnicity.

No multicultural themes of Italian heritage in Morris's election campaign that's for sure. Italian language, food, funny foreign dress or dance? Forget it. He's now an honourary white supremacist. Even though he is 1st generation Australian. That's the evil intolerance that Howard has nurtured with his federal budget influence in the culture wars. To appease the white picket fence of places like Epping in the seat of Bennelong. Go and have a look and feel the white supremacism pouring out of the manicured lawns.

I spent a busy month in the 2004 federal election working the Bennelong electorate and it becomes very clear how Howard is a product of this Old Australia. Very white bread, with pockets of ethnicity but absolutely no doubt who is 'in charge' and born to rule.

What a shame that Iemma is pandering to the same misconceived arrogance for purely careerist political motives. All at the expense of a happy harmonious healthy self respecting diverse society. I blame Howard mostly for soft pedalling on One Nation to begin with but everyone in society will have to make this choice to stand against the white supremacism of the Union Jack sooner or later. This writer condemns the pandering to Old Australia bigotry in a modern sophisticated world.

Coincidentally The West Wing 2nd episode  "La Palabra" last night also dealt with this very question via Latino presidential candidate Matt Santos character who retreats from ethnic related concerns, but gets it right by the end in a unity ticket with the white bread Californian governor, who takes the tolerant line on driving licences for illegals.

Good public policy is colour blind, bigotry is neither.


Posted by editor at 9:03 AM EADT
Updated: Tuesday, 23 January 2007 2:04 PM EADT

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