tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71444406646661477392024-03-13T20:04:01.800-07:00observationscadohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04901054949358669705noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7144440664666147739.post-57476293606249615902014-02-15T21:32:00.001-08:002014-02-15T21:32:17.629-08:00A piece I wrote a few months back about the ABC and The Abbott Government. <div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well that didn’t take long did it?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> The Abbott Government
has only just reached it’s 100 day milestone and already they’re at war with
the ABC. The Government that promised
‘no suprises’ has indeed surprised no one by getting stuck into the national
broadcaster and just as predictably their ideological bedfellows at News Corp
Australia have joined in the fight.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The reason for this re-opening of the culture wars is
ostensibly the ABC’s decision to partner with the Guardian Australia in reporting
leaked cables from U.S whisltleblower Edward Snowden which showed Australia had
spied on Indonesian President Susilo Bam Bam Yuyono and his wife. As embarrassing and difficult as it was for
the new government to deal with, the revelations none the less were an
important story that was clearly in the national interest. But as is now standard practice when the
operations of the security services become news, The Abbott Government and its
barrackers in the Murdoch press did
their level best to distract from the details of the story by shooting the
messenger and given one of those messengers was the ABC it presented them with
a perfect opportunity to kill two birds with the one stone: to try and kill the spying story and to declare
war on the ABC.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The invective isn’t confined to the Coalition Government
however. Their friends over at News Corp Australia are if anything, even more
hostile to the ABC than the Coalition are and thus have used the Snowden
revelations as an opportunity to ramp up their usual anti-ABC campaign into a
full blown jihad. Their gang of right-wing culture warriors such as Andrew Bolt
and Piers Ackerman in the tabloids and Janet Albrechtson, Nick Cater and Chris
Kenny at The Australian, have gone from criticising Aunty to variously calling
for Managing Director Mark Scott to be sacked and for the whole Corporation to
broken up and sold off (with the valuable bits presumably going to Murdoch
himself).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But really we shouldn’t be so surprised. While no doubt
music to Rupert’s ears, the message was also a clear salvo at the new Prime
Minister; this was what was expected of him; that the price for all that
fawning political coverage, which helped him reach the highest office in the
land, was the removal of an organisation, which for reasons both ideological
and financial, the Murdoch’s detest. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s not surprising though that Abbott is resistant to take
the ABC on. However much the Murdoch media may bag the national broadcaster,
the fact remains that the general public simply don’t share their hostility to
it. While commercial stations like 9 or 7 may achieve higher ratings, no
television station, no media outlet and very few organisations full stop,
attract the sort of affection, regard and respect which is afforded to Aunty. It
is consistently rated <a href="http://www.crikey.com.au/2013/01/22/our-trust-in-media-abc-still-leads-as-commercial-media-struggle/">the
most trusted</a> source of news in the country ( the least trusted tag is
usually reserved for Murdoch’s rabid Sydney tabloid, <a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/">The Daily Telegraph</a>). </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This hasn’t deterred the lunar the right however, who in
anticipation of an Abbott Government, have been whipping themselves into a frenzy
over the ABC for some time. Since late last year Murdoch’s <i>The Australian</i> has been running what can only be described as a jihad against the national broadcaster.
Almost daily, one of its band of far right culture warriors such as Nick Cater,
Janet Albrechtson or Alexander Downer’s former handbag carrier Chris Kenny, fire
off missives accusing Aunty of all manner of ills. Kenny in particular has been
emboldened in his anti ABC crusade thanks to a tasteless and profoundly unfunny
skit produced by The Chaser crew on their latest ABC show The Hamster Wheel, which
photo shopped Kenny having <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s3849993.htm">anal sex with
a dog</a>. Offensive only in its lack of humour, the skit nonetheless outraged
Kenny and further inflamed his conservative colleagues in News Ltd and
elsewhere to pile in on the national broadcaster. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not that they need much encouragement. Hatred of public
broadcasting is par for the course for conservatives both here and abroad. They
resent its existence for many reasons, but the main one is bias.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Theirs. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They’re biased against the ABC because it’s a taxpayer
funded body that is run independently of government and doesn’t carry
commercial advertising, which in short, means they can’t control it. They
resent the fact that as a result the ABC doesn’t slavishly follow the socially
conservative neoliberal agenda that characterises much of the commercial media,
especially the Murdoch press and commercial radio. They don’t like how it gives
air to opposing voices and viewpoints that if it weren’t for Aunty would be
completely ignored or ridiculed. And what really pisses them off is that it
does all this with the help of their own taxes. With Murdoch owning 70% of all
print outlets, commercial TV and Radio resolutely conservative and Gina
Rhineheart circling an ailing Fairfax, the ABC is the only barrier preventing
the right from completely controlling debate in this country. This above all is
why they want to knock it off.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course they can’t come out and say as much; people would
think they’re mad (quite rightly). So instead of admitting they’re biased
against the ABC, they turn the tables and charge that the ABC is biased against
them, that it’s too left wing. This argument is based on the idea that all of
the ABC’s producers and presenters across both radio and television are a bunch
of bleeding heart pinkos whose sympathies lie with the ALP or even worse, the
Greens. This is a particular bugbear of Sydney Morning Herald columnist, <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/abbott-wants-abc-to-flush-out-bias-but-turnbull-does-not-see-its-stacked-deck-20130107-2ccq2.html">Gerard
Henderson</a> who’s been arguing this point for years. In fact Henderson’s been
moaning about ABC bias for so long once suspects he was doing so even before
the broadcaster came into existence in 1932. Gerard never tires of telling his
readers that the ABC doesn’t have one – not one – conservative among its legion
of presenters and producers across both radio and TV. This is a remarkable
statement. Apparently Gerard, via some
unexplained supernatural power, has examined the political leanings and voting
intentions of the ABC’s hundreds of presenters and producers nationwide and
determined that all of them – every single one - are left-wing. As Gerard
himself might say <i>‘fancy that’</i>.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Perhaps suspecting that the ‘everyone at the ABC is a
communist’ line was getting a bit tired, lately the anti-ABC crowd have come up
with a more <a href="http://www.afr.com/p/opinion/aunty_looms_too_large_1QP9F2W1ANfd5U1kKc3uqK">sophisticated</a>
argument against the national broadcaster. Seizing upon the upheaval being
experienced across traditional media and in particular at Fairfax, the right
have now decided that the ABC is responsible for these difficulties and that privatising
it or, even better, getting rid of it altogether, would alleviate them.
Unfortunately this argument has one major flaw. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s nonsense.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The reason why companies like Fairfax are downsizing is
because the business model which relies on classified advertising providing the
revenue to support journalism, is fundamentally broken. Those classifieds which
once filled The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald are now done cheaper and
better on online. The whole problem is essentially a result of a change in the
advertising market, which has nothing to do with the ABC due to the
inconvenient fact it doesn’t carry commercial
advertising.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the main proponents of this argument is the Institute
of Public Affairs, a right wing think tank for whom breaking up and selling off
the ABC is holy writ. Prior to the election there were <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/state-liberals-propose-privatising-abc-sbs-20130521-2jz5d.html">revelations</a>
that the IPA and the Victorian Liberal party were behind a push to have a
future Abbott Government sell off both the ABC and SBS because they were no
longer relevant in the 21<sup>st</sup> Century. Being ever the pragmatist, the
then Opposition Leader had to <a href="http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1769644/Abbott-says-he-would-not-privatise-SBS-ABC">reject</a>
the idea out of hand for fear of it giving ammunition to a desperate Labor
Government.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> The role of the IPA
here is a peculiar one. While obviously opposed to the very idea of public
broadcasting, (selling the ABC is a key part of the <a href="http://ipa.org.au/publications/2080/be-like-gough-75-radical-ideas-to-transform-australia">IPA
platform</a> along with the sale of just about every other public asset), they
are not at all opposed to the idea of appearing on it. In fact it’s difficult
to turn on ABC radio or television these days and not find a talking head from
the IPA sprouting their usual brand of corporate PR dressed as free market
liberalism. They’ve become so ubiquitous on Aunty that it wouldn’t surprise to
one-day find <a href="http://ipa.org.au/people/john-roskam">John Roskam</a>
hosting Playschool. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With all this free publicity you would expect the IPA to be
whole hearted fans of the national broadcaster. After all, they don’t even
bother to ask who’s funding them? But no, their position on the ABC defies
common sense in favour of strict adherence to ideology. The question is whether
a new Prime Minister, under enormous pressure from his powerful supporters,
will do the same.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
cadohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04901054949358669705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7144440664666147739.post-85554672606189984872014-02-15T21:08:00.001-08:002014-02-15T21:08:23.367-08:00An Op-Ed I wrote last year on the birth of the Royal baby and what it means for the republican movement. Published in Literati Magazine.<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m
beginning to wonder if there’s something wrong with me. Here we are, a few
months in and nothing; no shivers, heart palpitations or fist pumps. Not even
the most mild spring in the step. No matter how hard I try, I just can’t bring
myself to give a stuff about Prince George of Cambridge, or as he’s more
commonly known, the Royal Baby. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I know, I
know, I’m a mean spirited, stone hearted, latte sipping malcontent, but so
what. I’m sure young George - who’s no doubt defecating happily into his golden
nappies - is as cute and as lovely as any baby. And William and Kate are no doubt
besotted with him as all parents are with their new progeny. But that’s where
it ends; reserved admiration from the other side of the world. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why then
does it feel, like I’m Robinson Crusoe here? Where are my fellow objectors? Where
are the republicans? It’s not the pomp and ceremony surrounding the arrival of
the royal offspringthat grates. It’s the insistence that we are <i>all </i>excited; that this was an event <i>everyone</i> had been waiting for. It’s not
that we republicans feel left out. More worryingly, it seems as though we’ve
all be co-opted in.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course
we’re talking about a joyous event; the birth of a child. Republican or
monarchist, no one wants to come across as a curmudgeonly killjoy during a time
of celebration. But if you believe that this country deserves to elect its own
head of state and that both the monarchy and inherited privilege are an
absurdity, then surely the time to speak up is when they are most prominently
on show, whether new born infants are involved or not.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Instead what we’ve seen over the past few
months has been the opposite. It’s been a wall to wall royal extravaganza where
every minute detail of the birth has been scrutinised as if it were a complex
military operation. We’ve even had The Duchess proclaimed as some sort of
feminist icon for not completely concealing her post baby body. Oh, and
Australia has just elected the maniacal pro-monarchist Tony Abbott as Prime
Minister. All this has led some commentators to conclude that we Australians
are just a bunch of a hopeless royal tragics after all and all that silly
republican stuff was a just a late 20<sup>th</sup> Century frolic.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This outcome
reflects the contrasting trajectories of the republican movement and the royal
family since late 1990’s. As tragic as her death was, it seems the massive
outpouring of sympathy following the death of Princess Diana in 1997 has acted
as something of a turning point for the Windsor’s, drawing a line under the tawdry
tales of adultery, divorce and toe sucking that led them to the point of
ridicule by the mid 90’s. Recently they’ve experienced a full blown renaissance
with the wedding of William and Kate, the Diamond Jubilee and now the birth of
young Prince George resulting in an orgy of pro-monarchy celebration.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the face
of this onslaught, the republicans have vacated the field. Devoid of leaders, direction
and passion, and above all, publicity, most Australians would be forgiven for
thinking that the republican movement had all but died. Can anyone think of a
prominent national leader still advocating a republic? Malcom Turnbull used to,
but now he’s in Government he’ll be too busy ripping up the NBN and Tony Abbott
would never allow it anyway. And what of Paul Keating? As Prime Minister he did
more than anyone to put a republic on the agenda, but his defeat by the arch
monarchist John Howard in 1996 provided an early portent for the referendum
defeat three years later.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The ongoing
effect of that 1999 defeat shouldn’t be underestimated. It was a deflating end
to a decade long campaign for an Australian head of state which at times seemed
to have an almost unassailable momentum. That the political cunning of Howard
along with a lack of unity in the Yes case over the proposed model and the
sheer difficulty of achieving a successful referendum, contrived to stymie the
republican case, sent the movement into an inevitable funk. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However it’s
been the response to that defeat that has been most damaging. In the near decade
and a half since, both sides have batted away the issue with the same refrain; that
it will not happen until Queen Elizabeth II dies. For republicans, this is a
fool’s errand. It only denies the issue
the necessary oxygen it needs to be successful. A republic delayed is a
republic denied. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And in any
case, it assumes the Queen is some delicate petal who feelings are easily hurt.
Please. This is a woman who lived through the Great Depression and the Second
World War. This is a woman who has dealt with British Prime Ministers from
Churchill to Cameron. This is a woman who has<a href="" name="_GoBack"></a>put up with
The Duke of Edinburgh for more than 60 years. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whether it’s
an elderly lady in her dotage or a newborn boy in nappies, it’s Australia’s
identity republicans should concerned with, not upsetting the feelings of whoever
may be wearing the crown.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
cadohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04901054949358669705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7144440664666147739.post-74806947204378689932014-02-15T21:04:00.003-08:002014-02-15T21:04:49.307-08:00Story on the Tasmanian Christmas Carnivals published on the footyalmanac.com.au<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s said that visiting Tasmania can be like going back in
time. While this may be due to the island’s extensive colonial and convict
history, combined with a healthy dose of mainland snobbery, in a sporting sense
it’s not far wrong, at least during the Christmas and New Year period.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is when the venerable Christmas Carnivals Series kicks
into gear, a running cycling and woodchopping jamboree that covers Northern
Tasmania like a travelling circus between Boxing and New Years , just like it
has done since the late 19<sup>th</sup> Century. Unlike many other sporting
competitions of this vintage, The Carnivals and its mainland cousins such as
The Stawell Gift and The Bay Sheffield, have largely remained intact, even as
the barrier between professional and amateur competition which used to set them
apart, has long disintegrated. Now the very best runners and cyclists can earn
far more while still pursuing their Olympic dreams, making handicap running on a
grass track or cycling on a thin strip of bitumen circling a football ground,
seem somewhat antiquated. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Like all antiques, what gives them their charm, can also
make them impractical and irrelevant. In a world where athletics and track
cycling struggle for attention outside the Olympics, their time honoured
professional versions seem destined to join Royal Tennis as exhibits in a sporting
museum; to be observed for their history and nostalgia, but almost meaningless
in a competitive sense. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Carnivals however, seem determined to stave off this
fate for as long as possible. Their epitaph has been written repeatedly over
the last 30 years and yet here they are still limping on into their second
century. In the 1980’s the series was almost on its deathbed, yet the embrace
of Olympic athletes during the 90’s - most notably Cathy Freeman - revived the
series to almost unprecedented heights. It was during these halcyon days that
my own association with The Carnivals, first as a spectator, then as a
competitor, began.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I , like thousands of others, was drawn in by the stardust of Olympic level athletes such as Freeman (in
her pre-Sydney Olympics pomp), Shane Kelly, Craig Mottram, Tatiana Gregoriava
and Jana Pittman, coming and racing against the locals. They gave the series a
point of attraction that obscured the fact that the type of events they were
competing in were almost obsolete. No
one cared that the world’s fastest female 400m runner was giving her opponents
a 20 or 30m head start, racing around
the edge of a country football ground while wearing a red vest. The novelty
outweighed the actual outcome. Even if the athletes themselves didn’t always
seem to be giving their all (this was usually brushed aside as just being part
of their preparation), us locals bathed in their collective glow and lapped up
their attention.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And soon enough I was amongst it. As a young middle distance runner I graduated from Little
Athletics, to the senior club competition and eventually onto the ‘pros’.
Running in the mile races at Latrobe on Boxing Day, Burnie on New Years and the
mile and 800 at Devonport in between, was to be the zenith of my brief sporting
career. It was to be the only time I would truly be able to test my wares
against elite level competition. Like a country galloper lining up in the
Melbourne Cup, the beauty of handicap racing meant that I was able to compete
well above my station. At least in theory that’s how it works. In truth, the
closest I got to Craig Mottram in the Devonport Mile was when he swept passed
me with over a lap to go, despite giving me more than a 100 meters head start. I had to be content with victories in off
Broadway events like the Wynyard Mile and a third placing at Ulverstone. The
final event of the season would be down on the East Coast at St Helens where
competing in the nude gift after a dozen pints at the bar was just as fiercely
contested as any event on the track.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now though the salad days are well and truly over. My
running career ended with my arrival at University and these days the Olympic
athletes largely stay at home for Christmas. You can sell the locals competing
against the best, but the locals against the locals lacks the same cache’. Smaller
carnivals like Wynyard and Ulverstone have gone the way of the dodo and it
wouldn’t surprise if health and safety regulations have done the same to the
nude gift at St Helens. And once again the future of The Carnivals are being
questioned. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Against this backdrop I decided to see for myself. I’d seen
reports on the news of the Latrobe Carnival on Boxing Day, where the action was
played out before empty grandstands and a protest against the winner of the Wheelrace
seemed to be the only event of note.
Call it curiosity, or plain old boredom, but for the first time since I
actually gave up running I decided I was going to attend as a paying spectator;
to see if the old magic really had died.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I rocked up to the first of two nights at the Devonport
Carnival and soon realised why crowds were down; an Adult ticket and a program
cost me north of 20 bucks. Feeling somewhat lighter in the hip pocket region I
walked under the Devonport Oval’s rickety old wooden grandstand to find a
surprisingly large crowd had filled it. Not the heaving masses of a decade ago,
but hardly the sort of crowd that spoke of an event in its death roes. I
wandered the concourse in search of people I recognised; those I used to run
with; people I used to go to school with. I soon realised this was pointless;
they weren’t any. Those who were there had once thing in common; they were old.
The people sitting in the grandstand were doing what they’d been doing for
years. The carnivals were part of their Christmas/New Year tradition. Evidence
suggested though that younger generations hadn’t followed them. Maybe when they
die out the carnivals finally will too. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Like the spectators, the sound of the carnivals has remained
the same. As cyclists whisked around the track the excited high pitched whine
of cycling commentator Steve Daley filled the air just as I remembered it. His
vocabulary hasn’t advanced much either. A cyclist advancing through the field
or making a break is still ‘<i>putting
POWWWER to pedal’</i>, just as those at the rear are still <i>‘stone motherless!’</i>. In contrast Brian Paine’s understated delivery
still describes the running events, his tone barely changing from the first
heat of the 70m to the final of the Gift. Despite being the headline event of the
evening I don’t actually realise the finals of the Devonport Gift are on until
the winners breast the ribbon at the finish line and collapse from exhaustion
and a pile of coaches, family and friends. The finals are being held in
daylight. With Devonport traditionally being a night carnival, the heats are
usually held in late afternoon before the finals take place under lights. But a
quick glance at my program shows that I’m behind the times. The carnival now
starts at 2pm not 6. I’ve missed more than half of it. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> The Mens Gift is won
by Hobart runner Andrew Robertson, who, as we’re reminded repeatedly for the
next 15 minutes, won the this race last year before going on to become the
first Tasmanian to win the Stawell Gift at Easter. Chatter inevitably turns to
good omens and the possibility of a repeat. Robinson’s coach is Tasmanian
athletics luminary Ray Quarrell, who apart from being a fine pro runner
himself, coached perennial Stawell contender and multiple Devonport winner
Simon Bresnehan. Quarrel is from Dunally near Hobart and his house was
destroyed in the bushfires there nearly a year ago. His emotion at the finish
can only have been partly because of the result.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The different program has also changed the nature of my old
event, the Devonport Mile. Like the Gift and Wheelrace final, the Mile was
always run under the cloak of darkness. The organisers presumably thought that
it would work better under lights like Friday Night Football. Now though the sun
is still high in the sky as the runners finish their warms ups and approach
their handicap marks which stretch three quarters of the way around the track.
One of the beauties of professional middle distance running is that they are a
triumph of women’s liberation, as the girls really do take on the blokes,
though there are still separate male and female winners. The girls are usually
handicapped out over 300m, just in front of the men in their 50’s, who in a
moment of either inspiration or madness, have taken up middle distance running
in middle age. They start almost on the same straight as the backmarkers on scratch.
With two time winner Craig Mottram no longer deeming the Christmas Carnivals a
requisite challenge, organisers have found a posse of Kenyan’s to take his
place.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sadly, by dint of their ability and nationality, they’re
given a mark that makes winning a hopeless task. Unlike Mottram in his heyday,
this band of Kenyans can only begin to make their way through the field as the
bell is being rung for the last lap. By then James Hansen from Launceston had
stolen the march and went on to claim a strong win. Madeline Murphy from Riana
was the first female home.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By now the shadows were lengthening. Where the oncoming of
darkness once heralded the arrival of the feature events, it now had punters
heading for the exits. Of course, this was only the halfway point of this
Devonport Carnival, with the Devonport Wheel being the headline act of the
following night’s action. And beyond this, the New Years Carnival at Burnie,
would bring in 2014 in a few days time. But tonight’s spectators including
myself, had seen enough.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most making their way under the grandstand and out to the
carpark, were satisfied having seen another night of Christmas Carnivals
entertainment. I left satisfied that the whole thing still exists at all. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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cadohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04901054949358669705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7144440664666147739.post-26857852355760483792014-02-15T20:57:00.002-08:002014-02-15T20:57:31.909-08:00Op-Ed on the proposed East West Link published in The Kings Tribune<h4 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #de2323; font-family: PTSerifRegular, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.2em; margin: 15px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">Published in The Kings Tribune Wednesday 12 February 2014</span></h4>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">The EastWest Link project has support only from the corporations who will profit from it and the media that supports them. Why is the Victorian government ignoring their constituents in favour of those groups?</span></h4>
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They’re nothing if not predictable, News Corp. Another day another table thumping editorial from Melbourne’s Herald Sun denouncing protesters disrupting the progress of controversial East West Road Tunnel. Just as the protesters turn up day after day in Melbourne’s inner north and attach themselves to drilling rigs in order disrupt the early stages of this divisive project, so does Melbourne’s Murdoch owned tabloid rail with righteous indignation at opponents of the project it variously labels <a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/protest-from-another-age/story-fni0ffsx-1226787708938" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.1s ease-in; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #de2323; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.1s ease-in;" target="_blank">pests, rabble rousers, ratbags</a> and any other clichés they can think of.</div>
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They were at it again recently during Melbourne’s week long heatwave, frothing at the mouth over revelations that the police had reneged on a deal with protesters to stop drilling during the oppressive weather. While protesters had thought they’d convinced the police to disallow drilling during the heatwave, so that both they and the workers alike could stay out of the heat, Vic Pol and the drilling contractors pulled a swifty on them by secretly moving their drilling gear overnight and continuing work elsewhere without the protestor’s knowledge.</div>
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Of course the Hun was only too happy to rub their noses in it. Rather than strike a deal with protesters during extreme weather events, the paper’s <a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/dont-kowtow-to-protesters/story-fni0ffsx-1226801808450" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.1s ease-in; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #de2323; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.1s ease-in;" target="_blank">editorial</a> urged the police to throw the book at them. Instead of respecting their right to protest - a fundamental tenant of democracy - Murdoch’s Melbourne minions wanted the protestors charged and prosecuted. Apparently this tunnel is so desperately needed that democracy itself should be briefly suspended so the bulldozers and dump trucks can start rolling in.</div>
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So what you may ask? After all, the Herald Sun and News Corp’s other Australian tabloids, love bagging protestors almost as much as they love supporting Tony Abbott, denying Climate Change and running pictures of football wags. Excuse the pun, but the Herald Sun railing against the East West Link protestors, isn’t front page news.</div>
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However this particular campaign is instructive for a variety of reasons.</div>
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It’s become so shrill and persistent that one suspects the Hun knows it’s losing the argument and therefore has decided to double down rather than retreat. A quick glance at the opinion polls on both the question of whether the <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/victorian-public-has-strong-doubts-about-eastwest-link-20131128-2yclj.html" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.1s ease-in; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #de2323; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.1s ease-in;" target="_blank">tunnel should be built</a> and on the performance of the <a href="http://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollbludger/2013/11/11/newspoll-53-47-to-labor-in-victoria-2/" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.1s ease-in; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #de2323; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.1s ease-in;" target="_blank">Napthine Government</a>, show that both are on the nose with the public. Even the paper’s own letters page is often filled with negative comments the day after the project is given coverage. This then makes bagging the protestors an easy diversion for both the paper and the Government. It’s much easier to smear activists (as the Herald Sun did with an <a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/east-west-link-leader-exposed-as-serial-pest-protester/story-fni0fiyv-1226734350818" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.1s ease-in; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #de2323; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.1s ease-in;" target="_blank">extraordinary front page attack on protest leader Anthony Main</a>) and focus on frivolous sideshows like a <a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/disabled-park-moved-so-that-east-west-link-protest-van-can-stay/story-fni0fit3-1226807119498" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.1s ease-in; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #de2323; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.1s ease-in;" target="_blank">protest van being parked in a disabled zone</a>or the complaints of a fish and chip shop owner, than addressing the far more serious questions that hang over this project. Questions that not only cast doubt over the necessity of this tunnel, but also over the development of infrastructure policy in Australia and the way in which vested interests seemingly always trump the will of the public.</div>
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Let’s do a quick re-cap.</div>
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The Coalition Government was elected, somewhat unexpectedly, at the 2010 State Election, largely on the back of its plans to invest in public transport infrastructure. The Victorian Liberals <a href="http://www.news.com.au/national/coalition-promises-doncaster-rail-link/story-e6frfkp9-1225946660110" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.1s ease-in; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #de2323; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.1s ease-in;" target="_blank">committed</a> to projects such as the Doncaster line, a rail link to the airport and the daddy of them all, The Melbourne Metro tunnel linking the inner west to the inner south. Melbourne would follow cities across the world in addressing booming population growth and traffic congestion by investing in public transport.</div>
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Not surprisingly, Melbournians who’d been cramming into trains and trams in ever increasing numbers, loved it.</div>
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Across the city, seats along major rail lines such as <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/state-election-2010/sandbelt-voters-delivered-the-knockout-blow-20101128-18ce9.html" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.1s ease-in; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #de2323; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.1s ease-in;" target="_blank">Frankston and Pakenham</a>, fell to the Liberals as they swept to power for the first time this century. Finally these mythical rail projects that premiers dating back to Sir Henry Bolte had promised, yet failed to build, would become a reality. Melbourne’s suburban rail network would receive its first major expansion since before World War II. More than any of his predecessors, the new Premier, Ted Baillieu, had a mandate to build public transport infrastructure.</div>
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Yet just over three years on and not only has Baillieu been jettisoned, but the rail projects for which people have been <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/coalition-fails-on-rail-plans-20130323-2gmvt.html" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.1s ease-in; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #de2323; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.1s ease-in;" target="_blank">too</a>. And in their place is a project no one voted for, because the Coalition <a href="http://www.cesarmelhem.com.au/parliament/major-transport-projects-facilitation-amendment-east-west-link-and-other-projects-bill-2013/" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.1s ease-in; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #de2323; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.1s ease-in;" target="_blank">ruled it out</a> in the lead up to that election: The East West Tunnel.</div>
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Like the aforementioned rail projects, The East West Tunnel has been spoken of for decades. If built, it would link the Eastern Freeway with Citylink and provide a much easier route across the city than currently offered by the chronically congested Alexandria Parade. Yet the project has never gotten off the ground because any potential benefit it may provide is simply dwarfed by the enormous cost. The most rigorous cost benefit analysis of the project was undertaken by Sir Rod Eddington in his 2008 <a href="http://www.kingstribune.com/Downloads/Investing_in_Transport_East_West-Overview_Contents.pdf" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.1s ease-in; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #de2323; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.1s ease-in;" target="_blank">transport plan</a>produced for the former Labor Government. It found that every dollar put into the project would produce only <a href="http://blogs.crikey.com.au/theurbanist/2013/03/27/does-this-freeway-make-any-sense/" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.1s ease-in; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #de2323; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.1s ease-in;" target="_blank">50 cents</a> in potential economic benefits. In other words it was a complete non-starter. The Napthine Government has since cobbled together its own cost benefit analysis that somehow estimates a benefit of $1.40 for every dollar spent. We don’t know how this figure was arrived at, because unlike the Eddington analysis, the report has not been released.</div>
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This is in keeping with Government’s entire approach to the issue, where detail has been scarce and secrecy abundant. The backflip on rejecting the tunnel in opposition to embracing it in Government, has never been explained. Nor have they specified just why it has jumped the queue to become the Government’s number one project, when the Metro Rail Tunnel is still ranked as Victoria’s most urgent priority by Infrastructure Australia. Only a <a href="http://www.kingstribune.com/Downloads/east-west-link-stage-one--short-form-business-case.pdf" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.1s ease-in; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #de2323; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.1s ease-in;" target="_blank">short form</a> business case has been released to the public and despite Premier Napthine’s repeated claims that the tunnel will be a <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-07/premier-denis-napthine-talks-up-27congestion-busting27-power-/4871114" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.1s ease-in; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #de2323; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.1s ease-in;" target="_blank">“congestion buster</a>”, we don’t know exactly how this will be the case and how it will be any better at reducing congestion than the public transport projects his Government was elected to build.</div>
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And then there is the politics.</div>
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Surely, having been elected on a public transport platform they have since put on the backburner, you would think the Government would seek a mandate from the people for its change of plans and take the East West Link to the election. After all, what’s the big rush, the election is due this November.</div>
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But no.</div>
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Keen to avoid those pesky voters having a say, Premier Denis Napthine has pledged to sign construction contracts prior to the election, contracts that Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews has curiously promised to honour despite his party opposing the project.</div>
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So as it stands, The East West Tunnel is still odds on to go ahead, even if the Napthine Government is turfed out of office later this year and replaced by a Labor Opposition which publically opposes it.</div>
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Road will yet again trump rail.</div>
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Critics will point to the strength of the roads lobby – a mysterious collection of business and political interests that relentlessly and successfully promote the advancement of road projects – as being the root cause of this imbalance. A resulting effect has been that Australians have become experts at building roads, meaning knowledge, expertise and equipment are readily available and cheap, while rail suffers from the reverse. There is also a healthy dose of ideology involved. The individualist nature of car use clearly appeals to the neo-liberal right in the Coalition, News Corp and the business community, who no doubt lump proponents of taxpayer funded, collectivist, public transport, in with environmentalists as a bunch of closet communists. This probably explains the Herald Sun’s one eyed <a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/super-link-a-super-boost/story-fni0ffsx-1226680405242" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.1s ease-in; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #de2323; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.1s ease-in;" target="_blank">proselytising</a> on the issue and the Abbott Government’s <a href="http://blogs.crikey.com.au/theurbanist/2013/04/07/whats-your-problem-with-public-transport-mister-abbott/" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.1s ease-in; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #de2323; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.1s ease-in;" target="_blank">gleeful promotion of road projects and its outright disdain for urban rail.</a></div>
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All this is cold comfort for Victorian commuters and those who care about ethical evidence based public policy. Even if their wishes are validated at the ballot box, they now know unequivocally that it’s the voice of vested interests that speaks the loudest.</div>
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And they wonder why people are protesting?</div>
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—</div>
cadohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04901054949358669705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7144440664666147739.post-81740897779421871402013-05-14T01:59:00.000-07:002013-05-14T01:59:10.562-07:00The Axis Of Freedom
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">If you didn’t know any better one could almost assume Rupert
Murdoch’s latest visit to our shores was something of a victory lap, coming so
soon after the Sun King’s latest triumph in knocking over the Gillard
Government’s pesky media reforms.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Barely two weeks after his troops at News Ltd forced
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy into a humiliating </span><a href="http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/national/16411529/katter-confident-his-media-plan-has-legs/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">back-down</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
on a suite of media reforms which, among other horrors, would’ve introduced a
public interest advocate to keep it accountable, Rupert and his trusted
offsider and fellow Aussie Robert Thompson were back in town. While business
was no doubt the reason for him deigning us with his presence, the great man
took time out to be guest speaker at the 70<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> anniversary dinner for
right wing Melbourne think tank the Institute of Public Affairs. There he was
able to rub shoulders and sip Kool Aid with the likes of Tony Abbott, George
Pell, Andrew Bolt and of course IPA hacks like John Roskam and Tim Wilson who’d
taken time out from appearing on the ABC to kiss the great man’s feet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The buzzword of the evening was freedom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the slogan alluded, ‘The IPA Fighting for
Freedom for 70 Years’. Freedom of speech; freedom of the press; freedom from any
accountability or oversight; freedom for corporations and billionaires to
whatever they bloody well like; you name it, the IPA and their fellow
travellers in Murdoch’s News Ltd and the Liberal Party had fought for it and
won it. Without this axis of freedom, communism would surely reign.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The most recent and prominent example of their efforts to
uphold freedom is their trashing of the affor-mentioned media reforms.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">To put it mildly, the Axis of Freedom and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>News Ltd <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in particular, hated the prospect of any
government oversight of their journalism. Whether Conroy’s legislation was
actually as a bad as they made out was a moot point, but the reality is that
the Axis screeched <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>so loudly about what
they saw as an egregious threat to freedom of the press, free speech and
democracy itself, that it was impossible for any sensible analysis of the bills
to be heard. The highpoint in this barrage of hyperbole was the Daily
Telegraph’s immortal </span><a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/julia-gillards-henchman-stephen-conroy-attacks-freedom-of-the-press/story-e6freuy9-1226595971160"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">front
page</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> which compared Communications Minister Stephen Conroy to Joseph
Stalin. In the wake of such an offensive comparison the Tele duly apologised; </span><a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/media-minister-misses-sting-in-the-tale/story-e6freuy9-1226596771403"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">to
Joe</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">. This, along with the absurdly short time frame that Conroy allowed for
the bills to be assessed before a vote, lead to their premature death.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This scenario closely mirrors that involving another piece
of contentious legislation that the Axis was able to force the Gillard
Government to retreat from, the Human Rights and Anti- Discrimination Bill. The
bill was aimed at consolidating and simplifying existing anti-discrimination
laws such as those relating to racial and sex discrimination, with the racial
discrimination clauses coming in for particular attention from the Axis. Again
their response was to simply cry FREEDOM OF SPEECH long enough and loud enough
for any dissenting view or nuanced opinion to be completely drowned out and
ignored. New Attorney General Mark Dreyfus has since announced that the most contentious
parts of the bill have being sent back to the department for re-examination,
while his predecessor and the originator of the bills, Nicola Roxon, has <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>resigned from her position and will soon leave
the parliament.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And who could forget the wailing and gnashing of teeth from the
Axis when one of their favourite sons, Herald Sun firebrand Andrew Bolt, was
found guilty of breaching the Racial Discrimination Act in the Federal Court in
2011. The </span><a href="http://www.fedcourt.gov.au/publications/judgments/judgment-summaries"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">judgement</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
found that two of Bolt’s columns published in 2009 in which he attacked light
skinned aborigines for identifying as indigenous while appearing otherwise,
were riddled with errors and had an intimidatory and humiliating tone. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Such matters were of little interest to the Axis though who
just screamed FREEDOM OF SPEECH ad- nauseum in response. Bolt himself entered
the fray the day after the judgement squealing about this freedom of speech
being curtailed on the </span><a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/opinion/silencing-me-impedes-unity/story-e6frfifx-1226150249249"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">front
page</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> of the Herald Sun. The irony of Australia’s most widely read columnist
complaining about his lack of free speech from the front page of the country’s
highest selling daily paper seemed lost on the man himself. Proving that the Axis
stick together the IPA took out </span><a href="http://cdn0.mumbrella.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/IPA-Statement_web.jpg"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">full
page ads</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> in the national press defending Bolt’s right to smear people on
the basis of falsehoods and Tony Abbott has politely agreed to </span><a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/abbott-should-seize-free-speech-as-election-issue/story-e6frgd0x-1226164283200"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">abolish</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
the part of the act under which he was found guilty if elected Prime Minister.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So often have the Axis of Freedom shouted <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">freedom of speech</i> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>everywhere and anywhere, that it is at risk of
becoming one of those hackneyed, go-to phrases that conservatives reflexively
reach for when challenged. Much like the how the term <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">‘politically correct’</i> has been used to convey the frustration of
people who can’t be bigoted anymore, or the way <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">‘class warfare’</i> is used whenever wealthy people are asked to
contribute their fair share to society, conservatives shouting about freedom of
speech seem to be doing so to preserve the conservative hegemony that controls
much of our press and public discourse rather than any altruistic concern for
freedom and plurality.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">If they really were so concerned about freedom of speech and
freedom of the press maybe they would’ve been much more vocal about some recent
developments that really threaten both of these ideals. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Gina Rhineheart is Australia’s richest person and the
world’s richest woman. She is also the largest shareholder <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in Fairfax Media, publisher of The Age and The
Sydney Morning Herald, the only opposition to News Ltd.’s dominance of
Australian print media. The mining heiress is also a well known conservative
with close links to The Liberal Party, IPA and is an unabashed admirer of Andrew
Bolt. With such a close association to the Axis of Freedom it was no surprise
that she was an honoured guest at the IPA’s Anniversary Dinner, where she
seated next to, you guessed it, Rupert Murdoch.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Rhineheart’s lawyers recently served a </span><a href="http://www.businessspectator.com.au/news/2013/3/13/media-and-digital/rinehart-serves-fairfax-journalist-subpoena"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">subpoena</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
against Fairfax journalist Adele Ferguson, that’s right a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fairfax</i> journalist. The subpoena is aimed at forcing Ferguson to
reveal her sources for stories she has written about a protracted legal battle
between Rhineheart and her children over control of a family trust. If Ferguson
refuses to protect<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>her sources, a
fundamental tenant of journalism, she could go to jail. If surely there is a
threat to freedom of speech and freedom of the press in Australia it is the ultra-rich
using the courts to silence journalists reporting on their affairs. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The fact that Rhineheart is doing it to a
journalist working for the very same company she has invested heavily in, is
even more remarkable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Ferguson’s Fairfax colleague Nick McKenzie
pondered </span><a href="http://www.crikey.com.au/2013/03/13/fairfax-journos-fire-up-over-rinehart-but-bolt-stays-silent/?wpmp_switcher=mobile"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">‘
it makes one wonder whether she cares about journalism at all’.</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">That’s something everyone’s been wondering since Rhineheart
bought a large slice of Fairfax back in late 2011. The Fairfax board however
have always been fairly sure and as a result have refused to allow Rhineheart a
seat on the board unless she agrees to sign the company’s charter of editorial
independence. Rhineheart has duly resisted to sign the charter and her pursuit
of journalist’s such as Ferguson and The West Australians’s Steve Pennells
shows why; she’s more interested in silencing desenting voices than investing
in media or upholding any semblance of press freedom<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Which brings us to Rhineheart’s presence at the IPA Dinner
and the strange silence from Axis of Freedom on an issue one would expect
they’d be all over. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While Rhineheart,
Bolt and Murdoch were having a whale of a time at the IPA shindig, those truly
concerned about press freedom were adding to the more than 30,000 signatures on
the change.org petition calling on Rhinehart to drop her actions against
Ferguson and Pennells. While Bolt was acting as MC for the night, he was being
called upon by other journalists to come out in support of Ferguson, knowing
only too well what it’s like to be dragged through the courts for something
he’s written. And did Rupert Murdoch use his seat next to Miss Rhinehart to
urge her to cease her censorious ways?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not likely. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Because, if we’ve learnt anything from the behaviour of the
Axis, it’s that freedom is important, but not as much as money and power.
Rhineheart <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is rumoured to be a major
donor to the IPA and has worked closely with their attempts to develop </span><a href="http://www.andev-project.org/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">Australia’s north</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">. She is known to be
close to Andrew Bolt who has recently used his various media appearances to act
as something of an </span><a href="http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/but_no_ok_if_gina_might_do_it/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">unofficial
press secretary</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> for the mining magnate. And Murdoch’s News Ltd.’s outlets
have practically </span><a href="http://www.crikey.com.au/topic/terry-mccrann/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">demanded</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
she be allowed on the Fairfax board, knowing full well that it would further
decrease the ideological plurality of the Australian press and further enhance
the conservative control over of it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And this of course is the ultimate goal of the Axis; the
freedom of right-wing speech.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
cadohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04901054949358669705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7144440664666147739.post-68966506531669748692011-06-24T21:17:00.001-07:002011-06-24T21:17:39.825-07:00cadohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04901054949358669705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7144440664666147739.post-61986736074619132822011-05-21T02:04:00.000-07:002011-05-21T02:06:27.693-07:00Gig Review: You Am I Billboard 22 October 2010<a href="http://pbs.org.au/node/2983">http://pbs.org.au/node/2983</a>cadohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04901054949358669705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7144440664666147739.post-74002106649092624362011-05-21T01:53:00.000-07:002011-05-21T02:04:31.294-07:00Gig Review: Cup Eve at The Espy 1 November 2010<a href="http://pbs.org.au/node/3075">http://pbs.org.au/node/3075</a>cadohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04901054949358669705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7144440664666147739.post-72707481560995810242011-05-21T01:51:00.000-07:002011-05-21T01:53:29.770-07:00Gig Review: New Years Eve at the Espy, 11 January 2011<a href="http://pbs.org.au/node/4579">http://pbs.org.au/node/4579</a>cadohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04901054949358669705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7144440664666147739.post-72556349318293104752011-05-21T00:53:00.000-07:002011-05-21T00:55:42.504-07:00Collingwood v Essendon match report for the footyalmanac.com.au July 9 2009<a href="http://footyalmanac.com.au/?p=2867">http://footyalmanac.com.au/?p=2867</a>cadohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04901054949358669705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7144440664666147739.post-24913919453387733222011-05-21T00:32:00.000-07:002011-05-21T00:53:20.407-07:00Series of peices on the 2010 Superbowl for the footyalmanac.com.au<a href="http://footyalmanac.com.au/?p=7701">http://footyalmanac.com.au/?p=7701</a><br /><br /><a href="http://footyalmanac.com.au/?p=7652">http://footyalmanac.com.au/?p=7652</a><br /><br /><a href="http://footyalmanac.com.au/?p=7583">http://footyalmanac.com.au/?p=7583</a>cadohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04901054949358669705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7144440664666147739.post-22932043801039281012010-02-03T02:55:00.000-08:002010-02-04T20:34:31.407-08:00superbowl previewWell it's almost that time of year again. You know the one. It's a Monday morning in late January or early February. You switch on the TV and, 'oh yeah, that Superbowl thing's on'.<br /><br />And so you lounge on the couch in your pyjamas till mid afternoon, trying to work out what a first down is and hoping the half time show will feature Janet Jackson's nipples.<br /><br />That kind of sums up the Australian attitude to the Superbowl and American Football in general. We're strangely compelled by the whole spectacle even if we're mostly bewildered by what's happening on the field.<br /><br />This time though things are different for the antipodean gridiron tragic. Gone are the days where the Superbowl was merely an excuse to put Don Lane back on television. Firstly, through Fox Sports and more recently the arrival of One HD, American football on television is no longer the anomaly it once was and rather than having to wait until the final game of the season for some live NFL action, the Australian viewer can more or less watch the whole season from start to finish.<br /><br />And so interest has risen. While this year's clash between the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts, lacks the Australian angel that Ben Graham's appearance with the Arizona Cardinals provided last year, anyone who's even paid partial attention to this NFL season knows this match carries with it an abundance of compelling storylines.<br /><br />No one needs an intricate understanding of the American game to know why New Orleans have virtually all but the most ardent Colts fans 'rooting' for them. They're the underdogs, the sentimental favourites, everybody's second team. Having been known unlovingly as the 'Aints' (even by their own fans) for much of their dreadful history, New Orleans have risen remarkably over the last few years. Led by head coach Sean Payton, inspirational quarterback Drew Brees and livewire running back Reggie Bush, the Saints powered to a NFC best 13-3 record this season, before post season wins over Arizona and Minnesota secured them their first ever trip to the Superbowl.<br /><br />But for most fans these are mere details. The real reason that sentiment is flowing so overwhelmingly in their direction is, of course, Hurricane Katrina. The most destructive storm to ever hit the U.S mainland, Katrina all but flattened the city of New Orleans, but strangely, has acted as something of a beachhead for it's much maligned football team. Since the storm struck during the 2005 season the Saints have recorded 2 of the 9 winning seasons in franchise history. A Superbowl win on Monday morning would signal the culmination of the Saints rise from mediocrity and may provide the impetus for the rest of the recovering city to follow.<br /><br />Unfortunately for the Saints and their heaving bandwagon, the Indianapolis Colts don't do sentiment. In fact, the Colts don't really do emotion. A ruthless, metronomic football machine, built in the image of their superstar quarterback, Peyton Manning, the Colts advanced to the Superbowl with robot like efficiency. They racked up a league best 14-2 record during the regular season, before brushing aside the Baltimore Ravens and the plucky New York Jets in the playoffs.<br /><br />There's a calmness about Indianapolis. They've seen all this before. Three years ago in the very same Miami stadium where they'll face New Orleans, The Colts outclassed the Chicago Bears to win their second ever Superbowl. While having changed coaches and some personnel since then, they have the self assured look of a team who are ready to win a third.<br /><br />And why wouldn't they be self assured? Any team would fancy their chances with a genius like Manning in charge. The Colt's modus operandi is basically this: stay solid defensively and let Peyton prey on opposition mistakes.<br /><br />It usually works.<br /><br />New Orleans will no doubt try to belt him from pillar to post, after all, they did it pretty well a fortnight ago against Brett Farve and the Vikings. Manning however, presents an altogether different challenge. The pre-eminent player in the game at the peak of his powers, Manning is likely to be able to sustain physical pressure better than the creaking Farve.<br /><br />Against the best defense in the league last time out, Manning copped a hammering early on as the New York Jets skipped out to an 11 point lead. Then, seemingly on que, he got up, dusted himself off and guided his team to 24 straight points. Game over.<br /><br />So how do they stop him?<br /><br />Well, Manning's father Archie was a star quarterback for The Saints back in the 70's and Peyton was born and raised in The Big Easy. A Saints fan since birth, few people would like to see them in their first title more than him. He could go easy on them? Or maybe not.<br /><br />Like I said, Indianapolis don't do sentiment.<br /><br />The Colts by 10.cadohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04901054949358669705noreply@blogger.com0