The pie on the left is how Australia’s first preferences – the real popular vote – were cast. Looks like we want a Labor-Greens coalition, don’t you think? But the pie on the right is how the parliament will look after the single-member seat system “takes away the number you first thought of”.
As much as I love the idea of holding public fora where voters can ask unscripted questions of their elected representatives. (“Our leaders need more Q & A in the real world”, The Australian, August 18), the Rooty Hill RSL forum was not a good model, as only undecided voters were allowed to participate. Continue reading
We should be cautiously encouraged by the emerging bipartisan approach to indigenous issues, with its increasing emphasis on self determination. Continue reading
In criticising the recent U.N. resolution on drinking water, The Australian makes a false distinction: “…human rights…are things the state cannot take away from you (such as life, liberty and property), not things that the state must give you with taxpayers’ money” (‘Safe drinking is not a right’, August 11). This distinction arises from the belief that some rights are real, natural and cost-free, and the rest are illusory. Continue reading
Articulate ex-Islamist and ex-socialist Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who recently visited Australia, has become a pin-up for neo-conservatives. But her bitterness against Islam clouds her argument. Continue reading
So Tony Abbott finds burkas confronting (The Australian, August 4). He could have added hoodies, baseball caps and fashion headscarves (which can also obscure the face), facial piercings, tattoos, death-metal t-shirts, low-slung pants, and so on; but presumably he doesn’t mention them because they do not provide him with a dog-whistle to religious intolerance.
Personally, I can’t stand Tony in Speedos, but we all have to look at things we don’t like or agree with in a democracy.
The Liberals’ proposal, weakly echoed by Labor, to impose a form of mandatory sentencing for dole recipients (by forcing Centrelink to impose recommended penalties) will no doubt be a hit with the talkback-radio crowd, but will prove unworkable for its sheer brutality. Continue reading
It is only natural that The Australian should play its role as part of Rupert Murdoch’s global News Corporation, which controls two-thirds of Australia’s press, by intensifying its conservative bias during an election campaign. But this sharpens the irony of its mantra of left-wing ABC bias. Continue reading
There has been an early-campaign media flurry over the six teenagers who lost their two-hour after school shifts because “union rules say they have to work at least three hours”. But there is nothing to prevent these kids from working only two hours, apart from the refusal of their employers to pay them for three. Continue reading
Some are trying to paint the “stop the boats” beat-up as being about reducing unnecessary deaths at sea (e.g., ‘Putting policy first in the border protection debate’, The Australian, 5/7/10). This is disingenuous. While the three hundred or so sea deaths over the last several years are tragic, they do not explain the political heat generated by boat arrivals. Continue reading
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