Speaking up for Scott

Colleagues and scholars from coast to coast, across Bass Strait and all the ships at sea.

Dateline: Australia, Federal Politics, March 2014.

This is not a topic that I had ever expected to write a newsletter about, simply because I would much prefer to bash my head against rocks forty times* rather than take any notice of the ridiculous shenanigans that go on in parliament during question time.

Nevertheless, it is patently obvious that the sooner the Government appoints the Member for Maranoa, the Hon. Bruce Scott, to the speakership, the better.

Better for the Government, better for the Opposition, better for the Parliament, and, most importantly, immeasurably better for the citizens of Australia.

While the House of Representatives is the house of government, it is not the Government's house; it belongs to the people. It is the people's house.

One would hope that the Prime Minister's self-proclaimed respect for traditions would extend to upholding its dignity and appoint Mr. Scott without delay.

* To bash against rocks forty times is a traditional Greek technique for tenderising octopus.

Free speech: More free for some than others

Colleagues and scholars from coast to coast, across Bass Strait and all the ships at sea.

Dateline: Australia, Federal Politics, March 2014.

On October 24, 2006, the following story "Call for book ban" appeared in the Courier Mail read here

The story opened:

"A federal government senator is demanding the withdrawal of a school library book which paints his political hero and Australia's longest-serving prime minister as a tyrant."

The story was also covered in The Age, on October 24, 2006, under the title "Row over tyrant Menzies library book" read here

That story opened:

"A principal is resisting calls from a Liberal senator to remove a book from his school's library which labels former prime minister Sir Robert Menzies a tyrant."

Which federal government senator might that have been?  It was Senator George Brandis, the current Attorney-General.

It seems the measure of free speech is this: you have the right to offend, as long as you don't offend me.

"Judge not, that you not be judged. For with the judgement you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be used to you." Matthew 7:1-2

From somewhere in the South Pacific

Colleagues and scholars from coast to coast, across Bass Strait and all the ships at sea.

Dateline: Australia, Federal Politics, March 2014.

Quite clearly, what is stifling Australia and has been holding our nation back from reaching its full potential, is this:

"We got sunlight on the sand, we got moonlight on the sea, we got mangoes and bananas we can pick right off the tree, we got volleyball and ping-pong and a lot of dandy games!"

"What ain't we got?"

"We ain't got Dames!"

"There is nuthin' like a Dame" from the movie version of the musical South Pacific, by Rodgers and Hammerstein 1958 (an appropriate year, don't you think?).

Watch and enjoy it here

How is the Abbott Government travelling?

Colleagues and scholars from coast to coast, across Bass Strait and all the ships at sea.

Dateline: Federal Politics, March 2014.

To measure how a government is travelling, especially a newly elected one, we can turn to two sources:

First, we can read or watch or listen to the opinions of commentators, which are mostly interesting and sometimes colourful; but highly subjective and therefore of limited empirical value. 

Second, we can read the market research data (known in politics as polling) which is totally objective and therefore of high empirical value.

So what does the market research data tell us?

For such an analysis, we can turn to this article by John Stirton, Research Director of Nielsen Market Research, "Worst Poll Start For New Government in 40 Years" published in The Australian Financial Review on March 17, 2014.

In it he concludes:

"..there is no doubt the Abbott Government is continuing to have the worst start, at least in its polling, of any new government over the last 40 years." 

So why is the market research data telling us that the Abbott Government is struggling in the polls?

For an answer to that question we can turn to a qualitative researcher, Rebecca Huntley, Executive Director of Ipsos Australia Research, who was quoted in an article by Peter Hartcher in the Sydney Morning Herald on November 30, 2013, when it was clear that the Abbott Government was not enjoying a polling honeymoon, as is usually the case following a change of government:

"Voters' expectations of the Government are not being met, and their fears are being realised."

Four months later, the empirical evidence is telling us that little has changed.

Post-election explanations, justifications and prognostications

Colleagues and scholars from coast to coast, across Bass Strait and all the ships at sea.

Following every election there are three things that are certain to occur:

The sun will rise -

The sun will set - 

And there will be a gaggle load of analyses regarding the election outcome.  

By far the most sensible post-election analysis came from veteran journalist Mark Shields following the 2012 U.S. Presidential Election:

"There's a terrible temptation on the part of the press after an election. If you win, you're a genius with an I.Q. north of 300. If you lose, you're somehow a dullard who probably isn't able to tie your own shoes."

That is all.

The value of perspective

Colleagues and scholars from coast to coast, across Bass Strait and all the ships at sea.

The value of perspective.

If a picture tells a thousand words; then several pictures tell a thousand truths.

These stars are only from the subset that scientists have discovered so far in our home galaxy - the Milky Way - which consists of 400 billion stars and measures 100,000 light years across. (The Earth is 8 light minutes from the Sun or 150 million km).

There are another 100 billion galaxies throughout the Universe.

"The size and age of the Cosmos are beyond ordinary human understanding. Lost somewhere between immensity and eternity is our tiny planetary home, the Earth. In a cosmic perspective, most human concerns seem insignificant, even petty. And yet our species is young and curious and brave and shows much promise. In the last few millennia we have made the most astonishing and unexpected discoveries, about the Cosmos and our place within it, explorations that are exhilarating to consider. They remind us that humans have evolved to wonder, that understanding is a joy, that knowledge is prerequisite to survival. I believe our future depends on how well we know this Cosmos in which we float like a mote of dust in the morning sky." Carl Sagan

Humanity at its best

Colleagues and scholars from coast to coast, across Bass Strait and all the ships at sea.

Witness humanity at its best.

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." Corinthians 13:13.

Faith

"You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty." Mahatma Gandhi

"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase." Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr

"Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light." Helen Keller

"Faith is believing in something when common sense tells you not to." From 'Miracle on 34th Street.'

Hope

"Hope is a waking dream." Aristotle

"Hope is a powerful weapon and no one power on Earth can deprive you of." Nelson Mandela

"We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope." Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr

"I'll never forget, the people I met, braving those angry skies. I remember well, as the shadows fell, the light of hope in their eyes." From 'The White Cliffs of Dover.'

Love

"When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fail. Think of it - always." Mahatma Gandhi

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr

"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage." Lao Tzu

"Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead." Oscar Wilde

"Love is the answer and you know that for sure. Love is a flower, you got to let it grow." John Lennon, Mind Games

"For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love." Carl Sagan

"Love is the beauty of the soul." Saint Augustine

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." Corinthians 13:13.

Humanity at its best.

It's not Cuba 1962, however......

Colleagues and scholars from coast to coast, across Bass Strait and all the ships at sea.

While what is currently going on in Ukraine and Crimea is not Cuba 1962, it is worth reflecting on the words of the man who was at the centre of the Cuban Missile Crisis (October 14 - 28, 1962) and his warnings on misjudgements, and overblown rhetoric.

From "After Two Years: A Conversation With The President" 17 December 1962.

President Kennedy: "Looking back on Cuba, what is of concern is the fact that both governments were so far out of contact, really. I don't think that we expected that he [Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet Premier] would put the missiles in Cuba, because it would have seemed such an imprudent action for him to take, as it was later proved. Now, he obviously must have thought that he could do it in secret and that the United States would accept it. So that he did not judge our intentions accurately."

"Well, now, if you look at the history of this century, where World War I really came through a series of misjudgments of the intentions of others, certainly World War II, where Hitler thought that he could seize Poland, that the British might not fight, and if they fought, after the defeat of Poland they might not continue to fight, Korea, where obviously the North Koreans did not think we were going to come in, and Korea, when we did not think the Chinese were going to come in, when you look at all those misjudgments which brought on war, and then you see the Soviet Union and the United States so far separated in their beliefs, we believing in a world of independent sovereign and different diverse nations, they believing in a monolithic Communist world, and you put the nuclear equation into that struggle, that is what makes this, as I said before, such a dangerous time, and that we must proceed with firmness and also with the best information we can get, and also with care. There is nothing--one mistake can make this whole thing blow up. So that--one major mistake either by Mr. Khrushchev or by us here--so that is why it is much easier to make speeches about some of the things which we ought to be doing, but I think that anybody who looks at the fatality lists on atomic weapons, and realises that the Communists have a completely twisted view of the United States, and that we don't comprehend them, that is what makes life in the sixties hazardous."

As disturbing as poll numbers can get

Colleagues and scholars from coast to coast, across Bass Strait and all the ships at sea.

These are as disturbing as poll numbers can get.

Essential Research found in response to this question: "Do you think the Federal Liberal/National Government is too tough or too soft on asylum seekers or is it taking the right approach?" (Essential Report, March 4)

Too tough	25%
Too soft	28%
Taking the right approach	34%
Don’t know	13%

A full 28%, or 4.1 million voters, thought the Government's approach was too soft.

How black a heart can a human being have? How empty a soul? 

How empty, indeed?

"As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them like wise" Luke 6:31 (King James)

Compare and contrast

Colleagues and scholars from coast to coast, across Bass Strait and all the ships at sea.

This, is a very real and very serious threat to a nation's border security:

These, are a few desperate people in a leaky boat:

Get the picture?