The Australian, 19 July 2010
Newspoll today had Julia, if not moving forward with confidence, at least up a bit on the Coalition. Just as well, probably.
Category Archives: The Australian
How to stop the boats
The Australian 9/7/2010
Apparently it is perfectly okay to have an irrational fear of boat people these days. I’m not the Prime Minister, or a psychologist, but I can’t help thinking that pandering to an irrational fear isn’t the best way of sorting it out. We aren’t being swamped by boat people. Most of them turn out to be legitimate refugees. The most efficient way of dealing with their claims would be to do it in Australia. Beating up on these incredibly vulnerable people will not do anything to stop the root cause of the problem, and to do so is (yes, I’m going to say it) downright unAustralian. Deep down I think we all know that we’re not going to stop people smuggling until there is a worldwide change in human nature, and I’m not holding my breath. While we’re waiting for world peace and an end to world poverty, perhaps some sort of regional or global formula for humanely, fairly and efficiently dealing with refugees wouldn’t be a bad idea at all (yes, the mythical queue!) however, again, breath holding is not advised. In the meantime, a little more of compassion and a little less xenophobia might help make the world a slightly better place, or failing that, some decent, brave leadership from politicians who really should know better wouldn’t go astray. …okay, I’m not holding my breath on that one either.
[wp_eStore_fancy9 id=261]
somebody’s got to do it
The Australian June 4 2010
This cartoon accompanied a story about a record minimum wage increase of $26 a week (after a slightly less generous $0 per week last year) to the predictable chorus of “we’ll all be rooned” from the usual suspects.
Now as the reintroduction of slavery seems off the table at least until the Coalition gets back in, I’m sure there are strong economic arguments for not paying the poor bastards any more money. However, as the people making these arguments are probably earning more than $26 in the 5 or so minutes it takes for them to make the argument, it feels a little bit like there’s some sort of double standard at play, damn my bleeding heart.
Anyway, the cartoon was a bit wordy for a pocket, but it made me happy, so there.
The Double Drop-Off
Hmmm, had two kiddies with gastro in the house this week. Not sure if this wasn’t something of an influence.
Yes, I am a bad parent. Luckily, their mum is an angel.
(Insert appropriately ironic Midnight Oil lyrics here)
The Australian 26/2/2010
I would just like to point out that this cartoon was published before Kev demoted Pete from backing vocals to roadie. The PM’s clearly decided that rock stars can’t be trusted and has instead started listening to the cartoonists. We’ll all be rooned.