the good name

mood: still tired.
state i'm in: now bespectacled.
tune: peter, bjorn & john 'young folks'.


in addressing the united nations climate change conference currently underway in bali, prime minister kevin rudd, in an affirmation of the convictions of so many australians i know, declared that he and his team "have a determination to resurrect the good name of australia in the world". these are words the likes of which i have longed to hear for so so long. finally, the keel is evening out.


to date, mr rudd's government's efforts can be largely commended. whilst only very early days, he is making good on promises and the labor government is standing strong on commitments.

internationally, the kyoto protocol has been ratified by australia, ending an embarrassing saga rooted in the dogmaticism of the howard era. from several angles, the government has been subject to pejorative comments regarding its refusal to set a precise target for 2020 emissions cuts, and with some justification. however, i will have more respect for the government if it indeed keeps its word and waits for ross garnaut's report on the issue due mid-2008, just as it committed itself to doing before the election. whilst the importance of the issue of climate change cannot be discounted, the report's release will coincide well with the timetable for the laying down of targets for developed nations to 2050 and will also help cement mr rudd's claims to be a man who takes advice from experts seriously rather as opposed to following blindly an ideology.

also, the new government has shown to be firm and fair in its treatment of asylum seekers. already a group of burmese asylum seekers, until now stuck in detention on nauru, have had their claims processed and will enter the community as resettled refugees before christmas. meanwhile a group of indonesians found stranded in a stricken fishing vessel in waters north of the country have been repatriated to their homeland, after their reason for peregrination was established to be for purely economic reasons (in fact, due to australia's cracking down on their illegal fishing activities in this country's waters leading to a substantial reduction in their income).

on the domestic front, the government has taken steps to ensure that findings of guilt associated with breaches of the trade practices act involving 'cartelling' will carry criminal provisions, including custodial sentences. this parallels moves taken in the USA, much of europe and other developed nations. society ought to be protected from the machinations of cartels, a concept born of capitalism, but one which runs anathema to the concept of the free market, and hurts consumers and other businesses alike.

another area that has received the new government's attention is the establishment of a code of conduct for ministerial ethics. almost immediately subsequent to the swearing in of the new cabinet, the screws were tightened on political lobbyists, ministers' employment after leaving office, electoral fund-raising and direct shareholdings. mr rudd claims that more tinkering to the ethics of politics will occur before parliament sits in the new year, and i am quite keen to see what this unfolds to mean.

one area that i will be particularly looking for, and of far larger potential for abuse than the ethics of ministerial conduct, is the regulation and scrutiny of party donations. under the howard government, the limit set for the requirement of public reporting of donations to a political party was increased from AU$1500 to AU$10500. this does not include the aggregate of several donations, making it very easy for individuals, corporations or lobbyists to make repeated donations of under AU$10500 without any public scrutiny whatsoever. one must ponder the power of such large sums of donated money, possibly many tens of thousands of dollars or more, to steer a politician or their party in a particular direction, howsoever unfavourable to the wider community. if mr rudd is to be taken seriously in his quest to rid the political sphere of as much unethical behaviour as is possible, than this area more than most must receive his prompt attention.


i remain a continual optimist these days about the bearing my nation is steering with and some of the milestones we may achieve along the way. godspeed!

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image: public (let's just hope that's not grog in the bottle. we all know what kevin's like after he's had a few...)

busy busy...

mood: tired.
state i'm in: late night lens blear.
tune: rasmus faber feat. melo 'get over here' (axwell remix).


not so many posts lately. i've been pretty busy, working lots and taking a road trip to canberra and NSW with suffien for emma and clay's wedding. pics from this will follow and congratulations and well wishes must go to the newlyweds!

finally...

mood: ecstatic.
state i'm in: one of the greatest nights in recent history.
tune: jose feliciano 'light my fire'


the time has passed when australia awakened... now let us stride forward.


to the dogmatic ideologue, the specious demagogue... farewell. to quote one abraham lincoln...




you can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.


congratulations mr rudd and party, and congratulations mr brown and party.

good night!

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image: public domain

where has my holiday gone already?

mood: optimistic.
state i'm in: tired.
tune: bill withers 'ain't no sunshine'.


finally, the holidays are here... sort of.

exams came to an end last week with considerable festivities. the celebratory theme continued through to sunday, with my halfway dinner. however, between these events and since i have been back in retail for another christmas, again with sunglass hut. it took a few days to get my body back in the habit of working. an afternoon on the surf beach of bribie island with suffien gave some reprieve. in fact, this is probably the single most pleasant moment i have had in weeks and weeks. pure bliss!





it's a shame my exams have coincided so closely with the election campaign, preventing me from being as fully broached in the pervasive issues of the day as i would have liked to be. but then, i have been driven insane enough by the relentless negative advertising blitz from the coalition, and i dread each moment the television is on should i hear the words "working families" from kevin rudd, or any of his plethora of catchphrases for that matter, one more time.

more importantly than any of those emotions, however, is the optimism i hold for a positive outcome to the election. i believe there is a real chance that this embarrassment of a government may indeed be discharged from the position it is has been elected to time and time again through little more than a cynical appeal to the lowest common denominator of human affairs, that being fears and insecurities.

today, john howard outlined his 5 point vision for australia's future, as would be the case should the coalition again be reinstated. allow me to respond to these so-called 'visions':


1. keep the economy growing and try to further reduce unemployment to 3%.

with the current state of global economic affairs, it is virtually impossible for a nation’s economy, such as that of australia, to stop growing. in fact, only two countries in the world, with the exception of those in civil strife (e.g. iraq and afghanistan) are in recession. even if the USA slips into recession, and such an event is quite likely, it is highly unlikely that we will follow as we will continue to be propped up by growth in asia (read primarily china and india), and the events that are affecting the US economy are not prevalent here; that is, we do not have a significant market in sub-prime mortgages.

my opinion is that even a pack of second year medical students would be quite capable of keeping the economy profitable in its current state. although apparently doomsday is looming, and fanantics, environmental extremists and learners (empty labels, anyone?) will have buckley's chance of keeping this ship afloat. let's be honest without the reforms of the 80's, the likes of which previous governments had been too gutless to implement, we might still be stuck in the menzies era.


2. maintain national security.

who knows that this really means? sending us to another illegal war only serves to place australia as further risk of terrorist attack and creates another hot bed for the development of extremism such as what has happened in iraq. spending millions on channels for middle australia to report national security threats while at the same time alienating muslims in the community only serves to make matters worse. if anyone in the community will have knowledge about an impending threat, it will be mohammed from lakemba in sydney’s west, not mrs doctor’s-wife from ascot in brisbane.

australians are now more at risk than at any time in the past thirty years from a threat to life or limb brought about by a military or terrorist group.


3. implement the coalition's policy promises, such as tax cuts and the introduction of public hospital boards, "as fast as possible".

more economically divisive policy that follows what is essentially a darwinian economic theory. with such an ideology, far too many are left behind, to fend for themselves, when they are inadequately disposed to do so. there should be no one to hold back the aspirational ones in life, for it will be those that bring to society many ideas and riches. notwithstanding, in the spirit of any great democracy, justice ought to be upheld. the government does not have an adequate sense of justice in my view.


4. protect the environment by pushing for the states to sign up to his $10 billion plan to save the murray and arguing internationally for a successor to the kyoto protocol.

how empty can one party's vision be? unfortunately for the coalition, the australian government will not be invited to assist with the drawing up of any new international protocol provided that they are not a signatory to the kyoto protocol. this vision appears all the more empty when one considers the fact that the deputy prime minister still is not entirely convinced by the evidence pertaining to the link between climate change and human activity.


5. start negotiations with indigenous leaders over his plan for a constitutional recognition of the special status of aborigines in the life and history of australia.

this is an utter farce! after decades of complete opposition to any forms of symbolism, and a dogmatic pursuit to only practical measures to bring about an increase in the living standards of indigenous australians, this vision can be taken no more seriously than the previous. i spoke to a police officer from a remote aboriginal community only yesterday and his comments alluded to a complete indifference on behalf of the local indigenous australians toward any hopes of a positive outcome from the current intervention, open hostility to the abrupt imposition of the measures, and some disillusionment from the officer himself over whether the measures being employed are in fact the appropriate intervention. his sentiments only echo those of so many others whom have ha contact with the workings of this intervention.



so what do i think will be the outcome of this federal election? the pessimist in me despairs at the thought of a majority of votes against the coalition, yet still they retain power by being able to hold enough lower house seats. however, i am feeling a little more upbeat of late, so i am going to say the ALP with a gain of 20 seats.

and how will i vote this election? again, i am leaning strongly toward the only party that speaks in clear, precise english with regards to what its policies are, and speaks with a message, one steeped in a philosophy of a strong sense of social justice and an inclination to do what is morally 'right' in life... of course, that's the australian greens.


voters, take aim!




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images: tanya trinh, mine, public

danube

mood: despondent.
state i'm in: facing demons one more time.
tune: roni size / reprazent 'watching windows'.


i've got that intense feeling of escapism, the likes of which only comes with med exams, gnawing away at every reach of my mind. this time it has to be its worst; more is contingent upon my conquering this desolate period than there has ever been before. i feel like i can almost reach the other side, and all its treasures, but it's plainly difficult to get there. all i want to do is escape this conflagration of wretchedness consuming me. my mind just keeps wandering off to other latitudes...






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image: mine

swan song for group 19

mood: excited.
state i'm in: pleased about nambour and wesley for rotations.
tune: prince 'do me baby'.


well, another PBL group has seen its day. i must say, this group wasn't as sentimental as the others, but then, we were never disposed towards getting bogged down in any way. ours was a well-oiled machine that tore through a case with a lot of speed, and a little skill.

so i won't get bogged down in this either, and won't get sentimental either. ill just leave it to george, our fearless tutor, to let us know where we rank in the annals of PBL groups.

word, georgie

and another pic of goerge cos he's so photogenic... where are all the ones of the students???

a nation getting back on track?

mood: pretty happy.
state i'm in: tidy.
tune: david bendeth 'feel the real'.


as each day and week pass by i am becoming just a tad more optimistic. about what? no, not this federal election in particular, but about the state of australian society. it seems as though there are many reasons to believe australians and australia as a society is re-evolving and emerging from its selfish hibernation of the post-keating / howard years. the impression i receive is that of a nation slowly re-engaging with the political debate and with what it means to be part of a society.

what gives me this impression?

most days when i read the paper or watch the nightly news i read articles and see stories that convince me people are just a little more willing now to take part in their democracy than what they might have been a few years prior. for example, whilst on the subject of television, current affairs programs are once again rating in the top ten programs on air, something not seen since the mid-1990s. it will be interesting to see if these programs also become as intelligent as what they were at that time - what must jana wendt or mike willesee think of the current state of current affairs?

just yesterday, statistics emerged showing an enormous rise in the number of youth enrolled to vote in comparison with the 2004 election. the government's decision to legislate to bring forward the close of the electoral role to the evening of the commencement of the election campaign has been met with fierce opposition from many angles and countered by some effective measures to remedy this assault on democracy. groups like GetUp have had a substantial impact on lifting youth enrolment figures, but it is the australian electoral comission (AEC) that must take most of the credit. spending $15 million of their own money, the AEC's campaigning at high schools, universities and, in particular, their clever 'rock enrol' campaign pushed at music festivals and over the airwaves via 'triple j' have exposed younger australians to the idea of voting as being their right and a right that no government should be able to take away or prevent from being fully employed.

'boutique issues' are now being approached with a degree of seriousness which is promising. for example, climate change has become a far bigger issue than i had anticipated in this election. on the potential for nuclear power plants in australia, it appears that the government has shifted its aspirations for this to the back burner, in an attempt to neutralise this as an environmental and election issue. i have also been surprised by the lack of sympathy that the electorate has shown to the government's position on african immigrants, in particular refugees, and their tribulations of integration, and on its excuses made in the treatment of mohammed haneef, whose detention under the auspices of anti-terror laws has now been described by so many parties as having been based on wafer thin evidence. dr haneef's appeal to the federal court before the election in november, if successful, might make matters even more troublesome for the government. are we really thinking a little more rationally now, or just immune to the onslaught of another 'foreign hordes' fear campaign?

all of this aside, i think the greatest sign of a potential re-engagement is the number of people wiling to put their money where their mouth is. betting agencies have taken more money in bets on the outcome of this election campaign in its first two weeks than was generated in the entire 2004 campaign. with possibly more weight than the weekly net and phone polls in predicting an election outcome, betting has been heavily skewed towards a change of government.

opposition leader kevin rudd, rather than being able to take a great deal of credit for this phenomenon of re-engagement, is largely just harnessing it for his party, and of course has been very successful at avoiding wedge issues thus far, such as the african integration issue. it seems as if he and his advisers have sensed the change of heart and are keen to remind folks that they are the party more adept at confronting the electorates new-found concerns. bob hawke and paul keating (especially mr keating, after "the recession we had to have") have been making many a surprising cameo appearance at campaign launches and on television and radio, having seemed also to have sensed this shift, and are keen to remind us all of the achievements of their (labor) governments, changes that are still bearing fruit time and time again.

just as important, in a significant undoing of their previous successes, it seems as if the government has lost clairvoyance for the shifting mood of the electorate. the government, over its time in office, has consistently taken measures to reduce citizens' engagement with their governance and for the greater part of their time in office these measures have gone unnoticed. now, finally, it seems as if people are sitting up, rubbing their eyes clear, and taking a harder look at their society and its direction. many a heavy albatross is coming home to roost around government minister's necks, and no more than around the prime minister's himself.

how many times did you say interest rates have risen since 2004, mr rudd?

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images: public

countertransference? a little

mood: fairly relaxed, all things considered.
state i'm in: abetalipoproteinaemia, lymphangiectasia, hypogammaglobulinaemia... it all gets a bit much sometimes.
tune: humming fan and distant thunder.


i had what will likely be my last clinical coaching session this afternoon (provided i make it into third year). it was a pretty fun session, but my mind wasn't really on the game. "aortic stenosis? yeah sure, i'll believe you."


i can still remember my first class in the hospital...

we marched over from the clinical sciences building with our first coach, jenny, and she was pestering us all the way to walk faster, telling us "you'll have to get used to it when your doing rounds". then up the elevator, and out onto level 7 or 8. i saw a patient being wheeled past in the corridor. i looked at emma, and at the moment we both realised where we were and what we were doing. at that moment, i became a medical student.

gomers aplenty, i think i have come a fair way in the last two years, since my first coaching group sat down with jenny and realised how hopeless we were at examining anything. ("what are you doing!!") i also think i have so far to go - my skills surely can't be more than a few per cent developed at this stage.

i was rarely in the mood for coaching, generally late in the afternoon, but almost each and every time i got a tonne out of it. although all so different, i couldn't really fault any of my coaches. one stands out in particular, however:

if there is a god, this guy is certainly getting his comeuppance... countertransference? a little.

any bruits, luci?

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image: mine

"below" to "above"

mood: content.
state i'm in: a bit concerned.
tune: the brand new heavies 'i don't know why (i love you)' (dj spinna remix).


this is when i get a bit concerned...

on the austereo radio network today opposition leader kevin rudd defended his party's position on same-sex marriage:

on the institution of marriage itself, our view is between a man and woman and it's just been our traditional, continuing view.

when asked if, in the future, such a position may look as close-minded as racist beliefs of the past mr rudd replied that it is what he believes in. his replies were somewhat vague and trailed off, which leads me to ask to what degree are these his beliefs or just the party line. i have a vested interest in the man's personal assertions should he become prime minister, as they are likely to carry considerable ammunition into battle repelling the gains by the conservatives of this nation in john howard's so-called 'culture wars' - and i support marriage for same-sex partners. i personally support legislation allowing for fully recognised marriage for all human beings and their partners as i cannot understand why my contributions to society ought to be deemed any less worthy of recognition than those of my brother or my neighbour.

in his closing remarks on radio today, mr rudd asserted that "legal discrimination against same sex couples should be removed". whether that only applies to the 50-something items of legislation described as discriminatory by the australian human rights and equal opportunity commision, or something further in line with mr rudd's personal views as declared in the past remains to be elaborated.

what placates me about mr rudd on this matter is the views he outlined in his essay for last october's edition of 'the monthly' magazine, 'faith in politics'. when addressing the modern forms of political engagement between church and state, one he explicitly deplores is "vote for me because i'm christian, and because i have a defined set of views on a narrowly defined set of questions concerning sexual morality." mr rudd responds to this as such:

regrettably, this model has an increasing number of supporters within the broader christian community. such supporters tend to read down, rather than read up, the ethical teachings of the new testament, producing a narrow tick-the-box approach to passing a so-called christian morals test. these tests tend to emphasise questions of sexuality and sexual behaviour. i see very little evidence that this pre-occupation with sexual morality is consistent with the spirit and content of the gospels. for example, there is no evidence of jesus of nazareth expressly preaching against homosexuality. in contrast, there is considerable evidence of the nazarene preaching against poverty and the indifference of the rich.

the central theme of his essay is that "a core, continuing principle shaping this engagement should be that christianity must always take the side of the marginalised, the vulnerable and the oppressed." mr rudd further elaborates his beliefs that the role of the (christian) church in its engagements with politics should be one of "speaking directly to the state: to give power to the powerless, voice to those who have none, and to point to the great silences in our national discourse where otherwise there are no natural advocates". mr rudd, as the fair and reasonable christian man you claim to be, i believe you have demands from LGBTs that you would need to address should you be elected.

right now, mr rudd, in spite of their toils, LGBT advocates are failing in their attempts to be heard - personally, i feel quite powerless, without voice, and without advocacy in the face of the hard-fought oppression of those you refer to as "above". i am, in this instance, what you would refer to as "below".

Lowly Worm™

mood: content.
state i'm in: i can always study tomorrow.
tune: chanel 'my life' (grant nelson vocal remix)


wikipedia states that "a worm is an elongated, fat, soft-bodied invertebrate". these last few days, as the potential indicator of the opinions of swinging voters on their impressions of australia's prime minister and opposition leader during a televised debate, and subsequently in political and media discourse, the worm has been a whole lot more.

at various times in the lead-up to the leaders' debate on sunday night, the poor little bugger has been out of favour with some, while others have been embracing the notion to "let us be friends of the worm". others still, in the green camp, have declared that the presence of worms is to be taken as a sure sign of good organic gardening practices.

of those most ill-disposed to the worm, prime minister john howard tops the list. he tried stridently to ensure the worm would feature in no or as few coverages of the debate as possible. alas for mr howard, the nine network reneged on its apparent agreement it had made with the australian press gallery, providers of the feed for the other stations to televise, and broadcasted the debate with the worm present. channel nine denies any agreement was made, and accused the press club, acting under the explicit orders of mr howard and liberal party director brian loughnane, of outright censorship as the nine network's feed of the debate was subsequently cut twice. notably, the worm was showing minimal levels of approval in response to mr howard's comments, and sometimes maximal levels for opposition leader kevin rudd's throughout most of the debate.

what truly baffles me is why mr howard and his party made any fuss whatsoever of the use of the worm in the televised debate in the first place - it has never been a reliable indicator of the outcome of an election. to make a such a commotion only served to increase suspicion of mr howard's reasons for disagreeing with the tool's use. their stance may end up doing them a disservice, by ruffling the feathers of the nine network in the midst of an election campaign, when a network's collective ego runs rather precious on matters of news and current affairs. the PBL-owned and usually slightly pro-government nine network may enact something of a shift in its delivery to a more favourable coverage to the opposition leader than the prime minister, a not insubstantial blow at this time.


the worm did fail entirely to notice one important thing. amidst all the banter of 'education revolutions', no one sought to point out that the on the backdrop and lectern the words 'leaders debate' lacked an apostrophe. godspeed you education revolution.

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images: richard scarry's lowly worm; others public

howard, our father

mood: fatalistic.
state i'm in: peroni nastro azzuro... mmmmm.
tune: josé feliciano "you send me".


pessimism is taking hold. as things stand right now, and in spite of the much publicised polls that have been conducted all year, i am predicting another win for the coalition, and a return to power of john howard as prime minister. the margin will more than likely be reduced, but will still be significant.

we may even see, as we have seen before, a primary vote of greater than 50% achieved by the ALP, but i still think the majority of voters in the outer suburbs, so-called 'working families', or 'aspirational austalians', or dwellers of the ever-suffering 'mortgage belt' heartland, or however you choose to refer to these lemmings, will return to their safe haven, with their overbearing 'father'.

you see, people like to run free and even complain about or badmouth their father. they'll gladly spend their days rebelling against his word. but when he calls sternly, they all come running back for their supper, regardless of how ill-conceived and mindless his actions toward them have been previously.

mr howard is the penultimate fatherly figure of this country, and like any older father figure, he is paternalistic, unfashionable and out of touch. people respond to this positively. they do not want their father to seem to be in touch. they do not want him to be academic. they do not want him to be tender and compassionate. they want him to blindly defend them and provide them with their daily bread, regardless of who suffers in the process. he need not be rational, just quick to spit out an authoritarian and dismissive comment so redirecting the family unit back onto a safe and steady orientation, ignorant of any danger that may be looming over the hill.

if we want compassion, we'll ask our mothers. we've got plenty of them - each and every state premier is a health, safety and education-focussed mother figure. she's a bit softer, and she cares about our safety. premier anna bligh's number one concern at the moment is to ensure we have adequate water to drink.

right now, mr howard is the one seeming like a father figure. kevin rudd is just seeming more like a mother, too nerdy and compassionate for the masses, and when it comes to providing an air of bravado and toughness, he seems vacuous.

it's a shame mainstream australia is so rooted in this pattern. for right now we need a leader with some rationality, with some compassion, some academic vigour, and some sensitivity. our place in the world, and each of our places in this world, could be served so much more suitably by having such a man and such a party at the helm.

i hope with great sincerity that my defeatism will not be vindicated - i don't want to be the boring guy on the night of the election that says "i knew that was going to happen". nevertheless, after 27 years in this country, i remain pessimistic.

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image: public

blog action day 2007

mood: inceptive.
state i'm in: unified.
tune: benjamin diamond "little scare"


today is international 'blog action day', an annual date when all blogs on the net are encouraged to unite with a single theme. the theme for blog action day this year is the environment, and making a positive change to it. so here is my contribution.

in light of the fact that this week marks the commencement of the australian federal election campaign proper, i shall use this occasion to illuminate something that has really pissed me off lately, a discrepancy that sorely needs addressing. that discrepancy is the needs of the our world and the complete lack of effort our current government goes to in attempting to help slow down or reverse the damage being done to our world.


last year, former US presidential candidate al gore's film 'an inconvenient truth' was released to much critical acclaim. whilst since release, it has attracted some legal scorn in british courts, notably that over half a dozen of the statements made were not entirely correct, or based on scientific theories that have yet to be proven as concrete (concrete in the scientific sense, that is), the film has been found to be based largely on a rock solid premise that the current trend in global climate change is of direct and indirect consequence of human activity. the same court has given approval for the film to be aired as compulsory viewing in british schools.

the ultimate vindication for mr gore's work however, must be the shared awarding of the 2007 nobel peace prize to himself and the intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC) "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change". the nobel committee describes mr gore as "probably the single individual who has done most" to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be taken to tackle climate change.

of course our very own prime minister john howard, until recently himself a 'climate change sceptic', disagrees with the nobel committee. after all, what would they know, right. his description of 'an inconvenient truth' is that is just the work of a "peeved politician" and dismissed it outright. his and his party's criticisms of mr gore and his work and achievements continued in a similarly arrogant fashion.

astonishing as his dismissiveness of australian of the year and environmentalist tim flannery was, that he would discredit a nobel laureate's achievements, and the committee that upholds the belief that those laureates' achievements are of insurmountable significance to humankind, is a disgrace. as scott wrote in a response further down this page, "he should understand or at least embody empathy towards the mechanics and symbolism of the nobel prizes." but he and his government, deplorably, do not. it is utterly disrespectful and an embarrassment. shame on this arrogant government.


so how might this discrepancy be rectified? well, kevin07 is a step in the right direction for one.

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image: http://blogactionday.org/

let the money talk and the bullshit walk

mood: low level anxiety.
state i'm in: feeling well finally, so ready to hit some sciencey stuff.
tune: faith evans "mesmerized" (freemasons vocal mix).


so, finally, it's on.

a couple of months ago i outlined what i believed would be the issues facing the electorate that could decide votes. let me revisit those issues.


http://outra-vez.blogspot.com/2007/07/hot-seat.html

1. national security

i believe that on election day more people will still believe that the coalition is better capable of handling this issue, by way of the fact that it represents a tougher more paternalistic approach. recall, people's perspectives rarely align with policy history, and are based more on emotion and impression. the last 12 to 24 months have nevertheless seen a steady erosion of the strength of this impression given by the coalition - AWB kickbacks, the continuing disaster in iraq, an increasingly disastrous front in afghanistan (including the death of an australian soldier), announcement of the withdrawal of british soldiers from these theatres, the mohammed haneef fiasco, the erosion of rights afforded to human life in australia (witnessed just yesterday by the illegal deportation of a new zealand citizen), a contradictory policy on human life, dependent on whether it is australian or non-australian of origin, the cornelia rau fiasco, the list goes steadily on...

the government has looked mean and cruel and willing to go to another country to kill for the reasons of great dubiety. the ALP has steered clear of threats to its image in this area, and has thus far managed to avoid looking weak, albeit unable to really provide much of an alternative vision in many areas. this is one area where a government led by kevin rudd will have to make some quick legwork in order to not look weak. i think they will.


2. the economy

"australians have never been better off" has been prime minister john howard's catchphrase these last years with reference to our booming economy. i think this perennial card-up-the-sleeve of mr howards has been successfully neutralised by mr rudd as he goes around exploiting that many people (the iconic 'working families') are in fact not doing so well, and are suffering from the squeeze of too much credit given at too cheap a price. even if only a small margin of people are genuinely 'up shit creek', with enough exposure the wider community will begin to worry that it could happen to them.

i also think that the electorate has wisened up a little over the last few years, possibly engaged due to rising interest rates and living expenses, and is now more aware that our economic prosperity is in very little way the result of coalition policies, but linked to economic reforms undertaken throughout the 1980s coupled with the ubiquitous resources boom. in fact, the whole world is booming - the only countries that can right now be said to be in recession are rwanda and zimbabwe. once again, mr rudd has used the fact that no such boom lasts forever to engage the electorate and get them a little worried, and eager to hear about policies of a more long term nature. the more you get, the more you worry about keeping about it, and mr rudd has been ready to exploit the ever-paranoid australian people.

the fact that young people are becoming less likely to ever afford their own home, and that the government has been seen to have done nothing to rectify this, has done them no favours with younger voters, who are now appear to be flocking to the ALP


3. industrial relations

two words: 'work choices'. a no-brainer of wide-brown-land-esque proportions. more than any other issue, this has polarised the electorate, and has painted the government with a dark mean streak like no other. this will cost the government more votes than any other single issue. and so it should i believe - a government's workforce should not be made more mobile by purely making them easier to fire. a balance of fluidity with education and training (where the government has failed colossally) must be reached.


4. who are you really voting for?

most of the big events on this front have already been played out, prematurely. nevertheless, that have had the effect of giving the electorate the impression that a coalition vote is a vote for peter costello in the longer term, an impression which is now not likely to be rescindable. i don't actually believe mr costello would ever lead the government, even if the coalition is re-elected, yet i am sure he will lead the opposition if the government finds itself there on november 25th, before he is chewed up and spat out as a footnote to liberal party leadership history. as far as the wider community is concerned, they will not digest the idea of a prime minister costello easily, although i must admit there are elements of mr costello's political character that i am disposed towards.

a vote for the ALP is a vote for mr rudd.


5. APEC

it's been and gone, and served to cement the impression in people's minds that mr rudd is leading the country and setting the national agenda from oppostion. he upstaged the government on several fronts, in particular when addressing chinese president hu jintao in mandarin, including very chinese 'family jokes'.

above all else however, the lasting memory of APEC will be when members of the cast of the ABC's 'the chaser's war on everything' easily gained access to the 'red zone'. i found this to be the height of hilarity, and entirely legitimate given these individuals were on what amounted to a journalistic pursuit to expose perceived weaknesses in the security of a gathering of many of the world's most important leaders.


so that's my summary to date.


i found myself having a casual chat to mr rudd back in 2005 and at the time expressed my enthusiasm for any leadership aspirations he might have, and pledged that i would be likely to support him in such an an instance that he be running for prime minister. at this point my vote will probably go to the ALP, but there are several issues where a policy that i believe is completely ill-founded, and is not likely to be just a diversion in order to avoid direct confrontation with the coalition over a wedge issue, could send my vote in another direction (although not the coalition's). so let the money talk and bullshit walk - this is going to get annoying fast!

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image: ALP

just so full of shit

mood: calm.
state i'm in: congratulations messrs gore and pachauri.
tune: madonna "swim".


within two days of his announcements for a "new settlement" on reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous australians, prime minister john howard has already reverted back to his dogmatic self.

naturally his announcements garnered a large amount of dismay and bemused questioning from the media. some quarters have been especially cynical given the timing of the event and his immovable resistance in the past to anything really resembling an attempt at reconciliation. "what people don't understand, or haven't accepted, is that i've always believed in reconciliation," mr howard replies to them. however he reminds them of his unwillingness to embrace the so-called "old paradigm", that being anything other than practical measures, notably emotive and symbolic gestures. mr howard, with his typically narrow and distorted view of australian history, continues that to him, this "involves a repudiation of the australia i have grown up in and loved, and i just couldn't do that and i will never do that".

so when he "will never do that", while what he is promoting now as policy is precisely "that", how can the man truly be taken seriously. in particular, with portents of the coming campaign littering the sphere of public interest, how can he be viewed as anything but just so full of shit.

lookout christmas!

mood: pretty bright.
state i'm in: feeling better.
tune: indigo "there's only you"... thanks kats!


it looks like i will back in retail for the '07 silly season. just going to brush up my skills with a few lessons from pats stone...





bless her!

what's going on?

mood: not the right one for tidying up this brothel of a room.
state i'm in: epigastric pain.
tune: seals and croft "summer breeze"... makes me feel fine, blowing through the jasmine in my mind.


what's going on, mr howard?

a year ago, almost to the day, prime minister john howard addressed the 50th anniversary dinner for 'quadrant' magazine, a bastion of conservative authorship, and declared that of the organisation's causes it has chosen to take up arms on behalf of, "none is more important to me than the role it has played as counterforce to the black armband view of australian history". he is here referring to the treatment of indigenous australians over the past 200 years - the fairly widespread opinion that it has been a mistreatment. these comments, and many such comments made by mr howard over his time in public life, are in accordance with his steadfast refusal to grant a public apology to indigenous australians.

so you can imagine the surprise i felt when i read of comments made by mr howard today in an address to think tank 'the sydney insititute'. he admitted he had struggled with reconciliation in his time as prime minister, and accepted responsibility for his part in so-called "low points" in relations between indigenous and non-indigenous australians. could this be a softening in his position on this aspect of his so-called 'culture wars', a 'road to damascus' experience for the prime minister of sorts.

mr howard went on to give grounds for his stance over the years as its being "an artefact of who i am and the time in which i grew up". he admits the paramount struggle as being "that reconciliation required a condemnation of the australian heritage i had always owned". in a nihilistic, almost mother teresa-esque moment, it appears as if mr howard lays bare his admission that the beliefs that the man publicly clings to so strongly are based not on rational thought, not on any rock of evidence, but on ideology and emotion - and thence highly likely to be false. is this a man, who, in the throws of defeat, is begging the coming annals for mercy.

today, mr howard announced that:

if re-elected, i will put to the australian people within 18 months a referendum to formally recognise indigenous australians in our constitution - their history as the first inhabitants of our country, their unique heritage of culture and languages, and their special, though not separate, place within a reconciled, indivisible nation.

indigenous affairs, as with other concerns aptly labelled by political journalist laurie oakes as 'boutique issues', have long been the stronghold of the ALP. as far as the major parties go, areas like the environment, the arts, GLBT rights and indigenous affairs are areas where the electorate sees the ALP as more often associated with being supportive and progressive, regardless of whether their policy reflects that perception or not. over recent years we have seen a steady shift of the electorate in opposite directions: poorer, less educated working class folk are now more inclined to vote for the coalition then ever before, whilst the ALP has never experienced such popularity with the wealthy and educated, the intelligentsia and the cultural elite. perhaps mr howard's attempts to encourage us to "find room in our national life to formally recognise the special status of aboriginal and torres strait islanders as the first peoples of our nation" is merely a ploy to win back some in the upper echelons of society who may have lost faith in the party after their recent paternalistic and regressive interventions in the northern territory.

can this claim of mr howard to be indigenous australia's new playfellow really be taken seriously? for a man of such strong cultural conviction to suddenly change his tune almost entirely begs demands of an explanation, and not a simple response of "oh, he's finally come 'round". but then knowing mr howard, and having read the speech, i am inclined to think that this is a combination of "well, i tried to" sentiment, with a healthy dose of "he's just so full of shit".

gone bush...

mood: tired (thanks napoleon).
state i'm in: sick of erectile dysfunction.
tune: groove armada feat. angie stone 'feel the same'.


suffien and i spent a weekend at mt crosby housesitting for friends emma and clay as they ducked off for an interstate engagement. here's some pics from 'life on the ranch' and a hike to nearby lake manchester.












looking west from hilltop near manchester dam; looked quintessentially australian











"once a jolly swagman..."











pastoral scene











i really liked the carpet of feathery white flowers coating the hillside











the volvo and suffien, with all the asian-ness he can muster (yes, it's a joke)











the volvo gets dirty











branch of lake manchester; pretty nondescript bushland around the area otherwise











breakfast is served!











the chooks, kept in line by the rooster in the centre, napoleon (who also kept me awake at 4 in the morning)











monte and bella, the faithful beagles, in one of their quieter moments, shortly before we lost power for the night.

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images: mine

rough decline...

mood: empty.
state i'm in: a little gutted.
tune: lux "northern lights".





this afternoon bore the brunt of a steady decline in my emotional state.

with exams in the not too distant future, i can feel the anxieties of it all beginning to boil to the surface. these coming exams will be horrible. i think i will pass them, but i also know the six or seven weeks between now and when i am drunk at the post-exam party will be hellish. i feel rather battered by this renal module; it's interesting, but there seems no end to the complexity. after this there is still reproduction and endocrinology to go, which may be heavier still.

adding to this is the uneasiness of my imminent transition to a more clinically-oriented education. as i listen to stories from those a little further down their educational path, i am left with a feeling of dubiety - will i have the nous for what lies ahead; will i be able to impress my seniors and have my aptitude for the game looked upon favourably; will my eagerness be too dramatically blunted by the litany of gomers that languish, shambolic and recalcitrant, on my path ahead. right now, for all the anxieties, having sat in lecture theatres and tutorial rooms for nigh on 6 years, i feel somewhat safe in the groves of academe. the excitement of the sharp difference between current educational methods and those ahead, as well as the possibility of the delivery being in rural parts of the state as well as overseas, is enough for me to view this forthcoming change with a net enthusiasm, but i remain fretful nevertheless.

right now things feel tough. these emotions are causing my feelings for the rest of life to suffer. aside from not experiencing much of a social life wherein i am possessed of my normal relaxed demeanour, i am finding myself feeling ever more anhedonic toward time spent with my family and suffien. this is hurtful and unpleasant. i am about to enter a dark trench, and there is much uncertainty about what lies on the other side should i make it out. thankfully, i have just learnt this afternoon that i will have over two months of holidays at years end. a rare moment of clemency from the medical school.

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image: public

just a reminder...

mood: as before.
state i'm in: also, as before.
tune: new radicals "you get what you give".


this is just a reminder regarding electoral enrolments. with a federal election to be called any day now, it is important each of us is enrolled before the calling of an election. if you are unenrolled on this day, you must enrol before 8pm on the same day the writs for the election are issued (that is, the same day the election is called).

i'd hate the government to get its way and preclude so many progressive voters from voting. nasty, undemocratic tactics indeed!


check your enrolment here:

http://www.aec.gov.au/About_AEC/Publications/Fact_Sheets/Close_of_Rolls.htm


see this older post for details:

http://outra-vez.blogspot.com/2007/04/democracy-optional.html

melbourne getaway

mood: slow and steady (a mood?)
state i'm in: immune complexed.
tune: geraldine hunt “can’t fake the feeling”.


here's a few pics taken in melbourne a couple of weeks ago. the break was great, a fantastic way to forget i'm actually facing the biggest exam of my life in a month and a half.











somewhere urban (from suffien)











familiar view











suffien at the shrine of remembrance











happy in a laneway











"i'm telling you now ted, i am not gonna fuck with hercules" (fanny)











'a warm enema' (from 'hercules returns')











killing the evening hours, st. kilda beach

fascination

mood: tired.
state i'm in: sentimental sauvignon blanc.
tune: everything but the girl 'fascination'.




this has to be, for me, what comes to mind when i wonder which is the most beautiful song written. the original version from 1985 is great, but the live acoustic recording from 1992 just blows it away, and me with it. tracy thorn's vocal raises the hairs on the back of the neck.


everything but the girl 'fascination'

i won't try to stop you when you speak of the past,
doubt is over now and i can join in when you laugh.
fascination makes us ask for more than we'd like to know,
and i needn't explain, i bet you know.

reassure me when i my heart's not bold enough to bear her name.
if you were in my shoes and scared, i would do the same.
and though i may ask, there is no need for past details.
for although i may laugh, alone, my courage fails.

(did you know?)

see how i've changed now, my heads so clear.
still there are some things that i don't want to hear.
and there must be so much, i know, that you can not forget.
and i mustn't wish your life began, the day we met.

places we go remind you, of when you were here before.
so you talk and tell me you don't think about it anymore.
there is something i know, that hasn't quite been left behind.
so i'll ask you once again,
to prove that i don't mind,
to prove that i don't mind.


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image: public domain

great ocean road

mood: a tad anxious.
state i'm in: week 30... and they're stacking up like blocks in a jenga tower.
tune: sunshine jones "anywhere you are".


went to melbourne a week and a half ago and went down the great ocean road with suffien and good friends trent, scott and darkus. here's some pics...












the crew of the megane, suffien, yours truly, lieutenant trent, our fearless captain scott, looking dystonic (he's actually fairly normal in real life), and darkus, taken near bell's beach (from trent)











suffien and a rock (not an apostle)











trent, post-chandon (from trent)














trent's rainbow homage to 'home & away' (from trent)











scott, trent and darkus on the beach at lorne











gay guys are so playful (gay even?), with an air of innocence, spared from having to face the pressure of having to conform, i.e. marriage, children, suburban bliss. at times like these, watching a few of my friends run along the beach, fooling around with a stick in the sand and inquisitively inspecting an outcrop of rocks for what secrets lay within it's crevices, i believe we really are clive bromhall's "eternal children".











suffien the naturalist











trent and suffien to a theme of earthy ruggedness











i spent a bit of time cursing a frustratingly located sun, but later appreciated its revelation of the landscape in stark hues of silver lapping against deep browns













trent in sepia (from trent)











the relentless southern ocean sinusoid











the fading light was starting to set the limestone stacks alight











nice view... darkus











run and jump!










awesome energy as the swell surges into an inlet











more big rocks














are you trying to lure me onto the rocks?











a gaping jagged wound on the continent











very rugged (from trent)











hadouken! (he's a bit of a nut, that one)

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pics: mine and trent hennessey's