In summary: Abortion; Heritage Listing; Truth in Advertising; School Funding; Andrew Bolt; Censorhip; Taxpayer-subsidised AFL; Uniform Costumes; War

Another busy period and so here is another collection of links:

●　Is abortion legal or illegal in Queensland, Australia?
Cairns, Queensland, 2010 – yes, this question is still up in the air, apparently. I have to say that for a leader, the fact that Premier Anna Bligh says she would support the removal of the law that makes abortion illegal but will not actually do anything about it speaks volumes.

●　Heritage Listing means ….?
Saw this article　a little while ago and while I have to admit I am not the least bit familiar with Melbourne, it makes you wonder what Heritage Listing really means.

●　Australian election ads – Truth in Advertising?
Let's see if the current Labor federal government in Australia follows through with this push　for truth in political advertising because the Advertising Standards Bureau does not seem to be capable　of looking into any allegations of lying. I wonder if politicians will actually legislate to prevent themselves and their parties from lying or deceiving us…

●　School Funding – It's all just spin, isn't it?
While I really have no immediate interest in Australian school funding, it makes me wonder how long the plainly inequitable funding model that we have at the moment will continue. It is not so much a private vs. public debate as more a "well-resourced, elite, private group" vs. "everyone else". If you want public money, then be open and accountable, it is that simple. Otherwise become 100% private. The government has certainly missed an opportunity to make the system more open.

●　Andrew Bolt…not a big fan, but freedom of speech is important.
I have to agree with Luke Walladge, Andrew Bolt is offensive, but surely we can take his crass comments for what they are and move on with our lives. This whole case reminds me of what former PM Howard failed to say when he defended that very famous red-headed Queenslander in 1996 and thus, in my opinion, implicitly agreed with her views.

●　When will censorship end?
I thought this article by Guy Sorman was informative, and it definitely looks like censorship of the internet will be with us for a while. Sorman, however, states that entrepreneurs are greedy and that is where I have to disagree. He paints all entrepreneurs with the same brush and that is not fair. Entrepreneurs by definition are taking a risk to devise or implement new ideas or services and usually bear most of the financial liability. Greed is wanting money for money's sake – at least in what I believe to be the general definitions of these words.

●　Is it worth owning an AFL Club?
$2.7 million says it is. Granted that this a state issue in Victoria, but it appears that the Collingwood AFL Club has been able to claim $2.7 million dollars for "community benefit" that included operating costs such as wages and running costs. I guess the fact that the money that the club used ended up keeping the local economy moving is a form of community benefit?

●　The Third Reich is fashionable again?
What with Prince Harry photographed in a Nazi costume a few years back and now a Republican candidate in the US doing the same (although from what I gather the wearing of the uniform is not a recent incident, the appearance of the photo, however, is) it makes me wonder why Nazi costumes are worn at all. If we are to condemn people who wear Nazi costumes, then let's condemn people who wear Stalin, Mao, Amin (did a quick search on costumes for this last one and was surprised at what I found…) and whatever other similarly tasteless costume.

●　War – what does it mean?
Whatever your views on the war in Afghanistan, the campaign against the prosecutor in the case against three Australian commandos would be trivial were it not such a serious matter. Personally it is a difficult topic to form an opinion on but one thing is clear: war means innocent people will get killed. That is something I think everyone should remember, whether it warrants a case or not is a matter that I leave to the experts.

●　And finally: Cyber Wars….the way of the future? Sphere: Related Content

In summary: Australia; Israel; Burqa banning; Overseas Aid; Whales; Japan; Okinawa

With busy, modern life starting to eat into my free time and after seeing some interesting (for the most part, anyway...except #8…) articles I decided to make this post into a mini-digest.

1. Malcolm Turnbull is a fiscal conservative and social liberal (can't really disagree too much with this assessment), yet in the current Liberal Party of Australia, I would say he is in the minority…maybe he should form a new political party?

2. Over two weeks after the Australian Federal Election and we are still waiting for a government. Initially I was wishing for a new election, but out of the five independent Members of Parliament I have to agree that the three that are yet to decide who they will support haven't been rushing to any decisions. I would probably not agree with them on many, many issues but at least they are being (for the most part) transparent. Let's hope their transparency lasts…

3. The Labor-Green deal recently announced produced an opinion piece from Russell Trood, Liberal Senator for Queensland. I have to agree with him. Plus, given the Greens' propensity to dictate, I wonder: they may be socially progressive, but at the same time authoritarian…something that we see from the socially conservative extremes in many countries…I know it's overly simplistic, but didn't we finish with fascism and communism already?

4. On the topic of authoritarianism…saw this article about how Israel is facing internal attacks on freedom of speech. Whether you are pro-Israel or pro-Palestine when it comes to the Isreal-Palestine issue, it makes you wonder…

5. There have been several opinion articles on the niqab and burqa – whether it should be banned or not banned in the last few months. This article seems to be the most unbiased of all that I have read – it makes you think without being scared by one side or the other, well worth sharing.

In related news: came across this article that reports some ultra-orthodox Jewish women in Israel wear the burqa…make of it what you will...Also, while I am sure that many people will be pointing to the recent ban of the burqa in Syria (a majority Muslim country) – how many people are talking about the extremists on all sides that seem to be getting louder and louder? Are they the vocal minority or are we indeed living in such a bigoted world?

6. Nice to hear of celebrities that use their fame for something worthwhile: Hugh Jackman writes about aid programs that are not just handouts, but empower the people they help. These economic development projects have been around a while, as have the issues that give rise to people in need, all the more annoying when people such as "40mark" make ignorant and bigoted comments (see comments section of article).

7. Japanese nationalists would be happy at the news that whale meat has been used at least once in one sixth of public schools. My comment: thumbs down, period.

8. There may or may not be a new Japanese PM next week… either way, if you are in Japan you will probably have seen Kan or Ozawa in the news at some point. If you aren't in Japan you probably can't name the Japanese PM. Could they just move on and try and come up with some policies for the country instead?

9. To all foreigners coming to Japan (or living here, for that matter): If you stay in a "minshuku," read up a bit on Japanese culture, otherwise stay in a run-of-the-mill hotel or hostel.

10. An finally, an uplifiting story about Byron Fija and his quest to revitalise Okinawa's local languages. Sphere: Related Content

Government-in-waiting…or more like waiting-for-Government

Australia's federal election went off without a glitch…except that the result is a little ambiguous.

It has been nearly a week now and neither of the major parties has managed to form a government. The final call will come to the four independent and one Green (and if you count the renegade Western Australian National, one National) members of parliament. Some people think this is a good thing while others think it is not so good or neither good nor bad – guess it all depends on who is talking.

Since the general consensus has been that the Australian Labor Party and the Liberal/National Coalition do not seem to differ on many policy fronts, I guess we all had this result coming. The Australian Greens, as always, had been super quick to support Labor (no surprises there) and three of the four independents are former Nationals, though it is not clear where their support will go. It will be interesting (albeit painful) to see how everything turns out. I am sure every day will bring silly news like these, so perhaps it would be best to simply wait and ignore the "look-at-me" announcements from everyone.

While counting is still ongoing, it is clear that neither of the major parties will have the numbers. This brings us to the question of the Governor-General. As the Queen's representative, she is supposed to be unbiased and "above politics." Something that surprised me was that her son-in-law is Federal Labor MP Bill Shorten. She has been cleared of any ethical conflict, but who are we kidding here? Now, I know we are not at the point where Australia is on the brink of collapse or in the middle of a constitutional crisis, but if we were to have another Labor administration, there is always an off-chance that the Governor-General may have to act in the interests of the nation and sack the Government (granted the chances of this happening in Australia are as likely as swimming in a crocodile-infested river with chicken fillets strapped to your body and coming off unscathed) but Bill Shorten is her son-in-law – that means that whatever position he occupies impacts directly on the Governor-General's daughter. There may be no legal conflict of interest, but the possibility for there to be one is so plainly obvious. Sphere: Related Content

Death and (unfair) taxes…

There comes a time when we all come to accept death and taxes, whether we like it or not. What I would like to know is when did Australians start to accept unfair taxes as the norm?

The lack of policies to get excited about during this Australian election campaign got me thinking and searching through all the policies that the parties have on offer. Rummaging through the scaremongering and hyperbole almost made me want to give up but knowing that that is exactly what the politicians want forced me to keep researching.

Many are the policies that I would disagree, question and downright reject (as I'm sure many people would as well, though perhaps not the same policies), however there was one that caught my attention: the Australian Democrat's income tax reform proposal (after the run of bad luck they have had they could use some good news). In Australia, the tax-free threshold is currently $6,000. Income tax is taken from every dollar over $6,000 earned in a financial year. To put this in perspective, assuming a 5-day work week, you can make about $25 a day tax-free.

Since Australia has a Goods and Services Tax (GST – a value-added tax), if you are spending those income tax-free $25, the government gets its tax take anyway. But back to the point I want to make: with low and controlled inflation over the last 20 years it boggles the mind why the tax-free threshold has not kept pace. Since the 2000-2001 financial year, the tax-free threshold has been $6,000. For the majority of the 90's ('91-'92 to '99-'00) the threshold was $5,400. In that same period the middle ranges have undergone various adjustments and the top range has increased from "$50,001 and over" in '91-'92 to "180,001 and over" in '08-'09 - an increase of more than 300%. For the current 2010-2011 financial year the minimum will still be $6,000 (not even a 12% increase on early 90's levels) and the maximum kicks in from $180,001 – there will be slight changes to the middle ranges.

I think it makes sense to raise the tax-free threshold – something that hasn't been done considerably for 20 years! It would benefit everyone and simplify the damn complicated process of tax that is income taxation in Australia.

Perhaps the lack of reform is because there's an accountants' conspiracy…

Image credit: jscreationzs / FreeDigitalPhotos.net Sphere: Related Content

The (red) power behind the Greens...

Ok, so the Australian Greens are poised to make history on Saturday 21 August. Diversity in the political landscape in Australia is always a good thing. But, what do the Greens really stand for and who are the people behind their nascent surge...?

Information about the Greens is readily available on Wikipedia, their official website, news sites and myriad other sites. What I am presenting here is simply new information that has become available recently coupled with my thoughts, so hopefully it is error free.

It is great to see that the Greens have a full range of policies. They are just not a one-issue party. But after having a look through their policies and looking at the related coverage, I have to agree that they have been confirmed, in my eyes, as hard socialists. If things go as predicted, I look forward to the grandstanding of "we have a mandate" from the Greens even though I doubt that all the people who will vote Green agree with all their policies (the same goes for the major parties – this whole "mandate" thing gets really annoying).

Now we have news that a rather large donation by the Electrical Trades Union (previously aligned with Labor) has gone to the Greens. Do we really need another union-backed political party in Australia?

Finally, we have GetUp's not-so-subtle endorsement of the Greens with their issues scorecard. Funny how no issues where the Greens fail are presented. For example increasing the tax-free threshold or having a fairer distribution of public funds between government and non-government schools (granted, all major parties fail on that, I think). If GetUp were genuinely interested in advancing the prospects of progressive and moderate candidates they would do more than this token gesture.

Image credit: graur razvan ionut / FreeDigitalPhotos.net Sphere: Related Content

Why filter the internet?

I do not agree with censorship and I do not agree with the current Australian Government's proposal of an internet filter. Like so many others, I believe censorship would be made much easier by having this filter in place. Censorship: Labor's hidden policy explains (in rather long detail, sorry) the broad opposition to the filter.

While the current Australian election campaign has so far failed to mention anything about the filter, if Labor gets reelected they will be touting that as the filter was an official policy proposal that people voted for it....yeah, right. If noone is discussing it then it doesn't enter into the which-party-to-vote equation that faces us as voters.

Reports in early July that the filter would be put on the backburner were good to hear but for the fact that it is a deceptive delaying tactic.

Finally, however, the Liberals have clearly stated their position - let's hope they treat this a 'core' promise and keep their opposition to the filter, period. I tentatively expect that this announcement will bring the internet filter into the election discussion. Why spend $30 million when the responsibility to protect children should also involve parents themselves. Paul Syvret's line: "But don't treat me like a 12 year old Senator Conroy. I don't consider it a 'legitimate' exercise of power." pretty much sums up my thoughts.

Perhaps Labor is taking its cues from Chavez in Venezuela?

Image credit: Suat Eman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net Sphere: Related Content

Tim Colebatch sums it up...

Says it all in the title: "A failure of leadership." Sphere: Related Content

Which is the bigger worry...?

Living in Japan I live with the ever-present threats of earthquakes, overcrowded trains, Gozilla...and perennial favourite: North Korea

Looking at the Australian election campaign, you'd think immigrants were the new undesirables. Considering both Gillard and Abbott were born overseas, it makes you wonder what really goes on inside their heads at times...

The above crikey blog pretty much hits the spot, except that I disagree with the insinuation that international students rorted the system in obtaining permanent residency. That option was not illegal and the fact that so many shoddy "educational institutions" popped up actually points the finger of blame at the bureaucracy that allowed those institutions to be registered. It makes me wonder if our political leaders actually take note of what goes on around the world, Indian students are already looking past Australia as an option and the US looks like it is gearing up to increase international student numbers. Can Australia compete against an America in full marketing mode?

I would think it is common sense that when workers are in short supply as stated by bodies such as the Business Council of Australia and WA's Chamber of Commerce, that the prospect of allowing international students take up permanent residency to live and work in Australia would be ideal. These students have shown an interest in Australia, committed themselves financially to pay for their education, and spent considerable time in the community. If they want to stay it most likely means they like the damn place!

Image credit: Arvind Balaraman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net Sphere: Related Content

Sadly, not unexpected...or unprecedented

We all remember that fiery politician in 1996 who railed against immigration and for better or worse captured the nation's attention....has she gone to the UK yet? Anyway, she started off as a Liberal candidate....and then was disendorsed before the election but elected because the paperwork was filed after the ballots had been printed. Ah, technicalities.

Now we have another Liberal candidate saying silly things....makes me wonder what kind of people make up the rank and file of that party. Disappointing, yes. Unexpected, no...and I wonder how many more Liberal (or non-Liberal, just to be fair) candidates think the same way.

I know most of our politicians prefer to play politics, but they should start getting on with their job. Infrastructure problems are not limited to western Sydney but the state government there has apparently done its best to outperform in the playing politics stakes. Maybe we should borrow from our American friends and vote the incumbents out. Sphere: Related Content

Crying wolf...

Crying wolf...we all know the story. It's rather disappointing to see that asylum seekers continue to be used as a political bonfire by both major parties in Australia. Tony Abbott wants to be seen taking a strong stance while Julia Gillard is not really doing anything productive, in my opinion.

Border control is important for all the obvious reasons, but why do our politicians forget that refugees and asylum seekers are risking their lives because they find themselves in countries that have not signed the Refugees Convention.

In 2009, Australia has a very small number of refugees within its borders, compared to other countries with a similar population: Total Refugee population by country of asylum, 1960-2009.

Syria..............1 054 466 (that's right, over 1 million!)
Venezuela........201 313
Nepal...............108 461
Cameroon.........99 957
Netherlands......76 008
Malaysia............66 137
Australia............22 548

Taking a look at GDP per capita (PPP), we have the following:

#22 Netherlands..US$ 39,200
#23 Australia.........US$ 38,800
#86 Venezuela......US$ 13,100
#77 Malaysia.........US$ 14,800
#146 Syria..............US$ 4,600
#180 Cameroon....US$ 2,300
#207 Nepal.............US$ 1,200

Clearly we are much better placed than other countries to care for people who are genuinely seeking refuge.

The lack of infrastructure to handle population increases should be blamed on the people that are actually responsible for creating that mess: our politicians.

Let's bring an extinguisher to this political bonfire.

Image credit: renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net Sphere: Related Content

How is this surprising?

So, seeing how the 2010 Australian Federal Election campaign is in full swing...I guess for my first post on this blog, this is appropriate.

A "surprising" preference deal between Labor and the Greens (really?)....the less we rely on those silly how-to-vote cards, the less power that faceless party powerbrokers have over elections. I remember one time when I refused to accept a how-to-vote card from a Liberal supporter and he scoffed at me....umm, nice way to get me to vote for you. Just because I don't take the card doesn't mean I don't support the party, it just means I will make my own choice - which I did.

Been a little busy recently but looking forward to the circus that will be the next few weeks.


Image credit: Suat Eman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net Sphere: Related Content