=== Todays Toon ===
Major-General Sir Reginald Arthur James Talbot, KCB (11 July 1841 – 15 January 1929) was a British military officer, Member of Parliament in the British House of Commons, and Governor of Victoria in Australia.
=== Bible Quote ===
“For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves.”- 1 Peter 2:15-16=== Headlines ===
Challenges Loom for House Democratic Leadership Post
Rep. Heath Shuler, right, a moderate Democrat and ex-NFL quarterback, is expected to launch bid to take the party's House leadership from embattled liberal Nancy Pelosi.Pro-Democracy Leader Suu Kyi Freed in Burma
Burma's military regime frees pro-democracy leader and Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been jailed or under house arrest for most of the past two decades
Rahm Announces Bid For Windy City Mayor
Former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel officially announces he will run for mayor of Chicago, saying the opportunity to lead the city is the only thing that can pry him away from Obama's side
Mystery Deepens in Murder of N.C. Girl
One day after confirming they found the body of disabled 10-year-old Zahra Baker, police are unsure why some of the remains were discovered miles away from each other
Fire claims zoo's ponies, sheep, goats
POLICE say a fire at the Karlsruhe zoo in south-western Germany has killed 26 animals, including Shetland ponies, goats, sheep and a llama.
Aboriginal massacre site heritage-listed
THE site of a brutal Aboriginal massacre has been given NSW's highest form of heritage protection.
UK too full of immigrants, says Hanson
FORMER One Nation leader mulls political comeback after abandoning plans to move to Britain.
Boy, 12, unmasked as Mexico drug hitman
YOUNG boy known simply as "The Cloak" allegedly hired by drug cartel to torture and murder its enemies.
Mystery of Zahra Baker's death deepens
POLICE uncover set of remains eight kilometres from where one of Zahra's bones was found
New planning rules 'target muslims'
MUSLIMS say they are targets of new laws preventing religious groups taking over empty churches.
Another Labor MP bites the dust
MAVERICK MP Tony Stewart has bowed to pressure from Kristina Keneally and offered to resign.
Call to ban real estate pricing rort
ADVERTISING homes for sale with the use of a "price plus" figure should be banned, insiders say
Ahern blasts Joh as corrupt
EX-Premier Mike Ahern has labelled his late one-time boss Joh Bjelke-Petersen corrupt for his "don't you worry about that" approach to accountability.
Man dies in Straddie cliff fall
IT was meant to be a weekend celebrating life and toasting the future, but a 21st birthday party turned tragic when a young man fell to his death.
Mr Bigs doing too little time
ALMOST three-quarters of drug traffickers in Queensland are being sentenced to less than four years' jail - well short of the 20-25-year maximum.
Rocking into the sunset
BRISBANE band Powderfinger have made history, playing their last ever concert in front of a 10,000-strong hometown crowd at Brisbane's Riverstage.
Tweens, toolies warned off Schoolies
POLICE are poised to crack down on teen daytrippers and older hangers-on looking to gatecrash the start of Schoolies on the Gold Coast.
Smoke ban varies across state
WEIRD and a bit scary, I thought as I pondered the unmistakable scar of a cigarette burn on the hand basin on a jet last week.
Making up for lost water fun
A GENERATION of children have never known the joy of playing under the sprinkler or on the Slide and Slide. But with water limits eased, they're about to.
Sex virus jab for schoolboys
EVERY secondary school boy could soon be offered a free jab to vaccinate them against a sexually transmitted disease that causes cancer.
Call for Do Not Knock register
A "DO Not Knock register" to prevent door-to-door salespeople from pestering householders will be considered by the Queensland Government.
Homework outsourced overseas
HIGH school and university students are outsourcing their homework to overseas sweatshops, which can provide assignments for as little as $2.
Heavy rains flood Vic homes
HALF a dozen homes are flooded in Gisborne, north-east of Melbourne, as heavy rains continue to lash the state.
Lib's party boy insults top cop
A BEER-swilling Liberal candidate has been caught out promoting 24-hour alcohol consumption and slamming the police chief.
Channel 9 says bye bye Bendigo St
CHANNEL 9 in Melbourne will send off its famous Bendigo St, Richmond, studios with a big television party on November 27.
Big brother kidnaps boy
CHILD protection workers have clashed with Victoria Police over the force's reluctance to look for a boy kidnapped by his brother.
Baillieu's $1billion rail bet
A $1.4 billion promise to buy 40 new trains for Melbourne spearheads Ted Baillieu's bid for election victory on November 27.
Slow zones grow
DRIVERS face being forced to slow to 40km/h on hundreds of roads near schools in an extension of Victoria's speed zone rules.
New riverfront suburb vow
A SUBURB stretching from Federation Square along the Yarra River to Richmond would be built by a re-elected Labor State Government.
Buoyant Baillieu ready to step up
OPPOSITION Leader Ted Baillieu has ruled out joining forces with minor parties even if this puts an end to his bid to become premier.
Models used to 'sex up' property
GLAMOUR models, actors and six-figure advertising budgets are helping real estate agents battle a slump at the top end of the market.
Nothing new
Yarwood youngest Lord Mayor
A WHYALLA-born town planner with a passion for Adelaide has become the city's youngest ever Lord Mayor.
Drop in for a drink - at $60 a drop
AT $1800 a shot, it's no surprise this rare whisky is poured by syringe - every drop is worth $60.
Radio legend hangs up the headphones
AFTER almost half a century of parodies, practical jokes and prank calls, "Pilko" is hanging up his microphone and heading east.
Fatal crash drunk driver walks free
A DRUNK farm worker involved in a two-car crash that killed one man and seriously injured another walked free from court this week.
Puglia-gate scuttles French connection
THE State Government has dumped plans to sign a trade agreement with Reunion Island, amid the furore about a similar connection with Puglia in Italy.
Ecstasy a deadly fix
ECSTASY users are consuming dangerous chemicals because of a worldwide shortage of the key precursor used to make the drug, police have revealed.
Latest mayoral results
Here are the latest details of council election results from across South Australia.
Rowe family fought for their lives
THE victims in the Kapunda triple murder fought with their killer before being incapacitated by their injuries, police have revealed.
Pageant sets new world record
THE Credit Union Christmas Pageant set a new Guinness World Record this morning, as more than 300,000 people helped welcome Santa to town.
Cafes cater to canine customers
UNWELCOME or banned at many places, it can be a dog's life for Perth's canine owners who want to enjoy the great outdoors with their pets.
Man claims he is Bill Wyllie's son
A QUEENSLAND man has come forward claiming he has "evidence" including a birth certificate to prove he's the secret love child of late WA property tycoon Bill Wyllie.
Ambulance error led to death
AMBULANCE mistakes in WA have resulted in up to four deaths with one fatality confirmed as being caused by an internal error.
Police nab early-bird racers
MORE than 2000 leadfoots have been nabbed by police in a five-day crackdown on early morning drivers who use suburban roads as racetracks.
Miners lift spirits in 'ghost towns'
NEW mining projects have resurrected the property market in Hopetoun and Ravensthorpe following the devastation caused by the closure of BHP Billiton's nickel mine.
Hospitals face crippling work bans
WA hospitals could be crippled in the next fortnight by new industrial action by thousands of hospital support staff that includes work bans expected to stop elective surgery.
Schoolgirl 'tag team' film fights
A GROUP of teenage girls are filming unprovoked "tag team" attacks on fellow students at a WA school, concerned parents say.
Travolta dashes home for birth
HOLLYWOOD star John Travolta will miss his Telethon appearance after he dashed back to the United States last night as pregnant wife Kelly Preston went into labour.
Sunday Times blitz media awards
THE Sunday Times and perthnow.com.au again excelled in the annual WA Media Awards, announced Friday night.
Machete victim 'fighting for life'
A MAN is fighting for life in hospital after he was hacked in the head with a machete during a savage attack in Beechboro.
Nothing new
=== Comments ===
ALP’s only agenda is retaining powerPiers Akerman
SURPRISE, surprise, federal Labor is apparently stuffed, was stuffed under former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and continues to be stuffed under Prime Minister Julia Gillard, and that is the near-unanimous view of ranks of senior Labor officials. - As Solomon observed nothing under the sun is new. The frailties with ALP policy making and administration are old, even if their hatchet man is only just beginning to acknowledge it.
During the days when Richardson was in office and Keating was kingmaker, ALP had a problem with pedophilia issues, crystallised with Collins and D'Arcy but by no means limited to them (Nor am I saying they are).
Hawke and Keating had an opportunity of fixing the problems, policy issue problems seem to be related to the proximity of the ALP to union lobby movements. But Hawke and Keating rubber stamped the same old.
Latham was trumpeted as a thinker and he had 'talented' people around him suggesting such turkeys as Medicare Gold.
From opposition, Gillard was lauded for making grandiose claims about policy, maintaining a healthy budget while lifting spending. Creating a better world by making immigration more fair and targetting the most desperate for compassion. Thing is, Gillard was lauded, but none of her plans would ever have worked, and in office they aren't working. Gillard is not alone. None of the much vaunted ALP plans have been successful. They have allowed some of the worst depravities to afflict the Aboriginal community, they have blown a good economy, they have killed workers and immigrants through poor practice. But these bad plans were the same as their vaunted ones in opposition.
It isn't that Gillard is not making good policy all of a sudden, she has never made good policy.
Australia deserves better, but in voting for her, one might wonder if they really do. - ed
===
An Open Letter to Republican Freshmen Members of Congress
By Sarah Palin
Congratulations to all of you for your contribution to this historic election, and for the contributions I am certain you will make to our country in the next two years. Your victory was hard fought, and the success belongs entirely to you and the staff and volunteers who spent countless hours working for this chance to put government back on the side of the people. Now you will come to Washington to serve your nation and leave your mark on history by reining in government spending, preserving our freedoms at home, and restoring America’s leadership abroad.
Some of you have asked for my thoughts on how best to proceed in the weeks and months ahead and how best to advance an agenda that can move our country forward. I have a simple answer: stick to the principles that propelled your campaigns.
When you take your oath to support and defend our Constitution and to faithfully discharge the duties of your office, remember that present and future generations of “We the People” are counting on you to stand by that oath. Never forget the people who sent you to Washington. Never forget the trust they placed in you to do the right thing.
The task before you is daunting because so much damage has been done in the last two years, but I believe you have the chance to achieve great things.
Republicans campaigned on a promise to rein in out-of-control government spending and to repeal and replace the massive, burdensome, and unwanted health care law President Obama and the Democratic Congress passed earlier this year in defiance of the will of the majority of the American people. These are promises that you must keep.
Obamacare is a job-killer, a regulatory nightmare, and an enormous unfunded mandate. The American people don’t want it and we can’t afford it. We ask, with all due respect, that you remember your job will be to work to replace this legislation with real reform that relies on free market principles and patient-centered policies. The first step is, of course, to defund Obamacare.
You’ve also got to be deadly serious about cutting the deficit. Despite what some would like us to believe, tax cuts didn’t get us into the mess we’re in. Government spending did.
Tough decisions need to be made about reducing government spending. The longer we put them off, the worse it will get. We need to start by cutting non-essential spending. That includes stopping earmarks (because abuse of the earmark process created the "gateway-drug" that allowed backroom deals and bloated budgets), canceling all further spending on the failed stimulus program, and rolling back non-discretionary spending to 2008 levels. You can do more, but this would be a good start.
In order to avert a fiscal disaster, we will also need to check the growth of spending on our entitlement programs. That will be a huge challenge, but it must be confronted head on. We must do it in a humane way that honors the government’s current commitments to our fellow Americans while also keeping faith with future generations. We cannot rob from our children and grandchildren’s tomorrow to pay for our unchecked spending today.
Beyond that, we need to reform the way Congress conducts business in order to make it procedurally easier to cut spending than to increase it. We need to encourage zero-based budgeting practices in D.C. like the kind fiscally conservative mayors and governors utilize to balance their budgets and reduce unnecessary spending.
There in the insulated and isolated Beltway you will be far removed from the economic pain felt by so many Americans who are out of work. Please remember that if we want real job growth, we must create a stable investment climate by ending the tidal wave of overly burdensome regulations coming out of Washington. Businesses need certainty – and freedom that incentivizes competition – to grow and expand our workforce.
The last thing our small businesses need is tax hikes. It falls to the current Democrat-controlled Congress to decide on the future of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts. If it does not permanently renew all of them, you should move quickly to do so in the new Congress. It would remove from households and businesses the threat of a possible $3.8 trillion tax hike hitting all Americans at the worst possible moment, with our economy struggling to recover from a deep recession! You must continue to remind Democrats that the people they are dismissing as “rich” are the small business owners who create up to 70% of all jobs in this country!
Another issue of vital importance is border security. Americans expect our leadership in Washington to act now to secure our borders. Don’t fall for the claims of those who suggest that we can’t secure our borders until we simultaneously deal with the illegal immigrants already here. Let’s deal with securing the border first. That alone is a huge challenge that has been ignored for far too long.
On foreign policy and national security, I urge you to stick to our principles: strong defense, free trade, nurturing allies, and steadfast opposition to America’s enemies. We are the most powerful country on earth and the world is better off because of it.
Our president does not seem to understand this. If we withdraw from the world, the world will become a much more dangerous place. You must push President Obama to finish the job right in Iraq and get the job done in Afghanistan, otherwise we who are war-weary will forever question why America’s finest are sent overseas to make the ultimate sacrifice with no clear commitment to victory from those who send them.
You should be prepared to stand with the president against Iran’s nuclear aspirations using whatever means necessary to ensure the mullahs in Tehran do not get their hands on nuclear weapons. And you can stand with the Iranian people who oppose the tyrannical rule of the clerics and concretely support their efforts to win their freedom – even if the president does not.
You need to say no to cutting the necessities in our defense budget when we are engaged in two wars and face so many threats – from Islamic extremists to a nuclear Iran to a rising China. As Ronald Reagan said, “We will always be prepared, so we may always be free.”
You will also have the opportunity to push job-creating free trade agreements with allies like Colombia and South Korea. You can stand with allies like Israel, not criticize them. You can let the President know what you believe – Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, not a settlement. And for those of you joining the United States Senate, don’t listen to desperate politically-motivated arguments about the need for hasty consideration of the “New START” treaty. Insist on your right to patient and careful deliberation of New START to address very real concerns about verification, missile defense, and modernization of our nuclear infrastructure. No New START in the lame duck!
You can stand against misguided proposals to try dangerous, evil terrorists in the US; precipitously close the Guantanamo prison; and a return to the failed policies of the past in treating the war on terror as a law enforcement problem.
Finally, you have a platform to express the support of the American people for all those around the world seeking their freedom that God has bestowed within all mankind’s being – from Burma and Egypt to Russia and Venezuela – because the spread of liberty increases our own security.
You, freshmen lawmakers, can and will be powerful voices in support of foreign policies that protect our interests and promote our values! Thank you for being willing to fight for our values and our freedom!
In all this, you should extend a hand to President Obama and Democrats in Congress. After this election, they may finally be prepared to work with Republicans on some of these issues for the good of the country. And if not, we will all be looking forward to 2012.
Remember that some in the media will love you when you stray from the time-tested truths that built America into the most exceptional nation on earth. When the left in the media pat you on the back, quickly reassess where you are and readjust, for the liberals' praise is a warning bell you must heed. Trust me on that.
I, and most Americans, are so excited for you. Working together, we have every right to be optimistic about our future. We can be hopeful because real hope lies in the ingenuity, generosity, and boundless courage of the everyday Americans who make our country exceptional. These are the men and women who sent you to Washington. May your work and leadership honor their faith in you.
With sincere congratulations and a big Alaskan heart,
Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin is the former Republican vice presidential candidate and governor of Alaska. She is a Fox News contributor.
===
How many times does Coetzee need to win a prize?
Andrew Bolt
Perhaps I need to pay more attention to the works of David Foster:
MAVERICK novelist David Foster has launched an extraordinary attack on the Adelaide-based Nobel Prize-winning writer J. M. Coetzee.I like the rock-throwing and share a suspicion of the literary prize circuit. But I’d have thought a greater threat to Australian art than “democracy” was an arts patronage bestowed by governments and arts bureaucrats. Nor am I sure about the “Buggin’s-turn” argument against Coetzee, even if agree that he does seem rather needy. And I’ve have valued Foster’s analysis more had he not applied for prizes himself.
He has accused Coetzee of having “no class” because he continues to contest lucrative literary awards.
Foster, a Miles Franklin Award winner whose novels are critically acclaimed but hardly bestsellers, makes the comments in his acceptance speech for the Patrick White Award, which he will receive today.
Foster compares Coetzee unfavourably with White, who established the annual award with the proceeds of his 1973 Nobel Prize, and who from the late 1960s refused to allow his work to be entered for literary prizes.
“Can you imagine what Patrick would have said of an individual who, having received the Nobel Prize and two Booker Prizes, to a value of around $1.5 million, and who so far from setting anything aside for the benefit of his less illustrious colleagues continues to put his hand up for every literary prize on offer?” he asks in a copy of the speech provided by the award organisers…
Foster, 66, also uses his speech to lambast the “literary prize-driven circus which today constitutes the literary world”: “Winners are grinners while losers must hope for the Patrick White Award.” He also laments the decline of the “Anglo-Australian pastoral ascendancy”, of which White was representative. “The sad fact is, literature does best in aristocracy or theocracy,” he says. “Democracy is the enemy of art.”
===
Labor to break yet another promise - or admit to a lie
Andrew Bolt
I’ll say it again - it’s easier to count Labor’s broken promises than the ones it has kept:
JULIA GILLARD’s election pitch to avoid a ‘’big Australia’’ is to be abandoned after a Treasury warning that strong future immigration is ‘’probably inescapable’’.But is this a broken promise or just the exposure of a Labor lie? After all, the signs were there to see even a month before the election, as I noted at the time:
In another policy retreat, the government’s population review has been delayed and ‘’recalibrated’’ to focus on skills shortages and regional growth, rather than nominating population targets.
During the election campaign in August, Ms Gillard said… a Treasury projection that Australia would have a population of 36 million people by 2050 was excessive. ‘’I don’t support the idea of a big Australia with arbitrary targets of, say … a 36 million-strong Australia,’’ she said.
However, a Treasury briefing sent to Ms Gillard after the campaign suggests she could have no choice…
A senior Labor source ... ‘’I believe the government has accepted the reality that it is not prepared to cut migration to the extent needed to significantly reduce population growth...’’ ...
Population Minister Tony Burke has indicated the government might miss an April 2011 deadline for its population review, blaming the extended caretaker period while a new government was being formed.
‘’I don’t want to give a commitment that we’ll be able to get to that [April] time frame,’’ Mr Burke said.
JULIA Gillard is running the most dishonest election campaign we have seen in our lifetime.===
She is promising with winks and nudges what she now admits she has no intention of delivering.
The Prime Minister’s key election promise so far is that she’ll cut net immigration, now running at an out-of-control 270,000 people a year.
Save us from Mugabe
Andrew Bolt
Roy Bennett, treasurer of the Zimbabwean Movement for Democratic Change, testifies to the truly barbaric brutality with which Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe has maintained his reign of terror. (Warning: the details are disturbing.)
If Mugabe were white, the world would not rest until it had toppled his evil regime, so much more savage than even that of apartheid South Africa. As it is, Bennett must beg:
Appeasement will fail in Zimbabwe under the weight of Zanu’s insatiable lust for power. But more than anything, the appeasement of Mugabe and his party is immoral. It offends all the basic laws and instincts of human decency and dignity. The time has come for justice to be served. The value of lives lost and lives ruined must be restored.Calling Malcolm Fraser. Calling the churches.
The democratic will of the Zimbabwean people must finally be respected. We call on you, ladies and gentleman, to reflect on the sufferings of our people, their desire for freedom…
But every one of you can, and must, play a vital role. I ask please that you lobby political, civil society and religious bodies in your representative countries. Please assist us with resources and show us how to raise them for ourselves. Finally, help us in lobbying for a democratic transfer of power.
===
Burning twice the coal since warmists first said we should stop
Andrew Bolt
Climate alarmist Guy Pearse goes to a coal-mining conference and is horrified:
Fred Palmer, vice-president of Peabody Energy, the world’s largest coal company, noted that since the ‘’great debate’’ on climate change began, coal consumption had gone from 3.6 billion tonnes a year to almost 7 billion tonnes. By 2030, he predicted it would be more like 11-12 billion.As for the Gillard Government’s dream of “green coal” - the carbon-capture technology into which it is pouring more than $100 million a year - the miners’ near-complete lack of interest suggests we’re just once again wasting our money on one more green mirage:
An almost full house had heard Palmer declare green coal the ‘’only path’’ to deal with climate change. Yet a mere 35 delegates went to the capture and storage session, and fewer than 20 stayed to the end.===
During question time, a British executive highlighted the contrast between the bullish talk about growth in global coal demand and the sparse attendance at the session. ‘’Most of the industry isn’t really taking notice’’, he warned.
How to turn Australia into a basketcase
Andrew Bolt
How many decades have the Greens been with us? So it’s a relief that The Age last subjects Victoria’s Greens to this scrutiny - and depressing that it’s the first from the paper I can remember:
Closing down the carbon-spewing Hazelwood power station within four years would mean replacing its 1500 megawatts of electricity with renewable energy and encouraging consumers to be more energy efficient…And so on. And that’s without calculating the cost to industry and the effects on our exports of scrapping a quarter of our cheapest power and hitting the country with a huge tax on carbon dioxide emissions. Nor are other federal Greens policies considered here, including the week of extra holiday, the shortening of the working week, the pay increase to women workers, the increase in union power and a big rise on business taxes - all of which should feed a big jump in employment, which in turn should lead to a big rise in the welfare bill and more taxes to pay for it.
But Jon Stanford, an energy economist at Insight Economics, said ...renewable energy was nowhere near ready to take on the burden carried by Hazelwood ... and even if it was it would increase power prices and put ‘’great pressure on the budgets of Victorian families’’.
For example, the Greens would introduce a gross feed-in tariff for people with rooftop solar panels… This policy was recently abandoned by the NSW government because of a $2.5 billion blow-out in costs, which were eventually picked up by consumers…
They would scrap Westlink, planned to connect the Eastern freeway with the western suburbs, and the proposed ‘’North East’’ link joining the ring road and EastLink. The savings from the two projects would be $11 billion.
With that money, their ‘’People Plan’’ proposes dozens of new public transport projects including a Doncaster rail line linked via a sunken line through Fitzroy and Carlton to the city, 20 new train lines and 30 extra trains.
The Greens say this would cost $13 billion. But transport economist Alan Davies says the Greens’ costings are a radical underestimate, that the money for one of those two freeways is not in the forward estimates - so in reality does not exist yet…
The Greens estimate the Doncaster rail line at $1 billion, whereas Rod Eddington’s report to the government said it was $1.8 billion to $2 billion. New train stations are estimated to cost $5 million each, whereas the latest state government costings put them at around $50 million.
In housing, the Greens propose a shift from subsidies of private housing towards social housing, including the construction of 29,000 more ‘’affordable properties’’ by 2014… It would cost (Victoria) well over $6 billion…
Perhaps the largest single commitment is a promise to eliminate the state’s reliance on gambling taxes, which, at $1.7 billion a year, is more than 10 per cent of the revenue the state raises in its own right.
In truth, the Greens propose nothing more than the ruination of the economy, yet see how quick even the economists cited by The Age are to find something to praise in this ruinous irresponsibility and reckless indifference to the pain it will cause so many Australians:
But Jon Stanford, an energy economist at Insight Economics, said the only admirable thing about the policy was its ambition…===
In housing, the Greens propose a shift from subsidies of private housing towards social housing…
‘’That is financially impossible to achieve,’’ said Terry Burke, a professor of urban studies at Swinburne University… However, Professor Burke commended the 5 per cent target as a long-term policy, adding the Greens were the only party talking about low-cost housing, public and private. .
Gay marriage will divorce Labor from its base
Andrew Bolt
Paul Kelly:
If you want proof the Greens have scrambled Labor’s head, well and truly, consider the public ruminations by Gillard minister and former NSW right-wing party secretary Mark Arbib that it’s time for Labor to abandon its opposition to gay marriage. Why is it time?And Kelly calls on the ABC to help save Labor:
Because the Greens are stealing Labor votes, that’s why. Nothing else. So Labor should cynically abandon its support for the foundational social institution, a move that will trigger a deeply polarising debate and brand Labor indelibly as a libertarian personal rights party ready to ditch any institution or principle. In the process, Labor will alienate permanently an important section of its base.
So what is the answer to Labor’s 2010 political crisis? Support gay marriage, of course.
No, it’s not satire, this view is gaining serious support. It testifies to how politicians can be fooled by opinion polls and miss the bigger picture. It verifies, again, the far-reaching impact the Greens are having on Labor.
On Thursday evening Australian Workers Union boss Paul Howes warned at the Sydney Institute that Labor risked “ending up in an inner-suburban ghetto where we are just manning the barricades against the Greens hordes”.
In this Labor-Greens intersection the role of the ABC is critical because this fault line reflects one of the broadcaster’s heartlands where its influence is significant.
Let’s state the issue: it is whether the ABC continues to give the Greens immunity from criticism or whether it changes its de facto policy and treats the Greens not as a minor party of superior virtue but as a party that can make and break public policy, thereby deserving scrutiny similar to the main parties.
If the ABC fails to make this necessary re-assessment, Gillard Labor will be the serious loser.
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