Tasmanian Politics

I came across this site the other day. It's always interesting to keep up with whats going on back home in Tassie, and this looks like a good way of doing it.

Tasmanian politics might not rate much attention unless you live there, but I'm still concerned and interested in it. The current Tasmanian state government is a bit of a disgrace and the whole pulp mill decision process was disgusting. Anyway...

It'll be interesting to read this site as it develops.

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Kondalilla Falls

On Sunday I drove up to Montville and Kondalilla Falls National Park. I was planning to do the Falls circuit with a friend, but I was very disappointed to get there and find the track was closed.


Anyway, we walked out to the top of the falls and had a look at the swimming hole there. I was surprised how close it was to the car park. I'd assumed that the walk out was longer than it actually was - it was only about a 15 minute walk out to the top of the falls. It was pretty easy going. The track is well maintained and mostly level, apart from the short descent to the creek.

We thought about going swimming here, but decided against it. The pool was pretty busy, and so we decided to head for the beach at Caloundra instead.

The track to the base of the falls was closed. I was pretty disappointed about this, as that was the part of the track I was actually interested in. According to the sign, the track has been closed due to geological instability, meaning that they think there could be rockfalls. And that's fair enough, but it would have been nice if there was a notice on the website. I got my information about the park from the website and the track closure wasn't mentioned anywhere...

Still, it was a nice short walk to the top of the falls, just not very spectacular. Lunch at Montville was nice, though.

And the weather at Kings Beach, in Caloundra, was great. Not to windy, or hot, and just enough surf to make it interesting. I really don't get to the beach often enough, and Sunday was a great day for it. So a couple of hours at the beach made up for the disappointment that was Kondalilla.

I really need to find some good bushwalking areas around Brisbane...

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Laugh out loud Howard moments

He really is ubelievable.

After spending all of the 2004 election campaign telling us that interest rates would always be low under his government, he's now denying it. Apparently we have to forget everything he promised last time, because that's all in the past. I burst out laughing when I heard that - is this guy serious??


He might have a point though, technically. Its hard to say now, three years later, whether he personally ever made the claim that interest rates would remain at record lows under his government. He might be right when he says that all he ever said was that rates would be lower under him than under Labor.

But it really doesn't matter if it was his words or a Liberal party ad. It's basically the same thing. And he wasn't actually out there correcting peoples misunderstanding, was he? No, he was very happy for us to believe that he'd promised to keep rates at record lows, even if that's now what he technically said.

And now he wants us to forget he even said that! Apparently the past doesn't matter and we have to concentrate on the future - while at the same time we have to remember that interest rates got to 17% under the last Labor government. So which is it? Is the past important or not? If we can remember Labors interest rates, can we remember his (broken) promises? Or if we forget his lies, can we forget Labors rates?

He really is a tricky politician. He has a way of telling the truth that makes lying look honest. He has to go, and so does his government.

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Say It Out Loud

I finished reading "Say It Out Loud" just last night. It's a biography of Adam Sutton, described as a gay Australian cowboy.


I'm not usually a fan of biographies. My non-fiction reading is usually historical or religious. This book appealed to me, though, and when I saw it on sale at Borders I decided to pick it up. I guess my first interest came when I saw Adam interviewed for Australian Story last year.

Both the book and the tv program tell the story of Adams life so far. It's told in Adams voice, giving it very personal feel. In some ways it's an easy book to read - the language is plain spoken and straightforward. But in others it's quite hard - it's the story of his pain and confusion while growing up and coming out. In the process he's led a pretty amazing life, and it sounds like quite a rollercoaster.

Part of the reason it was so gripping for me was that I can relate to parts of the story. Mostly the parts about being gay and coming out. Apart from those struggles, his life makes a much more interesting story than mine does, that's for sure.

I think this book is worth at least 4 stars. Definitely worth reading. His life story is interesting in itself, and the courage Adam has displayed in living his life and then sharing it with everyone like this is pretty inspiring stuff.

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Debating greatness

I made myself sit through the great debate between John Howard and Kevin Rudd on Sunday night. Actually, it wasn't that hard in the end. I thought it was quite an impressive performance, and all the associated drama over the worm on channel 9 was even more entertaining than the debate itself.


Anyway, it was obviously Kevin Rudds night. I was quite impressed by what I saw of him in this debate. He doesn't always come across well in the 30-second soundbites used on the evening news, but this format suited him. He was able to make his points, clearly and with conviction. Before the debate I was hoping he would win the election basically because he wasn't John Howard. Now I'm much more confident that he can really run the government and be an effective leader.

John Howard, on the other hand, was pretty bad. He is not a good debater - he may be a clever politician but public speaking really isn't his strong point. He looked tired, old and angry. He almost lost his temper a couple of times. It was a really bad look. And to top it all off, even when he was speaking with conviction he wasn't convincing. On his strong points of the economy, I'd heard it all before. His attacks on unions were nothing new and just fell pretty flat. If you weren't convinced by his rhetoric before the debate, nothing he said would change your mind.

Even when he was talking about his new policies on climate change and reconciliation he was not believable. His main problem here is that after 11 years most people know that he really doesn't believe in them as issues. At one point he accused Kevin Rudd of having an election campaign conversion to economic conservatism. I almost laughed at that, since that charge is much more likely to stick to him because of his new position on Aboriginal affairs and climate change. Less than convincing stuff.

So, Kevin won the night. Convincingly. But it's still a long way to election day, and John Howard is a tricky and clever campaigner. And its a huge job for Labor to win the 16 seats it needs. Here's hoping they can do it!

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Resident Evil

I went to see Resident Evil: Extinction last night. I wasn't impressed.


Zombie/Horror movies have never been my thing. I don't like pointless death and destruction in my movies or books. And that's what this movie seemed to be - lots of pointless deaths, gratuitous blood and guts, and very little in the way of actual character or story to hold it all together.

I guess part of the problem is that I didn't see the first two movies, or play the computer game it's all based on. But having seen this one I have no desire to go back and see them.

The ultimate bad guy in this movie starts out as just amoral, although in pursuit of a worthy goal (saving the human race, of course!). At the end though, he mutates into the strongest and most intelligent of the zombies. And then the heroin manages to kill him off in just a few minutes. Not exactly the worlds greatest threat at that point...

Overall, it was a silly movie, and a waste of time. There were probably better things to do with my time last night. If I want to watch a zombie movie that's actually clever, I'll watch Shaun of the Dead instead.

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Ok ok - can't get away from politics this week!

Here's an ad just for John Howard - he'll love this one.

So what have those evil unions done for us? Lets find out...


Seen via Road to Surfdom

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Turn off the phones!

It's been a really busy week, in all sorts of ways.

I've been snowed under at work this week, and so I'm very glad its now Saturday morning. Still, weeks like this are the fun ones - keeps me from getting bored at work, which is an increasing problem lately.


On the downside, weeks like this at work mean that I get almost nothing done outside of work. Try getting to the bank when you're working 10+ hours a day! It just doesn't happen. I have to say that bank hours are awful, and they need to make more of an effort to be available and open when people can actually get there. Bank business hours of 9am to 4pm are just incredibly inconvenient for anyone with an actual job to do...

Still, I guess they have no motivation to change, do they? They're making huge profits and there's not a whole lot of competition. And it's so inconvenient trying to change banks, moving accounts, loans, credit cards... once they've got you sucked in you're pretty much trapped and just have to put up with the crappy service.

Ok - that rant is over now...

This week also saw the beginning of the election campaign. Finally! The J-Ho finally called it, for November 24th. All that means is we've got six weeks (five, now) of electioneering, dirty politics, awful ads, and generally getting harrassed by our so-called leaders. Up until this week I was actually interested in the election - I want John Howard gone, and was getting really frustrated that he hadn't called it. Now I've lost interest - I just want to get to polling day, cast my vote, and hopefully get to watch John Howard concede defeat. Go Kevin! There are so many reasons to want the Liberals gone - just the fact that they're not really liberal in anyway is enough, though... I'll probably write a bit more about that later.

I'm just hanging on now for the election to be over. I just don't want to watch, becauswe it'd be too painful watching Kevin Rudd self-destruct. I really really really hope that doesn't happen, though. So I'll stick my head in the sand for the next few weeks, and hold my breath. It'll all be over soon, but I'm not sure I can face another three years of Howard and Friends. I'm just scared that he'll find some dirty little rabbit in a hat somewhere and pull off another win. That's a scary thought...

Anyway, back to my relaxing recovery weekend. I'm off for lunch with friends in the city today, then the movies tonight, and tomorrow - well, we'll see. If its a nice day it might be another trip to the beach for me!

Can't wait...

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Stormy weather

Well, it's been a busy week so far. Lots of exciting things have been going on, including a long long bike ride on Sunday, which really wore me out. Anyway...

But the best thing about this week has been all the storms. We've had storms every day this week since Sunday. It's now Thursday and they're forecasting more storms this afternoon.

I love weather like this - as long as I'm home, that is. I love to just sit around and watch the lightning flash across the horizon, with the rain pelting on the tin roof. There's nothing quite like the sound of rain on the roof to make me glad I'm home and safe inside. And the lightning has been impressive. I was watching it on Tuesday night from the balcony and it was lighting up the street almost like daylight. I haven't seen a storm like that for quite a while now.

Maybe the Queensland drought has finally broken? Here's hoping...

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Undoing Howards legacy

Paul Kelly, in the Australian, has an interesting article explaining what Kevin Rudd plans to do with the public service if he gets elected. The article is here.


As he explains, John Howard has tried to intimidate and control the public service while he's been in office. He doesn't want impartial or independent advice - he just wants the public servants to do exactly what he wants without question or dissent. This makes for bad policy, and Paul Kelly identifies this as a blunder. I agree. The public service should be free to give impartial and independent advice to the government. Obviously, it should also impartially and competently implement government policies after they've been passed by Parliament, but that's not what John Howard has asked for. It looks to me like he's tried to turn the Australian public service into another arm of the Liberal Party, with the aim of keeping the Liberal Party in power. That's just an abuse of our system of government, in my opinion.

According to the article, Kevin Rudd wants to restore the independence of the public service while also lifting its standards. That's a great aim, and if he can pull it off that will be fantastic. It'll be interesting to see if he can do it, though. A compliant public service would undoubtedly make life easier for any government, even if it means public policy suffers. But I think its a good idea, and I hope he gets a chance to do it. John Howards legacy of abuse towards our system of government and democracy needs to be undone, and this is one step towards doing that.

And on that note, here's another article over at The Road to Surfdom on a similar topic - the abuses of power committed by the Howard Government.

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The lost plot

Here are two more stories that show how badly John Howard and his government have lost the plot on all things climate change.

The first is about solar power and the second is on the future of Australia as global warming kicks in.


The story about solar power is interesting, and frustrating, and a good example of lost opportunities. The Australian company couldn't find support for its Australian product in Australia, so does the sensible thing and moves offshore. Then it gets picked up by an American company, lands a huge contract providing clean renewable energy on a huge scale.

I've always thought that Australia is the logical place for solar power to take off. We've got a large amount of space, and lots of sunny weather. It should be an obvious combination. But we've got a government that talks about solar power being inefficient, expensive and unable to provide baseload power, and so they've not invested in it or provided any significant subsidies for research and development. And now, an Australian company is going to provide all those things to the Americans. I guess that'd be a shock to John Howard and friends, although they'll probably waffle on about how it's still not in production and there's a lot of risks etc etc. And in the meantime, our country loses out on the benefits of the project, and we waste our money on trying to develop clean coal technology that will take at least as long as solar power to provide any decent returns or environmental benefits.

The second story shows what this could cost us. While we're basically refusing to take any serious action on climate change or reducing our emmissions, our country is going to get hotter and dryer and the seas will continue to rise. That's bad news all around, and yet our government has continued to deny there's a problem. Until recently, that is, when they realised they might actually lose this election. Now we've got some token acknowledgement of the problem for them but their only action seems to be more political spin. As in dressing up already existing schemes and presenting it as something new. Anyway... bring on the election, lets get a new government!

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