Greens vs Democrats

There's a post over at Online Opinion that's worth reading about the differences between the Greens and the Democrats. I've posted a comment there, which I'll copy here.


This is a very interesting article. I agree - the Greens haven't been asked the hard questions, and the media does need to do more work here.

To me, it seems that the Greens are very good at managing the media. If you want someone to wave a protest banner in front of a tv camera, the Greens will be there every time. They're at their best when they're instinctively saying "No!" to any proposal put forward. Beyond that, though, they find it very hard to negotiate and reach a satisfactory conclusion for both parties. They just seem to thrive on conflict.

Their record in the Tasmanian parliament shows this, I think. Even during the Labor-Green accord, when they had the balance of power, they found it very hard to reach agreement with anyone, and it didn't last very long. From memory, Bob Brown and Christine Milne (both now Senators) were in state parliament for that period.

The Democrats, on the other hand, haven't been so good at getting attention in the media - they're more willing to talk than fight. As
Malcolm says in this article, the Democrats have achieved quite a bit, but haven't been recognised for it.

I think it would be a sad day if the Democrats lost their seats to the Greens, even if it would mean more drama on the nightly news


So, that's my comment on the article. I do like the Greens, and they'll get my preference before the ALP or Liberals, but I do think the Democrats are better.

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Is it gay day?

It must be gay day or something... lots of gay-related stories floating around this morning. Here's a few...

First, a couple of Democrats articles, here and here.

Then, there's these stories from the Brisbane Times. An opinion article from a boy still in high school, and a blog entry from JB.

Not a bad way to start the reading day.


I enjoyed the opinion article by Daniel Swain. High school feels like a long time ago now, but I can still remember some of it. I wasn't teased of picked on at school for being gay, or if I was I didn't notice it. I did know I was gay, but went out of my way not to let it show back then. Maybe I was good at hiding, or maybe the other guys just didn't care. Or maybe, since it was a small school and there was no mention of homosexuality at all from the teachers, no-one even thought about it as a possibility. I don't know, but I'm glad I wasn't teased or abused.

I didn't discover the internet until I was at uni, but it was a huge help in terms of coming out, getting information and meeting people. There was absolutely no way I was going to walk into a gay bar or any place like that, so the relative anonymity of the net was fantastic. There was a sense of freedom online that I wouldn't allow myself back in the real world.

I'm glad things are changing for the kids in school today. That's really encouraging. And I really admire the kids who are coming out while still at school. I wish I could have done that - life would have been very different if I had. Anyway...

Back onto the politics of equal rights, marriage and adoption... this is another reason I usually support the Democrats. They actually try and do something about rights for gay and lesbian people. Their position is that there should be equal rights for all, regardless of sexual preference, and that gay couples should have equal rights with straight couples. To me, that just seems so obvious that it shouldn't need to be debated, but the current government doesn't see it. And the Labor party doesn't seem much better. I hope the Democrats will still be in a position after the next election to keep raising this issue.

But I don't expect it to be a big issue at the election, and don't expect anything much to change after it. Maybe I'm wrong, though... here's hoping...

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Eucalyptus

I took Eucalyptus with me to Hobart over the weekend, and managed to finish it off last night after I got home. It made good airport and plane reading.

Written by Murray Bail, it won the Miles Franklin award in 1999. I picked up this copy at the Lifeline Book Fair here in Brisbane earlier this year. I'm glad I did - it's worthy of the prize, and the $3 I paid for it.


It tells the story of Ellen and her father, and how she finds her husband-to-be. A love story, in other words. On the face of it, it doesn't sound like a story that I'd normally be interested in, but when I saw it on sale I thought I'd give it a chance.

Bail's writing style is beautiful. He never names an actual location, but just gives a general location somewhere west of the mountains in NSW. The way he describes it, the town and property could be any typical small town in the bush. The river, the town, the people, are all described briefly but at the same time he manages to catch the atmosphere of rural Australia - slow-paced, open, barren yet fertile at the same time. He hangs the whole story on the many species of Eucalyptus, which uniquely places the story as Australian.

The characters are curious - they manage to be convincing, while at the same time being little more than caricatures. Ellen is beautiful, but passive, doing almost nothing to control her destiny. Her father, Holland, only appears to have a passion for his trees. The fact the he decides to marry his daughter to the first man who can correctly name all the trees he's planted sets him out as odd. It also suggests that the story is set in an earlier time. Just as with the location, there's no actual date set, but some of the stories told suggest that it's set in recent times - definitely post-war. Anyway...

The story winds on, passing quickly over early suitors. It slows down as Mr Cave appears and starts slowly and deliberately working his way through the trees, just as Ellen meets someone who actually interests her. As it looks like Mr Cave will succeed, she starts showing some independence finally.

The conclusion left me wondering what happened next, while at the same time it was exactly the right spot to leave the story.

It's hard to say why I liked this book so much. The writing just drew me onwards into the story. It frustrated me, confused me, made me want more, and drew a picture of an Australian setting that was recognisable without being too cliched or sentimental. Overall, it was an beautiful book to read, and certainly distracted me nicely from the airport lounges and announcements. Definitely worth reading.

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Reach for the - earth?

This is an interesting read - how to live on earth like we're reaching for the stars...

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But it's a non-core promise!

John Howard and his government do it again. That is, they force a major piece of legislation through Parliament with virtually no debate. See Crikey for more info. I'm sure I remember John Howard promising to be humble when it came to using his Senate majority after the 2004 election. Guess that was a non-core promise after all...


I'm not surprised anymore. After all, they've done this many times now. WorkChoices, for example. There's no way on earth that they'd have been able to pass that legislation if they hadn't had a Senate majority in their own right. The same goes for the anti-terrorism laws, although I guess that's debatable. The Labor party doesn't seem too concerned about those ones, so those laws might have passed anyway.

But even if they had, I'm sure there would have been a much more detailed debate. At the moment, the government is just not allowing debate, let alone amendments. They don't have to, so they don't. That is not being humble, it's not respecting parliament, or democracy. In my opinion, this government has abused it's power and isn't sorry for doing so.

Between WorkChoices, anti-terror laws and now this, we've been given a perfect example of a government that's out of control and obsessed with it's own power. This should become the classic case-study of why we, as voters, should never, never, give the government of the day control of the Senate. All of these pieces of legislation should be seriously looked at again, and amended, when John Howard and the Liberals finally loses government.

Other things to look at would be: closisng the electoral rolls the day the election is called, the raised disclosure limits on political donations, and probably a review of every other piece of legislation passed since the 2004 election.

On that note, in the Senate I'll be voting for the Democrats, then Greens/Independent before either of the major parties.

Links : Andrew Bartlett, Crikey, The Age.

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LibraryThing

I came across this really interesting site the other day, while browsing through Ampersand Duck's blog. I've always wanted a good way of cataloging my books. And here it is - LibraryThing! Such a good idea.

Anyway, browse my library. It'll probably tell you more about me than I ever could.

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South, south, south!

So, I spent the weekend in Hobart. It seems like a long way to go for a weekend, I know, but it's always fun. I love going home to Tassie, even if it is just for a few days.

I flew down from Brisbane on Saturday morning. I love the fact that there are direct flights from Brisbane to Hobart. It's only been possible for a few years, really, and the direct flights just save so much time. I flew Virgin, of course - I don't know why I even bother checking the Qantas prices anymore, as they are always more expensive. There's really not much to pick between them, anyway, except that you have to pay for your own food on Virgin. Thats certainly no big deal when you're talking about saving anything up to $100 on the flight.

Anyway... I love flying. I always get a window seat if I can. On the flight down to Hobart we went right over Sydney, and I had a wonderful view of the western suburbs. Not Sydneys most attractive view, I have to say - suburbs stretching off into the mountains. Victoria was covered in cloud, but that started breaking up as we flew over Bass Strait. We took the normal flight path to Hobart, so I had a lovely view of Flinders Island and the north-east coast of Tassie. I could see the snow on Ben Lomond, just peaking out between the clouds. Everything looked wet, which surprised me. I thought it had been pretty dry in Tassie, just like pretty much everywhere else. But apparently it had been raining all week, something I probably would have known if I'd bothered to watch the news last week. There were floods all over the place, too. I think it's now rained and flooded pretty much everywhere in the country except here in Brisbane. Oh well...

I didn't actually do much over the weekend. The whole point of going down there was to spend some time with my parents, and catch up with all the family. We had a big family dinner on Saturday night, which was great. That doesn't happen often enough, at least for me now that I live so far away from everyone else. Sunday I just hung around with my parents, and grandfather. I braved the cold, briefly, and went for a walk along the beach and around the neighbourhood with dad. Things are changing, of course - more houses going up, people moving on, etc. The place is still home, though, so the good parts haven't changed. Walking along the beach, even when it's freezing cold in the middle of winter, just makes me feel at home. Lying in bed at night, all I could hear was the waves on the beach. That's the sound of home for me, and is something I do miss here in Brisbane.

Unfortunately, it was an early flight out this morning. Monday is always a bad day to fly - too many people, higher prices etc. And I couldn't get the direct flight back to Brisbane so I had to change planes in Sydney. Another window seat for me, of course. For some reason we took a different flight path than I was expecting. Flying out of Tasmania we went right over the top of Ben Lomond. I could see Jacobs Ladder, all covered in snow. Since it was so soon after sunrise, the snow on the mountains looked stunning, but Launceston was still hidden in the shadows.

I also got a fantastic view of the ranges around Mt Kosciuszko. There's an impressive amount of snow on them at the moment, and with fog curling through the surrounding valleys it looked spectacular.

Then we flew right over the top of Canberra - right over the top of Parliament House. I was looking straight down on the flagpole. Can't say I've seen it from that angle before, and wouldn't it be interesting to send John Howard a message from that angle?
Hmmm...

Sydney is always nice to fly into, and this time was no exception. We came in over the western suburbs, circled around, and got a perfect view of the city, the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. All the cliches in one short flight!

But that's why I love flying, even when the planes are full of more kids than a daycare centre. I love being able to look down and put a name to places I've never been and probably wont get to see from the ground. Looking down and wondering what people do in all these little towns we fly over. Dreaming about walking on all those beaches, in all those bays, on all those islands...

But it was just one weekend. I can't wait for a real holiday. I need a proper break... soon, soon, soon :)

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