September 2005 Archives

Australia in the British press. Now, when I started this train I was thinking to find info about 'Dumb and Dumber' the two Australians who botched a robbery in The States because they wore nametags to the event. I figured this for each time I click on the Asia-Pacific section at the BBC's main site, I'm inundated with news about China and North Korea. Any waves Australia usually breaks can often appear quite trivial.

I was slightly vindicated by the fluff piece 'Australian crushed in rubbish lorry', no fluff for the man involved, but not exactly groundbreaking news. Straight to telemovie that one. I should note that this appears on the news front page.

Then, perhaps no surprise is a piece about our new terror laws. These laws follow those already in place in the US and UK, should be no surprise, but their implementation will bear close watching.

The final piece, besides the one about the pom killed by an Australian crocodile, covered Bob Hawke's suggestion that Australia should house the world's nuclear waste. Now, this one I want someone to explain to me, because this little pig can't comprehend how this idea is anything other than ludicrous, and a far cry from Tony Abbott.s 'visionary.'

Please explain.

During the last quarter of last Saturday's AFL Grand Final, things weren't looking good for the Swans. They'd lost their half time lead to be trailing by 10 points. The Weagles seemed to have momentum. Swans fans had that familiar sinking feeling in the pits of their stomachs.

Swans fans excluding this one, that is.

For some reason, at the very moment when Luke Ablett kicked the ball to the opposition and gave them the lead, it struck me that the Swans couldn't lose.

I was not so confident with this thought that I shared it with others at the time; to do that would be tempting fate a little too much, but none the less, I couldn't believe that the team would let this game slip after all they'd been through.

The omens were with them, and viewed from the centre of my footy universe (and recalled with the advantage of hindsight) they were clear. How could they lose when:

• The Melbourne football punditry headed by AFL chairman, Andrew Demetrio and commentator Robert Walls said their style was too defencive and ugly to win a flag.
• They lost the first final in Perth with the help of a couple of dodgy umpiring decisions.
• They came back from the dead to defeat Geelong with three seconds to spare.
• They comprehensively thrashed the Saints, then favourites for the flag, again against the opinions of the AFL punditry.
• Barry Hall got off his striking charge.
• They had no injuries, and played the same team for the entire finals series.
• Due to a friend, a full Swans member who was taking his family overseas, I obtained GF ticket preferences for myself and family.
• Actually obtaining the final seats was due to a woman giving me her queue ticket after she managed to get tickets by phone. This jumped us up 300 spots in the queue. It was unlikely that we would have obtained the tickets otherwise.
• We had friends in Melbourne who could accommodate us and mind our four year old for the day.
• On the day, before the start of the game, the pre-match 'entertainment' was staged on a large ground mat embossed with all the AFL logos. We were directly in line with the Swans logo.

So, when Barry Hall was lining up, 50 metres out, to get the Swans back within a goal of the Weagles, I felt he couldn't miss.

After the Swans regained the lead by a small margin, I was confident the team could hold the Weagles out. I would have preferred O'Loughlin to have actually kicked some goals, but in the end it didn't matter. Leo Barry's mark in the last seconds of the game saw to that.

Football supporter moments don't come better than this! We've been following the team for 23 years. Many of those seasons were bleak, but it was worth it. On Saturday, those 23 years were vindicated.

It looks like the David Hicks saga will soon be coming to an end, one way or the other. Having long deplored the Australian goverments stance, or lack of one, I am very surprised that it's taken his lawyers four years to find out his mother was British. An oversight like that is absolutely ridiculous and makes me wonder if those directly involved (David Hicks, his lawyers and his family) are perhaps less concerned about getting him back to Australia than the Australians who are often campaigning to do so.

Staying on 'terror', no surprise today on the federal / state agreement on new counter-terrorism laws, but a big roaring thumbs up for the inclusion of the ten-year 'sunset clause' - a necessary safeguard and a slight relief to those of us over-saturated on Orwellian paranoia.

Finally, a nod to last nights Four Corners Program, which will be repeated tomorrow night, examining the government's proposed industrial relations reforms. Perhaps the most enlightening passage came when a notable number of experts said that the new laws (particularly the abolishment of the unfair dismissal laws and the effect/focus on AWAs) would in no way increase productivity - as Howard says they will - but will instead likely raise profits. A matter of definition perhaps.

Oh yes, nice one Swannies.

Given Tony's likely distraction with Saturday's final, I figure this may be a good opportunity for this little pig to step back into the fray. In the time since my last post I've spent a lot of time on trains and buses in Europe, including sleeping on a platform or two, and in the past week have moved myself back into ye olde Sydney town, semi-permanent like.

Mark Latham, naturally, is all the news, and the smh ran the following headline on page four today, "Battering for labour but Beazley bouyant", reporting that according to surveys, 'one in three Australians report less inclination to support Labor,' and that 'fourteen percent ... say they now think more negatively of Mr Beazley.'

Now, this little pig has two opinions about this, and the "Latham Diaries Stuff" in general. The first is that I hope the Labor party, and Big Kim, takes a huge beating, because as I see it this is the only way to shake up the party and turn them into a viable alternative to the Coalition, which at present they are anything but. The second is that it's a shame that there isn't a volume from someone on the other side of the divide to help people understand that what Latham describes can be analogous to modern politicians in general, not just the ones Latham has chosen to lambast. Naturally, I haven't read the book, probably won't. Will wait for the tv movie instead.

After nine long years, the Swans have qualified to play in the AFL Grand Final. They gained their place by defeating the premiership favourites, St Kilda; a result that went against the opinion of the Melbourne football punditry. The Saints were disadvanted by injury to key players and the pressure of high expectations from their fans and, being the only remaining Victorian team, the wider Victorian public.

The Swans play the West Coast Eagles next Saturday, the second non Victorian Grand Final in a row.

Unlike their previous final, the Swans won convincingly. The Saints caved in during the last quarter after the Swans kicked three quick goals.

In my opinion, the Saints will attain a premiership within the next couple of years. They have the most talented line up in the league, but lack luck with injuries, and perhaps experience. I wouldn't be surprised if they win back to back flags provided they can consistently field their best team.

But the Saints fortunes are of no further consequence this year. The question is now whether Sydney can break a success drought that's lasted since 1933. A lot depends on what happens with regard to Barry Hall's rather foolish punch aimed at Matt Maguire's stomach.

As a Swans supporter I want Bazza to play, and I'd say it's 50/50 that he will. The one thing I hope the Swans won't do is go down the 1996 Grand Final path of using the courts to get him off. Andrew Dunkley, the Swans fullback at the time, was cited of the video for striking Essendon's James Hird. The Swans circumvented the tribunal by legal action which disrupted the team's preparation, Dunkley played, they lost the Grand Final anyway, and Dunkley was subsequently suspended at the start of the following season.

The AFL judicial system would be unworkable if, at every instance a decision was handed down that didn't suit the player's club, they took legal action to circumvent it. The clubs know this, and take unpalatable decisions on the chin, (evidenced by Collingwood's acceptance of Anthony Rocca's suspension for the 2003 Grand Final), even though court action would have a good chance of succeeding.

If Hall gets suspended, the Swans need to persue their options within the AFL tribunal system to get him off. If unsuccessful, they need to accept the decision, and concentrate on preparing for the final without him. Halls absence will make the job of winning harder, but he's only one of 18 players on the field, and the quicker the Swans accept his absence, and plan around it, the better.

Update: With Bazza cleared, notions of taking court action are thankfully gone. Time for everyone to concentrate on Saturday afternoon.

A couple of weeks ago the family had a weekend away. Several other families attended, and, as is always the risk with these things, Twin One had a fall and hurt her wrist.

Taking the advice of SWMBO, an RN by profession, we decided to wait a few day to see if it would settle down.

You guessed it ... after three days, no improvement. Thinking that we could wait no longer, we decided to get it looked at. The choice was going through our GP, or the local hospital. We opted on the latter and yours truly took the morning off work to take her.

I first heard the term in an article by (I think) Peter Fitzsimons. A 'White Moment' is when a sportsperson does something extraordinary, some stupendous feat that single-handedly wins a match. Nic Davis did that last night when, after the Swans were beaten for most of the match, he kicked four goals in the final quarter to win the match by three points.

Attending the game with my daughters, I'd resigned myself that the Swan's year was over. They were being comprehensively beaten around the ground. I've subsequently watched a lot of game replayed on TV, and can say that it looked a lot better for the Swans on the small screen. In real life they were woeful. Terrible handling, poor decision making, unable to get any run due to the tight marking of the opposition. It reminded me of this season's low point game against the Saints.

When Geelong scored early in the fourth, it seemed it was over. One of my kids thought we should go home early. Although that wasn't an option, it seemed that the home team's season was done. Then Davis scored a couple, and the Cats went into defencive mode. Rather than attacking, they tried to chip it round the ground and maintain possession. Davis scored his third.

With time running out, both teams were competing in the Swans attacking zone. Everyone was forward of half way. From where we were sitting at the other end of the ground, we could only make out a mad scramble, then someone getting boot to ball. It was impossible to compute the angles, but it was another Davis goal. Swans by three.

Not since Tony Locket kicked a point after the final siren to get the Swans into the 1996 Grand Final have I experienced such crowd euphoria. Most had resigned themselves to a loss, and to witness such an unlikely victory produced amazing scenes of crowd jubilation.

Next week the Swans travel to Melbourne to play St Kilda, the competition favourites, for the right to play in the Grand Final. Hopefully, this week's win will restore some confidence in the team and allow them to play to the high standard demonstrated against West Coast a week ago.

Against the Saints, they'll need everything they can muster.

Week One of the finals was not good for the Minor Premiers as well, as the Saints threw away their crutches to beat to Crows at home. The upside is that the Swans won't have to travel to Adelaide if they get past the Cats on Friday night. At least at the MCG they'll have some support from the old South Melbourne fraternity.

I'm a bit dismayed at the AFL's decision to play the Swans / Cats game at the SCG on Friday night. It seems they're doing it for the TV ratings. Personally, I wouldn't put Channel 10 out if they were burning. After advertising that they would show the Crows match live in Sydney, a Star Wars movie magically appeared in its place on Saturday night.

Memo to the AFL when negotiating the next TV deal: Let SBS broadcast any finals matches that the official broadcaster won't televise. It's worked with the cricket.

Being fair, the AFL should have played the match at Homebush on Saturday afternoon. The crowd would have been bigger, and the Cats would have got an extra day to recover.

Being partisan, the Swans at the SCG should be hard to beat. The small ground suits their game, and the close proximity of the crowd should help them forget the events of the week before.

Here's hoping!!

Looking at the events after Cyclone Katrina, and the way the government looks to the US for ideological inspiration, it's a fair question.

The way the US has responded to the disaster has drawn attention to the type of society that the US has become. It begs the question whether we are headed down the same path.

Will the enactment of US style labour laws, and the cuts in welfare that are sure to follow, create the large social underclass so evident in New Orleans?

Will the cost of the government's obsession to participate in US foreign adventures, while cutting other government expenditure to allow the provision of tax cuts, cause a lack of planning against the inevitable, and stymie our response when the inevitable happens?

Will our government become so bankrupt that it will "never, ever ask for a shared sacrifice?"

And lastly, will this event will be a wake up call for the conservative forces who think our social, political and economic structures should uncritically emulate the US?

To the last question ... I'd like to think so, but I'm not holding my breath.

The West Coast Eagles were too lucky and too strong tonight and defeated my team, the Sydney Swans, by four points in the AFL Qualifying Final in Perth. It would be nice to blame the woeful umpiring decisions, but they had their chances.

The Swans really needed to win this one. It would have given the team a home Preliminary Final in two weeks time, a comparatively easy route to the Grand Final. As it is, they now have to win at home next week, then travel, probably to Adelaide, to get there. I think it's too hard.

The Swans have been part of my life since they moved to Sydney over 20 years ago. My father, who hailed from Western Australia, introduced me to the game, and we were regular attendees at the SCG from that time, up to his death a couple of years ago. I now take my kids to the games.

I've seen the club go from mediocre to dreadful, at one period they lost over 20 games in a row, change ownership several times, and improve to the point where they played, but lost, the 1996 Grand Final. In subsequent years they've qualified for the finals many times, but never made another Grand Final, let alone win one.

AFL footy is a frivolous, time consuming and frustrating part of my life, but I'm not about to give it up. I just hope I live long enough to see my team win a Premiership. Many have died waiting. The last was in 1933!

A quick Google dredged up these three articles regarding Hurricanes and Global Warming ...

The dramatic increase in tropical storms during the past decade has sparked a widening debate among meteorologists about whether global warming is playing a role in hurricane formation and intensity.

Some researchers say global warming is causing more active hurricane seasons. Others say global warming is not causing more storms to form, but is causing them to become more powerful.

and

Hurricanes have grown significantly more powerful and destructive over the last three decades due in part to global warming, says an MIT professor who warns that this trend could continue.

"My results suggest that future warming may lead to an upward trend in [hurricanes'] destructive potential, and--taking into account an increasing coastal population--a substantial increase in hurricane-related losses in the 21st century," reports Kerry Emanuel in a paper appearing in the July 31 online edition of the journal Nature.

and

Is global warming making hurricanes more ferocious? New research suggests the answer is yes.

Scientists call the findings both surprising and 'alarming' because they suggest global warming is influencing storms now — rather than in the distant future.

It's ironic that the country that contributes most to global climate change, and one that constantly refuses to do anything about it, is suffering the effects in the form of hurricanes of increased intensity.

Hundreds of lives lost and billions of dollars damage is the cost of ignoring the effects of releasing greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. Insurance premiums will rise globally to cover the damage payout and increased risk. Living in Australia will not insulate us from these increases.

It's time for the nay sayers to acknowledge that climate change is happening and it's caused by human activity. Time to start taking measures to limit emissions of green house gasses. Time to acknowledge the potential terrible effects of global climate change. Time to do something about it while the process is still able to be controlled.