July 2006 Archives

You can't be right all the time!

John Howard's announcement that he's staying on to contest the next election torpedoed the Sty's bold prediction that he'd bail by the end of the year. Being churlish, I reckon he would have but for Peter's whinge about broken promises.

At least this revelation will end the tedious line of questions regarding Howard's immediate intentions, only to be replaced by the inevitable questioning about his retirement intentions if he wins in 2007.

Labor is going to push Howard hard on this, putting him under a lot of pressure to commit to staying for the entire next term of government if he wins. I can't wait to see Costello's reaction if this happens.

Miranda Divine's columns of late have been more irritating than is usual. Today's is no exception. Titled "Green Tape Can Endanger People's Lives," she starts off by bagging Peter Garret's views on uranium mining.

HERE we go. Peter Garrett, the ALP's great white hope for winning the greenie vote, is defying Kim Beazley's attempt to gently change Labor policy against uranium mining. Despite a global re-examination of nuclear energy as a possible cleaner energy alternative, Garrett refuses to budge.

No surprises there. Garret's been against mining uranium for his entire career. It's unlikely he'll ever change*. She goes on ...

It is hard to dislike Garrett. But he, along with the soft, utopian environmentalism that has so successfully infiltrated and warped 21st-century thinking and every level of our government and bureaucracy, are nonetheless dangerous.

She then attempts, and fails, to prove just how dangerous Garrett and his ilk are by referring to the coroner's enquiry into the Canberra bush fires of 2003, in which four people died.

On Friday [the coroner] adjourned the enquiry for the last time to consider her recommendations.

But no matter how much legalese and bureaucratic nonsense is employed to obscure the truth, two unpalatable facts remain. First, years of government kowtowing to green demands has meant NSW's burgeoning collection of national parks were mismanaged to the point where they became fire hazards and local bushfire brigades were hamstrung by green tape. Secondly, a preoccupation by the ACT Government and its agencies with media management and political spin led to the deaths of at least two people.

Divine produces little evidence to back up her first claim. She suggests the ACT's Emergency Services Bureau is influenced by 'green' groups, based on a reference to an endangered frog in a meeting prior to the fires arriving in Canberra. Nothing about how the national parks are mismanaged or how local bushfire brigades were hampered by 'green tape.'

The bulk of her article is mostly about the second claim, where she details the failings of the government agencies in informing the population of the dangers of the approaching fires. It has nothing to do with any 'green' issue.

This seems to be typical of her recent writing. She starts the article with comments and claims that are not relevant to, or proven by, the remainder.

*Footnote: Miranda has traditionally been a 'greenhouse' sceptic. It's interesting that she now acknowledges carbon dioxide is a 'greenhouse' gas.

[The fires] spewed 18 months worth of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere ...

Like many conservative writers, Miranda acknowledges climate change now that there's a conservative push for the adoption of nuclear power generation.

Usually, I avoid writing on hostilities involving Israel. The issues are complex, and I prefer to leave it to others better qualified to comment.

I visited the region as a back-packer during the early 80s. At the time, the Sinai peninsula was being handed back to Egypt as a result of the peace treaty with that country. The place was relaxed by today's standards. The markets in Jerusalem were packed with tourists, and it was easy to travel round the country. I spent several weeks there before crossing the newly opened boarder on route to Cairo.

Things have certainly gone backwards since then. I'm told that few tourists go there anymore. I can only imagine what it would be like living under the constant threat of suicide bombers.

I'm not going to go into the rights and wrongs of what is happening there at the moment, apart from acknowledging that Israel was provoked. I'll just make the following observation.

Since first becoming aware of the Middle East conflict through news reports of the 1967 war, I've observed Israel's policy of serious retribution in response to aggression. When attacked, they hit back with far greater ferocity. It's a constant theme of the conflict, and it's done Israel absolutely no good whatsoever. It's a public relations disaster; it's caused the other side to take more desperate measures to retaliate, and be susceptible to the influence of extremists.

The Israelis have not learnt anything from history. They can bomb the West Bank and Lebanon into oblivion but it won't have the desired effect. The only certainty this action will have is to create even more angry people who'll perform even more outrageous acts against them (and perhaps us) in the years to come.

Peter Costello was a trusting lad to believe John Howard's 12 year old promise to vacate the leadership after one and a half terms. Trusting, and blind to history. Surely the (then) recent memory of Bob Hawk's reluctance to leave after a similar promise to Paul Keating would have sounded an alarm?

Political leaders rarely leave on their own accord, but perhaps Howard will be one of the few. After all, the party's polling is down as a result of "No Work Choices," his Benelong electoral seat will become more marginal after the distribution, and, the clincher, the Howards are spending money on their home which has been vacant for 10 years. He had a difficult path to power, and I suspect he considers losing an election as unacceptable. He'll go, and soon.

Costello hasn't emulated Keating and caused a leadership spill. I'd like to think this indicates a lack of 'ticker,' but I suspect Costello also believes that Howard will quit.

I was going to write this last week, being in Dubbo for the state primary school girls' soccer championships, after 'Twin One' qualified for the second year running. A dodgy dial up connection and a 12 year old who thought I'd brought a laptop purely for her to chat on MSN put paid to that.

The result between Australia and Italy is now history and the result's been well worked over by the media. Leaving aside the question of whether the penalty should have been awarded, the big question of what effect the the World Cup is going to have on the game now that the country has has finally taken notice of it. My guess is, in the short term, not a lot.

The 'A League' should continue to do well while it's held in summer, and the teams should find it easier to attract sponsorship, hopefully to the point where they become solvent. However, the problem of the better players moving off shore will remain and prevent the competition from becoming world class.

We'll have to wait and see if the internationals within the Asian group attract the same level of interest, and whether the elite players will want / be able to leave their European clubs to participate.

I don't think the amateur participation levels for the sport will change that much, despite the recent spike in participation. After all, it's already the most popular amateur football code by a country mile, and the 'soccer mums' aren't going to disappear.

Diehard supporters of the sport should be happy if the net effect of Australia's WC adventure boils down to the education the average punter. It won't change his lifetime sporting allegiances, but at least he won't completely ignore the game as he did in the past.