Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

Isn't it weird. Amrozi is about to be shot dead as the Indonesian courts decide they can't even look at the nation's Constitutional protection of human rights re the Bali Nine plea not to be shot dead - because they're foreigners. I, for one, will never forgive this government for handing over our bloody stupid, off the rails young people for arrest, knowing Indonesia had the death penalty for such offences. Yet there is silence from Labor. Where is Labor's promise to never ever let this happen again?

The Spooky Men's Chorale supported the Not Happy John launches in 2004 and 2007, and for the 2004 campaign wrote their extended treatise on the politics of Australia and how to fix its problems, Vote the Bastards Out. Their performance at Gleebooks was one of the few good moments in the election campaign so far. Now they're launching their new release, Stop Scratching It - a treatise on how to run the War on Terror ...

We are now entering a long political drought. For in this election climate, we are complicit in a new and frightening dismissal in Australian politics. It is the dismissal of Human Rights.

Greens response to CES survey

"This is about breaking the code of silence that has developed after 11 years of the Howard Government. Access to government information and decision-making are keys to a healthy and vibrant democracy. It also means that members of the community can obtain reasonable access to government records and documents that affect their lives." From Labor's honest politics policy

Malcolm is Webdiary's candidate in Wentworth. He writes: "Well, the Federal Election is shaping up to be as boring as batshit so webdiarist Malcolm B. Duncan decided to enlist some help to fulfill a promise he made me a while ago.   The family pet writes...

In a recent article in the Jerusalem Post David Kimche highlighted the rise of support for one-state among some Palestinians in the context of a possible failure of the Annapolis conference. He envisaged the following scenario.

Recently, Andrew Hewett, Executive Director of Oxfam Australia was asked to address a joint meeting of the Uniting Church and Rotary on the business ethics of climate change in, of all places, the La Trobe Valley. This is what he said.

As this century unfolds I find that I am living in a changed Australia. While it is still a country of great potential we have gone backwards in a number of ways over the last decade. Our future is not simply a matter of sustaining economic prosperity ...  Australians need to address a range of other issues. The decision to join the invasion of Iraq ... was in my judgement, the worst foreign policy decision made by any Australian government since the end of World War II. (Richard Woolcott)

Kerryn Higgs: "As the campaign rolls on, we will hear the government’s specious arguments over and over again. Guy Pearse’s book provides a very useful antidote to the overblown claims of “world leadership” which will surely lace the rhetoric." Sally Woodward: "This book should be on the ‘must read’ list for all Australians, but none more so than those who believe or hope the Howard Government will come around on climate change if re-elected."

"During the election campaign, we are asking people to enter the Australia Fair site and email their local candidates (this will be automated) calling for action to improve fairness in Australia. We are also asking candidates to prepare statements for posting on the website." Peter Davidson, ACoSS

I felt a very complicated ethical dilemma when photographing a young deaf Hijabi ... .  I felt that in a way there was something a little exploitative about it, to use a person's religious obligations to make a particular visual statement. Muslims don't wear Islamic dress to represent "multiculturalism" or any other agenda, rather, they do it because it is an expectation of their religion.

A space for you to get your (and my) reactions down as it happens and as they occur to you.

To be fair to our pollies (not my natural inclination) health policy is an incredibly difficult area.  Health has the potential to absorb as much money as we can devote to it.  Even one area (say cancer research) could absorb our entire government spending.  This seems ridiculous (and it is of course), but consider: if it was your child dying of cancer ...

The latest update from the Democratic Audit program at ANU on how our democracy is working.

“Oh, my head. What day is it? What Country is it? Who was that woman? Was it a woman? Was it only one woman? I MUST stop drinking absinthe. Go for the Greens they said. Oh, my head.    Where’s the … oh sorry… bloody cat. " Alphonse de Ponce.

The re-election of John Howard in 2004 with a majority in both houses of parliament is surely one of the low points in Australian political life. By 2004, we already had compelling evidence of Howard’s duplicity. So when we handed control of both houses of parliament to this known scoundrel, it exposed the failings of our media, our two-party system and our civil society itself.

There is something patently illiberal and unconservative about despising individuals due to factors beyond their control. To despise an individual due to the colour of their skin or their ethno-religious background requires a suspension of one’s reason. I always thought Liberals believed individuals should be given every opportunity to reach their full potential regardless of their background. All of which raises the question — is John Howard’s Party still a Liberal Party? And if it isn’t, who should real Liberals be voting for in the upcoming election?

Housing affordability is at a record low in Australia for purchasers and renters. Webdiarist Evan Hadkins has some suggestions to make from the perspective of renters. This has the potential to be a hot-button issue for the looming Federal election.

A decade ago The Greens had a very simple slogan - “No environment no economy”. Today that is even truer. "Ten years ago it was a warning. Now, in 2007; it is a description of our reality. And the farmers, the fishers, the tourism industry workers, the city dwellers on water restrictions – Australians everywhere – know this is true. Without the environment, there is no economy." Bob Brown

Evan Hadkins reviews On Holidays: A History of Getting Away in Australia by Richard White. Evan suggests that not only is it a well-written work, "academic in the best sense", but also, "in its own sneaky way ... very political ... giv[ing] a bit of ballast to our perceptions of the current debates around IR."

In northern NSW local communities are getting increasingly anxious about the effects of logging on their catchments. Recently a court refused to convict several people who had taken direct action to protect their catchment. Now the residents of another valley are preparing for action.

Melbourne launch details - Yeah!  Today, Monday 22 October, 10.30 a.m. at at EQ Café Bar, 100 St. Kilda Rd, City. (Back of the Arts Centre, the first restaurant on the boardwalk of the Yarra.)

Malcolm B Duncan, a prominent member of his local Kings Cross community, is a Sydney barrister known for saying what he thinks about or vice versa.  He intends standing as an independent candidate in the federal electorate of Wentworth. His least successful political slogans were "Come and have a beer with Duncan" and "Vote Donkey; Vote Duncan".  He is Chairman of the Taxation Reform Party (NSW) Inc.

Now that the election has been called I suspect we are about to hear a lot of talk about vision and the future.  Most of it, of course, will be tosh.  So I want a way to get past the rhetoric to what our politicians really think the future will look like.  This is education policy.