Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

"Old forests usually have deeper more complex root systems. They capture rain and transport it deep into the soil and store it, they are not putting on a huge amount of bulk, they have done most of their growing, so they store more water than they use. The soil in such a forest is less compacted there is an increase in humic acid and as a result the soil holds more water. In dryer times when there is less rain, the old tree root systems are able to move the water up through the soil. But what is truly remarkable is that this water actually makes its way into creeks and streams and flows on down the rivers. So one of the main functions of an old forest is that it maintains water supply in dry times. It amazes me that the Government agencies still haven’t worked out that there is a connection between the groundwater and the surface water." Susie Russell

Costello's remarks are his attempt to get what he believes to be the truth of the Howard years on the public record. He knew when he said them that he'd never be PM. His most telling remark was "It's a Sydney thing".

"Over time, the scientific evidence that the climate is warming has become quite compelling and the link between emissions of greenhouse gases from human activity and higher temperatures is also convincing. Australia has long been an active player in the search for an efficient, effective and equitable solution to climate change." John Howard

A July Newspoll survey reveals there is widespread support by Australians for paid maternity leave (76%) for working women, with an overwhelming 78% of those in support of paid maternity leave in favour of the financial responsibility being shared jointly by employers, workers and the Federal Government. 71% supported a scheme funded by employers and employees only. “These results clearly show this is a critical issue for many Australian families with young children, struggling to meet their work and social responsibilities,” said Ms Marie Coleman, spokesperson for the National Foundation for Australian Women (NFAW).

So, Australia now officially has its own Guantanamo Bay. And Howard didn't do the honours, but left it to poor old Andrews. Why? Doesn't think people believe him any more? Flying a kite to see what happens? So what did Howard do today, apart from order Andrews to detain Haneef.  APEC, that's what. Can anyone feel another terror scare coming up?

Imagine a Media Watch which didn't criticise the ABC. It would be meaningless, yes? Well so is Tim Blair when it comes to media and political commentary.

At last! I've just noticed that an alternative plan to Howard's plan to solve child abuse in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities has been proposed.  It's by the Combined Aboriginal Organisations of the NT. Now we've got 2 plans to compare. What do you think?

The Law Council of Australia today issued its considered position on the new terror laws in the light of their effect in practice. Here is its press release. Webdiary has campaigned for many years on the necessity of stopping the government, any government, from having the sole right to breach our democratic rights. The citizens in a democracy are supposed to live under the Rule of Law, not of men, and that offers the fundamental protection of citizens against arbitrary action by a government is the only real protection any of us have against governments taking away our freedoms to suit their political agenda.

Hello.  I've been off line for five days traveling with a friend from the South visiting her friends and mine and chilling out. Thank you, thank you to Fiona, Richard and David for keeping comments ticking along. I hope everyone is content at how Webdiary is traveling but if not, let me know in the comments box.

Hello. Just seen the news tonight and am absolutely dumbfounded that Howard and his defence minister have admitted that we're in Iraq because of its oil. He strongly denied it before the war. Most Australians now know that he was lying about his reasons for ordering our troops to invade Iraq. But who'd have thought they'd admit to the lie!

"A lot of people ask me why I seem to be so committed to Israel - I mean, I’m a Christian, not Jewish and although I remember staying here in this hotel about three years ago ... and I think I could almost be described as an honorary Jew with a lot of the views that I hold about the issues that Jewish people confront.  But a lot of people do ask me why I am so committed to Israel.  And I think there are a variety of explanations for that.  One of them is a bit historic and I think some of you have heard me say this before.  When I was a child at school and subsequently when I went to university in England, for no particular reason, Jewish people seemed to befriend me as some other people did as well [laughter], but I seemed to have quite a lot of Jewish friends." Alexander Downer

In their present form the proposals miss the mark and are unlikely to be effective. There is an over-reliance on top-down and punitive measures, and insufficient indication that additional resources will be mobilised where they are urgently needed; to improve housing, child protection and domestic violence supports, schools, health services, alcohol and drug rehab programs. These issues have been raised by many Indigenous leaders over many years.

Through representative government and the placing of the laws and nominated liberties in the hands of independent judges, sovereignty in the sense of power over others became the opposite of absolute and arbitrary.  It became limited and predictable.  Personal liberty involved a freedom to act, including in relation to property, and a freedom to speak, in any way not prohibited by the law.  Criminal laws could only be prospective.  Equality meant everyone was equally bound and protected by the law, although it did not mean political equality.  The independence of the judiciary existed to protect the community from arbitrary command.

The aim of the following recommendations should be plain from the report. They are offered to the Chief Minister in the knowledge that the safety of children is everybody’s business, not just that of government. Parents have responsibilities too.

Prime Minister why have you judged it necessary to take control of land bestowed under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act? "Because we don't believe we can effectively implement these changes without taking that authority."

"I really appreciated your Not Happy, John! campaign and like many Australians felt crushed and helpless at Howard's 2004 victory. Nevertheless, obsessed with his success, I determined to write a book targeting those Australians who don't normally read books about politics; a difficult if not impossible task. I told myself that if the book were well enough written, it might be possible to break through. I worked on this for almost a year." Mike Clancy

"FAMILY FIRST will protect small business by introducing legislation to ensure smaller operators are protected from predatory pricing, where powerful retailers drop their prices in one area to drive out competitors, before raising prices later on.  It is a joke that small business has been waiting for protection for over three years, since the Senate Economics References Committee recommended action. We cannot undo the market domination but we can have laws that ensure genuine competition and the lowest possible prices."

"I am going to say something that few people in public life will say, but most know is absolutely true: a vast aspect of our jobs today - outside of the really major decisions, as big as anything else - is coping with the media, its sheer scale, weight and constant hyperactivity. At points, it literally overwhelms." Tony Blair

Pauline's story is of a naive, uneducated woman who was taken on rather than took a roller coaster political ride, got unjustly jailed and was set free to become a darling of the popular media. Do I recommend this book? Yes, for all its faults.

I reckon what Brown's tried to do is put a cat among the pigeons. He's trying to put a bomb under the unspoken underlying issues here, the collective delusion that's seeing us destroy the planet's capacity to sustain us as a species. No one mainstream is game. Brown has thrown up a real radical one, in the hope that we might finally get to some of those issues.

"Because of my angle of vision, I see the flag as symbolising the war on Iraq, the war on refugees and Howard's war on the rule of law, once fundamental to our British Heritage, and on human rights for all Australians. But that's just me. I don't have a problem with other people wearing the flag. I do have a problem with the attitude that because it's not my thing, there's something unAustralian about me. Like the message some wore on the Big Day Out, 'Support or fuck off'. And I do have a problem with groups being told to fly the flag or else." Margo Kingston

" I’d say that since the Hanson image and John Howard's appropriation of the flag for political purposes louts and racists have colonised the display of the flag in some respects, as evidenced by its use during the Cronulla riots. So I’d support a ban, as the use of the flag in this way is itself a desecration of our flag. We’re talking a huge, sweaty, alcohol laden event here. Why give aggressive people with a yen for violence and hate a prop like the Australian flag to stir things up with?" Margo Kingston

Equipped with the ethical guidelines for good journalism, there is no reason why citizens with all sorts of expertise and experience can't worm their way into the closed club of media-politics-business and seek and get answers now hidden because the questions are never asked. Their accountability would come from the fact that their reports and pieces are themselves open to scrutiny and corrections from other readers through comments. And that before they become citizen journalists they must earn the trust and respect of other readers and contributors.

Margo has retired from Webdiary from midnight Wednesday 8 December. See "Don't go away yet" for what happens next, and "What happens next?" for what happens after that ...

UPDATE Dec 5 by Margo: The Government has just announced a crunched, derisory Senate debate on the Welfare to Work package. Speeches will be allowed from 8.30pm to 11.30pm tonight. Amendments must be debated, questions asked and votes taken between 7.30pm and 11pm tomorrow. You can hear and/or watch the debate here. 

UPDATE Dec 1 by Margo: Western Australian Liberal MP Judi Moylan tells Webdiary why she abstained on the House of Reps vote today on the Welfare to Work package.

November 30, Judi's speech to the House of Reps: "In my view, we have lost a golden opportunity to reform welfare in a meaningful way and put in place a package of measures that would strongly support not just the incentives for employers but true and real incentives for employees with additional caring responsibilities and disabilities to be supported in their efforts to access the workplace. I find this cut in income support really very disturbing the eve of the delivery of tax cuts for families earning more than $1,200 a week. We will all be the poorer if this legislation goes through. In my view, that part of the legislation which cuts income support and imposes disincentives and high effective or marginal rates of tax on some of the most vulnerable groups in our community does not deserve the support of this parliament." Judi Moylan, MP

December 2, 2005. An Australian is hanged. The career of a would-be Prime Minister who made his name breaking union power in the Courts is in ruins. The IR legislation passes the Senate as a fierce and thunderous storm whips through Canberra. Drivers in a long line of white cars outside the Parliament's Senate Entrance waiting to take the Senators away turn on their lights as rumours fly that the airport is closed. A tree uprooted by the storm falls in a nearby suburb, killing a man.

"The Government has settled on amendments to improve and strengthen the Anti-Terrorism Bill currently before Parliament." Philip Ruddock

"A series of terrorism bills were introduced into this chamber in March 2002. The basis for them being introduced set the pattern. They were introduced at 8 pm on 12 March 2002—a hundred pages of legislation; a hundred pages of explanatory memorandum—and were debated the very next day. Under the original proposed bill, the government were seeking ASIO warrants to be provided for indefinite detention and questioning of persons, including children, who have information on terrorist attacks. They proposed detention incommunicado. They proposed no right to decline to give information or produce a document, no penalty for officers who do not administer the bill correctly and no parliamentary oversight. That legislation, of course, in 2002 had serious flaws. Labor was able to make that legislation better, ensuring the terrorists—but only the terrorists—were targeted." Simon Crean on Howard's form

"Why did the Treasurer still appoint this man to the Reserve Bank board? It is crystal clear—Mr Gerard had bought it, and the going price was more than a million dollars. Mr Gerard had bought it. This government is so arrogant, so conceited and so disregarding of the ordinary standards of public life that, if you front up to the Liberal Party with $1 million-odd, you can get yourself anything. Despite a track record of dishonesty, you can get yourself anything. What this man got himself was a position on the Reserve Bank board. That is the allegation the Treasurer should have answered in the 10 minutes he had to speak on this matter in this parliament. That is the allegation he refused to answer, and he will not answer it because it is true." Julia Gillard

UPDATE 1.15PM by Margo: The Coalition will have a special joint partyroom meeting later this week to discuss the terror laws and IR. Despite this, Howard will force a House of Representatives vote on terror tonight at about 8pm. Labor will move an amendment removing sedition from the package as recommended by the Senate Committee, putting Liberal MPs who oppose sedition like Petro Georgiou and Malcolm Turnbull in an awful bind. More contempt for Parliamentary process by Howard. And for "his" MPs.

"In a report which I would describe as a consensus report—that is to say that the elected members of the committee are agreed on the substance of the report, although some have made additional comments—the committee has made 52 recommendations which we believe go a long way towards enhancing the operation of the bill. The report sets out those key findings and recommendations and I would like to speak briefly to some of those." Marise Payne on the terror laws report by the Senate Committee she chairs