Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

The one constant about democracy is that the job description for the national government never changes. Government is meant to provide security and public infrastructure, to correct for market failure, and to avoid telling people how to live their lives. (George Megalogenis)

Please feel free to comment on or review the book, correct any errors I've made, and let others know what's happening where you live.

UPDATE NOVEMBER 30: When Brendan got elected, I thought the Hornet/F1-11 scandal could bring him down. I wonder if Labor will pursue this? See New Defence Minister questions jet fighter purchase and Labor promises air combat review. As I said in this piece, there should be a judicial inquiry into this scandal. But would Labor be game? I don't think so.

John Valder's 2007 election result comment

Hi Margo, now that Maxine has claimed Bennelong, I can pay my tribute to her. Wayne Swan said on the election night that when Maxine decided to challenge Howard, it lifted and energised the whole Party. How true, how true, it certainly energised me.

Video by PF Journey

videos

video by PF Journey

We take this opportunity to urge all political parties to commit to the establishment of an independent and comprehensive review of the operation of ministerial accountability so as to modernise and strengthen it. This is a matter that transcends party politics. It goes to the very heart of the way we are governed.

Peter Ellis finds that the groups that produce election scorecards, so far, endorse the Greens and Democrats on environment, climate change, overseas aid, rural health, and women’s issues.

"Why do some posters and print and distribute them with our own money? Because I am angry." Jonathan Nolan on citizen campaigning in Wentworth

Here's the aftermath of that incident ... An obvious subject for a CAPTION COMPETITION
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Below the surface of political debate and commentary, and the commentary on the commentary, there are the actual techniques and systems of Australian government administration.  Those interested in the systemic and cultural changes that lie behind recent Australian public policy practice could do worse than check out a resource from a possibly surprising source - the OECD

With only weeks to go until the election, I thought I'd better pull my finger out and try to learn something about Kevin Rudd. I must admit, Rudd’s winning the Labor leadership for me was a bit of a bummer. His fastidious personality and love of detail seemed perfect for some high brow portfolio, but I couldn’t imagine the public flocking to him as leader. (Boy was I wrong.)

Kingston has an excellent nose for a story and a profound sense of the historical context and importance of each. Future historians of this period may disagree with her, but they won’t be able to ignore her. As William Randolph Hearst said of the craft of journalism, it is by definition about exposing what someone somewhere doesn’t want to see in print, and “the rest is advertising”.

There is nothing to beat a morning walk in a beautiful and exotic place. I have seen John Howard walking, very often, by the beautiful Sydney Harbour from Kirribilli to Luna Park and to Lavendar Bay. I have seen him by sidewalk in front of the White House, the great Wall of China, the Forbidden City in Beijing, and get ambushed by the Chaser Boys by the Yarra River or the Howard Ladies who offerred him the Erection (sorry the Election) viagra. Yes, I wish I could walk a mile in his shoes. I still enjoy my walks very much but I have also discovered another way of keeping fit that is just as enjoyable, if not more enjoyable...

Most people prepare themselves for disappointment but Margo Kingston put an excessive and dangerous emotional investment in to a Howard defeat (not a Latham victory) in 2004. She put a misplaced faith in to the spontaneous Iraq war protests and in to her online activism. She set herself up for failure. Then she burnt out.

Hi there. I wrote my first letter to the editor this week, published yesterday in the Canberra Times, about the Australian Christian Lobby's attack on the Greens. I did my first door knocking ever last Saturday - oh the pleasure in overcoming that fear - and yesterday I helped advise Kerrie Tucker when she filmed an election ad. The lesson there was not to be so bloody anxious and intense that it rubs off on the candidate! 

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 ...

"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

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

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

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.)

Hello. Here is the Australian Law Council's statement yesterday on the death penalty debate. The recent history of this issue is very interesting, as is its prominence now. I'll try to write something later. 

Margo and Catharine Lumby launch at gleebooks, 49 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe: Cost: $10/$7 conc.. Book: gleebooks - 02 9660 2333 or Request a place

"Elections, Parliament, the media, freedom of speech - these can all bethought of just as tools to enable citizens to exerciseaccountability.  Accountability has two components.  First, a target oragent (such as an executive government) has to explain their actionsand the reasons behind them to seekers of accountability (such as thepublic).  Second, there needs to be power to impose sanctions whenthose actions and reasons are considered unsatisfactory.  In theabsence of either of these elements, there is no accountability and nodemocracy." Peter Ellis

Margo Kingston and John Valder launch Still Not Happy John
Monday 8 October, 5:30pm, Manning Clarke House,
11 Tasmania Circuit, Forest. Be there!

"(The Australian Electoral Commission's) long-standing reluctance to seek judicial clarification of the law and its application was demonstrated in this Kirribilli House matter, when there was - at a minimum - conflicting legal opinion deserving of resolution by a court, and no judicial precedent to guide.    Until such court precedents are established – or at least a body of public legal opinion available – the funding and disclosure rules under the Act will remain open to more, rather than less, politicised debate." Graeme Orr  

I  voted for John Winston Howard in 1996. Like many Australians, I was angry with Paul Keating.  He may have lost me when he promised not to sell the Commonwealth Bank and then did.  It may have been his scare--mongering over John Hewson’s Fightback! package, to steal the 1993 election – as a voter I’d admired Hewson’s plucky vision, and the ‘World’s Greatest Treasurer’ had himself -championed a consumption tax.  

Endnotes from the first edition