Month: January 2006

When Julie Bishop was elevated to the Education Ministry this week some papers dragged out a 2003 interview in which she described herself as an “economic dry and a social liberal” which she said reflected “mainstream Australia these days”.

The comment seems off the mark given the make-up of the Government which is mostly economically dry and socially conservative. Nor is it true of much of the Labor Party which is economically troglodyte and socially conservative.

But it is not off the mark when you consider that both the Government and the Labor Party are dogs being waved by powerful tails. In Labor’s case it is the unions and the remnant influence of the Catholic Church. In the Government’s case it is the National Party.

Nearly all the economic dullardism on the Government’s side comes from the Nationals and a lot of the social conservatism does as well. Obviously, John Howard’s social conservatism contributes significantly, but even then Howard gets succour for those views in the joint party room and Cabinet from the Nationals. Without it, social liberals would have been able to exert more influence.
Continue reading “forum for saty 29 jan 2006 nationals”

A faded hand-written sign in large, but faded, red letters on a yellow block house wall says: “Welcome to Million Dollar Point”.

The block house is the size of a small toilet public-toilet block. Left over from World War II, when the US used the Vanuatu island of Espiritu Santos as a major store, staging post and port in the war against Japan.

Million Dollar Point does not look a million dollars now – 60 years after the events that gave it its name.

A couple of families of Vanuatans have come in taxis (they cannot afford their own cars) for a picnic. A dive boat has arrived from Bokissa Island resort with some divers to see what is under the water at this extraordinary place.
Continue reading “forum for saty 21 jan vanuatu”

We are probably about to move to a world without bookstores and indeed a world with fewer books.

Last week Sony announced “Librie”, an electronic book reader. It is the size of a book and it has a paper-like screen described by reviewers as “amazing”. The paper-like screen avoids the obvious difficulty of reading the printed word on a LCD screen – that it hurts the eyes.

“Librie” can store 400 or more books and you can download from a library of 50,000.

When you combine this technology with Google’s plan to scan in millions of books from major university libraries and put all the out-of-copyright ones on line, it makes you question whether the paper version of books will have much of a future.
Continue reading “Forum for saty 10 jan no more books”

Is this a parent talking from a war zone or after a natural disaster or some terrorist attack?

No. It is an Australian parent of an eight-year-old boy killed crossing a road with his 11-year-old sister. The girl is now in a critical condition in hospital.

The comparison between the roads and the “war on terror” is instructive.

More people died on Australian roads over Christmas-New Year – 54 – than in the London bombing of 2005 – 52.

More people died in the ACT in 2005 – 26 – than all of the political-terrorist killings on Australian soil since federation.
Continue reading “Forum for saty 7 Jan 2006 road terror”