May you live in interesting times.

May you live in interesting times.

In my 28 years of life I have voted in three different Federal Electorates; Chisholm, McEwen and Scullin. In the senate I have voted above the line and below the line at times. I have voted for the Liberals, the Labor Party, the Greens and Independents. And each election I have watched the count and gone to bed knowing who is governing my country.

And now…

We have a hung Federal Parliament. We have four independents Tony Windsor, Rob Oakeshott, Bob Katter and Andrew Wilkie. A Green in Melbourne and WA National Tony Crook. No one knows who will form government but it is interesting that all the Former National/Country party people are saying that Braodband is an important area, along with Health and Education.

Listening to Tony, Rob and Bob on election night, on The Press Club, and through the media over the past week I am very impressed with all of their performances. And I find myself partly dismayed with the performance of certain sections of the media.

I do not agree with all of their views, but I admire the way that they have carried out their proceedings over the past days.

I do not agree with all of Bob Katter’s views, but I take offence at the media painting Mr Katter as an alien, or an American cowboy with no insight or understanding of Australia. Having friends in the country, working on farms whilst trying to survive I know that there are different issues facing country Australia than the issues here in Melbourne and I admire Bob Katter for being able to speak for country Australia and being able to highlight these issues despite persecution. Especially as the National Party, the Labor Party and the Liberal party have been ignoring country Australia for decades.

Reading Emma Rodgers article at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/30/2996808.htm the National Party is meeting in Canberra to consider what they will demand in a Coalition government. Why didn’t they do this before? Why don’t they do this every three years?

On a similar topic I like Rob Oakeshott’s idea of a Unity Government, one where members of parliament, all 150, all work together for the betterment of Australia. I would wholly support my member of parliament, the honourable member for Chisholm supporting such a government. Can I please also be the first to nominate Rob Oakeshott for Prime Minister so that we can move forwards with real action.





"If it's up to me, then the gong goes to whoever's going to give us the right to survive and I couldn't care less whether they're the Labor Party, the Liberal Party or the callithumpian mongoloid party." - Bob Katter

A week ago a Google search shows about 500 results for Callithumpian Mongoloid Party, a search now shows about 1280 results.

Winter Reading

Books and Stories:

Chinese Folktales by Howard Giskin

Hell to Heaven by Kylie Chan

Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons

The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains by Neil Gaiman

Delta of Venus by Anais Nin

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

Twitterature by Alexander Aciman & Emmett Rensin

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Mythology


Plays:

The Mousetrap and Selected Plays by Agatha Christie
(And Then There Were None, Appointment With Death, The Hollow, The Mousetrap)

Weekend by Matthew Lambert

The Last Days by Manuel Casha

Zoo Story by Edward Albee

Plays by Tom Stoppard
(The Real Inspector Hound, After Magritte, Dirty Linen, New-Found-Land, Dogg’s Hamlet, Cahoot’s Macbeth)


Re-read:

Four books by Kylie Chan
The Sandman by Neil Gaiman
The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays by Oscar Wilde