The Women of Simpson

Fiona Uncategorized

Just on a fortnight ago, Gorgeous Dunny emailed me with this thread-starter. Among other things, he said:

Assuming a worst-case scenario, I thought that this story might be useful. It is nothing like what we had discussed about the gutting of the CES, but I did do a useful digression at one point in the story to explain why we need to have a fairly strong bureaucracy, and that some of the work they do is extremely valuable.

We may be facing a slash and burn if Hockey gets his hands on the Treasury keys. So it could be a useful reminder of the type of thing we’d lose.

I think Gorgeous Dunny is right. We need to refocus, we need to start the campaign for the next election NOW, and we need to trumpet every broken promise, every bit of damage to the polity, every bit of stupidity that this Abbott-led government will undoubtedly commit.

Thank you, GD, for your clarion call to arms!

Simpson is a small township in the Heytesbury district of Western Victoria, roughly between the regional cities of Colac and Warrnambool. Simpson is relatively close to other larger townships of Cobden, Timboon and Camperdown. It was founded after World War 2 as a base for soldier settlement farmers.

With less concern for such matters at that time, native forest was cleared to allow farming. It was suited for dairy farming, as was the entire district. The climate is cool with a high rainfall. The soil, once part of a volcanic area, is fertile. The farming flourished in that endeavor.

As one of the country’s most productive dairy regions, butter, cheese, ice cream and powdered milk factories prospered. By the 1970s, Kraft Foods decided to establish a cheese factory at Simpson. Kraft was already a dominant influence in Warrnambool and Allansford. Thus, the Victorian Government greeted the investment with some enthusiasm.

The Minister for Decentralisation, Mr Digby Crozier, was very keen to encourage any country investment and employment prospects. When Kraft first proposed the factory, he offered to build Ministry of Housing dwellings at Simpson to accommodate the employees. Kraft accepted.


(Credit: Colac Herald)

The best-laid plans of Mice and Men oft go astray – Robert Burns

The problem was that Simpson was only about ten minutes’ drive from Cobden, and about the same in different directions from Timboon and Camperdown. These places were the most likely sources of employees needed (many having the right type of experience). By the 1970s, the private car dominated as a means of transport. It was not worthwhile for employees from these places to relocate to Simpson, even though they readily accepted the work.

The Ministry of Housing was then in the unusual position of having a quantity of rental houses available at Simpson but no prospective tenants. That was contrary to the rest of the state where prospective tenants far outnumbered the housing available. It was too good to let go.

The dilemma was resolved by using that accommodation for single mothers with children. There was an abundance of single mothers on the Ministry waiting list for accommodation. As deserted wives, the victims of domestic violence, the spouses of alcoholics and drug abusers – they were invariably without means. And as the primary carers of pre-school and school-age children, they had few options for obtaining income. So the unwanted country housing became a refuge for young single-parent families (mostly from the city) in desperate need of accommodation.

There would have been adjustments for some, but the overall impact must have been positive. For the first time they had a secure cottage and land. It was at an affordable rental, and they could get on with their lives free of many stresses associated with the basics of food, clothing and shelter.

Although Simpson had minimal resources as a tiny country town, it did have the basics of a primary school, shop and park. Cobden, with a hospital, high school, super markets and other resources was only about ten minutes drive away.

As far as can be ascertained, most such families settled in well. They would have forsaken frequent contact with other family members and friends, and with services we’d take for granted such as dental and optical and the larger range retailing and recreation. That could be balanced against the freedom from abusive and violent partners. It was a safe and healthy place to raise children.

But by 1988, changes were occurring. The social security system that supported these women and their families was changing. In the 1970s, there had been a mishmash of pensions such as Widows and Deserted Wives. They had been merged under the general title of Supporting Parents Benefit. One further change during the reforms of the late 80s, however, was that the Supporting Parents Benefit ceased when the youngest dependent child turned 16 years.

Those claiming such a benefit were then expected to register for unemployment benefit, and implicit in that, to seek employment. The little haven of tranquility was suddenly exposed to threat.

This change exposed the social problem. The very strength of their location suddenly seemed a weakness. As sole supporting parents they were given housing priority. The country location, far from being a disadvantage was actually helpful, despite their city origins. Abusive and dominant ex-spouses were unlikely to trouble them.

If they were to become jobseekers, however, that very isolation could become a disadvantage. The government, sensitive to the impact from these changes to benefits, had assigned counsellors to assist in the transition. Simpson, however, was a different matter, with such a high proportion of its tenants on Supporting Parents benefit.

How I came to be involved is part of a different era in public policy, and worthy of a digression. For the last three decades it has been fashionable to talk about “reducing public waste”. In particular there have been political demands to reduce public sector staff numbers. Usually, politicians explain it away as “only cutting out excessive administrative positions” but not reducing important public contact positions. That is the political position, but it is more wishful thinking than realistic.

In my entire career I have always been happier and more effective in public contact work than in administration. But even I know the immense value of a strong administrative base. We need it to determine that our taxes are well spent. That requires a lot more than just eliminating waste and duplication. A lot must be invested in research to ensure that the scarce resources we have are spent in the most effective way. And a lot is invested in planning and developing public policy to ensure it has the widest reach for the greatest need.

The year 1981 was proclaimed the International Year of Disabled Persons (IYDP) by the United Nations. It called for a plan of action with an emphasis on equalization of opportunities, rehabilitation and prevention of disabilities.

In Australia (in an era just before the Reagan and Thatcher age took hold), all were called on to contribute in the private and public sectors. The country got right behind the idea. Great energy and investment was put into improving access for people with disabilities. Most was done on the most obvious shortcomings such as improving wheelchair access to buildings and toilets.

Our Department (Employment, Education and Training) considered access to its services, especially training and employment.
In particular, it looked at overcoming barriers to obtaining and retaining employment. It did not look at subsidies so much as to ask the question, what does such a person need to be competitive in the job market? When considered like that, the answer seemed to be to have employment skills that were in demand. From that it devised a Labour Market Program (LMP), which became known by its acronym as DAWS (Disabled Apprentice Wage Subsidy).

An employer hiring an apprentice under DAWS would receive a wage subsidy for the duration of the apprenticeship. In dollar terms it was about $130 per week. Over the duration of the apprenticeship, that meant near 100% of the wage at first year level, and a gradually receding percentage over the succeeding years as the trainee became more skilled and experienced, and was better paid.

The DAWS program was much more than just a wage subsidy, however. It had provision for Tutorial Assistance to help trainees with trade school. If a person had a hearing impairment, an intellectual disability, dyslexia or literacy problems, it could be applied to enable success. Other LMPs could be used in conjunction with DAWS. The Modifications to the Workplace Program enabled the purchase of particular equipment to be used in work. The aim was to allow the person then to focus entirely on doing the job.

From my perspective as an Employment Counsellor, DAWS was the best ever Labour Market Program. Persons with trade qualifications and skills had something to offer an employer. In most cases that meant that they became independent of social security support through employment, and sometimes self-employment, in the community. It achieved the aim of shifting the focus away from the impairment to how he or she could work. From a public point of view, such people instead of receiving benefits became taxpayers.

I have digressed at some length to illustrate the value of public policy research, evaluation and development. The argument that we can save public money by just reducing the number of jobs in the public service, especially at the Head Office administration level, is simply nonsense.

At the time of my story (the late 1980s), a great deal of research went into developing programs of assistance to employees made redundant be the reductions in tariffs. When used effectively, they could achieve good results in redeployment.

This digression was a way of explaining the Department and my role in intervening with The Women of Simpson. When Supporting Parent Benefit ceased to become available to those whose youngest child had turned sixteen, the primary support option then was unemployment benefit. To be eligible, however, persons had to be available for work and actively seeking it, or at least obtaining skills to be able to find work.

It was not just the shock in the changed conditions of support. It could potentially lead to distress as people looked at their plight. The government, sensitive to such a situation, would have already briefed and funded the two key departments Employment, Education and Training (DEET), and Social Security (DSS) to help alleviate the potential for a backlash.

The statistical data gathered by DSS included recipients of Supporting Parents Benefits, and in particular, those likely to lose that support in the next three or four years. The data would have identified anomalies such as the high proportion of beneficiaries in the Simpson area. From that it would have been a simple step to providing funding for and planning a special project. Then it would have been a matter of liaising with the resources in the area such as the Commonwealth Employment Service (CES), DSS and TAFE.

By the time I was briefed about the project it was almost ready to go. It would always have been a priority to use whatever professional resources were available. Primarily that was an Adult Education Project Officer from TAFE, a Social Worker from DSS, and me as Employment Counsellor representing DEET and the CES. Eunice from TAFE was the coordinator of the joint project. She briefed me on the aim and the details of the plan. DSS had supplied a printout of the names of sole parents in the area.

What she proposed was a mail-out to those in the target group, inviting them to attend a meeting in Simpson about the transition. The first public meeting was essentially to be a briefing one to explain the situation and how each of us may help them.
A date was set for the meeting, to be held at the Simpson primary school. The mail-out extended to single parents in adjacent locations such as Cobden, but the largest cluster was at Simpson. We did consider the transport access of all when they responded. Since three cars (CES, DSS and TAFE) were going, we arranged to ferry any of those without transport.

The meeting was to explain the transition. Our primary concern was to assure recipients that nobody was being abandoned, and that this change could represent an opportunity to improve their lives and their future prospects. All three of us spoke to identify the role of each and how we could assist.

Eunice, as the professional adult educator, spoke about the advantages of improving literacy and basic education through to computers for broadening the horizons. The DSS Social Worker assured them of income support for the transition period and beyond, as well as offering individual help for those with personal and hardship issues. I spoke about the opportunities for changing lives and expectations through education, training and employment (which in some cases would have included preparation for work and work experience).

All three of us had graduated using the opportunities provided for free tertiary education during the Whitlam and the Fraser years. In a sense we had that in common with our group. We had all entered as mature-age students and valued the opportunities presented. The meeting was essentially for information, but we must have conveyed some of our enthusiasm to the group. There was a high follow-up response to the meeting.

We planned a second meeting for just over a week later. This one was almost a whole day (with lunch provided). There were two segments to this one. Eunice ran tests to determine their literacy and education levels and current needs. Working around that part, I, together with a CES officer, interviewed all of them to register as unemployed. They needed to be registered to qualify for LMP assistance even though not claiming benefits. I worked with those not currently being tested, and later we reversed.

It was an intense day for the group and for those of us interviewing and testing.

We arranged a third meeting to inform them of the testing results, and of the CES programs assistance available. The results and the subsequent actions are worth noting (albeit I am relying on my memory). From the mail-out we had about 16 attend the first information day. Then we had about 12 attend the second full day for the testing and registering.

It was pretty near the same number attended the third meeting for the results and the recommendations on educational, training and employment directions. The results and recommended actions were very heartening.

Four of those assessed were either functionally illiterate or close to it. Another four had little more than primary education. A further few had a reasonable enough secondary education to consider higher education or TAFE courses.

The most urgent needs were for those with no or limited literacy. That was also the first geographic problem. The nearest accredited courses in literacy and bridging education were at Camperdown. None of them had their own transport. We overcame that by liaising with the Victorian Education Department.

I worked a deal where they were able to travel to and from Camperdown on the school bus system. It was unprecedented and we had to get written authority, but it was done. From memory, seven participated, including some from Cobden. Three or four of these were in the literacy group. The others were in the educational preparatory classes in basic computers and English. I believe there were a few group sessions that all joined.

I followed up with the Camperdown coordinator some weeks after they’d commenced. She was very pleased with their progress. All had made some progress in literacy and preparation studies.

She was very impressed with a Cobden lady, Jill, who at 50 was the oldest member of the group. Jill was illiterate but made great progress. Not only did she progress in literacy. In other activities Jill showed a real talent for art and produced some excellent work. She also had a great sense of humor and kept other younger ones amused and interested.

Jill had had a long battle over her life. Her husband was in prison, and apparently didn’t add much when he was home. Poverty and the struggle to raise children had taken their toll. Somehow she had remained positive. She was looking forward to life as her children grew up. Each had an individual story, but all were about survival.

That was encouraging from where we had started with the assessments and interviews. One did Year 10 at Cobden High, which her daughter was attending. Some others, a little more advanced in education, also had good outcomes. Two enrolled in TAFE vocational courses, which normally lead to work prospects. I was able to assist another two into voluntary work experience through the hospital at Cobden and the school. In each case, it eventually led to paid work when I offered the Jobstart wage subsidy to their employers.

So starting originally with a response of sixteen to our meeting, eight moved into literacy and basic education, two into vocational training and two others into voluntary and then paid work. That was a very positive response ratio.

The success might have been helped by our backgrounds as mature-age entrants into higher education. All three of us were enthusiastic about prospects ahead for them. We seemed to have an empathy with the group. The social networking has also helped.

In my professional role as an Employment Counsellor, I was expected (in addition to my case work) to complete at least two projects on special tasks per year. This easily qualified as an important one. Some months later I reviewed and evaluated the entire project and its results, which were pretty well as described.

I prepared a study paper on it for discussion at our bi-monthly statewide meeting of Employment Counsellors. It was very well received. I was very flattered that two other Counsellors asked me to send them all the written details, with the aim of adapting a similar project to their own regions.

What we achieved then was a precursor to a program eventually promoted by DSS and the CES called JET (Jobs, Education and Training). The aim of that program was to assist single parents into one of those pathways through Labour Market Programs and Educational Assistance.

It was about opportunity, and was a little broader–based than our project. Childcare assistance could also be included. The key to its success is, I believe, to convince them that it is an opportunity, not a penalty. It can put them in control of their own future.

If we can give them hope and show a way, they will achieve.

1,054 thoughts on “The Women of Simpson”

  1. Didn’t they ever notice that?

    But leone, then you’d be asking the media to do the job of producing honest analytical journalism rather than just leadershit pap.

  7. It’s so funny watching the media reeling in surprise over Abbott acting exactly as most outside observers thought he would.

    Get ready for years of boof headedness. Abbott (and Credlin) have worked out that they can use middle Australia’s discomfort with intellectualism to electoral advantage. The lone woman in Cabinet is a calculated move to continue to enrage progressives.

    The more we progressives rave about how bad Abbott truly is, the more they feel these people will solidify their support for Abbott.

    It’s a pretty frightening scenario, actually. The more Progressives, quite rightly, criticise the obvious bigotry of Abbott and co., the more Abbott can get away with. If we stay quiet, we acquiesce to his views.

    Think of the mess asylum seeker policy has made of the ALP and think of that happening across all the areas of progress made over the last 40 years.

    That is the Liberal plan.

    Finding an effective way to communicate outside that paradigm is the big issue or the ALP. Sure, a return to core values may shore up the base, but will it bring the swinging voters back?

  9. Leigh Sales won’t be getting that $75,000 from the taxpayer. Abbott’s PPL won’t come in until July 2015.

  10. Oh dear, Palmer is getting smashed in Fairfax with postal and pre_poll votes. And there’s over 1800 of them left to count, with only 780 Absent votes left, with those favouring him. And he’s down to only a 122 vote lead.

    And I mean ‘oh dear’ in just that Palmer would be more interesting in parliament than some backbench fodder LNP goon. While it might go down for a recount, it’s unlikely to change the result if it’s more than 100 votes, which seems to be what he’s set to lose by at this rate.

  11. And just as Bowen is really getting into his stride sticking it to Abbott the ABC pulls the live feed.

  12. Mesma thinks being Foreign Minister is going to lots of cocktail parties, showing a bit of leg, and doling out Death Stares when the boonga-loongas start putting tickets on themselves above their station.

    Has anyone realized that, with Mesma away lots (as she will be, being Foreign Minister) there won’t be ANY women at all physically on the front bench for perhaps weeks at a time?

    Boys Club won’t be the half of it!

    Remember the Cabinet is made up principally of relics from exclusive all-boys Catholic schools, and were past their use-by date in 2007, when they were kicked out of office, much less now in 2013. Pyne-Xavier College (Jesuit). Hockey-St. Aloysius (Jesuit). Abbott-Riverview (Jesuit). Joyce (ditto)…andI suppose there are morelurking there (someone will know).

    Above it all is Pell, their spiritual father, desperately trying to deflect relentless attention from a prying media about just what he knew regarding pedophilia among the priests for which he had pastoral responsibility (not to mention his Climate Change denialism, screwy ideas on homosexuality and general sinister “Creeping Jesus” religious ideas).

    We now have a Reserve Bank Board member, Roger Corbett, openly touting for Abbott (and perhaps bucking for the Governor’s job when it comes on line?). Corbett should have said his piece and then resigned, of course. He’d have still had Fairfax Media to gouge for his bloated salary, wouldn’t he? (heh, heh). You can’t mix politics with the highly apolitical responsibilities and duties of the Reserve Bank, an institution (I would have thought) that has to be both above the day-to-day fray of politics and be seen to be above it. But in Abbot World, the rules are different (imagine if Corbett had come out against Abbott!).

    Abbott has been written off many times before, to his critics’ cost. But now there’s no-one to boss him around I just don’t think he’ll be able to resist. The protestors in the street, thrown out of their jobs, will far out number the paltry lot of truckies and Grey Nomads that turned up to ditch the witch.

    As to electoral success, it wasn’t quite universal. The voters of Greenway, Indi and Fowler took one look at their Liberal candidates and scarpered, assigning swings away from the hapless duds Abbott put up for their consideration.. When the hard-faced (“sexy” to Abbott, who like a bit of rough trade, methinks) Fiona Scott from Lindsay opens her mouth for the first time, the good burghers of Lindsay may well have wished they’d fled the scene too. Ditto for the clueless twit in Fairfax who seems to have been sat upon heavily by the megalithic Clive.

    Joe6 is fond of saying you could put up a kelpie in Queensland as long as it was LNP, and get it elected, but, even with the disappointing turnout for the conservatives in that state, even more so it doesn’t seem to be the case in NSW and Victoria. There are limits, you know…. and the West of Sydney – the new “?Liberal Heartland” – showed that brains finally triumphed over balls, even if at the last moment.

    Abbott starts off being actively disliked by a majority of the nation’s punters. Stunts like his St. Francis of Assisi routine at the AFP college can’t have helped. Changing the ministry when he said he wouldn’t may take longer to sink in. Holding the MYEFO late – supposedly to protect the nation from its propensity to pull confidence low (but just as likely being to avoid having to note that the economy isn’t doing too badly, considering) – may backfire. And feeling the urge to ride his bicycle for two hours in the morning is just a prank, isn’t it? Do real Prime Ministers indulge themselves in such schoolboy exhibitions? When will Abbott grow up, for God’s sake?

    As someone noted above, Julia was right about the blue ties. Mocked at the time for daring to say it, she came home riding a winner on that one. Now the likes of the sycophantic Mark Kenny are being forced to note the fiasco, while making excuses for it. How many excuses can there be, though, before forgiveness sought in the absence of permission becomes the object of plain ridicule? Abbott doesn’t have a larder full enough of public admiration to start giving free cans of baked beans to the lynch mob.

    Imagine when they find out he wasn’t joking about the Schoolkids’ Bonus? Or the superannuation tax breaks for low income earners? So that wallahs can drop a sprog for a cool $75k? Pull the other one!

    It’s their own fault, really. They knew those bracelets Abbott was flogging in that back alley weren’t real gold, but they chose to believe, to convince themselves, otherwise. Now for the reckoning…

    The simple fact is that Abbott is not a leader. He’s a follower, and he’s possessed of demons that aren’t easily quietened. Some of his ministers are worse. Who wanted Matthias Cormann appointed Finance Minister? A nasty piece of work with a foreign accent, ripping the guts out of the punters’ pockets?

    He’s gutless too. When Gillard was under the pump over AWU, he let Mrs. Bitch do the dirty work, because he was too afraid to sully his new “nice guy” image. Sure, he threatened to hold a “judicial inquiry” into matters Gillard, but I bet he doesn’t. By the time the deadline comes around (“within the first six months”) he’ll be thanking his lucky stars for all that Terry Hills volunteer fire drill he’s copped, except it’ll be political fires he’s putting out, not pretend ones.

  13. Gravel,
    Open up the pic.twitter – I find it’s best to do it in a new window. Above the picture, on the right side, is the word More. Click on it, and a menu appears – see below.

    Select “Embed Tweet” and the following appears:

    Copy the html code in the little window and paste it into The Pub’s comment window. Have fun!

  15. Fiona
    Thank you for that, will try it as soon as I see something really worth passing on.

    Funny how they are calling Shaw ‘independent’, not for Liberal. How’s Nappytime going to handle this? Things certainly won’t be dull for these next three years.

  16. Gravel,
    Mr Shaw is nothing if not adaptable. He was, once upon a time, a member of the ALP. The Billy Hughes of the 21st century, but without the stature?

  17. I’ll expect Napthine will probably pull some strings with the Liberal-friendly Victorian justice system to draw out the process as long as possible to prevent an early Frankston by-election that could bring down his government and force an early election.

    Then again, Shaw is a loose cannon and has threatened to resign from politics altogether earlier this year. Hopefully the ALP branch in Frankston has been busy for such a possibility and have a campaign ready.

  18. The Abbott goernment has not even been sworn in yet but the wheels are already falling off with amazing speed. Dennis Jensen has expressed his disappointment with the lack of a science minister and says he’s against Abbott’s PPL. The women are planning to revolt. Being told they have less merit for a cabinet position than Peter Dutton can’t have helped. The Nats are not at all happy at losing the trade portfolio and are still mumbling about voting against that PPL. And best of all, challenges to asylum seeker policy are already under way.

    “The incoming Federal Government’s immigration policies are being brought before a United Nations Human Rights council meeting in Geneva, possibly as soon as tonight.”
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-17/un-committee-asked-to-hold-australia-to-account-for-immigration/4963088

  20. Actually I hope there isn’t an early Victorian election.

    Kennett called one early in 1996 hoping to keep his unpopular government alive off momentum from Howard winning, and that was successful, the L/NP only lost about 3 seats.

  22. Jaycee,
    I’m amazed Ms Crabbe didn’t write wtte “An’ I wannabe just like her when I grow up.”

  23. Seriously though, Fiona…you can “read” in Annabel’s scribble, the undeniable notion that SHE, herself, believes she is a “person of merit”…when in reality, she is no more that a dime-a-dozen mediocre journalist with a penchant for the witty quip….something you can find in one in three front-bar “Champagne-Charlies”of either gender one glass of bubbles into the bottle.

  24. “Well, I myself am a woman, and thus I am equipped with the sensitivity, diplomacy and ladylike instincts not to type”

    I don’t think Annabel is as well “equipped” as she pretends to be. Everything seems to be just a big joke with her.

  26. I wrote a comment there, who knows if it gets through. I’m sick of these people to death. I hope ALP gets its act together under the new leadership, gets rid of the dead weight and termites and comes strong next election. After 3 years of the rubbish this country has been served, L/NP PV rose by measly 1%. ALPs loss was only due to its own instability caused by Rudd and other power hungry idiots that helped him do it.

  27. Jaycee, Gigilene, Leone,
    I don’t think Ms Crabbe is capable of analysis. Her writing drips emotion and entitlement.

  29. I think Ms Crabb’s writing drips flippancy.

    Heaven knows what Their ABC paid to lure her from Fairfax, but they sure didn’t get their money’s worth. They discovered they had not bought themselves a first-class political writer but instead had saddled themselves with a hack who would struggle to write celebrity gossip for New Idea. They’ve tried vainly to get their money’s worth from Ms Crabb. Giving her a spot in a so-called ‘comedy’ panel show was a failure. They dolled her up as a 1950s housewife and made her pretend to cook for politicians- another fail. On The Drum she never ceases to amaze with her vapidity. Her online work for The Drum reads like the sort of stuff your average undergraduate rag would reject. But Their ABC is stuck with her. I wonder when her contract is up?

  33. I don’t know about you chaps, but there’s one Lib woman who’s a cut above the rest: Peta Credlin.

    She’s the best cornerman I’ve ever seen.

    Not only did she operate as a pro cutman, between rounds she ably doused her charge’s head with water, made him take little sips instead of gulps, applied Vaseline with vigour, wiped him down with towels, kept an ice-pack at the ready (she even carried an Enswell, FFS!), executed the application of gauze and tape without, flinching held the blood spit bucket with acumen, and provided on-the-spot military-precision strategy.

    And she kept a stern eye on the stop watch to call time when her charge looked like losing a round.

    I hope Albo and Shorten have someone as savvy in their corner for the next three years.

  37. In Fairfax, the latest batch of postal votes went better for Palmer than the trend, putting him back in the race. Assuming the rest of the votes follow the trend, that puts him ahead by around 11 votes by my estimate, that’s before provisionals.

    Well, it’s going to be a long court battle for that seat if that’s what happens. Unless one of them decides to concede and I doubt it will be Palmer.

  38. Poor old Wazza Truzzzz, not only has he been asleep on the job for the past year and failed to notice Anna Burke was Speaker, but he also forgot all about Joan Child, our first female speaker, from 1986 to 1989.

    Truss says these Labor women don’t count. I say Broomhilda’s ineptitude and bias will cause so much damage to the position of Speaker that it will be decades before another woman is ‘permitted’ by the blokes to take on the job.

  39. 2gavel

    Wish I hadn’t posted that stuff on Credlin within coo-ee of your video of Gillard’s achievements.

    While Credlin is a cut above the rest of the Lib women, XPM Gillard is head and shoulders above them all, including the men.

    What a star. And, yes, I needed a coupla hankies to mop up the loss Australia has suffered.

  44. Kezza
    Not to worry, it was meant to be. Showed the contrast between natural and sincere against a insincere and creepy person in Blood Oaf.

  45. That video didn’t even scrape the surface of what was done. The horror will be in what will be undone, as we are all well aware. It will come as a shock to many, but at least we here could see what we have in store.

  47. So envious of my daughter who is going to the Julie Gillard/Anne Summers discussion in Melbourne!! She is still one class act!

  48. kaffee

    [A bolt from a clear blue sky.]

    Very strange. NZ’ers can usually be counted on to make up the fifth Company in an RAR Regiment or do the artillery.

    And their SAS guys always look like they are missing a parrot on their shoulder.

  49. Fiona

    I don’t have a strategic bone in my body – as I’m sure you’re all aware from my “shoot from the lip and destroy my credibility in one foul swoop” line of attack.

    I was trying to draw an analogy with Ewwww’s boxing past. Credlin’s feat was all the more remarkable because of her handling of a punch-drunk religious nutter, coupled with IVF treatment.

    Fell flat, didn’t it.

    But imagine what PMJG could have achieved with a superb tactician like Credlin in her corner.The world could have been much more her oyster, apart from that miserable old crank Rupert.

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