Letter to a Friend

Guest Author Uncategorized

Gorgeous Dunny was brave enough to entrust me with rescuing some documents from aged equipment. OH and moi did what we could – not, sadly, finding everything GD was hoping for – but here’s a little something from our Guest Author that seems desperately apt for our modern times …

Thanks for your recent missive. Thanks also for putting it in perspective by mentioning some of Amnesty’s concerns. However much we grumble, it seems like we’re living in a safer and much fairer country than many in the world.

It is always important to keep things in perspective, and to count our blessings such as they are. I remember in Adelaide once Wendy lamenting her lot, and asking me what was the difference between her and a slave. I replied that for a start she wouldn’t be free to complain about her lot. It was a reflex reply without much thought, but it was enough to have her burst into laughter and break the anguish. It’s all relative when you think about it. Mixing in feminist academic circles during some of my studies, I often felt the complaint of how bad we men had made life for women. (by the way, at an EEO meeting some months ago, I, the only male committee member, was severely castigated for referring to a young female as a “lass”. Alas for the Scottish brogue! No longer acceptable in discrimination-free language.) But then I thought, however bad the plight of middle-class females, it seemed infinitely superior to that of poor black males. Not that this invalidates the complaints in any way. It just helps to keep a balance on things.

All that counts for nought, however, when someone like Pauline Hanson shoots off her mouth. Of course, it can fairly be argued that she represents many people with similar views and that parliament is the forum for free speech. And viewing her TV performance delivering her speech in parliament, there seemed no doubt that she was sincere in her prejudices (if that isn’t a contradiction). Perhaps she’s been so busy raising 4 children as a single parent and running a fish and chip shop (long hours), that she’s had to rely on gossip, offense from the odd drunken ratbags and vandals, and talkback radio for her views. She even mentioned Asian migrants forming ghettoes! The usual beef about Asian migrants is that they get all our jobs and our money! Of course, it provided a field day for talkback radio and the more tabloid TV ‘current affairs’ shows, with people stampeding to confirm she reflects their views. It is a sad day for Australia, which has mostly avoided the Enoch Powell syndrome. An unusual alliance of apathy and tolerance has meant that race has not been an important issue in Australia for a long time. Let us hope that this current outburst is merely an aberration, and not, as I fear, a symptom of growing inequality in Australia.

However, appeal to the lowest common denominator is not just confined to talkback radio and ‘current affairs’ TV. Recently, the Attorney-General in Victoria wanted to find out what the public felt about sentencing. So, they ran a questionnaire … in the Herald-Sun. When challenged about the validity of such an exercise, Mrs Wade replied that if you wanted to participate, you just bought a Herald-Sun! What could be more democratic than that ? Rupert must have loved her. Perhaps he could forget about Super League, and have Super Sentencing instead. He might finally get a few people to take up pay TV. Another ”market driven” brainstorm from our economic rationalists that has evolved into a catastrophic waste of resources.

I’ve got a very good article about Australia by John Pilger, which I’ll send you. He’s very critical of the Keating-Hawke years’ handover of the economy to the finance/banking sectors and the big multinational players – as is Hugh Stretton in another article. Both make the point that there was no major public clamor for these changes – just economic/financial advisers who have not had to bear the political cost ( the Labor Governments of Vic and SA lost their State banks and public confidence merely by following the prevailing advice. The federal Labor government was finally called to account for continued high unemployment). Nor have they had to bear the human cost of lost jobs and careers, closed businesses and public offices, and declining human services (which in Victoria have led to loss of life with cost-cutting ambulances, the reduction of hospital beds, and the removal of staff from intellectual care services as in the Kew Cottages fire). As Arthur Gibbs ( a former Trade bureaucrat who has slammed the level playing field mentality in several brilliant articles) said, had these economists been barristers or medical practicioners they would have been disbarred for their incompetence, and probably sued for professional misconduct into the bargain. It is ironic, but a feature of our 2-party system, that the public by rejecting the economic policies of recent years has given office to an even more vicious version of them.

I make allowances for Keating on two grounds: (1) Aboriginal Reconciliation (where he has made greater progress than any other leader, and shown more political courage than any leader since Whitlam). (2) The defeat of the extreme version of economic rationalism in 1993. Unfortunately, he did not absorb the lesson that it was the public fear/rejection and not his brilliance that led to it; and now we have it back, just in a more disguised form. But apart from that… the virtues were mainly that they softened the full damage otherwise likely to have been inflicted on a long-suffering community. The Accords, various social security reforms, medicare, the Button Plan, Working Nation (all of which were vigorously opposed by Treasury gnomes) all contributed but could have been more effective with an interventionist and nationalistic industry and investment policy. And if only they could have called a halt to the stripping down of government investment and infrastructure.

I am surprised that more people cannot step back a little to ask where we’re going. Where are our values ? (I’m not talking about you personally, of course, who have done a marvellous job in retaining yours with environment, family, and amnesty.) I know that there’s a pretence in current economic theory that it’s a value-free set of scientific laws like gravity, but I’m surprised that the rest of the English-speaking world has swallowed it so uncritically. Does Rupert really have that much influence ? Why is it so urgent that we reduce our public services ? For myself, I still cannot understand why it’s good to be reducing hospital beds and closing hospitals and schools at the same time as we’re expanding McDonalds outlets and casinos. Nor can I understand why, with jobs harder to get we ask those in jobs to work longer hours for less return. Why is it assumed that people will be more productive if they are insecure and have to compete with fellow-workers ? Most obscene of all, which I might have mentioned to you before, is hiring some super executive for a huge package with bonuses for each thousand staff he manages to get rid of. I guess we see another variant of it in the budget when everything is ruthlessly cut except funding for the Sydney Olympics. If we can’t give them enough bread, at least give them circuses.

The way our Department has gone is providing plenty of anecdotal evidence that the competitive model has its problems. Morale has collapsed. Staff are shocked, bewildered, angered, confused and feel betrayed not only by the coalition’s lies but by our own national office management (who seem to have sold us out to save their own skins). Those of us with economic/political knowledge realised long ago that Treasury and Finance, as free market puritans, have long wanted to gut us, as labour market interventionists. At least the previous government (with some backing from the ACTU) kept them on a leash, but now they’ve got a free hand for all their idiotic dogma. Effective planning has fallen away (how can we plan work when we don’t know what we’ll be doing and we get contradictory stories from management and the minister every other day ?). Productivity has fallen right away; some staff are worried about their future (maybe all staff) and have taken to positioning themselves and ‘stabbing’ others, etc. Altogether not a happy organisation these days. The only consolation is that management seem to have no more idea of what’s going on than we do.

As for me, I am angered that this national pool of labour market knowledge and experience will simply be disintegrated. It is part of our infrastructure as much as roads and telecommunications, and dollar-driven placement agencies will not be able to provide the same knowledge. So, I’m not hanging on and waiting. I’ve applied for APS positions with Commonwealth Rehabilitation Warrnambool and DSS Canberra, and I’m a fair chance in both. I’m not crazy about Canberra (although Wendy likes it) or relocating at all, for that matter.Maybe I’m getting too old for new locations,new jobs and so on. But I guess it’s an issue that needs to be addressed.

Keep up the good work with Amnesty. There’s so many dreadful stories of human suffering that at times you wonder where to start. Locally, I believe there’s talk of deporting Timorese. Our role under various governments has been pretty shabby in that area. The least we ought to do is offer refuge to those in need.

426 thoughts on “Letter to a Friend”

  1. To everyone who’s passed on condolences for Bob today, thanks very much. It’s nice to know we have friends.

    HI has been unexpectedly teary. She didn’t know how much she’d miss him. She used to think Bob was “a bad dog”, but it wouldn’t have had anything to do with the way he chewed the crutch out of her knickers, would it? Must have been something else. Just can’t think now what it might have been.

    But one day she dozed off on the lounge and when she woke up there was Bob, asleep on her lap. He’d crept up and dozed off with her. From that moment on, she loved that dog.

    Thanks again, all.

  2. http://www.zdnet.com/au/brandis-and-turnbull-working-on-joint-piracy-crackdown-policy-7000030239/

    http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/attorneygeneral-jarrod-bleijie-says-backdown-on-union-ballots-for-campaign-spending-may-not-be-permanent/story-fnihsrk2-1226943515228

    Click to access 2014-lowy-institute-poll.pdf

    https://newmatilda.com/2014/06/05/cool-us-reception-could-be-abbotts-best-effort-yet-climate-change

    http://www.lrb.co.uk/v29/n13/chaohua-wang/diary

  9. Good morning Dawn Patrollers.

    Laura Tingle – the budget is in intensive care.
    http://www.afr.com/p/opinion/why_budget_reforms_are_now_in_intensive_j1fK5bsqU7EQNG6UP8kWeI
    Van Badham with the evidence that the Coalition doesn’t understand its own policies.
    http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/05/does-the-coalition-understand-its-own-policies-evidence-says-no
    Well Abbott would support them wouldn’t he! But a wedge has been inserted.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tony-abbott-stands-by-friends-andrew-bolt-and-alan-jones-over-stoush-with-malcolm-turnbull-20140606-39mg3.html
    Another one of Abbott’s “friends” in a spot of bother. But we always knew that.
    http://www.smh.com.au/national/statement-says-jackson-knew-about-graft-claims-for-a-decade-20140605-39lxx.html
    Yet another “friend” gets a mention. This time it’s Gerard Henderson who is given a good pasting over his suitability to be an objective literary judge.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/gerard-henderson-politicises-the-prize-20140605-zry3u.html
    And look at the demographic of said literary panel.
    https://theconversation.com/political-bias-and-the-prime-ministers-literary-awards-27645
    An early test for the new PM of India.
    http://www.smh.com.au/world/rape-sometimes-right-says-indian-minister-babulal-gaur-20140606-zrzat.html
    Poor Eddie! And there’s even more to come.
    http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/good-samaritan-wounded-by-commissioners-insensitivity-20140605-39lye.html
    And his mate Eddie to go down as well.
    http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/eddie-obeid-defiant-at-fourth-finding-while-joe-tripodi-seeks-legal-advice-20140605-39m1a.html
    Interest rates will always be lower than . . . .hang on!
    http://www.smh.com.au/business/deflation-the-toxic-crisis-confronting-europe-20140605-39lx6.html

  10. Section 2 . . .

    How on earth could they think this draconian stuff could get through the Senate?
    http://www.smh.com.au/national/welfare-groups-warn-changes-will-spark-jobless-catastrophe-20140605-39ly0.html
    Richard Ackland puts boat people into perspective.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/europes-boat-people-numbers-make-ours-look-minuscule-20140605-zryze.html
    Australians do not feel over taxed says Peter Martin.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/its-official-australians-dont-pay-enough-tax–australians-say-so-20140605-39ly2.html
    The devil is always in the detail.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/deficit-tax-comes-with-550-loophole-20140605-39lzf.html
    A social researcher lifts the lid off the Liberal incubators.
    http://www.theage.com.au/comment/private-schools-and-their-moral-failings-20140605-zry5k.html
    Lenore Taylor with some advice for The Parrot.
    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/05/malcolm-turnbull-dinner-companions-none-alan-jones-business
    Gay Alcorn piles into Prissy Pyne.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/pynes-university-fees-proposal-puts-higher-ed-on-everyones-lips-20140605-zry3n.html
    Looks like the ATO has flushed a few of the leeches out.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/australias-rich-come-forward-to-declare-their-offshore-tax-structures-20140605-39lzd.html
    A SUPERB effort from David Pope!

    MUST SEE! David Rowe has Abbott mounting Clive Palmer.
    http://www.afr.com/p/national/cartoon_gallery_david_rowe_1g8WHy9urgOIQrWQ0IrkdO

  11. And from the Land of the Free –

    The problem is much deeper than this. Ask the question “what motivated these managers to do what they did?” I have been in many situations with this potential but never once did the wrong thing.
    http://thepoliticalcarnival.net/2014/06/05/gms-mary-barra-fires-employees-spares/
    What drives these people?
    http://crooksandliars.com/2014/06/ben-carson
    Jon Stewart rips Oliver North. And others!
    http://crooksandliars.com/2014/06/jon-stewart-rips-traitor-oliver-north-who
    Another Tea Bagger candidate goes down. In every way.
    http://crooksandliars.com/2014/06/failed-gop-candidate-loses-election-goes

  13. Created for the 70th anniversary of the Allied Landing in Normandy, this new bell symbolizes the friendship between the peoples through the values it expresses: peace, liberty and reconciliation.

  15. It would be interesting to find out the origin of the Truffles/bolt/jones tussle. Something must have set Bolt off, other than the dinner with Palmer which was perceived as ‘proof’. It looks to me an abbott tactic using his ‘friends’ to dispense with the Minister in his Cabinet he most distrusts and dislikes. May the dog fight continue.

  16. The abbott and HoJo took the govt up shit creek when they came up with this budget – it is doubtful they will ever sell it but it might come in handy as loo paper when they suffer the bellyaches it will give them. Stupid arrogant, self righteous bastards.

  17. I am so enjoying the reports from France. The Idiot deluged with endless questions on leadershit from the Aussie reporters. What was meant to be a publicity-heavy event filled with hanging-out-with-old-diggers photo ops has been totally ruined by Turnbull and his mischief. What a delight! Karma by the truck-load.

    As for this –

    He met the Queen when she visited Australia in 2011.
    “I’m not sure how long how much time I’ll get with her (tonight)… but she’s a remarkable woman,” Mr Abbott said.

    We all know how Abbott reponds to elderly women. Did he smirk and wink when he said that? Time with the Queen, at night? Wink, wink, nudge, leer.

    Her Majesty knows what Abbott is, has had reports from Harry, William and Kate (especially Kate) about his abysmal behaviour during their visits and will have seen That Wink. I don’t think he will be getting any special royal attention, unless Her Majesty does us all a favour and orders him clapped in irons, taken to London and incarcerated in the Tower.

  18. foreverjanice
    This might be the answer to your question. This appeared late last night but has been hidden away in the depths of the Fairfax sites this morning. Too fanciful? Too close to the truth?

    Attacks on Malcolm Turnbull have been linked to a reshuffle of the Abbott ministry
    http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/attacks-on-malcolm-turnbull-have-been-linked-to-a-reshuffle-of-the-abbott-ministry-20140605-39lzc.html

    The best bit is at the end. It should be headline news.

    Arthur Sinodinos is expected to be moved on from his suspended role as assistant treasurer after his bruising appearance at the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption, while speculation persists that Immigration Minister Scott Morrison will step into the job of Defence Minister at the expense of David Johnston.

    Parliamentary secretaries Josh Frydenberg and Steven Ciobo are considered to be two of the front runners to take Senator Sinodinos’ job

  22. Leone,
    Perhaps Truffles suggested to the abbott that he reshuffle himself out of his position? Whatever went on behind the scenes, I reckon the abbott decided to chop Truffles off at the knees.

  23. MUST SEE! David Rowe has Abbott mounting Clive Palmer.

    Hmm, I can see the thumbnail – but the full size cartoon is “Corruppuccino anyone?” I think the mounting yard cartoon dates from around the Melbourne Cup last year – it’s Clive in the saddle now…

    (Ditto for the “Obamacare” cartoon thumbnail from a couple of days ago – the full size cartoon is Palmer pushing things too far.)

  24. Warren Mundine has no business calling himself a member of the indigenous people. He sold his soul for a place in white society and takes advice from the likes of F-I-L Gerard, the IPA and the abbott and ‘his people’ should disown him forthwith.

  25. Leone2, Steve Ciobo is on Brisbane ABC morning radio once a week with ALP’s Bernie Ripoll. Ciobo is always attacking Labor on economic grounds and seems to take a special interest in finance and the budget. I would not be surprised if he got the gig.

  26. msadventure2
    It sounds likely. But Josh Frydenberg has ambitions and has been touted as a future PM. (Heaven help us!) He might be given the job to help him on his way to the top. I suppose it depends on who has the more powerful friends.

  27. I had the thought Abbott and Hockey knew during the planning stage their budget would be badly received and deliberately made it harsh. I thought they had a plan to ‘graciously’ back down on a few things so they could pretend they had been listening to the plebs. It’s just that old ‘allow a few amendments and no-one will notice the real nasties have got through’ trick. That thought became a lot stronger when I saw this. It’s a horrible mish-mash, typical of Hockey and typical of the usual convoluted Liberal government thinking – saving money by cutting a payment and then giving the money you saved back to the same people you took it from disguised as another ‘new’ payment – but it does provide that loophole to allow a back-down of sorts. I wonder what other little loopholes are hidden away?

    Emergency dole payments will be funded by benefit cuts, senators told

    Emergency relief payments to young people who are cut off from unemployment benefits under changes in the federal budget will be partly funded by the money saved from not paying them the benefits, Senate estimates has heard.

    The treasurer, Joe Hockey, said the payments to up to 500,000 under 30-year-olds during the next four years – were part of the government’s “huge” safety net

    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/05/emergency-dole-payments-will-be-funded-by-benefit-cuts-senators-told#start-of-comments

  29. When I see what Mundine does to his own people, I’m constantly reminded of Charlie Perkins. There isn’t anyone like him who would put the interests of Indigenous people first.

  31. I seem to recall that Ciobo spent outrageously while in the US, and that part of his bill was to be paid back. Has he paid it back? Unlikely.

  32. Leone2,
    Newman is also backing down on budget items, he is not cutting pensioner concessions now though 3 days ago they were. He wants to appear to be ‘listening’ to the public. During this week he has quietly repealed a few bills including the one requiring a ballot of all union members before spending on a campaign such as the Not4Sale ETU campaign. The N4S put a lot of effort into the Redcliffe by-election and other parts of Qld and NT. They are concerned about recent High Court decisions, but have stated the repeal may only be temporary. The boy genius Attorney General can’t even right good law. I know a man who was the Attorney General and he is a man of deep thinking and careful approach, we are poorly served by our current crop of law-makers

  33. Notice the different treatment Turnbull gets from the one Rudd used to get when trying to destabilise the Gillard govt. There is strong pressure by the ABC, Bolt and Jones, aimed at Turnbull. Rudd, on the other hand, seemed to be met with encouragement. I just feel that Abbott is a protected species and that we will never get rid of him.

  34. gigi – I remember being in London in late 1988 and seeing an SMH with a headline that Charlie Perkins services had been ‘dispensed with’.

  35. A great read .

    A eulogy to the NHS: What happened to the world my generation built?

    In 1926, Harry Leslie Smith’s sister died of TB in a workhouse infirmary, too poor for proper medical care. In 1948, the creation of the NHS put a stop to all that. In an extract from his new book, Harry’s Last Stand, he describes his despair at the coalition’s dismantling of the welfare state

    http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/jun/04/coalition-attacks-nhs-return-britain-age-workhouse?commentpage=8

  36. Perkins services had been ‘dispensed with’.

    According to wiki:

    Perkins served as Secretary until 1988.

    In 1989 became Chair of the Arrernte Council of Central Australia.

    In 1993 Perkins was elected commissioner of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission for an area of the central Northern Territory. In 1994 he was elected Deputy Chairperson of ATSIC.

    ctar1 – A fulfilled life, imo.

  37. Is this country becoming meaner by the day? This morning, I read in the DT that a woman, breastfeeding in Westmead Hospital’s waiting room, was sent to complete the task in an adjoining storeroom. I also read, that a Muffin Cafe charged 70 cents to a woman for a cup of boiling water so she could warm up her baby’s bottle.

  38. I have had first hand stories of D-Day. I am doing some private Remembrance today. It is hard to imagine the things everyone went through. It is not hard to compare their courage with the craven cowards running things today.

  40. Some dirt on wannabe assistant treasurer Steve Ciobo – a charming chap.

    First – on Julia Gillard. Remember this?
    http://www.independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/steve-slit-her-throat-ciobo,5422

    Second – Ciobo and the New York Scandals.
    GOLD Coast MP Steve Ciobo will fork out thousands of dollars for a last-minute flight from New York to Canberra, missing days from a visit to the United Nations, to vote against the carbon tax.
    http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/ciobo-to-fly-home-to-vote-on-carbon-tax/story-e6freoof-1226140357295

    Then it became more intriguing –
    MP refuses to pay his $8000 hotel bill

    FEARING a diplomatic incident, Australian consular officials in New York have had to step in and settle an outstanding $8000 hotel bill for a Liberal MP who is still refusing to pay.

    Federal politician Steve Ciobo has vowed to fight the federal government in court over the account for a three-month stay at New York’s ritzy Bristol Plaza late last year while he was on a US exchange program

    http://www.news.com.au/national/mp-refuses-to-pay-his-8000-hotel-bill/story-fncynjr2-1226424912282

    And finally, an update with all the figures. It seems the bastard still has not paid.
    Recalling yet another taxpayer-funded hotel bill run up by a Federal Liberal MP
    http://www.blogotariat.com/node/1460227

    But wait, there’s more! Not dirt, but there was also this incident during his US sojourn. Maybe the passengers in the toilet were just trying to get away from/protect their wallets from Mr Ciobob
    Liberal MP Steve Ciobo experiences US flight drama
    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/latest-news/liberal-mp-steve-ciobo-experiences-us-flight-drama/story-fn3dxity-1226134505136

  41. leone

    Thanks for your indefatigable efforts for finding appropriate links.

    Goes to show you how much luxury those LNP MPs need. And who pays? Poor humble us.

  44. Perhaps Obama is snubbing Abbott as a payback for his treatment of Gillard. Julia and Barak did seem to get on together.

  45. Perhaps Abbott was hiding from Aussie journalists keen to ask more embarrassing questions about Turnbull and leadershit.

  46. gl

    That’s an interesting recipe:
    In the basic recipe for poutine, French fries are covered with fresh cheese curds, and topped with brown gravy. In a Quebec poutine:

  47. Bolt lives the dream of being a player. And frankly, while Abbott refuses to condemn him, he IS a player.

    Here he is, repeating his allegations against Turnbull, and denying Fairfax reports that he trawled Labor for NBN criticisms.

    Apparently not only the ABC, but Fairfax is (as he puts it) “of the Left”.

    Which loon is promoting these conspiracy theories? Such rubbish. My interview with Abbott and my column were completely my own work, people. No one egged me, no one briefed me. I just used my own eyes and my own brain to conclude Turnbull seemed more eager to sell himself than the Budget to Abbott’s enemies. The objective facts bear me out.

    http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/fairfax_peddles_lie_that_labor_fed_me_anti_turnbull_material/

    These first three comments show that his fans aren’t all “of the Right”:

    Now you know how Malcom Turnbal feels.

    By your logic, going about the allegations is your attempt at keeping this story going.

    You could have just bee quite and it would have died down/sarcasm.

    Apologise to Malcom.

    Ashley Farquhar of Brisbane (Reply)
    Thu 05 Jun 14 (11:09pm)

    Perhaps you should just stop commenting on this? Take some of the advice you gave to Turnbull and apply it to the source of this stupidity.

    Baz of Sydney (Reply)
    Thu 05 Jun 14 (11:15pm)

    The air is becoming a little sullied. Perhaps it is time to move on to another subject until the dust has settled.

    Davide (Reply)
    Thu 05 Jun 14 (11:21pm)

  48. Julia and Barak: great pic!

    I think Abbott is on his own. No-one wants to be seen with him. I’m sure he tries to be on some photos but he is simply not invited. Oh well, there is a big cathedral over there … He can go there to pray.

  50. bushfirebill

    Check out the look on poor John Key’s face . Stuck between “Dave” and PMBO at the Mandela memorial.

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