Year: 2009

Kevin Rudd is hard and soft, black and white: A man for all seasons?

liligans Politics, So you think you're cultured?, totally absurd

There is no denying that what the Australian people admire most is a strong leader. In fact, that’s what everyone wants in a leader- leadership qualities.

At the moment, Prime Minister Rudd, who is known for being bossy with his staff, is showing signs of wavering in another field. This is caused by his desire to please everybody and when you are motivated by trying to please everyone, you end up looking weak and namby pamby and you please no-one

For a man who constantly states “The reality is” and “The bottom line is” in a most definite way he can’t seem to get to the crux of the problem with the Sri Lankan Tamils on the Oceanic Viking.

We cannot allow these Tamils to land in Australia because they have been blackmailing us. This is the first point to be acknowledged. We must not give in to blackmail otherwise we will be doomed to experience this stand-off over and over again. This is the reality, Mr Rudd.

There is not much point in sending our Foreign Minister, Stephen Smith, to Sri Lanka with bags of cash if the Tamils refuse to go back there. And even if the Sri Lankan government promises to monitor outgoing vessels with Tamils on them, what is in it for the Sri Lankan government which is quite happy to get rid of these unwelcome Tamils from its strife-torn country? Why would they want them back, for crying out loud?

I would have preferred Rudd to talk tough and act tough. We don’t want cuddly wuddly sweet talk. We want a leader who leads and who is prepared to secure our shores and our airways from unwelcome arrivals.

Let us instead open our arms and welcome legitimate refugees who have been languishing for years in refugee centres just because they can’t afford to pay people-smugglers. Why doesn’t Mr Rudd announce that we will invite 10,000 legitimate refugees to our country instead of these 78 blackmailers?

There is something inherently unfair about people who push in getting ahead of the rest of the queue. It’s wrong and the Prime Minister should point that out in no uncertain terms.

You never know, with all this unsettled weather, there may be another cyclone in the area and the Tamils will have to be rescued by the Indonesians, for their own good…

Indonesia: the last place on Earth for the boatpeople.

liligans So you think you're cultured?

You have to feel sorry for the Indonesians and I can’t blame them for being annoyed. There are thousands of asylum seekers who would rather die than end up living in Indonesia. Take the Tamils, for example. They are apparently in fear for their lives. They are being tortured and raped in Sri Lanka and can’t wait to get away from all that misery there.

And yet, even after reaching Indonesia and spending some time there, they want to come to Australia. In fact, they will threaten to hurt themselves or go on hunger strikes rather than continue to dwell in Indonesia.

Now Indonesia has a huge population and it even has a democracy. It also has a thriving tourist industry which enjoys the benefits of Australian tourists who think it is a great place to visit. Bali is one of our favourite destinations, after all, and that is in spite of a couple of terrorist attacks.

I am surprised that people who are escaping the violence in their own country feel that they can call the shots on where they go. And yet this is the case with the 78 Sri Lankan Tamils who are refusing to disembark in Indonesia.

No wonder the Indonesians are fed up with this intransigence. How awful must it be for Indonesians to be told that their country is a dump unfit for the likes of the Sri Lankans. Imagine how we in Australia would feel if some asylum seekers refused to come here on account of it’s not their favourite place on Earth. Imagine if they announced that they would rather die than disembark in our wide brown land.

Wouldn’t we be tempted to respond in a manner something like this? If you don’t like it here then go…go…do not stop….just go.

There’s a stench of blackmail here and I hope that the government of Australia will not allow itself to be pushed around by this boatload. Otherwise it will not only continue to offend Indonesia but it will also make a rod for its own back.

I would go so far as to announce publically that if asylum seekers come illegally to Australia then they will be assessed after all the legal asylum seekers have had their turn. Not quickly, as they have been promised, but slowly and in the fullness of time.

This seems eminently fair to me and to the poorer souls who don’t have the money to buy a passage Downunder. After all, don’t we Australians respect a fair go for all?

No need to climb mountains to prove yourself, Ms Rein

liligans So you think you're cultured?

The Australian Prime Minister’s wife, Ms Rein, recently climbed Mt Kilimanjaro to test herself. She succeeded and that’s nice for her. There are people who jump from cliffs, hurl themselves out of planes and drive at breakneck speed to prove something to themselves as well. So be it.

In my opinion, however, life is hard enough for the majority of folk on this planet. There are health problems, financial problems, family problems and then there are the problems caused by wars and famine etc. For me these are the real challenges in life and I don’t feel the need to prance over burning coals or stick pins into myself.

Recently, an 83 year old Australian woman, June Middleton, passed away in a Nursing Home in Melbourne. She had spent 60, yes 60 years in an iron lung after contracting polio at the age of 22.

I can’t begin to understand what she went through and even why she continued to struggle to keep alive for those 60 years. And I wonder what she would think of those thrillseekers who put themselves and rescuers in danger just because they are bored or want to have a greater challenge.

I would suggest that perhaps they should spend some time, a week or so in an iron lung. How brave would their reckless achievements seem then?

June Middleton made it into the Guinness World Book of Records for having spent the longest time in an iron lung. I bet she would have given anything to enjoy some real fresh air.
R.I.P June

Stephen Sackur misses his mark with John Howard

liligans Politics, So you think you're cultured?

When I watched the BBC’s HARDtalk interview by Stephen Sackur with our former Prime Minister of Australia, I was reminded why Mr Howard was one of our greatest leaders. He had to endure Sackur’s constant interruptions but came out the winner because while Sackur behaved like a desperate ferret trying to scurry from point to point and failing visibly, Mr Howard was amazingly cool.

Sackur tried to interrupt him before he could answer a question and was extremely rude which made Howard look so very much like the statesman that he is. It is now even clearer why former treasurer, Peter Costello, could never reach the heights of Prime Ministership. He just never had the balls.

What was impressive about Howard in this interview was that in defending his actions as Prime Minister, he never criticised the actions of his successor, Kevin Rudd. How cool is that in the current arena!

Now that we are in the woods with Prime Minister Rudd I certainly miss the aplomb of the old master.

It was moreover evident that Stephen Sackur has none of the panache of former interviewer HARDtalk icon, Tim Sebastian, and we certainly miss his informed methods of interviewing on that programme.

Can Obama sulk? Yes, he can

liligans So you think you're cultured?

You would think that President Obama would grab every opportunity to speak to the public. He certainly is a great one for making speeches. But he now has decided that he will boycott the Fox Channel…not boycott per se, but just decline to appear on it because he does not like what Fox says about him.

While it’s quite true that the Fox Channel is not a supporter of the Democrats, it is true that the other TV channels appear to be. He has appeared on them many times.

It would behove the President to face his opponents rather than be intimidated by them. Or worse still, create the impression of sulking when he is not surrounded by adoring Obama fans and that is not a good look for a “strong” leader. It’s as if he thinks that if they won’t say something nice about him he won’t front up for an interview.

Obama is an excellent speaker and would impress the public if he didn’t act afraid. Anybody would feel relaxed on his home ground on the ABC or CNN but it’s how one behaves in unfriendly territory that marks the man. Nobody respects a man who runs away from “a fight”.

I bet that our former Prime Minister, John Howard, would not have been intimidated in that way, nor would our current Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, for that matter.

Nobel Peace Prize for Obama. Whatever.

liligans So you think you're cultured?

So President Obama has been awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. Undeserved? Who knows? He hasn’t done anything yet.

What is really absurd is that Obama was nominated for this award less than two weeks after becoming President of the U.S.

Giving the President the Peace Prize denigrates the entire award which has often been controversial. From past experience many of the recipients of this prize appear to be undeserving and have later proved themselves to be so, but even Obama is embarrassed by this accolade.

If I were the President I would thank Norway but decline the honour because it was premature. Otherwise, it gives the impression that it’s a reward for having run a successful election campaign. I am not usually a fan of the term “whatever” but in this case it seems most apt.

Did Kim Hill really say that?

liligans So you think you're cultured?, totally absurd

I can’t imagine that this is what Kim Hill, Chief Executive of the Northern Land Council (an Aboriginal group) really meant what he said when he said the following:-

“We’d like to see traditional owners have their own shops in Paris selling their own skins.”

He was referring apparently to selling crocodile skins. I thought they were a protected species, the crocodiles, I mean… Oops, I almost made the same linguistic error as Mr Hill.