Can You Help?

This website is in imminent danger of being shut down. It has been online since 1995, but the personal circumstances of the owner, Malcolm Farnsworth, are such that economies have to be made. Server costs and suchlike have become prohibitive. At the urging of people online, I have agreed to see if Patreon provides a solution. More information is available at the Patreon website. If you are able to contribute even $1.00/month to keep the site running, please click the Patreon button below.


Become a Patron!


Who Says Abbott Should Flick The Switch To Positive?

Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott have one thing in common: Their lives contain the never-ending irritation of people telling them how they should do their jobs.

AbbottEven their summer break won’t be free of the buzz of gratuitous advice. As much as they must wish to swat it away, politics demands they feign nonchalance.

In their private moments, I kind of hope they rail against the indignity of it. After all, they’re the ones who entered the arena and made it into parliament. As they claw and scramble their way to the top, they must surely know that the rest of us would struggle, as the Americans say, to be elected dog catcher. “Walk in my shoes awhile, you have no idea,” they must sometimes think.

Gillard has had more than her share of advice this year but in recent weeks the political and journalistic establishment has turned its attention to Abbott. The message is a simple one: it’s time to go positive. [Read more…]


Rudd Rules Out Beazley As Governor-General

Kim Beazley will not be appointed Governor-General, according to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. [Read more…]


Kim Beazley (ALP-Brand) – Valedictory Speech

After a 27-year parliamentary career, Kim Beazley delivered his valedictory speech to the House of Representatives on September 20, 2007.

Beazley

Beazley’s political career began in 1980, when he was elected as the member for Swan, in Western Australia. He was appointed Minister for Aviation in Bob Hawke’s first government in 1983. In 1984, he became Minister for Defence. He served in a variety of portfolios throughout the entire duration of the Hawke and Keating governments, including Transport, Employment, and Finance. He was Deputy Prime Minister in the final years of the Keating government.

In 1996, Beazley became ALP leader and Leader of the Opposition. Despite securing a 4.61% swing and 50.98% of the two-party-preferred vote at the 1998 federal election, and winning 18 seats from the Howard government, Beazley failed to win office. He also lost the 2001 election and relinquished the leadership to Simon Crean. [Read more…]


War On Terror Is Battle Of Ideas: Cheney

The ‘war on terror’ is more than a contest of arms, and more than a test of will, according to the United States Vice-President, Richard Cheney.

Vice-President Richard CheneyAddressing the Australian-American Leadership Dialogue in Sydney, Cheney said the war on terror “is a battle of ideas”. He said: “We now know to a certainty that when people across the Middle East are denied all freedom, and left to the mercy of fanatical tyrants and false prophets, that is a direct strategic concern of free nations everywhere. By taking the side of moderates, reformers, and advocates for democracy; by providing an alternative to hateful ideologies; we improve the chances for a lasting peace, and we advance our own security interests.” [Read more…]