Kevin 07 one year on.

Here we are one year on, Australia seems to have a pop hero in our prime minister, Kevin 24/7, Kevin 747, K -Rudd & simply Krud. Which ever side of the fence you are on there is no denying he is one hell of a brand name.

Some say he hasn't achieved much one year in, well I actually disagree.... even

Today he has unveiled a five point plan to tackle the Homeless problem.

He signed the Kyoto agreement.

He has united the states governments working together for better outcomes.

He has given guarantees for bank deposits, essentially halting the run on banks.

He has breathed life back into universities by giving much needed funds back to support social and sporting events on campuses.

He has saved ABC until the end of the year to help parents deal with this crisis over Christmas.

Bonuses for Pensioners etc.

But most importantly though it was the most simple thing to do by apologising, he managed to unite a country, for the first time perhaps even since the war, or at least the day we won the America's Cup people were saying they were Proud to be Australian....Now if that isn’t achievement then I’m not sure what is.

Crikey on The Howard Years.

Crikey (Online) 18/11/08 Page: online

The Howard Years: History told by the players. Peter Brent The Howard Years: history told by the players Peter Brent from Mumble Politics, writes:

The Howard Years is an illustration of the problems of history-telling. It covers many of the events of the day, and much is interesting, but it is let down by a lousy theme. That theme is: John Howard the "conviction politician", elected in 1996 with, in the words of narrator Fran Kelly, a "mission to recast Australia".

Leaving aside the validity of the "conviction politician" label, the fact is that this perception of Howard only came about at the 2001 "Tampa" election. Before then his leadership could be characterised as about anything but "conviction" Kelly and crew apply it retrospectively.


Squeezing that first term, 1996-8, into a "man of steel" package made for odd television. We heard a lot from staffer Graham Morris: his boss always did what was right and bugger the political consequences.

Making a series like this would be extremely difficult, and in squeezing several years into one hour it is not possible to do justice to everything. Yes, divided Liberal opinion was shown.
But overall, we saw a bunch of politicians and staffers, very on message, attempting to write history, and the film-makers generally obliging.

For the full article go to; http://www.crikey.com.au/Politics.html.

The Howard Years continues next Monday on ABC1

Naughty Boy Wilson Tuckey

The perennial bad boy of the Liberal party Wilston Tuckey was thrown out of parliament yesterday and cannot come back for three days - he has been told to go sit in a corner and think about what he has done..... I know schoolies on the Gold Coast who are capable of showing more restraint than this.

Food Fight!!!!!

At a recent dinner after the parliamentary sitting in Cairns two of Lawrences right-hand men ended up fighting about who was paying the account with the altercation almost getting to fisticuffs - Lawrence Springborg has already dismissed a recent dinner bill dispute between MPs Ray Hopper and Ray Stevens as "verbal puffery". If you are thinking of helping out the LNP come election time make sure you bring your own packed lunch, it appears these guys aren't the sharing kind.

Julie Bishop Accused of Plagiarism

For the third time Julie Bishop has been accused for plagiarism, although the latest offence raised goes back a bit where in 1999 she took part of her speech from a United Nations report. Three times??? On another note Julie was in good spirits as she appeared on Sunday's Good News Week show, however watching the interaction between the MP and Kitty Flannigan was a bit like watching a train wreck. http://ten.com.au/gnw-video.html (season 2 ep 5)

Coffee With Joel Harrop

Today I had the opportunity to have Coffee with LNP Cairns Candidate 31 year old Joel Harrop . I was pleasantly surprised with how candid he was on some of the Issues;

Daylight Savings;
“It is a geographical issue, personally in Cairns it would be absurd, South East QLD may one day dictate a hybrid system but should it be suggested for Cairns I would fight tooth & nail to stop it”

Recycled Water;
“It shouldn’t be pumped into drinking water, it should only be for industrial and grey water use”.

Prisoners in work camps;
“There is scope to make prisoners into more productive members of society”

Abortion;
“There is no policy ATM”

Privatising schools;
“Private schools do take the pressure of funding off government, however every child should be able to obtain a quality public education”.

ABC Rescue package;
“It is not the place of government to bail out organisations that have not been economically well managed”.

Reducing cost of land for first home buyers;
“Assistance packages can feed inflation however the cost of housing is a problem, it is out of control. This is a policy area we are working on”

Would he be prepared to have an independent speaker;
“Yes, I have absolutely no problem with that I would be very comfortable with an independent speaker”.

Stance on Heritage;
“If you go to Europe and walk down one of the streets there are buildings everywhere hundreds of years old, the Yacht Club was a terrible shame where was the benefit to the public? If it was something to benefit the community I could understand but all that happened was some rich guy got richer”.

Plans to deal with farm run off to the Great Barrier Reef;
“Environmental policy is still being firmed up”.

Joel lives in Cairns with his wife and 12 week old son, he has a Business degree from JCU.

Now maybe next week I can pin down Desley for her views on the above topics.