Jonathan Green » bushfires

… and put that bloody light out!

Jonathan Green — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 04:02:05 +0000

Whatever is going on …. everyone in the office has just received text messages from Victoria Police warning them of extreme weather and high fire risk. The police urge us to listen to the ABC! Wait till certain parties at the Herald Sun hear of this: law enforcement officers driving innocent citizens to the hands of sneering leftists (yes you Richard Stubbs)! And How did the police get our numbers? Seizing the phone networks? Will they take control of TV stations next? Will we be deprived of Top Gear at 7.30?

Ledger bushfire link confirmed

Jonathan Green — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 23:03:12 +0000

It was only a matter of time before Heath Ledger and bushfires found some point of conflation. We await confirmation that Heath’s ability to dig so brilliantly deeply into character was a hitherto unseen manifestation of the Aussie spirit. As The Australian reports:

Before leaving for the US, Kim Ledger said a win could bring a bit of light to Australians in the wake of devastating bushfires in Victoria.

“Given the tragic circumstances of the last 10 days with the fires, maybe we can add a little spark of light to everybody if he manages to bring it home,” he told the Ten Network at Perth airport.

The spokeswoman said the family was relaxed ahead of the awards ceremony.

The circle closes. Hallelujah.

Aussie, aussie, aussie … fire, fire, fire

Jonathan Green — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 11:10:14 +0000

Gia

Thursday, 19 February 2009 6:08:58 PM

A unique ‘Aussie’ trait seems to be an endless supply of self-congratulation. From Kevin Rudd down, the proclamation that the Aussie way is to pull together at times of tragedy and loss has a very clear subtext that these traits are not necessarily to be found elsewhere in the world. What do these people think other countries do when they are hit by such a catastrophe? Turn their backs, shrug their shoulders in indifference?

A comment on the Crikey piece today written by a survivor of the Marysville fires, well someone who fled in the nick of time.

This thought from ‘Gia’ pretty much sums up my misgivings about so much that we’ve heard these past two weeks, that somehow the response to this apalling thing was uniquely and wonderfully Australian. What tosh.

What we are celebrating here – if celebrating we are, and so much of the tabloid/TV press seem to be – what has been remarkable since the fires and through them has been the indomitability of some common, persistent, courageous humanity. Aint nothing aussie, aussie, aussie about it. How that drivel galls me. Sorry, but there it is. It diminishes us all.

Can’t we find a way to be Australian, even proudly so, without subscribing to all that rot?

Tough questions in the fire coverage

Jonathan Green — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 23:13:42 +0000

Pictures just aired on Sky (so you’ll see them again later!) showing tearful reunions of anxious couples in the bushfire areas, people running to each other in tears having presumably spent the past few days lost in all sorts of ghastly speculations and wonderings. And then as they meet, they are surrounded by film crews. I don’t know, the media role in this is beginning to make me feel uneasy.

There are tough decisions for media people in the next couple of days, of where public interest ends and mawkish prurience begins, of just how far media can intrude and in whose service it does that. The fact that two people lost in each other and their relief are oblivious to the intrusion of the cameras does not mean the media hasn’t made an unseemly invasion.

Crikey editorial 09.02.09

Jonathan Green — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 04:29:49 +0000

The sight of the Prime Minister offering hugs and more lasting measures of practical Commonwealth comfort to the victims of the Victorian bushfires, has been a telling counterpoint to the ugly posturings of last week. The bitter Parliamentary cock fight over stimulus and the rights or wrongs of various packages was a piece of purely political theatre that all but obscured the real and potential economic sufferings the Australian government (at its best a sometimes almost apolitical construct) should have been acting with all haste to address.

In the circumstances that confront us, the opposition should not have been so desperate to scrape selfish advantage, the government should have been prepared for open discussion and compromise. Both failed, and it seemed the fast unfolding economic and social calamity could go hang while both sides bashed egos and made impassioned self-serving speeches to empty parliamentary chambers.

As the weekend’s desperately sad events tell us, some things are beyond the playground squabbling that dominates most of our public life. The deadly tragedy of these bushfires is one of them, the encroaching economic crisis is another. Both sides of politics should see the connection.