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Monthly Archives: May 2009

Another Prime Ministerial porky?

May 26, 2009 – 10:41 am

My previous post took a slightly different take on the story suggesting the Prime Minister had personally intervened to block an ambassadorial appointment to Germany.  Rather than buy into a diplomatic spat around Prime Ministerial micro-management, my main aim was to make the point that we should be doing more to value and encourage multi-lingualism.
But [...]

By Andrew Bartlett | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (1)

Knowing the lingo

May 26, 2009 – 12:22 am

This story in The Age alleges that the Prime Minister has vetoed the recommended appointee, Hugh Borrowman, to the position of Australian Ambassador to Germany.
One of the assertions made in the piece is that Mr Rudd “is known to prefer Australia’s representatives abroad speak the local language”, an attribute which Mr Borrowman apparently doesn’t possess. [...]

By Andrew Bartlett | Posted in international issues, multiculturalism | Tagged , | Comments (2)

Charging people for locking them up

May 25, 2009 – 12:52 pm

It looks like another case of proper policy losing out to the politics of perception and positioning is unfolding, with the Coalition set to oppose legislation that will scrap the iniquitous, inefficient and counter-productive system of charging people for the cost of putting them in immigration detention.
The injustices of this system have been raised in [...]

By Andrew Bartlett | Posted in Australian politics, human rights, immigration | Tagged , , | Comments (7)

Democracy a work in progress

May 19, 2009 – 11:10 am

I recently got the chance to have a look around the new Museum of Australian Democracy, which is at Old Parliament House in Canberra. The Museum uses a lot of new technology and designs in an attempt to make the experience more engaging for people, including children.
The Museum complements the building it’s housed in, with many [...]

By Andrew Bartlett | Posted in Australian politics, international issues | Tagged | Comments (0)

Good policies; broken promises

May 18, 2009 – 10:31 am

One of the things you hear often in political circles is a proposal being acknowledged as a good policy, followed immediately by an assertion that it couldn’t be done because the public wouldn’t wear it.
Broken election commitments are a variation on this, where governments rule out any intention to do something unpopular or controversial, but [...]

By Andrew Bartlett | Posted in Australian politics | Tagged , , | Comments (7)

Brian Harradine says “I cannot” to the GST – 10 years on

May 14, 2009 – 3:07 pm

At 3:07 pm on Friday 14th May 1999, Senator Brian Harradine rose to address the Senate.
As with this week ten years later, it was just after a federal Budget had been delivered – Peter Costello’s third.  Unlike this week, discussion over the content of the Budget had been quickly subsumed by speculation over whether the [...]

By Andrew Bartlett | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (11)

Barnaby & the future of the Nationals

May 12, 2009 – 5:43 pm

The Nationals’ Senate Leader, Barnaby Joyce, gave an address to the National Press Club yesterday where his key theme was the need for the Nationals to more clearly distinguish themselves from the Liberals.
He said
“the 2007 Federal election loss was a devastating event for the Federal National Party, not only because it saw us out of Government [...]

By Andrew Bartlett | Posted in Australian politics, Senate | Tagged , , | Comments (1)

Australia falling behind other countries when it comes to treating refugees badly

May 8, 2009 – 10:59 am

Australia is now lagging well behind other countries when it comes to flouting the Refugee Convention, sending refugees back to danger and allowing major abuses and breaches of basic rights in immigration detention.
However, Australia can certainly make a credible claim to have blazed the trail in many of the practices now being more widely adopted [...]

By Andrew Bartlett | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (2)

Michael Kirby launches book on animal law

May 6, 2009 – 4:05 pm

Last night in Sydney, former High Court Judge, Michael Kirby formally launched the book “Animal Law in Australasia,” giving a 20 minute long speech to a crowd of around 250 people at the University of Sydney.
It was certainly no surprise to hear an eloquent and insightful speech from Michael Kirby,  who had to retire from [...]

By Andrew Bartlett | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (4)

Language, literacy and leadership

May 5, 2009 – 11:08 am

The Age reports that the Business Alliance for Asia Literacy – a coalition of sixty business groups, unions and corporations – is calling for a greater educational focus on Asia, with the leader Australian Industry Group, Heather Ridout, saying “understanding Asia, knowing the languages, cultures and traditions and teaching our children about our near neighbours [...]

By Andrew Bartlett | Posted in economic issues, immigration, multiculturalism | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)