I have a confession to make. I may be a secret New Zealander. I was born in Melbourne and my father was a fifth generation Australian. However, my mother was born and raised in the world’s most southern city, Invercargill. I know this because when I was at primary school, I had a pencil case purchased from Invercargill which boasted this important fact.
Just quietly I think Invercargillers or whatever they call themselves might have a challenger from Punta Arenas in Chile but let’s not get bogged down on the finer points of geography.
Invercargill isn’t the arsehole of the world but if you clamber out to Bluff at the southern tip of New Zealand’s South Island, you can see it from there. Just up the road is a town called Gore, a place so windswept and uninteresting that even the locals look embarrassed. I guess Gore would be the perineum of the world.
My mother arrived in Australia in 1954 and became an Australian citizen a decade later. She claims that process required her to renounce her NZ citizenship so she could vote in Australian elections. Her memory is based on the fact that her mother, who was visiting Australia at the time, took serious umbrage.
Full column here.
No more Madge
I see the Liberal coalition government are still trying to raise the Age Pension age to 70. The coalition have been running a campaign on youngest Australians. Now they want to hit the poorest, sickest and oldest as well. Worst government in this Nations history. No surprises.
They’ve always “hit the poorest, sickest & oldest” Dismayed, it’s like their very own open-season whilst openly fattening the accounts of the rich, like Gina Rhinehart’s dogged persuit of $1B for herself & Adani & the tax cuts for big business donors.
The good news is that people are waking up to their scamming ways and it would amaze me if they won a crooked chook raffle at the next election.
Have a great day mate, Bella
In a way I hope the Looters get elected….people can then see the further pain they have inflicted upon themseves and for once in their lives the may take an interest in politics
The “disadvantaged” people you mentioned Bella did better under Howard. Fact!
Another number of facts involve the unions, under Shorten and others, ripping off the lowest paid workers. The labor party is a fraud, like the Greens, conning gullible people who think they are looking after the vulnerable. it is the vulnerable whom they prey on, rely on an ensure that base is enlarged.
tell me why under the labor/green party (headed by Gillard) ssm wasn’t made law?
anybody? John O Hagan? Dismayed? Bella?
No they Upper Middle class received the unfunded Howard Largesse. their was No uplift in the pension or Newstart.
Howard could very well have treated the disadvantaged with some empathy Milton but obviously this lot are devoid of that quality.
This Turnbull/Abbott circus is the most inept, treasonous bunch of whelps since Federation.
Fact. Their heartless money grabs have caused the majority of disadvantaged Australians, like the unemployed, the under-employed, aged and disabled pensioners, low wage earners, students & families, ongoing financial distress including being tossed onto the streets.
I see the fallout every day Milton so please don’t try blaming Labor or the Greens for this lots self-serving, spineless protection of the big end of town. The corporates they break their backs to enrich, want to see the back of unions because they are all that stands between fairness in the workplace & slave labour.
If you want to bag rip-offs try the loss of penalty rates for the lowest paid or negative gearing which is an unfair super-bonus for the already rich, whilst we hard-working taxpayers foot the bill for their daily fine dining & free perks.
Who knows why JG didn’t make SSM into law mate, perhaps she was too busy passing other pieces of legislation. Maybe there wasn’t such a huge global push for marriage equality back then as there is now. All I know about SSM is that I’m voting yes & if the result is a resounding yes, then Australia expects this stagnant ship of fools to pass it into law.
Perhaps we can then take Australia at least through the front door of the 21st century.
Regards, Bella
i’m no fan of this lot Bella, and on either side. the rot started with rudd. despite the politics i’m certain that our desires for this country are 80/20% aligned.
I appreciate you reasoned argument too.
Economic necessity Dismal which your side of politics have a lot of trouble with.
JS. Rubbish. Pure rubbish. Why not look at the unfunded unaffordable Super Concessions, Capital Gains tax concession, Negative Gearing and the unfunded corporate tax cuts that the latest research shows leads to job cuts, share buy backs and higher executive pays. JS. You are Wrong as usual. No surprises.
Dismal, what have all of those got to do with trying to reduce the impact of the ratio of workers to retirees?
You used the “E” word JS. Kind of a foreign language for the “equality uber alles” crowd.
The swine! Another Labor policy stolen by the coalition! Keating did exactly the same thing to women. He raised the pension qualification age from 60 to 65, but only for women. The change was phased in from 1994 to 2003.
“Australian Day”, Mr Insider, has a nice inclusive ring to it, encompassing all Australians. We see Scott Morrison has put the slows out for any change to “Australia Day” where we celebrate the “Johnny come lately” James Cook “discovering” Australia. Of course many others were here first and I of course refer to our wonderful Aboriginal Peoples. As for the chappies who sailed to our Island Nation we see Dirk Hartog, Abel Tasman to name a couple here well before Cookie. “Australian Day” with a new date might just be the go imho! Am not sure “correct weight” has sounded on J. Cook aboard “Endeavour”?
I see that Malcolm Turnbull used the C word to Tony Abbott’s face. A truer word never spoken. Of course it happened, its been officially denied. First rule of politics; never believe anything until it has been officially denied.
A reminder for Champions League tippers that kick off is next week, as yet the fixtures have yet to be posted on the footy tipping site. Will email a reminder when they appear.
Here’s the comp link for anyone else who may be interested http://www.footytips.com.au/comps/The_Merry_Few_Champions_League
Oh and what do you know research from the US on tax cuts for big business highlights the outcome is predominately Job Cuts, Share buybacks and higher Executive salaries.
“A report from the US Congressional Budget Office in March showed that Australia had one of the lower average corporate tax rates in the G20, discrediting the argument that we needed to cut company taxes to stop capital moving to other countries with lower tax rates”
Never mind Lyne the Libs don’t need to win a seat they all get jobs from the government anyway 11 former lib. MPS in the last year. No Surprises.
PM In Waiting, Bill Shorten, a dinky di Aussie, Mr Insider. Well he is now after he renounced his British Citizenship in 2010 and flashed the proof to one and all today (linked). Tony Abbott again caught with egg on his face after goading Shorten this morning on the steps of Parliament House. Once a wally always a wally!
http://tinyurl.com/yc9bpk4u
Walter Becker at 67. Too young. https://youtu.be/7JkS8WB94ME
Vale, Walter. A great musician.
Holger Czukay from Can gone today as well – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holger_Czukay. 79 a somewhat better innings.
He was OK with Donald F but his solo albums I have listen to are nowhere near the standard set by The Dan…then compare Becker’s solo stuff with Fagen’s…sorry, NO comparison!
But Donald’s voice could strip paint in my opinion – ‘Can’t Buy a Thrill’ was never bettered.
That was my favourite album….but the voice on that was David Palmer if I remember correctly. I have that album.
I’m pretty sure that David Palmer only sang Dirty Work – a great song.
Fagen sang Do it Again, for sure.
No 19 consecutive negative Newspoll for PM Turnbull, Mr Insider, despite a tiny improvement. Turnbull is fast gaining on Abbott who scored 30 big ones b4 he was thrown out. Keep watching in your rear view Tony that’s Malcolm fast approaching, only 11 behind now!
http://tinyurl.com/y8mlpc3k
Nevermind the fact that Bill is going backwards as preferred PM and Labor can’t seem to get their vote to move much despite what’s going on with the government.
Albo’s starting to contradict his leader (even though he isn’t) and one thing about Albo he doesn’t have blood on his hands.
Tony’s out of his box doing his best for Bill but somehow can’t imagine Turnbull using the word quoted, not that Tony’s going to say anything of course, relevance deprivation syndrome needs feeding for a bit longer especially by “those that come out at night”
The measure by which Turnbull ousted Abbott was the 30 negative Newspolls, Tracy, and this is now the measure by which Turnbull is being judged. I suggest the Electorate has totally switched off anything Turnbull or his government is saying, if in fact they are saying anything at all. Cheers.