Australian Labor Party redeems itself in historic agreement with The Greens in Federal Parliament [Transcript]

The Australian Labor Party entered into an historic agreement with The Greens on 1 September 2010.

This agreement comes into effect when federal government is formed after the results of the 21 August 2010 general election are declared.

It resets the national agenda in relation to climate change, constitutional recognition of Australia's first peoples, situating local government within the constitution, parliamentary reform and political donations among other matters.

As the goodwill this agreement represents does not appear entirely dependent on Labor forming a minority government, it also potentially creates a formidable force the Coalition and Tony Abbott may have to deal with as a political reality for the next three years at least.

Full transcript here.

It's a slow news week so let's hunt bogans

It is obviously a slow news week at The Daily Examiner in Grafton on the NSW North Coast.
On Page 4 last Monday it ran a story about the dreaded bogan, inserted what looks like a staged photograph and happily added to the stereotyping with a list:

SOMEWHERE, sometime during our lives we have all encountered someone we would say is a "bogan".
Those flannelette shirt-wearing, double-plugger rubber thong-sporting, stubbies shorts/tracky dacks-clad types with their mullet hairdos and trucker caps.
The stereotype of the bogan has been largely shaped by the media's perception of a certain class of Aussies, typically working class or unemployed.....

Bogan check list

You're a bogan if...

You wear the brand "UNIT" all over you

You wear white-framed sunnies

You wear big studs on your belt and your pants around your ankles

You wear ugg boots, short shorts and a big floppy jumper

You wear rip-off Holden racing team shirts

You wear your boxers higher than your pants

You let fireworks off in your backyard just for something to do

You wear more bling than a famous person

You've ever rolled a smoke

You've ever gone fishing with more beer than bait

You only go to the pub in happy hour cause you're too stingy to pay full price

You go to the pub and fill up on bar snacks so you don't have to cook dinner

You've ever driven a Datsun

You've ever taped your sunnies back together

You've ever had a fire in a 44 gallon drum

You go to garage sales

You've ever drunk VB in a can

You have ever driven all the way to Grafton from the Lower Clarence just for Maccas

You've ever worn a bandana under your flat rimmed hat

You own one of the many cars that line up in Prince Street, Grafton of a night to show off your Commodore or Falcon

You go to the speedway and take frozen leftovers for dinner in an esky

You wear a flanny undone with jeans and no shoes

You put your cigarette behind your ear.

Does Katter still hanker after our water?

These days Queensland Independent MP for Kennedy Bob Katter only seems to speak of water incidentally and in the last few days not at all. However his own website extols large-scale water diversion and still carries a Vision 2000 pdf file which states:

"In early 1995 a major breakthrough in the political fight to get Bradfield moving when Hon. Ernie Bridge OAM, a long-serving minister in the W.A. Parliament and current Shadow Minister for the Northwest, met with the Federal Member for Kennedy, Hon. Bob Katter MP, himself also a highly experienced senior Minister in the Queensland government, in Canberra to discuss the formation of a National Water Development Committee.

The purpose of the politically bipartisan committee that resulted from this meeting is to co-ordinate a National Water Distribution Scheme that will include the Bradfield Scheme, the Kimberley-Perth Pipeline, the Daly Scheme in the N.T., and the Clarence River Diversion in northern N.S.W."

So has Bob given up on the idea of stealing Clarence Valley fresh water for his irrigator and mining mates or will he be using his 'balance of power' in the new minority government to renew that push to turn some coastal rivers inland?

Does the NSW North Coast have to see off yet another greedy b*gger?

The Gruen Transfer should have this youngster on its panel

Source: The Daily Examiner, 11/09/10

A view of Armidale

Day 2 - Armidale and surrounds

Woke to find the glorious final day of winter ordered the night before had been promptly delivered.

Breakfast was at Caffiends on Marsh - thanks to a recommendation from a local - and it was A1-plus.

Just happened to notice a sign on the premise's front window stated it was in the SMH's "Good Food Guide" for 2007, '08 and '09. If it's not accorded the same (or higher) status in the 2010 edition there's something drastically wrong with the way The Guide decides upon the how it it accords a status to an eatery. Take it from me, Caffiends on Marsh is a real gem.

Oh! And something worthy of a mention ... a bloke at a nearby table at Caffiends requested tomato sauce for his bacon and eggs. Gee, he was very neatly sat on his ar*e by a waiter who brushed the request aside and remarked, "We don't have that on our premises."

Our early morning excursion commenced with inspections of some of Armidale's stately residences.

"Esrom" at 164 Mann Street brought back memories for some members of the touring party along with a few of their associates.

"Esrom" was built as a gentlemen's residence for Mr G F Morse (reverse 'morse' and what do you get?) in the 1890s. As pic 3 above shows, "Esrom" was built using Armidale blue bricks. In a later life the building provided a residence for male students attending UNE - it was one of the town houses associated with Earle Page College (see pic 2 above).

Next stop was "Booloominbah", built between 1883 and 1888, as a 45-room mansion for Frederick Robert White. Its features include decorative brickwork and architectural features that include prominent chimneys and high gabled roof ends. White's son-in-law, T R Forster, purchased the mansion in 1937 and presented it to the University of Sydney for the establishment of a University College. Today,"Bool" is UNE's administrative centre (pic 1).

After inspecting the university's academic faculties and residential colleges the touring party proceeded on its tour around Armidale's business, commercial, residential, industrial, religious, sport and cultural areas.

A highlight of the afternoon's activities was a close inspection of the notorious "Victorian Gothic" building that sits high on Armidale's south hill (pic 4). The building, which has been variously known as "Psycho House", "Wuthering Heights" and "House of Lords" has been restored and now seems to serve as a normal family residence, unlike its usage in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Let me assure readers that if that building's walls had ears they could tell hundreds, perhaps thousands, of stories that wouldn't be fit for publication in a family-friendly post such as NCV.

Credit: Armidale Visitor Information Centre's "Armidale Self Guided Heritage Drive" brochure

Australian electors disenfranchised by AEC failure to handle ballot papers correctly

Given the general malaise which afflicted the national psyche over the last two months, it comes as no surprise that at least 2,977 early votes cast for the Division of Boothby (South Australia) and 452 early votes cast for the Division of Flynn (Queensland) will not be counted in the 21 August 2010 Australian Federal Election, because the handling of these ballots breached the Commonwealth Electoral Act and the Australian Electoral Commission has instigated urgent examinations into the circumstances which led to the exclusion of these votes. The examinations will establish the facts surrounding the incidents and report findings to the Electoral Commissioner.

ABC News reporting on the Boothby count:

The ALP demanded an investigation into how the voting papers were handled by an official.
Its candidate Annabel Digance achieved a swing toward Labor in the marginal seat.
The party has not ruled out going to the Court of Disputed Returns.
ALP South Australian secretary Michael Brown says the party will decide whether to pursue the matter once the AEC investigation is finished.
"We do not have any confidence now that the 3,000 votes counted were actually the 3,000 votes that were cast," he said.
"The AEC has agreed with us that those votes cannot be included so it's now the case that we do not know at this stage and may never know who actually was elected."
Mr Southcott has claimed victory with a current lead of 1,394 votes.

A Concerned Voter's Prayer