JEFF RICHARDS' WEB DIARYNOTES FROM THE FRINGES OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY(Untitled)- July 31, 2003 Talking Labor Policy Yesterday I attended a meeting with my favourite Australian politician, Jenny Macklin. It was a poorly attended meeting, which surprised me, given that Macklin does command some respect within the party. The issue of the meeting was the Labor Party&146;s policy review process, principally the education policy and employment policy. There is something of an irony in the way party members hardly attend a forum to discuss policy that will be the battering ram to defeat the...http://blogs.salon.com/0001112/2003/07/31.html#a101 (Untitled)- July 30, 2003 The Question of Poverty and Unemployment The South Australian Government has just produced a report about the problem of poverty in South Australia. This report was the subject of discussion in our Labor Party sub-branch meeting last night. I have not read the report. Its an imposing document but I fear that it will go the way of many reports given to governments. There must be a room, perhaps a building in every capital city, where reports get gently put to bed. My concern with the proposals...http://blogs.salon.com/0001112/2003/07/30.html#a99 (Untitled)- July 29, 2003 Civil War Erupts in Sydney Yesterday Leo McLeay, a politician whose patch is near Sydneys Kingsford Smith airport threatened early resignation from his seat, saying that there was no consultation with Sydney ALP politicians about the decision to oppose the creation of a new airport at Badgerys Creek. New South Wales Labor is once again at war with itself over the airport issue, a question that has plagued politicians in both major parties. An interesting theoretical consideration here is the...http://blogs.salon.com/0001112/2003/07/29.html#a98 (Untitled)- July 29, 2003 Reading about Italian History I just began reading a very good book on the history of modern Italy, Paul Ginsborg A history of Contemporary Italy: Society and Politics 1943-1948. I first encountered Ginsborg in an essay on the regime of Silvio Berlusconi in a recent edition of New Left Review. I have just started reading the chapters on the end of the Second World War. The situation is very much like Iraq: a devastated economy; a deeply divided society were central authority has broken down; a..http://blogs.salon.com/0001112/2003/07/29.html#a97 (Untitled)- July 28, 2003 Ironies in the History of the Left I recently finished a book by Patrick and Andrew Cockburn titled Saddam Hussein: An American Obsession, an interesting and informed study of the man and the state he ruled over. Its indispensable for developing a study of Iraqi politics. There was one interesting story that has some ironies for the Left to ponder. In the late 1990&146;s there was a serious attempt made to kill a number of leading figures in the Baathist Party. The Cockburns argue that it was...http://blogs.salon.com/0001112/2003/07/28.html#a96 (Untitled)- July 26, 2003 Richard Alston I have been listening to Richard Alston, the federal minister for communications relentlessly continuing his attack on the Australian Broadcasting Commission for its biased reporting during the Iraq war. Despite a review by an independent commission he continues to claim that this issue of bias has not been addressed. If there were any claims to be made about the reporting in the invasion of Iraq, it is that the ABC failed to give enough time to those who were opposed to this...http://blogs.salon.com/0001112/2003/07/26.html#a95 (Untitled)- July 15, 2003 Listening To Music I love my toys. Mine are usually the expensive kind. I recently purchased a Sony Net MD player. It&146;s a very usefull advance in the technology of digital music reproduction, if you are not into pirating music for sale or to your friends. Sony owns a lot of the music production business, so its understandable if they try and protect their profit margins from piracy. In return they give you a nice little piece of equipment. I have about 600 CDs and growing. Music is a...http://blogs.salon.com/0001112/2003/07/15.html#a94 (Untitled)- July 15, 2003 Australia and the Nuclear Option. I have this feeling that deep in the heart of the Australian state apparatus there are preparations for to produce nuclear weapons, or at least move a few steps forward in the manufacturing processes. I wrote the previous paragraph a few days ago. Yesterday, in the Adelaide Sunday Mail I read an article on this very issue, about the way in which Australia was taking a few steps closder to making the atomic bomb, primarily through the upgrade at Lucas Heights...http://blogs.salon.com/0001112/2003/07/15.html#a93 (Untitled)- July 15, 2003 IRAQ There is a certain amount of perverse joy one feels when we hear of the troubles the United States is facing in Iraq. Still, it couldn&146;t be too much fun being a soldier in a place where you just cant relax. There must be a great trade in illegal psychoactive substances going on. I wonder what the drug of choice is in this war. I suspect it is probably speed in its different forms. Policy makers in the Washington must be getting that sinking feeling. Slowly but surely the body count...http://blogs.salon.com/0001112/2003/07/15.html#a92 (Untitled)- July 1, 2003 Dark Thoughts It is easy to understand why people give up on the world and just retreat into a private life. If you look at life around you, it can seem very bleak. Social life sometimes feels like it is completely fucked. When I heard Senator Kay Patterson defending her rotten governments Medicare policies, I felt I had had enough.. too much listening to the radio, too much news. I long ago promised to try and stop listening to the news. I only have so much listening time in my life, so why...http://blogs.salon.com/0001112/2003/07/02.html#a91 |