ANZAC Biscuits

My lightbulb moment happened when I collected the post.  Six glossy pages about ANZAC Day from Rowan Ramsay - the Liberal Member for the seat of Grey.  He sends something similar each year - to re-enforce his personal commitment to the British colonial view of our history.  At least he hasn't yet erected a billboard.

It's a six page glossy brochure with "must have" information - like how to make an ANZAC biscuit and the history of "The Dawn Service".  It will have cost a pretty penny - but nothing is too good for the people of Grey.

Not for him the alternative view of our history.  Like many Liberals Rowan chooses to emphasise our nation's colonial roots rather than those of our Aboriginal heritage.  And an unnatural and extreme Liberal focus on ANZAC Day is all part of that little charade.

It's surprising really - given that Grey has such a large population of indigenous Australian's.  Perhaps they already know how to make ANZAC biscuits.

There are important things happening on the other side of politics that far outweigh these feeble attempts by the conservatives to re-activate the history wars and to distract us.

In my view - nothing is more important for the nation - than the education of our children - and that is why Gonski is special.  The Gonski Review was the most comprehensive investigation of the way schools are funded in Australia in almost 40 years.

David Gonski found Australia is investing far too little in education and in particular in public schools.

As a consequence, too many students are missing out on the resources they need and there are growing gaps in the achievements of students from different backgrounds.

Now I know that many Liberals don't get it - which is why they prefer to glorify failed battles from 100 years ago - but if you want a real future for your kids and for the nation then you should support the Gonski recommendations.

A big first step was taken today with Liberal Premier Barry O'Farrell getting on board.  Congratulations NSW.

And recently I had a mate tell me a story about how he tests school leavers for apprenticeships.  One of his maths tests is to calculate the noggin length between two wall studs - each of 35mm width and spaced on 600mm centres.  Simple mental arithmetic produces 565mm - but that was unable to be calculated by most in a recent test of 5 kids.

And that Virginia is a practical example of why Gonski is so important.

There was a time

There was a time when I thought that we would end up as the *clever country*.

Back in the 1970's and 1980's there was a heap of innovation and creativity going on across many of our enterprises. My experience is with civil engineering but I know of lots of other industries that were "going for it" at top speed.

The thing that drove much of this was information technology. This was the dawn of the IT arena and many of us could see that being creative with software would reap enormous benefit across our enterprises and for the nation generally.

And fortunately we had access to all the computing hardware that we needed - most of these brand names are now long gone. Does anyone else remember Data General, Prime, Cromemco and Osborne?

Many of my colleagues and I invested untold hours in software systems that were used to design, document, construct and manage large infrastructure projects both here in Australia and overseas. Roads, bridges, housing subdivisions, ports and even entire towns were on the list. The productivity gains of our systems enabled efficiency across many of these areas.

We all thought there was no stopping us and that this would certainly lead to the *clever country*. How naive we were?

But in the early 1990's here in Australia it all stopped - suddenly. We didn't realise what was going on at the time but it appeared as though the nation had entered a time warp where many projects just disappeared into the Tardis.

Of course it was the Tricontinental and State Bank and related disasters in Victoria and South Australia and elsewhere that disappeared them. And aside from all the financial hardship it caused, I reckon it also killed off much creativity and innovation.

Because as we recovered from those disasters, everyone started looking at how to minimise risk - and that led the nation to start its multi decade long fascination with housing.

So the opportunity to become the *clever country* was lost back there in the 1990's - and now we just buy houses from each other and dig up minerals and send them to China.

And old blokes like me who still work with software get weird glances when we are sitting in cafes staring at our laptops - because these days apparently no-one else does that. Most people think a job is something that involves a shovel or a ute or a noisy power tool of some sort.

I have lost count of the number of times that someone berates me because they think I am playing games or watching porn or checking the tatts numbers or some other endeavour that they disapprove of. No-one thinks that anyone in AU could possibly make a living using an actual computer.

And to think that I was naive enough to imagine that we could ever become the *clever country*.

I think I will join Opus Dei and get the brothers to regularly remind me of my stupidity.

News to me

Labor waltzed into Government at the end of 2007 - because little Johnny had overstayed his welcome.

The nation welcomed the change - which was widely viewed as the beginnings of a moderate, progressive and social democratic - Labor government.  It was a refreshing change after 11 long years of conservative class-war, fear and war-mongering and other nonsense.  Kevin and the people seemed to get on famously.  I suspect they still do.

But Kevin and his colleagues didn't get on quite so-well, which is why Labor's "faceless men" boned him and replaced him with Julia in 2010.  That worked OK for about a day and a half and has been seen as a big mistake ever since.  Most of us still don't know why it happened and no-one "in the know" seems interested enough to enlighten us.

All of which is why Labor is headed for the knackers yard on September 14th.  Now I know that none of this is news.

But this is - or at least it is news to me.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has recently addressed the National Conference of the Australian Workers’ Union in Brisbane - and here is some of what she had to say.

I come here to this union’s gathering as a Labor leader.
I’m not the leader of a party called the progressive party.
I’m not the leader of a party called the moderate party.
I’m not the leader of a party even called the socialist democratic party.
I’m a leader of the party called the Labor Party deliberately because that is what we come from.
That is what we believe in and that is who we are.

As I said - news to me and I suspect news to a lot of other Australians.

By my reckoning those six sentences have probably alienated more than a quarter of what was once known as the Labor base.  It's not every day that you will find a political leader who will go out of their way to tell many of their supporters to piss off that they are no longer welcome.  It just boggles the mind.

Where are the Democrats and the Greens when you need them?

PS - Another take here.

Trivial Pursuit

I personally find the *whole* national conversation around our polity to be incredibly lightweight and full of bullshit.

We already know that our "world class media" trivialise and distort everything - their main job is to get us to focus on celebrity and sport and if that doesn't work then they amplify the most god awful crap that goes on in and around our polity.  I mean, how does pap like QandA add value to the national conversation?

The politicians themselves are all about obfuscation and diversion and illusion.  They pretend to be dealing with the big issues but they never mention them  or ask our opinion at voting time.  All the real issues are decided in secret behind closed doors -  because they don't trust us to have an adult conversation about them - or because we might insist on doing something that is in the national interest instead of the interest of some corrupt political party.

Just about all voter interaction with politicians involves trivia.  Meanwhile having successfully diverted our attention, they are up to their ears in this nonsense.

And I don't think that anyone should imagine that it is just one side of politics that is corrupt.  Just because one side is being exposed this week doesn't mean that the other is squeaky clean. 

We have a unique opportunity this year to fix it once and for all.  It's simple really - all it requires is a little bit of thought followed by some action.

Apparent wind

Apparent wind is the wind "experienced" by people when they are situated on a moving object.  It's calculation is complicated and error prone - details here.

In a similar manner apparent popularity of a political party is that "experienced" by people in close proximity to a marketing bubble.  It's calculation is also complicated and error prone.

And the apparent popularity of a political party - is readily manipulated by those folks who are self interested in capturing eyeballs or inserting their hands into your wallet.

Which is why this is the best source for political analysis.

The marketeers are winning

Australians are very susceptible to marketing.  If something has flashing lights, is shiny and new and makes a lot of noise - then we will usually lust after it.  Particularly if it costs too much and the bloke down the road has one.

I only know this by looking at the vast numbers of new vehicles on the road and the proliferation of McMansions out there in suburbia.

Oh and the apparent popularity of the Liberal Party.

Just about the only thing going for the Liberals is their marketing message.  Their chief marketeer gets on the idiot box every day and tells us all what a broken government we have and how his government will be so much better ;-)

No facts of course - just marketing and BS and a leg up from our complicit media.  And it works a treat.

Yesterday the Liberals environment marketeer got a free pass on ABC 24.  I am pretty sure that not one actual fact managed to escape his lips - as the pretty talking head who was supposed to be moderating - looked on and nodded and nodded and nodded with approval.  FFS.

And on Twitter and elsewhere there is a raging debate about the economic credentials of our government and the opposition.  Andrew Leigh outlines the facts here.

But none of that matters a zloty because the rusted-on conservatives just *know* that our government is no good with money.

When the conservative marketeers say "Labor is high taxing" - that is what the rusted-ons believe - no matter what the facts show.

And if the *facts* are pointed out to them - then they avoid referencing them at all.

If forced to read or listen to those *facts* - then they denounce them as fraudulent or otherwise unreliable.

Because this little game has nothing to do with *truth* or *facts* - it is all about a "batshit crazy" belief that has been created by the marketeers.

Which is why I have a bridge to sell you.

Here's the deal

OK Australian politicians and your media acolytes - here's the deal.

If you lot run a clean campaign and tell the truth to the Australian people - ensuring that the best team wins on September 14th - then we the people will accept the result and recognise the legitimacy of the next government.

But if you keep up with the lies and deceit and manipulation that has been characteristic of the past three years then you should expect a different outcome.

Now I can't speak for everyone - but there are many Australians who are very disappointed with your behaviour and attempts at manipulation of the "Low Information Voter" - particularly around the following issues;

* Asylum seekers are not illegals and they are entitled to our protection.  We don't want you to spend billions incarcerating them overseas.

* Climate Change is real and a market based "emissions trading scheme" is the best way to deal with it.  That debate is done.

* Households are not governments - and your personal debt and currency use is not the same as that of a currency issuer.  Get used to it.

* Australia is a low taxing nation - relative to our peers - and you can't disguise that fact.

* Australia's economic performance has been pretty good relative to the rest of the world - for at least the past 5 years.  Acknowledge it.

* Most Australians are not racist, bigoted or pig ignorant - and we resent you depicting us as such with your approach to politics.

So at the very least you can expect some "civil disobedience" if you persist.  Who knows where that could lead.

It is all in your hands Ms Gillard and Mr Abbott.  Don't say you weren't warned.