Tonight as I was watching The 7.30 Report on my ABC, ACTU President Sharan Burrow was filmed steering her way along the hallway towards Barnaby Joyce. It was hard to make her out over the 85,000 signed petitions she had piled high on her trolley. As the cameras looked on Sharan took the time to remind Barnaby of the salient points that concerned Australians had asked her to raise with him. As the cameras moved on, all that could be seen, was Sharan making point after point and Barnaby listening and nodding (as well he should).

Cut to Barnaby in the studio. In answer to a question regarding his concerns about the Workplace Relations Amendment (WorkChoices) Bill 2005, Barnaby said,

“I’m not going to have the Anzac Day march weaving its way through the marauding shoppers. I’m not going to sit in my church on Christmas Day and have everyone glance around because their husbands or wives are at work and the legislation has changed. Those things have got to be fixed up. We’ve got to make sure that Good Friday doesn’t just turn into another day at the shops.”

Un-fucking-believable!

He’s just had 85,189 people’s concerns delivered to him in the form of a petition (with comments) AND Sharan Burrow – SHARAN BURROW to remind him that the new workplace legislation will strip away one hundred years of respect for workers’ rights, remove legal protection for many employment conditions and set a new low for the future workplace conditions of Australian workers.

What does he come up with? What does this man, this man that we have pinned our hopes on tell us is important to him? – Jesus, Church and the ANZACS. What percentage of the 85,186 people who signed the petition do you think were worried about being able to attend church on Christmas day? Eek, egads and all that.

In the brave words of Dame Edna Everage,

“What a friend we have in cheeses.”

Today John HoWARd attempted empathy.
With his complete failure of Concepts of Self Determination, Truth for Liars and expulsion from Sincerity for Bastards, I warn you, what follows is ugly.

Talking to ABC Radio he wondered out loud whether it was helpful for Kim Nguyen to be given false hope regarding her son Nguyen Tuong Van who faces death by hanging at dawn on 02 December 2005 in Singapore.

In the following quote our John patronises Kim by assuming that she can’t cope with the hopeless truth (as he sees it):

"I don’t know that we help her suffering by pretending that there are things that can be done that are going to bring about the change other than the only thing that would bring about the change and that is a change in the attitude of the Singaporean government."

Then he remembers who he is and injects his much loved fear element into the equation. 

"And the more international constructs that are brought to bear on the issue, the less likely rather than the more likely it is for the Singaporean government to change its mind."

He would have us believe that it is better to be pessimistic than optimistic and cannot conceptualise the notion of realistic. He has patronised and dismissed an amazingly strong woman, chastised two Lawyers, devastated an extended family and saddened almost everyone else involved.

The best that John HoWARd can offer Kim Nguyen is his tough-love.  He dismisses other suggestions and focuses on some archaic notion of paternalism. Tough-love is often described as abuse by the survivors of it. They state that it creates hurt and pain and they are not left feeling loved. It is a flawed notion, not dissimilar to fighting for peace. A flawed notion from a flawed PM.

You can stop helping now John.  

Image from here  

The PM tells us that it is just coincidental that his announcement that Australia is facing a possible terrorist threat has been timed to avoid scrutiny of the industrial relations and counter-terrorism laws. 

"Now if I had made the calculation that I’ll put this off for a few days so people won’t accuse me of that, and something were to happen, people would have every right to condemn me unconditionally." -John HoWARd

I am very pleased to read that John Brogden is leaving public life.
He can now address whatever issues he has without the added burden of being a public figure. 

I hope he gets good quality solution-focused brief therapy and even better drugs.  

 
Image from here  

I am Suki Lombard.
My first glimpse of life was in Ferntree Gully, Victoria.
I am bi-cultural, bi-lingual and always colour co-ordinated.
I live in Sydney, Australia.
I am very opinionated.
I fund my life by working for the Australian Public Service in an allied health role.
I knit strange, utilitarian things and grow cacti and succulents.
I mother the girlchild (when she needs/wants it) and I do not own one pair of sensible shoes.

You can contact me on: suki dot lombard at gmail dot com