Our Attorney General Phillip Ruddock has come out saying that nominating Terry Hicks, father of Guantanamo bay detainee David Hicks politicises father of the year. In saying that, the AG is not celebrating the nomination, he is criticising it.

I find this an astounding assertion. Past winners have included six powerful members of a political party, four of them Prime Ministers. How does their nomination not politicise the event and Terry Hicks’ does? Why would say John HoWARd’s politics, which are overt, not politicise the event. How can we be sure that he wasn’t nominated to give the Australian people a sense of father-knows-best liberal paternalism just after he was elected.

Past Recipients of Australian Father of the Year Award.
2005 Steve Waugh AO
2004 Professor Graeme M. Clark AC FAA FTSE FRS FAAS
2003 Dr Karl Kruszelnicki AM
2002 Steve Vizard
2001 Jim Rafter
2000 Stephen Biddulph
1999 Slim Dusty
1998 Khamal
1997 The Hon John Howard MP, Prime Minister of Australia
1996 Rear Admiral Peter Sinclair A.C.A.D.(ml)RAN(Rtd)
1995 Mark Taylor
1994 Sir James Hardy, O.B.E.
1993 Michael Chugg
1992 Rev Bill Crews, B.E.E.,B.T.H.
1991 Dr Bruce Shepherd, M.B.,B.S.(Syd),B.D.S.(Syd).F.R.C.S.(Eng). F.R.C.S.(Edin).F.R.A.C.S., F.A.Orth.F.A.M.A.
1990 Peter Doyle, A.M.
1989 Ken Done, A.M.
1988 His Excellency Rear Admiral David Martin, A.O.,R.A.N.
1987 A H Pollard, M.Sc.,M.Sc(Econ),Ph.D.D.Sc.,F.I.A.A.,F.A.S.S.A.
1986 Rev Dr Gordon Moyes, A.M.,B.A.,D.B.
1985 Sir Ian Turbott, C.M.G.,C.V.O.
1984 Prof. Peter Rowe, M.C.,F.R.A.C.P.
1983 Bobby Limb, O.B.E.
1982 Alan Davidson, M.B.E.
1981 Dr Bradney W Norington, Esq.C.B.E.
1980 J T Lees, Q.P.M., Commissioner of Police
1979 Neil McLeod,O.B.E.
1978 His Excellency Sir Zelman Cowen, A.K.,G.C.M.G.,K.StJ.,Q.C. Governor General of Australia
1977 Gary O’Callaghan, M.B.E.
1976 The Right Honourable Malcolm Fraser, M.P., Prime Minister of Australia
1975 Major General Alan Stretton, A.O.,C.B.E., Director General, Natural Disasters Organisation, Department of Defence
1974 His Excellency The Honourable Sir John Kerr, K.C.M.G.,K.St.J., Governor-General of Australia
1973 The Right Hon J L Waddy, O.B.E.,D.F.C.,M.L.A. Minister for Youth and Community Services
1972 Dr W G McBride, C.B.E.
1971 The Right Hon William McMahon, M.P., Prime Minister of Australia
1970 V.C. Fairfax, C.M.G.
1969 W.M. Leornard, C.M.G.
1968 His Excellency The Right Honourable Lord Casey, P.C.,GC.M.G,C.H.,D.S.O.,M.C., K.SU., Governor General of Australia
1967 Sir Lorimer Dods, M.V.O.
1966 His Excellency Sir Roden Cutler, V.C.,K.C.M.G.,C.B.E.,K.St.J., Governor of New South Wales
1965 Ald. W.H. Northam
1964 The Right Hon. Sir Robert Menzies, K.T.CH.,Q.C.,M.P., Prime Minister of Australia
1963 The Hon. L J Herron, K.StJ.,Q.C. Chief Justice of New South Wales
1962 Sir Norman Gregg, M.C.
1961 His Honour Judge Adrian Curlewis
1960 Colin Delaney, Esq. C.B.E., Commissioner of Police
1959 The Hon J. J. Cahill, M.L.A. Premier of New South Wales
1958 Ald. HF Jensen, Lord Mayor of Sydney
1957 Sir Edward Hallstrom, Kt.F.R.Z.S.

The AG is completely right in his assertion that the nomination politicises the event. The AG is really just very annoyed that Terry Hicks’ nomination highlights Australia’s complete isolation in the International thinking on David Hicks’ rights and Terry Hicks’ nomination for father of the year is being widely reported.

As a parent I can tell you that faced with the same situation that faces Terry Hicks I would be trying everything possible, everything improbable and all things impossible for my child.

Nominating Terry Hicks for father of the year is inspired, and I for one applaud Jon Stanhope the ACT’s Chief Minister for doing it.

Image from here

Prime Minister HoWARd had the numbers and Costello didn’t. Costello is not a man who settles for less and recent interviews show that he gets tetchy…

“Doesn’t matter what I feel, that’s the outcome, and that’s the important thing. This has been resolved. It’s been resolved so that everybody knows where they stand. We’re going into an election probably within 12 months and the good thing is that we all know where we stand. And that’s the best thing that we could hope for. The party can now buckle down for the election and I certainly can get on, hopefully, in future press conferences without having to face barrages of these questions over and over again.
I’m not going to go into my expectation, it doesn’t matter what my expectation is. What counts is what his intention is, and you’ll have to ask him his intention.” -Peter Costello

A kneeling treasurer, will it work?

Image from here

Our Treasurer Peter “but he promised” Costello is again telling Australian women to breed for their country.

I find it curious that in every discussion about falling fertility rates the Treasurer focuses his attention on women. In this is he acknowledging that it is the woman who decides to have a baby? Or is he honouring the vital role of mothering? Is the Treasurer perhaps mourning the peripheral role a man plays in the choice to have a child or is he concerned about the growing absent – father syndrome?

I would like the Treasurer to acknowledge a broader concept of primary carer- man, father, grandparent, and other caring adult.

I also want the Treasurer to understand that asking members of the population to consider their contribution to the recruitment needs of the Department of Defence in twenty years time when they contemplate starting a family is going to have them thinking “fuck off” not “let’s fuck.”

In the western world, in 2006, individualism will win out over altruism every time and being a parent requires a lot of altruism.

The above image comes from here. I wonder if this is what the Treasurer pictured when he thought of a woman’s role and not enough military personnel.

In response to criticisms of the governments delay in evacuating Australian citizens, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says;

“The failure so far to get a chartered ship in shows just how hard it is.”

Not too hard for the British who are on stand-by with two aircraft carriers and four other ships, not too hard for India sending four navy ships, not too hard for Russia sending Emergencies Ministry aircraft to pick up its citizens, not too hard for Spain sending a Spanish airforce Boeing 707, not too hard for Brazil sending a Brazilian air force plane, not too hard for Croatia who sent a Croatia Airlines chartered flight, not too hard for France sending a ferry, not too hard for Egypt sending two Egyptian air force C-130 transport planes, not too hard for Italy sending an Italian destroyer, not too hard for Canada who sent six vessels to evacuate their citizens and not too hard for Sweden hiring a ferry boat –Source.

All those years in the top job and our Foreign Minister has not created a reliable network of support.

Image from here

The problem with not addressing a deep-seated issue between two people who are in a close relationship with each other to the satisfaction of both of the people in that relationship is that the deep-seated issue does not disappear – it just gets worse. So, ‘shaking hands’ is really just a short-term response to the discomfort or perceived impasse of the issue.

I’m predicting Costello will use the popular tool of the oppressed and powerless – sabotage and passive resistance.

This should be interesting!