End of The Line
Gosh, hasn’t the time flown. 2011 already? Pretty frightening that I’ve now been back for 3 months, but here’s my last blog that should really have appeared weeks earlier.
So long and G’day for now to Australia Fair, it was fun while it lasted! In all honesty, if I wasn’t returning to Bonnie Scotland for this journalism Masters, I dare say I’d have been tempted to stay longer. Perhaps much longer. But end it has and with it I’ll be taking some incredible memories, bucketloads of photos and oddities picked up on my trip and the old cliche of some friends for life.
When I set off on this whole experience, on my own, Australia was a daunting and unfamiliar place. On the other side of things I now think it to be a far more welcoming, hospitable and overall enjoyable land. The weather is seldom bad, as pretty much everyone knows, but when it is bad is can be really bad. Aussie Rules may not be known outside of this great country, but it has a fair few tricks it could teach the World’s game of soccer. Unless you really want the opposite, life is never anything other than laid-back and there seems to be far less of the negative attitude that so often grinds us down in the UK. Problems? They’ll get sorted, in time, but let’s have another tinny first. Sadly the price of alcohol and general overall cost of living is high and this is perhaps one of Australia’s strongest downsides. That and being a great deal far away from anywhere, which isn’t so hot if all your family and friends live so far across the world and bargain short holidays in multiple countries, like we enjoy in Europe and can be enjoyed elsewhere, seem a little distant. Even travelling between Australia’s population centres can be a spot of fun by comparison, especially for those like myself that are not overly enamoured by flying. I look forward to the day we can all teleport.
The pace of life is laid back, but a net result of this is that very little happens in Australia. Political scandals arise, for sure, but these are either brushed aside with ease or take on some level of detachment, especially when it is all going down in Canberra and you’re watching from Perth or Darwin (although try telling Kevin Rudd that scandals tend to be ‘brushed aside with ease’. He is perhaps the exception to the rule). And I’m not saying Australia is boring, far from it. Additionally, if lack of political upheaval and slow news days makes a country boring, then we’d probably all be better off living in a boring country.
For although Australia has flaws (and where doesn’t) it is maybe the closest this world can get to a peaceful and stable country. Given its penal beginnings it is a wonder that it has ended up this way. It is a cultural melting pot where everyone feels distinctively of their own culture, whilst at the same time being uniquely Australian. People describe America as the great diversity nation, but Australia is undoubtedly more proud and accepting of its diversity. This has been especially reinforced by renewed efforts to engage and integrate the Indigenous population of Australia into the, by comparison, much newer and more Western nation. Acceptance of faiths also plays a large part. Australia is essentially a Christian country and will make no bones about telling you this; however, whether you are Sikh, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim or otherwise you will find a place in Australia if you wish to stand by its values. If you don’t, regardless of your faith, then don’t expect much of a welcome. In an era of terrorism being committed in the name of religion it is pleasing to see a nation that is successfully accommodating all faiths whilst at the same time applying the same set of rules and ideals. And the recently elected Prime Minister declares herself to be Atheist, of no particular faith. Not so much ‘One Nation under God’ as ‘One Nation under Gillard’.
Speaking of Gods, if by some miracle I was able to make Australia just a tiny bit more manageable in size and move it slightly closer to Europe, without changing anything else, we may have just found ourselves utopia. That, however, would probably lead to an unsustainable population overload and some of Australia’s distant magic would be lost. See you can’t have everything in life, but in Australia you can definitely come close.
I’ll end this Daily Down Under Adventure with some words from Australia’s ‘other’ national anthem. So long Australia, but not goodbye.
“….And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong,
You’ll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me.”
The Beautiful Game
I have a new obsession since coming to Australia. Three letters that mean very little to your regular British punter. A-F-L.
We all know about Aussie Rules back home, though none of us really pay any attention to it or even have seen a game. For me that changed a couple of months back when I finally got myself down to the Subiaco Oval in Perth with some friends to watch Fremantle (the Dockers) take on Port Adelaide (the Storm) on a Sunday afternoon.
For those who don’t know, the Australian Football League is big news. Unless you live in Queensland or New South Wales it is without doubt THE sporting talking point every week. The biggest clubs and stadia in a city are the AFL ones and the local press devote the majority of their sports coverage to the game. Even in the two aforementioned states, where Rugby League has long ruled the roost, the AFL is gradually gaining popularity. Overall in Australia it is the number one in terms of supporter base, attendance levels and nearly every other criteria you could use to measure a sporting league. Having now been to some games and watched copious amounts of the never-ending coverage on Channel 7, Network 10, One HD and Fox Sports (when available to me) I can now understand why. High-scoring games with points scored over 100 and fast-paced play ensures that you are unlikely to encounter the same boredom and feeling of being cheated out of your money that comes with a dull 0-0 draw at the ‘other’ footy, or soccer.
The giant oval shaped pitch, the large squads and the ability for teams aids to run onto the pitch-mid game are other reasons why you can’t help but be excited when watching the AFL. Even if you don’t know whats going on, which is very much what I was like to begin with. My time in Perth has also coincided with a reversal of fortunes of the two local teams. The West Coast Eagles, for a long time the big team in Perth and also the winners of the 2006 AFL have now sadly ended this season at the bottom of the ladder (or table) with the wooden spoon. In contrast, the Fremantle Dockers (the team I have since adopted, in a glory-hunting sort of fashion) have reached the Finals series (the play-offs which eventually culminate in the Grand Final at Melbourne’s MCG) for only the third time in their history. They also have the unfortunately distinction of being the only club who have never been in the AFL Grand Final. But that makes their success this season all the sweeter. Having only been founded in 1995, time is on Freo’s side and one can hope that eventually, even if not this season, they can eventually reach that elusive Grand Final. Having won in a tight match against Carlton the other night, where I was one of a sold out crowd at ‘the Subi’, they now have the added advantage of a home tie in the first round of the play-offs. I have my fingers crossed.
As if to highlight how big an event the AFL is in Australia, the Grand Final is played at the MCG in an occasion to rival, if not beat, the UEFA Champions League Final or the Scottish and English Cup Finals. The 100,000 capacity of the mega-stadium that is the MCG is always sold-out far in advance and you would have to make one hell of an effort to even try and get a ticket for the game. Luckily, like most of the country will be, you can watch it on Free-to-Air television and join in the fun from the sofa / BBQ area. Nothing unites the Aussies quite like the AFL. Well, perhaps The Ashes.
The Toyota Australian Football League is available in the UK and Ireland on ESPN and online.
AFL Perth Derby - West Coast Eagles v Fremantle Dockers
The Final Countdown
The final week of campaigning in the Federal Election 2010 has arrived and what have we learned?
Erm, well perhaps that Australians by and large are just not that interested.
There of course have been the same massive billboards, endless television advertisements and flesh-pressing around the country that we come to expect at home in General, or Scottish Election campaigns. The same negative electioneering, the same political debates and the same copious amounts of spin coming from all directions. But where was that ‘water-cooler’ moment? That one incident that may forever define a campaign. Call it ‘Bigotgate’ for the Westminster Election 2010 or the Independence Question from the 2007 Scottish Election. There hasn’t been one, never mind more than one, stand out event which has captivated the electorate this time around. If anything, it has been dominated by the old classic tactic that ‘you can’t trust’ the opposing party. Which, if used by all parties, simply leaves the public trusting no politician.
We’ve also learned that to understand family matters you must be married with children, at least thats what the Liberal Party believe you should think. And we’ve also learned that the Labor Party think a 1.5% Business Tax increase is a terrible idea of raising money for the Budget, when a Super Resources Tax is not. And we’ve learned that Channel 9 thought it was a good idea to appoint former Leader of the Opposition Mark Latham as a roving reporter for their election coverage, but the less said about that the better.
It is interesting that here in Australia, where Compulsory Voting is part of the demoratic process, there isn’t a greater sense of responsibility when it comes to voting time. If anything, I’ve heard little conversation regarding the election and it seems very much to have crept up on us. Cna you imagine that happening in the UK? No, didn’t think so.
A great many number of the Australians I know are either going to pay the fairly miniscule fine that is levied if you do not turn up to vote, or just spoil the ballot paper. That doesn’t sound like a nation entranced by the political process. Admittedly, political apathy is very much the norm at home too, with turnouts dropping overall as the decades come and go, but there is still at least some sense from those that choose not to vote that they should still be repsented in some way and have some say on how the country is run.
They say everyone has an opinion on everything, but when it comes to Election 2010 in Australia, that opinion is weak at best.
The 2 prospective PMs are all smiles at the TV debate
Election 2010 (the Australian one)
So after a nice restful break in Australia’s playground (Bali), I returned to find that an Election had been called. A fabulous piece of mistiming on my part.
Julia “Ranga” Gillard versus Tony “Budgie smuggler” Abbott. An interesting pairing, not least because of the way they both managed to dispose of their party’s leaders and install themselves as Prime Ministerial contenders instead. Such is politics. It was only a matter of time after the Welsh-born Ms. Gillard became PM before an election was called, she had said herself that she had no elected mandate from the Australian people. Not that they will vote directly for her, given the system of Government here (similar to the UK not voting for David Cameron directly).
The general apathy towards this election campaign so far is demonstrated by the TV debate which was a part of Australian Elections before the UK tried it for the first time this year. Not only was it shifted to an earlier time because the finale of Masterchef Australia was being shown on Channel Ten, but it attracted far, far fewer viewers than the ratings juggernaut which immediately followed it. Disappointing, especially when you think how many more might have watched at least the end of it considering what was on after and taking into account that Australia has compulsory voting, so it may pay to be better informed come polling day.
The most interesting story to come out of the debate, for it is widely acknowledged that both leaders put forward very rehearsed performances with little or no policy detail, was the polling ‘worm graph’ which measured the responses of both men and women seperately to each leader’s responses. What was clear was that men overall responded better to Mr. Abott and women to Ms. Gillard. Surely a battle of sexes is not what this election will come down to? Not so if you are an avid reader of Perth’s venerable right-wing daily The West Australian, which this week claimed female voters are deserting the Labor Party. Probably not as quickly at that paper’s circulation however. What is more telling is a survey out this week suggesting over three-quarters of voters have already decided who they will vote for; suggesting that traditional bias or local issues are more likely to define who will win this election, rather than national policies and potential Prime Ministers. This is evident in polls now showing Labour and the Coalition neck and neck in voting intentions, whilst Julia Gillard is way ahead at 50% compared to Tony Abbott’s 34% when voters are asked who their preferred PM would be.
Until Saturday 21st August, its anyone’s game; male or female.
Election 2010 - so it begins.
Goodbye to The Milkybar Kid of Australian Politics
In a tense finale, Australia have been knocked out of the 2010 FIFA World Cup at the group stages on goal difference. Such a harsh example of sporting failure, especially as it followed a 2-1 win over Serbia, it would usually be looked upon by the Australian press as a dark day in the history of this sports-mad nation. It was, however, another fairly dark event which has overshadowed all of today’s other news. In a swift and decisive action, the Australian Labor Party have forced Kevin Rudd to quit as their leader and as a result resign as the 26th Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia.
I apologise now if this article comes across as a little rose-tinted, for this is not the intended colour tone. Kevin Rudd was not a perfect Prime Minister, far from it. However, in barely over two and a half years he had managed significant achievements in office, not least keeping Australia out of a recession when most other western democracies were being shaken to their financial core by the global economic crisis. His action on climate change, ratifying the Kyoto protocol, and his introduction of paid parental leave will undoubtedly be remembered as the key improvements he made to Australian society. Additionally, making a public apology to the Stolen Generations will ensure he is remembered in a positive light, if not one of canonisation. His short term, the first Labor PM to be ousted during their first run, was not one without blunders, however. The chaos early this year caused by the home insulation scandal and the reprecussions for the Environment Ministry set the ball rolling on negative public opinion of a PM who was expected to call a General Election some time in the next 4-6 months. His attempts to reform healthcare and centralise funding in Canberra drew strong opposition from the State Governments, particularly here in Western Australia, and suggested when it came to overhauling Australia’s health service he didn’t have quite the same magic touch that his counterpart Barack Obama had in the United States. What was the most likely cause of the rather rapid chain events which led to his downfall on Wednesday night/Thursday morning, was the proposed introduction of a Resources Super Profits Tax, which, depending on where you would sit in Parliament, was either a killer blow to Australia’s mining industry or a fair tax on big-spending companies to ensure a greater provision for all Australians. Unfortunately plummeting support for Mr. Rudd’s party in the two key mining states of Western Australia and Queensland brought about this quick and bloodless coup of the Queensland parliamentarian.
It was a Wednesday night when we arrived home to find Channel 9′s political heavyweight Laurie Oakes reporting on the surprise snap leadership challenge that was to take place the following morning at 9am Canberra Time. By the time we in WA woke at seven the following morning, K-Rudd was gone. Realising that numbers within his party were now against him, including the late defection of long-time ally Treasurer Wayne Swan to Team Julia, Mr. Rudd decided to stand down rather than face what was likely to be a humiliating defeat at the hands of his own party. To cast aside their leader is one thing; but when he is the head of Government in a country such as Australia makes the whole process seem rather undemocratic. The manner of his removal was also one which has drawn surprise and criticism from both sides of the fence. In his statement during PMQs yesterday, whilst welcoming Julia Gillard into the role as Australia’s first female Prime Minister, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott described the way Mr. Rudd’s exit was handled as “no way to treat the Prime Minister of Australia”. Of course, any accusations thrown directly by Mr. Abbott are likely to be simply shot down given the similar series of events which led to him ousting Malcolm Turnbull as the Leader of the Opposition.
Although Labor members are now hopeful that Ms. Gillard’s appointment may now breathe new life into their administration, the manner of her appointment alone may not entirely be welcomed by the Australian population as a whole.
For a country which bases itself on giving everyone a ‘fair go’ and which, until now, was led by a man who firmly believed in such a mindset, it may be somewhat ironic to see that the Prime Minister himself has arguably not been given the same opportunity.
The Remote Part
It has now been over three months since my flight to Heathrow left the tarmac in Aberdeen and with it I left Scotland behind. It seems timely, for I am a hopeless nostalgic, to reflect somewhat on the time since, with perhaps a little insight into where I’ve now spent the majority of that time; Perth.
Firstly, the negatives. With a two-and-a-half month gap between when I left home and when my placement was to begin, there was initially nothing to fill it with. Aware that I needed to see a bit of Australia, travel, meet people and work a little bit to validate taking out a ‘Working Holiday Visa’ I perhaps tried to squeeze too much into too little a space of time and succeeded chiefly in not fulfilling any of those objectives to their maximum. With hindsight, I maybe should instead have come straight to Perth and taken it from there. Even after this placement finishes, I still have plenty time left on my visa. I knew I had to be in Perth come April, so this somewhat held me back regarding casual job prospects in Sydney and Melbourne, more so than I had imagined. Embarking on such a journey solo has its own good and bad points. Although I have been able to do as I please the whole time, there is something to be said for travelling with at least one other companion, if only for a short period of time. Realising you have many family and friends back home is only heightened when not a single one of them is with you on your journey, no matter how annoying they might have become after prolonged exposure.
However, and in a bid to not reflect too heavily on the negatives, within this past three months there have been some overwhelming positives which mean I won’t be looking back on Australia with regret just yet. Saying January feels like so long ago, so much more than three months, would seem like a bad thing. It is, on the other hand, just a sign of how crazy these last few months have been. Crazy in some of the magical vistas I’ve seen. Wild in the amazing and varied bunch of people I have come into contact with. And outrageous in all the fun, exciting, truly unexpected things I, and we, have gotten up to.
From the early days of the Blue Parrot in Sydney, to road tripping down the east coast of New South Wales. From the noisy nights out, to the peace and quiet of Canberra, the bright lights and lively festivals of Melbourne and the understated brilliance of finding myself outside the General Store in Erinsborough. From the magical vast emptiness of south-western WA to some socially epic nights out in Perth, so far, it’s been an experience I am lucky to have been able to enjoy and one which I hope still has much life left in it.
To rein in the hyperbole a little, for this is not an article written after a night on ‘the goon’, some quiet reflection on life in Perth. Western Australians’, it is often remarked, do have their own unique pace of life. Western Australia was the only Australian colony to actually request convicts; tells you a little something about the frame of mind in these parts. Being this far away from anywhere and everywhere does lead the wider world’s problems to become mere footnotes on life, with little to no impact on you when even the next city over is so far away. For Perth is very much isolated. It’s hardly a revelation to say so; everyone knows that Adelaide (the nearest city of any size) is very far away, in fact as far away as London is from Sicily. Instead of a wealth of cultural hotspots and bustling towns and cities in between as is the case with the latter, in the case of the former example, there is, well, very little indeed. The Nullarbor Plain which occupies a fair chunk of the area between Perth and Adelaide is renowned for its dusty emptiness. A drive from the west coast to the east side through this outback stretch is almost an Australian rite of passage, taking in over two and a half kilometres of pretty much featureless landscape.
This separation does inevitably lead to some accusations of ‘small-town’ mindedness. Western Australia, a few years back, trialled Daylight Savings Time. After a three year pilot, the idea of going with it every year was rejected in a referendum, mainly because of strong opposition from the farming community. Such a simple, honest decision seems laughable when compared with our own simmering political tensions regarding the use of GMT and British Summer Time and its relation to Central European Time. Further, public holidays in Western Australia are actually respected by all, chiefly as a result of legislation. So where on a British bank holiday you might find shoppers aplenty and malls busier than most days, the opposite is the case in Perth as, guess what, shop workers are humans too and deserve the opportunity to be on holiday with everyone else. This similar argument applies to the lack of 24-hour stores in WA and the frankly heinous situation where the major supermarkets close at 5pm on a Friday. Although admirable in a time where many westernised societies have embraced round the clock shopping, it does conversely prevent companies making more money on holidays, or workers who may actually wish to work overtime/unusual hours from doing so. When you first arrive it can be a bit of a shock to the system, but after a while you can understand the logic and appreciate that there really is no need to have an outlet open in the off chance you might awake at three in the morning having forgotten to buy that bottle of milk on your way home from work.
In Perth there is a certain irony in having a trendy fashion district, with boutiques varying from Yves Saint Laurent, Hugo Boss and just about everything in between, in a city where nobody really gives a damn about the latest fashion trend. That is not to say that Perth is a scruffy city, far from it. Walking through the Central Business District on weekdays you will see as many sharply dressed business people as anywhere else. On weekends, Perth’s many bars and clubs will be filled with the usual well-groomed drinkers. It’s just that you are highly unlikely to be judged on what you’re wearing. Perth is a city where seemingly anything goes. Primark would most likely make a killing here.
One thing that strikes you about Perth is how very un-remote it all feels. Not ever have I felt that, geographically speaking, I am closer to Singapore than I am to Sydney, or that there is very little else around me (except for one fleeting moment when I realised that there is not one Starbucks in Perth; the nearest being nearly three and half kilometres away in Melbourne). If anything, Perth is alive and kicking. The view of the CBD is full of cranes and a growing number of skyscrapers and trendy apartment blocks. The climate is ridiculous. We are now in the throws of mid-Autumn and yet the sun is shining just as brightly as it was when I arrived back on the first day of March. Today there was not a cloud in the sky and, had I not been working, I would have happily thrown on the shorts and T-shirt and hit the beach. Perthonians (or Perthites, or whatever, there seems to be little agreement on what a denizen of Perth should be called) carry on in their lives with barely a hint of care for the wider world beyond them. And, in all honesty, I love it.
The World's Most Remote City?
Tune In and Turn Off
I must add at the outset that I haven’t exactly been glued to the box since I arrived in Australia, my opinions which follow are as a result of infrequent bursts of exposure, mainly for sporting events or other items of note.
There are no words to describe just how completely awful Australian television really is. Two reasons for an article on television today of all days; 1. the nominations for the 2010 Australian TV Awards (or Logies) were announced today which reminds me of the quality of Down Under TV and 2. a follow up to a story I read at the weekend (which I will mention later).
Having seen at first hand the excrutiatingly painful experience that is watching television in America, where adverts seem to interrupt any programming at two minute intervals, or the total lack of creativity that passes for TV at home these days (Popstar to Operastar anybody?) it is truly saddening to realise that in Australia they have somehow managed to combine the worst of both.
It all began when i first arrived in Australia and was watching the latter stages of the Australian Open tennis tournament. Naturally, you would assume that the host broadcaster Channel 7 would provide the best of coverage of all the international networks broadcasting the event, but this is sadly not so. Any small break in play, rather than being filled by commentary and analysis as we are used to on the BBC, is instead either filled with an advert or promotion of a programme due to begin on Seven when the tournament is over. I appreciate that Channel 7 is a commercial network and as a result needs to show, well, commercials, but the sheer volume of them had many fed up with the coverage. Even an advert for your own programme is not altogether a bad thing (everyone loves a bit of self-promotion, right?) but the regularity of these promotions was a little over the top. Time and time again we were informed that an exciting new series of ‘Border Security’ or ‘RSPCA Animal Rescue’ would be on our screens in place of the likes Murray or Nadal in a weeks time. Bothered? Certainly now less so after being metaphorically beaten over the head with its promotion whilst trying to watch a tennis match. To give Seven their due, the majority of their schedule was given over to the tournament for its fortnight duration. However, its steadfast refusal to delay its 6pm news programme (and subsequently Home & Away) had many fans turning off the coverage in their droves, especially when this peculiar scheduling decision resulted in coverage of the top seeded Aussie woman, Samantha Stosur, being bumped off the telly in her native land altogether mid-way through a match. This article in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph gives some indication of the weight of feeling against Seven’s decisions during the tournament. It is even more confusing coming from a country where the Beeb has no qualms about shifting the 6 o’clock News to another channel for a late-running Andy Murray match, even if this means digital viewers in England are unable to watch their local news at 6.30 (for there is no regional variation on BBC Two digital unless you live in one of the Home Nations).
The laws in Australian television make this a more confusing matter. For one, despite launching a new digital channel 7Two last year, regulations regarding sports rights prevent the ‘siphoning’ of terrestrial free-to-air rights onto digital channels, even if these channels are free for all to receive. So if Seven really didn’t want to break from the 6pm news, it wasn’t even able to broadcast the tennis on its secondary channel instead, which is more than a little insane.
Suggestions that the quality of Australian television might improve, when the Government announced a rebate on the amount the three big commercial networks (Seven, Nine and Ten) have to pay in licence fees, were quickly squashed when it was revealed there were little to no conditions attached to the rebate; so the extra money doesn’t even have to be channeled back into Australian production, leaving Seven, Nine and Ten to invest yet more money into sports rights and imports. It was also more than a little suspect that the Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, had been spotted holidaying with the media mogul owners of said networks. Additionally, which is where the weekend’s news story comes into it, there is renewed speculation that regulations for the terrestrial broadcasters are set to be relaxed, with less obligation to spend money and valuable broadcast time on childrens programming, regional news and other public service content. Which means there will be plenty time to show quality Australian television such as So You Think You Can Dance (and yes, it is even worse than our own British version), Customs (a Nine Network programme that, from what I can deduce, is 100% about British immigration rather than Australian, but with an Australian voiceover and introduction), Talking ‘Bout Your Generation (a deeply unfunny panel show that makes Caledonian MacBrains look intelligent) and the old staples Neighbours and Home
& Away. When homegrown junk is not filling the airwaves, it is invariably replaced by American (or even British) shows which, mercifully, are at least of a better standard.
It is really no wonder that shows such as Top Gear and Law & Order top the ratings, as unfortunately Australia has little of its own worth watching.
The Quality of Australia Television
The Weather – Australia’s Occupational Hazard
Missing the Melbourne storms at the start of this month by barely a week was a good bit of timing. However, having now also managed to escape possibly one of the worst storms to hit Perth in its history yesterday, I’m beginning to think I may have a little luck on my side.
We’ve all seen how dangerous the Australian weather can be. This occurs more often in the tropical north, with Queensland only just sweeping up and dusting itself down from the aftermath of Cyclone Ului which wrought havoc over much of the northern half of that state. Here in the southern half of Australia the weather tends to be more agreeable, although as we saw in Melbourne it can also be prone to the odd ‘hissy fit’. We are now into the Australian Autumn, as Europe begins to thaw and start to enjoy some warmer weather. You would be hard-pressed to find evidence of Autumn in Perth until this week. Blue skies and warm sunshine, with little cloud ever blotting the landscape. Enter yesterday’s storms. How Australia’s weather can turn with almost the flip of a coin; the perfect summer conditions gave way to nightmarish batten-down-the-hatches storm clouds. The level of yesterday’s storm is obvious, with some media outlets reporting that almost a whole month’s worth of rain fell in less than a ten minute period yesterday. The storm is thought to have cost something in the region of $AUD 100 million worth of damage in a day and led to rolling power outages and telecommunication failures around greater Perth. Unfortunately, 7 News Perth also reported last night that one man is still missing and many have been forced from their homes as a result of landslides beside Kings Park.
For the morning after, The West Australian is reporting that the Insurance Council of Australia has declared the city an “insurance catastrophe” zone as a result of the severe damage done by, amongst other things, golf ball sized hailstones. That is the trouble with the Australian climate; such nice weather can lull you into such a false sense of security, then when it doesn turn, both quickly and violently, it can be a pretty nasty surprise.
Although the recent extended run of good weather was always going to give way to something less pleasant, the level of storms Perth experienced yesterday were both unexpected and, unfortunately for some, something which most were totally unprepared for.
Copyright: The West Australian / André Lissiman
As I finish writing this, a loud thunderclap just about makes me drop my laptop in surprise. Wasn’t expecting that, it had been so gloriously sunny until just now here in the South-West.
I had to edit this blog slightly after the unfortunate death of Claire Murray, the young Perth mum whose story led me to write this article.
The great organ donor debate is raging. Raging here in Perth for sure, judging by some of the letters than featured in a recent copy of The West Australian. To explain why there may have been so many angry letters regarding organ donation in a city where other stories occupy the front pages too, some background. A young Perth mother of two by the name of Claire Murray required a liver transplant. Her situation was fairly critical; she has two young children and a loving family around her, and was barely into her twenties herself. But there’s a problem; Claire required a new liver mainly because of a drug addiction she had then sought to kick. Did she still deserve a new liver? Did she deserve one just as much as anyone else, or should she have come further down the list? Here’s what will make your decision tougher; she had been through this already. After stopping a drug addiction and being given a new liver, the old addiction unfortunately once again took hold and Ms. Murray was then right back at square one. Did she still deserve a liver just as much as any other in need of a donor? Should she have come further down the list or, perhaps, not be on that list at all?
It’s an ethical debate that seems to have divided the people of Perth, or at least the avid readers of The West Australian. Many have argued that they are in favour of organ donation, but would not like to see their own organ donated to what they see as a ‘wasted cause’. That surely is not the point. We don’t sign up to donate our organs with conditions that they only go to loving individuals who treat their families with respect and who give more to society than they take back. Or how about with the condition that it’ll only to someone who is below a certain age. Or even the same race? Thank goodness we don’t. If someone is not willing to donate their organs without these conditions, then perhaps they shouldn’t consider donating it at all. But what about Ms. Murray’s circumstances? Understandably this was a fairly unique situation, but how would you feel if you had just had to say goodbye to a loved one, donated their organs and then found out they had been given to someone who had wasted the?///////////////////
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Different Country, Same Old Politics
He is attracting widespread criticism in an election year, has had several policies fail over the last few months, is called upon to defend failing ministers and is struggling to fight off an increasingly vocal and popular opposition movement. I speak not of our own beleaguered Prime Minister, but of Australia’s Premier, Kevin Rudd. Mr Rudd has, over the last few weeks since I arrived in Australia been held responsible for a variety of mishaps, not least the shortcomings of his Environment Minister Peter Garrett. Mr Garrett, known before politics as the front man of rock band Midnight Oil, has been facing growing calls to resign from the Cabinet over his failure to address the massive problems being encountered by the Government’s Climate Change-friendly Home Insulation Program (HIP). The scheme, introduced in 2009 by the Rudd Government, was designed to help provide cheap insulation and control Australia’s ever-increasing contribution to global CO2 emissions. Although a clever idea on paper, its execution was less than perfect. Cheaper foil insulaton that was used in many of the installations led to electrocution, amongst other dangerous results. The scheme was blamed for the deaths of four insulation workers in four seperate incidents. In addition, the roofing of many homes is now thought to be unsafe, with the insulation conducting electricity and leading to some homes effectively having ‘live’ lofts. Although the plan was heavily endorsed by Mr Rudd, it is the Environment Minister who has been shouldering much, if not all, of the blame. Prime Minister Rudd may have been able to prevent drawing criticism towards himself had he dealt with the Garrett situation quickly and effectively, yet instead it was weeks before he announced the ‘reappointing’ of Mr. Garrett (basically a demotion) and instead had to deal with new calls that he had fudged the situation. In an age when the public are becoming increasingly frustrated with politics and their elected representatives it is somewhat odd that the Australian Prime Minister did not use this opportunity to align himself to the public, especially when those in favour of sacking Mr Garrett were in the overwhelming majority. An online poll conducted by the Sydney Daily Telegraph attracted nearly a thousand responses, with 87.15% of the 965 respondents favouring Mr. Garrett’s sacking from the front bench. Although The Daily Down Under doesn’t condone cheap political point-scoring stunts, sacking Peter Garrett would probably have been very much in the Prime Minister’s interests in an election year.
His committment to environmental policies has also failed to become a vote-winner, with the perceived failure on his part to make an impact at the Copenhagen Climate Change summit further frustrating Australians who felt he should have been working harder on domestic issues such as healthcare and the economy. Since Copenhagen, however, Mr. Rudd has clearly been heeding these calls from the public, touring the country to convince each State Premier that they should back the Federal Government’s plan to centralize frontline healthcare provision in Australia. In a debate last week at the National Press Club on healthcare, Mr. Rudd was judged to have held firm on healthcare plans, in contrast to the soundbites and lack of policies put across by Coalition rival Tony Abbott. To those few of us watching the debate on the Nine Network (for curiously it aired at 12.30pm rather than late afternoon or in primetime) it was clear that the election towards the end of this year (or perhaps into next year) will be preceeded by a long and difficult campaign, with a Government trying to convince its people it has done a good job of riding out the global economic downturn, whilst an opposition claims the opposite. No parallels to be drawn with the UK there then.
Perhaps Mr Rudd shares a similar attribute to Mr Brown; that his decisions, whichever direction they take, will naturally be derided by Opposition and Press alike, suggesting that he is ‘damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t’. On the other hand, no such row has yet erupted over Mr Rudd’s temper and as yet no ‘tell all’ book has been published to add fuel to the fire. And only time will tell whether the Australian Government can do a better job of convicincing the electorate to stick with what they know at a time when economic stability is key.
Prime Minister Rudd and Peter Garrett
