Ageing politics

I was rather taken aback by commentary that Malcolm Fraser's departure from the Liberal Party (see an interesting British commentary here) would not be terribly consequential as most voters wouldn't even remember the Fraser years.

To me the heady events of 1975 seem like yesterday. But, I suppose it was 35 years ago. And he was replaced by Hawke in 1983. (27 years ago!!)

If I had nothing better to do then I would look up the age composition of the electorate, but I suspect that the observation is probably true...that many many people do not register Malcolm as a political figure of any moment any more.

However, it is laughable to read the Guardian begin its little piece by saying "Fraser has been slowly sliding to the left for the last twenty years!!"...if Malcolm is left then Gough Whitlam is more to the left than Lenin..(some people would believe this!)

No, I think it is much more that the Liberal Party under Howard, and it looks even more so under Abbott, has lurched to the right and then some. Followed not far behind by the Labor Party.

Fraser's obvious disgust with this has been apparent for years. It is clear he held Howard in disdain, and it's noteworthy that Howard only ever came into his own after Fraser had well and truly left the scene. The days of the small 'l' liberal are well and truly over.

The biggest blunder yet!

While, of course, it remains to be seen...I suspect we have seen the biggest Opposition blunder yet with Ms Bishop's breaching of the protocol with regard to security information (here).

While she may post factum have tried to put the genie back in the bottle and say that she didn't reveal information that can only have come from confidential briefings as the SMH said

When asked directly if Australian intelligence agencies forge passports, Ms Bishop – a former cabinet minister in the Howard government – replied “yes”.

There was a bit of furious back-peddling but it is pretty clear that she was relying on being privy to security information, about which there is a strong convention hat nothing is ever said.

Can't help but think that this political game-playing to try and embarrass each other has got a bit out of hand.

What will this mean? Well I was surprised to see both Mr Smith in the Parliament and the PM last night both seething ...and indeed quite shaken...that this had happened. Bishop, as I say, seemed to be furiously back peddling, but it's rather too late and exposes that sometimes there are serious misjudgments about what can be used to beat your political opponent over the head.

The cost of justice

The ongoing dispute between the Diocese of the Murray and its Bishop , Ross Davies, (here) has taken another step towards resolution. Though, I guess this his been going on for nearly half a decade.

The toll on the Diocese seems astronomical and warns us about the enormous, potentially paralysing, cost of an hierarchical system.

That is, a system where one person or office can virtually hold the whole structure to ransom.

It would be inappropriate to comment on the Murray case, given that the case is now in session; save to say

that if part of a structure is found to be dysfunctional, or that other parts of the structure can't cooperate with it then obviously it is good to be able to stand that aside for the time it takes to work it out.

The trouble with a hierarchy which has a one-person pinnacle is that if that pinnacle is the problem you can't replace it until it's found it needs to be replaced. We don't even have a way of placing a temporary stand-in in place.

It is something that needs to be looked at, as there seems to be an increasing number of possibilities for dysfunctionality

Having versus being

We live in a world which suggests that what life is about is collecting the biggest parcel of goodies that we can possibly acquire. We all know that this senseless consumerism is a shallow trap, which has deadly consequences for all sorts of reasons.

The deadly consequences that enslaves child labourers so that sweatshop entrepreneurs can make obscene profits from sneakers and cheap clothes on the backs of children whose futures are stolen. The species of primates (gorillas and orangutangs ) that are threatened because our insatiable desire to have more chocolate demands the denuding of habitat to provide palm oil from old growth forest.

The martyred Archbishop of San Salvador, Oscar Romero, is reported as saying that people should "Aspire not to have more but to be more.

He was an interesting case in point. A career churchman in many ways who became increasingly radicalised to the point where he began to stand up for the poor and the marginalised against the established interests of the Salvadorean state.

It cost him his life, shot as he was saying Mass (what a way to go!) he has become the hero of the modern church, and indeed a champion of the poor.

What might it might be like if I focussed on being more rather than having more?

If I tried to add to the quality of life, and what I can contribute to human community.

It's a potentially mind-blowing thought!

The Amazing Ms Lemper

The medium S Clark and I went to see Ute Lemper on Saturday. A quite extraordinary experience of watching a truly European performer who seemed to work seamlessly in German, French and English...and...at times in Spanish.

I am of the opinion that it is worth going to see any performance of such calibre whether or not you are "into" their music. It was exciting, energised, touching and at time confronting. Her musical associates (a masterly piano, double bass and drums trio...all of whom stood out in their own right...along with 72 year old Tito on the Argentinian Bandoneon..an instrument which immediately seduces its listeners into endless tangoes) were just amazing. But she is so expressive, her hands just tell a story...the arch of her back...but it is of course her voice which is an amazing instrument.

Apart from the Kurt Weill songs of which she is a foremost interpreter the highlight was the extempore jazz in which she (not exactly the right word) mimicked the instruments. But it wasn't so much trying to recreate the sound as get the feeling of the piano the bass and the drums. It was just amazing. Almost overwhelming. Her final rendition of Jacques Brel's "Ne me quitte pas" was sweetly sensitive.

So let me tell you, dear reader, a couple of amusing anecdotes about the show

• Half the audience seemed to be German. We even found ourselves speaking German to each other from time to time ("gar nicht!!")
• After very speccy Pentecost Church was talking to W&J who we had driven past on the way into town to see Ute. Enquiring where they had been going they told me they had gone to see "What do they call her?"...we hadn't seen them. It was obvious J hadn't enjoyed it. Now as she is Mrs Music in our parish, and much admired by me I was surprised. Could I have got it wrong? Had we been at the same concert.? They were upstairs, while we were inches from the stage...maybe that's what made the difference.
• We talked on about the Bandoneonista...don't know if that's the right word but it sounds good. I was quipping how on the way down I was annoying the medium-sized SC by talking about buying an oboe (there is one on ebay!!), but after being wrapt by Tito I said I think I'll buy a Bandoneon! J quite rightly remarked...yes spend a couple of weeks learning how to get a noise out of it...and a lifetime learning how to make it sound good...yes indeed

Ahh good times!

more sickening rubbish

My post about the sordid affair of poor David Campbell below is further illuminated in this post http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/05/21/the-minister-the-gay-sauna-and-a-reporter-with-scores-to-settle which a correspondent has drawn my attention.

As we suspect, all is not necessarily as upfront as it seems.

The bounds of culpability

The very sad affair of the NSW Transport Minister, David Campbell, resigning before he was pushed after being outed by Channel 7 who showed damning footage of him coming out of a Sydney gay sauna, begs all sorts of questions....(now let the grammarians parse that poorly constructed sentence!!).

The debate seems to have been about whether or not the much vaunted status quo reporting ...or rather non-reporting...of the private lives of politicians is now breached for ever. While there is no doubt an argument that Mr Campbell's frolics at kens of kensington probably did not affect his ministerial capabilities, I am not so convinced.

There is an arbitrary distinction that is all too self-serving that is often drawn between public and private behaviour. Is it not reasonable to expect that our elected leaders are manifestly people of integrity. Not men or women who lie to and cheat their own families.

It is about character, and I suspect the average adult would not think that this sort of behaviour displays the sort of character that we would prefer our political leaders to display.

If we were to reflect on William Jefferson Clinton for a moment, would it have made any difference if he had said "I did have sexual relations with that woman!". I suspect not. Most of us would still have thought that was inappropriate. He compounded it by apparently lying about it.

In Mr Campbell's case there is the added confusion that this is a gay-related issue. Would it have been OK if he had been going to a heterosexual sex-club? I think not. Premier Keneally makes the point that there is about this a sadness that people have to be closeted...and that living with such secrets takes enormous toll...on individuals and families!

It's grubby sort of stuff isn't it?

I'm afraid I don't believe it

While there has been a lot of whining by mining chiefs, and indeed threats to take their ball and run away...I am afraid I just can't believe it.
No one can blame the BHP Billiton chiefs for stating their case (here) but in the end do we really believe that these companies are going to walk away from the El Dorado which is the current Australian mining bonanza. While they may posture, and suggest that dividends may fall....and let's remember that's what is being talked about...not that there will not be great profits...but that the morality of obscene profit is checked by the proposed tax. There will still be great profits...so let's be realistic!!!
The Chinese government is capable of saying...well we won't take your expensive iron ore for two months...and in small economies like ours that makes us freak...but they come back (see here for example)
So let's keep our nerve.
Let's not do what we have so often done. Fritter away our national inheritance and made a few privileged fat cats...even fatter.
Let's start investing in our nation and using some of our national natural heritage to fund the future of the nation, to redress social injustice, and to add not to the girth of the fattest cats around, but rather to the national quality of life.

When no means yes!

I have some sympathy with Mr Abbott, who yesterday (perhaps foolishly) admitted to Kerry O'Brien, that what came out of his mouth was not necessarily perfectly formed.

As a person who quite often "thinks with his mouth" I sort of know what he means.

TONY ABBOTT: Well, again Kerry, I know politicians are gonna be judged on everything they say, but sometimes, in the heat of discussion, you go a little bit further than you would if it was an absolutely calm, considered, prepared, scripted remark, which is one of the reasons why the statements that need to be taken absolutely as gospel truth is those carefully prepared scripted remarks.

Kerry rightly questioned this

KERRY O'BRIEN: So every time you make a statement, we have to ask you whether it's carefully prepared and scripted or whether it's just something on the fly? No, seriously; this is a very serious question.

But it's dangerous territory for all concerned.

It is interesting that the Opposition (eg Joe Hockey on Q&A lauded this sort of recklessness as "straight talking") but as O'Brien remarked does this mean "there will be no new taxes", and "is Work Choices in or out". This is rather like the malleable world of "core" and "non-core" promises.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out

Preferred leaders

Julie Bishop the Deputy Opposition Leader and Labor Senator Mark Arbib were asked an "objective" question on Lateline on Friday night (here)

When does a party know that it's time to change leader? What are the signs that are, "Look, you know, we really need to change courses now."

Arbib couldn't really bring himself to answer the question as Leigh Sales wanted it, and while Bishop got the point she didn't do much better. Though she did make the good point that it doesn't really make much difference changing the leader if they don't also bring about change in policy.

This is of course what happened when Abbot took over from Turnbull, there was an about face on emissions trading policy. But not when Nelson took over from Howard.

Present speculation that K Rudd is now so unpopular with the electorate that he may be a liability makes this sort of question interesting and is rife here in the press today and here.

While Ms Gillard, as the Deputy, is no doubt front-runner Labor seems to be in the fortunate position of having any number of candidates. This is partly because of the phenomenon of being in government, I would suspect, we see Lindsay Tanner, Julia Gillard, Craig Emerson, Chris Bowen, Nicola Roxon...perhaps not so much Mr Swann, and certainly not the hapless Peter Garrett ... but also the affable and feisty Mr Arbib.

So, all this begs the question....when do you know that you should change your leader?

Unhealthy democracy

Writing in The Advertiser , Alexander Downer is no doubt correct that this next election will be interesting because it will give the voters a black and white choice. He is wrong in suggesting that this is ideological.
What it would seem is happening is that, once again, we are being subjected to fear mongering . As Downer himself elucidates, refugees arriving by boat will once again be the
political weapon of the Liberals.
But equally well we might note that Labor will invite us to lash out at the rich mining magnates.
This is not ideology. This is prejudice. This is not healthy democracy it is cynicism at its worst.

Dramatic moments

You know we are so fortunate with radio, particularly the non-commercial variety, and I just love the quirky Emma Ayres on Classic Breakfast.

One of the snippets they have been playing this week is various tracks of Maria Callas.

Now, I have mixed feelings about opera but listening to these snippets has been quite wonderful.

She obviously had such force of personality that what ever happened on stage was dominated by her. Some commentators and critics have said she used to sing out of tune!!! I sort of get this, though it seems an extraordinary thing to say about someone who is arguably the greatest Diva of all time. (see this interesting little discussion about her vocal decline on Wiki)

But it is observed that her tonal quality was so unique that it doesn't actually seem to have deterred people from declaring her to be the "greatest"

It has caused me to think about my own Great Opera Moments...but the list get longer and longer so I will curtail it...it includes:

• The Greatest Disappointment-this week it includes never having heard Callas, but it could equally well be never having heard Pavarotti
• The Most Amazing Year-I think this is right (at least in part) was 1980. Amazing for a wonderful production of Death in Venice by Benjamin Brittain at the Adelaide Festival, later in the year Joan Sutherland in Lucia di Lamermoor
• The Most Luxurious Experience seeing La traviata in the Vienna Opera House
• The Best Ever-Kiri Te Kanawa in Traviata at the Sydney Opera House
• The best ongoing-never fail to be amazed at the ongoing youth talent that abounds in this fair city...even the G& S society has become youth oriented and found a new life to its productions ...like the forthcoming Pirates

And so we could go on....what would you add?

The politics of personality

The ongoing decline in the Rudd Government's popularity and approval rating is part of the inevitable reflection communities make on incumbent governments. How did it happen? How can a government that was so phenomenally far in front now be behind in the run-up to the election?

There is no doubt that the answer to that is: Tony Abbott. His political savvy and relentless discipline in the last little while has been remarkable. Not unlike that of his former leader and mentor, John Howard.

But it needs to be said that, by and large, the battle ground has not been policy (what are the Liberal policies any way?) but personality. The Liberals have ruthlessly and relentlessly painted Rudd as boring, wordy and remote. One would have to say that they have been successful.

They have also been able to hammer the enormous spending spree that the fiscal rescue seemed to demand. (What would they have done?) and despite the annoying nature of its repetition...the idea of the Great Big New Tax has been fed into the nation's psyche and people don't like such an idea.

Equally well, political liabilities have been kept out of the public eye. Where, for example, has the agressive Ms Bishop been? or the twee Mr Pyne?

I suspect that the Libs have had (good) advice that they are both political liabilities and so have been kept very much in the background.

Will the Labor party then be sucked into this game and start playing personality politics. It will be fun to watch! It will be dirty! But is it good?

I don't think it is yet all over for the Labor Party, but they need to get their act together if they are to be credible.

Addressing decline

The Dean of Dallas, Texas has an interesting discussion about how the current woes of the church might be addressed (here). I agree with some points he makes like the need to find new ways of being church and giving some credence and resources to them.

We do need to be careful here because often this sort of discussion says "let's look at new ways....and I'll tell you what these new ways are!" and there's a bit of that in Dean Kevin Martin's essay.

But I am actually more interested in one of his opening salvos which is in looking at what happened to a number of major corporations after economic rescue packages were made available. And that is that they were then subsequently analysed and advised by other governmental and industry agencies about restructuring and looking at new directions.

What, we might ask, would the Macquarrie Bank, or the Department of Treasury advise the Anglican Church to do about its current plight. He notes that the resistance to such radical analyses usually comes from existing leaders whose vested interests are both so great, and perspectives so limited that they are actually resistant to radical change. I observe that in the recent review of taxation (The Henry Report) the incumbent government has trumpeted long and loud the need for across the board reform; and yet it has by and large only chosen a handful of the possible suggestions.

Matthews notes some important directions for the church which include:

• Develop younger lay and ordained leaders with an emphasis on reaching younger generations of unchurched people.
• Start new congregations using proven innovative methods to reach newer and younger communities for the Church
• Intentionally identify 10 to 20 percent of congregations that demonstrate a readiness for revitalization and give them the leadership and tools to accomplish this
• Enact a plan to reach different populations

I think that the third point (put your money where your mouth is) is particularly salient. But also requires some key external scrutiny (à la his opening salvo). Intentional identification of fertile opportunity is vital, but needs to not be done by the vested interests. The trouble with a hierarchical organisation is that too often "Father knows best" is the worst possible filter for assessing what is the appropriate way forward.

Oxymoronic

Yesterday, in that Facebook sort of way, I was invited to join a facebook group Christians for Same Sex Civil Unions-SA another FB friend made the comment isn't that an oxymoron (contradiction in terms). My reply is "That I am nothing if not moronic, but no!"

I have blogged extensively about same-sex unions in the past (see a range of them here). My point basically is that we Christians are in the business of encouraging faithfulness and stability in relationships.

In a curiously disarming conversation with the youngest SC as we drove home last night from luxury ice cream, she informed me that she was going to vent her anger this weekend by demonstrating...and more than that it was a sort of birthday outing...perhaps trip is a better word... for her young gay-tending friend. They were going to State Parliament to demonstrate in favour of (you guessed) gay marriage.

I was a little taken aback. But we talked about all sorts of interesting things like the failure of society to deal honestly with the history of homosexuality. It is a particular sadness to me as an agent of the Church that we are as bad at this as the wider community, and in many ways worse.

But the youngest SC, well aware of the fact that she is a member of a church community which has a much more puritanical and, perhaps, punitive attitude towards homosexual people and their supporters..is brave in the face of this.

Perhaps there is hope for us yet!

Oh Mother!

I am not a visual art person so I am always pleased when I do seem to get it. A little diversion into the SA Art Gallery on Sunday last gave me the opportunity to see Patricia Piccinini's "Big Mother".

This curious work is of an ape-like creature nursing a human baby.

It is strangely seductive, with a deep, deep sadness about it.

We are told it is about the whole area of the cross over between the species, but also of orphaned apes being looked after by humans.

I was just profoundly surprised by how deeply disturbing I found this. If you get the chance go and see it.

UnAustralian

I tire of the epithet that declares this or that to be "unaustralian".

It is clear that in a pluralist society we are as divided about what is and what is not "Australian" as we can be.

For heavens sake our key value would seem to be that people should be allowed the maximum liberty to do what they like without interference. It's unaustralian to try and minimise people's liberties in fairly arbitrary ways.

No one is seriously suggesting that values of safety and security should be compromised by a sort of anarchy which says anything goes...but saying what people should and should not be allowed to wear...and the burkha is the case in point...is ridiculous

I personally am not inclined to believe that Senator Bernardi is the best arbiter of what is and what is not “Australian”.
His comments about the burkha would seem to be such blatant political opportunism, aimed at the sort of divisive scare tactics that the Opposition is renowned for, that it causes me to conclude he is the last person who should be allowed to pontificate on what is “unaustralian”.

Ante Porte Latinam

Perhaps (one of) the oddest feast days of the Church is today (May 6) St John ante portam latinam...or St John at the Latin Gate.

I think it's there because the actual solemnity is kept on December 27th which is one of the great Christmas days. St John is so strongly associated with Christmas because his masterly Gospel has those wonderful words in the first chapter which sum up the whole of Christian theology

and the word became flesh and dwelt among us

God becomes human in the form of Jesus Christ. However good old John, who is the patron of this parish and district deserves commemorating in his own right...so this strange feast...ante portam Latinam. Relates to a traditional story (story) where the emperor Domitian attempted to deep fry St John ...there is still a church called St Giovanni in Oleo (St John in Oil!) today.

I choose by and large to ignore it. Though Sophie and I did have chips at lunch time!!

caught at it

I parked my car near the Blackwood Post Office today while I went to pick up a parcel. I noticed a man skulking around so made double sure to lock the car. What was curious is that he had gone into the car park and (I thought) was looking for a way out but when he found that it was completely fenced he seemed to go and stand behind the toilet block and didn't look like he was going to move.

He was still there when I returned some minutes later. It became obvious he was praying his afternoon prayers.

I felt sad that he had to skulk behind the toilets, I felt sad that u thought he was up to no good. I felt sad that I couldn't go over and say...(because he was in mid-prayers) if you had wandered a 100 metres down the road you could have gone into All Hallows' Church which is open for all.

It reminded me of a retired priest, who I respect greatly, who used to joke that one of his parishioners had "caught him at it" and he would observe that that is what he would like people to say about him. That they caught him praying. Me too!!

The best laid plans

If I were Kevin Rudd I would be wondering what information Malcolm Turnbull has that has caused him to decide to stay in politics.

Clearly (and not unreasonably) Turnbull is an ambitious man, and one suspects that he believes that Rudd is in danger of losing the next election. This seemed unthinkable 6 months, 12 months or 2 years ago...but does now seem a possibility.

One guesses that Malcolm is attracted to being part of the next liberal government!

So Kevin might be feeling a little edgy.

However, I guess he could also be reassured when he looks at Turnbull's record at testing the political wind. Which is not particularly good!

In fact Rudd may well be rubbing his hands with glee at the destabilisation that this is going to bring to Abbot's Liberal Party.

Funny or funny peculiar?

I resisted the temptation to blog this week on a number of curious stories.

The first was the story about the leaked memo from the British Foreign Office about the forthcoming visit of the Pope to Britain (see here). The alleged result of a 'brainstorming' session of things the Pope could do when he visits Britain later in the year it includes such things as singing a duet with the Queen to raise money for some laudable cause (a la Band Aid...etc), launch a new range of condoms, perform a same-sex marriage, or open an abortion clinic!

The list reads not like a serious memorandum (which it isn't) but like a Ben Elton script...highly amusing, but cynical in the extreme... and above all a joke!

What some commentators have noted (despite the obvious stupidity of it all) is that you should not under-estimate the depth of anti-Catholic sentiment in, even though it is now almost a totally non-Christian country, what is essentially Protestant England!

I am old enough to remember when Catholics and Protestants didn't really inter-mingle, or perhaps that it was still a cause of comment when they married. Various Catholic friends of my childhood were not allowed in the 1950s to go into an Anglican Church (still not quite sure how the Earl Marshal managed to organise a couple of coronations inside Westminster Abbey...another story!)

What seems like the ridiculous japes of some infantile Oxbridge graduates at least hints at the antiCatholicism which pervades our world. It should not go unobserved that the same faceless and, no doubt, privileged civil servants would most likely not have been so careless with a list about world Islamic leader. That the Catholic Church will not put out a death-fatwah is commendable!

The other amazing blunder is the feckless Gordon Brown who left his microphone on and got into the car and was heard to bemoan a woman as a "bigot" who he had previously politely listened to.

Caught out by his own stupidity he then went round and personally apologised to her.

Now who knows how this will play out. (see some comment from the SMH here)

But I make two observations.

One, the woman did actually seem to be engaging in one of those diatribes that could be taken as being prejudiced. When ever whole groups of people are gathered together and criticised as a group rather than as individuals then compromises in truth are made. She says: "All these eastern European what are coming in, where are they flocking from?"

Now I guess there are a lot of Eastern Europeans roaming through Europe now that the EEC allows freer movement. There are indeed also English people in Belgium, Paris or Berlin....

Two, although many commentators have derided Brown for going round to apologise. I actually found that quite human, attractive and humble. But the press by and large are not interested.

I suspect Brown had a try at making things right and doing the correct thing. I also suspect that this will not save him at next Thursday's ballot box.