Ah 2013 … you were a weird year.
Dec. 31st, 2013 11:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blamebramptonPersonally, I spent most of the year working like a maniac and accidentally causing minor damage to myself. Given what was going on in politics here, I could only have improved things by hiding in a cupboard when not at work.
It was the year of three Prime Ministers in Australia. We began with Julia Gillard: hard-working, competent, dreadful at PR but actually very good at legislating, running one of the most successful legislative programmes in years despite a minority government.
She was unarguably* the target of a great many vile sexist attacks, and, when she mentioned one or two, was shouted down for being anti-woman by Julie Bishop and Sophie Mirabella, members of the then-Opposition conservative Coalition. Australians were once good at irony, but it seems to be going out of fashion.
Also at the start of the year, Tasmania was on fire. Tasmania is best known as a quiet, wet place: much like south-east England. But last January it was doing its best Victoria impersonation and ablaze. You might remember this image of a family sheltering under a jetty as the fire blazed metres from them:
They all lived. The grandparents lost their home, as did many in the area, but the post-Black Saturday fire warnings did their job: Catastrophic fire ratings mean that people don't stay to fight now. All of the firefighters called it unprecedented and the worst they had seen. The wackier members of the Coalition took to the airwaves to declare that there is no climate change.
Shortly thereafter, Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria were flooded to unprecedented levels. Again, the wackier members of the Coalition took to the airwaves to declare that there was no climate change.
In March, with the Gillard government attempting to reform the media, the Murdoch-owned papers launched a major offensive against her. Seeing her polls slump. Simon Crean, senior cabinet member from her own party, tried to push a leadership spill. Embarrassingly, Kevin Rudd, the man he wanted for the job, declined to put his name forward. Gillard survived.
In April, Gillard declared that there would be an election in September. Tony Abbott, leader of the Opposition, declared that, if elected, he would not do anything to make things worse for women or the poor, and that he really did believe in climate change, honest. Also, his wife and daughters really, really like him, so any rumours of him having a problem with women were clearly ridiculous.
Clive Palmer, mining billionaire, declared that he was starting his own political party. And did. The fact that not one of his policies made an iota of sense did not seem to be an issue.
In June, after months of the papers saying 'KEVIN RUDD IS COMING BACK! JULIA IS DOOMED'**, Kevin Rudd rolled Julia in a leadership spill and declared that he was back to govern for all Australians. He promptly began his prime ministership by instituting party reforms to make sure he couldn't be unseated again, then went to China. Possibly Indonesia. Somewhere in Asia: a continent we are very close to, but still … Julia Gillard retired to a quiet life on the backbench before not standing at the next election.
From June to September, the lengthy pre-election campaign waged. On the Labor party side it was a series of policy decisions made on the fly that made little sense. On the Palmer United Party's side it was a series of incoherent announcements that made no sense at all. On the Coalition's side it was a series of photo ops with practically no one saying anything though Tony Abbott was at pains to say that he really liked women and that he totally believed in climate change these days. He accidentally declared that one of his female candidates had sex appeal, and was not seen out of the company of one of his daughters for the entire rest of the campaign. Considered opinion has it that his wife, Margie, had given the girls firm instructions on the use of the carving fork should Daddy start talking in public again.
Come the election, no one was hugely shocked when the Coalition won and Tony Abbott became the third Prime Minister of 2013.
We were rather startled when Tony-I-Love-Women-Abbott appointed only one woman to his Cabinet. The only thing more insulting than this was the assertion that the decisions were made on merit, especially when the cabinet includes Kevin-I-Have-Blancmage-For-Brains-Andrews and Christopher-Secretly-A-Weasel-Pyne.
At least that one woman was Julie Bishop, whose death stare is one of the very finest in the entire country.
No one was really surprised when Tony Abbott moved swiftly to abolish the Climate Change Commission. Most people were mildly horrified when Clive Palmer was elected to the lower house and looked as though his party might hold the balance of power in the Senate. However, since over a thousand ballots were lost in Western Australia, god only knows what's happening in the Senate and I have no idea whether or not they'll be playing Second Chance Elections next year.
On taking power, the new government embarked on a surprising policy of offending all our allies, which was unexpected. China, Indonesia and even the US all made sternly worded statements. Tony Abbott's grin developed a rictus-like quality, while Julie Bishop started threatening actual death to her colleagues in private. Single-handedly she seems to have dragged the country back from the brink. Quietly, they changed the laws regarding superannuation, in a move that really fucked over poor people. Who they like, honest. As much as women.
In October, with Sydney ablaze in the worst ever fires for that time of year, where more than 200 homes were destroyed and my friend's only escaped thanks to a fortuitous wind change, Greg Hunt, the new Environment Minister, declared that he had read on Wikipedia that bushfires were common in Australia. I kid you not. The firefighters all gave him such a look, then quietly mentioned that not one of them had ever seen conditions like this and nor were there any on record, and that Wikipedia was a shit source.
Clive Palmer made a lot of pronouncements. I have no idea what he was talking about in any of them. I am not sure he did, either.
A bunch of Labor Party members came out and called Kevin Rudd (now a backbencher) a bastard. He resigned from parliament and went off to see if anyone needed an internationally connected chap fluent in Mandarin.
After several months without the budget emergency being mentioned, the new government blew 17 billion dollars in a matter of weeks and declared that the old government had caused a terrible budget emergency. A lot of people who could suddenly count went 'Hang on …'
Then, after years of declaring that the Human Rights Commission was a debacle and should be abolished, Tim Wilson from the far-right think tank the Institute of Public Affairs, accepted a role as the chair of the Human Rights Commission for a token consideration of $320,000 per annum. He has stated that he plans to dismantle a large amount of the legislation the Commission has put in place over recent years, because his definition of human rights is more rights for rich white male humans who are his friends.
Nelson Mandela died, and Tony Abbott sent a very gracious message and represented the country well at the funeral (I am not wholly against him, just a lot of his policies, because they are shit.) There was a moment of national pride as Australia remembered its Conservative government under Fraser leading the anti-apartheid movement at an international level, work which was then continued and ramped up under the following Labor government. Back in the days when governments, you know, governed. They all did very well through the 70s, 80s and 90s, as opposed to the British government at the time, who acted in ways I am still embarrassed by.
Sadly, both major Australian parties spent this year demonising asylum seekers to a point that I am now wholly embarrassed by them. Living conditions in the camps we have been sending refugees to range between meagre and barbaric, and we are absolutely failing to live up to our UN obligations. Well done, you small-minded implementers of crap and staggeringly expensive institutionalised racism!
Throughout November, the ABC broadcast a series of interviews with Paul Keating, the man who as Treasurer and Prime Minister oversaw the financial revolution that put Australia on a path to 21 consecutive years of economic growth at the same time as restarting relationships with the Indigenous population and engaging properly and productively with Asia. Even the people who voted him out were all a little 'Bugger…' at the thought of the decline in Australia's political leadership since then.
There was a sporting competition that made the Australians very happy, but I missed most of the details. Due to sobbing.
Gay and lesbian couples in the ACT were able to get married! For a week. Don't ask, it's too awful.
And, in the final hours of the year, the Prime Minister's Business Adviser declared that there was no such thing as climate change. At the same time as Queensland experienced record high temperatures, after the whole country had its hottest year on record and was mostly on fire or under water.
It wasn't all madness. In good news, Black Caviar retired undefeated, the new Pope seems to actually live up to his hype, and Michael Schumacher's last medical report was cautiously positive. Hush, we're mad Tifosi here. Let us not speak of cricket.
Here's to a much better 2014. I plan to spend less of it at work! HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!! I am off to find the bubbly and wait for the fireworks.
* Unless you're Sophie Mirabella, who insists that having Alan Jones declare that women like Gillard were 'destroying the joint' and that other radio wanker who asked Gillard if her partner, Tim, was gay, is merely normal cut and thrust of political debate. You'll be happy to know that she was dumped by the electorate, despite her party winning.
** Totally unconnected to the fact that she was still keen on the idea of media reform in this country, where News Corp and Fairfax have an utterly ridiculous stranglehold on the national print media and a small number of individuals own most of the television and radio channels.
It was the year of three Prime Ministers in Australia. We began with Julia Gillard: hard-working, competent, dreadful at PR but actually very good at legislating, running one of the most successful legislative programmes in years despite a minority government.
She was unarguably* the target of a great many vile sexist attacks, and, when she mentioned one or two, was shouted down for being anti-woman by Julie Bishop and Sophie Mirabella, members of the then-Opposition conservative Coalition. Australians were once good at irony, but it seems to be going out of fashion.
Also at the start of the year, Tasmania was on fire. Tasmania is best known as a quiet, wet place: much like south-east England. But last January it was doing its best Victoria impersonation and ablaze. You might remember this image of a family sheltering under a jetty as the fire blazed metres from them:
They all lived. The grandparents lost their home, as did many in the area, but the post-Black Saturday fire warnings did their job: Catastrophic fire ratings mean that people don't stay to fight now. All of the firefighters called it unprecedented and the worst they had seen. The wackier members of the Coalition took to the airwaves to declare that there is no climate change.
Shortly thereafter, Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria were flooded to unprecedented levels. Again, the wackier members of the Coalition took to the airwaves to declare that there was no climate change.
In March, with the Gillard government attempting to reform the media, the Murdoch-owned papers launched a major offensive against her. Seeing her polls slump. Simon Crean, senior cabinet member from her own party, tried to push a leadership spill. Embarrassingly, Kevin Rudd, the man he wanted for the job, declined to put his name forward. Gillard survived.
In April, Gillard declared that there would be an election in September. Tony Abbott, leader of the Opposition, declared that, if elected, he would not do anything to make things worse for women or the poor, and that he really did believe in climate change, honest. Also, his wife and daughters really, really like him, so any rumours of him having a problem with women were clearly ridiculous.
Clive Palmer, mining billionaire, declared that he was starting his own political party. And did. The fact that not one of his policies made an iota of sense did not seem to be an issue.
In June, after months of the papers saying 'KEVIN RUDD IS COMING BACK! JULIA IS DOOMED'**, Kevin Rudd rolled Julia in a leadership spill and declared that he was back to govern for all Australians. He promptly began his prime ministership by instituting party reforms to make sure he couldn't be unseated again, then went to China. Possibly Indonesia. Somewhere in Asia: a continent we are very close to, but still … Julia Gillard retired to a quiet life on the backbench before not standing at the next election.
From June to September, the lengthy pre-election campaign waged. On the Labor party side it was a series of policy decisions made on the fly that made little sense. On the Palmer United Party's side it was a series of incoherent announcements that made no sense at all. On the Coalition's side it was a series of photo ops with practically no one saying anything though Tony Abbott was at pains to say that he really liked women and that he totally believed in climate change these days. He accidentally declared that one of his female candidates had sex appeal, and was not seen out of the company of one of his daughters for the entire rest of the campaign. Considered opinion has it that his wife, Margie, had given the girls firm instructions on the use of the carving fork should Daddy start talking in public again.
Come the election, no one was hugely shocked when the Coalition won and Tony Abbott became the third Prime Minister of 2013.
We were rather startled when Tony-I-Love-Women-Abbott appointed only one woman to his Cabinet. The only thing more insulting than this was the assertion that the decisions were made on merit, especially when the cabinet includes Kevin-I-Have-Blancmage-For-Brains-Andrews and Christopher-Secretly-A-Weasel-Pyne.
At least that one woman was Julie Bishop, whose death stare is one of the very finest in the entire country.
No one was really surprised when Tony Abbott moved swiftly to abolish the Climate Change Commission. Most people were mildly horrified when Clive Palmer was elected to the lower house and looked as though his party might hold the balance of power in the Senate. However, since over a thousand ballots were lost in Western Australia, god only knows what's happening in the Senate and I have no idea whether or not they'll be playing Second Chance Elections next year.
On taking power, the new government embarked on a surprising policy of offending all our allies, which was unexpected. China, Indonesia and even the US all made sternly worded statements. Tony Abbott's grin developed a rictus-like quality, while Julie Bishop started threatening actual death to her colleagues in private. Single-handedly she seems to have dragged the country back from the brink. Quietly, they changed the laws regarding superannuation, in a move that really fucked over poor people. Who they like, honest. As much as women.
In October, with Sydney ablaze in the worst ever fires for that time of year, where more than 200 homes were destroyed and my friend's only escaped thanks to a fortuitous wind change, Greg Hunt, the new Environment Minister, declared that he had read on Wikipedia that bushfires were common in Australia. I kid you not. The firefighters all gave him such a look, then quietly mentioned that not one of them had ever seen conditions like this and nor were there any on record, and that Wikipedia was a shit source.
Clive Palmer made a lot of pronouncements. I have no idea what he was talking about in any of them. I am not sure he did, either.
A bunch of Labor Party members came out and called Kevin Rudd (now a backbencher) a bastard. He resigned from parliament and went off to see if anyone needed an internationally connected chap fluent in Mandarin.
After several months without the budget emergency being mentioned, the new government blew 17 billion dollars in a matter of weeks and declared that the old government had caused a terrible budget emergency. A lot of people who could suddenly count went 'Hang on …'
Then, after years of declaring that the Human Rights Commission was a debacle and should be abolished, Tim Wilson from the far-right think tank the Institute of Public Affairs, accepted a role as the chair of the Human Rights Commission for a token consideration of $320,000 per annum. He has stated that he plans to dismantle a large amount of the legislation the Commission has put in place over recent years, because his definition of human rights is more rights for rich white male humans who are his friends.
Nelson Mandela died, and Tony Abbott sent a very gracious message and represented the country well at the funeral (I am not wholly against him, just a lot of his policies, because they are shit.) There was a moment of national pride as Australia remembered its Conservative government under Fraser leading the anti-apartheid movement at an international level, work which was then continued and ramped up under the following Labor government. Back in the days when governments, you know, governed. They all did very well through the 70s, 80s and 90s, as opposed to the British government at the time, who acted in ways I am still embarrassed by.
Sadly, both major Australian parties spent this year demonising asylum seekers to a point that I am now wholly embarrassed by them. Living conditions in the camps we have been sending refugees to range between meagre and barbaric, and we are absolutely failing to live up to our UN obligations. Well done, you small-minded implementers of crap and staggeringly expensive institutionalised racism!
Throughout November, the ABC broadcast a series of interviews with Paul Keating, the man who as Treasurer and Prime Minister oversaw the financial revolution that put Australia on a path to 21 consecutive years of economic growth at the same time as restarting relationships with the Indigenous population and engaging properly and productively with Asia. Even the people who voted him out were all a little 'Bugger…' at the thought of the decline in Australia's political leadership since then.
There was a sporting competition that made the Australians very happy, but I missed most of the details. Due to sobbing.
Gay and lesbian couples in the ACT were able to get married! For a week. Don't ask, it's too awful.
And, in the final hours of the year, the Prime Minister's Business Adviser declared that there was no such thing as climate change. At the same time as Queensland experienced record high temperatures, after the whole country had its hottest year on record and was mostly on fire or under water.
It wasn't all madness. In good news, Black Caviar retired undefeated, the new Pope seems to actually live up to his hype, and Michael Schumacher's last medical report was cautiously positive. Hush, we're mad Tifosi here. Let us not speak of cricket.
Here's to a much better 2014. I plan to spend less of it at work! HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!! I am off to find the bubbly and wait for the fireworks.
* Unless you're Sophie Mirabella, who insists that having Alan Jones declare that women like Gillard were 'destroying the joint' and that other radio wanker who asked Gillard if her partner, Tim, was gay, is merely normal cut and thrust of political debate. You'll be happy to know that she was dumped by the electorate, despite her party winning.
** Totally unconnected to the fact that she was still keen on the idea of media reform in this country, where News Corp and Fairfax have an utterly ridiculous stranglehold on the national print media and a small number of individuals own most of the television and radio channels.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2013-12-31 02:03 pm (UTC)THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS CLIMATE CHANGEit's that woman in Sophie Mirabella's electorate that won fault. She's the reason we don't have a Minister with Science in their title for the first time in 80 odd years.On the positive side, Tim Flannery's head didn't explode and he crowdsourced funding for the new Climate Change Commission.
no subject
Date: 2013-12-31 02:22 pm (UTC)That's true: people's response to the crazy has been pretty darn inspiring.
no subject
Date: 2013-12-31 11:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-31 03:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-31 08:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-01 04:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-01 11:23 am (UTC)I actually had to stop watching the news. It was too much for my blood pressure.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-01 01:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-01 03:23 pm (UTC)To a better 2014!
no subject
Date: 2014-01-01 06:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-02 11:58 am (UTC)Tell me about it. Norman Tebbit (former Tory Party chairman, don't know how closely you follow things here) has been complaining that people judge his party unfairly and we should look at it based on the standards of the time. He's quite right, of course: nobody at the time thought apartheid was wrong at ALL. We only noticed racism was bad in the 90s.
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