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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2013 11:09:16 GMT
Here "up over" I feel that we don't get enough information about Australian politics, a field in which interesting things are almost always happening. In a little under a month new parliamentary élections are being held and one candidate who has not left people indifferent is Stephanie Banister who is running for a seat with the ultra nationalist One Nation party. Among her pearls are 'I don't oppose Islam as a country but I do feel their laws should not be welcome here in Australia.' |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2013 5:36:00 GMT
Poor woman, she has withdrawn from the race. Back to the drawing board...
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Post by Deleted on Sept 4, 2013 11:30:26 GMT
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Post by questa on Sept 4, 2013 13:57:14 GMT
As you can well imagine, I am shamed and distressed at the Oz positions on refugees. In Lombok I got to know a group of young Hazara Afghani refugees quite well. They would have been a great asset to any country, but not to our bloody-minded politicians. Australias loss was Canada's gain. |
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Post by questa on Sept 4, 2013 14:08:19 GMT
K2...The "One Nation" party are generally considered a red-neck, ignorant bunch of ratbags (good Ozzie term)
The woman who started the party (Pauline Hanson)
was asked on a TV prime time interview if she was "Xenophobic"
She didn't reply for a moment then in her whiney voice said, "Please explain".
She didn't know what it meant!
Then there was the prison time for diddling the Party books...
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Post by Deleted on Sept 4, 2013 14:40:00 GMT
Yes, when I read up about it, I could see that it was an ultra marginal fringe party -- but what it really awful is when this sort of thing get huge international publicity anyway.
I know how often I cringe about certain things that get into the world media about France when they are really minor and not at all representative of the country -- but they look as though they are when slick illustrated articles and TV news reports begin to circulate around the world.
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Post by fumobici on Sept 4, 2013 14:52:48 GMT
Politicians lacking actual constructive ideas can always count on marshalling xenophobia and racism as useful tools for exploiting people's uglier natures to get votes. Every Western country--and probably most non-Western ones I assume as well given the universality of human nature--has at least one political party actively exploiting this common character flaw. Combine racist fearmongering with the specter of these fear objects receiving social assistance for extra effect. Targeting the weakest and poorest and most vulnerable while simultaneously ignoring the far more systemically dangerous depredations of the wealthy and ruling classes is pretty much standard operating procedure for slimeball politicians everywhere.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 7, 2013 15:49:51 GMT
So, the Mad Monk has become the new prime minister. That could be interesting.  |
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Post by questa on Sept 8, 2013 7:23:28 GMT
I did all I could to prevent it! Now the disadvantaged, refugees and the women of Oz are going to find the going tougher. Except the wealthy women who earn zillions...they will get 50% of their annual salary as a maternal leave bonus when they have a baby. Those women on basic wage only get 50% of their salary for their bonus. Let the rorts begin...    |
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