"No reading at the breakfast table"

Love a good election - really enjoyed the unpredictability of last night's election count.  Look forward to seeing how it all pans out in the next week. Being an election junkie I watched all the news on Friday night.  Both the leaders gave their final 'sell' and overall it was a depressing experience.  Lots of stuff along the lines of "look at what I can do for YOU and YOUR family and YOUR lifestyle and YOUR back pocket". I (perhaps naively) want to hear "This is what I can do for our nation.  This is what we can do together.  This is the type of Australia I want to see.  This is the type of Australia I want the rest of the world to see".  I want to hear words of compassion for the poor, promises to deal with injustice, generosity to countries less fortunate. And what did we get?  'STOP the BOATS' (we must be pretty stupid if that's supposed to be a core policy) and 'Here's some money for the schools that perform really well...

If you're Australian and you are pretty ignorant about Aboriginal Australia you should read this book.  It is confronting and difficult to read but worth the time.  Just a warning:  the author is anti-police and anti-missionaries but these issues are understandable within the context of the situation she is writing the book in. The book recounts the story of the death in custody of Cameron Domadagee on Palm Island (off the Queensland coast - nearest city Townsville) in 2004.  The aftermath was a riot on the island which made the media in Australia.  She visits Palm Island, spends time with his family and then follows the legal case against the policeman involved, Chris Hurley.  Which is a long process - about three years. If you've read 'Joe Cinque's Consolation' by Helen Garner it's in that type of genre. I don't have any profound thoughts on this topic.  It is just the sad and depressing reality of Australia.  What confronted me most is th...

I'm not feeling that proud to be an Australian today. Last week an entertainment show on TV which was popular in the 80's had a 20 year reunion show and featured amateur acts that had won prizes 20 years ago. One of the acts featured a spoof of the Jackson 5 and had men dressed up as blackfaces. Harry Connick Jr was one of the judges. You can see the segment on Youtube . When the act was 'gonged' off the studio audience booed. I thought 'oh, that's a pretty stupid bunch of people, aren't they horrified by this?'. Well, no. Apparently they represent many Australians. In 'The Australian' newspaper yesterday a poll showed that 81% of viewers thought there was no problem. I followed a blog discussion on this issue and lots of people commented that they couldn't see a problem with it. Australians just like to 'poke fun' ... it's the Australian sense of humour ... WOW! I am shocked. I seriously cannot believe that Australia...