Tag Archives: Melbourne

The Week That Was – June 16 to June 22

Posted on by

This week was less dramatic, yes, but it sure wasn’t boring.

All this week, we had the lovely discussion over in that crazy land that is Australian politics about the Labor leadership. I’ve gotten sick of it, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the news anchors are too. You see the slightest change in their face as they move on to the leadership story from the previous one. Whether they’re grinning because of a funny or happy story or looking serious, as soon as they see start reading the political story on the auto cue it is obvious they are sick of it. They look a bit tired and annoyed. At least I know I’m not the only one that is annoyed by all this prancing about.

Seriously, it has to stop. We have an election coming up and I would like to know what is on offer. No bitching is required. I’d also like members of the Liberal Party to stop smirking and looking like smarmy, smug idiots for once. Yes, you may be ahead in the polls and you may be on the road to a convincing win, but looking smug just doesn’t work for me. I for one, would like to hear about policies from both sides, politics is about government not fighting, not guessing who the leader will be next week and it isn’t about telling us that the opposing party has something wrong with them.

On a more positive note, the pollies did some good this week, with Kevin Rudd, Malcolm Turnbull, Christopher Pyne and NSW Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner all completing the CEO Sleepout. The CEO Sleepout is a charity event run by the St Vincent de Paul Society. The Sleepout gives the more advantaged a chance to understand just what it is like for the homeless. There is more information on their website.

Finally, just because I can, Annabel Crabb’s show Kitchen Cabinet is returning – Yay!

Quotes of the Week

I thought this week I might show you guys the Sunrise montage of odd and peculiar metaphors.

The Two Weeks that Were – May 12 – May 25

Posted on by

Right now is assignment time at uni, so once again, I have a two-week chunk for you!

So, both the Royal and Victorian State Commissions into child abuse continued, Bob Carr has been flying everywhere, Craig Thompson has been charged with further crimes, oh and the budget came out, as did the Opposition’s reply.

Oh, my. The budget. It drives me insane. I didn’t watch it on TV, so So much so, that I am giving you a link to a summary here, simply because I will get too annoyed summarising it her. In short, there is a huge hole, involving a AU$17bn tax write down. That makes me wonder:

Who hasn’t been paying their taxes?

Yes, it’s a strange question, but how did tax revenue fall so sharply? It is beyond my understanding.

Then there was the Opposition’s reply, which from what I gathered, consisted of Tony Abbott telling the Labor Party that they were useless, which annoyed me. Why can’t we have sensible debate? I can’t be the only one that would like politics to be sensible.

In other news, Craig Thompson (MP for Dobell) has been charged with more fraud allegations, relating to his time at the HSU. Thankfully, this time, there were no snide comments from Abbott, which make me (somewhat) pleased.

Quotes of the Fortnight

“Better late than never” – Denis Hart, the Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, in response to the allegations that the church only recently defrocked a pedophile priest, who had been accused 18 years ago.

“Tony Abbott’s budget-in-reply speech was the best in decades…It shows that the Coalition understands the dimension of the task ahead and is ready to rescue the situation” – Peter Costello, former Treasurer on Tony Abbott’s budget reply on May 16th.

Tweet of the Fortnight

If you haven’t been following, there has been some issues with Sydney Uni hosting the Dalai Lama – it’s all sorted out now:

 

Faux Pas of the Fortnight

Meet Denis Hart, the top Catholic in Melbourne, talked last week at the Victorian Commission into child abuse. This is an ABC video, so I have to link it here. Watch it through – at least until you get to “Better late than never”.