Appearing on the ABC‘s popular TV political chat show Q&A on August 30th 2010, former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser dropped a minor bombshell.

Malcolm Fraser on Q & A

80-year old Fraser was head of the Liberal-National Coalition Government between 1975 and 1983. Deeply unpopular on the Australian left back in the 1970s – especially following the controversial sacking of the Whitlam Labor Government in 1975 by Australia’s Governor General – Fraser has none the less emerged in later life as an elder statesman of quality.

Like Ted Heath in Britain before him, Fraser watched the centre-right party he once led moving much further to the right in the quarter century following his departure.  Like Heath, Fraser has been outspoken in his criticism. This independent stance has made the right-wing of Australian politics nervous, but his genuine liberalism strikes a deep popular chord.

Last night, 49 minutes into the show, Fraser was posed a hostile, partisan question by a young Liberal supporter in the audience.

Fraser gave a rather thoughtful response:

“There is certainly a great yearning amongst both parties for a different approach, a broader approach, one which has some vision for the future of Australia and one which really tackles difficult issues and and is prepared to explain those issues, and not respond to focus groups or today’s polls or to pressure from News Corporation.”

The elderly ex-politician paused. There was a momentary and rather embarrassed silence, followed by a few titters.

This morning Julia Gillard made her major pre-election address on the subject of climate change.

For reasons best known to her advisers, she chose to give the speech in Queensland on a university campus.

Perhaps Friends of the Earth moles work inside the PM’s office?

University of Queensland climate change protest

That link again? Six degrees.org.au

Spectacled Flying Fox: under the gun again?

When Governments change in Queensland, the consequence can be dramatic. There’s no House of Review. It’s winner takes all in the Legislative Assembly.

There’s a vibe in this election that the Bligh Labor Government will fall and that may well occur. Many people feel the ALP does not deserve re-election. They have a point.

But does the ‘Opposition’ deserve to be elected? Some LNP candidates are more attractive than their Labor counterparts. That’s a reason for putting LNP above Labor. An effective local member is worth a lot. But what matters most of all, in general, is the quality and approach of the State cabinet. It will drive most new policy.

The ALP has disappointed on many fronts, but there are intelligent and capable Labor politicians in Queensland. One of them is Environment Minister Andrew McNamara. This is what he said on Wednesday about the Labor Government’s ban on shooting flying foxes:

“The crop losses that were reported over this season were relatively slight, I acknowledge that some particular growers had heavier losses than others but it’s simply a matter of in the 21st century we have to go with smarter methods rather than blasting away at night with a shotgun”

Compare that with what Shadow Agriculture Minister Ray Hopper said, in the same report, when explaining that the LNP would re-introduce shooting permits.

I’m considering starting a new category, such as ‘Salacious Gossip’, to attract more visitors. For now, this item will have to be filed under ‘Satire’.

The really big news in the Queensland election this last few days has not been trivia such as the global economic recession, the State budget deficit, the parlous state of the environment or the massive oil spill on Queensland’s southern coast.

A teenage Anna Bligh during our brief affair

The big news has been the publication of the Pauline Hanson photos from the days when she looked like a bad girl. Are they genuine? Has she been set up? Is it a publicity stunt? Who cares?

These have been the hottest talking points of the campaign. And rightly so. They are topics about which Australia’s Journalistic Class of 09 is capable of writing, chattering and twittering with ease.

Julie Bishop in the good old days

If I can’t beat the mainstream, I may as well join it. Here are a couple of photos of other leading Australian politicians in their youth. I seek no money… and publish only in the interests of public exposure.

Pauline Hanson’s persecution complex is unwarranted. She is not alone. I have dirt files on most of the sheilahs in Parliament.

I shall release bits of it over time to boost traffic to this site. But no naughty bits. This will remain a family website.

This is a local story, published first in CairnsBlog. It’s my attempt to make sense of some of this area’s history and politics, but concerns broader issues such as the justice for indigenous people and nature conservation, the coming Queensland election and News Ltd journalism at its most excreable…
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King of the local hacks?

Gavin King writes opinion pieces, mostly political tittle-tattle, for the Cairns Post, one of Rupert Murdoch’s innumerable regional newspapers in Australia. His column in the Post appears under the pretentious title ‘The King’.

King seems to revel in cynicism. One suspects he’d rather be in Canberra, covering the spiteful wrangles of national politics and writing about egos as big as his own. But perhaps he can’t stand cold weather, or maybe he has parking ticket warrants outstanding in NSW? At any event, it seems he’s stuck in Cairns. And we, who live in Far North Queensland, seem to be stuck with him, along with his pretensions, crass opinions and naff attitudes.

Sarah Isaacs of the Barron River Greens

Last week, a media release from Sarah Isaacs of the Barron River Greens in the forthcoming Queensland State election began with the words

“The Greens usually welcome new National Park initiatives but find themselves in the ironic situation of opposing the formation of one on the old Mona Mona reserve”.

Another State election is underway in Queensland. We’re only ten days from election day. Not long to raise new issues.

I may be wrong, but I think there are two topics that haven’t yet been discussed so far in this campaign. They should be.

The London Bombings, July 7th 2005: no inquest or public inquiry - so presumably another false flag operation?

The first is terrorism. Today US Vice-President Joe Biden warned about  ‘Al Qaida’ “regenerating and conceiving new atrocities” and named Australia as a potential target. Even though the ‘threat’ of terror may seem distant to Queenslanders, that’s not the way ‘intelligence services’  see things in Washington.

We should take note.

I suggest a one-sentence terrorism policy, that all Queensland’s political leaders could easily support. It would, in my opinion, do more to discourage new ‘terrorist’ atrocities in this wonderful part of the world than any other single measure.

The policy is simple: “In the event of a ‘terrorist atrocity’ – or anything resembling a ‘terrorist atrocity’ – in Queensland, there will be a full and comprehensive public inquiry to establish the truth, in addition to open inquests if there is loss of human life.”

No single policy would do more to discourage new terrorist attacks.

Had these basic measures occurred after the Port Arthur massacre in 1996 – or following the July 7th 2005 bombings in London, for that matter – we’d be much safer today from the recurrence of such events. As it is, the real perpetrators in each case have most likely escaped justice by now.

Just a few questions:

• Who are the rating agencies?
• To whom are they accountable?
• Does anyone with a brain believe what they say anymore?
• Why do we still listen to them?
• Why aren’t their bosses in jail?

Geir Haarde: blamed ratings agencies for Iceland's meltdown

A couple of weeks back, I watched a BBC ‘HardTalk’ interview with Gerr Haarde, the former Prime Minister of Iceland. When asked how he got things so spectacularly wrong – allowing obligations accrued by Icelandic banks to jeopardize the solvency of the entire nation – he had a convincing answer. The ratings agencies said it was OK.

Last week, I watched some of Britain’s leading bankers hauled over the coals before the House of Common Treasury Select Committee. How did they screw up so badly? They sighed deeply. The ratings agencies, they said, with glum looks. The ratings agencies said it was all just fine.

I suspect these answers are broadly truthful. I doubt the bankers lied on oath, not when they had a way out. The ratings agencies, assuredly, got things spectacularly wrong. They told their clients that toxic slime was wholesome organic fertilizer. Perhaps they were genuinely misled. But the natural inference, in such a situation, is that these folk are shocking liars. At the very least, they should be required to prove that’s not the case.

If they don’t do that, what’s the point of taking anything they say seriously any more?

Premier Anna Bligh: a cut above most politicians

The Queensland State election has been called. Election day is March 21st.

This is not a comprehensive round-up… just a few personal thoughts.

I’ll start at the ‘top’. I rather like the current Premier, Anna Bligh. I’ve met her only once, for a very brief one-to-one discussion at one of the former Premier’s moving cabinet meetings. I was impressed. She struck me as a politician capable of actually listening, even to an unpopular message. She didn’t just give a rote response. She gave a thoughtful response. That’s worth a lot in my book.

Lawrence Springborg: lots of blue sky, but vision?

I’ve never met Opposition Leader, Lawrence Springborg of the Liberal National Party, but he’s been around a while. Actually, it’s his third Queensland election contest as Opposition leader.

I have heard Springborg on the radio and watched him on TV many times. He does not impress me. If he’s more than a reactionary opportunist, he does a good job covering it up. But I’ll keep an open mind and hope he can contribute to raising the level of debate in this State. Surely it’s his last chance to do that as Opposition leader?

Those are the two main party leaders. What of the political parties in general?