Category: General
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In a nutshell: how our system of government works.
Given the 2010 Federal election results (still pending), I’ve received (from both local and o/s) queries about how our Australian system of government works, so I thought I’d try and give a very brief overview, with inevitable small ‘errors of exception’. Firstly, we are a Federated Commonwealth of States. In some ways, this is somewhat…
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Ausvotes 2010 – Independents’ preferences
The four elected independents are being wooed by the two major parties for their support in forming government… so how should they decide whom to support? Each is of course free to decide how best to choose. After all, that is the nature of an independent candidate. One of the factors (and possibly a factor…
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Australian Federal Election 2010: what I would like to see
Date: Sunday, morning after 2010 Federal elections. Like many other Australians, I stayed up last night watching the election counting result on the ABC. Like numerous other Australians, I was relieved to see the loss of so many seats previously held by the Labor Party. I write ‘relieved’ for the very reasons I outlined in…
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From Pope to Pope
I was recently looking through older materials in various places, and discovered afresh a blog entry (on LiveJournal) I made a few days before Ratzinger was elected, to the unbelief of many, as Pope. I too had assumed someone else would be elected, but it struck me that one of the things I actually got…
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Why I shall NOT be voting Labor this month
First and foremost, the last few years under the current Labor regime has seen some rather concerning signs of social control reminiscent of Stalinist-like (or Nazi-like) push towards uniformity through educational ‘reform’: instead of seeking to encourage and maximise diversity, the Labor Government has, in one scoop, both taken steps to remove State autonomy, as…
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Moving hosting service
I’m actually very happy with the service from DreamHost, and there are some features that they offer (such as mirroring and the announce-list) that I won’t have access to with the move – or if these exist, I have yet to find them! So why move? For one very simple reason: I also have an…
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Gaza naval blockade
What’s a nation to do when people around it are hell-bent on seeking to destroy it, to bring in (even more) weapons, to violently provoke it, and to paint it as an unfair aggressor? Israel is no in any kind of enviable space: it is surrounded by communities that do not genuinely believe it even…
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NAPLAN 2010 and MySchool
I frankly fail to understand how the education unions continue to support NAPLAN. That the State sector unions sought to cause a hiccup in this year’s implementation due to the inappropriate usage of NAPLAN results on the MySchool website seems to be entirely missing the central concern that teachers in all sectors have had since…
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International Temple Mount Awareness Day
Today, 16th March, marks an important development: the first international Temple Mount Awareness day. [Model of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, as it would have been prior to its Roman destruction] For those amongst us who care for the sanctity of the Jewish Temple’s location, this new celebration is… well, something to celebrate! The second…
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Aus. passports vs citizens
It’s some concern when both our foreign and prime ministers seem to place more value on the appropriation of an Australian passport than they do on protecting the life and freedom of Australian citizens. Where the foreign minister claimed that the usage of such Australian passports would not be an ‘act of a friend’, Kevin…