On Reflection

Barely 48 hours after Howard's crushing defeat, my resentment towards him has ebbed considerably, and I can even feel some pity for this ageing man now forced into an undignified retirement. Nevertheless, I find myself reflecting on Howard's years and the mark he made on Australian politics with undiminished disapprobation. Apart from the individual scandals, mostly associated with immigration, Howard's years were marked by a reversal of political progress and a return to incorrectness: what his adversaries called reactionary bigotry and his supporters called common sense. He claimed recently to have won the culture wars. Part of his strategy was to construct himself as the sensible one, the moderate one, against whom advocates of political or philosophical ideals seemed like dangerous extremists. He shot down the cultural reforms of the late 80s and early 90s. He made it ok to seek privilege and repel the disadvantaged. He affirmed latent fears of the power of minorities, and disaffirmed diversity. Equality was not in his vocabulary, except as a euphemism for monotony. He was essentially Pauline Hanson in sensible shoes: galvanising support from WASPs who felt unaccountably threatened, yet maintaining his position as the voice of reason. He was villainous without the imaginative or aesthetic appeal of a villain; he was not Voldemort but Uncle Vernon (and he has now been magicked out of office by a plucky kid in specs). Labor's victory, whatever else it will deliver, has at least restored to Australian progressives a sense of legitimacy. We can now begin, as a nation, to rebuild the moral and social platform of justice, equality and diversity that Howard strove for nearly 12 years to demolish.

Ding Dong the Witch is Dead

Thank Christ.

To the Islamic Australia Federation

Andrew Robb characterised the fake pamphlet incident as "silliness" and "enthusiasm," and Jackie Kelly called it a Chaser-style prank over which she had a "good old chuckle." These responses, though glaringly inadequate, are not nearly as unsettling as the response of the Liberal party hierarchy, who have hastened to distance themselves and to "deal appropriately" with their rogue NSW members. We can't expect them to own the racism and hatred they have actively tolerated, but after 11 years of quiet exploitation of the latent paranoia of battlers, it seems unreasonable of them to turn on the underlings who were after all only trading on fear the Howard government has done nothing to discourage.

To Howard's Deserts

Vox pops on the Howard/Rudd question seem to hover between the idea that Rudd as new boy deserves a go and Howard as the experienced leader deserves another go. What nobody is talking about is the political flogging Howard surely deserves as the fitting end to a legacy of disgrace. We seem to have forgotten the wheat scandal, the children overboard scandal, the Tampa scandal, the David Hicks scandal, and the ongoing scandals of detention centres, tolerated racism, environmental recalcitrance and our involvement in Iraq. I can't believe people are contemplating re-electing this moral black hole.

To Howard on the 'S' word

After saying sorry about Wednesday's interest rate rise, Howard extricated himself from the gaff thus: "I said I was sorry they'd occured. I don't think I actually used the word 'apology.'" Are there no limits to this man's ridiculously tortuous, quibbling, pettifogging, equivocating impenitence?

To English

Hee hee hee. Alexander Downer said "consumerables."

Oh dear. Barnaby Joyce said "irregardless." (16/11)

And John Howard said "disentitles." (22/11)

I seem to have misunderestimated our politicians.

To Telstra's Brave New World

Telstra's latest ad, in which the camera follows a large family through their large house, showing us that each of them has a computer with internet access and none of them have to share, is to my mind a hideous vision of our probable future as affluent, dis-connected, self-absorbed egotists inhabiting a virtual reality that excludes other humans, perhaps especially those closest. What happened to sitting around the table? What happened to conversation?

To the Economy

In fact, a big fat "pish tush" to the Economy and all its hellish instruments. The last election was dominated by talk about the economy, and Howard arguably won on the strength of his economic agenda. This time around, the mood has shifted, but the Prime Minister knows that if he goes off message, he doesn't have a leg to stand on. The louder he talks about his economic credentials, the less (he thinks) we'll remember about what else he has done, or failed to do, during his years in office. And if, as he claims, we're enjoying unprecedented prosperity, surely that provides us with an opportunity to tend some of the areas of our collective life that we've neglected: environment, community, education, aid, art. What on earth do we seek prosperity for if not to provide a platform from which to engage in the world and change it for the better?

To Activism

The latest Coalition ad accuses Peter Garrett of being an environmental extremist. Surely, surely if the last two years have been anything to go by, the time has now come for extreme approaches to environmental problems; for extreme changes in our lifestyle. Surely now, if ever, the environmental extremist is the man of the hour.