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Someone Bone Channel Nine
Stephen Conroy has flagged a possible fourth commercial free-to-air channel in Australia. Apparently the television broadcast spectrum is wider than we realised. Why not make it even wider and close Channel Nine?
Nine was recently bragging about the first night rating success of hot new Aussie drama Canal Road. Unfortunately Week 2 wasn’t so good so Nine programming moved the great new Aussie drama from 9.30 to 10.30pm.
I’ve never watched Canal Road and it’s highly unlikely I ever will (who knows, perhaps it has been canned already?). I have however been burnt by Nine programming and it hurts.
Channel Nine are having another lousy year and although it is sad to see a formerly winning brand slowly die, it’s even sadder observing the ways in which said brand is trying to save itself. Namely, Gordon Ramsay. Continue Reading »
Tags: censorship , arts , media , labor Comments (0)
Opposition Budget politics, 2008 style
It was interesting to read the acres of newsprint devoted to Budget specials today for two reasons - one to note that so much of the “interest group” reaction is typical - one headline - “teachers say more is needed for schools” - probably writes itself, and could be run nearly every year. That’s not to have a go at the teachers, but it might be more to the point if the media spent more time on doing specialist analyses of each portfolio (as New Matilda has been doing for a few) and less on highlighting understandable (from the point of view of those concerned) calls for more spending. An assessment of priorities and discrete policy initiatives might be more informative than a de facto assumption that the cake is of infinite dimensions - which it would almost have to be if every interest group were placated. In some ways, being Treasurer would be an unenviable task, and as I argued last night, the politics of the budget include a real attempt to persuade people to look at the collective public good rather than “what’s in it for me?”. Obviously people want to understand how they (and policy areas they care about) are affected, but the sort of “thinking” that goes into this sort of nonsense - “Yet again, Generation X gets screwed” - makes me wince, even as a member of said generation (not to mention the factual vacuum contained in that silly little article).
This leads me onto my other observation - the paucity of any reference to any views that the opposition might have. Shadow Ministers were clearly not - on the whole - interested, informed enough or motivated to release anything portfolio specific. So all we got was short shrift - at least in the print media - to the rather inconsistent and confused bleatings of Malcolm Turnbull and Brendan Nelson, who according to Trevor Cook, looked like he was “on life support” on the telly. A couple of paras on average across the two 30 something page budget liftouts I read. So, how do the attention deprived respond?
By musing (threatening might be far too strong a word) about blocking the changes to the baby bonus in the Senate. Continue Reading »
Tags: malcolm turnbull , media , wayne swan , brendan nelson , liberal party , polling , labor , coalition , john howard , kevin rudd , peter costello , economics Comments (2)
Budget politics, 2008 style
I actually enjoyed liveblogging the Budget a tad more than I thought I would, perhaps because it forced me to think quickly about the politics rather than sitting back and watching the flights of rhetorical exuberance which were missing - deliberately. The media meme about Wayne Swan’s speaking style misses the point - Kevin Rudd’s no more flashy. The whole message of this government is that they are careful, measured guardians of the nation’s future, thinking long term, thinking about fairness, and thinking about all Australians.
The presentation is the politics - because the politics is all about disabling the political game, and leaving the Opposition very little space to operate in, while the Government occupies a space above the fray. So Swan - and Rudd - are speaking way over the heads of the punditariat and the press gallery, and carefully targeting budget messages on one hand, and using the set piece of the budget speech on the other to reach a citizenry who are usually disengaged from the day to day noise of the parliamentary and media cut and thrust. Hence all the reiteration of election promises - first to build trust (and contrast with Howard’s non-core promises) and secondly to announce them once again to people who missed them during all the frenzy of the campaign. They’re also wrapped up in a narrative of Labor’s choosing - designed to put to rest any lingering suspicions of “me-too-ism”. The Libs? They become the background noise.
If you were expecting a Keatingesque or Costelloish performance, you’ve missed the change to the rules of the game. As I remarked earlier tonight, it’s a very niche piece of political theatre. For most people, it’s not the decisive political moment the press gallery thinks it is. And Swan and Rudd are putting much more effort into swaying the electorate rather than wow-ing the political commentators (the market wonks are a different matter, of course).
Tags: wayne swan , lindsay tanner , labor , kevin rudd , economics Comments (0)
Liveblogging Budget 2008
I’m going to have a go at it. Unfortunately, the mechanics of simultaneous posting on two blogs are beyond me, so please visit Larvatus Prodeo tonight where comments will be open from about 7pm. Once the liveblogging starts, remember to refresh periodically to see the updates, and please leave your own updates in comments.
But some early budget thoughts for PollieGraph readers - the lack of a “budget bounce” for the Coalition in recent years led to (accurate, I think) commentary that the importance of the budget as a political event had been massively overplayed. This year, everyone knows the tax cuts are coming, and it’s a much more complex messaging/communications event - as Bernard Keane captures in this piece at Crikey, noting that the leaks have been finely targeted to particular publications covering particular demographics (for instance, “soak the rich” going to the tabloids, climate change for the Sunday Fairfax papers):
Crikey and others have been lamenting the Government’s mixed Budget messages, but we were missing the point. The messages were only mixed for the commentariat itself, which analyses everything the Government says. The media diet of most people is far more limited, and they would’ve only heard what the Government targeted at them.
Similarly, speculation that the budget will establish or damage the Rudd government’s “economic management” credentials is another elite preoccupation. As demonstrated by Kim in this post, that famous phrase is a piece of bad polling anyway - literally asking the wrong question, with endless narratives built on something that has nothing to do with how people vote. It’s much more likely that people are awaiting evidence that Rudd and Swan will do their utmost to protect them from economic uncertainty, than that there’ll be some sort of collective scoring exercise on what is increasingly a very niche piece of political theatre. The Opposition probably know this as well - though they’re caught in the headlights having set Nelson up as a bunny who’ll need to perform or whatever. They should be much more worried about the polling that demonstrates that “welfare for all, not just the poor” is going down like a lead balloon even among their own voters.
Elsewhere: Riffing off Kim riffing off Zoe’s crystal ball liveblogging, tigtog proposes a budget drinking game. Demonstrating the odd time sense that surrounds budget night, Zoe reports on reports of struggling working families with babies earning more than $150000 already bemoaning how they’ll find it hard to make do without the nanny state. And Trevor Cook deconstructs some of the spin about the budget that’s been going on for quite some time already.
Tags: wayne swan , malcolm turnbull , brendan nelson , online media , citizen journalism , liberal party , lindsay tanner , media , kevin rudd , coalition , tax , interest rates , polling , labor , economics Comments (0)
Can I claim my iPhone on tax?
Apple’s latest uber-gadget, the iPhone (aka Jesus Phone) will finally - legally - touch down on the fatal shore at the end of June.
With Optus as the designated provider, the arrival coincides with the opening of the first sacrificial temple for the Mac cult Apple Store in Sydney. It’s fair to say that after the marketing tsunami hits, Australia will be awash with iPhones. The things are just so damn cute and clever, you’ll just have to replace the mobile you just upgraded six months ago. Continue Reading »
Tags: iphone , online media , media , tax Comments (4)
Springborg: Resistance is futile
Lawrence Springborg is one step closer to achieving his grand dream of five years’ standing – a united conservative party in Queensland. This courtesy of new Liberal President Gary Spence, who, to the fury of some Liberals, has responded to the Nationals’ plebiscite by agreeing to a vote by rank and file members – and appearing to prejudge the result by embuing the “Liberal National Party” with an aura of inevitability.
That may be a tad premature, as the announcement of the “breakthrough” was quickly followed by anonymous Libs leaking about the possibility of a break away party should the Pineapple Party become a reality. There’s also the position – articulated by Brendan Nelson – that nothing should happen until discussions on amalgamation at federal level are finalised – at some indeterminate time in the future.
Unhappy Liberals are characterising the new party as a Nationals takeover.
So exactly who’s doing the assimilation? Resistance is futile, as the Star Trek version of the Borg intoned monolithically, because Lawrence Springborg has already been anointed leader in advance of any decision by the new party, and no democratic process is apparently envisaged for the division of the spoils of opposition. In fact, as Graham Young reports, so undemocratic is the process that former assimilation critic George Brandis has gone quiet after a deal for Senate preselection, which also protects Barnaby Joyce’s interests by giving him a Senate seat (Ron Boswell’s) even if he loses at the next election.
Tags: democracy , liberal party , labor , kevin rudd , federalism , coalition Comments (0)
Texans Celebrate the Bush Wedding in Style
We’ve seen the talking George Dubya doll, the Hillary Clinton nutcracker and the Obama “bootyshorts”. Now there’s a new item to pad out your US political paraphernalia collection: the Jenna Hager (nee Bush) wedding mug.
If you somehow missed the news, Dubya’s daughter Jenna tied the knot to her boyfriend of four years, Henry Chase Harger, over the weekend. Jenna apparently wanted to avoid the media circus that would accompany at White House wedding, opting instead for the privacy of a ceremony in Crawford, Texas.
Unfortunately, someone forgot to tell the Texans that. Continue Reading »
Tags: jenna bush , george w bush , us politics Comments (0)
Not Without My Statesman
Phew. It appears the fiat bambino I wrapped in Swarovski crystal and dispatched to mother to commemorate her Special Day narrowly escaped excise. Had I delayed purchase a week or two, the working class parsimony of Comrade Swan might have forced me to reconsider mama’s extras package. (Mother prefers to travel only on kid. The hide of aged cattle will not do at all.)
And I though Mother’s Day would be characterised by disappointment as it generally is. In happy news, Swan has announced his intention to slap a tax on posh cars. This is exactly the sort of vacant symbolism I’m inclined to applaud.
Natch, Tuesday will reveal even more giddy fun. In the habit of treasurers past, Swan will ensure a final surprising “reveal” a la extreme makeover. They have to do something, I suppose, to reverse the national conviction that treasurers are humourless accountants who take extreme delight in inflicting thrift.
I would like to see that surprise aimed at fugging Sports Utility Vehicles. I’ve much more of an Issue, as they say, with these hulking baubles of prestige that I do with small and needlessly expensive Italian cars which, at the very least, are nice to look at. In the meantime, inspired by adbusters, I’ll keep attaching my home made infringement notices to the windshields of these pompous machines.
Tags: wayne swan Comments (0)
In Defence of Flavour
On the off chance that you, informed leftist, had not heard, I hereby nudge you toward food ethicist Michael Pollan.
His work, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, is a staple in the pantry of ethicureans. His new work, In Defence of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto engages with consumer practice. The genesis of the text, apparently, was this wildly popular piece in the New York Times.
“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants,” he begins in order to combat both unsustainable gutsing and the all new disease of orthorexia. No. I hadn’t heard of it until today either.
This disorder describes the condition wherein an individual is excessively fascinated with the nutritional value of their food. It’s the by product, Pollan suggests, of an additive happy culture. Extra Folate, More Omega 3 and Reduced Fat are symptoms of a harmful and burgeoning western obsession. Which itself is the upshot of corporate cooking.
“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” Do this and bypass the packaging, the blank promises and scant nutritional merit of food marketing.
The true lure for me of an urging like Pollan’s is its powerful simplicity. Food ethics represents the concurrence of flavour with action.
Tags: health Comments (0)
Papal apology?
The Pope had a lot to say about sexual abuse when he was in America recently. It’s now being reported that there’s “pressure” on him to repeat his apology to victims specifically in the Australian context, when he’s out here for World Youth Day. I have no doubt Benedict will, and I suspect the pressure in this instance isn’t needed. While an apology promotes healing for individuals directly damaged by clerical sexual abuse, it doesn’t address the broader problem, and nor do the protocols the church now has in place for dealing with complaints and reparations, welcome as they are. What should be quite familiar to Benedict is the concept of “structural sin” - something originating in liberation theology which he in his incarnation as Cardinal Ratzinger acknowledged as a valid manifestation of human evil and wickedness, even as he disagreed with the political and some of the theological overtones of liberation theology as theorised and practiced in Latin America (and in - significantly - Germany).
The Pope would also know very well that in Catholic sacramental and moral theology, an act of contrition and indeed an act of reparation are worthless without an awareness of the fault that led to a sin, and a genuine intention to “go and sin no more”, as Someone or other put it rather pithily. All this raises the question of whether the conditions of possibility of sexual abuse are genuinely being addressed.
Tags: Uncategorized Comments (0)
