More from the Minister for Patronising Minors
Shorter Julie Bishop: Oh, you poor dear children, isn’t it terrible that political activists have hijacked your Rock Eisteddfod with anti-war messages when I know how much nicer everything would be if you performed something cheery?
One whole day in committee
Andrew Bartlett notes that the Government has used its Senate majority to stifle thorough examination and debate of the legislation it’s proposing over indigenous communities in the Northern Territory and over water management in the Murray-Darling Basin: both bills were introduced only this week, and they will be in Committee for only one day – [...]
Flimsy. Wimpy. Weak. The Parliamentary Breastfeeding Inquiry Report.
The discourse around breastfeeding, both public and private tends to flit between two summations: “Mothers should breastfeed” and “Mothers shouldn’t feel guilty”. I’m guessing that regular Hoydenistas have spotted the framing problem already: “Mothers should”. (If you’re a mother, are your teeth grinding as much as mine are?) So how about everyone stop with the [...]
Absolute classic
AussieBob over at Road to Surfdom does a spoof reply from our PM to the Kevin07 stuff – John007 | Cabinet: The Movie. Bonzer. Related posts: One for the annals of classic rebuttals Quick Hit: WA Cabinet announced Marry, Shag, Cliff: Classic ER Still doing the happy dance Teachers and performance rates of pay
Pell draws lines
The great tradition of religious tolerance in Catholic parochial schools in New South Wales is under fire. Many thousands of children of all faiths have been educated in a system often chosen by parents due to a complex perception of superior education outcomes rather than as a response to the promulgation of faith within the [...]
Hey, we can say it
An attack has been made on the Australian media from the front page of Life Decisions International (LDI), whose domain name is the far more accurate fightpp.org (PP being the USA’s Planned Parenthood, the family planning organisation that offers comprehensive sex education and pregnancy services including abortion for those who choose it). The LDI are [...]
Soundbites on YouTube
Politicians around the world are gingerly using YouTube to make policy statements, or maybe just to get their soundbites out there while avoiding having to have a press conference. Now some Catholic seminarians have parodied the Mac vs PC ads (which I already loathed anyway) to convey the Vatican’s doctrine on Natural Family Planning vs [...]
Insert tinnie/tinnie joke here
The Indigenous Affairs Minister, Mal Brough, has announced an exemption to the alcohol bans in 70 remote indigenous communities in the NT that were announced as a core component of the government’s Indigenous Emergency Plan to combat the sexual abuse of indigenous minors. The exemption applies to rivers being used for recreational fishing on or [...]
More heat than light on Haneef: where’s the transcripts then?
Crossposted on Larvatus Prodeo, where each of the previous Haneef threads has generated hundreds of comments. Much was made yesterday of claims that Indian police believe that there are links between Haneef and extreme jihadists. To kick this thread off, from The Hindu (Online edition of India’s National Newspaper): Meanwhile, reports in a section of [...]
Slouching toward Bushism
And the police state lurches ever closer, with the SMH today reporting on proposed legislation for “New secret search powers”. The proposed powers would give police the right to execute search, seizure and surveillance under so-called “delayed notification warrants”, without judicial oversight, and including the assumption of false identities by police to gain access. The [...]
Andrews on Haneef
Kevin Andrews offers some explanation of the previously secret information upon which he relied. Mr Andrews said the AFP had told him before making his visa decision that police suspected the internet conversation may be evidence Dr Haneef had prior knowledge of the UK bomb plot. “And secondly, the AFP consider Dr Haneef’s attempted urgent [...]
Today’s talkback army talking points
In response to Dr Mohammed Haneef’s interview last night on 60 minutes: Isn’t it better to be safe than sorry? He was only inconvenienced for 4 weeks. Everyone makes mistakes, and it’s all been corrected now. Sure he was incarcerated, but he was fed and safe and he must have known that if he was [...]
Saturday Three: Health Successes, Virtual Gudjal, and CDEP Cessation Silliness
[Image credit: FPWA, via ANTaR] ANTaR, Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation, is an independent network of organisations and individuals (mostly non-indigenous) working in support of justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia. Check out ANTaR’s Success Stories in Indigenous Health. From the foreword: Not so many reports highlight the good news [...]

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