Prev
Next

Is it asking too much for pollies to be decent citizens?

Tory Shepherd

by Tory Shepherd

26 Apr 06:00am

Must Reads

Booyah for boobs, booze, brotherhood and bikies! - this is a caption

Booyah for boobs, booze, brotherhood and bikies!

83

Labor’s new strategy of Speaking No Evil - this is a caption

Labor’s new strategy of Speaking No Evil

102

A few good men and The Gaps they face - this is a caption

A few good men and The Gaps they face

45

Filed under: Behaviour, Ethics, Politicians, Politics, Sex Offenders

96 comments

Here’s a game: Pretend you’re famous and the public is interested in the minutiae of your life.

The New York strip club where future PM Rudd ended up one drunken evening

What would the media dig out? How would you be presented? For many of us that’s a frightening thought.

Did you inhale? Have you ever said something inappropriate? Any bitchy ex-colleagues or schoolmates lurking around? Did you ever drink too much, sleep with the wrong person, or get close to someone bad?

The vast majority of us have things in our past we’re not proud of - so let he who is without sin tag the first Facebook picture.

Luckily most of us can transgress without it ending up on the nightly news.

And then there’s celebrities and anyone on the public pay roll.

Politicians are naturally at the far end of the ‘public interest’ spectrum. They’re high profile, and we pay their salaries. And unlike the vapid and tawdry scandals of the famous-for-being-famous, it is genuinely important that they are of good character.

Whatever that means.

That is why, when you hear of yet another MP charged with sex offences – the most recent being an SA Labor MP charged with child exploitation - the chill strikes deep.

These sorts of alleged offences go beyond being screw ups, mistakes, drunken moments of stupidity. These are signs that we have elected fundamentally damaged people.

While Australia is, in the main, immensely cynical about politics and politicians, there remains a core hope that those who put their hand up for the job are, for want of a better word, good. Better than average, at the very least.

As history, and particularly recent history, shows, they’re not. You could even be forgiven for thinking they’re worse than average.

It’s hard to tell which came first – the flawed person aiming for a political career, or the political career that warps the person in it.

It’s a trite truism to say that it takes a certain type of person to want to be a politician.

Of course they’re in it for the power – whether it’s for the power pure and simple, or for the power to shift society closer to their vision.

Most politicians start from some sort of idealism. They have an idea about how the world should be and (admirably) want to do something about it, rather than griping from the sidelines. So they take their political philosophy, their religious zeal, their ideology, and embark on this weird path.

And sometimes the wrong people advance, and keep advancing. Because they’re meant to be policy geniuses, or good Party men, or they’ve cleaved to the right faction. Or – like Barry O’Farrell – they do a Steven Bradbury and glide to victory as others fall apart at the seams.

But more and more it seems it is the wrong sort of people coming to power. Child sex offences are the vilest of crimes committed by our leaders; but by no means the only ones. And after the offences are all the other ways in which politicians are doing us a disservice. The lies, the cowardice, the populism (which ironically fails to lead to popularity).

Winston Churchill said that democracy is the worst form of government – except for all the other forms. We’re stuck with a democratically elected government. We just need to do a better job of electing the right people.

Most commented

273Modern Christians can trump Bible thumping fundies
271Class war: sounds crazy but it just might work
266Even New Zealand supports gay marriage
263Climate change and the crisis of communication
257Tell it to the court, Craig
24212 bigger issues than gay change and climate marriage
222Welfare for breeders is a bonus for everyone
214Voters won't forget the way Labor has conducted itself

96 comments

Show oldest | newest first

    • Erick says:

      06:22am | 26/04/11

      Are politicians really getting worse - or are we just hearing more about their sins?

      Reply

    • John A Neve says:

      07:33am | 26/04/11

      Erick,

      I don’t believe our pollies are any better or any worse. It is just the fact that the media spreads the word faster and more widely.
      Honest pollies are few and far between and always have been.

    • Tedd says:

      07:55am | 26/04/11

      There’s too many political structures in Australia, so too many politicians.

      Also, there’s too many becoming career politicians starting from University days - Reba Meagher, Tony Abbott, etc

    • Joan says:

      08:36am | 26/04/11

      Its no a sin to attend the Score club once or twice a year ...but it does say something more about you if you go there three times a week. And if you do only go once to Scores and give some sort of pathetic answer when asked about it then the pathetic answer reveals more about you than the Scores visit . The event itself is not the damaging thing but the explanation usually is.

    • jf says:

      10:54am | 26/04/11

      Tedd says:07:55am | 26/04/11

      “Also, there’s too many becoming career politicians starting from University days - Reba Meagher, Tony Abbott, etc”

      ... the ALP, The Greens.

    • Tedd says:

      11:32am | 26/04/11

      jf,

      Reba was in the ALP.  But the career path of university student activism, polotical advisor, party hack etc has more history in the Liberals* and ALP than the Greens, but no doubt we will see more of them going through those motions.  The ALP has the Union route, too (Martin Ferguson, Bob Hawke, Jenni George, Greg Combet).

      These well worn paths are not producing well rounded pollies.

      * Scott Morrision, Barry O’Farrell,

    • jf says:

      12:29pm | 26/04/11

      Tedd says:11:32am | 26/04/11
      Tedd says:11:32am | 26/04/11

      “But the career path of university student activism, polotical advisor, party hack etc has more history in the Liberals* and ALP than the Greens”

      Spare me. Your first example from the Liberal Party was Tony Abbott. He didn’t become a politician until he was 37 although I will concede that his political career did start a couple of years before at age 35. Well after his career as first a journalist and then as a company manager.

      As to Scott Morrison, he didn’t become a politician until he was nearly forty. Before that he had an extensive career in commerce. Whilst he had been involved in politics from before then, it was ancillary to his real job.


      I’ll give you Barry O’Farrell and agree that “these well worn paths (if taken by to many of the one party) are not producing well rounded pollies”.

    • George says:

      03:17pm | 26/04/11

      The public sucks - George Carlin.

    • marley says:

      03:49pm | 26/04/11

      I disagree. Barry O’Farrell is extremely “well rounded.”  Mind you, so is Santa Claus…

    • Tedd says:

      04:31pm | 26/04/11

      jf,
      Abbott started in a seminary, but bailed out; then got a law degree, did not use it, dabbled in journalism for a bit, then became a political advisor (to Hewson?, can’t be bothered looking it up). 

      Morrison was govt Tourism for a bit, then just and advisor and State leader of the Liberal Party.

      both wishy-washy career paths

    • jf says:

      06:52pm | 26/04/11

      Tedd says:04:31pm | 26/04/11

      “both wishy-washy career paths”

      He hardly dabbled in journalism. He was a journalist with both the Bulletin and the Australian - both fairly meaty organs. He was also an executive with a company (I looked it up). He didn’t enter politics as a career until he was 35.

      As to Morrison, he was “Managing Director of Tourism Australia…Prior to this, he served in senior executive roles in the tourism and property sector in Australia and New Zealand, including the Property Council of Australia and the Tourism and Transport Forum” (from Wikipedia - I did look it up). Presumably, before serving “senior executive roles” he had other roles. Again, prior to commencing a career in politics, he had a career in commerce and industry (the real world if you will). Given that his career did not shift to politics (in any form) until he was in his late 30s I reckon that this is more than just “a bit” of real world experience. 

      I’m sorry if the facts are inconvenient and don’t support your argument but that is just the way it is.

      It may interest you that out of the 20 members of the shadow cabinet all 20 had industry/commerical experience before entering politics.

      Out of the 20 members of the federal government’s cabinet, over half (12 to be precise) have zero commercial or industry experience - all went straight from school or university to the party or the unions.

      Of the remaining eight, four practiced as lawyers three of whom with firms with strong attachments to the ALP and/or the union movement). All of the rest were involved either involved in ALP administration or the union movement although I’m not sure that the rock star contributed to much. 

      As to The Greens, of the elected MPs, between them they have a dearth of real life experience. Bob Brown, of course, did practice as a doctor and Ludlow as a business owner. The others were politics from the word go. Bandt, the only one that has legal experience worked for, you guessed it, Slater and Gordon (I think he got Julia’s old desk).

    • Robert Smissen, rural SA, God's own country says:

      09:38pm | 26/04/11

      Sorry Joan, if some callow youth were to visit a sleazy dive like Scores you could almost accept it but for a grown man? to go there & get so legless that he claims that he can’t remember what happened then you need to question his, lack of self control with booze & how he sees over 50% of the Australian public. Would you make the same excuse for Tony Abbott or your partner? ? ? My guess would be NO! !

    • grumpy old man says:

      09:04am | 27/04/11

      I suspect a little of both. Given the number of politicians in the country ( count them, from Councils up to the Upper house, State and Federal), in all likelihood there will be a fair representation of all that is good and bad in people. This is likely to not have changed much over the years, people are people after all. They certainly get more attention than in the past.  At the same time, politics has become more of a career aspiration than it has in the past, with people entering politics as party hacks etc during university time. This differs from people who got involved in politics whilst at university.

    • Ripa says:

      06:34am | 26/04/11

      Is it a Democratic Australia we want or an Australian Republic.

      Reply

    • Super D says:

      09:20am | 26/04/11

      Well the left seems to want a Democratic Republic because countries with both Democratic and Republic in their names tend to best enable the ruling elite to impose themselves on ordinary people.

    • jf says:

      10:57am | 26/04/11

      Ripa says:06:34am | 26/04/11

      “Is it a Democratic Australia we want or an Australian Republic.”

      They are not mutually exclusive Ripa.

    • darragh scully says:

      04:46pm | 26/04/11

      A lady from some UK media surrounding the royal wedding commented on the TV that Australia is an Independent Parliamentary Democracy with a Constitutional Monarchy as the Head of State.

      What a confusing Statement. I believe what we want is to Improve on the dual representation issues. It means revenue is being wasted on trivial ceremonial things. A a Tasmanian Governor for example is not really necessary in any Economically minded individual when the Mainland pays for most of it then why not let the Mainland represent it. Supporting UK expats that get two pensions which is currently costing us 1.6 billion per annum which the UK should really pick up the tab for.

      Paying for CHOGM and Royal Visits. Think of the costs involved. You pay for the security, the accomodation and meals, and the labor. Think of what you loose, freedom. And most of these people will have Diplomatic Immunity so any kind of conflict can occur through that problem. Then you have the Terror that goes with it, think of the Defence league in the UK who have experienced large layoffs from service with UK budget cuts, and all their other qualms being annoyed at the Priviledged whom ignore the Times we are in while they party on. Then think of the IRA, Islamic Terrorism etc whom also think the Royals are a good target. Why run the risk and take the expense when there are many other things that need attention. Climate Change or Securing the poor into accomodation that doesnt support the plague’s and supper bugs.


      The Windsors have been described as the most expensive monarchy in Europe. But can an Island really rule a Continent. No! They dont rule Europe, they do not Rule North or South America, they do not rule Africa and they do not rule China or any other part of Asia. Why should we let them rule us in anyway shape or form.

      Think about the law of dimminishing returns and the optimal size of government (or google the Scully Curve). In most of Australia the optimal size of Government would be a less than it is now. This would mean less tax in theory. Less company tax for example would mean that Companies could use that extra revenue to invest in things such as Security which would mean higher employment and increased revenue at the tax department. Might it affect Inflation? Maybe but there are ways to offset that.

      In criminology we often talk about white collar crime, dark figures and the economic black hole. Why are we supporting a so called legitimate black hole. People are saying that it goes against our current values to support this system.
      Some people have said its time to cut the umbilical cord.

      Though it goes against inbred traditional values. Are they any different than the Inbred values of Islam that give them a hard time with the idea of Integration or Tolerance. Some aboriginal people are very opposed to the idea of a republic for the very same reason that any Integration is a loss of Heritage on there behalf and and acceptance of that is contrary to their cause. These are tough questions of Loyalty and Faith that are part of peoples way of Life. Given that the UK is the most Dominant Culture in Australia its going to be a tough birth of a Nation so to speak. Though you would think that the fact that the UK ended the Monarchy with a civil war and reinstated them sometime later as a Token of Tradition would mean that alot of expats would not really mind. Do they really want to stay here and pay the taxes to. Presumably yes they do.
      I would say that if a full case of the Benefits of a Republic and the Pitfalls of the current said system were drawn up most people in Australia will be like ‘dont pee on our legs and tell us its raining’. Especially since 95% of Business in Australia are Australian owned.

      It just make no Economic Sense at all and the People of Australia should demand something more for there buck.

    • Robert Smissen, rural SA, God's own country says:

      09:44pm | 26/04/11

      darragh scully a visit from that loser Obama cost Oz more than the last 4 royal visits, our Queen & her family doesn’t take themselves anywhere as seriously as American presidents do. Monarchies create stable government, end of.

    • darragh scully says:

      10:03am | 27/04/11

      Oh really.
      I wasnt aware that the USA is not paying its own way.
      Where did you get that fact from.  The BBC.
      Given that the USA invests about 6.5 trillion dollars a year globbally which is 2 times China’s reserves of US dollars Im not sure that is such a big problem which it wouldnt be. They are our best friends despite how Chinas bribes or are they.  Meanwhile the UK is so broke that it has closed off all Tier 1 Visas for Australians and other non EU people. Thats right try getting a Visa to go to the UK and work if your an Aussie, Bucklies Chance Mate.  ThatThey are so poor that they are so over the moon about a 2 billion dollar increase to their economy because of this wedding. This is just a stalling point for the inevitable unfortunatley.

      Its not to be taken to personally though. I mean we, Australia that is, just closed a loop hole that eliminates the chances that Australia will fall victime to the Absentee Landlord situation. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/property/new-curbs-on-foreign-home-buyers/story-e6frg9gx-1225857656381
      Its not end of story.

      Dont you get it, youll be left behind.

    • St. Michael says:

      11:36am | 27/04/11

      @ darragh scully: Although to be fair the US isn’t exactly a paragon of financial management either.  See http://johntreed.com/headline/2011/04/11/don’t-vote-to-raise-the-debt-ceiling/ on this.  The only difference between the US economy and the British economy is that the British are roughly 5-10 years ahead of where the US is going to be by reason of the Federal deficit.

    • Super D says:

      06:37am | 26/04/11

      I’m sure someone can correct me but I honestly can’t recall a Coalition MP being done for child porn.  Inappropriate chair sniffing yes but not indecent images or acts towards children.

      I’m pretty laid back about everything else.  At some point a parliamentary sex tape seems inevitable though hopefully not starring Bronwyn Bishop or Julia Gillard.

      Reply

    • CJ Morgan says:

      07:32am | 26/04/11

      There’s one prominent political party in Australia that’s never had the slightest hint from its elected politicians of the kind of illegal and tawdry behavior that bedevils the Laberals - i.e. The Greens.

      That said, the fascination of the MSM with the tiniest hint of scandal they can dredge up from politicians’ pasts must significantly reduce the number of potential candidates for election from any party.  I mean, who didn’t do something in their callow youth that couldn’t be seized upon by the media and blown out of all proportion?

    • Erick says:

      08:20am | 26/04/11

      Over the years, there have been thousands of elected Labor and Liberal MPs, but just a handful of Greens. Given a similar sample size, I’m sure we’d see an equal number of sleazy types.

    • Vaunted says:

      10:16am | 26/04/11

      I’m not a zealous follower of these things, however reading this article I realise I can personally name a swag of State MLAs who have been convicted and jailed various offences including crimes involving sex and children. This got me thinking so I consulted Google for imprisoned MLAs since 1985 and came up with the following list. Hmmm

      1987 Rex Jackson (ALP) accepting bribes
      1990 Brian Austin (Nationals) misappropriating public funds
      1990 Leisha Harvey (Nationals) misappropriating public funds
      1990 Don Lane (Nationals) misappropriating public funds
      1990 Geoff Muntz (Nationals) misappropriating public funds
      1993 Keith Wright (ALP) child sex offences
      1994 Brian Burke (ALP) misappropriating public funds
      1995 Ray O’Connor (Liberals) stealing a cheque
      1996 Barry Morris (Liberals) making death threats
      1996 David Parker (ALP) perjury
      1998 Wayde Smith (Liberals) perjury
      2000 Bill D’Arcy (ALP) child sex offences
      2005 Merri Rose (ALP) blackmail
      2008 Miltom Orkopolous (ALP) child sex and drugs
      2009 Gordon Nuttall (ALP) corruption, receiving secret commissions

      Progressive score: ALP ahead with 8, Nationals 4, Liberals 3

    • Super D says:

      04:21pm | 26/04/11

      Seems like both parties have their crooks and thugs but the ALP has all the kiddie porn freaks.

    • Tator says:

      07:34pm | 26/04/11

      Vaunted,
      looks like the crooks in the Coalition ranks are just petty thieves, but the ones in the ALP ranks are more of a deviant nature.
      BTW you missed a few,
      Michael Cobb - NSW federal National Party MP fined $14,000 and given a two-year suspended jail term after being found guilty of rorting travel expenses
      and Andrew Theophanous - ALP politician sentenced in 2002 to 6 years’ jail for bribery and fraud but served 2 after winning an appeal on one of the charges.
      Then we have everyones favourite, Pauline Hanson, jailed on electoral fraud but subsequently acquitted on appeal.

    • Vaunted says:

      08:15am | 27/04/11

      Thanks for the update Tator! My list was meant for those who actually made it to the Big House with juicy criminal charges; I left Pauline off because of her acquittal. I’ve now included the two I missed, thanks, making the progressive score: ALP 9 (surging ahead with yet another alleged sex offender pending), Nationals 5, Liberals 3.

    • Margie says:

      09:43am | 27/04/11

      A few others to add to the list:
      Ex Labor Federal Minister Bob Collins from the Northern Territory for child sex offences? Re the four National Liberals in 1990, their offences were VERY minor in comparison to all the others.
      In my opinion the child sex offenders in the Labor Party are far and away the worst!. Peter Beattie legislated in the Qld.rliament tht it is not a crime to tell a lie to the Parliament.

      And I know you won’t publish this!

    • Vaunted says:

      11:06am | 27/04/11

      Thanks Margie, my list is for jail-birds though, and I left Bob Collins out because he sadly took his life rather than face the legal consequences of his allegedly disgusting predilections. But I’m appalled as you re Peter Beattie’s government making it okay for politicians to lie in parliament; that was unbelievable in itself but unfortunately not apparently viewed by the elevated ones as anything more than standard business practice.

    • stevie p says:

      07:26am | 26/04/11

      Gliding into victory like Stephen Bradbury - come on! The others in NSW showed themselves to be exactly what you describe in your article. Bungling, despotic, ego-maniac, carping useless lot of immoral sods you would ever want to meet.

      Reply

    • Erin says:

      02:00pm | 26/04/11

      Which is exactly why so many people voted Coalition, thus allowing Barry O’Farrell glide into victory.

    • Joan says:

      08:24am | 26/04/11

      Nobody`s perfect and most of us learn along the way but some don’t. It`s the sum total of personal attributes/ideas/path chosen makes a person be they politician or other and we will judge them according to our beliefs, principles etc. The hysterical media can focus, twist and enlarge upon one weakness or mistake where the weakness however minor can be used against the person in such a way as to remove or deminish the person.  The media also hides gross weaknesses, scheming nasty traits, and colludes to hide career destroying scandals when the media is in love with personality be they celebrity or politician. Politicis will attract the broad spectrum of personality   -  from the megalomaniac to dead boring who just wants a pollie wage and pollie pension.

      Reply

    • Phil Osopher says:

      08:25am | 26/04/11

      I think the open borders policy of the Greens is extremely scandalous.  And if hand wringing ever becomes illegal, they will have to be very careful.

      Reply

    • Realist says:

      08:29am | 26/04/11

      I don’t trust anyone - especially politicians or priests - that way you can’t be caught out.  Expect the worst and maybe occaisionally suprised.

      Reply

    • SimpleSimon says:

      08:40am | 27/04/11

      I agree. I prefer to expect the worst and be pleasantly surprised than expect anything else and be disappointed.

    • iansand says:

      08:36am | 26/04/11

      The intellectual and moral compromises that are necessary to rise above the pack so that a person is pre-selected mean that any person with a skerrick of good character will not be chosen.  Not to mention the back stabbing, lies, pathological egoism and treachery involved in the process.  Anyone who is selected abandoned basic decency long ago, if they ever had it.

      On the other hand, the media have a bad record of blowing peccadilloes out of all proportion.

      Reply

    • Knemon says:

      11:17am | 26/04/11

      @ iansand - more reason for independents!!

    • MarK says:

      02:54pm | 26/04/11

      This actually explains a lot about you to me.

      So sorry to read that.

    • iansand says:

      07:03pm | 26/04/11

      Aaahhh MarK - the fact that you do not understand this explains far more about you.

    • Reggie says:

      09:32am | 27/04/11

      MarK is a typical political Parana. Win at any cost and by any means.

      Just WIN.

      He asks the unanswerable question, like how many degrees the world temperature will change if efforts are make to address the environment, BUT totally ignores the facts such as the 80% of coal that is WASTED in generating the meagre amounts of electricity we all know and love.

      MarK understands, but chooses to ignore it for his convenience.

    • Ryan says:

      09:40am | 26/04/11

      There are things you are ashamed of in your past and then there are things like attending strip clubs on tax payer money and words fail me on how low the Labor party has sunk recently with the child porn allegations against the Labor minister in SA. Disgusting doesn’t quite cut it really, unsurprising though since it is Labor we are talking about here.

      Reply

    • Joombi O'Flaherty says:

      10:15am | 26/04/11

      Couldn’t agree with you more Ryan. I well remember just how embarrassed I was for our country when former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser turned up drunk and without his trousers in a Memphis hotel lobby on a taxpayer-funded trip. Disgusting doesn’t quite cut it really, unsurprising though since it is Liberal we are talking about here.

    • Ryan says:

      11:33am | 26/04/11

      @Joombi: so you equate the exploitation of women and more disgustingly, children to being drunk and disorderly, well I never!
      I am assuming you are a Labor lover since you feel child porn is as minor as being drunk in public?

    • Mijow says:

      11:59am | 26/04/11

      Joombi, I think if you had read more than just the headlines you’ll realize that Malcolm Fraser was likely the victim of a practical joke in Memphis. But I wouldn’t expect those on the left to be rational when the topic is Malcolm Fraser. You’ve always hated him and I guess you always will.

    • Colin Sparrow says:

      04:48pm | 26/04/11

      @Ryan are you really intending to imply ALP are more inclined toward child sex offences than Liberals or others [final sentence]? Or that ALP membership is associated with child pornography [first sentence third part]

    • Ryan says:

      06:50pm | 26/04/11

      @Colin Sparrow: not at all, aside from the fact that Labor dregs are low enough to stab their working mates in the back quick as look at you (let alone what they would pull on the people “there will be no carbon tax under a government I lead”).
      Tell me something Colin, is there or is there not a current Labor MP facing child porn charges?

    • John Smythe says:

      09:43am | 26/04/11

      *We’re stuck with a democratically elected government. We just need to do a better job of electing the right people.

      Which is why I advocate a voting option of e) No Confidence in either party/leader.

      That option would at least tell the truth behind peoples’ sentiment. Having to choose one or the other (or Donkey, or Greens) is really being forced to vote from a predefined group. If the e) option were applicable, you could extend it to subtract votes from the party against which it was made.

      I’d happily run for PM and kick the lot of em out of parliament and start again. Wipe out these silly levies and taxes. These auto-reflex responses to adverse situations. Treat it a bit like a business….oops, we blew the budget in the first 6 months. OK, now ALL pollies take a pay cut as a sign of poor management.

      Vote 1 - John Smythe. Bringing Australia back to Australians.

      Easier said than done though. -.-

      Reply

    • Shane From Melbourne says:

      10:12am | 26/04/11

      Don’t give a stuff about the private life of any politician as long as it is not illegal. Choirboy Abbott and choirgirl Gillard are probably clean as a whistle but they are still incompetent.

      Reply

    • Fergus says:

      10:50am | 26/04/11

      Tory, I’m disappointed you’ve succumbed to this frustratingly naive and cynical opinion. Sex offenders, drug users, and people with enemies are everywhere in society, in every walk of life. So are good, honest people. Politicians are people, plain and simple. It’s just that budding your journos like yourself are always making an effort to expose their wrongdoing (obviously a good thing), and a pollie living an admirable and proper life doesn’t make for a great news story.

      They’re not better or worse than most people, they are most people.

      Reply

    • Erin says:

      02:07pm | 26/04/11

      I think the point of the story is that they are supposed to be better people. If most people are sex offenders, drug users, and people with enemies then politicians have to be better than most people. That’s the exchange they agree to when we hand them all that power and money. It’s important that they are better than that because they have all that power and money we just gave them…

    • Harquebus says:

      11:13am | 26/04/11

      If we had an open and honest media, maybe. Not while we get edited propaganda being passed of as news.

      Reply

    • darragh scully says:

      11:39am | 26/04/11

      John Howard seemed to have a very pure and ethical stint in Goverment.
      He may however have made some tough decisions that were not to popular.
      Ethics though, that seems to be the moral of the story.
      Lawyers do Ethics in first of second year and then it becomes a learning process through out their legal lives.
      Ethical Behavior is Paramount to success as a Politician. Some ethicial behavior anyway. I guess there is a big connect the dots thing that goes on between peoples perceptions of some behaviors with Organised Crimes. Going to a strip club puts you in the same pot as promiscous women, aids, drugs and bikers etc. Not the pot you want to be in if your the nations top Moral Crusader whom provides the infrastructure to the Moral Enforcers. You can go from Moral Crusader to Scapegoat in 60 seconds and then the Nation is left in a Untidy Position.

      Reply

    • Shane From Melbourne says:

      01:18pm | 26/04/11

      Yeah, that’s why Howard drew up a Ministerial Code of Conduct that was only useful as toilet paper….

    • Erin says:

      02:11pm | 26/04/11

      So promiscuous men are fine but promiscuous women as bad as AIDS and bikers? Moral Crusader indeed.

    • darragh scully says:

      05:04pm | 26/04/11

      @ Erin.

      Ok, pretend for a Minute that Rudd was a woman and she went to the Chipindales on a bender. Would you as a tax payer feel well represented or would you be worried.

      The point I was trying to make is that Politicians that have a legal footing tend to have a higher standard of Ethical Behavior. Im not pulling out all the stops and dwelling on any exceptions either. I am just aware that Ethical Behavior is Paramount to success in that profession.

      Australian society has been designed (up to the end of the White Australia policy) to be the perfect nation. So it shouldnt supprise us to see so many people dissapointed when the spot light comes on. I guess in reality we are like a Vehicle. Depending on how the vehicle is put together will determine how it will perform in a given set of circumstances. So if you want ethics as a feature of your leader then it would make sense to have someone whose tuned into that theory such as a lawyer. The moral of the story being is that we choose the best fit when we vote and its never going to be Ideal especially when there are so many extremes.

      Personally I think we need more than one leader. We really need a leadership group. Take work choices for example. There are allot of cases of shrugged responsibility by employers who took advantage of work choices with temporary contracts and employees with Musculoscelatal conditions.. Did Howard have a Health Advisor look over the costs on people in a boom with said Choices. Choice not. (take me for example with a fused vertebrae forced into employment by work choices).

      The term moral crusader is a term I picked up in Sociology 1101.

      Sorry Shane, I wasnt aware till now about Howards Ministerial Code of Conduct. I do know that he Eat well, Exercised Regularly, Worked long Hours, (remember the handshake incident) was a gentleman, and had a legal background. There was never a mention of Infidelity, Fruad or the like. His term in office was mostly on the whole Ethical.

    • Erin says:

      08:06pm | 26/04/11

      I wasn’t referring to leaders but to your flippantly derogatory reference to women.

    • darragh scully says:

      12:59am | 27/04/11

      Are you delusional. High risk behavior is more often than not Unethical.
      I kind of gave the Same response when I was talking about the movie the Town with a lady from Boston. In the United States bank robbers have hero like status, similar to Ned Kelly is Bonnie and Clyde like. So I was discussing the Town sequel in that Doug McRay should move on with his life in the same fashion as Waldo Demara might. Change his Identity with some Identity Fraud, Join the Navy do some service in Afghanistan and then maybe twist it up a little like in the film Dead Presidents. Now this young lady from Boston was like dude the guy is a criminal and there is no way he would get in the Navy. I was like well he was a hero in the film, and it was American Culture for all that that he was. I guess she was just to angry to see that.

      Though if your going to Bitcherdize me over it then fine. What ever!

    • Reggie says:

      09:52am | 27/04/11

      DS “Are you delusional. High risk behavior is more often than not Unethical.”

      High risk behavior is often progressive, it is the conservatives who sit on their hands and expect to be waited on hand and foot. With the occasional whipping. smile

      Anyone can go through life tut tutting at every perceived naughtiness but in the end the individual politician has to draw a line about where he or she stands on the morals presented.

      A question.

      If a politician relied on second hand versions of what happens in these dens of inequity, how did the complainant come by the knowledge in the first place, other than by visiting them and making his own biased judgment?  Is that called tainted information?

      Darragh “Not the pot you want to be in if you’re the nations top Moral Crusader who provides the infrastructure to the Moral Enforcers.” 

      No, I guess he should be listening to the Christian Lobby instead for their own biased views. What was that term again… oh yes ... “right minded individuals.”

    • Darragh Scully says:

      11:48am | 27/04/11

      Ambiguity is often taken advantage of. I can see I need to be more carefull with my choice of words or I am going to get the wood in the A.
      At least there is not much Hostile Attribution Error in your angry retort. Clearly the Angry use ambiguity to release the tension inside. It guess it could go either way and the real art is to choose the right words and be Explicit in what you mean, then again Id prefer if some people used a bit more comon sense.
      May I ask, what drugs are yall on.

    • Erin says:

      12:38pm | 03/05/11

      @darragh scully
      Look, I was merely pointing out the fact that apparently it is not promiscuity per se that you find immoral but promiscuous women. Otherwise you would presumably have said ‘promiscuous people’. I was not rude to you at all however you still referred to me as a bitch, or at least of acting like a bitch. Illustrates my point perfectly.

    • nossy says:

      11:55am | 26/04/11

      Speaking of decent politics i note Ms Gillard has now arrived in China to a most warm welcome. Ms Gillard is becoming quite the expert on the World Stage receiving the warmest of welcomes wherever she goes. The Japanese barely wanted her to go so warmly was she received. After China she will go on to the UK where she is an honoured guest at the wedding of the century in 3 days time between Wills and Cate. Thence home to do battle with Dr No !

      Reply

    • Ryan says:

      12:23pm | 26/04/11

      I wonder if she will have as lovely a name for the Chinese as your previous glorious Labor leader there nossy?
      What was it again that you Labor dregs call the Chinese? Oh I think I remember, was it “F***ing Rat F***ers” ?

    • Joel B1 says:

      12:28pm | 26/04/11

      Ah nossy, your each and every post is a delight to read!

      Of course Gillard’s getting “a most warm welcome” in China.

      After all she’s not going to raise the issues of Tibet, Tiananmen Square, child labour, melamine in milk, AGW, coal burning power stations, coal mine deaths due to crap industrial standards, dodgy Chinese “Gillard friendly and so Green” VAWTs in the Hobart CBD that worked for a whole fourteen days before failing is she?

      The word you should have struggled for is “patsy”

      Cheers

    • michael j says:

      12:30pm | 26/04/11

      @nossy- just saw her on tv lecturing the Chinese on their Human rights and how they must treat their people according to their constitution,,
      hope they had a English copy for her to bring home,,
      preferably one with no Tank Tracks on it,,,,,,

    • Knemon says:

      01:12pm | 26/04/11

      @ nossy - How much longer Dr No will be leader of the LNP is debatable. I have inside oil that a challenge for the leadership is not far away, this oil comes from a well respected Liberal member with whom I had a few Easter drinks with. You heard it first on Punch!

    • Rosie says:

      01:29pm | 26/04/11

      Yeah Nosthow talk to the Chinese about human rights and then come home to asylum seekers detained in detention centres here on our shores, child abuse within our indigenous people, the homeless etc

      Yeah using her status as Australia’s PM to bullying Japan, North Korea and China to come together when we know it ain’t going to happen. The hero Juliar who thinks she is capable of doing it. China hates Japan and North Korea looks upon Japan as the enemy. After applying her bully tactics, she moves on to the UK for the royal wedding, invited because Australia is part of the Commonwealth. She and boyfriend Tim will attend as hypocrites representing the people of Australian. She is a republican, an atheist, who doesn’t believe in marriage and definitely not marriage in the eyes of God.

      I am waiting to see how the nation is going to benefit from her trip to these countries. No doubt the boyfriend tagged along to keep the peroxide going to keep the grey roots of her hair from showing at all her public appearances.

    • Mijow says:

      02:17pm | 26/04/11

      “The Japanese barely wanted her to go so warmly was she received.”

      No, the Japanese were just being polite, as they always are. You don’t get many redheads in this part of the world, so it was probably her curiosity value as well. Seriously, though, as someone who has made a career of trying to get the Japanese to speak natural English, here comes “Julya” to undo all my hard work. The way she manages to mangle the language is painfully embarrassing.

    • Joan says:

      02:37pm | 26/04/11

      Yeah Nossy… they`ve been following Gillards performance and they can’t believe their luck…as they wrangle another deal in their favour from Gillard….you bet they can’t wait for Juliar big Carbon Tax on everything and her promise to keep shipping loads of coal to them keeps the smiles beaming…. their coal power plants will just keeping on powering through 21st century as they snap up jobs for their citizens , jobs lost by Australians priced out by Juliar Carbon Tax on everything. . Now Juliars lecturing China about human rights- thats a laugh coming from a backstabber and liar - and no right given to Australians   to vote on the Carbon Tax….Juliar big No Carbon Tax lie.  ..the liars way to power.

    • nossy says:

      04:06pm | 26/04/11

      Thanks one and all - some lovely insights there. Whilst Joolia was looking ravishing stepping off the plane in China the ABC had footage of Abbott doing situps over on Christmas Island in his smelly jocks ! Good grief this man needs a Media Consultant/Advisor ASAP ! Tones phone nossy asap fella !

    • Joan says:

      04:59pm | 26/04/11

      Nossy… no accounting for taste.  Guys like Nossy who can’t touch their toes usually disparage men who want to be men .... especially those like Tony who are fit, trim and able -  ...nothing phoney about the smell of sweat after a few real situps. But everything phoney about Juliar….Juliar who packed a case full of red hair dye to patch up the grey streak that comes through after a couple of days,  I notice she must have left the botox at home,  that crease across her forehead is getting deeper with everyday even the caked on makeup can not patch it up as it cracks open like some grand chasm as soon as she opens her mouth to speak or eat. Let`s see the real Juliar with the hair stripped bare of the phoney red and Juliar minus caked-on makeup .... lets put the spotlight on Juliar au naturale.

    • TCB 24 X 7 says:

      12:42am | 27/04/11

      Hey nossy,
      did you see the photo of the nth. korean soldier doing a stare down at the red head.
      the nth. and sth. soldiers usually make cut head off gestures at each other when they meet for talks.
      would have been a classic

    • jb says:

      03:42am | 27/04/11

      I can’t be bothered with your prime mugger lies anymore so from now on I am just going to remind your ‘viewers’ that you speak utter crap.
      Abbott is the only truth you have in your tank tiger because the girl that mugged you on election eve is bending over and taking it like you do as she says yes to everything on her world ‘whatever you wan’t tour’.
      She’s an international laughing stock and I can’t wait to see her waddle down the isle as the Brits will definitely televise the bottled red as her republic ways have offended them to the hilt and she is the token joke on the guest list!
      Oh and while you are laughing in your sound proof room read this…

      http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/abbott-a-hero-on-troubled-christmas-island/story-e6frg6nf-1226045245809

    • Reggie says:

      10:51am | 27/04/11

      Good on you Nossy, you raised a few blood-pressures there and burned off some calorific lattes.

      Mijow “here comes “Julya” to undo all my hard work.”  Yeah yeah we all know about that easy money. The sort of job you take when you’re unemployable in Oz. Perhaps you have an inflated image of your prowess when it comes to Australian language.  Are you a POM?

    • Rosie says:

      12:19pm | 26/04/11

      I wouldn’t even think of being in the public eye if I had something to hide because I wouldn’t want to give the media the satisfaction of digging out something that they could be renowned for. Definitely not become a politician because a politician is elected to represent an electorate and the Govt to represent the people of a nation.

      My home state is South Australia and what has happened here with the Labor MP is something else that makes me ashamed to call South Australia my home state. This is made worse because this time it has come from a MP. It is yucky!

      Reply

    • Joel B1 says:

      12:34pm | 26/04/11

      In Gillard’s favour I can’t imagine her getting up to much mischief.

      I suspect she’s still wracked with remorse for taking that last Tim Tam biscuit off the plate before Rudd snatched it at the last ALP gab-fest.

      Reply

    • MarK says:

      01:13pm | 26/04/11

      “Or – like Barry O’Farrell – they do a Steven Bradbury and glide to victory as others fall apart at the seams. “

      Possibly one of the most simplistic of your theories and that really is saying something.

      Reply

    • baal says:

      01:28pm | 26/04/11

      Decent? I would settle for competent :(

      Reply

    • Lapun Pinis says:

      01:34pm | 26/04/11

      There is still one “celebrity” I wonder about, and I cannot guess what his role really is in our political scene.  This morning I watched Sky news and saw footage of him arriving in China on the same plane as Julia Gillard.  I had previously thought he was just one of the hired help, but now I’m not so sure.
      First Sky showed him emerging from the door of the plane and on the top step giving a perfect royal wave, (screwing in the light bulbs) to the waiting dignitaries.  Then later there was more footage of him laying a wreath at the same time as and beside our PM.  What is the role of this man who travels the world with Gillard at our expense and is accorded such greeting by foreign officials.    His name is Tim something-or-other.  Can any one tell me what he does to get all this free travel.
      (P.S.  I hope Bob Browne never becomes PM)

      Reply

    • Bruce says:

      03:11pm | 26/04/11

      Lapun Pinis: He does the job of “First Bloke”. Generally I have no problems with this concept, however, it does look somewhat strange ! I guess “First Bloke” does provide a service and a function.

    • Mayday says:

      03:13pm | 26/04/11

      Tim keeps Julia looking like a woman, he is her man and hairdresser!!

    • Rosie says:

      03:36pm | 26/04/11

      The “celebrity” thrusted upon us as Australia’s first boyfriend hairdresser bloke to service the wants and needs of our PM. Polluting the environment with the amount of peroxide he uses to dye the roots of her hair every fortnight being one of them.

      Typical of the Labor way they do not know how to differentiate between free riders and those that actually deserve to represent us and entitled to the perks of being in high office. They just lump everything together for anything.

      Legally and happily married Kevin Rudd was deserving of that high office but it was taken away from him by the undeserving Juliar the backstabbing liar.

    • reg "" says:

      02:39pm | 26/04/11

      Of course the third possiblity of flawd judgement is the newspaper reporters who with their holier than though flawed reparks

      Reply

    • Cate P says:

      03:17pm | 26/04/11

      Personally I am delighted at the calibre of current Labor MPs.

      Reply

    • jf says:

      03:30pm | 26/04/11

      You have got to be joking. Who specifically has impressed you and why? What have been their achievements to date and what value have they added to your life?

    • St. Michael says:

      04:22pm | 26/04/11

      What a wonderfully double-edged comment.

    • Seneca says:

      03:23pm | 26/04/11

      As well as looking at all the monkeys and miscreants who climb the political tree to the top, let us feel a moment of shame and pity about the good, honest, caring politicians who get a golden shower on their way up that tree .  The Stott Despojas, the Chipps -  is it coincidence that they frequently are minor party or independent members?  The ‘might have been good, but would not toe any party line’ type of politicians.  The ‘private members’ who look after their constituents faithfully and resist the wooing of the majors when they get re-elected for a third term.  Their names are legion -  but eminently forgettable.  It was with them in mind that the Westminster System was designed,  albeit in the days of undue influence from landowners, and it could work today if only PARTIES were made illegal !  Every Member an Independent acting on consciernce   -  that’s the old fashioned virtue that stauinch party members foreswear.

      Reply

    • St. Michael says:

      04:41pm | 26/04/11

      This article is really looking at the issue the wrong way round.  You don’t ask what a person running for office’s peccadilloes are, the more important question is why they’re running for office at all.

      Seriously.  Particularly now in the 24/7, digital world, to go into politics is to actually go looking for a job where your every move is scrutinised, where your public and private life have little to no boundaries so far as the media is concerned, and remaining in your job essentially comes down to how many people you can get to like you on a three or four yearly basis.  Not to mention that, particularly in the case of businessmen who go into politics, you’re generally taking a pay cut and entering a sphere where performance generally does not match results.  Rather, it’s a sphere where popularity matches results - by definition.

      Bearing all those attributes in mind: what sort of person actually puts their hand up for that job? Especially those in mainstream political parties, for whom entire *careers* are spent kissing enough arse, making enough friends, and stabbing enough people in the back to be “the candidate” who gets preselected?

      And before you say “One who has a sense of duty to Australia”—um, no.  There’s plenty of other ways to serve Australia other than being the one running things.  And in the case of political parties in particular, the only duty is to the party’s principles, not to those of Australia at large.  You might try and kid yourself that the party’s principles are those which always benefit Australia, but particularly in Labor’s case since it’s founded on the unions, and in the case of the Liberals, who basically exist only to oppose Labor, a party necessarily represents a fraction of Australia’s population - not all of it.  Therefore a party politician is not, in fact, serving Australia or in the job for the motivation of serving Australia.

      Arthur C. Clarke was no politician, but he hit on a pretty apt idea in “The Memory of Distant Earth”: anyone who actually seeks public office should be excluded from doing so on the basis of psychological grounds.

      That is mainly because you would have to be someone obsessed with the getting, and then holding, of power in order to run for office.  Either that or you’re simply looking to pick up one of the few remaining cradle-to-grave benefit programs in Australia which are given to our politicians.

      This is so for independents as well.  Face it, barring a once-in-a-lifetime hung parliament like we’ve got, the average contribution of an independent to the overall course of Australia is insignificant.  That’s why they traditionally go for Senate seats rather than Reps seats: you get twice as long in the job and you aren’t anywhere near the limelight as the Reps are. 

      For independents, it is still demonstrably about power, albeit the more autocratic kind than the institutional power political parties hang on.  Pauline Hanson’s the object example of this.  Arguably independents are even more unhinged than their counterparts in the ALP or the Liberals, since they clearly don’t want to cleave to anybody except what They Think Is Right.

      It’s also true of the Greens.  Whatever the so-called Mission Statement they have, when you see one on the news, at a forum, on a panel, they talk just like their ALP and Liberal counterparts as well.  Milne still speaks of “owning the debate” on climate change, on “getting out there and owning the emotional space” on climate change.  That’s the talk of a political manipulator, not Gandhi or Jesus Christ.

      QED, politics is a con game as practiced in Australia and most other Western democracies.  None of them, regardless of whether they sat they’re religious, atheist, environmentalist, or fundamentalist, can be trusted by virtue of what they signed up for.  We would do just as well, if not better, with a randomly selected Parliament in the same way that a jury panel is selected.  And I might note that juries tend to get it right a lot more than politicians do.

      Reply

    • CSparrow says:

      04:42pm | 26/04/11

      I don’t expect politicians to be better than the average citizen, differently motivated perhaps,  it would be nice to have some selfless idealism, but I don’t expect them to be better people.

      Like many I loathe the hypocrisy that the elected can assume in expecting lifestyle strictures on the electorate they themselves do not have to bear. Representative politics has given way to dedication to the party machine which seems to encourage sacrificing personal integrity.  I think the Labour machine does this most effectively with the career pollies, but the Liberals are fast mimicking this to.

      Reply

    • The Vivid Writer says:

      06:16pm | 26/04/11

      You know Tory, I’d be happy if they weren’t fascists and trators..selling Australian citizens up the FOREIGN river. Write “commentaries” for FOREIGN intelligence services and simply paid a visit or two to FOREIGN embassies to show them all how our sovereignity is “defended”. Nevermind strip clubs and pot smoking.

      We are too focused on this symbolic misbehaviour - what about those real serious issues..like subjecting Australian citizens to divisive psychological warfare to increase public acceptance for illegal wars? What about sales of ‘assets’ such as Uranium to countries like Russia which has a proven history (1990s onwards) of mismanaging and selling nuclear weapons and associated equipment from drug cartels to international terrorists? Their co-operation with Iran has been touted in the media in recent years - which, together with the aforementioned, qualifies our ‘leadership’ for a lot of years imprisonment considering that the Anti-Terrorism Act 2005 states:

      “It becomes a crime, punishable by life imprisonment, to recklessly provide funds to a potential terrorist: funds include money and equivalents AND ALSO ASSETS; it is not necessary that the culprit know the receiver is a terrorist, only that they are reckless about the possibility; it is not even necessary that the receiver is a terrorist, only that the first person is reckless about the possibility that they might be.”
       
      But wait..since the politicians aren’t an “Ahmad” or a “Muhammad”..we are probably willing to perceive Uranium as a ‘goods and service’..Nevermind that many terrorists would pay large sums of funds and assets to get some Uranium in the first place.

      So, Tory, it looks like we’ll just keep our focus on wether or not they “inhaled”, indulged in free speech (contrary to what they want to hear in those FOREIGN embassies) or have “any bitchy ex-colleagues or schoolmates lurking around”.. Wether or not they have an alcohol problem and make a fool of themselves in public, shag anything that moves, or “get close to someone bad”. You know, the stuff that symbolically makes great front page footage and conversational pieces for those who - out at the boozer - cannot really retain the capacity to discuss governments breaking a law they’d always assumed was specifically designed for “Mustapha and Ibrahim”.

      Reply

    • Cate P says:

      06:23pm | 26/04/11

      nossy 4.06pm, you naughty old tease, give us a link to the ABC footage.  Cos we don’t believe you without the evidence!

      Reply

    • Not asking too much says:

      07:37pm | 26/04/11

      No, it is not asking too much and yes, you’re dreaming. And the game you’re suggesting where we can run but not hide, is way too scary for most of us, I’m sure.

      There’s always a percentage of people who will muck up one way or another. These people can be found in any profession; doctors, surgeons, lawyers, pollies, bricklayers, builders, real estate agents, car technicians and salesmen, gardeners. And not necessarily in that order. I’ve met some really nice and truly horrible people in all these professions/trades. Anyone who thinks that one trade/profession harbours less crooks than another is truly dreaming. We’re talking about people and they are fallible. Where would we think most pedophiles can be found? Around children maybe? And in positions of trust such as at schools and religious posts?

      I’d like to think that politicians generally are just ordinary people trying to do the right thing like most of us.

      But there’s always that percentage .. wherever we go.

      Reply

    • Robert says:

      09:07pm | 26/04/11

      If the politicians cannot even vote to be truthful in parliament how can we expect them to be decent citizens and how can they demand the title honourable when they cannot be this way?

      Reply

    • Tom Validakis says:

      11:22pm | 26/04/11

      I believe doesn’t matter how good a person is before they get elected. The power gets to there heads.

      Reply

    • NESLIHAN KUROSAWA says:

      01:13am | 27/04/11

      Hi Tory,

      Why blame the actual politicians??  After all they are only human, right??  I personally believe with all the power that the politicians seem to have, there are also an enormous amount of responsibility and accountability for their actions as well as costly mistakes.  Also, I think that we all expect our Leader to be just perfect in almost every way, as we have discovered time and time again, that is not possible as well as achievable in our life times, anyway!!

      However, my question to you today is that “are we all getting used to the idea of politicians ending up in trouble”??  And also if they did not get caught making all those awful mistakes, would we all still think that they were all perfect, just the way they are, just the same??  May be, the biggest lesson in all this could be learning from those mistakes as well as not having a repeat performance, right?? I meant that for all the others who have not sinned as yet!!  Best regards to your editors.

      Reply

    • rajend naidu says:

      08:58am | 27/04/11

      It’s said money and fame - including political fame - can ruin the noblest of minds. The minds that get attracted to politics as a career are often not particularly noble. In fact in public opinion polls they regularly come come last on the trust radar.Most people reckon imbeciles, crooks and scoundrels form the bulk of that species.

      Reply
 
Comment

Facebook Recommendations

Read all about it

Punch live

Up to the minute Twitter chatter

Anthony Sharwood

antsharwood 17 May 12 03:46PM

RT @matthewbedwell: @antsharwood i just lost it at the'bitter dissapointments' story. Epic . If only we all lived in such a blissfull bubbleworld!

ToryShepherd

ToryShepherd 17 May 12 02:59PM

RT @antsharwood: Meanwhile, a case from the glass half full files. Andrew Bolt has attacked me in a much nicer way than usual today http://t.co/mQqX6rOc

Anthony Sharwood

antsharwood 17 May 12 02:53PM

Meanwhile, a case from the glass half full files. Andrew Bolt has attacked me in a much nicer way than usual today http://t.co/mQqX6rOc

Anthony Sharwood

antsharwood 17 May 12 02:46PM

Trust you've all read Greens senator @larissawaters excellent yarn about the threats to the Reef on The Punch today http://t.co/i6aatFIO

See all tweets

Recent posts

The latest and greatest

Reports of Ron Paul’s death are greatly exaggerated

by Paul Toohey

20

Reports of Ron Paul’s death are greatly exaggerated

Reports of Ron Paul’s political demise have been greatly exaggerated and his tactical genius is…

They must pay for one’s bitter disappointments

by Anthony Sharwood

148

They must pay for one’s bitter disappointments

A private school girl’s family is sueing her elite, extremely expensive private school for not…

Our Budget blade didn’t cut aid, it’s being paid in spades

by Richard Marles

89

Our Budget blade didn’t cut aid, it’s being paid in spades

Ten million children vaccinated. 2.5 million people with access to safe drinking water. And 30 million…

Nosebleed Section

choice ringside rantings

From: They must pay for one’s bitter disappointments

Michael S says:

"A teacher at Geelong Grammar had criticised her for using words that were too long, which had left her confused and had made her doubt her ability to write essays. She became ''quite distressed'' when her English marks began to fall." I can sympathise. My scholastic mentors conveyed to me a causal relationship… [read more]

From: Welfare for breeders is a bonus for everyone

Change Up! says:

I have no problem paying my taxes. As a single, childless person on a very decent income, I can afford it and not have my life severely altered. Plus I understand that my taxes paying for things like schools, childcare and infrastructure is ultimately a good thing. A better community is better for me… [read more]

Light weight

Gentle jabs to the ribs

Real women like men who drink beer

Real women like men who drink beer

British comedian John Cleese calls them “beer fairies”.  It’s a euphemism for… Read more

198 comments

Newsletter

Read all about it

Sign up to the free daily Punch newsletter

Subscribe to The Punch RSS feed