Great Southern State of Victoria puts the Coalition of Crap in its place – in Opposition
(by Ray Dixon ~ a proud Vic)
“See ya later Denis”
I have to admit that in the last week leading up to Saturday’s Victorian State election I had this nagging and worrying feeling that Labor would fall at the last hurdle and fail in its bid at history to out a Coalition Government after just one term in office.
After all, despite the opinion polls showing Labor still in winning territory at 52-48 two-party preferred, the fact is the gap had narrowed from 56-44 just a few weeks ago and any further narrowing would see an anything result.
There’s also the fact that Governments, be they State or Federal, be they dysfunctional, incompetent, disunited, changing leaders, do-nothing, semi-corrupt and obnoxious (i.e. be they just like the Victorian Coalition Govt of Ted ‘Bailed Out’ Baillieu & Denis ‘The loud mouth Vet’ Napthine), are usually given a second term just to see if they can finally get their act together. It’s almost – or was – an Australian tradition to give a ‘Fair Go’ to the incumbent and not throw the baby out with the bath water so to speak.
Making matters worse (for Labor supporters like me) it was Denis Napthine who stole all the thunder and limelight in the last week of campaigning, aggressively ramming home his message that if Labor tears up the contract for the East-West tunnel project, as they had promised to, Victorians would not only lose the $3 billion in infrastructure spending promised by Federal PM Tony Abbott, they would also have to pay a compensation bill of $1.1 billion to the appointed contractor (due to a ‘side deal’ Napthine had secretly signed).
Meanwhile, Labor leader Daniel Andrews remained at the one-pace, not ramping up his campaign or attack on the Government one little bit (it’s noticeable that throughout the campaign, Andrews actually steered away from any such negative tactics and, instead, focused on what he would do rather than what Napthine was doing or not doing).
Instead, Andrews simply stuck to his guns: the East-West tunnel would not be built; the so-called contract was “invalid” and “not worth the paper it was written on”; no compensation would be paid and what Victorians needed more was improvements to outer areas, removal of level crossings and a much improved public transport system. Andrews gambled on the wider electorate not really seeing yet another freeway link as an important election issue. And won.
He focused his efforts on those outer areas particularly the so-called ‘Sandbelt’ areas from Bentleigh in the south east all the way down the Frankston railway line to, well, to Frankston itself. Those were the seats that cost John Brumby office in 2010 when he was surprisingly voted out having focused his efforts primarily on protecting 4 inner-city seats from the Greens. He held those seats but lost the ‘burbs … because he ignored them … which saw Ted Baillieu become the accidental Premier, a job he never seemed to expect or want, and one that he eventually walked away from at the first hint of dissatisfaction from his party, thereby handing Denis (the forgotten man) Napthine the premiership by default.
No, Andrews totally ignored the Greens and let the inner-city latte set have ‘em if they wanted them. The Greens actually took the seat of Melbourne from Labor and may end up with one or two more, but that didn’t matter because Labor won enough seats back from the Liberals in those outer suburbs to form Government in their own right. Sure, the Greens can claim ‘history’ in getting their first MP(s) elected to the lower house but it’s a totally hollow victory as Labor can (and will) govern without them.
Andrews’ script was copybook. He gambled (correctly) that Napthine’s aggressiveness and threats over the $3 billion Federal funding and $1.1 billion compensation package would not wash with an electorate that clearly did not like Napthine’s stance and tone that amounted to an effective attempt at blackmailing them into voting for a return of the Coalition, in order to save $4 billion. He let Napthine rattle on and, as it turned out, gave him enough rope to hang himself.
Make no mistake, in the last week the election was still there for the taking by the Coalition. It was still up for grabs. If only Napthine had not chosen to emphasise how he was using the East-West tunnel funding as a sort of booby trap to ward off people from voting Labor. If only he hadn’t underestimated the voters’ intelligence. And if only if he’d had the balls to tell Tony Abbott NOT to announce in that last week that the threat of withdrawing that funding if Labor won was very real.
Much to my delight, Victorian voters reacted quite angrily to being treated like second class idiots and the polls did not shift one little bit. Well, actually they did shift marginally … to Labor. The final result on a two-party preferred being Labor 52.5, Coalition 47.5, a remarkable result to actually not only halt the trend back to the Coalition but to even turn the tide back in their favour.
All thanks to 3 people being (in order):
Daniel Andrews for sticking to his guns in the face of a full on Coalition onslaught throughout the final week.
Denis Napthine for going over-the-top in aggressively threatening voters would be ‘punished’ (by both him and Abbott) if they dared to vote Labor.
Tony Abbott for publicly endorsing Napthine’s gun-at-the-head approach.
Victorians (well, Aussies in general) don’t take kindly to that sort of political bullying. Denis Napthine certainly shot himself in the foot with his semi-blackmail tactics, aided and abetted by Tony Abbott.
BUT, does this result mean anything Federally? According to Opposition Leader Bill Shorten it does:
“They said this couldn’t happen. They said that a first term government couldn’t lose… (this is) history in the making … Victorians have made a clear choice that will be heard all across the nation.”
I think Bill might be getting a bit carried away. I mean, it’s not like Abbott is on a knife-edge majority like Napthine was. It’s not like the ALP only has to pick up 4 or 5 seats in 2016 to defeat Tony Abbott. No, they actually need to win at least 20 seats to do that.
This result makes it clear that Abbott is on the nose in Victoria at least and will suffer some kind of reduced numbers next time around. But I hardly think Tony Abbott is losing much sleep over it. Let’s face it, Victoria doesn’t really figure on his radar. Does he even know where it is? Does he even care? I doubt it.
Anyway, it’s well done to Daniel Andrews. At 42 years of age he should easily be Premier for at least 8 years – i.e. two terms – because I seriously doubt Victorians will turn back to the Coalition again anytime soon, having seen how unready they were to resume Govt in 2010 after 11 years in Opposition. And having seen how little they’d learnt.
On the other hand, Labor is back in its right place in the great southern State of Victoria while the Coalition of Crap is in disarray with both Napthine and Ryan (the Nats leader) stepping down.
It just shows you that doing favours for your big construction company mates and property developers – as the Coalition in Victoria is renowned for – is a real voter turn off. I doubt they’ll ever change. Not down here.
You people up north in NSW & Queensland probably don’t understand that, in Victoria, the Liberals are not so much about governing the State as they are about carving up public property for developers and doing big favours for their big mates. It’s been that way since Kennett won office in 1992. They won’t (and can’t) change. And that’s why Vics can’t stomach them.
Victorian Labor, on the other hand, is actually about responsible and conservative Government, exemplified in such conservative stalwarts as Steve Bracks, John Brumby and (now) Daniel Andrews. They hold all the important and relevant political ground from moderate left to centre to moderate right, whereas the Libs down here actually seem to operate outside the political sphere in some kind of corporate and secret deals la-la land.
Good riddance to them. And well done to my fellow Victorians for having the good sense (and guts) to call the Coalition on their phony projects, side deals, hollow threats, bluffs and outright bullying. It’s certainly a better State today. Sanity has been restored.
Abbott’s “defining moment” defines Australia as still subservient to England
(by Ray Dixon ~ an Australian blogger who blogs for Australia, not for bloody England)
“Defining moment”
noun : a point at which the essential nature or character of a person, group, etc., is revealed or identified.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s comments that the arrival of the First Fleet was the defining moment in Australian history are interesting … but wrong. And dumb. In my opinion.
Before you rusted-ons jump up and down, I’m not commenting on the reactions and rebukes from indigenous leaders, who have claimed that Abbott’s remarks were an insult “ignoring 50,000 years of (aboriginal) history” that preceded the arrival of the First Fleet on the 26th of January 1788.
No disrespect intended to our indigenous past but even the National Museum could not find much of significance from that period to add to its list of 100 ‘moments’. And I hardly think that either the first rock art, the invention of the boomerang or the arrival of the dingo revealed, shaped or identified the essential nature or character of this nation. Let’s be realistic, there was little or no change in that long 50,000 year period.
No, I actually agree with Tony Abbott that Australia (as we know it today) was more shaped by events after the arrival of ‘white man’. I just think he chose the wrong event.
So putting that aside (PLEASE put it aside because I don’t want this to be an argument over ‘the invasion’) and looking at Australia post Captain Cook claiming it for Britain in 1770, what would you call Australia’s “defining moment”, bearing in mind the definition above? At what point was the “essential nature or character” of Australia revealed or identified?
This is what Abbott said:
Mr Abbott made the remarks at the opening of a history exhibition at the National Museum in Canberra on Friday, repeatedly stating that he believed the arrival of the First Fleet “was the defining moment in the history of this continent”.
“It was the moment this continent became part of the modern world. It determined our language, our law and our fundamental values.”
And this is why I think he was wrong:
The best that could be said about the arrival of the First Fleet – which was primarily the establishment of a penal colony to relieve congestion in England’s jails – is that it marked the ‘birth’ of a nation. I’d actually call it the ‘birth’ of Great Britain’s bastard child, seeing the intent was to dispose of its unwanted dregs but, nonetheless (and regardless of how you see it), the fact is that most people wouldn’t consider childbirth to be the defining moment of their life.
What “fundamental values” were determined by that event? A “fair go”? Equality? Freedom? Hardly.
For Tony Abbott to claim the arrival of the First Fleet of convicts revealed our “essential nature” is actually to say we are still in servitude to Great Britain. We are still unwanted. We are still inferior. We are still ‘the dregs’.
And that’s a very poor choice, especially coming from a Prime Minister who was born in England himself!
The arrival of the First Fleet and subsequent settlement at Sydney Cove certainly facilitated more arrivals (of both convict and free people), but surely it was somewhere in the events that followed our ‘bastard birth’ that more defined the true character of this great country.
For example, McArthur’s arrival and introduction of Merino sheep in 1797 had far more impact on our nationhood, especially as it gave us our first significant industry – one that still survives today.
And Matthew Flinders circumnavigation of the continent in a tiny boat in 1802 after which he named the continent ‘Australia’, certainly went a long way to define the land on which we lived.
The Gold Rush of the 1850s was also a great defining moment that brought many people from many nations to try their luck, leading to the rebellion (against the British) at Eureka Stockade, an event that was wholly justified and demonstrated our stance against an oppressive authority.
I’d even rate Ned Kelly’s last stand at Glenrowan in 1880 as more “defining” than Abbott’s First Fleet moment.
But I’d say the most significant and “defining” moments in our history are these:
The Federation of Australia on 1 January 1901 when the six separate (British) colonies of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, and Western Australia formed as one nation with a federal government responsible for matters concerning the whole nation. That was when the Constitution of Australia came into force and when the formerly British colonies collectively became states of the Commonwealth of Australia – i.e. it was our ‘Independence Day’, albeit still with the Queen as Head of State. That event – the marking of our independence from British rule – was surely the moment that defined Australia throughout the 20th Century.
And:
The 1942 thwarting of the Japanese advancement on the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea (following the bombing of Darwin) when for nearly six months our soldiers fought bravely (with no thanks to the Brits) to prevent the Japanese establishing a stronghold at Port Moresby from where it intended to isolate (and possibly invade) Australia. That was the first (and so far only) time we have ever really had to fight for our survival and very existence. And we prevailed. It was truly an event of monumental importance in our history.
So what do you think of Abbott’s choice of the First Fleet of British dregs defining who we are?
What do you say is the most “defining moment” in our history from this list of 100 events put out by the National Museum?
(Note: I’ve bolded those I think are the most significant … and added a few of my own at the end) :
at least 52,000 years ago: Archaeological evidence of first peoples on the Australian continent
about 28,000 years ago: Earliest known Australian rock art engraved and painted
about 20,000 years ago: Earliest evidence of the boomerang in Australia
about 12,000 years ago: Sea level rises, separating Tasmania from mainland
about 5000 years ago: Arrival of the dingo, Australia’s first domesticated species
1606 Dutch explorer Willem Janssen becomes first European to map parts of the Australian coast
about 1700 Makasar from Sulawesi visit northern Australia and trade with Aboriginal people
1770 Lieutenant James Cook claims east coast of Australia for Britain
1788 Captain Arthur Phillip establishes convict settlement at Sydney Cove
1792 Aboriginal warrior Pemulwuy leads resistance against Sydney colonists
1797 Introduction and improvement of merino sheep
1802–03 Matthew Flinders circumnavigates continent, which he names ‘Australia’
1813 Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth cross Blue Mountains
1830 The ‘Black Line’ — settler force attempts to corral Aboriginal people on the Tasman Peninsula
1836 Governor Richard Bourke funds Protestant and Catholic churches in New South Wales on equal basis
1838 Myall Creek massacre, New South Wales
1851 Gold rushes in New South Wales and Victoria begin
1854 Rebellion of goldminers at Eureka Stockade, Ballarat, Victoria
1854 Australia’s first railway line opens in Victoria
1856 Secret ballot introduced and all adult men given the vote, South Australia
1856 Melbourne building workers win an eight-hour day
1858 First organised game of Australian Rules football
1859 Rabbits successfully introduced into Australia
1861 First Melbourne Cup horse race
1868 Convict transportation to Australia ends
1868 Aboriginal cricket team tours England
1872 Free, compulsory and secular education introduced, Victoria
1872 Completion of the Overland Telegraph from Darwin to Port Augusta, South Australia
1879 Australia’s first national park created — (now Royal) National Park, Sydney
1880 The Bulletin established
1880 Ned Kelly’s last stand at Glenrowan, Victoria
1885 Victorian Employers’ Union formed
1885 BHP begins mining silver, zinc and lead at Broken Hill, New South Wales
1887 Chaffey brothers introduce irrigation on Murray River
1889 9 by 5 Impression Exhibition shows paintings by Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton and Charles Conder, Melbourne
1890–91 Depression and strikes; formation of the Labor Party
1894 Legislation introducing women’s suffrage, South Australia
1901 Inauguration of the Commonwealth of Australia
1901 White Australia policy enshrined in law
1902 Commonwealth Franchise Act gives women the vote in federal elections
1903 William Farrer begins distribution of ‘Federation’ wheat
1906 Australia takes control of Papua as an ‘external territory’
1907 Justice HB Higgins hands down ‘Harvester Judgement’
1908 Legislation introducing national age and invalid pensions
1911 Douglas Mawson leads Australasian expedition to Antarctica
1912 Australian Government introduces a maternity allowance
1913 Foundation of Canberra as national capital
1915 New South Wales Government gains unfettered power to remove Aboriginal children from their families
1915 Australian troops land at Gallipoli
1916 Federal–state agreement for Soldier Settlement
1916–17 Conscription for military service overseas defeated in two referendums
1917 Completion of Trans-Australian Railway linking Western Australia and the eastern states
1920 Country Party founded at national level
1920 Qantas established
1924 Australian Aboriginal Progressive Association formed
1932 Height of the Great Depression, with 32 per cent unemployment
1932 Foundation of the Australian Broadcasting Commission
1932–33 England cricket team in Australia on ‘Bodyline’ Ashes tour
1936 Tasmania’s thylacine becomes extinct
1938 Sydney celebrates 150th anniversary of British settlement; Aboriginal leaders hold Day of Mourning
1942 Japanese bomb Darwin but are halted on Kokoda Track
1943 First women elected to Australian federal parliament
1944 Formation of Liberal Party of Australia
1945 Florey, Fleming and Chain win Nobel Prize for developing penicillin
1945 National introduction of unemployment and sickness benefits
1945 Australia plays a leading role in founding United Nations
1945 Australian Government announces post-war migration drive
1948 Australia’s first locally made car, the Holden 48-215, launched
1949 Chifley government begins Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme
1949 Election of the Menzies government — the longest serving in Australian history
1951 Australia signs ANZUS treaty with New Zealand and the United States
1954 Visit of Queen Elizabeth II, the first by a reigning monarch 1955 Split within Australian Labor Party; formation of the Democratic Labor Party
1956 Television introduced in time for Australia’s first Olympic Games, Melbourne
1960 Australian Government lifts restrictions on export of iron ore
1961 Introduction of the oral contraceptive pill
1966 Holt government effectively dismantles White Australia Policy
1966 Gurindji strike (or Wave Hill walk-off) led by Vincent Lingiari
1967 Australians vote overwhelmingly to alter the Constitution allowing Aboriginal people to be counted in the Census and subject to Commonwealth laws
1970 Moratorium to protest Australian involvement in Vietnam War
1972 Aboriginal tent embassy established in front of Parliament House, Canberra
1972 Conciliation and Arbitration Commission grants equal pay for men and women
1973 Sydney Opera House opens
1974 Cyclone Tracy hits Darwin
1975 Governor-General dismisses Whitlam government
1976 Australian Government passes Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act
1978 First Gay Mardi Gras march, Sydney
1978 Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) established
1983 Floating of the Australian dollar
1983 Protests against Franklin Dam in Tasmania lead to formation of the Greens
1984 Australian parliament passes Sex Discrimination Act
1991 Port Hedland immigration detention centre opens
1992 High Court decision in Mabo case establishes native title
1996 Port Arthur massacre leads to tighter gun laws
2000 Walk for Reconciliation across Sydney Harbour Bridge
2001 Australian troops take control of Tampa carrying rescued asylum-seekers
2002 Bali bombing kills 88 Australians
2004 Australia signs Free Trade Agreement with the United States
2008 National Apology to the Stolen Generations
2009 ‘Black Saturday’ bushfires kill 173 people in Victoria
And they forgot about these:
1966 St Kilda wins its first (and so far only) VFL/AFL Premiership
1972 Election of Whitlam Government marks the end of conscription and our involvement in the Vietnam War
1983 Australia II wins the America Cup
2005 Makybe Diva wins an unprecedented 3rd consecutive Melbourne Cup
2010 Julia Gillard shoots the Labor Party in the foot by knifing its most popular ever Prime Minister Kevin Rudd
2014 Joe Hockey and Tony Abbott lose the plot
If clothes maketh the man ……
(by Ray Dixon ~ fashion blogger to the manosphere)
Then Barack ‘Beige’ Obama just lost the war against the Islamic State before it even started.
The ABC reports on Obama’s lack of a cunning plan:
US president Barack Obama says he has asked officials to prepare a range of military options for confronting Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria and foreshadowed recruiting international partners for potential military action.
“I don’t want to put the cart before the horse.”
” We don’t have a strategy yet.“
But I think that report could have also read:
US president Barack Obama says he has asked his wife Michelle to prepare a range of suit options before he confronts Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria and has foreshadowed recruiting international clothing designers for potential (and suitable) apparel.
“I don’t want to put the cart before the horse.”
“I don’t have a decent suit yet.“
I suggest he tries khaki.
Bill Short On Details
(by Ray Dixon ~ your thinking man’s blogger)
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten probably had no choice but to make some kind of public statement following Police confirmation that no charges would be laid over the allegation that he raped a 16-year-old more than 25 years ago.
But I reckon he might yet regret his words (or lack of them), and especially these ones:
“The allegation was made by someone that I knew briefly at that time.”
Put yourself in the “someone’s” position. How would you feel being described like that?
Shorten, by omission, has basically confirmed that he did have sex with the girl but then refers to her dismissively as “someone that I knew briefly”?
Making matters worse, his substitution of the pronoun “who I knew …” with “that I knew” effectively describes her as an animal or object.
That hurts.
And hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
Think AFL player Stephen Milne, who in 2004 was also initially cleared by Police of rape, only to be eventually charged years down the track following the alleged victim’s persistence.
Don’t be surprised if we haven’t heard the last of this.
Joe Hockey – the most deceptive, dishonest & arrogant Treasurer in our history
(by Ray Dixon – not a “poor person” just a fairer [and more honest] one than Hockey)
Joe Hockey’s “poor people don’t drive cars or don’t drive far anyway” disproved – by FACTS.
The truth is out there and Joe Hockey knew it all along. He lied about the figures.
Or, at the very least, he misrepresented the truth and did not use the data (the more relevant data) that was at his disposal, which is the same thing as lying – by omission.
Joe Hockey clearly deceived the public with his ludicrous claim that high income earners were the group “most hurt” by fuel excise increases.
Hurt? They’ll hardly even notice it.
In fact most high income earners don’t even care how much they pay for petrol and don’t need to.
Joe Hockey deceived the public. He is a disgrace and should resign.
Here are the real FACTS:
… as a proportion of gross income and weekly spending, fuel bills hit lower-income families harder.
Census data and research from independent experts shows that people on lower incomes have enough cars and drive far enough to feel the impact of raising the fuel tax more than those on higher incomes.
Mr Hockey’s statement is misleading.
The other key and relevant point that’s been overlooked in all this is that Joe Hockey’s “high income” earners mostly do not even pay for their own petrol.
It’s paid by their employers.
Who then go and claim it as a tax deduction – ie an effective 30% rebate. The employer also claims the 10% GST as a credit. Same goes for many self-employed and business owners.
Whereas lower – middle income earners cannot generally make any such tax claims and just wear the full price. Plus excise. Plus GST.
Joe Hockey is the most deceptive and arrogant Treasurer this country has ever seen. He even surpasses Costello on that score … and that’s quite a feat!
He has to go.
Death of Aussie athletics in a photo
(by Ray Dixon ~ no longer a proud Australian)
Genevieve LaCaze gets her “little bit of fame”
If Athletics Australia is looking for answers to our worst Commonwealth Games results since 1986, they need look no further than the antics (and comments) of one Genevieve LaCaze, the self-admitted attention-seeking GenY so-called “athlete”, who after only finishing 5th in a less-than-inspiring performance in the 3000m steeplechase felt, nonetheless, entitled to her “little bit of fame” by making world-wide headlines ‘Stage Bombing’ Kylie Minogue’s closing ceremony performance.
All for attention:
Australians stole the show at the closing ceremony for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games with the baton for 2018 handed over to the Gold Coast.
Jessica Mauboy and Kylie Minogue performed on stage with one surprise Aussie guest: steeplechase runner Genevieve LaCaze hopped on stage and danced alongside Minogue and other performers, waving a miniature Australian flag.
The athlete, who is celebrating her 25th birthday on Monday, was centre stage for nearly a minute before being gently ushered away by security.
“I just wanted a little bit of claim to fame,” LaCaze told Channel Ten after the ceremony.
“I wanted a little bit of TV time, I am turning 25, so why not.” LaCaze said that, while she still did not know if she would be disciplined for her actions, she had no regrets.
‘‘The opportunity to dance with Kylie Minogue doesn’t come around every lifetime, so I took it,” she told Brisbane radio station B105.
And making matter worse the report goes on to inform us that:
Twitter erupted in cheers for the cheeky LaCaze.
“In cheers”? Am I the only one who sees the problem here? Who sees what’s happening with our current crop of athletes caught up in the selfie culture of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other forms of various social media hero (and self) worship?
I am reminded of Paul Newman’s famous line from the classic movie Cool Hand Luke, “What we have here is a failure to communicate” …. only in reverse. What we have here is an over-communication and a failure to focus (on the job at hand). What we have here is a generation (called “Y”) brainwashed and brain-deaded by the lure of so-called fame on their little iPhone screens. Addicted to the applause and ‘you-go-girl’ accolades from their fellow ‘friends’ and followers (who are nobodies in themselves) for just being a jerk. I’m only surprised that LaCaze didn’t take a selfie while she was up there with Kylie.
These same distractions caused by addiction to social media were pinpointed as a major reason for Australian athletes underperforming at the 2012 London Olympics too. Especially our swimmers, who were constantly being “cheered on” (without achieving anything) by their adoring and misguided followers. Why didn’t we learn that big heads don’t win races?
Before you call me an old grump stuck in the past and point to the likes of Dawn Fraser’s post Olympic Games antics in Tokyo in 1964 (when Dawn climbed up a flag pole and stole a flag), well yeah, if Dawn were of this time and era she might have done the Genevieve thing too. But there’s a difference – a bloody big difference. Compare and contrast the two:
- Dawn Fraser had just completed her 3rd multi-gold medal winning Olympics. She was our greatest ever female swimmer, world record holder and a totally committed & focused athlete just letting off some well-earned steam. Genevieve LaCaze is an under-achieving good-time girl. A nobody on the rankings and (at 25) unlikely to ever win a major event.
- Dawn Fraser was promptly banned from competitive swimming (anywhere in the world) for 10 years, effectively ending her stellar career. Genevieve LaCaze is likely to get off with a slap on the wrist, if that. And she’s being “cheered” on Twitter?!!?
But yeah, it’s a real hoot, aint it Gen-Gen (Y)? You got your ‘One minute of fame’ but it’s a pity you didn’t decide to do that on the track. You see, “the opportunity to dance with Kylie Minogue doesn’t come around every lifetime (sic)” and neither does the opportunity to do something of real meaning and worth. Maybe you should have taken that instead?
(PS to Iain: I don’t use Twitter but you’re welcome to send Genevieve a tweet with a link to this post. Someone needs to tell her … and Athletics Australia …. that this ain’t good enough)
Proof positive that the Poms are popping Peptides
(by Ray Dixon ~ Internet Sports Scientist)
I demand an inquiry!
(Apologies for the Facebook style post)
Extracting teeth the truth on Gay Marriage
(by Ray Dixon – possessor of own teeth)
This is what I learnt @ the Dentist in Wodonga yesterday:
1. My teeth are still in pretty good nick for someone my age
2. But a check-up, scale and X-rays costs what ?!!!!?
3. Thank f*ck I have Medibank Private ‘Dental extras’ (it only cost me $40)
4. There are a lot of fat people in that town
5. And violent people (there was a bullet hole in the plate-glass window!)
But the biggest thing I learnt (from reading a magazine while in the waiting room) was this:
6. There doesn’t seem to be a big need for gay marriage
(Fact sheet from the 2011 ABS census)
So let’s get this straight (no pun intended).
As of the 2011 census there were a total of 4,684,700 couples in Australia, of which heterosexual couples made up 4,650,986 – i.e. 99.3%.
While the total number of same-sex couples is only 33,714 (a mere 0.7%).
So that means only about 67,000 gays & lesbians are living together.
Yet there are how many gays & lesbians in OZ?
Who knows, but if we go conservative and say that only about 5% of people are homosexual, that would mean there are over 1,100,000 of them.
Yet only 67,000 are living with a partner?
While the other 1,033,000+ – the other 94% – are doing what for sex, playing the field?
No doubt. It’s the gay lifestyle ain’t it?
Let’s face it, monogamy is not exactly high up on the agenda for most gays.
So where then is this great push for ‘Gay Marriage Now!’ coming from?
Who or what is driving this meme – or this political agenda – if only a tiny percentage of gays are cohabiting?
The ABS figures look pretty black & white to me.
But I think another ‘colour’ might be running interference here:
Iain Hall's SANDPIT 