Jo Hockey, same sex marriage and cooking

 

I've become a bit of a fan of kitchen cabinet, an ABC show hosted by Annabel Crab. It is where Australian politicians cook up a dish and share it with Annabel and chat about life and politics. It is at times insightful.

The episode with Jo Hockey was one such episode. Not because of his cooking. I couldn't believe that he didn't know how to get the heart out of a lettuce... Rather his views on same sex marriage. I have previously written about his tortured response to this on Q and A. He padded this out more on kitchen Cabinet. His position which has firmed was due to having children.

I have to admit that I have also rethought my position since children. For children mine anyway, it seems that everything must have a mummy or a daddy. If they see a sheep in the field they ask : "where's the Daddy?" or "the Mummy?". It's a repetitive question down to snails, frogs, birds etc. Simply for them it seems to be the way things should be.

If life wasn't complicated, messy, I would agree with children and Jo Hockey. The clincher for me is friends who are different. The majority never wanted to be gay or transgendered. Most have really battled, been picked on, ostracised, a real struggling minority. I'm not sure legislating against them is right, even if it isn't the preferred way of things.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Ventnor re-zoning...

Great Article just put up by 'The Age' on the Ventnor re-zone decision by the Balieu government.
It reveals more questions about Mr Mathew Guys initial decision....

On a positive side great that our liberal federal member Greg Hunt lobbied against the decision. Representing people in his electorate.

But what is more of a concern is how quite Ken Smith liberal state member and Speaker of the house has been. I haven't heard him speak at all on the topic.....

Victorian election :: Bass Greens Launch

So far the most political action down in Bass has in my opinion has come from the Greens. I've spotted a few of these posters around Cowes for the Bass Greens Launch, good to see it as a local event::

It's also good to see that the Greens are really pushing the Desalination plant as an election issue down here. A lot of locals that I talk to arn't happy with it.

So far I've spotted a few posters from the libs with Ken Smith's face, nothing (which is typical) from labour.

Related articles

• Water bills 'to double' (theage.com.au)
• Labor woos unions back (theage.com.au)

Get the Afghanistan out...

I think we should get our troops out. Enough is enough this war is primarily George Bushes' when he decided on the vengeance option after the twin towers of 9/11.
As a Christian I don't think the 'just war' theory adds up. Maybe in defence but not for offence.
Australia is just tagging along with what George Bush started.
If you look at the military deaths in Iraq they are 4744, in Afghanistan they are 2166. The casualties for the 9/11 are 2977. Something is not adding up here!
For me I'm convinced there would have been a better way. Vengeance has not worked.

Thus for me I'm disappointed that both major parties in Australia are for keeping the troops in Afghanistan. I'm also saddened that there are not so few Christian voices speaking up about pacifism as an option.
Not surprising the Greens are walking the line that Jesus would have taken...

Related articles

• Security strategy: The age of uncertainty | Editorial (guardian.co.uk)

Warming....

A report from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association has concluded that the world is warming. From the ABC::

"Each of the last three decades has been substantially warmer than the decade before it," he said.

"On a decade scale, that is very clear. The 1980s was the warmest decade on record as of December 31, 1989, but every single year in the 90s was warmer than that decade's average temperature."

Peter Thorne, of the Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites, says the scientists were not swayed by the debate over climate data and whether it had previously been manipulated.

"What this data is doing is screaming that the world is warming, and that cannot be driven by any single individual or even a small set of groups, because the evidence is there to see - there are lots of groups doing this stuff," Mr Thorne said.

The scientists say the warming is due to greenhouse gases and while there were signs of human fingerprints, the report was not designed to attribute blame.

I think all Australians have in recent years have felt the effects of extreme weather, which I believe is connected with  green house gasses. Future generations will depend on what action we take now...

So far both Liberal and Labor political parties in the 2010 election, have been a joke with their sence of urgency with the situation at hand.


Related articles by Zemanta

Met Office report: global warming evidence is 'unmistakable' (telegraph.co.uk)Global warming is 'unmistakable' (telegraph.co.uk)



Posted via Blogaway

Election 2010 :: electionleaflet

Great tip for the upcoming election from Antony Green on the ABC::

Electionleaflets.org.au

Leaflets from electorates are uploaded so you can get a bit of a glimps at what the candidates and parties are up to, as well for a historical record.

For my electorate of Flinders ::

Greg Hunt is the only person with any material

"Working hard for our coasts"
and
"Greg Hunt MP"

Good to see local issues are addressed :: Hospital at Phillip Island, aquatic center at Phillip Island, and the Car Ferry at Cowes front beach.

Now where are the Greens or Labor's local policies???

Related articles by Zemanta

• Garrett should go over LNG delays: Hunt (news.theage.com.au)

No Deal, Rudd.

Interestingly their was a deal on the table on the 23rd of June, with Mr Rudd, Ms Gillard and the others in the Labor leadership group. From the 'Crickey' blog::

Oakes’s question revolved around a claim that Kevin Rudd offered to Gillard to stand aside closer to an October election if polling indicated, and senior party figures agreed, that Rudd was an impediment to Labor’s re-election, an offer Gillard rejected after being told by factional leaders that she had the numbers to topple Rudd.

So what does it all mean?

Julia was hungry, hungry for power.
Kevien was trying to get more time. Rally the troops.

Either way, I think Rudd should have been given another go. While Julia should have taken the reins second term. This in itself would have extended Labours time in power. An agreement like that seems fair. But then again these agreements have happened both sides of politics and usually backfire in someone's direction.

Flinders Community News

Greg Hunt our Federal member for Flinders, Shadow Minister for Climate change action, environment and heritage has sent us his 'Flinders Community News'.

What interested me was what he is up to on Phillip Island and he is

"Fighting hard to...."

Secure a community learning and childern's hub for Cowes and Phillip Island
Stop Cowes beach being sacrificed for a new car ferry terminal
Reopen Warley Hospital on Phillip Island as part of a regional hospital system
Secure an Aquatic Centre for Phillip Island
Get reticulated natural gas for Bass Coast and Phillip Island
Ensure the State Government supports a 24hr Police Station at Phillip Island
Support plans for a San Remo Junior Secondary College

Now what interest me with this list is the Warley Hospita,l Aquatic Center, Secondary College, and Police Station. All State government responsibility!

The other thing is 'Fight for....' Why isn't 'opposition policy when we get in power?'

Tony Abbott

Yesterday in my brief summary of how I saw politics at the present I gave Tony Abbott this for a round up::

Tony Abbott:: Poo Poo man. Poo poo this, poo poo that. That's all I can hear. I never anything positive. Its all a government conspiracy. The reason why: We are the opposition.

 To be fair I thought it needed some greater explanation. For me as a voter, and one who does swing between parties at election I find it very hard to evaluate him on his current performance.

When all you get from an opposition is a negative response, it is very hard to know which policy the government has which has genuine merit. Whatever government in power, they put out a small or a large amount of bad policy but I don't believe all of it is bad policy.

The opposition if good, needs to be able to see government legislation which is good and then review it and make it better. Take the credit of making good legislation better. Not bag everything.

The opposition needs to be able to put forward new policy which will be there next election platform.

Tony Abbott is the opposition, he is fit, but he is very predictable in his response to everything the government puts out.
For the short term it will encourage tradition liberal/national voter's but that will be all. But he needs more than that to win.

Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cinephobia/ / CC BY-NC 2.0

Why the liberals wont win the next election....

Well have a look at this....




Seen these faces before...Talk of bringing back old policies tweeked, Old Howard ministers, close to retirement. Is this political party going backwards? It's not rocket science.