Tawdry 'Slipper Affair' sexting scandal leads to national smackdown, Down Under! Boom goes the dynamite! Feisty Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard calls Opposition Leader Tony Abbott a hypocrite and a misogynist... and then really starts to level-the-boom!; A case involving sexting and sexual harassment, plus vile personal attacks from a popular radio host, lead PM to verbally hang Abbott by his own words and deeds

This morning's print edition of The Australian has the smackdown and all the associated facts and histrionics front-and-center.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/

NewsOnABC video: Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has used a call by Tony Abbott for the Government to remove Peter Slipper as Speaker to attack the Opposition Leader for hypocrisy, labelling him a misogynist. Uploaded October 9, 2012. http://youtu.be/ihd7ofrwQX0

Tawdry 'Slipper Affair' sexting scandal leads to national smackdown, Down Under! Boom goes the dynamite! Feisty Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard calls Opposition Leader Tony Abbott a hypocrite and a misogynist... and then really starts to level-the-boom!; A case involving sexting and sexual harassment, plus vile personal attacks from a popular radio host, lead PM to verbally hang Abbott by his own words and deeds

"The Leader of the Opposition says that people who hold sexist views and who are misogynists are not appropriate for high office. Well I hope the Leader of the Opposition has got a piece of paper and he is writing out his resignation. Because if he wants to know what misogyny looks like in modern Australia, he doesn't need a motion in the House of Representatives, he needs a mirror. That's what he needs."

This may be THE single most amazing political video I've seen all year..

The transcript: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/transcript-of-julia-gillards-speech-20121010-27c36.html

Some background that led to the remarks...

SkyNewsAustralia video: Greg Combet, the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency speaks on the comments uttered by pro-Tony Abbott radio host Alan Jones of Sydney 2GB that Prime Minister Julia Gillard's father "died of shame" because "he had a daughter who told lies every time she stood for Parliament" -despite her being Australia's first female PM. Uploaded October 1, 2012. http://youtu.be/MG5cc63vgss

The predicate and the coup de grâce of the Speaker is here: Peter Slipper resigns as Speaker after scandals trigger a tumultuous day in Parliament

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/peter-slipper-resigns-after-dramatic-day-in-parliament/story-fncynkc6-1226492425543

Sydney Morning Herald

Julia 'badass' Gillard: Slipper resignation just a sidebar

By Stephanie Gardiner

October 10, 2012 - 11:27AM

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/julia-badass-gillard-slipper-resignation-just-a-sidebar-20121010-27c0g.html

I remind those of you who are new to the blog that my family and I were "this-close" to moving from Miami to Sydney back around 1973 or so, just as I was about to enter JFK, John F. Kennedy Junior High School in North Miami Beach. Or, as it was known to many of the area's stoners who routinely ditched class to hang-out all day at the 163rd Street Shopping Center, "Jail For Kids." 

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ABC News (Australia) YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/NewsOnABC/

SkyNews Australia YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/SkyNewsAustralia

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard to visit White House, speak to Congress, go to U.N., and lobby to gain Australia a seat on Security Council

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard visits The White House, Capitol Hill and the U.N. this week
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrBRbXawQ8M

On Wednesday Julia Gillard is scheduled to be the fourth Australian Prime minister to address a Joint Session of Congress -replicating Menzies, Hawk and Howard- as she arrives in Washington, D.C. to meet with President Obama at The White House.

Later in the week she flies to New York for a Thursday meeting with Rupert Murdoch and other senior News Corps Ltd. executives, she'll be at the United Nations meeting the U.N. Secretary and also look to lobby member countries to gain Australia a seat on the Security Council this October.

Western Australia residents protest plans for 1,500 male asylum seekers in camp 100 km. NE of Perth, made WITHOUT community input; Minister a no-show!

Video of Thursday night's contentious meeting in Northam from Australia's Channel Ten
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDjL8kWzOIs

NOTIFICATION OF PUBLIC MEETING - IMMIGRATION DETENTION & PROCESSING CENTRE

The Department of Immigration & Citizenship and the Shire of Northam, hereby give notice that a Public Meeting is to be held on Thursday 4 November 2010, Commencing at 7:00pm in the Town Hall, Northam, regarding an Immigration Detention & Processing Centre to be located in Northam. Representatives of the Department of Immigration & Citizenship will be in attendance to provide information on the proposal. Members of the public are invited to attend.

Or so said the Julia Gillard-led government press release.
But that isn't quite how it turned out, is it?
No, instead, you hold a meeting somewhere where hundreds of people have to stand outside at night.

Now that you mention it, the whole idea of top-down government planning and keeping the public in the dark sounds awfully familiar to this blogger.

When you add high-ranking govt. officials NOT showing-up, in this case, the Immigration Minister, Chris Bowen, NOT showing-up in Northam to either talk or to listen to angry citizens who are having this plan shoved down their throat, well, yes, it really does bear a great resemblance to some recent public events I've attended here in Broward County.

But without bully-boy Peter Deutsch's patronizing bluster -or the wail of the dingoes at night as you walk out to the car park- and, of course, without the embarrassing spectacle of Ann Murray or Jennifer Gottlieb refusing to even answer constituents' emails about attending the HB required Ben Gamla Charter School meeting.
(Code Name: AWOL Ann Murray & JenJen.)

And when you toss into the mix some facts not mentioned in the Channel Ten video above, namely, that the meeting facilitator, former WA Labor MP Gavan Troy, ordered the news media there recording and reporting on the meeting, to leave the Town Hall, but they refused to go, while still later, one area MP who did show-up actually left mid-way so that he wouldn't have to answer questions, well, you can see why people there were pretty riled-up.

From the outside, it almost looks like the meeting seemed designed to be a set-up to make the concerned citizens look bad or extremist, but instead, its enormous public failure only made Gillard's government look both incompetent and tone-deaf.

A very bad combination for a government that is held together by little more than Wrigley's chewing gum and the desire to stay in power.

Sydney Morning Herald
Northam, WA, seeks safety guarantee
Josh Jerga
November 5, 2010 - 7:09AM
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/northam-wa-seeks-safety-guarantee-20101105-17g4o.html

Listen to an audio discussion of the detention facility issue here via ABC Radio
WA residents up in arms over detention centre

David Weber reported this story on Friday, November 5, 2010 08:06:00

http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2010/s3057316.htm

http://www.visitnorthamwa.com.au/
http://www.youtube.com/user/ten
http://ten.com.au/

Special thanks for the head's up on this interesting public policy story from the Hallandale Beach Blog Special Correspondent in Australia, who alerted me to it early Thursday.
Her identity shall remain secret for now, but for this post, we shall simply call her ATA -All Things Australian.

Rolf Harris - Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_D-LmRNdQiQ

Australia 2010 Federal Election: Cliffhanger Down Under! Hung parliament? Both parties have promised no new net spending in the campaign

Because of the time difference between Sydney and Miami, plus 14 hours, one more hour than D.C. to Tokyo, http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/ this nail-biter of an election is even harder to follow than most because you also have to make mental calculations for each report you see and figure out how many hours ago it was actually reported in Miami time.
(Insert your own joke here!)

In case you didn't know, voting there is compulsory for every citizen over 18.

I am very hopeful to be talking to the Hallandale Beach Blog Australia 'expert' in a few days and will of course report her pithy and insightful comments here as soon as possible.

ten News: It's A Cliffhanger
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNyebP_UCwo



Latest ten News video is at: http://www.youtube.com/user/ten

http://www.smh.com.au/

SMH Live Election blog: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-election/the-pulse

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Christian Science Monitor
Australian election is set to be closest in decades
Australian election analysts are forecasting the closest contest in decades, and say 'grumpy' voters may produce Australia’s first hung parliament since 1940.
By Kathy Marks, Correspondent
August 20, 2010

Sydney
Six months ago, the Australian Labor Party was basking in popularity and Kevin Rudd’s government seemed headed for an easy election win. Now his successor, Julia Gillard, will count herself lucky to scrape back into power with a tiny majority in Saturday’s federal election.

Most recent opinion polls have Labor and the opposition coalition – the conservative Liberal Party and its rural-based ally, the National Party – neck and neck.

Political analysts are forecasting the closest contest in decades, and say there is a real prospect of Australia’s first hung parliament since 1940.

Read the rest of the article at: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2010/0820/Australian-election-is-set-to-be-closest-in-decades

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Sydney Morning News
Behind the election stoush, the big issues they quietly agreed on
By Peter Hartcher, SMN Political Editor
August 21, 2010

Elections define nations. This one has already redefined Australia even before the first vote is counted. Indeed, the most important changes could well be the ones that aren't actually on the ballot paper but have already been agreed through political osmosis.

The main political parties entered the campaign with four big, freshly agreed points of concurrence, areas of bipartisan consensus for changes that will shape Australia's destiny for years.

For the first time since 1947, Australia has abandoned its bipartisan consensus in favour of a “big Australia.”

Read the rest of the column at: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/behind-the-election-stoush-the-big-issues-they-quietly-agreed-on-20100820-138v9.html


Reuters, August 21, 2010
Australia faces hung parliament



Christian Science Monitor homepage: http://www.csmonitor.com/

Julia Baird's excellent "Being Julia: Australia’s new prime minister breaks the glass ceiling"; while Alex Sink's campaign in FL flounders painfully

Well, despite the often very accurate knock about Twitter that it is the greatest tool for people to share their nonsense about their hum-drum life since Alexander Graham Bell did his thing with the telephone -see Our True, Tweeting Selves,Why historians salivate over Twitter

at http://www.newsweek.com/2010/04/21/our-true-tweeting-selves.html sometimes Twitter is actually very useful, as when I checked in on one of my go-to people this afternoon, Newsweek's Deputy Editor Julia Baird, courtesy of her Twitter account at http://twitter.com/bairdnewsweek .

There I saw that she'd just posted this: "My column for Newsweek on Australia's first female Prime Minister, the straight-shooting Julia Gillard."

It's excellent.
Baird shoots and she scores!

Newsweek
Being Julia
Australia’s new prime minister breaks the glass ceiling

By Julia Baird

What a gloriously surprising day it was when Julia Gillard became Australia’s first female prime minister.

The trumpets sounded, journalists roared, and Australian women updated their Facebook status to, simply, “Julia.” The circumstances were not ideal—she ousted a once popular prime minister, and she had not won a general election—but the significance of the moment was enormous. Finally, after centuries of bowing to queens while women were locked out of the highest echelons of political office, Australians watched a straight-shooting, unaffected woman seize the real reins of power.

Gillard, 48, the daughter of a coal miner and a former industrial-relations lawyer, has a pragmatic approach to politics and a record of fighting for better conditions for workers, and for greater numbers of women in Parliament. She is well respected and hails from the left of her party.

See the rest of the article at: http://www.newsweek.com/2010/06/24/being-julia.html

See her story on Gillard for the Sydney Morning Herald, her former newspaper for nine years, Lessons from sisters who fell on the way

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/lessons-from-sisters-who-fell-on-the-way-20100624-z3qr.html

Check out this SMH video: -I accept the anger: Gillard
Friday, June 25, 2010 4:33 AM
Julia Gillard tells Paul Bongiorno that she fully accepts the anger of the Australian people at the removal of Kevin Rudd.

Julia Gillard's first press conference as Australian Prime Minister.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdXlUdSBOYk

For more from Julia Baird, see http://www.newsweek.com/authors/julia-baird.html

FYI: Not enough time to get into it here now, but back when I was at JFK Junior High in North Miami Beach, circa 1973-'75, my family was all set to move to Sydney. Typically, besides reading all the materials from the Australian Embassy from cover-to-cover, I made it my job to learn everything I could about Australian Rules Football, since I didn't want to show up at school and be odd man out. http://www.afl.com.au/

Not so easy in those pre-Internet days at the Lafe Allen Library in NMB. Actually, try impossible!