But soooo not as annoying as K Rudd - as someone else said on here - he tried to talk like a mate to people and ended up sounding like a real twit. He was never really on my fav. PM list....hope Julia Gillard does a better job. (Although I too am not complaining about the cash handouts he gave!)
'Fair suck of the sav' was hilarious (or whatever it was he tried to say)
OMG! It really was!!! Classic! I know he tried hard, but seriously.....he just sounded stupid when he spoke, even though everyone knew he wasn't.
It took 5 years but finally a beaten Queenslander!!!
and it took a woman. BOOYAH!!!! :P
News just in, Cate is lining up at fullback for NSW in a couple of weeks
Sydney 11/02/2003
Sydney 14/02/2003
Sydney 07/11/2006
Sydney 18/11/2006
Sydney 22/11/2009
EV Sydney 18/03/2011
EV Sydney 19/03/2011
EV Sydney 20/03/2011
Melbourne 24/01/2014
Sydney 26/01/2014
EV Sydney 13/02/2014
Don't buy your tickets, he's become a total sell out. Almost like as if Pearl Jam started covering Creed songs.
I used to like you Paul,..... disregard this, actually id like to ask you and ANY Australians a shit load of questions if your game? but it's thursday and i just don't have time tonight, but i'd like to express what i know and present my sources and then listen to your responses this weekend.
Don't buy your tickets, he's become a total sell out. Almost like as if Pearl Jam started covering Creed songs.
I used to like you Paul,..... disregard this, actually id like to ask you and ANY Australians a shit load of questions if your game? but it's thursday and i just don't have time tonight, but i'd like to express what i know and present my sources and then listen to your responses this weekend.
No-one is more disappointed about Peter Garrett's political performance than me. It seems the party machine has tamed him (or constrained him). Back in the day he was one of those I admired and looked up to, he could do no wrong, he was passionate about issues, he was cheeky (Performing in front of the exxon building) he was honest and he fought hard for what he believed in. And he was part of one of the most legendary bands to ever come out of Australia. I've spent many a night chanting 'Oils, Oils, Oils' in pubs, clubs and concert halls. But it appears the reality of what you need to do to get into politics and what you then need to do to stay there has dawned on him.
The truth may be that he is trying to change the system from within and holding his fire until he is able to use it effectively, but for those of us on the outside, it looks suspiciously like he is being controlled by the party machine and diplomacy and expedience has replaced honesty and passion. I truly hope I am wrong and that one day he is leader of the ALP and is able to make politics a better, more honest, more caring ideal, but right now he looks like just another guy in a suit saying whatever he has to say to hold onto power. Just ask Rob Hirst what he thinks of Peter Garrett the politician.
Don't buy your tickets, he's become a total sell out. Almost like as if Pearl Jam started covering Creed songs.
I used to like you Paul,..... disregard this, actually id like to ask you and ANY Australians a shit load of questions if your game? but it's thursday and i just don't have time tonight, but i'd like to express what i know and present my sources and then listen to your responses this weekend.
That sounds like a lot of fun! You should start a new thread "Questions I'd like to ask the Aussies!"
To PaulAndrews, Sagittarius Crux and fellow Aussie's, first thank you for the links and taking time to answer my questions. Here's my take on Peter Garrett from everything i've read online and scene on YouTube. His first mistake was to join the Labor Party which is like the republican party of Australia ? instead of the Green Party, or what is the Democratic party here in the U.S.A.. Which pissed the Green Party off (and i get that he would have been perfect for the Green party, so i don't really get his thinking there.). So he's trying to make changes within, which sounds like a good idea but harder said then done. From Wikipedia :He says he will argue for environmental causes inside the Labor Party, but will observe the decisions of the ALP caucus, including accepting any decision to change Labor's "no new uranium mines" policy. So a new and from what i read Huge new uranium mine is built by his party, but with more safety regulations than ever before, but Pete gets labeled a turncoat for going along with it and not quitting the party, which seems like what people expected him to do? Wiki again: On 26 February 2010 the Prime Minister reduced his appointment to the Minister for Environment Protection, Heritage and the Arts. This demotion was in response to Garrett's administration of the Home Insulation Program (HIP) which was linked to four deaths, over 100 house fires and allegations of rorts. It was revealed in May 2010 that Mr Garrett had written to the Prime Minister, Mr Rudd, on four separate occasions (August, 2009, October, 2009, etc.) raising concerns about safety.
But i then also found this online :
Which make seem like Peter took exstiting safety regulations, improved them and may have actually saved some lives in the long run. I watched this interveiw on youtube:
My wife's a Interior Designer and works for an architectural firm, so we had a long conversation on how these things work, licensing workers and contractors (some whom she loves and some she thinks may actually be the spawn of Satan).
I know there's a lot of other things , but these seem to be the two biggest black eyes he received.
Rockers Peter Garrett, Rob Hirst, split over WA gas plant
Bureaucrats are conducting a strategic assessment of the plan, and federal environment laws also give Mr Garrett veto rights over developments that affect heritage sites and threatened species.
Since being demoted does he still have the power to veto?
I can't believe he's a sellout, he was already rich and famous, so sell out for what ? respect of his fellow politicians? it doesn't add up.I'm hoping it's the system thats flawed, not the man. With the insulation program, it sounds like the Green party was waiting for a reason to hang him and he was a thorn in the side of the labor party, so they were happy to throw him ito the wolves. Maybe he will have more success under the new P.M., hopefully.
One last question, what does wallaby stew smell like? and do you really eat small kangaroos?
Anyway, thanks for listening and give me your input, Keith, just another ignorant American.
That sounds like a lot of fun! You should start a new thread "Questions I'd like to ask the Aussies!" [/quote]
I might do that someday , here's a couple off the top of my head "Do you watch H20, just add water"?
"Is the gold coast full of girls that looks like Phoebe Tonkin and Cariba Heine? because, they don't know this, but I Love them. if yes, i'll start packing this weekend."
To PaulAndrews, Sagittarius Crux and fellow Aussie's, first thank you for the links and taking time to answer my questions. Here's my take on Peter Garrett from everything i've read online and scene on YouTube. His first mistake was to join the Labor Party which is like the republican party of Australia ? instead of the Green Party, or what is the Democratic party here in the U.S.A.. Which pissed the Green Party off (and i get that he would have been perfect for the Green party, so i don't really get his thinking there.). So he's trying to make changes within, which sounds like a good idea but harder said then done. From Wikipedia :He says he will argue for environmental causes inside the Labor Party, but will observe the decisions of the ALP caucus, including accepting any decision to change Labor's "no new uranium mines" policy. So a new and from what i read Huge new uranium mine is built by his party, but with more safety regulations than ever before, but Pete gets labeled a turncoat for going along with it and not quitting the party, which seems like what people expected him to do? Wiki again: On 26 February 2010 the Prime Minister reduced his appointment to the Minister for Environment Protection, Heritage and the Arts. This demotion was in response to Garrett's administration of the Home Insulation Program (HIP) which was linked to four deaths, over 100 house fires and allegations of rorts. It was revealed in May 2010 that Mr Garrett had written to the Prime Minister, Mr Rudd, on four separate occasions (August, 2009, October, 2009, etc.) raising concerns about safety.
But i then also found this online :
Which make seem like Peter took exstiting safety regulations, improved them and may have actually saved some lives in the long run. I watched this interveiw on youtube:
My wife's a Interior Designer and works for an architectural firm, so we had a long conversation on how these things work, licensing workers and contractors (some whom she loves and some she thinks may actually be the spawn of Satan).
I know there's a lot of other things , but these seem to be the two biggest black eyes he received.
Rockers Peter Garrett, Rob Hirst, split over WA gas plant
Bureaucrats are conducting a strategic assessment of the plan, and federal environment laws also give Mr Garrett veto rights over developments that affect heritage sites and threatened species.
Since being demoted does he still have the power to veto?
I can't believe he's a sellout, he was already rich and famous, so sell out for what ? respect of his fellow politicians? it doesn't add up.I'm hoping it's the system thats flawed, not the man. With the insulation program, it sounds like the Green party was waiting for a reason to hang him and he was a thorn in the side of the labor party, so they were happy to throw him ito the wolves. Maybe he will have more success under the new P.M., hopefully.
One last question, what does wallaby stew smell like? and do you really eat small kangaroos?
Anyway, thanks for listening and give me your input, Keith, just another ignorant American.
Labor Party = liberal
Liberal Party = conservative or your republicans.
these days theyre pretty much the same imo. but bear in mind that despite having socialised health and welfare systems australia is a more conservative country than many are prepared to admit to.
peter garretts first mistake was selling his soul and allowing himself to be used by the machine he spent so much time and energy rallying against. he has compromised the ideals we so respected him for by crossing to the dark side. how can he accept any change in Labors "no new uranium mine" policy??
hear my name
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
Sorry for steering away from the seriousness of this topic, but as some of you may know I work with kids, and this was a conversation I heard between two about 8 or 9 yrs old the other day.
Kid A: Rudd was better than Howard
Kid B: NO
Kid A: Yes he was
Kid B: No he wasn't
Kid A: John Howard, like, didn't like kids.
Kid B: That's not true
Kid A: Yes it is. He used to, um...... um..... he used to.... um.... like punch kids
Now as for the gold coast, it's full of Japanese business men playing golf and metre maids
Sydney 11/02/2003
Sydney 14/02/2003
Sydney 07/11/2006
Sydney 18/11/2006
Sydney 22/11/2009
EV Sydney 18/03/2011
EV Sydney 19/03/2011
EV Sydney 20/03/2011
Melbourne 24/01/2014
Sydney 26/01/2014
EV Sydney 13/02/2014
Garrett said when he joined the ALP that he was doing it because the Greens were never going to be in power in the house of reps so he is trying to influence and create change from behind closed doors. So far we have not seen him do much but we do not know what is said within caucus and at cabinent meetings.
The Labor party is the left and the Liberals the right. Whilst they do seem more aligned these days there are huge differences in their outlook on things like public funding and treatment of the average worker. The rudd govt had some great intentions that were blocked by an aggresive senate. The Greens (in particular Bob Brown) by not negotiating on the ETS essentially started a chain that eventually caused Rudd's demise. The Greens do not have to worry about winning power so can promise the world to the electorate whilst the ALP or Labor has to implement government..... just my rant
YAY for having a female PM..... she may not be articulate but holy shit she is a very smart lady!!!!!
“The human race has only one really effective weapon and that is laughter.” Mark Twain
First i wana say, i'm sorry from Detracting from you guys and gals getting a New P.M., i hope she kicks ass!!!
I had a horrifying thought on the way home tonight, an anology that i think we can better relate to. Would you say what happened with Pete overall, is the Equivalent of PJ running it's course, and then Eddie goes into Politics , but joins the Republican party? And seemingly sits on his hands and does little while the world goes to Hell. While his policies and public voice do almost nothing and perhaps even aid the degrading of everything that's good? Because from an outsider thats what i'm getting from Aussie's about him. Is this too harsh a veiw or spot on or not Harsh enough?
in a foot note, i'd like to add, that before Obama, i've never voted, im 35 years old, i wasn't even registered, never really believed in anybody in U.S.A politic's before him, but after Bush W, felt the need to do something. I truly believed Obama got into this because he felt a NEED to make our country better, atleast to get it back to some kind of respectablility with the world, until the "Experts got a hold of him" and now it's seems to all be going to Hell again., I wonder if Pete didn't fall into the Same trap.
Peter Garrett joined the ALP which is like the Democrats and are currently in power. The Australian Liberals are like the GOP and spawned John Howard who was so far up George Bush's arse, you could only see his toes sticking out. In the end he was so unpopular he lost his own safe seat in the election - the first serving prime minister to do so. His inhumane treatment of refugees, scapegoating of those less well off and policies that favoured the rich, as well as his scepticism of climate change and wholehearted believe in the iraq war was his undoing.
Peter should have joined the Greens as a senator - that's where he could have had the greatest influence, not joining the party machine. Even though I've been an ALP voter for most of my life, and when I didn't vote for them, I voted Greens, I do belive he sold out when he joined the ALP. He has had his successes, but to see him arguing idea that you know goes against his core beliefs because he is towing the party line is sad... like I said earlier, it'd be like PJ covering a Creed or Culture Club song.
Our new prime minister was our previous education minister and I would call her performance in that portfolio a disaster for education in this country. She followed failed policies from US and UK (both underperforming systems) and undermined the professionalism of the Australian Education workforce which is one of the best in the world. She chose policies that looked great to non-thinking voters and chose to bash teachers rather than show some insight and examine policies from countries that were doing better than us. This pig headedness needs to stop if she is to become a great PM.
...
Our new prime minister was our previous education minister and I would call her performance in that portfolio a disaster for education in this country. She followed failed policies from US and UK (both underperforming systems) and undermined the professionalism of the Australian Education workforce which is one of the best in the world. She chose policies that looked great to non-thinking voters and chose to bash teachers rather than show some insight and examine policies from countries that were doing better than us. This pig headedness needs to stop if she is to become a great PM.
OMG!! i think i love you.
hear my name
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
...
Our new prime minister was our previous education minister and I would call her performance in that portfolio a disaster for education in this country. She followed failed policies from US and UK (both underperforming systems) and undermined the professionalism of the Australian Education workforce which is one of the best in the world. She chose policies that looked great to non-thinking voters and chose to bash teachers rather than show some insight and examine policies from countries that were doing better than us. This pig headedness needs to stop if she is to become a great PM.
OMG!! i think i love you.
I used to be a teacher and finally had enough of putting other peoples' children before my own only to get wage increases under CPI and to be called greedy and lazy by parents who could afford the latest of everything while I was driving a beat up VW to work and working an extra job on weekends to make ends meet and spending many late nights marking and 'holidays' programming and preparing. Being a political football used by cheap politicians who wanted to appeal to the lowest common denominator and play on their biases rather than educate them and stand behind their work forst was more than enough. When teaching became crowd control where you rarely taught but just tried to keep order in a system that didn't care nor respond to the true challenges and then held me accountable for the output of these 'students' when their parents rarely cared enough to make them 'study' was a joke.
The two greatest days in a teachers' life:
Day 1: The day you get your first teaching appointment
Day 2: The day you resign.
...
Our new prime minister was our previous education minister and I would call her performance in that portfolio a disaster for education in this country. She followed failed policies from US and UK (both underperforming systems) and undermined the professionalism of the Australian Education workforce which is one of the best in the world. She chose policies that looked great to non-thinking voters and chose to bash teachers rather than show some insight and examine policies from countries that were doing better than us. This pig headedness needs to stop if she is to become a great PM.
OMG!! i think i love you.
I used to be a teacher and finally had enough of putting other peoples' children before my own only to get wage increases under CPI and to be called greedy and lazy by parents who could afford the latest of everything while I was driving a beat up VW to work and working an extra job on weekends to make ends meet and spending many late nights marking and 'holidays' programming and preparing. Being a political football used be politicians who wanted to appeal to the lowest common denominator and play on their biases rather than educate then and stand behind their workest was more than enough.
generallt speaking parents are dicks. i dont think they realise just how difficult it is to educate and put up with their little darlings. and they should considering the relief they feel when school holidays end.
atm im considering going back to school to to finish my masters in teaching.. youre not instilling me with a whole lot of confidence .
hear my name
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
What is the point of voting when you don't get who you voted for?
Gillard is a big liar (aren't they all) saying she did not want to be and won't be PM, yeah right.
Rudd got Macbeth'd in the end, sucker.
Adelaide 17/11/2009, Melbourne 20/11/2009, Sydney 22/11/2009, Melbourne (Big Day Out Festival) 24/01/2014
What is the point of voting when you don't get who you voted for?
Gillard is a big liar (aren't they all) saying she did not want to be and won't be PM, yeah right.
Rudd got Macbeth'd in the end, sucker.
Remember, we don't vote for a Prime Minister, we vote for a local member of parliament and the numbers the party that member belongs to forms government. That party has the right to change leaders at any time so the argument that you voted for one prime minister or another is a mute point. The fact they run presidential type campaigns is quite disingenious.
But this does highlight a weakness of our system. How many of us vote for a local member? Very few. If we started holding our local members accountable for what they did in parliament rather than just for the party they belong to, we'd achieve a far more representative style of government.
The only time I ever voted for the Liberal party (libs = GOP) was when the member who represented the area I lived in at the time was quite comfortable crossing the floor along with the wishes of his constituants. and it was not just the vocal minority of nutters he listened to. He held community forums in different places and got to know his voters. The fact he lost his endosement because his party got sick of him only increased his local vote. But then he endorced Pauling Hanson on one of her zenophobic rants and that was the end of him, his support from the community evaporated overnight - the racist within was exposed.
I used to be a teacher and finally had enough of putting other peoples' children before my own only to get wage increases under CPI and to be called greedy and lazy by parents who could afford the latest of everything while I was driving a beat up VW to work and working an extra job on weekends to make ends meet and spending many late nights marking and 'holidays' programming and preparing. Being a political football used be politicians who wanted to appeal to the lowest common denominator and play on their biases rather than educate then and stand behind their workest was more than enough.
generallt speaking parents are dicks. i dont think they realise just how difficult it is to educate and put up with their little darlings. and they should considering the relief they feel when school holidays end.
atm im considering going back to school to to finish my masters in teaching.. youre not instilling me with a whole lot of confidence .
Geeze Cate, what can I say, I would only return to the classroom if my life and family's future depended upon it. if my present web development business when bottoms up I'd try every other option before I'd go back into the classroom.
But it is not the kids - generally they are still good, even when they are rough or hard to teach, they respect honesty and someone who actually cares. It is the system, a system that rewards suck-ups and cv junkies over performers. A system that sees those who couldn't cope in the classroom promoted into positions of power, only to force everyone to enact their crazy ideas, that were actually the reason they couldn't cope in the classroom (ie the ideas were crap and didn't work). A system that ignores teachers' needs and seems to serve those in 'district office' or 'central office' where more crazy ideas originate and where reality is a dirty word.
I was passed over for promotion to a school administration/student services job, a job i'd been doing in an acting capacity for almost a year with the full support of the school staff, parents and students (including the tough kids I mainly worked with) for someone who knew how to suck up to the right people and had a knack with putting jargon and acronyms on his CV and about 10 years less experience and wanted the job for the extra money it attracted. The reason I was given, he looked better on paper than me even though I had the results on the board and I needed to know how to 'play the game' better - meaning not giving yuor superiors bad news - rather finding ways to blame people below me for it or hiding it. I was not alone, it seems this is how it works in education these days.
Rather than politicians like Gillard attacking this cancer in the system, which disenfranchises great teachers and promotes incompetence, nepotism and rewards sycophants and bullshit artists and ultimately results in poorer educational outcomes, she chose to embrace standardised testing and naming and shaming of schools (and ultimately teachers) and continued the equities of school funding.
The exodus from government education to private schools is massive in this country. It won't be long before only those from priveliged backgrounds achieve a good education.
...
Our new prime minister was our previous education minister and I would call her performance in that portfolio a disaster for education in this country. She followed failed policies from US and UK (both underperforming systems) and undermined the professionalism of the Australian Education workforce which is one of the best in the world. She chose policies that looked great to non-thinking voters and chose to bash teachers rather than show some insight and examine policies from countries that were doing better than us. This pig headedness needs to stop if she is to become a great PM.
OMG!! i think i love you.
I used to be a teacher and finally had enough of putting other peoples' children before my own only to get wage increases under CPI and to be called greedy and lazy by parents who could afford the latest of everything while I was driving a beat up VW to work and working an extra job on weekends to make ends meet and spending many late nights marking and 'holidays' programming and preparing. Being a political football used by cheap politicians who wanted to appeal to the lowest common denominator and play on their biases rather than educate them and stand behind their work forst was more than enough. When teaching became crowd control where you rarely taught but just tried to keep order in a system that didn't care nor respond to the true challenges and then held me accountable for the output of these 'students' when their parents rarely cared enough to make them 'study' was a joke.
The two greatest days in a teachers' life:
Day 1: The day you get your first teaching appointment
Day 2: The day you resign.
Um, Paul, I'm half way through my teaching degree, you have painted a pretty bleak picture for me :(
Sydney 11/02/2003
Sydney 14/02/2003
Sydney 07/11/2006
Sydney 18/11/2006
Sydney 22/11/2009
EV Sydney 18/03/2011
EV Sydney 19/03/2011
EV Sydney 20/03/2011
Melbourne 24/01/2014
Sydney 26/01/2014
EV Sydney 13/02/2014
Well you still get summer's off right? that gotta count for something.
Aussie teachers usually get 6 weeks over summer. Given the xmas, boxing day, new year and australia day holidays are in here, that effectively drops it back a week as these are public holidays that fall inside this break. You are expected to teach from the first day back so you often spend a few weeks planning/working. Some lose their jobs at the end of the year so holidays are unpaid.
I, along with many other ex teachers have decided that the 'holidays' are just not worth it as a 'perk' and are working elsewhere.
What is the point of voting when you don't get who you voted for?
Gillard is a big liar (aren't they all) saying she did not want to be and won't be PM, yeah right.
Rudd got Macbeth'd in the end, sucker.
preferential voting is such bullshit.. if i wanted to vote Labor, i would. but i dont wanna yet my vote still goes to them.
hear my name
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
generallt speaking parents are dicks. i dont think they realise just how difficult it is to educate and put up with their little darlings. and they should considering the relief they feel when school holidays end.
atm im considering going back to school to to finish my masters in teaching.. youre not instilling me with a whole lot of confidence .
Geeze Cate, what can I say, I would only return to the classroom if my life and family's future depended upon it. if my present web development business when bottoms up I'd try every other option before I'd go back into the classroom.
But it is not the kids - generally they are still good, even when they are rough or hard to teach, they respect honesty and someone who actually cares. It is the system, a system that rewards suck-ups and cv junkies over performers. A system that sees those who couldn't cope in the classroom promoted into positions of power, only to force everyone to enact their crazy ideas, that were actually the reason they couldn't cope in the classroom (ie the ideas were crap and didn't work). A system that ignores teachers' needs and seems to serve those in 'district office' or 'central office' where more crazy ideas originate and where reality is a dirty word.
I was passed over for promotion to a school administration/student services job, a job i'd been doing in an acting capacity for almost a year with the full support of the school staff, parents and students (including the tough kids I mainly worked with) for someone who knew how to suck up to the right people and had a knack with putting jargon and acronyms on his CV and about 10 years less experience and wanted the job for the extra money it attracted. The reason I was given, he looked better on paper than me even though I had the results on the board and I needed to know how to 'play the game' better - meaning not giving yuor superiors bad news - rather finding ways to blame people below me for it or hiding it. I was not alone, it seems this is how it works in education these days.
Rather than politicians like Gillard attacking this cancer in the system, which disenfranchises great teachers hand promotes incompetence, nepotism and rewards sycophants and bullshit artists and ultimately results in poorer educational outcomes, she chose to embrace standardised testing and naming and shaming of schools (and ultimately teachers) and continued the equities of school funding.
The exodus from government education to private schools is massive in this country. It won't be long before only those from priveliged backgrounds achieve a good education.
That's why my expectations for Gillard are low.
no matter who you vote for(or dont vote for ) .. a politicain still gets in.
i am so livid at the level of funding private schools get at the expense of GOVERNMENT schools. i just cant support the funding of private schools to any degree. yes yes i know the parents are tax payers but.. they choose to send their darlings to private schools. not every tax payer has that choice. im pissed off that the government wasted so much money building un needed structures when what the schools need is resources. but then again i feel the education suystem needs a complete overhaul. it seems the answer to any problem these days is to throw money at it. it doesnt matter that what is needed is a serious look at WHY the system is not working.
hear my name
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
Comments
We could trade Apartments
Oh that's a women :shock: ...sorry thought thas was a wee irish lad. :oops:
:roll:
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
Don't buy your tickets, he's become a total sell out. Almost like as if Pearl Jam started covering Creed songs.
Oh come on guys, fair suck of the slips cordon
News just in, Cate is lining up at fullback for NSW in a couple of weeks
Sydney 14/02/2003
Sydney 07/11/2006
Sydney 18/11/2006
Sydney 22/11/2009
EV Sydney 18/03/2011
EV Sydney 19/03/2011
EV Sydney 20/03/2011
Melbourne 24/01/2014
Sydney 26/01/2014
EV Sydney 13/02/2014
I used to like you Paul,..... disregard this, actually id like to ask you and ANY Australians a shit load of questions if your game? but it's thursday and i just don't have time tonight, but i'd like to express what i know and present my sources and then listen to your responses this weekend.
No-one is more disappointed about Peter Garrett's political performance than me. It seems the party machine has tamed him (or constrained him). Back in the day he was one of those I admired and looked up to, he could do no wrong, he was passionate about issues, he was cheeky (Performing in front of the exxon building) he was honest and he fought hard for what he believed in. And he was part of one of the most legendary bands to ever come out of Australia. I've spent many a night chanting 'Oils, Oils, Oils' in pubs, clubs and concert halls. But it appears the reality of what you need to do to get into politics and what you then need to do to stay there has dawned on him.
The truth may be that he is trying to change the system from within and holding his fire until he is able to use it effectively, but for those of us on the outside, it looks suspiciously like he is being controlled by the party machine and diplomacy and expedience has replaced honesty and passion. I truly hope I am wrong and that one day he is leader of the ALP and is able to make politics a better, more honest, more caring ideal, but right now he looks like just another guy in a suit saying whatever he has to say to hold onto power. Just ask Rob Hirst what he thinks of Peter Garrett the politician.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/s ... 5694588081
http://www.theenthusiast.com.au/archive ... onscience/
I rarely trust wikipedia, but this is pretty spot on:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Garrett
Any questions you wish to ask, fire away, I'm happy to answer them.
That sounds like a lot of fun! You should start a new thread "Questions I'd like to ask the Aussies!"
well i would but im contracted to the new western sydney AFL franchise and people will get all pissy if i pull on the blue guernsey.
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
But i then also found this online :
http://catallaxyfiles.com/2010/02/24/di ... ouse-down/
Which make seem like Peter took exstiting safety regulations, improved them and may have actually saved some lives in the long run. I watched this interveiw on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxwv8w5coWU
My wife's a Interior Designer and works for an architectural firm, so we had a long conversation on how these things work, licensing workers and contractors (some whom she loves and some she thinks may actually be the spawn of Satan).
I know there's a lot of other things , but these seem to be the two biggest black eyes he received.
Rockers Peter Garrett, Rob Hirst, split over WA gas plant
Bureaucrats are conducting a strategic assessment of the plan, and federal environment laws also give Mr Garrett veto rights over developments that affect heritage sites and threatened species.
Since being demoted does he still have the power to veto?
I can't believe he's a sellout, he was already rich and famous, so sell out for what ? respect of his fellow politicians? it doesn't add up.I'm hoping it's the system thats flawed, not the man. With the insulation program, it sounds like the Green party was waiting for a reason to hang him and he was a thorn in the side of the labor party, so they were happy to throw him ito the wolves. Maybe he will have more success under the new P.M., hopefully.
One last question, what does wallaby stew smell like?
Anyway, thanks for listening and give me your input, Keith, just another ignorant American.
I might do that someday
"Is the gold coast full of girls that looks like Phoebe Tonkin and Cariba Heine? because, they don't know this, but I Love them. if yes, i'll start packing this weekend."
Labor Party = liberal
Liberal Party = conservative or your republicans.
these days theyre pretty much the same imo. but bear in mind that despite having socialised health and welfare systems australia is a more conservative country than many are prepared to admit to.
peter garretts first mistake was selling his soul and allowing himself to be used by the machine he spent so much time and energy rallying against. he has compromised the ideals we so respected him for by crossing to the dark side. how can he accept any change in Labors "no new uranium mine" policy??
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
Kid A: Rudd was better than Howard
Kid B: NO
Kid A: Yes he was
Kid B: No he wasn't
Kid A: John Howard, like, didn't like kids.
Kid B: That's not true
Kid A: Yes it is. He used to, um...... um..... he used to.... um.... like punch kids
Now as for the gold coast, it's full of Japanese business men playing golf and metre maids
Sydney 14/02/2003
Sydney 07/11/2006
Sydney 18/11/2006
Sydney 22/11/2009
EV Sydney 18/03/2011
EV Sydney 19/03/2011
EV Sydney 20/03/2011
Melbourne 24/01/2014
Sydney 26/01/2014
EV Sydney 13/02/2014
The Labor party is the left and the Liberals the right. Whilst they do seem more aligned these days there are huge differences in their outlook on things like public funding and treatment of the average worker. The rudd govt had some great intentions that were blocked by an aggresive senate. The Greens (in particular Bob Brown) by not negotiating on the ETS essentially started a chain that eventually caused Rudd's demise. The Greens do not have to worry about winning power so can promise the world to the electorate whilst the ALP or Labor has to implement government..... just my rant
YAY for having a female PM..... she may not be articulate but holy shit she is a very smart lady!!!!!
I had a horrifying thought on the way home tonight, an anology that i think we can better relate to. Would you say what happened with Pete overall, is the Equivalent of PJ running it's course, and then Eddie goes into Politics , but joins the Republican party? And seemingly sits on his hands and does little while the world goes to Hell. While his policies and public voice do almost nothing and perhaps even aid the degrading of everything that's good? Because from an outsider thats what i'm getting from Aussie's about him. Is this too harsh a veiw or spot on or not Harsh enough?
in a foot note, i'd like to add, that before Obama, i've never voted, im 35 years old, i wasn't even registered, never really believed in anybody in U.S.A politic's before him, but after Bush W, felt the need to do something. I truly believed Obama got into this because he felt a NEED to make our country better, atleast to get it back to some kind of respectablility with the world, until the "Experts got a hold of him" and now it's seems to all be going to Hell again., I wonder if Pete didn't fall into the Same trap.
My wife and most women are so much smarter and wiser than me it's scary, but she will never hear from me.
Peter should have joined the Greens as a senator - that's where he could have had the greatest influence, not joining the party machine. Even though I've been an ALP voter for most of my life, and when I didn't vote for them, I voted Greens, I do belive he sold out when he joined the ALP. He has had his successes, but to see him arguing idea that you know goes against his core beliefs because he is towing the party line is sad... like I said earlier, it'd be like PJ covering a Creed or Culture Club song.
Our new prime minister was our previous education minister and I would call her performance in that portfolio a disaster for education in this country. She followed failed policies from US and UK (both underperforming systems) and undermined the professionalism of the Australian Education workforce which is one of the best in the world. She chose policies that looked great to non-thinking voters and chose to bash teachers rather than show some insight and examine policies from countries that were doing better than us. This pig headedness needs to stop if she is to become a great PM.
OMG!! i think i love you.
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
I used to be a teacher and finally had enough of putting other peoples' children before my own only to get wage increases under CPI and to be called greedy and lazy by parents who could afford the latest of everything while I was driving a beat up VW to work and working an extra job on weekends to make ends meet and spending many late nights marking and 'holidays' programming and preparing. Being a political football used by cheap politicians who wanted to appeal to the lowest common denominator and play on their biases rather than educate them and stand behind their work forst was more than enough. When teaching became crowd control where you rarely taught but just tried to keep order in a system that didn't care nor respond to the true challenges and then held me accountable for the output of these 'students' when their parents rarely cared enough to make them 'study' was a joke.
The two greatest days in a teachers' life:
Day 1: The day you get your first teaching appointment
Day 2: The day you resign.
generallt speaking parents are dicks. i dont think they realise just how difficult it is to educate and put up with their little darlings. and they should considering the relief they feel when school holidays end.
atm im considering going back to school to to finish my masters in teaching.. youre not instilling me with a whole lot of confidence .
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
Gillard is a big liar (aren't they all) saying she did not want to be and won't be PM, yeah right.
Rudd got Macbeth'd in the end, sucker.
Remember, we don't vote for a Prime Minister, we vote for a local member of parliament and the numbers the party that member belongs to forms government. That party has the right to change leaders at any time so the argument that you voted for one prime minister or another is a mute point. The fact they run presidential type campaigns is quite disingenious.
But this does highlight a weakness of our system. How many of us vote for a local member? Very few. If we started holding our local members accountable for what they did in parliament rather than just for the party they belong to, we'd achieve a far more representative style of government.
The only time I ever voted for the Liberal party (libs = GOP) was when the member who represented the area I lived in at the time was quite comfortable crossing the floor along with the wishes of his constituants. and it was not just the vocal minority of nutters he listened to. He held community forums in different places and got to know his voters. The fact he lost his endosement because his party got sick of him only increased his local vote. But then he endorced Pauling Hanson on one of her zenophobic rants and that was the end of him, his support from the community evaporated overnight - the racist within was exposed.
They see it as vote ALP/LP so whichever minister they like is PM.
Geeze Cate, what can I say, I would only return to the classroom if my life and family's future depended upon it. if my present web development business when bottoms up I'd try every other option before I'd go back into the classroom.
But it is not the kids - generally they are still good, even when they are rough or hard to teach, they respect honesty and someone who actually cares. It is the system, a system that rewards suck-ups and cv junkies over performers. A system that sees those who couldn't cope in the classroom promoted into positions of power, only to force everyone to enact their crazy ideas, that were actually the reason they couldn't cope in the classroom (ie the ideas were crap and didn't work). A system that ignores teachers' needs and seems to serve those in 'district office' or 'central office' where more crazy ideas originate and where reality is a dirty word.
I was passed over for promotion to a school administration/student services job, a job i'd been doing in an acting capacity for almost a year with the full support of the school staff, parents and students (including the tough kids I mainly worked with) for someone who knew how to suck up to the right people and had a knack with putting jargon and acronyms on his CV and about 10 years less experience and wanted the job for the extra money it attracted. The reason I was given, he looked better on paper than me even though I had the results on the board and I needed to know how to 'play the game' better - meaning not giving yuor superiors bad news - rather finding ways to blame people below me for it or hiding it. I was not alone, it seems this is how it works in education these days.
Rather than politicians like Gillard attacking this cancer in the system, which disenfranchises great teachers and promotes incompetence, nepotism and rewards sycophants and bullshit artists and ultimately results in poorer educational outcomes, she chose to embrace standardised testing and naming and shaming of schools (and ultimately teachers) and continued the equities of school funding.
The exodus from government education to private schools is massive in this country. It won't be long before only those from priveliged backgrounds achieve a good education.
That's why my expectations for Gillard are low.
Um, Paul, I'm half way through my teaching degree, you have painted a pretty bleak picture for me :(
Sydney 14/02/2003
Sydney 07/11/2006
Sydney 18/11/2006
Sydney 22/11/2009
EV Sydney 18/03/2011
EV Sydney 19/03/2011
EV Sydney 20/03/2011
Melbourne 24/01/2014
Sydney 26/01/2014
EV Sydney 13/02/2014
Day 1: The day you get your first teaching appointment
Day 2: The day you resign.[/quote]
Um, Paul, I'm half way through my teaching degree, you have painted a pretty bleak picture for me :([/quote]
Well you still get summer's off right? that gotta count for something.
Um, Paul, I'm half way through my teaching degree, you have painted a pretty bleak picture for me :([/quote]
Aussie teachers usually get 6 weeks over summer. Given the xmas, boxing day, new year and australia day holidays are in here, that effectively drops it back a week as these are public holidays that fall inside this break. You are expected to teach from the first day back so you often spend a few weeks planning/working. Some lose their jobs at the end of the year so holidays are unpaid.
I, along with many other ex teachers have decided that the 'holidays' are just not worth it as a 'perk' and are working elsewhere.
preferential voting is such bullshit.. if i wanted to vote Labor, i would. but i dont wanna yet my vote still goes to them.
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
no matter who you vote for(or dont vote for
i am so livid at the level of funding private schools get at the expense of GOVERNMENT schools. i just cant support the funding of private schools to any degree. yes yes i know the parents are tax payers but.. they choose to send their darlings to private schools. not every tax payer has that choice. im pissed off that the government wasted so much money building un needed structures when what the schools need is resources. but then again i feel the education suystem needs a complete overhaul. it seems the answer to any problem these days is to throw money at it. it doesnt matter that what is needed is a serious look at WHY the system is not working.
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say