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thecamo

Listed below are comments made by thecamo between Wednesday, 9th September 2009 and Tuesday, 1st December 2009.

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Will Abbott's victory trigger an election? 09:06am on 01 Dec 2009 The memory of Kennett's last few years in Victoria led to such overwhelming Labor victories in subsequent years that even otherwise government-changing swings in more recent times led to nothing more than a mildly reduced majority for Bracks/Brumby.
It's entirely possible that this federal batch of born to rules will be handing Kevin Rudd the sheer weight of numbers he'll need to remove jwh from the post of second longest serving PM in 2018.
Shamed into an apology 02:13am on 17 Nov 2009 I wasn't going to comment until I read all the collosally moronic "I didn't do it why should I apologise" posts.
The governments of the respective countries are who we're discussing, and yes the governments put in place these measures and yes the governments should recognise and offer solutions to the problems that resulted. The temporary custodians of the governments cannot hide behind "i didn't do it" like so many howardesque deniers of old.

And for you who say "40 years ago" - the scars on a close relative's face are as fresh as every ****-ing morning when he shaves.
Asylum, Afghanistan and rugby: blog updates 00:46am on 28 Oct 2009 Ahhh sydney.. home of the cheating bookie who kept his licence, a cheating football team who kept the premiership and asian fusion cooking...

Nick, when you've had enough lemon grass and fish broth with noodles and lemon grass - come to Melbourne. There's even a tailor at the airport who can let your daks out before they start to pinch on the flight home... you can still get fish grass and lemon noodle soup if you want, but they're not your only option in Australia's original capital city.
Big Australia 10:52pm on 25 Oct 2009 #29 Oztraveller

Yeah but the Mexicans dont cross the border - the border crossed them. What language are these words: California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Texas.. "New"(nuevo) Mexico... not to mention the town names.. Los Angeles, San Fransisco, San Diego, Pueblo, Las Vegas, Santa Fe, etc etc.. habla espanol, senor?
I reckon the main problem isn't Mexicans coming over to find a better life, its the lack of good life available to those who stay in Mexico but work in factories on criminally low pay scales building nike shoes & Tommy shirts for sale over the border at $100/unit.
Seeking asylum by boat or by plane 02:13am on 21 Oct 2009 I said this on a previous post but it's fairly simnple as I see it.

The main difference between the two is that a migrant or asylum seeker who arrives in Australia by plane - actually arrives in Australia. The question of whose responsibility it is has been answered: Australia's.

Why then are boat people who are currently located in a safe country ("safe" as opposed to "desired"), or in the territorial waters of a safe country, considered to be the responsibility of a different country? Incidentally, Indonesia has offered asylum, refugee status and resettling processes for the current load of Tamils. Seems a bit presumptuous to claim asylum, then reject it if it isn't in your aspirational destination.

Lets flip it - if NZ deteriorated into civil war and a boatload of Maori arrived in Newcastle then trekked overland to Broome and boarded a pearl boat.. are they now Jakarta's responsibility? Or Delhi's? Or anyone but Canberra's?
Australia and Afghanistan 03:54am on 16 Oct 2009 Here's a couple of questions:

First up, do you classify Indonesia as a totalitarian, oppressive dictatorship whose police or armed forces are engaged in the persecution and/or killing of minority ethnic or religious citizens? Or a country that holds a policy of ethnic/religious persecution? I should hope not.

Secondly - do you classify the current boatload of Sri Lankan tamils as refugees? Quite probably yes.

If the answer to one is no, as it must be, and two is yes, please explain why another country is responsible for assylum seekers who are currently located in a country that can provide assylum? They've got to a place where they wont be subject to a civil war, and a country that has wide ethnic and religious diversity including hindus, christians, muslims and others. Why can they not find assylum in Indonesia? What threat do they face in Indonesia there that their only option is Aus?

They've successfully made it safely to a country that doesn't threaten them. If assylum is what they seek - they have found it.
Is Australia needy for acclaim? 00:33am on 12 Oct 2009 I blame Steve Irwin. Since he died we dont have a huggly lovable foil for all the potential negative (or over-the-top positive) media we get.
"Stupid Australians insult negroes with Jackson skit" - oh but look, Steve Irwin just frightened Jay Leno with a rabbit. Ha hahahaha.. Aussies r cool after all.
"Aussie dollar bones all comers, wins nobel Prize, has a PM who gives USA central bank economic advice.." - oh but look. Steve Irwin. He's a clown. Lovable, but clowny. Aussies r clowns and non-threatening.
Come back Steve!! My trips to the USA were much more fun when you were alive and I could claim to be related .. twice removed.. on my adopted mother's side.

Oh and for the last poster.."My cousins think however that Rudd has not spent wisely in his efforts to stimulate the economy and I suspect they may well be right. I wonder whether Aussies reading this would agree with their view?"
Ok.. In a global economic crucnh, Australia is the only country not in sustained recession, not currently experiencing sustained job contraction and is the first to raise central interest rates back from non-commercial emergency rates. All indicators are that the Swan/Rudd policies are working spectacularly well. Every argument currently put by the liberals for reducing the package is the exact opposite of the reasons they gave for not introducing it!! "It will cost jobs" - well it hasn't, it's protected and possibly even created jobs. So now they say there's a risk of wage blowout. Idiots. "It will not stop recession" - well we did stop the recession from sustaining itself in Australia. Now they say "it will overcook!!" - freaks. "Threaten trade!" - wrong again. We have the supply. Building infrastructure to get it out can only help the process. Every indicator is that the Swan/Rudd decisions were right, were needed and are working. Amazingly, the biggest danger from our end, is not another crunch, but an untempered boom which raises the price of living and therefore the cost of labour (and imagine how bad that would be under a liberal slavechoices regime? - you cant afford bread and milk, but your boss wants to DROP your wages because his profit margin is easing.. hey? Go Swanny).
Why Australia prefers political prose to political poetry 03:05am on 05 Oct 2009 I'd still like to see any prominent Australian political figure come up with a Gettysburg Address or the 'I have a dream' speech or 'ask not what your country can do for you..' - as a UK example, Blair's Diana speech was Shakespeare compared to our pollies' attempts at national communication.

Regardless of the "can you change your own headgasket?" practicality that most of us value, it would still be nice to see a pollie who can do an oil change AND inspire through speaking/writing. Anyone tried to read any of Rudd's publications or decipher his speeches lately? I mean I know what specificity means but why is it in a public speech?! Yes, you can speak Mandarin, good - want to try english some day, Kev? Huh?
Why cant he manage his words in the same way he's managed the financial mess? One apparoach is clear, clean, direct and necessary... the other is a blancmange of verbositude.

So yeah, gimme some sparkle once in a while. Yes you can. That our compulsory (and weekend) voting system doesn't require the "get out the vote" heart stirring of the US shouldn't mean we're left with public servantese and lawyerism by default.

P.s. Go Storm.
Brand Australia 00:36am on 28 Sep 2009 Hows about 'Australian Grown'?

Then you can pre-empt the obvious and oh-so-witty "Australian groan" reply by making that very comment a part of the ad campaign..
"American groan - where can I get to some countryside that doesn't have 4-lane freeways and cities all over it?" - cut to various shots of Tasmania, daintree, NT, 90-mile beach etc.. 'Australian grown'
English groan - where can I get decent food without going to France??! - Australian grown.. etc etc
Stack market groan - reply with any of the well performing Aussie local companies & still strong $AUD

And congrats Geelong. Now roll on the Storm!
The wonder from down under 01:29am on 09 Sep 2009 brentfromcolumbus:

Australian tertiary, skilled trade (like pilots/computing/engineers) and higher education institutions market themselves to foreign students, China and India in particular, so they can have more up-front fee paying students (Australian citizens are entitled to assisted payments & fee structures through various federal subsidies). Paradoxically, while it may slightly reduce the number of places for local kids - it helps the institutions provide better services for those who do get a place than if they just relied on subsidised government fee structures.

Anyway, alongside the legitimate institutions are some other fly-by-night operations set up to fleece the indian students' parents out of their tuition fees. The fees may be exaggerated, the qualification may not be recognised or in some cases the course may not even exist. An ironic twist - the worst of the fly-by-nighters are run by Australian resident Indian ex-patriots! Because they maintain connections back in India they can exploit the system more effectively and they most certainly do just that.
There's crisis #1..

Issue #2 is that a few months ago there was a spate of robberies going on and a number of the victims were Indians. So of course the Indian press jumped all over it and said mean ol' racist whitey australians were targetting Indian students for robbery... not actually true, anyone with obviously pawnable items like mobile phones & iPods & such were being robbed in those areas (mostly drug related.. need $40 for a lid of smack). But for a while it gave them something to burn effigys about.

Issue #1 will be the most long-term, but it should be fixable. Issue #2 was a beat-up. Anyone walking alone on those dark streets got mugged.. not just Indians.

Oh then there's the cabbie robberies... cab drivers were being robbed. Since half the population of India drives a cab in Australia at one stage in their life (its like a kind of foreign service, I'm sure of it), the victims of those robberies were more often than not, Indian.
Again not racial, just opportunistic. Cab - cash - rob. Indian guy happens to be the driver, not a racial target.

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