Ashamed to be an Australian
Yep, I've been swearing a lot lately at the car radio on my drive into work - it's mostly the only place these days I hear the news. I'm ashamed to be an Australian in the world, to be honest with you. We voted in Kevin Rudd to lead us to a place where we didn't feel that way, the way John Howard made us feel. We voted in Kevin Rudd to fix national policy that we didn't agree with. We voted Kevin Rudd in because we didn't want to be global wankers.
Kevin Rudd isn't doing what he promised he would do.
And I'm ashamed to be an Australian.
I'm ashamed that Kevin Rudd made genuine refugees, who had fled their own war torn lives to chase freedom, a basic human right, sit on a boat and stand up to a big fat bully and demand their right to request amnesty and shelter. FOR TWO MONTHS.
I was listening to the news the other morning when they said that the UNHCR had found all 65 people to be refugees and that the UNHCR was now looking to decide which country they should be sent to for *asylum* and I found myself yelling "Send them here, we're wankers!" Which is the oddest thing really - that our punishment for bullying should be to provide shelter and basic rights to people who were found to be genuinely in need? Why would you want to come in live in a country with people like this?
I've been ashamed of the wankfest that is the Aussies in the climate change discussions in Copenhagen. It's like having a family member declare in public that the world is flat - OMG SO EMBARRASSING! I saw a correspondent, I think representing Crikey? on the 7pm Project answer a question from the host thusly, "Um guys? The rest of the world isn't disputing that climate change is occurring and that it's anthropogenic. Here, everyone is discussing the process forward."
I can understand the need for developing countries to not proceed down the road that the developed countries just walked - that way leads, well, climate change. But I think it's pretty hard to get around the fact that the current situation is by and large due to the developed nations and that surely those nations must bear the brunt of the clean up costs?!
I see today in my Get Up email that:
Australia has been awarded the (un)prestigious 'Fossil of the Day' Award at the Copenhagen conference.
At a time when Australia should be leading, we've been recognised as the worst country in the world for actively seeking a bad outcome. What's more, we've been singled out for trying to bully vulnerable nations into agreeing to targets that would see them literally wiped off the map.
KEVIN RUDD! THIS IS NOT THE COUNTRY I WANT AUSTRALIA TO BE. THIS IS NOT WHAT I ELECTED YOU TO DO.
I am ashamed that these people are out there, representing me.
Kevin Rudd isn't doing what he promised he would do.
And I'm ashamed to be an Australian.
I'm ashamed that Kevin Rudd made genuine refugees, who had fled their own war torn lives to chase freedom, a basic human right, sit on a boat and stand up to a big fat bully and demand their right to request amnesty and shelter. FOR TWO MONTHS.
I was listening to the news the other morning when they said that the UNHCR had found all 65 people to be refugees and that the UNHCR was now looking to decide which country they should be sent to for *asylum* and I found myself yelling "Send them here, we're wankers!" Which is the oddest thing really - that our punishment for bullying should be to provide shelter and basic rights to people who were found to be genuinely in need? Why would you want to come in live in a country with people like this?
I've been ashamed of the wankfest that is the Aussies in the climate change discussions in Copenhagen. It's like having a family member declare in public that the world is flat - OMG SO EMBARRASSING! I saw a correspondent, I think representing Crikey? on the 7pm Project answer a question from the host thusly, "Um guys? The rest of the world isn't disputing that climate change is occurring and that it's anthropogenic. Here, everyone is discussing the process forward."
I can understand the need for developing countries to not proceed down the road that the developed countries just walked - that way leads, well, climate change. But I think it's pretty hard to get around the fact that the current situation is by and large due to the developed nations and that surely those nations must bear the brunt of the clean up costs?!
I see today in my Get Up email that:
Australia has been awarded the (un)prestigious 'Fossil of the Day' Award at the Copenhagen conference.
At a time when Australia should be leading, we've been recognised as the worst country in the world for actively seeking a bad outcome. What's more, we've been singled out for trying to bully vulnerable nations into agreeing to targets that would see them literally wiped off the map.
KEVIN RUDD! THIS IS NOT THE COUNTRY I WANT AUSTRALIA TO BE. THIS IS NOT WHAT I ELECTED YOU TO DO.
I am ashamed that these people are out there, representing me.