What Obama Means for Australia

[saffronlie]

And no, the answer is not "nothing". :p

The ABC is starting a four-part documentary on November 17 about our former Prime Minister, titled The Howard Years. One hour for every term. Interviews with Howard and his team, his friends and his antagonists. (Watch a promo hereDid I miss something? Did the Howard years actually take place in the 1950s as

Comments

[rebness]

Man, I really enjoyed this post, but I can't think of anything coherent to say other than, 'well said'. That'll have to do, bb.

*Wants free lightbulbs*

[saffronlie]

ENERGY-SAVING LIGHTBULBS! Which actually I think we already use in most lights around the house, but nonetheless, it's good for the environment and good for our budget in these TOUGH ECONOMIC TIMES.

[templa_otmena]

I can't remember what got me onto it but the other night I found myself watching Paul Rudd's apology to the Stolen Generation. You can say a lot of things about motives and wot-not but it was progress, especially after the Howard Years. We left Oz not long after he was voted in and when I skipped back there two years ago and talked to people they were all disillusioned to different degrees- and I hated seeing that in Australia. Waking up back in February and seeing news of Paul Rudd's apology online was equal to Obama being voted President for me. Lets just hope one year soon Britain can also allow somebody equally as essential and necessary as these two men take centre stage.

[saffronlie]

Oh, that was beautiful. I wish I had been in Australia and watching it live on TV. It's always been a Labor policy/election promise to make the apology, but I was pleased that he fulfilled it so quickly. Obama's election made me realise how far Australia is from not even being able to elect a black Prime Minister, because I don't think the racism is there on that level, but we're so far from having Aboriginal people who are even in a position to participate in politics, because that requires a fairly equal footing in terms of education, health and wealth, and there's still a huge divide that most Aboriginal people cannot cross (whether they want to or not -- that's another story again).

True, since it feels like the winds of change have swept across Australia and the US it might be nice if the UK got a similar breath of fresh air -- somehow Blair retiring and Brown taking over wasn't quite the dynamic change that it could have been.

[pandorasblog]

*nods* One of the reasons I find Obama such a hopeful presence is that in Europe we are going to need to look to a more liberal leader on the world stage - the more powerful EU countries have conservative governments, and I would be amazed if Britain doesn't end up with the Tories in power next time round.

I fear David Cameron and his party on a personal level, and I wish that either Labour would stage an extraordinary comeback of inspiration and integrity, or the Lib Dems would make themselves more electable. They do seem to be improving, but it would take a hell of a lot for them to keep the Tories out of power.

I found your post very interesting; I hadn't realised all this about Howard...

[saffronlie]

Thanks. The Howard Years were pretty awful while I lived through them, but now, when we have a leader whom I actually voted for and who shows compassion and doesn't stuff up every single day, I can see how terrible it really was! Not that Rudd and his government are perfect, but it's just such a welcome change.