Australian Federal politics - ABC Insiders does it again on the simple minded front - predicts one term for Labor!

I sent the following comment to Fran Kelly, who has written Labor off as a one term government on Insiders this morning. I don't know how David Marr et al cope with the mediocrity served up by some of these so-called 'insiders' and God knows what Fran is sniffing but it must be strong!

"I have been concerned about the shallowness of the political analysis served up by this show (Breakfast on Radio National) for some time, and I'm far from being Robinson Crusoe. While Michelle Grattan is always good value, your host is pretty limited on the subject. Her performance on Insiders this morning was woeful.

I don't think the worst of the pamphleteers masquerading as journalists among the Murdoch commentariat would proffer the prediction that Labor is looking like a one term government, although surely it is one of their wet dreams. Perhaps you need to read some of the better psephology and political blogs to get a handle on the polls. The Poll Bludger on Crikey tells us "The latest fortnightly Morgan face-to-face poll has Labor’s two-party lead at 57.5-42.5, up from 56.5-43.5 last time. Labor are up a point to 47 per cent on the primary vote, while the Coalition are down one to 37 per cent." If you continue to rely solely on the dodgy polling of Newspoll, the current figures still have Labor increasing their seats at the next election. I find Essential Report more cogent in its methodology and they have a ten point gap on the 2pp.

Abbott's Murdoch Press driven honeymoon (if that's what it is) will be relatively short lived, once the electorate work out what a truly despicable individual he is. His recent comments on homelessness should be enough to make even the most shallow of radio commentators blanch. But we keep hearing about what a straight talking, lycra-wearing good 'ole boy he really is and he's 'taking it up to the government'. Frankly, this guy is about control and shaping our body politic, with the help of his ilk of alpha male,with the result that Australia would become a much uglier place under his stewardship. His brand of socio-religious patriarchy would determine social policy parameters in such way as to make the previous 'brutupia' look positively benign.

Take the case of refugees. It seems the default position of the Coalition under the influence of Howard (and now Abbott) is to bang the fear and loathing drum at every opportunity. Bi-partisanship on such an important issue as migration and cultural inclusiveness is impossible whilst a major political party sees populist opportunity in scaring people. It is no accident that Hanson's erstwhile mentor, David Oldfield, used to work for Abbott. How did one commentator with a memory longer than yesterday's thought bubble put it? - Abbott is BA Santamaria's terminator sent from the past. Be afraid, be very afraid! And good 'ole Barnaby Joyce sings straight from the good 'ole League of Rights hymn book. Whilst keeping a concerted blow torch to Labor on key areas of social justice, where it is currently sadly wanting, it would be encouraging if political commentary on the ABC was to rise a little above the tawdry attacks on Labor coming from the Murdoch MSM and to do some serious analysis...Good luck with that!"

Human rights in Australia - Leader of the opposition Abbott signals new 'brutopia'.

Anyone following Australian politics could not have missed Tony Abbott's take on homelessness. Larvatus Prodeo has updated us:

" I was in Canberra last week and had the opportunity to ask Opposition Leader Tony Abbott whether a government under his direction would continue with the Rudd government’s goal of halving homelessness by 2020. His answer was no.

In justifying his stance, Abbott quoted from the Gospel of Matthew: ”The poor will always be with us,” he said, and referred to the fact there is little a government can do for people who choose to be homeless."

While Senator George Brandis tells us Abbott "believes in a settled, rooted society of families and citizens living in stable communities bound together by the gossamer threads of voluntary association", it might be more apt to consider "there might be as Brutopian a streak in communitarian conservatism as anything to be found in Kevin Rudd’s portrait of neo-liberalism."

Frankly, if Abbott is a communitarian then Josef Stalin was just a misunderstood libertarian. This guy is about control by his type of alpha male and Australia would become a much uglier place under his stewardship. His brand of socio-religious patriarchy would determine social policy parameters. Be afraid, very afraid....

Human rights in Australia - An Open Letter to Federal Labor

I have been a proud supporter of the ALP since 1972. I think the Rudd government is doing a great job responding to the GFC, but the current drift away from social equity as a guiding principle for public policy will see rusted on Labor supporters like me drift away from the party. At the time of the ACT school closures I wrote to the party about the risks of allowing econometrics to underpin public policy directions. You end up with outcomes skewed against the least advantaged. In the short term, it might appeal to yuppie ‘wannabees’ who sell their vote to the highest bidder, who distrust all governments, and who think public policy should be all about raising their disposable incomes, but you will alienate your base over the longer term, during a period when the right will be circling the wagons. The sudden spike in funds pouring into Coalition coffers should sound the warning.

It is clear Federal Labor is pitching to the so-called ‘aspirant’ mob in marginal seats who measure everything through the prism of ‘what is in it for me’, but it is a too cynical for me and I no longer want to be associated with the party. I expect Labor to stand for social justice and human rights and I’m afraid the drift away from these core values is corrosive and disillusioning. It is not just about being good managers of the economy, which I believe Labor is achieving with great aplomb. For example, the ABC 4 corners last night on the plight of carers for disabled in our society should make public policy makers hang their heads in collective shame! The Minister’s performance was weak and uninspiring.

Another great concern to me is the Deputy PM's strategy on school performance. The American school system is inferior in every way to our own, and that includes the NY paradigm. If you want to adapt lessons from successful countries look at the Finnish system. It is clear that the way to get improvements is through initiatives that genuinely support professional development, decent remuneration and other incentives, smaller class sizes and strategic mentoring of classroom teachers by the brightest and best of the teaching profession. Forget the corporate ‘Darwinism’ of the Americans. Facilitating comparative school performance information for public consumption is one of the most egregious scenarios I can contemplate.

A further example is Labor’s cynical approach to the indexation of APS and ADF retiree super pensions. From my perspective this is a broken undertaking with dire consequences for many families. Again, I detect a narrow econometric approach at work that fails to factor the cost-benefit of retirees under less economic duress, their contribution to voluntary social work and the downstream economic benefits of increased expenditure on goods and services and GST from their improved incomes. Get a grip...

Human rights in Australia - social darwinism raises its ugly head in 'my schools' website fiasco

Back in August 2009 I wrote the following to the Labor party on the apparent obsession of the Deputy PM with an American model of school performance management. Following is part of what I wrote:

"The American school system is inferior in every way to our own, and that includes the NY paradigm. If you want to adapt lessons from successful countries look at the Finnish system. It is clear that the way to get improvements is through initiatives that genuinely support professional development, decent remuneration and other incentives, smaller class sizes and strategic mentoring of classroom teachers by the brightest and best of the teaching profession. Forget the corporate ‘Darwinism’ of the Americans. Facilitating comparative school performance information for public consumption is one of the most egregious scenarios I can contemplate. Don't do it!"

Now, we have the 'my schools' website launched with glee by Julia Gillard. It is an unmitigated disgrace that will deepen social divisions in our society. The stigmatization of poor performing schools, the trumpet blowing by 'selective' schools, the idiotic lumping together of schools that have very little in common apart from some econometric number that exists in a parallel reality to real life. The unexpected negative consequences of this type of ham-fisted statistical measurement are too many to log here.

An article in today's SMH online 'National Times' is well worth a read. Here is part of what Jane Caro and Chris Bonnor have to say:

"So, if, as Gillard advises, there are any lazy teachers needing a kick up the proverbial, don't look for them in a government school. Clearly if the website is correct and government schools are, on average, outperforming many of their fee-charging equivalents, then government school teachers must be working very hard indeed, against the odds. They not only teach more students, they are given vastly less support to do so.

The urgent question is: how long can they maintain this performance in the face of such skewed staffing handicaps?

Some may point out that it may be private resources that are going into paying for this extra staffing in non-government schools, but that still raises the question of why we continue to generously publicly subsidize such well-endowed schools when so many government schools are doing it tough. Private funding drives divides between schools the world over but, as the My School website so tellingly points out, should it be the role of government to continue adding fuel through its funding policies?"

It will come as no surprise that the great majority of schools in Finland - one of the best performing countries in terms of education outcomes - are public funded. The public-private divide in Australia is harmful in terms of achieving social cohesion, particularly as so many private schools underpin an ethos of selective entitlement and economic elitism. The consequences of this type of education can be seen in the divisive and inequitable policies oft peddled by the graduates of such institutions.

For me, it beggars belief that the ALP has facilitated this social 'darwinist' clap-trap and it reflects poorly on its architects.