Take her for a spin:

In a world that trivialises military conflict and terror, human rights are more important and relevant than ever. So it is with great relief that Australia is set to join the league of Western democracies, with the Rudd government set to open consultation to the public over the idea of a charter of rights. There will of course be those opposed, but their vigourous argument and opposition is to be welcomed, for it will ultimately make the eventual charter a far stronger document.

Australians would probably be surprised to learn that comparatively few rights are expressly protected in Australia. We do not have the right to vote, nor have freedom of speech. Freedom of religion is protected to the extent that the government is not allowed to establish any religion. I am told that the popularity of American police dramas has to led to a not infrequent “pleading the Fifth” in Australian court rooms. The Howard government’s anti-terror laws took away our right to silence, and removed habeas corpus. We need and deserve this charter more than ever.

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In some ways the NYT

is analogous to the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH). It ostensibly covers the news relevant to its eponymous city, but has over time expanded to become a national newspaper-of-record. But the NYT is distinctly superior in both its breadth and depth of coverage, and its web team is without peer.

The density of media ownership in Australia is rapidly eroding its quality and independence, and the SMH with its over-the-top treatment of issues such as horse flu (eeekwine infloooenzah) is becoming very tabloid-ish. Thankfully, for the globally connected at least, there is plenty of choice to consume the superior overseas alternatives.

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takes a look at a “politically incorrect” paper:

Average income of whites and other races: $53,292.
Average income of blacks: $34,485.

Expenditures on footwear by whites and other races: $274
Expenditures on footwear by blacks: $440.

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[There is] more than enough time for Krudd and his inexperienced team to slip up a dozen times. Wayne Swan will make a joke of himself at budget time he is the biggest dunce the Labor Party has ever seen and he thinks he can run a trillion dollar economy!!

I think this pretty much sums up a broad view of the Liberal/National coalition and their supporters. It also indicative of major weaknesses on that side of politics: inconsistency and intellectual cowardice. Howard, Costello and co. are not the masterful economic managers they they’ve fooled themselves and their electorate into believing.

Firstly, the fact that they’d even refer to it as “running an economy” and “managing an economy” (as Joe Hockey did on Lateline) shows just how illiberal they truly are. Demand management is a mainstay of Keynesian economics. The great dries of the party would rather take it up the bum from crazy-haired hippies than have anything to do with Keynes. It is simply not kosher. The truth is, even in an economy as padded as Australia’s, it has a tendency to run itself. That is as it should be. The government is on auto-pilot, and makes a few changes at the margin every now and then.

Instead, they’ve painted an image of Howard/Costello uniformed up, guiding it, directing it, in a way only the the all-knowing fathers of the nation would. Presumably, Labor, if given the treasury benches would deliberately fuck up the economy out of spite.

Beyond their fallacious grasp of the role of the federal government, Howard/Costello have committed some grave sins in the name of liberalism, most notably, their commitment to taxing and spending (something much to the chagrin of Costello, as revealed in July). The current government is the highest taxing, highest spending government in history. The size of the federal government, as a proportion of GDP has been higher under this administration than any that preceded it. Yes even Whitlam’s! How have they done it? Not through the socialisation of the means of production. Mr Chifley tried that, but our constitution doesn’t allow it. Nope. What Howard/Costello have done is become the great re-distributors

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of income. They, tax, levy, charge, fee, big businesses, small businesses, single-income earners, the poor, the elderly, the self-reliant, and plentiful supply it to the one group that be bought more easily than a crackwhore: Suburban families with children (and their doppelgangers, the couple thinkingabout-notreally-maybe wanting to have kids).

Howard is undoubtedly aware of all these weaknesses. And he knows the attacks on Labor’s economic ability are groundless inasmuch as he acknowledged Hawke/Keating’s role in opening up Australia’s economy in The Longest Decade

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He again acknowledged structural changes to the economy made by the Hawke and Keating governments, saying the present strength of the economy owed much to the reforms made in the past 25 years.

The level of economic debate and education in Australia over the past decade has taken a battering — a deliberate ploy by the government to enable the trivialisation of economics as nothing more than the price of petrol and the level of interest rates.The Big Lebowski ipod

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. Sydney Town Hall has a seating capacity of about 2000. There were at best 100 people in the room. An indication of how much Sydney-siders care.

These sorts of presentations invariably involve a certain elevated level of imagination and delve into pipe dreams, so a healthy dose of cynicism doesn’t go astray.

Both speakers made use of a tactic whereby they presented their visions as an alternative to an unlikely dystopia they described in detail (to make their ideas seem marvellous no doubt). Mrs Moore’s vision was paraded as a series of complementary themes relating to the environment, transport, reconciliation, arts, and culture. Her ideal Sydney in 2030 was one containing distinct but connected “villages”, imagined from the ground up as sustainable ecosystems. There would be open spaces, accessible and affordable (i.e. subsidised) public transport, and dense living in ecologically sound and engineered buildings. The much mooted underground rail connection between Sydney and Parramatta would make the journey a 10-minute trip.

Borger ranted against Westfield and other property developers, and trumpeted his achievements as Lord Mayor of Parramatta. Irritatingly he raised some ideas for Parramatta 2030 that would already be underway if the state government (which he is a part of as Member for Granville) had not scuttled them for supposed economic non-viability (such as the Parramatta-Epping rail link). He saw Parramatta as a distinct city centre with its own vibrant culture, something more than an afterthought for government offices. He was scathing of those who viewed it as a Westie backwater.

A mildly interesting point that was raised when he recalled an anecdote about community consultation. Surveyed citizens were given a hypothetical $100 and were asked how they would spend it to improve Parramatta. The most popular response was to clean up the Parramatta River. Apparently this demonstrated a “disconnect” between the people and those elected to represent them. Although improving the River was important, it was apparently not at the top of the councillors’ priorities. This was “proof” that community consultation worked and should be extended as part of broader council decision-making.

Anne Summers remarked that she was pleased the visions were both “people-centred” (as opposed to what, I’m unsure). The most apparent problem (for me at least) was the cost of the plans. The solution according to Clover is more co-operation between the various levels of government (i.e. the federal and state governments need to give her more money). David says that councils should be amalgamated to realise greater economies of scale. Broadly, both want greater powers and responsibilities for regional-style authorities.

I am sceptical that these ideas will be adopted in any substantial way. Sydney/Parramatta 2030 seems to be nothing but inner-city living. The Lord Mayors’ contempt for suburban living was palpable. I simply don’t see how it would work.