No Media Bias During Elections, Apparently

It's all in your mind. You might think certain newspapers display a clear bias in their election coverage, but according to the Australian Press Council, you're wrong :

Claims of newspaper bias towards one party during elections are perennial but unfounded, according to an Australian Press Council report to be released today.

"Regular readers ... were presented with a comprehensive and generally balanced coverage of issues and policies, parties and personalities," the research report says.

According to the report, both researchers were unequivocal in their conclusion that, in terms of coverage, balance, and fairness, no party was favoured.

But the Press Council report also states there is a "trend" towards focusing on the lead personalities of the political parties contesting elections, moreso than policy or the qualities of various parties as a whole. The Press Council report called this growing focus "presidential-style" coverage.

"What is clear is that personalities, not issues, are now central to the reporting of elections in Australia," the report says.

This had tightened control of information, with policy releases usually limited to the leaders.

"Frequently ministers and their shadows are not made available to explain or respond to questions on the impact of the proposed policies."

The researchers found that rather than being detached observers of the political process, the papers were active participants, generating a great deal of their own material in the form of editorial, analysis and opinion items and placing a heavy emphasis on opinion polls.

Of course. Analysing polls, churning out pages of opinion pieces and cramming front pages with editorials are a much cheaper way of filling all that blank space around the advertisments than actually sending reporters out into the cities and suburbs to do on the spot reporting of peoples' views and circumstances.

It is interesting to note that in the news.com.au coverage of this story, they used a photo of the Piers Akerman, a notoriously pro-Howard government opinionist, who's devoted 14 of of his 15 most recent stories (listed on the Daily Telegraph site) to attacking Kevin Rudd, and repeatedly trying to link Rudd to his now unfounded conspiracy surrounding the rape of a young Aboriginal girl :



No bias from Akerman. God, no. Just a Fox News-style 'fair and balanced' approach, which for Akerman translates into a balanced range of views from 'Why You Shouldn't Vote For Rudd' to 'Why Rudd Doesn't Deserve Your Vote'.

Bush Backs Rudd?

"New Leadership" Refreshes Democracies

Kevin Rudd promises "new leadership". John Howard doesn't like the sound of that. Hell, why would he? The only thing new about Howard is the glowing fake tan and his recent trip to the botox clinic.

We don't need new leadership, says Howard, we need the "right leadership".

But, interestingly, US President Bush is in the Kevin Rudd camp on the need for democratic nations to regularly refresh their leadership. This from only a few days ago :

"...it's time for new blood...there's nothing better for a democracy than to renew itself by elections and new leadership."

It'll be interesting to see if anyone in the Labor Party dares to quote President Bush as a way of endorsing Rudd's "new leadership" mantra.

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Students Spend More Time Studying Religion And Sports Than Science

Halfway through a 4th grade religion class in my primary school, the relief teacher stopped in the middle of a reading and sighed loudly, despairingly, before muttering, "This is just bullshit."

Back then, a teacher saying "bullshit" was enough to make the whole class gasp, and the teacher's revelation sparked a tide of dissent amongst the students who had never heard an adult say Bible stories were "bullshit". A dozen or so eight and nine year old atheists were born that day, and were moved to another classroom from then on for an extra science class. Nobody complained as we learned some more about how nature worked in the real world.

A new Howard government study reveals that religion is still regarded as more important than science in Australian schools, and sports far more important than both :

The Federal Government-commissioned study of 160 public and private primary schools found that teachers spent more than half (56 per cent) of their time teaching English and maths.

They spent 4 per cent on school assemblies and 4 per cent on religious education, but 3 per cent on teaching science. Physical education received 11 per cent of teaching time.

Primary schools reported they were finding it virtually impossible to spend enough time on core subjects because their curriculums had become cluttered with an overwhelming number of life-skill subjects including manners and nutrition.

The 'working families' method of rigid social control means that what was once taught in the home - nutrition and manners - is now crammed into the already crowded schedule of alloted studies in the classroom.

But there's nothing like a good grounding in religion and sports to set up a student for solid career prospects.

Many Australians regard sport as the national religion. Maybe they can combine school religious studies with cricket training? Hit a six, receive a blessing from God.

Aussies Trust Bloggers As Much As Mainstream Media Sites

'Known Brand' Media Losing Value, Authority, Readership

First, a rambling comment :

Long before the first news blogs, and a few years before most of the mainstream media went online, I used to get e-mails from friends in different parts of the world who would write short summaries of interesting news stories from their local city newspapers. Some of those stories would make their way into Australian newspapers a few days, or weeks later, but most did not. I, likewise, used to write a kind of newsletter with stories from Australia to these friends. Our shared circulation list grew into the hundreds, and we all thoroughly enjoyed summarising our local news, or deciphering it. In many ways, these newsletters we used to share were a precursor to news blogs, like 'The Orstrahyun'. What we were doing wasn't particularly innovative. E-mail newsletters were bouncing around university campuses, military bases and science research labs in the late 1970s.

It was remarkable how quickly we grew to trust each other's take on the news, to the point where most of us would read each other's newsletters in preference to what began to flow through the internet when newspapers like the UK Guardian and the New York Times went online in the mid-1990s. I lost most of those 1990s e-mails, but I remember how often my e-mail friends in England or Germany or Spain or Mexico or Russia were right about a slowly emerging news story, days before the mainstream media confirmed what we had been discussing and debating.

I only mention all this in relation to the story below, which highlights the fact that a growing number of Australians are placing more trust in news blogs than the mainstream media. That might not be much of a revelation to the readers here, but it is interesting to note that the distrust of the mainstream media also appears to extend to their websites and their news blogs.

And the mainstream media, which once so utterly dominated how Australians got their news, are getting nervous, because their audiences are not growing exponentially, and because they know they are no longer the only choice for how millions of Australians will get their news.

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Australian news blogs finding audiences in their thousands is a relatively new phenomenon. We were late starters compared to the American, British and Japanese bloggers. The independent news blogs, up until only two years ago, that did pull more than a few hundred readers found a large slice of their readership through link-alliances with American blogs. Crikey was one of the few exceptions to this rule.

This blog pulls anything from 1800 to 5000 individual readers per day, with about 80% of the readers coming from inside Australia. The next biggest regular chunk of readers are Americans, then Brits, then Germans, Canadians and French. A few hundred regular foreign readers, from what I've gleamed from your e-mails, are ex-pats or tourists, looking for a different take on the news from home.

To say that my mind has been blown by the growth of readers in the past 18 months (particularly in the past six months) would be an understatement. This site is now only a few thousand readers away from providing something between a part-time and full-time living. The genorosity of readers saying thanks through the PayPal link (above right) is greatly appreciated, and I probably should have thanked you publicly on this blog much earlier.

As with the e-mail newsletters I mentioned above, much of the growth of readership here apparently comes from readers e-mailing links to stories they've found here to their friends, who then become semi-regular readers themselves.
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It's still a strange thing to be sent a link to a story on this blog by someone on the long CC lists my e-mail address has been added to, perhaps not realizing the person they're sending it to is the one who posted it.

There's no reason why news blogs will do anything but grow in readership, and influence, in the coming years. It was only eight or nine months ago that supposedly reputable mainstream
media commentators were spouting that blogs would have little influence on the federal election.
Yeah, they were hoping.

Okay, enough ramble.

The claims that Australians are trusting news blogs, as much as the mainstream media sites, to get their news comes from no less an authority on consumerism than the chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). One Graeme Samuel :

"What is even more worrying for traditional media organisations is that some of their assumptions about users trusting known brands are starting to look a little shaky," Mr Samuel told a Walkley business lunch in Sydney today.

"For a growing base of users, (blogs) are all equally valid sources of news, information, entertainment and gossip, and users are not necessarily discriminating between traditional and new sources."

Mr Samuel said although "old" media companies still dominated many of the most visited sites, they could no longer assume users would always default back to "traditional houses of journalism".

This meant the media had to find new ways of remaining relevant to a fragmented and disloyal audience.

I'd presume most readers of independent news blogs read them for the same reasons I do : they publish stories you don't always find in the mainstream media, they provide mostly fearless and sometimes outrageously entertaining comment, they show there is more than one or three sides to a story, they punch holes in the sacred myths that so much of the mainstream media continually perpetuate and they let readers know that just because the mainstream media claims something is true doesn't necessarily mean that it is.

Homeless Choir Wins Major Australian Music Award



The 'Choir Of Hard Knocks' was easily one of the best TV shows of the year. Compassionate, vastly entertaining, dramatic, deeply touching and utterly Australian, it followed the progress of a group of homeless men and women who had found new life, new friends and new hope by forming a choir, and playing sold out shows at the Sydney Opera House and the Melbourne Town Hall.

The Choir Of Hard Knocks is now one of the true success stories of Australian music in 2007. They regularly sell out venues that chart toppers and Australian Idol winners could only dream of filling, and have reminded people that becoming homeless is sometimes only a handful of tragedies and unfortunate events away from a once prosperous life.

The Choir has now sealed its year of excellent success with their album going platinum and scoring the ARIA Award for best soundtrack.

If you get the chance to see The Choir perform, make sure you go. They don't want your pity, or your coins, they just want your applause. And they'll earn it.

Anytime some idiot tells you that the ABC must be privatized, remind them of 'The Choir Of Hard Knocks'. Do you really think a commercial television network would screen a weekly documentary series about homeless and mentally ill people, some literally from the gutter, some with alcohol and drug dependencies, getting together and forming a choir? Of course they wouldn't. And no commercial network would have done such a great job in producing such a compassionate and inspiring show.

The singers of the Choir Of Hard Knocks have well earned their ARIA, and their success.

They should have picked up an award for Album Cover Design :



Battered cardboard. Brilliant.

More here :

"The choir is changing people's lives dramatically, and people who have been really down and out have now got a chance to express themselves and be part of a community that is doing remarkable things."

For choir member Annie Saunders it was another reason to celebrate on her 62nd birthday.

"It's hard work and it keeps me young," Ms Saunders said.

"They have all sung happy birthday and I've got some gifts so it's a wonderful day for me.

"We never thought anything when we first started, we were just happy to sing, and it's amazing how it's progressed and we're beginning to be quite famous."

It's wonderful to see what people can do when others are willing to ditch the easy criticism and give them a go.

You can buy a copy of the now platinum selling Choir Of Hard Knocks CD and DVD here. And check out the beautiful t-shirts, designed by a member of the choir.

The Choir Of Hard Knocks receives no government funding, so go buy something and show your support.

Here's a list of their upcoming live shows.

An excellent background story on the Choir can be found here.

Now Begins Six Weeks Of Desperation, Savage Ugliness, Fear And Smears, Threats, Harassment, Knocks And Shocks

Or : Welcome To The 2007 Federal Election

So it begins. Six weeks of official campaigning, after nine months of unofficial campaigning, to determine who will run Australia for the next three to eight or more years.

Will it be Labor?

Will it the Liberals?

Will you even be able to tell the difference?

Are you already beyond caring?

This poll claims that John Howard will be chased into retirement on a wave of young voter fury and older voter disgust come election day. The numbers are foul enough for the Howard government that they must be close to ready to start sacrificing goats in the hope of conjuring up some magical intervention, satanic or divine.

The Newspoll due out by Monday night is expected to focus on the views of younger voters, and somewhat fresh issues like home carers, and it too will show that the Howard government is going to be carved up like a pig at a bacon lovers festival.

Most of the poll experts, and political opinionists - well, those that aren't counting on a John Howard victory to avoid getting the sack - agree that Howard needs nothing short of a miracle to win back the faith of millions of Australian voters in only 42 or so days.

The chant from the public stands is repetitive and steady : Howard's too old, too tired, too boring, too untrustworthy, too cynical, too cliched, too old, too boring, too smug, too arrogant, too worn out, too familiar....did we already say too old and boring?

Workchoices and climate change will be Howard's ruin. They can engrave it on his tombstone today, to save time later.

He hid the truth about what Workchoices would mean for the paypackets of hundreds of thousands of young Australians until it was almost too late, and he hid from the truth about climate change, until long after the vast majority of Australians had agreed that they were more concerned about how global warming would affect the lives of their children and grandchildren than they were worried about terror threats or an economic downturn.

It's going to be an ugly, vicious campaign, and 42 days will feel like 42 weeks. There will be widescreen, Dolby surround Smearing and Fearing until you just can't take it anymore and want to punch Flanders in the face. Or Tony Abbott.

Labor will be able to play it cool, with Rudd already acting like he's the prime minister, waiting for the old guy to bugger off, so he can get down to business. Expect more of this. They aren't the ones who are desperate, so don't expect them to be out there with the begging bowl, or the blood-soaked axe.

The real fight will be coming from the Liberals, and it will be one of the more democracy-tainting, soul-destroying, sickeningly savage events in recent Australian history.

If you thought turning on the TV and seeing hundreds of beach thugs beating women and tourists and attacking cops and ambulance drivers during the Cronulla Riots was an appalling spectacle, wait until you see what Tony Abbott and Alexander Downer and the Exclusive Brethren have got up their sleeves.

But that, in the end, will all just be part of the general desperation of the Liberals. They're like a boatload of fishermen who are floating with liferafts in the ocean and the sharks are circling.

The senior ranks of the Howard government know that if they are destroyed at the polls, the party as they know it will be torn to shreds, from the inside out. Think of the chest-burster in the Alien movies. Like that, but with more blood and exploding guts.

Few of the current ministers, with the exception of Philip Ruddock, will be ready to move to the opposition benches, or the back benches, which means the extremist nutfucks in the Liberal Party, the ones who think race riots are a great way to rally white Australia, will be fighting for their time in their sun. And they'll string their own off the light poles to get it.

It's also worth remembering that there are many people in business here who will do just about anything to make sure John Howard and the Liberals keep control of the nation, and that's where some of the real danger lies in this election campaign.

How far will the secret rulers of this land go to maintain their very profitable status quo? Kevin Rudd is not expected to do much that will drain their gravy boats, but dismantling Workchoices is going to make many of these corporate elites very, very angry, and very, very desperate.

And there's the international 'influence' already looming like dark brooding cloud over this country's future.

If you don't think the psychotic ranks of the NeoCons aren't going to get involved in this election campaign, you're going to be in for even more nasty surprises. Have you got your Go Bag ready yet?

It's going to be both thrilling, and sad, to see how far John Howard will go to avoid going down in Australian political history as one of our most spectacle losers.

There will be moments of brilliance from Howard, that will make you think 'Shit, he just might win this thing', and there will be many moments of pitying misery. Some of which may want you to crack a beer, in celebration, or sympathy. The 2007 federal election campaign is almost certain to be John Howard's political wake.

But you can't feel sorry for him. He had his chance to go, to leave in style, but he got too greedy and demanded one more dance, even if it meant a grim funereal march into the shadows for his party. Which it now surely does.

So what will the Howard Miracle be? Nobody can think of one. There's nothing on the horizon that can turn the anti-Howard tide. If you took a poll this weekend in just about any pub in Australia on what people thought of his plans for Aboriginal Reconciliation, the general response would "scumbag".

But John Howard doesn't have to go down like a loser, even if he is one. He always has the option of canceling the elections, should there be an event of the scale that a national emergency needs to be declared.

There are some events far more important than election day. And none of them are good :

An horrific series of terror attacks?

A sudden and mind-boggling attack on Iran by the US and Israel, leading to mass deaths of Australian soldiers in southern Iraq from retaliatory attacks?

A spectacular earthquake and tsunami slamming the east coast?

The outbreak of a mega-deadly bird flu pandemic?

But then, perhaps we're simply in for a dreary and utterly boring election campaign, now we've already lived through what was an increasingly aggravating unofficial campaign that has dominated most of the year.

Maybe election day will come and go before we even know it. And then Christmas plans will fill our minds, and a new year will be just around the corner.

Whoever wins the election, you can count on one thing for certain : in 2008, a fairly annoying speccy man who you don't feel you can trust 100% (or even 60%) will be running the country, and life will go on, roll on, rumble, bumble, stumble and flumble on, for most of us, pretty much as it did for in 2007, and 2006 and 2005.

Things won't change anywhere near as much as you might like to think they will.

They never really do.

Australian Murdoch Media Sucked Into International Smear Campaign Against US Presidential Candidate

Murdoch media journalist Mark Schliebs appears to have fallen for a 'fake' press release and run with a story alleging that US presidential candidate Ron Paul is running a 'fake online campaign' :



Serious claims. The journalist is alleging that Ron Paul's campaign office is involved in online fraud.

Firstly, Ron Paul is a Congressman, not a Senator and his online campaigning is now winning plaudits from online media experts and journalists. The only mainstream media journalist to have seriously tried to claim the Paul online campaign is 'fake' is Schlieb, an Australian journalist.

Ron Paul has become a serious thorn in the side of other Republican presidential campaigners, like Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thomspon by actively campaigning against the Federal Reserve, the War On Iraq and the NeoCon-push for a War On Iran. Ron Paul has found a massive audience online, and his speeches and videos are being viewed by hundreds of thousands of Americans on YouTube, where Giuliani and Thomspon are receiving minimal interest. Hence the need to try and discredit Ron Paul's very successful online campaign. So why is the Murdoch media in Australia getting involved?

In an attempt to discredit Ron Paul's online campaign, a person claiming to be a supporter of Fred Thompson says he wrote up a fake press release alleging Ron Paul's office, and/or supporters, were committing online fraud, and sourced a 'Don De Bots' from the American Studies Program at Flinders University as someone worth quoting on the subject of online campaigning.

But there is no Don De Bots at Flinders University. There is a Don DeBats, who Schlieb claims to have talked to in this story. This whole story is getting a bit weird. We've contacted Schlieb, but haven't yet heard back from him.

Here's the proclaimed Fred Thomspon supporter 'I Love Hannity' admitting to the fake press release and laughing that a news editor was "stupid enough to publish it" :

I submitted a fake news story about Ron Paul and his online campaign. I used one of the free news release services and it just got published. Ha Ha!

It's only in an australian newspaper but im sure the us media will pick it up soon.

What do you think of my fake name? I'm Professor De Bots. Get it .. de bots..

Here's the paper it was published in:
http://www.news.com.au/mercury/story...005940,00.html

I can't believe an editor was stupid enough to publish it. I'm very proud of myself.

The 'Senator Using Fake Online Campaign' story by Mark Schliebs has now gone out in major city Australian newspapers, including Australia's largest selling daily newspaper, the Herald Sun, and onto numerous other Murdoch media news sites.

Is it really that easy to con the Murdoch media?

Apparently, yes.


More On The Ron Paul Smear Campaign, And Murdoch Media's Involvement In It Here

Fight Terror : Jail Comedians


Flashback : The Chaser's 'Notsama Bin Laden' being arrested during the APEC summit in Sydney

The 'War on Terror' is clearly no place for comedy. Unless you think going to War On Iraq to pursue Saudi Al Qaeda terrorists who attacked the US on 9/11, and who trained in Afghanistan, is pretty funny.

That's why Australian authorities are devoting time and resources they might otherwise be using to track down terrorists to pursue legal action against comedians from The Chaser.

It is only a coincidence that some of these very same comedians made the police look like dills during the APEC summit in Sydney, when they drove an Osama Bin Laden lookalike through what was supposed to be ultra-security, almost up to the door of President Bush's hotel.


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So what did The Chaser do that has the police after them again? They delivered a 'ticking bomb' to a Sydney business. And they're still not off the hook for the APEC stunt :

In the skit, a Chaser cast member posing as a delivery man takes a ticking package into Energy Australia's Sydney office where he asks a worker to sign for the item.

The Chaser crew has defended the act, which occurred during the filming of this week's show.

"The Chaser chose the loudest and most deliberately comical ticking to ensure that the people involved in the filming could not think it was any real threat," a statement obtained by the Nine Network said.

However, NSW Police Minister David Campbell said the matter was not to be treated lightly.

"In these days of global terrorism the community expects the police to respond to potential threats," Mr Campbell told the Nine Network.

The Chaser team is already facing criminal charges stemming from a stunt during last month's APEC conference.

Matters against the 11 cast, crew and production members have been adjourned until December 5.

"The (latest) investigation involves actions of individuals and is not related in any way to any incidents during the recent APEC conference," the police spokesman said.

Of course not.

The community does expect the police to respond to 'potential threats'. But how much of a realistic 'potential threat' does a stunt by a bunch of comedians actually pose? Besides pointing out gaping holes in security of major Australian corporations?

Clearly if we're going to win the 'War On Terror', along with the sidebar 'War on Comedy Terror', we have no choice but to jail these comedians. Regardless of how piss-your-pants funny they are.

The Chaser Delivers 'NotSama Bin Laden' Into APEC Security Zone - Fake Beard Confiscated

Don't Laugh At 'War On Terror' Japing - Live In Fear

The White House On The Chaser : 'We Are Not Amused'

Tell Us Everything You Know

“I want to know, right now, what you know about what’s going on outside of here,” Kat said, her voice quavering a little, clearly nervous, and maybe a bit scared.

“Where are all the other people? How come we don’t seen any boats coming into the harbour? Has anyone here seen even one plane or helicopter fly over? It’s been six weeks! Where are all the other survivors?”

Go Here For More

Australian Military Hides Truth Of 'War On Terror' Casualties

Most Australians Have No Idea Of The Scale Of Violence Our Soldiers Have Experienced In Iraq And Afghanistan

Australian Defence Force chiefs kept secret the death of soldier David Pearce for some 10 hours, according to this story. It's the latest example of a carefully designed program within the defence force, initiated by the Howard government, of information suppression and control, mostly aimed at keeping quiet, for as long as possible, the truth about the violence Australian soldiers are encountering in Iraq and Afghanistan :

...the Afghanistan and Iraq deployments remain among the most secretive ever undertaken by our forces.

The attack in which Trooper Pearce died was the latest in a six-month barrage involving Australian troops in the Oruzgan Province.

About 25 roadside explosions targeting Coalition forces have been recorded there since June.

It is often days before the Australian Defence Force acknowledges such engagements. Some attacks, especially those involving special forces troops, are not spoken of publicly at all.

At least seven times since August the ADF has failed to release details of hostile engagements between Australian soldiers and the enemy until at least two days after the attacks.

The tactic is to invoke an information blackout on the most serious incidents and release minimal information when it has been rigorously vetted by senior officers and bureaucrats.

Australia has suffered four military deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan.

However, the conflicts have also produced more than 50 battlefield injuries and more than a dozen soldiers are believed to have been permanently incapacitated as a result.

Along with the hundreds of veterans now suffering the horrors of what will likely prove to be lifelong post-traumatic stress disorder. Some of those who are being hammered by the early stages of PTSD are as young as 20 years old. Unofficially, divorce rates for Australian 'War on Terror' veterans are soaring, as are incidents of suicide, drug abuse, alcoholism and domestic violence.

By downplaying, controlling and outright censoring the truth of what is happening to Australian soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, the veterans who have returned from those wars are now encountering a public that can barely comprehend what they've gone through.

How are non-military associated Australians expected to know how horrific many of the veterans tours of duty have been when so little of the facts find their way into the Australian media?

The full impact of this kind of censorship and suppression by military chiefs, under the guidance and encouragement of the Howard government, will become clear in the next decade when the long-term effects and impact of PTSD for these veterans become clearer.

As with the veterans of the Vietnam War, the new generation of veterans will eventually be forced to ask for more help and will be faced with a public that doesn't understand, because they don't know, what the scale of the violence they experienced during their deployments done to their lives and their families.

Let's hope the current generation of youth learn how to look after the needs of 'WoT' veterans better than the Baby Boomers did for the veterans of Korea and Vietnam.


UPDATE : The Australian Defence Force is now denying there was a cover-up, or a failure to reveal details with due haste of the death of soldier David Pearce.

Stop Climate Change, Live Like They Did In The 1950s

It's a scary thought. But one that would make John Howard happy. To rein in climate change, we should go back to the lifestyles of the 1950s, which we know Howard regards as the Golden Age of all Australian history. He's been trying to take us back to the '50s since the 1970s.

Kenneth Davidson explains why, in mind-numbing detail, a return to the 1950s could save the world, or something. But here's the key guff :

Living in a 1950s world of energy consumption? Terrifying? Politically impossible? Even for the few million people who might win the lottery to survive at the poles at the end of the century in the disastrous wake of the softer option, it will sure beat the alternative.

A few million at the poles? If all the ice melts there will be room enough up there, and down there, for tens of billions of people. You could fit the entire world's population of today (6.4 billion people) into medium density suburban housing and fit everyone into the state of New South Wales, and still have room enough left over for a few parks. With swings.

Australia may well mostly be on its way to becoming one massive desert by the time monumental migration to the south and north poles takes place, but then we can always come back to Australia when the climate changes again.

In a few centuries.

Anti-War 'Lefties' Fail To Live Up To Soldier-Hating Cliches

Tim Blair Forced To Trawl Blog Comments To Nail 'Peaceniks'

You can easily detect the tollings of disappointment in Tim Blair's post on reactions to the death of Australian soldier, David Pearce.

No doubt Blair was all geared up to do a nice big fat post for his fans highlighting all those 'Evil 'Lefty' bloggers and columnists who saw fit to use the tragedy of Pearce's death in Afghanistan to spew anti-Howard and anti-soldier hatred.

But even though he left it almost a full day, Blair was unable to find even one Australian 'lefty' blogger who was ragging on the troops, or spilling anti-war rhetoric, to quote from in his long post.

Not one.

So what did Blair do?

He was forced to trawl through hundreds of comments from an online media site, so he could scrape together a measly 14 or so comments that fitted his pre-planned post, which he then titled :

Leftist Peacenik Sampler

But Blair couldn't go to grim 'Lefty' media hangouts like The Sydney Morning Herald or the Melbourne Age, to round up the 14 or so comments he knew would set his mostly right-wing American readers aflaming. He was forced to find them on the main portal site, news.com.au, for the tabloid newspaper he works for, The Daily Telegraph.

And how did Blair know those 14 or so News Limited media reading commenters were 'Leftist Peaceniks'?

Since when did Murdoch's media demand to know political affiliation for people wanting to comment on news stories on Murdoch media sites?

Since never.

But Blair knew he had to deliver a big fat post on his blog full of examples of vile Australian 'Lefty' soldier hate for his readers, or they'd be so disappointed. Not only disappointed, but they might start believing the very obvious truth that the vast majority of all Australians, whether they vote for John Howard or not, hold absolutely no animosity at all for soldiers who have gone to war, mostly because so many Australian families have long histories marked and punctuated by the tragedy of traumatised war veterans who were unable to explain what had happened to them.

Trawling comments and then quoting them is a standard tactic of Blair's American right-wing blogging and conservative media allies. Read through enough comments and you will be guaranteed to find people spilling the kind of bile you can use to make whatever pathetic point you want. And it's so much more dramatic, and downright grim, when you use this technique for blog posts on the deaths of soldiers, less than 24 hours after the tragedy has occurred.

You're a sad man, Blair, and you're trying to create an atmosphere of division and hate that doesn't actually exist in any large or even noticeable way in our society, outside of the media. Outside of blogs like your own.

But if your intention is to waste your excellent writing talents on becoming the next Piers Akerman or Andrew Bolt, then congratulations are due : you've just proved you're already there.

Global Warming's Forced Vegetarianism Conspiracy Exposed

As the Herald Sun's Andrew Bolt has repeatedly warned us, the threat of global warming is just one big Leftoid conspiracy to turn Australia into a nation of hair shirt wearing, bicycle-riding, lentil consuming, sun worshipping hippie delusionists, living in perpetual darkness while begging for salvation in front of home shrines to Bob Brown and Tim Flannery.

And now here's further proof - an article in the Sydney Morning Herald (!!!) that reveals how Australia will be forced to cut back on pollution in the decades ahead, thereby cutting greenhouse emissions.

But amongst all the crazed extremist talk of using less electricity, increasing energy use efficiency, and reducing the kinds of pollution that retard children's brains, there is this landmine of totalitarianistic social change that threatens to undermine the very fabric of Australia's meat-eating heritage :

AUSTRALIA could cut its greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 30 per cent by 2020 without relying on clean-coal technology or nuclear energy, but it might have to sacrifice its aluminium sector and produce less beef, says a new analysis of the country's emissions.

To achieve the 30 per cent cut, more controversial measures such as...a 20 per cent cut in beef production to reduce the effect of methane from cattle (will be needed).

Man the barbecues, arm yourselves with tongs, guard your sirloins.

We look forward to more on this shocking conspiracy aimed at forcing Australians into becoming a nation of veggie crunching, water saving, clean air breathing, solar power using Flannery worshippers from the always reliable Andrew Bolt, Rupert Murdoch's anti-global warming alarmism alarmist.

It's refreshing to know that the likes of Bolt's Herald Sun, and its parent media portal, news.com.au, will never get caught up in promoting the Great Global Warming Leftoid Conspiracy like the SMH.

Remember, first they come for your V8s, then they come for your plasma wall screen TVs, then they come for your steak sandwiches.

Australian Soldier Killed By IED Attack In Afghanistan


Australians on patrol in Afghanistan

Update : The soldier who was killed yesterday in Afghanistan was David Pearce, 41. He leaves behind a wife and two children.

Defence Minister Brendan Nelson waited only hours after the official announcement of the soldier's death to begin politicising the tragedy, by kicking off the 'Blame Iran' campaign, though Nelson admitted he has no proof the IED that killed Pearce comes from Iran.


Yesterday, an IED tore through an Australian patrol in the southern Oruzgan province in Afghanistan killing one Australian soldier, wounding another, and injuring three local children.

The injured soldier was airlifted to a medical base and was reported to have serious injuries, though they are not believed to be life-threatening.

The death of the soldier marks the first combat-related fatality for Australia in Afghanistan or Iraq during the 'War on Terror', as a direct result of enemy action.

Hopefully both sides of politics will be able to refrain from seeking political capital from the death of this soldier, but don't bet on it.

If anything, the death of the soldier, and the blanket media coverage that the arrival of his body back home will generate, along with the politician-heavy funeral and memorial service, is bound to ramp up the ferocity of debate here over the future role of Australian troops in the 'War on Terror'.

The Labor Party is currently planning to withdraw most of the combat troops from Iraq in 2008, should it win office, but leader Kevin Rudd recently committed to an ongoing deployment of troops to Afghanistan.

Some 1000 Australian soldiers are based at Camp Holland, in the Oruzgan province, according to ABC News.

More than 50% of Australians now oppose Australia's involvement in military action in Afghanistan.

Presumably the Taliban are well aware there is a federal election drawing near in Australia. The death of the soldier is likely to return Australia's involvement in the 'War on Terror' to the top rung of the pre-election campaign issues.

Australian troops have endured massive fighting against the Taliban in recent months, killing dozens of militants. More than six Australian soldiers have been injured since June in gunfights with the Taliban.

The fatal IED attack yesterday has been reported have specifically targeted Australian troops.

The Taliban would clearly know who the Australians are, and what their uniforms and vehicles look like.

Calm Down, Grandpa



Image from Crikey's excellent coverage Election 2007.


Definitely one of the creepiest images from the 2007 federal election 'non-campaign'.

So far.

Busy 'Killing Sydney'

Last week I did an interview by e-mail with Gary Kemble from the ABC's Articulate blog, on the the reasons why novelists publishing their work online, for free, will mean a brighter, far more exciting future for writers and the book publishing industry. An industry that is seriously in the doldrums right now, and in dire need of a revolution. $37 or more for a paperback novel in Sydney bookshops? No wonder so many first-time novelists never get a chance to find an audience.

There's also plenty of rambling in the interview about the online serialized novel ED Day, what it's been like to write a novel and publish each chapter online as soon as it's written, and where the story might be now heading.

A quick thanks to the readers here who've been sending links from the ED Day blog to their friends, both here and overseas, vastly expanding the audience. The readership of the novel has already grown beyond all my expectations and is now nudging 4200, in 19 countries. So thanks again.

Go Here To Read The Articulate Interview

“We’re going to tear up all these streets one day,” Johnny said, out of the blue. “We’re gonna give the city back to nature.”

He explained how we could reintroduce mangroves around the edges of the harbour, to draw in fish and bird life, and how four block wide corridors could one day be bulldozed through the city, “to give the competition some room to breathe.”


Go Here For More

Tony Abbott : What A Scumbag

Health Minister Tony Abbott must have been very displeased to have recently learned he is one of the most unpopular senior politicians in Australia. Yesterday he set out to ramp up his unpopularity even further, by launching a foul, insidious attack on the woman who is set to become Australia's deputy prime minister, Julia Gillard.

Tony Abbott told the Sydney Daily Telegraph :

"It would be a lot easier for her to realise her ambition if there was evidence of a broader lifetime experience."

"The average person would look askance at such a political animal," he said.

"The thing about (Ms) Gillard is that she is very bright, just uber-professional and a formidable debater," Mr Abbott said.

"It's very hard to be a leader in a democratic society if your life has been consumed by the job."

Incredible stuff coming from Australia's most vicious political animal himself. A man obsessed with his own power and image, who still appears morosely uncomfortable in the presence of female politicians, and someone who was, and remains, so determined to fulfill his role as the 'executioner' of Australian federal politics that he once teamed up with 'the enemy' to destroy the rise of a popular and viable third party choice, that being the 'peoples' movement' of Pauline Hanson.

Abbott's attack is yet another sign of the panic now eating away at the front bench of the federal government, as they try to deal with the reality that the tide of public opinion has finally turned against them, and they will soon be thrown out of power.

But Abbott's attacks on Gillard are all the more bizarre because it was his own government that transformed the lives of millions of Australian families by forcing through the reality of 'working families', where mothers are encouraged to park their children in childcare before they can even walk, so they can 'embrace' the opportunities of our so-called 'economic miracle' by taking jobs they didn't necessarily want, or even need.

It was Abbott's government that launched a psychological war on Australian women, through propaganda and mind-numbing TV ads, that created the mindset that any mother who stayed home to look after the children was somehow less than worthy, was not pulling her weight, or was refusing to actively engage in Australian society.

Julia Gillard, who now enjoys some of the highest poll numbers for any Australian female politician in history, responded to Abbott's vile attempt at character assassination :

She responded by questioning whether Mr Abbott could have succeeded in politics if not for the fact that his wife had brought up their children while he pursued his career.

"Could Tony Abbott have been at the same stage of his political career if he'd been the mother of his three children, rather than the father of them?" she said.

And she predicted her rise to the top in the Labor Party will pave the way for other single women - and men - to enter parliament as part of a "diversification" of politics.

In the latest sign the election will become a brutal war of words, Mr Abbott said voters were seeking a "bit more humanity" from their political leaders.

If Abbott means his kind of "humanity" then he truly has lost the plot.

Abbott, naturally, then tried to withdraw his remarks. But he meant every word he said. Of course he did. He just thought that he could get his attacks into the papers, and into the headlines, and that a day or so would pass before Julia Gillard fired back.

It didn't work out that way.

"I should not have said anything that could be construed by anyone as a personal attack on Gillard," Abbott said, when he realised he had monumentally fucked up. Yet again.

Yes, but you did say all that, didn't you Tony? And you meant every word. And now your government will have to pay the political price for it.

Does the Howard government even want to win the election? Sometimes it's hard to believe they do.

Tony Abbott : Voting Against The Howard Government Could Result In "Very Dire Consequences"

Feeding Howard Into The Mill

In February, Kevin Rudd promised that he would mess with John Howard's mind, and then grinned. The mind-messing continues into its ninth straight month, and Howard is cracking.

Witness the fiasco surrounding the new $2 billion pulp mill in Tasmania's Tamar Valley. Rudd and Labor refused to say whether they would back the pulp mill until "the science" was in. The "science" being a report that would reveal if the pulp mill would become an environmental catastrophe.

This move by Labor all but forced Environment minister Malcolm Turnbull into following through on his pledge to make sure the mill would meet "world's standard" measure on not polluting the surrounding waters and otherwise fairly pristine environment.

The science comes in, Turnbull holds off on releasing the report, enduring a monumental bollocking in the media from an orchestrated campaign by anti-mill activists, centred around Turnbull's NSW seat, that the Liberals were unable to blame on Labor.

Turnbull then announces, yesterday, that the mill will go ahead, and Howard is like a bull at a gate, unable to contain his glee, all but certain that Labor will have no choice but to oppose the mill, or to try and delay committing to backing its construction.

After all, if a Tasmanian pulp mill can throw into chaos the likelihood of Turnbull retaining his local seat at the coming election, then surely, surely, there had to be some negative fall out for Labor?

No such luck.

Howard cut loose yesterday morning, claiming Labor was playing "chicken politics" with the pulp mill issue. But Howard was in meltdown mode. He was jumpy, hyper, almost manic. He looked like someone had dropped a bad E in his morning coffee. Some media reported the below quotes as being "thundered" by Howard :

"I mean it’s playing chicken politics to just criticise a process. I mean they’ve got the decision, we’ve taken the decision, we didn’t put it off, we didn’t defer it because it was a bit difficult.

“I would say to Mr Rudd and Mr Garrett, do you support the decision or do you oppose it?

“I mean are they for it or against it? Do they agree with the mill, subject to the stringent environmental requirements, or do they oppose it? Do they want jobs for northern Tasmanians or don’t they?”

All but minutes later, Labor's captain conservationist, Peter Garrett, calmly, firmly, announced the Labor position on the pulp mill's future :

“A Rudd Labor government would not seek to overturn or amend the decision by Mr Turnbull.”

Slam dunk.

The controversial pulp mill decision is now owned by the Howard government. And the media is champing to turn it into the big environmental issue of the election campaign. Another 'Save The Franklin River' adventure. They'll probably make it an enormous deal, even if most Australians aren't interested, if only so they can go and hang out in beautiful forests in quiet, calm Tasmania and laugh it up with the Greens.

Howard is well spooked by Rudd now. Veteran political commentators and Liberal Party staffers are stunned at how nothing sticks to Rudd, and how he somehow keeps managing to pass the most controversial of election issues right back to Howard to deal with.

The head messing continues. The tally of success for Rudd is long, near faultless and worthy of some pride.

Even people who don't want to see Howard lose are caught up in the entertainment of watching the King being bested, again and again, by some blow-in from the provinces.

Rudd seems largely unfazed by anything, and is relentlessly moving through a drip-feed series of policy announcements, most of which appear to be welcomed by the majority of Australians, as though he already is prime minister. He doesn't seem to be so much fighting against Howard, as flicking him away like an annoying fly that keeps buzzing back.

All of which leaves Howard scrambling for relevance and ramping up his 'I'm A Nice Guy!' routine to such levels of near-absurdity that it now appears he has been replaced by one of his own comedic impersonators.

It's great that Howard gets out in his local community, hanging at fetes, and rolling up his sleeves to spin the chocolate wheel. People seem to genuinely enjoy seeing their prime minister having fun in such non-official situations.

But more and more it feels as though we are watching videotapes sent back from five to eight years in the future, when a long gone, and somewhat forgotten ex-prime minister is taking whatever public appearance gigs he gets offered. Even if it's calling the meat tray, or spinning the wheel, with a blinding grin, at the local school fete.

Key Howard Ally Ramps Up The Fear Factor On New 'Asian Invasion'

Liberal senator Bill Heffernan is looking decades into the future with his talk of a new climate change driven 'Asian Invasion' and proposes the mass development of underpopulated northern Australia as a mechanism to deal with the problem :

"Without being alarmist, it would be better for us to do it than letting someone else," he told the (Bulletin) magazine.

"We're not talking tomorrow, but in 50 to 80 years time. If there are 400 million people who have run out of water – Bangladesh or Indonesia – well, you've got to have a plan."

Senator Heffernan said northern Australia was a soft entry point in security terms.

"If we go to the level of climate change that science is predicting, where you're going to have 50 per cent of the world's population water-poor and you're going to have the Arctic melt and rising seas, it will be a very attractive proposition."

Heffernan's comments follow the warnings raised by federal police commissioner Mick Keelty, who said climate change posed the most important and looming national threat to Australia's security, a threat worse than international or regional terrorism.

Keelty's claims were hosed down by defence minister, Brendan Nelson, who wants the Terror Threat to remain at the forefront of Australians minds when it comes to the things they should fear.

John Howard, at first, said that the threat of terror was also much worse than the climate change induced mass migration scenario posed by Keelty, before being advised by his staffers that recent polls showed Australians were far more concerned with climate change than terror. Howard quickly rejigged his message to say that both terrorism and climate change posed "equal threats'.

It will be interesting to see if Howard finds a way to use the reality of climate change and the new 'Asian Invasion' scenario now being popularised by his close friend Bill Heffernan to go after the Rudd opposition. Perhaps he will claim that Rudd Labor is "soft" on dealing with the threats of mass migration that "will possibly result" from climate change?

Presumably Howard will steer clear of associating himself with a new fear campaign based around a climate change induced 'Asian Invasion', while refusing to rein in the likes of Heffernan, and other Liberal Party bulldogs who can be expected to capitalise on Heffernan's start.

Tying the reality of climate change to the bedrock century old popular Australian fear of being swamped by an 'invasion' of illegal Asian immigrants, and then claiming that Labor would do nothing to stop such an 'invasion', just might be the new Tampa-style fear and smear election issue the Howard government has been looking for.

Andrew Bolt Outraged By Media 'Hyping' Of Climate Change Threats

Except When His Own Newspaper Is Doing It

Andrew Bolt is outraged, outraged dammit, by the ceaseless hyping from the Australian media when it comes to reports on how climate change will effect Australia's future, and the dire warnings of coming climate chaos extrapolated from scientific studies. Why can't they restrain themselves from all those doom and gloom headlines?

But does he tell ever you that his own newspaper, the Herald Sun, and its Rupert Murdoch-owned parent company News.com.au is the biggest Australian campaigner and promoter of climate change fear and paranoia?

Of course not.

Bolt is always so very, very vague now on just who is 'hyping' climate change in the Australian media. He used to attack the ABC and Fairfax newspapers for 'hyping' the effects of climate change. That is, until Rupert Murdoch became the world's biggest promoter of raising awareness of "the clear, catastrophic threat" posed by global warming and climate change, and promised to "weave" the issue into the content of his media empire.

Yesterday Bolt headlined a blog post with this :

Even More Panic Over CSIRO's Less Scary News

He clearly means panic in the media in the reporting of the CSIRO's findings on how Australia is likely to be effected by climate change in the coming decades.

Bolt then writes :

Some old stuff, but the usual scary headlines follow, like this:

CSIRO warns of climate chaos

According to Google News, the only newspapers and media sites in Australia who used that 'scary' headline were Bolt's own newspaper, The Herald Sun, the sister Sydney newspaper, The Daily Telegraph and the main portal for Murdoch's Australian media sites, News.com.au.

Most non-Murdoch newspapers and media outlets used far more restrained headlines. But don't look to Andrew Bolt to tell you that fact.

News Limited's Brisbane paper, the Courier Mail went with this far more dramatic headline :

Aussie Climate In Hot Water

And Murdoch's Adelaide Advertiser served up :

Climate Chaos Warning

Not one of the numerous stories carried by Murdoch newspapers and websites, including the Herald Sun, followed Bolt's usual demands that "alternative views" be included in media reports on climate change to provide balance on the 'reality' of climate change, or if humans are really responsible for global warming.

Literally dozens of stories were published, without "alternative views", on the News Limited newspaper and website network. Bolt didn't even notice. Surely he can't be that ignorant?


"I've Done My Dash" - Andrew Bolt Admits Defeat On Global Warming

Bolt : "We All Love A Good Conspiracy"

The Changing Climate Of Andrew Bolt

Back In The Gutter Where He Belongs

Australia Pulls Support For US Military Action On Iran

Downer Signs Up To The Coalition Of The Unwilling

Australian troops and special forces will not join the United States in proposed military action on Iran, according to foreign minister Alexander Downer.

Of course, this is Downer speaking. Australian special forces may already be operating inside Iran, along with US troops, conducting sabotage and espionage operations, and paying off military units not to fight if the US goes to war, as they are widely alleged to have done in the months before the Iraq War officially began in March 2003.

The point is, if Australian troops were already engaged in such operations with the United States inside Iran, Downer's hardly going to admit it. Certainly not in the lead-up to an election.

Still, it's a substantial show of official non-support from Australia for the "all options (including nuclear attack) are still on the table" aggressive creed when it comes to Iran, from President Bush and the NeoCons.

From ABC News :

Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer has ruled out Australian involvement in any United States-led military action in Iran.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh has been writing about the possibility of a US strike on Iran for the past 18 months.

Mr Hersh says US President George W Bush is now focusing on getting support from allies, including Australia.

Mr Downer says he does not believe America is planning to invade Iran, but if the US did pursue that path, Australia would not follow.

"We're not planning to get involved with any military action against anybody."

story continues after...
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Go Here To Read ED DAY - Darryl Mason's Online Novel Of Life In Sydney After An Apocalyptic Bird Flu Pandemic Kills Millions

Go Here For The Latest News From 'Your New Reality'


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story continues...


Downer, like prime minister John Howard, must be feeling extremely nervous about all the talk from American NeoCons and Israeli extremists demanding Iran be bombed, and soon. Australia has more than 800 troops and support staff in the south of Iraq.

Iran would be expected to launch retaliatory strikes against US allies in the event of an attack, which would mean Australian forces, relatively close to the Iranian border, would presumably be targets for Iranian military and terrorist strikes.

UPDATE : 'Australia's Next Prime Minister', Labor leader Kevin Rudd, has announced he wants to haul the Iranian president before the International Criminal Court and have him charged for "inciting genocide" :

In a dramatic lift in diplomatic pressure on a bellicose and defiant Iran, Kevin Rudd has committed a Labor government to take "legal proceedings against President Ahmadinejad on a charge of incitement to genocide".

The Leader of the Opposition said the charge of incitement to genocide "could occur through the International Court of Justice on reference by the UN Security Council" because of Mr Ahmadinejad's public statements.

"They refer to statements about wiping Israel off the map, questioning whether Zionists are human beings and the recent abhorrent conference that he convened on the veracity of the Holocaust," Mr Rudd said.

"It is strongly arguable that this conduct amounts to incitement to genocide, criminalised under the 1948 genocide convention."

Rudd also said a Labor government would not support the use of military force on Iran, but would support further sanctions, and that diplomacy was the best way to deal with the issue of Iran's "nuclear ambitions".

Getting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad before the ICC on a charge of "inciting genocide" is never going to happen, and Rudd knows it. Despite the constant attribution of the quote "wipe Israel off the map" to the Iranian president, by supposedly accurate, fact-checking media like the Washington Post and the New York Times, Ahmadinejad never actually said those words.

Ahmadinejad did say he wants to see the "Zionist regime" of Israel deposed or "wiped away", which is no less inflammatory than the recent run of American NeoCons who've repeatedly stated they want to see the Iranian president's regime overthrown, violently if necessary, or the nation bombed at the minimum.


Demented NeoCon Fantasises About Days When US Violently Overthrew Democratic Governments - Dreams Of Deposing Iranian President

Gruesome Bush Aide Tells British MP : "I Hate All Iranians"

Dear Mr President, Please Bomb Iran, America Needs To Feel Proud Again

Cheney Wanted Israel To Bomb Iran, To Provoke Iran Into Retaliating So US Could Hit Iran

John Pilger On APEC : Sydney Was Under "Martial Law"


Riot squad masses in central Sydney for the APEC "violent riots" that didn't happen, mostly due to the intervention of peaceful protesters, who surrounded ski-masked 'anarchists' and refused to allow them to join the main rally, even after police demanded "they have the right to march".


Journalist and film-maker John Pilger has a message for the 8000-10,000 people who marched against the globally destabilising war policies of President Bush in Sydney during the recent APEC summit :

“You people stood up to the worst kind of power...We often think of the worst kind of power as something we see in other countries. But the worst kind of power was expressed recently at APEC. The day I arrived in Sydney was the last day of what was effectively martial law in the city I grew up in …

“But the people who stood up to this virtual martial law, imposed upon us, were you people. In London, it was great to see Alex Bainbridge, who is now an international star, on the news. People were shaking their heads and asking: What the hell is going on in Sydney? They built a fence through the city, you can’t go through the city, you cannot get to the Opera House but there were people who were protesting and resisting this. And resisting this bravely … "

More on the anti-Bush protests during the APEC summit, and the incredible show of police force on the day of the marches, can be found here :

Sydney's Promised 'Violent Riot" Protest Descends Into Shocking Peace

Police Violence Shatters Peace Of Sydney Anti-Bush Rally : "That's The Way We Do Business Now"

Prime Minister Declares Police Tactics Of Violence And Intimidation Against Peaceful Protesters "Worked Brilliantly"


Later this week, hopefully, we'll have our photo essay - Did This Protester Stop The Promised "Violent Riots" During Sydney Anti-Bush March? - up on this blog.

Some Of The Most Nutritious Food In The World Is Right In Our Own Backyards, So Why Aren't We Eating It?


Bush tomato grows near Uluru

The drought-led destruction of Australian farming may hopefully force a rethink on how we view the incredible variety of "bush foods" that grow wild across our scrublands and deserts and jungles and have kept Aboriginal people alive, and healthy, for more than 60,000 years.

If you've never marinated a steak in bush tomato and lemon myrtle before throwing it on the barbecue, you have no idea what you're missing out on. An explosion of so many new flavour sensations you will be left mind-boggled as to why these herbs and fruits are not for sale in every supermarket in the country.

Australians have embraced just every kind of "ethnic" food in the world, but most of us would still turn our noses up at the herbs, fruits and meat that are found across our wide brown lands.

Maybe we just need to hear more about the new recipes that chefs, across the world, are experimenting with and embracing. Like these :

...turtle broth, dugong steaks with bush fruits, pan-fried magpie goose breast with a bush peach glaze, chargrilled crocodile tail with bush tomato chutney, bush-meat pie with kangaroo, bush-turkey and emu, goanna and vegetable stew, waterlily salad with red claw yabbies, kangaroo bourgignon and wattle seeds pancakes with sugarbag caramel.

A nationwide rethink on the food we eat and grow would create new farming industries across the country, and provide much-needed jobs and income to isolated Aboriginal communities.

A fascinating story on all this :

Steve Sunk, a senior lecturer in hospitality and cookery at Charles Darwin University, is showing (Aboriginal people) innovative ways to cook the animals they traditionally hunt, and their wild fruit and vegetables.

He started his courses because he was concerned about health problems caused to a large extent by poor diet. Indigenous people suffer from high rates of diabetes, obesity, renal failure and heart disease.

Their traditional diet was healthy, combining low-fat meat (kangaroo, emu, crocodile, goanna) with a wide variety of fruit and vegetables: bush tomatoes, water lilies, wild limes, yams, quandongs (native peach), Kakadu plums and wild spinach, to name but a few.

After white settlement, though, Aborigines abandoned their nomadic lifestyle. Forced to live on missions and reserves, they stripped the surrounding vegetation. They were also introduced to Western processed food, and nowadays many of them live off fried chicken and potato chips, washed down with Coke and other sugary drinks.

Mr Sunk wants indigenous people to return to their millennia-old supermarket: the desert, the rivers, the sea. To encourage that, he shows them how to cook their traditional produce more creatively and healthily.

While Mr Sunk spreads the message in Aboriginal communities, mainstream Australia is belatedly waking up to the rich flavours – and nutritional value – of "bush tucker". The Kakadu plum contains five times the volume of antioxidants found in blueberries, well known for their antioxidant qualities.

Other wild fruit and vegetables have been found to have extraordinary qualities. A government study published last month found that fruits such as brush cherries, finger limes and riberries are a rich source of phytochemicals, which help protect against disease and ageing.

While Australians pride themselves on their adventurous palates, and their multicultural dining scene, they have always resisted eating the produce of their own backyards. For many people, bush tucker evoked visions of squirming witchetty grubs – fat white insects found in the desert, which Mr Sunk swears are delectable fried in garlic butter. Previous attempts to popularise bush cuisine, particularly in the late 1980s and early 1990s, were unsuccessful.

Public perceptions are now changing, thanks to new restaurants devoted to "native Australian food", as bush tucker has been rebranded, and the appearance of products such as bush tomato chutney and lemon myrtle-infused fruit juice on supermarket shelves.

Tjanabi, an Aboriginal-owned restaurant in Melbourne, features starters such as tempura battered crocodile on its menu, and main courses that include emu fillet wrapped in proscuitto on a saltbush and potato tart with a red wine and quandong peach sauce.

However, mainstream chefs are increasingly using native ingredients such as wild lime and river mint. They are adding saltbush to their olive tapenades, garnishing meat with lilly pilly berries, and serving fish and chips with lemon myrtle mayonnaise. Ice cream made with wattle seed – a nutty, coffee-flavoured berry – is popular.

The trend is benefiting Aboriginal communities, where people are employed or paid to supply specialist companies, supermarkets and restaurants. It might be on a small scale, with enterprising individuals digging under acacia trees for witchetty grubs, or using their knowledge of local geography and the seasons to hunt out bush tomatoes. Or it might be on a larger scale, with thriving businesses engaged in growing and harvesting ingredients whose popularity is soaring. Lemon myrtle, wattle seed and quandongs are among the products now being grown on big plantations. Mr Christie's business partner, Vic Cherikoff, sources Kakadu plums from a plantation in the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia, run by a company uniting five communities. Such enterprises give indigenous people a degree of economic independence, while enabling them to retain their connection with the land. Some have called this serendipitous meeting of demand and supply "edible reconciliation".

At Nauiyu, the former Daly River Mission, children are eating fruit and yoghurt instead of salty, high-fat snacks. They drink watered-down fruit juices; Coke and lemonade are just an occasional treat. The health kick has extended beyond food. Children at Miriam Bauman's school regularly take long walks, and enjoy exercise classes.

Ms Bauman says: "It makes the kids feel important too. It reinforces the culture. We still have all the skills and knowledge surrounding bush food. We just have to start using them again."

And on a national scale, and soon. There's not much time left. The Howard government-led "intervention" into Aboriginal communities is starting to sound like a deal has been done to allow the largest supermarket chains to move into once closed off communities and stock the shelves of the local stores with their own products, presumably more junk food and ultra-processed rubbish, when it is clear that "bush foods" will provide more nutrition and income to Aboriginal communities.

We need to embrace the bounty of amazing food our own bush produces, and teach the next generations that "bush tucker" means a whole lot more than eating raw witchery grubs and throwing a snake into the coals of a fire.

Diners in top restaurants in New York City, London, Paris, Beijing, Shanghai and Dubai know all about the incredible variety of new flavours to be found in the Australian bush.

So why don't we?