But I’m also getting frustrated and upset when things don’t work the way they should.

I’m not talking about delays and cancellations, fares and ticketing, stop-spacing and timetabling, or even overcrowding. What I’m getting most frustrated about in Melbourne at the moment is this strange problem the Victorian government has where they seem to think they can outsource their problems.

If you missed the lead story in Melbourne’s news today, check out the latest article in The Age. Every single electrified train line in the Melbourne network (which is every single line bar one) had multiple cancellations, and delays upwards of 60 minutes, throughout the morning peak this morning. It cost an estimated $12 million in lost productivity and directly cost Melbourne’s train operator, Metro, $1 million in government fines (and possibly more with the cost-sharing of a free-public-transport day this Friday).

Seems fair – the city’s trains grind to a halt, and everyone takes their cars into work causing doubling of peak-hour road travel times which in turn blows out tram and bus timetables. It was a pretty tough morning if you needed to get anywhere and don’t happen to own a pair of wings.

Yes, it seems fair to blame and fine the train operator. Except the problem started with electrical wiring at 4:55am this morning near Southern Cross Station, one of the city’s busiest. As a train with 20 passengers on board traveled underneath, the wire overhead suddenly snapped, failed, or got tangled – depending on which news report you read – and took out all power bar emergency lighting at the Southern Cross station. Because no trains could then travel through Southern Cross (which all trains on the Melbourne metropolitan train network must), a bank-up of trains started and steadily grew, right into peak hour when power was finally restored. However, it was already too late – services had been cancelled and delayed and there were too many services to run and not enough time to run them in. The problems extended right through peak hour and continued until late morning.

So, whose fault was it?

Well, the exact details are scarce, and I hope we’ll see more in tomorrow’s papers. But if you ask the government, it’s Metro’s fault, and if you ask Metro, well, they’re apologising, then saying they’re sorry, then apologising again.

The maintenance of all electrified track in Melbourne is the responsibility of Metro. But they only took over the contract to manage and operate Melbourne’s train network at the start of December last year, after warning in their management tender that “many of the older track components are in a condition which does not provide the level of reliability and ride quality that is required by a modern metro system” (according to a Herald Sun article from earlier this year). Metro have now had control of Melbourne’s 16 train lines – made up of 200 stations and 830km of railway track – for less than 8 months, in which time they’ve been continuously held to account by the government to run on-time services for 20 hours every day. They’ve done a good job, but due to equipment faults, unruly passengers and “police requests”, they haven’t yet met targets on an out-of-date, inherited system that has been mismanaged – and likely underfunded – for decades.

But it’s still Metro’s fault. It’s their branding on the train, so even though they’re not in control of these problems which have plagued the Melbourne train network for years before they won the contract to manage it, the government can take the convenience of outsourcing the problems as well as the management (and fining Metro when it’s not all magically fixed).

Am I missing something really huge, or does this state government deserve no votes on the 27th November?

The events of the momentous day were evident everywhere. One of my bosses, who gets a headache when he hears anything of politics, said today that not only would he ‘allow’ us to talk about the leadership change, but that we ‘must’ talk about it. I spent the first part of the morning watching Twitter – and Twitter only – on my iPhone in order to feed updated information to one of my other bosses – Clayton Bjelan – who anchors the weekday morning shift on LightFM. And when I got home and watched the news, my housemates joined in for the first half of the bulletin (which is unusual).

With each new person I saw today, the first thing said was something to do with the leadership spill – that is, after the first pause while both of us had to work out how to start the conversation without asking the painfully obvious “So, did you hear what happened to Rudd?”

The change of a prime minister is huge, so of course it has to be talked about by political tragics and phobics alike. But the way it happened was an even bigger event. Here’s some of my thoughts.

Today’s machinations have ultimately cheapened the office of Prime Minister

That’s a direct quote from a tweet posted by comedian Daniel Burt tonight. It echos my flabbergasted thoughts exactly, which is why I retweeted it and am quoting it again now. I used to look at the office of Prime Minister as one affording respect, and requiring some sort of longevity. But now, it’s just another political job that can be held by one person one day, and someone else the next (much like an opposition leader).

I don’t know if I could now ever see it the same as I saw it growing up, with the role filled – for a very long time – by John Howard.

Social media is a news breaker

I probably say this too much, but social media (especially Twitter) was amazing throughout this whole episode. Twitter broke last night’s news to me, and kept me updated throughout the day, particularly when I had to be in a meeting during all three of the leader’s press conferences (Rudd, Gillard, and Abbott).

Given that prominent journalists also tweet regularly (I mainly follow Latika Bourke & Malcolm Farnsworth), Twitter breaks news (and takes you right to the source) before any other media can (even with live TV, it’s only a couple of seconds behind AND provides live commentary too).

Oh, and today’s newspapers were out of date and useless by about 9:15am.

24 hours is a long time in politics

Forget ‘a week’. Like I said, if you didn’t watch the news after 6:30pm last night, 24 hours was a very long time for you today.

I find the political definition of loyalty chilling

That, was tweeted by Simon Thomsen tonight. And again, it echoes what I couldn’t have said any better myself. This morning, one news report said that Wayne Swan’s loyalty was with Kevin Rudd, but that he’d now moved his loyalty to Julia Gillard. Uh-huh. Some loyalty.

The time of adjustment and the stages of grief

Once I had a look at pm.gov.au and saw the maintenance page, that was when it home to me. We just changed prime ministers. Again. For just the 3rd time in my living memory (and 4th since I was born). And with that comes an adjustment time – of learning to associate the title ‘prime minister’ with the new person, and of learning to respect – and respond to the leadership of – the person in the role.

And today I found myself going through some of the stages of grief. Even though I really didn’t like Kevin Rudd at first, I did really warm to him as a person. Despite disagreeing with probably a majority of his policies, I still had a respect for him and especially for his leadership capability, and for his down-to-earth nature on the rare moments that he allowed it to show through the usual Ruddbott. I liked him. I looked up to him. Today, I was in disbelief, denial, and anger, and am now probably just edging closer to some sort of acceptance.

I had to stop and reflect quietly after glimpsing Kevin Rudd sitting on the backbench in Question Time this afternoon.

I like Julia Gillard even less than I first liked Kevin Rudd

Which, as I said, wasn’t much at all – at first. Seeing Julia Gillard on the 7:30 Report tonight just sickened me. She failed to answer most of Kerry O’Brien’s questions – granted, they were provocative, but they were what we all wanted to know the answer to – and she just turned on the new Gillard robot.

I wasn’t impressed. At a time like this, we want to know the new woman-in-charge is going to be honest with us. She’s our Prime Minister, after all.

And I don’t think I trust her. I find it hard to believe she’s in the job to help people, as she likes to quote.

But I do believe that Rudd’s first concern was for the country, and the stable governance of it, rather than for himself.

I think I’m in the bargaining stage of grief now – bargaining on Rudd’s behalf. If only he had said one or two things differently a few days ago – if only.

Today, Americans go to vote for the person to fill the most powerful office in the world. Much has been said about the Christian vote, and how if Christians are concerned about the direction America is heading they should be voting for John McCain. I’ve been getting many, many e-mails on this topic – from right-wing religious organisations, from concerned Christians, and from other people who thought I might be interested (and I am, but I don’t agree).

If you’ve been reading this blog for a little while you’ll know that I voted here in Australia for the Liberal Party – in both houses – at last year’s federal election and at this year’s ACT Legislative Assembly election (the Liberal Party in Australia being the conservative party).

But for this election – if I was eligible to vote – I would be voting for Barack Obama. Yes, it’s a bit of a shift to the left.

My politics aren’t yet set in stone (I say yet, because as soon as they are, I plan to join an appropriate political party). I still need to do a lot of research on the differences between left and right politics. Many times I find myself in the centre. Sometimes I lean to the right, and sometimes I lean to the left. When I lean, I more often find myself leaning to the right – especially disagreeing with much of what the Labor Party does in Australia based on their industrial relations (unionism) and economic policies.

But to me – and my limited-compared-to-real-political-pundits’-understanding of politics – there is one big issue at the US election:

John McCain is too old, out of touch with where America (and much of the world) wants to head, and has shown very bad judgment in his short-term-political-interest-protecting choosing of Sarah Palin as his running mate.

Barack Obama on the other hand is younger, has some experience, and exudes confidence when he talks. He has surrounded himself with people more experienced than him – such as Joe Biden – and has managed to capture the attention of many, many followers. His leadership begs following, and he is bringing about change which in part is exciting. He also knows how to use e-mail.

But there’s a bigger issue behind all this, which I want to focus on. The e-mails I referred to above have focussed solely on moral issues and the protection of the Christian religion. None of which, I believe, are what we have been Biblically mandated to do.

Let me explain.

One of the e-mails I received the other day started like this:

This is from an attorney in Cincinnati, Ohio. He has a very strong faith in the Lord. Please read this and pray!

Unfortunately this turned me off from the start. Because someone claims to have a strong faith in the Lord, I should trust everything he says? Of course I’m not questioning his faith, but if someone expects me to agree with whatever they say just because they are a Christian, I am probably not going to be agreeing with them.

The e-mail continued:

I have never been one to read things circulated on the Internet, much less write them, so it is with no small reluctance that I do so now. However, the Lord has laid it heavily upon my heart to call His people to a day of prayer and fasting for the upcoming November 4 elections, and this provides an excellent medium to get the word out quickly to a large number of believers.

America stands at a crossroads, not just politically but also spiritually. The current election cycle is nothing less than a battle for the very soul of our country. The discerning among you already know this to be true. The deepening political polarization we have witnessed in the past few elections is merely a symptom of an ever-intensifying spiritual polarization, as the battle lines between the righteous and the wicked are drawn with increasing clarity. The stakes are enormous, whether politically, economically, morally or in terms of our physical security. We are about to step off in a direction that could very well lead to our destruction as a nation — and so many millions are blind to this reality.

As I observe popular attitudes and watch the public opinion polls , my heart grieves for our nation. We have abandoned the principles upon which our nation was founded, principles which in turn were anchored in the person and principles of God. The wicked grow ever more powerful and influential. Once respectable journalistic organizations have degenerated to little more than propaganda organs for the political left. Godly leaders who can rise up in defense of righteousness and our God-given liberties seem nowhere to be found. As a nation, we have cast God out of our thinking. The murder of the unborn is championed in the streets and in the courts. Homosexual “marriage” is trumpeted as a constitutional right and as the sign of a so-called progressive culture. Sexual immorality, drug abuse, violence, idolatry, pornography, and a host of other sins have overtaken us. As a nation we either justify these things or, at a minimum, turn a blind eye to them. And God’s people have certainly not been immune from these things.

Now we stand ready to reap the fruits of our national godlessness. God sometimes judges sin by giving people over to the very things they desire and allowing the natural consequences to play out. Generalizations are often dangerous, but I think it is safe to say that generally the sins I mentioned are associated with the political left. It is my sincere conviction, and I have often said to those who will listen, that the leaders of the American left represent the force of evil in our political arena. Admittedly there are wicked and corrupt people on the right as well, but experience has shown that a conservative political ideology finds its roots, to large extent, in scriptural truth. Consequently, conservative politicians are generally (but certainly not always or completely) aligned with the Word of God. However, as the wicked gain the upper hand in the halls of power, all of us of whatever political leaning will experience the predictable consequences.

So where does that leave us? Current polls indicate that the left is in position to seize decisive control of our entire political system, including all three branches of government. They stand to take the White House , both houses of Congress and, by inevitable extension, the courts as well. If that happens, they will take the country hard to the left in a way from which I do not believe we will ever recover. Socialism, moral libertinism, contempt for the sanctity of life, and increasing efforts to stifle political dissent (and I would add, to silence biblically based “hate speech”) are sure to follow in short order. If God severely judged Israel for her wickedness, who are we to expect differently?

“If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

What can we do to prevent the unmaking of America from happening right before ou r eyes?

We can call upon the name of the Lord, who is rich in mercy and mighty to deliver His people. We can pray along with the psalmist that the designs of the wicked and the oppressors would be thwarted by the hand of God . We can pray that God would lift the evident blindness that has gripped our nation, and that He would grant widespread repentance. We can pray that only the most godly men and women would be elected to lead this nation, and that they would lead in righteousness. We can pray that such righteousness would again exalt our nation as we return to the Lord in humility and repentance. We can pray that, regardless of what happens on November 4, the people of God will manifest “the swe et aroma of the knowledge of Christ” in ever increasing measure.

To that end, I am asking every believer in Jesus Christ to set aside Monday, November 3 as a day of fasting and prayer . I would urge you to review the prayer of Daniel on behalf of his people in Dan. 9:3-19, and to pray that way for our nation. And finally, I would ask you to distribute this call to prayer as widely as possible so that the greatest number of people would lay hold of the throne of grace all at once. It may be that God will show mercy to America, that He will shed His grace on her once again. Thank you for joining with me in this effort.

D. Johnson

That was the e-mail in its entirety. I have hundreds of problems with it, but I’ll highlight a few.

The first one is that this attorney – and alot of the religious right – seems to be missing the safe and comfortable Christianity that America was founded on (Australia also). Well, the world is going left, and by standing our ground as Christians way over on the right, we’re not exactly going to achieve much. Complaining that the wicked are too powerful doesn’t do a thing (evil triumphs when good men do nothing), apart from engendering an even greater dislike in the world for Christians – and through it, Jesus Christ.

The e-mail mentions that “godly leaders are nowhere to be found”. I probably don’t agree with his definition of “godly” in this sense, but in the sense he’s referring to, they’re probably nowhere to be found because they’re all writing e-mails like this and holding prayer vigils. I’ve mentioned before a great quote I saw somewhere: “Pray like it depends on God, but act like it depends on you.” What is this guy – and the others who are writing these e-mails – doing to actually bring about change? There’s no point standing up and saying “it should be this way instead”. You have to gain respect before you gain the right to influence.

By the way, in this e-mail, mention is made of the Democrats standing for drug abuse and violence – among other sins. Huh? No powerful political party in the western world is for the increase of either!

The e-mail also states that the right is generally more aligned with the Word of God. This is the only part of the e-mail that I agree with, but yet I only partly agree with it. Conservative politicians are generally better aligned with the moral side of the gospel, but liberal politicians are generally better aligned with the social side of the gospel (eg. feeding the hungry and looking after the sick). So that means Christians should really be trapped between left and right.

But – what is our Biblical mandate? See the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25:31-46. Or the great commission in Matthew 28:18-20. Remember also that Jesus gave wine to drunk people as his first miracle on Earth (John 2) – uh-oh, where were his morals? Also, consider Paul’s comments in 1 Corinthians 9.

Is our mandate to try to align the world with Christian morals (the agenda of the religious right)? Or is it to get to know the people around us, to meet their physical and spiritual needs, and show them who Jesus Christ really was and still is?

Even though I tend to go missing here sometimes, I know a break of just over four months probably isn’t characteristic of me. But the last four months have probably been the busiest of my work-life up until now. And as you’ll know – if you’ve read any other post on here – I’m a bit of a workaholic.

Suffice to say the busyness isn’t going to be over yet, and it’ll probably be the end of the year before I can settle down, take a look back and review the year gone, and actually process what I’ve learnt and put it into place for next year. I have notes and notes and notes of things I’ve learnt from conferences, discussions with mentors, books I’ve read, and magazines and websites I’ve explored… and I’ve been rushing through at such a fast pace that lots of it hasn’t even been put into practice yet. At least not consciously anyway.

I don’t actually have much to write. No actually, that’s a lie. I could write for ages. But I haven’t been able to sufficiently process everything to know that I want it to be out in cyberspace for ever. I’ve developed a few opinions this year which are probably quite controversial – at least amongst the circles I’ve grown up in. I need to be sure of myself before publicly talking about them.

I did an ego search tonight, and found this blog post. It’s super to know that what I’ve written here has been read and taken in by people. But it still scares me, how much people know about me when I realise they’ve been reading my blog! In that post I’ve linked to, the writer has printed out a copy of my testimony as used to appear on this site. I took it down some time ago now as I wanted to rewrite it to fit in the way I would now express myself – the previous ‘version’ was written several years ago (possibly 2004). It’s nice to know, in a weird sort of way and not through any of my own doing, that what I wrote has still survived online – but it reminds me that I might need to be careful of what I say.

In other news, an ACT election is being held this Saturday. I pre-poll voted so I could volunteer for a party on the day. If you want to know who I voted for, the foundations of my politics haven’t changed all that much since the federal election last year, so look back on my previous posts and you will find out. Given the frequency of my writing this year, they’ll probably be on page two.

I would imagine after four months not many people are regularly checking this site at the moment. But as I always say, I will be back…. soon! One day, in the not too distant future.

I really don’t know all that much about Benazir Bhutto, but after seeing her recent return from self-imposed exile and hearing her talk, I developed an appreciation for her, her pro-democracy stance, and her determination. Although I guess it was almost inevitable, I’m rather disappointed, for lack of a better word, that an assassination attempt against her was successful. It can only mean bad news for Pakistan, and the war on terror.

Other news related to the war on terror today is David Hicks’ release from Yatala Prison in Adelaide (David pictured on right in green shirt; picture from News Limited). He has been taken in a black car to to a ‘secret location’, but with media cars and choppers tracking it I’m sure it won’t be long before that secret location becomes public.

There is a lot of controversy about whether he should now be afforded a private, normal life or whether he should continue to be monitored. Well, I think someone who was so immersed in what he was immersed in, and who believed so strongly in Islamic fundamentalism, doesn’t just suddenly change his mind and want to become a normal citizen. It’d be nice if he did, but honestly, why would he? He met Osama bin Laden at least 20 times and wrote a letter home to his parents saying that Osama was a “lovely brother”. He joined al-Qaeda of his own accord. He became a supporter of the enemy of Australia, the US, the Western world…. in fact, when you think about it, the rest of the world too. And now he’s suddenly decided that he wants to be an Aussie again.

None of us can claim to know what’s really going on inside his mind, but wouldn’t underground terrorist cells in Australia be already trying to get in contact with him? Maybe they won’t be yet because his phone calls are being monitored. But some are calling for this monitoring to be removed because “existing laws and surveillance techniques would suffice” – a view held by the Australian Democrats according to AAP. I’m sure existing laws allow for increased monitoring when it is warranted. I think it’s warranted.

The Democrats are obviously making this a political issue (see the above linked article) but I hope that the Labor government won’t. Just as the previous government made unpopular controversial decisions in order to protect the public (such as Kevin Andrews with Mohammed Haneef), I hope the current government will continue to put the safety of the Australian people above political popularity.

See also: differing opinions on NEWS.com.au with Lou Fortescue and Ray Chesterton – Does Hicks rate a break? – Update 11/01/2008 7:17PM: the article I linked to seems to no longer exist, and is now replaced by a one sided editorial from Natasha Stott Despoja – I can’t find the original anywhere. Pity, as it was a pretty good argument from both sides.

I have discovered tonight that once Windows automatic updates start, I can’t actually stop them. And whilst I can try in vain to terminate wuauclt.exe, it can always just start up again seven seconds later (and it seems to make a habit of it). Furthermore, an audio file that I wanted to post here was actually left on my computer at work so I’m attempting to download it.

This all makes browsing a much more frustrating experience, but I guess it gives me more time during page loads to write! (And I’m writing this in Word, by the way, because my blog’s login screen hasn’t loaded yet).

Oh how I remember the world of broadband. I really had forgotten how slow dialup was. Luckily sharing is turned off now – three guys trying to use the one dialup connection wasn’t fun!

So it has been an interesting few weeks, even apart from the Internet not working. I went up to Sydney for the Heart 1032 open day and learnt a lot about how a capital city commercial-like community station is run, and gathered some ideas and inspiration for things I can do at 1WAY FM. I also met Guy Sebastian. I have a photo, but of course I’ll be here for years if I try to upload it, so I won’t do that right now. I also saw Wendy Mathews, Marcia Hines, and the woman who plays Irene Roberts on Home and Away (I can’t remember her name and Google will take too long to search for it).

I’m going up to Sydney again this weekend (I think it’s my second home… I must be up there at least fifteen or so times a year) for Open House’s Christmas party – yep, I can’t get enough of Heart 1032! Having many more resources, coming naturally from being in a bigger market, there is so much to learn from what they’ve done and are doing. So my brushes with fame continue – I will be meeting Jason Stevens, and probably Darlene Zschech as well (I decided to wait out the time for Google to load to check that I’d spelt that right – turns out I had!).

Back to Canberra, and to completely change topic, there has been some interesting news for the ACT Liberals this week. Leader Bill Stefaniak and his deputy Jacqui Burke both stepped down yesterday morning after a week of turmoil in which one party member launched an attack on the leadership of Mr Stefaniak and ended up being dumped – and became an independent. It’s probably good news all around though – Jacqui Burke told me yesterday that the calm that is evident now within the party has really not been seen for three years. That must mean that they’re in a better position now to win the next ACT election in October. I get the vibe that a lot of Canberra doesn’t like Chief Minister Jon Stanhope, and having young blood in place with Zed Seselja may make the Liberals a viable alternative!

Of course, if I had broadband working, I would post the interview that I did with Jacqui yesterday, but I’m really having too much trouble downloading it from work.

Hmm… if I had broadband working I would also be able to post some audio from the Carols by Candlelight in Jerrabomberra last Saturday evening – 1WAY FM broadcasted live from the event, and I managed to grab an interview with Santa of all people! He has really moderned up this year – he turned up in a fire truck (I think his reindeers were too busy getting ready for Christmas Eve), and he’s lost a lot of weight!! His trick, he told me, is to eat lots of vegetables.

I really could write a lot more but I’ve already spent collectively about an hour on the phone tonight to Internode trying to resolve our ongoing connection problems… and there’s other things I could be doing. So until I manage to brave dialup again, or until our Internet actually gets fixed, au revoir!

But, Australia has decided, and this is what it wants. Howard’s political career is over (prematurely if you ask me) and Costello is going to be an opposition backbencher that we’ll probably never hear from again. That’s how democracy works though, so I’m going to have to accept it!

Right up until the results started coming in last night I was still standing by my earlier prediction that Labor would pick up about 10 seats, 6 or so shy of the amount they needed to easily form government. And it never even entered my mind that John Howard would be defeated in his seat of Bennelong – but now that looks incredibly likely (I will be very surprised if he hangs on to it now, after the 5000 or so postal votes from the seat are counted).

My predictions probably were hampered by wishful thinking. So I turned out to be wrong, and disappointed at the result at the same time!

The biggest issue of this election, aside from the leadership, was undoubtedly WorkChoices. I firmly believe that the attitudes of unions and those who stand by them are uncooperative and unproductive, and it is my dream to see a workplace culture in Australia where each side – both employees and employers – can see the other side’s point of view and can work together for mutually beneficial outcomes. Of course this view comes from the fairly good working life I’ve had – from running my own micro business (although without any employees), from working in management for a small business where the owner of the company was focused on his staff before anything else (bar of course the customers), and now from working in a very small business with a manager who wants decision making to be as far down the line as possible. So I know it’s possible. I know I’ve had it fairly good. And I also know that alot of Australians don’t have it so good at work – they work for the money then go home, back into their normal life, and dread going back to work again. How great it would be if everyone enjoyed their jobs – the employers enjoyed working with the employees and the employees enjoyed working for the employers. If everyone could see what the other person’s situation was like, and could empathise with it, how much more would everyone enjoy their working life, and therefore their life in general?

It’s about being a reasonable person. And of course there are lots of people that are unreasonable, and there probably needs to be laws in place to keep them in check. I think the activities of unions are completely unreasonable, and do nothing but agitate the people on the other end of the bargaining stick which ultimately results in a very sour relationship. It is not very easy to see the other person’s point of view, empathise with them and act reasonably if they’re doing the exact opposite to that.

WorkChoices certainly wasn’t perfect, and it still left room for unscrupulous employers to have the upper hand on their employees. That’s a fault of the employer, not of WorkChoices. The employee is always free to leave their job and find an employer who actually cares about them. So sure, there was probably more WorkChoices could have done. I’m not quite sure how you solve that problem. But the thing was it was a start – it was a big start, which means it’s going to cost a lot of money for business to go back on it (and, hmm, that’s bad for the economy, isn’t it?).

So it will be interesting to see what happens to our workplaces and our economy now. I’ll be watching intently. Now that I’ve had a part in deciding the government of Australia, I’ll be watching them even closer than I have over the last year, and next election… well, I don’t know what it’s going to look like yet. With what I know now though, I am still very disappointed that Costello and Howard weren’t given the opportunity to continue the good work they have done over the last 11 years. But best of luck to the new Rudd-Gillard government.

Since I haven’t been contacted by the AEC yet, I’ll assume that my application for work for this election was unsuccessful, and thus I’m going to start making political comments again. Actually, they don’t really say anything on their site as far as time frames go, so maybe I should make my comments a bit more subliminally just in case they’re still organising themselves? I mean, I can always start refraining from it if I’m offered a position, right? Don’t vote Kevin Rudd.

So, Joe made some good points in the interview.

On unfair dismissal laws he said “we removed the unfair dismissal laws because we found small business was not prepared to take a punt, particularly on young people”. He goes on to say that small business wanted “only people with experience”, and didn’t want to employ people with a “chequered employment history”. Once the Coalition removed unfair dismissal laws for businesses employing less than 100 people, they found employment surge because small business said “we’re going to take a punt on these people; if it doesn’t work out we can get rid of them”! Whereas before… the chance to get into the job was never there!

Joe later said to a caller: “We didn’t remove the unfair dismissal laws from business to make it easier to sack people, we removed them to make it easier to hire people”. Labor obviously doesn’t think so though – by scrapping WorkChoices, they’re going to send the unemployment rate right back up…

Later in the show there was a caller who spoke about a promotion he was offered – to act as a supervisor for a period of time – without being given any real extra remuneration for the extra responsibility. To that, Joe said “if you’re given the chance at a promotion, run for it!” I completely agree – and I think it’s simply a case of attitudes. I cannot comprehend how someone in their right mind would turn down an opportunity to gain more experience and move further along in their career just because they’re not not offered enough money for it. Isn’t that making a mountain out of a molehill? Taking issue with a non issue? It’s asking for money because you believe you’re entitled to it, and when unsuccessful, stubbornly refusing to help the company when it’d be helping yourself too – and it’s simply out of spite!

I’d take the promotion, write down the experience on my resume, and if the company did take a turn for the worse and ended up leaving a sour taste in my mouth, I’d move on to somewhere else where my skills and experience would be appreciated (they’d be worth more if I’d done time in that new position than if I hadn’t).

This is one of the major problems I have with the Labor party – and with their supporters. It’s all about attitude. I know this is a generalisation, but I believe it’s generally true – Labor supporters have a “woe is me” attitude. They want all they’re entitled to, and will stop at nothing to get it – even missing out on a good opportunity for themselves just to “punish” the other side. This is why, at this stage, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to vote Labor. I don’t agree with the attitudes of the working class. Don’t vote Kevin Rudd.

Anyway, the poll. Being a web based poll we of course can’t place a high level of reliability on it because it is fairly easy for anyone who wants to rig it to do so. But for the most part, I was surprised at the result. As of right now:

Now Howard has said that most Australians don’t want gay marriage to be given the same legal right as heterosexual marriage. I’ve always held the (untested) view that it’s the other way around. My own opinion is that gay marriage should not be recognised. But according to this poll, the Australian public is pretty much divided 50/50 – there’s a difference of only 69 people (it was closer earlier). It’s a closer contest than any political opinion poll this year.

It was news to me, that’s for sure.

You can participate in the poll here.

Take a look at the video, and watch a much younger Rudd on the backbench picking his ear… and then eating whatever it was that came out!

There’s your election campaign mudslinging fix for the day. Not that this really changes much in the way of who is (and isn’t) fit to lead our country through the next three years.

I think it’s quite funny that someone would spend the time looking through old parliamentary recordings to find something like this! Too much time on their hands, I say.

Source: Web footage haunts Rudd, NEWS.com.au, Monday 22nd October 2007