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There is a lot of talk at the moment about drug testing in sport. The problems faced by several West Coast Eagles players in the AFL has lead to the Federal Government demanding that all sports get tougher on testing their players for illicit drugs. They want players being tested anywhere at any time. This means that even on your holidays, when the drugs will have no affect on your game, you can get a knock at your door demanding a urine sample.
As the papers and most sports people have pointed out, this is typical Howard Government stuff, pulling out the drugs bogey-man to try to gain votes in the election (they used it against the Greens in the last Federal Election in 2004). However, Essendon player James Hird asked a good question, why aren't we testing our politicians?
Now I'm sure Hird intended this as an off-hand remark and usually it would stay that way, but I started thinking more and more and feel that this is a good question. I mean these people make decisions which can sometimes mean life and death to people, they are decisions with far greater consequences than whether Ben Cousins played last years Grand Final high.
I would even go further to suggest that testing should be made for alcohol as well. I would never be allowed to go to work under the influence of alcohol but how many politicians have a wine or two during lunch at parliament house? Many will remember Steve Bracks' famous "Eddie Eeels" speech at the Heineken Golf Open (he was actually congratulating South African golfer Ernie Els). It also might explain what's going on in Bill Heffernan's head.
As someone who hopes to have a seat in parliament one day, I would be happy to subject myself to drug testing if it meant we could be sure that governments do not make life or death decisions such as the invasion of Iraq or ignoring the plight of refugees under the influence of anything.
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A fantastic new campaign from activist group Get Up! Get Up! will be providing ordinary people the chance to create their own political ads in the lead up to the Federal Election.
The major party spends millions on advertising to try and convince us to vote for them. Here is the chance for ordinary Australians to get their own views across. I'm just disappointed I can't enter because I'm part of a party myself. 
Here is a great example already up on their website.
John Howard in "Trust me..."
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Many of my friends have been asking me whether I think that Kevin Rudd will be a good alternative Prime Minister to John Howard. I have told many that I am still reserving my judgement but the more I see of Rudd, the more concerned I am.
Yesterday Rudd announced that the ALP would not repeal the Howard Government's controversial policy of Voluntary Student Unionism which outlaws universities charging students a fee to assist paying for student services.
Now this idea may make a lot of sense, however consider this: with student unions weakened Howard was also able to push through a 25% rise in University HECS fees. This means that even a degree at the lowest HECS rate, like a BA, went from $3768 a year to $4710... a rise of $942. Sort of makes the $130.50 I paid to the Deakin University Student Union look kind of insignificant doesn't it?
And yet the major parties are telling us that we're better off? You're kidding me...
This is one example in a long line of policies that Kevin Rudd has introduced which move the ALP closer and closer to the Liberals. Here are some more examples:
CLIMATE CHANGE:
Howard: invest in Nuclear Technology, a technology that would not be available in Australia for another twenty years...
Rudd: Invest in "clean coal technology" a technology that doesn't actually exist.
IMMIGRATION:
Rudd/Howard: An "Australian Values" test for newcomers to Australia.
URANIUM:
Howard/Rudd: support increasing the number of Uranium mines in Australia, mines which often displace Indigenous People from their land.
FORESTS:
Rudd/Howard: Continue the destruction of Tasmania's old growth forests, even though it is damaging Tasmania's essential tourist industry.
And countless other policies. Maybe the question shouldn't be "Will Rudd be a good alternative Prime Minister?" it should be "Will Rudd be an alternative PM at all?"
It is interesting to note that in elections for the Monash Student Union, the Labor Right (Rudd's faction) run on the same ticket as the Liberals. Maybe they should do the same in Canberra too...
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I haven't written in a very long time. The State Election occupied an enormous ammount of my time and I have been taking a break for a fair bit of time. I will look to build this blog up again in preparation for the Federal Election, probably expected to be held around October this year.
The big issue this week is Global Warming. An Inconvenient Truth was released on DVD in Australia this week and a UN study is expected to be released showing that we are on the road to an enormous disaster
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It's been a long time since I was last on. My computer went down and it's just taken me until now to get my computer working.
Lots of things have been happening in this time. Monday I heard Kim Beasley finally show some energy and enthusiasm as he tore into the Howard Government over Iraq. Labor seems to have developed several new policies which actually makes them look like a credible alternative (with a few Greens thrown in  ... not saying the Greens would automatically side with Labor but God knows, there's little chance we'd be on Howard's side at the moment
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I spent the last two days at the RMIT Sustainability Festival in Melbourne. This was a festival organised by the RMIT Campus Greens and the RMIT Environmental Collective. There were many highlights including a speech by Greens' Senator Kerry Nettle but one of the things that stood out to me was a debate they had over whether Australia should invest in Nuclear Power.
Now I thought this debate was so obvious that any intelligent person would know the answer to it, but clearly not, so I'm closing the argument once and for all. NUCLEAR POWER IS NOT THE ANSWER
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In the Greens we talk about "Tampa Events". When Kim Beasley supported John Howard's stance on refugees in Australia, highlighted by preventing container ship The Tampa from making harbour in Australia because they had rescued refugees from their sinking ship, the membership of the Greens tripled as people turned to the only party who were standing up for the human rights of refugees.
Last night the Victorian Greens may have seen another Tampa Event with ABC's Four Corners doing a story on AMCOR, Australia's largest paper manufacturer, and their "A-Team". The job of the A-Team was to infiltrate environmental groups and attack their campaigns to protect old growth forests in Eastern Victoria. These included, stealing documents like pay slips, policy overviews and membership details
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September 29th 2006 08:25
This week I saw Al Gore's film An Inconvenient Truth and can I say WOW! I didn't think that I really had to watch this film, I thought it would be preaching to the choir but I'm glad I saw it. I didn't learn anything really new but just the inspiration of being told, "Yes, most intelligent people agree with you and you're going the right way to do something about it!"
You also realise how immediate this problem is. We are feeling the effects now and if we continue to take no action, things will get worse in the next TEN TO TWENTY YEARS, that's right, it's not something our kids will worry about, it's something we will have to deal with
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September 25th 2006 14:08
Here is a piece I wrote in June about the National Day of Action against Howard's IR Laws on June 28th, 2006.
Had a fantastic day today. I went into the city early and helped out sticking triangles to bits of bamboo and was then given instructions to head down to Bourke St Mall since I'm tall and we needed tall people to hold up triangles. Meanwhile fellow Young Green and candidate for Kew, Emma, was sent up to Spring St to walk down Bourke St with the group coming from Parliament House (there were four different groups converging on Bourke St Mall, from Parliament, Trades Hall, Fed Square and Spencer Street - I'm sorry Southern Cross Station) she tried to get in front of the group but was muscled out by the Labor people
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September 19th 2006 01:47
The Exclusive Brethren is a radical religious sect that is perhaps the greatest threat to democracy in a long time.
The Brethren have run several campaigns to support conservative political parties both in Australia and New Zealand. In New Zealand last year they ran a $500,000 campaign against NZ PM Helen Clark and The Greens, severely hurting both parties' votes. Earlier this year the Brethren also ran a strong campaign against the Greens in Tasmania. The campaign was devastating with the Greens expecting to gain 6-8 seats, they were lucky to retain the four they already had (and in the face of it we were proud of managing that against the Brethren's onslaught
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Comment by AndrewH
on What's Wrong With Nuclear Desalination Plants?
Young Green