The Labor government has announced its intention to ram 22 pieces of legislation through the House of Representatives this week, necessitating 10pm sittings of Parliament. The opposition, through Joe Hockey, has claimed that the rushed timetable will not allow sufficient debate of legislation enabling things such as FuelWatch and equal benefits for gaymosexual couples. The government, through Anthony Albanese, has hit back accusing the opposition of hypocrisy due to its habit under John Howard of doing the exact same thing with legislation covering areas such as industrial relations and asylum seekers.

I was highly critical of John Howard’s government when it dodged scrutiny and debate of its legislation by using its numbers to force it through Parliament as quickly as possible; it was anti-democracy and bad for Australia. But Labor using the primary school argument of “they did it first so we’re going to do it as well” makes a total mockery of Kevin Rudd’s pre-election rhetoric that his party would restore back to government the respectability that had been eroded during the Howard years.

Kevin Rudd and Labor should allow proper debate of their legislation in Parliament or else they risk lowering themselves to the democracy-hating levels that John Howard used to enjoy flirting with.

Say what you like about compulsory voting (and for the record I’m pro), but when less than half of the voters of London bother to vote for the person they want to govern seven million people with a multi-billion pound budget for the next four years then you can’t help but conclude that “I don’t give a fuck”, rather than Boris Johnson, was the winner on the day.

Say what you like about Kevin Rudd’s Australia 2020 summit but it’s great that Australia’s children will have a chance to participate in the discussion about this country’s future.

Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard has invited all schools to participate in the proposed 2020 summit involving 1000 of Australia’s best and brightest minds in April.

[…]

“Today’s school students are the adults of 2020, and it’s vital that we harness their energy, ideas and vision in any discussion about this nation’s future,” Ms Gillard said.

“They will be the parents, the business owners, the farmers, the educators and the leaders of 2020, and it’s crucial that we hear their views about the kind of Australia they want to live in.”

Children have strong and valid views about current affairs and the world in which they live, yet we all too often ignore them or patronisingly nod our heads and smile. Giving students a structured environment in their schools with teacher facilitation to get a conversation going, along with the knowledge that their voices will be heard by the government, validates kids’ opinions and is also an excellent educational opportunity. But according to Andrew Bolt this is just another way that “Chairman” Rudd is indoctrinating our yoof with leftist ideology. Bolta lists a couple of other events that he incorrectly attributes to Kevin Rudd (the NSW and Victorian governments’ “order” for schools to force students to watch Rudd’s Stolen Generation apology; and a call by Australia’s chief scientist for school kids to plant trees, despite the fact that Julia Gillard has openly resisted mandating as such) and asks a question.

This is as bizarre as it is utterly offensive. Had John Howard tried this…

…I might have liked him a bit more.

New episodes of Lachlan Connor, Independent are in the can and the first will hit GrodsCorp on Tuesday. But in the meantime check out this teaser:

Six months ago Andrew Landeryou’s readers were effusive in their praise for Lachlan Connor, Independent. Now Tim Blair’s readers have expressed their admiration for the brave independent Senate candidate:

“Mr. Connor would do well to look in a mirror.”
– rbj1

“Mr. Connor would do well to look in a mirror.
He does and is mystified that he sees nothing.”
– El Cid

“That Cocklane Loner chap looks constipated in all of his photos”
– egg_

“hasn’t he got a good psycho visage? ever so slightly pointy head too”
– KK

“Checked out his campaign manager?”
– egg_

Redux: The Lachlan Connor, Independent story so far. Condensed from episodes 1 to 15. (As seen at the Castlemaine Fringe Film Festival.)
Follow the whole series here or subscribe to the RSS feed.

Rate this episode at YouTube.
Visit Lachlan’s blog.

A great dialogue is occurring between Independent Victorian Senate candidate Lachlan Connor and his potential constituents on his blog: www.lachlanconnor.wordpress.com. Topics discussed so far include indigenous rights, water management, policing, families and Papua New Guinea. Why not head on over, check it out, and join the conversation?

These fantastic experiments in democracy will only work if you, the voter, get involved.