After weeks of nominations and voting, the people has spoken. Ladies and gentlemen, I proudly present to you the 2009 GrodsCorp unAustralian Of The Year, with 31% of the vote.

2009 GrodsCorp unAustralian Of The Year: Stephen Conroy

Stephen Conroy has earned himself this honour by fighting hard to implement a policy that would place more restrictions on Australia’s internet access than the regimes of North Korea and Iran. In the process, Conroy has not hesitated to paint any opponent of his plan as a kiddie fiddler, and has unashamedly made himself out to be more draconian, unthinking and conservative than the Young Liberals. In the end, GrodsCorp’s readers — and the whole of the blogosphere — have united to let Stephen Conroy know that enough is enough. You may take our lives, Conroy, but you’ll never take our torrents!!1!

Honourable mentions go to Andrew Bolt (19%), Gerry Harvey (15%) and me (14%).

Nominations are closed and now it’s time for you to choose who you think is the 2009 GrodsCorp unAustralian Of The Year. The candidates:

Gerry Harvey
“For services to unsympathetic rich people who think the poor are lazy bums who should get off their arses/be turned into glue.” — Jeremy Sear

“…quite content to see those same poor buggers he despises, spending the Rudd Fiscal Insult on electrical and household goods at stores under his franchising aegis.” — The Irreverent Mr Black

“…twat.” — Skeptic

“There wouldn’t be anyone in Australia who has benefited more from the ‘baby bonus’ than Gerry Harvey and his junk-filled, soulless bazaar-barns.” — Bridgit Gread

Baz Luhrmann
“…for being audacious enough to think he can sum our country up in one long-winded cinematic effort, while managing to secure millions in government funding on the premise that people will want to travel the across world to see a harsh country at war that treats its indigenous people like shit.” — Wah

Fred Nile
“…for not wanting to see tits out on the beach.” — Mikey

Andrew Bolt
“…for services to the export industries of coal, aluminium, woodchips and hypocrisy.” — Alister

“…for accusing people who believe in the theory of AGW as somehow being pro-infanticide.” — cosmicjester

Robert Doyle
“…for turning a noun (bogan) into a verb, as in ‘bogan it up at home’.” — Skeptic

“…for winding back the urban-planning clock to the sixties (where, presumably, he got his lobotomy). A class ‘A’ retard whose own supporters (the RACV) don’t like his plan to turn Swanston Street into a mini Hoddle Street.” — Reuben

Jeff Kennett
“…for being head of Beyond Blue while building pokies as president of Hawthorn and supporting the decision of a football club that fired a trainer because they found out he was gay (and talked about him like he was a pedophile).” — MD43

“Jeff Kennett has a life nomination anyway, for services to dog-acts and inhumanity in Melbourne and rural Victoria.” — Bridgit Gread

Stephen Conroy
“…for pushing Labor’s internet filtering scheme and making it mandatory for all internet users.” — weez

Scott
“…for suggesting a dead Australian’s open-mouthed lip-licking tour de force isn’t worthy of a Golden Globe, an Oscar or even a trifling gong like the Nobel Peace Prize.” — Ant Rogenous

Worthy recipients all, but unfortunately only one can win. Have at it. Voting closes at 5pm on 24 January.

Only one day left to lodge your nomination for the 2009 GrodsCorp unAustralian Of The Year, dear GrodsReaders. Make sure you click here and let us know who you think put the “un” in front of “Australian” better than anyone else in 2008.

Don’t nominate in the comments of this post. Actually, I’m going to close the comments to this post because people like Surname, who continue to capitalise every word in the titles of their posts despite being told one million trillion times not to, will nominate in the comments of this post.

There are Oscars, Grammys, OBEs, AOs, Ashes, QCs and Australians Of The Year, but there is only one award that matters:

The 2009 GrodsCorp unAustralian Of The Year.

In this inaugural presentation of the GrodsCorp unAustralian Of The Year, the GrodsCommunity will decide which Australian put the “un” into unAustralian better than any other Australian during 2008. The GrodsCorp unAustralian can come from any field of public life, be it politics, media, journalism, the blogosphere, sport or whatever. There are no limits.

The 2009 GrodsCorp unAustralian Of The Year will win a certificate (value: one page of paper and necessary printer toner) and everlasting pride.

But now, dear GrodsReader, it’s over to you. Here’s how it works.

1. Nominate in the comments of this post the Australian person who you think deserves the prefix “un” more than any other Australian. Include about 25-50 words of justification with your nomination, making sure you identify the action or actions that were particularly “un”. Only one nomination per person. Nominations due at 5pm on Wednesday 14 January.
2. The GrodsTeam will assemble a shortlist of ten nominations that will be open for voting until 5pm on 24 January.
3. The GrodsCorp unAustralian Of The Year will be formally announced on Australia Day with a commemorative post.

Have at it!

It’s been a while since we announced a nomination for un-Australian of the year but there’s been no more worthy recipient than Wilson Tuckey.

Dr Nelson was… forced to defend Liberal MP Wilson Tuckey, who walked out of Parliament before today’s apology to indigenous Australians.

The West Australian MP was in the house for the opening prayer, but left the chamber when Mr Rudd rose to his feet to deliver the apology.

A number of other coalition MPs were absent from the chamber or late arriving.

Mr Tuckey had earlier suggested saying sorry would do nothing for solving indigenous problems.

On what constituents would think of Mr Tuckey’s behaviour, Dr Nelson said: “Every member of the Parliament, whatever side of the house that he or she is from, is ultimately answerable to the people of Australia.”

(source)

We’ve all heard the favoured insult — un-Australian — of politicians who wish to strike out at values not aligned with their own, but now there’s a new un word that we in Melbourne can hurl around with gay abandon: un-Melburnian.

This latest bastardisation of the language comes courtesy of Melbourne Lord Mayor John So (who is definitely not John Surname’s bro.) He has branded a public art vandal un-Melburnian for taking a sledgehammer to the Sandridge Bridge. But as with the concept of un-Australian, to truly understand what is un something we must first know what it is to be that something in the first place. So, dear readers, help me to work out what somebody must be lacking to be accurately labeled as un-Melburnian.

A taste for real coffee? A sense of smug satisfaction at being better than Sydney? A love of “unique laneways”?