DEMOCRATS NOMINATE COLLYER FOR HIGGINS
AUSTRALIAN DEMOCRATS
MEDIA FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30 2009
DAVID COLLYER
HIGGINS BY-ELECTION CANDIDATE
DEMOCRATS NOMINATE COLLYER FOR HIGGINS
MELBOURNE:- The Australian Democrats have preselected David Collyer to contest the Higgins by-election on December 5 caused by the resignation of Peter Costello.
“We are the voice of middle Australia, the party of moderation and progress,” Collyer said at the announcement.
“I see great dissatisfaction and a sense of alienation among voters over the management of the nation’s affairs. The two party system denies oxygen to all, except for the insistent selfish demands of the labor movement and of the conservatives. Too many people have abandoned hope and retreated into sullen despair, as though nothing can be done.
“I say, voting for the Democrats is the surest way to stop Labor and the conservative coalition preferring sectional interests over the greater public good.
“The federal parliament is grappling with many difficult issues; climate change, water, immigration, a fragile economy, infrastructure and energy. Meanwhile, education, the ageing population and our defence needs simply aren’t being addressed.
“By-elections are notorious for producing unusual results where grumpy voters – who will be called out to vote again within months, if the pundits are to be believed – try to communicate their dissatisfaction to Canberra.
“The Democrats in parliament have always sought to improve legislation with our line-by-line review of key bills, willingness to negotiate and strategic voting – in the interests of all Australians. If elected, I will faithfully continue this essential work,” he concluded.
David Collyer was previously senior adviser to then-senator and party leader Lyn Allison. Earlier, he held key public affairs roles at the Metropolitan Ambulance Service and at Kodak Australasia. He is a graduate of Melbourne’s film and television school, then at Swinburne and now at the VCA. He is the father of two and lives in Kew East. He publishes on the Victorian Democrats’ blog at dinkumdemocrats.com
Media contact – David Collyer 0413 248 193
The Model Is Barely There – Disgraceful And Debasing Portrayal Of Women.
The fashion industry, notably the Ralph Lauren company, is out of control.
For years now society has demonstrated it does not find the ultra thin bodies preferred by the fashion world attractive. Authoritative research has proved these thin models we are all familiar with have a destructive psychological impact on women, particularly young women and teens, and can lead to psychological disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia.
The data has been collated, analysed, charted and presented. The verdict of public opinion is well and truly in.
What is Ralph Lauren’s response? To release a clearly Photoshopped image of a model whose head is larger than her pelvis. (If you click on the image you can zoom in)
Arguably both of the images, side by side, have been Photoshopped. But look closely at the one on the left. Her skin is a superfluous accessory. This lady, through image manipulation, has been rendered skeletal. Not that she was in any way large or even average to begin with. One female model – again a mere slip in stature and weight – Ms Hamilton, said Ralph Lauren did not renew her contract because she was “too large.”
This is a disgrace. Business has a responsibility to not only sell its wares, but to also operate within what is socially and culturally acceptable. This cynically modified image is neither. To display a full grown woman – after tricking it to proportions no woman could stay alive with – purely to create an ideal based on the “desirable body shape” of somebody with a lot of problems (Ralph Lauren?), is bizarre, socially unacceptable and sick.
I usually hesitate long and hard before advocating government regulation of business. But living people must come first. My own daughters are exposed to this moral deception – every hour of every day. Your daughters, girlfriends, wives and mothers are dismissed and denigrated by an industry that has no respect for the health of the people they are selling stuff to. It is no better than the tobacco companies selling poison and death by the packet.
Ultimately, we pay for the mental anguish and health care costs of our loved ones that are caused by the deliberate excesses of companies whose moral and cultural compass has been sent to orbit Pluto.
It must change. Legislation if necessary. Clearly, they are not going to yield on their own.
But then I wonder “Why portray women like this? What happened to you people as children?”
The rights of women as individuals have come a long way. But this kind of imagery demonstrates how much further there is to travel.
What can we say, except maybe: “ET go home!”
A remarkable similarity.
.
Scott Kane
Australia is drowning in debt – not Government borrowings – the private hellish sort that drives misery, paralysis even suicide.
One in six Australians is having serious trouble paying their debts, according to a survey released yesterday by credit agency Veda Advantage.
The rest of us have also drunk deeply from the cool pools of liquidity the banks provide.
If well managed, the use of debt to buy long-life items is a boon. It can smooth the lumps and improve the quality of our lives.
However – like fire – this wonderful servant is a cruel master.
The seriously indebted cannot lift their eyes from earning a living for a moment. Not for a moment. They can be ruined by any adverse event – unemployment, sickness, even an interest rate rise.
We owe, we owe! It’s off to work we go!
And while Treasurer Swan, the RBA and Treasury are seeing the stimulus package and Australia’s stellar export performance protect us from the economic catastrophe elsewhere, the fact remains that these one-in-six citizens are in very serious financial trouble.
A full economic recovery depends on consumer willingness to spend. The one-in-six cannot spend, and the rest of us will hesitate before making serious commitments to buying even more stuff.
Prof. Steve Keen offers a detailed analysis of this key economic trend at http://www.debtdeflation.com/blogs/2009/10/06/rba-gets-it-wrong-again/
Read it and swallow hard. Major new economic drivers will be needed for Australia to resume the economic growth we have enjoyed in the past. There are further benefits available in the transition to a digital, connected world, but these must be regarded as modest compared to our mountain of debt. Private debt. Crazy-making debt.
Government can’t stop citizens taking on debt. But much more must be done to address the general lack of financial knowledge. Australia needs fresh consumer laws obliging the use of clear language to reduce the informational asymmetry between consumers and the finance spivs.
David Collyer
“David Collyer is currently contesting the Higgins by election for the Australian Democrats against Clive Hamilton for The Greens and Kelly O’Dwyer for the Liberal Party,”
Hey Hey We’re Racists! Shame Channel 9, Shame Daryl Somers.
Just when our politicians are streaming back from places like India after reassuring their opposite numbers that Australia is not racist and that the violent ingrates who steal phones and iPods are color-blind or at least not choosey, Daryl Somers’ “Hey, Hey” program confirms the Indians’ worst fears.
From London to Washington the international press is giving Australia a beating today. Gee – thanks Daryl!
Guest on the show Harry Connick Jr, rightly pointed out that it would not have gone to air – or would have been pulled – in the United States and managed to extract this apology broadcast at the end of the show:
Well Daryl, it’s a poor, wimpy and disconnected apology – and here’s why.
It’s offensive to our citizens. To indigenous peoples, to ethnic communities, particularly after the scurrilous recent targeting of members of the Sudanese community including severe racially motivated beatings.
This isn’t the 1980’s or 1950’s, Mr Somers. Stick to conversing with hats on broom sticks and pink ostriches – where your major talents appear to lie.
It is disgraceful that you, the producers and channel 9 television are unaware of the devastating consequences of such infantile “entertainment”.
It’s offensive because our Indigenous peoples are still under the thumb of the “Great John Howard Intervention”. Considered doing something “positive” for them instead?
A challenge, Daryl Somers: do a show to highlight the plight of our indigenous people under the intervention. Through comic wit, highlight our pathetic political leaders who introduced and continue to enforce it and the truck loads of “consultants” bleeding it dry without anything being done on the ground for those affected. Restore some of your credibility. Do some good. Strike a blow for humanity, for our indigenous peoples.
I’m not holding my breath for that to happen.
That the amateur “actor” involved in the skit was partially of Indian decent is irrelevant. Commercial television comes with sound and picture – not a genetic indicator with which to divine “ironies”.
There is funny and funny. Maligning people on race, religion, gender, gender alignment or any of the multitude of other damaging “jokes” we’ve heard since the year dot is no longer funny.
The Australian public are better than that.
Shame on you, Daryl and Channel 9!
What message do we want to send to the world in this age of mass global communication? That we are a nation of racist hillbilly hicks?
We can – and must – do better than this.
What’s next?
A revival of the 1947 statement by ALP politician Arthur Augustus Calwell: “Two Wongs don’t make a White?” Because your “humour” is no better, mate.
Don’t think so? There is a reason Pauline Hanson failed to be re-elected. Australians are above xenophobic “jokes”. Channel Nine should be excrutiatingly aware of that irony! Hello 60 Minutes?
Put “Hey, Hey it’s Saturday” back in the archives, seal the door and throw away the key if “nostalgic material” like this is all it can do.
Scott Kane
Red Alert? Australian Greens Showing True Colours? – Hands Off Australian Business, Watermelons!
Big Business CEO’s are paid obscene amounts! There are few Australians who wouldn’t agree. It is sickening to see leaders simultaneously preside over fiscal disasters and receive breathtaking rewards.
But the solution is not to cap their salaries.
The Greens want a $5 million cap on executive salaries. This may seem a reasonable idea. It’s easy to rail against corporate greed. But we must be careful and bear in mind that government does not own these businesses, individuals do, directly or indirectly.
Our system of democracy allows each and every one of us to own property – money, business and land – without effective limit.
Each and every one of us has that right!
Enter The Greens…
Very few Australians will ever enjoy multi-million dollar CEO salaries. But there is no legal impediment to anyone doing it.
It can’t be stated more strongly. Once we limit pay, it limits our right to conduct free enterprise as we see fit – within the already reasonable limits of existing law – and I see a clear and present socialist agenda.
A dangerous agenda coming from a political party that has positioned itself far to the left of Labor.
This raises the spectre of the bogey man the Conservatives loved to throw at us for decades, but for once with some merit. Greenism Socialism.
Let me confirm I do not own shares or have a pecuniary interest in any corporations. I run a small business.
The fair and reasonable position on this issue comes from the group many Australians – and certainly The Greens – are likely to dismiss:
The Australian Shareholders Association.
The Australian Shareholders Association says legislation is not the answer. They are right.
“If there is a substantial negative vote against a remuneration … (and) if the company has not made substantial changes (in the following year) … we will be voting against the re-election of any directors,” Association chair Helen Dent said on ABC Radio.
That is how the system is designed to work. That is the proper process.
One could argue the system Helen Dent outlines has been remiss. It’s a fair point. But the people in that system – shareholders, management and directors – are the ones financially hurt if executive salary largesse continues. Let them sort it out. They have a direct interest in doing so – and will!
Financial Services Minister Chris Bowen identifies the issue correctly when he says “We don’t live in an economy where the government can come in and put a cap on.”
He’s right – though he should have also said we don’t live in a political system where the government can legislate a cap either – at least not yet!
Much to Senator Bob Browns’ chagrin.
Stick To Trees And Furry Furbies Bob Brown!
We know The Greens loathe business – they don’t waste any opportunity heaping compost on it.
We know they have serious issues with the number of people living on planet Earth and want reductions there too. Try to pin them down on the implications of what they call “sustainable population” in their policies some time!
Reduce who? You, your family, me - Black people? Poor people? The mentally deficient? Moslems? Calvinists? Jews?
They’ve turned the Senate from a “House of Review” into “The House of No”.
I suppose some readers are thinking “Stop scare mongering, Scott!” But making little snips here and there to our system, as The Greens do, only serves to diminish, undermine and ultimately damage our system.
They’ve caused enough damage to this country – witness Black Saturday February 7th 2009 and the nonsense we’re excruciatingly aware of when it comes to The Greens and fuel reduction.
But please…
Don’t let The Greens burn down our business and political system too!
Scott Kane
Granny-Gate – Sex For Cig’s – Brumby Government Goes From Bad to Bloody Unbelievable!
Is This What Victoria Has Reduced Elderly Women To?
Community Services minister Lisa Neville says:
This only comes after the Victorian Public Advocate, Colleen Pearce, tells Victoria:
Epic Fail, Minister!
When a Minister of the Crown who is ultimately responsible for the portfolio in which this is allegedly taking place only offers us spin about beginning “…the process of improving…” we are sorely in need of a ministerial resignation.
Minister We’re Talking About Crimes – Not “Favours”
Colleen Pearce is rightly and justifiably outraged. But for the minister who holds ultimate responsibility of thousands of elderly woman and men to call it “…unacceptable…” is a sick, perverted joke at the expense of our loved ones. A group who, by definition, cannot look after themselves and are generally voiceless, apart from the work of Advocates like Colleen Pearce.
Not “…unacceptable…” Minister – the word to use is intolerable.
Across every area of responsibility, Brumby government is always “gonna fix it” – yet they preside over a mess, one they’ve created through negligence and a complete lack of interest.
This has become the anthem of the Brumby Labor government.
“Gonna!”
Stated Plainly Cigarette Smoking Is An Addiction.
Using a powerful addiction to a substance such as nicotine found in cigarettes – an addiction experts state is harder than heroin to beat – as a tool to rape must not be minimised by calling it a “favour”.
It’s a crime. A crime under state, federal and international law.
It’s disgusting.
What is it with the Brumby government?
- We’ve got the Bushfire Royal Commission tasked with finding no blame.
- The Brimbank Botch Up.
And now..
- Nursing Home Bordellos?
The community is sickened by reports of women being trafficked to work in the sex trade.
There is very little difference here. These people are vunerable – in many cases as vulnerable as children.
This is the era – or should that be error? – of Labor party spin, big government advertising budgets to tell us of their glorious achievements.
Perhaps Labor will make a TV commercial now asking Victorians to:
- “Ration” their abuse of the elderly, in keeping with their water policy,
- Dob in a Granny Grabber
…or some other trendy, disconnected “shiny” campaign to demonstrate their total lack of real concern.
That the press haven’t called this “Granny-Gate” is in itself amazing.
Our Elderly Depend On Us As Much As Our Children For Protection
Elderly people constrained to nursing homes should be receiving care – not abuse – respect – not rape - palliative care – not pain.
Resign Minister!
Scott Kane
