Changing of the Guard

Now we have new Prime-Minister, a new government, that of the Labor Party. The Labor Party are imperialist and racist through-and-through, as they always have been. I am unconvinced it is much worth covering this event then. Unconvinced, but receptive to the possibility that things will change. Clearly, there are differences, most clearly Labor's organic links with the unions. But there is also the possibility that Labor in power will change the public discourse and the ethos of Australia in a more progressive direction. But it remains to be seen. My thesis continues to be that Rudd is nothing other than an Australian Tony Blair. It is unclear to me that any overall change for the better has occurred in the UK with Blair really – many things are better, but other things are worse. The growth in income inequality there is the great scandal.

While Rudd's promise to pull our of Iraq is welcome, official Labor Party policy is simply to use the troops from Iraq to strengthen Australia's revolting intervention in Afghanistan. The day before the election, and Australians are killing civilians in Afghanistan. We can only expect more of this under Rudd.

Izhar ul-Haque: kidnapped, blackmailed by Australian federal agents.

Tony Tran: imprisoned for over five years by Australian immigration authorities for being Vietnamese, despite being legally present in Australia.

Surely this is Australia's worst nightmare:

It is understood the workers were supposed to take an Aboriginal girl by the same name but instead took a white child after telling her teacher they were there to take her on an outing.

It's good that nowadays social workers can think they're supposed to take a white child away and not a black one. OTOH, it's not super that they take kids away with such disregard, and the fact remains that they take away black ones more than white ones.