I was approached recently by a TV program with a view to talking about Anzac Day.
I felt that I ought to outline what sort of views the program might expect about Anzackery, Frontier Wars and the Australian War Memorial.
Those views were indications I would pursue for the show. But sadly, the next day the program had reconsidered and decided to take a different approach.
A speech to the Broadmeadows Rotary Club 16 April 2025
When I read Michael Church’s excellent Age article about Glenroy once being thought to become the Toorak of the North it made me think about when we moved from Carlton to South Street Glenroy in the early 1950s. To me it felt like we had gone bush.
The last time round with Donald Trump there was much talk about the Dunning-Kroger effect – a cognitive bias in which people with low ability at a task overestimate their ability.
It is named after David Dunning and Justin Kroger, the two psychologists who first identified it in their 1999 paper Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One’s Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments.
Peter Dutton was edging towards possibly winning the forthcoming election. But lately he has been moving further and further away from that. It’s possible he might still win but it looks increasingly unlikely.
The problems are manifold. In between a Trumpian brainfart about holding a referendum which would allow governments to deport some citizens he also claimed that interest rates are always lower under the Coalition because it manages the economy better than Labor. The first claim was hastily walked back by some colleagues but who knows what its status is now?
There is nothing more boring than long retired former soldiers holding forth on issues military. But there is one rule which does apply – the further they were away from the sharp end the more vociferous they are.
Some years ago, on a barge going up the Mekong (holiday not during the war), a rather obnoxious passenger was holding forth on Anzac Day as it was actually that date on the day. He was full of stories about rum at dawn and this and that.
This year marks 500 years since the end of the Peasants War in Germany (1524–25).
Inspired by Reformation belief the peasants claimed that divine rights provided them with agrarian rights and freedom from oppression by nobles and landlords. Sadly, the war was lost with some 100,000 peasants slaughtered. Survivors met with reprisals and restrictions and even more oppressive conditions.
Political junkies and the media are obsessed with opinion polls on the relative standings of the political parties. Movements within standard statistical margins of error are treated with great respect.
In between elections it’s probably all irrelevant but a significant turning point may have been reached in the forthcoming Australian election which – until very recently – looked like the election Peter Dutton couldn’t lose – or at least come very close to a majority within a couple of seats.
Europeans are doing it, the great bruiser Doug Ford is doing it, Mark Carney is gearing up to do it – even Keir Starmer is doing it.
But it’s a dance our very own Prime Minister isn’t doing.
Whatever reputation as a factional bruiser Albo might once have had it has been diminished along with his Prime Ministerial performance.
Despite being overwhelmed by the idiocy emanating from Trump and his acolytes it is encouraging to note some push back from many; some timeless commentary from others; a reality check on the rare earths situation; and, some blatant Russian acknowledgment of Trump’s useful idiot status.
Lech Walesa
First, the view of genuine tough guy who stood against massive threats – the former political prisoner and Polish President, Lech Walesa. Walesa sent the following to Trump. “Your Excellency, Mr. President, We watched the report of your conversation with the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, with fear and distaste. We find it insulting that you expect Ukraine to show respect and gratitude for the material assistance provided by the United States in its fight against Russia. Gratitude is owed to the heroic Ukrainian soldiers who shed their blood in defense of the values of the free world. They have been dying on the front lines for more than 11 years in the name of these values and the independence of their homeland, which was attacked by Putin’s Russia.
Many, many years ago the then Victorian Premier, Jeff Kennett was over the moon about poaching the Grand Prix from Adelaide.
Today, after costing Victorian $1 billion dollars with another $2 billion in losses pending by the end of the contract in 2037, it has never shown value for money.
The indefatigable Save Albert Park group, led by Peter Logan, has been campaigning for years to expose the massive rorts involved. Sadly, as when Peter and the blog confronted a then Labor Deputy Premier about the Grand Prix, he confessed they couldn’t cancel it for fear of petrol head backlashes.