APEC, Politics and Such

I’m glad I don’t live in Sydney at the moment as half the Sydney central business district is closed to the general public due to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. It all sounds like overkill to me and many other citizens, especially Sydneysiders. I read in the news today that security was removing cutlery from the tables of restaurants close to the event. As if someone was going to snatch up a butter knife and attack President Bush or the Chinese president! There are police snipers on the top of buildings and security personnel everywhere, rubbish bins are taped up, you name it, they’ve thought of everything. Unfortunately for the arm of the law police horses are suffering from EI or can’t be moved into the public arena due to the ban on horse movements throughout the state of NSW. Lucky for the horses, I say. It must be admitted that anarchists and terrorists could have been itching for the opportunity to blow up a whole bunch of world leaders in one hit. Tough luck for them - they haven't a snowflake's chance in hell of getting anywhere near them.

You can read comprehensive reportage on this event on the Sydney Morning Herald web site.

It has been nauseating to see Howard and Bush holding hands and grinning from every newsstand and putting up with a media obsessed with reporting every little thing Bush might care to utter in their hearing.

It will all go away after the weekend, then we can get back to the down and dirty election campaign that has been ongoing for months. So far, in the election campaign, things are not looking good for John Howard. Dare we hope for a change of government this time round? I almost don’t dare contemplate a Labour win, as I know I’ll be heartbroken all over again if Howard wins another term. The Opposition leader, Kevin Rudd has been playing it cool throughout this build up to the elections and has appealed to the electorate as sensible and responsible. The contemptible Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer tried to sully his image by dredging up an incident where Rudd was reported to have attended a strip club. - Shock horror! So what, who cares, was the general opinion. It didn’t dint Rudd’s popularity one little bit, in fact it probably enhanced it by conveying the impression that our Kevin is just “a bit of a lad” and made him appear more the common man.

Australian politics has never been particular about religious preferences or moral codes. Take Bob Hawke for instance. He was an admitted Atheist and also a womaniser and drunk. Nobody really cared if he was any of those things - he was a popular Prime Minister. John Howard is always taking the high moral ground, but we all know he’s a terrible fibber and a hypocrite. He’s never been all that popular – I remember how astounded I was when he won the Liberal Party leadership and even more astonished when he won his first election. However, he had an aura of honesty and responsibility, which has effectively hoodwinked the population for years. He is also a very canny politician. That is why I am not willing to believe that Labour will win the forthcoming election –just yet.