'ONWARD CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS?'
WAR CRIMINALS, JOHN HOWARD AND PETER Costello lost their vision for Australia from the time they were elected and embarked on a vision for the neo-Liberals.
The Un-Australian Newspaper: Lamenting that the symbols of Australia at the moment are fraying, the Liberal Party's heir-apparent Pastor Peter
[$Money, $Money, $Money], and the Hills songs argued that the magic and myth has been stripped from vice-regal office -- just weeks after Tasmanian governor Richard Butler was ousted.
The Un-Australian: A committed Christian,
[?] lamented the decline of religion and marriage in Australia, claiming family breakdown was a contributing factor to poverty. Offering an alternative vision in areas where John Howard has faced some of his strongest criticism, Mr Costello predicted the public would become more accepting of higher levels of immigration. "As the population of Australia ages, as we have skill shortages, that Australia is going to have to have a larger skilled immigration program," he said.
[In other words we'll use them when it suits us and we'll lock them up when they get in the way. Very Christian? Just like throwing them to the lions......]
Mr Costello vowed to speak out widely outside his portfolio after Mr Howard decided last year to stay on as Liberal leader -- a decision that deeply upset the Treasurer.
[True? Howard is the Devil and Costello claims to be a Christian, is that like 'good cop' - 'bad cop'?]
Commenting on the Howard Government's immigration policy, Mr Costello said he
looked forward to a future where there were no children in detention centres. "and I think that has to be the aim of the policy". The ultimate aim, I think, should be for no children in detention, and I think I am right in saying there are very few at the moment."
[Does that mean he is going to start rescuing the children thrown over-board? Or just let out some of the kids that could swim? Very few children in detention, Pastor Peter, that is if you're not one of them I guess?]
There are now
86 children held in detention centres and alternative programs in the community in
Australia and offshore.
Labor has vowed to release all children from detention if elected. Predicting that Australia would eventually become a republic, Mr Costello said vice-regal appointees were left at the "mercy of the media".
[But actually if you're not a neo-Liberal then that's where you're also kept 'at the mercy of John Howard's corporate puppets'.]
Costello: "You'd have to think, if you were a prominent Australian and you were approached to do the job, you'd have to think very seriously about it these days, I would think," he said.
[But who'd work for the Devil anyway? Peter Costello!]
Costello: "A lot of the magic and myth has been stripped away from that office, and I think it's much harder for governors and governors-general to maintain any kind of vice-regal status that they need. "You're more or less at the mercy of "political factors"."
[Do you add that to the 'mercy of the media' or do you subtract it? I wasn't good at maths Pastor Pete.]
The Treasurer was one of the few senior Howard Government figures to publicly back the republic during the 1999 referendum. "We will become a republic, and I think that the symbols of Australia at the moment are fraying.
[No Pastor Peter the word is
'frying'.
How would you like your election? Medium, rare or well done? Or don't you get cooked? Perhaps you're just an innocent bystander with Christian faith whose caught up in Howard's racist war machine?]
Costello: "But if you want to renew those symbols but have a Westminster system, I don't think you would support a directly elected president."
The Un-Australian Newspaper: Mr Costello's forthright remarks were seized on by Mark Latham last night, and senior Labor figures predicted they would revive Liberal leadership tensions. "Peter Costello is putting his own social agenda because he will never get any of these things from John Howard," the Opposition Leader told The Un- Australian.
"Mr Costello has repudiated the Prime Minister and endorsed a significant part of Labor's platform for the coming election, and I welcome his support."
However, the Prime Minister's office last night played down suggestions of a split in the Government's leadership, pointing out the
Coalition was already pursuing alternative detention models for children.
[Well they say better late than never but I suppose if you have left children locked up until a couple of months prior the election then you've shown your true colours. What you see is what you get with Howard regardless of Costello's Christian faith?]
The Un-Australian Newspaper: His remarks on the decline of vice-regal office follows the furore over Mr Butler's $650,000 payout after he was asked by the Premier to resign and the resignation last year of governor-general Peter Hollingworth. "You just have to look at what's happened to a few governors and governors-general recently to know it's a very hard office to fill now," Mr Costello said. "You're expected to be vice-regal without any of the mythology that once surrounded the office. The press, of course, are only too willing to investigate all of your pecadillos and there's no vice-regal shield of protection anymore."
[Actually there is no shield for anyone who is not a neo -Liberal is there Pastor Peter? Perhaps if you're a christian neo-Liberal!]
The Un-Australian Newspaper: Chairman of the Australian Republican Movement John Warhurst said Mr Costello's comments reflected a greater demand for vice-regal accountability. "The republican debate shows that we are stuck between a discredited monarchy and a republic to come and it's a place that Australia should not stay in for long," he said.
[Actually we're stuck between the Devil and living in fear!]
Warhurst: "People these days are more interested in who holds these appointments and what they stand for. There's a general desire to democratise these roles."
[RICHARD'S BUTLER: Actually the people I know these days are more interested in
civil and democratic rights, human rights, and a fair go and I don't think Richard Butler got one and neither did those
children locked up in detention all 86 at the moment. And if you live in
Iraq well.....
What the neo-liberals are trying to convince the voters of is that at least one of them is decent but it won't wash with the Australian people because we know they're all in a different boat.]
SO PUT YOUR LEFT FOOT FORWARD 'WITHOUT FEAR' AND VOTE 1 THE GREENS AND 2 THE LIE DETECTORS AND LET THOSE CHILDREN GO! TO LIVE IN DETENTION IS A LIFE LOST.
By The Un-Australian and Just Us 24 August 04
Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel?
Well praise the Lord the light is Hell bent here on Peter Costello, treasurer of the Howard Government who now has his own "flock" of onward Christian Soldiers.
Related:
Detention centre maggots
A Greens' MP has slammed claims that South Australia's Baxter Detention Centre detainees are putting maggots into their own food. Detainees say maggots have been found in at least two meals in the past month.
Gillard stirs Liberal leadership pot
[War criminal], Peter Costello yesterday said that the Federal Government should aim to get all children out of immigration detention and he suggested there should be an increase in immigration levels.
Public wants accountability: Latham
Federal Opposition Leader Mark Latham says the Prime Minister needs to take responsibility for what he has said to the Australian public. Earlier today Howard responded to a list of alleged lies that Labor says he has told during his time in office. The Opposition released a document on the weekend titled Truth Overboard outlining 27 alleged lies.
Don't rock the Boat Howard!
PRIME Minister John Howard today denied the children overboard affair had swayed the 2001 election? Mr Howard has spent the week defending himself against claims he had been informed that nobody in Defence believed children had been thrown overboard by asylum seekers.
Australia an unfair nation, say young and all!
Young people and older people think Australia is undemocratic and unfair. Young people cite their teachers as having the greatest influence on their political thinking, according to a provocative new national survey funded by the Government. Older people cite "injustice" amongst other things as a "bent legal system" favouring hi profiled superstars, corporations and politicians.
Not happy, John
John Valder's alarm whistle effort 'let love be thy weapon' indeed Prime Minister John Howard is also the subject of a stinging attack in a Sunday feature this week, from the man who first engineered his ascent to the Liberal leadership in the mid-1980s former party president John Valder.
HOWARD'S LIE DETECTOR TEST: CHILDREN OVERBOARD AFFAIR
Prime Minister John Howard says voters will decide whether he has told the truth about the children overboard incident.
Children Overboard Affair: Howard 'unfit to lead'
The Federal Opposition says John Howard is not fit to be Prime Minister after new revelations about the children overboard affair. A former federal ministerial adviser says he told Howard in the lead-up to the 2001 election that no children had been thrown overboard from a boat carrying asylum seekers in Australian waters.
'Refugees and Indigenous People in John Howard's Australia' Politician - Senator Aden Ridgeway, the only Indigenous Federal parliamentarian, visits Villawood immigration detention centre and is a vocal critic of current refugee and Indigenous policy. Senator Ridgeway will discuss the proposed abolition of ATSIC as well as current refugee and Indigenous policy changes being fought for by the Australian Democrats. Advocate.
Forum on refugee and indigenous human rights
The long-term mandatory detention of asylum seekers not only breaches multiple UN treaties to which Australia is a signatory, it goes against the principals of any decent and humane society.
Baxter detainee continues hunger strike
A detainee at the Baxter detention centre near Port Augusta in South Australia has been on a hunger strike for a week. Sri Lankan Zeldon Daggie, 23, says he has been detained since arriving in Australia four years ago.
Senior cleric damns Baxter as 'disgraceful'
A senior world religious figure has called on the Federal Government to scrap its mandatory detention policy after visiting the Baxter detention centre in South Australia's north.
Australia's "GITMO" System
Australia's "GITMO" System In June 2002 on the PM program on ABC radio, PHILIP RUDDOCK is quoted as saying: "Well, let me just say, detention centres are not prisons. They are administrative detention. They're conducted in quite a different way." Detainees at Baxter report on a new regime instituted by Global Solutions Limited (GSL). Its purpose is to "teach you detainees to be respectful in the Australian way".
Detention centre media ban criticised
The Howard Government has been criticised in a report by media freedom advocate Reporters Without Borders for stopping journalists covering the conditions in refugee detention centres.
Compo claims could follow child detention, group warns
A refugee group has predicted a string of compensation claims, after the Human Rights Commission found numerous and repeated breaches of the UN convention on the rights of the child in immigration detention.
Child detention breaches UN convention: human rights report
A leaked final draft report by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) is calling for urgent changes to Australia's immigration detention laws.
Detention centre media ban criticised
The Howard Government has been criticised in a report by media freedom advocate Reporters Without Borders for stopping journalists covering the conditions in refugee detention centres.
Report recommends freeing child detainees
The Human Rights Commission has found that some children held in Australia's immigration detention centres have been exposed to cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment.
No more children for Baxter, pleads SA
The South Australian Government is urging the Commonwealth not to shift any more children into the Baxter detention centre in the state's north.
Nauru staff 'fear children are next'
Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone says women and children are sitting in on a hunger strike at the Nauru detention centre, but are not participating.
Australian Govt human rights record 'worsening'
Community groups have given the Federal Government five out of ten for its record on human rights this year. Mr Purcell said the Government was also marked down because of the policy of holding children in immigration detention centres.
Here is a new project
1. Do you believe it is right to imprison innocent children?
2. Do you believe it is right to imprison innocent women?
3. Do you believe it is right to imprison innocent people?
Alleged wife killer Charles, to wed adulteress, Camilla
Outside the castle, a very small crowd of well-wishers braved rain and wind hoping to catch a glimpse of the alleged wife killer and his adulteress.
