Julia Gillard

Julia Gillard is Australia's first female Deputy Prime Minister. How she has lasted, and conducted herself so well, in the toughest workplace in Australia, says a lot about her character. I wanted to find out more about this interesting woman.

Julia Gillard was born in Barry, Wales on 29th September 1961 and migrated to Australia with her family in 1966 and settled in Adelaide. In 1986 she graduated from Melbourne University

with arts and law degrees and the following year, joined the law firm Slater and Gordon working in the area of industrial law. In 1990 she was admitted as one of their first female partners.

Her financial future would have been assured and I wonderered why she would turn her attention to politics and after reading about her background, I think I can understand why.

Julia's father, one of seven children, came from a small coal mining village in Wales. He was quite good at school and was actually offered a scholarship but because of the family's financial situation, he had to leave school and get a job.

Julia got bronchial pneumonia as a child and her mum and dad were told by their doctor that he they were to go to a warmer climate, it would benefit the child. When they went back to the doctor and told him they were migrating to Australia, he was surprised and said he was thinking more of Cornwall, not the other side of the world. Julia's sister Alison was 7 and Julia was 4 when they left Wales for Australia.

From her father she learnt about hard work. He worked as a psychiatric nurse and would always take extra shifts. He was required to do four months of nights a year but he would frequently do six months because the money was better on nights. He took a second job at a small private hospital, determined to give his family whatever they needed. He also taught her about caring. After extremely long shifts, he would bathe a disabled woman who lived down the street.

Because her father was away from home working long hours, it took a toll on her mother. Being a migrant, she didn't have extended family around her and she must have missed them terribly. When the girls were small, their mother worked in a Salvation Army residential aged care home. She worked shifts there every day, 1.30 to 6.30 preparing the evening meal for 60 to 70 women. It was physically demanding work, big pots, big pans, lifting heavy things and clearing up afterwards. Having the responsibility of getting the meal out on time must have been tough, she didn't have professional trainaing, she wasn't a chef and it was hard work trying to balance work and looking after her two girls.

There was never any question of Julia going to private school so she had a state education. She was very good at academic work and because her mother made sure that she and her sister could read and write before they left school, she had a flying start.

Julia didn't come from a family where you were expected to go to University, that was big thinking, but she made a decision to go to Uni if she got the grades. Then it became possible because Gough Whitlam abolished Uni fees, so it wasn't a financial strain on the family, she didn't need to leave school and get a job. That's when she started mulling over the thought of becoming a lawyer and she remembers putting it down on her preference sheet.

Growing up, her father would always listen to Question Time on the radio and interject enthusiastically during the program, so Julia became very aware of politics. Her mum and dad were pro-Labor and that's why she joined the Labor Party. But why did she enter politics, it certainly wasn't for the money, she could earn much more as a partner in the legal firm she worked for. I like to think she did it for the same reason that many politicians enter politics, not for fame and power, but a genuine desire to help keep Australia the greatest place to live on earth.

On the 3rd December 2007 Julia was sworn in as Deputy Prime Minister of the Labor Party. She is Australia's first female and first foreign-born Deputy and is the highest ranked female politician in Australian history. As testament to her capabilities, she is also Minister for Education, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and Minister for Social Inclusion.

Aussie Christmas in Afghanistan

Aussie troops are having a white Christmas in Afghanistan. Christmas parcels flooded in and internet and mobiles were running hot with best wishes from family and friends. For the Special Operations Task Group, those not on patrol were set to celebrate with a traditiional Christmas lunch in their mess at the Australian Base in Tarin Kowt.

Soldiers in Kandahar spent the day with the Poms followed by an Aussie barbecue dinner and on Boxing Day they play against each other in the Afghan version of The Ashes.

In Helmand Province, Australian gunners attached to the British Army celebrated Christmas with their British hosts and in Baghdad, members of the Australian Security Detachment, protecting the Australian Embassy spent Christmas Day on duty.

Best wishes to all our Australian men and women serving everywhere in the world.

Stop Killing the Whales

Ady Gil

Kiwi sailor and environmentalist Peter Bethune was involved in a battle with Japanese whaling ships as things hot up in the Southern Ocean. His bio-diesel vessel Ady Gil was engaged in a confrontation with the Shonan Maru 2, bodyguard to the Japanese whaling ships. Crew from the so-called "research ships" said they were harassed by the Ady Gil yesterday with sonic lasers.

The activists said that the Japanese had tried to destroy the Steve Irwin's helicopter using a high pressure water canon and aimed a long-range acoustic device (LRAD) "a sonic weapon" at the helecopter pilot. Captain Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd said "The Ady Gil came in to help us and yes, they did use photonic disrupters. But they're not harmful, we use them to confuse the harpooners, we fire these at them and they can't see" he said.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has commissioned Ady Gil to operate in Antarctic waters under a New Zealand flag, alongside the Dutch-registered Steve Irwin. Able to do 90 kmp the Ady Gil is hoping to physically block the Japanese harpoons from killing the whales. With a crew of 5, there are four New Zealanders and one Dutch citizen on board.

On Christmas Eve 2009 Captain Paul Watson, sent the following message:

Shonan Maru 2, Shonan Maru 2, this is the whale conservation and whale protection ship Steve Irwin. This is a message from the captain and crew of the Steve Irwin to the Captain and crew of the Shonan Maru 2.

As much as the rest of the world enjoys Christmas dinner with friends and family in the comfort of their homes, our two crews are in the heavy seas of the Southern Ocean intent on two opposing missions. You, to protect the whalers from us, and we, to protect the whales from you.

We may be enemies, but on this day, perhaps we can stop and reflect that despite our opposition on the high seas, we are all human beings and all of us would rather be somewhere else if not for our duties and responsibilities.

Therefore we on the Steve Irwin would like to express our best wishes for your safety and health. We share the dangers of this unfortunate conflict in these remote and hostile seas and for that reason we share many of the same concerns. We wish you all the best for this Christmas day and we share with you the hope that no one is harmed over the next few months as we each pursue our objectives, duties and responsibilities.

The message was translated and read in Japanese over the VHF radio channel 16. Not surprising then, the crew of the Shonan Maru 2 did not respond.

The Rise and Rise of Kevin Rudd

Nicholson's cartoon from The Australian

I'll still keep the blog going and will strive to keep it interesting.

The polls tell us that Kevin Rudd is one of our most popular politicians ever. How come?

To try and figure out how this enigmatic man ticks, Carmel Egan wrote an article in the Age in on 3rd December 2006 entitled "Twenty things you should know about Kevin Rudd" which I found rather insightful.

1. A Virgo, Kevin was born on 21st September 1957 in Queensland.

2. The youngest of four children, he spent his childhood on a dairy farm at Eumundi on the Sunshine hinterland, behind Noosa Heads.

3. Six weeks after treatment for injuries received in a car accident, Bert, Kevin's father, died of cepticemia infection contracted in hospital. Rudd was 11 years old. His mother Margaret was evicted from the farm and the family, while searching for a home, slept in a car before finding temporary accommodation.

4. School began at Eumundi primary but after his father's death, he spent two years boarding at the Marist Brothers College at Ashgrove, Brisbane. He later went to Nambour High School.

5. Fellow Federal Labour MP Wayne Swan was two years ahead of Rudd at Nambour High School and one of the cool kids and school captain. Rudd graduated as Dux of the school in 1974. They are not friends.

6. A love affair with all things Chinese started when he was 10 when his mother gave him a book on ancient civilizations. After high school Rudd hitch-hiked down the east coast and eventually reached Canberra and enrolled at the Australian National University and studied Chinese language and hisitory. He is fluent in Mandarin and was posted to Beijing as a junior diplomat during his time with the Department of Foreign Affairs and trade in the mid 1980's.

7. Rudd is Catholic, his entrepreneurial wife, Therese Rein is Anglcan. He is chairman of the ALP's Caucus Committee on Faith, Values and Politics.

8. The couple has three children, Jessica, Nicholas, and Marcus.

9. He became Chief of Staff to Queensland's Opposition Leader Wayne Goss in 1988 and helped guide the ALP to government after decades in the wilderness during the Joh Bjelke-Petersen years.

10. He earned his first political nick-name Doctor Death, after cutting back and restructuring the Queensland Public Service when head of Wayne Goss' Office of Cabinet.

11. His first tilt at federal politics failed when he lost a bid for the Brisbane seat of Griffith in the 1996 election that wiped out Paul Keating.

12. Between elections, he ran his own business as a Chinese consultant to Australian businesses.

13. Finally won Griffith with a 2 per cent swing away from the sitting Liberal in 1988. He has increased his majority at every election.

14. Other nick-names include God Botherer, Pixie, the Professor of Foreign Policy, Harry Potter and Heavy Kevvie.

15. Describes himself as "A very determined bastard".

16. Rudd has made plenty of enemies in federal politics. He used his maiden speech to accuse Foreign Minister Alexander Downer of lacking leadership only to find himself cold-shouldered by the minister in the parliamentary corridors and dropped from the diplomatic invitation list.

17. His most bitter enemy was Mark Latham. Their dislike of eachother began in Rudd's first year in Parliament when he defended the Labor Party again criticism by Latham that it lacked policy and was intellectually bereft.

18. There are 37 references to Rudd in The Latham Diaries published after his Labor leadership imploded in 2005. He said Rudd was a snake, a traitor and a "terrible piece of work". Rudd accused Latham of mocking him for weeping over his mother's death prior to the 2004 election.

19. Bespectacled and intellectual, Rudd does not come across as a typical Queenslander but he does wear RM Williams boots, "Always have done" he says.

20. His parliamentary opponents believe they have already identified Rudd's weak spot - a glass jaw.

I believe there are two Kevin Rudds, the smiling, charming face for the camera and the impatient, up-tight man with a foul temper. I think you can judge a man well by how he treats his employees and it seems he has a high turnover of staff, definitely not a good sign, and making a young woman cry for whatever reason, is beyond contempt and speaks volumes about his character. But he has some very good speech writers, or maybe he even wrote this himself when he said on the 26th July 2009:

"So my fellow Australians, politics in the twenty-first century has attained a level of sophistication that could only be dreamed of by Machiavelli.

With very few exceptions, where they should be the best of us, our political leaders, elected or unelected, are in fact the worst of us: they are base and ignorant, insincere, arrogant and conniving, simply liars, cheats and thugs. The political process is both corrupt and corrupting - to attain and maintain a position of power, that is the only goal. And whilst this is the over-riding objective of all political activity, to be able to control, dominate, exploit, to desire this, to perpetuate it, then we the people, remain slaves and fools."

After the disasterous outcome at Copenhagen, he must be feeling quite frustrated but he could still come out a winner. There is a slim chance he could still get a worthwhile agreement together to take to Copenhagen but he's going to have trouble convincing the Australian people they need an extra tax to pay for global warming. If he can do it and his popularity stays with him, he could easily win again next year. He's now at the edge of the abyss, will he fall in?

That's why politics is so interesting, you never know what's going to happen next.

Home Again

Pip at Uluru

Home again. We had a sad ending to our trip, we lost our little French Bulldog Pip exactly 12 months after we left home on 3rd December 2008. She got a paralysis tick and not realising what it was, we were too late in getting her to the vet and being a small dog, it didn't take very long for the poison to do its worst. We expected her to come home from the vet hospital the next day but the vet rang that night and said she couldn't breathe anymore and had passed away. She would have been 4 on Australia Day.

A sweet little pup

Forster, New South Wales

It's easy to see why people flock from the cities to retire in Forster, it's one of the prettiest towns I've ever seen. Families have been coming here every year for holidays for years, dad gets the tinny out and the whole family pile in and spend warm summer days fishing on tranquil Wallis Lake.

There are signs everywhere 'No Jumping Off Bridge"

Aphrodite, Greek Goddess of Love, herself emerged from the sea in an oyster shell giving birth to the word "aphrodisiac". Forster is only 300 kms from Sydney and is home to some of the best oysters in the country and Barclays Oyster Farm is the southern hemisphere's largest producer of Sydney rock oysters. We had some last night, they were expensive because it's coming up to Christmas but large, fat and delicious.

Oyster Leases

The twin towns of Forster and Tuncurry are separated by water and joined by a large concrete bridge. The twins sit on opposite sides of the entrance to Wallis Lake which is 26 kms long. The area has five national parks, ten state forests, rolling hills and valleys, a triple lake system, numerous rivers and 27 beaches.

Looking towards Tuncurry

An Aboriginal lawyer says that Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, should stick to music because he makes very poor decisions about culturally sensitive land. He's rejected an application to protect Alum mountain from the Pacific Highway upgrade at Buledelah.





It seems the problem concerns three trees. Warimi Dates describes the area as "blackfella church" and says there are two very significant trees and a third is the guardian tree which looks over the other two. He says that already the clearing work on the lower slopes has destroyed a healing stream.

The Peace Pole

Warimi says he's prepared to die protecting the trees that stand in the way of the by-pass. "I've said it before, if a dozer comes near the three sacred trees, I'm quite willing to fight to the end" he said.

Green Cathedral

I read the comments of a young woman who had lived all her life in Buladelah. She said she used to run up on the mountain and said it was such a beautiful place, it was sad that it was being destroyed to make way for a massive multi-lane freeway. But she changed her mind when her father said that there were too many deaths on that terrible stretch of road and the by-pass was badly needed.

Forster Beach

Apparently there is an alternative route around the trees but I suspect the RTA is determined to proceed full speed ahead. Pity.

The case is crrently in the Land and Environment Court in Sydney. Tenders with RTA for work on the by-passed closed recently with construction work due to start early in the new year.

Not far from Forster is a beautiful outdoor church called Green Cathedral. It's a quiet spot right on the lake and church services are held every Sunday. It's a lovely place for quiet reflection. People are asked to offer up a quiet prayer for peace in the world at the "Peace Pole".

Forster/Tuncurry bridge at low tide

Warimi Dates and his grandson at one of the sacred trees

Bellingen, New South Wales

The clear waters of the Bellinger and Kalang Rivers meander through the green valley of Bellingen, a small country town (pop approx 3000) about half way between Sydney and Brisbane. It's a stunningly beautiful area and was the location for the film Danny Deckchair and the setting for the film Oscar and Lucinda with Cate Blanchett. Bellingen also has strong ties to the arts and they have have four different festivals every year.






The area around Bellingen has had a lot of rain this year. In February, dairy farmers were caught off-guard and had to rush to move cattle to higher ground and in November, the township was cut off when torrential rain lashed the area for two full days, some areas reporting 528 mm in 48 hours. Almost 5,000 residents were stranded in the town of Bellingen and Bowraville.

Bellingen is home to current affairs reporter George Negus, writer Victor Kelleher, pianist David Helfgott (subject of the movie Shine) and author Steve Bidddulph. Australian cricketer Adam Gilchrist was born in Bellingen.

Old world architecture in the front street

Toots home sweet home on the Bellinger River

Port Macquarie, New South Wales

Port Macquarie is growing at a rapid rate. The big guns, Coles and Woolworths have already moved in and Aldi is in the process of building their first supermarket and want an option to build another. It's so busy, it's a headache just going into town because there are so few car parking spaces. Workers in the central business district have nowhere to park and have to leave their cars and walk long distances to their offices and tourists have virtually no chance at all.

What was once a quiet seaside retirement village is now a hectic, bustling full-on city with 80,000 people swelling to 100,000 in summer and serious traffic chaos.

They opened a new commercial wharf this week which has been in the pipeline for ten years. It's basically to service the ship 'Island Trader' which has the contract to ship freight to Lord Howe Island but it will also open up potential for small commercial vessels such as cruisers, super yachts, government ships and possibly cargo that is not easily transported by road.

Owners of the 'Island Trader' have confirmed they wanted to relocate from Yamba because they were dissatisfied with the operating costs. The Lord Howe Island Sea Freight Pty Ltd was founded in 1992 with majority ownership being Lord Howe Island residents. The aim was to address the rising costs of sea freight to the island and Council says that most of the island's needs will in future be sourced from competitive local businesses in the Port Macquarie area. Nice one.

Port Macquarie really is a beautiful place with pretty beaches and lots of walks. The Council have done a marvelous job with their level walking paths right around their picturesque coastline. A new coastal walk was opened this year, it's 9 kilometres long and stretches from Westport Park in town to Tacking Point Lighthouse and takes in beaches, headlands, historic sites and rainforest.

The Glasshouse has caused bitter division in the town. It's a beautiful-looking building comprising a 606 seat performing arts theatre/concert hall, a 140 seat studio/rehearsal space, 600m2 regional gallery across three levels, 1820's heritage displays, conference areas, meeting rooms, cafe and bar.

It opened on the 3rd of July this year with a well known Sydney Theatre Company performing Taming of the Shrew. But when the arty folk of Port Macquarie were sipping champagne and soaking up the culture, the rest of the town were spitting chips. In fact the town was so angry about the $50 million blowout that it contributed to the dismissal of the council by the New South Wales government on 27th February, 2008.

Council revealed at this week's meeting that they can no longer afford to keep it and are looking for a buyer. It costs $6,000,000 a year just to keep it open. Ratepayers are furious that the Council is in deficit and that other projects planned for the area have to be suspended or abandoned.

Lord Howe Island, New South Wales

Lord Howe Island is a dot in the Tasman Sea, 600 kilometres off Port Macquarie and a 2 hour flight from Sydney or Brisbane. It's World Heritage Listed for its remarkable geology and rare collection of birds, plants and marine life. All marine life and the coral reef are protected by the Lord Howe Island Marine Park. About 350 people live there and only 400 visitors are allowed on the island at any one time. There are few cars, most people get around on bicycle or on foot. It's only 11 kilometres long and 2 kilometres wide.

You can hand feed the fish bread at Ned's Beach any time of the day and you can walk to Mount Gower, rated as one of the best day walks in the world.

Ian Hutton, Lord Howe's resident naturalist and author of 10 books about the island said "People talk about The Galapagos Islands because of Darwin's connection, but there's more diversity on Lord Howe and it's so intact - the island is very much as it was when it was first discovered.

David Attenborough once wrote "It's so extraordinary, it's almost unbelievable....few islands surely can be so accessible, so remarkable, yet so unspoilt".

Lord Howe Island - the last natural paradise.

Coffs Harbour, New South Wales

Forty years ago, close to 80% of Australia's bananas were grown around Coffs Harbour on the mid north coast of New South Wales, today there is less than 5%. The banana industry is now concentrated in North Queensland where the land is flatter, cheaper and growers can harvest two crops a year instead of one in NSW.

Coffs Harbour has a population of around 80,000 that swells to over 100,000 during summer. As the sprawling city continues to grow at a rapid rate, more and more banana farms are being bulldozed for housing development. Some farmers who decided to stay on have changed to blueberries and avacados and are having some success.

Last year the Labor government agreed to allow Filipino bananas into the country. Understandably, everyone went bezerk, how could anyone possibly do such a stupid thing? But Agriculture Minister Tony Burke has defended the move and says it was the National Party and Warren Truss, as the then Agriculture Minister who initiated the proposal in 2000. He says that since they drew up the legislation and had it passed, it was too late to intervene. With the fear of bringing in diseases from the Philippines foremost in everyone's mind, all he can do now is make the requirements so exacting and stringent that they won't want to export bananas to us at all.

Tony Burke explains "First of all you've got to find a plantation that has low pest prevalence and there's a limit to how many of those they've got to start with. Australian inspectors then have to be on the plantation conducting the inspection and the Filipinos have to pay for the Australian inspectors. The feedback from their growers is that if they have to follow all of the rules set down, their bananas would be too expensive to sell in Australia. From all the indications so far, it is highly unlikely that we will see bananas from the Philippines in Australia but if they were to come, they would probably be more expensive than our own locally grown anyway."

If they do ever turn up here one day, I hope that the major supermarkets, Coles, Woolworths and Aldi will only buy the home grown product.

Woolgoolga, New South Wales

In the 1940's, a number of Punjabi migrants, working in the Queensland canefields decided to move down the coast to Woolgoolga. Today, it's a peaceful beachside village, surrounded by banana plantations. They were the ancestors of the town's Sikh community and represent about a quarter of the total population of around 5,000 people today.

Every year in April the Sikhs of Woolgoolga stage a colourful celebration of culture and cuisine - the Woolgoolga Curryfest. Fifty vendors provide a wide variety of curry dishes and there are cooking demonstrations, music and dance.

Curryfest

The Sikhs came over as free settlers before Federation in 1901 when our strict White Australia Policy was put into place and continued until 1973. The men came on their own, leaving their families at home in India, hoping to make their fortune in Australia. After years of hardship and hard work, they now own the majority of the banana plantations around Woolgoolga.

The most noticeable thing about Sikhs is their distinctive appearance, especially because of a turban and long beard. The 5 K's of the religion are five articles of faith that all baptised Sikhs are obliged (but not forced) to wear at all times.

Kesh - uncut hair and beard as given by God to sustain him or her in higher consciousness, and a turban, the crown of spirituality.

Kangha - a wooden comb to properly groom the hair as a symbol of cleanliness.

Katchera - specially made cotton underwear as a reminder of the commitment to purity.

Kara - a steel circle, worn on the wrist, signifying bondage to Truth and freedom from every other entanglement.

Kirpan - the sword with which the Khalsa is commited to righteously defend the fine line of the Truth.

Khalsa also vows to refrain from any sexual relationships outside of marriage and to refrain from taking meat, tobacco or alcohol.

Today, Kesh, the most important of all Sikh traditions, is not popular with the younger generation, about 80% of Sikh youths cut their hair. Obvious reasons include discrimination in employment and the natural desire to 'fit in'.

Sikhs were recruited by the British Army as part of the Sikh Regiment and became the most decorated regiment in the British Empire. They fought side by side with the ANZAC's at Gallipoli and were highly respected by Australian soldiers.

In April 2009

Another interesting thing about Woolgoolga is their old shipwreck. One hundred and sixteen years ago a 310 ton 39m timber ship (Barquentine) called the Buster arrived at Woolgoolga to load timber for shipment to New Zealand. She was built in Nova Scotia, Canada in 1884. She put down 2 anchors and ran a cable to a buoy near the Woolgoolga jetty but when a storm blew up, both anchor cables snapped, leaving the Buster held by one single buoy. After nine hours of huge seas and gale-force winds, the cable snapped and she beached stern-first not far from the jetty.

And today

Normally, you can't see any sign of the Buster but in April this year, after the foods, the sand was flushed away and you could see her quite clearly sticking out of the sand, the first time in 15 years. Today, she is barely visible at all.

Tidal lake

Of all the towns we've visited, and the 102 caravan parks we've stayed at in almost 12 months, Woolgoolga is my pick of them all.

We have a large, grassy beach-front site and there is a peaceful walk along the lake that eventually runs out into the sea.

Looking from Woolgoolga to Coffs Harbour

The muffled sound of waves breaking on the beach is very relaxing and I think I've captured a glimpse of the 'serenity' Michael Caton talked about. The town is too small for a multi-storey mall, so the shopping presinct is small and friendly. No McDonalds or Kentucky Fried Chicken, no Coles or Woolworths and no traffic lights. I think I could stay here forever.