Work is done half-assed (or ignored), and day dreaming is so common that the world of work and play are largely indistinguishable.

For Australians, with the heat, the culture of the barbie and a work ethic that regularly dips below that of a sleepy cat- the hardest part is waking up. . . read more

1. Is stupid and
2. Goes against his previous promises as a leader.

Tony Abbott is trying to relight the dwindling flame of his woman support by proposing a six month paid maternity leave, which in itself is a fantastic idea.

The problem is the bill will be foot by a fairly large tax of 1.7% on all middle to large businesses that earn in excess of $5mil a year.

Apart from the fact that Abbott promised there would be no new taxes if he were to become leader, most of these large multimillion-dollar businesses already have paid parental leave schemes for their employees in place and by this new tax would be put out millions of dollars more to pay for everyone else. 

Interestingly, Australia is one of the only Western countries that doesn't have a governmental parental leave programme already in place, which reflects poorly on us as a progressive nation.  

Perhaps we should take a leaf out of Norway's book - where each Norwegian is taxed 0.01% and is rewarded with 46 weeks off at 100% of their wage or 56 at 80%, and the father MUST take at least 10 weeks off.   

Why didn't Australia get the memo? . . read more

It offers (in addition to the catchy musical numbers) a different portrayal of Aborigines- avoiding, to a large extent, the sterotypes that we've come to associate with the indigenous people of Australia.

One of the most uplifting numbers takes place in the beginning (and the end) of the film with the chorus:

There's nothing I would rather be, than to be an Aborigine

It got me thinking.

When have we ever heard such a positive and unashamed pride of Aboriginality?

And what's your perspective on the Christian disciplinarian head-master who tries to change the beliefs and customs of the largely uninterested Aboriginal studentary?

Could this be the right way to tackle many of the problems in the wider community? . . read more

Julia Gillard, Tony Abbott and Leonardo Dicaprio have a lot more in common than you would think. All three have invaded my hopes, dreams and aspirations, then carefully and systematically destroyed them.

Dream number 1. No more references to tomato sauce by politicians ever again. Failed. 

Aspiration number 2. Environmentally conscious and proactive politicians that utilise creative solutions to harrowing problems. Destroyed

Hope number 3. A government that reflects the voice of the people, constructively exhibiting how the democratic process can work. Slowly spiralling into the pile of discarded desires. 

As is evident by this charade of an election, neither party shall accurately carry the voice of the Australian people. What we need to do now is look forward forgetting the joke of a government that shall exist for the next four years or so.

We must look towards the young and aspiring politicians of Australia. What Australian politics needs now is depth, character and intelligence, so I ask of our schools, universities and workplaces, will the real Australian government please stand up?   . . read more

Smokers of the world rejoice, finally the fat bastards that fill the streets and make the world all the uglier will be receiving some of the flack we have. 

Of course we'll have to wait years until the rotund have to pay drastically more for airplane seats, junk food, and waste disposal.

All this talk of obesity has made me turn to the one appetite repressent I know and love- Kent Cigarettes- because a real man smokes Kent.  . . read more

...Kevin Rudd, the guest of honour at the launch of ABC 3 was the victim of a security scare from an unnamed contracted cleaner.

The story gets stranger as the AFP, the cleaning company and the ABC itself all refused to comment on what had happened.

It might not be a fair comparison but this 'incident' did make me think of the media world's reaction to Tareq and Michaele Sahali's White House invasion last week.

The couple got scorned and ridiculed from all corners and the Secret Service was forced to make an embarrasing apology for this uncharacteristic slip up.

Here though, Rudd's 'dance with death' has only been run on the 7pm ABC news (it didn't even make it to ABC online) and it looks like that will be it from here on in.

There hasn't been any mention of what risk Rudd had been placed in or what will be done differently to avoid similar breaches.

Why the difference if both breaches were equally harmless?

In my mind it shows that the media knows that Rudd's security isn't exactly going set the water-cooler ablaze, and that Rudd himself probably realises that to talk about it or investigate it further would look weak to a country that still prides itself on its stiff upper lip.

Kind of comforting that in Australia, the politicians ain't too precious.

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Yesterday I went to the Sydney CBD Australian Taxation Office in order to apply for a Tax File Number - it’s something I hadn’t needed before now.

It was early in the morning, I was unkempt and I had a pretty awesome week-old beard going. I thought I might as well hand in my application and then head up to the State Library for some research. I walked up to the receptionist and I told her I was here to apply for a TFN.

What followed was the most out of place and confusing questioning I’ve ever experienced.

“You’ve never had a tax file number?” she said to me aghast
“No”
“Are you an Australian citizen?” she probed
“Yes”
“And you’ve never had a tax file number?”
“No”
“How long have you been in Australia?”
“9 years”
“So what have you been doing in all that time?”
“Uh…going to school”

She then looked at my driver’s licence and claimed it was expired. It took her a while to realise that was just a P1 end date, and the actual expiry was in 2013.

Eventually I was deemed eligible to pass. I wondered if she ever considered that if I was a shady character or an illegal immigrant there’s no way I’d want a government TFN in the first place.

But as I walked through I had only one message going through my head - “Dude, note to self - never go to a government office with a beard on your face.” . . read more

That 'problem' is the innate human desire to get fucked up and remove mind from body. 

How frequently this is done defines you. Once a year you're a saint, once a week you're a binger, a day and you're an alcoholic. The way it's done is also important, but we all know the tags we give for addicts. The fact is that this need is in everybody.

And if it's not you've probably replaced it with some transcendental crap like religion that supposedly gives similar highs to true believers. Fuck that, who has the time or the will to worship something so destructive.

Instead I say this to the government or anybody who scorns me.

What business is it of yours what I take into my body - as long as I do not harm another human being on this planet?

My body is my temple and I'll repaint the walls with vomit when I want to. 

  . . read more

So today we'd like to know, who in Australia would you deport if you could and why?   . . read more

Long knives and short memories seem to be the go. Add to that a complete disregard for the empowerment of community by social networks, mobile technology and the culture of the ‘local' and you have the recipe for the demise of parliamentary democracy.

Not that we will be sorry to see it go. What is interesting, however, is when and what will replace the two-party system and the party machines.

AS a first step look out for the proliferation of political parties in the next Australian elections as voters embrace pluralism in a stand against the Obeid's and Tripodi's of this world.

  . . read more