Earlier today John Howard said…
“We expect all who come here to make an overriding commitment to Australia, its laws and its democratic values…”
“We expect them to master the common language of English and we will help them to do so…”
“We want them to learn about our history and heritage. And we expect each unique individual who joins our national journey to enrich it with their loyalty and their patriotism.”
The key words in Howard’s speech are the words ‘we’ and ‘them’.
Who is ‘we’ and who are ‘them’?
And what version of history do ‘we’ want ‘them’ to be taught?
What heritage do ‘we’ want ‘them’ to learn?
Jingoism.
There’s a few people getting rid of their blogs of late. Graham has even gone to the lengths of deleting his blog altogether. Thanks for fucking all the so-called permalinks I made to VM Graham! Maybe he’s going to run for public office in the next few years and is wiping anything from the web that could possibly cause a public outcry (that would be about 75% of Graham’s posts). Or maybe he has plans to run for the presidency of Hawthorn FC.
Things have settled down here in Brisbane. I’ve been here for a few days shy of 4 weeks now, which surprises me. It doesn’t seem like it’s been that long. With all the fuss of leasing a new house, transferring personal details with banks, superannuation funds, insurance companies and buying a new washing machine and car and starting a new casual job….where was I? That’s right. Time has just flown by and now I can kick back after work and have a brew.
A few people have asked me so far which city is better to live in, Melbourne or Brisbane. 2 weeks ago I would have said Melbourne, but now I can honestly say that you cannot compare the two cities. They are essentially the same except for the urban grit that Melbourne has. You only see that in 2 or 3 parts of Brisbane. The Valley, Wooloongabba and New Farm. Come to think of it, Melbourne is being gentrified so rapidly that ther’ll be no grit left in a couple of years. Just townhouses and graffiti-proof brick walls.
I have to say that I’m happy here. There’s not many cities in the world where you can be only 4kms from the hussle and bustle of the CBD and feel like you’ve got room to move as well as having all modern conveniences within walking distance.
One of my favourite (ex) Melbourne bloggers is Momo. And she’s back! Yee haa. This time she’s bloggin’ on from London.
Well here I am. Brisbane. The picture below gives a hint of how it looks from my back verandah. Kind of nice. Waking up to Kookaburras at 5am is a little better than waking up to trams rumbling down High St. Northcote (Melbourne). The weirdest thing is that we’re only a 10 minute bus trip/5 minute drive/15 minute cycle from the Brisbane CBD. You wouldn’t think it by looking at the photo.
The move has gone well so far except for my inability to deal with humid air. Armpits that constantly drip and a permanently moist bumcrack are not preferred sensations after 10 years of living in cities with temperate climates. You can call me a gigantic woosy if you’d like, but hey, you never do get used to it – you just have to cope. I’m resigned to the fact that for 4 months of every year (November – February) the nights are just about as hot as the days and the only relief from the heat are the afternoon storms, which have conveniently gone missing since I got here.
Happy new year if it’s 2006 for you.