About

Marius Benson - politics

Is Kevin Rudd the most religious Prime Minister Australia has ever had?

I was kicking that question around over a couple of schooners with a friend after we had seen Gethsemane by the British playwright David Hare, at Sydney’s Belvoir St Theatre.

David Hare is a political writer and his play Gethsemane is largely a political work.

One line that struck me was an observation that, as the first world generally grows less religiously observant, its political leaders seem to be growing more pious.

Not a universal rule - the US for a start is not seeing a decline in religion - but there have been some noticeably religious hands at the helm of several national governments.

Blair, Bush and now Obama and here Rudd and Turnbull are both more eye catchingly religious than our leaders have tended to be.

Kevin Rudd is the first Australian Prime Minister who I can remember routinely delivering Sunday morning pronouncements with a church as the backdrop.

John Howard maintained the Methodist faith of his childhood, but not in a way you would notice. He saw religion as a private matter and was seldom seen in a religious setting, apart from when visiting the church going George Bush in the United States.

Before him Paul Keating had the tribal-Catholic faith of a true Labor believer, but that was as much a cultural artefact as a religious conviction.

Bob Hawke abandonned the faith of his father, a Congregational minister, declaring himself an agnostic.

Go back to Malcolm Fraser and you find another Prime Minister who kept a comfortable distance between church and state. A Presbyterian of the old, undemonstrative school.

Gough Whitlam took a lofty view of religion, as he did most of human endeavour. His attitude is indicated by an anecdote from a caucus meeting he presided over when questions of religion and state aid for schools brought a spirited attack on the Catholic church from one Labor member.

Gough, to the surprise of some, came to the defence of that church saying that in fact if he were to join any church, it would be the Catholic church.

“Yeah,” came a derisive call from the depths of the caucus room, “……as Pope!”

Before Gough as Labor leader was Arthur Calwell. His political life ended with him bitter and whisky-soaked, prowling the corridors of non-power railing against the fates and the people who had prevented him rising beyond opposition leader.

“Come on Arthur,” one colleague, maybe Gough, reportedly urged on one occasion: “What about a little Christian charity.”

“I’m not a Christian,” Arthur snarled back, “I’m a Catholic.”

So the rivers of religious belief have run relatively shallow in Australian political history.

But now, even as religious observation declines, we have elected a devout Christian as Prime Minister. And after hearing his sermons on the church steps each Sunday for two years we have raised him to a level of opinion poll acclaim normally reserved for angels.

God moves in mysterious ways.

___

Helen - Racing editor:

One thing’s for sure about the Caulfield Cup: whatever the state of the track, whichever barrier your favoured horse has drawn, he or she will need luck throughout the run of the big race to win.
It’s one of Australia’s oldest races and it’s also one of the toughest, due to the testing 2400 metres and the tight turning track along the way.
So best we stick with a strong horse, a horse with a true stayer’s heart - and that looks like VIEWED to me!

He’s already won the Melbourne Cup for the grand master Bart Cummings and ran a ripper trial for this a fortnight ago.
And with just a little luck, he should find his way home to the winner’s stall again tomorrow.

In fact, the way Bart’s stable is going, his other two runners - Allez Wonder and Roman Emperor - could fill the minor placings.

Stranger things have happened..

And as we all know, when it comes to Truly Amazing Things on the Turf, Bart Cummings is no stranger!

___

Mark - Breakfast EP:

Believe me, Helen Thomas knows what she’s talking about.

This racing writer and enthusiast (and wannabe champion breeder) famously picked the Caulfield Cup trifecta 3 years ago.

Helen’s also one-third of “Weekend Halftime at the Races” and will be tearing the Cup apart and previewing more of the Spring Racing Carnival with veteran racing writer and commentator Max Presnell and Weekend Halftime’s very own Scott Wales at 10am Eastern Summer Time on Sunday morning.

For the record, Max has also firmly nailed his colours to the Bart Cummings camp.

He’s tipping “Viewed” as well.

Scott’s bunkered down going over the form for the big race …..over and over again.

But, if it makes the final field (it’s currently one of the Emergencies), Scott is leaning towards Baughurst each-way.

Me? What would I know?

Allez-Wonder.

Mark - Breakfast EP …..

The boss is right.

You’d expect me to say that, wouldn’t you?

But it’s absolutely true.

Last night, ABC supremo Mark Scott talked about how traditional big media companies like News Limited are deluding themselves if they think people will pay to read their online content.

That was one of the main messages in a speech in Melbourne on the future of media, in which Scott took a few choice pot shots at News Limited’s Rupert Murdoch, portraying him as an emperor losing control of an ever-changing empire.

“Believing that because you once set the rules, you can do so again, acting on the assumption that you still have the power that befits the emperor”, said the boss.

What’s got Mark Scott fired up, apparently, is an extraordinary speech in Beijing last week by Rupert Murdoch, in which he attacked bloggers and sites like Google, saying they shouldn’t be able to use his company’s news for free. “The philistine phase of the digital age is almost over. The aggregators and plagiarists will soon have to pay a price for the co-opting of our content.”

Really?

Well, I guess no-one will be reading much stuff from News Limited any more.

It’s extraordinary that in the “Information Age”, one of the world’s biggest information providers is becoming reluctant to provide…errrr…information.

For example, presumably an “aggregator and plagiarist” like me will no longer be able to say “Have a look at this great piece in today’s The Australian on the future of new media”, as the interested reader will click the supplied link on to receive the message: “ERROR! You need to subscribe to this publication and log-in, in order to read this article.”

One of the few people ever to make a buck out of purely on-line editorial material is Eric Beecher, publisher of crikey.com and the business site, Eureka Report.

“I think it’s very difficult to give your content away on-line — or in any form for that matter — for a long, long time, and then suddenly flip the switch and say “now you’ve got to pay”, he told Marius Benson on ABC NewsRadio Breakfast this morning.

“I don’t think there’s any journalism that Rupert Murdoch’s organisation publishes on-line now that’s free, that they’ll be able to charge for in its own right. Now they might be able to package it up with all sorts of bells and whistles, and discount offers and free movies and wine, and all sorts of things like that, and get some people to pay for that…but the pure journalism? I don’t think there’s any chance of that at all.”

Wine? Good grief!

Eric Beecher told Marius people are really only willing to pay for high-quality on-line FINANCIAL journalism.

Why? Because they think it will give them an edge in making a buck.

“It works in financial journalism because the value of the journalism can be measured in terms of a financial result, but it’s not working much anywhere else”.

So how does crikey make a buck?

“We have a daily newsletter of about 25 stories a day, but it’s not commoditised news, it’s the sort of “insider” information that people in politics and so on need.”

I guess, under Rupert Murdoch’s definition, I’m plagiarising Marius’ interview with Eric Beecher to make a point in my blog.

I also wonder if he’s going to charge for all those stories in the Oz I see each morning that are clearly follow-ups from the previous day’s crikey?

Ouch!

___

Glen - Presenter:

And speaking of news delivery - online & otherwise - look here ( while you still can!) to read how you can get personalised news delivered to your door ( Old fashioned? Wait , there’s a twist.. )

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,26207945-23109,00.html
Maybe that’s a business model Mr. Murdoch should consider….!

Mark - Breakfast EP …..

The boss is right.

You’d expect me to say that, wouldn’t you?

But it’s absolutely true.

Last night, ABC supremo Mark Scott talked about how traditional big media companies like News Limited are deluding themselves if they think people will pay to read their online content.

That was one of the main messages in a speech in Melbourne on the future of media, in which Scott took a few choice pot shots at News Limited’s Rupert Murdoch, portraying him as an emperor losing control of an ever-changing empire.

“Believing that because you once set the rules, you can do so again, acting on the assumption that you still have the power that befits the emperor”, said the boss.

What’s got Mark Scott fired up, apparently, is an extraordinary speech in Beijing last week by Rupert Murdoch, in which he attacked bloggers and sites like Google, saying they shouldn’t be able to use his company’s news for free. “The philistine phase of the digital age is almost over. The aggregators and plagiarists will soon have to pay a price for the co-opting of our content.”

Really?

Well, I guess no-one will be reading much stuff from News Limited any more.

It’s extraordinary that in the “Information Age”, one of the world’s biggest information providers is becoming reluctant to provide…errrr…information.

For example, presumably an “aggregator and plagiarist” like me will no longer be able to say “Have a look at this great piece in today’s The Australian on the future of new media”, as the interested reader will click the supplied link on to receive the message: “ERROR! You need to subscribe to this publication and log-in, in order to read this article.”

One of the few people ever to make a buck out of purely on-line editorial material is Eric Beecher, publisher of crikey.com and the business site, Eureka Report.

“I think it’s very difficult to give your content away on-line — or in any form for that matter — for a long, long time, and then suddenly flip the switch and say “now you’ve got to pay”, he told Marius Benson on ABC NewsRadio Breakfast this morning.

“I don’t think there’s any journalism that Rupert Murdoch’s organisation publishes on-line now that’s free, that they’ll be able to charge for in its own right. Now they might be able to package it up with all sorts of bells and whistles, and discount offers and free movies and wine, and all sorts of things like that, and get some people to pay for that…but the pure journalism? I don’t think there’s any chance of that at all.”

Wine? Good grief!

Eric Beecher told Marius people are really only willing to pay for high-quality on-line FINANCIAL journalism.

Why? Because they think it will give them an edge in making a buck.

“It works in financial journalism because the value of the journalism can be measured in terms of a financial result, but it’s not working much anywhere else”.

So how does crikey make a buck?

“We have a daily newsletter of about 25 stories a day, but it’s not commoditised news, it’s the sort of “insider” information that people in politics and so on need.”

I guess, under Rupert Murdoch’s definition, I’m plagiarising Marius’ interview with Eric Beecher to make a point in my blog.

I also wonder if he’s going to charge for all those stories in the Oz I see each morning that are clearly follow-ups from the previous day’s crikey?

Ouch!

___

Glen - Presenter:

And speaking of news delivery - online & otherwise - look here ( while you still can!) to read how you can get personalised news delivered to your door ( Old fashioned? Wait , there’s a twist.. )

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,26207945-23109,00.html
Maybe that’s a business model Mr. Murdoch should consider….!

Mark - Breakfast EP …

We were still shooting the breeze in the office yesterday about Glen’s piece in this column on Monday.

He mentioned the discussion in news organisations here in Australia and around the world about their rules on staff participating in online activities such as blogs, Twitter, MySpace and Facebook.

It all came to a head after a Courier Mail staffer was sacked for criticising his own paper on his personal Facebook page.

“MySpace”, I quipped, “That’s sooooooooooooooooo 2007!”

We asked Cam Green - one of Breakfast’s Gen Y’ers — what everyone under 30 is currently using to communicate.

(I’ve just mastered the mobile phone)

Cam assured us Facebook was still a favoured option, although his friends were using Twitter more and more; he also made the point that he wasn’t using Facebook as much personally now, as he had in the past.

Glen added that, no matter whether it’s MySpace, Facebook, Flickr or Twitter, all this putting your life on-line stuff is here to stay.

Is he right?

Probably.

My own track record in predicting the future is woeful.

Our national co-ordinator, Pip - who I’ve worked on-and-off with for more than 20 years - no doubt remembers my famous 1994 pronouncement “This email stuff will never catch on.”

Actually, whenever it comes to predicting the future, I’m always reminded of a text-book called “Using Better English” which was on the syllabus in my second year of high school.

It was actually written in the early 60’s, but its advice on conjugating verbs and the difference between nouns and gerunds was so good, that it was still being reprinted 17 or 18 years later.

Each chapter started with a short story. You’d then have to do various comprehension exercises based on the story.

One day in 1980 the class got told to open up this book and turn to Chapter Ten.

We all burst out laughing.

The chapter was entitled “Home life in 1980″.

Written in the early 60’s, it was the unnamed author speculating about what life might be like 20 years hence.

Husband drives to work in hover-car…..wife takes a sonic shower….while the automatic lawn-mower purrs away quietly outside cutting the lawn by itself.

Elsewhere in the house a robot in the kitchen is starting to get dinner ready, while another vacuums.

You get the idea: Jetsons plus.

When you DO go back in time, it’s rather funny where you find clues to the momentous things that have changed our lives — like the internet revolution.

When I was in London in the late 90’s, BBC Radio 3 got permission from The Who’s Pete Townshend to do a radio production of his long-lost music and performance piece, “Lifehouse”.

Townshend was working on the incredibly ambitious follow-up to his 1969 rock opera “Tommy” when he had a nervous breakdown.

A few songs from “Lifehouse”, including the anthemic “Won’t Get Fooled Again” and “Baba O’Reilly” eventually surfaced on 1971’s “Who’s Next” album.

So it was a bit of a revelation when the BBC unearthed this creation from circa 1970.

“Lifehouse” is set in a sort of post-apocalyptic future where isolated individuals are connected to the outside through a huge mainframe called “the Grid”.

The people use the Grid to connect with each other and redeem themselves from their isolation by the power of (The Who’s) music.

Sounds rather like the internet, doesn’t it?

___

Marius - Politics:

Driving home on Tuesday, I was listening to Robert Dessaix reading Andre Gide.

Or it may have been Andre Gide reading Robert Dessaix.

The day was sunny and warm, the air alive with the promise of spring, the jacarandas in bloom and the words coming from the radio so lilting and mellifluous, I was flat out knowing if I was listening to English or French.

The readings from Gide’s journals told of meetings with people like Paul Valery, Jean Cocteau and conversations with Marcel Proust - puffy, bedridden, talking, in fact boasting, of his homosexuality and saying he’s sure Baudelaire is gay.

(One Baudelaire quote: “God made the world from nothing, but sometimes the nothingness shows through.”)

It was just the drifty sort of counterpoint to the neon-lit ‘Now!’ of daily journalism that you need as you head away from the office. And then I was brought back to earth by this neat summary of our craft, courtesy of Gide via Dessaix: “Journalism is everything that will interest less tomorrow than it does today.”

A good reason to read a bit of Gide as well as the papers. But I’ll stop short of Proust.

I’ve always found a page or two of Marcel has a powerful narcotic effect.

Glen - presenter…

Good Communication tip #112:

If you want to be a Great Conversationalist, whatever you do don’t use the word “whatever.”

Wire reports say it topped a US survey as the most annoying word.

The Marist telephone poll of 938 adults revealed it was more grating than “anyway” and less tolerable than phrases such as “it is what it is” and “you know.”

Mary Azzoli, director of media for Marist says: “The impetus of this poll was a casual conversation where we started discussing those words that get on your nerves. You hear them over and over again,”

Nearly 50 percent of people questioned said “whatever” was the word that bothered them the most. It was the most irritating word in all regions of the country, and among both sexes, all age groups, educational levels and income brackets.

“It is used so often in terms of casual conversation. Also, when you think of the meaning behind it, it is often a way to dismiss someone. It is irritating in that regard. It is much more off-putting compared to any of the other statement we asked,” she added.

A quarter of people selected “you know” as the phrase they would like to ban most from the English language. Eleven percent simply could not tolerate “it is what it is,” while seven percent found “anyway” irksome.

And at the end of the day, “at the end of the day” was the phrase that came in a distant last with two percent of the vote.

“In order to be a good conversationalist, the key is to always be aware of what you are saying and maybe to do a little research about which words are overused,” Azzoli added.
Anyway, whatever, you know….

—
Prize-wise…..

A record five women won Nobel prizes this year, beating the previous record of three, with North American Elinor Ostrom becoming the first woman to win the Economics Prize.

Americans cemented their domination of the Nobel prizes in 2009 with a record 11 of the 13 laureates lauded this year coming from the United States. It’s claimed to be a sign of its rather well-funded research universities.

A lesson for us all perhaps.

—

In other online news….

British pay-TV giant BSkyB will launch an online music service next week, offering consumers access to more than four million tracks, rivalling Apple’s iTunes.

Sky Songs, which is paid for with a monthly fee, will offer users songs for download and for advert-free streaming — which allows unlimited listening to thousands of albums on computers via the web, BSkyB said in a statement.

The service, to be launched on October 19, will offer new releases and back catalogues from major music labels including EMI, Sony, Universal and Warner, and a large range of independent labels.

Glen - presenter

Interesting to note the discussion in the press today about news organisations and their attitude to and rules about online activities such as blogs, Twitter, Facebook and the like. The Australian’s Media section details different media organisation’s approaches to what employees should and shouldn’t do and say online.
It comes after a Courier Mail staffer was sacked for criticising his paper online - apparently telling people you are bored dealing with such schlock can get you in big trouble.

The BBC says ” audiences should not be able to tell from BBC programs or other BBC output the personal prejudices of our journalists and presenters…This applies as much to online content as it does to news bulletins. Nothing should be written by journalists and presenters that would not be said on air.”

The New York Times says ‘don’t editorialise if you work for the news department’. Bloomberg says ‘news staff may not publish websites, blogs or other online journals that discuss companies, people or topics covered by Bloomberg News’.

Doesn’t leave much.

I think I’ll leave it there.

___

Marius - politics

What do Kevin Rudd, Malcolm Turnbull, Tony Abbott, Christopher Pyne and Peter Dutton have in common?

Vaulting vanity…….rampant egotism…..wild self-belief…..hides like rhinos?

Well possibly. But what they definitely share is a taste in footwear.

All of the above match their regulation dark power suits with elastic-sided RM Williams riding boots.

This seems like an Australian variation on a recurring US theme. Every so often, when a President, Vice President or Congressman crosses his legs on camera, you can see the eye catching leather and stitching of cowboy boots below his well-tailored cuffs.

It is clearly a discreet expression of the Inner Man - statesman from the ankles up, but something quite different below.

Marius - Politics

In Britain political coverage is now focussing not on what will happen at the general election in seven months, but what comes after.

The result is a given; New Labour is ancient history, David Cameron is the Prime Minister in waiting.

The question now is: “How will it be when the Conservatives get in?”

Political author Ross McKibbin, writing in the London Review of Books asks: “Will we notice when the Tories have won?”

His answer is not really.

Domestically there’ll be some cuts, not that many. Internationally the strongly Atlanticist, mildly Europhobe Labour will be replaced with the strongly Atlanticist, very Europhobe Conservatives.

In Australia, on the evidence, it’s also reasonable to be looking beyond the next election to debate what a second term of Rudd-Labor would be like.

The vote is no more than 12 months away, possibly much closer, depending on the view the government takes on its emissions trading negotiations.

Steve Lewis and Malcolm Farr, writing in News Ltd papers, have reported on an internal Liberal Party survey of 25 battleground seats which has found that the opposition is looking at losing 20 more seats.

That would in all likelihood put them out of contention out for the 2013 election as well, given the benefits of incumbency.

Malcolm Turnbull has been trying to rally Liberal troops at a Melbourne fundraiser by pointing out that Menzies won power in 1949 with a thumping majority, reversing the defeat of three years earlier.

Big turnarounds happen - now all he needs is for Kevin Rudd to try to nationalise the banks and hope some communist-dominated unions call a coal strike.

___

Mark - Breakfast EP

We get inundated by press releases here at ABC NewsRadio.

Most are thinly disguised ads for products and are of no interest.

But occasionally there’s one that stands out from the pack….just for sheer entertainment value.

The best ones seem to come from the world of commercial television, where PR spruikers are the masters of understatement.

My favourite is this offering from PBL media when Eddie McGuire departed as Nine Network supremo in mid 2007 before he could do any more damage.

It was titled “EDDIE MCGUIRE CHANGES ROLE AT NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA”
“Eddie McGuire, AM, the Chief Executive Officer of the Nine Network Australia today announced that he would move from his Chief Executive role at the Network to an increased presence on air and the provision of creative and programming services.”
Errr…yes.
There was another wonderful example of commercial tv spin this morning.
The front cover of Sydney’s Daily Telegraph shows a clearly angry James Packer lecturing his former friend and former Nine Network colleague David Leckie at a public function at the Opera House in Sydney yesterday.
Mr. Leckie now runs the rival Seven Network.
They were both at a birthday bash for their mutual friend, Sam Chisholm.
The Tele’s Annette Sharp details how David Leckie went up to James Packer, hand outstretched in greeting.
He looked surprised when the media and casino mogul allegedly told him to “F… off!” and then supposedly said “You want to go outside now? Let’s do it.”
Annette Sharp explains how Mr. Packer is apparently furious that David Leckie doesn’t seem to be doing much to stop Seven journos doing stories that are critical of the Nine Network or James Packer’s casino investments.
She contacted Seven spruiker Simon Francis for a comment on the incident.
He did have one. It was very short:
“I understand James made a series of observations to David”.
Brilliant!
I notice Annette Sharp didn’t get a comment from the Nine Network or PBL media.
Somehow I think they were a bit busy yesterday, dealing with the international condemnation they’ve received for the Hey, Hey it’s Saturday “black faces” skit.

Debbie - Sport

You won’t hear me on ABC NewsRadio for the next few weeks, but it won’t be anything to do with Glen Bartholomew’s on-air threat this morning to get into the spirit of AFL Trade Week and trade me to Radio National. (Me and a first-round interview pick for Phillip Adams? What about if we throw in Scott Wales — subject to him passing a medical?)

No, I’m taking leave and, while I’m off, heading to Shanghai to catch the Masters tennis tournament next week. Looking forward to it immensely, of course, but not as immensely as I had hoped.

While watching the US Open last month I decided that it was high time I stopped bemoaning the fact I’d never seen Roger Federer play live and just do something about it.

I’ve been a sports journalist on and off for the past 25 years and during that time Federer’s impressed me more than an other sports star. It’s not just his amazing record — the most prolific Grand Slam winner ever in the men’s game, and the astonishing feat of reaching the semi finals at the last 22 grand slams — but his whole demeanour on and off the court. He’s incredibly graceful to watch. He moves effortlessly, speaks intelligently (in three languages) and everyone I’ve ever known that’s had first hand contact with him tells me he’s as affable and professional to deal with up close as he appears from a distance. Just last month I was talking to a high-placed administrator from another sport who told me that Federer is the kind of star every sport dreams of having.

A quick check of the men’s tennis calendar showed Federer’s next commitment after the US Open was the Shanghai Masters. So I booked my flights and accommodation, organised media accreditation and, within a week, Federer withdrew from the tournament. Aaarrrghh!!!

Everyone keeps telling me the solution is to go the Australian Open in January. Sounds simple, but getting time off from ABC NewsRadio in January is virtually impossible given we are committed to full-on programming over the summer while the other ABC networks put their usual line-ups into recess.

I’m sure I’ll have fun in Shanghai anyway and see some good tennis. But I won’t be overdoing it on the Duty Free spending or the ATP merchandise. I’m saving my pennies and toying with the idea going to the Indian Wells tournament in March. But please, nobody mention it to Roger.

___

Mark - Breakfast EP

I’m not traditionally a huge fan of political biographies, but over the last couple of weeks I’ve been dipping into an updated version of The Costello Memoirs.

It’s Peter Costello’s own account of his time in politics, co-authored with the journalist and former Federal and New South Wales state MP, Peter Coleman, who just also happens to be Mr. Costello’s father-in-law.

I’ve found it quite entertaining….

Oddly enough, it wasn’t the actual content of the book that was all that exciting.

Sure, as a Melbourne boy, I found it vaguely interesting to read what Blackburn — the outer eastern suburb in which Peter Costello grew up, was like in the 1950’s.

But I found Peter Costello’s description of his role in some pretty amazing student political intrigues at Monash Uni, rather passionless.

It was worth being reminded of the ins and outs of the famous Dollar Sweets case, where a young Costello cut his teeth as an industrial lawyer, although I’m sure the union movement would disagree with some of his analysis.

(As a kid I used to play squash at the courts right next door to the Dollar Sweets factory in East Malvern).

And then later I found myself wincing when reminded of some of the clangers during Alexander Downer’s brief stint as Liberal Party leader. (Costello was his deputy)

But the book is more entertaining for what it DOESN’T say.

Namely what Peter Costello REALLY thought of John Howard and his failure - time and time again - to step aside for his deputy.

And Costello’s seeming reluctance - time and time again - to even broach the leadership question with Howard.

Or more generally, his strained relationship with Australia’s second longest-serving PM.

Like many of Peter Costello’s public utterances during his time as Treasurer, it’s rather elliptical.

Journo: “Mr. Costello, how do you feel?”

Costello: “Well it wasn’t my happiest day….”

Journo: “Mr. Costello, are you saying Mr. Howard is a liar?”

Costello: “Well, my mother always told me to tell the truth.”

Costello: “The Liberal Party needs renewal.” (John Howard has refused to step down as leader AGAIN, and won’t give me a go.)

In a farewell article in today’s Fairfax papers, Mr. Costello writes.

“Critics say I didn’t make it to the top office. I would have liked to. And I tried. But I think it is fair to be judged on how you discharged the office you did hold, not on how you didn’t discharge the office you didn’t hold.”

True, but it’s worth asking why Costello didn’t become PM.

Sure, John Howard didn’t step aside.

But there was another problem.

Despite his considerable achievements in public life, including bringing down more than a dozen Federal budgets, to many Australians Peter Costello remained an enigma with an unfortunate smile which looked like a smirk.

We THOUGHT he wanted to be Prime Minister…

We were never in any such doubt about what John Howard, Paul Keating, Bob Hawke or Kevin Rudd wanted.

Marius - politics

Just before the last election he won in 2004, I interviewed John Howard in the NewsRadio studio.

Interviewing the then Prime Minister was, it may surprise some to learn, always quite a pleasure. He was a man who believed in his political case and enjoyed putting it.

He was happy in the reasonably robust tradition of Australian political interviews. Politicians are not by and large liars, but they deal in a particular form of the truth.

It is the truth of the salesman, the truth of the advocate.

That involves accentuating their positives, eliminating the negatives and not messing with subtleties in between.

Within those constraints, there was plenty of scope for useful dialogue with John Howard in contrast with some less generous, or less confident, practitioners who see an interview only as an exercise in avoiding traps and saying nothing.

Around the half way mark in the half hour, pre-election chat, I used NewsRadio’s standing as the parliamentary network to climb on a small hobby horse of mine by suggesting to the PM, that, in keeping with Question Time practice perhaps he would like to ask himself the next question.

Dorothy Dixers are an absurdity to anyone outside the political process and many within: why should the government ask itself questions?

How can anyone defend the distinctly Stalinist practice of having a humble backbencher rise to read from a crushed note held in his palsied hand a question urging the Prime Minister or a Minister to explain the sheer greatness of their latest achievement?

John Howard couldn’t see that as a problem. The system seemed to work pretty well to him through more than three decades in the House, particularly the happy years in government, when the rules are all rigged your way.

There have always been calls to reform Question Time, to make it a genuine exercise in getting answers from ministers. Those calls generally end with a resigned shrug and a dismissive: “Well it was never any better.”

But in fact, there is clear evidence that Question Time is getting worse. The debased tradition of ministers ducking questions continues and the former Labor MP, Barry Cohen, has pointed to another significant change for the worse.

Writing in The Spectator, Mr Cohen pulled together some figures to show that 40 years ago the Opposition leader, say Whitlam, might ask a couple of questions and his Deputy one - and the PM field a couple from his own side.

At that time, there was plenty of scope for individual backbenchers to put their own questions. Now the leaders have grabbed all the territory for themselves.

Another, quite important, sign of the centralisation of power in the political process.

Question Time has never had more urgent need for reform, as fewer and fewer politicians take longer and longer to say less and less.

___

Mark - Breakfast EP

What drives stockmarkets?

It’s a question which we try to answer each morning on ABC NewsRadio Breakfast, when we rake over the coals from the international markets and preview the day ahead in Australia.

We’ll bring you the latest economic data and numbers with help from our good friends Rob Henderson, Dave de Garis and Spiros Papadopoulos at NAB and James Shugg at Westpac in London.

Despite their expert analysis — and they’d be the first to admit this — a lot of trying to divine what’s driving market sentiment is pure guesswork.

For example, this morning CNN and the BBC were — initially — breathless in their pronouncements about the impact the decision of the Reserve Bank in Australia — the first developed economy to ratchet up interest rates in anticipation of an economic turnaround - was having on global stockmarkets.

“A Kangaroo Bounce!” exclaimed CNN’s Richard Quest on “Quest Means Business” to explain the rally in the Dow.

It was a similar story in London.

“That’s a VERY positive sign!” said Melissa Bayer from UK stockbrokers Charles-Stanley on the BBC as the FTSE soared two and a quarter percent.

The BBC was also trumpeting the RBA decision here as driving market sentiment in New York….until their well-informed New York Business correspondent Michelle Fleury pointed to a lower US dollar.

That made American exporters excited at the prospect of flogging more goods overseas at cheaper prices.

Why was the US dollar lower?

Because of an unsourced report in London’s Independent newspaper - quickly denied by the way - that oil-rich Gulf states no longer want to price oil in US dollars.

So what drives markets?

Let’s be blunt:

We’re trying to explain greed here.

Me suspects it’s more like the last-minute rush you see at a TAB when the price on a supposed “good thing” starts to plunge….and everyone rushes to get aboard — even at short odds — so they’re not left out.

In the case of markets, it’s a two way rush, though.

It’s also the rush to get out the door when the TAB catches on fire.

Glen - presenter

Some good news to report today, with the winning of the Nobel Prize for Medicine by an expatriate Australian woman.

Jack Szostak, Carol Greider and dual US-Australian citizen, Elizabeth Blackburn, jointly share the prize for a discovery about the way chromosomes are copied and protected.

The Nobel Institute says the discovery has added a new dimension to understanding the cell and its connection with cancer and the ageing process.

Interesting that she says she wouldn’t have won if she’d stayed in Australia.

The brain drain continues.

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And now for the news that isn’t news… but is, in fact, up to 200 years old.

I received an email today saying that, for the first time ever, genealogists, researchers and academics, regardless of their location are now able to explore over two million pages of newspaper from 49 national and regional UK titles at the click of a button.

Developed by the British Library, in partnership with JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) and Gale, part of Cengage Learning, the 19th century British Library Newspapers website is available at http://newspapers.bl.uk/blcs/

Now family historians, authors, journalists and expats can research some of the big talking points of the 19th century including: the Irish Famine and emigration; Boer War; Great Australian gold rush; Californian Railway expansion; Franco-Prussian War and Indian Railway expansion.

With enhanced search capabilities and new imaging techniques, serious and amateur researchers now have access to vivid newspaper reports previously only available via hard copy in Reading Rooms.

Chosen by leading experts and researchers to present a cross section of 19th century society, the website offers its users highly illustrated materials on topics as diverse as business and sport, politics and entertainment.

Bathing machines, children as young as nine smoking and drinking, Vesta Tilley - London’s very own Pop Idol - the banking collapse of 1878 and zero percent income tax are just a few of the fascinating items researchers can now examine online.

Ed King, British Library’s Head of Newspaper Collections, said: “There’s a huge appetite for international online access to this kind of content. News from around the world was covered at length in national and regional UK press in the 19th century, and this new pay-as-you-go service will enable users from across the world to delve into this unrivalled online resource.”

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More recently…

A new poll says the US is the most admired country globally, thanks largely to the star power of President Barack Obama and his Administration.

North America climbed from seventh place last year, ahead of France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Japan which completed the top five nations in the Nation Brand Index (NBI).

Poll officials say the huge jump in status by the US is extremely rare and say it is due to the new government comparing very favourably with the former Bush Administration in the rest of the world’s eyes.

It was coming from a low base, but nothing like a foreign policy shift in favour of cooperation, dialogue and reason to get people on side, it appears.

Australia is in 9th place, by the way.

I guess Top Ten isn’t too bad.

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PS: Go the Storm !

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Debbie- Sport

Just to be different, I want to offer some kudos to the Australian cricket selectors.
I couldn’t see Shane Watson as anything other than an injury-waiting-to happen; a man using the Australian team pretty much as a doctors waiting room and wondered why the selectors kept persevering with him.
He was first named in an Australian team in 2002 and selectors kept recalling him despite stress fractures to the back, a shoulder dislocation, a groin strain, a series of hamstring strains and more stress fractures to the back, even food poisoning in India that he feared was a heart attack.
This morning, he made it two unbeaten centuries in a row to take Australia to victory in the Champions Trophy final against New Zealand.
I was amused though to hear Ricky Ponting at the post match presentation refer to Watson and Cameron White as two “young” players”. Watson is 28 and White 26.
Can’t think of too many top-line international sports where 28 is “young” apart from, perhaps, golf.

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While we’re talking cricket, some weeks ago on this page I promised to make some enquiries about Jim Maxwell’s use of the word “denouement” in his match report on the seventh one-dayer between Australia and England at Chester-Le-Street.
Jim tells me he didn’t win a bet by using the word, or even use the world as the result of losing a bet.
The only explanation a bemused Monsieur Maxwell could offer was “It just felt good at the time”.
And it sounded good at the time, Jim.
And we congratulate you on not needing any special motivation to produce vocabulary variety.