quicko: ameristralia

A bit of internet fun these days -- what would happen if America and Australia merged?

quicko: politics

I really don't get much into politics in any country, but the (belated) buzz here at the moment is that Australia is having a (gasp, shock, horror) 9-month election campaign.  Now to those of us used to there pretty much never being a non-campaign moment, it's not such a shock.  To Australians, however, who are used to much shorter (say a month or two I think?) election campaigns, this is torture of a monumental proportion.

quicko: go left

After years of sidestepping recklessly back and forth between sides of the sidewalk when you're walking down the street, the Australian government has finally decided to do what Americans would have assumed people would have done naturally -- stay on the left!

In America, pedestrians just naturally veer right (since that's the side we drive on) when meeting another oncoming pedestrian.  In Australia, as much as you'd think everyone would just go left, in reality everyone usually just ends up in a bit of an awkward jumble.

But now the Labor (more left-wing) party in New South Wales has actually managed to push an official policy through that requires everyone to "go left."

It's basically going to be one of those laws along the lines of jaywalking -- on the books, but presumably rarely actually enforced.  I find it bizarre they've actually gone and made it official (crazy Australians!), but just in case you need to know, be sure to stay on the left when you're walking in NSW!

quicko: muppets and politics

I'd heard "muppets" used a bit here as a potentially softer term for "stark raving idiots," but had assumed it was most idiosyncratic.  It seems to be popping up a bit more lately, though (generally in regard to the current political fiasco*), and I think it might actually be an Australianism ... maybe.

*Current political fiasco:  in a very brief nutshell, Kevin Rudd had been elected Prime Minister in 2007 by the people, though, technically, they elected the Labor Party and not Kevin Rudd.  Thus, a couple years ago when the Labor Party decided they wanted to change their top dog they one morning very coolly kicked Kevin out and put Julia Guillard in.  This left most Australians pretty put out with Julia and feeling a bit sorry for Kevin, who got made Foreign Minister (not a bad gig, but still a demotion).  Kevin hasn't had a great track record for kindness, tact and anger management, but just recently he was caught swearing up a storm about ... some important Asian dignitary he really shouldn't have been swearing about (or at?).  Then, (possibly but not necessarily related to that) he resigned from his post as Foreign Minister while in Washington, D.C. (not Australia!!) and called an early morning press conference (in Australia) to steal Julia's mid-morning press conference thunder, I think.  Anyway, there's speculation he's now about to oust her the way she ousted him.  However, now everyone is so sick of the whole thing no one likes anyone in politics anymore (big change there, huh?) no one seems to care but just wants their politicians to grow up and stop acting like muppets.

photo: kirribilli house

[Sydney] home of the Prime Minister of Australia.

quicko: the capital

It's an easy mistake to make, but one I'd prefer you not to, since you have a friend in Australia and all. The capital is Canberra. Not Sydney, not Melbourne. Canberra. Which is not to say that you should come visit it if you come, just that if you find yourself unexpectedly on Jeopardy, I'd hate for you to get it wrong.

quicko: their politics

I don't really know a ton about Australian politics, but I managed to pick up a few tidbits lately that I thought might be of general interest:

--voting is compulsory here. You get fined if you don't vote.

--the two main parties are Liberal and Labour, which very roughly would translate to Republican and Democrat, respectively. (Ironic, eh?)

--if I'm understanding this right, when Australians vote they can just pick a party at the top of the ballot and then everything else will get filled into how that party wants it to go. Of course, they also have the choice to vote for each candidate individually if they want to.

--if Australians vote for a candidate who doesn't end up really being in the running (say, the Green Party), instead of that vote going to the losing party, it will then be allocated to whichever party (presumably Liberal or Labour) the losing party (in our example, the Green Party) had thrown in its lot with. To put it in American terms, it would prevent situations like Ralph Nader pulling votes from Democrats because those votes would ultimately end up being Democrat votes.

--they do all the electing a whole lot faster than we do, and are shocked and appalled that it could possibly take us so long just to make up our minds and pick a President.

quicko: our politics

I'm so glad we've got a new President picked: now, hopefully, everyone will leave me alone!

It's amazing how many people here thought that my vote was their business. I don't know if it's a me thing or an American thing, but I always thought votes were fairly private matters. Families talk about them, friends broach them delicately and acquaintances never dream of going there.

Here, near-strangers have no qualms about asking who I voted for in the same breath as hello.

I know it's part conversation, part curiousity and part a cultural difference, but it's taken me a bit by surprise, as have people's assumptions that I'm obviously voting one way or another. They don't even know me!

And, call me antisocial, but can I just say I can't stand conversations with people who never normally talk to me, but suddenly thrust stubby fingers at me and demand to know my political positions? Golly gee, I'm an American, I need a two-foot bubble of personal space!!

quicko: politics

I just think you ought to know who the Prime Minister is here. His name is Kevin Rudd, and he's not especially attractive. He only came in office in February this year, and has so far been most praised for his near-immediate act of issuing and official government apology to the Aboriginal people. (Talk about too little, too late, but thank goodness somebody did.)

Since then he hasn't done too terribly much that's made the news, although he was on Rove the other night. Rove, as you may recall, finishes every "20 bucks in 20 seconds" round with the infamous, "and, (insert guest name here, in our case, Kevin Rudd), who would YOU turn gay for?" Ruddie didn't quite get it, though. He said his wife.