McEncroe and Associates
Consultants and Writers
More News Options...
Looking like Tarzan… playing like Jane....
Week three of the federal election...
By Richard McEncroe
I’m not sure if I’m using a footy analogy to describe politics or a political analogy to describe footy, when I compare Labor’s campaign effort to date and the recent on-field performances of the Essendon Football Club. But, being a footicopolitical junkie, I don’t really mind.
To the extent that coach Rudd does have a strategy it goes something like...big Kev wins the ruck tap down to little Ruddy who dodges three rabid Libs, baulks an Asylum Seeker and kicks a long bomb inside the 50 meter special economic zone where Keeeevviin Ruuuud You Beauty! takes a screamer and slots one straight through the chop sticks.
Every cloud has a silver (top) lining...
By Richard McEncroe – Racial Tolerance in Melbourne – July 2013
I like to think that every cloud does have a silver lining; it’s just that sometimes the density of the atmosphere makes the ‘bling’ hard to see. Sometimes the wind blows a whole lot of little clouds together to smother the light. We know the sun is still there; we just can’t see it or feel its warmth for now. Negative attitudes can be like clouds, but that they are just attitudes and therefore changeable, is the silver lining.
When racial intolerance and prejudice underpin our national policy settings and infest the community, it can be hard to be positive. Racially based asylum seeker policies; national tolerance of the ‘third world’ plight of so many Indigenous Australians; riots on beaches and racist rants on buses can make you feel that this prejudice is coming at us both from the top down and the bottom up.
Stop the world we want to get off...
By Richard McEncroe – PNG solution July 2013
So much has been spoken and written about Kevin13’s “solution” to the asylum seeker “problem” in recent days. Opinion websites and newspapers have devoted enormous space to picking apart the perceived merits and costs of the plan. Shrill rhetoric, rubbery facts, and odious comparisons of bad options, have combined with old truisms so toxically that a sour soupy public argument has crowded out reasoned public policy debate.
Forget for a moment about the politics of the day, or the year. Forget about whether Manus Island is a less bad option than Nauru, Malaysia better than PNG, or tow-back better than drowning. Forget for a minute that Christmas Island is a flaming hell hole. Forget about slogans, forget about Charters, Conventions and Courts. Forget about elections. Forget about Howard being more or less right wing than Rudd. Consider for a minute just two things that for me go to the heart of the issue.
Greatest moral challenge of our time...
Richard McEncroe July 2013 Scrapping of Carbon Tax
Kevin Rudd, the one time champion of the greatest moral challenge of our time, surely now wins the prize for the most morally challenged politician of our time. By announcing the “termination” of the carbon tax, Kevin13 has conceded the moral high ground to the flat-earthers and demonstrated that when faced with a choice between good policy and good politics, a power hungry Rudd will play the politics every time.
When Bill Shorten announced to the Parliament House press gaggle a couple of weeks ago that he had decided to support Kevin Rudd in the ALP leadership ballot, I let out a scream. It meant Julia was history, which was very unfair, but that’s not what made me scream. The really sad bit for me was that Billy’s very public betrayal also signalled a return to political pragmatism at all costs.
What’s good for football isn’t always good for justice.....
Richard McEncroe July 2013 AFL Milne rape case
The AFL has done some terrific things for the Australian social fabric. Kicked some serious goals you might say. It is hard, for example, to think of any other national, non-government body that has done more for improving Indigenous opportunity than the AFL. Over the last two decades particularly, the AFL has shown a genuine preparedness to confront racism and raise cultural awareness. The AFL has also succeeded where other Codes (read Rugby League) have failed to all but eliminate the once famed on-field thuggery. There are many more women involved in all levels of the game, including senior administrators and umpires, than ever before. The grassroots work the AFL does through its Auskick program and Kickstart program (direct funding by the AFL to Indigenous Communities in NT, WA, and FNQ) provides real benefits in terms of community building and engagement. But, sadly, by allowing a player facing four counts of rape to keep playing they have put one right out on the full.
closing the gap...?!
Richard McEncroe July 2013 Naidoc Week Indigenous recognition
The debate over Indigenous recognition has been revived today by the 50th anniversary of the Yirrkala bark petitions, which paved the way for the Indigenous land rights movement. That’s a good thing.
Never one to miss an opportunity to say nice stuff, our born again leader’s Ruddmentum has to propel him all the way to Arnhem Land to get involved in the “celebration”. I’m sure the locals will be wrapped to see him, because, you know, white men making promises has always worked out well for the folks there. And he has good news to announce too – the Government he leads will think about doing something about remedying the glaring omission of Indigenous recognition in Australia’s Constitution. Great!