Election 2004 | Day 32 | Roundup

8 DAYS TO GO. Yes, 8 days until I can quit obsessing over this blog.

Moralistic Shitstick Strikes Again
I smell a conspiracy theory!

TONY JONES: Tony Abbott on another matter, have you met Archbishop Pell during the election campaign?

TONY ABBOTT: Not that I can recall.

TONY JONES: Not that you can recall, because we believe that you've had at least one meeting with him quite recently? You don't recall that?

TONY ABBOTT: Well, when? Where?

TONY JONES: At the presbytery in Sydney.

TONY ABBOTT: Ah, actually now that you do mention it, I did met with Cardinal Pell. So what? Why shouldn't I meet with Cardinal Pell?

TONY JONES: Why couldn't you recall meeting him, I think, 10 days ago?

TONY ABBOTT: Look, whenever it was, so what? Why shouldn't I meet Cardinal Pell. Cardinal Pell is a fine man. He made a very good statement the other day about the Labor Party's policy, why shouldn't I meet with him?

That's part of an interview from Lateline tonight. I smell strange dealings afoot. You can read the whole thing here or just watch it online. Would it have anything to do with Pell issuing that joint-statement the other day bagging Labor's education policy?

Medicare Gold
Julia Gillard (heart heart) also did a spiel on Lateline the night before, which didn't result in her getting grilled, deep fried, then oven-baked for 15 minutes. Private hospitals have also given the policy a thumbs-up.

Howard is expected to offer a counter-bid on Latham's Medicare Gold tomorrow, after spending all day today slagging it off. I wonder what it'll be? The Liberals would've only had two days to come up with something, plus they'd spent virtually all their money OMG INTEREST RATES KEEP THEM LOW BUDGET IN SURPLUS ETC ETC. What'll it be?

More fallout from the campaign launch is that Lozza Oakes now in love with Latham's wife. Watch out, Latho.

I've Got Wood
Things are looking up for trees in Tasmania. The weirdest point I found in this article was:

As campaigning intensifies, a group of businesses, including Thrifty car rental, Spotlight fabrics and Video-Ezy, became the latest to call for the protection of the forests and development of sustainable jobs.

Greens vs Carrie's Mum
Bob's pissed at Family First. Regarding anti-Greens ads that Carrie's Mum Party are running:

"[The ads] quite wrongly stating that the Greens want to decriminalise hard drugs, we do not, they're quite wrongly stating our policies are aimed at kids, they are not and they're failing to say our policies are aimed at saving the lives of young Australians."

Weapons Of Self-Destruction
Looks like Latham might be looking to push the issue of honesty in government in the next few days (maybe going all out in the last week?).

Digging Into The Past On Interest Rates, Something Howard Would Never Do
According to John Quiggin, the record for second highest interest rate in Australia (first highest was under Whitlam @ 23%) ever was 21.4%... and who was treasurer then? None other than the ball of hate with eyebrows!

Alarmed And Alert
This bullshit smear campaign the Liberals are doing with Ivan Molloy is scum. "Join the army, travel to exotic distant lands, meet exciting and unusual people... and kill them." Made me laugh! But apparently I'm an embarrassment to Australia if I find that amusing. Not that Alexander Downer is or anything.

BEST EDITORIAL EVER
This is from The Daily Telegraph:

DURING election campaigns, the public depends on the news media for a thorough account of party offerings so that on the day of the ballot, voters feel they have had access to the information they have needed to help them decide their vote.

And that's a responsibility which media outlets are obliged to take very seriously because at election time, it's their work only which makes a critical element of democracy – the ability to make a free and informed choice – possible.

Then it bags the hell out of the ABC. Then says Sky News is awesome (channel 34 on Foxtel, owned by a certain person that also happens to own The Daily Telegraph). It's just beautiful, isn't it? I'm going to print it and take it to bed with me.

Woo!
Finally, whoever posted this anonymous comment...

I noticed that you saw the dodgy mayorlatham.com site as well. I took a more technical approach to getting it shut down, rather than using to Electoral Law.

I complained to the domain name registrar and Internic that the domain was registered illegally, and was possibly breaching Australian law. Under rules for the ".com" top level domain, you must enter correct details for the WHOIS information.

Within a day, I had received confirmation of my complaint, and the domain name has now been suspended.

...YOU ROCK.

I'm in a really good mood and feeling optimistic about this election now. Can it continue for another eight days, or has it peaked too early?