Anti VSU position hard to sell.

Yesterday I came upon some fellows who would like my support so they can keep compelling me to part with a huge wad of cash twice a year. They were the University of South Australia Students Association.

I thought "Well hell's bells, if the services these folks are providing were so indispensable, then surely people would pay for them voluntarily, would they not?"

Well obviously not. I mean, not everybody can afford childcare and stuff, and having gone to kindergarten at UniSA while my mum was studying education I can confirm that.

Wouldn't it then be fair to charge union fees based on the person's ability to pay? Then it would be more like the tax system and government spending. The less you pay, the more you receive- that's a fun game.

And like public spending It would be nice if every dollar was spent knowing that the only reason they had the money in the first place was because they extorted it out of people.

Considering governments don't think that way, I don't think there's much hope that student associations will.

With both there's an issue of accountability. We don't get a refund if we're unhappy with the job they're doing. Their revenue stream is guaranteed, so why should they bother working for it?

Jenny Macklin of the Labor opposition believes that this is merely an extension of Howard's ideology. Maybe so, particulary if Howard's ideology involves freedom of choice and association.

What she really means, however is that Labor ideology is threatened. Any prospective member of the Labor party must be a member of a union. No ifs, no buts. Unions once had an unburstable stranglehold on Australian workplaces. You wouldn't be getting on a building site, onto a waterfront or into a factory without a union ticket. Over the last couple of decades this has been stripped away so that obligatory student unionism is the last bastion.

If VSU does become a way of life, I think we'll see a similar shake up to one that happened with the trade unions. That is, they might have to actually do something for their members, rather than spend resources on political activity that has nothing to do with their brief. (Witness Student Union funded buses to easter protests recently and the Transport Workers's Union boycott of the Springboks in the 1980's).

So after much consideration, my answer is "No, you funny little unwashed men. I won't sign your petition."

It is not age that has wearied her, but motherhood.

There she is at the opposite table in this northern suburbs family feedbag. Can't be more than 18, but she looks like a harrassed and destitute 18 year old. She's tending to small children, but they're not that small. My brain refuses to do the math regarding conception dates.

The father is there. She's lucky.

What surprises me here is the extent to which I'm not surprised. What surprises me is that more of these people don't do themselves in. With nothing to look forward to but decades of hand-to-mouth existence and zero measurable achievement, why on earth would these people want to go on?

No. The whole world is not watching, you spiral -dancing, dread- locked welfare dependant.

But that's what they chant, nonetheless at the police barricade at Baxter detention centre.

Consider this. The people of Australia were so appaled at Howard's refugee policy that they voted him right back into office with an increased margin. With this in mind, how much do you think a Frenchman, or a Pole cares about the internal policy of a tiny western outpost half way around the world?

None.

This is not to say that the policy is actually any good, but for fuck's sake please stop telling blatant lies.

It was hard to side with either the protesters or the police over the easter weekend scuffle. On one hand, there are the protesters, under the illusion that the Left all share some kind of unity and that yelling and acting like ferals will actually cause a change to government policy. The place was teeming with people who I would neither have in my house, nor to whom would I lend money.

On the other, you have the police, getting upset about a bundle of balloons and totally losing their shit. The (I think) Deputy Commissioner of SAPOL said they were provoked. This is true, protesters were told not to fly kites or bring balloons because it might fuck with the airspace around the detention centre. They did it anyway, I believe to test the limits of police tolerance. Police took the bait, and made some lovely authoritarian footage for the evening news.

This reminds me of when me and my older brother were kids. I'd act like a little shit, my brother would chase me around, my dad would lay into him because he should have been old enough to know better.

And there's nothing more big brother-like than a column of STARforce officers caked in shields, flak jackets and batons.

I think I'm drifting into conservatism. In South Australia'a next state election I might very well vote Liberal. Our Labor government is pissing me off, Mike Rann's PR team is probably the largest employer in SA. Of course all politicians in a democracy like to floss the proles, but Rann takes this to extremes. He has totally reversed a principle of good policy, and that is to do whatever you think is a fair thing under the circumstances THEN try to sell it to The People. Rann takes Public Opinion (Summarised flawlessly by the editorial of "The Advertiser"), and tries to figure a way to put it into practice without doing too much damage.

Witness the home defence laws, which actually contribute nothing to an already towering pile of legal precedent stating pretty clearly that folks have a right to use deadly force to protect their homes.

We dodged a bullet with that one, he didn't actually fuck anything up.

We were a little less lucky when a young gentleman by the name of Paul Nemer was convicted of shooting a dude in the eye, only to be sentenced to a $100 good behaviour bond and no custodial time.

It seemed pretty lenient and the cunt probably should be in prison. The Advertiser was baying for blood.

In order to throw this public dog a bone, the Rann government pulled some pretty crafty shit. It has led to the Attorney General now having the power to order the DPP the appeal a judicial decision. Not just the ones involving rich kids getting away with light sentences, but any case, anywhere in the land.

Say hello to your new friend "Politically motivated judicial outcome"

A more recent move that has thankfully been put on the backburner is one that would allow police to enter parliament and arrest dudes for exercising parliamentary privilege. The reason for this law?

"We've done some polling, Mike and we reckon that Joe Prole doesn't like Peter Lewis too much. If you wrote a law that would shut up guys like him, you could gain maybe 5 points."

Peter Lewis seems like a bit of a tool, but hell. Parliamentary privilege has been part of the Westminster system forever, and has probably prevailed through much worse than this.

It just isn't possible to support somebody who fucks with some fairly major bedrock shit like judicial independance and freedom of speech just for a short term opinion poll boost.

I'd like to see Rob Kerin whup his arse in the coming election, but I believe it unlikely. The only issue I think the Liberals are strong on now is Labor's land tax grab, and that only applies to investors. Otherwise I don't think I've ever seen an opposition win an election by saying "The Premier's been listening to you fools too much, and he's willing to pull all sorts of strings to keep you happy"

Let's hope I'm wrong.