This evening, John Winston Howard will announce this year's Australian of the Year, to be chosen from the eight state and territory finalists. This is my third annual preview of the award, see my previous entries in 2005 and 2006.
In an astonishing set of coincidences, political advertisements placed in three Tasmanian newspapers early in 2006 condemning the Greens on behalf of the Exclusive Brethren were recorded as being paid for out of Liberal Party electoral accounts.
Three separate and entirely unrelated "administrative bungles" at the Hobart Mercury, Launceston Advocate and Devonport Examiner caused sales records to give the totally and utterly absurd impression that the Liberal Party was colluding with the Brethren.
Never mind the personnel changes announced this morning in John Howard's ministerial reshuffle (though I'll get to those shortly). The thing that struck me on first reading through the press release was the changes in vocabulary.
Jimmy Carter has been pilloried for using the term "apartheid" to describe Israel's treatment of Palestinians, but what else could you say about the situation in Hebron?
MIDEAST: Hebron Occupied, And Deserted
- HEBRON (Occupied Palestinian West Bank), Jan. 22 (IPS) - As the illegal Israeli occupation grinds on, the daily situation for Palestinians worsens by the day. Hebron presents a vivid picture of the cumulative face of this colonial project.
For today (January 23), Woolworths Limited (ASX:WOW) have stated that they will donate the day's profits from their Woolworths and Safeway supermarkets across Australia to the Country Women's Association of Australia for "distribution to farming families in need across Australia and research into sustainable farming practices".
ELLEN FANNING: Prime Minister, part of what was chilling yesterday was seeing a lot of people in between the violence doing things that you'd see at the cricket, singing "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi", wrapping themselves in the Australian flag. What do you say to people who use the Australian flag in that way?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, I would never condemn people for being proud of the Australian flag. I don't care – I would never condemn people for being proud....
New Zealand all out 218 in 47.4 overs.
Australia 224/8 in 48.4 overs.
Almost an identical scenario to all those games in the B and H World Series Cup back in the early 1980s. One team gets around 215-220 runs in the first innings and the team batting second just gets over the line with a handful of balls to spare. Usually accompanied by Bill Lawry wetting himself.
Just finished listening to an interesting half-hour interview with Bob Woolmer on the BBC World Service. It's available online until next Saturday (the 27th).