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May 31, 2008
The upside is that the final report of the 2020 Summit has been released. It is the result of public debate. The downside is the failure of the Rudd Government to address the anti-Muslim sentiments expressed at Camden over the Islamic school. Why so?
What we also have is the PM telling an disillusioned public service to worker even harder---long hours to meet increased job demands--- is what? At least it is a contradiction to the Rudd Government's rhetoric about balancing work and family and bringing fairness into the workplace as he expected them to work even harder.
Karen Middleton in in an op-ed in The Canberra Times says that:
Rudd has begun undermining his own arguments. He has always said he is governing for the ''long term''. But what is long-term about a short-term solution? And what about the flagship fight against climate change? Is that assisted by lowering the pump price of fossil fuels? It hardly encourages the search for or use of alternatives.
The upside is that the Rudd Government has moved to end discrimination against same-sex couples. New laws to overhaul superannuation rules for gays and lesbians have been introduced into the House of Representatives
On the upside five years a after the coalition invasion began, Australia's combat role in Iraq is over. Thank goodness That was a deceitful war. Support for withdrawal, or “cutting and running” as it used to be called, by the Coalition and its media cheerleaders, was deemed to be evidence of being soft on terrorism and anti-American.Now, the withdrawal – an implementation of ithe ALP's election commitmen---attracts only momentary attention.
The key question of whether petrol will be included in the Government’s emissions trading scheme is what will test the Rudd Government's courage. This was a government, remember, elected on a promise of real action on climate change
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Are you suggesting that, after a pile of legislation that tries to stifle debate, another piece of legislation should be introduced to make it an offence to hold and express anit-Muslim views?