The best leader Labor never had.

I write from under a new overlord.

Those of you from Australia - you already know.

It's had a fair smattering of news overseas (with some lambasting of the concept of mid-term deposition of the leader of a party).

I introduce Malcolm Abbbbooooooottttttt

I mean Malcolm Turnbull, the best leader Labor never had. Last night, everywhere in Laborland, faces collectively went into palms. For some reason I can't quite put my finger on, I just don't particularly like Bill Shorten, and I think many echo my sentiment. Turnbull seems the obvious choice for those who can stomach neither Tony nor Bill, and hence he is electoral Kryptonite to the Labor party.

The thought is that he is a better bloke than Tone. He thinks climate change is a thing, he has been on record for saying that he agrees with gay marriage. He is eloquent, clever, charming and rocks a spenny suit like a boss. Barrister, Journo, Successful Businessman, Rhodes Scholar, Lifeguard. You could imagine him facepalming every time Tone said something dumb.

I thought that ole moneybags, with his vast wealth, he can fix the debt and fund some pensions. Later I found he was only worth a measly $180Mil.

I was cautiously hopeful. I was buoyed by his victory speech. The positive notion that these are exciting times, that we as a country can make the most of if we are agile. No stabs at the opposition (Julie took care of that though), no fear, no hate and minimal in the way of cliche.

Just reading the above, though, I am more measured about things.

There is no doubt that MT thoroughly sounded out the party and did some deals before throwing his hat in the ring. It would have been suicide otherwise, and MT has bided his time since Feb.

It was no secret that he was not liked by the Arch-Conservative arm of the Liberal party, the Abetz/Bernardi end of the spectrum. He will have had to cut deals with some of these people. This concerns me.

We wake to a new overlord, and nothing has changed. Different face, better haircut, better suit, but same stuff. Gay marriage will go to a plebiscite after the next election. A grovelling tribute to the Coalition's direct action on climate change.

I know he has to bide his time, but I am not convinced.

He has presided over evisceration of the ABC and a shitty substandard NBN. Will that change? Will 100,000 solar panels pop up toot sweet? Will just get on and allow my gay friends to marry? Will he oversee the selling of our Land/Mines etc to China? Can he 'splain to us just why the economy is so bad, and what he and his merry men (and hopefully more women) will do to save it while minimising pain to the most vulnerable?

[I still have not gotten over Joe and Tone's plan to extend the wait period for the dole to 6 months. Will people have lived on love alone, or will they have beaten us up and stolen our tellies for food? No amount of 'splaining would make that good. Dickheads.]

Why do we even think he is so special for believing in climate change and gay marriage? Supporting these things does not make you special, it makes you not an arsehole. First rule.

Yes he is cleverer and a better salesman.

Yet his smile is appearing more smarmy by the second.

Will the 3 word slogan become the 300 word slogan (thankyou, Barrie Cassidy)

This meme summed it up well

A polished turd is still a turd, and this won't change my vote.

Malcolm Turnbull, I hope you prove me wrong, you silver fox you.

Your thoughts? Happy to hear considered and respectful views from the other side of the fence :D

My Vision for Australia (Or: If I were PM....)

Australian politics has deteriorated in the last 5 or so years. I never thought I would see a time where I thought "Hey, that John Howard wasn't bad at all, he actually did some good things". But I do think that now. It really is a race to the bottom.

Even Amanda Vanstone, who is a regular columnist for the "red rag" (The Age) admits that the current government got in not because people liked them, but because they liked the other party less. As a commentator said, just before the 2013 election, "Tony Abbott could drop his trousers and do a turd in the middle of parliament, and he would still become PM".

That is not the place we want to be.

In opposition, the Liberals openly derided the leadership argy-bargy and backstabbing. Alas, we now see similar leadership argy-bargy. The backstabbing is not overt, but obvious in the painted on smiles and evasive answers that MPs (ahem Malcolm and Julie) give to journalists.

After a budget which disproportionally affected the poor, negged by a hostile senate, and then a bloodbath in two state elections (I think the Prince Philip Knighting was neither here nor there), the government is worried. Rule number one of politics, it would seem, is to get back into power.

The vision of the current government was and is "Stop the boats", "Stop the bad taxes", "Cut the Debt". I don't really know what the vision is of the Labor party; perhaps they are too busy laughing, perhaps the media is too focused on the leadership argy bargy to tell us about Labor's plans, or perhaps they are taking a little time to work it out. The skeptics among us would say that they might have no plan.

I work quite closely with another doc who is a card-carrying member of the Liberal party. On many issues, I am quite left (but moving towards the centre on other issues). We have quite good chats where we solve the problems of the country. Hence I have thought about my vision for Australia.

I think that the biggest challenges facing Australia today are:

• Tackling climate change
• Moving the economy from being dependent on digging things out of the ground to something else (and we need to work out what that something else will be)
• The ageing population, in particular keeping health and welfare sustainable.
• Decreasing economic inequality, improving social upward mobility (mainly by access to good health care and education)
• The just treatment of those in our region who seek asylum.
• Staying wealthy in all of this.

 Being a politician would be a horribly hard job. I do not have all the answers, but here are some I propose.

• Increase the GST, except for on fresh food. All other countries have a higher GST than we do. It is time. We need the money. People would argue that we need to tax big business, and in principle I agree, however it may drive jobs off shore.
• Phase out the rebate for private health insurance, and put that money back into the public health system. Most of the bang for the buck in health expenditure comes from primary and preventative care. I could go on about this for a while, but I will not.
• Encouraging innovation in industry. Rewarding small businesses who employ the young or long-term unemployed. 
• Keeping HECS at affordable levels - education is the best way out of poverty.
• A gradual divestment from fossil fuels into renewables - perhaps this is where Australia can lead. Germany are putting more energy into the grid from Solar power than we are, so Australia needs to buck it up a bit.
• The issue of refugees who arrive by boat is a difficult one. I have read somewhere that people who arrive by boat are more likely to be genuine refugees than those who arrive by plane. The rapid processing of applications while people are in the community seems to be the most humane answer, however the logistics of this are far more difficult.

That is not a very comprehensive list.
I will turn it over to you.

What do you think are the basic issues facing Australia (or your country)?
How do we solve the issues? What would you do if you were PM?

Research Rage. Thoughts on Christmas.

Well hello there from under a new government!

Yes the libs took a bit of a hiding. Some commentators are saying that this wasn't a backlash regarding the federal budget and the electorate knows the difference between federal and state issues but I disagree. It was a retaliatory bitch-slap; I think Victorians, particularly the urbanites, are a more left leaning bunch than average. The Greens got a lower house seat and will get some upper house seats.

My colleague, a card-carrying Liberal party member, said that the recent Lib government did not achieve much. That says a lot, I think.

Having said all this I don't know how much better Mr. Andrews is going to fare, or how he will weasel his way out of the East West link palaver unscathed. I am undecided on the EW link, but believe that we need better public transport. The population has grown but the PT infrastructure hasn't really.

I would like to see the Ambos paid as much as their interstate counterparts, though.

Ok enough about that.

It's been a bit of a bleh week here. A few general stressors have come up, most of which I shall not bore you with here, and they are firmly in the realm of "first world issues".

But I will have a rant about this.

I put a paper in for a conference in Boston. I specified "oral presentation only", not poster. I don't really want to go around the world lugging a poster that I will stand beside and nobody will look at. It's a bit of a let-down.

I got an email on Tuesday - the bastards gave me a poster presentation. That just shat me.

I think of my research as kind of like my baby. If somebody does not give it the respect (I feel) it deserves, I become cross. Because a lot of blood sweat and tears went into it.

Also, it plays on the fear of "maybe it just isn't good enough".

Although looking at the program, all the big-shots with the big studies are giving the talks. I just have to suck it up and stand meekly beside my poster and hope somebody takes an interest.

Gotta have a tough hide in this game.

Aaaand enough about that too.

Last week I did 1 on 1 running technique session with a former Olympian, who did a video analysis of my running, and gave me some tips to improve. I am now running about, imagining a plank of 4 by 2 on my chest, and trying to hold it up. It's interesting. I shall be trying it out at a fun run I'll be doing on the weekend.

Christmas preps will be mercifully absent this year. My family have decided to go a "no presents" year, and we are going out together to a nice restaurant on Xmas eve. I still get the heebies going around shopping centres, and feel very overwhelmed. Even though Christmas is a more enjoyable time of the year now more than ever, I have memories of fairly sad Christmases, which I am shaking off. Keeping things simple seems to work. It will be great when (hopefully) I have a little 'un for everybody to spoil; Christmas really is all about the kids.

And what about you guys?
Share your rant here? Can be anything. No judgement here.
How do you feel about Chrissy? Excited? Nonplussed? Fearful?

Goody 2 shooz.

Greetings, interweb friends!

I've been rather slackola on the bloggy front of late, but I've been very good in other aspects of my life....

Lately, if a day goes by where I don't run, I crave it. The thing I like doing at the moment, run wise, is going to Prinny park and doing a Fartlek session (it has nothing to do with botty toots). And, as with everything, there is an app for that. I am also actually enjoying my group sessions and look forward to them.

Must be the time of the year, with the weather improving.

I have performed a hardcore declutter (to borrow from FF) of my wardrobe and drawers. I can actually find stuff now.

I have been eating my veggies.

I expanded my cooking repertoire into Fillo Pastry.

Behold my spanakopita, full of green goodness.

I have taken the advice of a professorly type and been doing the "small amounts frequently" thing on the thesis. I have put a fixed time goal on the first chapters of the thesis (Dec 3). Might have to tee myself up a special reward for it.

I have even cut back on the wine. Quite substantially. And feeling better for it.

I have been loving the guts off this stuff:

image from coles online. No artificial sweetener.

I have been appreciating the abundance of spring.

However the goodness went out the window today - we went to Taste of Melbourne for some good food and drink, and plenty in the way of champers.

At the back was the dish of the day- the soft shell crab souvlaki from the Gazi stand. I have never been able to get into Gazi, so it was great to try some of their food. In front is a braised wallaby bun!

We saw a whole lamb being butchered ("oh, so that's where those chops come from").
It's good to have a feel for the provenance of the produce, is it not?

Ok so there was also good food had last night. I have been a bit obsessed with all things mozzarella/ bocconcini at the moment. But the king of them all is burrata. Like a sac of creamy milky goodness.

Here is a gnocchi dish I ate last night, with Burrata.

The sac was cut open and all the runny cheesy goodness leached out into the tomato sauce. Very simple and very good!

But it's back on the straight and narrow tomorrow....

Meanwhile, we have been in full spin mode with the state election in Victoria. Pretty much all of the ads have been focussed on lambasting other parties rather than what the party can offer. It's just a race to the bottom, mostly. Though the Greens look like they might nab a few lower house seats in the inner city, unless the dirty preference deals between the major parties scupper them.

ugh...
off to beddy-byes....


What about you? What have you been obsessed with lately? 
And what good habits have you adopted?

A belated conversation

Like my bloggy mates H and FF, I have been lacking in the blogging mojo department recently. My facebook statuses are a bit few and far between as well, unless it is something shared, a talking point.

Perhaps it is that being outdoors is so lovely at this time of year?

Walking through my 'hood is a real treat at this time of year. There are lots of lovely established rose bushes in people's front gardens. I have been performing an olfactory survey of all of the roses. Some of them look pretty but have no smell. Some of them, like the peachy ones with the pink bits at the end of the petal (not the botanic name) smell divine. We have some in our front garden; our cleaners prune a few buds and put them in a vase for me to sniff regularly. Perhaps encouraged by green thumbed bloggy friends, I am starting to appreciate having a garden.

Also I have been thinking about things that might be a bit boring and or repetitive for the blog.

But there has been a bit happening elsewhere in the world to talk about.

Like Gough Whitlam.

He was only PM for three years, and before I was even born. Though I never had any experience of his leadership and no feel for the type of man he was, I know I am a beneficiary of what he achieved in his time. Somebody from my background would not have been able to do what I have done without his legacies, and I am acutely aware that it is getting harder for people coming from more modest backgrounds to achieve what they want.

I was talking with an older colleague about him the other day. My colleague, who is quite conservative politically, was quite generous in his praise of Gough Whitlam. My colleague was of the era that he could just as easily have been packed off to fight in Vietnam, rather than having a wildly successful career in business and finance before becoming a doctor and being very contented. He was glad when Gough ended conscription. He said that Australia become a bolder   and more confident nation after Gough's time; perhaps inspired by making sweeping changes that would have been considered quite shocking and foolhardy at the time.

Yet all we hear about is the assorted gaffes of the politicians, and failed reforms. I have a friend whose husband is a politician. We don't hear about his good, steady work behind the scenes. Our view of politicians is shaped entirely by the media.

But that will do about that....

Bella the dog's personality is coming out more by the week. She sleeps on the couch at night. When I get up, I find her coiled up in a snail position on the couch. I greet her, and I get only a side-eye in acknowlegement (perhaps she is not a morning dog). I can only lure her outside with soup bones; no dog treats or dry dog food will work. And she is starting to get me figured out.

When I get home, she greets me with a waggy tail, then sits on the couch with me for a quiet cuddle. When my fella gets home, she bounces about like a loony, and they play their wrestling game. They have it choreographed quite well.They are best mates. The dog has improved my fella's stress levels quite considerably.

She likes to do crazy happy-laps in the backyard. She will get an old bone from her stash and throw it up in the air with her teeth. Funnily, she does not do ball games.

She loves to shake hands too. She is scared of most visitors, but we are getting visitors to hand-feed her dog treats. Maybe she will learn that humans are good.

But most importantly, it's Friday! It's going to be a good weekend! A cooking class, a hens' night and a family barbecue is lined up. All the weekends in November have big events in them too. I have to find time to re-curate my wardrobe, having performed a de-clutter of the garage with my fella.

Tell me, what are you doing this weekend?

Budget Blues.

I'm a bit heart-sick today.

Everybody is talking about the budget.

Me, I will be fine. I am a high income earning medical researcher. I may be a beneficiary of the paid parental leave thing. I don't have kids in school. None of the raised taxes will be anything more crippling than an annoyance and a "golly, that's expensive". I do watch the ABC though...

I am fine because, as the daughter of a struggling single mum, I had the opportunity to go to university, to go and get a good vocational degree where the graduate employment rates were near 100%. I got youth allowance, which was enough to pay the rent on my dilapidated inner-city accommodation. It was bugger-all but it was enough.

Things have become a lot harder since then.

The government implores everybody to do the work, the heavy lifting, to get the budget back in the black.

I think it is grossly unfair to ask the poorest and most vulnerable to do as much, or more heavy lifting, than a big business.

I think it is beyond cruel that under-30's will be made to go without any income for 6 months if they can't get a job. People will lose the roof over their heads. There will be homelessness and despair. How do you expect people to recover from that?

It absolutely defies logic that we are limiting benefits and cutting jobs at the same time. In a world which demands high throughput and good results, we are forcing those about to retire into work until they are 70.

It is sorely ironic that 20 billion is being put into medical research, when it is being made more difficult for the poorest of us to see a doctor to benefit from the wonderful advances in medicine.

We don't need school chaplains. We need properly paid teachers and workable class sizes. What exactly are they playing at? Clowns.

It is alarming that most of the commentary on the budget in the Herald Sun was made by Andrew Bolt. Unfortunately, he influences votes. I wonder whether his readership will be affected, and whether that will cause any dissonance when they read his vitriol.

I want my taxes to go to the poor and vulnerable. I believe in universal health care and access to good and appropriate education for all.

If a society is unequal, we all suffer, one way or the other. There are many countries which demonstrate this.

I am sad for this country. I did not vote for these people. That is all I can say. I hope things change, for the better.

Back.

Harro.

And for the second time this year, I have been overseas while there has been a change in Prime Minister.

Now we have Tony.

I was dreading that.

See, Tony actually likes Doctors. He was very attentive to the AMA when he was health minister.

Richer people, like me, will be better off under Tony and his merry (mostly) men.

But if you are one or more of the following:

• gay
• [female?]
• reliant on the public education system
• reliant on the public health system
• reliant on public transport
• reliant on welfare
• an asylum seeker
• a low income earner
• the environment

You are screwed. Royally screwed, one way or the other.

I don't know that much about the economy, but I feel that the government should look after the vulnerable. That's why we pay taxes.

I also feel that as a relatively wealthy and resource rich country, we should be innovative, and invest in good things for future generations. Like the internet. And hell, the environment. We should be a country the world looks up to. Smart and visionary leaders can turn challenges, such as climate change, into opportunities.

And while on the subject of climate change, anything other than a shift towards clean, renewable and anti-polluting is tantamount to denialism.

Tony, I am looking at you.

I think somebody like Malcolm Turnbull might be good as Liberal leader. It would be an interesting experiment to have a socially "small l" liberal but economically conservative prime minister. That might keep a lot more people happy.

It would also, hypothetically, be interesting to see what would happen if Tony were ousted by the faceless men of the Liberal party in favour of Malcolm.

Would Malcolm be subject to the same vitriol as Julia? Or would we dance in the streets?

Meanwhile, Joe Hockey is the poster-child for bariatric surgery. Does this mean he will fund more of it for people who need it? Only time will tell.

I didn't vote for either major party. But I didn't vote for the Australian Motoring Enthusiasts Party, who now have a senate seat in Victoria.

I think I would've preferred somebody from the Pirate Party.

Anywho.

I had a lovely holiday.

We ate, slept, sunbathed, snorkelled, ate, drank, snorkelled, slept, ate, sunbathed, ate, sweated, ate and went bogan-watching on the main island drag.

Plus we went to a ladyboy cabaret.

We also went kayaking and paddled long distances in sync in a straight line. Good teamwork.

It was wonderful. It was too short. Some people say they can't bear to sit their bum on a beach for a week. I went for six days. I could have done about 5 days more. We touched down in Melbs at 8am and I was in at work at 10:15.


After this holiday, I am now making friends with salad. And ramping up the exercise.

It is the height of irony that an environment that requires the wearing of minimal clothing/ bathing suits also serves a sumptuous buffet breakfast and has cheap cocktails and good bar snacks.

In addition to work, study, slavish attention to exercise and diet, myself and the fella are house huntin'. Which means that this spring, I will actually have to do some Spring Cleaning.

I know. Exciting.

More anon.