Courtesy Bill Leak and The Australian

Dennis Glover (The Weekend Australian, 17-18 March 2007), in an opinion piece on speech writing:

The Prime Minister's oratory illustrates the way contemporary speech tends to unashamedly appeal to our self-interest, greed and fear. It lacks an appeal to idealism.

Constant appeals to naked self-interest are fundamentally incompatible with civilised forms of government.

"We determine who comes to this country, and the circumstances in which they come" is perhaps the most devastating speech line in Australian history.

Arnold Zable, The timeless fight to speak the truth:

Persecuted writers can be found in dictatorships, left and right, in theocracies and monarchies, in countries governed by military juntas and in countries that proudly proclaim their democratic ways.

Until recently, there were no main PEN cases reported in Australia. In 2002 Melbourne PEN was alerted to the plight of Ivory Coast journalist, Cheikh Kone, an inmate in Port Hedland Detention Centre. PEN's London based research office confirmed that Kone, as he had claimed, had been persecuted for his journalist activities, and had fled the country in fear of his life. Partly due to pressure applied by International PEN, Kone was released after 32 months in Australian detention.

Australian PEN centres also campaigned for the release of Ardeshir Gholipour, an Iranian artist and activist who spent over 5 years in Woomera, Port Hedland and Baxter detention centres. Gholipour was in danger of imminent deportation when Australian PEN centres adopted his case in January 2005

Jason Koutsoukis, When words simply fail us:

A lexicon of modern political usage

• Clever: Cunning, crafty, tricky.
• Values: Associated with "traditional values" surrounding family, fidelity, with the implication that lefties that don't have any.
• Battler: Code word for "real Australian". Typically, an aspirational middle-class breadwinner who wants a bigger and better life for the kids. Their support has defined Howard's prime ministership.
• Mateship: Howard's Liberals have made a big effort to define themselves as the party that bests understands what mateship is, while the lefties are too busy drinking lattes in Fitzroy.
• Lefty: The designation for people whose taste in cars, cheese, and coffee puts them "out of touch" with "real" Australians.

Michael Leunig, Xenophobia and memorabilia:

"Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war,
With the cross of Jesus going on before.
Christ, the royal Master, leads against the foe;
Forward into battle see his banners go!"

This drab, common little hymn, this melodramatic Anglo jihad song was taught to us in the 1950s, and in Sunday school or religious instruction class we were often heard singing it.

The lyrics seemed to be more about a rampaging gang of morons than a wandering prophet who espoused radical love.

I too grew up singing this outrageous abortion of Jesus' life and message. When the absurd message finally sank in, it no doubt contributed to my fleeing anything to do with Christianity. I recently asked a Catholic friend if they had similar war hymns. "Too busy being pedophiles," was the reply.

-- Carl O'Hageman