Wheels Kovac had a point
I miss The Glass House. And I'm slightly baffled that it is apparently going to be replaced by The Big Gig, but that's beside the point.
One of the many reasons why I used to watch The Glass House was the ever present possibility that Wil Anderson would crack and turn on one of the guests. Occasionally, this did happen, and never more memorably then when Marcus Graham made what was probably his only guest appearance. As far as I can call, the conversation went something like this:
Wil: Marcus Graham, you're running for Prime Minister. What's your campaign slogan?
Wheels: We are Australia
*beat*
Wil: That's *$&#. I'm going to give you another go at that. Marcus Graham, you're running for Prime Minister. What's your campaign slogan?
Wheels: WE. ARE. AUSTRALIA.
*awkward pause while Wil and Wheels glare a lot and try to decide whether to start punching each other*
Dave Hughes: You know what I like about Marcus Graham's policies? They're consistent.
I usually find myself backing Wil when he has these little feuds with say, Shannon Noll or Heath Ledger, but after thinking about this a little I decided that Marcus Graham may have been on to something. It may be the least likely source of political inspiration anywhere ever, but stay with me for a minute and lets see what happens.
Ever since Black Saturday in 1996, this country has become progressively meaner, smaller minded, less compassionate, and less inspiring.* We have, for reasons that escape me, continued to re-elect a politician who is determined to hang onto power by constantly appealing to the very worst in our nature.
We need someone, anyone really, to stand up and say that we do not have to be like this. Australia is a country with a proud history of welcoming people from all over the world and building a country that we could all be proud of. There are a few things in our history that we couldn't possibly be proud of but is was not that long ago that there was a great deal of popular support for that almost forgotten concept of reconciliation.
At some point someone has to remind us all that this is Australia, a country full of decent people who believe in a fair go for everyone, and it's time we got back to behaving like it. Someone needs to point to our current attitudes to the most vulnerable in our society and around the world, and tell us that our attitude stinks and we're better than this.
"We are Australia" would be as good a slogan as any for this campaign.
In addition to appealing to the best in people instead of the worst, a campaign like this would not even damage a party's economic credentials. It doesn't require any huge investment in health or education, it doesn't affect industry policy (apart from the unmeasurably cost of getting rid of "WorkChoices"), and surely there can not be any great cost to the economy of ceasing to waste unbelievable sums of money locking people up for the appalling offence now known as "wanting to live here", or invading other countries for reasons that are yet to be adequately explained.
And so the question is, could this possibly work and why on earth doesn't someone at least try it?
* And significantly dumber.
One of the many reasons why I used to watch The Glass House was the ever present possibility that Wil Anderson would crack and turn on one of the guests. Occasionally, this did happen, and never more memorably then when Marcus Graham made what was probably his only guest appearance. As far as I can call, the conversation went something like this:
Wil: Marcus Graham, you're running for Prime Minister. What's your campaign slogan?
Wheels: We are Australia
*beat*
Wil: That's *$&#. I'm going to give you another go at that. Marcus Graham, you're running for Prime Minister. What's your campaign slogan?
Wheels: WE. ARE. AUSTRALIA.
*awkward pause while Wil and Wheels glare a lot and try to decide whether to start punching each other*
Dave Hughes: You know what I like about Marcus Graham's policies? They're consistent.
I usually find myself backing Wil when he has these little feuds with say, Shannon Noll or Heath Ledger, but after thinking about this a little I decided that Marcus Graham may have been on to something. It may be the least likely source of political inspiration anywhere ever, but stay with me for a minute and lets see what happens.
Ever since Black Saturday in 1996, this country has become progressively meaner, smaller minded, less compassionate, and less inspiring.* We have, for reasons that escape me, continued to re-elect a politician who is determined to hang onto power by constantly appealing to the very worst in our nature.
We need someone, anyone really, to stand up and say that we do not have to be like this. Australia is a country with a proud history of welcoming people from all over the world and building a country that we could all be proud of. There are a few things in our history that we couldn't possibly be proud of but is was not that long ago that there was a great deal of popular support for that almost forgotten concept of reconciliation.
At some point someone has to remind us all that this is Australia, a country full of decent people who believe in a fair go for everyone, and it's time we got back to behaving like it. Someone needs to point to our current attitudes to the most vulnerable in our society and around the world, and tell us that our attitude stinks and we're better than this.
"We are Australia" would be as good a slogan as any for this campaign.
In addition to appealing to the best in people instead of the worst, a campaign like this would not even damage a party's economic credentials. It doesn't require any huge investment in health or education, it doesn't affect industry policy (apart from the unmeasurably cost of getting rid of "WorkChoices"), and surely there can not be any great cost to the economy of ceasing to waste unbelievable sums of money locking people up for the appalling offence now known as "wanting to live here", or invading other countries for reasons that are yet to be adequately explained.
And so the question is, could this possibly work and why on earth doesn't someone at least try it?
* And significantly dumber.
posted by I'm not Craig at 8:51 PM
5 Comments:
I'm with you on that one, INC. I hope with my entire being that we get a change later this year. And 'We are Australia' is inclusive, not exclusive, so is a damn good slogan.
i'll vote for you too. it's a good one. marcus can be your 2IC.
was he the actor? the one from good guys, bad guys.
i LOVED that show
I saw Marcus Graham in a very stripped back performance of *something shakespeare* at the Wharf when I was in Year 12. So maybe I'm thinking Henry IV. Actually that would make sense.
Anyways, mental diarrhoea aside, he rocked my teenaged fervent little world.
And with that political manifesto he kinda rocks my thirtysomething world too...
I'm not so sure if a change is a good idea, given the apparent importance of issues to the new man in charge. 4.7 billion to make the internet faster? And some of that money now coming from the sale of Telstra, which they are suddenly in support of?
He better have some good policies on what he's going to do about rents getting so high, and how he's going to make home ownership a reality for people who can't afford it and now are forced to pay out huge amounts in rent, is all I can say. 4.7 billion would be better placed in that area, I think.
Who are these people, and how did they get in charge of the Labor party?
Meva
Nice to have you on board. And so the movement begins...
MG
Thanks for your vote.
Yes, he was the "Good Guy" from that show. And what a show it was. I miss it. But not as much as I miss E Street.
Aconb
That particular Shakesperean performance would have been well worth seeing.
Snoskred
Hey, great to hear from you again. It's been too long.
I agree that the internet/sale of Telstra thing is not exactly the "We are Autralia" moment I was looking for.
And as a long term renter, I would like to see Labor, or indeed anyone, come out with a policy about housing affordability.
Then again, if $4.7 billion is what it costs to get rid of John Howard, I will start selling really expensive lamingtons immediately.
Fortunately, under Labor's new plan I cn sell them on E-Bay really efficiently.
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