Quadrant articles from September 2005

Quadrant archives from September 2005

National identity cards and freedom.(Editorial)(Editorial)
September 1, 2005... IT IS ONLY A MATTER of time before we get some kind of national identity system. There will be much debate for and against, much of it irrelevant to any real issues. We can be sure that amongst the most vocal opponents will be the various...

Digital preservation.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2005... SIR: Your editorial, "Government, Publishing and the Information Revolution" (June 2005), discussed, among other things, the issue of the disappearance of government information that is published on the Web. It also drew attention to efforts of...

Land title and land rights.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2005... SIR: Some of the assertions made by Helen Hughes in her letter (July-August 2005) should not be allowed to go unchallenged. Hughes seems to conflate two different pieces of legislation and to draw erroneous conclusions as a consequence. For...

Vinnies on inequality.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2005... SIR: Your editorial, "Pharisaical Compassion and the Lesser Evil" (July-August 2005), included a reference to the St Vincent de Paul Society that failed to inform but did not fail to baffle. Any reading of the Vinnies Issues Paper on Income...

The PNG front in the history wars.(Letters)(Papua New Guinea)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2005... SIR: One should never look a gift horse in the mouth. In his regular columns Frank Devine does a pretty good job on our behalf in keeping the national broadcaster's deficiencies in focus. But he has rather let us down with "Wham! Crunch! Kapow!...

Government-funded subversives.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2005... SIR: Hooray for Frank Devine's attack on that intellectual broiler house, the ABC! More than half a century ago, H.L. Mencken put his finger on what is still the cultural cancer in the ABC: "most intellectuals and artists denigrate their...

Vindictive virulence.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2005... SIR: I write to protest about Roderick Meagher's blackening of Germaine Greer (July-August 2005). She is presented as an ogre and a fanatical feminist. There is no attempt to do justice to her abilities, especially those of her earlier years....

Rebarbative peevishness.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2005... SIR: And they say the Left are the great haters? Yet, when that hate is "Not unskewed by bias"--if I may cite the opinion of the learned ex-judge Roderick Meagher--and is "Meaghered" by hubris, even envy, as it is dispiritingly plain that his...

Australia's quest for the bomb.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2005... SIR: I found Leslie Kemeny's paper concerning nuclear matters (July-August 2005) fascinating, not so much for what it said as for what it didn't say. Kemeny's account of the origin of the nuclear program at Lucas Heights and the proposed...

Ways to a republic.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2005... SIR." In your May editorial, "W(h)ither Republicanism?", you recommended that "We ought once again to take up, without haste and rancour (and preferably without the help of the Australian Republican Movement) discussion about the possible...

Lies and misconceptions.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2005... SIR: Ted Hayhoe wonders how Christianity could have given rise to so many charities and other good works if it was founded on a lie (Letters, July-August 2005). One might reply that, if true, it is striking how much violence, cruelty, bigotry...

Whitlam could have had more time.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2005... SIR: Nothing that Ian Kelley has said or quoted (Letters, July-August 2005) controverts my claim that Whitlam could have had more time had he not chosen to call on the Governor-General on November 11, 1975. Whitlam has claimed that some...

The real Bishop Colenso.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2005... SIR: Despite Chris McGillion's "research" (July-August 2005), "South African Evangelicals" did not split from the "official South African Church" in 1870. John William Colenso, the first Bishop of Natal, was deposed for "heresy" in 1863 by...

Non-fanatical Republicans.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2005... SIR: While I welcome your contributions in recent months to the debate about an Australian republic, I am bemused by the tone of your regular criticisms of the Australian Republican Movement. We in the ARM are determined and persistent but I...

Not quite a Vietnam veteran.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2005... SIR: In fairness to all true Vietnam veterans, I must disclaim the editorial description of me (July-August 2005) as a veteran of that conflict. Although I was serving in the navy at the time, those of my superiors who wanted to win were...

Depleted uranium and media hysteria.(Health)
September 1, 2005... URANIUM WAS NAMED after the Greek god Uranus. For many, that heritage could not have been more appropriate. Uranus sired abnormal children, some with only one eye, and the metal is supposed to do the same. Uranus was castrated, and the metal is...

Vilifying Australia: the perverse ideology of our adversary culture.(AUSTRALIA)(2005 Earle Page Memorial Oration text)(Excerpt)
September 1, 2005... TWO YEARS AGO, when the journalist and broadcaster David Marr gave the Colin Simpson Lecture, he chose the title "The Role of the Writer in John Howard's Australia". He opened with a quotation from the novelist Patrick White: In all...

What is poverty?(Society)
September 1, 2005... MOST COMMENTATORS will tell you that poverty should be defined and measured relative to the living standards of specific societies. This means that "poverty" in Africa is very different from "poverty" in Australia. To be poor in Africa means...

The Poison.(Poem)
September 1, 2005... THE POISON After a few days or a week The blank depression passes off. Once more I set myself to work, Take up the daily threads of life. The sheet of paper on the desk Shows promising and white and clean. ...

Australia's return to the world.(Defence)(from a speech notes by Tony Abbott)(Minister for Health and Ageing and Leader of the House of Representatives)(United States-Australia Leadership Dialogue)(Excerpt)
September 1, 2005... AT THE COMMANDO Regiment's fiftieth anniversary commemoration two weeks ago, the old soldiers toasted the Queen, followed by the President of the United States. This was significant on two counts: first, the absence of the politically correct...

The world has changed--what do we do now?(Sturdee Symposium on Australian Grand Strategy at the Royal Military College, Duntroon)(transcript of paper)(rethinking the Defence of Australia doctrine)(Transcript)
September 1, 2005... FOUR YEARS AGO, in a Quadrant essay entitled "Twelve Questions for Paul Dibb", I argued that Australia was "at a strategic crossroads" and that we needed "an informed and thorough strategic debate" in order better to see our way ahead. I...

Dole Queue.(poetry)(Poem)
September 1, 2005... DOLE QUEUE I watch them walk in, I watch faces drop at the queue slowly creeping to Centrelink clerks, stamping their forms, or venting frustration by not. Nobody speaks. No contact of eyes. Contempt...

Lord Bragg steps out: adventures and mishaps in worldwide English.(Language)(The Adventure of English)(book)(television programe)(Australian segment)(Critical Essay)
September 1, 2005... THE FLOWER of New South Wales, according to Melvyn Bragg, is the "w'ratter". Australia s national dictionary, which he thoroughly recommends, is the "McCarry". The program was a series called The Adventure of English and it is a very accessible...

John Laws.(Disagreeable Portraits)(Richard John Sinclair Laws)(Biography)
September 1, 2005... JOHN LAWS is a very important person, or, as he would (and in fact has) put it, "Australia's Legendary Broadcaster, Iconoclast, Social Observer and Wit." His full name is Richard John Sinclair Laws, and he boasts a CBE and OBE. He is an...

Harold Holt and the beautiful people.(History)(Liberal Party in the 1960's)
September 1, 2005... THE SLOW MARCH through the National Archives is turning into a trot, and we are getting new biographies of eminent persons, as well as of past politicians. Harold Holt is the latest to be recalled for reassessment. Anglican cleric Tom Frame...

At the movies.(Devine)(Roger Ebert Day)(Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace)
September 1, 2005... During the year [1993-94] I had surgery for salivary cancer and spent December in Seattle for radiation treatments. The surgery was not a big deal but the side effects of radiation were not pleasant, and I didn "t really begin to feel restored...

Pass the passport.(First Person)(passport problems)(dealing with bureaucracy)
September 1, 2005... FEBRUARY, 2003. I was in Los Angeles editing a film. I called my son, Benjamin, in Normandy and suggested he visit for a few weeks. He told me that he'd lost his Australian passport, so I pointed out he could use his British passport (Benjamin...

When It Snowed: Monaro 1956.(Poem)
September 1, 2005... WHEN IT SNOWED Monaro 1956 Blunting the woodheap, a blanked-out monument that morning, snow fell steadily, whirling on barbed-wire paddocks like blossoms or ash. Then we got up and went round to...

Recollections of Sir Harry Gibbs.(First Person)(Obituary)
September 1, 2005... ANDREW SULLIVAN, long-time senior editor of the New Republic and columnist for the Sunday Times in London, has written a beautiful essay on friendship. It was published in his book Love Undetectable (1998). The book concerns Sullivan's...

Madam Butterfly.(Poem)
September 1, 2005... MADAMA BUTTERFLY Her radiance filled the three-year vigil till the longest night of all. Ceremonial lanterns lit for his welcome died out one by one. In the dawning darkness she planned the finale for Pinkerton alone. ...

La Traviata.(Poem)
September 1, 2005... LA TRAVIATA From the beginning, up herself, dressed in white satin petals. So sure she'd created Original Sin, stagey parties hinting things. Enjoyed herself hugely. Still that call of love changed all until in counterplay,...

Manon Lescaut.(Poetry)(Poem)
September 1, 2005... MANON LESCAUT The nobleman holds the necklace at her breasts: she twists and twines the pearls, hanging on. Her true lover returns but she melts his anger into passion till nothing else exists-- not even death. His...

Wedding sandals.(First Person)(wedding memories)
September 1, 2005... Shadowy kangaroos moved off as we drove into the top paddock coming home from a wedding under a midnightish curd sky... --Les Murray, "The Moon Man" I THE YEAR I got married there was no summer to speak of. It...

Miloszian moments.(LITERATURE)(poetry of polish writer Czeslaw Milosz)
September 1, 2005... OUT OF THE BLUE, one winter's day last year, I was given a rare opportunity. At short notice a regular columnist for the Weekend Australian newspaper could not supply his piece. I could stand in for him and write anything I liked. I...

September Nuance.(Poem)
September 1, 2005... SEPTEMBER NUANCE September rainstorms slant and raid our gardens like a cavalcade, of undergrads who burl right through, leave day a-quiver, a rower's tee shirt blue. Then sudden as a thief's goodwill, ...

Home Alone.(poetry)(Poem)
September 1, 2005... HOME ALONE When I am home alone the rooms subside and settle with a sigh, I hear the breathing of the fridge, that tap. Our house is mine, for the time being, and I'm a kindly ruler, the only law is solitude....

Legend, history and truth.(Film)(Alexander)(Frank Hurley)(Road to Tokyo)(DVD's)(Video Recording Review)
September 1, 2005... WHEN OLIVER STONE'S epic Alexander failed in the cinemas, the director called a press conference to announce "it's not over". He was going to release a new version on DVD. Maybe it wouldn't have the sweep it had on the big screen but "it would...

Fred and Ginger's Songs of Love.(poetry)(Poem)
September 1, 2005... FRED AND GINGER'S SONGS OF LOVE Rod Stewart, of the hair, the larynx and all that sex, has taken Fred and Ginger's songs, and moulded them to his voice, his warm, sad, raspy voice, polished to warm sad gold. ...

Films in a narrow frame.(Film)(Australian film content)
September 1, 2005... WHY DO Australian films so often flop with Australian audiences--and with critics, too, these days? I'm not sure if there's going to be a definitive answer to this question in this brief article, but I'd like at least to advance some ideas. ...

We Are Bird.(poetry)(Poem)
September 1, 2005... WE ARE BIRD We are bird We own what we see. We amble, we waddle on the land then we mould to limpid air, stretching our necks, crying our cry. We are black, we are white, sometimes both, we are mottled,...

Moon daises.(Poem)
September 1, 2005... MOON DAISIES On Myrtle mountain drifts of moon daisies defied the dry that had bush snapping. In gardens flowers died from soapy waterings but underneath ghost gums there was a bouquet to be gathered along with...

Once in a lifetime.(Story)(Short Story)
September 1, 2005... There was very little you could do when the rain came, save wait. The dry earth opened and the rain came and filled the floodplain, the dusted earth and the city stuck improbably there. One minute the hot night wind, the next the rainfall,...

Lost words.(satirical lament)(loss of moral and political virtues)(George W. Bush)(Tony Blair)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... The first was Fair in all her facets--lovely, pale, and just--a rope of rubies around her doomed beautiful neck. It was very sad. Next to go was the sturdy and quarrelsome Equality, which was a surprise, as we'd known him all these years to be...

All that swagger: Robert Manne's virtuous trajectory.(Left Right Left: Political Essays 1977-2005)(book)(Book Review)
September 1, 2005... Left Right Left: Political Essays 1977-2005, by Robert Manne; Black Inc, 2005, $34.95. AS SOON AS the Cold War ended, according to Irving Kristol, the real cold war began. This is, he said, the war against American-style liberalism--the...

The great butcher of China.(Mao: The Unknown Story)(Book Review)
September 1, 2005... Mao: The Unknown Story, by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday; Jonathan Cape, 2005, $59.95. IN THE SAME SPIRIT that led Mao to judge Stalin as "75 per cent good, 25 per cent bad", this new biography might be assessed as "90 per cent good, 10 per...

Provincial fellow traveller.(Jessie Street: A Revised Autobiography)(book)(Book Review)
September 1, 2005... Jessie Street: A Revised Autobiography, edited by Lenore Coltheart; Federation Press, 2004, $30. JESSIE STREET is a marker in the ground for Australian "progressives". Uncritical admirers only welcome; sceptics need not apply. All that is...

Old Melbourne on the Hudson.(The Island at the Centre of the World)(Book Review)
September 1, 2005... The Island at the Centre of the World, by Russell Shorto; Transworld, 2005, $24.95. WHAT CAN YOU give the history--American--that has everything? The early story of its biggest city, it seems. Amazingly, given the ant-heap activity in...

Why they crusaded.(The First Crusade: A New History)(book)(Book Review)
September 1, 2005... The First Crusade: A New History, by Thomas Asbridge; Simon & Schuster, 2005, $26.95. THE DUALITY of temporal and spiritual worlds represents the fundamental tension throughout the political and theological history of the Catholic Church....

Poetry of the complex circuits.(The Past Completes Me: Selected Poems 1973-2003)(book)(Book Review)
September 1, 2005... The Past Completes Me: Selected Poems 1973-2003, by Alan Gould; University of Queensland Press, 2005, $22.95. THE APPEARANCE of Alan Gould's The Past Completes Me affords us an opportunity to explore some of his recurring themes and images...

Portentous advice.(Ryan)(changes in the English Language)(use of the word "portentous")(Column)
September 1, 2005... IT'S A BOLD WRITER who forges too far ahead of his dictionary, even though the onward creep of usage turns the signification of words into frontiers. A writer oblivious to the inbuilt, almost daily dynamic of words will soon find himself alone...