[Miron Mizrahi]

> 
> A couple questions for you patient Aussies from a Yank trying to
> understand this all. Was PG previously a member of another party
> and that is contributing to some of the outburst about his joining
> Labor, or were people just *hoping* he would join the Greens? As I
> understand it, the ACF is not aligned with a specific political
> party so his presidency there didn't require specific membership.
> Then another issue seems to be his being appointed to a spot and
> not voted to it by party membership? I guess PG thinks he can more
> effective in a party with a bigger profile? It's tough enough
> trying to be a political junkie and making sense of the US let
> alone Oz!
> 
> many thanks for any insights,
> Tim
> 

Hi Tim,

PG ran for parliament (forget the year) as a member of the nuclear
disarmament party and lost. the acf is not partisan and PG has not
been a member of any party so far. the outburst is for a variety of
reasons (IMO)

1. the debate on whether he would be more effective as a small fish
in a big pond (labour) or a big fish in a small pond (greens). i
would have preferred the latter but it is purely a matter of
opinion. history will tell whether his choice was a good one or not

2. the local party members resent the fact that he was parachuted on
them by central and they feel they have the right to choose their
own rep. i support that. on the other hand calling pete a bastard
from the southern highlands was totally inappropriate particualrly
considering that at the point he had made no comment or taken no
action. if you have an issue with your party take it with them.
don't shoot the messenger.

3. australia's a small place. every blip on the political scene can
create waves. particularly just before an election. as a californian
(you were last time i checked) - it is very similar to arnie's case.
PG will probably be a backbencher but he is famous enough here and
australia is small enough for it to create a stir. as far as this
goes i think US politics is similar. it just needs bigger names.

4. as a side comment , i found americans to be more politically
aware and realistic than aussies. let's face it - australia is the
only country i know of where voting is mandatory. aussies are not
particularly interested in politics. probably not true of members of
this list but generally this has been my impression. whenever i see
the media covering politics here it always seems to me like kids
bickering. i never got that impression elsewhere. so it might be
that people lose interest in day-to-day stuff and when something
juicy like this happens they are all over it. but then again, it
happens elsewhere too. who knows.

how is arnie doing btw?

=====
Miron

   How could people get so unkind?


	
		
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