The Peter Garrett Good Government Guide – An Oily Analysis
Posted by John, March 13th, 2009 - under ALP, Aborigines, Afghanistan, Australian politics, Big business, Bush, CPRS, Capitalism, Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, Climate change, Emissions Trading Scheme, Fighting back, Global Warming, Greenhouse gases, Howard, Jobs, Labor Party, Living standards, Midnight Oil, Mining, Musings, Peter Garrett, Pine Gap, Racism, Reformism, Resistance, Social Democracy, unemployment.
Ive used the lyrics from some of Midnight Oil’s songs to measure the worth of the Rudd Government.
Peter Garrett is (or technically was) the Oils’ lead singer.
They have re-formed briefly for some bushfire relief concerts this weekend.
Garrett’s day job is as the Minister for Environment, Heritage and the Arts in Rudd’s Labor Government.
Here are some Midnight Oil lyrics to start the discussion. Feel free to send in your own suggestions.
Blue Sky Mine
But if I work all day on the blue sky mine
(There’ll be food on the table tonight)
Still I walk up and down on the blue sky mine
(There’ll be pay in your pocket tonight)
Garrett agrees with mining. BHP has sacked 3300 workers and Rio Tinto 2000.
Unemployment is now 5.2 per cent (an increase of 1.3 percent since last February). It will hit at least 7 percent next year (and that’s a very very conservative Government estimate).
Beds are burning
The time has come
To say fair’s fair
To pay the rent
To pay our share
The time has come
A fact’s a fact
It belongs to them
Let’s give it back
One year on from the apology to the Stolen Generations and nothing has changed. The Howard years continue.
The Labor Government has ruled out any compensation for the destruction of the lives of the Stolen Generations.
The 17 year mortality gap remains (and nothing is in place to address this long term).
The racist intervention and land grab in the Northern Territory has full Labor Government support. Rudd Labor has continued the removal of the intervention from the racial Discrimination Act.
King of the Mountain
Mountain in the shadow at night
Rain in the valley below
Mountain in the shadow of light
Rain in the valley below
Well you can say you’re Peter, say you’re Paul
Don’t put me up on your bedroom wall
Call me king of the mountain
James Hansen thinks we are going into a tipping zone and it is imperative to move to 350 parts per million CO2 in the atmosphere. The Labor Government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme gets nowhere near 550 ppm let alone 350 ppm.
The latest predictions are that sea levels will rise around 1 metre by the end of the century.
We can all be kings of the mountain then.
Redneck Wonderland
I don’t want to run I don’t want to stay
Cos everything that’s near and dear is old and in decay
Emergency has gone, apathy rolling on
Time to take a stand
Redneck wonderland
They’re talking about the ALP Government, aren’t they?
Tell me the truth
Some people tell me stories, wasting all my time
Some trying not receiving someone else’s lies
It’s my time, yes it’s my time
It sure is your time Minister. But your Government is full of spin. Tell us the truth.
US forces
US Forces give the nod
It’s a setback for your country
Bombs and trenches all in rows
Bombs and threats still ask for more
Divided world, the CIA, say who control the issue
You leave us with no time to talk
You can write your own assessment
Rudd Labor has just criminalised taking photos of Pine Gap, the US spy base in Australia.
Pine Gap gave much valuable information to George W Bush for the imperialist invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. It has contributed to the deaths of millions.
A new song?
Maybe Midnight Oil could compose another environmental song about a host taking over the parasite.
Certainly Garrett hasn’t changed the ALP. It has changed him.
F for Failure
On his band’s own lyrics the Rudd Labor Government, the Government in which Peter Garrett is a Minister, is a failure. He is a major player in that failure.
So Peter, how can you sleep while our beds are burning?