If anyone is reading this outside Australia, you might not know that this past weekend has seen a talk-fest convened by our Federal Government under the snappy title “2020.”
I’m astonished at some of the people who have been invited to participate in the summit. Of course I am a disappointed applicant. No, that’s not correct: I forestalled disappointment from the inevitable rejection by not applying at all, even though I was free for the weekend and it would have been convenient to visit my father, who is at present on his own as my stepmother has travelled to Italy for a month with one of my step-brothers.
Previously, I thought that the lowest point was the inclusion of Lachlan Murdoch and James Packer. Great, I thought: ideas = money. It’s obvious really, if you think about it. At least James was unable to go. (Or was it Lachlan? I can’t be bothered checking this out.) Maybe it’s because they don’t want to go to the same parties just now after the latest shafting/double cross or whatever.
But today I read that Miranda Devine was there as a participant. wtf? I guess it must be something about tents and where people are going to piss.
I am keeping an open mind, but this confirmed my skepticism-cynicism about the whole shebang.
April 21, 2008 at 8:45 am |
Hear hear.
April 21, 2008 at 12:12 pm |
Devine’s a straw-man – she was at the 2020 summit for the same reason the Herald publishes her. It makes the summit (and the Herald) look like it’s canvassing a range of opinions without confronting its readers with well researched, properly argued pieces from the conservative end of the spectrum.
July 22, 2008 at 3:12 am |
[...] we’ll just finish up with a quick words from The Editor, Bridgid Gread, Jack Lacton, marcellous, broken left leg, Jim Belshaw, and Peter Timmins on governance group outcomes, then we’ll [...]