From: g87
Sent: Monday, September 10, 2012 1:30 PM
To: the australian
Subject: Watch the wall my green darlings as the gentlemen go
by
Watch the
wall my green darlings as the gentlemen go by!
With apologies to R Kippling – see links!!!
http://www.kipling.org.uk/rg_haldraft1.htm#smuggler
http://www.kipling.org.uk/poems_smuggler.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8LtOIN1G4I
With apologies to R Kippling – see links!!!
http://www.kipling.org.uk/rg_haldraft1.htm#smuggler
http://www.kipling.org.uk/poems_smuggler.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8LtOIN1G4I
Voters turned on the Greens in some of the party's local government strongholds as part of a shift to the Right blamed in part on federal policy rows over asylum-seekers and climate change.
As parliament resumes today without Julia Gillard, who is in Adelaide with her family following the death of her father on Saturday, Labor supporters were heartened by the party's gains against the Greens in council elections in NSW at the weekend.
Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese, whose federal seat of Grayndler in Sydney's inner west is viewed as vulnerable to the Greens, declared that the minor party's momentum had stalled and the Gillard government could "magnify" the shift at the next federal election by sharpening the focus on Greens policies
Labor strategists said the swing against the Greens in some areas was the party's first real fall in support after 15 years years of steady growth, but NSW Greens senator Lee Rhiannon disputed that by pointing to areas where her colleagues had held their ground against Labor opponents. Gillard government supporters attributed the result to the Greens' obstruction of the government's asylum-seeker changes and contentious local government policies, such as a trade boycott of Israel.
Labor suffered big blows in parts of NSW, its vote down as much as 25 per cent in one ward in the Parramatta council area in western Sydney. There were double-digit falls in other outer suburbs.
NSW Liberal Premier Barry O'Farrell cited an unexpected win for his party in Newtown, in Sydney's inner west, to emphasise the blow to Labor. Mr O'Farrell said the results "bode well" for Tony Abbott at the federal election due next year.
ABC election analyst Antony Green said the fate of the Greens was less important than the defeat of Labor in key areas, saying the outcomes generally matched the drubbing Labor had received at last year's state election.
But Labor's wins against the Greens heartened Gillard government strategists, who drew parallels with a Victorian state by-election in July when Labor candidate Jennifer Kanis defeated the Greens' Cathy Oke.
As in Victoria, the NSW result showed Labor gaining ground in inner-city areas once seen as inevitable conquests for the Greens.
The local government elections revealed big swings against the Greens in areas where their support had been strongest, such as a 13.6 per cent swing against them in a Lilyfield ward in Sydney's inner west; 12 per cent in parts of nearby Balmain; and 12 per cent in parts of Randwick, in the city's east.
In Byron Bay, the first council area in Australia to elect a Greens mayor, the party suffered an 11 per cent swing against it and preferences will determine if pro-business candidates win control of the council.
Adam Bandt, who holds the federal seat of Melbourne and is the Greens' sole lower house MP, denied voters were deserting his party and said leader Christine Milne, who replaced Bob Brown in June, was
doing a good job.
But NSW Greens local government spokesman David Shoebridge said the support for the party had softened because the electorate was "moving to the right" and one of the factors was the state of federal politics.
Gillard government backbenchers have grown increasingly frustrated with the Greens over the past two years amid fears that the hung parliament had given Labor's short-term allies too much power. "The reality is that many of Labor's political problems are a function of our accommodation of the Greens," said Labor whip Joel Fitzgibbon. "Highlighting their shortcomings has helped to drive their vote down and our vote up."
Several MPs said the NSW result showed the gains to be made from challenging the Greens rather than acquiescing with their policy demands on climate change, industry, healthcare or education.
Labor frontbencher Mark Butler told the Sky News Australian Agenda program yesterday he believed support for the Greens would "taper off as people become more accustomed or get a better appreciation of the Greens party policies about things that matter to Australian families".
The latest Newspoll, published in The Australian last week, revealed the Greens' primary vote dropped to a 3 1/2-year low of 8 per cent, down from 11.8 per cent at the 2010 election. Senator Milne called that result "disappointing" but also cited a Morgan poll showing a rise in support to 11.5 per cent.
Australian Workers Union national secretary Paul Howes, who has led calls for Labor to consider putting the Greens last on preferences, said it was "dangerous to read too much into one Newspoll" but noted swings of up to 11 per cent in traditional Greens' "bastions" in the weekend elections.
"Their failure to win the state seat of Melbourne a couple of weeks ago also shows, I think, there is a tapering off of groundswell support for the Greens and I think a lot of that is due to the fact, finally, we have the community actually calling the Greens to account," he told Australian Agenda. "We have proper examinations of Greens policies."
Mr Albanese said the momentum often attributed to the Greens had stalled in general and gone backwards in some areas.
"Every time the Greens party has been in a position of running something, of actually being able to exercise political power, they've been found wanting and disappointed their supporters," he said. "This weekend's result is an example of that and it can be magnified federally."
Mr Albanese, whose inner-western electorate of Grayndler has shown strong support for the Greens in recent years, said Labor had increased its vote by running a "local affairs not foreign affairs" campaign. The campaign sought to highlight the Greens' interest in issues such as a boycott of Israel rather than policies that mattered more to local residents.
"Now that Bob Brown isn't the leader, that undermines them federally as well," Mr Albanese said. "At whatever level people were voting Green, they were voting for Bob Brown, who had a strong values proposition."
The Labor leader in the NSW upper house, Luke Foley, said the results demonstrated the gains the federal government could make if it stepped up its challenge to the Greens. "I think there's now a body of evidence that the Greens party vote is falling at a rate of knots since Bob Brown's retirement," Mr Foley said. "The retirement of Brown has hurt the Greens. Every electoral test they've faced under Christine Milne has been a disappointment for them."
Mr Foley said the results illustrated the boost to Labor's fortunes when the party fought the Greens on policies - such as border protection - rather than focusing on tactical issues such as the allocation of preferences.
"Labor's got to continue to campaign on Labor fundamentals - we can't ignore the Greens threat," he said. "The conservatives remain our principal opponents, but those who suggest we only invest in battle with the conservatives and leave the inner cities to the Greens are mistaken."
Mr Foley said the lesson was to confront the Greens on policy not on political rhetoric, sharpening the differences by noting the details of the Greens' position.
Senator Rhiannon disputed the Labor interpretation of the weekend's events, saying the figures compared to an unusually strong result in 2008 elections when the Labor state government was in power. She said the local councils in the area covered by Mr Albanese's seat of Grayndler had shown strong support for the Greens. "We're running in more and more seats - for instance, in western Sydney - and that pulls our vote down," she said. "Nobody ever wants to lose seats. We've lost some good councillors."
She said Labor should focus its attack on the Coalition and not the Greens. "They're making a huge mistake if they think we're the enemy and not paying more attention to the Liberals," she said. "That is just cruelling their chances at the next election."
ADDITIONAL REPORTING: ROSANNE BARRETT
A Smuggler's Song |
| IF you wake at midnight, and hear a horse's feet, Don't go drawing back the blind, or looking in the street, Them that ask no questions isn't told a lie. Watch the wall my darling while the Gentlemen go by. Five and twenty ponies, Trotting through the dark - Brandy for the Parson, 'Baccy for the Clerk. Laces for a lady; letters for a spy, Watch the wall my darling while the Gentlemen go by! Running round the woodlump if you chance to find Little barrels, roped and tarred, all full of brandy-wine, Don't you shout to come and look, nor use 'em for your play. Put the brishwood back again - and they'll be gone next day ! If you see the stable-door setting open wide; If you see a tired horse lying down inside; If your mother mends a coat cut about and tore; If the lining's wet and warm - don't you ask no more ! If you meet King George's men, dressed in blue and red, You be careful what you say, and mindful what is said. If they call you " pretty maid," and chuck you 'neath the chin, Don't you tell where no one is, nor yet where no one's been ! Knocks and footsteps round the house - whistles after dark - You've no call for running out till the house-dogs bark. Trusty's here, and Pincher's here, and see how dumb they lie They don't fret to follow when the Gentlemen go by ! 'If You do as you've been told, 'likely there's a chance, You'll be give a dainty doll, all the way from France, With a cap of Valenciennes, and a velvet hood - A present from the Gentlemen, along 'o being good ! Five and twenty ponies, Trotting through the dark - Brandy for the Parson, 'Baccy for the Clerk. Them that asks no questions isn't told a lie - Watch the wall my darling while the Gentlemen go by ! |
"A Smuggler's Song" (notes by Philip Holberton and Donald Mackenzie) [Verse 1 Line 3] Them that asks no questions isn’t told a lie Oliver Goldsmith: "She Stoops to Conquer" (1773): 'Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no fibs.' [Verse 2 Line 4] brishwood Sussex dialect for brushwood [Verse Line 1] King George’s men Soldiers hunting the smugglers [Verse 7 Line 3] Valenciennes lace, originally produced (c. 1705-80) in the town of that name in Northern France. |
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