As Victoria burns tagged: , , , , , ,

As Victoria burns

Posted by Claire Connelly in Politics

Stephen Conroy was promoting the government’s censorship proposal.
As 130 people died slowly, and painfully in the worst bush-fires in Australia’s history; as friends and family try to put the pieces together; with 200 people dead or missing, Stephen Conroy plans to celebrate “Australia participates in Safer Internet Day 2009? (scheduled for tomorrow, Tuesday the 10th of February).
For some reason I can no longer get access to the site (could it be that one of our brighter government employees took it down before too many people had the chance to complain?)
In any case, check out this screen shot (thanks to Duncan Riley for the image):
As Victoria burns, it reads “young people around Australia will participate activities promoting responsible internet use during Safer Internet Day 2009.“
Seems to me that Conroy should take a page out of his own book and practice some of his own responsible internet usage.
No bushfire could stand in the way of this man and a good press release – not even a national tragedy worse than Ash Wednesday, not even the suffering of thousands of homeless Australians – the injured, parents without children, children without parents, families without homes.

Though I suppose it’s no surprise – maybe he was napping when the news about the death toll hit – (Conroy was caught napping as the Senate debated his legislation relating to the planned digital television switchover.)

Speaking of sensitivity fail – check out this clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZinW-ptsOk

Go to 1.29 to witness our very own opportunist Prime Minister sneak a peek for the cameras before going to comfort a man who has lost his home to the fires.

What a cocky opportunistic narcissist.

Is there any human decency left in Australian politics?

Rudd seems to have reinvigorated the old polly practices of schmaltzy photo ops and tacky press releases.

Am I the only person who finds this completely transparent?

How can this guy have a 70% approval rating?

As for Conroy, well I reckon he should be sacked, but not over this isolated event.

I think the guy is completely useless.

Conroy lacks the tact, grace, and basic human decency required to represent and protect the interests of Australians, rather choosing to legislate on conservative issues that suits his own personal values, but it is especially appalling to do so during a time of tragedy and duress.
Safer Internet Day my right eye, I can guarantee you no one will be celebrating tomorrow.

Riley, myself, and others have called for Conroy to be sacked.

If you would like to tell our Prime Minister what you think, you can send him a message on his Twitter account at http://twitter.com/KevinRuddPM.

In the mean time, there are plenty of people who will be needing blood transfusions and medical aid – I encourage you to donate blood, you can visit the Red Cross website for more information:

http://www.redcross.org.au/vic/services_emergencyservices_victorian-bushfires-appeal-2009.htm

If you can’t donate blood, make a donation to the salvos or fund of your choosing. There are people without homes tonight, without clothes or food, every little bit counts.

Here are some organisations you can donate to:

http://www.redcross.org.au/default.asp

http://salvos.org.au/

Victoria Bushfire Appeal: 1800 811 700

http://www.wildlifevictoria.org.au/cms/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=43

“The streets of heaven are too crowded with angels tonight. They’re our students and our teachers and our parents and our friends. The streets of heaven are too crowded with angels, but every time we think we have measured our capacity to meet a challenge, we look up and we’re reminded that that capacity may well be limitless.”

This is a time for Australian Heroes.