Your Say

In the United States it has been a tradition since the days of JFK for American presidents to be reviewed after their first 100 days in office. The good, the bad and the ugly. It sometimes happens here. This week Prime Minister Gillard put a twist on it. At the ACTU conference she talked about the next 500 days for her government. What do you think she can achieve, should achieve, can’t achieve?

President Obama has changed his mind. In spectacular fashion, months out from a presidential election, he has come out in support of same sex marriages. Back home Julia Gillard has again stated her opposition to it. The Age online had a telling headline: Yes we can. No I won’t. Where do you stand now?

We’re running a poll on whether or not Julia Gillard will survive as PM and lead Labor into the Federal election next year. Assuming she doesn’t, who should replace her and why? Should they go back to Kevin Rudd, who may save some seats in a landslide, or go for a caretaker like Stephen Smith? What about the ambitious Bill Shorten or a return to Simon Crean?

Major health bodies in Victoria have announced a campaign to have cigarette smoking banned in outdoor areas like verandah dining tables, beer gardens, near children’s schools and close to airports and government buildings. Your reaction?

On 3AW I called it The Great Breakfast Scandal. It concerns the milk you put on your cornflakes and the eggs you put in the fry pan. The ‘free range’ eggs you conscientiously buy from the supermarket may not really be free range. They may be from hens crammed 20,000 to a hectare with no more space than on a doormat. And the pure milk you buy may not be that pure. I did not know until today that much of our fresh milk contains a by-product called permeate. It’s a watery, greenish by-product of the cheese-making process. It’s well named. It has permeated the milk business to such an extent that some cartons of milk have nearly 17% of the milk additive. And it’s legal. It is a scandal.

Tony Abbott is one of the most staunch opponents of legalised gay marriage. Won’t even let his fellow Libs have a conscience vote. Now it is public that his sister is gay and living in a ‘married’ state. Should TA be attacked for being so blinkered with such personal family experience? Or praised for sticking to his guns?

In NSW a District Court judge agreed to a novel request for a suppression order on a sex offender’s name. His lawyer successfully argued publication would affect his business and his future earning capacity. I called it ‘ money before morality’ and named him in other states. Your thoughts

Prime Minister Gillard denied it was a ‘handout’. She called it an investment. But the $275 million offered to General Motors -- for Holden to stay in Australia for 10 more years—raises a lot of questions. Why aren’t similar offers made to struggling Aussie-owned firms? Where was Julia when another Aussie icon, the Anzac biscuit, was going under?

Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan has found a new set of villains to blame for our woes: those rapacious, unscrupulous mining billionaires like Clive Palmer and Gina Rinehart. He seems to ignore the fact that we are dodging the GFC Round Two mainly because mining is the only area ‘moving forward’ as Julia Gillard used to say. Your thoughts:

Three teenage rapists aged 14, 15, and 17, who, with four adult males, attacked a 21-year-old mother in her house in country Victoria, were sentenced to three years jail. That was the maximum sentence the Children’s Court Magistrate could impose. Shouldn’t teenagers who commit serious adult crimes be tried and sentenced in adult courts? Maximum adult sentence for rape: 25 years.

OK. The leadership fight is over. Julia Gillard won handsomely and Kevin Rudd, vanquished, has been banished to the backbench. Although the question remains: Can you really kill a political vampire. Still, Labor says it is united. The character assassinations confined to history. The latest Real Julia says she will not only lead them into the 2013 federal election – she will win. Your thoughts?

Within minutes of our posting a new poll on the leadership battle between Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd A tweet came in demanding ‘ why aren’t there other options?’ I presume a box to tick called None of the Above. So, have your say here. Would you like to see other people stand? Like Stephen Smith, Simon Crean [ again] or Bill Shorten.

In a Feb 16. editorial I wrote about a rapist who attacked a 14-year-old girl, was jailed, committed further offences after his release and was returned to jail. When finally freed he was restricted to a 10p.m. curfew among other conditions. He was in the news because of a successful appeal in which three judges ruled his curfew should be pushed back to 1a.m. to allow him to go to nightclubs. Through all this his name was suppressed because when he committed the original rape he was only 17 years and 8 months old. Shouldn’t that suppression be rescinded if a person re-offends as an adult?

There was a story out of London this week about the possibility of a mini-ice age about to hit Europe. There were paintings of stalls and markets on the frozen River Thames from the mid-1700s. Have the latest reports changed your opinion about global warming and climate change ? Have the scientists got it wrong? Some seem to be shifting ground.

Start of a new year. The political pundits can now say ‘ When Prime Minister Gillard calls a federal election next year…’. But will Julia Gillard still be PM in 2013? Will Kevin Rudd make his long-predicted move to try to take back the job that she took from him? And, on the other side, will Tony Abbott remain Liberal leader if the polls don’t show him improving as Preferred Prime Minister? How buried are Malcolm Turnbull’s ambitions?

The first reason I am going to court [again] soon is because I don’t believe in compulsory voting and am contesting a fine for not voting in the last Victorian election. The other reason is I don’t believe that journalists and commentators who interrogate our leaders should vote. If they do people like Hinch, Negus, Martin, Oakes and O’Brien should tell you how they voted. What do you think?

In my first editorial for 2012 I outlined some of the things I hoped would happen. Not the things I thought would happen, especially in Canberra. What would you like to happen this year: on issues like gay marriage, the carbon tax, tax reform, etc.? Would you like a federal election to end the minority government mess?

Back on radio after five months under house arrest for naming serial sex offenders and still campaigning for an end to suppression orders for serial rapists and paedophiles. In West Australia the Lower House has passed a bill calling for a public register of convicted sex offenders. Should it be national? What about the vigilante argument?