The accidental Australian

The blogosphere is alight after the National Press Club speech by News Ltd CEO John Hartigan where he poo poohed blogs and blogging.

Public Opinion has a handy list of bloggers reactions to the speech, so I suggest that you go there if you want to explore this issue further. Of course the main target of Hartigan was Crikey, and therefore there is plenty of comment there. Another blogger that hold no bars on this issue with entertaining reads is Darryl Mason at ‘The Orstrahyun’.

As I am purely a amateur blogger that does this as a hobby and has no aspirations to reach any journalistic standard I am not personally affronted by Mr. Hartigan speech. However I would reiterate what other bloggers have said that professional journalist that blog as part of their job, have no better standard of arguing a case than bloggers that do so without being paid. In fact I would rather read someone such as Pollytics or Mumble where they dissect polls results, than any mainstream media commentator where any small percentage change is seen as a ‘triumph’ or a ‘disaster’ for a particular party or leader either because it is easy to do, or because they cheer for a particular side. And anyway anything I read in the new heralded News Ltd. Blog, The Punch, with paid journalists, is better or worse than any blog that are written by those who do it for free.

Having said that it is true that being paid to write places a different dynamics compared to someone who does it for free. Being a paid journalist means that you are accountable to someone, or at least (I would imagine) there would be some performance assessment, something that a unpaid blogger doesn’t need to worry about. It’s a bit like the difference between someone who is a really good cook and makes a stupendous dinner for friends and a chef. Both may make the same standard of food, but whilst one does it for fun, the other also has a living to earn.

The other aspect of blogging that maybe has been missed here is that blogging allows space for news that do not receive much space in the mainstream media. And of course I am talking about (what else?) Association Football. While AF has increased its profile in recent years it is not the most followed sport in Australia, that is a fact. Which means that the mainstream media concentrate on AFL or the NRL and AF gets some space in the back of the sport section, getting the limelight only on certain occasions, such as a victory from the National Team, or during A League finals. If you look on the ‘Football’ blogroll in this blog you can see that there are plenty of blogs where people who really love the game write about it. And the level of knowledge and information often surpassed anything offered by the mainstream media.

Hartigan downplays the relevance of blogging on news and issues which are the main news of the day. But he may not realise that many bloggers and readers have gone to blogging because the mainstream media he so enthusiastically supports is unable to satisfy the information needs of many in the community.

Yesterday there was an article in The Age by Dr Kim Sawyer, a member of Whistleblowers Australia, about the issue of Godwin Grech and whistleblowing.

Sawyer makes a compelling case that what happened to Grech endangers future disclosures by public servants in Senate Committees.

Most public servants will now think twice before they appear before a Senate committee. Or at least they will think of Grech and many will assess the risk to their careers and hope that they will not be compelled to testify.

…

Senate inquiries have played an important role in our democratic process, acting as a counterbalance to the abuses of government and to the inefficiencies of the bureaucracy. They have addressed topics as diverse as gifted children, petrol sniffing, higher education, and indeed whistleblowing itself.

…

Testifying to a Senate committee is often a form of whistleblowing and there should be similar protections and responsibilities.

Australians rely on honest public servants who commit to their service without fear or favour. The public unravelling of Godwin Grech at the Senate inquiry is a loss for all of us. When the political imbroglio disappears, politicians may reflect on the damage done to our institutions and, in particular, to the role of witnesses to parliamentary inquiries.

I agree with the sentiment expressed that Senate inquiries should protect anyone who discloses information that may be sensitive in one way or another, but we have to identify whether Grech falls within the term of whistleblower.

To me a whistleblower is someone who discloses information that has been kept secret to the detriment of the public at large.

So you could say that Jeffrey Wigand is a whistleblower when he exposed on American 60 Minutes exposed his company’s practice of ‘impact boosting’: intentionally manipulating the effect of nicotine in cigarettes. Or perhaps Allan Robert Kessing who wrote two reports on the deficiencies of security at Sydney Airport. Nothing was done by his superiors, and nearly two years later, some of the content of those reports ended up on the front page of The Australian newspaper. The Howard government brought to Australia a leading UK security expert to investigate Kessing’s claims about lax airport security which resulted in confirmation of Allan Kessing’s reports, and the government went on a witch hunt, looking for the person who leaked the reports.

In the wash-up it fingered Allan Kessing himself, who was charged, tried, convicted and sentenced.

In both cases the whistleblowers went to the media to make the secret information public. Is this the same with Grech which according to Richard Ackland in an article he wrote stated:

Canberra people report that he had been spraying Treasury secrets around to Liberals in and out of government for yonks.

Current news to hand says he even met Turnbull and the rather scary Tasmanian Senator Eric Abetz before a Senate hearing last Friday and that he showed them the bodgie email he is believed to have sent to himself. Further, he allowed both the Liberals to read the email and take notes of it.”

One thing is to release confidential information for the public interest to the media. Another is releasing confidential information to a political party to be used as a weapon for political advantage.

We have to be careful that the term of whistleblowing, and the legal protection they need to receive, is limited to something that really benefits the public.

While not trying singlehandedly to reduce the deficit that the Labor government has created with the stimulus package, I have come to the realisation that I will miss out on Kevin’s handout.

The fact is that for a variety of personal reasons (mixed with some laziness, I must admit) I haven’t lodged a tax return for a while. I won’t say here how long, but probably for a much longer period of time that most of you may guess.

With trepidation I did go to a Tax accountant about three months ago who very nicely and patiently got the process of getting up to date in process. He told us that while not having lodged a tax return meant that we were in breach of tax regulations, the fact that we were PAYE taxpayers and we had no other income beside our wages meant that if anything the Tax Department owed us money.

However the tedious process of chasing lost group certificates, medicare rebates, health care fees, banking fees etc. over this period meant that we ran out of time. The fact that the older tax returns cannot be lodged electronically means that as of today we are stuffed.

Oh well, I hope the governments uses the saved money well.

From The Guardian.

Their gesture attracted worldwide comment and drew the attention of football fans to Iran’s political turmoil. Now the country’s authorities have taken revenge by imposing life bans on players who sported green wristbands in a recent World Cup match in protest against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election.

According to the pro-government newspaper Iran, four players – Ali Karimi, 31, Mehdi Mahdavikia, 32, Hosein Ka’abi, 24 and Vahid Hashemian, 32 – have been “retired” from the sport after their gesture in last Wednesday’s match against South Korea in Seoul.

They were among six players who took to the field wearing wristbands in the colour of the defeated opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, which has been adopted by demonstrators who believe the 12 June election was stolen.

Goevernments should not determine who is allowed to play in a team representing a nation because of their political beliefs or expression of an opinion.

FIFA should ban Iran from any international matches until these players are reinstated.

In 2006 Iran was banned from international competition by the world governing body Fifa after claims of improper interference by his government. The ban was later lifted. It is time to ban them again.

From Getty Images

Cartoon from newmatilda.com drawn by Linsday Foyle

What do Tim Cahill and Kevin Rudd have in common? A couple of things at the moment. Dubious emails, and a smear campaign being undertaken by News Ltd. newspapers.

Let’s take Kevin Rudd first. ‘Ute-gate’ or the ‘Oz-car affair’ as it has been dubbed by some media has produced hundreds of comments in the blogosphere. I have reserved my opinion on this issue. Of course I wouldn’t been too happy for the Labor Government to implode so dramatically in its first term. However if Parliament is misled it is a serious matter. I have heard the heated debate in Parliament today and of course followed the developments with the Australian Federal Police and the now fake email.

The opposition tried valiantly but I could sense as the day developed that their arguments became more shrill as their basis of proof faded away. Of course the now fake email was read to the Liberals by a News Limited journalist. Why this journalist didn’t go to Labor, but instead chose to leak it to Turnbull in order to get some political advantage speaks volumes about where the overall sympathies of many in the News Ltd. stable lies. The campaign of ‘The Australian’ against the stimulus and more recently against Gillard on her proposed changes in education are further proof.

The shame is that in the case of ‘The Australian’ other media seem to follow their stories without questions. I have stopped listening to Radio National Breakfast as Fran Kelly seems to use the anti-Labor arguments she has read in the day’s edition of “The Australian’ when she interviews a Labor minister, or has a talk to Michelle Grattan.

Of course News Ltd more down to earth stable mate, Sydney’s Daily Telegraph has also decided to create a story around the alledged ‘disgraceful behaviour’ of Tim Cahill at a Kings Cross night club.. I mentioned in my previous post The Football Tragic ties up the arguments very nicely..

This story got a life of its own. Alan Jones is a good friend of Cahill (apparently he flew Jones to the FA Cup final) so he came to the defence of Cahill. I guess that Jones is still a pretty influencial figure in Sydney’s media (unfortunately) which means that the Tele did take notice and wasn’t pleased.

Claims and counter claims followed. Mark Bosnich defended Cahill, and the media’s role, but hit out at the “scum of the earth” whose jealousy tried to bring the Socceroos star down. Cahill then scored two goals to win the match against Japan and ignored questions from a reporter because she was from Foxtel (and therefore connected to News Ltd.) which I agree with Jesse Fink was unprofessional and petulant. But of course this brought more criticism from the Tele.

But the Tele had more. Like a dog with a bone an article appeared with the account from the security guard. While the owner of the club stated that nothing happened. and stated amongst other things that the ‘Police only became involved after the media phoned them.’

Then Sanitarium (where Cahill is a major celebrity for Weetbix) pulled its advertising from NSW newspapers to protest about stories they published on Cahill’s drinking. It also pulled advertisements from the Sunday Telegraph. This must have made the Tele see red. And they were not going to take it lying down.

In fact they came up with a story where an email was sent by someone who had been in the team for ten years and according to the Tele “THE Socceroos’ World Cup campaign has been rocked by a split among senior players over Tim Cahill’s behaviour in a Kings Cross nightclub last week.”

So we have it: A smear campaign which is based on an email driven by News Ltd. Maybe the Australian Federal Police could get involved in ‘Cahillgate”?

It is clear that some Rugby League journos are livid that football is been getting all this praise and attention from the highest political figures backing the World Cup bid, and even more they would like nothing more to drag football down to the level that Rugby League has reached because of the appaling behaviour of some of their players. That does not involve just drunkeness (if it was only that) but criminal behaviour towards women.

Last night, most TV news items lead with the story about Australia’s bid for the 2018 or 2022 FIFA World Cup.

I must admit that I share with some of the pessimists that the chance of Australia hosting the World Cup are relatively small.

We all know that the International Olympic Committee is full of intrigue and politics. But I think that the IOC is the County Women’s Association in comparison with FIFA. At least the IOC has to at least show some adherence to the Olympic ideals. No such requirements in FIFA. Association Football is a sport that has created circus of finance. money, deals etc. and arguments that it time that the World Cup comes to Australia is meaningless in the world of TV deals and multi-million sponsorships.

Having said that I support the bid 100%. Because it is another sign of how much the code has progressed in Australia. Seeing the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition making statements about how football is important for Australia, how it is the real world game and how important is for us to be part of it on the world stage shows that in the highest levels of government at least the importance of Association Football in the world is recognised (not to mention the beautiful Kate Ellis, I got a secret crush on her).

I couldn’t envisage this level of support even ten years ago from the highest level of government. I don’t think that either Kevin Rudd or Malcolm Turnbull are into Association Football all that much really, but they recognise the huge financial and associated benefits of Australia hosting such a huge world wide event. As the Olympics, and Commonwealth Games have shown, Australia excels in organising these events. I think because we sort of feel a bit forgotten by the world and staging a world event is a chance of having our turn in the sun and we are really committed in doing them well.

However there is a flipside to this positive energy that has emanated from the launch yesterday. Unlike the Olympics, or the Commonwealth Games, the bidding for the World Cup, and the associated comments about its importance really show the other codes their real position in the world.

As usual I am not commenting about the merits of each code. As people know I love Association Football but I also like Australian Football so this is not a code vs. code argument. The reality is that even if Australian Rules and Rugby League are great games, they can’t have the same level of international interest that Association Football has. And despite all the nice articles about some kids in South Africa kicking a Sherrin or some Japanese Australian Football team, there is no code that can even come close at the level of following world wide that Association Football has.

This irks some sections of the media no end. So every World Cup we get commentators/players from other codes feeling the urge of putting Association Football down.

And with this bid we already see what we have in store.

The Daily Telegraph’s Sports Editor, Phil Rothfield, wrote an article bemoaning the fact that Pim Verbeek was ‘destroying soccer’s one golden opportunity to challenge rugby league and AFL‘.

The initial impression that this was from someone who wanted to progress the sport in Australia and was having a go to Verbeek for not allowing playes to publicise the sport. What it transpires was that it was a dummy spit, as Rothfield explains in one of his comments with a reader:

I’ll tell you a little story about what happened on Tuesday. Harry Kewell climbed Sydney Harbour Bridge and posed up for photos that our editor Garry Linnell was keen on for page one. Harry then found out Pim had imposed a media ban and had to abide by it. He agreed to the photo being taken, but only if it appeared in Friday’s papers. Now I say Pim has a responsibility to promote the game. He robbed soccer of the best possible exposure on the front page of a newspaper.

But back to the bid. This was a later comment:

Hey Buzz

Sounds like you’ve really rattled the cage in the zoo today. What do you think about 20 odd million dollars of Australian Tax Payers money being spent on Australia’s bid to host a World Cup? Seems to me to be a waste of money.
Dave of Bruce (Reply)
Thu 11 Jun 09 (03:18pm)

G’day Dave. It’s a terrible, terrible waste of money. The PM and Kate Ellis keep handing out all this money to SOCCER but brush the real football codes that are far more popular. Frank Lowy has obviously got powerful mates in government.
Phil Rothfield
Thu 11 Jun 09 (04:14pm)

Notice how he caps the word ’soccer’ and talks about the ‘real football’ codes that he sustain are more popular.

So we have it. Mr. Rothfield couldn’t give a shit about the progress of Association Football in Australia. In fact he thinks is a total waste of time and money and we should concentrate on ‘real football’.

Obvioulsy this tactic of placing Association Football in the worse possible light continues on Sunday with one of the biggest beat ups ever about Tim Cahill being drunk at a night club. A story which is ‘Media Watch’ worthy and Tim Cahill would have grounds to sue News Ltd. for defamation.

Mike at The Football Tragic covers this event in his blog . But it seem to me that it is only the start of a subtle campaign of placing Association Football in the worse possible light.

It’s going to be a rough ride.

Some football fans have been critical of Chris Paraskevas articles in the past. However his latest piece on the qualification of the Australian Football National Team to the World Cup is in my opinion spot on.

Perhaps memories have been blurred by consecutive qualification for a World Cup final but at one stage on the quest for a place in South Africa, Australia was in crisis.

It wasn’t so long ago that the Socceroos were heading into a World Cup Qualification path for the first time in the Asian Football Confederation without a manager.

Enter, Pim Verbeek.

Before the former South Korea boss had even had a chance to take his new team into camp, there was a collective groan at the absence of a ‘big name’ to follow in the footsteps of Hiddink, with who’s presence the nation had been spoiled on the path to Germany……….

Even Australia captain Lucas Neill went as far as to quip that he had to ‘Google’ search Verbeek’s name in order to find out who he was – despite the fact that he had guided Korea to a third place finish at the same Asian Cup where Neill missed a decisive penalty in a Quarter Final against Japan – while former international Robbie Slater was openly critical of the appointment during his punditry work.

Since then of course, Neill has reproduced the sort of form that allowed him to rise to prominence under Hiddink at the World Cup in Germany, though self-proclaimed ‘analysts’ have found new ways in which to justify their criticism of Verbeek.

From complaints about a conservative selection policy and the decision not to utilize Nick Carle to grumblings about a pragmatic style of football and his open criticism of the A-League, Verbeek has been unapologetic about both his managerial style and media dealings……..

Verbeek has been meticulous in his tactical approach to matches, his dealings with the media and squad building.

Here is a man who was appointed for one reason: to qualify for the 2010 World Cup and ensure financial windfall for the FFA, both from immediate qualification and in the long-term, growth of the game at a domestic level.

And Pim delivered.

I always say that I am no football expert. I leave the combinations, tactics to others.

However I have assiduously followed Australia World Cup qualifying campaign since 1980, and I have seen the failures and the associated scorn about Australia failing again and again and the inept reactions by Soccer Australia.

Maybe I should expect more, but listening to radio SEN post match the calls were a procession of whingers about how we played this and how boring this and boring that. This has been echoed by football writers in the media. This is for a nation that periodically lost every chance to go to the World Cup for the past three decades.

Yes, Pim is the national coach and his tactics deserve to be scrutinised, especially in the light of whether they will be enough for us to do well in South Africa, but fair suck of the Sav, we are there. First time ever where we qualified without a nerve wrecking sleep depriving do or die match. I think is fantastic.

I would like to touch on Paraskevas’ comment about the the South Korea’s media being ‘far larger and more sophisticated than Australia’s’ After all the commentary I would have to agree.

All of the sudden it is a ‘failure’ if we don’t do better than last time. What we did in Germany was extraordinary IMHO. The World Cup is demanding and tough. Remember that in 2002 France, who were the champions were eliminated in the first round.

I think this betrays a lack of knowledge about the ‘general’ sport journos in Australia about the difficulty of playing a true world sport. Maybe is because Australia has done well in international sports where there is a relatively small pool of players (ie cricket and netball). Another sport which is truly international, Athletics, also has copped this criticism. It seems now that if we don’t do as well as last time we will be seen as a ‘failure’ which is ridiculous as ‘highlyflammable’ wrote on the worldgame forum:

Many people - bandwagoners, bitters, journalists - agree that if Australia do not make the round of 16 in 2010 they have failed.

By doing so, Australia will become only the third non-European/South American team to make the round of 16 in consecutive World Cups.

They will also become only the fourth non-European/South American team to make the round of 16 twice.

So basically if they dont achieve what only two teams have managed to achieve they have failed.

By all means let’s analyse the tactics and the game. But I’d rather be in this position than in the qualifying campaigns for the 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, and 2002 World Cups!

Update: A great article by Kevin Airs that writes about this issue but much better.

Here are the penguins shut in their glorified refrigerated storage room.

And here on the wall opposite there is a continuous video showing how wild and free they should be.

In the old days when Australia was treated as a ‘problem child’ by FIFA and didn’t know how to make it qualify, it had the unfairest path to the world cup.

It would have to qualify through the weakest Confederation - Oceania - smashing Tonga or the Solomon Islands and then had to win a do or die playoff against the fifth team of one of the top Confederations world-wide, South America. It was the last place to be decided.

Before it was an Asian team, but the team we had to play against always had an advantage. They has gone already through a tough campaign, Australia as I said before has to play Pacific Minnows and then come up all of the sudden with a match toughened team.

There was a lot of interest. Lots of coverage in the media, lots of hoopla. While it was nice to have Association Football in the sun for a while the risks were higher because failure was much more exposed. And apart from last time, it always resulted in failure.

It was unfair that Australia had to be treated so shabbily compared to all other nations.

But then comes Lowy and we get in the Asian Confederation. Now Australia goes through a long campaign of two rounds, it takes more than a year. But it is fair. If you qualify is not through just a couple of games but a long string of them.

And early this morning Australia drew 0-0 with Qatar to book a place in the World Cup to be held in South Africa next year.

No much fanfare comparing to last time. No nervewrecking matches that can end in disaster at any moment. But just fairness.

Some have criticised Pim Verbeek’s approach, but results speak volumes. He is the first coach that took Australia through a qualifying campaign and got us there. So what if we didn’t play pretty football and we just ground results? When we line up in South Africa I don’t think that people will say ‘Yes, but we didn’t play entertaining football’. All of that will be forgotten.

Well done boys, well done Pim. Now we can party for the next year.

Update: Other comments on The Football Tragic, South of the Border, and A seat at the A-League