Just a passing comment, I still remember Amanda on national television not being able to remember the Australian National anthem!(Geoffrey Robertson's Hypotheticals.) and then being so embarrassed left the show during a break. So we need more Australian songs? we should learn the ones we already have don't you think.

I wish Senator Vanstone as much good fortune in her musical career as that which she meted out to the detainees seeking refuge in Australia, while she was in the ministry overseeing such matters !!

A trivial comment.

It's good to see Senator Vanstone relegated to the back bench. She had the mindset of a left-winger when it came to immigration.

It is hoped that Minister Andrews will take a realistic attitude to immigration. He has already suggested that the quota of black African "refugees" should be limited, thanks to their appalling attitude to civilization in Austalia, and their complete unsuitablity to fit into Australian society.

Sneering at individual politicians and whether or not they can sing a stupid song is pathetic in view of the seriousness of the real threat to Australia posed by the introduction of totally unsuitable people into Australian society on the flimsy grounds that they are refugees.

Yes i agree a completly trivial comment, what is pathetic is that it has made the media at all, considering how many more serious issue that are available to report on.

You people amaze me with your head up @rse view of all thing Rodential

Just go to http://www.amandaforpm.com to join the Stone Age, mushrooms

here is the warm up stuff

The sad news is Amanda has been sacked - but as in Life of Brian "Do not be downhearted Brothers" "and Sisters", " ... and Sisters". If you think back to the Rodent vs Peacock "bike-offs" in Days of Yore, The Rodent had more trips to back bench than most people have had hot breakfasts [or cold ones even, going forward]. So Brothers/Sisters the Kafkaesque aspect of this horific action is that this very site [amandaforpm.com], in suggesting Amanda's bling bling should bling her to be PM has seemingly backfired by putting too much doubt in Rodent's mind about an Amanda led Recovery from Howard's WMD [oy oy oy], going forward.

However, even in her darkest hour, this modern day Hatshepsut has written a song to cream on that stupid durge about a sheep in a pond [later called BigPond]. We present it here with the help of her own group Van Stone, which is similar story to Goff and the group The Whitlams, 'cept this group has more attitude - bit like Whitlams with bling bling. So yo all sing along

I want to see her sing it nude on YouTube.

Just kidding... :D

DD - can I have some of whatever it is that you're on?

am just on the antidote to 60 years of bullsh**

aka just telling it as it is

but just wait for the Rodent/Vanstone interview, as it will reveal all about Amanda's fall from grace

but seriously, what about Song of Australia as the "other" song to be sung at schools etc

hey we HAD that back in 1952 and I still get goosebumps hearing those words

"There is a land where summer skies are floating in a thousand dies"

whereas the sheep gig leaves me cold

Leigh

Here it goes again…your closed-door “no one is welcome” policy on immigration is really getting a little tiring, to say the least.

And on refugees, your claim that they are a “real threat to Australia posed by the introduction of totally unsuitable people into Australian society on the flimsy grounds that they are refugees”.

You are in the minority, I am afraid, most people are not as concerned as you are of black people in our neighbourhood, as long as they are friendly and reasonable people. Why are you and your accessory contributors always so paranoid of anyone who is different?

And to your view on the “flimsy” moral legitimacy/”grounds” of helping refugees, particular when they are black, really shows how out-of-touch and pre-historic you are. Have you learnt the Australian value of Compassion? I agree there should be a quota on any migration intake, but to consider the intake of an appropriate number of genuine refugees as unacceptable (like what you are suggesting) just shows how much of any heart you have, and the selfish self-important self-righteous nature of your views.

I have met some African people in the workplace and they really are just normal human beings. Get over your colour blindness and see the world in a better light. See people as individuals and you will see things differently.

As with Amanda Vanstone, never a big fan of her, but at least she is better than the honorable Mr Ruddick, who has so far honorably dodged any responsibility of the myriad of wrongs he committed.

Thanks DD :)

I'm not all that much younger than you, but at my (State) school it was "God Save the Queen"... for 6 years. As I recall, we also had to "honour my God and salute the Flag".

It was enough to put me off the monarchy, religion and nationalism for life.

Well its over now that the fat lady wants US to sing.

its even got David Hicks bit "Valiant into battle .." but dont say which side you have to be on - also a politically correct copout for us Viet vets [sorry American word, but now the whole Depart is Veterans Affairs] getting spat upon etc

so come on and all sing along http://www.amandaforpm.com yo all bookmark it and face the flag at 5PM and sing it [or is it 6PM?] I KNOW 5PM is beer o'clock

Oh yeah, it can be American flag if you wish [seems with Howard/Bush congo dance flags are now interchangable - Remember Keating comment to boy with Oz flag "dont worry son, I'll get you a new one" well seems new one might be USA and not boxing kangaroo

OK, now the Interview between Rodent and Amanda is there on the site so go direct http://csacalc.com/divorce/back.htm and use return to go to the Song so you can do your duty for the day to flag and country and all things American Apple Pie

"dum da dum dum dar dum

dar dar dar dar da dar

da da dummmmmb .." etc

Yeah, a wonderful song; we really needed another patriotic song to convince ourselves that there are "no problems, mate" in Australia.

How much sense does it make to write lyrics about 'building for the future under the southern sun' if nature is burning up under it because our ignorant PM is in denial about global warming.
Australia's input in a green future is pathetic!

Glory for our eyes- yeah like the bleaching coral reefs and the disappearing forests?

What a laugh!

Ah yes the environment, but don't shoot the messenger please as Amanda is a non eco warrior for boat people [or WAS] so was acting under instructions as Kurtz points out

" But we must kill them. We must incinerate them. Pig after pig, cow after
cow, village after village, army after army. And they call me an
assasin. What do you call it when the assasins accuse
the assasin ? They lie.. they lie and we have to be merciful
for those who lie. Those nabobs. I hate them. How I hate them..."

But now the tune is right up top at http://www.amandaforpm.com so yo all join in

I am doing a cover version called Rodent's Lament

Were I marking the 'Fatstone Ode' in Year Five, English, I'd give it 75%

but if it were for a Year 9 the mark would drop to 60%

Year 12 50% and for Final year in Uni...20%

After working it over for 6 years while in parliament about 2%

But I'd give her 100% for audacity and thick skin.

Celivia,

You can always return to Holland.

For those who don't know, Celivia is a Hollander with residency in Australia. She is not Australian. She just has a big mouth and no manners which, she thinks, gives her the right to sound off about a country with which she has no real connection.

2 things

1 dont forget to goto http://www.amandaforpm.com and tune in and sing along

2 bin working on new words to that horrible "sheep in puddle" song and got the first verse "in the can" and talking to Michael Jackson about a recording

here is first draft

Once a Lying Rodent
Went down to the water's edge
Hoping to see his ship come in
On the horizon was the SS Ta-am-per
Oh what a fort-un-ate thing, going forward

Refrain

Throw them over-board
Chuck them over-board
I say who comes into this cu*t-er-ee

so any suggestions for more verses - come on, the election is not far off so we need "meaningful outcomes, going forward"

Leigh, you really shouldn't drink so early in the day.

DD and Is Mise, now that's what I call talent; you're cracking me up :)))

And when I lie under the Southern sky in the blistering sun, all cracked up and fallen apart like poor old Humpty Dumpty, people like Leigh will treasure the moment of one less permanent crackhead, I mean resident.

Because only Australian citizens are allowed to criticise the government, right?

Deja vu, Leigh, you seem to like repetition.
I have always paid my taxes like everybody else so I can criticise what happens to my tax dollars.

Don't forget that because of Australians' as well as immigrants' contributions to the ATO you are now receiving a pension.

Leigh, belabouring Celivia's residency status doesn't change the fact that Howard is a climate change delinquent. The Federal Government has had over a decade to address the biggest challenge facing Australia's long-term sustainability, but has only half-heartedly jumped onboard the climate change bandwagon within the last few months. Mr. Howard may be dead and buried within a few decades, but his legacy of inaction will be clearly felt on the Australian landscape long into the future.

Thank you, C.J.Morgan and Oligarch :)

Oligarch, that's true; Howard had enough time to show how us that he was serious about our beautiful nature.
Sometimes people forget that we actually rely on our environment. We can not sustain ourselves in a sick environment. There cannot even be a healthy economy in a country with a sick environment.

The more people pressure the government into taking the right kind of action, the better.
Here you can sign a petition to call on the Australian government to join the new international body on the environment.
"46 countries have now agreed to form a powerful new environmental body, designed to slow global warming. The organisation could have policing powers to punish violators. Australia is yet to join the new alliance."
http://www.cooltheglobe.com/index

This is the least the Australian government can do after refusing to rattify the Kyoto protocol.

And Leigh, if Australia does not sign up, you can expect me to criticise the government some more ;)

Only then I grant Howard the pleasure to sing, whole-heartedly, in his (hopefully water-saving) shower, Amanda's song about the beautiful country under the Southern stars.

Celivia, You are most welcome here in my country because you show compassion and style and critical thinking in your posts.

Leigh, let me know when you'd like to leave, I'll pay your airfare to a facist nation, somewhere you'd feel at home

Right Leigh. Because she was born elsewhere, she must be one of the evil immigrants right?

It may shock you (actually, you probably suspect this sort of thing) but I was an immigrant as well. I came from that odd little island to the south of here. (No not Tasmania, New Zealand).

Am I allowed to comment? I'm a citizen after all, I thought that's what that sort of thing was all about. Here I thought we lived in a country that welcomed a diverse set of views. Silly me.

When exactly, does it become okay to comment on Australian matters Leigh? Why stop with those born here - after all, they could be merely the children of those nasty immigrants you're so worried about.

We better take it back a few generations then - of course, then we have the issue that many migrants have been here for many generations - in fact... wait a sec... ALL the white people here are descended from migrants.

Golly gosh. We've got some troubles now. If we banned all the migrants, then we'd be stuck with nothing but the aboriginals, right Leigh? That'd be no good. There'd be no more room for the 'White Australia' kind of guff we're all so apparently fond of.

These matters all end up boiling down to the whole 'White Australia' crap that's been around since settlers first went gung-ho on cracking down on the indigenous natives.

Give it a rest.

yes but all the grumpiness of last few posts is solved by Amandas lovely song that melds/welds us all together to all act and think like one - like one enormous Rodent

OOOps I too am getting grumpy so all of you back to your morning dose of Amanda-Oztralianus at http://www.amandaforpm.com

Thank you Rainier, for your very kind words :) From the posts by you that I've come across you one of the most sensible people on OLO.
I'll contribute to Leigh's airfare, it's for a good cause.

Leigh is wrong that I don't have a connection with Australia.
I love Australia, it's beautiful and should be looked after.
It (sometimes even physically) hurts me when I see people abusing this country; when I see nature and animals suffer for one reason: profit for already rich corporations and people.

I have taught my children to be respectful of other people's properties. Australia is no-one's property. We have the privilege to live here and the duty to look after it.
I hope you taught your children that as well, Leigh, if you have kids.

Millions of people have to share it for perhaps millions more years to come.

Leigh may be partly right because what I don't feel is a connection with wowsers, facists, and politicians who don't respect nature. Australia is not their property even though they treat it as such.

Well, Leigh, as an Australian citizen it's YOUR responsibility to elect a government that doesn't put people and nature last and profit first.

That's why Amanda's song angered me- she happily sings about this beautiful country while the government fails to look after it. It feels totally wrong.

Vanstone invests in an cruel, intensive piggery, showing that she doesn't give a damn about animals let alone the rest of nature.
What else do government members invest in for profit? Live sheep export? Uranium?

Then she comes up with lyrics appraising Australia's nature. Hypocrite.
Australia is not as beautiful and healthy as it COULD have been! The government and it's members deliberately fail to understand that.

Leigh, if you don't want your government to be criticised by non-Australian citizens, then make sure you choose the right one and I'll clap my hands for you and for the government in admiration.

I'm done now ;)

Celivia said: "I love Australia, it's beautiful and should be looked after."

I'm glad that you appreciate Australia's unique environment. Unfortunately, many Australians are more concerned with their McMansions and plasma TVs to notice this land's natural beauty.

I've been to the Netherlands on a number of occasions. Nice country, although it seemed somewhat overpopulated by my standards (15 million people in an area smaller than Tasmania). That's why it worries me greatly when the Federal Government keeps pushing for a larger population here.

You're most welcome, Celivia (double entendre intended ;) )

Suffice to say that my views about 'Australia' aren't too far removed from yours (and, indeed, Oligarch's and others). For the record, I'm a third generation Anglo-Australian.

However, I'm very well educated and I've travelled widely, within Australia and globally.

Umm, can we all for a moment just stop and appreciate what we DO have, rather than moaning about all that is wrong? As for Amanda's song, well its not the best I've heard, but its not the worst either. If you think you can do better, then put up or shut up. We DO have a beautiful country - Dorothea Mackellar captured it quite well. Not the quaint green rolling hills of some countries, but with a passion and beauty of its own. And anyone who has actually stood out in the middle of now-where and watched the stars in the heavens, will know about the southern stars. And the aurora australis -pretty spectacular. If you dont know this, then get out of the city, off the freeway and away from the coast. Or bugger off elsewhere.

Sure, there are some things that we could have done better as a country, and things that we should do better. But that's the benefit of 20:20 hindsight, and gosh its easy to critise the decisions of others (particularly if they are dead and gone).

That’s cool, C.J.Morgan! Travelling always opens one's mind.

Countrygal, are you criticising the critics for criticising? :+)

While you are right about saying that we should appreciate what we do have, nobody here is saying that Australia with its Southern stars is not beautiful. It IS beautiful and should be preserved.
If we DO like what we have we should speak out when this is being destroyed.

Criticism of the lyrics is not meant to be a denial of Australia’s beauty but rather a appreciation of that beauty by rejecting hypocrisy.

The environmental issues are not a ‘hindsight’ thing only; we’ve been made aware of environmental issues- first by aboriginal people and then by other environmentalists and scientists- a long time ago but still many decisions by ignorant governments have been made in denial.
Decisions have been made and are still being made that favour the economy rather than the environment.

We are destructive and unless people are aware and pressure the government to clean up their actions, we are going to end up with an environment that is too sick to sustain us and our animals. We all rely on nature. Without an earth to sustain us, there won’t even BE an economy.

So I'd say to embrace the critics rather than gagging them is a way to speed things up a little, for nature's sake.
I hope you have signed the petition on:

http://www.cooltheglobe.com/index

Whilst the bit about the Southern Stars is correct and we all love our own night sky, there is no such thing as a 'Southern Sun'.
It's the same old Sun that they see in the Northern Hemesphere and at the same time. It may be the southern sun to those enduring the Artic night (and vise versa for the other Pole) but she ain't lyricising about there.

Pedants against Pretension Arise.

Celivia, sure am! Look, I'm not trying to say that nothing negative should be allowed to be voiced, just that every now and then it does us all good to sit back and smell the eucalypts.

20:20 hindsight is a wonderful tool and makes it so easy to criticise the actions of the past. I look to the management of the Murray River and have a good laugh. Around the rice growing area of Deniliquin 10-15 years ago there was massive panic about rising water tables, and the area was going to be dead and salt-ridden. Lots of drainage schemes were put in place, and lo and behold, now the cry is that the water tables are too low! About 4 years ago the Barmah forest was flooded on purpose to water the trees, but the twit that decided to do this ignored the fact that doing so turned the water rancid (due to the dead vegetation), and killed off a heap of fish when it flowed back into the river. Usually this only happens in a flood year, and so there is enough flow in the river to compensate for the rancid, deoxygenated water that re-enters the river.

My point is, that we all thought at the time that the right thing was being done. Its a bit like all the reversions that are done in the health industry - "dont eat red meat, its bad for you", then "make sure you eat enough red meat, its essential".

Its very easy to critisise.

Coutry Gal, thanks and sorry for the late reply.

“I'm not trying to say that nothing negative should be allowed to be voiced, just that every now and then it does us all good to sit back and smell the eucalypts.”
Oh, that's all good, 'coz I just do my criticising underneath the tree then.
Seriously, I'm just worried that our future generations won’t miss out on the beauty of nature that we have always taken for granted.

Thanks for explaining the 2020 hindsight thing and it is very true that this happens a lot.
But on the other hand, not all neglect and mistakes relate to hindsight; the government failed to deal with obvious environmental issues which they were completely aware of by deliberately putting things off and denying issues.

But there's hope, accoring to Amanda, for she says that 'we' are finally gonna build for the future. Question is: When?

Anyway, I can put what you and others have said in this thread all into perspective - this is a discussion on some lyrics and I’ve made my point and won’t go on about this anymore or people might think I like criticising ;)
I suppose if people love Amanda’s lyrics I gotta let ‘em love it.

Yes, it is indeed easy to criticise, but it’s a lot of fun, too. (Homer Simpson’s words).