Never ever or 'Never never'

The Tax white paper ominously mentions review of the G.S.T. which was originally introduced in 2000 amid a fanfare of propaganda assuring punters that its basic parameters would 'never ever' be altered without a mandate to do so.

Should change be promoted after consideration of the white paper... will the 'never ever' proviso be honored?

Queensland politics...

... weren't meant to be easy, as the new alphabetically overloaded premier is discovering.

NSW election.

The young man shows promise. Talking the talk is one thing... but, walking the walk may not be so rewarding?.

It's a bird... it's a 'plane...

...no, it was the salvation of the travel industry c.1995 and led to one of the Travelweek editorial cartoons of which I was most fond. The task of depicting a windfall financial bonanza for the travel industry seemed daunting until I suddenly had the brain-wave of using the Japanese Yen currency symbol as the shadow of a flying machine. Very satisfying.

Metadata

By George... he's done it! Someone must've weazeled-out on us?

Vale Lee Kuan Yew 1923 - 2015

A great 'doer' who transformed Singapore from a grubby colonial back-water into an independent, vibrant and progressive city state republic, which he ruled for over three decades. Although nominally democratic, Lee's Singapore was virtually a one party state because of the overwhelming and sustained popularity of his People's Action Party. I visited the city frequently during the 1970s growing to love the place and its people amongst whom I made many, many friends. The only sadness I ever encountered there was my own feeling when the constantly growing  new city finally engulfed the original authentic china-town section.

This was a c.1981 pen and ink caricature sketch I made of the great man... probably from live TV.

'Robo-phoning'...GRRrrrr!

Report today that there's disquiet in the federal Liberal en-campment, over 'Baird the younger'
inviting Malcolm Turnbull instead of Tony Abbott to participate in 'robo'-phoning punters for support  in 'iffy' electorates before the 'close of play' on Friday night.

Both sides did that to me in the run-up to the recent Victorian election. I banged the phone down on both 'robots'... ranking them in my popularity poll of unsolicited phone canvassing along with the pests who do it for major Australian corporations and outlaw 'scammers'! What makes politicians think ordinary Australians want their privacy invaded by telephone spruikers peddling ANYTHING!?

The Eyes have it!

Julie B. rolls out her unspoken opinion of mooted budget cuts?

Coffs and Coles

The Coffs Harbour Rotary Cartoon Awards are on again for the 27th year. Entries deadline is June 21st.  The awards night is July 18th. Get moving 'toonies.

The Bairds of NSW.

I know very little of NSW state politics... but, trolling the archives today I came across a cartoon or two featuring Bruce Baird and a distinct NSW connection, Could he be related to the present Premier of that state I pondered. Of course he could chortled Google. He's Mike's dad!

Bruce first came under my scrutiny as NSW Tourism Minister who c,1995(?) abandoned his NSW Coalition brethren to try his arm as a Federal MP in the 1998 election.

Being on the cusp of a NSW election starring Mike Baird in a featured role ... I'm blaming nostalgia  for  the coicidental running of this old 'toon.

A game of Thrones?

So many of the present government's machinations have ended in 'the toilet' (as it were)... not hard to picture some of them sharing that locale even from their beginnings?

Vale Malcolm Fraser

Passed away in the early hours of this morning aged 84. A man who had a great influence on the politics of Australia but who, in my opinion, became more likeable and respected in his post-political life than he ever was whilst in office.

Panic button?

With the 'trigger' already available and virtually nothing of importance to the coalition passing senate scrutiny... is a Double Dissolution election on the cards?

Not unless the government has totally lost the plot! With polls the way they are at the moment, the carnage suffered by the coalition would be biblical in proportion.

They appear stupid... but, not that stupid!

A fixed position?

Once again the shrill speaking 'Pyne needle' has failed to have his so-called education reform legislation  passed by an obviously hostile senate.

A corollary to the minister's unsuccessful parliamentary manoeuvres appears to be evidence that he, himself, lacks an ability to learn?

The Greening of OZ?

This recognition of St. Pat's day is an amalgam of a 1978 B&W cartoon drawn as part of a Qantas' in-house promotion of world-wide packaged tour products and a new caption dreamt-up to match today's purpose. The original cartoon was done with 'sharpie' on 265 x 380 board... I used to DRAW BIG in those days.

Nostalgia again..

Here's my Mason's View cartoon which appeared in the January 14, 1980 issue of TravelWeek  contemplating the new year resolutions of some travel industry luminaries of the time. This was just short of my own first anniversary as the publication's cartoon commentator.

Those depicted are (from top left) Minister for Transport Ralph Hunt... Rupert Murdoch (circling Ansett at the time)... sir Reg. himself... Jimmy Russell ( yes, the ABWAC stalwart... but also a Travel Agent and big-wheel in travel industry politics)... Sir Lennox Hewitt.. Qantas' chairman... Izzie Leibler another travel industry mover 'n' shaker... and finally, Bob Ansett founder and CEO of Budget rent-a-cars.

Abbott goes south on East-West link?

Raw onions?

There's no crying in the rough and tumble of politics.

Lazarus departure

The question is...  are Lazarus and 'come-back' synonymous?

NB. This cartoon was supposed to be posted yesterday but was delayed because of a 'glitch' in the import function of Photoshop... coincident with the sudden demise of an old flat-bed scanner I've been using for many a year. No alternative but to up-grade now I guess.

Year of the Child.

Another wander down Nostalgia Road, Here's a second significant cartoon from my first year with TravelWeek. Evidently 1979 was nominated 'The year of the Child' and that fitted nicely into the theme of a cartoon I did about supposed friction between the Ansetts... father Reg, and son Bob, It appeared in the May 21 issue of that year.

In the very next issue the TW editor reported that Bob Ansett had requested that the original might be allowed to adorn his office along with other cartoons featuring himself. I was happy to oblige.

I suppose the caricatures were OK but, as mentioned previously, that was during my 'big foot' era and I wince every time I see the work nowadays!

Life-style funding

Alleged racism aside... doesn't putting one's self forward as a candidate for public office entail serious decisions about likely life-style?

If I was a bloody politician, I'd be very careful about decisions dealing with tax-payer funding of 'lifestyle 'choices'!

Un-civil war?

'Grey Army' spokespersons warning of imminent 'war' with the government over proposed changes to pension rates to be based on CPI from 2017 with the aim of reducing relativity to the average minimum weekly wage from 28% to 16% by 2055! In response, breathless government back-benchers begin warning of figurative 'Missile' attacks from the elderly in terms of future electoral support from that demographic.

Phew! Grey vs Blue! Parallels with the American civil war are inescapable.

Joyous 'toon time

The weather being conducive to the task, I spent most of today up and down ladders to give the old hacienda's guttering a long-overdue clean-out. Sooo... no time to catch-up with current affairs to support a new cartoon offering. Instead, I've delved into the archives to post an example of work from a period when I was not only trying to create fun for viewers... but having fun myself as the work process
evolved,

Circa 1992 I abandoned use of various marking pens to re-acquaint myself with old-fashioned 'dip-pens' and india ink as a cartooning weapon of choice. The move turned-out to be arguably my most joyous period of creation as a professional drawer of funny pictures. The style of drawing I developed with the dip pen was (IMO) quicker than anything I had achieved previously, was more tolerant of minor mistakes in line-work, looked more casual and seemed to adapt well to added colour, which was just then emerging as the norm for magazine 'toons. With the new colour element soon to be mandatory for most of my work... experimenting with various media was also enjoyable.

Here, Peter Reith ... who shared the blame for his party's failure to win the 1993 federal election... is adorned with coloured ink whilst the back-ground features coloured crayons. Computer colouring of scanned images was still 4 or 5 years in the future, even for early adopters of the new technology.

Clouded future?

Where one goes to contemplate colleague loyalty and Poll trends?

TV Travel Ads c1990s

This illo accompanied a TravelWeek story about the usefulness of advertising travel on TV during the 1990s

A beaut representative?

Senator Ricky Muir has WOWed! a lot of people with his belated 'maiden' speech to the Senate. Billed as some kind of weird petrol head in the aftermath of the last federal election, senator Muir has kept a pretty low profile since entering the parliament. Quite rightly it seems, because he now seems to be the epitome of an ordinary 'good bloke' who has found himself in a situation alien to any he has previously experienced in his adult life. There isn't much like parliamentary protocols to worry about when you're busy earning a quid as a country worker doing the best you can for a reasonably large dependent family.

Ricky has used his early days as a people's representative learning the ropes in his new work environment... not performing old tricks like many of his senate colleagues dancing to the tune played by party strategists. I personally LIKE what he had to say about his reasons for taking the extraordinary step of standing for parliament. Early days, but Ricky now sounds to me like a 'dinkum' Aussie bloke out to do the best he can for his family and the constituents whom he represents... and, is definitely NOT a party hack like many of the crowd currently occupying  seats in the federal parliament.

More power to his arm... and let's hope his example attracts other decent ordinary Australians to participate in the political process without being slaves to one doctrine or another.

Grey Army?

Work for all us oldies... or just another of 'smokin' Joe's ruminations?

Look back to this day in 2012

Instead of easing myself into what comes after 80... I spent most of today running around like the proverbial fly of a cobalt hue catching up on grocery shopping and attending to other annoyances like car rego fees and replacing sunglasses accidentally trodden on last Monday.

No time to get near a computer until after dinner, so today's blog entry is a 'filler' using my drawing of 4/3/2012 in a fore-runner to this blog. At the time, the stoush between Abbott and Gillard was in full swing so I did a 'punch 'n' judy' mock-up in the style of one of my all-time animation heroes... Emmanuel LUZZATI.

The way ahead.

Eighty years of age today. Getting to the green fields of the high ground was an exhausting climb...
only to find nothing but clichés!

Ah well... I guess that's life?

We have lift off...

... for share holders (briefly) anyway. But, credit where credit is due. The alignment of cost reduction programs and the bottom falling out of oil prices seems to be working for Mr. Joyce at the moment.

Sentimentally, I hope the turn-around for Qantas continues apace.

Canned laughter?

Contracting some exotic disease from inadequately labeled imported fresh and/or 'processed' food is no joke. But, our labeling laws ARE a joke... and it's difficult to make fun of delinquency like that.

Actually, this cartoon is largely a re-cycled object. Food labeling is not a new subject. This drawing was first posted on May 28th 2012 in a forerunner of this blog. Only the speech balloons have been changed to reflect a slightly different aspect of the problem.

More time for possible home maintenance/clean-up  requirements after a particularly fierce wind and thunder storm swept across Melbourne last night.