good speech by the governor general

My wife and I watched (from start to finish) the Governor-General's
speech that opened Parliament on TV yesterday and we
both thought he did a very good job of succinctly
outlining the Rudd Government's agenda in
which (while tremedously important
as a 'stepping stone' from the
past into a more equitable
future) the PM on behalf
of us all saying 'Sorry'
today for past
misdeeds to
indigenous
Australians is only one part of a very big agenda.

It's only natural that after the 12 years of Liberal rule
that there will be an awful lot of 'house cleaning' to
do to get the 'ship of state' on an even keel and
(having experienced the Whitlam era after 23
years of Liberal rule) I sincerely hope the
Rudd Government doesn't make the
same mistake (in its urgency to put
things right) that the Whitlam
Government did of inducing
'Change Fatique' in voters
by a continuous barrage
of law after law after
new law until voters
were punch-drunk.

Even staunch Labor voters need time to
digest the ramifications on their family
situation of a complicated Labor
initiative before having another
change then another change
burst upon them.

My suggestion to Labor Ministers:

Pace youself - governing Australia is a
marathon - not a 100 metre dash!

Finally, though prominent Australians from many
backgrounds (including all surviving former
Prime Minsters) were invited to witness
the current PM saying 'Sorry' for the
misdeeds perpetrated against
indigenous Australians, only
one former PM has refused
to attend the ceremony.

For fear of being ejected from HotCopper
(for disruptive behaviour) I cannot
mention the name of the holdout.

But it's so refreshing not to have to put
up with whatshisname during the
TV news any more telling us
how wonderful he is!