http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMZTK7EPPA4

Here is a video that we created for the blog as part of our assignment for ISYS100.  It is a mock interview with Tony Abbott using footage from the 60 Minutes program and Channel 7 news.

I have to go...but I'll be back.

http://www.markart.com.au/blog.html#h2_10

Such a great use of pop culture and politics, the puns to be made are endless. This gem was created for the 2010 election; it’s amazing how not much has changed in the eyes of the public over three years. It is common to see Tony Abbot and his ‘fear’ of ‘boat people’, but this portrayal of Gillard is great, personally, it’s refreshing to see a different perspective of her. As a woman, it is shameful that many of us will accept any woman to be put into power, not considering her actual effectiveness, just continuing to praise her for being a woman.

Poking fun at both of the most popular parties, there is something here for everyone to have a laugh at, a procrastinating woman or a man focused on border patrol. I love the sci-fi theme of this caricature; it could not be more relevant.  

Funny side of Australian Politics

This post is made to show the lighter side of politics. Everyone looks at politicians and see them as boring people that can debate for hours on useless topics.
But this video we see that they have a sense of humour  The banter that occurs in parliament is second to none and will make most people laugh. Jokes and insults are thrown around like wild fire.
We see politicians in newspapers looking stupid, dumb and sometimes just ignorant but its these videos that we see their personality, their almost human side and the way they can accept a joke.
This particular video expresses politicians acting in human ways and helps to show to the Australian population that they are human, partaking in drinking, games, singing and getting frustrated with each other.

Headless Chooks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3HtNCv3xvM

Hot off the press is this animation by the Liberal Party that will air as a pre-election commercial, aired on the ABC Insiders this morning.  It has an obvious bias towards the Liberals, as it was them that endorsed it, and it parodies the (perceived?) failures of the Labour Party in the past ranging from the leadership stoushes to the inability to stop the boats (hence the term perceived failures as the Liberals couldn’t stop them either).  The repeated phrase "we have lost our way" suggesting that Labour can't keep their promises, although it is natural that circumstances occur from time to time that prevent governments of all persuasions to break their promises.

The insinuation that Labour are running around like headless chickens is the main theme of this commercial, and using this analogy with the highlighted headline problems that Labour has endured since it came to power will surely be a favourite pre-election commercial for those that support the Liberal Party, and those that buy-in to the rhetoric from Tony Abbott and his party.

As our blog aims to be unbiased, we will be posting the Labour Party pre-election commercials as they come to light.

The Budget Hole!

Image From: http://media.cagle.com/76/2013/02/27/127914_600.jpg

This cartoon is a very good example of the budget hole and with Julia Gillard talking a lot at Rootyhill RSL the pokies cleverly illustrate the issue at hand. The recent issue about a $12 billon hole in the budget has been all over the news. This isn't a small hole, its massive! With the goal to reach a 2.2billion surplus by 2015-16 it has just been shown in a budget preview on April 18, that ANZ economists examined a range of scenarios and tipped a probable deficit of $16.6 billion this year, as part of an overall plan to reach a $2.2 billion surplus by 2015-16. The bank said this would allow Australia to maintain its AAA credit rating and increase net debt only slightly to peak at 10.5 per cent of GDP over the coming five years.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/loss-blows-12b-hole-in-budget-20130428-2imsv.html#ixzz2S5ojYZ5X

Gillard blames the deficits on the long-term revenue writedown from lower company profits. But how much of this is true? We already see that the NBN is already going to cost way more than what was projected, let alone all the other spending the government has done. So is this just an excuse to cover up the mass spending? It's hard to trust a government that has already lied.

Political Memes

The previous posts have focussed on cartoons, videos and animations, but I thought that I would focus this post on memes.  To my surprise, there weren’t as many memes on the subject of Australian politics or the upcoming election, however I did manage to locate a handful.

The topics of the memes covered the politicians themselves, the upcoming election, as well as some current topical themes such as the opposition’s plan for the NBN.

Image from www.abc.net

This image of Tony Abbott saying he welcomes Republicans, just not by boat is a reference to US Republican voters threatening to move to Australia (or Canada) after President Obama won his second term.  One such republican even tweeted “I’m moving to Australia because their president is a Christian and actually supports what he says”, her obvious ignorance on who Julia Gillard is caused a sudden twitter backlash that she deleted her twitter account shortly after her tweet.  The meme merges Tony’s political leaning similarity with the Republicans in the US with his anti-asylum seeker stance.

Image from www.cheeseburger.com

This meme highlights Tony’s stance on asylum seekers and marriage equality for the gay community (despite his sister being gay herself).  It is a funny play on words in this particular meme that the combination of the two things that he is against creates an even bigger fear for Tony.

Image from www.au.ibtimes.com

This meme of Tony claiming to be the better feminist is directed at his misogynistic profile and the fact that Julia is unwed.  Tony was quick to roll out his wife into the public domain soon after Julia’s misogynist speech aimed squarely against Tony.

Image from www.facebook.com

The main difference I have seen in the memes focussing in the politicians themselves is that those directed at Tony Abbott appear to be aimed at his policies or his conservatism, whereas those directed at Julia Gillard seem to be purely on her appearance.  The one above points out that both Julia and Margaret Thatcher were both the first female Prime Ministers in their countries and they both have red hair.  That is as far as the similarities go politically as they were on opposite ends of the political spectrum.  The rust bucket comment is a reference to Julia’s red hair.

Image from www.boardworld.com.au

Another meme aimed at Julia’s looks, a rather unfortunate timed photograph of the obligatory baby kissing during electioneering caught the baby with a look that could be described as uncomfortable.  The ranga reference clearly directed again at the Prime Minister’s appearance.

Image from www.aussiememes.com.au

The memes directed at the election are few and far between which is surprising given the long notice given for the election.  The one above showing Tony in his ever present red budgie smugglers and being compared to Daniel Craig in an attempt to woo the women’s vote based purely on his physique.

Image from www.facebook.com

This election meme compares photos of Julia and Tony to ‘look-a-likes’ Gollum from Lord of the Rings for Tony and Pennywise the Dancing Clown from Stephen King’s movie ‘It’.  It is amazing that the comparison photos appear to have the same facial expressions giving credence to the identity they are portraying.

It also highlights that the options for the next election are slim pickings, you can either choose a slimy scheming goblin or a crazed manic clown.  Perhaps it was the Greens that made this meme?

Image from www.facebook.com

The photo in the above meme lends itself nicely to memes, one could think of any suitable one-liner and insert it in the above photo.  The particular one-liner in this meme is directed at the recent release of the opposition’s design for the NBN, which most people agree is pretty dire.

Image from www.globalvoices.com

And just to demonstrate how dire the opposition’s NBN plan is, this meme cleverly shows Malcolm Turnbull listening to a tin can and string phone that most kids have used before highlighting how inadequate the opposition plan actually is.

Super Sarah to the rescue…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXep2JfS_PM

So far the majority of the posts have been based on the two party preferred system, and although they have deliberately been not biased towards one party or the other, it would be negligent of us to not include the other ‘big’ party in Australian politics, the Green Party.

The animation in the above clip attempts to persuade the voting public to ensure that the green senator Sarah Hanson-Young retains her seat in the Senate in order to keep total power going to Tony Abbott and the Liberals should they win the majority in both houses of parliament.

The clip shows Sarah as a super hero in a green bodysuit and a gay rights rainbow cape, and Tony as a power mad maniac who is against marriage equality, women’s right to choose to work and have children (he does love a home cooked meal though the clip claims), anti-asylum seeker and a climate change sceptic.

The clips also says that Labour is too busy fighting Tony Abbott to protect the nation from the perils of Liberal dominance in the Senate, however this is the only negative mention of Labour, it is very evidently anti-Liberal.

It is interesting to note that this clip on YouTube has the comments disabled denying viewers to discuss the clip. I find this particularly odd considering such a clip should be open to public debate, and even allow the other parties mentioned in the clip a right of reply.

It is unclear who actually made the clip, but it was authorised by Ali Neyle who appears to be Sarah Hanson-Young’s press secretary, or a press secretary for the Australian Greens Party.

All clips and cartoons posted to date have been by the media taking the piss out of the political parties, this is the first  posted where a political party takes the piss out of political parties.

 

Political Lies

These two political cartoons by Bennett and Mois are both 'taking the piss out of' politics. In particular, it is making fun of the lies that politicians make.












 The first cartoon, by Bennett, shows Julia Gillard talking to Wayne Swan. Where he says "there are rumours of a caucus plot to replace you with Rudd", to which she replies "of all the filthy lowdown tricks". This is ironic as recently Julia Gillard overthrew Kevin Rudd and the fact that she is acting as if it is the lowest of the low. However we have seen that Julia Gillard has done this herself and so has Tony Abbott. The picture also displays Julia Gillard being weighed down by an iron foot weight which has polls written on it. This evidently shows that the decisions that politicians make are effected by their attempts to win the polls. It also shows (possibly) that all the lies that politicians offer are there to help alleviate the weight of the polls.


The cartoon by Bennett shows people lining up for the theatre of which two shows are being played, 'An Inconvenient Truth' and 'A Reassuring Lie'. The cartoon displays everyone lining up for 'A Reassuring Lie' and no one in the line for 'An Inconvenient Truth'. This is humerus as it shows that the population would rather see a lie which is reassuring than a truth which they don't want to hear. But why? 
It is possible that the lies politicians feed us is not completely their fault, rather because we want to hear these 'Reassuring Lies' they are giving them to us in return for our votes in election time. Is this a fair trade? Personally no! However, usually this ends up coming back to haunt them as, after they are elected into office, they cannot go through with what they offered. Personally I believe its time that the population begins asking for the 'Inconvenient Truth' rather than a 'Reassuring Lie' so that the government is not built on lies and deceit so that the population knows what each politician really has to offer!

(Top Image by Mois taken from http://www.sauer-thompson.com/archives/opinion/national-politics/)
(Bottom image by Bennett taken from http://www.skepticalscience.com/SkS-Weekly-digest_11.html)

Economic Crisis

This cartoon created by InkClinct, expresses Australia's heavy reliance on the US economy. This was particularly evident in 1928 when Wall Street crashed and brought Australia into the Great Depression. Even today, with the US economic crisis, the cartoon depicts Australia to be following the US off a 'cliff' into an economic crisis. it shows how Julia Gillard is walking Australia off the 'cliff', unaware of what is happening, by 'following in America's footsteps'.

I believe, however important America is as an ally to Australia, it is important to put your own country first and not follow in the footsteps of a country that is going into economic collapse. However, although this political comic is 'taking the piss' out of Julia Gillard and her government, in recent months/years, Julia Gillard is potential keeping Australia out of the economic crisis through investment, and has been able to keep the Australian Dollar strong in the global market. 

Image from: http://www.inkcinct.com.au/web-pages/cartoons/past/2011/2011-177--following-in-America's-footsteps-.gif

Pollies on Polls….or should it be poles….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNTJA_5atIw

The animation seen in the above link is by Andrew Fyfe, a popular cartoonist who those old enough to remember will be familiar with his quick carton sketches on Hey Hey it’s Saturday.

                            

He has several of these brilliant clips as well as some really funny cartoon caricatures on his website, it is well worth a visit.

There appears to be a bias towards the Liberal Party in his clips though, however this may very well be just because the Labour Party currently holds government, and cartoonists generally tend to design their cartoons around current political activity.  He did however make light of Ted Baillieu’s back flips in the Victorian Liberal Party, so Andrew may very well focus on Tony and his cabinet when (if?) they come to power.

In this clip, the ever recognisable Tony in his red budgie smugglers gyrating away on a dance pole with women clutching fistfuls of Aussie Dollars, whilst Julia slides down her pole with a bump asking Wayne to show her his surplus, only he doesn’t have one.

The fact that Tony is surrounded by a throng of women shouting “I love you Tony” goes against his misogynistic image, and the comment by one of “take off your carbon tax” was a nice little pun.  The imagery of Wayne looking forlorn with the fact that he doesn’t have a surplus is indicative of the current situation.

Andrew’s other animations based on Australian politics include Julia’s recent visit to Rooty Hill where she is jamming with some of her cabinet, Kevin Rudd about to announce a challenge on St. Patrick’s Day 2013, only to be censored by Stephen Conroy under the guise of media regulation and Julia losing ministers as a Biggest Loser contestant.

Clip courtesy of Andrew Fyfe from his website: http://www.andrewfyfe.com.au  

Labor Skit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDv_XFfsfWU

"And I'm very sorry I have forgotten your name..." This is how the satire skit of the Australian Labor Party starts out on the show Q & A. When the actress playing Julia Gillard introduces each former Prime Minister from the labor party, she deliberately acts as if she doesn't know Kevin Rudd. This is 'taking the piss' out of her overthrow of Kevin Rudd, and also possibly the fact that she doesn't like Kevin Rudd and believes he is not worth to run this country. This is humorous in itself as I do believe that those who lie and stab their "friends" or "colleagues" in the back are also not worth of running this country. The line 'what a desperate party this is' comprehends the fact that the party may be falling apart at the seems. First with the overthrow of Kevin Rudd and now recently the potential coup against the Gillard government. 



This particular skit revolves around the Labor prime ministers telling everyone how good they are and what they have done, then every other politician takes the piss out of them. This is exactly what we see on the news. It is always politicians introducing new policies to try and show how good they are so they can be elected in as prime minister, then other politicians trying to take the 'piss out of them' to make them look bad. In all honesty I do not believe that this is helping either side to win elections.

It may also be ironic and also possibly a Liberal 'pisstake' of the Labor party as we did not see a similar skit appear when Tony Abbott ousted Malcolm Turnbull. It is interesting to note that there is more emphasis by the media on the Gillard/Rudd overthrow than the Abbott/Turnbull overthrow. Why might this be? Although the Abbott/Turnbull overthrow was a little less dramatic, it may also be the fact that the media takes a Liberal stance or that the liberal government was able to better push their political stunt 'under the rug', whereas the labor party was unable to!


(Image top right from http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/one-year-on-julia-gillard-reveals-why-she-knifed-kevin-rudd/story-e6freoof-1226077329188)

(Image bottom left from http://australianclimatemadness.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/turnbull_abbott1.jpg)

The new Australian NBN!

http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/039/b/e/comic__the_nbn_by_8manderz8-d4p3f3l.png

The NBN sounds all nice and fancy but when you look at the cost of the whole project its like we are throwing money away. The initial cost of this project was $37.4 Billion and completed by 2021 but latest reports show that it could blow out to $94 Billion and be delayed by 5 years. But will it really benefit us dramatically? The internet is at the fastest its been ever in Australia but how many people are complaining? Yet Australia's internet is seen as one of the slowest in the world. Is our society relying to much on computers and internet? These questions have to be asked for such a massive expenditure. But really how is it benefiting the government? They wont make much money out of this. Telstra, Optus and all the other internet providers will, so where is their contribution?

However will this new NBN really benefit the country as much as suggested? Will it help improve Australia's internet? Will it reach the whole of the country? These questions can only be answered in time when it has been fully rolled out, yet do the benefits out-way the cost of the system? Personally, at the cost of $94 billion dollars out of the pocket of the Australian population I do not believe the benefits out-way the costs!

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/government/nbn-co-rejects-94bn-cost-blowout/story-fn4htb9o-1226624433543

Tricky John H Vs R. U. Doubble-D

http://www.youtube.com/embed/ND4bjDqE45k

Opposition in da house, …….of representatives bellows Peter Garrett (or rather an actor portraying him) in this funny rap clip from the Rudd/Howard election battle in 2007 that was created by the Axis of Awesome, an Australian comedy act (pictured below) consisting of Jordan Raskopoulos, Benny Davis and Lee Naimo, three very funny and talented comedians.

                                           Photo courtesy of www.axisofawesome.net

The portrayal of John Howard as a confident shoe-in for the election only to falter towards the end of the ‘8-mile’ type rap battle and offer the role to Peter Costello (who changes the tone of the clip with a piano melody) is hilarious, as is the ‘in touch’, Chinese speaking mother Rudder, Kevin Rudd with Peter Garrett in constant close orbit.

The Axis of Awesome highlighted a few recognisable traits of both Howard and Rudd, Howard with his penchant for wearing the green and gold tracksuit and Rudd with his social media savvy, but they also highlighted the principal election promise that Rudd went to battle on, the rollback of work choices.

The clip was made prior to the 07 election, and obviously without the foresight of the Gillard challenge that was to come (she is introduced as ‘Gilly’ towards the end of the clip), and the video espouses Kevin’s return in 2011.

I look forward to similar videos in the lead up to the looming election this year, they make an often dull topic somewhat enjoyable, particularly during the onslaught of the political advertisements that bombard our screens in the lead up to the election.

Impact of the Carbon Tax

This cartoon by InkClinct, does not only describe the impact of the Carbon Tax on the 'majority' (I chose majority as it does affect others more than is represented in the cartoon, and others less than is represented) but it also shows the view point politicians have when it comes to different party's policies. It is funny to see how over exaggerated some politicians become when different parties implement a policy. This is particularly evident in this cartoon with the implementation of the Carbon Tax. Tony Abbott sees it to cast a 'black shadow' over the Australian population and economy and that it will drain the people of their money. Whereas Julia Gillard sees the Carbon Tax to be able to boost the Australian economy and increase Australian profits which can therefore be passed onto the people. I personally believe the over exaggeration of political view points and policies does not help to win over the Australian population when it comes to elections, as people are more likely to follow someone who tells the truth than someone who lives on complete lies and false hopes. This article is particularly humorous as it shows the potential 'lack of knowledge' from the politicians who run this country (from all parties) or the hilariously over exaggeration on policies by other parties, but also by the implementing party; always offering the people more than they can give! 

(Image From http://www.inkcinct.com.au/web-pages/cartoons/past/2012/2012-396--The-impact-of-the-carbon-tax.jpg)

My Understanding Of Politics

I never understood politics, all my friends would talk about it and I’d avoid commenting because it felt uncomfortable giving my opinion on a subject I was not educated on.

Due to this I also never wanted to learn it, what I knew was that it was boring and everyone just lied about everything so what was the point? Now, I'm in uni and doing a course on crime and justice in society; the first week topic was politics, I wanted to die.

Doing research for my tutorial exercises was physically painful but afterwards I began to realise why understanding politics is important.

These people hold the future of the country you live in, if you do not agree with their policies or general views on sensitive situations, it can come back to get you. Especially with voting being mandatory in Australia I cannot emphasise the importance any more, imagine if you end up voting for someone who wants to introduce a high tax for energy, but all you hear in the media is that they mildly support gay marriage.  

You could end up voting for that person and they'll do nothing to progress gay marriage and your energy bills will be through the roof; your vote counts.

On this blog hopefully you will be pulled into the world of politics and get to know the news in a fun way, so next time you go to vote you'll be confident. 

Our First Blog!

For our future blog  we hope to achieve a non-biased page that doesn't take any or very political view points. This blogger aims to find the political humour and the funny sides of Australian politics.

We aim to make the blog as unbiased as possible, therefore we plan to use neutral colours such as black and green. We also plan to use banners down the side of the page of two different types, one for the Labor party and one for the liberal party, representing the two largest parties in Australian Politics.

This Blog site will be run by four individuals where we will try and find funny political cartoons, videos and comments in the news, on YouTube and in the paper.

We plan not to use to many gadgets and tools as to not make the page hard to navigate and read. Hopefully our blog will be able to provide entertainment, humour and knowledge on Australian politics, which many see as a dull and boring topic.