The Adventures of QueerPenguin

Family First: Very Caring Potatoes

So, Steve Fielding, over to you. Just what is the biggest threat to The Family© ? Is it...

Or...

What about those wicked

?

How about

?

Nope, in fact it's

Yep, sinful, degenerate, godless

Family Fist's first major offensive since Fielding came to office, on the humble spud, comes as quite a surprise, forming an unusual parallel between the policies of an extreme fundamentalist "Christian" party and those unwashed dreadlocked chappies who wear "McDeath" shirts whilst strutting down King Street Newtown or "would you like lies with that?" bumper stickers plastered across their bikes as they ride to the next Socialist Alliance meeting.

Very nice of Fielding to target a multi-national while pushing a Buy Australia line - and clever, launching this offensive at a Macca's in Ballarat - but really, how late 80s/early 90s is Buy Australian? I remember as a kidlet television then being bombarded with Australian Made commercials soaked in John Williamson warbling. It tied in nicely with Australia's bi-centenary, I guess.

But such ads have been buried in the TV commercial graveyeard next to the Christian Television Association lot. A government predicated upon de-regulation, privatisation and free trade - all in the name of true consumer "choice" (or, some might say, avarice) - is hardly going to re-adopt increasingly old-fashioned values of protectionism and heavily subsidising its own primary producers.

It would appear FF are emerging from the Pauline Hanson One Nation school of impractical economics. No big surprise, I guess, but again, surprising for their first attack. They must initially be going with a softly-softly approach, winning the electorate over with warm (albeit pointless) patriotic fuzzies in Fielding's first term.

Dyke-burning at the stake will obviously come later.

posted by Sam @ Thursday, August 25, 2005