Needless to say I’m happy with the election result - not that Labor are in necessarily (they have yet to earn credibility and trust), just that after almost 12 years of lying and sliminess Howard has been turfed out on his backside. I can only hope he loses Bennelong too…

I really wanted to write a longer post outlining the many sins of the Howard government - and I may still have time later this week to expand. But in short (I could write at length about any one of these issues - but look at them all!):

• abuse of refugee rights - not even upholding the basic principles of the international convention of the rights of refugees
• the Tampa incident and “Children Overboard”
• attacks on indigenous rights
• rolling back of our fundamental legal rights - rights to a fair trial, to privacy
• abandonment of David Hicks and support for the clearly illegal Guantanamo Bay facility
• support for the Chinese government despite consistent human rights abuses (not even meeting with the Dalai Lama in 2002 because of fears of offending the Chinese government)
• the introduction of the GST
• WorkChoices
• lack of any meaningful action, or even reasonable dialogue, on climate change
• continued subsidisation and support for fossil-fuel industries (petrol, R&D support for development of big cars by Australian manufacturers, spending on nuclear instead of true renewable energy)
• the so-called nuclear “debate”
• going to war in Iraq
• uncritical support of the US
• lies about interest rates being something governments can control
• the bungling of the privatisation of Telstra
• lack of action prior to the elections in East Timor
• the de-teething of the ACCC
• persistent attacks on the education system, esp. public schools and universities
• the AWB scandal
• and probably more that I can’t think of right now…

I feel like a dark cloud has been lifted off of this country - really! I was out celebrating with friends on Saturday night and I was so delighted with the result. Let’s hope that Labor lives up to its promises (and more)…