Author Archives: prestontowers

Assertions, the Greens and the Black Knight

June 14, 2013 · by · in Greens, Media, Minor parties, Senate, Social media, Values, Voters / voting

One of the chief weaknesses of political reporting and blogging in the leadup to the 2013 election is assertions.  Assertions that x will happen because of y – and the y is usually based on evidence that is part gutfeel and part reading media reports through an already constructed prism.  It would be good to […]

Independent Citizen Journalism and September – Is It Possible?

May 31, 2013 · by · in Communication, Electorates, Social media

We are now 4 months away from an election many of us dread – not necessarily because of the possibility of an Abbott Government, but more because this may well be the dumbest, most intelligence insulting election in living memory. Even more so than 2004, where the entire campaign seemed to be about Mark Latham’s […]

Safety Trampolines, One World Government and Giving People a Reason To Join A Party – The Whitlam Institute gives time for Thought

May 3, 2013 · by · in Greens, Labor, Liberal, Policies, Values, Western Sydney

On this May Day that has passed, the University of Western Sydney’s Whitlam Institute organised a political forum called It’s My Party, as a part of the Behind the Lines exhibition that is being hosted at Parramatta’s Riverside Theatres. Labor’s John Faulkner, the Liberals’ Joe Hockey and the Greens’ Bob Brown were invited to outlay […]

The Old is New Again – The United Australia Party Reborn?

April 26, 2013 · by · in Budget / economy, Candidates, Communication, Independents, Media, Minor parties, Policies

ANZAC Day saw a great many things – football, partisan voices continuing to whine about Leigh Sales, arguments about Catherine Deveny.  I deal with all that here, back at my blog, the Preston Institute. The most interesting part of it for me, however, was Lateline, where we saw the re-entry of Clive Palmer on the national […]

What is Western Sydney? Part 5 – The Cult of Personality

March 8, 2013 · by · in Candidates, Communication, Electorates, Media, Policies, Polling day, Values, Voters / voting, Western Sydney

In this, the last post about Western Sydney (possibly – I am thinking of writing, Douglas Adams style, a 6th Part to the 5 Part series), I will warn you before you read on.  Mentioned in this post is Tony Abbott, Julia Gillard, Alan Jones, Ray Hadley, Kevin Rudd, John Howard, even Peter Slipper and James […]

What is Western Sydney? Part Four – Culture and the Clubs

March 7, 2013 · by · in Electorates, Policies, Values, Voters / voting, Western Sydney

Whenever you hear the phrase “Western Sydney” and “culture”, the jokes come out. Cover bands, RSLs, Panthers, Rooty Hill RSL, UFC, V8s, etc. Cue pictures of Anglo Celtic men of a MMM listening age, or a touch younger, shouting at people and leering at scantily clad women. Or, from those Fat Pizza people, the “fully […]

What is Western Sydney? Part Three – Education

March 6, 2013 · by · in Communication, Electorates, Greens, Labor, Liberal, Policies, Voters / voting, Western Sydney

One of the less discussed political issues over the past three years is education – well, less than things like carbon pricing, boats and whether Kevin Rudd should move back into the Lodge with his shaking sauce bottle.  For the residents of Western Sydney, however, there are few more important priorities. This is because the […]

What is Western Sydney? Part Two – Transport

March 5, 2013 · by · in Communication, Electorates, Greens, Labor, Liberal, Policies, Voters / voting, Western Sydney

Do people remember the Eighties? Specifically 1983? Austen Tayshus’ Australiana was big, as was Bop Girl by Pat Wilson and Reckless by Australian Crawl.  It was also when the NSW Wran Government built the section of the M4 between Mays Hill and Parramatta Rd at Strathfield.  I was living in Greystanes, 10 minutes west of […]

What is Western Sydney? Part One – Housing

March 3, 2013 · by · in Electorates, Policies, Values, Voters / voting, Western Sydney

In this week of Rootyhillard, I will be writing five posts on this site about 5 different aspects of the Western Sydney experience.  Hopefully it will add some insight into a week where there will be a lot of superficial Western Sydney coverage. My fellow Western Sydney resident, Bluntshovels, will also be contributing to this […]

Rootyhillard – A Week of Tokenistic Media Opportunities

February 26, 2013 · by · in Communication, Electorates, Labor, Liberal, Media, Social media, Western Sydney

Having been a long campaigner for decent Western Sydney media coverage, you would think that I would be over the moon about the opportunity provided to us by the one week stayover by Julia Gillard in this area. It’s better than nothing, but from the ALP perspective, it will probably be nothing more than a […]

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