Idiot Aussies: Grow Up And Take Responsibility

[phaethon]

However, you probably could change Australia to any other Nation you want. Mandatory for everyone to read.

Indeed. When I wrote the 'Drongo and Sheila' piece on another thread, I neglected to add a footnote to the effect that with some minor changes to the vernacular, it could have easily been 'Wayne and Waynetta' or 'GW and Dick' - sorry 'bout dat.

That the Aussies are taking it in the neck at the moment may be a statistical blip, a question of proximity or simply the fact that the Aussie Press is particularly attuned to these stories at the moment and actively seeks them out.

Hang in there cobbers, wait 'til the USN hits town or the UK school holidays start and we'll be back to bashing the Yanks and the Brits.

But for the time-being... you're IT

Edited May 26, 2009 by phaethon

[Old Croc]

This is a nice followup on what it does to create a breed from murderers and rapists

I thought you were banned CanadianMonkey.

[Old Croc]

Tyre is in the North of Lebanon.

Tyre is in Southern Lebanon about 20 ks from the Israeli border.

Edited May 26, 2009 by Old Croc

[LooseCannon]

Mostly ineffectual as Foreign Minister.

Better known for this photo - the cartoonists have never let him forget.

Minister for Fishnets & Leopard Skin High Heels

[Jimjim]

Wow, that article was way over the top. Now tell me, Downer, what do you really think?

[Priceless]

Tyre is in the North of Lebanon.

Tyre is in Southern Lebanon about 20 ks from the Israeli border.

On a side note: What on Earth leads people to make a post like "Tyre is in the North of Lebanon", when it takes at most 15 seconds to check the facts?

I know, I know

/ Priceless

[sassienie]

Hear, Hear!!

But let's apply this to all the British who get themselves in a spot too (seems we're also pretty good at mis-behaving overseas).

I do not expect my government to get me out of a spot that I got myself into.

Actually I don't expect my government to get me out of a spot, period!!

EDIT. Thai related? It does mention beer mats and theft of same from Thai bars by Aussie women

Below is a photo of my Uncle who gave his life during World War 1 and a photo of a present day Englishman:

[tw25rw]

Mostly ineffectual as Foreign Minister.

Better known for this photo - the cartoonists have never let him forget.

Minister for Fishnets & Leopard Skin High Heels

As memorable as Joan Kirner playing Joan Jett!

I always loathed the man, but he's spot on. Too many people think they can do whatever stupid antisocial thing they like as long as they're having a good time and if anyone objects or interferes, it's they who are the bad guys.

[Nignoy]

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0...5006703,00.html

There were said to be 20,000 Australians in Lebanon at that time and a hefty percentage of them were demanding the Australian Government save them and fast.

20,000 Aussies in Lebanon - so half the population were on holiday in this Worldwide popular resort

Those Aussies are f*cking nuts

The reson was that those 20,000 were Lebanese who had gotten their Aussie passport thank you very much and went back to their "home" country. Australia is a country of immigrants and the majority are only loking for an Australian passport. These people were not born in Australia and have absolutely zero affinity with the land. Getting citizenship of Australia and all the privillages that go with it are generally all the vast majority of immigrants want. They only call themselves Australian when it's in their interest to do so, but in reality, (in their heart), they are ____________(add name of country of birth).

Didnt want to turn this into an Aussie bashing , Without all its immigrants australians would have no tradesmen !! even today Australian companies are recruiting qualified tradesmen from overseas , 1 example slaughter houses and meat packing plants here are bringing in German, Polish and English workers by the 100,s to do the highpaid work australians wont or cannot do, 86% pf nursing and medical staff in Australia is of new foreign origin, some of us have even written training manuals that are used as Industrial training guidelines here, We are the new australians!!!!!!it has been proved time and time again we support the australian economy just as much as an aussieborn worker! of course this beermat thing was blown out of all proportion, and the brits and septics behave just as bad ,in many cases even worse!But I think it is still a big problem here in Australia of critising everyone else but not being able to accept or tolerate any form of critism or judgement from outsiders,

[Oberkommando]

His article is good, The only thing that bothers me is he, like everyone else that criticises the bar mat woman refuses to acknowledge or admit that the woman wasn't the actual perpetrator that stole the bar mat! She did not even leave the bar with the mat by accident, she never willingly or even accidentally stole anything. Why does everyone gloss over the fact that someone else came forward and tried to confess to stealing the bar mat leaving the accused woman blameless? Anyway, other than that good article.

He doesn't seem aware that several more of his Australian citizens have come forward saying they were shaken down by Thai Police in the same bar accusing them of the very same offence.

[Datsun240Z]

Are there countries that don't have any Travel Advisory Warnings?

Nicaragua, Montenegro and Liberia.

It thought that's where the offshore baks mostly are located

[joncl]

This kinda says it all (see attachment) and well said Alex...

Australian travel incidents

[bails]

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0...5006703,00.html

By ALEXANDER DOWNER

May 24, 2009 11:30pm

I DON'T know about you, but it's always nice to get emails. Once upon a time you'd look with pleasure at a handful of letters which dropped through the letter box. Now all you get are those threatening looking envelopes with windows. Or if you're Tom Koutsantonis, those nasty missives which tell you about passing unknowingly through a speed camera.

But this is a generalisation. At the height of the Schapelle Corby affair I received 5000 emails in one day from fellow Australians pleading with me to save "our Schapelle" from the horrors of the Indonesian legal system. Or, to be a bit more honest, the few I looked at said that.

I'm sure my successor as foreign minister, Stephen Smith, had his in box bursting last week as people demanded he save the beer mat mum, Annice Smoel, from the ravages of the Thai police.

I felt for him especially when the media started demanding he "do something" to save her.

After about 10 minutes as foreign minister I was a little surprised to learn I was "responsible" for miscreant Australians who got into trouble in foreign countries.

No, no, no, don't get it wrong - drug traffickers, drunks, kleptomaniacs and fraudsters weren't responsible for their own stupidity - I was.

It's about time that great nanny in Canberra, the Federal Government, turned around and told people they are responsible for their own decisions.

I was in Lebanon the other day and went down to the southern cities of Sidon and Tyre. They're fascinating places - old Crusader castles, bustling souks, colourful little food stalls with generous owners offering you a taste of their wares.

But I couldn't help remembering the awful events in those same places three years ago when Israel went to war with Hezbollah.

There were said to be 20,000 Australians in Lebanon at that time and a hefty percentage of them were demanding the Australian Government save them and fast.

Lebanese support groups hit the airwaves screaming that the Government was too slow getting those Australians who wanted to be evacuated to safety. But hang on, Australia's about 15,000km from Lebanon and we don't dock ships in the eastern Mediterranean ready to ferry Australians to safety.

And there was something else. We'd issued a travel advisory months earlier warning Australians of the dangers of southern Lebanon and the risks of going there.

It didn't matter - apparently we had to get them out.

We were lucky. The Australian ambassador, a petite, charming professional called Lyndall Sachs, worked day and night chartering ferries and providing comfort to the evacuees, who hadn't cared about the travel advisories, and whisked them to safety.

It was one of the great achievements of an Australian diplomat. Almost single handedly, she managed to get around 5000 Australians to Cyprus and Turkey.

We then chartered planes to take them back to Australia. I hope they built shrines to her. Some did, at least metaphorically.

But some just whinged. They felt seasick on the ferry and that was our fault. Could they get frequent flyer points for the free flight back to Australia? And all this cost around $30 million dollars - your dollars.

I'll tell you this - I didn't get 5000 emails of thanks but I got plenty of abuse because we weren't fast enough, the ferries didn't go from their port of choice and we were slow because we were racist, and so on. I mean, we'd warned them and told them not to go to the south of Lebanon. They went all the same. And when the proverbial hit the fan it was, you guessed it, "our fault".

Then there was Hurricane Katrina, which flooded much of New Orleans. A mother of an Australian who arrived in New Orleans the day the hurricane hit came to see me in Stirling and demanded I get her son out. Americans couldn't get out but I had to get her son out. I asked if he'd heard the warnings from the U.S. Government that week to avoid New Orleans.

She started shouting. He doesn't follow the news, he doesn't watch TV or read the newspapers. I see, I said. It was my fault he was in New Orleans, was it? What were we to do? Fly helicopters from Australia to America and pick up Australians and leave the Americans behind?

I didn't have the guts to say this as foreign minister but don't you think you should take responsibility for yourself when you go overseas?

If you're too dumb or idle to read the travel advisories and too mean to take out travel insurance when you go overseas then you ought to take responsibility for your own behaviour.

Sure, if there's a catastrophe like the Bali bombings or you're trapped in a corruption scam the government should try to help. But not if you're too lazy and silly to help yourself.

Remember two things when you travel. First, there are no special laws for Australians overseas. Foreigners make the laws over there, not us. And secondly, foreigners do things differently and they're entitled to.

If you go to a Muslim country and get wildly drunk and women start dressing down (if you know what I mean) it can be bloody offensive to the locals. You'll soon be in trouble.

And learn to take responsibility for your own behaviour. Stealing is wrong, even stealing beer mats. I know, I know, the beer mat mum had a few drinks but, no, she wasn't drunk and she was charmingly polite to the local police.

But she was in a foreign country with a different culture and all of us ought to respect that.

Alexander Downer was Australia's Foreign Affairs Minister from 1996 to 2007

After putting up with Alexander Downer as a politician of many years i must say this is probably the only thing i have ever agreed with him on.I thought it very well said but a shame he did not have the balls to say it while Foreign Minister.

[Priceless]

His article is good, The only thing that bothers me is he, like everyone else that criticises the bar mat woman refuses to acknowledge or admit that the woman wasn't the actual perpetrator that stole the bar mat! She did not even leave the bar with the mat by accident, she never willingly or even accidentally stole anything. Why does everyone gloss over the fact that someone else came forward and tried to confess to stealing the bar mat leaving the accused woman blameless? Anyway, other than that good article.

He doesn't seem aware that several more of his Australian citizens have come forward saying they were shaken down by Thai Police in the same bar accusing them of the very same offence.

You don't happen to have a source for this, do you?

/ Priceless

[spysee]

Im an Aussie and have to say im appauled by some of my fellow counrty men. I see them flat out just abuse Thai's for no reason and get aggressive when they are drunk.

Corby was caught in Bali with 4 or 5 kilos of pot in her boggie board and expects us to believe she didnt know it was in the bag, it would of stunk and her bag would of been double in weight and the Aussie public were just too thick to understand this.

I think Alexander Downer is an idiot, but I have to agree with him here

[bonobo]

Im an Aussie and have to say im appauled by some of my fellow counrty men. I see them flat out just abuse Thai's for no reason and get aggressive when they are drunk.

Corby was caught in Bali with 4 or 5 kilos of pot in her boggie board and expects us to believe she didnt know it was in the bag, it would of stunk and her bag would of been double in weight and the Aussie public were just too thick to understand this.

I think Alexander Downer is an idiot, but I have to agree with him here

I don't know anything about Downer, but it is interesting to read so many posts here from Australians who don't like him at all (but they also agree with this letter.)  The letter is fairly universal and can apply to just about any nation.  But I wonder why so much dislike?  I am not complaining or being derogatory.  I am just curious.  If this was an American former government official, you could be sure that half of the posters whould think he was the second coming and the other half would think he was Satan incarnate.

[spysee]

Im an Aussie and have to say im appauled by some of my fellow counrty men. I see them flat out just abuse Thai's for no reason and get aggressive when they are drunk.

Corby was caught in Bali with 4 or 5 kilos of pot in her boggie board and expects us to believe she didnt know it was in the bag, it would of stunk and her bag would of been double in weight and the Aussie public were just too thick to understand this.

I think Alexander Downer is an idiot, but I have to agree with him here

I don't know anything about Downer, but it is interesting to read so many posts here from Australians who don't like him at all (but they also agree with this letter.) The letter is fairly universal and can apply to just about any nation. But I wonder why so much dislike? I am not complaining or being derogatory. I am just curious. If this was an American former government official, you could be sure that half of the posters whould think he was the second coming and the other half would think he was Satan incarnate.

Alot of people dislike him because he was just not a good foreign minister. Also bent over to George Bush's comands too. He has made himself look stupid many times also. Too many to name.

[neverdie]

Although Downer is most certainly correct in what he is saying, it sounds like he is getting back to his grass roots and having a good old winge.

[LooseCannon]

I think Alexander Downer is an idiot, but I have to agree with him here

It's an odd feeling but I feel exactly the same way.

He was memorable for many things, but especially being number 3 in line behind Bush & Howard in the "conga line of suckholes"

Funny anecdote from Mark Latham's book.

"... Kevvy reckons he got a call from the (US) embassy asking "Mr Rudd, what is a suckhole?". After he gave them a diplomatic answer, the embassy official wanted to know "Is Mr Latham allowed to say that about the President?".

I suppose it's like wondering whether or not the Queen shits. Hey, Bush works in an office where there has been plenty of sucking over the years. If they elected Billy Clinton twice, they should be able to understand it when an Australian politician places the President in a conga line of suckholes."

With lines like this I wished he lasted longer.

[Zappadappa]

my taxes shouldn't have to pay for peoples foul behaviour, u go Alex, tell em like it should be!

[tw25rw]

I don't know anything about Downer, but it is interesting to read so many posts here from Australians who don't like him at all (but they also agree with this letter.) The letter is fairly universal and can apply to just about any nation. But I wonder why so much dislike? I am not complaining or being derogatory. I am just curious. If this was an American former government official, you could be sure that half of the posters whould think he was the second coming and the other half would think he was Satan incarnate.

Compared to Peter Costello he's quite loveable.

Partly it was him. He'd lived in London and has a whiny hybrid accent. He also had a face you couldn't help wanting to slap.

But largely it was down to being part of an unpleasant govt.

I do remember him making a highly un-PC joke about children and rottweilers to a bunch of social services people which went down like a lead balloon with his audience but which put him up a notch in my esteem!