Friday, September 17, 2004
Bartlett Rocks
Six reasons to like Andrew Bartlett (leader of the Australian Democrats):
1. He's an ex-goth. I think this is where his always-so-serious look on his face comes from. Anyone who can go around in Queensland wearing all black (including black nail polish) has the support of this Melburnian. More info here.
2. He's an animal rights activist and militant vegetarian. He is currently the patron of the Vegetarian/Vegan Society of Queensland.
3. He was once the Democrat's spokesperson for gay and lesbian issues. He's an openly heterosexual man with a wife and daughter and felt comfortable enough speaking up consistantly for the GLBIT community in parliament (even after openly gay senator Brian Greig was elected). Standing up for the queer community is even harder when faced with homophobic opposition from both major parties.
4. He voted against key components of the GST. It's worth remembering that the leader that helped introduce the GST is now no longer in the Democrats, that the last 2 leaders elected by the party membership (Stott Despoja and Bartlett) didn't vote with their colleagues on this matter, and the 3 senators up for re-election (Ridgeway, Greig and Cherry) were senators-in-waiting at the time and didn't have the opportunity to vote for or against this tax.
5. He has a blog.
6. He's still rocking on!
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