Very proud of my cousin Anna Burke (the Federal Member for the Melbourne seat of Chisholm since 1998) who was yesterday elected to the position of Speaker to the House of Representatives.
She is only the 2nd woman in the history of the Australian parliament to be voted into this prestigious position.
I’m so excited I’m doing the happy dance 😉
Anna is my Mum’s brothers daughter. My Mum (an Irish/Australian catholic) was born in Melbourne and had 3 sisters and 6 brothers. Between the 10 siblings were born a fair few children; so I have a lot of cousins (you can imagine – haha).
Congrats Anna!
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ps. If you missed Julia Gillard’s spectacular and spirited speech in Parliament yesterday pointing out Tony Abbott’s sexist comments and behaviours over the years, it’s a ripper and went viral on the internet. The Australian media was embarrassingly quiet on the subject of her speech but the media around the world quickly cottoned on to the significance. The New Yorker has a great article about it here.
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Gabe Feathers McGee 
Congratulations, indeed! Quite an achievement.
Thanks Martin 🙂
Well done, her!
I must say, though, that Abbott’s remarks seem pretty innocuous compared to what happens almost daily in South Africa without attracting any particular notice.
Thanks colonialist. I agree that what happens in South Africa is a completely different level of issue, just as the shooting of the 14 year old girl in Pakistan is on another plane altogether, however I think we have the capacity to deal with more than one thing at a time in this world and one issue needn’t detract from another 😉
Definitely a matter of horses for courses.
Congrats to your family member!
Thanks Charles 🙂
Some political pedigree your family has, Gabe!
and I haven’t even told you about my Dad’s side of the tree 😉
congratulations — very cute picture of MIchael …
Thanks Aletha – I love the way that photo came out 🙂
Wow! Congratulations, Anna! Hope the family is having a party…
Anna will be too busy – parliament is a shambles at the moment 😉 thanks Kate
Congratulations to Anna, she has proved herself extremely capable when Acting Speaker.
However, regarding Julia’s speech, I think you need to be fair. The overseas medium did not have ANY CLUE as to what was going on in the Oz Parliament at the time, and they simply saw the speech in isolation – and yes, as such, it was a very good ‘debating’ style speech. It was also obviously impassioned, and a ‘mind-dump’ of various things that had been bugging her, and perhaps others, for a very long time.
What the Australians realised (and the weekend analysis has borne this out, it is not just ‘me’ and my super-analytical mind) is that IT WAS TOTALLY IRRELEVANT TO THE POINT AT HAND IN THE PARLIAMENT ON THAT DAY.
As such, it is negative marks for Julia, for not sticking to the point and acting in a manner appropriate to the country’s leader.
If I had been Speaker, I would have pulled her up for irrelevance, if i could have found a way around it.
So that is why the overseas media and the Australian press saw it differently, not (I think) because of your glib comment about ‘significance’. In fact, it had no significance, in the context.
(Just adding my credentials as a feminist here – as someone who chose a male-dominated field of science and worked as ‘one of the blokes’ with very few other women between the ages of 16 and 30-ish; and whose two daughters have post-grad degrees and are now successful professionals in traditionally male-dominated areas of work).
That was just a note at the end – not to be a comprehensive debate 😉 and PLEASE THERE IS NO NEED TO SHOUT ON MY BLOG! I think we can agree to disagree and history will decide if her speech was significant. I think the MSM in Aus is pathetic and I think some of the overseas commentators more than understood the context (some are quite bright I believe). I think Peter Slipper’s text messages have been taken out of context – if you read all 200 of them you will see there is nothing sexist or misogynistic in the content – just grubby school boy banter that is distasteful to some (I don’t find them offensive given they were personal and not for public consumption – not something you want your speaker to be saying but I bet everyone of the pollies on every side would have used some of that language at some time or said something negative about a work colleague) – but that didn’t stop every man and his dog from using that argument. Anyway can we please move on – lady with a pram!
Even some blokes get it http://www.nationaltimes.com.au/opinion/politics/now-listen-here-luv–when-words-become-weapons-20121014-27kv3.html
Wow. That’s yet another wonderful high achiever in your already impressive family.
PS. I loved the PM’s speech last week … it was truly glorious to see!
You’re not alone Tracey 🙂 It’s been brewing for quite some time, so about time she let loose – but she has pissed off heaps of blokes – haha. Thanks Tracey ps. your new blog makeover looks terrific and very professional!
no clue about your politics (too far off) but that sounds great. congrats to her
Thanks Dhyan – she is in the Australian Labor Party with is considered left (though it’s a pretty right type of left in the overall spectrum of things). The current opposition is conservative (and complete twats 😉 ).
lol
Congratulations to Cousin Anna. It is a wonderful achievement,- she seems more than up to it.
Thanks Jane – yes, she has a knack for putting them all in their place it appears 🙂