Bartlett's Blog

Racing Victoria meets tomorrow (Wednesday 13 May) to decide whether or not to finally follow every other state (except South Australia) in banning jumps racing. (UPDATE - decision postponed until "later in the week") Nearly a year ago, I said such a ban was well overdue. Instead, there was another review, followed by more ‘improvements’, followed by more horse deaths.  At the time I mentioned there had been two ...

Phil and other commenters at Larvatus Prodeo bemoan the Medal Tally fixation of the media’s Olympic Games coverage. It doesn't sit terribly well with Article 6 in Chapter 1 of the Olympic Charter, which states that “the Olympic Games are competitions between athletes in individual or team events and not between countries.”

The International Olympic Committee has been putting on a gold medal performance with their attempts to look surprised by the Chinese government’s brazen censorship of the internet and restrictions on the actions of journalists, in breach of the pledges they made when the were awarded the Games. Here's a link to the IOC's Fundamental "Principles" of Olympism, which includes many noble assertions, such as "Olympism seeks to create a ...

Two more horses were killed today in a hurdles race at Melbourne’s Flemington race course. There had  already been eight horses killed in Victorian jump races since March. The Minister has promised to bring forward his review as a consequence, but there were already reviews six years ago and three years ago.

After some of the public attacks on refugees from Africa which occurred in the lead up to last years election for allegedly 'not integrating', with the worst inferences being targeted at young males, it was good to see a story in today’s Australian newspaper highlighting the positive expectations for African refugees in the future of Australian soccer. Four African refugees - from Sudan, Congo, Ethiopia and Liberia – are ...

When the Olympic Torch made its brief stop over for a run around the block in Canberra last week, Australia's International Olympic Committee (IOC) officials gushed about the "values of the Olympic movement", coupled with some tsk-tsking about pesky protestors 'hijacking' that movement for their political agendas. It seems to me that the many people, in Australia and around the world – and most tellingly within China itself - ...

The news that the Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, is not attending the Olympic Games is a reminder that there is a lot more to boycotts than governments telling athletes they can’t go. According to the report, the Prime Minister of Poland, Donald Tusk, and the Czech President Vaclav Klaus, have also stated they will not attend the Opening Ceremony. Germany’s Foreign Minister and Sports Mininster are also not attending. "The ...

The human rights record of the Chinese Communist Party government has been a matter of closer examination since the International Olympic Committee decided the 2008 Olympic Games would be held in Beijing. The current violence in Tibet has increased that focus.  The argument made by many people was the extra global scrutiny that would occur with the holding of the Games in Beijing would encourage the Chinese government to ...

It was over three weeks ago that I wrote a post on the public furore after the Sydney Test match between the Australian and Indian cricket teams, but the public controversy is still going.  Now even the Governor-General has spoken out on the topic, expressing concern about "the reduction in the grace and courtesies that are being shown on the cricketing field" and labelling sledging as being that worst of all ...

While I don’t follow it anywhere near as closely as I used to, I still retain an affection for Test cricket, (as opposed to the limited over stuff which can be entertaining but is ultimately disposable). I keep a half-eye on the games played around the world (with much greater frequency than a few decades ago) and usually spend a bit of time around this time of year ...

Like every politician, I receive lots of invitations to many different types of events. Deciding which ones to accept is even harder than usual in the lead up to and during election campaigns. I have a small ‘reserve pile’ of ones I’d like to attend for interest’s sake, but would have to forgo if another engagement or obligation came up. I had one such invite tonight which even during ...

The Weekend Australian reported that “pressure is building on the Australian cricket team to call off its tour to Zimbabwe later this year and join a sporting embargo similar to the one that helped end apartheid in neighbouring South Africa.” Frankly, I find it extraordinary that there is any prospect at all of any Australian sporting team touring that country whilst Mugabe remains in power. I appreciate there can ...

Andrew Robb, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, has just announced the federal government will provide $700,000 in funding "for a range of projects that will encourage communities to participate in the Australian way of life." This includes funding of $85 000 for CricKids Playing in Harmony, which is "an educational resource which will nationally promote the principles of respect, justice, equality, fair play, ...

I was at Don Chipp’s funeral today – more on that later. Meanwhile – as perhaps befits Don’s status as a former Fitzroy player (albeit only 3 or so senior games and a lifetime as a very strong Carlton fan) - this post is about the Lions final game for the season. Tonight’s game was the last for Brad Scott and also was the last game where Jason Akermanis ...

I was back in Canberra again on Friday for another Committee hearing, this time for our Inquiry into women's sport and recreation.

Apologies for the gratuitous parachiolism, but that State of Origin win by Queensland tonight had to be one of the best since Origin started in 1980. To hold the line and then come back to win, after being denied one try and then having the opposition basically handed two, is one of the most commendable performances I can recall - especially in a series deciding game. Not ...

World Cup frenzy has permeated such a wide spectrum of the Australian community that even the Green Party have put out a media release saying they “will be supporting our home team and cheering every goal from Parliament next week.” I’m in Canberra now for the next fortnight’s Senate sittings. As part of getting into the World Cup mood, a Parliamentary team is playing a game of soccer this ...

I read a story in this weekend’s Courier-Mail which mentions a “wages battle” that is apparently happening in Australia’s national netball league at the moment. It reports players from all teams in each of the four First Round matches of this year’s national league participated in short on-court protests before the start of their games. The report also says that “Netball Australia is set to hand negotiations back ...

I’ve mentioned before that I Chair the Senate’s Environment, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts References Committee (often called ECITA for short)

I managed to get in a game of cricket today for the first time in about ten months. I’ve been playing occasional games for about five years now in a winter competition in Brisbane.