Former Midnight Oil rocker Garrett named Australia's environment minister

Source: The Canadian Press

SYDNEY, Australia - Peter Garrett - the towering, baldheaded former singer of the disbanded Australian rock group Midnight Oil - continued his long, strange tour from pop star to politician Thursday when he was named Australia's environment minister.

With his wild dancing and strident voice, Garrett was one of Australia's most recognizable singers until his band broke up in 2002, after belting out politically charged hits for more than 25 years.

...

In 1990, the year after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, the group staged an impromptu concert outside Exxon's New York headquarters with a banner that read, "Midnight Oil Makes You Dance, Exxon Oil Makes Us Sick."

A longtime environmental campaigner and advocate for Aboriginal rights, Garrett made his first foray into politics with an unsuccessful bid for the Senate as a member of the Nuclear Disarmament Party in 1984.

Read more: http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5ilU6TYSEcKmBxpfYuALrWmiQUWHw

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10BbpGKLXqk

after the words to their song "Blue Sky Mining". :)

EDIT to add -- read the article. Apparently there is some opinion that this is a 'demotion' for Garrett??

Rising star Penny Wong from South Australia was given the new cabinet position of climate change and water. She will be Australia's chief negotiator on ratification of the Kyoto Protocol and in discussions for a global greenhouse gas reduction target to succeed the Kyoto agreement.

She'll be one of a record 7 women in the cabinet.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/11/29/1196037075009.html

If the sugar refining company won't save me...

........

And some have sailed from a distant shore
And the company takes what the company wants
And nothing's as precious, as a hole in the ground

Who's gonna save me?
I pray that sense and reason brings us in
Who's gonna save me?
We've got nothing to fear

In the end the rain comes down
In the end the rain comes down
Washes clean the streets of a Blue Sky town

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srDfpziUewE

That song was running through my head yesterday.

there was another youtube video posted here a couple of months ago of "Beds are Burning", that was very moving. It was set to all the famine and death around the world. Anyone got a link?

On edit: I had it bookmarked. Here it is.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qspbF5owcZk

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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"Beds Are Burning"
"Beds Are Burning" cover
Single by Midnight Oil
from the album Diesel and Dust
Released 1988
Genre Rock
Label Columbia Records
Producer Midnight Oil

"Beds Are Burning" is a 1988 hit single by Australian rock band Midnight Oil, the first track from their album Diesel and Dust. It reached #1 in the South African charts, #3 in the Netherlands Top 40, #5 in the France Top 50, #6 in the UK charts, #17 in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and in Sweden. The song is a plea for the land rights of Indigenous Australians: "The time has come, to say fair's fair, to pay the rent, to pay our share."

BREAKING: "Chaser's War On Everything" TV Show Admits Rigging Australian Elections!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2371833

The other night they had a bit that said, in a word, that "It's OK now, Peter, you are out of the cage!" In other words, you don't have to toe the party line so much you are "in" - let's see the real Peter Garrett!

I couldn't agree more. Hope the real Peter Garrett I remember growing up and admiring for not only his band's blistering rock, but for his views on the environment and the US-Australian relationship shows up soon.

Beds are Burning Lyrics
Artist(Band):Midnight Oil

<snip>

How can we dance when our earth is turning
How do we sleep while our beds are burning
How can we dance when our earth is turning
How do we sleep while our beds are burning

The time has come
To say fair's fair
To pay the rent, now
To pay our share
The time has come
A fact's a fact
It belongs to them
we're gonna give it back

How can we dance when our earth is turning
How do we sleep while our beds are burning

More:
http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Beds-are-Burning-lyrics-Midnight-Oil/3877A3DC1A7ACABA482568BE00170857

Thanks for the thread, Aya Reiko.:thumbsup:

That is excellent news, and very promising for the future of Australia.

Great news!

...simply brilliant!!

Midnight Oil were one of my favourite bands back in the 80s. I remember seeing them once here and was so impressed with the knowledge they had about our local issues. They were one of the smartest rock bands ever.

My favourite Oil song..

US forces give the nod
It's a setback for your country
Bombs and trenches all in rows
Bombs and threats still ask for more

Divided world the CIA
Who controls the issue
You leave us with no time to talk
You can write your own assessment

Sing me songs of no denying
Seems to me too many trying
Waiting for the next big thing

Will you know it when you see it
High risk children dogs of war
Now market movements call the shots
Business deals in parking lots
Waiting for the meat of tomorrow

Everyone is too stoned to start emission
People too scared to go to prison
We're unable to make decisions
Political party line don't cross that floor
L. Ron Hubbard can't save your life
Superboy takes a plutonium wife
In the shadows of Ban the Bomb we live

Sing me songs of no denying
Seems to me too many trying
Waiting for the next big thing

Great band. A lot of their songs are about taking care of the environment.

"How can we dance when our world is burning?"

I'm really a big fan. Congrats to Mr. Garrett!

... and starts laying down the law to the US (and to my own country, Canada) about some serious emission reductions. And if Bush and Harper's people try to dither, that PM Rudd has a bunch of the Australians who've been hit hard by droughts, fires, and cyclones, up in front of the cameras giving testimony about how they've been affected by so-called minor fluctuations.

Getting the US to change policy on anything is next to impossible.
I suspect the process will only start after the election.
The new president will have some sort of honeymoon period and she
probably will propose a few big picture things early.

these are the last 4 paragraphs of the article:



What's that all about?

Seems like a pretty good job to me.

The Rudd dude probably wanted another dude who was more polite to be co-minister.

Garrett probably has a habit of telling the truth, which rubs politicians the wrong way.

Garrett probably has a habit of telling the truth

He now has to toe the ALP line and he does, even though on many issues it directly contradicts views that he has previously spouted widely.

US Forces give the nod
it's a setback for your country

When the Generals talk
You better listen to him
When the Generals talk
You better do what he say

Peter Garrett says he fully supports his party's endorsement of a new US military communications base planned for Western Australia.

"I want to make it perfectly clear that when I joined the Labor Party I accepted and understood what the policy was for Australian joint facilities...and that is a policy I unreservedly accept."

Well I told you about the forest and trees and the chlorophyll green
Yes I told you the birds will endure flutter wings dance on leaves

Hold onto dreams, hold onto dreams tonight

LABOR'S environment spokesman Peter Garrett has rejected criticism of his endorsement of the Tamar Valley pulp mill, insisting he is personally comfortable backing the controversial project.

Uranium companies
Collected companies
Got more right than people
Got more say than people

The federal opposition's environment spokesman Peter Garrett is a team player and will now promote the party's stance on uranium mining despite his well-known opposition, Labor leader Kevin Rudd says.

Whatever Garrett used to do, he now absolutely and completely toe the line. Such a waste.

but Garrett was courted and wooed by the ALP is order to NEUTRALISE him. He was close to signing up for the Greens and would have been an obvious choice to replace Bob Brown as leader eventually. Given the Greens are likely to hold the balance of power in the next senate, he could have had FAR more influence as a Green than toeing the ALP line.

Garrett has already made embarrassing compromises on nukes, Tamar Valley pulp mill and forestry. Almost every single environmental issue he'll deal with has an old lyric waiting in the wing to make a big hypocrite of him.

At best he should have been a Parliamentary Sec until he gained some Parliamentary experience (seriously folks Greg Combet and Bill Shoerten's prior exp is far more suited to a Minsitry position and they have to wait out their apprenticeship - why not Garrett?) and should NEVER have been given environment.

Unfortunately, Peter Garrett is viewed with some suspicion by both Labor and Greens - Labor is
mistrustful of his Green heart, and the Greens think he's sold out. He lost a lot of street cred
when he joined the ALP, and nothing he's said or done since has restored people's trust.

It's a pity - he could have been a great leader for the Greens in time.

One of the few Dems who might win in TX

...anyone? :shrug:

"Beds are burning" go through my head....

I loved that song....I used to play it in my car blasting away....ahhhh....a blast to the past of the late 80's/early 90's.... :bounce:

Did anyone from "Men at Work" get a Government job?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNT7uZf7lew

:woohoo:

No....

Wait....

Cue "U.S. Forces"!
Sing me songs of no denying
Seems to me too many trying
Waiting for the next big thing ...

o(^_^o)

(o^_^)o

o(^_^o)

(o^_^)o