Campbell Newman chases the dubious dollar sign
This news just in: Queensland has the proud title of being the only state in Australia not to have a state literary award. Wow, way to go Campbell Newman: make those creative industries feel welcome. Arsehat. He can really plough that $250,000 of savings into some serious infrastructure projects. And THIS is why the landslide LNP victory gave me the shivers, even from the other end of the country. They ain’t got no soul, people.
UPDATE: I think John Birmingham has summarised the situation nicely in his comments (at the updated above link), including:
He’s not going to lose many if any votes out of getting rid of this prize, and out of slashing the hell out of a lot of arts budgets … in terms of the state budget, there’s probably bigger tough cuts that he could make, but they’re much tougher to sell
April 3, 2012 at 7:55 pm
Arsehat. Couldn’t have put it better myself.
April 3, 2012 at 7:57 pm
Do you ever wonder what happened to make two country kids like us call the LNP’s chief hatchet man an arsehat? LOL
April 4, 2012 at 6:01 pm
On a more positive note, do as I have done and write an email to this address – literary.awards@premiers.qld.gov.au. If they know that writers really care, they might negotiate with an alternative rather than simply cut out the whole award. Make a NOISE (a polite one) using the writing skills you and others have. Tell them we are out there!
April 4, 2012 at 6:28 pm
Good call, Jill; thanks for providing that email address!
May 10, 2012 at 10:21 pm
He’s only reflecting the views of the majority of anti-intellectual arsehats at the moment. But, y’know, the thing about democracies is that it’s possible for the majority of people to be wrong.
We *are* losing our souls, becoming focused on the banalities of life, being satisfied with the simple answers fed to us by the media, endlessly scanning Twitter/Facebook/our iPhones for the latest inanity someone has sent us, and blaming everyone else (particularly intellectuals) for the problems we’re creating.
May 18, 2012 at 3:29 pm
I still blame Joh.
May 20, 2012 at 4:57 pm
LOL
June 4, 2012 at 5:01 pm
[...] and have some far more presitigious award credits to your name. Without necessarily buying into the recent fracas in your old home state, what have these various levels of accolade meant for you personally and [...]