- Tuesday 18 June 2013
- My Account
- Logout
- Register
- Login
- News
-
Voices
-
Find by writer
- Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
- Rebecca Armstrong
- Memphis Barker
- Terence Blacker
- Chris Blackhurst
- David Blanchflower
- Archie Bland
- Ian Burrell
- Andrew Buncombe
- Ben Chu
- Patrick Cockburn
- Laura Davis
- Mary Dejevsky
- Grace Dent
- Robert Fisk
- Andrew Grice
- Stefano Hatfield
- Philip Hensher
- Ian Herbert
- Howard Jacobson
- Ellen E Jones
- Alice Jones
- Owen Jones
- Simon Kelner
- Dominic Lawson
- Donald Macintyre
- Lisa Markwell
- Comment
- Campaigns
- Debate
- Editorials
- Letters
- IV Drip
- Archive
- Our Voices
- Commentators
- Columnists
- Democracy 2015
- IV Drip Archive
-
Find by writer
- Sport
- Tech
- Life
- Property
- Arts & Ents
- Travel
- Money
- IndyBest
- Blogs
- Student
Sunday 2 August 1998
Sydney Diary: Of water bugs and taxi bubbles
Robert Millken's Sydney Diary
Labor's grand veterans had gathered for the launch of a biography of their successor, Kim Beazley. Mr Beazley is the leader of the Labor Party opposition and, if opinion polls are any guide, he could be Australia's next prime minister. He is also a mate of Tony Blair, whom he met when he was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. Indeed, Mr Blair has given his friend's biography a leg up by writing its foreword on Downing Street letterhead.
"Even at university, Kim was streets ahead in terms of political savvy and intellect," Mr Blair writes. "Later, as I was still struggling to get on in the Labour Party, he made huge efforts to help me with advice, friendship and encouragement." For his part, Mr Beazley tells his biographer, journalist Peter FitzSimons, a former Wallaby rugby player, that Mr Blair once told him at Chequers: "Kim, I cannot believe that I am Prime Minister of Britain".
It may not be riveting stuff, but timing is everything in politics. Beyond a reputation for brightness and decency, Kim Beazley is still largely unknown to Australians. With the country on election countdown, and with disenchantment with the incumbent government mounting, HarperCollins, the publishers, have seized the moment.
ELECTION countdowns are nothing compared to the Olympics countdown that seems to rule daily life in Sydney. The host city of the 2000 Olympics is busy rebuilding and preening itself. So the city's four million people were brought up with a shudder last week when they were told that their water supply was polluted with parasites called Giardia and Cryptosporidium, and that they could no longer drink it unless they boiled it first.
Wait a minute. Isn't this the city that boasted it would stage the world's first truly "green" Olympics? And whose water company, Sydney Water, bragged that its product was so pure you could bottle it? Yes, it is, and you can imagine the blow to the city's ego that the unprecedented crisis caused. By Friday, Sydney seemed like a city besieged. At my local coffee shop, the Tropicana, which serves some of the best coffee in Sydney, they had turned off the water supply. At the supermarket, people made a run on the mineral water. Cats and dogs were declared to be as much at risk as their owners from drinking tap water. Newspapers published survival guides, splashed headlines like "CONTAMINATED" across front pages and drew maps showing the parasites invading from the west and engulfing the entire city, from Palm Beach in the north to Botany Bay in the south.
The authorities located the source of the bugs in a state-of-the-art filtration plant and announced that the war would be won in 48 hours. But all this is the last thing Sydney's Olympics' planners need, not to mention the rest of us who have been taking the sort of precautions normally confined to holidays in Third World countries. I couldn't help wondering what the New Zealanders made of it all. Sydney was so smug when Auckland's electricity supply collapsed a few months ago, but now I bet the Kiwis are laughing.
WHEN THEY get the water sorted, the authorities should turn their attention to Sydney's taxis. Getting around one of the world's most liveable cities by cab should be a laid-back affair, but my stress levels rise every time I step into one. Nowadays, many drivers speak little or no English, and you have to direct them to most destinations. Then they insist on playing radio phone-ins fortissimo from speakers located just behind your ear. And now, they are getting bubbles installed to protect themselves from an alarming increase in knife attacks.
The transparent, knifeproof bubbles are so bulky that they take over the whole cab, and they have killed the national, egalitarian habit of sitting up front with the cabbie. Only a midget could fit in the front seat now. All very un-Australian.
CAN PEOPLE have the same status as objects? The National Trust of Australia, whose task is to conserve heritage buildings and landscapes, thinks they can. It has compiled a list of 100 people whom it has declared the country's "Living National Treasures". Predictably, sporting heroes feature strongly - 15 in all - but they are outnumbered by 33 cultural icons, including Barry Humphries and Germaine Greer. And what has happened in the nine months since, with great fanfare, the list was announced? Very little. Like the Great Barrier Reef and the Sydney Opera House, they just go on being there.
-
I Am Breathing: A dying man who reminds us just what life is for
Dominic Lawson -
The best way to fight the EDL's anti-Muslim bigotry is by showing solidarity on the streets
Owen Jones -
The Daily Cartoon
-
Stuart Hall's brave victims have been through hell for nothing
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown -
We should look past the pictures of Charles Saatchi's row with Nigella Lawson
Stig Abell
Get your summer started with British Military Fitness
BMF is the UK’s biggest and best loved outdoor fitness classes
How will you make today delicious?
Tell us how you plan to make today delicious and you could win a £50 M&S gift card.
Learn a new language
Add another string to your bow with Rosetta Stone, whether it's Spanish, Italian or Mandarin...
Making reading fun for kids
Nook is donating eReaders to volunteers at high-need schools and participating in exclusive events throughout the campaign.
Introducing the 'Get Reading' campaign
Get the latest on The Evening Standard's campaign to get London's children reading.
Enter the latest Independent competitions
Win anything from gadgets to five-star holidays on our competitions and offers page.
Business videos from commercial thought leaders
Watch the best in the business world give their insights into the world of business.
ROBERT MILLIKEN
Related Articles
Get the best in opinion from Independent Voices, straight to your inbox every Thursday lunchtime.
Subscribe
Amol Rajan
A weekly update from the Editor
iJobs General
PR Manager - Renewables
£32000 - £33000 Per Annum: The Green Recruitment Company: The Green Recruitmen...
Regional Sales Manager - Renewable Energy
Negotiable Depending on Experience: The Green Recruitment Company: The Green R...
Senior Property Solicitor - Mayfair
Excellent Salary Package: Austen Lloyd: We have an outstanding opportunity for...
Room Leader NVQ Level 3
Negotiable: Capita Education Resourcing Permanent Team: Room Leader NVQ Level ...
Day In a Page
Scandi-geeks descend on Nordicana for fan-convention
Female aristocrats battle to inherit the title
In pictures: JFK's visit to Berlin in 1963
Mark Hix gets creative with English peas
Seasoned to taste: Food institutions


