John Howard and Kim Beazely on noise!? a Feature by loud7@enternet.com.a (Craig Garrett) We were snubbed! In early November 1997 I mailed both the Hon. John Howard MP and the Hon. Kim Beazely MP each a proposal to be interviewed by me for noise!, on the off chance that they would "see" the importance of the LOUD festival and recognise the large opportunity noise! opened to them as a nationally created, internationally read ezine. In mid-December John Howard's office wrote to LOUD in response to my proposal. He had said "yes." To say the least I was excited. I had access to the leader of our country. In any other western, democratic, capitalist country, like America or the UK, I imagine it would be very difficult to gain access to the President or Prime Minister. I believed this proved that those participating in our political system still held a fundamentally democratic attitude to it. Democracy is all about citizens being able to influence and access political thought, policy and debate. noise! may not have been able to directly change policy or influence debate, but by allowing himself to be interviewed by an ezine like noise!, John Howard was saying he was at least still thinking, in some way other than "work for the dole schemes", about the youth of this country (and with a possible election coming up who would give up the chance to talk to thousands of young people (some of whom are voters)). John Howard did. I sent my 47 questions (see the end of this article for them) to him in late-December, explicitly stating noise! and LOUD finish on January 31. In early January, when he still hadn't responded, I rang his office and his media people told me the questions were 'on his desk and he would answer them when he returned from holidays in mid-January.' On the 26th January I emailed his personal assistant on: lucille.kerslake@pm.gov.au, asking where his responsses were. It is now late-January, LOUD (and noise!) is finishing and I still not have heard back from the Prime Minister's Office. This snub, one may argue, would not have happened if the Labour Party and Kim Beazley had been in power. Not so. I also sent Kim Beazley's office a proposal at the same time I sent one to John Howard. When the PM said 'yes' I decided to ring Kim Beazely's office to inform them that John Howard had said 'yes.' Upon hearing that Kim Beazely's office immediately told me Kim would love to do an interview when he came back from holidays and I was told to call the office again on January 12. I did that only to be asked again what I was ringing about. When I explained I was from noise! and I had sent in my proposal some months ago I was told I should fax over the proposal. 'Again?' I thought, 'are these guys incompetent? They don't know what I'm talking about even though they've already agreed to the interview in principle, and they've lost my proposal!' I told Kim's media adviser I had already sent the office a copy. He hadn't seen it and advised me to fax them another copy. I did so and haven't heard another thing since. Being snubbed by both major political leaders really shows how little they value the youth of this country. When I received "yes-es" to my request for interviews I thought that John Howard and Kim Beazely's desire to speak to young people in their own "domain", so to speak, free from the usual constraints of mainstream media and without the pretence of political rhetoric showed Australian politicians to be above their overseas counterparts. I thought (maybe optimistically) it showed they were progressive and were moving with the times. Their reaction suggested they value what young people think of them. I was wrong. Both John Howard and Kim Beazely have shown themselves to be uncommitted to youth issues, in both their policy statements and their attitude towards the endeavours of young people. LOUD is a world first. It has been constructed by young people who are both skilled and motivated. While our political leaders sit around in stuffy rooms making policy decisions about the future of this country, they are obviously forgetting about those who will have to live with the ramifications of their decisions. They are forgetting about those people who are out there doing things, creating art and getting things done. They are forgetting about us. It is us who will have to clean up their mess if they fuck everything up. Neither John or Kim (as you would imagine I am now on first name terms with both of them after the hours I have spent interviewing them lately) could be bothered explaining to young people where they are coming from, where they would like to see this country go, or what they think. I have taken this snub personally. It is an affront, not only to myself, LOUD and noise!, but to all young people in Australia. The Questions for the PM: 1. What did you do when you were young? What did you do for fun? 2. When you were younger what did you want to do in the future? Did you ever see yourself as the Prime Minister of Australia? 3. What did you think about politicians and politics when you were a young person? 4. What were the best and the worst things about your life when you were a youth (12-25)? 5. How do you think your childhood compares with the day to day lives and difficulties faced by young people in the 1990ís? 6. Do you feel that you are in touch with the youth of Australia? Do you think you understand them and do you think they understand you? 7. Would you like to change jobs for a day? I work at a poorly funded community organisation called PATHWAYS - Information Service for Young People and we have a shopfront where young people can access our service and get information about, literally, anything. We see a diverse range of young people in a range of circumstances. 8. What are your fears? 9. What would you like to say to all the young people reading this. 10. Do you collect things? If so, what do you collect? 11. Could you define what being ìAustralianî means to you. 12. What is your favourite noise!? 13. Would you like to come to the LOUD launch at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney at 10:30am, for 11am, on January the second 1998, and then come out and have a coffee or a beer with the noise! editors? 14. Could you define ìpublic interestî please. 15. What is the most important thing in your life? 16. Have you ever had the opportunity or the desire to take drugs? If so could you explain the situation. 17. What were your favourite subjects at school? Why were they your particular favourites? 18. At what age did you leave school? What did you do when you left (that is, did you go to university, get a job or receive unemployment benefits)? 19. When did you first fall in love and who was it with? 20. Do you remember the first time you got drunk? Where and when did it happen and if you were underage did your parents ìbustî you? 21. What is the best thing you have done and that you would like to be remembered for? a) in your personal life b) as Prime Minister 22. How did you feel the night before the last election? 23. What do you think about the concept of LOUD (media festival of youth arts and culture), considering we are trying to manipulate the Australian Mass Media for a very particular purpose and outcome? 24. Would you like to see LOUD continue? If so would the Department of Communications and the Arts fund it again? 25. What is the Governmentís stance on mass media ownership in Australia? Do too few people exert too much power and influence over the opinions and content of our mass media? 26. Considering the major Australian broadcasters, newspapers and magazines are run by organisations with vested interests (for example channel nine is run by a company that owns interests in other companies), how can we the public be assured those organisations are not using their power to manipulate the information we receive through their media interests? For example, would 60 Minutes really do an expose on another Packer company that is breaching, letís say, international environmental standards? 27. Do you think the introduction of pay television in Australia been successful? Where do you see it going in the next decade? 28. Will there be, under the Governmentís plan, public access broadcasting opportunities specifically for young people? 29. How influential is the internet on Australian society? 30. What is the Governmentís stance on internet services? Are you following the events in America regarding regulation of the internet and what are your feelings about the situation? 31. How important is print media in political life, and in a political campaign? 32. How important is broadcast media in political life, and in a political campaign? 33. Why are they important and could you compare the two based on how important you feel they are as individual means of communication/publicity tools? 34. How influential is the media in changing voters minds? 35. How influential is the media in influencing the opinions of politicians and in influencing policy in this country? 36. Do you think the media campaigns surrounding the Native Title Legislation and your Ten Point Plan have been positive ones from both sides? 37. What social and political ramifications can you see a double dissolution election (based on this issue) having for Australia over the next thirty years? 38. Is the influence the media has over politicians, voters, political agendas and ìpublic agendasî really a good thing considering the limited number of people and opinions that can access the media, and considering those who own the media are a very small percent of the population of this country? How democratic is it when policy and voter opinion is influenced by so few people? 39. Do young people have access to the ìmedia production processî in Australia? 40. Should journalists, as people who have very far reaching influence, be governed by specific legislation? 41. Are the obligations and responsibilities of the media, as communication tools that have a far reaching influence, essentially ignored because of the idea of ìfreedom of the pressî and ìfreedom of speechî? 42. Do you think young people are represented fairly by the media? 43. What is the age of the youngest person in the Liberal party? 44. What input and influence does that person have on the decision making process of the party? 45. How many people under 30 are in positions of power and influence in the party? 46. Are politicians getting younger (for example Clinton and Blair)? What message can young people take from this? Does this mean young people are having an influence in politics, which is often seen as an occupation for the ìold boys clubî? 47. Are young people, via the constitutional convention, being sufficiently represented and importantly, are they themselves taking the initiative and showing enough interest in the future of Australia, considering the issue of the republic may be one of the watershed issues in Australiaís immediate future? Created on Fri, 30 Jan 1998 and last modified on Fri, 30 Jan 1998.

LOUDonline - http://www.loud.net.au - Fri, 10 Apr 1998