Ute Gate!!????

Enough with 'Gates'. Seriously. I think all the journalists in the Canberra press gallery are bored.

The term comes from the US political scandal involving President Nixon; Watergate, eventually leading to his resignation and apparently changing US politics forever. Watergate was an office complex that was the scene of much of the scandal.

Since that time, journalists have taken a liking to adding 'gate' to any old minor political scuffle. 'Ute Gate' is a prime example of this. Perhaps we should take pity on the journalists in Canberra. Australian politics is a generally mundane affair, and something most Aussie's show a healthy apathy for.

Not like those US journalists, with their glamorous Presidents and all the pomp and ceremony that go's with US politics - they have plenty to write about. And take politics in the UK. Lots to write about there, what with all those tawdry sex scandals and until recently, controversial wives.

So perhaps Aussie journalists are a little gate happy, but I feel for them. I understand. What else do they have to write about? Rudd's use of Australian slang? Hardly news worthy; he grew up in Queensland and his name is Kevin. It's a given he's going to have some bogan in him.

Shopping and Refugees

Recently, while out purchasing essential baby items - such as a cot - before the stork arrives, I stumbled across the Maribyrnong Immigration Detention Facility. Large and important looking signs alerted me to this fact as I was driving along looking for the baby superstore I intended to visit.

I knew that it was in the area somewhere, but had never seen it. I pulled over to have a better look, and saw - in stark contrast to the signage at the front - several very run down, old, depressing looking buildings, much like the commission flats we see around Melbourne.

I was struck by the detention centres close proximity to one of Melbourne's largest shopping centres: Highpoint. In fact it would be a mere two blocks.

Highpoint displays the opulence and affluence we in the developed world have come to take for granted. Upon entering the shopping centre customers are transported from reality into an alternate universe where every comfort is met. The temperature is always perfect, the light is bright as if it were a lovely summer day, and palm trees line the main thoroughfares.

Highpoint exists as a temple of consumerism and capitalism, feeding our need to define ourselves by what we buy rather than what we do. This point was not lost on me as I wandered around the ludicrously large baby store that contained every possible style and design of the items I was looking for.

Across the road people are detained for trying to access the very lifestyle I am participating in. The governments website for the Maribyrnong Immigration Detention Facility claims that most of the detainees held there have overstayed their visa's or have been denied entry to the country. However it made me think about asylum seekers and refugees who have more genuine and urgent reasons for entering our country illegally.

I still have not been able to reconcile the two extreme realities that the detention centre and my shopping experience represent...