There's actually quite a lot to write about this week given the hive of activity in Australia and abroad. Much has transpired worthy of notation, both notable and unbelievable. At last, though, I can relax for a while.
What I hope to be my penultimate semester has finally reached its conclusion. This morning I had the last of my exams, intellectual property. It was a fairly brief exam, not even 2 hours long, and it did pose its own unique challenges. There was no way, given the number of issues, that the exam could be completed entirely in silken erudition and by the end of one of the questions, I had resorted to dot-pointing. However, I feel that I imparted and identified all that there was and I feel equally confident that my resulting grade will reflect this. I think the professor understands that the amount of issues he put into the exam made in-depth description impossible all the way through. With this final exam over, I can look forward to a few weeks of rest, maybe with some time spent in Sydney and Melbourne.
Perhaps the greatest news story in Australia has been the rather unfortunate removal of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd from office by his own party. In an early morning session, the Australian Labor Party voted for a new leader, Kevin Rudd did not himself stand for re-election, and the party chose Julia Gillard, who ran unopposed. She is Australia's first female prime minister and my thoughts immediately went to the ill-fated Kim Campbell of Canada. This situation, is slightly different, as the Labor Party still enjoys popular support, although the election is only a few months away, according to popular speculation. I just wonder if Gillard will last longer than 20 weeks. Gillard was, by the way, the Deputy Prime Minister and had been spoken of as a future Prime Minister. I saw on the television that she once said that there was a greater chance of her becoming the full forward for the Western Bulldogs than the Prime Minister in the near future and I cannot help but wonder if she will now accept that post as well.
The unusual thing behind this is that not only was Kevin Rudd a sitting Prime Minister, he was also reasonably popular. While his popularity had slipped in recent months given the failure to get the Emissions Trading Scheme through the Senate and the current debate over the mining supertax, it was not at Brian Mulroney-like levels. Furthermore, Kevin had only faced the voter once and didn't even make it to a second ballot, which is unfortunate. The Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott, said that, "a midnight knock on the door was no way for an Australian Prime Minister to go" and that Kevin should have been given the opportunity "to face the voters of Australia." While the now-ex-Prime Minister's removal was not as conniving as Abbott claims, I do feel sorry for Kevin. I feel he is a victim of circumstances not entirely within his control. As perhaps a final solace, he will live in the Lodge, the PM's official Canberra residence, until the next election. He will also continue to sit for his riding and will run in the next federal election.
I suppose the lesson from all this is that it's just politics. It has been called a bloodless coup but I'm not sure how accurate that statement is. Interestingly, at the moment the top 3 jobs in Australia are held by women --- the Prime Minister, the Governor-General and the Queen.
From one ground-shaking event to another, I read about the earthquake that struck Ottawa recently that measure 5.0 on the Moment Magnitude Scale, popularly, though somewhat inaccurately, known as the Richter Scale. While I'm sure it was surprising, I think Ottawans should really just get over it. This is not the first time an earthquake has struck Ottawa, though I will grant that it was one of the larger ones. Ottawa is shielded from most natural disasters and the majority of people don't realize that after the West Coast, the Ottawa-Montreal area is the most earthquake prone area of Canada. Earthquakes are just one of those things that very occasionally livens Ottawa up considerably.
From coups to cups, there have been some spectacular developments in the World Cup rounds as 2 major upsets played out. In the first, South Africa beat perennial powerhouse France, which must have sent a wave of enthusiasm through the host Rainbow Nation. Infamously, the French coach refused to shake the hand of the South African coach at the end. Although both teams are out, I think South Africans will long remember this victory.
The second great upset was Slovakia downing the reigning World Cup champions, Italy, 3-2. Probably one of the most entertaining games to date, Slovakia managed to pull off a stunning victory to knock Italy out of the World Cup. I think that there must have been rampant and exuberant jubilation in the streets of Bratislava all night long.
On another kind of upset, the Australians managed to defeat the Serbs 2-1 but it was not enough to keep them in the World Cup. Despite hopes of bettering their 2006 success, the Socceroos have been sent home in the round robin phase. I guess they'll have to try again in Brazil in 2014.
In keeping with the sporting theme, at umpire training, some of us underwent a 3-km time trial. I ran it in 14:16 which works out to about 12.6km/hr; I was happy enough to beat 12km/hr, or 1km/5 mins. This would be about an average speed. I think that had I done this a few months ago, the results would have been better as I was able to make more Thursday sessions and I was running an additional 2 night per week. Unfortunately tutorials and the cold weather prevent me from exercising fully so I think I could have done better but this isn't too bad for such a run. By the end, I could barely stand and I hope to improve my times in the future.
On a completely different topic, there has been a rather large shake-up in Australia's permanent residency regime. In a reorganization of the area, several occupations were removed from the skills list, among these was legal practitioner. While it is not fatal to me being granted permanent residency if I stayed, it does make things more difficult. It means that I have to get either territory, state or employer sponsorship in order to be granted a permanent residence visa. If the government had held off for another year, I wouldn't have this problem but there's nothing I can really do about it now. Although legal practitioner has been taken off the Commonwealth list, it may still appear in a specialized list for the Northern Territory, my preferred work jurisdiction. If that is the case, then all may not be lost and maybe I'll be allowed to stay in this country if I choose.
Also on immigration, one of my neighbours, Florian Widmann, left Fenner Hall and Australia recently. He was a tall and thin German fellow who is dating our former senior resident, Lisa Liu, and who I gave a good ribbing to whenever I could. He was also very funny when he wanted to be, which is a little unusual for Germans. He was doing his Ph.D. in computer sciences and now that it has finished, he has taken a post-doctoral position and Imperial College in London, UK. If I ever go there, I shall be sure to visit him, and Lisa (although she's staying in Australia for the moment).
As you can see, much to discuss. However, I feel that there will be considerably less to write about during the break. Nevertheless, I've earned my repose.
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