The Same Same 25 Announced -The 25 Most Influential Gayand Lesbian Australians

www.samesame.com.au
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In an Australian first, SameSame.com.au last night announced the 25 Most Influential Gay & Lesbian Australians at an event held at the Art Gallery of NSW. What have been nicknamed ‘the Gaylies’ by the mainstream media, the list comprised the likes of pop singer Darren Hayes, musical theatre star iOTA and one of the greatest sportswomen that Australia has produced Hockeyroo Alyson Annan.

The event saw an honest and at times emotional speech from modern day cowboy Adam Sutton that had a crowd including Senior Sergeant Joy Murphy of Victoria Police, Justice of the High Court of Australia Michael Kirby, Malcolm and Lucy Turnbull and lesbian mum and author from Playschool Viki Harding silent and transfixed for ten minutes. Co-founder of Same Same, Tim Duggan says: “A list like this has been a long time coming. Australia is now at a stage where we see gay and lesbian people having a huge amount of influence in lots of different fields. The Same Same 25 is a fascinatingly diverse list of people from all walks of life with one thing in common – they exert a large influence over their chosen profession.”

The 25 were publicly nominated over the course of four weeks, supported by a national media campaign in the gay and lesbian press. Hundreds of nominations were received, sifted through and considered by the eight selected judges, one of which is TV personality Andrew Mercado who also
hosted last night’s event. “It’s a real honour to be involved with the Same Same 25,” says Andrew. “I think it’s really important to have positive gay role models out there. It’s also important for straight people to see gay people excelling in their fields. And of course, it’s great for young gay people out there to have something to aspire to.”

All the members of the 25 are unanimously thrilled at being on the list. It’s a diverse list, a list covering a broad range of ages, locations and fields of endeavour. There are some names people will already know, some others that they won’t but will now – and it’s sure to spark plenty of debate.

To view who made it into the Same Same 25 for 2007, and vote for who you think is the most influential, click here.

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Comments

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DrRon

DrRon said on the 11th Oct, 2007

I had a very kind letter from one of my clients as a result of my nomination in the list. I told all of my clients via an email broadcast. I didn’t go into the details of the G&L bit as corporate fire-walls block messages with “gay” or “lesbian” in them, but I told them where they could read about it if they cared to. I also told them that after more than 25 years and thousands of interviews I have given in the media, I have never discussed personal matters until the SameSame interview. This is part of the email this elderly white-collar, heterosexual grandfather, who had never knowingly met “a gay” sent in reply. I think this shows just what this award can do in the wider community to help them understand what some gays and lesbians have to go through. I hope you can appreciate the spirit in which this was sent, I know I did :
Dr Ron...........

Congratulations on your nomination........I read with interest your interview........and if it's OK to say I had no idea at all regarding your sexuality (in fact I feel pretty stupid even saying it).........what I would like to say is that many times I have sat in the audience where you were the guest speaker and all I was interested in was what you had to say......and on those many occasions what you had to say was enough to lead me to be an early subscriber to your Econoclast email service......which I value immensely.

Being involved in the financial services industry now for 28 years as a financial planner/adviser, it is sad to know that you were treated the way you were (and possibly still are).......being an "old bloke" now perhaps I am a little sheltered and don't quite understand these things and never even thought about until your email.......all I can say Dr Ron is keep up the good work - I and my clients appreciate what you do.

In finishing.......if this short note appears to be condescending in any way please forgive me - it is in no way intended to be so......I have long been an admirer of how you see economics and your ability to deliver your message and that is all it really boils down to.

You have a fan out here Dr Ron!.......

Best Regards
JD
Melbourne, Victoria

DrRon

DrRon said on the 16th Oct, 2007

The Peter Principle
That expression has been kicking around my head ever since John Howard announced last month that if reelected he would hand over to Peter Costello and I dont mean to be overtly partisan; in fact I have no particular party preference. Devoutly voting for one party is for me much like barracking for the same football team: you may be loyal but invariably the team you choose will eventually disappoint. A leadership handover or not, it seems inevitable there will be a change of government on Election Day November 24th. For a long time, the opinion polls have been showing the fan base of the incumbent has eroded significantly. Yet many commentators have been scratching their heads about this. They cant understand why because when the economy is strong governments dont usually lose office. Instead they say this election is different to others. Hugh Mackay, for example, a respected columnist recently wrote that this is an unusual election [because] the economy seems robust. I cant be the economy, and instead offers the explanation that Australians are abandoning the government because now they are waking upthis is a retrospective election: we're re-thinking some stuff we let slip by while we were in our little trance... many Australians who have felt powerless will want to punish this Government for sins long past; perhaps but I doubt Australians were just snoozing and skipping retribution for some later election.

I also doubt that because it still remains true today that when the economy sours so too does a governments support base: its the economy stupid. This time is no different. Outside of the Resource related sectors, the economy is not nearly as robust as many say it is; as http://www.econoclast.com.au revealed in regular Updates. Excluding the impact of the resources boom, the economy is well-below average. If there is a change of government, then it probably is due to the economy and the way it has been managed, or moreover, hasnt been managed. That returns me to my theme of the Peter Principle. The main reason for the economy souring is bad monetary policy, including not stopping house price inflation in the early 2000s and especially the last four rate rises which were unnecessary. These four hikes came because the Reserve Bank (RBA) erroneously believes low unemployment causes inflation; thats a myth. The RBA has used the cover of several spikes in food and fuel prices as an excuse to quickly raise the cash rate; and they may well use that reason again if the next CPI due October 24th is above their trigger point (see Flying by the seat of their pants http://econoclast.com.au/docs/archive2007/Seat_Pants_hjt56.pdf ). The problem with raising rates when there hasnt been inflation is that it risks overkill resulting in an economic downturn or worse. The economy and the governments support soured after the first of the banana-inspired rate rises in May 2006.

The Peter Principle is applicable in several areas. Let me consider just two: firstly you can argue that these four rate rises could have been avoided if the government had continued micro-economic reform and secondly if they had better oversight of the RBA. For example if the government had deregulated banana imports, a simple micro-economic reform, after Cyclone Larry in March 2006, not only would bananas but also other fruit that became substitutes would not have risen nearly as much. Many items in the CPI would have been more contained and the RBA would have had fewer chances to sneak in their rate rises. More importantly however, if the government had been better at overseeing the enactment of monetary policy rather than allowing the internal managers to run it, the myth that low unemployment causes inflation might have been exposed; and the Housing Crisis (the after effect of house price inflation) avoided. The RBA obtained independence in the 1980s long before formal agreements were initiated but independence does not mean lack of oversight. It has been 18 years since an outsider was brought into run the central bank. While internal promotion creates stable career paths, the Peter Principle is not necessarily the most effective way to manage an economy or to run a country. Ominously the alternative government Labor promises to maintain RBA independence. While I wish good luck to all candidates, I suspect it is the rest of us who will need it the most and long after Election Day has past. For regular economic and market Updates go to http://econoclast.com.au/subscribe-now.html.

Any information contained in this posting or conclusions made, whether express or implied, do not take into account the investment objectives, financial situation and particular needs of an individual and does not constitute investment advice or an investment recommendation.