FunkyGreenJerusalem
03-24-2005, 08:47 PM
Just after the elections (if memory serves me correct, maybe just before) the AustralianFedral Health Minister, Tony Abbot, decided that he had problems with the number of Abortions in Australia, and decided to speak out.
For some background on Abbot he belongs to the conservative party currently in power in Australia, and a commited Christian.
This worried a lot of non-christian people, but made the christians who are becoming a growing powerblock for the (ironically named) Liberal party happy.
(This should be sounding familiar to American posters).
Anyway, his arguement was that more people should conisder adoption as an option - and revealed that thats what he and a girlfriend he had at universtiy did when she got pregnant.
They gave the child up for adoption, never to be heard of again, and it grieved him a great deal.
Anyway it all started a bit of hoo-ha and the abortion debate was suddenly back in play - with basically every non-christian politician who wasn't in his party refusing to budge on the current laws - which is a pretty big thing to get past in Australia as all states are controlled by the (apparently) left-wing Labour party (who since are basically threatening to ignore anything Fedral government says due to the national treasurer trying to gain more power over state spending - breaking a pre-existing agreement with the states).
With me?
Anyway it was revealed that a month or so later that the child was now a journalist who actually worked covering parliment house, and they actually new each other and were trying to find a way to adjust their lives.
A great moral tale on why adoption is always better than abortion really.
But then it came out, and god do I love it (I'm in Abbots seat and can't stand the man) that the baby that was given up for adoption wasn't his at all - DNA tests revealed that Abbots missing son wasn't abbots at all and the girlfriend had been a little more wild at uni than he had - and it all ties in to comic books:
Plea for privacy as media frenzy goes on
March 25 2005
The real father of the child Tony Abbott and his former girlfriend gave up for adoption as university students is working on the Melbourne set of Hollywood blockbuster Ghost Rider.
The Sydney-based father of two lives with his son and daughter in Manly. But he learnt last week that he was also the father of Daniel O'Connor, the son given up for adoption 27 years ago by Mr Abbott and his former girlfriend, Kathy Donnelly.
DNA tests proved that Bill Kensell, 47, a former housemate of Ms Donnelly, was the real father.
Ms Donnelly said the man, who she referred to as Bill, had phoned her because he saw pictures of Mr O'Connor in the media and thought he looked remarkably like his own son. Until then Mr Abbott, the federal Health Minister, believed he was the biological father.
The man's ex-wife said yesterday:
"This is a whole load of stuff which is no one else's business. We are just nobodies."
And just for kicks I'll point out that the real father also lives in Tony Abbots seat.
I do feel a bit mean for laughing, but it was such a low move to swing symapthy for a cause to bring his own life and beliefs into fedral politics that I hope it stands as a lesson to all.
(and it also makes me proud that a small country like us can give America a run at times for convulted politcal stories.
For some background on Abbot he belongs to the conservative party currently in power in Australia, and a commited Christian.
This worried a lot of non-christian people, but made the christians who are becoming a growing powerblock for the (ironically named) Liberal party happy.
(This should be sounding familiar to American posters).
Anyway, his arguement was that more people should conisder adoption as an option - and revealed that thats what he and a girlfriend he had at universtiy did when she got pregnant.
They gave the child up for adoption, never to be heard of again, and it grieved him a great deal.
Anyway it all started a bit of hoo-ha and the abortion debate was suddenly back in play - with basically every non-christian politician who wasn't in his party refusing to budge on the current laws - which is a pretty big thing to get past in Australia as all states are controlled by the (apparently) left-wing Labour party (who since are basically threatening to ignore anything Fedral government says due to the national treasurer trying to gain more power over state spending - breaking a pre-existing agreement with the states).
With me?
Anyway it was revealed that a month or so later that the child was now a journalist who actually worked covering parliment house, and they actually new each other and were trying to find a way to adjust their lives.
A great moral tale on why adoption is always better than abortion really.
But then it came out, and god do I love it (I'm in Abbots seat and can't stand the man) that the baby that was given up for adoption wasn't his at all - DNA tests revealed that Abbots missing son wasn't abbots at all and the girlfriend had been a little more wild at uni than he had - and it all ties in to comic books:
Plea for privacy as media frenzy goes on
March 25 2005
The real father of the child Tony Abbott and his former girlfriend gave up for adoption as university students is working on the Melbourne set of Hollywood blockbuster Ghost Rider.
The Sydney-based father of two lives with his son and daughter in Manly. But he learnt last week that he was also the father of Daniel O'Connor, the son given up for adoption 27 years ago by Mr Abbott and his former girlfriend, Kathy Donnelly.
DNA tests proved that Bill Kensell, 47, a former housemate of Ms Donnelly, was the real father.
Ms Donnelly said the man, who she referred to as Bill, had phoned her because he saw pictures of Mr O'Connor in the media and thought he looked remarkably like his own son. Until then Mr Abbott, the federal Health Minister, believed he was the biological father.
The man's ex-wife said yesterday:
"This is a whole load of stuff which is no one else's business. We are just nobodies."
And just for kicks I'll point out that the real father also lives in Tony Abbots seat.
I do feel a bit mean for laughing, but it was such a low move to swing symapthy for a cause to bring his own life and beliefs into fedral politics that I hope it stands as a lesson to all.
(and it also makes me proud that a small country like us can give America a run at times for convulted politcal stories.