"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. No price is too high for the privilege of owning yourself." - Friedrich Nietzsche
Releasing vulnerable people from the oppression of our own government ...
Rod Bower* Pic* First published February 4
05.02.17 5:30 am
Speech by Fr Rod Bower, Anglican Diocese of Gosford. Delivered noon in Canberra today, Saturday 4th 2017 at the Refugee Rally “Walk for Freedom”, Mint Oval, Deakin. … “Of course in the developed world life is never as tenuous as marketing machines would have us believe, and certainly never as frightening as populist politicians and megalomaniac manipulators need us to believe. If we want to release some of the world’s most vulnerable people from the oppression of our own government, if we want to close the camps, if we want to liberate those who seek nothing more than freedom to live in peace, then we must first free the Australian people from the grip of the populism, nationalism and fear that crushes their humanity, and denies the humanity of the vulnerable …”
Dumb deals from a dumb government ...
Phil na Champassak* Cartoon* First published February 4
05.02.17 5:23 am
US President Donald Trump is right to describe the refugee resettlement deal to relocate 1250 currently detained in Nauru and Manus Island as “dumb” …
• Guardian Live: Trump travel ban: White House vows to overturn court block as visas reinstated
The failure of MIS plantations ...
John Hawkins*, Chudleigh. First published February 4
05.02.17 5:19 am
In, or adjoining the Chudleigh Valley, three large plantations were planted under the Abetz MIS scams: one at Union Bridge, another at the Needles and one at Caveside …
Premier Will’s plan is ‘virtually impossible ...’
Lindsay Tuffin* Pic* First published February 4
05.02.17 5:15 am
Bob Davey, President of Save Your Leatherwood Honey Association, has released a press release damning the Wilderness World Heritage Management Plan …
The Frankland River Forest: an Impending Liberal Siege ...
Ted Mead* First published February 2
04.02.17 4:30 am
Stop Press - Warning - The bulldozers are coming! …
• Invasive Species Council: Australia’s feral cat campaigner nabs cane toad gong
• ABC: Tasmania’s giant freshwater crayfish threatened by logging plan: conservationists
• Don’t Log the Tarkine Forests Protest: Hobart - Friday 3rd February, 3:50pm on Parliament Lawns. The protest will run from 4 – 5pm at the Executive Building.
NATION: Turnbull government a dead parrot as power-crazed Trump cuts loose
Urban Wronksi (aka David Tyler*) Cartoon* First published January 30
03.02.17 5:15 am
… Rude shocks continue. The Coalition of capons pulls its head out of the sand, only to be eye-gouged by newly proclaimed US Vandal-king, Donald the Red, a power-drunk, politically illiterate knuckle-headed tyrant eager to show he’s king of the playground at home and top dog on the world stage by abuse of his presidential executive powers. Trump, the campaign blowhard, was meant to morph into a Republican pussy-cat. That was the Coalition plan; its reality-denying rationale for inaction and inertia secured by yet another Julie Bishop charm offensive - now exposed as woefully inadequate. …
• Urban Wronski Update in Comments: Has Turnbull achieved another coup? Anti-Muslim travel ban by executive order loophole update: During a twenty minute phone call to President Trump at 9:00 am yesterday, the ABC breathlessly reports, Malcolm Turnbull achieved a breakthrough in Australia’s deal to re-settle, in the US, refugees currently suffering the torture of abuse and neglect in our offshore indefinite detention gulags on Manus and Nauru Island. On RN breakfast, Monday morning Fran Kelly wonders aloud if this will be Malcolm Turnbull’s coup. (Risky phrase, Fran, risky.) …
• The Conversation: Trump gives Turnbull refugee deal green light but government provides no detail
• Andrew Wilkie: Asylum seekers, rule of law and morality trashed as Turnbull kowtows to Trump ...
Religious freedom cannot be allowed to dwindle ...
Senator for Tasmania Helen Polley*
03.02.17 5:07 am
Australia is still the lucky country because we live in a pluralist society whereby competing ways of life co-exist in relative harmony. Freedom of speech and freedom of religion are two fundamental rights that make our way of life so good. However, when free debate is not conciliatory it can sometimes manifest itself in aggressive and sometimes unruly, and violent behaviour. These moments directly challenge our civilised society and the free exchange of ideas …
Isla MacGregor*
01.02.17 4:55 am
… My trip last Friday (December 16) kayaking from Geotopia Beach out to the islands at southern end of Pedder impoundment with views to the Western Arthurs and the Frankland Range. That evening near full moon over Mt Eliza and Mt Anne, with no wind on the water and clear sky … no mist but several shades of dark misty blue … surreal … words cannot describe.
ACOSS letter to Malcolm Turnbull on the Centrelink disaster ...
Dr Cassandra Goldie, CEO ACOSS* Pic: Flickr, Donkey Hotey
01.02.17 4:50 am
The Hon Malcolm Turnbull, Prime Minister, PO Box 6022, Parliament House, Canberra ACT 2600. Dear Prime Minister, I write to you on an urgent basis to call on you to immediately halt the automated recovery of Centrelink debts to prevent further harm being caused to potentially hundreds of thousands of people who have received a Centrelink payment. The automated program is issuing tens of thousands of incorrect discrepancy notices, which are in many cases leading to inaccurate debt notices. We are deeply concerned that people are paying debts they do not owe or paying a debt higher than what they owe …
TICT’s Ambit Claim = More Wilderness Development ...
Ted Mead*
31.01.17 4:38 am
Here we go again! – More smoke and mirrors, more assault on our wilderness areas …
Rosemary Farrell*
31.01.17 4:25 am
I believe it is high time that the issue of a “rolling extension” of the TAS RFA has a wider airing than it has had so far, especially in the media ...
Madeleine Ogilvie MP* Pic* First published January 29
31.01.17 4:23 am
… Little consideration appears to have been given to the critical question - ‘what do people want’ and how best to deliver it. Unless we are asking that question, and engaging Tasmanians in developing solutions, as policy makers we risk missing the mark. I have listened to the discussion on the merit of ‘citizen juries’, particularly in these pages, which pick up on these themes. The retention of local councils, with their local offices, local representation and local jobs, seems to me to be an important part of not only our democracy, but the functioning of our diverse towns and cities. Forced amalgamations are not the way to go (in my view) …
Why we should Change The Date ...
Lindsay Tuffin*
31.01.17 4:15 am
There could be no more a compelling argument to Change The Date than yesterday’s (Thur) concert in St David’s Park, Hobart ...
Patrick Carroll*
31.01.17 4:12 am
Mud, mud, mud! If nothing else, Falls Festival 2016/17 was great opportunity to model the Tasmanian uniform of Blundstone boots, boardshorts and a Kathmandu puffer jacket, and join in the annual passage of people to Marion Bay …
A letter to Jeremy Rockliff: I am appalled ...
Jean Walker* Pic: thinkpublic, Flickr First published January 28
28.01.17 5:30 am
The Hon Jeremy Rockliff, Minister for Education, 25 January 2017, Dear Mr Rockliff, I am writing to you as a past President of the AEU and a teacher of over 40 years. I was handed the attached page from a Hobart state primary school report by a teacher who was angry but too frightened to do anything about it herself …
Mr Trump greets Theresa May ...
Martyn Turner, https://www.facebook.com/martynturnercartoons/ . http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/martyn-turner
28.01.17 4:54 am
Used with permission ...
You can buy John Gay’s house for $2.5m ...
Editor via Ross
28.01.17 4:23 am
Look what’s for sale ... Mr John Gay’s house ... and it’s a snip at $2.5 mill ... The former Chairman of Gunns Ltd (now broke and non-existent) has his house on the market for ‘offers around $2.5 million’ with realestate.com.au HERE.
Abrupt Climate Change: A Further Update ...
Keith Antonysen* Pic*
28.01.17 4:15 am
Various contrarian opinions are based on the fundamental premise of anthropogenic climate change in relation to how light interacts with radiated infrared. Seth Miller, a scientist, provides some history; and then, criteria in relation to how science matters can be rationally evaluated.1 Seth Miller uses 9 criteria to show the strength of the science in relation to the greenhouse impact of carbon dioxide.2 …
Concerts Coming to Tasmania in 2017 ...
Jason Spencer* Pic: of Spiderbait
28.01.17 4:00 am
When most people think about Tasmania, they don’t think of a major stop on world tours. If you’re lucky, you get a vision of Looney Tunes’ Tasmanian Devil spinning wildly across a vast wilderness. Maybe you get a nagging sensation in the back of your brain about a dull documentary with a narrator that’s better for treating insomnia than any other prescription on the plant. You don’t think major world tour spot. However, after some extensive research, it is evident that Tasmania is a weirdly cool place for the music scene. To prove it, here are three bands coming to Tasmania in 2017 …
Division is death: Tasmanian Greens running out of time to do housekeeping ...
Duncan Mills* First published January 24
27.01.17 5:15 am
The former Liberal Prime Minister, the late Malcolm Fraser, with respect to party factionalism, said “division is electoral death” …
Erik Jensen* Pic* First published December 5
27.01.17 5:10 am
At a basic level, politics is the search for will. It is about finding the possibilities for a country. But if anything has defined the past decade or so of public life in Australia, it is the misplacing of this key principle. It is no longer plausible to expect our leaders to lead. That is why this message is not directed towards politicians. They are not listening. This is a message to musicians, to artists, to families. It is a call to boycott Australia Day celebrations on January 26. It is a call to find a new date to celebrate as one people. It is a call to move the culture, so the politics follows …
• New York Times: White Australians Celebrate, Aboriginal People Mourn
• New Matilda: CHANGE THE DATE: Read This If You Want To Know Why Australia Day Is So Offensive
• First Dog: Wait what?! You want to move Australia Day?! You monsters!!
• First Dog: On 26 January, raise a glass to the Great Australian Forgetting!
JK and LMcK in Comments: … And that’s without the main issue - the monstrous insult to the Aboriginal population and sweeping history under the carpet! Change the date, take all the flags away from people with sun-stroke, or, as TGC suggests, scrap AD altogether.
• Guardian: Why the number of Indigenous deaths in the frontier wars matters
• SATIRE, by Ted: Australia Day in the Tarkine ...
Releasing vulnerable people from the oppression of our own government ...
• Letter to the Editor on the NBN
• I’ll dress like a woman when you act like a president, police officer tells Trump
• Adolf Hitler Chancellor appointment anniversary: The signs are pointing to a storm ...
• Netting goals for women’s sport
• Advocates welcome new Liberal marriage equality push
• Basil’s Letters ...
• The Saturday Paper: The Saturday Briefing ...
• Patient care at Royal Hobart Hospital ‘severely’ impacted by redevelopment, nurses’ union says
• Nigel Scullion denies Indigenous funding overhaul a ‘disaster’ after scathing report
• Hitting the road in protest
• Check out Canberra’s first ‘solar highway’
• RHH emergency demand to be addressed
• Stayz Statement on Airbnb in Tassie ...
• Japan and Korea now focus of Trade Mission
• Air BnB Changes Welcome
• Tasmania leads the way for home sharing Down Under
• Hodgman must secure Tasmania’s $100m Gonski deal ...
• New York Times Opinion: Bring the refugees to Australia ...
• Embracing the sharing economy
• Failed logging laws secretly renewed
• Barnett Needs to Rule Out Caving to Frydenberg on Fracking
A Writer’s Journey: Creative non-fiction and the art of the essay with James Dryburgh
Living in Cuba ... what’s new for overlander.tv in 2017
Burnie, Devonport, Theatre Royal, Country Club: The Best of the Eagles ...
this is julie bishop and the compassionistas doing - compromised by dealings with hillarys foundation - another red flag…
