Australia is on fire. Politics suck.

Not the most cheery headline, is it?

It’s true though.

You might have noticed that, over the past few years, my angry political posts have dropped off. At the beginning of this blog, I’d post one fairly frequently. The thing is, those usually took time and resources (I like to link to others’ writings). As time’s gone on I feel like my bandwidth for that has decreased. Especially this year.

After all, writing about politics is hard when, as a progressive person, everything feels like it’s either taking a backwards step, or is just plain miserable. Writing about it too much makes me miserable too. I still get angry, but I don’t know what to do with those angry feels so it turns into anxiety about the future instead.

Fun. I’m not alone in this, I think. Knowing this is good.

However, it doesn’t change the fact that I’m losing hope in the political system and our ability to change anything. At all.

I don’t know where we can go from here, Australia. We re-elected this tool of a government (why) and now, somehow, we have to resist them for another two years until election time again? And then what? I honestly thought that we’d turf them out this time?

I try my hardest to remember that I’m not alone in this and that “drawing together” in good supportive ways (rather than jingoistic conservative nationalistic ways) is what’s needed. Fighting together against those who want to tear away everything that matters and stop us from building a better future. But still….it’s hard.

I almost don’t want to post this, because it feels too depressing.

I’m going to go write something else to cheer myself up.

How are we?

I’ve been thinking about lots of things, so this is a slightly stream-of-consciousness post.

How a sincere compliment can make someone’s day. 😁

I’m currently eagerly listening to a podcast called 13 Minutes to the Moon, which tracks the USA’s space race journey over thirteen episodes. 🌕

I am a bit of an astronomer – I love the stars, the moon, space. If it were safer and personally cheaper, I’d love to see the Earth from space (which is what the current episode is about.) We exist in a vast universe, which leaves me full of wonder. Including the little things here on Earth too. 🌏

I hope we continue to experience these wonders for years… though that does depend on action being taken against the bad things, like climate change. This leads to thoughts of what-ifs which are sometimes scary, because even if us little consumers do everything we individually can (which varies person-to-person), real action (not tokenism!) still needs to be taken by governments and major polluters. What will it take for the latter to be more concerned about changing for the better than preserving the current status quo? Bah humbug. 😠

My mind returns to other matters: all I can do is raise my voice and live my life as best I can, doing what I can. That includes being a part of the future through my work and communities – choir, church, online groups, friends. 😌

Spread love and do what you can. 💜

Shared: what happened last Thursday – a hopeful take

The below text is from an email that I was sent last week on Friday. Hurrah for the development of politics of conscience (at long bloody last). Let’s keep it going.

———————————————–

This is a long email, but I’ve just returned from Parliament House, and I wanted to let you know exactly what happened.

Yesterday, Scott Morrison’s Government played games in the Senate and then fled the House of Representatives – leaving their entire policy agenda behind – to avoid a bill that would compel Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton to transfer children, their families and anyone else in need of medical assessment and treatment from Manus and Nauru to care in Australia. 

But the Morrison Government’s cowardice didn’t stop Senators from an extraordinary coalition of conscience. They voted hour after hour after hour, up against a filibuster from the Government, Pauline Hanson and Cory Bernardi on the final day of sitting for 2018, to push the #KidsOffNauru legislation through the Senate. 

But the final Senate vote came one hour too late. By the time it had passed, the Morrison Government had already shut down the House of Representatives and literally fled the building. 

It was a bittersweet moment. But this legislation will still be waiting when the House of Representatives returns in February – and it will pass. When it does, within 48 hours of it becoming law, we will see the kids and their families off Nauru, and emergency flights of critically ill men and women from offshore detention touch down in Australia. 

But Clare, to come within one hour of passing a bill that would have brought children and critically ill people from Manus and Nauru to Australia BY SUNDAY was absolutely heartbreaking. 

Newly elected Dr Kerryn Phelps, who drove this Bill through in the first fortnight of her Federal career, slumped back in her chair as the Bill passed the Senate but the lights were already off in the House. 

These same scenes repeated themselves as Senators left the chamber. Senator Tim Storer who tabled the Bill, having worked night after night to finely balance competing considerations across the political spectrum, had his head buried in his hands. 

But the thing I most wanted to tell you, Clare, was that in that same moment that our politics most failed us, the incredible potential of politics and our democracy was also at its most evident. 

The extraordinary events of yesterday happened because politicians of principle genuinely listened to the people-powered movement in Australia, and the voices of those still detained. Politicians who knew that the treatment of those on Manus and Nauru isn’t about left and right – it’s about right and wrong. 

I watched the Australian Greens Senators huddle anxiously together outside the Chamber door (with Adam Bandt actually running across from the House of Representatives), trying to find a way through the Government’s filibuster. They knew they were just inches away from saving the lives of those in offshore detention, whose rights they had defended for decades. 

Greens Immigration spokesperson Senator Nick McKim stood shoulder to shoulder with Senator Storer to table the bill, working tirelessly with people from across the political spectrum hoping for a win especially for the oft-forgotten adults. As, McKim exited the Senate when it was all done, close to tears, all he could say was:“How can I tell those people in the camps they have to wait another three months for treatment, when they needed it yesterday.” 

I watched the women of the House of Representatives crossbench, Rebekha Sharkie, former Liberal MP Julia Banks, and Cathy McGowan embrace Dr Phelps and her Bill. They also stood in their own right to argue in different ways for a sensible solution to the medical crisis that has enveloped the children, and the adults in offshore detention. 

I watched Senator Derryn Hinch forced to battle Twitter trolls from his Senate seat, remaining emphatic that he stood with all kids, including those detained offshore – even as the Morrison Government cynically dangled legislation he had long fought for to entice him over to their side. He sat alongside Centre Alliance Senators Griff and Patrick, both weary and indignant at the antics of the Government playing with Parliamentary procedure to avoid following the clear desireof the Australian public to get kids off Nauru, and follow doctors’ orders with the women and men. 

There stood Andrew Wilkie and his staff, biting their nails as they watched the Senate filibuster and then the House of Representatives clock. Wilkie had put the initial #KidsOffNauru Bill forward in the House months ago, but had graciously worked with everyone else to help draft a new Bill and find a new pathway through the Senate to ensure it become law. He stood repeatedly in the House this week, as he has done for years and years, arguing for justice for the people detained in our name. 

And then, after so long of being ripped apart on this issue, I watched the Australian Labor Party. Penny Wong, on her feet for hours at the table in the Senate, stabbing her finger in righteous fury at the Government’s dirty tricks. Their Senators determined to hold, in the face of fear-mongering Government speeches about boats and borders, to the fundamental tenet that sick people should never be denied treatment. When Opposition Leader Bill Shorten stood before snapping cameras and said kids should be off Nauru late last night, he stood for the work of a united Labor caucus led by Shadow Immigration Minister Shayne Neumann, which went back and forth for months between lawyers, doctors and internal champions – intent on finding the way through, even from Opposition, to finally address the medical crisis offshore. 

What I saw yesterday was a coalition of conscience emerge. And it renewed my faith in the promise of our politics. 

I watched this coalition of conscience come together and come within one hour of delivering a historic defeat to a cruel Government which has let 12 people die on their watch in offshore detention. 

I saw politicians put aside party and ego. I saw them work together the way we always want them to. I saw them sneaking BBQ Shapes just off the Senate floor, because the filibuster meant they hadn’t eaten since 7am. I saw their faces crumple as they realised children would be spending another 3 months in detention, because the Government had thwarted them on timing. I saw them shake off the despair and go out with a grim smile for the media. And I saw them promise, on national television, that they would be waiting, when the Parliament returns on the 13th of February, to finally deliver care and safety to those offshore, and pass this Bill before the House so it becomes law. 

That’s why I wanted to email you right now even though the words aren’t polished and I’m still in my pyjamas. Because I want you to know that yesterday showed us that this fight is still worth it. I want you to know that every email you send, every phonecall you make, every protest you attend – it’s all worth it. 

Because while politics created the cruel offshore detention regime, it can also break it. 

Stay tuned for next steps. Because this movement won’t just sit waiting for February. We’re going to keep fighting, every step of the way alongside those people detained in our name. And now we know that we will win. 

Yours in hope, 

Shen and Renaire for the GetUp! team 

Ps. The Government’s going to come for this coalition of conscience before February. With Dutton’s usual lies about boats and brown men and what-not. We must be ready to fight back. 

Reblog: Labor, Outrage and Encryption. But Why? A Wicked Problem.

Insights from “The Red Window” about another political issue that got people grumpy last week.

She makes some good points, though does take a few swipes at the Greens because she’s partisan. She admits it. Don’t let that deter you from reading it though. It explains things quite clearly and is worth a read.

“There has been a lot of vigorous debate on Twitter about the Encryption Bill and Labor’s role. Here is my take on how it all panned out and why. I think the WHY is important because no one seems to want to discuss that. The WHYs are just as important in politics as the Whats, Hows, and Whens. Please note, this is not a debate about encryption technology. It is my take on why Labor made certain decisions. Everyone can decide for themselves.“

https://polyfeministix.wordpress.com/2018/12/07/labor-outrage-and-encryption-but-why-a-wicked-problem/

A political rhyme

I thought my first post back after my accidental hiatus /

Would be full of funny musings, an update on my life’s status./

(Free from uni, qualified at last, job hunting and house-move planning set my time steadfast.) /

Or, perchance, a recipe post, I’m overdue for a few of those; /

Plenty of good meals I’ve made in the past two months or so.

Instead, today, I share a rant of politics and power, /

And how a scummy gov’ment contrived to shorten the hour/

And day of parliamentary dismissal,/

To ensure they wouldn’t lose a vote on the floor; no it’s not apocryphal.

Bad enough the week before, they ignored the message sent /

By striking students out to plead and shake some common sense /

Into the minds of climate-change-denying politicians, who are proving remarkably dense. /

This week’s fight was for a different cause, another long-fought war;/

Of words and desperate actions to free those forbidden from our shore; /

Their only “crime” to have fled for their lives, to a safer haven/

Through a dangerous voyage not lightly undertaken. /

A passage that’s NOT illegal, despite what some may say,/

All they want is hope, and we’ve taken it away. /

For six long years, they’ve languished in island hellholes;/ it’s made many sick, with malaise physical and of the souls. /

They’ve bled and struggled and DIED there, out of sight and mind, /

Of the Aussie gov’ment, who are wilfully blind, /

To the cries of anguish from detainees and friends; /

Willing to #bringthemhere and let their trauma end.

And what about the kids? The nation began to ask. #kidsout became the rallying cry; was that too much to ask?

Momentum slowly built, then took off with a rumble; /

When a new independent stood and declared her trouble,/

With the current practices, and made her stand clear. /

“Support my Bill, it’s past time now to bring these people cheer/

And the medical attention that they so sorely need. /

The gauntlet thrown, the players aligned themselves one-by-one; /

Amendments saw Labor at LAST stand up strong. /

For a moment, we felt the gasp, of fresh clear air, /

Heralding a new way forward, the day was nearly here. /

But before we could release our sighs of relief, /

The government went and slammed the door, a thief!/

They knew they’d lose a vote but fought it all the same; /

Continuing their endless turn of passing the blame. /

They trotted out the tired lines of “stopping the boats” and “protecting borders”, /

Ignoring how we all know how they’re false orders,/

Designed to give a reason to an unreasonable crime,/

Of locking up the innocent, for fear and power sublime. /

Yet they call themselves Christian? That I don’t understand, /

When the foundation family once sought refuge in other lands. /

Today’s government has cognitive dissonance of the highest order, /

Drunk on power and influence, and an imaginary world order.

A fact they forget, or they’re choosing to ignore,/

Next year is an election year when we can settle the score. /

They’re on the nose already and can only delay so much,/

When their time’s up, it’s up, regardless of what they do to try to keep in touch, /

Their fake promises and tax cuts will be seen for what they are,

And if they try the racist dog-whistle, well it won’t get far – /

They tried it at a local level last month and it was found quite bizarre./

So angry people discouraged by the latest conservative gasp, /

Let’s follow the State example and chuck them out on their arse!

Spring dawns anew – once the cold blows through

Around me, the signs of spring gently creep in. The trees that I call “early-budders” – often fruit trees whose leaves start as budding flowers in August. When I lived in my hometown, there were a few of these in the back garden, and my spring-and-sunshine heart would eagerly await their coming after the long dreary weather of winter.

In Melbourne, the First Australians consider this time of year to be “pre-Spring” (see my calendar post). I love this time of year and its heralding of new growth and sunshine after dark dreary days – it’s no wonder I’ve posted about it a few times before.

There are other signs of spring beyond the early-budders near my current home. The wattle trees are in full bloom, all yellows and golds with green leaves. The wattle took pride of place in a local event that happens annually a few suburbs over from me – the Wattle Festival occurred on Sunday. It was fun, with steam trains, live music, market stalls, plenty of food, and glorious sunshine. Here’s a picture of some wattle close to home!

That’s not to say we aren’t still getting cold days. The temperature in my area wobbled below zero, then above, then to zero, then above again between 06:00 and 08:00 this morning. At 09:00, it was still only 4*C!

Another sign of spring are the lengthening days. We’re very close to being able to say that daylight lasts beyond 18:00 – and you can tell. It feels brighter of an evening, and of a morning too, where the sun rises before 07:00. It’s lovely! I’m going to enjoy travelling to and from placement in a couple of weeks because of that, despite the early hour I’ll have to wake up.

As you might have gathered from my absence last week, it was a busy week. I am so close to finishing the project. Huzzah! Once that’s finished, I have a few little side quests that I will do between now and the start of my final subject. As usual, the year speeds along. I will enjoy the chance to slow down next week, when I’m off on a holiday for a few days (more on that in another post!).

Tbh, the project work was useful in other ways last week, as it meant I was too busy to be wrapped up in watching the farce that took place in Canberra. They can swap PMs all they like, the fruit is still rotten at the core. Same policies, similar slogans, different salesman. Boo. As for our new PM, well – a “moderate” conservative wanker is still a conservative wanker, and a hypocrite to boot (worships the Prosperity Gospel, bleurgh). I wish that we could just have a Federal election already, to toss them out! (Dare we hope that the by-election Turnbull indicated will happen in his seat in the near future will speed that up?)

There’s better news in state politics. The RentFair bill has passed the lower house (yay!). This morning there was an announcement that the Victorian government will create a suburban Metro rail link. I’ve been saying there should be one for five years! (There used to be one, that Sr John Monash built, but lack of patronage closed it in the 50s.) It’s a massive long-term project, not a quick fix – starting in 2022, completed by 2050! Wow. Read more here. It’s a great idea – but the timing of the announcement is no coincidence, with a state election just under three months away. (Might be a good time to check if you need to update your details, Victorians.)

 

Let’s see, what else have I been up to?

On Thursday, I went to an event at uni. It was very swish! Yummy food, a few drinks, dancing… I love a good night out.

On Sunday, after the festival, my partner and I went to the cinema and watched MEG. It was a good movie, scary with some silliness to lighten things up as needed. It had a good cast, with competent women who took no bull from the men, and heroes with personal quests and failings, as well as a Rich White Dude as the human antagonist. They made the megalodon of the title appropriately scary, as well – not overblown, as I feared they would.

Oh yeah, and on Saturday I went to an AFL match for the first time in ages. That was a bit more tense than I’d expected, but as I was with people going for both teams, it was still fun. Quite the game, too!

What have you been up to?

 

Btw, as I mentioned in an earlier post, on August 1, Facebook stopped allowing automatic syncing and sharing of posts. I’m sharing this one on my personal profile, as I’m not sure if I want to get a public page. If you’ve come from Facebook, please sign up via email or WordPress in order to keep in the loop!

Finally! Rental reforms introduced to Vic Parliament

These reforms were announced last year. Now, after months of consultation, whatever that means in this instance, they are finally ready to be introduced to Parliament.

Here’s hoping there are no delays – the Government’s lack of majority in the Upper House, and the tight timeframe (this is the fourth-last Parliamentary sitting week for the year) – notwithstanding.

These reforms mean a number of good things for renters – new protections for people escaping family violence, new protections about pet ownership, new rights about minor modifications, and other reforms. See the announcement here if you want more details. See here and here for news media about it.

Yay!

 

 

 

What a couple of weeks…

Hi all.

Whew.

Things are a bit tough right now, aren’t they?

Ugly stuff is happening. The treatment of refugees in America (and, more quietly, in and offshore from Australia) is one issue. The latest blow-up has occurred during Refugee Week, which is a sick irony – especially when refugee rights matter all the time, as all human rights do. Another issue – especially if you’re a young city woman like me – is the recent murders of young women who were just living life. Earlier in the week (and last week), I’d wanted to write more about that, but plenty of people, especially women, have said lots already. Also, my emotional bandwidth is occupied by those very issues and other life ones.

There are so many good things happening, too. The uproar of resistance, quiet and loud, of people saying, “enough”, is a good sign. A reminder that there are more good people working for “equality, diversity, justice and love” (as I saw it mentioned online) than there are opposing that. I’ll quote him because it lifted me when I needed it yesterday:

“There are hundreds of millions of people in this world who (just like you) wake up every day trying to be the kind of person the world needs; lavish with compassion, overflowing with generosity, relentless with love. You are, even when you’re not aware of it, surrounded on all sides by like-hearted people who are not okay with the suffering around them either.”
source here

So, while getting annoyed at world things and thinking about how to change them, prioritising life things, and keeping on keeping on, I’ll take time for me where I can, to be with good people and do fun things. Like this, today – a mob called the Roo Keepers came to my uni campus and I got to hold some different Australian wildlife.

Keep on doing your thing, people. Be your own superhero, including being brave enough to reach out to people if things aren’t going well.

Shout-out to an admired blogger

When I had just started to fill my email inbox with different blogs and the like from across the globe and around the web, I stumbled across a blog. It combined cheap recipes with real-world politics and I liked it. Now, I use their recipes sometimes and still read their political views. It’s not views though, it’s life. Food is political and Jack knows this all too well.

I’ve mentioned them a few times before when doing a recipe post or the like, but here’s a direct shout-out: go check out Cooking on a Bootstrap and send some love their way, they need it right now. Maybe buy one of their books?

If you’ve got hate, stick it somewhere else!

 

Shared from The Age: Nightmare Commute

See the article here: https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/the-west-has-melbourne-s-worst-commutes-four-hours-a-day-across-town-20180301-p4z28i.html

Before I moved to Melbourne, I was travelling at least four hours a day (round trip) to get from home to uni and back, from central north-west to north-east.

Where I live now in Melbourne, I have a lot of privilege in terms of easy access to PT. I also have privilege in that, even when I was commuting, I can walk a decent distance in a relatively short space of time because I’m not limited by physical health overmuch.

It makes one think, though: the people who are most severely affected are those who, like me, can’t drive for whatever reason. (My reason is that I’m still learning how to.) We can’t just jump in the car and go if the PT system isn’t present.

A group in the article suggest that the electrification of the rail line to Melton needs to happen at the same time as the current Metro Tunnel works, instead of after it, because of the current capacity problems. I’d like that to happen – but I thought one of the reasons for waiting was that the current bottleneck in the City Loop needs to be resolved by the tunnel or else it’ll still be more of the same?

What’s needed are more connecting services, like buses, to bridge the gap in the meantime. It’s a question I ask when I see a new estate going up: where’s the connecting PT services?

I expect we’ll be hearing a lot more about this issue and others like it in the coming months. It is, after all, a state election year.