The Network

LIB-NATS HAVE YET TO PRODUCE A REPUTABLE BUDGET : MEANWHILE THE RICH, POWERFUL & CORPORATE ARE REFINING THE ART OF TAX DODGING. READ MORE.

2016-03-30T11:16:00.000+11:00

Australia doesn’t have a spending problem, it has a revenue problem. Over 30% of corporations based in Australia in the last financial year paid NO TAX, while the majority of those that paid tax paid less than 5% tax.

It is obvious to everyone, except our Federal politicians, that Australia has a revenue problem. While on a daily basis the corporate owned media carries on about welfare fraud and the burden carried by the community because 33% of Australians rely on old age, disability, unemployment and single parents benefits to survive. How many Australians know that Murdoch owned News Corporation (which owns over 70% of Australia’s newspapers) received an 886 million dollar tax refund during the 2013/2014 financial year and paid NO TAX during the 2014/2015 financial year, while 21st Century Fox, Murdoch’s other media arm, paid less than 1% tax during the same period?

It seems, in Australia, there is one set of taxation laws for corporations and another set for the rest of the community. Unless Federal politicians, of all political hues, are willing to make corporate taxation revenue their number one priority during 2016, we can expect to be told, ad nauseam, there is not enough money for

PUBLIC HEALTH,

PUBLIC EDUCATION,

PUBLIC HOUSING,

PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE,

SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS.

Read and/or download the full article below

Bombings in Brussels - We are sad with you Brussels - May these deaths be not anonymous - May these deaths not be in vain

2016-03-23T07:59:00.002+11:00

Picture above orignally from Le Monde

This pic was taken from here

Picture from Le Monde

Dale Hess Calendar - March 21 2016

2016-03-23T07:43:00.000+11:00

Thursday 31 March, 7 pm: Palestinian Poet Rafeef Ziadeh. Rafeef has received many accolades from leading lights in the arts such as Pulitzer-prize winning author and poet Alice Walker. In fact, British filmmaker Ken Loach has said, ‘Rafeef's poetry demands to be heard. She is powerful, emotional and political. Please read her work and see her perform. You cannot then be indifferent to the Palestinian cause.’ Kaleide Theatre, RMIT, 360 Swanston Street, Melbourne CBD. Rafeef will be joined by the indomitable singer/songwriter Phil Monsour, the album's producer, and the installation video and performance artist Aseel Tayah known for her most glorious voice. Profits from the night will be donated to Olive Kidsto assist Palestinian refugees in the Middle East. TICKETS AND BOOKINGS: www.trybooking.com/180790. $ 22 to $29.

Tuesday 5 April, 6 pm: Black Mist, White Rain. Featured speakers: Sue Coleman-Haseldine and Abaac Anjain-Maddison. Sue is a Kokatha-Mula woman living in Ceduna, South Australia. She was born at the Koonibba mission near Maralinga, a site of British nuclear testing. In December 2014 she travelled to Austria to deliver a testimony on the impacts of nuclear testing on Aboriginal land and people to 158 governments at the Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons. Abacca was born on Rongelap, an island that will remain uninhabitable for generations due to radioactive contamination caused by nuclear testing conducted in the Pacific. For many people in Australia and the Pacific, nuclear weapons are not a distant, abstract threat, but a lived reality – a persistent source of pain and suffering, of contamination and dislocation. Indigenous communities bear the brunt of this ongoing scourge. Venue: Drill Hall, 26 Therry Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000. The event is free but with limited space, so please register to ensure you get a seat. Book here. More information: www.icanw.org/au/bmwr. Contact Details: Gem Romuld - gem@icanw.org - 0421 955 066.

Thursday 7 April, 6 pm - 8.30 pm: Public Lecture: will terrorism and the ‘war on terror’ ever end? Prof. Joseph Camilleri will present a special lecture. The United States launched the war on terror at 9.30pm on September 11th 2001. Since then, over 61,000 terrorist attacks have killed more than 140,000 people. Many more have died in the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Libya. Many millions have had to flee their homes. Is there an end in sight to this mayhem? Venue: St Michael's on Collins

120 Collins Street – Melbourne.

Bookings: http://stmichaels.org.au/event/joseph-camilleri-lecture

Sunday 10 April, 12.30 pm – 6 pm: Interfaith Film Festival. Different Books, Common Word - 1h (Muslim / Christian); Solomon & Gaenor [M]- 1h 42m (Jewish / Christian) ; Arranged [PG] - 1h 33 m (Muslim / Jewish). Cost $15 to cover expenses | Further donations to JCMA welcome Light refreshments will be provided. Venue: AUSTRALIAN CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY 115 Victoria Parade, Fitzroy 3065 Christ Lecture Theatre (5); Mercy Lecture Theatre (6). Paid Parking available on Young Street. RSVP by Monday 4 April 2016: Eventbrite Bookings (preferred): http://bit.ly/1JX9tSE; T: 03 9287 5590; M: 0400 211 221; Email:womenconference@jcma.org.au.

Monday 11 April; Sunday and Monday, 24 April and 25 April; Sunday 1 May: Ecological Literacy. Ecological literacy was initially used by David W. Orr and physicist Fritjof Capra in the 1990s, to understand the Earth as a living system whose well-being was dependent on our thinking in terms of the interdependence of all living systems. In his Web of Life Capra writes of the emergence of a new paradigm challenging the old mechanistic and linear view of the universe and challenging notions of continuous growth and development and with it consumerism and commodification as the “normal”. Ecological literacy is about using this interdependent view of the world to help address the complex dilemmas around the destructive impact that humans have had on the world bringing us to what is often called the Anthropocene… And together we'll draw on the experiences and wisdom of all participants, and the 'natural world' around us. Cost $800. Further details: info@oases.edu.au.

Tuesday, 12 April, 6 pm – 9 pm: Nuclear In/Justice. The Anti-Nuclear and Clean Energy Collectivepresents a new experiential workshop exploring the nuclear industry in a fun and participative way. We will go on a journey of movement and theatre to understand our role in the nuclear machine and work towards nuclear guardianship. Union House - Melbourne University, Parkville Campus, Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia. Google map and directions. This is a free event. RSVP’s essential. Contact: Jemila Rushton:jemila.rushton@gmail.com.

Wednesday 13 April, 6.45 pm: Rare screening of On the Waterfront. Transparency International Australia’s Victorian Chapter presents a screening of the film On the Waterfront. Set against the Waterfront Crime Commission (1953), this film has everything: the mob, murder, corruption, social justice and a love story. See a young Marlon Brando struggle with the difficulty of making moral choices in an uncertain modern world. The film endures as a powerful observation of both society and humanity, resonating for audiences as much today as when it was made in 1954. It swept the Academy Awards in the year of its release. An introduction to the film will be made by Phil Newman (CEO of Transparency International Australia) and Tricia Caswell (former union leader & ACTU Executive Member). Phil will highlight TI Australia's work and Tricia will reflect on her experience in the union movement. Book your ticket here. Pls help us make this inaugural film night a success by inviting your friends by forwarding this email, or posting info on to your Facebook, Linkedin or other social media sites. Where: ACMI Cinema 1, Federation Square.Cost: $20 ($15 concession)

Monday 25 April – Friday 29 April: Living the Peace Testimony with Greg Rolles. Explore the connections between war, militarism, climate change, colonisation of Indigenous peoples, racism – and your own urges to help bring peace.

Silver Wattle Quaker Centre,

1063 Lake Road, Bungendore, NSW.

Telephone:02 6238 0588

Tuesday 26 April, 6.30 pm – 10 pm: Remembrance and Resilience: 30 Years after Chernobyl. TheAnti-Nuclear and Clean Energy Collective and the Medical Association for the Prevention of War (MAPW) present a night of short films and talks to remember the Chernobyl disaster and to celebrate the ongoing resistance to the nuclear industry. Joining us will be a special guest speaker, Bill Williams from MAPW. Films to be confirmed. Venue: Loop Project Space and Bar, 23 Meyers Place, Melbourne, VIC 3000

Google map and directions. Contact: ace@foe.org.au. $10/$15 solidarity.

Sunday 22 May, 6 pm: An Evening with Edward Snowden. The Castan Centre for Human Rights Law is proud to be supporting Edward Snowden's first ever (virtual) speaking tour in Australia, presented by Think, Inc. Join us to hear Snowden comment on the dangers of Australia's growing governmental surveillance, the tumultuous relationship between individualism and 'national security', and on the actions that polarised him as a paladin for the public and a public enemy to politicians. (Appearing via a video link). The Plenary – Melbourne Convention Centre, 1 Convention Centre Place, Melbourne. For tickets click here.

Friday 10 June – Monday 13 June: Indigenous Spirituality and Culture with Karen Kime. Journey into Aboriginal ways of teaching country, kinship and cross-cultural issues in work and community. The workshop will also include examples of other indigenous people. Silver Wattle Quaker Centre, 1063 Lake Road, Bungendore, NSW. Telephone:02 6238 0588

Monday 11 July; Sunday and Monday, 31 July and 1 August; Saturday 10 September: Recreating our Organisations. We live in a world of organisations, educational, familial, work…each with its own culture and processes and each creating its own set of experiences for those who interact with it. Whilst we cannot escape from the reality of organizations in our lives, we can learn to better understand, work with and change (for the better) the organizations in which we play a part…In this unit then our central question addresses the possibilities of recreating or re-imagining the way we organise that would create more soulful, meaningful, value based, collaborative and generative organisations that are relevant for 21st century sustainable and socially just organisations. Cost $800. Further details: info@oases.edu.au.

Friday 21 October – Saturday 22 October: The Justice Conference. The 2016 Justice Conference has a brilliant line up of international and Australian speakers, thinkers and practitioners. With two full days of content, including key note sessions, worship, poetry, panels, electives and glimpses of justice, there is no doubt that you will be challenged and inspired. Stay tuned for more information regarding the program as we near the conference. Venues: Melbourne Town Hall and Atheneaum Theatre. Further details:http://www.thejusticeconference.com.au/

Video coverage from Stan Grant's 'The Point' on the Redfern forum, "Men Speak Out For Treaty" (14th March).

2016-03-19T16:57:00.002+11:00

An excellent article and link to video coverage from Stan Grant's 'The Point' last evening on the Redfern forum, "Men...
Posted by Georgina Gartland on Tuesday, 15 March 2016

Ballarat Interfaith Network and the Islamic Society of Ballarat are joining together to present an open day at the Mosque of Ballarat on April 16. Details below.

2016-03-17T10:49:00.000+11:00

The post below is cross posted from the blog of the Ballarat Interfaith Network, Beside The Creek.

Ballarat Interfaith Network

is happy to promote

for the

Islamic Society of Ballarat

an opportunity to visit

the Mosque of Ballarat

on 16 April 2016

details below

The theme of the event is

'Come to Common Terms'

Lecture by Sheikh Waseem Razvi on interfaith dialogue

PALM SUNDAY ACTIONS ON THE EASTERN SEABOARD OF AUSTRALIA - THIS COMING SUNDAY!

2016-03-16T16:20:00.000+11:00

From BORN FREE

HIATUS OVER – EVENT THIS SUNDAY

As a logically minded person with a love for linguistics, I distinctly remember learning the true root of the proper word for brekky – BREAKFAST meant to literally BREAK the FAST that you just did while sleeping. 7 year old mind = blown. So now on this sunny Wednesday morning after a refreshing night storm in Sydney last night, I am reminded of that moment. Firstly because it is one of the first days that I haven’t had sweat dripping down my back by 11am in what seems like months and SECONDLY because there is finally a really big, important event to write about here at Born Free.

If you’re wondering if I’ve become lazy or joined the Liberal Party, you can rest easy. Lazy is debatable and well I’d join the LNP over my dead body. I’ve been really busy growing my business as a digital producer and moving house, and I’m really sorry that I haven’t been as active on this blog.

But after last week’s International Women’s Day march, my sign making skills are polished and I’m ready to march once again – with a nationwide rally happening this Sunday.

Sydney: 1pm at Belmore Park (by Central Station)

SPEAKERS:

JESSICA WALKER (Queensland Teachers Union, Yeronga High School & Save Mojgan campaign)
JOEL SHAKESPEARE (former Save the Children worker on Nauru)
REV JOHN BARR (President, NSW Ecumenical Council)
MS WIES SCHUIRINGA (Religious Society of Friends – Quakers)
REV MYUNG HWA PARK (Uniting Synod NSW/ACT)
RABBI GAD KREBS (Kehillat Masada Synagogue)
FR SHENOUDA MANSOUR (Coptic Orthodox Church)
DR SUE WAREHAM (Medical Association for Prevention of War)
SHOKUFA TAHIRI (Afghan refugee)
IAN RINTOUL (Refugee Action Coalition)
MC: DR DAVID ISAACS (Former Nauru paediatrician

Melbourne: 2pm State Library of Victoria, Swanston St

SPEAKERS:

Daniel Webb – Human Rights Law Centre
Nazir Yousafi – Refugee & President Victorian Afghan Associations Network
Senator Sarah Hanson Young – Australian Greens
Interfaith Panel: Rabbi Jonathan Keren-Black – The Leo Baeck Centre,
Mohamed Mohideen – Islamic Council of Victoria
Stuart McMillan, President Uniting Church,
Lisa Fitzpatrick – State Secretary ANMF
Shen Narayanasamy – GetUp!
Pamela Curr – Asylum Seeker Resource Centre

Musical performances by Dan Sultan, Melbourne Mass Gospel Choir, South of the River, Little Foot and Shaking The Tree (Dan Sultan will be performing at the end of the march in Queen Vic Gardens, half the speakers will also be at the end of the march).

Toowoomba: 11:30am, St Patrick’s Cathedral, James Street

At 12.30 there will be speeches at Civic Square followed by Community Picnic. BYO food and love to share :)

Armidale: 11:30am, Judith Wright Grove, corner of Faulkner and Dumaresq Streets, across from the Farmer’s Market

Gather 11:15 for an 11:30 March to Rally in the Mall with Theatre, Speakers and Music

For further information call Bea Bleile on 0458 752 680

Any other events please contact me so I can post them!

Happy Marching!

MEDICARE WORKS BECAUSE IT'S ONE IN ALL IN - NOW MIKE BAIRD IS CUTTING NSW LOOSE. MEDICARE WILL BE DESTROYED.

2016-03-15T13:49:00.000+11:00

BAIRD BLOWS THE LID OFF

MEDICARE PRIVATISATION AGENDA

Written by Catherine King

Federal Member for Ballarat and

Shadow Minister for Health

Posted on March 12, 2016 by winstonclose

Friday, 11 March 2016

NSW Liberal Premier Mike Baird has today exposed the Liberals’ agenda to privatise Medicare, with his plan to allow private insurers to move into general practice.

The Liberal plan to allow private health insurers into GP practices would mark the end of Medicare as a universal health insurance scheme.

It will create a two-tier Americanised health system where those with private cover receive preferential access, and pensioners, benefit card holders and others who cannot afford private insurance are relegated to a safety net system.

This would be disastrous for patients, but also be disastrous for the health Budget, pushing up GP Fees.

The previous Minister for Health also toyed with this proposal, allowing a trial of private health insurance in general practice in QLD which saw an administration fee paid and guaranteed appointments within 24 hours for private health insurance customers.

This is the thin edge of the wedge when it comes to the destruction of our universal health care system and the government must immediately rule it out.

It’s no coincidence this latest Liberal attack on Medicare comes just weeks after Commonwealth Health department officials revealed at Senate Estimates the Turnbull Government has been working in secret for 18 months on plans to privatise the Medicare payments system.

In both cases, the Liberals have attempted to keep their privatisation agenda secret.

The Liberal move to create a two tier system for general practice was only revealed because of a NSW Labor Freedom of Information request. None of the tenders for the plan to privatise the Medicare payments system were listed on the official government AusTender website.

Today’s revelations confirm that after spending their first two years in office trying to kill Medicare by slashing $60 billion out of health, the Liberals are now spending 2016 trying to sell it.

It confirms yet again, that the Liberals cannot be trusted with health, and cannot be trusted with Medicare.

Australians deserve better than a Government which is determined to wreck Medicare and introduce a two tier Americanised health system where access to care is determined by wealth, not need.

To read more articles by Catherine King, please go here

Australian Export Grains Innovation Centre (AEGIC) has released a map showing a new climate is emerging/changing in Australia

2016-03-15T11:58:00.000+11:00

AUSTRALIAN EXPORT GRAINS INNOVATION CENTRE

(AEGIC)

Andrew Bray

14 hrs

This is impressive from the Australian export grains board and a lot of farmers will listen to them because it's not what they'd consider to be the usual lefties.

But basically they're saying climate change is real, they just don't say climate change.

AEGIC: New Australian climate developing

A new climate is emerging in Australia, according to new maps released by the Australian Export Grains Innovation Centre (AEGIC).

WWW.AEGIC.ORG.AU|BY AEGIC

Of shoes and string and Facebook algorithms ....

2016-03-11T07:11:00.000+11:00

We may love or hate Facebook - but do we understand the mysteries behind it? Well, I certainly don't. This is why I am including in my blog and linking on Facebook to this post.

Clearly, the original poster was frustrated and angst-ridden. The response below the post explains what happens behind the scenes in Facebook-land

HOW IT FEELS WHEN SOME OF OUR BETTER VIDEO POSTS GO UNACKNOWLEDGED BY THE VAST MAJORITY, IF NOT ALL, OUR PAGE...
Posted by Church of the Working Class on Thursday, 10 March 2016

Laurence Brown Facebook delivers posts according to an algorithm, which they keep largely secret. They do this, because if they showed people every post, from every friend and page, then we'd just have too many in our news feeds. It's clear that things like youtube videos (which do not auto play) and external links, are often given a lower priority, compared to videos, photos and other content hosted directly on facebook. Other things like 'trending topics' also give posts a boost. These algorithms do get changed periodically, so the skills you need, to compose a successful post, have to be constantly updated. This is just what I've learnt from running several pages on here. I'm thinking that perhaps, criticising the inaction of your subscribers, isn't the best way to encourage them.

The Dunera Boys and how Nicholas Gruen made my day on Facebook.

2016-03-10T08:13:00.001+11:00

I had a most heart-warming experience on Facebook yesterday. The original post is heart-rending if you go to the link and listen to the testimony of this particular woman and what she faced as a girl in state care in NSW. She was imprisoned at Hay. As well as re-posting the original post in the hope that people would become more aware of what has happened to this nation's children in the past, I asked the question if the prison at Hay could be the same place that the Dunera Boys were sent to in 1940.

I often cite the Dunera Boys when speaking of the way refugees and asylum seekers have been treated by successive Australian Governments since the 1990s. Australian Governments and large sections of the Australian population have shown across decades that they dislike receiving people fleeing from all manner of hardship and life-threatening situations.

The Dunera Boys were people who had sought refuge in England from the vicissitudes of Hitler's Europe. They were a mixed bunch. Many of them were Jewish. Many of them were well educated. Australia finished up being well blessed by those who came on the HMT Dunera when eventually the evacuees were settled into the broad Australian society and made lives for themselves.

Portrait of Fred Gruen

by Erwin Fabian.

Erwin Fabian, like Fred,

is a 'Dunera Boy'.

I always cite Fred Gruen. Fred Gruen became a great and influential economist. His son Nicholas Gruen, is one of Australia's leading health economists. The blessing continues.

....and so it was that when I was sounding off once again on Facebook and did the usual mention of the Gruens - Nicholas himself entered the conversation and inserted links to material he had written about his father.

For me, this was yet another warm social blessing brought about by social media.

Thank you, Nicholas Gruen for making my day.

Brigid O'Carroll Walsh

15 hrsAddThis Sharing

Cruelty, exploitation and hardship was not only the province of Christian organisations - as this recording makes clear.

Royal Commission: Damning testimony from former inmate of Hay Institution for Girls - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

ABC.NET.AU

Comment

3Liz McLennan and 2 others

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Comments

Eileen MacLean · Friends with Vicki Jones

What an awful story!

UnlikeReply114 hrs

Brigid O'Carroll Walsh And all when so many of us were sleeping comfortably in our beds. I was wondering. Have you ever read the story of the Dunera boys. They were men that Churchill shipped to Australia not long before WW11 ended. Europeans (including Jews) who had escaped to England. As the Nazis got closer to the English Channel, Churchill got twitchy in case there were any enemy aliens in the refugees. So we got a share of them. They were sent to a detention camp out back of Hay and I wondered if this facility was the same place or a different one. As for the Dunera boys, Australia scored one of best economists, FredGruen, was a Dunera Boy and his son,Nicholas Gruen, is a leading health economist. Wonder what we might be missing out on as we turn back the boats.

LikeReply14 hrs

Eileen MacLean · Friends with Vicki Jones

I haven't heard of the 'Duneral boys', interesting to read your post.

LikeReply13 hrs

Nicholas Gruen Thanks Brigid. I wrote about Dad and the Dunera when sponsoring some Hazara kids on TPVs on a soccer around NSW and Queensland here.

http://clubtroppo.com.au/.../fighting-them-on-the.../ and here

http://clubtroppo.com.au/.../a-speech-at-the-unveiling.../

Fighting them on the beaches - and in the detention camps *

CLUBTROPPO.COM.AU

UnlikeReply113 hrs

Brigid O'Carroll Walsh Eileen, here's a whole pile of links you can explore re the Dunera Boys. It makes interesting reading. Our govt wasn't all that keen on having them ... and we find echoes of that with refugees and asylum seekers to-day.

LikeReply13 hrs

Brigid O'Carroll Walsh Nicholas Gruen Thank you for your response, Nicholas. I use the example of the Dunera boys and their treatment by a government which, even historically, has great respect. I tell people that our govt wasn't keen on them coming here, but Churchill had sent them. And more than 70 years later and quite a few influxes of refugees since, it seems we are still not keen on receiving those seeking protection.

LikeReply13 hrsEdited

Nicholas Gruen Yep, goes on and on. As I mention in my post, I expected the Hazara kids to be different to the Jews of the Dunera. I expected them to be of 'peasant stock' (not that there's anything wrong with that). But something about Hazara culture (about which I...See more

LikeReply13 hrs

Eileen MacLean ''Dunera boys' sorry, Facebook corrected my typing and I didn't notice it.Thank you for your second post, I will explore further.

LikeReply13 hrs

Public book launch for THE INTERVENTION - AN ANTHOLOGY edited by Rosie Soctt and Anita Heiss

2016-03-06T16:03:00.000+11:00

Georgina Gartland posted 6 updates.

11MAR

Interested

The Intervention an Anthology - Geelong book launch Invitation - 11 March 2016

Fri 14:00Wesley Centre, 100 Yarra Street, Geelong, 3220

Cheryl Kaulfuss invited you

Georgina Gartland to Brigid O'Carroll Walsh

14 hrs

FYI & Victorian networks.This will be a significant book launch and meeting, Consider attending & listening to both Yingiya Mark Guyula book contributor and (of the Yolŋu Nations Assembly , Arnhem land) and Terry Mason (of the the Awabakal language group and Institute of Koorie Education at Deakin University) on TREATY. If unable to attend Geelong, perhaps consider the,
Melbourne 12th forum the following day, to hear from Yingiya Mark Guyula, Adam Frogley (Taungerong man) and Jon Altman.

See also,
1) Treaty, Yeah! The Undeniable Case For A National Settlement With Australia’s First Peoples. (5th March 2016)https://newmatilda.com/…/treaty-yeah-the-undeniable-case-f…/

2) Indigenous leaders praise Victoria's commitment to talk about treaty, (3rd March 2015) http://www.theguardian.com/…/indigenous-leaders-praise-vict…

3)The Yolngu people of Arnhem Land, NT, Australia, need a treaty asap. They need their law respected by governments and they need a space of their own that honours their way of life.

If you are unable to attend one of the forums,Yingyia can be heard in brief at http://www.yingiya.net/english.html
Donate to help us act! www.chuffed.org/project/ymgfortreaty

Sydney forum important : TIME FOR TREATIES Public Forum “Men speak out for Treaty” This follows last year's women speak out for treaty . More at https://www.facebook.com/events/1525090637795711/

Other interstate forum at
https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/…/12805996_10154032452…

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Georgina Gartland to Irene Bolger

15 hrs

For Victorian networks . This will be a significant book launch and meeting. Geelong 11th: Listen to both Yingiya Mark Guyula (of the Yolŋu Nations Assembly -Arnhem land) and Terry Mason (of the the Awabakal language group and Institute of Koorie Education at Deakin University). Or, consider Melbourne 12th- forum the following day- hear from Yingiya Mark Guyula, Adam Frogley (Taungerong man) and Jon Altman.
See also,
1) Treaty, ...
See more

There is still community in Millers Point in Sydney. People are still fighting. Rally to save Millers Point. Fight against consigning it to the wealthy only.

2016-03-05T05:42:00.000+11:00

Rally for Millers Point

POSTED BY 0SC ON MARCH 04, 2016

Join the people of the Millers Point as they march to save their community.

Saturday 19th March 12.00 - 4.00 pm

WE WILL MARCH FOR MILLERS POINT

We will gather on the forecourt of the Fire Station in Kent Street

and march down Kent Street to the Village Green.

Below is a report from Patricia Corowa on the current state of affairs in Miller's Point, Sydney. Many people have left. Many, like Patricia, are still there but are being disturbed every night by the noise and carelessness of the security workers in the half-empty suburb.

There are about 70 of us left here now. Most of the infrastructure, apart from the gentrified restaurant and coffee shop in the Lend Lease development of Barangaroo, has disappeared. One bus that runs every half hour.. No post office.. No butcher shop.. No Bakery.. No servo.. No affordable supermarket.. Lotsa pubs of course, mainly for the yuppy set and their late night disgusting behaviour.. lotsa cars parked, some double, even triple and motor cycles of the workers on the Lend Lease developments and other NSW government restoration, maintenance and repairs of public properties where the tenants have been forcibly removed and are now being made ready for sale.. As you know I am a relatively recent resident compared to many others who have been born here or lived here for generations and decades in the purpose-bullt workers' housing; and are now grown old, with age-related unwellness and vulnerabllity. My Great Grandparents lived in The Rocks in 1881 and that's why the area was a preference when I applied for public housing in 1986, but was given the first and only offer here in 2012 on a current lease that is until 2022.. one of the reasons why I do not consent to the NSW governments' removal of the people and sale of the properties, apart from my age, and other extenuating circumstances.. As the notice indicates, the remnant of us continue to fight the capitalist delusion and folly of the NSW Government, do not consent to what they are doing to public assets, and are determined not to surrender..

#Ballarat's exploited labour

2016-02-24T07:47:00.004+11:00

From The Courier

Ballarat workers paid $6 an hour

By Alex Hamer
Feb. 23, 2016, 10:29 a.m.

Ballarat Trades and Labour Council secretary Brett Edgington.

Mr Edgington, the first witness at the Ballarat hearing, said people were badly treated and underpaid across several industries. Ballarat Trades and Labour Council secretary Brett Edgington has used the Victorian government’s labour hire and insecure work inquiry to make explosive claims about the local treatment of workers.

“You’ve got underpayment, where a worker is paid cash-in-hand between six and 10 dollars an hour, and there’s no tax, no super,” he said.

“This is at crisis point and rampant. A very significant number of businesses in hospitality, retail, the domestic building industry (are underpaying workers).”

“A lot of the schemes we’ve discovered are not just oversights by the employer.”

The inquiry, which is visiting regional cities after Melbourne hearings, will continue all day, including workers themselves.

Mr Edgington said a The Courier article in December had spurred on many young workers to come and see him to raise issues of underpayment and poor treatment, with people coming “almost every day”.

He also said the problem was “worse” in Ballarat and other regional centres than in Melbourne because employers could blacklist workers from whole industries.

The White Rose Movement and Sophie Scholl in Hitler's Germany

2016-02-23T17:28:00.001+11:00

Read more about Sophie Scholl here >>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie_Scholl and the White Rose movement to which she belonged here >>>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Rose

Posted by Brigid O'Carroll Walsh on Monday, 22 February 2016

What to do about those catalogues and unsolicited advertising material getting dumped in your mail box.

2016-02-13T17:13:00.000+11:00

Above are advertisements for two of the largest catalogue and direct mail corporations in Australia. If you are sick of junk mail in your letter-box, then the likelihood of it getting to you via these corporations is high.

However, there are a few things to consider with regard to what is called "junk mail". Check this Australia Post site for information - but this does not tell you everything you need to know. For instance, there are exemptions. This Queensland Government site is helpful - but again there is a major omission. The major omission is electoral material - so come election time and you are getting unwanted material from the political parties and candidates, independent or otherwise, it is stiff cheddar. This material does not qualify as "junk mail".

In addition, you might find that your neighbours may stick something in the box telling you about their garage sale. It would be churlish to complain - unless there is another reason.

My complaint has been about catalogues - love numbers in one single delivery. Mine are delivered by Salmat. I live in Ballarat these days - but I used to live in Ringwood in Melbourne and I had dealings with Salmat there. So I am speaking from experience.

I have noticed that in my neighbourhood the deliverers are of South Asian appearance so I think - mmm, these sort of people need every bob they can get; they may be discriminated against in employment; or perhaps a stay-at-home mum and the kids have to help out and this is the only way it can be managed.
However, I dismiss this because I live across the road from a number of flats and the big catalogue bundles are collected. Perhaps because a number of inhabitants seem to be workmen, the bundles are ignored until they are blown around the street - which was the cause of catalogue problems where I lived in Ringwood.
I have found, both at Ringwood and in Ballarat, that the "No Junk Mail" sign is ignored when it is first placed on the letter-box. Solution: Track down the catalogue supplier. In each case mine was Salmat. I then rang the national number for Salmat from the Business White Pages. In each case, Salmat sent the relevant local co-ordinator to call on me. THEN the problem was solved and I haven't had any more problems.

My firmness on this topic is encouraged because all the major retailers who put out promotional sales catalogues have websites. Most of the population have access to a computer even it is only at the Public Library. The major retailers place their catalogues on-line and they are easy to read. My view is that if more people took time to read the catalogues on-line, then the need for printed catalogues could be gradually phased out. As a fall-back position, the major food corporations have their catalogues in-store for you to read there. Reading them in-store adds a little extra time to the shopping trip, especially the impulse shopping trip, but it saves a lot of money in other ways especially in local government clean-ups.

I'm sure there are other problems surrounding this topic you would like to discuss. Please use the comment facility to do so. I don't find the Victorian Government site very helpful. However, it seems to me that the Queensland Government site is simpler and easier. Here is what is says about unsolicited advertising material:

Unsolicited advertising material (UAM)

Advertising material (other than newspapers) is unsolicited advertising material if it is not addressed by name to an owner or occupier of the premises, or to a person who is lawfully at the premises from time to time. This includes material addressed ‘to the householder’ or ‘to the occupier’ and is distributed without charge to the intended recipients. There are exceptions that apply to the delivery of newspapers.

Common examples of advertising material include takeaway food vouchers, shop catalogues, magazines or newspapers, leaflets from real estate agents, refrigerator magnets or letters advertising the services of a tradesperson.

Materials that do not contain advertising content for a commercial purpose are not classed as advertising materials. Common examples are letters from neighbourhood watch groups, correspondence advising of lost animals, political campaign material, local government newsletters and infringement notices (e.g. parking fine attached to a vehicle).

In the light of Justin Trudeau and Bernie Sanders - Australia needs a review of what worked well in the latter half of the 20th Century

2016-02-12T13:03:00.000+11:00

Australia in the 21st Century needs to look back at its recent past - say from World War 2 forward - to what policies have succeeded, how they emerged, where are they now and

how we can re-introduce those fallen by the way, and re-fashion those that we have kept

but could work more inclusively and equitably.

Australia is a nation who likes to keep up with the Joneses - particularly the North American Joneses. Here is some of that flavour from Canada and star.com

Why grumpy Bernie Sanders is like sunny Justin Trudeau: Walkom

Canada’s prime minister and the would-be U.S. presidential contender

both want to resurrect the welfare state.

ANDREW BURTON / GETTY IMAGES

The centerpiece of Bernie Sanders’ platform — a universal, publicly funded health-insurance system — wouldn’t raise an eyebrow in most countries. But it is contentious in the U.S. where, to many, socialized medicine is akin to communism. All of which makes it more striking that Sanders has done so well, writes Thomas Walkom.

On the face of it, Bernie Sanders and Justin Trudeau have little in common.

Sanders is the self-styled democratic socialist who wants to become U.S. president. He is characterized as grumpy.

Trudeau is not grumpy. He smiles a lot. He likes to practise what he calls sunny ways.

At 44, the Canadian Liberal prime minister presents himself as hip and modern. At 74, Sanders, a Vermont Independent, is presented as a throwback to an earlier age.

But in the aftermath of Monday’s Iowa caucus votes, one singular similarity between the two men has emerged.

Both represent the renaissance of a certain kind of centre-left politics in North America — an activist politics that had fallen out of favour in both countries but is now back.

In Canada, Trudeau has defied those who dismissed him as a lightweight to become prime minister.

In the U.S., Sanders has defied those who dismissed him as a no-hoper by almost beating Hillary Clinton, The Democratic party’s heir-apparent, in the Iowa caucuses.

The Iowa caucuses represent the first stage of a drawn-out process that will determine who gets to run for the Democrats in November’s presidential election.

Sanders’ strong showing in Iowa Monday (he lost to Clinton by a whisker) doesn’t mean he will capture his party’s nomination. There are many more contests to come. Clinton is a formidable campaigner.

But it does suggest that his message to bring back the welfare state has gained significant traction since he first announced his candidacy last year.

That this has happened should surprise no one. The U.S. is in trouble. Inequality is up. Wages are only now starting to recover. The outlook for young people is bleak. The outlook for older, laid-off-workers is bleaker.

And Sanders, for all his talk of democratic socialism, is no pie-in-the-sky idealist. He is a practical politician who has been successful as mayor, congressman and senator, in large part because of his ability to get things done.

If anything, he is a New Deal Democrat in the mould of Franklin Roosevelt, the U.S. president who guided his country through the worst of the Depression.

Like Roosevelt, Sanders would reform the banking system. Like Roosevelt, he would build public works and pay for that, in part, by taxing the rich.

Like Roosevelt, he would support the creation of labour unions in order to boost wages, as well as use the power of the federal government to put the unemployed back to work.

He would return his country to a time, not that long ago, when public university tuition was free.

The centerpiece of Sanders’ platform — a universal, publicly funded health-insurance system — wouldn’t raise an eyebrow in most countries, including Canada.

But it is contentious in the U.S. where, to many, socialized medicine is akin to communism.

All of which makes it more striking that Sanders has done so well.

And yet he has. Like Barack Obama in 2008, he has scored with young people. Unlike Obama, he has done so by focusing on substantive policy issues rather than rhetorical generalities.

Comparisons between Canada and the U.S. are notoriously dangerous. The two countries have different political cultures.

And yet, there are notable similarities between Trudeau’s and Sanders’ approach to politics.

Like Sanders, Trudeau is harkening back to a time — before Stephen Harper and even before Paul Martin and Jean Chrétien — when state action was seen as useful and necessary.

The prime minister likes to present himself as 21st century. But his actual policies are tried and true measures from the 20th century welfare state: making the income tax system more progressive; directing child benefits to the neediest; expanding employment insurance; running fiscal deficits to build public works; boosting old age security.

In Canada, popular dissatisfaction with Stephen Harper’s Conservative government conspired with strategic mistakes by Tom Mulcair’s New Democrats to create winning conditions for the Trudeau Liberals. That was part of the story.

But Trudeau also took advantage of a new mood, the same mood that in the U.S. is swelling the fortunes of another unlikely candidate for high office.

The odds are against Bernie Sanders becoming U.S. president. But then the odds were also against Justin Trudeau.

Thomas Walkom’s column appears Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday.

2016-02-11T15:34:00.000+11:00

Dale Hess Calendar - Dates for your diary

2016-02-11T13:38:00.002+11:00

Thursday 18 February – Thursday 3 March: Transition Film Festival. The Transitions Film Festival is visionary program dedicated to spotlighting the complex challenges, cutting-edge ideas, creative innovations and mega-trends that are redefining what it means to be human. We present positive, solutions-focused films and showcase cutting-edge ideas from around the world, along with the creative, academic, governmental, community and business leaders who are creating change locally. http://www.transitionsfilmfestival.com/melbourne-program-2016/

Thursday 18 February, 6.30 pm – 8 pm: Market Forces Campaign Launch. Market Forces believes that the banks, superannuation funds and governments that have custody of our money should use it to protect not damage our environment. We're planning to make this year massive. Massive campaigns, resulting in massive change. We have climate change commitments from banks that need to be turned into concrete action that moves finance out of fossil fuels. We want to turn divestment from coal, oil and gas from a steady stream to an unstoppable torrent. And of course, we have new dirty coal proposals here in Australia and overseas that need to be stopped in their tracks. Venue: Treasury Room, Imperial Hotel, 2 Bourke St, Melbourne (corner Spring Street). Food provided, drinks at bar prices. Free entry but bookings are essential as places are limited. RSVP here. Market Forces is proud to be an affiliate project of Friends of the Earth Australia and a member of the BankTrack international network, connecting us with passionate campaigners, environmental issue experts and advocates of environmentally sustainable behaviour from the finance sector.

Get the details and RSVP for our Melbourne campaign launch here.

Saturday 20 February, 5.02 pm – 7 pm: Peace, Faith and Solving Conflict. Invited speakers: Prof. Gary Bouma, UNESCO and Rev.Victor Kazanjian, Global Director United Religions Initiative. Venue: Cultural Infusion Centre, 49 Vere Street, Collingwood College Theatre (entrance from Campbell Street). Sponsored by Cultural Infusion and United Religions Initiative. Free event. Refreshments provided. Bookings:https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/culture-talk-tickets-21240877035

Wednesday, 24 February, 7.30 pm – 9.30 pm: Syrian Conflict Information Evening. The Amnesty International Bayside Team are hosting an information evening on the current Syrian crisis. Presenting an impartial account of the current internal armed conflict in Syria, as well as information about the settlement process for refugees and asylum seekers. From 7.30 pm we will have three speakers, discussing the current Syrian crisis, intake of refugees and settlement services for refugees and asylum seekers here in Australia. Tim Redfern from Amnesty International Bayside, Alanna Attard from AMES and Panos Massouris from AMES will be speaking. Venue: The Sandy Beach Centre - 2 Sims Street Sandringham. Register here.

Saturday 5 March, 9 am – 11.30 am: Oases Breakfast Conversation: Listening to Indigenous Voices. Dr Robert Hoskin will share insights from his listening to his Kimberley friends relevant to relating with land and community. Together we will explore how listening means a change of heart, if not our change in approach to life and relationships, and discuss how knowledge of the past might save us from endless repetition in the future. $30/$20 Concession. Main Hall, Habitat Centre for Spirituality, 2 Minona Street, Hawthorn. To book:http://www.oases.edu.au/breakfast/

Monday 11 April; Sunday and Monday, 24 April and 25 April; Sunday 1 May: Ecological Literacy. Ecological literacy was initially used byDavid W. Orr and physicist Fritjof Capra in the 1990s, to understand the Earth as a living system whose well-being was dependent on our thinking in terms of the interdependence of all living systems. In his Web of Life Capra writes of the emergence of a new paradigm challenging the old mechanistic and linear view of the universe and challenging notions of continuous growth and development and with it consumerism and commodification as the “normal”. Ecological literacy is about using this interdependent view of the world to help address the complex dilemmas around the destructive impact that humans have had on the world bringing us to what is often called the Anthropocene… And together we'll draw on the experiences and wisdom of all participants, and the 'natural world' around us. Cost $800. Further details: info@oases.edu.au.

THE WHITE-ANTING OF MEDICARE BEGINS - TAKE CARE HOW YOU GO & MIND THAT STEP. MEDICARE MIGHT NOT BE THERE TO CATCH YOU! AND YOUR JOB & YOUR DATA MIGHT HAVE GONE OVERSEAS

2016-02-09T16:58:00.001+11:00

PLAN FOR MEDICARE SELL OFF

AN UTTER DISGRACE

Tuesday, 9 February 2016

Labor is deeply alarmed at the Turnbull Liberals’ plan to sell off Medicare services which could jeopardise the patient data of every Australian and the jobs of 1400 staff at centres all around the country.

“First the Liberals tried to kill Medicare, now they’re trying to sell it,” said Shadow Health Minister Catherine King.

“We are hugely concerned the Government has highly progressed plans to privatise the delivery of vital government services like Medicare.

“This idea, from the failed Commission of Audit Report, would mean that these important functions would be being delivered for profit, not with the best interests of patients in mind.”

Shadow Minister for Human Services Doug Cameron said its critical private health details stay in Australia.

“This is a disgrace. This is lazy policy from the Liberals. Nowhere else in the world are these services privatised.

“We have seen the results of government incompetence on call wait times and its lax approach to Medicare fraud.”

“Once again the government see the services most important to Australians are just a source for savings.

“Human Services Minister Stuart Robert has been too busy looking after himself and his mates.

“We need a new Minister for Human Services who’s focused on his day job, not looking after Liberal Party donors, to clean up this mess.”

So far, the Abbott-Turnbull Government has failed to ensure that the Department of Human Services recommendations of the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) report into the integrity of Medicare Customer Data. If the Medicare payments processing arm of DHS is sold off to multinational corporations, the integrity of patient data and personal records is under further threat.

(DHS) has complied with all

Recent revelations that the Australian Tax Office has been sending work to The Philippines has also rung alarms that private data is at risk.

Answers to Senate estimates questions reveal that as well as risking citizens’ data, hundreds of jobs could be sent off shore.

There are 15 key locations that undertake Medicare payment processing. The closure of these offices would have adverse consequences on the local communities. Labor opposes the sell-off of Medicare, beginning with the sell-off of the Medicare payments system.

GO HERE FOR MORE ON THIS ISSUE

#BALLARAT IS TELLING IT LIKE IT IS AND SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER - #LET THEM STAY

2016-02-08T13:29:00.002+11:00

Posted by Ballarat Regional Multicultural Council on Sunday, 7 February 2016

FARMERS AND COMMUNITY MARKETS FACE ANTI-COMPETITIVE AND LEGAL CHALLENGES! CAN WE AFFORD TO LOSE THEM?

2016-02-07T14:45:00.001+11:00

WHY SHOULD AUSTRALIA LOSE MARKETS, EVENTS, FETES AND FESTIVALS?These are photos from Markets and events from all over...

Posted by Kathryn Wilkes on Saturday, 6 February 2016

Exploited Labour: no accurate time sheets: no award rate of payment: no penalty rates: no union membership: not a thing to build a life on

2016-02-03T14:02:00.002+11:00

I am listening to Kelly O'Dwyer rabbiting on at the National Press Club of Australia. She paints an economic wonderland of retirement income products, taxation incentives so that people with work.... All very well, but I wonder when I will hear an NPCA host a speaker on exploited labour in Australia. There is a wide range of labour exploitation in Australia and yet it seems to be treated as an occasional aberration. And it is happening in all sorts of ways to all sorts of people. One of the largest sectors of exploitation is based on gender. Women with low skills, women being discriminated against, women getting fewer promotions, women getting lower wages and salaries and.... And then there is the class/education divide and the multitude of people in lower-skilled jobs such as cleaners and look at what MYER has done with them ... and they are not the only employer into sham contracting. I have a friend whom I would describe as middle-class but she has been forced into sham contracting at an administrative level. She is in her middle years and because of age discrimination and age/gender discrimination, the likelihood of finding appropriately paid alternative work is unlikely. And please note that all this is before we get on to the topic of migrant labor, seasonal labor, very low-skilled labour, shonky labour hire companies and the similarly shonky labour hire companies who have a veneer of class and respectability. And so on. And this is before we get to foreign owned businesses, companies, and corporations bringing in their own labour or exploitation Australian labour. And then there are the industries where rip-offs are part of the culture. Top of that list in my experience are the service industries - tourism, hospitality, retail. Flat hourly rate payments abound. The biggest push for the abolition of penalty rates comes from this sector. There is a large sector of female employment, often at low skill levels. There is a large sector of casualisation - often teens and twenties people and again a significant cohort of females. And all this before I mention fruit-picking and horticultural and agricultural employment. I am an old union official who has worked across a wide range of industries and the employment of cheap foreign labour. I am happy to receive personal stories. I publish stuff on this topic on this blog.

If you have first person stories you can email me at misseaglesnetwork@gmail.com.

Exploitation of labour

Black jobs

The labour market's dark side

Paul Keating and The Redfern Park Speech - 10 December 1992

2016-01-28T10:00:00.000+11:00

Posted previously below is the Stan Grant speech which was given last year

but released on Australia Day 2016.

The video has gone viral and the speech is being compared to
"The Redfern Park Speech" delivered on 10 December 1992.

For those who have never heard this oft-quoted landmark speech
by one of Australia's finest Prime Ministers, Paul Keating -

Please go here

for the transcript of Keating's speech

Stan Grant's speech : seen as a book-end to Paul Keating's Redfern Speech

2016-01-28T09:39:00.000+11:00

From http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-24/stan-grant's-racism-is-killing-the-australia-dream-speech-viral/7110506
A powerful speech by Indigenous journalist Stan Grant in which he says the "Australian dream is rooted in racism" has gone viral.

Key points:

Grant spoke about the impact of colonisation and discrimination in Sydney
He said when Adam Goodes was booed "it said to us again, you're not welcome"
Speech viewed more than 736,000 times on Facebook and 15,000 times on YouTube

Grant addressed an audience in Sydney on the impact of colonisation and discrimination as part of the IQ2 debate series held by The Ethics Centre.

The speech was made last year but was published online just a week before Australia Day. It has resonated with Australians, having been viewed more than 736,000 times on Facebook and 15,000 times on YouTube.

In his address Grant was asked to argue for or against the topic "Racism is destroying the Australian Dream", and said racism was at its heart.

Grant opened his speech acknowledging when AFL player Adam Goodes was "hounded" and booed, and told "he was not Australian".

"When we heard those boos, we heard a sound that was very familiar to us ... we heard a howl of humiliation that echoes across two centuries of dispossession, injustice, suffering and survival," Grant said.

"We heard the howl of the Australian dream, and it said to us again, you're not welcome."

He said we sung of the Australian dream, "Australians all let us rejoice for we are young and free".

"My people die young in this country," Grant said.

"We die 10 years younger than the average Australian, and we are far from free. We are fewer than 3 per cent of the Australian population and yet we are 25 per cent — a quarter of those Australians locked up in our prisons.

"And if you're a juvenile it is worse, it is 50 per cent. An Indigenous child is more likely to be locked up in prison than they are to finish high school."

He referenced a famous poem from Dorothea Mackellar, saying his people's rights "were extinguished because we were not here according to British law".

"I love a sunburned country, a land of sweeping plains, of rugged mountain ranges," Grant quoted from the poem My Country.

"It reminds me that my people were killed on those plains. We were shot on those plains, diseases ravaged us on those plains."

Grant has received praise online, including from journalists Hugh Riminton and Fran Kelly, as well as Mike Carlton who described it as a "Martin Luther King moment" on Twitter.

He said he had succeeded in life not because of, but in spite of, the Australian dream.

"My grandfather on my mother's side, who married a white woman, who reached out to Australia, lived on the fringes of town until the police came, put a gun to his head, bulldozed his tin humpy, and ran over the graves of the three children he buried there. That's the Australian dream," Grant said.

"And if the white blood in me was here tonight, my grandmother, she would tell you of how she was turned away from a hospital giving birth to her first child because she was giving birth to the child of a black person.

"The Australian dream. We are better than this."

Dale Hess's Calendar - 16-01-25

2016-01-25T11:37:00.000+11:00

Robbie Thorpe Documentary

Help support this long overdue portrait of an important Aboriginal political activist Robbie Thorpe. Aboriginal resistance to the invasion of Australia never ceased. It continues today. Aboriginal political activist Robbie Thorpe stands as part of a long line of Indigenous resistance to invasion. His story is an important one. This short documentary will trace Robbie’s life and politics and explore what is at stake for a First Nations person upon land that was stolen and whose sovereignty never been ceded. Robbie Thorpe has organised challenges to ongoing genocide, colonization and assimilation for over 30 years, working toward indigenous economic and political independence. He has launched High Court legal actions, run a series of high-profile and controversial political and cultural interventions and remains a fierce and unrelenting advocate for his people.

https://www.chuffed.org/project/robbiethorpedoco

Tuesday 2nd February, 5.30 pm -7.30 pm: Human Existence, Religions and the Digital World. Professor Peter Horsfield, Professor of Communication, RMIT University. Peter Horsfield's research over several decades has focused on the interaction of media and religion. Among other involvements, he was a member of the International Study Commission on Media Religion and Culture. His early study Religious Television: The American Experience was influential in changing perceptions of the extent and influence of the televangelists. His recent book From Jesus to the Internet examines Christianity as a mediated phenomenon. The first systematic survey of the interaction of media and religion in a religious tradition, it shows how Christianity's historical development was shaped by the opportunities and contests of the various media forms used in its practice. His insights into some of Christianity's currently hotly debated issues provide a much-needed historical basis for multi-disciplinary study. Gryphon Gallery, Mezzanine Level, Building 1888, near the Corner of Swanston and Grattan Street, Melbourne. (http://maps.unimelb.edu.au/parkville/building/198). Light refreshments will be provided at the conclusion of the lecture. RSVP: Sue Ennis: wcrpaust@iinet.net.au

Tuesday 9 February, 11.30 am: Rally to stop onshore gas drilling and fracking. Big energy companies have sought to "open up" Victoria to onshore gas drilling and fracking--putting prime farmland and water resources at risk. Regional communities around the state have said "no" to risky unconventional gas extraction. Parliament of Victoria, Spring Street, Melbourne. Organised by Friends of the Earth, Gasfield Free Vic, Yes 2 Renewables.

Get the details and RSVP for our Melbourne campaign launch here.

The Network

LIB-NATS HAVE YET TO PRODUCE A REPUTABLE BUDGET : MEANWHILE THE RICH, POWERFUL & CORPORATE ARE REFINING THE ART OF TAX DODGING. READ MORE.

Bombings in Brussels - We are sad with you Brussels - May these deaths be not anonymous - May these deaths not be in vain

Dale Hess Calendar - March 21 2016

Video coverage from Stan Grant's 'The Point' on the Redfern forum, "Men Speak Out For Treaty" (14th March).

Ballarat Interfaith Network and the Islamic Society of Ballarat are joining together to present an open day at the Mosque of Ballarat on April 16. Details below.

PALM SUNDAY ACTIONS ON THE EASTERN SEABOARD OF AUSTRALIA - THIS COMING SUNDAY!

Happy Marching!

MEDICARE WORKS BECAUSE IT'S ONE IN ALL IN - NOW MIKE BAIRD IS CUTTING NSW LOOSE. MEDICARE WILL BE DESTROYED.

Australian Export Grains Innovation Centre (AEGIC) has released a map showing a new climate is emerging/changing in Australia

AUSTRALIAN EXPORT GRAINS INNOVATION CENTRE

Andrew Bray

Of shoes and string and Facebook algorithms ....

The Dunera Boys and how Nicholas Gruen made my day on Facebook.

Brigid O'Carroll Walsh

Comments

Public book launch for THE INTERVENTION - AN ANTHOLOGY edited by Rosie Soctt and Anita Heiss

Georgina Gartland posted 6 updates.

‎Georgina Gartland‎ to Brigid O'Carroll Walsh

Comments

‎Georgina Gartland‎ to Irene Bolger

There is still community in Millers Point in Sydney. People are still fighting. Rally to save Millers Point. Fight against consigning it to the wealthy only.

Rally for Millers Point

#Ballarat's exploited labour

The White Rose Movement and Sophie Scholl in Hitler's Germany

What to do about those catalogues and unsolicited advertising material getting dumped in your mail box.

Unsolicited advertising material (UAM)

In the light of Justin Trudeau and Bernie Sanders - Australia needs a review of what worked well in the latter half of the 20th Century

Why grumpy Bernie Sanders is like sunny Justin Trudeau: Walkom

Canada’s prime minister and the would-be U.S. presidential contender

both want to resurrect the welfare state.

Dale Hess Calendar - Dates for your diary

THE WHITE-ANTING OF MEDICARE BEGINS - TAKE CARE HOW YOU GO & MIND THAT STEP. MEDICARE MIGHT NOT BE THERE TO CATCH YOU! AND YOUR JOB & YOUR DATA MIGHT HAVE GONE OVERSEAS

PLAN FOR MEDICARE SELL OFF

AN UTTER DISGRACE

#BALLARAT IS TELLING IT LIKE IT IS AND SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER - #LET THEM STAY

FARMERS AND COMMUNITY MARKETS FACE ANTI-COMPETITIVE AND LEGAL CHALLENGES! CAN WE AFFORD TO LOSE THEM?

Exploited Labour: no accurate time sheets: no award rate of payment: no penalty rates: no union membership: not a thing to build a life on

Paul Keating and The Redfern Park Speech - 10 December 1992

Stan Grant's speech : seen as a book-end to Paul Keating's Redfern Speech

Key points:

Dale Hess's Calendar - 16-01-25

Georgina Gartland to Brigid O'Carroll Walsh

Georgina Gartland to Irene Bolger