(We) can do better

Emma McGrath-Cohen’s article (“US billionaires fund Australian YIMBY battle,” Housing, Australian Financial Review, 12-13 July 2025, p.2), points to a pattern of external influence in Australia’s land-tenure and planning laws, with parallels to US trends and implications for democratic control.

120 submissions to the Inquiry into Community Consultation Practices (Victorian Legislative Council Environment and Planning Committee)[1] are now on the web.[2]

I have linked to a few other submissions here, but I have republished one below.

11am-1pm, 12 July 2025 Event by 

We publish the joint statement here. Unfortunately these two bodies, in our opinion, whilst obviously well-meaning, have entirely neglected the demand side of the equation. They are comforting the property developers' agenda of densification when they should be pointing out that this is an abuse of power that depends on a false narrative confining all discussion to the 'supply' side.

Member for Western Victoria, Bev McArthur, has blasted the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) over an “absurd and unjustifiable” fine issued to a farmer in South-West Victoria who was simply trying to help his neighbour during the drought.

Today Australian Federal Parliament voted down Independent Senator David Pocock's motion to establish a Select Committee on Population Impacts to inquire into the effect of population growth and management in Australia. Pocock has a background in sustainable agriculture and sport.  Consider lobbying your member of Federal Parliament to help him move the motion again.

You might have heard of "Volunteering Australia" recently—perhaps your volunteer coordinator offered you cheap sugary cookies to celebrate "National Volunteering Australia Day," leaving you puzzled about how these ended up in your local animal welfare fridge. Shades of Victoria Nuland in Ukraine, you may have thought, suspiciously. What’s behind this hype?

In housing markets today, the rise of rent-to-buy schemes purports to offer new opportunities for potential homeowners. These schemes portray an apparently promising pathway for the many individuals who cannot qualify for traditional mortgages in Australia's outrageously overpriced market, allowing them to rent a property with the option to purchase it later.

For years, World BEYOND War and other peace groups from around the world had been attending peace conferences in Cuba. When I visited Cuba this past January it was with a visa for that purpose. I published the remarks I made at the conference. We shouted as loudly as we could about January’s conference in websites, social media, emails, and media interviews. The notion that there could be anything wrong with it — or that some institution could punish us for it — never entered our minds.

In The Biggest Estate on Earth: How Aborigines Made Australia (2011), Bill Gammage argues that Aboriginal Australians shaped the continent’s vegetation landscape through firestick farming, a sophisticated practice of deliberate, low-intensity burns to create open, park-like grasslands and resource-rich environments, challenging the notion of a “natural” pre-European landscape [11].

Grassroots advocacy group, Australians for Mental Health (AfMH) is calling for urgent and significant reform following a damning assessment found the national plan to improve mental health and prevent suicide is “not fit for purpose.”

The Productivity Commission’s interim report released today found the National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement is “fundamentally flawed” with objectives too broad to be measurable and no clear path to meaningful reform.

This article looks at the Gaza Marine gas field, a modest 1.1–1.4 trillion cubic feet reserve off Gaza’s coast, often dismissed as too small to fuel conflict between Israel and Palestinians. Yet, its shallow depth, ease of exploitation, and potential to yield $2.4 billion for Gaza’s economy make it a strategic prize, as evidenced by Israel and Egypt’s 2023 development plans sidelining Gazans.

I wrote to Sydney Water in 2021 on this [predictable] looming vital shortage, but received no response at all from Sydney Water, despite their promotion of themselves as concerned about sustainable water use and costs. The letter is published below.  The response was nil; complete disinterest.  Read into that what you will.

The ongoing tensions between the United States, Israel, and Iran have become a focal point in global geopolitics. As America navigates its role in the Middle East, questions arise about its motivations and the implications of its actions, particularly regarding Iran's nuclear capabilities.  Lost in the sound and fury of United States attacks on Iran is how these protect and approve Israel's merciless obliteration of the people of Gaza.

It is profoundly unfair and globally irresponsible to consider military action against Iran, as President Trump is mooting, in a NATO narrative that has told lies about Iran for decades. The recent outcry from Israel, which attacked Iran, and its allies over an Iranian missile strike that damaged a hospital raises serious questions about accountability. Reports indicate that the damage was a result of a nearby military facility being targeted, and fortunately, there were no casualties.

In a sequel to the Victorian Inquiry into planning Amendments VC257, VC267 and VC274, today 18 June 2025, Dave Davis (Liberal) put a motion requiring the Victorian State Government provide within three weeks very important documents required of it by the Inquiry Committee.[1] These documents would reveal the basis, actors, and rationale behind drastic cha

Israel has just launched missile strikes on Iran, including attacks on Iran's Natanz nuclear enrichment program which is under a mountain, and other military targets.

"Down Under Reform" on Facebook has issued a challenge.

Humane World for Animals: A migrating humpback whale is entangled in a shark net off Greenmount Beach at Coolangatta, Gold Coast, marking the first entanglement of the whale migration season.  The trauma this whale is experiencing is on the Crisafulli Government’s head for ignoring scientific advice to remove shark nets for the winter. Even if freed from the net, there is every chance the whale will die from exhaustion and trauma.

Zoroastrians in Iran once worshiped dogs. Today Iran has dog-walking bans in over 20 cities, adding a layer of hardship for pet owners and their dogs, who face arrests or confiscation for simple acts of companionship. This clampdown, which has nothing to do with the Koran - see more below - stems from some local views of dogs as impure or Western symbols. Iranians surely don't need more suffering, imposed by their own.

There is another protest in Sydney for Zero Immigration Until Housing Affordability is Restored on Saturday 12 July at Sydney Town Hall - see Facebook event. 

Sunday, 20 July 2025 : National Rally at Parliament House.  Monday, 21 July 2025: National campaign planning day.  Tuesday, 22 July 2025: Rally at Parliament House on the opening day of Parliament

Pressure Labor to end its support and complicity in human rights violations that have been called genocide by the International Criminal Court. 

Criticism of one party to the Gaza conflict has been deemed 'hate speech' and illegal by the Australian federal parliament (see embedded Gerard Rennick video below). Somehow, however, the same federal government shows little concern about the actual hate crimes (as opposed to hate speech) being committed in full view of the whole world in Gaza, as in the embedded tweet.

IPAN supports PM Albanese’s firm rejection of US demands to increase military spending by billions. Australia must not be drawn into a conflict with China over Taiwan. AUKUS Pillars 1 and 2 should be cancelled.

Some wealthy homemakers are being allowed to do the opposite of what the rest of us are being told to do. They have been given permission to turn an area where there were six households into one - theirs.  Such significant destruction and prioritization of certain interests  in the face of so much homelessness and the loss of democracy for all Victorians through authoritarian planning is shocking. 

A predictably appalling article from Nicholas Reece, City of Melbourne Lord Mayor, and a seasoned career growth enthusiast, has found a cozy spot in Australia's legacy press.