Comments
Democracy, Development, and the Australian Press
Population & Economic Growth as Anglo-State Religions
New Zealand and Missouri Green Population Positions
Most Idiotic Green Parties Pt 2
The Most Idiotic Green Party
Alleged sins of European Canadians
Sins of white ancestors were real, but point still valid
Tim, I think the argument you make is sound, however, I do take some exception to the way you refer to the sins of many of your white forefathers in Canada as 'alleged'. They were very real (or at least in the US with it's Massacre at Wounded Knee as but one of many examples) and in Australia.
However past ill-treatment of aboriginal societies is no justification for the current inhabitants of our societies being treated largely in the same way as those societies were back then. It does nothing to redress past injustices and only serves to destroy our social cohesion, our environment, and our children's future
Attitudes which effectively amount to racism against people of Anglo-Celtic descent from even amongst amongst left-liberal members of that community are quite common here in Australia, also. See, for example the following comment on a forum on Online Opinion in response to the article "Privileged 'whites'" of 8 Oct 2007:
There are already sufficient numbers of Australians of non-Western heritage to ensure that time and demographics will further consign “White Australia” to a slightly embarrassing historical memory.
disregard
Redland Residents should attend Council meeting 22 Jan(tomorrow)
Housing affordability
Population, racism and bumper stickers.
I think that in the public mind, the issues of population, race and of multiculturalism have become confused to the point where they're inseparable.
Try this simple exercise at home. There's a striking but crude bumper sticker going 'round that consists of an outline of Australia with the words "F*ck off - We're full". No question, it's an offensive sort of thing. Its emphatic use of the F word guarantees this (as well as it's popularity in some circles, no doubt).
It's existence has excited much commentary on blogs around the web. Google these and what you find is that there's precious little discussion of whether Australia's actually 'full' or not. The overwhelming reaction - delivered in smug tones of moral superiority - is that the sticker is an example of redneck racism and that it's to be deplored. Not just because it's crude or offensive, mind you, but because it's fundamentally wrong. Most writers feel that its wrongness is evident simply because of the socio-economic status of those sporting it on their vehicles. Or from the class of vehicle on which the sticker appears. One blogger, having ripped into the bogans across the road for decorating their Falcon with the offending sticker, goes on to cite population/land area statistics to 'prove' how underpopulated Australia is compared to China and India (those paragons of sustainability). A sympathetic reader, gushing over this vapid analysis, says;
"I especially like how you backed up your argument with real evidence- like, if you got into a verbal spat with the neighbour you could actually quote statistics and make him/her feel even more ignorant." ( cotardssyndrome.blogspot.com/2006_03_01_archive.html)
Deary me. One wonders what a similar analysis of Antarctica's population to land area would reveal. To be fair, later commentators question the relevance of the simple land area/population analysis and of course the blogger provides no response.
Aside from being just plain wrong, the blogosphere is unanimous in its view that the sticker is racist. How so? My own analysis of its limited content is that all comers are being asked to F*ck off, not just those of a particular ethnic origin. But as Sheila's article implies, the 'racist' brush has been used to tar so many for such a diversity of reasons that it no longer matters. If you oppose mass immigration - you're racist.
Crude stickers are probably no help in getting the message about population sustainablity more widely accepted. But the common notion that opposition to mass immigration = racism is a bigger challenge. And with vested interests benefiting from this misconception, changing it will be hard.
Consumer crimes & global warming - who is responsible?
NO Dredging for Port Phillip and surrounds
CHEAP OIL PROPAGANDA
Destruction of Minnippi Parklands
Destruction of Minnippi Parklands
technical-staff cuts
Kevin's uncle barking up the wrong tree
Uneconomical Channel deepening sign of corruption in gov
Latham's article in the Fin rev
Increasing the child death rate to balance the equation
Voting Systems
striking similarities with the Australian Labor Party
Teaching the Centre-Left a lesson
Nearly always a mistake to vote for a more right wing party
Saskatchewan NDP goes down to defeat
Two steps further than Andrew
Left sects and multiculturalism
I scratch my head trying to think of any enduring benefit
The slippery slope and the Australian left
Keep Howard in
Yungaba
Who are these people
I am astounded to read that
So many politicians are members of this foundation - What gives?
All the bad stuff is growing
Sounds like the Queensland Labor Party
Growth can be presented as a loss not a gain
Oh Larissa!
Reply to Larissa Waters
Dear Larissa,
Thank you for your reply and thank you for pointing out where the Greens stance on population has been stated in that earlier media release. However, it still seems to me that failure to mention population in the latest media release was a serious shortcoming.
The concluding paragraph, again, was:
"Government should be proposing sustainable solutions to the water crisis, like water recycling, rainwater tanks for every home, stormwater harvesting and demand management," concluded Ms Waters.
Anyone not familiar with the earlier media release could easily come to the conclusion that the Greens do not advocate population stability as a necessary precondition for both solving Queensland's water crisis and safeguarding the Mary River eco-system and rural community. Given that Australia is undergoing record population growth, largely driven by an unprecedented unofficial, but real, annual rate of 300,000 per year, and given that the newsmedia and the two major parties are strongly pushing population growth, it is all the more urgent that those in favour of population stability state this clearly and loudly on every appropriate occasion.
Can we expect the Greens from now on to give population stability the much higher profile that I think it deserves?
Thank you,
best regards,
James Sinnamon
Reply from Larissa Waters
E-mail sent to Larissa Waters
The population boosters are getting even worse
Unreasonable expectations and opportunism
Very strange? Try insane
Giant Queensland Population Counter gob-smacks visitor
Brain-damaged lungfish - More gems from the Senate
Obsession With Growth
Onya Larissa! Onya Lungfish!
Sheila Newman, population
Communism, capitalism and overpopulation
Authoritarianism and Intolerance (corrected)
Fear of four year term referendum in 2007 unfounded
Frightening and tragic conduct of Queensland Government
pulp mill
What are we doing?
Apple is another company to watch out for
Whereas it is true that a
Peak Oil and Politics
Mr Beazley says Murdoch's Australian doesn't run the country
Last good politician?
How much e-waste due to hardware and software incompatibility?
Nurses, used and abused by profit-mad government
BOO HOO HAVE A CRY
"Populate or perish" mentality on ABC radio
If that is true, that is good news. However ...
Should give Courier Mail credit for publishing letter, but ...
I guess we have to give the Courier Mail credit for publishing the letter, but if they were doing their job as well as they should be doing they would make these sorts of observations themselves more often and not leave it so much to their readers.
I think the impct of the letter was lost to some degree by their changing the start of the first sentence from:
Like every thinking compassionate person in this country ...
... to:
Like most compassionate people in this country ...
What about the media's role in the election menu?
There are things being done
No mandate; no acceptance!
Sugar glider is an endangered species
'Positives' do not outweigh 'negatives'
- ABS stats show that average wage growth has substantially exceeded the cost of living, even though the whole point of my article was to dispute the very basis of such statistics,
- Evidence from the ABS which "suggests that most employees work the hours they want".
- An assertion that I have exaggerated the factors which have added to the cost of living and that for each 'negative' factor not included in CPI calculations he can find several other 'positive' factors (presumably also not included in the CPI calculations).
- Bulk-billing has been emasculated. Before Howard stuffed up Medicare we could walk into a doctor's practice and get treatment without having to pay money and stuff around with Medicare claim forms and, when the cheques arrived, having to bank them. I estimate that it takes well over an hour of my time to do all this for each visit to the doctor and I am still out of pocket as the payment from the Government is less than the fee.
- Credentials creep : a degree is necessary precondition for most white collar occupations, whereas year 12 used to be easily sufficient. Occupations which once required a degree now require postgraduate qualifications.
- Loss of on-the-job training such as the apprenticeship and cadetship schemes run by Telecom (now Telstra) and other government owned utilities. Nurses and paramedics now require a degree.
- Loss of career paths for entry level employees. On ABC Radio National's Street Stories of 24 June (http://www.abc.net.au/rn/streetstories/stories/2007/1954374.htm - audio file no longer available) a prostitute in Kalgoorlie revealed that she had turned to prostitution in order to go to University. Asked why she needed to go to University, she explained that she needed a degree to get promoted beyond her entry-level job in an advertising agency. Think about it: the only path to career advancement for this girl was through prostitution. A generation ago most employees who were good enough could hope for career advancement without having to sleep with the boss or turn to prostitution. Rhian, do you think this is a step forward or a step backwards?
- Education is no longer free. Most of today's graduates have crippling HECS bills.
- Each serious job application I make these days takes at least weeks out of my life. This is to update my resume, fill out job selection criteria, write applications and if I am lucky, to attend the interview. Given the number of applicants for the jobs I go for (when I can bring myself to face such an ordeal). Given the number of applicants fro each of these jobs, simply fining a newer better job can easily consume up to a year of one's life, so many just don't bother. Year's ago, I was able to walk into good jobs by simply talking to the boss. At most, a scrappy job application and a small amount of form filing was all that was needed.
- The overheads of running small businesses have dissuaded many people I know from working for themselves. A generation ago, almost anyone could start a business without having to spend weekends filling out out paperwork, or, alternatively, employing an accountant part-time. Where is this shown in CPI figures?
- Housing loan repayment periods are 30, 40 years - some institutions are even planning for 50 year periods - where they used to be 20 years at the very most.(See story about economists, employed by banks, having fiddled statistics to make housing appear more affordable than it actually is at http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/ockham/stories/s1335462.htm).
- Overheads of moving home for those growing numbers of Australians who don't own their own homes and are turfed out when their landlords sell or who have to move because they can't afford the rent increases. These include telephone, Internet (around $170 a hit on 5 occasions between 2001 and 2005 in my own case) electricity and gas reconnection, cleaning in order to satisfy demanding inspection requirements, time and effort searching for new accommodation and filing out paperwork, moving or selling possessions in order to avoid moving costs.
Whatever happend to longer holidays a shorter hours?
boo hoo
Minnipi Park Lands
Democaracy is not his agenda
Howard on "job destroying" unfair dismissal laws
I consider a full page "Know where you stand" advertisement, which appeared in the Courier Mail of 3 August to be extremely misleading. It is impossible to believe that those who created that advertisement were not aware of that.
It makes the claim that
... employers can't sack you for taking time off because your kids are sick.
Or for making a formal complaint against your employer.
Or being a member of a union.
Perhaps they can't sack you for those specific reasons but the removal of unfair dismissal provisions for employees working for any company with less than 100 employees meeans that they can sack you for any number of other reasons. So if you do take time off because your kids are sacked or make a formal complaint against your employer, or in a union and find yourself sacked for another entirely different and trivial reason, then, for all practical purposes you have no recourse.
Also I think John Howard needs to decide whether the right for an employer to dismiss employees without cause is a good thing or a bad thing. When the "Work Choices" laws were initially heralded, John Howard insisted that the existence of unfair dismissal laws was a major factor which caused employers not to hire staff. His argument, repeated ad nauseum, was that the difficulty an employer faced in sacking a worker if that worker were to be found to be unsuitable would often cause the employer not to hire that worker in the first place in order to avoid taking that risk. For a while he pointedly habitually prepended the adjective 'job-destroying' whenever he referred to the unfair dismissal laws. If he truly believed that then he would have to now believe, assuming that there was any truth in the advertisement's claims that jobs will be lost as a result.
I think that Tristan's #comment-743">concern that legislative guarantees against abuses such as the "Work Choices" saturation advertising might have a side effective of preventing governments from engaging in useful advertising is unnecessary.
I don't believe that it would be that difficult to legislate against such campaigns as Work Choices. As an example, the initial AU$55 million campaign of 2005 occurred even before the details of the legislation were made known to the public. It would be easy to draft laws which preveetned that from occurring.
Tests of truthfulness that most "Know where you stand" would fail, could easily be devised.
Government advertising
Howard's passport should be confiscated
Maleny succumbs to fate of golden goose
Fair Trade Agreements
Unelected property developers running this country
Streamlining a bad system will cause more damage faster
Above post fails to acknowledge facts
The above post seems to be mostly opinion and fails to acknowledge facts contained on other pages which support the case against enforced amalgamations.
The amalagamations are strongly posed by residents of these local communities (e.g. 80% opposed in Stanthorpe Shire), so it is not just about a few Mayors or CEO's acting to preserve their own selfish interests.
(Aussieida, I thought I saw a request for registration, but it has mysteriously vanished. My apologies. Please contact me, if you did want to register.)
Local governmet candidates in Basalt, Colorado opposed to growth
I stumbled across a most interestin artile about how none of the candidates in local government elections in a small town of Basalt in Colorado in the US were strongly in favour of growth. This is in contrast to the recent Brisbane elections. The article is Candidates talk growth in Basalt.
Copyright notice: Reproduction of this material is encouraged as long as the source is acknowledged.