Comments

Anonymous (not verified)

Mon, 2015-09-07 10:04

AUSTRALIA FIRST PARTY PRESS RELEASE National Wattle Day 1st September 2015 A Celebration of Australian Culture Native Australian Awards Announced John Wilson Commitment to the cause of freedom and justice under inherited Commonwealth Law Phylis lobl Excellence in the creation and performance of folk music to the advancement of Australian Culture Bernard Gaynor Commitment to advancing the values of a High Culture for Australian Society AUSTRALIA FIRST PARTY P.O. Box 223 Croydon 3136 www.australiafirstparty.net ausfirst [ AT ] hotmail.com National Contact Line 02 8587 0014 Australia First Party - Reclaiming Australia for Australians The Protocol for The Order Of The Wattle Blossom SALUTATION In addressing a recipient of this Native Australian Award “Order Of The Wattle Blossom” is spoken following the normal usage of the appellation. In written communication, following the name of a recipient, OWB initials are added. “Order Of The Wattle Blossom” salutation surpasses accreditation attributes of any other Australian award, excepting traditional Defence Force Awards .

Dennis K

Sun, 2015-09-06 22:25

You seem to be saying that because culture is fluid, it's not reliable as the basis for creating a solid identity that the citizens of a society can share. If I understand correctly, your view is that identity is more soundly based around shared genetics. Not quite. You CAN attempt to create a nation based on adherence to a culture or an idea or ideology. Even Nazi Germany was stronger about adherence to the regime than to race. Those against the state or the states ideas saw themselves in prison far faster than any non-Aryans (it wasn't a crime to be non-German) or even those who married or had children with non-Europeans. Defining a nation be an idea or a specified culture means that in order for one to be part of the nation, one must accept the propositions or the culture. IF you don't, you're out. This means that one is therefore not free to question the culture or the principles which people say "make us Australian" or whatever. So whenever people say "being Australian/American is about ...." where .... is some ideology, moral princple, political or economic system, it means one can't be free to question it. Society then becomes conservative and stagnates. However, if an identity is based on ancestry, this offers more freedom, as identity isn't based on a requirement to uphold moral principles (Which may have become outdated, or even self destructive) but something less fungible, less changeable. You can't change what you are, so such an identity is more static. A nation with this type of identity can reform, challenge, allow challenges, but nevertheless recognise itself as a nation. A nation based on principles, ideas cannot be fully free. An identity based on propositions cannot be free. It will turn increasingly to a tyranny. This is how Political Correctness gets a stranglehold. 'White Nationalism' is probably an American thing, where white identity means something compared to their black population. It means little elsewhere. Your typical Pole or German or Hungarian would identify as Pole, German or Hungarian first before they identify as white or European. But nevertheless, it is interesting to observe at diverse workplaces the dynamic whereby this distant genetic heritage comes to the fore regardless. You mention you relate more to people living on your street. My argument is that through most of history, those people would generally have the same heritage anyway. The two coincided. It is only recently where this has been challenged, where the 'street' is a sampling of people throughout the globe. I remain unconvinced that such a society operates the same. I dont see multiculturalism working, not at work, not in the suburbs. People live with 'tolerance', but something changes, hence why people who promote multiculturalism constantly and relentlessly scream about how great it is. They have to cover up the fact that it is a second rate society. Especially since it takes away freedom by requiring people to accept more and more propositions and ideals. I'm also sceptical that it can work as people say it can work. It just doesn't appear to work, except when there is a strong, very strong dominating majority. When things become more diverse, society fractures. I'm not saying a multicultural or multiracial society can't work. I'm saying that such a society can never be truly free (as membership is based on ideas than identity, and those ideas must be enforced), nor will it ever be as cohesive (there is growing evidence to support this). In the USA, identity politics is growing. It is growing in Europe. It will grow in Australia (it already is showing with Reclaim).

nineofclubs (not verified)

Sun, 2015-09-06 12:00

Thanks for the footnote, ed. The attraction of a growing population to our business class is simply growing domestic demand. More consumers, more workers, bigger bottom lines. Obviously this grows GDP, but it does nothing to enrich the lives of the existing population. When social and environmental factors are figured in, mass immigration results in a decline in living standards for most technologically advanced Western countries. GDP per person is, I agree, a better (though still far from perfect) measure of economic performance. To my mind, GDP per person is only loosely related to population. In theory, you could have a huge population with low productivity that would have lower material standards of living. Or a very small population with high levels of productivity that enjoys a high material standard of living. In this latter case, the nations GDP would be quite small, but GDP per person would be high. Your point about the disruption created by mass immigration is relevant and may explain why countries that continue to develop better technology have flat GDP per capita. It could be that the efficiencies gained by automation are being eroded by inefficiencies caused by the arrival of new migrants who are ill prepared to work in their host countries. The diversion of investment capital to housing instead of more innovative / productive ventures is also certainly contributing. The US author Mark Krikkorian has written some interesting pieces on the productivity lowering effects of a cheap labour force. He argues that cheap labour acts as a disincentive to investment in labour saving technology, effectively holding back potentially big increases in productivity for the sake of quicker, easier, but potentially smaller gains achieved by forcing down wages.

anonymous (not verified)

Sun, 2015-09-06 11:02

The Government is considering a United States request to expand bombing operations across Iraq's western border into Syria. Prime Minister Tony Abbott is set to give the go-ahead for RAAF combat missions to Syria but he remains non-committal about accepting more of the vast number of refugees fleeing the fighting in Syria and Iraq. The Greens want Australia to agree to an emergency intake of 20,000 refugee fleeing the violence. Govt set to give go ahead to bomb Syria (6/9/15) | Sky News Surely the two issues are related? The more Syria is bombed, the more people will spill out into migration, and the chaos will continue. This is ultimately a decision for the National Security Committee of Cabinet to make. The former head of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), Retired General Peter Gration, has signed an open letter to Prime Minister Tony Abbott opposing bombing raids in Syria. The open letter suggests bombing IS targets would potentially be illegal, could strengthen the organisation and divide the Australian community. Bombing raids in Syria would be illegal and disastrous, former ADF General Peter Gration warns (4/9/15) | ABC News "This should make clear what Australia's likelihood of success before the International Court of Justice would be if another party raised arguments against the legality of the bombing," the letter said.

nineofclubs (not verified)

Sat, 2015-09-05 20:38

Even if GDP was to grow as a result of population growth, this would not imply any real improvement to the state of the economy - much less any increase in the standard of living or quality of life of most Australians. Bigger is not the same as better.

The fact that GDP is flat 1  despite mass immigration says that the economy is really in deep trouble. But this should come as no surprise.

The Coalition (and Labor to a large extent) have yet to come to terms with the fact that low wage conditions represent a useful phase in the development of an economy, but that Australia is well past that stage. Most of the Western world is past that stage. Japan is past it and within a decade or so, China will probably be past it.

In the event that free trade remains the dominant paradigm for international business in coming years, the only way that advanced Western nations can maintain their wealth is by using technology to boost productivity. Expecting employees to work for longer or for less money is short sighted and will not deliver the required increases in productivity. Furthermore, it robs consumers of the purchasing power necessary to stimulate demand. Nevertheless, this is still the preferred approach of most Australian business lobby groups, including the Liberal Party.

Thirty years ago, a great Australian by the name of Allan Richard Jones (not to be confused with the corporate sock puppet on Sydney radio) founded the National Technocrat Party, which argued for appropriate technological development and radical reform of our money system. Had the policies of the NTP been adopted at that time, Australia would be riding a wave of sustainable productivity now that would be the envy of the world.

It's not too late to look at such policy ideas again.

Footnote[s]

1. ↑  Of course, claims, that productivity, in a population with rapidly growing population, is increasing, are ludicrous. But, in my opinion, even those measures of economic performance which show per capita GDB to be flat as a result of population growth and immigration, are wrong. Given all the chaos and disruption caused by high immigration, I would expect an accurate measure of the productivity of the real economy to show not just a flat line, but a significant loss of overall productivity. - Ed

nineofclubs (not verified)

Sat, 2015-09-05 08:40

Some interesting points, Dennis. You seem to be saying that because culture is fluid, it's not reliable as the basis for creating a solid identity that the citizens of a society can share. If I understand correctly, your view is that identity is more soundly based around shared genetics. I agree that shared genetics is a good basis for identity, but recognise that it has it's limits. Outside my own extended family, I don't know whether people are closely related to me or not. They might be my third cousins, or they might be very, very distantly related. Just by looking at them, I can't tell. What makes it more likely that I can relate to those people is a shared language, values and way of living. Culture, in other words. To look at, a woman of German or Dutch extraction could be my sister. We may even have - way, way back - some shared ancestry. But so what? We don't speak the same language, our ways of living are different, our history is different and we inhabit very different environments. By contrast, consider a random person living in my street. Prior to mass immigration and multiculturalism (which is the polar opposite of cultural nationalism) I could expect to 'relate' very closely to that person, even if we weren't genetically related. I could have expected that despite any other differences between us, we would have both shared a language, some history, some core attitudes and an Australian identity. Because people become 'a people' when they have a unifying national culture. There's nothing traitorous at all about this. When I hear people describe themselves as 'white nationalists', I ask, what is this nation called 'white'? Do they mean that they're Australian / American / Canadian nationalists? Or does their identity transcend national boundaries? Are they really not nationalists, but basing their identity on their shared descent from (very distant) European forebears? Culture evolves and that's a good thing. If we could focus on Australian culture, as people like Miles Franklin, PR Stephenson and the Jindyworobaks wanted, we could shape it to become something unique and brilliant in human history. But instead, we are constantly flooded with generic western culture, largely from the US, via television - and with people from around the world who are actively encouraged to maintain their old cultures here. Australian nationalism is largely about culture, because culture is what makes Australians unique.

James Sinnamon

Sat, 2015-09-05 00:27

The following was posted to JohnQuiggin.com. I am advised, as of 12:45AM on Saturday 5 September 2015 that this comment is awaiting moderation.  1 

J-D asked in response to my earlier two posts:

Why do you trust this source?

What source? To which of my two posts are you referrring?

Had you looked at the article linked to in the second of my above posts, you would have noticed in one of the footnotes, a link to a story of a press conference which ocurred on 19th June 2014 at the United Nations headquarters in New York. That story includes a 53 minute embedded video of the press conference. At that press conference, five independent observers attested to the fairness of the Presidential election which had been conducted on 4 June 2014. At that election 88.7% of the 73.42% of eligible Syrian voters who voted, voted for President Bashar al-Assad.

Given the proxy war that was going on at the time, and which is continuing to this day, and the obstruction, by countries like Australia and France, of expatriate Syrians who wanted to vote, I would say that that was a most impressive result and one which totally refutes the lie from the mainstream newsmedia that President Bashar al-Assad is corrupt and brutal tyrant. Strikingly, not one of 'reporters' from Australia or elsewhere, who had been pushing that narrative before and since, bothered to show up to that press conference to challenge the testimony of the election observers.

The fact is since March 2011 Syria has faced invasion by sociopath killers from almost every corner of the globe. These sociopaths have been paid for and armed by the United States France, the UK and their regional allies including Israel, Turkey, Jordan and the dictatorships of Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

The cost borne by the people of Syria is terrible - over 220,000 dead by one estimate, but in spite of the terrible cost, the Army and the people of Syria have stood by their government against the invaders.

The people of Syria have seen what happened to neighbouring Iraq as a result of two illegal wars since 1990 and economic sanctions in which Australia shamefully participated, and are resolved not to let the same happen to them. According to Ramsey Clark, who was Attornery General of the United States under President Johnson in the 1960s, as many as 3,300,000 Iraqis may have died as a result. A 13 minute of a talk by Ramsey Clarke can be found here.

Fortunately, voices, which are demanding that the decision by Tony Abbott for Australia to participate in the war against the people of Syria be debated in Parliament, are starting to be heard. One of those people is retired Army General Peter Gration.

Footnote[s]

1. ↑  Why this is the case is unclear to me. All of my previous posts to JohnQuiggin.com, except where I may have inadvertently included more than one link, have been immediately published. Usually only posts with more than one HTML link are moderated by Professor Quiggin. The copy I posted there had only one link which linked back to this post.

anonymous (not verified)

Fri, 2015-09-04 15:11

"But the geniuses who have dug us into this hole want us to keep digging." Governments listen to the economists' theory of Capitalistic addiction to "growth", and now we are in the hole of economic stagnation, instead of admitting limits to growth, or that they have taken the wrong track. Thus, they keep on digging the hole deeper, with "business as usual". If our economic growth is linked only to what we've gained from raw population growth, then where's the net benefit? Considering the costs of population growth, in infrastructure spending, managing the human/environmental impacts, they see opening our borders is the way of gaining jobs, and income, is sheer desperation. If the jobs go to the investors, the Chinese, then we will have a flatlining effect of a welfare blowout. If our "economic growth" is going flat, on a national and individual level, then surely we've hit the metaphorical brick-wall of limits to growth! "Limits of growth" was modeled back in the early 1970s, by the think-tank the Club of Rome, and confirmed more recently, but our powers that be ignore it, and drag along the voting public, with their incomes burgeoning costs of living, and trapped into cities constricted by congestion, unaffordable housing, crime, and a whole dystopia of deprivation.

Ali (not verified)

Thu, 2015-09-03 23:35

It is beyond sadness what is happening to Syrians, However, The The west, USA, Canada and their dogs in the region are fully responsible for all the crimes committed against Syria and its people. Progressive demands should be to cut off support supplies to terrorist groups, Work with Syrian's Gov. to defeat them and restore the diplomatic relationships with Syria in order to facilitate consular services to Syrian's refugees.

Have the Brave (not verified)

Thu, 2015-09-03 23:26

I discovered this report on this morning’s AM program on the ABC at Australia should consider airstrikes in Syria: David Petraeus (3/9/15) | ABC AM which is NOT available as a transcript. It is a story about Petraeus encouraging Australia to join the war in Syria – advice which he gave on Wednesday night at a talk at the LOWY institute!! I guess the lack of transcript is because of that, but you can listen to the report at the link, if you have a strong stomach!

Bergen (not verified)

Thu, 2015-09-03 21:30

Dear Friends

The kangaroo industry's bill to permanently lift the ban on kangaroo imports has been introduced to the Californian legislature.

Lobbying is furious with a countdown to a vote imminent right now.

We need your help to push this over the line and ensure protection for kangaroos.

LEARN MORE: www.kangaroosatrisk.org

TAKE ACTION: http://www.kangaroosatrisk.

SHARE THE POSTS

Animals Australia

Facebook post: (targeting full list) https://www.facebook.com/AnimalsAustralia/photos/a.107448345298.115177.32799215298/10154154760265299/?type=1

Voiceless

Facebook Post: https://www.facebook.com/Voiceless.institute/photos/a.186707174715341.55257.161639987222060/989986107720773/?type=1

Humane Society International – Australia

Facebook Post: https://www.facebook.com/HSIAustralia/photos/a.10150282690839511.350871.136441724510/10153613190259511/?type=1

MEDIA

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California & the US

Helen Bergen

Bathurst NSW Australia

Thank you, Helen Burgen, for your most interesting and helpful post, but could I ask you, and other contributors, in future, to use ordinary text editors, or else HTML editors which produce HTML which is less verbose and more intelligible than that contained in the earlier version of your post? Your post has been edited to move a large amount of unintelligible HTML. A file containing a copy of the above post, as it has been edited, is attached to the above article here and can be downloaded. Evidently, your earlier version of the above post was created with a commercial web page editor which produces HTML which is far more verbose than it need be. -  Ed

Sheila Newman

Thu, 2015-09-03 17:59

email from Ian Penrose, a Victorian candidate for the ACF Council, about his views on population. He writes: You have asked about the subject of the human population. Let me assure you that I firmly believe (like Geoff) that we must stop it growing – not just globally but also at the national and local levels – if we are going to live in harmony with nature and care for the other species that share this finite planet. I have been a long standing advocate (in a private capacity) of that viewpoint. As evidence, in the early 1970s I joined the advocacy group, Zero Population Growth, and for a short time led its Victorian chapter. More recently I have joined Victoria First, which (despite its poorly chosen name) is focussed on stopping population growth. One hiccup in my candidacy for Council is that due to an administrative oversight, the information about me on ACF’s website is incomplete. The actual statement I submitted for publication is attached. In the section headed, “What do you hope to achieve as a councillor?” I said “to help ACF remain Australia’s leading organisation advocating for our wonderful natural environment, and contribute to ACF’s work on the drivers of sustainability.” A fundamental driver is a stable human population, and that is one key area I would advocate strongly for. It would be appreciated if you would pass onto other likeminded people my position on this critical issue.

Anonymous (not verified)

Thu, 2015-09-03 12:29

The EU is under tremendous pressure to absorb the number of displaced people, many of whom come from the Middle East, such as Syria, and from Africa. There's been little discussion on why, or how to end the misery and overflow! It's assumed that it's part of our modern world, inevitable, and unavoidable, and must be dealt with by absorbing the huge numbers into Europe.

With global population doubled since 1970, any disruption to peace and invasions, will cause massive spilling over of people. In the past there were always new countries, or colonies, to subdue and escape to, for a better life! Now, the world is full!

According to international law, the US cannot intervene in another country militarily or otherwise without the approval, without the cooperation and coordination of that country. They want to bomb ISIS, in Syria, but it has done it without the approval of the Security Council and in clear violation of the charter of the UN. Countries that have helped arming, funding, training and facilitating the work of ISIS are telling the world they are "fighting terrorism".

Australia has a long history of participating in Washington's criminal wars.

Don Rothwell, a professor of law at the Australian National University, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that the government was considering action that would "radically adjust Australian doctrine."

The destruction that the US invasion wreaked on Iraq, followed by Washington's open stoking of civil war in Libya and Syria, has plunged the entire region into chaos, giving rise to phenomena such as ISIS, as well as the world’s worst refugee crisis. Despite the flows to Europe, the United States has welcomed few Syrian refugees to its shores. They have a miles-long asylum backlog, insufficient temporary relief, and laborious national security screening procedures that make sure terrorists are not slipping into the country keep refugee admissions to a minimum. Refugee families have changed the demographics of their host cities, such as Shelbyville, Tennessee; Lewiston, Maine; and Minneapolis, Minnesota, all of which have reported culture clashes between Muslims expecting everything from foot baths at public colleges to dietary concessions at public schools.

Read more at U.N. to dump flood of Muslim refugees on U.S. (15/9/14) | WND

Politicians and the press tend to use the first term, implying that the new arrivals are being pulled toward Europe in search of economic opportunities. The United Nations insists that the vast majority of the new arrivals are in fact refugees, people who are being pushed from their homelands due to persecution or conflict.

Sheila Newman

Wed, 2015-09-02 10:30

In Paris the cost of rent is going down, due to a new law where the state sets criteria and model rents according to standard attributes of dwellings. The landlord may not demand rent more than 20% above the model set for the level of accommodation provided. The reference points include things like age of building, recency of renovations, insulation, view, balcony etc. Source: Le JT de 20 Heures du mardi 1 septembre 2015 (French New France2, 8pm Tuesday 1 September 2015.) http://www.francetvinfo.fr/economie/immobilier/encadrement-des-loyers/encadrement-des-loyers-la-baisse-des-prix-est-enclenchee_1065733.html See French report below English description. Note that France does not have a growth lobby, unlike Australia. France correctly counts population growth as a cost to the state and all dwellings in France are state subsidised, either as public rentals or as low interest loans for private purchase. Under Napoleonic Code (Roman law) all French and immigrants have a right to housing and to an income from work or from the state. This is true of most or all other ocuntries that also have a Napoleonic type code, and such countries have included the Germanic states since the 19th century. English speaking states, like Britain, United States, Australia, Canada, do not have a code of law that embodies civil rights. The Bill of ;Rights in the United States, similarly to the Charters of Rights in certain Australian states, is very inferior in terms of detail and concrete civil rights. Human Rights law is extremely abstract and hard to enforce compared to civil rights codes. "Avec l'encadrement des loyers, Paris coûte de moins en moins cher. Sylvain Nouallet est agent immobilier dans la capitale et depuis le 1er août et la mise en place de l'encadrement des loyers il voit déjà les prix baisser. "J'ai un studio qui était loué et qui fait 12m² à peine qui était loué 550 euros avant la loi Alur. On va devoir le porter à 376 euros charges comprises avec le nouveau dispositif", explique-t-il. Soit une économie de 180 euros pour le locataire. Des dérogations Une étude d'autres agents immobiliers le confirme : avant le 1er août, les loyers étaient trop chers dans 46% des annonces. Aujourd'hui cela ne concernerait plus que 29% des offres.  Le propriétaire doit désormais respecter un loyer de référence dans la capitale en fonction de plusieurs critères : le quartier, le nombre de pièces de l'appartement et l'année de construction de l'immeuble. Le loyer ne peut pas être majoré de plus de 20% sauf en cas de caractéristiques exceptionnelles comme un balcon, une belle vue ou des travaux récents.Les dérogations sont nombreuses et beaucoup de propriétaires s'engouffrent dans la brèche. Après la signature du bail, le locataire a trois mois pour poser un recours s'il juge son loyer trop élevé.  " Encadrement des loyers - 01.08.2015 Le décret n°2015-650 du 10 juin 2015 détermine les conditions de mise en œuvre du système d'encadrement des loyers. L'entrée en vigueur de ces dispositions suppose la publication d'un arrêté fixant les montant des loyers de références applicables localement. Dans l'attente de la sortie des arrêtés dans les villes concernées (hors Paris où l'arrêté a été pris), les informations contenues dans cette page restent d'actualité. Source: http://vosdroits.service-public.fr/particuliers/F1314.xhtml

Geoffrey Taylor

Wed, 2015-09-02 02:49

On 18 April 2015, before the current refugee crisis began, the Iranian PressTV News service reported that "Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi has called on the Syrians forced to flee to neighbouring countries due to the ongoing conflict in the Arab country to return home."

The report continued:

"He said Syria is home to all Syrians and that the government is ready to embrace all the displaced citizens and provide decent residence to them. Earlier this month, the UN Refugee Agency warned about the dire situation of the Syrian refugees abroad especially in Jordan, saying the Syrian exiles are facing recruitment as child soldiers, sexual violence, and exploitation for labour. The report released by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on August 6 said a large number of child refugees are deprived of schooling and vulnerable to be recruited by armed groups that aim to take them back to fight in Syria. The world body noted that the threat is not limited to children and adults are also prey to such recruitment, while all refugees, including youngsters, are being forced into labour. The UNHCR also warned about domestic and sexual violence as a particular danger for refugee women and children. The report said both organized crime networks and Syrian opposition groups operate in camps in order to pursue their financial and political objectives. It further warned that lawlessness and high criminality in the camps are driving refugees back home."

Since then hundreds have drowned on crowded ships in the Mediterranean and more than 71 have perished inside trucks in Austria. In response hundreds of pro-refugee activists have protested in Germany and Austria to demand their governments admit more refugees. Strangely, as far as I can tell, none of those ostensible humanitarians protesting for Syrian refugees have expressed any opposition to the current war against Syria.

Many other ordinary Europeans are rightly concerned at the prospect of hundreds of thousands more refugees and economic migrants settling in their country. So, demonstrations against the offering of asylum to large numbers of refugees have also occurred. The participation in these protests of far-right-wingers and even neo-Nazis has been used by pro-refugee activists and the mainstream newsmedia to discredit those protests.

Fleeing from danger, refugees cannot help solve Syria's crisis. It can only make it all the more difficult for those Syrians remaining behind to defend their country. Inevitably, by fleeing to the very countries whose governments are openly complicit in the war against Syria, including France and Great Britain, the Western mainstream newsmedia will spin the flight of so many refugees to reinforce their narrative that the Syrian government is a brutal dictatorship thereby providing more justification for their ongoing proxy terrorist war against Syria or even direct military aggression as, for example, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott indicated he was willing to do by conducting Air raids into Syria, ostensibly to bomb ISIS.

The inevitable chaos caused by such large influxes will make it easier for the elites of those countries to continue to rule against the best interests of the majority of these countries' inhabitants. This would included the conducting of further wars against people in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia.

Little of the coverage, even from normally truthful and informative alternative newsmedia sources, is of much use. Nearly all try to pull at the heartstrings of readers in order to persuade them to support the right of refugees to enter Europe without proposing any workable solution to the crisis.

The small number of articles which address the real issues at stake include: The Migrants' "Long March" across the Balkans to Western Europe (31/8/15) | Global Research/Oriental Review, Western-made refugee crisis (1/9/15) | RT - CrossTalk,

Other, less helpful, articles include: Australia tells Europe: Join ISIS strikes and you'll solve your migrant problems (31/8/15) | RT, Tolerating Refugees, Not Criticism: Protester Charged for Heckling (28/8/15) | Sputnik, Refugees arrive in Austria, final destination unknown (31/8/15) | PressTV, Tens of thousands march in Austria against abuse of refugees (1/9/15) | PressTV, UN chief calls for 'comprehensive' response to refugee crisis (29/8/15) | PressTV, Amnesty accuses Austria of violating refugees’ rights (14/8/15), 'Foreigners out!' 30+ police injured after clashes at anti-migrant demo in Germany (22/8/15) | RT, Hungary bans refugees from main railway station as hundreds attempt to ride Vienna train (1/9/15) | RT, Tales of Darkness: Europe's Refugee Woes (31/8/15) by Binoy Kampmark | Global Research, Why the Refugee Crisis (31/8/15) by Stephen Lendman | Global Research, 'Merkel stays silent': Twitter mocks German chancellor for not speaking out over attacks on refugees (26/8/15) | RT, Tolerating Refugees, Not Criticism: Protester Charged for Heckling Merkel (/9/15) | Sputnik, Merkel to Visit Anti-Refugee Protests-Hit Heidenau Following Clashes (25/8/15) | Sputnik, German Activists Boo Merkel During Visit to Protest-Hit Heidenau (26/8/15) | Sputnik.

Sheila Newman

Tue, 2015-09-01 18:55

Hi again Nimby. So, it sounds as if you got a quite half-baked response. The sort of slurry, half-thought out response you might get from a drunk on his way to the pub in response to a reasonable question, like, "Before you head off, could you tell me what have you done with the rent money? In case I am not making myself clear, I mean that our ministers and public servants seem to have given up on rational dialogue with citizens. I rarely bother to try to communicate with these ne'er do wells, but recently I wrote a careful complaint to SBS and a specific inquiry to Julie Bishop, Min for Foreign Affairs and Trade, about a reference she had used which did not actually reference what she said. I received neither acknowledgement nor response. The government is out to lunch, discussing mad projects like bombing Syria to 'stop' the refugee outflow, for instance. They are like drunks blaming everyone else but themselves for the mess they are making.

nimby

Tue, 2015-09-01 18:31

Sheila, not the answer was NOT one line, but actually said very little, and referred me to the above DEWLP web page. According to the letter, migrants arrive where there are jobs, opportunities and amenities. and government has the job of planning for the growth! It's assumed their hands are tied, and they are not implementing the growth. or have any part in promoting it. The government, they claim, is meant to provide infrastructure and housing to manage the growth, but this is failing now, and will be unlikely to be able to cope in the future. They are passing the buck, and not claiming responsibility. Why continue with the facade of providing "affordable housing" when it isn't? As for jobs and amenities, we are facing high youth unemployment, and there are few amenities in fringe suburbs already. They just get the generic "population growth" letter from their files, print it, without directly addressing or responding to concerns, taking responsibility, or admitting to the contradictions.

Anonymous (not verified)

Tue, 2015-09-01 16:30

AUSTRALIA FIRST PARTY Happy Wattle Day to all fairdinkum Australians. In this epoch of unchecked decline for Aussies, in Wattle Day, 1st September, there is the great legacy of an inheritance which is uniquely Australian, and which needs to be reclaimed as an essence of our Australian culture. From our earlier generations, the call was made to "all citizens to foster, protect and cherish the Wattle; for a sacred charge to every Australian to plant it in all parks, reserves, and pleasure grounds and also private gardens, that it might become a source of pilgrimage in blossom time. Also to rouse the young people's sense of chivalry, and make the Wattle synonymous with Australia's honour." and "To the Native Australian the wattle stands for home, country, kindred, sunshine and love - every instinct that the heart deeply enshrines". and "the golden fleece - the wool; the golden green - the wheat; the golden sunshine - the golden hearts of the Australian people", was the theme suggested from the Golden Wattle TO PARTICIPATE:- Wear a sprig of Wattle; plant a Wattle shrub in your garden; rub hands on the bark of a Wattle tree, and reflect on the unique eco-diversity of our Southern Land; read some verse of The Banjo or Henry Lawson; play a few Larrikins songs; dwell on our cultural heritage with thanks to our earlier generations.

Pragmatic Pet Owner (not verified)

Tue, 2015-09-01 14:17

I find that I can keep my head above water time-wise by buying in bulk the food for my dog and cat and for myself, my husband and child. A silo of dry food under the stairway means I virtually never have to think about pet nutrition. My weekly shop for the family consists of an overflowing trolley of frozen pre-prepared temptations. It takes less than 10 minutes from entry from work through the front door to the food for us being on our laps as we zone out in front of the ABC news. Convenience food for all of us means we can keep up with our busy schedules. I feel confident that all that we need is contained within those packages. I don't have to think. Furthermore, neither the dog nor the cat are complaining as they've never eaten anything else. For our family, it's a case of "Hang the expense, this is a quality of life issue!"

nimby

Mon, 2015-08-31 18:11

Victoria's population will explode to 10 million by 2051! There's already entrenched disadvantages in Melbourne's fringes. Dear Mr Wynne, With due respect, why do we need Melbourne's massive projected population growth? What can't we do now that will improve with 8 million people? What about after mid century? Will growth end? Mr Wynne will tell a conference looking at how Melbourne will cope with such rapid growth that state governments have the "duty and an obligation" to ensure planning decisions mean outer Melbourne suburbs have proper access to transport and infrastructure. Read more: The Age: Being born on city fringe must not disadvantage says Planning Minister Richard Wynne Other than housing growth, the beneficiaries will only be the banks and property developers. There's already massive shortfalls of public service, and infrastructure, especially in outer suburbs. We'll almost be bigger than any other city of Europe, except Moscow? Just what will be the benefits? In the past we brought migrants to build infrastructure, and build our nation. Now, we must spend $billions on infrastructure, so we can bring migrants? Where's the net gain? With unaffordable housing, unemployment, crime, evaporation of manufacturing industries, and traffic congestion costs, there's really no social, environmental or economic reason for this population growth. Accommodating it means nothing will be done at Federal level to manage our borders, and put the brakes on our unsustainable rate of immigration. Surely your "duty and obligation" should include actually questioning this socially-engineered population growth? Planning now is just about deregulation, and more people! Please, could you discuss this Melbourne at 8 million plan with your colleague, MP for Wills, Kelvin Thomson. The reply: DELWP: Victoria in Future: Population and household projections Governments are committed to providing adequate housing and infrastructure. ( Already there is inadequate housing, homelessness, and massive infrastructure deficit. As for "strong" natural growth, Victoria has one of the lowest fertility rates! The growth is largely due to migration, but it's still considered inevitable - and questions not answered!)

Adriana (not verified)

Mon, 2015-08-31 09:05

I am another who takes many walks in my own and neighbouring suburbs. I honestly feel depressed when I see yet another bare block waiting its overdeveloped fate. I usually can't remember what has been demolished because in general, the houses built last century have visually receded into the street-scape behind established gardens. I would have to describe my feelings as a kind of grief even though I am not directly affected (yet). I feel terribly sorry for the neighbours of the bare block who may lose 4 hours per day of winter sunshine from a favourite window or no longer be able to grow vegetables in the back garden bed that is soon to be overshadowed. Their only option if the effects of the coming overdevelopment rob them of these simple pleasures (now probably called "luxuries") is to move out and thus the process will proceed along he street until the transformation is complete. Most of the birds and other signs of life in the area will disappear as shrubbery and trees are ripped out and replaced by concrete. It is a long grieving process for me similar to a prolonged terminal illness.

Dennis K

Sun, 2015-08-30 22:24

I wager the developers believe they aren't personally affected. Another short walk, and I counted at least 10 houses demolished to make way for units that I hadn't seen before. The new homes which are being built have no lawn, no trees, no natural environment. Think of all the resources that are being wasted tearing down good houses, to build crappy houses with no natural yard and poorer energy ratings. Vandalism to our suburbs, our environment, society and economy. This is what happens when "Banksters Capitalism" runs amok, a system of hyper economic rationalism manipulated by the banksters. If Western Civilisation adopted this system at the end of fuedalism, it would have never gotten off the ground... Oddly, this is one of the worst abuses the Capitalist system is imposing upon people, turning a necessity into a financial instrument for gamblers (and thereby forcing people wanting to put a roof over their head into gambling), yet none of the very active anti-capitalist political groups want to touch it.

quark

Sun, 2015-08-30 14:07

The process is well described by Dennis K (above). Most people, even those Baby Boomers who live in normal houses with front and back gardens as most of us used to, cannot profit from the densification process. if a block of land is be be used optimally, the existing house must be demolished so that both front and back gardens are engulfed by new dwellings and underground garages. The block must be "mined" for all it's worth. The ordinary home owner cannot do this as a large amount of capital would be needed for the building works. During this process (with which most of us are not very experienced) the owner would need to find somewhere else to live which is another major expense. Then what would these hypothetical owner builders be left with( if they survive) ? They will have made some extra cash from their own land but would then be living in close proximity to others on what used to be exclusively theirs. For a developer who has no personal interest in the aesthetic values of the target property the aim is maximum accommodation for maximum return. This drastically undermines amenity and quality of life in the target area. I learned last week from my local council that an area quite near where i live but on a main road (less than 1km) has had all height restrictions removed. This order came from the State Government despite the council trying to maintain height restrictions in the area. An officer from the council planning department told me on the phone that they are constantly under pressure to accommodate more population.

Dennis K

Sun, 2015-08-30 09:37

This is the observation I have made where I live. All houses are sold for the land. All of them. Bar the ones already subdivided. No matter the condition of the house, its suitability for habitat, it is only the land size. This used to be the case for old, small houses on large blocks. But now even nice houses on 500m2 blocks, are sold merely to subdivide. What is happening, is that prices have elevated to the point where it only makes sense to buy a house to subdivide. It is a losing proposition unless you're a property parasite. This is going to impoverish those who buy the subdivisions, because they cannot do the same. The wealth transfer is accelerating. How much longer can this go on? I'm not sure. Perhaps until every house is subdivided, but this would require so much debt that it would grind our country to a halt. Either Australia will rapidly turn into a 2 class society (with a deteriorating standard of living), or this will crash and burn. The latter would be more desirable.

anonymous (not verified)

Sun, 2015-08-30 09:27

Bendigo mosque ‘to attract more Muslim worshipers’ as population grows. There were clashes in Bendigo with anti-Mosque protesters, and anti-racist groups. The irony is that there are only 36 Muslims in Bendigo, but the Council has rejected an appeal against the building of the mega-mosque, that would cater for 2000 people! Islam is not a "race", any more than Christianity. I would be a double domed, two hectare facility with mooted expansion was not meeting demand but creating demand. With the state’s population tipped to touch 10 million by 2051, a consultant employed by the Council said it was important that the needs of multicultural communities were met in regional hubs such as Bendigo. A "multicultural community" of 36 is obviously very significant! An Australian flag was burnt at the end of the protest. Rather than "tipped" to be 10 million by mid century, with low fertility rates, this is not about accommodating asylum seekers, the usual focus of "immigration" topics, but deliberate funneling of people into Victoria, and Bendigo, to promote housing growth and investment in property! If we had a true democracy, we'd be ruled by the majority, and public concerns. This fiery issue shows that property developers, and foreign influences, are driving this maligned "planning". Unless the Muslim population is rapidly pumped up, and highly inflated in the near future, with only 36 worshipers, there will be plenty of empty seats! Reassuringly, the Mayor of Greater Bendigo, Peter Cox, said "“We are a welcoming, giving and thoughtful city.” There will be a lot of "welcoming" to reach the numbers to fill this mega-Mosque.

Sheila Newman

Sun, 2015-08-30 08:30

Investment in wars promotes flight and moves money. A few years ago Francis Ronsin, a contemporary French historian, wrote, La Guerre et L'Oseille - War and Lucre. This book consisted of a revealing collection of economic journalism leading up to and during the war on the fortunes of the Parisien stock exchange. Economists were upbeat about war and the stock exchange reflected this. as people put their money on the side of the enemy if they thought it was winning. Money and the market were already divorced from social consequences as vast as WW2. Watching what is going on in the Middle East reminds me of this. We see Australia's allies, the US and NATO, shamelessly and criminally provoking war and mayhem in petroleum rich zones. Their obsessive focus on removing the democratically elected Assad Government from Syria by any and every means, notably through the financing of gangs of psychopathic opportunists calling themselves 'rebels' and 'ISIS' is utterly chilling. Similarly chilling is the way Australia's public broadcasters and its commercial media whitewash and promote this incredible cruelty and corruption with patently false stories. How can the public be so uncritical of the way our government remains friends with the long-corrupted Saudis who they have launched a full-scale war of unbridled atrocities on Yemen and treat their own people the worst in the Middle East? The result of Australia's unhealthy friendships in the Middle East is vast numbers of economic and political refugees from all the lands that Australia has supported the devious 'interventions' in. We now see bankers and big business, in league with government, promoting the idea that all these people must be given asylum because they will provide cheap labour. It is obvious that marketeers are looking forward to cherry-picking the richest, the highly qualified and the docile labour content from these floods and using them against the citizenry of the host nations to raise house prices, lower wages and increase populations. The citizens here and in Europe and the United States, have not been consulted and have misinformed about the motives for these wars and our government's criminal responsibility in provoking homelessness on a grand scale and vast exoduses. Most breathtaking has been the constant failure by Murdoch press, Fairfax, ABC, CBC, and the European press, to report on the fact that the Assad Government was elected last year in a big majority. Read about it here: /taxonomy/term/6173, This scale of malignant propaganda is only equaled by the continuing transparent propaganda that the Syrian government is responsible for killing its own people when clearly it is defending them from death squads launched by Australia's allies. Our governments and press cynically demonise the peoples of the Middle East as religious nuts and cynically portray refugees both as heros and as poor wretches, whilst undermining local governments and armed forces and actively financing and publicising gangs of true religious nuts and psychopaths so scary that people will flee from them rather than stand and fight. With regard to Syrian refugees, we should be cautious, because the Assad Government has maintained protected areas for the Syrians, Palestinians and Kurds in Syria, to which people can safely flee. Yes, there are people who have no alternative but to flee from regions where the 'rebels' have taken over. And, in the end, as economies collapse under the weight of Western investment in war, no-one will want to stay. The solution is to criminalise all investment in foreign intervention. The Assad Government has continued to fight the 'rebels' and ISIS, while Australia's allies seek to remove that government on false grounds. 'Rebel' criminals fleeing justice can pass for refugees and hide in camps and economic diasporas. The interventions Australia supports in the Middle East and in the East (Ukraine) not only cause disorganisation and social disintegration there; they are being used to undermine social contracts and industrial democracy in the West, the better to subject all populations to the increasingly uncompromising Market. To stop the flight of people caught in these Middle Eastern wars, Australia and her allies must stop sponsoring the terror squads that are dismantling government there. For this to happen, people need to realise that they cannot trust Australian and other mainstream media. The people of the 'developed world' need to inform themselves about what is causing economic and political flight from the countries where we are backing economic destruction.

Sheila Newman

Sun, 2015-08-30 07:30

And if we looked after the kangaroo habitat, the frogs would look after themselves. Researchers are probably now more likely to be funded to investigate ways of delaying the final curtain call for small populations of very small animals because the property developing lobby that wants all our land for its own profit dominates parliament.

Bobby Forest (not verified)

Sun, 2015-08-30 07:21

Did anyone see that article in The age on 25 August 2015 about the kangaroos that were standing still watching a cyclist as he rode past them. The article turned the kangaroos into some sort of scary phenomenon and mentioned large numbers. What i saw in the video were maybe 70 kangaroos- doing absolutely no harm at all and hardly a plague. The tone of the article was offensive.

quark

Sat, 2015-08-29 21:03

As it happens i took the dog for a walk in a park in a nearby suburb today. Walking along a very pleasant windy, tree lined street, I first saw a very attractive maybe 60s brick house for sale with the sign saying it was for re-development into 2 units. (so it will be demolished). Then there was another one of similar calibre showing the land as the attraction, then on a sharp corner there was a 50s art deco curvy sort house with a front garden extending as a grassy knoll to the footpath. Same thing, with the sign showing all the "spare" land. Within a decade this lovely but very modest suburban street will be unrecognisable.

Dennis K

Sat, 2015-08-29 12:54

And yet bank shares have been hammered in the previous months... With very low interest rates, they are finding it harder to keep their profit margins. On top of that, there are requirements for them to increase their capital to withstand falling valuations. The ANZ share price dropped about 10% when they did it. Commonwealth Bank fell too. Low interest rates mean the margin between what the bank lends, and pays drops. Investors are growing concerned about their ability to sustain the bubble. Despite the fact their profits are good, people are sceptical about the future. The banks are even raising interest rates where the RBA wont, to try and keep profits. AMP has stopped lending to investors. and has jacked up rates. Even the banks are finding the situation displeasing! Yet the RBA is dropping rates, and the government refuses to address the issue. In the last year or so, the housing bubble has gone from something people have cheered, to a real source of concern. There is a growing consensus that it is out of control. Glen Steven is an idiot. There is no other way to put it. He is a downright moron, concerned about 'crazy' house prices, but knowingly keeping interest rates down, which anyone with a room temperature IQ now knows, just goes into housing speculation and nothing else. Just this morning as I was driving I saw a perfectly good house, modern brick, large, new, well kept on an 550m2 block of land being sold. The advertisement billboard merely showed the land area. This perfectly good, NEW, clean, modern house is sold just to be demolished and subdivided. Normally, people have done this with old weatherboard houses, but every house, even new good ones are being torn apart in the rush for profit. No one is buying but investors... When even the banks are worried now, you have to sit up and take notice. But with the RBA keeping rates low, and the government wanting to keep votes, it seems our society would rather let this consume us all, than face reality and allow the market to correct. Which is why I predicted that there is a good chance that instead of prices falling, our society and opportunities would take a massive leap backwards to compensate. Otherwise this implodes. But as prices and mania is accelerating, the damage this will cause is greatly increasing. I think I will take my family overseas. This kind of activity demonstrates this country is full of idiots. Sorry, there is no other way around it. Few, if any other Western countries would take this as far as we have. Even Canada put a stop to it.

quark

Sat, 2015-08-29 10:57

The comparison of the Australian dollar and the Indonesian Rupiah was deliberate as Indonesia is a close neighbour geographically with a currency that reflects massive inflation. Indonesia has eliminated the 1000 Rupiah note and its largest denomination is 100,000 Rupiah. Australia eliminated altogether the 1cent then the 2 cent coins. The 5 cent coin will be next. The $1.00 note became a coin as did the $2.00 note. We do not yet have a $100,000 note but surely we are headed in that direction? Our currency is dropping in value with respect to what really matters - land and housing, water and energy. It is true that we can buy such items as furniture and kitchen wares, electrical goods and computers for quite reasonable prices but they are not real assets in my view. I can "hear" the inflation of our currency in everyday language, " 1 mil" "1 point 8" "only 1.2" for houses and I know that I am not gaining (in wealth) even though I have more dollars than I did 10 years ago! They are not really dollars any more in the sense that they used to be.

Save our Green ... (not verified)

Sat, 2015-08-29 10:54

How can economic benefits from housing be justified if it means the annihilation of a once common native species, the Growling Grass Frogs? Knowingly and deliberately killing off biodiversity, is about human greed, and deliberate species genocide. These frogs were common when I was young. We'd collect the tadpoles from Gardiner Creek, Chadstone, and then watch the legs grow, and they'd appear under rocks in our garden. Now, the site is filled by numerous housing units, and the creek is no longer - just a concrete drainpipe along side the SE Freeway! We have all the policies and laws to protect biodiversity and wildlife, but when it comes to housing, they are given lip service. Melbourne's green wedges were instigated by by the Hamer government in the 1970s, to be the "lungs of Melbourne". They were given firm affirmation by the Bracks government. Labor vows to protect green wedges (28/10/14) | Age The green wedges include the lands of the Wurundjeri, Bunurung and Wathurong traditional owners. Within their boundaries, substantial areas of environmentally significant indigenous grasslands, forests, remnant vegetation and wildlife habitat corridors have been protected. A former green wedge area in Melbourne's west will make way for a sprawling new suburb, after the state government unveiled plans on Friday to transform the sleepy township of Rockbank into a new suburb home to 25,000 people. Rockbank development former greed wedge to make way for a sprawling new suburb (28/8/15) | Age With the plan to pump up the population of Melbourne to 8 million by mid century, there's no way our green wedges or open spaces can be maintained. The urban growth boundary is merely an elastic band, to be extended according to political whim. Where's the conservationists and environmentalists calling out for the protection of biodiversity, and threatened species? The silence is deafening when it comes to human economic activities, and growth, over concern for animal species. Even a large frog species remains an insignificant weapon against the powerful guns of the big lobbyists for perpetual housing growth, and the economic bulldozers of the banks!

Anonymous (not verified)

Sat, 2015-08-29 10:35

Mortgages now are a legal way of draining the savings and earnings out of the hands of the owners, and workers, into the banks. There's huge profits to be made, from housing! People need housing, and shelter, and for most people the family home is their biggest investment. There's no obligation in our economy, or by our government, to guarantee housing. It's a free market economy, with few restrictions and limitations, such as social welfare and responsibility. It's given lip-service. If we have homeless and unemployment now, how can we have labour shortages, or skills shortages, requiring such heavy rates of immigration? Being trapped into mortgages and rents is a way of keeping the public silent and busy, with their own concerns.

Dennis K

Sat, 2015-08-29 09:45

@quark, Curriencies around the world are being dropped. Your observations about our currency seeming to be more like the Rupiah reveals more than you realise. That may be what is actually happening. Think about it. Who HAS the trillions in their saving accounts which banks lend out? If everyone has mega-mortgates, where is the corresponding increase in deposits from savers? Banks are lending out far more than a few years ago, but do they have people who are saving far more and having far bigger deposits? What is happening, is that money is appearing out of nowhere, and our share is decreasing, as it becomes a smaller and smaller proportion of the funny money used to inflate these prices. So in a sense, our currency IS dropping in value. Our banks share prices have dropped dramatically in the past few months, because they need to raise more capital (to cover potential house price falls). and they will need to raise more money again, and take another hit.

Dennis K

Sat, 2015-08-29 09:33

Unfortunately, it is not the media where I am getting my opinions from. It's often straight from the horses mouth... Maybe my neighbourhood is different. Perhaps the difference is that the area and circles we move in. Some I speak to recognise that it is an issue, but they want a solution that doesn't affect them.

Anonymous (not verified)

Fri, 2015-08-28 19:23

The reliance on revenues from increasing housing prices, and growth at a time of budgetary and job limitations, is an admission of a vacuous and shallow economy. It's evidence of a lack of ideas, productivity and innovation. It's about bulking up people instead of a real economy. There's desperation to ramp up supply of housing, but there's rarely any discussion of the demand - driven by excessive population growth riding on high immigration levels. The fact that we have massive infrastructure deficit, youth unemployment and increasing homelessness is evidence of hitting the limits of housing growth. Never has there been such a disadvantaged generation as this one. It's the worship of "growth" at all costs, without justification and along with the stealth that's it's somehow natural and organic.

admin

Fri, 2015-08-28 11:33

If you are near the Melbourne CBD, please attend a rally to Stop the China Australia Free Trade agreement at 12PM midday at Parliament House.

Stand up for local jobs and communities. Join us to stop #ChAFTA.

257 tariffs remain on exports while cheap imports are limitless.

From Trade Minister Andrew Robb to Chinese Minister for Commerce Gao Hucheng, 17 June 2015:

Australia will remove the requirement for mandatory skills assessment for the following ten occupations on the date of entry into force of the agreement.

  • Automotive Electrician
  • Cabinetmaker
  • Carpenter
  • Carpenter and Joiner
  • Diesel Motor Mechanic
  • Electrician (General)
  • Electrician (Special Class)
  • Joiner
  • Motor Mechanic (General)
  • Motorcycle Mechanic

Bobby Forest (not verified)

Fri, 2015-08-28 00:15

There is some quite good information with comments underneath on the problems of Hills Science diet similar plus the general misinformation on what pets should eat. More Spin from the Pet Nutrition Misinformation Movement. It's quite hard to find anything sensible about this matter on the internet because the petfood manufacturers have saturated the web. If you look up 'debunking petfood science diet' for instance, you will come up with a zillion pseudo debunks, where the article is actually an ad for some other rotten corny processed dog-food poison.

Sheila Newman

Thu, 2015-08-27 21:49

Dennis, Are you sure you are not taking for reality what the newsmedia manufacture? It is the business of big business/the growth lobby to promote what they want as what 'everyone' wants. Just because the Age or the Australian or the ABC or various commercial tv and radio stations say that everyone wants the price of their home to go up does not mean that everyone actually does. They just make it up and flog the message until a small froth of noisy yuppies absorb it and become mad speculators. Then the same news sources promote ways to drive up demand further, such as advertising to foreign purchasers. The majority of people I meet, no matter in what area these days, want housing to become affordable. They can see that they need higher wages simply to keep up with the rent, the mortgage or the rates, not to mention electricity and water. All costs of living and doing business are driven up by land/housing prices. And the same big end of town that pretends that we all want what it wants then complains about the cost of wages in Australia. The people who run the media in this country should be forced to declare, day by day, all their investments and assets. Then it would become clear why they promote such ridiculous attitudes as norms.

quark

Thu, 2015-08-27 21:37

House prices have for as long as I have been a "grown -up" been part of the boring conversation at dinner parties of aspiring young couples . People used to get excited that their houses were nudging $100,000 in value. But one's satisfaction is relative to others with whom one normally compares one's self; not with endless increases -if one gives the matter any real consideration. If the average home cost $100,000 the aspiring classes would be happy if theirs were worth $150,000 to $200,000! Now the same sort of people are disappointed if the value of their houses are less than $1,000,000. A million dollars used to be an unimaginable, breathtaking sum uttered almost with reverence. Now it is glibly glossed over in real-estate parlance as "$1 point something"! Anyone who gives it a moment's thought will realise that our Aussie dollars now sound almost like Indonesian Rupiah such is the inflation of our dollar largely through rising house and land prices

Dennis K

Thu, 2015-08-27 20:50

quark, you are correct. There is no tangible advantage to having an asset rise in price, if you don't plan to sell. One could argue that it means you could borrow more against the house, but this is only for those who want to do this, which isn't many. If actually works out to be a disadvantage to the homeowner. It is a disadvantage to the economy, and most business. Yet it seems that people still want to know their homes are worth more, even if they won't benefit. Even if it means more rates, and less elsewhere. People are funny like that. Howard said no one complained that their home was going up in value. Who said this? People who probably weren't selling, but liked the vanity. There are plenty of people, purely for reasons of vanity who want to have the most expensive house, even if it is technically not that flash... I hear this all the time. So in doing so, we increase debt... There is a reason that Pride is one of the seven deadly sins, up there, and even greater than Greed.

quark

Thu, 2015-08-27 08:57

Rising house prices do not benefit people who only have one house which is adequate and not superfluous to their needs. Home owner retirees on more or less fixed incomes are disadvantaged by the rise in the $ value of their houses as their council rates increase and become an ever higher proportion of their incomes. Furthermore costs of moving house are multiplied by the rise in house prices . Living in a house you own because you paid for it is not hoarding capital as the house is needed. It is does not represent excess capital.

Sheila Newman

Wed, 2015-08-26 23:08

What is the relationship between keeping a home and preserving capital growth. Why must both be aimed at? If house prices go down so will the cost of living. Less growth will be required. I need more explanation.

Sheila Newman

Wed, 2015-08-26 23:03

I am glad people are discussing the "Note" in the above article and attempting to relate it to politics. I would like to refer readers to the article below, quoted in part. http://candobetter.net/node/3197 It discusses how power and territory can be and is accumulated through endogamy and how forced exogamy has the opposite effect of disorganising power and possession of territory. Australians might like to think about the use of 'diversity' as a policy in this context. Without endogamy we would not only have no Zulus, Maoris, different Australian aboriginal peoples, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, different tribes and languages in New Guinea, exotic peoples like the Karen in Thailand, French regional differences, Jewish communities or royal families. It is indeed ironic that Australian policy encourages tolerance towards Muslims and other ethnicities coming to Australia from the Middle East whilst supporting devastating military interventions in their countries of origin: Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen and every effort to destroy local organisation (based on endogamy) in those countries. Without endogamy we would also not have separate populations and sub-populations of other animals and plants, for every sexually reproducing species seems to be organised according to rules about incest varying according to local environmental capacity. See Demography, Territory, Law: Rules of Animal and Human Populations In the article http://candobetter.net/node/3197 I explain that, depending on the kinship rules in your clan or tribe, you will have more or less fertility opportunities, limited to your own people (i.e. your tribe or clan). When animals (including humans) could only travel on foot, immigration existed but could rarely make a lot of difference to fertility opportunities unless there was wholesale invasion. Boats, horses, elephants etc made distant travel more accessible for humans and some peoples, like the Vikings and the Romans, took early advantage of such opportunities. Mass migration and rapid distance travel have exploded clans and tribes since rail, then automobile and plane. Small states coalesced into nations, which are really big natural intermarrying tribes. All have their rules about exogamy. Almost no peoples totally outlaw out-marriage or adoption into the clan or tribe, but all have their rules, which usually preserve their 'autopoesis' or self-recognition. What has happened in the 'settler states' is that the tribe has become an administrative notion overseen by a privileged caste which does not intermarry with ordinary people but with money and power, whilst administering a disorganised population with few connections to land or power. So I would say that our problem is not poor, malnourished people who sometimes intermarry despite heavy genetic disease loads, but powerful people who intermarry and accumulate territory whilst making sure that the rest of us are dispersed and landless and our bargaining powers are diluted by high immigration. With regard to IQ, healthy genes are obviously a bonus; environmental stimulation plays a huge part; diet is super important and lack of sufficient animal protein and fat in early life dooms whole populations to less than their potential intelligence, especially when the problem continues over generations. I guess that the popular identification of inbreeding as a feature of oddball peoples came from observation by occupying castes of the people they displaced and forced into suboptimal conditions, rather than similar practices among the occupying castes who intermarried to preserve their territory. Whilst modern genetic counselling may reduce the incidence of inherited diseases (but not all are known or tested for) modern fertility enhancement increases fertility in women and men who might otherwise not have reproduced and who have genetic problems, such as polycystic ovarian syndrome, which is on the rise. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2776334/. Environment and diet may also play a part in this syndrome. http://candobetter.net/node/3197 Overpopulation: Endogamy,Exogamy and fertility opportunity theory Outside the property development and population growth lobby, very few people who are worried about population growth and high immigration appreciate the effect of endogamy (marrying within your people) and exogamy (marrying outside your people) on population size and fertility. They also don’t recognize its effect on the private amassing of wealthy estates and political power. Anyone who wants to understand modern day problems with overpopulation, poverty, and loss of democracy would do well to study this article. This article is intended to stimulate debate about democracy, wealth distribution, and overpopulation. The author invites critical comments and argument. Article based on S.M. Newman Demography, Territory and Law: Land-tenure and the origins of capitalism in Britain, Countershock Press, 2014. and S.M. Newman Demography, Territory and Law: The Rules of Animal and Human Populations, Countershock Press, 2013. How to read the diagrams: White squares in the diagrams below indicate permitted marriages and black squares indicate forbidden marriages. White squares become black squares when someone is already married, although polygamy varies this factor. The symetrical rules for marriage to "in-laws" are indicated by mirror images, creating an overall pyramid form in the diagram of an extended family or clan. "Endogamy" refers to marrying within one’s clan, tribe or similar social unit. "Exogamy" refers to marrying outside those units. The most extreme kinds of endogamy tend to be practiced by ancient royal clans, such as the Egyptians and the Incas, where there were sibling, father-daughter and grandfather-granddaughter marriages. Less extreme, but more common, are first and other cousin marriages, frequently practiced by nobility and other established clans and tribes. The wealthy, whether they are noble or not, tend to marry other wealthy people for similar reasons. Diagrams and rest of article here: http://candobetter.net/node/3197

Dennis K

Wed, 2015-08-26 22:34

The reduced spending power of Western nations is dragging down emerging economies (including China), who rely on being able to export goods to us. But we don't have money to buy those goods. International trade has slowed markedly in the last year or two, and is one of the reasons for the current financial crisis emerging. The wealth is tied up in bubbles. Our current spending was sacrificed to buy inflated assets in the past, and with the sharemarket turning sour, we can expect to see the Self Managed Super Fund grey army pour their money into bricks and mortar, driving up prices further, and further eroding productive spending, and exacerbating the financial crisis. We cannot support sustainable population economically if we are to support asset price bubbles. I'll be blunt. Any attempt to stabilise population levels, or stop population growth, without also correcting asset bubbles and reducing private debt (not government debt) is doomed to fail. The choice has to be made. Do older Australians get to keep their capital in their homes, or do we have a sustainable population? If they want to keep their homes AND the capital growth, then we have to find additional consumption from elsewhere. You have to understand that the West still has most of the wealth. The rest of the world relies on our buying of goods. If the large boomer demographic of the wealth holding west lock it up and hoard it, then trade slows and the global economy slows. Here is where the animosity towards the Boomers that some have comes in. They are perceived as being unwilling to allow the situation to correct and the government knows this. That is not to say that this is THE reason, there are many other factors, but it is one reason, and it is a reason that there was concern about the 'ageing' population.

Dennis K

Wed, 2015-08-26 21:09

Engogamy doesn't necessarily imply close breeding (ie, cousin marriage). Inbreeding can have positive results, in that deleterious genes are brought to the forefront and can be eliminated, and desirable traits can be propagated, as potentially beneficial recessive genes are more likely to be expressed. BUT, in human society the role of natural selection is subdued, and intermarriage becomes a political matter. While it may serve a purpose politically or socially it is the result of the social systems that people have created. Also, the likelihood of inbreeding becoming a problem is dependant on the number of deleterious genes in the family in the first place. A family with good genes can engage in interbreeding with little ill effect. One with bad genes will display issues within a few generations. As for the benefit of endogamy, I struggle to see how a working, sustainable endogamous system can be created without "racist" implications. The argument against racism necessitates the removal of this type of thinking and essentially outlaws any advocation of endogamy, which in practice would continue what the argument against racism states should cease... Also, I do believe that IQ as measured does measure some aspects of intelligence reliably, and does correlate with a nations development. The role that diet, education and genes play in IQ is yet to be reliably quantified, but it seems that health/diet and genes are quite significant (refer to the Flynn Effect).

anonymous (not verified)

Tue, 2015-08-25 18:16

"In fact, a high rate of endogamy need not be genetically damaging; it can be beneficial, both in terms of preserving control over territory and in strengthening positive traits. " Maybe there should be a clear distinction between marrying withing one's close family, such as with cousins, and marrying within the community, or tribe? I know of a carer for people with disabilities, who said that there are many Italian and Greeks who traditionally intermarried, and now have grown up offspring in care. “It is once said that marriage your cousin & increase your empire” but that was the tribal era which promoted the system but close family marriages are also practiced & preferred in Royal families. Inbreeding is considered a problem in humans because inbreeding increases the chances of receiving a deleterious recessive allele inherited from a common ancestor. Statutes passed in the 19th and early 20th centuries made inbreeding and marriages to the first cousin level illegal in the majority of the United States. It is estimated that at least 55% of British Pakistanis are married to first cousins and the tradition is also common among other British South Asian communities and in Middle Eastern countries. Muslim culture still practices inbreeding and has been doing so for the better part of 1400 years. Nikolai Sennels is a Danish psychologist who has done extensive research into a little-known problem in the Muslim world: the disastrous results of Muslim inbreeding brought about by the marriage of first-cousins. According to Sennels, research shows that children of consanguineous marriages lose 10-16 points off their IQ and that social abilities develop much slower in inbred babies. While it might sound "racist", the damages from inbreeding, for many centuries, could be devastating and should be avoided.

Sheila Newman

Tue, 2015-08-25 09:04

We must uphold the Iran nuclear agreement, but upholding it while pretending that Iran has a nuclear weapons program, or is threatening anyone, will not create a stable and lasting foundation for peace. Upholding an agreement with both proponents and opponents threatening war as an alternative is perilous as well as immoral, illegal, and — given the outcome of similar recent wars based on similar recent propaganda — insane.

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admin

Tue, 2015-08-25 01:36

This was posted to Q and A in response to their failure to put my video question to Anna Bligh on tonight's program. See also 9:36PM on Q and A: Anna Bligh to be questioned on privatisation.

Dear Tony Jones,

Was Virginia (Triole - spelling?), your temporary replacement for tonight's program, not properly instructed on how to compere Q and A?

... or was it the Q and A management's decision not to put one video question, nor one posted on-line question to any of the four panellists?

The only questions put to the panel were from the studio audience, none of which seemed to pose any challenge to any member of the panel.

A friend who watched Q and A to see my question put to Anna Bligh fell asleep for a while, so bored was she with the questions put and the self-indulgent responses from the panel.

I went to lot of trouble to have my question to Anna Bligh filmed, edited and uploaded. I had thought that my question about why she did not ask Queenslanders at the March 2009 elections for a mandate to privatise so many of their publicly owned assets was precisely the sort of question that should be put to members of Q and A panels and precisely what Q and A's domestic audience want to see.

If you can confirm that the failure to post any videos was due to a failure to properly instruct Virginia Triole how to compere Q and A, and not due to a management decision, I would like to post a video question to Naomi Klein for next week's program. (I have bought and read all of Naomi Klein's books and have given away copies of "The Shock Doctrine" to a number of my friends.)

Finally, could you please tell me how questions are selected to be put to panel members? It was quite uplifting, before tonight's episode, to see my video question only fourth in the queue. Are they voted upon by Q and A viewers or are they selected by you or other staff at Q and A?

Thank you,

yours faithfully,

James Sinnamon

James Sinnamon

Mon, 2015-08-24 17:54

A video of my question to former Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has been posted to the ABC Q and A site. The video is Question on privatisation for Anna Bligh. The text of the question is:

This is a question for former Queensland Premier, Anna Bligh. In 2009 I ran in the Queensland elections as a candidate against the privatisation of state assets. I would have run again on this issue in 2012 but for a near fatal car accident in 2010. On page 186 of your recently published memoir, Through the Wall, you blame the campaign by affiliated trade unions against privatisation and not yourself for the Queensland Labor Party's devastating defeat at the 2012 state elections. Why didn't you ask the Queensland public at the March 2009 elections, as I had formally asked you to do in February 2009, whether or not they wanted even more of their assets privatised? Or, do you think, as, for example, John Howard, Paul Keating, and Peter Beattie evidently believed, that the owners of public assets had no right to say whether or not their assets were flogged off? Assets sold off included the Port of Brisbane, the coal carrying division of Queensland Rail, and the Abbott Point coal loader.

See also: To Q and A: Why wan't my video question put to Anna Bligh?

Geoffrey Taylor

Thu, 2015-08-20 01:52

First published (17/8/15) on PressTV A British Conservative lawmaker says that young unemployed Britons should be sent to mandatory boot camps to ensure their fitness for a job. Matt Hancock said, "By working across government to make sure that every young person is in work or training, by opening up 3 million more apprenticeships, expanding traineeships, and making sure that a life on benefits is simply not an option, we want to end rolling welfare dependency for good, so welfare dependency is no longer passed down the generations." "We are absolutely committed to ending long-term youth unemployment and building a country for workers, where nobody is defined by birth and everyone can achieve their potential," he added. This is while critics have slammed such a plan as a form of punishment of the youth, which Hancock was swift to dismiss, saying, "We are penalizing nobody because nobody who does the right thing and plays by the rules will lose their benefits," he told BBC Radio 4 on Monday Now London-based editor and commentator Javier Farje says such a plan can only bear results when there are job opportunities for the young people and that without such vacancies, there would be no point in training the youth who will also lose their benefits if they fail to attend the trainings. The 'boot camp' will take place over three weeks. Young people who do not attend will be stripped of their rights to the Job Seekers' Allowance benefits. Dubbed an 'intensive activity program', the camp will take place at job centers and comprises up to 71 hours of the first three weeks of a benefit claim, according to RT. The curriculum is set to include classes on filling out job applications, interview techniques and will teach youngsters how to search for jobs. It will be compulsory for all job seekers between the ages of 18 and 21.

Geoffrey Taylor

Wed, 2015-08-19 19:54

Below are reader's comments in response to Jeff Kennett's opinion piece. It is necessary to allow a number of web sites to run scripts on your browser to see these comments. To post a comment or even just press the 'like' or 'dislike' links for any comment, it is necessary to register with the Courier Mail and provide personal details.

Ecoengine 5:20PM, 18 Aug 2015

Jeff Kennett's suggestion that our young people are unemployed because they lack development, and experience. Thus, they need to do community work, or national service. It's offensive to the unemployed, and a slight on their efforts and abilities! What is flawed is our economic model on endless growth, and the loss of jobs because of government policies. We have our skilled migration, of up to 240,000 per year, plus an uncapped quantity of temporary migrants here. Our population growth is faster than job creation. There needs to be an assessment of our current economic policies, and immigration rates need to be pulled in line with our productivity, costs, and how many jobs there are left over for locals without blowing out our welfare budget.

Steve 10:00AM, 18 Aug15

Quote - "First, those receiving unemployment benefits, who are not intellectually or physically disabled, should be involved in some form of occupation that will keep them busy, in return for the financial benefit they receive from Australians."

I don't disagree with this, but they must get at least minimum wage. Work for the dole only deals with slave wage amounts. And any work will do. It doesn't have to be stimulating ... my work surely isn't, but here in the real world, you do what you can to get paid so you can live.

Leslie 8:20AM 18 Aug15

For the record, my housemate is a 22 year old radiographer student who is finishing up his final year placement. He works 5 days fulltime for $0 from 6:30am, he is one of the most switched on and clued-up young people I've ever met, head on straight, incredibly hard worker, looks after his health, knows what's going on in the world and is completely disillusioned with our government and the trajectory our country is taking.

He lives on Austudy, he lives very frugally, the biggest cost is our bedroom rent as he needed accommodation near the hospital, did I mention he bike rides each morning at 6:30am to get there in the freezing cold, to save petrol money. He buys groceries and petrol and pays bills, aside from that over 6 months all I've seen him buy is a mattress and oil for his bike. I'm actually concerned he needs his car serviced as it sounds terrible, but he doesn't have the money.

So what I'm getting at:

Is this the world we want for the next generations? Baby Boomers 1  sitting high in their negatively geared properties while our youth slug their guts out so they can spend their years renting, all the time told they just need to work harder? Do you wonder why the bitterness and resentment is growing when we see people like Bishop and that other guy take all the travel and perks they like at our expense. When we see these people parading about fluffing their feathers at us who completely lack any sense of decency and morals.

Then you call for community service for youth.

It just smacks of hypocrisy and is simply disgusting. When we get to the crux of the matter, the youth didn't put our country in the situation it's in, greed did: namely government colluding with big business and topping it off with help from Murdoch. So trying to pin all the consequence onto youth, let them carry the entire weight of your mess-ups, (and also pensioners, 50+ getting back into workforce - I haven't forgotten about how you've been screwed over too), lies at the heart of the problem.

Just like Wall Street getting off scot-free with a very nice bailout a few years back. The real culprits skate, while the victims are left to pick up the tab.

Leslie 8:00AM, 18 Aug15

Wonderful, so lets lump all the young in the category of selfish, selfie taking, brats, good work. So all the young who reject this materialistic lifestyle, have a brain and are kind, bighearted and selfless, who see what has become of this country would then be forced into community service for a year. Lets just do a one size fits all, works like a charm everytime doesn't it?

Then when they finish their one year of community service or as it's more properly known "work for the dole" they can to come out to no jobs aside from retail and hospitality again so they can be further exploited. Brilliant, critical thinking going on there.

You had me up until community service as long as you were talking about real jobs and not stacking boxes in a warehouse (after the young person has already spent countless years working menial hospitality/retail jobs), a real entry level job where they can gain experience, actual training (that word employers are allergic to) and move up in the field they studied in. Then you lost all credibility. The politicians ought to do community service, they certainly having been serving the community for a long time now, just 1% of the community.

Footnote[s]

1. ↑  The following articles argue that Baby Boomers as a group have been unjustly blamed for many of the problems created by high immigration and the neo-liberal economic policies that were imposed on this country since 1983 by Bob Hawke, Paul Keating and their successors on both 'sides' of the Australian parliamentary political spectrum:

Baby Boomers can't win! (17 Aug 2008) by quark and Baby Boomer to Gen Y on home ownership (11 Feb 2014) by admin.- Ed

anonymous (not verified)

Wed, 2015-08-19 17:06

It’s an issue that mirrors the nation’s economic and social health but gets little or no attention and very little public debate. The article by Jeff Kennett says that the unacceptably high rate of youth unemployment and there are no programs of substance at any level of government to proactively address the issue. Australia’s youth jobless rate today stands at 13.4 per cent. The highest rate ever recorded in Australia was 20.3 per cent in 1992 and the lowest rate was 7.7 per cent in 2008. His solutions are: First, those receiving unemployment benefits, who are not intellectually or physically disabled, should be involved in some form of occupation that will keep them busy, in return for the financial benefit they receive from Australians. Secondly, Australia should consider a mandatory year for all young Australians at the end of their secondary education, or when they turn a certain age, to undertake community service. Life today is so much about the individual – there is little concept about team, or of working and sharing together. Of being Australian as opposed to being an individual. Opinion: Tackle youth unemployment with meaningful jobs programs and community service work, says Jeff Kennett (undated as of 19/8/15) | Courier Mail There's some underlying assumption that young people need to be developed, and benefit from community or national service. He's suggestion there are personal limitations in our young people, rather than as flawed economic model, based on endless and perpetual growth! There's nothing mentioned about our massive "skilled immigration" of temporary and permanent immigration, the prohibitive costs of tertiary training/education, or the fact that due to trade agreements and high quantities of imports, Australia is losing jobs instead of producing goods. Successive premiers, from Jeff Kennett to John Brumby, have lobbied for more migration. Jeff Kennett, was actively courting the ethnic vote, siding openly with the Greek leadership on the Greek/Macedonian question. The unemployment crisis should be relabeled as a symptom of population growth overshoot of jobs creation, and our economy.

Rob Braby (not verified)

Wed, 2015-08-19 01:45

The Victorian Government is currently conducting an inquiry into end of life issues. Submissions have closed - so far 300 have been posted on the web site. http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/lsic/article/2609. The weight of argument and evidence in the submissions is very strongly in favour of reform, i.e. the decriminalisation of voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide. My submission is too long to include here, but it can be read as submission no. 193. Comments welcome.

anonymous (not verified)

Mon, 2015-08-17 19:07

The United Nations is not doing its job. As its name, it should be negotiating to end the causes of asylum seekers, but it's being ignored. It should be uniting nations against conflicts, intervention, corruption, colonialization, overpopulation and ending wars. This aspect of asylum seekers is being ignored. It's assumed that 60 million displaced people is an inevitable part of our modern world. If there's more bombing in Syria, where will the people go? The US has opened a gaping wound, opening up the evil of ISIS and opposition to the West. The UN is corrupt. It's old and out of date with modern world problems. The Latin American leaders are corrupt, and end up in the high positions, executives of the UN. Exceptional was one Peruvian Dr Perez de Cuellar. He was the last honest, sane, transparent, and a strong authority who inspired respect- the best one. Now friends of dictators of Latin America are corrupt. How can Bolivia or any other country be "neutral" if the central office of the UN is in New York? Not possible. The United States is part of the business of destroying Syria. America wants to sell more guns and prohibit prosperity for third world countries and keep the status quo for business!

Stop the kangar... (not verified)

Mon, 2015-08-17 16:39

The population in the suburb of Grace which sits north of Canberra, grew 57 per cent in the past financial year - the fastest level of population growth during the period. The suburb is about 13 kms from Canberra’s CBD. The suburb started out as bushland in 2009 but by 2014 recorded $112 million worth of new dwellings. "Urban growth is as inevitable as progress" says Simon Crowther, CEO of nearmap. This is our present economic model, of "progress" in housing growth, and foreign investment in property! Watch as one of Australia's fastest growing suburbs transforms from a vacant dirt block to suburbia in ACT This former "dirt block" was actually bushland. The silence of protest to protect the legless lizards and sun-moths is deafening - the environmental reason for the ACT's annual kangaroo "cull" because they are an environmental threat!

DennisK (not verified)

Mon, 2015-08-17 12:47

I take the view that if white Australians were to start forming a political block for their (my) interests, this would NOT be a tragedy. This would be a positive development, as this is natural, and what everyone else does. I don't care much about culture, and I don't care about conservatism or "cultural nationalism". 2000 years ago, my direct ancestors had a culture completely alien, and in many ways one considered "inappropriate". 100 years ago, the culture was different, and wouldn't be expected today. Even 50 years ago, what was culturally normal has been jettisoned. In 50 years, cultural norms today, which we think are "progressive" will be dumped, and our grandchildren will have a different culture. You wouldn't comprehend the English language a century ago, nor would I comprehend ancient Greek, but the fact the people remained is far more important than "lost" culture. Far better for these language and cultural changes to occur, than for Britain to wholesale import people because they speak pre-Chaucer English and don't oppose feudalism. So it is. Cultural nationalism is the idea that it is better to have someone, anyone, practice the same "culture", even if it means that that someone won't be my family or descendants. It is the view that other peoples who don't change culturally are preferable to our own who will. Cultural nationalism must therefore become traitorous, as it changes allegiance to the backwards peoples who don't change and away from the original peoples. Allegiance is based on a proposition, and when people realise the proposition is faulty, they become enemies. Why do you think fascists went against their people? They didn't agree with the proposition. People who claim were are a "multiculture" then consider national enemies those who see it differently or see issues. At least with a solid, identity based nation, allegiance doesn't swing based on change and progress. People are free to think. Culture based nations have to suppress thought. Culture is fluid, and just an idea. People matter, and putting vague "cultural ideals" before specific people IMO leads to confusion and division.

Geoffrey Taylor

Sun, 2015-08-16 02:02

The following is a continuation of the Online Opinion discussion, a copy of which was posted above. If other contributors to candobetter could also post comments to Online Opinion and link back to this page
(i.e. <a href="/node/3445">Syria's press conference the United Nations doesn't want you to see</a>) it could greatly lift the profile of candobetter.

Thank you, Leslie on Saturday, 15 August 2015 12:57:43 PM for that helpful information. I agree with your proposal that no-one, who, like Professor Alon Ben-Meir, fails to acknowledge and respond when fallacies in his/her articles are pointed out, should be allowed to continue to contribute.

By the way, please feel welcome to post a comment in response to any article posted on the site https://candobetter.net which I help administer. We don't censor anything (except for forum spam or material which is abusive and/or illegal).

Thank you, Geoff of Perth for your post of Saturday, 15 August 2015 1:54:22 AM.

Most of Thierry Meyssan's journalism is published on http://www.voltairenet.org/en . Thierry Meyssan was present in Libya during the NATO invasion of 2011 and has since also travelled to Russia and Syria. Other sites on the Internet which provide truthful information about Syria include the Syrian Arab News Agency's site at http://sana.sy/en, http://syrianfreepress.wordpress.com/, https://landdestroyer.blogspot.com.

ttbn wrote on 15 August 2015 11:22:05 AM, "The U.S has a record of supporting some really rotten people all around the globe ...".

This includes the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Qatar dictatorship, Israel, and the current rulers of Libya, Turkey and Ukraine.

ttbn continued "... Assad [is] probably not the finest of men [but] doesn't kill people in the name of Allah."

In fact, the evidence shows that President Bashar al-Assad is one of the great political leaders of the 21st century. I would personally rank him alongside JFK. If Australians were to ever learn the truth about Bashar al-Assad, they would much prefer him as Prime Minister to Tony Abbott or even to Bill Shorten.

In one interview lasting 56:28 minutes on CBS in September, President Bashar al-Assad, who speaks fluent English, confronted and refuted each of the allegations put to him by 60 Minutes' Charlie Rose. Only a small cut down version of the interview was featured on 60 Minutes, but fortunately the Syrian Arab News Agency recorded and published the full interview video and transcript. The full video can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3G9MIDoa64. The same interview, but split into Part 1 and Part 2, together with the full transcript, can be found in the article "Syrian President al-Assad interviewed by CBS News" (10/9/13) at /node/3445

Could anyone imagine Tony Abbott or Barack Obama lasting over 56 minutes with an informed and hostile interviewer as Bashar al-Assad has been able to do on this and other occasions?

This is surely evidence that their claims against him could not possibly be true.

nineofclubs (not verified)

Sat, 2015-08-15 14:36

Identity politics has always been with us. This is nothing new. What is new is that with mass immigration and multicultural policies that encourage migrants to perpetuate their ethnic identities on arrival in their host countries, the focus of the 'identity' has become increasingly ethnic / racial. The examples that you cite are all about racial or ethnic identity and I agree that the focus on this aspect of identity is increasing. The irony of this is that both 'racial' nationalists and standard issue multiculturists both subscribe to the assumption that racial or ethnic identity is the main or primal source of identity. Their differences come down to whether States should be ethnically homogenous or whether states should require multiple ethnic identity groups to coexist. But identity doesn't have to be about race or ethnicity. Consider the most unashamedly nationalist country on earth today, Israel. It's people are unified by their religious identity. Race and ethnicity are not the main source of either unity or division in Israeli society. In a grimmer vein, consider Islamic State. Despite their fanaticism, all races and ethnicities are welcomed as long as you agree with their very specific take on Islam. Even in Fascist Italy, the focus on race was muted and Mussolini was famously dismissive of Hitler's antisemitism. As long as Australia continues on it's current trajectory, with unsustainable levels of immigration and no cultural or other identity strong enough to unite the various people here, we will see ethnic identity politics rising. One assumes that at some point, white Australians with no claim to another sub-species of ethno-identity may start seeing themselves (and indeed may become) another ethnic minority among the many inhabiting the Australian landmass. They may identify and organise as such and start promoting their own narrow self interests in the way that other ethnic groups do now. Personally I think this would be a tragedy. I like the sense of community and unity that comes with identity and I think that there is an urgent need to further develop a strong Australian national culture that is not predicated on race. In this sense, I suppose you could call me a cultural nationalist. But make no mistake, this will never happen while mass immigration and official policies of multiculturalism continue. The ethnic identity politics that we see on the rise around the world, on the other hand, require the continuation of both.

Geoffrey Taylor

Sat, 2015-08-15 01:02

The following was posted to an Online Opinion forum about Syria on 14 August 2015.

The claim that "the US has become a de facto ally of Assad" is idiotic. Since March 2011 the United States has been supplying arms and money to hordes of foreign terrorists waging a war against the people of Syria, including Syrian Christians (who speak the same language spoken by Jesus Christ) and even the small Syrian Judaic community. So far, as of August 2015, that war has cost the lives of more than 220,000 Syrians by one estimate.

On one previous occasion, in July 2014, those attempting to demonise Syria's popularly elected President Bashar al-Assad as well as to portray the terrorist war against his government as some kind of popular uprising, seemed to have lost their voices when confronted with evidence and logic. I don't suppose that anyone here, would care to show other site visitors why BiancaDog is wrong at http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=16435#287856 ?

Sheila Newman

Fri, 2015-08-14 20:22

"Russia maintains that the only way to defeat Islamic State is for all anti-IS forces, including the Syrian government, to unite in their efforts.

“Without a broad coalition of all those fighting the terrorists on the ground, the airstrikes conducted by the US-led coalition will not achieve the desired result and ISIL will not be destroyed,” Lavrov said.

Meanwhile, the US says there is no way it will work with Assad. “We believe that Assad and Assad regime long ago lost legitimacy,” Secretary of State John Kerry said on August 3. The US State Department last week called the Assad regime “a root of all evil here.”   

READ MORE: Ousting Assad militarily would enable ISIS to seize Syria – Lavrov 

Lavrov argued that the policy presents a double standard. “When the goal was to get rid of chemical weapons, Bashar Assad was legitimate partner. But, when it comes to fighting terrorism, he is for some reason not,” he said.

Despite the differences, there is a surge in diplomatic activity focused on how to fight against Islamic State in Syria. Over the past few weeks, Russian, US and Saudi top diplomats have met in Doha, Qatar. Also, Lavrov met with Kerry in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, while the Saudi diplomat traveled to Moscow and Assad met with an Iranian diplomat in Damascus. "

Read more here: http://www.rt.com/news/312414-lavrov-syria-opposition-meeting/

Sheila Newman

Fri, 2015-08-14 00:44

Here is a video of a crowd of Syrians of all ages rushing into a field in Hama, Syria, where a government helicopter has landed. They are cheering and embracing the Syrian Arab Army soldiers who have landed.

All the signs are that Syrians are desperate to take any opportunity to demonstrate to the world their support for the Al Assad Government, because it is their only hope of survival - and also because this government has resisted attempts to privatise their free health, subsidised housing and education.

They know that the West is trying to remove Assad. They do not want this to happen. Assad won government by democratic vote overwhelmingly in June 2014 and people took videos of themselves enthusiastically voting.

It is so important for people hostage to the Murdoch news and CNN and various government tv stations which do not show this side of Syria, to notice these attempts by Syrians from all walks of life asking us to support their government in its fight against the 'rebels' and IS. Unfortunately Australia and other US and NATO allies are doing just the opposite. Our national policy towards Syria is ultimately as destructive as that of ISIS because our policy prevents people from remaining united citizens in defense of Syria. We are even supporting Turkey's plans to annexe northern parts of Syria.

End the EU (not verified)

Thu, 2015-08-13 14:38

UNHCR tells Al Jazeera a record 224,000 migrants and refugees have arrived in Europe since start of 2015. They claim that refugee crisis in Europe is a crisis not because of the number of refugees, but because of Europe’s failure to respond to it in a coordinated fashion, the UN Refugee agency has said. Surely these numbers are far more than can be accommodated by the UN Refugee Convention, or EU policies to asylum seekers? "In our view, European countries need to work together rather than point fingers at each other. In order to deal with this situation, Europe should open more legal ways for refugees to come," William Spindler, senior spokesperson of the UNHCR, told Al Jazeera. Migrant crisis a failure of European policy, UN says (6/8/15) | Al Jazeera The ongoing crisis off Europe's shores have prompted a wave of debate across Europe over migration, with each government deferring responsibility for each passing crisis. There's a Cornucopia belief that the impoverished and persecuted, in whatever numbers, can not be overwhelming! France blames Italy and Greece for failing to process asylum seekers arriving on its shores, opening the doors for them to travel elsewhere. The European Commission reproaches member-states for not taking their share of asylum seekers: it wants to set up a system of compulsory quotas. the migration crisis is testing the EU’s ability to find long-term solutions to pressing challenges. The Arab Spring and the subsequent Libyan and Syrian conflicts have shown that the EU urgently needs to find a common approach to migration. Calais currently houses some 3,000 migrants, mainly from North African countries. EU countries have so far only agreed to take about 32,000 of the asylum seekers from Italy and Greece, but there are 40,000 to be placed. Spain is very critical of the relocation plan because it will create a pull factor" attracting more migrants to Europe instead of preventing their departure. "Most of those crossing the Mediterranean are refugees fleeing war and persecution, not economic migrants," U.N. refugee agency spokesman William Spindler said, adding that Syrians fleeing the bloody civil war accounted for 38 percent of arrivals this year. Taking in refugees does not reduce the number of refugees. It will actually increase the number. The world's number one issue is overpopulation. The UN say that the Sub-Saharan regions of Africa, in particular, will likely face massive overpopulation problems in the next decades due to “persistent high levels of fertility and the recent slowdown in the rate of fertility decline.” Of those migrants who crossed the Mediterranean this year, Eritreans formed the third-largest national group, behind Syrians and Afghanis. The UNHCR says 5,000 leave every month. Eritrea is not at war, but its a possibility of a return to conflict with neighbouring Ethiopia. Since the migrants are driven not merely by war but by poverty, famine, drought, over-population and unemployment, there is no reason to think they will soon stop coming. Open borders don't work, and the EU should be disbandoned so that each nation can formulate their own criteria and limits to how many asylum seekers they can accommodate.

Anonymous (not verified)

Thu, 2015-08-13 11:53

There has has been the lack of any international action to stop the bombardment and brutal violence against civilians in Syria. This has left a vacuum that has been filled by organised extremist groups. No wonder the Syrians feel the world has forgotten about them, and their despair has created a fertile atmosphere in which extremism can grow. It means Jihadists can come in and kill.

Some 55% of Syrians want Assad to stay, 1  motivated by fear of civil war – a spectre that is not theoretical as it is for those who live outside Syria's borders.

With half of Syria's population displaced due to its ongoing civil war, Church leaders in the country are seeking to send a message of hope and support for the persecuted Christian minority who have chosen to stay. Archbishop Jeanbart's diocese, of Aleppo, is seeking to establish a development program offering concrete aid to benefit small businesses, help rebuild small workshops, and repair homes damaged in the civil war.

He noted that the Church in Syria has been fighting against the Christian exodus for years, because it weakens and "compromises the presence of the Church of the Apostles in the land that saw the very beginnings of Christianity".

Whether it's called a humanitarian corridor and no-fly zone, a safe zone, a free zone, it really is an excuse for US air cover for the forces that they want to pull into power. No one is more responsible for the rise of ISIL, for the funding, and for the destabilization of the entire region and ISIS has flourished.

Footnote[s]

1. ↑  55% seems to be considerably less than the true figure. According to Landslide Win for Assad in Syria's Presidential Elections (4/6/14) | Haaretz :

"Syria's parliament speaker said Wednesday President Bashar Assad has been re-elected by a landslide, capturing 88.7 percent of the vote.

"... Assad's two challengers, Hassan al-Nouri and Maher Hajjar, won 4.3 percent and 3.2 percent respectively.

"The Supreme Constitutional Court said turnout was 73.42 percent."

65.1% of all eligible Syrian voters voted for President Bashar Al-Assad in these difficult circumstances. Had a number of countries not obstructed the participation by Syrian expatriates in that election, the turnout would have been even higher. Clearly President al-Assad can claim far more political legitimacy than the rulers of the United States, Britain, Australia, Israel, Saudi Arabia and any other country I can think of which is hostile to Syria on the international stage.

The above article from Haaretz is linked to from Syria's press conference the United Nations doesn't want you to see (21/6/15) with a one hour embedded video republished from Global Research. – Ed

Sheila Newman

Wed, 2015-08-12 21:24

My comment in response to "Struggling with the Growth Dream": Dealing with the growth lobby on population numbers is like dealing with alcoholics on alcohol. They keep telling you how much fun it is. When you point out the devastation it is causing, they say, but, if you switch brands or drink milk first or practice 'smart growth', it will all be alright. When you point out that the rent has not been paid and the children are running around without shoes, they suggest you should work harder and pay more taxes to build more roads to cope with the extra traffic. Growth is an addiction and the people who are hooked on it are divorced from reality, self-obsessed and will rationalise and lie about any problem their addiction creates rather than accept responsibility and stop the first development that leads to the ongoing speculation, debt and loss of democracy.

admin

Wed, 2015-08-12 16:44

The Grimethorpe Colliery band will be performing tonight at 7:30PM at the Frankston Arts Centre in Frankston Victoria. Details of subsequent concerts in Hobart (13 Aug), Monash University in Melbourne (14 Aug), Norwoood in South Australia (15 Aug 15) and Perth (16 Aug) can be found here. The world renowned Grimethorpe Colliery Brass Band was formed from coal-miners who lost their livelihoods following their heroic year long strike against the neo-liberal policies of Margaret Thatcher which ended in January 1985.

Dennis K

Tue, 2015-08-11 20:54

The quote about how Government really exists to protect corporations from aggrieved people is quite apropos. In this instance, the government is protecting the real estate mafia from the pressures of human need. Ironically, there is a threat of oversupply, in particular the inner city apartment supply which could create a glut. The apartment towers have come up quickly to seize the opportunity for to grab outgoing Chinese money, but will leave an oversupply. If China slows their purchases, this could create a problem for developers. The Chinese economy has growing cracks, which could impact us heavily. Today, the ASX dropped 80 points due to devaluation of the yuan, when our corresponding Asian markets rose. The largest sharemarket fall in recent years occurred simply because the ANZ raised capital to meet the new regulatory requirements. In other markets, this wouldn't be received so negatively, as it is essentially the action of a bank strengthening its position. This indicates fear and uncertainty, and there is a growing awareness that the future isn't so rosy, an optimism necessary to maintain bubbles. These 'meta' indicators reveal a lack of confidence in the Australian economy, and a possible harbinger of future economic malaise which I predicted earlier this year. It seems that the mood has changed from an "if" to "when", the reserve bank is talking of a housing bubble and crazy prices, when this wasn't admitted, AT ALL, a couple of years ago. Also, talk of a correction has gone from fringe speculation to something we are told to buckle up for. Also, an indicator is the shilling from the Real Estate Industry, but this will be the last thing to ramp up. I'm not sure whether the market will crash, or whether prices will remain elevated, at the extreme cost of other parts of society, but either way, the notion that rising house prices is "good" will soon be really challenged. Increasing prices are always the sign of a poor economy. Either it is due to lack of ability to produce, resource scarcity or some other trouble. In a healthy, progressive economy, prices go down. We've sabotaged our economy long enough to sustain the "up is really down" perverted housing bubble, we await to see how this economic anuerism blows.

quark

Tue, 2015-08-11 13:20

Great, readable expose of the situation of housing un-affordability in Australia! Housing stress seems to be everywhere you look in Melbourne. Today, 2 people I know who live in comfortable Melbourne suburbs related to me their concerns about their adult children and families, all "between houses" who have moved back in with their parents. One fairly elderly couple have, for about 3 weeks had their son, daughter in law and 2 children living with them after having sold a house, with no end in sight, and another, a widow, slightly younger has 2 of her adult children living with her, one as a result of marriage break-up and accompanied by one child and another son and daughter in law saving up for a house and their 4 day old baby. It could sound like happy families but it was clear that the situations were not easy for the parents.

Geoffrey Taylor

Tue, 2015-08-11 03:07

In a recent interview – I can't cite where right now – President al-Assad urged Syrians not to flee Syria and urged those who had fled to return to Syria.

Bashar al-Assad seems to be well aware of how Syrians fleeing from the war, are, paradoxically, helping to further increase the flood of of refugees together with the attendant drownings in the Mediterranean and social unrest in Greece, Sweden and elsewhere thereby reinforcing the mainstream media's lie that he is a 'brutal dictator' who is murdering his own people.

That lie has been used since March 2011 to justify the proxy covert war against their own country, which has so far cost the lives of over 220,00 fellow citizens according to one estimate. Should the war continue or even become an overt invasion, with the help of Turkish President Erdogan, even more Syrians will feel compelled to flee.

In one recent news item, I heard some Syrian refugees in 'neutral' Sweden – the country which has set up Australian whistleblower Julian Assange, now besieged in the London Ecuadorian embassy, with trumped-up rape charges in a transparent attempt to have him ultimately extradited to the United States to face the same fate as fellow whistleblower Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning– praise that rogue state for supposedly helping them.

In the meantime a large influx of refugees and immigrants into Sweden, from Syria and elsewhere, add to unemployment and drive down the living standards of native Swedes, thereby undermining that country's social harmony and adding to global chaos.

Population overload (not verified)

Mon, 2015-08-10 21:12

Number of displaced people world wide is just under 60 million! According to the UNHCR (2104) the country hosting the largest number of refugees was Turkey, with 1.59 million refugees. By the end of 2014, Syria had become the world’s top source country of refugees, overtaking Afghanistan, which had held this position for more than three decades. Iraq witnessed massive new internal displacement as a result of the Islamic State (or ‘ISIS’) offensive across multiple parts of the country. Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia: more than half of the refugees on the planet come from one of these three countries plagued and undermined by years of war and violence. Many of these people are concentrated in the Middle East and in particular in Iraq and Syria, where ISIS’s advance and the Syrian civil war have driven many people from their homes. Refugees have a way of destabilizing whole societies and regions even decades after the tragedies that led to their displacement. With the fragile nature of our planet's ecosystems, and the overcrowding, peace is easy to destroy! More than 60% of those going to Europe are fleeing the conflict in Syria, with others escaping continued violence in Afghanistan. Likewise, the majority of people arriving nearby in Italy are fleeing armed conflict in Somalia or conscription in Eritrea. Some are fleeing failed nations, overpopulation and poverty. This humanitarian crisis is largely the direct result of the United States and NATO decision to effect regime change in Libya in 2011, and Syria and the Middle East. Libya never recovered from the intervention. Citizens of many African nations routinely went to work in Libya, an oil rich nation which had jobs for migrants. Besides population overshoot, first world countries are guilty of causing many of the world’s refugees directly through invasion and intervention, and economically through exploitation and colonization policies, looting countries of their own natural resources.

Population overload (not verified)

Mon, 2015-08-10 20:55

The UN say by the year 2030 (that's 15 years away), Earth's population will grow from the 7.3 billion it currently stands on, to 8.5 billion. That's not it; by the end of the current century, it'll be at 11.2 billion, 6% higher than what was projected earlier.

India be taking over China's population in just seven years, taking over the number one spot of being the most populated country in the world. Africa has the highest birth rate in the world. On average where a U.S woman bears 1.9 children, Europe 1.6, and Japan 1.4, African mothers bear a staggering 4.7 children.

Globally the number of persons aged 60 or above is expected to more than double by 2050 and more than triple by 2100. But, Africa has the youngest age distribution of any major area, but it is also projected to age rapidly, with the population aged 60 years or over rising from 5% today to 9% by 2050. The numbers are astronomical, and will drive further the existing global problems of climate change, food security, conflicts, environmental degradation and "shortage" of water!

While natural resources are declining, global human populations are exploding, yet few people are able to join the dots on the latter. India, one of the largest agrarian economies in the world, is deeply at risk from climate change, and could see economic losses of up to 8.7 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) by 2100 if the world fails to respond to a host of climate threats, a Manila based multi-lateral funding agency said in a report. Their GDP is hardly a problem!

Please add a comment:
India to be the world's most populated country by 2020

Sheila Newman

Mon, 2015-08-10 19:30

Hi Jerry, I have emailed your comment to Bob Brown. He is the most extraordinary dynamo and, if unleashed, recorded and publicised, could possibly single-handedly turn the forest burning madness around. I filmed him once, but he was such a perfectionist, he decided what he had said was not absolutely perfect. If anyone succeeds in harnassing him as a presenter, they will have an incredible weapon.

jerry browning (not verified)

Sun, 2015-08-09 14:58

I totally agree with Bob McDonald's article criticising Bill Gammage's "Greatest Estate on Earth" & Gammage's promotion of fire as a tool to improve the land. There is absolutely no positive benefit from any fire as the most important element we need in forests & farmland is CARBON. Carbon is the fuel for all the micro & macro organisms that create soil, & is the most important element that is lacking in & on the soil, & is over abundant in the air. Fire does nothing but harm, & I hope that this comment can be passed onto Bob McDonald as I would really like to congratulate him on his powerful article.

Dennis K

Sun, 2015-08-09 11:37

You did mention 3D printing, a technology I think will be groundbreaking. My point was simply to state that innovations like this can in the end have a much bigger impact on reducing waste and energy usage than overtly "green" technology, even though they weren't created with that intent. This isn't the only example, and I would think that focusing on what is called 'green' or 'environmental' may, nay, probably will, mean missing much bigger things elsewhere. Also, having seen many things once thought impractical become regular consumer items, I reserve judgement on potential developments.

Sheila Newman

Sat, 2015-08-08 15:42

Hi Dennis, You have some good answers to my questions. Thanks. I did mention 3D printing, I thought. I find it difficult not to call myself an environmentalist (as well as an evolutionary sociologist), just because some people confuse the term with the Church of Faux-Environmentalism. The Fast Breeder Reactor technology still looks dim to me, although you never know. It costs a fortune and there is less and less money to build that stuff. Did you realise the history of the FBR goes back to 1951? From my book, Sheila Newman, (Ed), The Final Energy Crisis, 2nd Ed., Pluto UK, 2008:
The first Fast Breeder Reactor (FBR) or Fast Neutron Reactor was built in the US in 1951 with a tiny output of 0.2MW (electricity) and operated until 1963, when it was succeeded by a 20MW (el) one, a 66 MW one, a 20MW one and “Fast Flux TF” which had a thermal output of 400 MW, from 1980-93. The UK had a 15MW (el) from 1959-1977 and then a 270MW one from 1974-94. France built her first in 1966 with an output of 40 MW (therm), followed by Phenix in 1973 with 250 MW (el) (still in operation) and Superphenix in 1985-98 with an output of 1240MW (el). Germany had one very small one with an output of 21MW (el) from 77- 91, India has one with an output of 40 MW (therm), built in 1985; Japan’s Joyu with 140MW (therm) was built in 1978. Monju 280 MW (el) went from 1994-1996 and is currently closed. Kazakstan’s BN350 has been going since 1972 with an output of 135 MW (el), half of which desalinates about 80,000 tons of water each year for the city of Aktau. Russia has had three FBRs: the first in 1959-1971 reopened in 1973; the second from 1979 produces 12 MW (el), and the third, built in 1981, with an output of 600 MW (el) is the largest still running (with assistance from a US supervisory crew), but it has had a lot of problems with liquid sodium coolant and other leaks, involving long periods out of action. France’s Super Phoenix was the biggest in the world, but it was closed down due to safety problems associated with sodium leaks. Monju Fast Breeder in Japan was also closed due to safety concerns. Significant commercial success seems to have been elusive so far but there are international ambitious plans for “Generation IV” FBRs of various designs, including thorium based ones. The low cost of uranium is often offered as an explanation for the failure of this technology to find the necessary finance to take it past the experimental stage. Design and research are materially and financially costly.
There is more about thorium based breeder reactors here: http://candobetter.net/node/997 Politics also enter this FBR dynamic. But diminishing capital and abundant cheap fossil fuel energy (related things) probably impede the creation of even CANDUs and boiling water reactors. I think that we can make a very good argument to say that petroleum is not really keeping up with population demand because of the increased reliance on novel sources now redefined generically as 'oil' in the major charts (EIA and BP stats), plus the desperate recourse to fracking, despite huge democratic costs. Also, the large proportion of the world's population that does not have access to petroleum due to not being able to afford it. Sheila N

quark

Thu, 2015-08-06 22:50

How much of today's international trade is actually necessary? How many people...er... globalised units of labour really wish to leave the bosom of their families and communities to live in a foreign land for extended periods or forever purely, for the purpose of work? We (humans) find ourselves on an exquisitely beautiful planet where any one of us could have woken up to a magnificent view be it a horizon on the edge of a desert ,a wide white beach, a sparkling river, a snow capped mountain or anything in between, every morning of our lives and for millennia most of us did! But now we are making such heavy weather of life on Earth. All the fun is being sucked out of it as we lose track of what it is about life that has real value. Recently I went to an orchestral concert where the artists appeared totally focussed on reproducing the fruits of a long dead composer's imagination. What a worthwhile cooperative exercise! It was as though this musical interlude was of the utmost importance and it was. That's the way it should be, each of us with the opportunity to act out that which we love doing. We only get a short spell here as humans. It's really not all about work though Let's scrap the system we seem to be enmeshed in because it's just not working for us! We're working for it! Life's not getting better, it's deteriorating. People are working longer hours than they used to and our environment is being destroyed. There are so many aspects of the economic system we seem to be part of that can be challenged but a fundamental one is "does this work in our favour?" I just hope that enough people find the time to stop and ask this question. Realising that we are being cheated is a start on the long road to rectifying the situation

Sally Lawrence (not verified)

Thu, 2015-08-06 15:00

Hello Menkit, I saw your letter in the paper saying there was a protest on Tues 6th. It was not clear whether this meant Tues 4th Aug or Thurs 6th Aug. There is no Tues 6th Aug. I have been trying to attend koala protests, went to one supposed to be at Surfers a long time ago, but it had been cancelled. Would have liked to attend this latest protest at Tweed, but again, the details of correct time and place are impossible to find out. Left a message on a web page, but no response.

Dennis K

Wed, 2015-08-05 23:20

As an environmentalist, I was wondering what your operating definition of 'environmentalist' is, for the purposes of your argument here. I am using this in the most likely perceived sense of the word. I consider myself an environmentalist too, but the most popular connotation of environmentalist doesn't elicit the thoughts and ideals which match my form. So I don't call myself such. There are limits to efficient technologies. They usually mean using fuel more efficiently. This often breaks down to choosing the best fuel for the task, as arguably was demonstrated by Cleveland, C.J., Kaufmann, R. K. and Stern, D.I. “Aggregation and the role of energy in the economy”, Ecological Economics, 2000, vol. 32, issue 2, pages 301-317, also at www.bu.edu/cees/people/faculty/cutler/articles/Aggregation_role_of_energ.... Economists often talk about dematerialisation - i.e. doing more work with less energy, but they measure using energy calories alone, without taking into account how those calories are packaged and where they are used. One of the assumptions made is that we have exhausted the available fuel supplies. This is an understandable conclusion to make, not necessarily because it is true, but because it seems an element of human nature. It has been always in error. For me to conclude that 'this times it different', is to make the same error. There are limitations to current technology. Theoretically, these limits can be overcome. I don't consider the fact we don't know how a major problem. You might call this a blind faith in technology. We must be thinking of different scientists. :-). I was referring to those politically engaged, the majority of which don't have a scientific background. The Greens party isn't run as an environmentalist party by those who studied ecology. Many of the most vocal and assertive proponents for change don't seem to have a scientific background. Some DO, no doubt, but they typically don't form political parties. If you are thinking of Generation IV nuclear technologies, people were writing about them as if they were already being used commercially in the past few years, Not specifically, though in-viability today is not guarantee of in-viability in the future. In a more 'meta ' sense, we know the following to be true - The energy per kg of fossil fuels may represent among the densest form of usable energy available in large amounts which can be released by a chemical reaction. - The energy contained in that matter, or any matter is many magnitudes of order greater than that available by breaking those carbon bonds. - Our understanding of physics is constantly evolving. - As the understanding increases, our assumptions of what is possible and what is not possible, and abilities changes. - Assumptions about the future are always are incorrect. Black Swan events occur. Therefore, while it is reasonable today to surmise we are reaching limits, this is only based on a contemporary and temporary state of affairs. While we shouldn't hedge the Earth's future on some miraculous energy source emerging (we don't know when it will occur), it may also be in error to panic and de construct systems which could make such progress possible. Renewable energy may only be a stop-gap measure rather than a new paradigm. Okay, I've already argued that this is a bit of a pipe-dream. We aren't getting more efficient. I could add that we are spending a lot on war and most people are getting poorer and have less control over their lives. Recycling is mostly a crock, pardon my language, except for organic stuff. Recycling is used cynically as a "ploy" to appear environmental. Much of what is put into recycling bins, carefully segregated and washed gets dumped in landfill anyway. However, because it is implemented poorly by people who don't care, it doesn't necessarily invalidate the concept. One of the major problems with recycling, is that goods are manufactured to be constructed, but not destructed. That is, the manufacturer only considers the life of the product until the end of its marketed usefulness (Which can be short for consumer items, which almost everything nowadays is). But consider 3D printing, which is an emerging and rapidly growing technology. It allows people to produce their own goods at home using starting materials designed to be manipulated. This offers the opportunity to create technologies which could construct simple components, then de-construct them back to their constituent parts to be reconstructed again. There is emerging technology which allows processors to be reprogrammed, which would mean that your smartphone could have its microprocessor literally replaced without replacing the unit. New chip technology won't require a hardware replacement. This is in contract to "green" technology which does nothing but save a little power, such as automatic standby mode, i-stop. This technology doesn't open up new avenues, but just allows the existing status quo to keep going albeit with a little less power usage. It is marketable, but doesn't change anything. That which will likely lead to real changes will likely start off having nothing to do with any intention to be "Green". Telecommuting, the Internet, especially high speed internet, FPGA reprogrammable chips, 3D printing, Uber (allows carpooling), video conferencing, flash storage, new mouldable and remouldable plastics and metals, all these can be used with more effect than that explicitly 'environmental. Take Hard Drives. The "green" hard drives which are sold to be power efficient use less by spinning the drive down, but advancements in flash storage allow solid state drives which use less power than even the 'green' drives. Increasing storage density reduces the number of drives one might require. Some companies advertise their "Green" credential by some useless measurement of how many "black balloons" of carbon they have saved. At one place I worked, they have large TV displays on throughout the site telling us how much carbon they saved. The irony of using an always on large screen display panel to tell us this was lost. But, the company which implements good IT systems which allow people to work at home would save far more power. The pursuit for more environmentally friendly items often detracts from advances which really ARE better. I'm with you on the anti-moralistic attitude, but can't join you on the anti-conserver attitude, because I don't think you have proven your case. I agree with some of your planning efficiency, but it also has social value which is probably more efficient - in the sense of durable and workable and useful to people - than something deemed to have short term financial value as 'producitivity'. The examples I used above are just a model. While there is no issue at all with conservation, the actual attempt at conservation may end up counter productive due to incorrect assumptions. Using housing as an example, it may seem to many logical to reduce the land footprint, but this is actually counter productive. The philosophy is that working towards better systems can solve problems better than tackling the problem directly. This is partly what I do for a living, where recurring problems may have to be dealt with and are exacerbated by attempts to solve them. Rather, general overall improvements and advances tend to do more, even inadvertently, than reactionary corrections. Many of the most vocalised environmental solutions fall into the reactionary category (and this allows the centre right opportunity to denigrate them). Too many people? Suggest smaller families. Urban sprawl? Smaller houses. Energy use causing problems? Use less energy. Deforestation? Limit logging. Carbon Dioxide a problem? Tax it. While the intent is good, the focus is on fitting an environmentally friendly paradigm into a system which just can't really do it, without really developing systems which can. This leads to government allocating funds to the wrong places. There is a sense that progress and protecting the earth are to a degree mutually exclusive, but this is only true if one defines progress as per the agenda of the planet rapers and growth advocate parasites. Note how the establishment create scepticism over better technologies? Filesharing is bad and takes food out of the mouths of Angelina Jolies kids. 3D printing will give everyone guns and is dangerous. Uber is dangerous and hurts Taxi drivers. Open Source/Free Software is idealistic faff. Border and trade protection is xenophobia and nationalistic. Renewables chop up and fry birds.

Dennis K

Wed, 2015-08-05 21:54

With that said, it seems that in the long term, ethnic differences tend to become less important as individuals - and their children and grandchildren - merge into the broader community. I see identity politics rising, and rapidly. The Democratic party in the USA play identity politics, and do it will. The Republicans do it poorly, and then lose elections because they go after the Hispanic and Black vote, despite the fact they traditionally vote democratic. If they went after the White vote, they'd need only 4% of Whites to swing to win. They however aren't interested, so will lose. Trump is a wild card though. Eventually, if the Republicans want to have a future, they will have to play identity politics and represent the ethnic groups which don't solidly vote republican. Similar situations are emerging in Europe, where multiculturalism is quickly becoming a dirty word. Political parties playing in identity are growing and fast. I predict they will outlast the far left parties and become big players. In some cases, they already have. As I said, in some examples, where the minority group really IS a minority group, you can have stability. But this is idealism. This is NOT the world we live in. We live in a world where the demographics are changing. The change in demographics changes politics. Most people don't want to acknowledge this, or can't admit error and react to a changing world by blaming those who warn of the problem for causing it. This is typically what happens when a crisis of confidence happens, whether social or economic, so its not unique. As Europe, the USA, UK and Australia rapidly change their demographics, so too will the politics, the economy and damn near everything else. The norms of the past become irrelevant and so too does its successes. You can no longer use the past as a model for the present, because the situation of the past has been replaced. I still hear people talking about protecting the changes they made to society FIFTY years ago, seemingly completely unaware that the society which made those changes possible and workable no longer exist (ironically in some ways as a result of their actions). People STILL use ' The Greeks and Italians' as some kind of example today, which I find amusing. My Greek Grandparents came to a country which would today be unrecognisable. A vastly different situation. I doubt their circumstances apply now.

Dennis K

Wed, 2015-08-05 21:21

One of the big problems with neo-liberalism I think can be summed up as the disparity in ability to cross national boundaries. Capital can move itself internationally, far far easier than people can move. As the barriers towards the movement of capital, jobs, business are eroded and the capacity for capital to flit across the world increases, the ability for people to move with it doesn't. So jobs can be exported from a nation at a rapid rate, but the people are stuck. This power disparity gives an advantage to those who can move their assets the fastest. Billionaires can then exercise power in the fact they can move their business faster than the people they employ can follow them. This is an oversimplification, but it represents the basic model, and the problem with globalism. The issue is that free movement of people to this extent is not desirable, as it is socially disruptive for all involved. So anti-globalists are advocating a level playing field, usually by advocating freer movement of people (open borders) and limiting free trade agreements and such. However these will never level out satisfactorily. But all this still occurs in the same ideological mindset, that a country is a business enterprise. What is the purpose of civilisation? Of this human enterprise? Why do we create this? It isn't to create a business, that's for sure, nor to create an impersonal system. I think the Left has lost relevancy because it has systematically and militantly ignored human nature, preferring to put an idealised model of humanity in front of a realistic model. Since at least the 1960's, the Left has pushed an idealism which which on paper seems good, but was not in accordance with the harsher truths of human existence and human nature. The Left to me appears to be in damage control, trying to maintain the idealism pushed, and therefore too busy to effect any real change. Increasing hostility and decreasing tolerance of heresies is more indicative of the state of those seeking to find heresies than those committing them. As a result, the Left is failing (Syriza is a perfect example I predicted would fail) and blaming others for picking up the slack (the corresponding shift to the far right in Greece as a result will be blamed on those who warned of the failure). I oppose globalisation, and am definitely a revolutionary in the sense that the path we as a society is taking is fundamentally flawed. I think the left embody some of those flaws, in particular the means by which truth is determined, which is interlinked with morality. That is, there exists a bias to judge truth based on its conformance with pre-existing moral biases, which is akin to religion or ideology, neither of which is adaptable. The ability to support those biases is fading so the mainstream Left has become less revolutionary and more conservative. I would be unsurprised to find that these splits within the left correlate with psychological types

nine of clubs (not verified)

Wed, 2015-08-05 17:10

An excellent additional metric, Greg. It's very disheartening, as a lifelong rank and file union member, to see the conceptual gymnastics performed by former union leaders and Labor MP's when justifying the latest bit of 'micro economic reform'. .

Greg (not verified)

Wed, 2015-08-05 13:17

I like the metrics you offer to compare 'then' with 'now'. Let me offer one more. Is it easier/more common now for an accomplished union official to find lucrative tenure within the private sector? I heard Martin Ferguson today on the radio supporting the Productivity Commission's proposal to reduce Sunday penalty rates for hospitality workers. Seems he's the face of big tourism now as well as big mining. He has the perfect voice to play a pig in a stage-play of Animal Farm. Brandis should be canvassed to cough up the funding for this one. Tony can play the farmer who has to push the animals hard so as to keep up the steep mortgage payments to Murdoch the evil land-owner. Diversity provides camouflage and richly sustaining habitat for the politically mobile predator class.

Sheila Newman

Tue, 2015-08-04 23:31

I will stick my oar in here to say that I don't believe that you can import and export 'cultures'. You might be able to import and export 'symbols' of cultures - i.e. bits of the whole that are identifyable with it, but you would need to import the biophysical environment that created and nurtured that culture. Ways of life are built from the ground up as clans, tribes and peoples adapt to their local conditions. We are all Australians and we should, as others have suggested, learn to live here and respect our environment by not overpopulating or otherwise abusing it. Obviously we are very far from this aim.

Without history no-one can have a handle on where they came from and where they are now. Ancestor worship is a fine old tradition that makes you aware of your territory and the acts and qualities of your forbears. It situates you in time and place like nothing else - except when you are in a new place. As well as acknowledging the traditional Aboriginal owners of Australia, we need to give respect to the generations that preceded us in Australia from the time of the convicts, for they actually came head to head with this land and forged a real society - the one we have today with all its faults (which included replacing something that lasted for around 40-60,000 years and which must have been incredible). At time of Federation there was more communication between Australians than there is now because the mass media had not taken over the public messaging stick. Our population was still small enough for it to be able to agree on a constitution at Federation.

It is true that our society was crafted at the expense of the first Australians - the Aborigines - but the society we are perpetuating through immigration is the society that began then.

Multiculturalist ideology is predicated largely on the idea that Federation agreed to a White Australia Policy because of a racialism peculiar to Australians. This is part of the burial of history from the Australians of today because the White Australia Policy was largely an Anti-Slavery policy and an Anti-Slave Labour policy. Many of the First Settlers were convicts, Irish, Scottish, Welsh and English, transported to this continent because they committed crimes of poverty in Britain, which was a land overpopulated by landless labour. It was the descendents of those convicts who fought for a different and fairer system than Britain’s. They came up with the 8 hour day and they came up with a policy to exclude people from countries where slave labour prevailed and these people were mostly non-Europeans in British and other colonies. Australians had crafted industrial laws at Federation to protect themselves from similar exploitation and the White Australia policy was supposed to prevent slave labour from being imported to undermine those laws.

It would be erroneous to pretend that by acknowledging the traditional Aboriginal owners of Australia we are somehow reforming and repairing the ongoing damage we are doing at industrial pace and that by dishonoring as racists and irrelevant those who dispossessed the aborigines, we are giving the land back to the Aborigines. As Dennis K says, if we who were born here are not real Australians, then neither are the immigrants. That seems to leave us all in the hands of the corporations and transnational elites, which is, I suspect, the Plan.

Some of us might choose to identify with a global, internationalist culture - and on candobetter.net there is some of that since we participate actively with politically engaged people on the other side of the world. However, when it comes to living in a place and acting within a polity, and being constrained by the laws of the land, and participating in planning for a decent quality of life where you live, then there is need for a realistically based local culture.

Sheila Newman

Tue, 2015-08-04 23:11

Dennis, you wrote, Environmentalists don't seem to understand what the Earth needs As an environmentalist, I was wondering what your operating definition of 'environmentalist' is, for the purposes of your argument here. Not meaning to take offense, but somewhat mystified since I am an environmentalist. But as one reads to the end of your comment, one sees that you imply a particular kind of self-identifying 'environmentalist'. There is nothing wrong with increasing consumption, if this is done with more efficient technologies. There are limits to efficient technologies. They usually mean using fuel more efficiently. This often breaks down to choosing the best fuel for the task, as arguably was demonstrated by Cleveland, C.J., Kaufmann, R. K. and Stern, D.I. “Aggregation and the role of energy in the economy”, Ecological Economics, 2000, vol. 32, issue 2, pages 301-317, also at www.bu.edu/cees/people/faculty/cutler/articles/Aggregation_role_of_energ.... Economists often talk about dematerialisation - i.e. doing more work with less energy, but they measure using energy calories alone, without taking into account how those calories are packaged and where they are used. Looking at the causal relationship between energy use and GDP from 1947 to 1996, Cleveland et al find, instead, that people and business have not used less fuel, but that they have been more careful about the fuels they choose to do different tasks, choosing cheaper fuels to do low production work and more expensive ones for high returns. Cleveland et al’s main indicator of quality is financial price and it seems to be an indicator which performs well in this case. The authors find that the financial cost of fuels is an accurate reflexion of their versatility or adaptability to specific tasks more than is measuring the total calories they embody. " But as they know little of science, their only answer is to make do with less. But scientists also advocate conserving soil, water, fuel, reducing population growth, stabilising production... So, which scientists are you referring to? Which ironically, probably will harm the environment more. We must be thinking of different scientists. :-) For example, how many pro-environment liberal types advocate high density living, considering the 1/4 acre blog as 'wasteful', despite the fact that high density living is worse for the planet. Ah, so are the 'environmentalists' you have in mind people who think of the environment as a moral envelope rather than a biophysical one? Do you mean people who might interpret environmentalism as a kind of religious code? This is what you seem to imply below: Sometimes I think it is ressentment against human progress which drives them, not concern for the environment. Like the old monks, they seek austerity over exuberance. For example, new nuclear technologies could provide abundant energy which is clean and cheap. Consumption is increased, but footprint is still decreased. If you are thinking of Generation IV nuclear technologies, people were writing about them as if they were already being used commercially in the past few years, (See: http://candobetter.net/node/1538; http://candobetter.net/node/1562; http://candobetter.net/node/1571; http://candobetter.net/node/1026; http://candobetter.net/node/431) but they experimental prototypes are now decades old and none is working commercially. (See: http://candobetter.net/node/997). Even that long-time champion of FBRs, Russia, just postponed one of their series in development in order to return to tried and true boiling water reactors. (See: http://www.world­nuclear­news.org/NN­Russia­postpones­BN­1200­in­order­to­improve­fuel­design­16041502.html) CANDUs and other traditional reactors have a track record, I agree, but in the Australian context the cost of retrofitting is prohibitive. In 2008 (when I last did the figures) you were looking at something round $2b per plant, and 225.6 thousand MWe nuclear power plants each supplying 25PJ to cope with then fuel demands, plus an average of 4.8 new nuclear plants per year to supply annual growth in consumption. Each plant’s initial cost would be around $USD2 billion, in an Australian economy then valued by the World Bank at $US768 billion, but heavily indebted and privatised." (Source: "France and Australia after oil" in Sheila Newman (Ed.) The Final Energy Crisis -2nd edition, Pluto Press, UK, 2008.) Then you have to wonder why France is considering building no new nuclear plants and not replacing old ones. It could in part be because France does not intend growing her population. By the way, I find France's nuclear power plant to population ration for production of electricity a useful rule of thumb for estimating energy needs. Australia uses far more electricity per capita than France but France supplies about 60 million people their electricity with 58 nuclear reactors of varying capacities. But France also uses a lot of wood, plus tidal, water and solar. What a country can use in terms of alternative energies is shaped by its biophysical nature. Australia has sea and tides, but they are not very harnassable. We have few useful rivers for navigation, unlike Europe. And, another point, France is a very techno country, as well as fairly rooted in soil and tribe. Despite being high tech, it is an energy conserving country and that is how it has survived since the first oil shock. It also doesn't encourage population growth. Better location of jobs and population (ie, have homes for people, not for speculation) could reduce travel times (decreasing footprint), but consumption (the number of trips) remains the same. If people could afford to live near where they work, they would use a fraction of the fuel. Yes, I agree here. Especially on the relocalisation implications. Reducing the need for travel means reducing energy and materials use (where you began by arguing that more energy use was not a problem; we were not to live like monks.) However local basis of economies also implies local source of energies and materials, small local populations and small economies, not the big populations mass producing and mass consuming. Feel free to contradict me with some example. Individual consumption of resources can still increase, while total withdrawal from the planet decreases, as efficiency increases. Consider recycling, more efficient extraction processes and more efficient manufacturing process. More goods can be created using the same, or even fewer initial starting materials. Okay, I've already argued that this is a bit of a pipe-dream. We aren't getting more efficient. I could add that we are spending a lot on war and most people are getting poorer and have less control over their lives. Recycling is mostly a crock, pardon my language, except for organic stuff. Collecting, then processing materials costs energy in transport and fuel and rarely prolongs materials significantly. It has become more of an industry that councils and residents subsidise. Richard Pratt used to send his recycled collections off to Taiwan for cheap labor to process, I believe. (Anecdotal). This is true progress, and true growth. I'm with you on the anti-moralistic attitude, but can't join you on the anti-conserver attitude, because I don't think you have proven your case. I agree with some of your planning efficiency, but it also has social value which is probably more efficient - in the sense of durable and workable and useful to people - than something deemed to have short term financial value as 'producitivity'. Growth of knowledge is the most important growth there is. Period. Can't disagree there, however, for current political systems to remain in place, people have to lose knowledge, and they seem to be doing this. Lousy education system helps. Rather than being made to feel guilty for 'consuming' and having a house, we should seek to further our knowledge to improve our economy, and it is here where the Greens fall utterly flat. I agree that guilt is political manipulation, well-trialed and ground well-prepared by religions. Improving our economy in my view would be to stabilise population numbers, improve democratic power and living stability (as in people having secure landed positions, improve education, encode civil rights, insulate buildings, use shallow geo-thermal, wind power, passive solar, relocalise and try to preserve the global internet in order to preserve knowledge and freedom. All ecologies have an economy. Our economy describes the ecology of human civilisation. This is why I write so much about economics, it is a form of ecology and linked with the Earth ecology in general. Agree. But we are losing sight of what an economy IS, let alone how to make it work, and as a result, losing sight, philosophically speaking, of what it takes to make it run efficiently. Agree with the concept; just differ on technological solutions and notion of increasing efficiency of machines. Organisation has its place in efficiency though and the internet, if it can be preserved, would be key to allowing a very local basis for technologies, including 3D printing for maintaining and repairing stuff, as well as new inventions.

nine of clubs (not verified)

Tue, 2015-08-04 13:51

I think that you're generally right there Dennis. Historically, people living together in an area have been of a similar ethnic and cultural background.

With that said, it seems that in the long term, ethnic differences tend to become less important as individuals - and their children and grandchildren - merge into the broader community.

This goes to the inevitability of assimilation. I formerly lived in a small country town where there were people descended from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, including 'anglo', aboriginal, eastern European and Chinese origins. Most had been in the area for their whole lives and many had families who'd been there since the gold rush. All lived harmoniously, shared a strong local spirit and considered themselves to be Australian. Just Australian, not Anglo-Australian, or Chinese-Australian or whatever. They were culturally homogenous, even if they were ethnically different. The cultural unity of the area was remarkable.

Remember that the differences between the indigenous tribes of the area, the Chinese gold seekers and the Anglo-Irish settlers back in the 19th century were huge. The Europeans who came after WW2 had recently been commiting atrocities against each other. By comparison, the cultural distance between some of the identity groups extant in contemporary Australian society is small indeed.

So how is it possible that a small country town can assimilate people of such different ethnic/cultural backgrounds, when our major cities today become more and more ethnically separated and stratified?

Obviously, size matters. Where you have a sizeable minority that is large enough to be self-sustaining, the rate of assimilation slows. Many country towns have barely enough people to support a school and a newsagent, let alone an ethnic enclave.

Fresh arrivals from overseas also serve to slow down the rate of assimilation. These folk will tend to go,initially, to urban areas where there are concentrations of culturally similar people. Over time, the more established families may over further afield, but the new arrivals maintain the existence of an identifiable enclave. This is not a new trend, I should add. Russel Ward, in his 'Australian Legend' noted that newly freed convicts and 'new chum' arrivals to Australia would congregate in the cities as early as the 1820's.

Lastly, it has to be said that the speed of assimilation does depend to some extent on how culturally similar people are. The closer, the quicker. Stands to reason, really.

I personally would favour a situation where Australia seriously limited immigration for a time, for social reasons. I believe that this would facilitate assimilation and make for a less divided nation. Looking outside our major cities for examples of how well a united community can work would also be worthwhile.

.

Dennis K

Mon, 2015-08-03 20:22

I think it is important to understand that local ties between people have usually coincided with identity ties. It is the historical norm for a local community to also be comprised of people of similar cultural/ethnic heritage. Therefore it can be difficult to tease out the role that locality and common heritage played. Especially since there is pressure to come to conclusions which support the modern narrative. We simply don't have enough examples of diverse but local communities which have existed for long periods of times. Those few that we do tend to be punctuated with trouble.

nine of clubs (not verified)

Mon, 2015-08-03 16:53

A great article that captures the collapse of localised community in Australia.

It's ironic that during a period when the mainstream media makes regular mention of various identity-based 'communities' (often based on ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation), little focus is devoted to the degeneration of the traditional, locally based community. Robert Putnam covered the topic in his now classic book, 'Bowling Alone', where he argues that changes to work, computers, TV and different family structures have contributed to the loss of social capital in the US.

In Frank Salter's new(ish) book, 'The War on Human Nature in Australia's Political Culture' he arrives at similar conclusions, but goes further to assail the very concept of 'diversity' as undermining social cohesion. Salter says:

"Diversity has also been associated with reduced democracy, slowed economic growth, falling social cohesion and foreign aid, as well as rising corruption and risk of civil conflict."

Of course, Australians have always been a diverse bunch. Even in the 1950's - now reviled as a cultural wasteland of bland conformity - you had huge differences in lifestyles and attitudes. The farmer of the Darling Downs had little in common with the surfer at Coffs, who had little in common with the culture vultures of Sydney's inner city, who themselves were light years away from the suburban working classes. Nevertheless, the one binding identity that united all of these disparate folk was their national identity - they were Australian. This was unity forged in the hard times of two world wars and a depression. It was a strength. The contemporary mantra is that diversity is a strength, but Salter takes this tired cliché and dismantles it. His book is well worth reading, but will garner little attention on the left.

The organised Left argues that national unity stands in the way of class struggle, because workers will be less inclined to take on the bosses if they feel any commonality with them. The proposition is easily tested; were unions stronger in the 1940's - 1970's, or now? Was wealth in Australia more evenly distributed then, or now? Did the quality of life for most Australians increase more quickly from 1945 - 1980 or from 1980 - 2015? Was getting a job easier in 1972 or now?

A national identity that builds national unity is a strength. It is an extension of strong local community identities - which we can all help build ... just by smiling at each other on the street.

Again - great article.

Anonymous (not verified)

Sun, 2015-08-02 10:58

"The total cost of such congestion will increase from A$13.7 billion a year to A$53.3 billion by 2031, an increase of nearly three times". By 2031 congestion will cost up to $53.3 billion Congestion,the Infrastructure Australia report warns, will overwhelm our futures, making them unlivable, uneconomic and ungovernable as we fight for every piece of road space. The IA report says that 'the total cost of such congestion will increase from A$13.7 billion a year to A$53.3 billion by 2031, an increase of nearly three times. The loss of time will apparently cripple us'. Do they actually have a formula to optimize our nation's human capital, in line with appropriate infrastructure deficit? As for the elusive "affordable housing", it's a myth that it can be achieved by more dense stacking of people! There are more and more people on the streets. Housing is a commodity, to achieve maximum profits, not for social justice or an egalitarian society. Australian cities peaked in car use per person in 2004, like all developed cities across the globe. While per capita use of cars has decreased, absolute numbers are increasing. The article fails to mention "population growth"! If we are using population growth to boost our GDP, then surely we must come to an optimum size before being hampered by loss of productivity, and the costs of congestion? With no population plan for Australia, except "growth", surely it's time to consider a cost-benefit analysis of a sustainable and productive population size would be for Australia?

Save the Great ... (not verified)

Fri, 2015-07-31 13:54

Two turtles and two seabirds have been found covered in oil in the wake of a spill near Townsville, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority has confirmed. GBRMPA general manger operations Mark Read told reporters in Townsville that a large dead flatback turtle and a juvenile flatback turtle, plus two boobies, had been found covered in oil. However Mr Read said tests by veterinarian experts at James Cook University suggested the adult turtle may have died before the oil spill. Queensland oil spill: Turtles, seabirds found slicked near Townsville (30/7/15) | Brisbane Times The Queensland Transport Department, which is coordinating the clean up response, said more than 100 workers helped to pick up the oil patties, which posed no danger to the public. And a turtle found dead on at Taylors Beach, south of Lucinda, was being tested to see if it was affected by the oil slick. A transport department spokesman says oil samples from nine out of 10 domestic tankers in the area at the time have been tested in a bid to identify the culprit. Four tankers that have since headed overseas will also be tested. The damage oil does to marine ecosystems is well known. But the nature of damage that would be done by such a large mountain of coal seems less certain. Back in 2010 Maritime law specialist Dr Michael White, adjunct professor with the University of Queensland, said oil is the major environmental threat posed by ship groundings. He says a cargo of coal dumped into the sea could do "considerable localised damage" and there would be some element of localised toxicity. Marine pollution is widely recognised as one of the four major threats to the world's oceans, along with climate change, habitat destruction and over-exploitation of living marine resources.

Sheila Newman

Thu, 2015-07-30 19:23

Comment sent by Robert Stuart, the author of the letter featured in the above article.

Please find at this link my second complaint to the BBC regarding apparent breaches of the Geneva Convention by BBC One presenter Dr Saleyha Ahsan.  

The original complaint is here.
As a preface to an online publication of the recent BBC decision to uphold my complaint that the editing of a 2014 BBC News Channel report about Syria breached BBC editorial standards on accuracy, I have hastily drafted this summary of the status of the wider "playground napalm bomb" case.

John Bentley (not verified)

Wed, 2015-07-29 19:08

I totally agree with you! After reading of the latest outburst at Adam Goodes I was absolutely disgusted. I'm and avid football follower, a life member of my local club, a past administrator and player. I've born witness to various isolated incidents that could be put down to passion, ignorance and stupidity. The current wave of harassment surpasses this in the racism stakes. The booing isn't people being passionate, ignorant or stupid, it's orchestrated and therefore blatant racism and therefore cannot be tolerated. I agree with your suggestion that the players from both teams should walk off the ground during such incidents. The AFL is culpable by their lack of action on the matter by not ensuring the workplace (the stadium) is free from such incidents.

Stop the slaughter (not verified)

Wed, 2015-07-29 17:19

Walter Palmer, and American dentist, has come under fierce criticism after he was named as the hunter who killed Cecil, amid allegations it took the lion 40 hours to die. Cecil, a popular attraction among many international visitors to the Hwange National Park, was reportedly lured outside the park's boundaries by bait and initially shot with a bow and arrow. This was in the name of the "sport" of trophy hunting! Mr Palmer and Zimbabwean professional hunter Theo Bronkhorst had gone hunting at night and tied a dead animal to their vehicle to lure Cecil, who was aged about 13, out of the national park. The world started on a tirade of disgust. "You are a disgusting excuse of a human" and "when does hunting season start on Walter Palmer". Palmer paid $US50,000 ($68,000) to two people who lured the animal to its death. Celebrities, meanwhile, have taken to social media to express outrage and exasperation over the death of the animal. The death of Cecil has left conservators deeply worried for the safety of several lion cubs, who are now living unprotected in the park. “I had no idea that the lion I took was a known, local favorite, was collared and part of a study until the end of the hunt. I relied on the expertise of my local professional guides to ensure a legal hunt,” said Palmer. If convicted, the men face up to 15 years in prison. What lures these "hunters" to kill? Poor self-esteem, desire for blood and dominance, or just a macabre trophy to adorn a wall?

JQ (not verified)

Wed, 2015-07-29 12:25

To: [email protected] To whom it may concern, I have virtually nil interest in football of any kind, but I can’t help being aware of the disgusting bullying by “fans” of Sydney Swans star Adam Goodes. I don’t know if it is racially motivated but it is personal and relentless. I think if Goodes were to retire from football as a result of this disgusting mindless campaign it would show up the AFL as weak and able to be manipulated easily. One suggestion is that when this booing starts, the players from both teams should go on strike and refuse to play. It is unmistakable and everyone knows when it is happening. The AFL and their team management should support them. In this way, the AFL and players stand up against bullying and racism. The offenders would pretty soon get short shrift from the better behaved fans. Sponsors should also support this action. It seems everyone is being extremely weak about this. Football should symbolise strength and courage both physical and moral. As I write this I hear on the radio that Goodes may not play next Saturday because of this stupid “meme” (something that is spreading as a behaviour as does a gene as it is passed down) The question in the media is “is it racially motivated” To me that question does not need to be answered in order to censure the behaviour. The booing is targeted towards one person and it is affecting his life. It is totally reprehensible if no action is taken by other players and those in authority. Please direct my letter appropriately if necessary.

Dennis K

Sat, 2015-07-25 23:10

I see the merit in the boat turnback policy. But what about those who arrive by other means? China is one of the biggest sources of illegal immigrants. Are they all arriving by boat too? The focus on 'boat people' is to distract the population from PROPER border control to some sideshow, so the ruling class can exploit their ability to neglect enforcing our borders for our posterity, for their own purposes and profits of narrow vested interests. Proper border control would also prevent large numbers of legal migrants from entering as this too impacts negatively on the population. The whole point of a border is to keep people OUT so that the people within can maintain the society they wish to maintain.

Dennis K

Sat, 2015-07-25 23:04

There is nothing wrong with increasing consumption, if this is done with more efficient technologies. But as they know little of science, their only answer is to make do with less. Which ironically, probably will harm the environment more. For example, how many pro-environment liberal types advocate high density living, considering the 1/4 acre blog as 'wasteful', despite the fact that high density living is worse for the planet. Sometimes I think it is ressentiment against human progress which drives them, not concern for the environment. Like the old monks, they seek austerity over exuberance. For example, new nuclear technologies could provide abundant energy which is clean and cheap. Consumption is increased, but footprint is still decreased. Better location of jobs and population (ie, have homes for people, not for speculation) could reduce travel times (decreasing footprint), but consumption (the number of trips) remains the same. If people could afford to live near where they work, they would use a fraction of the fuel. Individual consumption of resources can still increase, while total withdrawal from the planet decreases, as efficiency increases. Consider recycling, more efficient extraction processes and more efficient manufacturing process. More goods can be created using the same, or even fewer initial starting materials. This is true progress, and true growth. Growth of knowledge is the most important growth there is. Period. Rather than being made to feel guilty for 'consuming' and having a house, we should seek to further our knowledge to improve our economy, and it is here where the Greens fall utterly flat. All ecologies have an economy. Our economy describes the ecology of human civilisation. This is why I write so much about economics, it is a form of ecology and linked with the Earth ecology in general. But we are losing sight of what an economy IS, let alone how to make it work, and as a result, losing sight, philosophically speaking, of what it takes to make it run efficiently.

Anonymous (not verified)

Sat, 2015-07-25 14:46

Labor leader Bill Shorten will unveil his party's asylum seeker policy including boat turnbacks as he stares down critics at the national conference. The recent arrivals of "boats" are from Vietnam, where there is no conflict or war. They will be interrogated and maybe imprisoned if they return, but there's no valid reason to leave. The tsunami of displaced is far too great that can be accommodated by the 1951 Refugee Convention. It's outdated and could overwhelm smaller nations by overloading job demands and infrastructure. The UN are keen to see "developed" countries cope with the tide, but are reluctant to actually address and mitigate the causes of displacement! We must ensure world peace, stop powerful nations intervening in foreign affairs, encourage sustainable population sizes, and repatriation of displaced in temporary camps until they can return home. Global population growth means there are no new colonies to conquer and settle, as in the past. There are many failed and dysfunctional nations, that are incapable of handling their overpopulation. Overpopulation drives conflicts, for limited natural resources, and drives the boats. The problem of asylum seekers has outgrown the international agreements, and human migration to "asylum" across the globe is unsustainable. There must be an international think tank to address the issues at their source, not just pretend that people can be shuffled around the planet, like deck chairs in the Titanic!

Ponzi demographics (not verified)

Sat, 2015-07-25 12:38

"I am particularly concerned about the increasing rates of consumption per capita in our society and the implications that has for our footprint on the planet". (James Ryan) This is typical of the Greens' diversion from the topic of population growth - per capita consumption! We might reduce individual consumption levels, to some extent, but on an absolute level they will increase considerable, in fact massively, with "big Australia"! How are we to keep reducing consumption individually? We could all become vegan, but that's not one of their policies anyway. Ride bikes, public transport, yes, but living in high rise apartments is much more energy consuming living, and foot or pedal power can't compensate for the high consumption rate of high rise living. Australia is taking the lazy route to increasing GDP, through population growth rather than through increasing productivity or participation. With the latter declining, government in later years have boosted the former, immigration, to maintain the housing boom! The Greens environmental basis is a distraction, to confuse and attract voters. They are really a party promoting social progress, and agendas of alternative feel-good lifestyles, so-called universal human rights, open borders, "compassion" for the world's displaced, marriage "equality", and free migration to Australia. Feeling "good" does nothing to actually address the issues causing asylum seekers, or protect our environment and lifestyles from the masses of people filling our cities.

quark

Sat, 2015-07-25 09:19

The Greens, one would have thought are so named for their concern for the environment symbolised by the colour green which in nature indicates the presence of water enabling plant life, underpinning animal life. I did not get a sense of urgency about Australia’s environment from most of these replies from pre-selection candidates. Yet Australia's environment is going downhill fast from the effects of human activity. Much needed are strong policy responses to this situation for which we, as current custodians are currently responsible. I don't think there is room for some of the emotions I picked up in these replies. The first was a sort of guilt or awkwardness about the respondent being a migrant herself. Surely a more worthy and responsible attitude would be to feel the need to protect the place which is now her home both for herself and family, the rest of us and future generations? The other theme was that of looking globally first, another sort of guilt response. To me this is almost a recipe for inaction as the problems of the whole globe are so vast and varied. Putting off local issues to the global sphere is like putting action off until tomorrow and tomorrow never comes. The next issue is that of regionalisation. It is the opposite direction of the current one where everyone is flooding to the major cities. Government polices e.g where funds are taken from Aboriginal communities are making it difficult for people to live in remote areas. Harsh banking practices are turning families off their farming land. I'd like to see a detailed plan to reverse the trend of population concentration in rising megalopolises both in terms of overseas and internal migration.

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