(We) can do better

A new report finds that Australia’s housing crisis cannot be solved without a major slowing of population growth.

I posted the following letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Foreign Minister Penny Wong and the Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus at around 11:00am on Thursday 7 April during a protest for Julian Assange outside the electoral office of Mark Dreyfus in the Melbourne suburb of Mordialloc. I had hoped to hand a copy of this letter to Mark Dreyfus in person or, at least, to a member of his staff, but his office was unattended. For security reasons, as explained to me by a member of the Federal Police, there was no slot through which I could put the letter, so I had to send the letter through the mail. I expect that my letter would have been received in Mark Dreyfus' office the next day and that my letters to Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong will arrive at Parliament House on Tuesday 11 April following the Easter long Weekend. I have also e-mailed this letter, with the subject Please act humanely now to end the illegal imprisonment of Julian Assange, and sent CC copies to members of the Bring Julian Assange Home Parliamentary Support Group.

From 10am until 12pm tomorrow, on Thursday 6 April, outside the electoral office of the Attorney General Mark Dreyfus in the south-eastern Melbourne suburb of Mordialloc, supporters of Julian Assange will be protesting to demand that the Australian government act to end the British Government's imprisonment of Julian Assange.

One of the many, many signs that Australia is nothing more than a US military and intelligence asset is the way its government has consistently refused to intervene to protect Australian citizen Julian Assange from political persecution at the hands of the US empire.

Where To From Here - Victorian Local Government Elections 2024; Save Our Canopy Trees – April 1 Forum; Planning and Heritage Inquiry; Level Crossing Removal FOI; VCAT Protest?; Let There Be Light – Brunswick Residents Have a Win; Planning Scheme Amendment St Phillip St Brunswick East; Guest Speaker at Fitzroy Residents Association; John Curtin Hotel; Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens; Western Port Woodlands Alliance Formed; MAB Attempts to Silence Westmeadows Re

"Clear need to improve the transparency and accountability of government decision-making in relation to armed conflict.' "Require a written statement to be published and tabled in the Parliament setting out the objectives of major military operations, the orders made and legal basis"; "Facilitate debate ..."
 

Video of speakers and informed discussion from a large Australian audience of activists re Australia's mounting involvement in US-NATO warmongering and costly and inappropriate weapons purchase. The Stop Aukus movement came out of a coalition of anti-war movements, notably IPAN, and features Australians who have never stopped being involved in our anti-war movement, and who have rich experience and knowledge to offer other Australians whose education, via media or schools, has been lacking.

Nearly everything this government says about nuclear subs is ludicrous and highly damaging.

Included below is an example of the letters I sent late in the evening of Monday 27 March to each of the 40 members of the Bring Julian Assange Home Parliamentary Support Group. I point out that, in spite of its size, the efforts of this group so far appear to have made little difference towards making the Albanese government act to end the UK's illegal imprisonment of Assange or even to just hold this government to account for its failure to do so.

In her interview with the Russian ambassador to Australia, 7.30 Report 21 March 2023,  https://iview.abc.net.au/video/NC2301H041S00, I think that Sarah Ferguson failed to give her audience adequate information about the nature of the International Criminal Court, and the fact that neither the US nor Russia are signatories.

The following article has been adapted from the leaflet handed out at the weekly Vigil for Julian Assange in the evening of Friday 17 March 2023 at Melbourne's Flinders Street Station: Julian Assange, the multiple award-winning Australian journalist, has been imprisoned in solitary confinement for 23 hours per day in London's Belmarsh prison since April 2019 - almost four years ago.

Canberra Conversations SUNDAY 19 March 2023 AT 3:30 PM – 5:30 PM Smith's Alternative, 76 Alinga Street, Canberra, ACT, Australia, Australian Capital Territory. 3 speakers plus forum.

Are we really living in a Democracy?

JOIN THE CONVERSATION
Come to our first ever Canberra Conversation to discuss with 3 expert speakers whether we do indeed live in a democracy and if not what we can do about it.

Melbourne State Library 1 pm Saturday 18 March against AUKUS US $170b nuclear sub purchase and alliance No AUKUS Coalition, Solidarity Melbourne and Melbourne 4 Assange.

The CFMEU has called for the Fair Work Ombudsman to be abolished and replaced with a regulator that is "focused on the real issues affecting workers." Incoming CFMEU National Secretary Zach Smith said the FWO had failed to tackle wage theft, sham contracting and corporate insolvency - three of the biggest issues in the construction industry."Australia’s industrial watchdog is more like a toothless Chihuahua than any serious workplace regulator," Mr Smith said.

"The Fair Work Ombudsman's priorities are all wrong. It is fundamentally broken beyond repair.

Join us - rally, say No to War – protect truthtellers 8am Monday 20th March at the ACT Courts. On the 20th anniversary of the illegal invasion of Iraq, and as the Coalition of the Willing which was responsible for the illegal invasion of Iraq on 20 March 2003 has regrouped as AUKUS, we should remember the legacy of that disastrous war and other destructive wars. (Reposted from Canberra Conversations.)

Writing festivals are often tired, stilted affairs, but the 38th Adelaide Writers’ Week did not promise to be that run-of-the-mill gathering of yawn-inducing, life draining sessions. For one thing, social media vultures and public relations experts, awaiting the next freely explosive remark or unguarded comment, were at hand to stir the pot and exhort cancel culture.

On March 3, 2023, protesters gathered outside Mark Dreyfus, the Australian Attorney General's office, to complain of Dreyfus's failure to object to the British Government's illegal and cruel imprisonment of heroic Australian citizen, Julian Assange. March 3 is Assange's birthday. Inside is the text of James Sinnamon's speech on that occasion.

Text of James Sinnamon's speech (video embedded below)

The CFMEU has placed a green ban on a proposed site of an indoor sports stadium at McIver Reserve in Yarraville that will reduce the provision and access to open space for the local community.  McIver Reserve is a key community hub for recreation and leisure. The proposed reduction of open space in a council with already limited provision of open space shows a lack of regard to the views of local residents by Council.

SUNDAY, 19th March, 5pm, Marrickville Town Hall, Marrickville Rd, Marrickville,NSW. You can join the meeting virtually livestream via the Marrickville Peace Group Facebook. Speakers: Bob Carr, David Shoebridge, Alison Broinowski, Lawrence Wilkerson. IPAN supports this event.

IPAN denounces recent rabid media war propaganda. Call for all people who want peace to mobilise and force the Australian Government off path to war.

An excellent, thought provoking Australian documentary called "Brazen hussies"  aired on ABC 1 on Wednesday  March 7th 2023  the night before International Women's Day.  It was released in 2020 but I had not previously seen it.  It was about Australian women's battle for social and economic equality in  the 1960s and 1970s.
 

We’re on the path to war. How can we stop it? Implications of the government reports on AUKUS, nuclear submarines, war powers reform & the Defence Strategic Review. National Zoom Meeting, Sunday 26 March, 6.30pm AEDT. Free registration details inside.

  National Zoom Meeting
 Sunday 26th March, 6.30pm AEDT

Previously published 7 March 2023 on Consortium News and on 4 March 2023 at Declasified Australia: At the Belmarsh Tribunal for Julian Assange, held at Sydney University’s Great Hall on Saturday 4 March, Kellie Tranter (@KellieTranter), a lawyer, researcher, and human rights advocate, in a 7:40 minute speech, reported that despite private and public requests for diplomatic assistance for the WikiLeaks publisher, Canberra’s policy — shown by FOI documents — has been one of complicit inactivity in the face of his persecution:

Recent analysis claims that in 82 of Sydney's 2019 residential postcodes, a single tenant needs to be making at least $100,000 a year to avoid being in housing stress.

Contents: Page 1 – Heritage Amendment Bill 2023; Victorian Departmental Restructure; Australian Architecture President Bells the Cat; Legislative Council Planning and Heritage Inquiry; Page 2 – Submissions Closing on World Heritage Management Plan for Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens; Speech to CROWAG, and April Forum; Level Crossing Removal FOI; War on Plastic – Clean Up Australia Day; Page 3 – South Australia’s Planning Minister Flags Change

I appreciate the opportunity for public comment on this important issue. I was the Federal Shadow Minister for Environment and Heritage when the then Federal Minister for Environment and Heritage announced the move to nominate the Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens for World Heritage listing. I have followed the history of this site with considerable interest.

Presentation by The Hon. Kelvin Thomson, Convenor of Planning Democracy, to Combined Residents of Whitehorse Action Groups, (CROWAG) Wednesday 15 February, Blackburn Lake Visitor Centre.