Australia

The Quad summit scheduled in Sydney on 24 May was cancelled due to the last minute announcement that US President Biden will not be doing a stopover in Australia from the G7 talks in Hiroshima, Japan, 19-22 May.  No US replacement for Biden was announced.  Instead, the Quad war summit of 4 heads of states and governments – US President Joe Biden, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese – was moved to the sidelin

Sustainable Population Australia (SPA) has questioned the claim by the Business Council of Australia (BCA) that ‘two thirds of Australians believe that properly planned and well managed migration is good for Australia’. BCA has asked a loaded question, to get the answer they wanted. Their result is directly contradicted by the more reliable Australia Population Research Institute survey. Here, 70% want net migration at somewhat or much lower levels than the pre-COVID 240,000.

ABC again - interest rates now.  After multiple interest rate rises from the Reserve Bank, the effects are biting into the living standards of ordinary Australians trying to pay off their housing mortgages. The banks pass on the rises very rapidly to mortgage holders who are impelled to find the extra money. There is no mercy as far as I know .  Those with bank deposits gain a little as their interest earnings increase.

Workers in Australia took a 4.6% real term pay cut in 2022, losing on average AUD $4,163 and working almost 10 days effectively unpaid because wages did not keep up with inflation, reveals new analysis from Oxfam ahead of International Workers Day.  

The total losses for workers in Australia was AUD $58 billion, while the increase to the minimum wage was 1.3% below inflation. 

Why did the David Hicks case attract so much public support in Australia, when Julian Assange’s apparently does not? The establishment press was still a lot freer in Australia then. It still covered anti-war protests, protest against the introduction of new terrorism laws, and even Hicks’s scandalous treatment by the Australian government. It’s not doing that for Assange.

On this ANZAC Day we remember all Australians who were killed in war, those who were incarcerated and abused as prisoners of war and those who sustained physical and psychological injuries as a result of war. We remember the many millions of civilian victims of war who have been killed, injured, raped and tortured. We remember the tens of millions of people internally displaced and forced to flee their countries of origin and seek asylum elsewhere.

The consultation is tagging amendments which may:  impede or prevent public protest against war activity or contractors involved in production of war materials ;  result in greater integration of the ADF with foreign forces (U.S.) ; enable the U.S.

There is a new policy blog or political movement called Low Migration Australia.  It is very well written and explains the relevant concepts succinctly.  The movement was started by Edward Smith.  Well worth a look.

We have republished from the page entitled, "In a nutshell," from "Low Migration Australia" at https://lowmigrationaustralia.org/

Towns and regional centres with relatively small populations, existing workforce shortages and limited local housing will need to host hundreds and sometimes thousands of new workers to support alternative energy construction projects. Governments and industry don't really understand the difficult trade-offs for local communities with alternative energy projects. Without community support, chaos may well ensue.

Should we start indexing wages to property prices, since wages cannot keep up with property price inflation, and property is not included in the CPI? This is the subject of this logical and innovative article, republished from ABC Australia.

The 100 years from 1870 is described as the innovation century in which there more more inventions, starting coincidentally with the light bulb, than in the rest of mankind's history. For the most part their roll out into society was slow enough to dampen the impact of the invention, electricity wasn't connected fully in Australia until 1989. But for me there was one event that stood out and that occurred on on the 4th of October 1957 just before my birthday.

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 ..."
 

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.)

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)

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.
 

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.

In this issue: Victorian Parliament Resumes;  Protecting Democracy and Amenity – 15 February Blackburn Speech; Facebook Page; Save Lake Knox;  Ryman Healthcare; Mount Eliza Development; CROWAG April Public Forum – Save Our Canopy Trees; Stop the Great Wall of Frankston; Long Reserve Langwarrin;  Concrete coming out of the Moonee Ponds Creek; War on Plastic; Kilmore Land Upda

In this issue: 1.WELCOME TO 2023; 2.VCAT DELAYS; 3.STOP THE GREAT WALL OF FRANKSTON; 4.SUNBURY HIGH RISE TO GO TO VCAT; 5.KILMORE BUSHFIRE EVACUATION ISSUE; 6.BAD NEWS ON THE MORNINGTON PENINSULA; 7. KINGSWOOD GOLF COURSE; 8.477 SYDNEY RD. COBURG – BIKE SPACES, BUT NO CARS PLEASE; 9. PLANNING DEMOCRACY FACEBOOK PAGE; 10. WORLD HERITAGE MANAGEMENT PLAN OVERVIEW; 11.

Recently the South Australian premier called for higher immigration in his water-scarce state. This was followed by a similar plea from the Northern Territory government, which is seeking more workers, and is spending $12.8m on a campaign to attract them for the hospitality industry.

In 1960 Australia had 9.65 hospital beds per 1000 people. This number shrank to 3.84 hospital beds in 2016, with  a low in 2013 of 3.74. A very slight increase to 3.9 beds per 1000 people in 2017-2018. Between 1960 and 2021 Australia's population grew from 10.28 million to 25.69 million people. This is a growth of 150.0 percent in 61 years.