HAS AUSTRALIA GONE TO THE (SNIFFER) DOGS?

Has Australia gone to the (sniffer) dogs?

NSW Police strip search 120 girls

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TAKING REFUGE

After a hectic few months back in the Northern Rivers, I am enjoying the quiet life across The Ditch in the “Castle of Clear Light” overlooking picturesque Corsair bay.

Corsair Bay

LIKE THE GOOD OLD DAYS!

There is something comforting about Kiwi society that breeds nostalgia for an Australia that I once knew, and can now barely recognise back home. Twenty-seven years ago, I was a footloose traveller with a European partner and the dream of settling in a place where our children could thrive in clean, healthy environment within a supportive and caring society. Although we had options throughout the EU, the Rainbow Region of Northern New South Wales was a no-brainer. Conservation battles had been won, the climate was kind (no 39 degree days in spring), and if things went downhill financially, we could always find government support without being treated like a criminal.

News story: Cashless welfare card fails the human rights test say lawyers.

ARE WE BECOMING A FASCIST STATE?

On my recent visit, it seemed like every time I looked at the news, I witnessed some new atrocity against our society, our well-being, and the very land which supplies all of our daily needs. These crimes are committed by our own governments and the corporations which fill the troughs from which their political snouts guzzle.

Mining firms worked to kill off climate action says ex-prime minister. (He should know.)

Stripped bare – Australia’s hidden crisis

$80 Million taxpayers money for non-existent water

Groundwater – the new frontier for corporate profits

Adani coal mine gets FREE limitless water against scientific advice

THERE ARE NO “TWO SIDES” TO THE SCIENCE

11 000 scientists declare climate emergency

I find it incomprehensible that at this late stage of ecological collapse, our government is not only selling us out to mining billionaires and water thieves, but threatening to jail anybody who has the temerity to speak out about it; journalists, whistle-blowers and activists alike. It is a dark day when even the Murdoch press are protesting against the secrecy and obfuscation of the bungling lackeys that they themselves installed.

Newspapers redact their own front pages

ROME DIDN’T BURN IN A DAY….

They say that Nero played the violin while Rome burned. In Australia, our cack-handed, self-serving so-called leaders are bulldozing coal onto the fire while criminalising the fire brigade.

Free speech is a thing of the past

IT’S NOT TOO LATE

Scientists have laid out a plan to mitigate the damage to our climate and planet by good old fashioned methods of locking the carbon back into the soil at a cost of $300 billion. That’s what we spend on the military every two months.

How to halt climate change

TRUE LEADERSHIP

The New Zealand prime minister recently brought down her wellbeing budget saying; “Nobody wants to live in a country where, despite a strong economy, families are homeless, where our environment is being rapidly degraded and people with mental health issues do not receive the support they need.” Amen, crack a tube….(to my non-Australian friends, this means open a beer!)

DO AUSTRALIANS STILL BELIEVE IN GIVING EVERYONE A FAIR GO?

Have Australian people got meaner along with the government policies over the past couple of decades? When I was an apprentice in the 80s, I used to attend protests. The guys with whom I worked thought it was a bit strange but they didn’t hate me for it. Nowadays, I see vile vitriol and death threats being spewed out against protestors, even children, by apparently ordinary people. What is going on? Why would a hefty percentage of Australians feel so angry about children appealing for a less polluted world?

Comments of a Facebook post highlighting police brutality against Extinction Rebellion protestors in Brisbane. There were over 10 000 comments, most of them like these.

THE SYSTEM IS BROKEN

It seems as though our divisive majoritarian two party political system has fanned the winds of hatred, empowered the amoral, and set our country on a catastrophic course of self-destruction. The politicians who succeed in this system are the wreckers ascend the ladder by tearing down those around them, including enemies in their own parties.

Wreckers rule

A BETTER WAY TO GOVERN

I find it instructive to note that New Zealand, like the Scandinavian countries, has a multi-party system of governance. To succeed in this paradigm, leaders need the skills to empathise with and unite disparate groups. In Australia, it is the scum of Machiavellian ideologues, whose only skill is to undermine and vilify, that rises to the top of the swamp. It is no coincidence that the five Nordic countries, all governed by consensus democracy rate in the top ten globally for happiness. 

EVANGELICAL FANATIC

Remember, we voted in a prime minister who doesn’t believe that human activity could possibly effect the climate, but does believe that Noah built a boat by hand when he was 600 years old, and saved every species of animal in the whole world. Except unicorns of course. Such a bummer about the unicorns.

Is our prime minister a nutter?