John Menadue and his blog.

Dear Networkers, thought you should be aware of John Menadue and his blog. Please don't take this as a complete endorsement of his thoughts. Menadue is a distinguished Australian.  For those of you too young to have known of Menadue in his prime, please go here.

John Menadue	Home   My Blog
Photographer Jennie Groom Courtesy Museum of Australian Democracy Canberra	Fairness, Opportunity and Security Policy Series edited by Michael Keating and John Menadue With many other people, we are concerned about the policy vacuum and the poor level of public debate on important policy issues. We began a series of articles on policy issues in Pearls and Irritations on 11 May. They have now all been posted There are forty-eight articles on fifteen policy areas from over thirty contributors. They are linked to the contributor's name below. To all the contributors - thank you very much for your excellent contributions. John Menadue, Michael Keating. Introduction. Ken Henry 'I can't recall a poorer quality public debate, on almost any issue, that we have had in recent times in Australia. Democratic Renewal Vested interests John Menadue 2, 'Vested interests represent a growing and serious corruption of good governance and the development of sound public policy' Loss of trust John Menadue 1, 'We need political reform to restore trust in our political system and our polity.' Post majoritarian future. Ian Marsh 1, 'It is unlikely that in the future Australian governments will have majorities in both Houses of Parliament'. Policy-making practice. Ian Marsh 2 'Policy reform may well depend on reforms to our political system and decision-making processes.' The Role of Government The importance of values. John Menadue, 'Good government must be based on some broadly shared values that inspire and enthuse us.' Role and responsibilities of government. Michael Keating, 'In practice, the responsibilities of governments have changed little in the last thirty years.' Role of government. Ian McAuley 'Australia and similar democracies have done well because economic progress has been a shared venture between the public and private sectors.' Foreign Policy Security in the region. Stephen Fitzgerald , It is remarkable the headway that Paul Keating and Gareth Evans made in South East Asia ... in gaining acceptance of Australia as one of them. Australian foreign policy Cavan Hogue, 'Countries don't have friends, only interests. The United States has always remained fiercely independent and has followed policies which served its own interests first.' An independent Australian foreign policy. Richard Butler , By relying on 'great and powerful friends' we have acted in a way that has 'substantially compromised our independence and ... exposed ourselves to increasing danger.' What Australia's foreign policy should look like. Stuart Harris , We must be careful to avoid 'a choice between the political and economic relationships with the US and China.' Australia, the US and Asia. John McCarthy. In recent years Australia has superceded both Japan and the UK as the US states' closest ally. The Economy Fixing the budget Michael Keating 1 'Why did the government break so many promises and insist that the unfair cuts in last year's budget were absolutely necessary and any opposition was irresponsible.',  Michael Keating 2 The government's plan to balance the budget by 2019-20 is not credible. Taxation Reform Michael Keating 'Encouraging unrealistic expectations of tax cuts is only making government more difficult.' Federalism Michael Keating 'It will be necessary to continue the reforms started by the Hawke-Keating governments.' John Menadue One way to make federalism work better in the health field is to pool commonwealth and state funding and agree to a state-wide health plan in any state that is prepared to cooperation with the commonwealth.' Job Creation and Participation Michael Keating The best way to promote greater employment participation is to increase the investment in education and training to improve the skill base and employability of disadvantaged people. Productivity Michael Keating Most important is the creation of an innovative culture through support of research and development, education and skills and forging close links between the scientific community and industry. Innovation David Charles We need to transform from an economy largely driven by investments in minerals and energy sectors to one which has a wider spread of investment drivers Transport and Infrastructure Michael Keating and Luke Fraser Australia is racking up very substantial debts to finance unreformed infrastructure. It is scandalous that infrastructure investment escapes proper scrutiny. Retirement incomes A fair, effective and sustainable system. Andrew Podger We need to draw together all the threads of the retirement system, particularly pensions and superannuation. Population/migration/refugees Peter Hughes, Arja Keski-Nummi, John Menadue Immigration Part 1, Australia has a great record in nation-building, but benefits achieved cannot be taken for granted in the future. Refugees Part 2, How to move from toxic politics to a humanitarian policy once again. Settlement Part 3 Successful nation-building needs good settlement services to support new arrivals. Communications and the Arts Cultural Identity, Julianne Shultz We need to draw together diverse cultural policies to better serve our national interests. Arts. Kim Williams We have eroded the standards and reduced public support for the arts. Media Regulation in Internet World Terry Flew How media convergence is driving the need for regulatory and policy change. NBN. Rob Nicholls We need to target the NBN rollout in line with what our major trading partners are doing, Security - internal and Human Rights Spencer Zifcak We have draconian laws but inadequate safeguards. Susan Ryan We need to revive the Human Rights Act campaign of the 1980s. Security, both military and soft power Michael Wesley The politicalisation of security is endangering our safety. Health Part 1 Problems John Menadue Medicare was established forty years ago but is badly in need of reform. Part 2 Health reform opponents John Menadue 'Health ministers may be in office, but seldom in power.' Part 3 Health solutions John Menadue We need new processes, governance and policy directions to move us beyond the present inertia, incrementalism and tinkering. Health workforce Jim McGinty The emphasis in health workforce reform must mainly be about nurses. Co-payments Jennifer Doggett We have amongst the highest out-of-pocket health costs in the world. They lack logic, efficiency and equity. Development of our human capital in the fields of education, science, innovation, research and development Knowledge capital. Glenn Withers Knowledge capital is the real wealth of nations. Eroding Human capital. Chris Bonnor Differences in education outcomes seem to be increasingly the result of differences in wealth, income, power or possessions. Let's hear it for Gonski and My School. Environment and climate change Ross Garnaut It would be wise to supplement an emissions trading scheme linked to Europe with regulatory action.  Peter Cosier Ways to combine a productive economy with a healthy environment. Jon Stanford Will Australia rise to the occasion in the Climate Change Conference in Paris in December.  Brendan Mackey Reconfiguring human endeavour to live within the boundaries of a finite planet. Indigenous affairs Fred Chaney , Some progress in closing the gap - but a long way to go. Michael Gracey Indigenous health requires a much broader definition of the meaning of 'health' and local empowerment. Welfare and families Andrew Podger Current arrangements are overly complicated, inconsistent and incoherent, overly means-tested, and without sufficient regard for efficiency. Inequality and the Australian welfare system Andrew Podger, Peter Whiteford , In reducing inequality, priority should be given to promoting employment and addressing specific weaknesses in the tax and transfer system. Ian McAuley The conservative slogan that a 'rising tide lifts all boats' is not working for the poor.

Meet Mr Gerald Mander --- courtesy of Clarke & Dawe

Posted by Labor Now on Thursday, 24 September 2015

Labor, Shorten and a failure to halt boat turn-backs by military vessels at sea

From The Guardian

Below is The Editorial from to-day's The Age

For readers who are not familiar with The Age,

it is one of two major daily newspapers in Melbourne, Australia.

It is published by Fairfax Media Limited.

The other newspaper is the Herald Sun which is part of Rupert Murdoch's empire. 

***********

The background for this editorial is that the

National Conference of the Australian Labor Party,

the major opposition party in Australia,

will be held in Melbourne this week-end.

Refugee policy - and its inherent cruelty - is a major issue.

***********

Shorten's backflip on boat turn-backs is reprehensible

Date ---July 24, 2015 - 12:15AM

In case anyone has forgotten, it was the Australian Labor Party that introduced banishment to Nauru and Manus Island as a way of halting the flow of boats carrying asylum seekers and economic migrants to our shores. And it was Labor under Kevin Rudd that declared "asylum seekers who come here by boat will never be settled in Australia". That uncompromising "solution", as some might glorify it, has been the most profound deterrent on people-trafficking in this region.

Turning back boats was an addendum to that policy. It was introduced by the Abbott government in late 2013, initially by towing boats to Indonesian waters, then transferring people into orange vessels and pointing them back to Indonesia. Later variations include detaining people on Australian vessels in international waters before handing them to authorities from other countries; using Australian naval vessels to sail asylum seekers directly to ports in their home countries; and, more recently, paying cash to persuade an Indonesian boat crew to turn their boat around and go back.

None of this is acceptable. Not the offshore processing system, nor the eternal banishment from Australia. Not the reprehensible prison-like conditions on Nauru and Manus Island, which are designed to crush people's spirits and, thus, deter others who might attempt the ocean journey. And certainly unacceptable, in our view, is the interception, towing or turning back of boats, let alone handing people back to those same countries which they  believe perpetrate persecution, are complicit in such oppression, or are unable or unwilling to protect them from harm and discrimination.

Bill Shorten this weekend will ask the Australian Labor Party's national conference to formally approve  a dramatic shift in policy and  adopt  the turn-back strategy of the Abbott government. We believe the policy is morally repugnant, and that Labor's rationale is flawed.

Richard Marles, Labor's spokesman on immigration, contends that while most people who attempt the sea journey from Indonesia to Australia are genuine refugees, this final leg "is not a flight from persecution. No one is fleeing persecution in Indonesia". This is simplistic rubbish. Ask Papua New Guinea about refugees who have fled oppressive authorities or racial and religious violence in West Papua and other eastern provinces. More importantly, however, we remind Mr Marles that superior courts around the world have confirmed repeatedly that it does not matter whether a refugee has come via one country or many to seek asylum. The claim must be assessed, on its merits, by the country where it is sought.

We believe this nation should uphold its obligations under international law, with respect paid to the needs of each person who seeks assistance. For that reason, The Age does not support turning back asylum seeker boats. Repelling people at sea, or depositing them in other countries, prematurely terminates their claims for protection. This is a ruthless and despicable relinquishment of Australia's obligations.  While the offshore detention system provides for some processing of refugee claims, it is terribly flawed, not least  in principle. 

We believe in justice, and in extending compassion and dignity to people who seek refuge. To that end, we believe processing of refugee claims and detention arrangements should be conducted in Australia, by Australian authorities, and with the prospect of permanent settlement here for those who demonstrate legitimate claims. The Age is not naive enough to presume that this could be adopted without the risk of a sudden flood of boats heading to our shores. It is why we have always argued for a regional solution, rather than a Fortress Australia mentality.

If Labor adopts Mr Shorten's proposal, it will suggest a party that too readily ditches important principles for political gain.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/comment/the-age-editorial/shortens-backflip-on-boat-turnbacks-is-reprehensible-20150723-giiymr.html#ixzz3gk7Uaa3G

Victorian Election 2014 - Wendouree candidates : How preferential voting can allow the subversion of a popular vote.

State Election 2014: Wendouree District Candidates

Candidates are listed in the order in which they will appear on the Lower House ballot paper for Wendouree District.

Candidates in ballot paper order

7 candidates		Contact details
HASTIE, Liam SEX PARTY		Vicki Nash Business Hours: (03) 9347 2332 Mobile: 0411 107 040 meteorthoroughbreds@bigpond.com
KNIGHT, Sharon AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY		Sharon Knight Mobile: 0491 115 845 Sharon.Knight@vic.alp.org.au
O'SHEA, Sheila RISE UP AUSTRALIA PARTY		Sandra Caddy Business Hours: (03) 8795 7544 Mobile: 0418 584 868 sandracaddy@hotmail.com
FENN, Cielo FAMILY FIRST		Shane Clark Business Hours: (03) 9010 6110 admin@familyfirstvictoria.org.au
COLTMAN, Craig LIBERAL		Craig Coltman Mobile: 0408 178 511 craig.coltman@vic.liberal.org.au
BARNES, Alice AUSTRALIAN GREENS		Victorian Greens Business Hours: (03) 9602 1141
BUCHHOLZ, John AUSTRALIAN COUNTRY ALLIANCE		Garry Kerr After Hours: (03) 5261 3866 Mobile: 0412 586 925 garry.kerr@auscountryalliance.org

The ballot paper order in my electorate was decided this afternoon. 

First, let me state that I dislike proportional and preferential voting. I am old fashioned is one reason. The other thing is that I don't trust any system that is not readily and totally understood by every voter and I don't trust any system that can be rigged. 

Networkers might find that last statement a bit over the top in nice, democratic Australia but, having spent half a lifetime in the not nice and undemocratic police state of Queensland under Joh Bjelke-Petersen, I know how preferential voting can be rigged. This is why I think we should only have to put a number 1 on the ballot paper. 

When an athletic race is run, there is no fiddling with numbers to declare a winner. We know with our own eyes who has won - it is the one who has done the best and come first. I live in the electoral district of Wendouree and I am not asserting that the ballot here is rigged - but I want to show how preferential voting can allow the subversion of a popular vote. 

The ballot paper for the seat of Wendouree - published above -  has seven candidates. Of the seven candidates, the majority (4) are from conservative parties: the Liberals, the Australian Country Alliance (somewhere to the far right of the very right National Party); and two conservative Christian parties - Family First and Rise Up Australia. On the progressive side of the ledger are the Sex Party, the Australian Labor Party and the Australian Greens. 

If we had first past the post voting, some of these parties would not be on the ballot paper but because we have the magical thinking of preferential voting, they are a preference. They can lock up their preferences to make it easier for someone of their own conservative brand of politics simply by stacking the ballot paper. 

Wendouree has an excellent sitting member in the person of Sharon Knight (NB: there has been an electoral redistribution. Sharon is currently the member for Ballarat West. This seat is no more and so she is standing in the new seat of Wendouree). Her credentials are excellent. She is visible and active. Her office is helpful and active too - a major, but often overlooked, component in sound political representation. 

As one more interference in participatory democracy, we have in Victoria the horror of an upper house. Here my prejudice is in-built and intergenerational. As someone who grew up in the unicameral state of Queensland where the Upper House was abolished back in 1922 and who lived for a number of years in the Northern Territory which has never had an upper house, I find the doubling up of legislatures simply to provide a place for would-bes if they could-bes expensive and self-serving. 

So we suffer through this rorting - praying that proven competence will win the popular, but rigged, vote.

Madigan #2 - Another Madigan staffer ensures the excreta hits the rotating blade

If you didn't read the initiating post concerning the troubles and turmoil of John Madigan the Village Smithy, please go here.

Picture above from here

More turmoil for Madigan - as more knives are directed at him

Hell hath no fury like staffers scorned.

John Madigan, the village smithy turned Senator, has resigned from the DLP and will continue his term as an independent.

Picture at left from here

Breaking news on ABC News 24 - Senator John Madigan has resigned from the Democratic Labour Party - DLP and will continue his term as an independent. In-ter-est-ing! 

Madigan's office is in Ballarat - so he is local. 

John Madigan  and his office are quite good on things that are of particular interest to The Network - all except women's reproductive rights. This has been said to him personally. 

Senator Madigan is seen out and about. He speaks up for refugees and asylum seekers. Yet, if you didn't know who he is, he can seem to fade into the woodwork in his little workman;'s cap. So if anyone has any knowledgable background on the resignation, I would be pleased to hear it. Please email misseaglesnetwork@gmail.com.  If you want to speak to me personally, then email me briefly providing a telephone number.

I have sitting on my kitchen counter John Madigan's latest newsletter.  here is how he describes himself:

John Madigan: blacksmith,boilermaker, businessman, senator

As one of the few blue collar workers to enter the Federal Senate, John Madigan's surprising job history gives him more in common with those he represents rather than those he shares the Senate chamber with.
Leaving school at age 16 John's first job was at the Victorian Railways Newport workshop where he completed his apprenticeship.  He went on to work in the mobile welding and civil construction department for a decade.
He made the move to Ballarat and set up a forge and engineering workshop at Hepburn the Victorian Central Highlands where he worked as a self-employed blacksmith.  While the Senator may not get to his forge as often as he would like nowadays, his manufacturing background has served him well in his current position as Senator for Victoria.  
John is a passionae campaigner for regional areas and an ardent promoter of Australian industry. His concern for the ever-widening gap between Australian manufacturers, farmers and food processors and the people that represent those industries led John to establish the Australian Manufacturing and Farming Program (AMFP). 
This not-for-profit organisation is a non-partisan program aimed at exposing Australia;'s parliamentarians to the men and women in those industries.  The AMFP has hosted several successful industry days in many states.
Senator Madigan is the first person to represent the DLP in the Federal Senate in over 40 years.  The philosophy of the party is simple and effective.  What is good for families is good for the country.

Emails by tabled by Senator John Madigan 

in the Senate of the Australian Parliament
on the afternoon of 4 September, 2014.
The enclosure below allows reading on-line by scrolling down the side-bar.
If you wish to print, this option is also available.

  

 Networkers can get the flavour of the author, 

Dr Rachel Carling-Jenkins by going to her Facebook site.

And then there is this Facebook site.

Disability and Social Movements - Learning from Australian experiences

The 63 heroes who saved our son: 

Revealed in the heart-tugging story of a critically ill baby

 and the astonishing army of NHS staff needed to save one life

Monash University

DLP - Press Release - 1 Augusst 2014

At Research Gate

By now, dear Networkers, there should be a picture forming

of Dr Rachel Carling-Jenkins.

Postscript 14/09/04 
10.30am:

A very brief interview has just concluded on ABC News 24. Senator John Madigan says that he has not left the DLP. The DLP has left him. His values remain the same. From what Madigan said, it seems this was an overnight decision and he has formally resigned this morning. He has said in the interview something about tabling documents this afternoon in the Senate. I'm not clear what these documents are. I will see if his office can clarify that. 
11.03am:
From The Age:
http://goo.gl/6rvH9W
Scroll down this article and you will find a video of Senator Madigan addressing the Senate.
11.24am
From The Courier
http://goo.gl/GWJR82
From news.com.au
http://goo.gl/bKFCa5
4.40pm
From The Courier
http://goo.gl/HhtIfK-
From The Guardian
http://goo.gl/fVVWCY

Treaty? Yeah!!!

<

My politics? I am not a member of political party anymore ....

Cory Bernardi's hate speech and Warren Entsch's reply - The Liberal Party might well be a broad church but can it contain Bernardi?

Following this marvellous response to Senator Cory Bernardi by Warren Entsch MLA, I decided to put my money where my mouth is and have written to both men this morning.  My emails to them are below.
~~~~~~~~

Dear Senator Bernardi, you might consider what you are doing leadership - but leadership of what, for whom, and to where.  I particularly find objectionable your statements about single parent families.  My mother-in-law was widowed twice by the time she was 38 and left with two children from each marriage.  So she struck out twice in your book - single parent, and a step-parent family.  My husband grew up in dire poverty.  This was before there were government payments either for widows or single parents.  The family lived in dire poverty.  The children did not grow up to be criminals. They were/are a very close knit family.  So where are you going with all this bigotry, hatred, and exclusion?  Have you lived too narrow an existence?  Is this the only way you can get your name iinto the MSM and draw attention to yourself?  Do you have your eye on an international stage and attracting the attention of Fox News in the USA?   I am a Christian - and this sort of behaviour was never exhibited by Him who I follow.   Your statements seem to fit more with the man who built gas ovens for those he despised - so what coloured star are you suggesting for single parent families and step-parents?  Are you going to lock up the kids just in case?  Many people in this wealthy nation grow up in deprivation, poverty and exclusion.  Many of them are Aboriginal people living out of sight and out of mind in communities where we won't even provide them the same local government services as suburban Australians take for granted.  Your government is cutting services to people.  It is favouring the rich against the poor - and you stand there sanctimoniously with exclusionist clap-trap.  What do you expect the end result of all this to be?  A blissfully happy and content society - or a society in which there are massive social controls.  I thought the latter was contrary to the political philosophy of the Liberal Party of Australia. So what are you doing  about resigning your membership?   I wonder if you can answer my questions specifically - not form letter claptrap but specifically, genuinely, and personally.

#####

Well, Warren Entsch, aren't you one of the wonders of the modern world.  Thank you for speaking out and getting stuck into Cory Bernardi.  It would be all very well if Senator Bernardi was a constituency of one or may be two if including his spouse.  However, there is something very nasty abroad in the political discourse of this nation at this time.  It seemed to me to begin with the Julia Gillard comments of the Liberal Party, Alan Jones, and the convoy who wanted to Ditch the Witch and has gone well past political sloganeering to infect the political policies and discourse of the nation.  The sort of stuff that Cory Bernardi says is now OK.  Because the Prime Minister has not altered his discourse or called out such people as Bernardi, it is now OK to be  nasty to the people one doesn't like or of whom one disapproves.  Will be see action at Cronulla once again?  Your statement has come into the public arena in a very refreshing way. I welcome it and I hope I can see more of it - from others as well.  My view is that Australia as a nation has lost or is losing its way.  The national ethos of a fair go has all but gone - swamped by greed, consumerism, bigotry, racism, and xenophobia.  Who or what are we to become unless our national and political leadership turns those selfish and exclusionist boats around.  I hope to hear more of your refreshing public voice and I hope your voice and the voices of others like you can lead us out of the darkness now enveloping us.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Further reading:

Amazon flooded with reviews mocking Cory Bernardi's book

Tony Abbott keeps distance from Cory Bernardi abortion comments

The long arm of justice reaches out to Ponce from Pinochet to the present and perhaps to prison in Chile

Privatization Profiteers from Pinochet’s Chile May Yet Face Prison by Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch Blog September 19th, 2013 Julio Ponce, the billionaire owner of Sociedad Quimica & Minera de Chile (SQM), faces ten years in prison for insider trading. A beneficiary of former dictator General Augusto Pinochet, Ponce is charged with buying company shares at below market prices and selling them at a profit. SQM – often referred to as Soquimich - is one of the world’s biggest producers of potassium nitrate, iodine and lithium which it produces with raw materials sourced from its caliche ore and brine mines in the Atacama desert. Originally a state enterprise, SQM was privatized by Pinochet in 1988 at the bargain basement price of $120 million on the advice of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The man in charge of privatization in Chile was Ponce, who trained as a forestry engineer, but had the good fortune of marrying Veronica Pinochet, the daughter of the president. Pinochet appointed Ponce to the board of SQM before it was privatized. “Call it business savvy plus political connections on overdrive,” writes Erin Carlyle at Forbes magazine. Ponce became president of the privatized nitrate company in 1987. Several of his relatives became major stockholders and had positions on the board of directors of the company. Today SQM is worth $9.2 billion. Ponce has 84.1 million shares in the company, according to SQM filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) making him worth $3.3 billion. "It is obvious that Ponce Lerou's family ties and public posts helped him to put together the prosperous economic state that he enjoys today," Maria Olivia Monckeberg, author of "The Looting of the Chilean State by the Economic Groups," told the New York Times. "He created a network of relatives and business partners that came to occupy the highest posts in some of the most important state companies, not just Soquimich, but also the state-owned copper and steel companies." The Chilean taxpayer was not as fortunate, write Joseph Collins and John Lear in Multinational Monitor in 1991. “Revenues from sales of public corporations provided one-time boosts to the government budget, allowing Pinochet the luxury of balancing the budget from 1986 through 1988, pleasing the IMF, making timely payments to foreign creditor banks and even cutting taxes,” write Collins and Lear. “However, since the companies sold had produced revenues for the government rather than deficits, such gains were brief and illusory.” Today Ponce and his friends have continued to profit from the company, say Moneda Asset Management, a minority shareholder in SQM. They allege that Ponce and his friends conducted over 100 irregular purchases of shares between 2009 and 2011, which they used to make over $100 million in profits. For example, Bloomberg writes that on March 29, 2011, Soc. de Inversiones Oro Blanco SA (a company controlled by Ponce) sold 163 million Soc. de Inversiones Pampa Calichera SA shares at 726 pesos, 10 percent below the previous day’s price, to Norte Grande and SQ Inversiones. On November 7 of the same year, Potasios de Chile SA bought 151 million shares in Calichera for 1064.53 pesos while SQ Inversiones sold 137 million at 1065 pesos. Ponce has until the end of this month to explain the trades. Also charged are Aldo Motta, chief executive of Norte Grande and Roberto Guzman, an advisor to Ponce.

Anne Summers Conversations kicks off with our first female PM, Julia Gillard - in Sydney and Melbourne.

AnneSummers Reports presents

A very special night — her first public appearance since her gracious farewell speech on 26 June. I invite you to a very special evening with Julia Gillard, who will talk with me about her time in office and what it was like being the first woman to lead our country. It will be our first chance to see and hear Ms Gillard since she left the Prime Ministership in June this year. I am sure we all remember her dignified farewell speech that evening. Now, we will be able to see for ourselves how she is faring post politics. Ms Gillard has agreed to a candid and wide-ranging conversation, and will answer questions from the audience. It promises to be an unforgettable evening. Julia Gillard is the inaugural guest of my new project, ‘Anne Summers Conversations’, one-on-one interviews with well known people who have featured in my online magazine, Anne Summers Reports. Julia Gillard has generously agreed to donate her time to help launch this project. Join Julia Gillard and me for this very special event. ANNE SUMMERS Editor and publisher, Anne Summers Reports SYDNEY Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House Monday, September 30, 2013, 6.30–8pm http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/whatson/anne_summers.aspx MELBOURNE Melbourne Town Hall Tuesday, October 1, 2013, 6.30–8pm https://annesummersconversations.eventbrite.com.au/

Central Victoria Refugee Support groups take the fight for humanity rather than inhumanity up to the LibNats and Labor

From Terry White in Bendigo ~~~

Picture below from here

Dear Friends

We desperately need our political parties to RETURN TO HUMANITY in their treatment of asylum seekers.

Can you let us (the working group of Central Victorian Refugee Support groups) know which of the politicians on the attached contact list you've spoken to or have written to ?

Today at 2pm, our working group meets in Castlemaine to discuss what more we can do, and we want to be certain that every one of our Central Victorian politicians and candidates knows that we expect them to distance themselves from the harsh liberal and labor policies on asylum seekers in the lead up to the election.

Fortunately, some Labor politicians and union leaders are beginning to do just that.

1) The Age article regarding ALP Federal election politicians and candidates speaking out against the PNG solution and vowing to fight against it. 

http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/labor-disquiet-at-hardline-png-solution-20130814-2rvjw.html. 

2) Australian Financial Review article on ACTU position on Asylum Seekers and off shore processing 

http://m.afr.com/p/national/politics/unions_split_from_labor_on_png_solution_uJZfprGdlwrN04X0lNPZ9L

Also encouraging was last weeks joint statement, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH by non-government organisations (including our Castlemaine and Daylesford RAR groups)  (see attached)

What are your thoughts on what more can we do?

Do you have any good news stories we could share with our friends on the Forum contact list?

Any responses from the churches or other organisations?

Any good press coverage or interviews?

Is there any way we can get the sitting members and candidates to let the public know where they stand on asylum seeker policies at public meetings in Bendigo and Ballarat?

Could this be done through the Bendigo and Ballarat TV channels or through ABC regional radio in these two centres?

What are your thoughts?

Warm regards

Terry White

Working group of Central Victorian refugee support groups.

PS: I've written to the Prime Minister and the Minister for Immigration (no response) and to Dan Tehan the member for Wannon asking for a meeting with Maryborough RAR reps (no response as yet).

I've also written to all our Forum speakers asking if they would endorse our return to humanity statement (endorsements from Louise Newman, Julian Burnside and Janet Rice are attached)

5 attachments — Download all attachments  

RAR AND MP CONTACTS.doc 41K   View   Download   Clip to Evernote

JANET RICE.doc 1362K   View   Download   Clip to Evernote

ENDORSEMENT BY LOUISE.doc 35K   View   Download   Clip to Evernote

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.pdf 91K   View   Download   Clip to Evernote

JULIAN BURNSIDE.pdf 139K   View   Download   Clip to Evernote