Julian Burnside gets an intelligent & committed response from Grandmothers Against the Detention of Refugee Children and their supporters --- at the #Ballarat Public Library 15-08-23

Section of the crowd to hear Julian Burnside speak at the Ballarat Public Library, Doveton Street.

Julian Burnside.

In the background is FroG, Ian Hall of  the Facebook group site,

Parliaments of Australia --- our future.

Almost 200 people turned up at the Ballarat Public Libary this afternoon to hear renowned lawyer Julian Burnside speak at length on the refugee situation in Australia.  While there were significant numbers of men in the audience, the majority of the audience were women of all ages.

The event was organised by Grandmothers Against the Detention of Refugee Children Ballarat.  Big ticks go to Pauline McKenzie and Cath McDonald of the #Ballarat Grandmothers for their successful organisational effort.  And big ticks to the people who came.  We hope more of you will be donning the purple at more of our events!

Addendum - 15-08-24: and the event has gained coverage in Ballarat's local newspaper, "The Courier".

It goes without saying that Burnside acquitted himself well.  What was outstanding was the intelligence of the questions coming from the audience. Even Burnside remarked on this.  The questions reflected an audience with a detailed and concerned interest in the refugee cruelty dished up by both Liberal/National and Australian Labor Parties.

Burnside's political advice - particularly in relation to the "sometime soon" election?  Don't vote for the Lib/Nats or for Labor.  These votes may well end up, with preferential and/or proportional voting, in the hands of the usual major parties. However, a sufficient protest drop in the primary vote of the major parties would be noticeable to them.  And, Burnside said, much as it might be seen as a wasted vote, people can also vote "informal". An informal vote is one which does not meet the requirements of the electoral act. It may be blank or it may be incomplete.

And to top things off, the Grandmothers have named Burnside "Chief FroG".  In Grandmothers' terms, a FroG is a Friend of Grandmothers and it is the title usual given to male supporters.

And here is a Burnside item from Ballarat's "The Courier" -

giving refugees entry to Australia on a number of conditions --

most significant of which is to allow settlement only in regional Australia.

Part 4: 'Slaving Away' outfall and fall-out : Woolworths admits moral responsibiity at Senate Inquiry : still refusing to meet workers and the National Union of Workers

Cross-posted with Advocacy

Dear Brigid Today saw NUW members speak at the first Senate Inquiry into Australia's temporary work visas. The NUW remains firm: Coles and Woolworths have the power to fix this Labour hire agencies need to be regulated No workers should be forced to work for poverty wages in our fresh food supply chain We cannot allow a two-class system to remain in Australia. Every worker counts! Woolworths also appeared at today's Senate Inquiry, and admitted moral responsibility for underpaid farm workers. However, Woolworths are still refusing to meet with workers and the NUW to talk about a Fair Food Agreement to eradicate exploitation from our fresh food. Help put the pressure on and sign the petition here! And remember, we all have friends and family that can help. Share this petition with your community. NUW's Godfrey Moase, Winnie Lin, Caterina Cinanni, Sherry Huang and George Robertson with Senator Sue Lines and Senator Deborah O'Neill If you haven't watched the Four Corners program that exposed exploitation, you can watch it here. In unity, Tim Kennedy National Secretary National Union of Workers Email: nuwassist@nuw.org.au Call: 1300 275 689 National: 833 Bourke St, Docklands VIC 3008 Click here for office locations Website: www.nuw.org.au © Copyright National Union of Workers Unsubscribe

TWU boss calls for all migrant workers to be given the vote Workplace watchdog aims for top of retailers' supply chain on worker exploitation We need a new class of visa for low-skilled migrant workers Taskforce to target worker exploitation, visa fraud following 'slave labour' revelations Inquiries into 417 visa to be expanded Previous posts referencing this topic  can be found on this site at: Part 1 - Slavery in Australia. Is the 'Let 'er rip" attitude on visas for overseas workers going to be stopped? The Robinvale experience Part 2 - Names have been named in "Slaving Away".  Here they are recorded below and their responses. Part 3: The conscious consumer becomes the aware and ethical shopper.  Destroy the slavers from the checkouts of Australia! What are you buying? How did it get to you?  Whose hands has it passed through?

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.