BRANDIS - THE HYPOCRITE

I am befuddled by our federal governments passion for the Royal Commission in to Trade Unions yet our Attorney General, Brandis, cannot bring himself to accept that all facets of the Australian Justice System are in fact Institutions whose response to Child Abuse is a vital aspect of ALL Australian Institutional responses to Child Sexual Assault  and therefore rightly belongs within the terms of reference for The Child Abuse Royal Commission.

I've no qualms about the wide ranging impact of Union Corruption on Australian citizens - BUT the impact of Corruption within the Australian Justice system is far greater on Australian citizens than that of Union Corruption, however Brandis chooses to stick his head in the sand rather than use his morals and ethics to address the problem.

Let us also not forget that the Labor Government also failed in this regard.

The irony of course is the fact that the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse has uncovered systemic failures to report abuse to the Justice System. I'm confident that its findings will include recommendations that cases of abuse be reported in a timely manner. However it will be a futile effort on the part of The Commission if those cases go before a Justice System which itself has not been subjected to the same 'cleansing' process.

This failure of both the Labor and Coalition renders the entirety of The Commissions endeavours pointless. A costly failure both in terms of financial and human capital.

Methinks, perhaps, there are too many lawyers on both sides of the House for Brandis to make an objective ethical decision.

Shame Australia Shame

Sometimes Australians are a difficult lot to understand.

A man drags his wife and children half way around the world to fight with ISIS/Daesh and he gets killed, the wife and kids want to come home (young children) and Australians (not all) are in an uproar, how dare that wife and those little kids want to come back to Australia? I even heard someone describe the kids as broken and that we don't want broken kids in Australia. These kids are kids and had no control over being dragged to a war zone.

The AFP and Security Agencies are targetting kids in high school for any sign of extremist behaviours, and we stand by and say that's okay with us because kids can be 'evil' for some reason this seems to only apply to 'Muslim' kids .... hmmm... and all this is done in the public eye.

A 13 year old girl makes an horrific racist remark in front of thousands of people and directs it at an Australian, who happens to an Aboriginal man, and everyone leaps to the defence of the 13 year old.

In the past they've been cases of teenage 'boys' trashing their homes with huge public parties, they're ridiculed across the media, including social media.

I would rather have a teenager who trashes a home with an out of control party than one who is racist.

The fact we pick and chose who we defend in so many instances, particularly this case, is simply yet another form of racism. Leaping to find a defence for a racist person ... is racism. Doesn't matter how old you are, if you are willing to make a public racist remark then you must take responsibility for that behaviour.

Some weird double standards happening here in Australia.

PLEASE HELP US Retract the decision to cease Clarence Valley Council advertising in the 'Clarence Valley Independent'

URGENT ONLINE PETITION TO SAVE OUR COMMUNITIES ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER


PLEASE HELP US!!!

A vital local newspaper that presents objective coverage issues important to the Community in the Clarence Valley has been put at GRAVE risk by the General Manager of the CVC, 

The Independent newspaper, formerly the Clarence Valley Review, received notice on Thursday from the GM that they were ceasing to advertise with them. For full details of the situation please read the online petition information and updates and the comments from those who've already signed. 

THIS IS AN URGENT ISSUE ... free independent speech in the Clarence Valley has been jeopardised by the GM of our Local Government organisation, the Clarence Valley Council.

PLEASE SIGN AND CIRCULATE THIS PETITION WIDELY ...

Email the link to the petition to your friends, Residents of the Clarence Valley or those who love our region AND IMPORTANTLY  those who believe in FREE SPEECH and access to objective media reporting - no matter where you may live.

Is Australia heading down the McCarthyism path?

Government will announce plans to strip Australian terrorists of citizenship this week, Tony Abbott says

I'm wondering what the safeguards are for this legislation?

I understand the need to limit the exposure to extremism, however I'm reminded of the witch hunts in the USA for Communists and the reign of McCarthyism ...

Imagine if this legislation is abused by corporate & political rivals? Will we see an Australia where people live in fear of speaking their mind?

Will we see neighbours dobbing in neighbours? Will we feel less safe in our own country because we're afraid to speak our minds on other issues? Will this 'extremism' grow to include anything we think and say that the government sees as a threat to them?

Very concerning development in our country. I hope the safe guards are built into the legislation and not left to the 'discretionary power' of the agencies enforcing it.

What do you think?

Government will announce plans to strip Australian terrorists of citizenship this week, Tony Abbott says

ANZAC Spirit - my thoughts

A little discombobulated by the occasional posts I'm seeing on Social Media with people claiming ANZAC Day shouldn't be acknowledged at all because we shouldn't celebrate war.

I think there are too many people who don't understand the true meaning of ANZAC Day - and that's also understandable as there are also too many assholes in the business community who simply want to profit from, literally, the sacrifice of others.

The ANZAC's were dropped at the wrong place by the British Commanders, yup those British have screwed over Aussies & Kiwi's for hundreds of years and raped and pillaged the globe for centuries. But ANZAC Day is NOT about the British or the War or the whole philosophy of War..

ANZAC Day is about mateship, courage, sacrifice, community and honour. It's about how incredible Aussies & Kiwis are when faced with adversity - that's both nations first peoples and the more recent arrivals (aka last couple of hundred years). We are like a family - we don't always treat each other well and we have lots of issues to solve in our family - but if someone or something from outside that family tries to mess with us, G-d help them.

We can all easily find fault with our Nations - but when we are up against it for whatever reason, natural disasters or man made ones like war, we are amazing in our courage and compassion, honour and determination - and our ingenuity.

ANZAC Day epitomises to me, that no matter what shit is dumped on us by the world, when it comes down to it we have each others backs in a crisis. For me, and this is my opinion, ANZAC Day has become the day we acknowledge and honour the ANZAC Spirit - and that we should remember that the best way we can all commemorate this is to continue to have each others backs, to act with compassion and bravery and do it every day of our lives. That's not glorifying war, and it is certainly not celebrating it.

ANZAC Day has grown to become a day when we stop and take the time to honour all our military service people, particularly those who've served in the theatre of war.

Which brings me to another gripe I have. The number of people who actually said to my face that my son shouldn't have been in Afghanistan and that he was wrong to go, this was happening even during the time he was deployed, and it was startling and incredibly hurtful.

Do those same people have the hide to tell a Paramedic which people they should save and which they shouldn't? Do they tell the Fire Brigade Officer which fire should be extinguished and which shouldn't? Seriously the majority of people who join the military or the emergency services do so to serve their community/country they do it out of an altruistic calling, and that calling doesn't allow them to pick and choose who they save or who they don't, where they fight and where they don't.

The only reason ADF members put themselves forward for deployments is because they have that ANZAC Spirit, they know if they don't go their mate will have to. Imagine if noone in the ADF put themselves forward for deployments, the government/CDF would make arbitrary decisions - just like Vietnam all over - conscription and forced deployments.

It really pisses me off when someone says to me 'but your son volunteered to go to Afghanistan' as if that means he and his mates deserve the trauma and the injuries they sustained, and those that didn't come home must have in some way deserved to die. Some people are so shallow - if our government (the one elected by us) decides on our behalf to commit a certain number of our troops to a conflict, they will send those troops.

BOTTOM LINE IS IF YOU DON'T AGREE WITH A WAR WE'RE INVOLVED IN - look in the mirror because it's your vote that elects the government and your government that takes these decisions based on that vote. Not the Soldier or the Sailor or the Pilot - they are serving your wishes, in the same way the Emergency Services serve your wishes. Also ask yourselves what you'd expect if our lands were attacked? Do you want a Military then? Would you like someone to protect and defend you then?

All our Veterans need from you is your understanding, compassion and GRATEFULNESS that they have the guts to do a job you won't, Don't judge them - love them and support them to heal from the trauma they subject themselves to for YOU!

WTF Australia? Anti-Racism and Anti-Muslim protests???

I'm in avoidance mode ... seeing lots of headlines in news media and posts on friends walls about 'Anti-Muslim Protests' and 'Anti-Racism Protests' ... but can't bring myself to read them. Do I have my head in the sand? Probably. I'm hoping when I take it out the grotesqueness of these issues will have disappeared from our Australian community ...

Without reading these articles I'm dangerously making a few assumptions:

1. There are people who are lumping all Muslims with the extremists who hide under the 'banner' of Islam.

2. There are people who are frightened of extremism - lots of us in fact.

3. There are people who know our lands history i.e. stolen by racist British Governments and attempted genocide of the original people of the land.

4. People are confusing racism and nationalism ... i.e. The Australian Flag represents a Nation, albeit one created through theft and genocide, not a race.

5. Muslims are not a race, they are part of a religious belief system.

6. Extremists who hide under the banner of a religion i.e. Islam, Judaism, Christianity - are criminals not religious people.

7. Ignorance is rife in Australia, no more so than when Australians claim that our Nation is a Christian Nation ... hmmm ... 500 Aboriginal Nations with their own belief systems, a First Fleet with a broad range of passengers (voluntary and involuntary) of various religious beliefs. The truth is that since the arrival of non-aboriginal races in this land it has been more commonly those of Christian beliefs who have held power in our Governments ... perhaps indicative of the extremists hiding under the banner of Christian Religions.

8. If people want to fight/protest for what they believe they should first make sure they are doing so based on facts, all of them, not just the ones they may know and definitely not by picking and choosing facts to support their ill found opinion.

9. This isn't an assumption - it is my opinion - WTF is happening in our Nation? Have we learned nothing from our own history?

The very British Australian Prime Minsiter

I wonder what would happen if Tony Abbott was running the European Union, would he say living in Poland was a lifestyle choice and take a decision to move all the Polish people to Portugal because it was easier for him to manage resources that way? (read: easier for his corporate mates to access mining resources that way)

The fool has no idea that Aboriginal Australian's are not all one people!!! 500 nations of human beings with cultures and history unique to their nation and their land.

Can't help but see the irony, he won't accept refugees from outside our borders BUT he thinks he can forcefully move people from nation to nation inside our borders!

ABBOTT you are an embarrassment, a fool and a a fraud! How dare you take these decisions and take our taxes as payment for your stupidity. The ONLY honourable thing left for you to do is to RESIGN.

INDONESIA'S SHAME

I'm really befuddled, as someone who has been to Jakarta I've seen the debilitating poverty and horrific environments that so many Indonesian s live with day to day.

In the middle of the city of Jakarta, which is built around a river delta with lots of rivulets, there's massive mutli-million dollar high rise buildings, and highways that run either side of these rivulets. Expensive cars with chauffeurs/drivers whiz along these roads, with every available space between them taken up my small motorbikes, more often than not being ridden by entire families, three of four people perched on a 250cc motorcycle, and they're the lucky ones. In the middle of all this on the banks of the rivulets are whole communities living in squalor, drinking water from these rivulets, the very same water that their use to wash their clothes, bathe themselves and urinate and defecate in.

Their homes are ramshackle constructions, of the most heartbreaking nature.

YET, we've an Indonesian President who is spending millions of dollars on sanctioned murders while his own people starve and live in the most horrific circumstances. Where's the compassion there? Isn't that level of horrific poverty one of the major reasons that so many Indonesian s need to engage in crime in order to survive, often narcotic related crime?

Wouldn't the Indonesian President be more successful in eradicating the narcotic crime in his own back yard if he took the money he seems happy to throw at the sanctioned murders and used it to raise the standard of living for his own people?

POLITICS IS NOT A SPORT

I have been saying this for a long time now ... POLITICS IS NOT A SPORT ...

Just because you believe one party or another represents your general political views, does not mean you follow them blindly regardless of their actions.

There is no loss of face if you challenge the decisions of the Party you support - they're not a sports team you follow blindly no matter what - their decision affect everyone in this country.

We live in a Democracy - which means we have the right to challenge political actions and the individuals we vote in to represent us.

IF THEY DO THE WRONG THING you don't sit back silently - you grow a pair and speak up!

There is NO LOSS OF FACE if you've the courage to challenge and disagree with the Party you voted in to Government ...

But you will lose your integrity if you sit idly by letting the people you voted for behave in a dictatorial, cruel and unethical manner. You become an accomplice to the vile things they do with your silence!!!

What is happening in Australia at the moment isn't about two sporting teams battling out on the field and each of us blindly supporting our sides ... this is our future, this is our National ethos that is being destroyed.

FOR GOODNESS SAKE don't sit idly by putting your ego ahead of humanity and decency!!! That's makes you a egotistical coward not a political savvy citizen of our Country.

Defending Tony Abbott ... never thought I'd see the day I do this !!!!

Goodness I am befuddled this morning, I have a doubt in my mind about Tony Abbott's real intention with his making note of the support we provided Indonesia after the horrific Tsunami's ...

I know he delivered the message in a manner that seemed to do injustice to what I think he may have been trying to articulate.

The more I consider his comments the more I come to believe that the point he was attempting to make wasn't that we were threatening to withdraw future support but our immense capacity to show Mercy to Indonesia through both our hands on response and actions and through financial aid.

Therefore he was trying to convey the message to the Indonesian President that in the situation facing those the Indonesian president intends to legally murder, he was simply asking they show the same degree of mercy that we did as a Nation for them when their people needed it so desperately.

Although a message best delivered by Julie Bishop MP

Any one else got a perspective on this issue? I'm not an Abbott fan in any way, but I'd hate to think the media were merely trying to discredit him for domestic political purposes by misrepresenting or skewing his remarks, when the lives of not only 2 young Australians but 9 others are in the balance?

I also keep thinking back to the first group that were legally murdered this year and shudder, not only for the fact they lost their lives, but for their families and friends who will undoubtedly suffer from some degree of PTSD as a result of the way in which their loved one died, and who will have that PTSD triggered every time the Death Penalty issue is raised in the media or discussed within earshot of them.

On a slightly different issue, I'm aghast at those who continually call for the Death Penalty in Australia for Paedophiles ... really? You want to kill a paedophile but not a drug trafficker? You believe in the sanctity of life but only when it suits you?

You can't have a position on the Death Penalty/Capital Punishment then decide to put riders in place!

No one, no matter how evil or destructive they are as a human being should EVER be killed.

Rather than indulging ourselves with more than what we need to survive we should be throwing resources at solutions to the problems human beings face, killing people doesn't stop us hurting each other - history is overflowing with examples of this fact.

In fact killing people is merely the lazy way out and actually demonstrates a lack of compassion and understanding of the bigger picture!

TIME FOR A ROYAL COMMISSION IN TO THE AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE

Many people are missing the point in relation to the barbaric situation that is facing Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukamaran  ...

the AFP did this to these young men, they did it AGAINST EVERYTHING WE (yes I'm a former Federal Agent) were taught to do. They would have paid for their crime in Australia, and they would have more than likely provided a wealth of Intelligence to the AFP and other Australian Law Enforcement Agencies in relation to the King Pins here in Australia and also overseas, although more likely Australia. We were taught to NEVER SHARE THIS INTELLIGENCE WITH ANY COUNTRY THAT HAS THE DEATH PENALTY FOR THESE OFFENCES.

In addition to this we were taught how to conduct 'controlled operations' and 'controlled deliveries' once the narcotics arrived in Australia. What is sickening me to the point of literally being haunted by this and unable to sleep, is the people did this DID the same Detective Training and Intelligence Training that I did, the people that DID this in the AFP were people I worked with and once called friends.

I am so ashamed of the behaviour of the AFP under the tyrannical reign of former Commissioner Keelty, I'm ashamed I was part of this organisation for almost a decade!

I deplored the Death Penalty before joining the AFP when I was 26 and I deplored it EVERY DAY of my career in Law Enforcement, I PAID ATTENTION to the training, and the reasons and the legislation and Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Treaties that were based on Australia's Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters legislation.

If these young people had been able to either be intercepted prior to leaving, even with charges of Conspiracy to Import, that would have stopped them, the AFP carries on about there not being enough evidence for them to gain a conviction at that point, that wasn't for them to decide, the Court decides if the evidence exists AND if they had stopped them and charged them in Australia - then it is highly likely that they would have given enough information in their Records of Interview to either secure a conviction of Conspiracy to Import - OR - enough information to actually disrupt the 'king pins' both here and in Indonesia.

This case is an horrific example of the abuse of power by the AFP and the failure of the Australian Government to call the AFP to account for this and numerous other highly questionable, unethical investigations and actions over the years.

Every Federal Government has failed Australia, both Liberal & Labor, by NOT moving for a Royal Commission in to the AFP, the Harrison inquiry merely scratched the surface and allowed the AFP to clear the decks of those implicated and to silence those who may provide evidence of the remaining AFP members who were protected and stayed on in their roles and were promoted to senior AFP positions.

Time to call the AFP to account for this and many other atrocious failures, both deliberate and through incompetence!

Dismounting soap box and returning to begging G-d to stop this barbarism taking place.

It's THAT day again ... Australia Day ...

It's THAT day again...

A day when I remember my family and all the lessons and values that have been handed down generation to generation.

A day I remember the massive human rights abuses in England that led that heartless British government to commit even greater and more sadistic acts by literally dumping their unwanted souls out of sight and out of mind in the 'great southern land' and all the while stealing that land and horrifically massacring the people of the land, the land we now call Australia.

A day when I hold my Aboriginal friends and family in my heart and pray that one day we will all be healed of the trauma of the past 227 years, and that an appropriate compassionate restorative justice process will occur.

A day when I wonder at just how manipulative a British Government can be! They have us celebrating a day of tragedy for both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians. I shake my head at that, I also wonder how many will understand how I feel about today. I know I'm not the only one who is uncomfortable with they way in which this day unfolds each year...

If this is truly an important day is should be a day of reflection, of continued work towards healing, of remembrance and above all, a day to recognise the strength of all those that survived the brutal 'birth' of the nation, now known as Australia. The survivors are both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples.

Yes we can be proud of our country, there is much to be proud of, but pride needs to be tempered by the reality, needs to be warmed by compassion and needs to be illuminated by the truth.

I won't say 'Happy Australia Day', but I will say to my family and friends that I love you and that I am extremely grateful that I live on this land with you.

Political Knitter: HYPOCRISY OF THE ANZAC CENTENARY COMMERATIONS

Political Knitter: HYPOCRISY OF THE WWI CENTENARY COMMERATIONS: Struggling so much at the moment with all the money being spent on the ANZAC Centenary. I know this is an important milestone, however ...

HYPOCRISY OF THE ANZAC CENTENARY COMMEMORATIONS

Struggling so much at the moment with all the money being spent on the ANZAC Centenary.

I know this is an important milestone, however there's money being handed out left right and centre for events yet the new ESO's trying to support existing ADF veterans, particularly those post Vietnam, are struggling to even get people to return their phone calls.

Young Aussie ADF and former ADF members are killing themselves at a rate of one every 10 days, they are homeless and living rough, or worse still as we saw in Coomera this week - one Veteran killed his ex-wife and her new partner leaving their 5 year old son an orphan.

I CAN'T BELIEVE THE LEVEL OF INDIFFERENCE IN OUR COMMUNITY TOWARDS our current veterans. If only we could garner the same level of enthusiasm for the living veterans as we do those that have passed ...

The irony is that I was raised by a WWI Veteran until I was 7, my Poppa Bert, my Dad's dad. Poppa Bert was the one that taught me about helping others and looking after your mates.

I wonder how many of the WWI diggers would feel comfortable with all the money being spent on remembering them while their young brothers and sisters are being forgotten by the very country they all fought for???

I know my Pop would be mighty pissed off.