Category: Politics

Left Wing rants, Andrew Wilkie for Bennelong, Down with Dubbya.

Same Sex Couples Recognised in Anti Terror Legislation

Gee – isn’t our paranoid right wing government progressive….

Media Release – Office of Senator Kerry Nettle

Same sex couples recognised in terror law

19 October 2005

Greens Senator Kerry Nettle said today the government’s recognition of same-sex couples in its planned terror laws was a pleasing shift in policy.

Clauses in Schedule 4 of the Draft Anti-Terrorism Bill 2005 defining which family members could be contacted by someone in preventative detention include same-sex partners in the definition of family member.

“It is great to see the government recognising same sex relationships. But this is not the legislation for it. This bill is about removing the fundamental rights of all Australians and the Government is ensuring that they also remove the rights of same sex couples”, Senator Nettle said.

“If someone is detained for 14 days under the Government’s proposed terrorism legislation, the Government is ensuring that they can ring their same sex partner to tell them they are detained but not why or where they are.

“The government is making a mockery of the importance of recognising same sex relationships by placing this clause in terrorism legislation but not in marriage, adoption or tax law where recognising same sex relationships would require the government to provide entitlements.

“Why does the extent of the government’s support for same-sex couples end at allowing them to talk to a loved one if they are locked up for two weeks without charge?

The government is happy to legislate away the positive rights of same-sex couples but recognise them when locking up a gay or lesbian under the terror laws.”

“This new revelation further reinforces the unbalanced and dangerous thrust of the government’s terrorism policy.”

The controversial proposed terrorism laws include home detention for 12 months and detention by federal police for two weeks of people deemed to be a risk but not convicted of an offence.

The Monster is Out

Brendan McMahon has been granted bail. The prosecutor and the Senior Police Investigator were both on annual leave, and the defence applied for bail before the court date, leaving the press wondering what had happened when they turned up at the court on September 30th.

Only one Sydney newspaper ran the story, and it was two lines in a side colum, by Les Kennedy of the Sydney Morning Herald. Les was the ONLY journalist who picked up the story, and even The Rocks Police were not aware that he had been granted bail. So when a pet shop manager rang the police to report that he was in her shop trying to purchase rabbits, the police told her that she was mistaken, that he was in jail and could not possibly be in her shop. Unfortunately the store lost the surveillance camera tape, so there is not enough evidence to have him locked up again. Yet.

It seems pretty obvious to me that if he has been back to one pet store, he has been to many more. It is not likely that he has changed his ways and given up torturing animals for pleasure.

This is an enourmous blunder, and though I am appalled that he was granted bail in the first place, it is even worse that there has been no media attention, and no public outcry.

Please print out this picture and take it to your local pet shop, and ask that they not sell rabbits to this man.

Sketch from initial court appearance

Masturbation Will Send You Blind

1) Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, liposuction and air conditioning.
2) Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.
3) Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.
4) Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn’t changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can’t marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.
5) Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Brittany Spears’ 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.
6) Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn’t be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren’t full yet, and the world needs more children.
7) Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.
8) Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That’s why we have only one religion in America.
9) Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That’s why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.
10) Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven’t adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans…

Re-Posted from Knit Witch.

A “Win” in Macquarie Fields….

Well, close enough. There was a swing away from the Labour Party, and the Greens had a swing of about 1%, despite not really running a campaign.

And lets face it, Macquarie Fields is hardly a hotbed of dope smoking peaceniks (how the Liberals described the Greens yesterday), and more than one person heckled me by saying “I hope that’s printed on recycled paper”, (about the Green how to vote). Of course it’s recycled paper. Of the very lowest quality, and the cheapest printing we could find. Of course these same people happily took the Liberals glossy broadsheet and dumped it in the bin afterwards. We recycled. Some of our leaflets were used 3 or 4 times. Anyway, enough about recycling, but I do find it amusing that the Greens are open to such pointed scrutiny, yet members of other parties are allowed to be complete assholes and no-one bats an eyelid.

There was an old saying that a woman has to to a job twice as well as a man to be considered half as good. The Greens have to be 1000% more involved, passionate, active, and enthusiastic. We’re expected to carry a green bag with us at all times, ride a bicycle, have a thriving permaculture garden and wind farm in suburbia, volunteer for bush regeneration on the weekends, chain ourselves to trees regularly and save endangered wetlands on public holidays.

Well stuff that. I believe in social responsibility, and I believe that each of us has the power to make a difference. I believe in Grassroots democracy, I believe in Environmental Sustainability, and I believe in Social Justice. I also believe in having a lie in after a long week, having a beer at the end of a long day, and generally being as lazy as I can get away with.

Does that make me a bad Green ?

What a Delightful Way to Spend a Day!

There are three by-elections in NSW today. Maroubra, vacated because of Bob Carr’s resignation, Marrickville because of Andrew Refshauge, and Macquarie Fields, because of another resignation.

Marrickville and Maroubra both have a strong Greens presence, but not so in Macquarie Fields. Last state election Labour won by a huge margin, the Libs were second, and Greens a distant third at about 4% of the primary vote.

So Mark and I are off to hand out how to votes at Hoxton Park Primary School, and hopefully increase the Green vote by a small margin.

In knitting news, the lace scarf is about as long as my arm, and though I can see two mistakes, they are so far back that I refuse to frog. I admire perfectionism in others, but in me it only leads to procrastination, and I have enough of that already, thank you.

Something Horrible

Anyone who knows me, knows I love my bunnies. And anyone that lives in Australia, and not under a rock, knows that we’ve just had one of the worst cruelty cases ever exposed a few weeks ago.

I haven’t mentioned it on the blog, because I have been pretty much unable to be polite and not R rated. But now, I realise that to do justice to the victims of this awful crime, I have to speak out.

I have read the poilce report, and while I won’t go in to detail, I will say that it is far worse than what has been mentioned in the media.

He has been charged with multiple offences, and I believe that there are more charges pending. Despite that, there is a strong suggestion that the perpetrator will receive a light sentence, possibly even a non-custodial sentence.

It is common for first offenders to receive consideration for not coming before the courts prior to the first offence, and in general, I would agree that an isolated incident shouldn’t be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

Unfortunately, this man isn’t a “first offender”. This is just the first time he’s been caught. The number of animals that he has abused is in the hundreds, if not thousands.

The torture that these animals endured was extended and brutal. When he was apprehended, the RSPCA had to euthenase two animals that he had “finished with”, but were still enduring the agonies he had inflicted, and they were likely to die slowly.

So, I have to do something. Most trials of violent criminals allow a “victim’s impact statement”, but there is no-one to speak for thes animals. A rabbit in a safe environment with a good diet and decent medical care could expect to live for 10 years – a commensurate lifespan to a cat or a dog. They have every bit as much personality as a cat or a dog. They are as intelligent. They have as much capacity to feel pain, to interact and show affection, to play, to run, to love.

Please join me in writing to your local paper, your daily paper, your national paper. Write to current affairs programs, call talkback radio, write to the judge, the prosecutor, your local member.

Please make some noise for those that have no voice.

National Day of Action

Everyone has an issue these days, but I won’t apologise for banging on about this one. It’s important to me, and this is MY blog, so read it or not….

I got married a year and a bit ago. It was great. Fabulous party, best dress ever, and the opportunity to tell my nearest and dearest that I love my bloke. Maybe not for everyone, but everyone should have the right to do it if they want to.

The repercussions of unequal acess to marriage are not ones that many people think about, so here is on example from real life that really sucks. And btw, when I bang on about marriage, I also want equal recognition of defacto relationships too. When marriage comes, defacto recognition will have to be part of the deal.

So….

My friends mother has been with her partner for more than a decade, maybe two. Susan and Eva (names changed to protect privacy) own a home together, and have shared finances. Nearly five years ago Eva had multiple strokes, which left her needing nursing home care. Even finding a decent nursing home was difficult for Susan because most of the good facilities are church run, and wouldn’t take a sick lesbian. But eventually they found a place, and Eva has been well cared for. She is showing some improvement, and though she can’t walk, she can read, and communicate, and spend quality time with her friends and family. But she can’t come home.

Nursing home care is subsidised by the government for a period of five years. After that time access to the subsidy is means tested. A heterosexual couple, married or defacto, would have their family home exempted from the means test – but a same sex couples home is considered an asset – and is included as an asset in the means test.

So, Susan is going to have to sell her home and cash in her super to pay for Eva’s ongoing care. Just because her relationship isn’t “real” in the eyes of our legal system.

Now do you see why this is so important ?

If you read this far and are still with me, there is something you can do about it. Saturday August 13th is a National Day of Action. Details follow.

In Sydney on Saturday August 13 2005, we will be holding a rally commencing in Taylor Square at 1:00 pm and marching down Oxford Street to Hyde Park. There will be a number of speakers including Dr Kerryn Phelps, Clover Moore MP, Anthony Venn-Brown and Senator Kerry Nettle who last year tried unsuccessfully to amend the Marriage Act Amendment Bill to include all couples. We now have 37 groups supporting the rally.

I thought I would give you an update on plans for that day. Life has been difficult over this last week or two negotiating gay politics. Support from some of the peak organisations in the gay community remains rather precarious. However, the rally will go ahead and we have had good publicity in the gay press including coverage of the rally in the Star (SSO) and of AME in SX magazine as well as my own letter in the Star under the heading of AME’s Aims. (You will have to page down in the last two links.) As well, I was interviewed last Friday on air on 3CR, a Melbourne community radio station.

What Peter Furness and I need most from you is moral support. The effort is rather draining but we are forging ahead with the goodwill and support of many people. We could use financial support for the day. However, we expect the basic costs to be covered easily. What we would like to do is make this a visually interesting event to attract the attention of the media. I want to see a forest of pink hearts. I will be following the tradition that Luke has established, appearing in a navy blue suit with a pink carnation in the lapel. It will be, like every wedding, a celebration!

I have set out AME Sydney’s objectives for the rally for the benefit of those groups who are supporting the rally. These have been communicated to the NSW GLRL. I thought they would be of interest to AME members. I would certainly appreciate your feedback.

Objectives:
The objectives of the Sydney event are to contribute to the national day of action for marriage equality by conducting an event which will assertively and confidently affirm the value of LGBTIQ relationships and communicate that value to the wider community in order to advance the campaign for relationship equality.

This:
A celebration
Fun
Inclusive – open to all who support our objectives
Looking forward, but not ignorant of the history of August 13
Apolitical, but not ignorant or unappreciative of those who support our objectives politically

Not this:
A protest rally
A partisan political event
An event purely for the gay community, or seen to be only for that community
An event to promote causes other than relationship equality, as worthy as they may be

Rally For Mariage Equality

I expect you are already aware that in Sydney on Saturday August 13 2005, we will be holding a rally commencing in Taylor Square at 1:00 pm and marching down Oxford Street to Hyde Park. There will be a number of speakers including Dr Kerryn Phelps, Clover Moore MP, Anthony Venn-Brown and Senator Kerry Nettle who last year tried unsuccessfully to amend the Marriage Act Amendment Bill to include all couples. We now have 37 groups supporting the rally.

I thought I would give you an update on plans for that day. Life has been difficult over this last week or two negotiating gay politics. Support from some of the peak organisations in the gay community remains rather precarious. However, the rally will go ahead and we have had good publicity in the gay press including coverage of the rally in the Star (SSO) and of AME in SX magazine as well as my own letter in the Star under the heading of AME’s Aims. (You will have to page down in the last two links.) As well, I was interviewed last Friday on air on 3CR, a Melbourne community radio station.

What Peter Furness and I need most from you is moral support. The effort is rather draining but we are forging ahead with the goodwill and support of many people. We could use financial support for the day. However, we expect the basic costs to be covered easily. What we would like to do is make this a visually interesting event to attract the attention of the media. I want to see a forest of pink hearts. I will be following the tradition that Luke has established, appearing in a navy blue suit with a pink carnation in the lapel. It will be, like every wedding, a celebration!

I have set out AME Sydney’s objectives for the rally for the benefit of those groups who are supporting the rally. These have been communicated to the NSW GLRL. I thought they would be of interest to AME members. I would certainly appreciate your feedback.
Objectives:
The objectives of the Sydney event are to contribute to the national day of action for marriage equality by conducting an event which will assertively and confidently affirm the value of LGBTIQ relationships and communicate that value to the wider community in order to advance the campaign for relationship equality.

This:
A celebration
Fun
Inclusive – open to all who support our objectives
Looking forward, but not ignorant of the history of August 13
Apolitical, but not ignorant or unappreciative of those who support our objectives politically

Not this:
A protest rally
A partisan political event
An event purely for the gay community, or seen to be only for that community
An event to promote causes other than relationship equality, as worthy as they may be
Regards
Malcolm McPherson
Convenor, Sydney branch
AME

The Public Hospital System

Holy Fuck !

Mark took me to Hornsby Hospital today to get the medical records and X-Rays from my accident three years ago. I am hoping that the old X-Rays will show that my spine was fine before the whiplash, and that the degeneration since is far too rapid to have been attributed to “genetics”.

Maybe my spinal explosion is because of the whiplash I suffered three years running. Maybe it’s not. If it is though – I would be covered under Work Cover. And then, not only would I have some income, but I would also have someone mediating between me and the boss to try to get me back to work.

So…..

I had to go to hospital to get the records from my first accident. Coincidentally, it’s the hospital I was born in… And I think they are still using the computers they were using when I was ten years old.

We have just received a $6 tax cut in the budget. Mr Costello, I have no income until I get back to work, and I earn too much for my husband to qualify for Austudy, but if I ever to get my $6, send it to Hornsby Hospital.

They need a new sign out the front so people can find the department they need. They need to pay for a cashier that works past 3.15pm in the afternoon. They need an EFTPOS machine in the Emergency Department that works (as they are the backup cashiers), they need an ATM that works, they need a door to the Medical Records Department (as well as the map) that doesn’t slam so loud it feels like your eardrum is bursting.

And they need computers that are less than two decades old.

And now for the bright light at the end of the tunnel. The staff were great 🙂 Thanks guys – you made a horrible situation almost bearable.