The Brisbane Powerhouse is currently hosting the Festival of Tibet through until the end of this weekend. It is the second such occasion, with the first being organised at the time of the most recent violent crackdown by Chinese government authorities in Tibet. The Festival features a lot of Tibetan music, art and other cultural and spiritual activities. There are a range of workshops covering some of these areas, as ...
This week on my regular shift on 4ZZZ FM, (Brisbane’s independent music and news radio station), I interviewed Ember Swift, an interesting Canadian-born musician and advocate for activism. She recently made her fourth appearance at the Woodford Folk Festival, and is playing her final Australian show this weekend on Saturday night (Jan 23) at The Troubador in the Valley Mall. Her style of music has been labelled as ‘folktronic’, ...
Yesterday on my weekly shift on 4ZZZ, I did an extended phone interview with Queensland Liberal Senator, Brett Mason. He talks about the CPRS and the climate change issue, the upcoming election with new Liberal leader Tony Abbott and where things are at with proposed changes to the Youth Allowance. You can listen to or download the interview by going to this link. Brett lives in the inner-city ...
Yungaba: Last change to see One theme which is rather common through Queensland’s history is a failure to recognise important aspects of the past or to value its built heritage. So perhaps in a sadly ironic way, it could be seen as apt that a very historic building, and most of its grounds, are about to officially pass into the hands of developers to be http://www.yungaba.org.au/development.html turned into upmarket ...
One of the benefits for me of not being in Parliament has been the chance to get more directly involved in community based organisations. One of those I have got more involved in over the past year or so is the Queensland branch of Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (usually known as ANTaR). ANTaR started in the 1990s and has maintained a continuing role in promoting better community ...
It's nearly two years since the last election, when the Democrats lost all their seats, and over sixteen months since I finally left the Senate, as did the Democrats as a party. After a lot of thought, I’ve decided to get back into party politics and contest a seat at next year's federal election. It was formally announced today that I will be running in the seat of Brisbane, ...
Refugees in Rocky In amongst the antagonism and angst that can surround debates about refugees, whether here or overseas, it is good to see a good news story about the positives for a family that has settled here in Queensland, and their keenness to start contributing to the community and economy in their new home. http://www.themorningbulletin.com.au/story/2009/10/06/families-safe-from-congo-war-horror/ This piece from the Rockhampton Morning Bulletin tells the story of 13 refugees originally ...
There have been a few developments since I wrote my previous post about the uncertainty surroundnig Queensland's abortion laws. A 'technical' amendment to the law was rushed through State Parliament giving the same protection for surgeons for medical abortions as currently exists for surgical abortions. Both major parties managed to avoid having the amendment considered a conscience vote, using the rather curious argument that "the amendment did not ...
A conference was held in Brisbane this week on the topic of Ending Homelessness. I was part of a panel exploring migrants' interaction with homeless services. One of the main speeches was by Nan Roman, who is the CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness in the USA. I had the chance to interview Nan Roman today on my regular weekly radio shift. I also spent last weekend ...
Wednesday night politics in Brisbane Two forums are being held in Brisbane tomorrow night which may be of interest to some. One is a forum to debate Integrity & Accountability in Queensland. It is being held at the Irish Club, 175 Elizabeth St from 6pm. Speakers include former state Attorney-General, Linda Lavarch, journalist Tony Koch, Brian Stewart from the Urban Development Institute. The other forum is examining some of the current issues ...
Queensland Parliament has no choice but to act on abortion laws The Queensland government has tried their best for a quite a few years to ignore the calls to change the state’s laws on abortion. However, whatever your views are on abortion, the issue in Queensland can no longer be avoided by the Queensland Parliament. The situation for individual women seeking an abortion and for doctors prepared to provide it ...
I’ve written on this blog about the endangered cassowary a few times over the years, particularly in relation to visits I’d made to Mission Beach, one of its key remaining habitats. For such a fascinating and iconic bird, it is amazing how little most of us know about it. ABC TV is screening a documentary on the cassowary, and the threats to its survival, tomorrow night (Sunday 27th) ...
In my recent posts on calls to ban jumps racing for horses, one of the arguments supporters of jumps racing have made is that people shouldn’t campaign to stop this activity without also campaigning against other forms of cruelty to animals. In that context, I thought I would draw attention to comments made by Ron Clarke, the man who lit the Olympic Torch at the 1956 Games in Melbourne ...
Anyone in Brisbane who believes climate change presents a serious threat which needs much stronger action than has occurred to date should consider trying to get along to a rally happening tomorrow (Saturday). It’s being held at 1pm in the city at Queens Park (corner of George & Elizabeth Sts. It’s billed as a National Climate Emergency Rally, and is one of a number of similar rallies being held ...
This week on my regular Thursday morning stint on independent community radio station, 4ZZZ-FM, I’ll be interviewing Graham Perrett, the member for the southern Brisbane based seat of Moreton. Apart from being a relatively new MP from the Queensland seat with the highest proportion of residents born overseas, Graham is also a published author, with his first novel, The Twelth Fish, being released last year with the help of ...
I first wrote on this blog about Afghan women’s rights activist, Malalai Joya, at the end of 2005. In 2007 I got the chance to hear her speak in Brisbane. I am pleasantly surprised that she has still managed to avoid being assassinated, and also pleased she will soon be visiting Australia again to speak of her story, detailed in a book she has written called “Raising My ...
For a variety of reasons, I haven’t written a piece on this site lately. I seem to have been in a headspace of late more suited to listening and talking, rather than writing. Last night, I was talking (and listening) at a forum on climate change – one of the regular Politics in the Pub events organised by the New Farm Neighbourhood Centre. The night before, I chaired a ...
When I finished my time in the Senate last year, I started doing a weekly shift on 4ZZZ-FM, Brisbane’s groundbreaking community radio station. One of the main reasons I decided to have a go at this – even though it involves the horror of rising at around 5 o’clock every Thursday morning - was as a way to get back in touch with Brisbane’s local music scene. It ...
There are a couple of interesting events being held next week in Brisbane. On Tuesday night at the Uni of Qld, two films about children: The first is called “Child in Charge” on the lives of child-headed families - children who have raised their siblings in post-genocide Rwanda. Director Kym Rolle will also be there to speak about the film. The second film is called “Invisible Children: The Rescue” This film is about ...
The recent tragic bushfires in Victoria generated a lot of public comment about current policies for managing woodlands, including a series of comments on this thread, where a post about the Queensland election somehow turned into a debate about whether or not ‘Greens’ were somehow responsible for the enormity of the Victorian fires. Given the widely varying opinions expressed on the topic, people may be interested in attending a ...
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This line from David Marr is one of the best descriptions I’ve ever read of the farcical sound and fury which is Question Time in the House of Representatives:
It’s a bit like an RSPCA pound: never free of the spectre of being put down, the dogs bark and howl to attract attention.(0)
For those interested in basic facts about temperature trends in Australia and globally over recent decades, there is a great post over at Lavartus Prodeo by Brian Banisch, who has been following the data and the various scientific reports on this issue for a long time. Very much worth having a read of for those who are just wanting some facts.
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Many not for profit and charity groups have got a lot smarter over the years in tapping into some of the large amounts of money that get spent over Christmas. Christmas catalogues full of gifts for good cause groups have become widespread. In recent times, that has extended to bypassing a present all together, and giving someone a donation which actually goes direct to the good cause. This form of fundraising is now also tapping into social media, so much so that even my humble blog gets occasional requests to promote a cause from people who specifically target the avenues of social media to widen their reach. Here’s one example I recently received on behalf of World Vision.
More... (4)I’ve posted a piece over at The Stump about the links between global hunger and climate change, and the unfortunate parallels between the less than successful climate change summit in Copenhagen and an even more dismal outcome at the recent Hunger Summit in Rome, which received far less attention.
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Following are links to some items I’ve had published on other sites
More... (0)Disclaimer: The inclusion of a blog or website in this list should not be taken as an endorsement of its contents by me.
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