I did a fair bit of media commentary on Bob Brown’s announcement, so to get some idea of my views on the immediate context, you can read this piece from the Brisbane Times, listen to this interview with Kelly Higgins-Devine on 612 ABC Brisbane, or watch this interview with Ashleigh Gillon on Sky News Australia.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I might write a longer piece about it myself sometime, but at present I’m just too busy with campaigns for the South Brisbane by-election and the Brisbane City Council, both of which are happening on Saturday 28 April.  But I’d be interested in any considered comments which you might want to make on what you think of this development and what you think might happen as a result. You can read this article by former Democrats’ Leader Natasha Stott Despoja to get you started.

Anita Heiss was one of a number of people who took columnist Andrew Bolt to court for making a range of false claims which in effect suggested they were manufacturing an identity as Aboriginal people for their own personal gain – a very serious and hurtful accusation to make against someone which at a minimum should be backed up by very solid evidence, rather than unleashed as a casual slur in one of the most widely read publications in the country.

The book touches on this episode, but is also about wider issues. You can read this story to get a bit more about it. Or to get a better idea about her ideas and activities, check out her website and her blog.

In a stark example of his willingness to subvert reality to his propaganda purposes, despite being the guilty party in this episode, Andrew Bolt and his cheer squad regularly portray him as the victim, including perpetrating the ridiculous notion that he and others are not free to express their own opinion or to disagree with Heiss.

I must admit I used to find Andrew Bolt somewhat interesting.  The guy is obviously intelligent and can write well, and understood far better than most mainstream media writers how online interaction with readers can work. In the earlier days of his writing career, I used to find some of his stuff interesting to read, partly on the basis that reading well written arguments putting forward views I disagree with can be a good way to test one’s own views and ensure they are robust.  But somewhere along the way he obviously discovered it was easier just to take on a provocateur role and be controversial and provoke outrage for its own sake – something which is both very destructive socially and very boring (and lazy) intellectually.

The fact that he continues to use his position of influence to deliberately provoke expressions of hate and racism shows the so-called constraints on his freedom of speech are minimal.

Meanwhile, I recommend checking out Anita Heiss’ book, and some of her other material.  She is a passionate and positive person with some valuable ideas and messages.

It was an extraordinary state election in more ways than one – a record annihilation of the Labor government, a person running for Premier (and winning) who wasn’t in the Parliament, Bob Katter’s party with a titular leader who wasn’t even running as a candidate at all; and then after polling day the sight of a party leader quitting the seat she had just won before all the votes had even been counted (and not long after saying she wouldn’t be quitting her seat), losing MPs trying to resign their seats before the count was completed in an (unsuccessful) attempt to run for local council, all while a person was officially sworn in as Premier before their election to Parliament had been officially decided.

And so on to the local government elections, the date for which had long been fixed for this coming Saturday 31 March – until the previous state government ‘unfixed’ the date and inserted the state election into their preferred date instead – while still cleverly setting the new date for local council elections so close to the state election that it not only severely stretched the resources and capacity of the Electoral Commission, which has to conduct both polls across the entire state, it also  served to prevent a significant number of people from across the political spectrum from being able to  put themselves forward as candidates at council level at all. It’s hardly surprising that local government often feels it is not treated seriously enough – one of many reasons why there is strong support for local government to be formally recognised in our national Constitution.

But local government is a big deal and has a big impact on many peoples’ lives and on our environment. And having lived my whole life in Brisbane, which has by far the largest population of an local government area in Australia, it is frustrating to see so little attention being paid to this electoral contest which only comes around once every four years.

So I’ve stepped into by  putting myself forward as a candidate for Lord Mayor for the City of Brisbane with the Greens – not only the most people of any local government area in the country, but for the position which is voted on by the entire population of that city, making it the most populous single member electoral contest in the country. On this occasion, 673 827 people get to vote for the single position of Mayor (which is roughly the size of seven federal House of Representatives seats). I don’t have much chance of connecting with every single one of those people over the month left until polling day, but we’re certainly aiming to run a campaign which will raise valuable ideas and connect with the many people who are wanting to take a direct interest in what options are being put forward for the future of their city.

I usually try not to use this blog to spruik myself, but on this occasion I’m happy to encourage anyone who is interested in helping to send an email to Lord.Mayor@qld.greens.org.au indicating ways you might be able to help (including donating) or just start by popping over to my Facebook page and clicking on the Like button.

Almost five years ago I wrote here about the report of the Senate Committee Inquiry I helped establish in 2006  into wages and other entitlements stolen from Aboriginal people. I also mentioned a seemingly promising development that the WA government was establishing a taskforce to investigate this.

All this time later, the fruits of that WA government inquiry are ashes in the mouth of Aboriginal people and their descendants who are victims of this. I’ve written plenty of times about how abysmal the Queensland government’s response on this issue has been.  The formal response that has finally come from the WA government looks no better – in fact, based on reports it appears even worse.

Despite all the evidence, the long years of patient advocacy and the undeniable facts – even unanimous supporting recommendations from a Senate Committee inquiry – governments feel this is the most they need to do in response. It’s a good example of why people can become despairing at the political process.

This link goes to an interview I did on the issue with SBS radio earlier today.