Category: politics (Page 1 of 42)

One Week Later

March 22, 2021 / Catherine / 9 Comments

I did go to Canberra. I took the names of 48 people with me – friends, family members, colleagues, church people, and a few precious strangers who found me here or on social media and asked to be represented.

I stood among the others at the protest, with my sign, and listened to the speakers. Afterwards, I took myself and my sign to the smoking ceremony offered by the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, before adding my own name to the sign, and depositing it with the National Library of Australia. We are all part of the record of history, now.

And then I flew home, and went back to work, where I was promptly buried in grants and the logistics of in-person seminars, followed by an extremely full weekend of singing and writing work. It feels like there has hardly been time to think, let alone to write anything here.

I’ll be putting up a couple of backdated posts in the next few days, with my thoughts from just before and just after the rally. But it feels right to reflect a little on where we are a week later.

Mostly, I am a week angrier.

I mean, I didn’t really expect immediate change. I didn’t even expect that Morrison would come to the rally. Listening to women isn’t something he does. If he couldn’t even be bothered to read the accusations against Porter, he was hardly going to bother with the likes of us.

On the other hand, I really didn’t expect him to come out with that line about protestors in other countries being met with bullets, either.

He has been saying since that he was misunderstood and mis-characterised, but every woman I know (and plenty of men) heard it for what it was.

Aren’t you lucky we are letting you come and protest like this? Aren’t you lucky we are only raping you and not killing you? How good is Australia? Now, go home and be quiet and be grateful that we aren’t hurting you more. Because we could, if we wanted to.

I actually do believe that Morrison didn’t mean it the way it sounded. I think he is genuinely so utterly oblivious to the idea that women might have thoughts that are not his thoughts that he really just thought he was cleverly distracting us with talk about Myanmar. No wonder he is so offended to have been misunderstood.

(Though… you would think a guy who used to work in advertising would be a little better at communicating his message, wouldn’t you?)

I also want to talk about how it feels to be a woman, and a survivor of sexual assault, reading the news in Australia right now.

While there are some really fantastic journalists (mostly women, but a few good men, too) and politicians who are saying the right things, I am seeing plenty of messages like this:

What if it wasn’t true?

Look at her diary, she’s clearly crazy.

How can we believe her? It’s just he said, she said…

This should be left to the police.

The poor man is devastated by these accusations.

She was drunk, what did she expect?

Let’s create an app to record consent and prevent misunderstandings.

I think the people who write things like this are afraid. Afraid that they will be misunderstood, or lied about. Afraid that maybe they have done something that wasn’t quite consensual, and they will get called out for it. Afraid that suddenly, something they did a long time ago which they have mostly forgotten about will come back to haunt them. They are thinking of one specific person or one specific incident.

The trouble is, they are talking to all of us.

Here’s what survivors see when they read these messages.

You’re lying.

You’re crazy.

You’re overreacting.

It’s your fault anyway.

He probably didn’t realise you didn’t want it.

Do you really want to ruin his life over a misunderstanding?

If you come forward, nobody is going to believe you.

One friend tweeted that it’s like being raped all over again. It’s definitely re-traumatising. We already have the voices inside us that say maybe we really are over-reacting, maybe we are being unfair, maybe we are crazy. We already have that fear that if we say anything we will be forced to justify our clothes, our location, our activity, our reasons for associating with that person in the first place. We already suspect that we won’t be believed.

It’s really not helpful having senior political figures and journalists reinforcing that.

And speaking of things that are unhelpful, here is a tangible example of where this sort of denial and stonewalling leads to. Kenja Communications, a spiritual self-help group, has refused to join the National Redress Scheme for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse, citing the Porter case as precedent:

“Anyone can contact the scheme and say they were abused as a child and without due process, in fact it appears without any real process, can receive up to $150,000 in compensation,” the statement said.

“We are of the view that recent events including the Christian Porter case confirm the legitimacy and appropriateness of the position we have taken regarding not joining the National Redress Scheme. In our respectful opinion, if it is proper for the Attorney-General to invoke the rule of law, it is also proper for us.”

Thank you so much, Mr Porter.

As for today’s revelations… look, I think it is essential that we do not conflate consensual sex acts (even ones in extraordinarily inappropriate locations) with sexual violence. We cannot allow today’s reports to turn the narrative from one of sexual abuse into one of sexual scandal.

But it cannot be denied that a workplace where men feel free to masturbate on the desks of their female colleagues and share the photos with their friends is clearly a workplace with some extremely concerning ideas about sex and gender. And while these may not rise to the level of condoning rape, they are absolutely indicative of a culture that has a big problem with women in power.

It’s telling, I think, that the wanker in question was a staffer, and the desk was that of an MP. It sends a message that says “You may think that you are more powerful than me, but you are still beneath me. You are still just something to be used for sex.” It takes an interesting combination of insecurity and confidence to need to send a message like that, I think.

(It is, of course, also an example of unwanted and unsolicited sexual behaviour. The MP did not consent to this. She may not have been present, but it was something that was done with the intention of humiliating her and ‘putting her back in her place.’)

So what happens now? I have no idea. This has been going on for a month now, but it feels interminable. I think the government really is hoping it will blow over soon, but I don’t think it can. It is too personal for too many people.

(On a lighter note, I just want to note that the last time I went to Parliament House, Tony Abbott was gone a week later. The magic doesn’t seem to be working so well this time, but I want you to know that I did do my very best.)

Sexual assault support services:

1800 Respect national helpline: 1800 737 732
Lifeline (24-hour crisis line): 131 114
Beyond Blue: 1300 224 636

Carrying hope

March 14, 2021 / Catherine / 0 Comments

I wrote this piece the night before the rally and posted it on my social media. Since it says some things that I think are important, I’m publishing a slightly expanded version of it here, adding my thoughts later that evening, and backdating it to the 14th. It’s very much a post about feelings rather than facts, but I want to journal this properly anyway.

I’m checked in at Tullamarine, waiting for my flight to Canberra, and thinking about tomorrow.

I am taking more than thirty names with me to the march tomorrow. Women, men, non-binary people, children. Friends who I have known for most of my life, and friends who I’ve only known since last year. Friends who I see every week and friends who I have never yet met in person. Family members. Colleagues. Church people. Even a few precious strangers.

It’s hard to describe the emotions around this. I feel like I am carrying the grief and rage of so many people, and I also feel like they are helping to carry me. It feels like an honour, and it feels like a responsibility. It feels inspiring that so many people want to be part of this, and it feels tragic that so many people feel that they need to be a part of it.

It feels like impending catharsis.

I don’t know how big the march itself will be, but if I am in any way representative, for every person marching, there are twenty or thirty or fifty more who would march if they could. If they didn’t have work, or caring duties, or physical difficulties that make marching tomorrow impossible.

People who are angry or grieving or frustrated or traumatised or just tired.

People who don’t want to see see our nieces or our daughters or our granddaughters marching for this again in twenty years time.

People who will not forget.

I wonder if the government realises that?

In Canberra, later this evening, I write your names on my sign. I write them with care, and I write them with intention, and I write them with love.

With each name, I think about the stories I know, and the stories I don’t know. Some of these stories, I have known for years. Others, only recently. For some of you, I know only that there is a story, and I hope you will find the right person to tell it to.

Some of you are angry, gloriously and shamelessly so, and I try to put that emotion onto the sign. Some of you are there in solidarity, and I feel that when I write your names. Some of you feel vulnerable, wanting to be there, but also afraid to be, and I write your names with care, surrounding them with the names of the supporters, the angry warriors, hoping that they will lend you their strength.

I don’t know where the boundary lies between symbolism and prayer and magical thinking, but I’m pretty sure I have crossed it.

Later still, I will lie in my very comfortable bed and I will not sleep. I still don’t know what I want to write on my sign. I don’t know what words will capture the feelings, both mine and yours. I am so very proud and glad to have you with me, and I am so afraid that I am not enough. Overthinking is my super power, and I do a lot of it tonight.

And in between, I can’t stop thinking about all those stories. A colleague mentioned a week or so ago that she had been talking to her women friends, and they all had a story. It seems like we all have stories, whether they are small or large. Stories of being hurt, of being treated with disrespect, of being treated like things rather than like people. (And most of my friends are white and cis. My friends of colour, my trans friends… have worse stories, and more of them.)

Why do all women (#YesAllWomen) still have these stories?

I eventually give up on sleeping and read a funny, feminist romance novel about suffragettes instead. (Huzzah! Suffragettes!)

During the night, and in the morning, more names come in. By the time I leave for the rally, I have 48 of you with me. People I love and respect and look up to in a multitude of ways. People whose achievements are internationally recognised, and people who are known only to a small circle, but who are full of kindness and courage and compassion and humour. People who I am proud to know, and whose friendship sustains me.

People who I am honoured to stand for today.

Marching together

March 11, 2021 / Catherine / 4 Comments

I’m going to the march in Canberra next Monday. I don’t do marches very often, but I’m going to this one.

I’m going because I’m angry and I’m going because I’m sad and I’m going because I’m tired. Because this shouldn’t still be happening. But it is. And I can’t bear the idea that this is just politics as usual, and that the government will get to move on as if nothing ever happened. It’s important to me that they see that we are here, and that this means something, and that we will not forget. It’s important to me that my niece doesn’t grow up in a world where a woman’s life is less important than a man’s career.

One thing that happens when you share your story of sexual assault is that other people come forward to share theirs. And there are so many people with these stories. These past few weeks, my DMs, my twitter feed, my blog comments, my email, my ears have been a clamour of women’s (and a few men’s) stories of pain and abuse. So I’m also going to Canberra because I feel like I’m carrying a lot of new stories now, in addition to the ones I was carrying already, and I’m hoping that if I take them with me they will start to mean something.

But speaking of carrying stories…

There are marches all over Australia, but I know that for many people, taking time off work or from caring duties to go to a protest just isn’t possible or practical. And I know that for others, attending a march isn’t feasible because of health or other issues. Marches simply aren’t accessible for everyone. (Which… is a problem, I think, but not one for this post.)

So if you really wanted to go to a march next Monday, but you can’t make it, drop me a comment. I’m not sure what the front of my placard is going to say yet (nobody who follows this blog will be surprised to learn that my mind runs more to essays than to pithy slogans), but the back is going to be the names * of the friends who can’t make it in person this time around, but who are with us in spirit.

I reckon those names will be a lot lighter to carry than the stories have been.

* Full names, first names or nicknames are all fine. And if you want me to screen your comment so others can’t see it, just let me know in your reply, and I’ll make it so.

When the political is personal

March 3, 2021 / Catherine / 14 Comments

This is the post my brain keeps on trying to compose at three in the morning these last two weeks, instead of letting me sleep. Let’s see if finally writing the damn thing will help. This post is personal, and it’s angry, and it’s bitter and honestly kind of horrible.

Survivors of sexual assault might also want to give this post a miss, or at least proceed with care. Let’s face it, especially if you are in Australia, you’ve probably already had a rough week. And you probably don’t need to hear any of the things I’m going to write about anyway. Please, go watch something wholesome on YouTube instead. Or listen to some music, or read a book – I can highly recommend T. Kingfisher’s work if you want something light and funny and feminist and deeply kind – or do something else nice for yourself. Alternatively, this article has some good tips on taking care of yourself if the news is triggering you at present, including a list of numbers for support lines. What a rotten fortnight this has been.

PRM Council Election 2020 (North-East Ward) Batch 4: Farah, Street, Dhedhy, Thiveos and Hogan

October 12, 2020 / Catherine / 16 Comments

Gloria Farah – How to Vote Card

Ms Farah doesn’t have any online presence that I could see, and she hasn’t been involved in any of the community forums or online surveys. Fortunately, she did letterbox me, so I have a nice shiny flyer to look at. Her platform is a little vague – her values are fairness, action, integrity and respect, and she will ‘deliver concrete outcomes’. She wants to support jobs, protect local business and look after the environment.

So what are these concrete outcomes? Well, she has five priorities, which are recovery of Sydney Road and local businesses after the pandemic, reducing rates, and investing in childcare centres, in sporting facilities, in parks, and in health and aged care.

None of this is terrible, but I’m getting a little bit of a ‘look after small businesses’ vibe here. I suspect Farah is as close as we are likely to get to Liberal Party values in Moreland. Of more concern is her How to Vote card, which preferences Naim, Timpano and Failla, two of whom are big red flags for me and the third of whom is a yellow one. At the bottom of her list she has Joseph, for whom I have a decided soft spot, as well as O’Callaghan, Helou, and Bolton.

I don’t think I’ll put her high on my ballot – while she seems basically OK in and of herself, her How To Vote card gives me serious concerns regarding her judgment. And I’m a bit concerned that, given her lack of online presence, she is largely going to serve to funnel votes towards Naim.

Meghan Street (Sue Bolton Community Independents – Website – Party Facebook Page – How to Vote Card

Street is part of Sue Bolton’s team, and second on her ticket. I’ve already discussed their policies and how to vote card in my commentary on Sue Bolton, so I won’t repeat myself here.

Street’s candidate statement on the Sue Bolton Community Independents website tells me that she is a science educated clinic manager, and believes the council needs to play a greater role in community health services. She is currently working with the Muslim Women’s Council of Victoria with their program to feed vulnerable people in the community.

Street is an activist, who was involved in the movement to save the Gandolfo Gardens, and believes that it is important to fight for workers’ rights, as well as ‘increased public transport, foot and bike travel improvements, the defence and improvement of green spaces as well as our local natural ecosystems’. She feels that it is important for the Council to listen to the community.

Meghan Street has a high engagement score, having participated in nearly all the forums and surveys being tracked by Sustainable Fawkner. She has signed the Rainbow Votes pledge, and her replies to the Walk On Moreland survey are detailed and considered. She is concerned about accessibility and poor footpath quality, making it difficult for people with mobility issues, and she wants better public transport, as do we all. Her responses to the Climate Action Survey are again heavy on better public transport and safer cycling and walking networks, and she favours an approach that encourages less car use, rather than punishing those who do need to use cars.

Overall, she’s a good candidate who has clearly put a lot of thought into the things that matter to me, and she will go high on my list.

Hamza Dhedhy (Independent) – Facebook Page – How to Vote Card

Dhedhy’s flyer tells me that he is a proud Fawkner local who has lived, studied and worked in the area since arriving in Australia 21 years ago. He has a Bachelor of Business in Human Resource Management. And:

I have experienced first-hand the challenges of cultural adjustment and immigrant issues at a very young age and have always felt the need to bring people of diverse backgrounds and ages together.

I like him already, but then, you know I have a soft spot for immigrant stories.

Dhedhy has been involved in community work for 12 years, and has set up a number of programs including establishing the Oxygen Youth Centre in North Coburg, the Fawkner Soccer Program (which includes a women’s team) and a Pool Life Guarding and First Aid Training Program. He was named a Moreland Young Citizen of the Year in 2014. Google tells me he is supported by Run For It, a program that ‘helps community leaders and people from historically marginalised communities enter the democracy and set a new agenda.’ He was also an AFL Multicultural Community Ambassador in 2014.

In other words, he’s pretty ferociously active in community engagement and representation. Good qualifications for a Councillor, I think.

Dhedhy’s flyer names seven priority areas:

No unjustifiable increase in rates, fees and charges
A COVID-19 response including a food bacnk, job creation and support for local businesses.
Supporting youth, again with job creation, and, interestingly, ‘advocating for at least 10% of young people to be involved in council infrastructure projects’ (I presume he means that 10% of people involved should be youth, rather than 10% of all youth being conscripted into infrastructure, which would be a less pleasing idea)
Putting a stop to overdevelopment and advocating for environmental sustainability
Improving council services, particularly disability access
Improving and increasing green spaces, roads, footpaths, bike paths, shopping strips, community houses, leisure centres… basically everything. This would give his 10% of youth lots to do, admittedly.
Increasing Council transparency and accountability

This is a fairly centrist plan by Moreland standards, but with a high emphasis on youth, and particularly youth unemployment.

Dhedhy’s Facebook Page contains a campaign video covering most of these points, but emphasising that the impact of COVID will be with us for a while, and we need to think about supporting businesses and families, including mental health support.

He also raises concerns that the current council has been ignoring the North East Ward, something I haven’t noticed, but then again, I live at the wealthier end of the Ward, and tend to be a bit oblivious to a lot of Council stuff. I do think this is interesting, though, because among all the grumblings about a young, excessively ideological council, this is the only one that has focused on geography, and geography, around here, is definitely class…

In terms of other engagement, Dhedhy gets a tick from Fair Parking Moreland, but doesn’t seem to have been involved in any of the other forums or surveys, including the rainbow voting pledge. I’m a little surprised at this lack of engagement, because I would have described him as almost hyperactively engaged from his Facebook page and list of activities. He also shows an unusually low level of interest in things environmental for a younger candidate.

Dhedhy’s How To Vote Card favours Joseph, Pavlidis and Clarke – the centrist alliance again! – but then, excitingly, goes to Bolton, for a more Socialist flavour. The bottom of his ballot paper is Naim, followed by Failla, Farah, and Timpano. So, a centrist, but definitely inclined to lean left rather than right.

Another pretty solid candidate.

Ismene Thiveos (Labor) – Website – Party Facebook Page – Candidate Facebook Page – How To Vote Card

Thiveos is the second candidate on Labor’s ticket. I’ve already discussed Labor for Moreland’s policies and their how to vote card in my commentary on Annalivia Carli-Hannan, so I won’t repeat myself here.

Thiveos has a background in public health, and is passionate about strengthening community wellbeing.

“I am passionate about strengthening our community’s wellbeing. I want to make sure everyone feels connected through well-funded social and cultural programs, community facilities and accessible parks. Our elderly deserve quality aged care services, and families shouldn’t have any uncertainty about childcare places.”

She wants to ensure that the Council is responsive and innovative in finding ways to support the business, hospitality and arts sector as restrictions ease

Thiveos has a campaign video highlighting her background in family violence and public health, and her desire to create a respectful and connected Moreland community. (Also, I’m pretty sure I recognised one of the people in it, which was exciting for me, especially as it is close to midnight now and I am nearing the end of my rope.)

There was also a cute and funny little video about campaign signage. I have to say, between Thiveos and Hogan, Moreland Labor has a *strong* social media game this year when it comes to campaign videos.

A scan further down Thiveos’s Facebook page shows articles about the importance of social housing and an acknowledgment that single women over 50 are now the fastest growing group experiencing homelessness, and an interview in Greek about aged culturally appropriate care services (hmm… given how badly things went down at St Basil’s, that’s an important and rather difficult conversation to start having now.)

Thiveos has signed the rainbow pledge, and got the tick of approval from Fair Parking Moreland. She also attended the Climate forum, and spoke in favour of better bike paths. She feels that there are a lot of good schemes in place for things like solar and recycling that are being poorly publicised, and that better communication is the answer to this, and she wants more community gardens. This feels in keeping with the general Labor platform on climate, which is a little slow and cautious for my liking, but does at least want to move in the correct direction.

Google found me an interesting article about Thiveos’s work as an advisor to the Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence and Indigenous Affairs, Natalie Hutchins, where she worked to implement the recommendations of the royal commission. She talks about the importance of prevention and programs to achieve that, and about the very masculine political culture we have in Australia and the need to change fundamental gender norms both there and in the wider community.

An article in Neos Kosmos also talks about her desire to have well-funded social and cultural programs, community sports, and accessible parks and spaces

Overall, a strong candidate. We really do have a lot of good people to choose from this, year, it’s a very pleasant change!

Rebekah Hogan (Labor) – Website – Party Facebook Page – Candidate Facebook Page – How To Vote Card

Hogan is the third candidate on Labor’s ticket, so again, I won’t repeat what I’ve already written, but here, just in case you aren’t interested in clicking the link to my other post, have the Moreland Labor Community Plan again. Some nice light reading to put you to sleep tonight! (God, I hope it will still be tonight when I finish writing this – yes, I’m doing this page out of order. Again.)

Her Facebook page tells me that she was the president of the OXYGEN Youth Advisory Committee, which advises the Council on issues affecting young people in Moreland, and that her mum is a carer for her father, who has a disability – so I’d imagine she has a pretty good understanding of how disability support services work (and, often, do not work), as well as how the council works (and, sometimes, does not work…?_)

She takes her advocacy for the youth of Moreland very seriously, and is concerned about unemployment among young workers. She was part of the Youth Advisory Committee for Wills, and helped create a kit for young workers on their rights at work.

Oh, and she has a TikTok campaign video, which could not be more different to the campaign videos I’ve seen from other candidates – rap music (er… I am bad at popular music, maybe also dubstep?), with a little bit of dancing and pop up notes saying:

I care about the same issues as you.

Gender equality

Environment

Mental health

Women and Young People deserve a voice in Government

Vote for someone who will represent real people and real issues

Honestly, it is the cutest thing I have seen in a political campaign this year, and you need to watch it.

I had noticed, incidentally, that our Labor team for North East Ward was very young and very female, and I do like that they are leaning into that.

Anyway, those are excellent priorities, and I am here for them. And I am trying not to sound too much like a middle-aged auntie cooing over how clever the younger generation is, but honestly, if this election is a sample, we really do have some fantastic young people coming up.

Hogan has passed the Fair Parking Test, and responded to the Walk On Moreland survey (responses rather bland, I suspect there is a bit of a party line here, sadly), but not the Climate Action Survey or the Bicycle Users Group. ~~And she hasn’t signed the rainbow pledge, which is a bit disappointing – given that gender equality is one of her key platforms, that is a very unfortunate omission.~~

Edited to add: She’s signed it now!

My random Googling of Hogan turned up this rather poignant article she wrote for the student magazine, Rabelais, a couple of years ago, about growing up between two cultures, and feeling neither Australian enough or Chinese enough. And now I just want to vote for her because she writes so well about something that is, I think, a common experience for many Australians with a parent born overseas (though… especially not fun for people who look at all Asian right now, I would guess).

Overall? Hogan is probably my favourite Labor candidate so far, but that still puts her around the middle of my ticket, I think.

BEST OF THE BATCH

Ooh, this is a hard one, because I really do like most of this lot. I have a particular soft spot for Hogan, and Dhedhy seems like someone with a lot of energy that has been well applied, but the fact that they haven’t signed onto the Rainbow Votes pledge does give me pause. Thiveos gets points for community wellbeing and for that ridiculous Benny Hill video, which I played three times, to the dismay of my husband. But I think Street is the candidate who best represents my views this time round.

Edited to add: Hogan has now signed the Rainbow Votes pledge, putting her in equal first place for Best of the Batch!

PRM Council Election 2020 (North-East Ward) Batch 3: Elachkar, Glover, Pavlidis-Mihalakos and Clarke

October 11, 2020 / Catherine / 12 Comments

Rasheed Elachkar (Independent) – Facebook Page – How to Vote Card

Elachkar tells us that he grew up in Moreland and thus understands the community and our needs better than anyone. He then opens the field to any and all purveyors of lawyer jokes by explaining that ‘As a lawyer, I know exactly how to advocate for, defend and represent our interests.’ I am resisting temptation womanfully here, mostly because he has a point with his next line about knowing how to interpret legislation and develop policy. While I feel that lawyers are drastically over-represented at the federal level, they are pretty under-represented on our council, so I could see him being a valuable addition to the Council.

Elachkar then tells us that ‘those familiar with my career know that I have spent my entire life engaging with and furthering our community’, which is (a) adorable because he can’t be a day over 25, and from my middle-aged perspective, that is ridiculously young, and (b) less useful than he thinks it is, because I am sadly unfamiliar with his career. Scrolling down his page, he tells us that he is a ‘fresh, progressive, passionate voice’ and he also has a nice video explaining that it is vital to vote for someone who will represent your needs and your interests, and not just to make this a popularity contest. He comes across as sincere, enthusiastic, knowledgeable and very personable. Ooh, and an endorsement from – I think – a local footy player!

Elachkar also has a campaign video (in which he demonstrates that he doesn’t know how to wear a mask, argh!), talking about how his parents came to Australia from their home countries ‘just like yours’, and made the country a better place. He talks about his work with the Australian Multicultural Foundation, and Victorian Arabic Social Services and there are photos of him at anti-racism protests (including one against Israel, which, ouch), as well as of him talking about how he will fight for us, accompanied by footage of him doing martial arts and punching a punching bag, which I found fairly hilarious.

Overall he also comes across as someone who is speaking to his own community – the line about how his parents came to Australia from their home countries ‘just like yours’ is telling. Moreland’s immigrant community is large and diverse and deserves candidates who understand it. But I think Elachkar might run into difficulties capturing the votes of people who don’t already know him. He’s a bit low on concrete policy, for starters.

Elachkar gets a tick of approval from Rainbow Votes, but doesn’t seem to have participated in any of the other surveys or forums, which again suggests that he may not fare well outside his immediate community.

Googling Elachkar gets me a bit further. He has been active in the Muslim Professionals Association, and got a nice write-up from the Islamic Council of Victoria in 2017 in a piece on Muslim youth. I liked this bit:

But what really drives Rasheed, who identifies himself as an Australian-Muslim with Lebanese heritage, is unity.
“My passion stems from seeking world peace, working out that we can live together creatively rather than violently. All that I produce is driven by this,” he said.  Listing identity, belonging and values as the three major challenges facing youth today – Rasheed said we all needed to act as a community to “listen, help and act.”
“Overseas we are known as Australians, in Australia we are known as foreigners – thus, for many youth members this begs the question, who are we?”

He really does sound like a lovely person.

On his How to Vote Card, Elachkar is preferencing the three ALP candidates, followed by Farah and Naim. After that, it looks like he just did a reverse donkey vote up the rest of the ballot, so his preferences are largely meaningless. Anyway, given the way our Municipality works, odds are if you follow his card, you will be funnelling your vote to the ALP.

He’s probably going to go in the upper third of my ticket, but I’m just not clear enough about what he stands for to put him higher. (Also, please, mate, put your nose INSIDE your mask!)

Francesco Timpano (Independent) – Facebook Page – Facebook Page – Facebook Page – Facebook Page – How to Vote Card

This candidate has requested that I do not write about him, and I am respecting that.

I will note simply that I do not see eye to eye with this candidate, and his presence high on someone’s how to vote card is not a recommendation for me.

(Also, yes, as far as I have been able to ascertain, he does have four separate Facebook Pages. However, on one of them, he mentions that he has been a victim of identity theft, so proceed with caution.)

Margee Glover (Reason Victoria) – Website – Party Facebook Page – Candidate Facebook Page – Website – Facebook

Reason Victoria (the artists formerly known as the Sex Party and Fiona Patten’s Reason Party) has been on the scene for a few years now, and I’ve written about them before. As their website doesn’t have a specific policy platform for Council Elections, and their policies look pretty similar to what they were when I last wrote about them, I’m just going to direct you to my analyses from 2019 and 2018, respectively.

Reason Victoria’s candidate for North-East Ward is Margee Glover. She has a background in arts, education and publishing, and is big on community, inclusiveness, diversity, compassion, and evidence-based approaches. She is big on cycling, but doesn’t like the current approach to parking, which she views as punitive; similarly, she wants the council to be proactive about tackling environmental and climate issues – but she objects to their new fortnightly bin collection plans, which she again feels are punitive and ideologically-driven. This is someone who definitely prefers the carrot to the stick. Glover also has very strong feelings about the Hosken Reserve, which she does not want to see covered in artificial turf.

Glover clearly has an interest in aged care and better in-home care services. Other areas of interest include gender equity and safety, transparent government, revitalising small business, supporting the arts and entertainment communities, and a Northern Medicinal Cannabis Dispensary.

I have not been able to find any How To Vote card, but Glover is reasonably popular with Sue Bolton’s group, with Labor and with the Greens, as one might expect. She seems to be one of the more responsive candidates when it comes to attending forums and participating in surveys or online interviews, which is a good sign. She has signed the Rainbow Pledge and the Hosken Reserve Pledge, and responded to the surveys by the Bicycle Users Group, Walk On Moreland and Climate Action. I especially loved her replies to the Walk On Moreland survey, and I’m feeling like she has rather won me over at this point. Glover will be near the top of my ballot, for sure.

Helen Pavlidis-Mihalakos (Independent) – Facebook Page – How To Vote Card

Pavlidis hasn’t given me a lot to work with here, but I will do my best. Her Facebook page reminds people of how to vote and the penalty for not voting, and she has a couple of posts objecting to the new parking restrictions, pledging to roll them back, and calling out all of those who voted for them. (Interestingly, none of those who did vote for them seem to be running in this election, at least not in North East Ward. Maybe they saw the writing on the wall?)

There are a similar set of ‘j’accuse!’ posts about increases to rates.

Ooh, here we go – a campaign video and a flyer! Excellent! Pavlidis has lived in Moreland all her life, and indeed has three generations of family living in Moreland. She has a background in accounting and local government, and has volunteered at Fronditha Care, Very Special Kids, and the Alannah and Madeline Foundation. She stands for:

Freezing the rates (during the pandemic, I think?)
Better community services and facilities appropriate to all the ages and stages of life
Opposing inappropriate development
Clean and safe streets
Better public transport
Opposing minimum parking waivers for developments
Expanding parks and open space
Fixing roads and paths
And rates again – she ‘will never vote for unfair increases in rates and fees and charges’.

Pavlidis believes we need ‘mature, professional, knowledgeable, committed and passionate councillors’. This is gently phrased, but is making me wonder, once again, about the generational aspect of this election. I feel like there is a lot of both text and subtext coming from a bunch of the candidates suggesting that young people took over the council, and made bad and ideological decisions, and so we need to get the grownups back. (I honestly couldn’t say whether I agree with this assessment or not, but it’s definitely a feeling I’m getting. He Who Shall Not Be Named even has a reference on one of his many Facebook pages to councillors with ‘acne, no qualifications and no relevant experience’.)

Pavlidis seems to be pretty responsive on Facebook, but less so in other forums. She has, not surprisingly, gotten a high score from Fair Parking Moreland, and she has signed the Rainbow pledge, but environmental concerns don’t seem to be on her radar, particularly.

Her preferences go to Clarke, Helou, Dhedhy, Joseph, and then, interestingly, the third and second candidates on the Labor ticket, before donkey voting the rest. This is a bit hard to read, especially since I haven’t gotten to Clarke or Dhedhy yet, but it looks like she is going for the more centrist independents on her ticket, suggesting a fairly centrist position herself. This would match the impression I’ve been getting from other candidates’ How To Vote Cards – nobody seems to hate her, and people from both ends of the political spectrum seem to quite like her. If she can make it past the first eliminations, she might do surprisingly well on preferences.

And, in fact, that mirrors how I feel about Pavlidis, too. She comes across as intelligent and involved in her community, and she brings some useful skills to the table. Her priorities are not mine, but I think she will be solidly in the middle of my ticket.

Jason Clarke (Independent) – Facebook Page – How to Vote Card

I came prepared to like Clarke, because Facebook evidence suggests that he is buddies with my favourite Elvis Impersonator, Lyndon Joseph. Clarke’s flyer tells me he has lived in the area for 20 years, and that he volunteers with community sports clubs. He is concerned that

In recent years, motivated by political ideology, Council has divisively strayed too far away from what should be its core focus and responsibilities.

Damn, I really should have been paying more attention to what the Council has been up to, I’ve missed some shenanigans for sure. (And I’m beginning to wonder if it’s my beloved Greens – they certainly seem to have been on the wrong side of a few decisions recently, and I know they can have a tendency to fundamentalism at times. Certainly, everyone else thinks it is the Greens, but in a demographic like Moreland, where the Greens are basically one of the two major parties, that isn’t necessarily indicative… I’m going to have to do a bit more research on this. Later.)

Clarke comes with endorsements from the president of the school council at Coburg Primary and from the president of Coburg Little Athletics.

Clarke’s priorities are creating local employment; upgrading green spaces, bike paths, sporting facilities, etc; increasing the tree canopy; and yes, here we are again:

Council to focus on delivering the core services of parks, footpaths, bike paths, roads and rubbish as efficiently and effectively as possible.

Clarke’s Facebook page is pretty strongly focused on the 2% rate increase, and on naming and shaming the councillors who voted for it. In fact, that post looks rather familiar… and yes, now I compare it, it’s identical to the post on Pavlidis’s page.

So perhaps it will come as no surprise that Pavlidis gets second place on Clarke’s How to Vote Card. His card also favour Joseph and Dhedhy – I am starting to think of this particular cluster as the centrist independents – followed, to my surprise, by Failla, Timpano and Farah – the slightly scary right wing independents – and then we have a little bit of Socialism and lefty goodness with Bolton, Ul Murtaza and Carli-Hannan, before donkeying our way down the rest of the ticket. Well, mostly. There is one notable exception: Naim is dead last. I’m thinking Clarke did the same Google search I did. Overall, though, I’d describe this ticket as centrist with a dash of WTF.

Clarke has signed up to the Rainbow Votes pledge, is Fair Parking approved, and has a pretty good engagement score, having attended the candidate forum and responded to the Walk On Moreland survey. His responses were pretty interesting, and showed a tendency to want data before making decisions. Quite a good, pragmatic approach there.

Like Pavlidis, Clarke seems like he would be a perfectly good councillor, but there are other people I will vote for first.

BEST OF THE BATCH

Pavlidis, Elachkar and Clarke all seem like good people, but Glover really won me over. She wins best of the batch for this group!

PRM Council Election 2020 (North-East Ward) Batch 2: Bolton, Ul Murtaza, Pulford, Naim and Carli Hannan

October 11, 2020 / Catherine / 7 Comments

Sue Bolton (Sue Bolton Community Independents – Website – Party Facebook Page – Candidate Facebook Page – How to Vote Card

I like Sue Bolton, and she’s likely to wind up at the top of my how to vote card unless she gets pipped at the post by an Elvis impersonator, but I’ll be honest, her party name gave me a laugh. You see, I know Bolton as our perennial Socialist Alliance candidate, who joined the Victorian Socialists at the most recent Victorian State Election. I was a bit surprised to see her not running as an Official Socialist this time, but assumed that this was because the Victorian Socialists weren’t running candidates. Nope. They might not be running candidates in North East, but they certainly are running in North West and in South. As are Sue Bolton’s team. Looks like the People’s Front of Judea and the Judean People’s Front are at it again. Ah, Socialists. I love you, but you truly embrace the stereotypes.

I’ve written about Bolton before, in 2012 and 2016, and of course she has also been mentioned in my posts about the Socialist Alliance in 2010, 2014, 2019 and Victorian Socialists in 2018. But enough of the past! Bolton is also a current Councillor since her election in 2012, and her flyer leans heavily on her council record, which includes campaigning for Upfield line duplication and missing links in the Upfield bike path, success in getting more pedestrian lights installed, campaigning to save heritage buildings, open space, and trees, opposing rate increases, outsourcing, and zero parking developments, challenging racism and Islamophobia, and more. Not all of her campaigns have been successful, but she is pretty consistent in championing the things I care about – the environment, better public transport, bike and walking paths, economic fairness and social justice. So yeah, she’s definitely going to be in my top four.

Bolton may not be running as part of the Socialist Alliance this time, but she is still decidedly socialist. Her election platform has seven strands:

COVID-19 cost of living pressures
Community need not developer greed (definitely Bolton’s favourite slogan!)
Safe streets and healthy neighbourhoods
Make Moreland a Climate Emergency Council
Improved amenity for residents
Helping residents fight for their rights
Social justice

The most interesting of these to me is the first. Almost all the candidates who have read about so far (and I stupidly started reading about them out of order, so that’s nearly half at this point) have expressed concern about COVID-19 and how it affects the community, but they have all done so in terms of small business and revitalising Sydney Road. Bolton is the only one so far to be focusing on the economic impacts on individual and families, talking about increasing rebates for pensioners, a council run food bank, better youth services and activities, quality home care, rate relief, and affordable studio spaces for artists and musicians.

Bolton wants more rooftop solar, an end to council use of fossil fuels, and a move to zero local carbon emissions. She also wants more trees and better public transport. And she supports Black Lives Matter, the LGBTIQA community, refugees and asylum seekers, while opposing discrimination, racism and Islamophobia.

Incidentally, her flyer is only in English, but she directs readers to her website for information in ten community languages. (Unfortunately, she directs them to her website in English, which might be something to think about next time)

Bolton is big on transparency and being responsive to the community – she scored the highest marks in Fawkner’s Candidate Engagement Matrix, and is big on transparency in council and giving people a chance to know about how decisions are made. She has committed to the rainbow pledge and answered everyone’s surveys – her response to the Walk On Moreland question about removing parking on Sydney Road was by far the most nuanced I’ve seen on this topic, noting the fundamental issue, which is that Sydney Road simply isn’t wide enough to meet everyone’s needs, and taking into consideration the requirements of pedestrians, cyclists, shop owners who need deliveries, and people with mobility issues who need closer parking than may be available. Actually, all her responses to the Walk On Moreland question took disability access into account, in more detail than I’ve seen elsewhere.

Bolton’s How To Vote card favours her team-mate, Street, and then independents Dhedhy and Ul Murtaza, before moving onto Pulford (Greens) and Glover (Reason). At the bottom of her ticket, she has Naim, Failla and Timpano, demonstrating excellent taste in my view. Clarke is fourth from the bottom, which is a bit of a surprise since several candidates I’m quite fond of seem to favour him. I’m guessing he’s a bit further to the right economically, since that seems to be Bolton’s usual ballot organisation principle.

Yes, I’m probably going to vote for Bolton.

Muhammad Ul Murtaza (Independent) – Facebook Page – YouTube Channel

Ul-Murtaza is a new candidate to me, but he comes recommended by quite a few of the candidates I like, so I am hopeful.

He has a very endearing campaign video, telling us that ‘throughout history, Nature has been testing our strength, our resilience, respect and love for humanity’, through various challenges and disasters which we need to overcome with ‘courage and dignity’. He talks a bit about COVID, and comments on how its severity is linked to human behaviour, to public policy, and to inequitably distributed resources and systemic disadvantages (and now we know why the socialists like him so much!).

He ends with the following statement:

We need to look after each other, spread words of happiness, and stay connected, with the dream that as Spring sets in we will be welcoming a new era of human development, social connection and an inclusive and cohesive society.

All excellent so far, but what does this mean in practical terms?

Ul Murtaza’s Facebook page tells us that he emigrated to Australia seven years ago, and has qualifications in education, science, community service and community leadership. He has experience in training management, community engagement, employment and disability support, and has experience on a number of of committees of management. He has organised community events and forums for local, state and federal candidates and is a member of Moreland City Council’s Human Rights committee. This is a pretty impressive list of achievements, doubly so when you consider that he has only been in Moreland for seven years.

He wants to support and advocate in the following areas:

Social Cohesion, religious harmony and promoting culture of respect

Rate cuts and Housing affordability

Training and employment

Promotion of healthy sporting activities in youth

Response to climate change

Women’s rights and family violence

Accessible spaces and accessible public transport &

Better Childcare options for families

Ul Murtaza has participated in most of the forums and surveys, and is keen to promote cycling and walking, and disincentivise driving, including removing parking on Sydney Road. The Fair Parking people still like him, though. He partially supports the Rainbow pledge. He answered the Climate Action survey fairly extensively, and has a lot of thoughts about waste disposal and community gardens. It’s extremely clear why he is getting high billing on the Green ticket.

Overall? I like him. Definitely top third of the ticket for me. I think. We do seem to have a lot of very good independents this year, which might make this harder than I anticipated.

Adam Pulford (Australian Greens) – Website – Facebook Page – How to Vote Card

Adam was definitely a familiar face, and yes indeed, it looks like I’ve written about him before, when he ran as the third candidate on the Greens ticket in 2016 (Interestingly, the Greens are only fielding one candidate in my region this year – I wonder what happened?), and of course he ran as the Greens candidate for Wills in 2019.

His How to Vote Card gives preferences to Ul Murtaza, Bolton and Glover, with his bottom four being Naim, Failla, Timpano and Farah. So, progressives at the top, and the dodgier independents at the bottom, check.

His flyer (a single, 1/3 page affair, printed on recycled paper) tells me that Pulford is a renter living in Coburg, who works for a non-profit tackling the climate crisis. His priorities are:

protect what we love about Moreland

champion more public and active transport

deliver more parks and open spaces

act on climate and protect the local environment and

improve our community services

Very classic Green, that – community is important, but the environment comes first (and, to be fair, one can make an excellent argument that without a liveable environment, you don’t have a community anyway. I just find it easier to connect to people things than environment things).

I’m having an unexpected amount of difficulty tracking down specific policies from Pulford, though presumably they would align with the Greens’ State and Federal policies, which I commented on most recently in 2019 and 2018 respectively, and appear to be relatively unchanged. The major one I can find is about Re-Wilding Moreland ‘by planting 1 million indigenous trees, plants and grassses by on public and private land in Moreland by 2030.’

I did find his campaign video from when he ran for Wills last year, which talks about things like being a renter and housing injustice, how older women are the fastest growing group of people facing poverty, about the environment, the importance of diversity and fairness, and holding major parties to account. All of these are good things, and it’s nice to have a candidate with an awareness of these wider issues, but it’s less useful at a local government level.

We do better once it comes to the various candidate forums – he has answered everyone’s surveys, committed to the Rainbow Pledge, and is very keen on making things safer for walkers and cyclists – more bike paths, lower speed limits, fixing footpaths, etc. He is big on the climate emergency, as one might expect, and on renewables. But I’ll be honest – I’m finding myself subtly disappointed. More than anyone else so far, he sounds like a politician. Admittedly, he sounds like a politician with stances that I agree with, but there is an air of communicating a party line. And in places it feels like a slightly more old-school, dogmatic version of the Greens party line. This wouldn’t bother me if he were running at the State or Federal level, but I have a – possibly unreasonable – feeling that at a local government level I want someone who is responding to the issues at hand with a local focus, rather than being wedded to the best interests of the wider party.

I do, generally, agree with the Greens, so I expect Pulford to wind up in the top third of my ticket. But he’s not in the running for first place at this point.

Haissam Naim – Facebook page – How to Vote Card

Dr Haissam Naim is a GP who practices at the Cedar Clinic in Coburg.

His How to Vote Card is not promising – he preferences Farah, Failla and Timpano, Ul Murtaza, Helou and Thiveos, before going on a reverse donkey spree up the ticket. I’m fascinated by Ul Murtaza’s presence in this mix – everyone else seems to be the older-generation conservative faction in this election (I mean, conservative by People’s Republic of Moreland standards, of course – we don’t really have a traditional conservative wing here), but Ul Murtaza is definitely in the progressive sphere.

Naim’s flyer tells me that he believes that ‘Councillors need to be doers and not just the Councillor from last election with no significant changes being seen’. He is keen to point out that independents have no hidden agenda and don’t have to answer to the political hierarchy. After my comments on Pulford, I really can’t argue with that. His flyer also contains the odd statement:

Speaking every day with ordinary Moreland residents, I can feel the uncertainty they crave in their voices.

I am honestly not quite sure what he was trying to say there.

His flyer leans heavily on his experience as a doctor working in the Moreland community, which he feels gives him unique insight into the community. His policies include a ‘safe, tailored local COVID recovery plan’, that includes awareness, provision of hygiene materials, clinical insight, and a campaign to support local businesses. He will also fight to freeze rates, to improve the local economy with a ‘Made in Moreland’ awareness campaign, engage with local police to improve community safety and, of course, make sure town planning is done properly.

This is, essentially, the conservative Moreland package with a medical twist. Not my cup of tea, but fine as far as it goes.

The trouble is, I also Googled Naim, just as I do with all the other candidates, and the results were rather troubling. I encourage you to do the same, but in brief, the the first thing that came up was an article about a Dr Haissam Naim who was found guilty of misconduct and deregistered for 12 months after allegedly performing an ‘unnecessary and invasive internal examination’ on a woman who presented with facial spasms.

According to the Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency, there is only one Dr Haissam Naim practicing in Australia. The tribunal decision can be found on his record.

So I guess I won’t be voting for him, then.

Edited to add: I’d like to direct your attention to the conversation in the comments on this post, from which I understand that Dr Naim was found not guilty in the criminal case relating to these allegations, and is fighting to have the tribunal decision overturned. If that happens, I’ll amend this article accordingly.

I’m not going to comment further, apart from providing an update if the tribunal decision is overturned, because this is not something I am able to be objective about. The trouble with giving one person the benefit of the doubt in a case such as this is that it immediately paints the other person as a liar, and I don’t want to re-victimise anyone.

Annalivia Carli Hannan Website – Party Facebook Page – Candidate Facebook Page – How To Vote Card

Moreland Labor is the local branch chapter of the ALP, and is fielding three candidates, of whom Carli Hannan, a current Councillor is the first on the ticket. They have a 26-page Poplicy Platform for Moreland, which I will not attempt to summarise here, because their own summary is a full 4 pages long! But highlights include

Development that respects neighbourhood character, provides parking, and links in with public transport
Open and accountable government
Support local businesses that have suffered from the pandemic
Keep rates low
Support fair parking, lower speed limits, and more bicycle lanes
Develop more parkland
Maintain and upgrade sporting facilities
Support expanded childrens’ services and childcare, lobby for more funding for home care, expand youth services, support affordable housing, and ‘promote an inclusive Moreland community that provides access and equity to people with disability, their families and careers’
Build an arts precinct in Brunswick and arts infrastructure in the northern areas of the municipality
Support libraries!
Advocate for climate action, and encourage recycling.

Lots of good stuff here, though I’d note that they are pretty light on for environmental / climate policy.

Moreland Labor’s How To Vote Card favours Elachkar and Glover (Reason Party) followed by Timpano, and then is essentially a donkey vote down the rest of the ballot. Elachkar seems like a sweet guy who isn’t going to get far, and the Reason Party is usually a sound choice, but their choice to actively preference Timpano ahead of the donkey vote strikes me as questionable.

Carli Hannan leans on her experience as a councillor, a mother, and a social worker – she wants to advocate for families, because the understands the pressures they face. She sent residents a letter last week with a list of her top priorities. These are:

reversing the decision to cut bin collection from weekly to fortnightly (which… yes, I know we create too much waste, but ESPECIALLY now that I’m at home full time and so many things are delivered, fortnightly would be very hard);
opposing the new changes to parking (2 hour restrictions in residential streets, limited permit access);
reviving local business;
investing in parks, open spaces and sporting facilities, particularly for women;
supporting childcare and aged services;
keeping rates low. (Incidentally, on the latter, they say that Labor is the only party on council that supports limiting raises to CPI, which may be technically true but only if you don’t count Sue Bolton’s merry band of socialists as a party.)

Carli Hannan has signed the Rainbow pledge, and gets a moderate score on the Community Engagement index. She gets a thumbs up from Fair Parking, and responded to the Bicycle User Group survey in a fairly positive, but rather uninspiring fashion, but didn’t engage with Walk On Moreland. Her responses to the climate action survey are very pro-tree, which is good, but when asked for her top four priorities as a counsellor, none of these were environment or climate related.

Overall, I think Carli Hannan is very likely to get voted back on to Council, and I think she will do a good job there. Her priorities are all worthwhile things, but they are not mine. She is going to wind up somewhere in the middle of my ballot paper, below the candidates who excite me, but probably at the top of the ones who I am neutral about. And it won’t matter one bit, because I really don’t think she will need my vote to get in!

BEST OF THE BATCH

Ul Murtaza seems absolutely lovely, and Pulford and Carli Hannan are both sollid candidates, but this time around, it’s Sue Bolton, all the way. To the barricades, comrades!

PRM Council Election 2020 (North-East Ward) Batch 1: Failla, Joseph, O’Callaghan and Helou

October 11, 2020 / Catherine / 12 Comments

Paul Failla (Independent) – Facebook Page – How To Vote Card

According to his website, Paul Failla is a FAIR DINKUM INDEPENDENT, a phrase that fills me with equal parts delight and trepidation. I’ve written about him before, as he is one of our hardy perennials who can be reliably found on the ticket at every council election. We also had an illuminating exchange on my Comments Policy page a few years back.

His How to Vote Card preferences Timpano, Naim and Farah, and puts Pulford last, with O’Callaghan, Bolton, and Pavlidis-Mihalakos making up the rest of his bottom four. So, that’s the Green and the Socialist in the bottom four, and (spoiler alert) my two least favourite independents in his top three. I fear that we shall not be friends, Failla and I.

Failla’s Facebook page is very concerned about people not knowing how to vote, which is entirely reasonable, as many of us have not done a postal vote before. So he’s done some nice community service making sure we know how that all works, thank you Mr Failla.

Alas, at this point we begin to part company, as Failla is OUTRAGED at the ‘draconian & disgraceful decision of calling an election whilst under Covid 19 lockdown’ which disenfranchises voters. Magnificent turn of phrase, less convinced that he is correct to blame the government for this one, as I *think* Council Election dates are pre-set? He is particularly angry that ‘little or no information has been directed to voters over the age of 70+’, who do need to vote.

I’m going to go on a brief tangent, here, because there are some interesting assumptions baked into all of this about how electoral information is accessed, which I think may be generational. Failla doesn’t feel that candidates can campaign properly in the current environment; but I wonder how much face-to-face campaigning normally happens for most candidates and most voters? Perhaps because I don’t take the train to work, it’s rare for me to have a face to face interaction with a candidate. I get doorknocked maybe once per election by one person. I may spot a few candidates as I ride past a station on the bike path, but that’s it. So it would never have occurred to me that being unable to campaign in person is a big issue.

Flyers, signs, posters, and of course online campaigns and forums are still happening, and these are, at least in theory, a cheaper and more efficient way to reach people, but I would be curious to know if this does make information less accessible to people, particularly older people? And in this COVID era, when we are all having our family gatherings over Zoom, I wonder if it is still reasonable to assume that older people can’t and won’t use the internet to find out about candidates and how to vote? How many people have been forced to become more technologically adept by the current situation? (And how many people have become more disenfranchised than previously by a lack of access to technology that is now essential for just about everything).

OK, back to Failla and his flyer, which reads – perhaps deliberately, as he has a way with words – a bit like a hostage note:

I am reaching out for your support via letter box drop and social media.

I do not have other means to contact you.

Due to strict Covid 19 restrictions.

The postal election declared by the Local Government Minister for 24 October 2020 should have been deferred.

It has been declared with insult & abuse of power while we are in Covid 19 restrictions.

(As it happens, all but four of the 2016 Council Elections happened by post and Moreland was one of the four, so I think we were going to go postal in any case, but I guess voting and campaigning are two different things.)

Failla’s platform is heavy on cleanliness and resources for elderly and disabled citizens. He is worried about hygiene on public facilities and clean waterways, and wants to review rubbish cullection, and he is angry about ‘potholes, broken footpaths and rubbish all over’. Oh, I remember him being angry about this last time, too! It’s true that we do have some very bad footpaths around Moreland. But they probably are not the thing that make me the most angry.

He wants to upgrade Elderly Citizen Centres and create a rehab Centre in Moreland, and he wants to lobby Federal and State Governments to fund creation of state of the art public nursing homes. Very on topic, and I can’t argue with that. He’s unhappy about parking restrictions, and there is a definite aura of ‘the council is corrupt and we need to review everything’ about the whole thing. I do like his plan for a permanent shelter for the homeless, and his policy of ‘support local business, buy local, local employment’.

Overall verdict? Look, Failla seems a little bit nutty around the edges, and he has questionable taste in friends, but there are some decent ideas in there, too. He doesn’t seem to have signed the rainbow pledge, or participated in any of the surveys about cycling, walking or the environment, which is a pity. I don’t think he will go high on my ticket, but there are definitely worse options.

Edited to add: And an acquaintance just drew this post to my attention. Make Moreland Great Again? Oh dear…

Lynton Joseph (Independent) – Facebook Page – How to Vote Card

Lynton Joseph is brand new to me, and I am rather charmed. His flyer tells me that his platform is:

Provide additional support services for the elderly

Supporting every initiative to rescue the Moreland Community to recover from Covid-19

Establish an animal shelter in Moreland

Maintain and further develop open space

Provide mentoring and support services for adolescents

Keep Moreland Safe

Which is lovely in general, but EVEN BETTER when you learn that in addition to being a tennis coach and a marriage celebrant, he is also a part-time Elvis Impersonator.

Stop right there, Mr Joseph. I have an important question for you: Do you perform Elvis weddings? THE PEOPLE OF MORELAND NEED TO KNOW.

(I do like the fact that his flyer includes his stellar Elvis work and says ‘About time an Elvis Tribute Artist became a Councillor’. Can’t argue with that.)

More seriously, his CV is quite impressive, and includes running sporting and other programs for young people with disabilities, volunteering for a support line for bereaved parents, and raising funds and awareness for Sands, after losing his son to stillbirth. Oh, and he did Relay for Life. Good man! In fact, doing sporty things to support community causes or help provide opportunities for disadvantaged people seems to be his signature thing.

Joseph has signed the Rainbow Pledge (and indeed, his flyer says that he enjoys ‘making new beginnings beautiful for ALL couples in love’), and he has some creative ideas in response to the Walk On Moreland questionnaire (also some very strong feelings about mobile phone use while walking).

His How To Vote card favours fellow independents Dhedhy, Clarke and Pavlidis-Mihalakos, then passes the vote to Carli-Hannan of the Labor Party before donkey voting the rest of the ticket. That’s a little disappointing, honestly, but it does seem to be a common theme this election – evidently the candidates got as tired of researching 18 other people as I did…

Overall, though, I like this guy. While it’s early days, I reckon he’s going to be pretty high up my ticket. The People’s Republic of Moreland definitely needs more Elvis Impersonators with a penchant for community charities.

Dean O’Callaghan (Independent for Climate Emergency Action) – Website – Facebook Page – How To Vote Card

O’Callaghan seems to be exactly what he says on the tin – an Independent who believes that we are in a climate emergency and is running for council. Here is the start of his manifesto (which can be found in full on his Facebook page):

Did you know that 150-200 species of plant, insect, bird and mammal become extinct on our planet every 24 hours? Earth is in the midst of a mass extinction of life. This is not acceptable for me as a resident of the richest, most educated city, of the richest, “luckiest” country on the planet. I am running to get Moreland Council to undertake an emergency response to global warming and biodiversity loss…

And off we go. I’ll start by saying that if I sound very frivolous about all of this, it’s because I find it very hard to think about the climate emergency seriously, because it absolutely terrifies me. I admire people who are able to look it in the face, but I’m not one of those people. (I tend to try to do my bit without thinking too much about it, honestly) O’Callaghan clearly is.

O’Callaghan’s Facebook page tells me that he has been running in local, State and Federal elections and supporting Save the Planet since 2011, and his flyer tells me he has been living and running a business in Moreland for more than 12 years, yet strangely he has not crossed my political radar in that time. (Not sure how I’ve managed to miss him, but perhaps he’s been running in other wards, or in years when I only looked at parties and not individual candidates.) He is righteously infuriated by the Federal Government’s inaction on climate change, and unimpressed by the ALP’s unwillingness to let go of coal.

All of which I agree with, but how do you change the world on a local level? For this, I went to O’Callaghan’s website, which is a copy of his flyer, ready for printing – and because of the way flyers are folded, this means that the first statement to grace my eyes was

We can build composting toilets!

Well then.

I mean, I’m sure we can, but it isn’t the slogan that I, personally, would take to an election.

Fortunately, the flyer, when read in order, is much more useful. O’Callaghan’s actual slogan is ‘Strength in community to build climate change immunity’. OK then. O’Callaghan then outlines the scope of the ecological and humanitarian catastrophe, and asks what changes can be made at a Council level to deal with this. His solutions?

Set up sustainable food production incubators where people learn to grow and ferment/preserve vegetables

Have recycling systems where resources are ACTUALLY recycled

Encourage businesses to be closed loop carbon neutral models with annnual award programs and grants to incentivise climate aware systems

We can build composting toilets!

Each of these is described in some detail, and O’Callaghan posits that this will actually save the council money. He also wants to do things like energy efficiency upgrades and changing the council fleet to electric/bike based vehicles.

There is a cartoon mocking a certain Hawaiian holiday, and an endorsement by the Good Brew Company, which appears to be O’Callaghan’s solar brewed kombucha business (there has to be some sort of hipster bingo card for that, surely).

O’Callaghan has committed to the rainbow pledge and participated in the various forums and interviews by Climate Action Moreland, the Bicycle Users Group, and Walk On Moreland. The latter has some very good ideas and also this idea, which is certainly an idea alright, but holy hell:

9. What strategies are needed by Council, in collaboration with the State Government, to introduce a driver education campaign in regard to stopping for, giving way and slowing down for pedestrians at intersections, zebra crossings, school crossings and other hot spots?

Institute a popup inflatable child that instantly inflates in front of cars doing 60km+ in school zones that pop with violent explosion of red paint.

(As this is potentially triggery for anyone who has witnessed a pedestrian accident, I’ve made the text a similar colour to the background – highlight it with your mouse to read)

… because that certainly couldn’t cause any accidents. Dear God.

His How to Vote card preferences Pulton of the Greens and Bolton of the Socialists, and we are then exhorted to number the remaining boxes in order of preference, but ‘Put gas & coal sponsored parties LAST’.

Right-oh, then. I’m honestly not sure I can do much more analysis of this, I’m still recovering from his inflatable child idea. Oy.

Overall? O’Callaghan’s priorities are excellent and important, and he has some good ideas. He also has some less good ideas, and he strikes me as a little INTENSE, to say the least. That or he has an extremely dubious sense of humour. My strong suspicion is both.

He won’t be at the bottom of my ticket, but he won’t be at the top, either.

Anthony Helou (Independent) – Website – Facebook Page – How to Vote Card

Anthony Helou is a former Mayor of Moreland who has run in every election since I have been living in Moreland, and plenty more before that. I’ve written about him before, in 2012 and 2016. He’s formerly ALP, and seems to have been involved in a fair bit of factional politiciking. Last election, Helou was warning us all not to trust Independents… but times have evidently changed, because here he is, running as an Independent himself. Indeed, not only is he running as an Independent, his how to vote card favours fellow independents Naim, Pavlidis-Mihalakos, Failla, Timpano and Clarke, before doing a reverse donkey up the rest of the ticket. Moreland Labor is not getting Helou’s vote this time.

Helou’s Facebook page sees him running very much on his record as a Councillor of many years’ standing. He is a ‘strong, experienced and active’ member of council, and he encourages people to contact him by phone or email.

He has a professionally produced promo video, full of stock footage and dramatic music, which warns us all that four years is a long time and this election is critical, and plays on our fears of the unknown.

Do you want strong representation that receives results, or someone that makes false promises? Can you afford to vote for unknown candidates? Sign a blank checque for someone you don’t know? Do you want to walk into a dark room and start guessing? Just turn the light on! And find out about each candidate and see who they really are? Do you want to vote for candidates that you don’t know?

Helou wants us to think of him as a known quantity – as opposed to all those unknowns with hidden agendas. His slogan ‘Let’s get Moreland Moving Again’ suggests that it ground to a halt when he got voted off Council eight years ago. He also wants us to know that he will focus on the real job and not be distracted by party politics.

What’s interesting about this campaign is that it only looks backwards, and not forwards. His Facebook page is all about his achievements between 1996 and 2011. There is no policy platform other than getting Moreland moving again – presumably back on the track from which it diverged eight years ago. Back to the good old days.

His website does a bit better on policy, which is to say, it has some. He’s keen on things like parking, transport, and infrastructure (Fair Parking Moreland approves of him), keeping rates low, and fostering local business. He wants to foster multiculturalism, improve childcare, and support community festivals. Actually, his priorities are very similar to those of Paul Failla.

It feels very old-fashioned, almost retro in a way that is hard to define. These feel like the same policies we were all voting for back in 2000, and there is nothing wrong with any of them, but they haven’t really changed to meet the current challenges we are facing. Climate action is mentioned only in passing; rubbish collection and street cleaning are commented on, but not recycling; we are against racism, but other forms of marginalisation don’t seem to exist. It’s notable that Helou hasn’t committed to the Rainbow pledge, or been involved in any of the surveys about walking, cycling, or climate action in Moreland. I don’t get the sense that he is necessarily averse to any of these things (though he could be) – it feels more like these are young people issues and he is not a young person or looking for the votes of young people.

And by young, I guess I mean ‘under-45’, because I’m 44 and those are issues that are important to me.

He’s not awful, but I don’t want to step into a time machine and go back 20 years, unless I get to change the future once I get there. I think I’d rather vote for O’Callaghan.

BEST OF THE BATCH

Lynton Joseph, for sure. Comes across as a kind, caring person, with some useful community organising experience and a sense of humour. Also, and I cannot emphasise this enough, Elvis impersonator.

Whose lives matter?

June 5, 2020 / Catherine / 1 Comment

Content note for any Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers: this blog post contains the names of people who have died.

Content note for everyone else: This post is mostly me, as a white person, trying to grapple with racism, privilege, complicity, and what my responsibility is at this time (though there is a list of resources and content by Black, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander authors at the end that I can recommend with a clear conscience). I didn’t want my blog to be silent on racism, especially now, but I’ve almost certainly mucked it up, probably more than once, and for that, I apologise.

This is the sort of post which starts with me staring blankly at a screen, because saying nothing feels like complicity, but anything I do say feels inadequate. Because, dear God, America. I don’t even have words.

An example of white privilege.

You keep saying “it’s horrible that an innocent black man was killed, but destroying property has to stop”.

Try saying “It’s horrible that property is being destroyed but killing innocent black men has to stop”

Priorities. Make sense?

— Randall Telfer (@RandallTelfer) June 2, 2020

And… dear God, Australia. Because OK, true, we do at least have a health system and gun control, and our police force isn’t out shooting protesters in the street, so yay, points to us, but have you looked at how many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders die in police custody every year? Or how we treat asylum seekers? Or the charming way we have been treating Asian Australians, particularly since the start of this pandemic?

Which is to say, we might want to think twice before we shake our heads over the state of the USA, because it turns out there is enough racism to go around, and we definitely have our share.

The difference in the context of the current situation is that in Australia we have had more than 400 deaths in custody since 1991 and not a single conviction. They’ve actually had convictions. It doesn’t make them better, but it definitely doesn’t make *us* better.

— Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri) (@sandyosullivan) June 3, 2020

(Also… if you don’t like the way police are treating protesters in the US, you might want to keep an eye on some of the legislation the government is trying to push through while we are distracted by the pandemic, because they would like to expand police and ASIO powers in a number of ways that are pretty concerning.)

This post isn’t going to be about the situation in the USA, because while I am absolutely in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter there, I feel as though these stories can best be told by those who are present.

I also feel, strongly, that our primary duty is to clean up our own backyard. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have come out strongly in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement in the USA, and have drawn parallels between the situation there and the treatment of Indigenous people here.

David Dungay said “I can’t breath” 20 times before he was killed in custody by prison guards. His mum so far raised 4k since 2018 to help her fight for justice. Let’s help her get to 10k. This happens in your backyard Australia don’t turn a blind eye. https://t.co/2PKwU0Ak1E

— Audacious Aboriginal (@MerikiKO) May 30, 2020

The parallels are not hard to draw.

We have plenty of work to do within our own borders.

FACT: More police officers on trial for black deaths in custody in Australia have been PROMOTED than CONVICTED. Aboriginal kids spend more time in prison for stealing bread than any police officer has ever spent in prison for a black death in custody.#AboriginalLivesMatter

— Roxy Moore (@Roxy_Moore_) June 1, 2020

I’m white. I’ve never been on the receiving end of racism, either institutionalised or individual, and it’s unlikely I ever will. So the story of racism is not mine to tell. As much as possible, here, I’m going to link to what Black people and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are saying about the current situation. But I do want to talk a little bit about the work people like me need to be doing.

Black lives matter doesn’t mean anyone who isn’t black doesn’t matter. It means black lives matter, too. It means they are just as important as any other life. It means they should be protected too. We know ALL lives should matter but if they did, black lives would matter too.

— k a y🌻 (@OKAYYYWOWWW) June 3, 2020

That last sentence makes me want to weep. Because this shouldn’t need to be stated in five hundred different ways all over Twitter. Saying ‘All lives matter’ denies the difference in the way white and black lives are treated in the US, in Australia, and in so many countries around the world. It takes a statement that should not be revolutionary (but which, horribly, still is), and turns it into a meaningless platitude.

We want police to stop killing us completely, not just kill us less.

— William C. (@williamcson) June 4, 2020

That rather gets to the heart of it, don’t you think?

And look, I understand the appeal of ‘All Lives Matter’. It is uncomfortable, very uncomfortable, to sit here as a well-meaning white person, feeling complicit and guilty and also vaguely resentful of this (because after all, *we* aren’t out there being great big racists, and how dare you suggest at we might be?), listening to these stories of abuse and harm caused by people who look like us. And ‘All Lives Matter’ sounds so lovely and inclusive, and leaves all the uncomfortable race stuff out of the equation, and anyway, are white people even allowed to say Black Lives Matter, and isn’t it maybe a little bit racist if we do?

But I have a nasty feeling that the job of white people right now is precisely to be uncomfortable.

#Blacklivesmatter Australia, say their names✊🏾
Kumanjayi Walker
Joyce Clarke
Hayleen Close
Tanya Day
Harrison Day
Christopher Drage
Trisjack Simpson
Tracey Inglis
Patrick Fisher
Elijah Doughty
Tane Chatfield
Mark Mason Snr
TJ Hickey
Eddie Murray
John Pat
Mr Ward
David Dungay Jnr

— Queen Khadija Gbla ✊🏾👸🏾 (@KhadijaGbla) May 30, 2020

I don’t mean that in a nasty way. I mean… it’s really, really uncomfortable and shocking and unpleasant to witness – even to read about – the way people of colour, and especially Black people, are treated by our society and our police force. It’s really, really tempting to look away, to not read books like Dark Emu or Talking to my Country, to avoid any close encounters with what it feels like to be Black or Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander in our world.

Mulrunji Cameron Doomadgee
Ms Mandijarra
Lynette Daley
Eric Whittaker
Rebecca Maher
Mark Haines
Henry Curtain
Wayne “Fella” Morrison
Ms Dhu
Jack Sultan Page
Bowraville murder victims – Colleen Walker, Clinton Speedy Duroux and Evelyn Greenup
Daniel Yock
Kwementyaye Ryder

— Queen Khadija Gbla ✊🏾👸🏾 (@KhadijaGbla) May 30, 2020

And the reason it is tempting is because the things that Black people and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are suffering are absolutely horrible and cruel and one hundred percent unnecessary. There is no good reason why Aboriginal people are dying in custody at the rate of one per month. There is no legitimate reason why Black people and Aboriginal people are over-policed. There is no justifiable reason why so many Black men and women have died at the hands of the police and the justice system.

There is only racism.

And it’s absolutely shattering to read about.

David Gundy
Mark Quayle
Ronald McIntosh
Bronte FItton Ware
Louis St John
Rowan Davis
Shannon Pierce
Edward Russell
Victor Russell
Lloyd Boney
Fiona Gibbs
Troy Foster
Colleen Richman
Cidrick Vale-Robertson
Jordan Bolt
Douglas Scott
Bradley Coolwell
Shaun Coolwell

— Queen Khadija Gbla ✊🏾👸🏾 (@KhadijaGbla) May 30, 2020

The thing is… the closest white people like me are ever likely to come to this experience is reading about it, or seeing video footage, or hearing eyewitness accounts. Being able to not think about it is actually an incredible privilege.

And that’s something to think about right there, because I don’t want to read all of this stuff which I know full well is going to traumatise me and make me cry and give me nightmares, and yet Black Americans and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders don’t get the choice of switching off from that trauma because it is their lived experience.

Lloyd Wyles Jnr.
Kwementyaye Briscoe
Veronica Baxter
Zayne Colson
Clarence Nean
Joseph JD Duncan
Pat Wedge
Milton Wedge
Teressa Binge
Johann Morgan
Cleon Jackman
Carly McBride
Phillip Joseph
Lois Roberts
Jorgy Hickling
Kwementyaye Langdon
Melissa Dunn
Mr Riley
Kevin Spratt

— Queen Khadija Gbla ✊🏾👸🏾 (@KhadijaGbla) May 30, 2020

(And now I’m thinking about how much of an emotional and intellectual load that must be – I mean, we were all talking about how it was hard to be fully productive when dealing with the stress of the pandemic, but the stress of racism is there ALL THE TIME. There are some amazing, clever, funny, delightful Black writers whose books I love, and I’m just trying to imagine how brilliant they must be to be able to write what they do while at the same time living with a level of stress that I am terrified even to experience at second hand. Imagine how much more they could do – more importantly, how much happier they could be – if they didn’t have that stress and that pain in their lives.)

Sheila Oakley
Corey Barker
Malcolm Smith
Barbara Yarri
John Ryan
Christine Jones
Stanley Brown
Joyce Egan
Dixon Greene
Christine Ryan
Horace Bynder
Faye Yarri
Allan Lovett
Ginger Samson
Ronald Ugle
Monty Salt
Patrine Missi
Joyce Egan
Nita Blankett
Muriel Binks
Nikira Mau

— Queen Khadija Gbla ✊🏾👸🏾 (@KhadijaGbla) May 30, 2020

And look, mental health is real and important, and I am not here to tell you that justice and solidarity demands that you must do things that will be harmful to you. I want everyone to be safe, physically and mentally.

But it is important to acknowledge that if you are white like me, being able to choose to take care of your mental health by not exposing yourself to the harm done to people of colour… is in itself a privilege. And that is a whole extra horrible thing in itself, because the ability to protect your mental health ought to be a right for all of us, not just those of us with a particular skin colour.

In fact, perhaps that’s the thing in a nutshell: things that ought to be basic human rights – things that white people believe are basic human rights, because for us they are – turn out to be privileges that are only extended to us as a matter of genetic luck. I don’t want to lose my privilege. I want everyone else to have the same privileges I do. I want my privileges to be rights.

Kevin Yow-Yeh
Gregory Dunrobin
Charlie Hyde
Perry Noble
Alistair Riversleigh
Barbara Tiers
Deidre Short
Wayne Wallace Donovan
Ricky Perry
Robby Shillingsworth
Winnie Michael
Dennis Phillips
Jeffrey Fernando
Gregory John Nicholls
Wayne Coyne Jnr
Colin Glass/ Wedge aka John Beck

— Queen Khadija Gbla ✊🏾👸🏾 (@KhadijaGbla) May 30, 2020

So yeah. I’m uncomfortable. And I think I need to be, because 432 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have died in custody in Australia since 2008 and I had absolutely no idea. I thought we had a Royal Commission and fixed that.

I mean, I donate to charities which work to fight racism, and I’ve always felt like that excused me from digging too deep into what racism feels like when you are on the wrong side of it. But I’m realising – rather belatedly – that I don’t have the right to remain ignorant, because ignorance means that I am likely to do harmful things through a lack of knowledge – or if not that, it certainly means that I’m not paying attention to the harm that is happening, and therefore I’m not able to work against it.

Sheldon Currie
David Wotherspoon
Trevor King
James Sailor
Barry Campbell
David Roberts
Andrew Collard
Peter Williams
David Porter
Bobbie Yarri
Robert Walker
Faith Barnes
Roy walker
Milton Wells
Stanley Allen Lord
Fay Yarri
Charlie Gamble
Mervyn Yappo
Bill Cummins

— Queen Khadija Gbla ✊🏾👸🏾 (@KhadijaGbla) May 30, 2020

I do not like this conclusion. I do not want to read all those books I have been so studiously avoiding.

But I have the privilege of not living my life in a world that views me as something less than human based on the colour of my skin. The least I can do is bear witness.

Cherdeena Wynne
Warren Cooper
Jaylen Close
Jesse Edwards
Emily Egan
Andrea Pickett
Deon Woods
Bradley James Dahlstrom
Garnett Allan Mickelo
Mr Narrier
Charles (Boonie) Hilt#SayTheirName #FTP #BlackLivesMatter #blackdeathsincustody #aboriginallivesmatter
SAY THEIR NAMES!!

— Queen Khadija Gbla ✊🏾👸🏾 (@KhadijaGbla) May 30, 2020

~~~~~

Things we can do

Note that the links and charities below are primarily around Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues. I’m listing a handful of US-based charities and bail funds at the end, because God knows, they need all the help they can get, but I’d encourage you to make local action your priority – because God knows, we need to do a lot better than we’ve been doing so far.

Places to donate in Australia

https://paytherent.net.au/ – As a descendant of immigrants, I live on stolen land. Paying the rent is both a symbolic gesture of solidarity, and a practical way to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. You can decide how much you can afford to contribute per month, or support them with a one-off donation.
https://sistersinside.com.au/ – Sisters Inside supports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders women and girls in prison. Many are imprisoned for non-payment of fines (think 19th-century-Debtors’ Prison, but with extra racism), and they have a specific GoFundMe which raises money to pay these fines so that these women can be free.
The families of several Aboriginal men and women who died in police custody or at the hands of police are seeking justice, and have fundraisers to which you can donate
- Fundraiser for the family of Auntie Tanya Day, who died in police custody after being arrested for ‘public drunkenness’ while asleep on a train.
- Fundraiser in memory of Joyce Clarke, who was shot and killed by police in September last year. The police officer has pleaded not guilty, and the funds will be used to allow her family to attend the hearings.
- Fundraiser for an inquiry into the death of Kumanjayi Walker, shot by police in November last year. He was 19 years old. The police had not come to the house to resolve a dispute or because they had been called to deal with an emergency. They were simply there to arrest this teenager for breaching parole.
- Fundraiser for David Dungay, who died in custody in September last year after being held down by police as he gasped for air.
Welcome to Country has an extensive Aboriginal Charity Guide which lists charities that work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in areas from health and education to activism and the environment. Whatever your favourite cause, you will find it there.
https://www.asrc.org.au/ – The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre supports asylum seekers with material aid, legal aid, housing assistance, and help finding work. Asylum seekers in Australia face discrimination on a number of fronts, not least from the government, which denies them access to Medicare, financial assistance, and in some cases forbids them from working. And if you don’t think racism plays into that… well, I suppose I have to admire your ability to think kindly of people who don’t deserve it.

Some articles I have found helpful

Shannon Dodson, a Yawuru woman living in Sydney, has written an incredible article about 10 positive ways to engage with Indigenous Australia. It’s an absolute library of useful links and recommendations, and I’m planning to work my way through it.
We must bear witness to Black deaths in our own country, by Amy McQuire, an independent Aboriginal affairs journalist based in Queensland.
For our white friends desiring to be allies – I’ve seen a lot of comments from Black women in particular that while it’s great that white people want to be allies, it’s also super tiring having to educate people constantly. Here’s an article that you can read yourself rather than asking someone to do the work of teaching you.
Dear White People: This is what we want you to do. A very direct and honest article by Kandise Le Blanc, a Creole woman living in Illinois – but still relevant to our context in Australia
My White friend asked me on Facebook to explain White Privilege. I decided to be honest. From Lori Lakin Hutcherson, an article about the experience of growing up Black in America. It’s very kind, even compassionate, to the reader, but the stories she tells, in a quiet, almost understated way, are chilling, and the effect is powerful.
Anti-Racism Education & Resources: Australian focused. I haven’t gotten all the way through this yet, but it looks very useful.
This thread is not an Own Voices thread, but it makes a pretty good point about our expectations for protest from Aboriginal Australians look like

Some books I need to read (and maybe you do too)

Dark Emu, by Bruce Pascoe – if you were taught at school that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people didn’t practice agriculture or have technology… this book will enlighten you.
Talking To My Country, by Stan Grant, talks about his experience as an Aboriginal man in Australia. It’s highly acclaimed and needs to find its way out of my ‘To be read’ pile and actually get read by me. He has also written a follow up book, Australia Day, which I gather talks more about reconciliation
Welcome to Country, by Marcia Langton – this is a travel guide to Indigenous Australia, with information about Indigenous languages, customs, history, and more, as well as cultural awareness and etiquette for visitors.

Other actions you can take

An amazing woman named Zoe Amira posted an hour long video on YouTube filled with art and music from black creators. It has a heap of ads, and is basically designed to rake in revenue that will be used to support Black Lives Matter organisations. This is a great way to support the cause if you have no money and can’t get to a protest. I’ve had it running quietly in the background while writing this list (because I don’t actually want to hear the ads).
Buy some music on June 19 to support racial justice, equality and change.
Sign the petition calling for an end to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths in custody.
And here’s another petition to prevent deaths in custody caused by improper restraint.
There are a number of protests tomorrow. Honestly, I’m really torn about this. Protest IS important right now. But I’m also super concerned about the public health risks of having large groups of unscreened people gathering during a pandemic. It looks like the organisers are trying to do this responsibly, but ultimately, I don’t think there is a responsible way to hold an event of this nature in this context. I don’t think I can, in good conscience, link to them. However, I *have* seen a number of Ministers and politicians out there telling us, with varying degrees of sincerity and self-righteousness that the best way to exercise our right to protest right now is to write to or call your local MP. I think we should take them at their word. So here are some suggestions from my friend Emily about people to contact and what to say:
- Prime Minister, Scott Morrison – (02) 9523 0339
  Minister for Indigenous Australians, Ken Wyatt – (08) 9359 0322
  Leader of the Opposition, Anthony Albanese – (02) 9564 3588
  Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney – (02) 9587 1555
- In Victoria: Premier, Daniel Andrews – (03) 9548 5644
  Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Gabrielle Williams – (03) 9096 8587
  Leader of the Opposition, Michael O’Brien – (03) 9576 1850
  Shadow Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Peter Walsh – (03) 5482 2039
- Talking points:
  - I fully support the important protests that are happening across Australia/in Melbourne tomorrow.
  - Governments must move immediately to stop Aboriginal deaths in custody and police violence toward Aboriginal people, and police who have killed and harmed Aboriginal people must be held to account. I am asking you to take urgent action to make this happen.
  - I am asking you to guarantee that all protesters tomorrow will be able to protest freely without fear of police violence.
  - When you call the office, ask the staffer who answers the phone to take a message for the MP. Give your full name and postcode, and then proceed.

Read, Listen to, and Watch Content by Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, and Black creators

Check out some of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander bloggers listed at deadlybloggers.com – you will find blogs on a huge range of topics art to politics to health.
Here’s an article listing some great social media accounts to follow from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
My friend Heath made this excellent list of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers, actors and musicians. (I would add that Adam Briggs, in addition to being a muso, is a fantastic comedian)
Did you know that we have a National Indigenous TV channel? You can find it on Channel 34. I am terrible at remembering to watch TV shows, but we really enjoyed Ready For This, which is just a nice, well-done teen drama series about a bunch of Aboriginal kids from various parts of Australia who come to Sydney for their final years of school, to pursue their dreams. It was very good, and lots of fun.
I read a lot of romance novels, and some of my favourite writers right now are Black women. If you are in the mood for some escapism, check out Charish Reid Alyssa Cole, Talia Hibbert, Farah Rochon and, Rebekah Weatherspoon, for starters. (I especially like them because… not all fiction centering People of Colour needs to be sombre – indeed, writing happy endings for people in demographics who are often denied them is a subversive thing in itself. Also, as Tom Lehrer so accurately pointed out, dirty books are fun, that’s all there is to it.)

Actions you can take in the USA

Donate to a Bail Fund. Lots of people are going to need help with bail in the near future.
Black Visions in Minnesota wants to dismantle systems of oppression and violence and to develop Minnesota’s emerging black leadership. It is Black-led, queer- and trans-centering, and my friend in Minnesota tells me they do good work.
The American Civil Liberties Union is recommended by pretty much everyone I know in the US as an excellent charity for justice.
Black Lives Matter has a very comprehensive list of actions you can take, from petitions to protests to calling politicians to donating.

Three Letters and some Links

January 6, 2020 / Catherine / 2 Comments

It feels very strange in Melbourne today. It’s drizzly and dark, and the weather is cold enough to require central heating and winter pyjamas, but the air is absolutely permeated by smoke – from the Tasmanian fires, we are told, though it could just as easily have been from the ones in Gippsland or in northern Victoria or on Kangaroo island. There are fires in every direction, and yet we are safe, and can go about our lives as normal, except for the stinging in our eyes and throats, the tightness in our chests from the smoke.

I almost welcome it, though. We’ve had several days of truly glorious weather over the last week (not consecutively, and none of them like any of the others of course – this is Melbourne we’re talking about), and it has felt so surreal to be able to go outside and enjoy the beautiful weather when all this devastation exists just a few hundred kilometres away. (Clearly, the Catholic upbringing which I did not have has still managed to give me an over-inflated sense of guilt about ever enjoying myself).

Anyway. I’ve been meaning to write some letters to politicians, but I’ve been running into difficulties, because my letters to Morrison keep on coming out as ‘Dear Prime Minister, Please get f*cked. Sincerely, Catherine,’ or sometimes ‘Dear Prime Minister, What the f*ck is wrong with you?’, which are certainly sincere statements of personal belief, but perhaps not very productive.

I did finally manage to write something slightly more useful, however, and since I thought that some of you might be sharing my difficulties, I figured I’d follow tradition and put my letters here for anyone to use as a starting point for their own missives. Per my usual disclaimer, they are far from perfect. And per my usual encouragement, they don’t need to be. Don’t be crippled by the need to make everything exactly right. The important thing is to send *something*.

Please note, incidentally, that I’ve seen a few people saying that emails sent through the form on the Prime Minister’s website are not being read, and that it is difficult to get through to him on the phone. I don’t know if this is true or not, but just in case, let’s break out the envelopes and stamps for this one.

If you can’t bear to write to politicians right now – and honestly, I can’t blame you for that – I’ve also provided some more links at the bottom to charities and other organisations you might want to support.

And of course, wherever you are, I hope you are staying safe from the fires and the smoke, that your loved ones are also safe, and that you have the things you need.

Category: politics (Page 1 of 42)

One Week Later

Carrying hope

Marching together

When the political is personal

PRM Council Election 2020 (North-East Ward) Batch 4: Farah, Street, Dhedhy, Thiveos and Hogan

PRM Council Election 2020 (North-East Ward) Batch 3: Elachkar, Glover, Pavlidis-Mihalakos and Clarke

PRM Council Election 2020 (North-East Ward) Batch 2: Bolton, Ul Murtaza, Pulford, Naim and Carli Hannan

PRM Council Election 2020 (North-East Ward) Batch 1: Failla, Joseph, O’Callaghan and Helou

Whose lives matter?

Three Letters and some Links

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