'Waterhaven' #video #environment #housingshortages #publicpolicy #Madden ...more farmland being sucked up by housing shortages and unsustainable developments

This a little video of my observations of the construction of 'Waterhaven' along the highway between Melbourne and Geelong...it speaks for itself really. It says something on the current housing developments in the outskirts of Melbourne or anywhere for that matter, where planning departments and developers are allowing the installation of a fake lake in the middle of the highway to be the incentive for people to move here and isolate themselves further in their new 'community'. Any notion of building a sustainable development here or anywhere is a distant option for the money hungry corporate developers and government planning authorities - who care little about the potential residents, stuck in the middle of nowhere, driving in their cars for everything, and less about the environment which they are destroying. The 'water', a fake lake, is being formed by digging a giant trench in once prominent farmland on the outskirts of Melbourne and the 'haven' I'm assuming will be created in the surrounds of this trench and pseduo bridge which an array of families will no doubt move into, as it constitutes the only option they have in obtaining affordable accommodation. Yet its fake atmosphere and damaged environment is probably not something they would choose to be involved if other accommodation could be provided in sustainable and urban environments. It seems that when you drive through these spaces which are presented as pseudo 'places' you may think that people want to live in these cloned villages with identical brick houses, no backyards and cheap fittings made to look like an upmarket version of a fantastic furniture catalogue; yet it makes you think, where would people live if they had the option to have a different looking house, a backyard or dare I say it, even incorporate the existing farmland into their own backyard and allow them the opportunity to generate their own power and grow their own produce, rather than spend their limited disposable income at the single supermarket chain that charges them to import their banannas from asia or beyond. Is this where and how the next generation of home owners want to live?

This is a topic I will write more on and discuss more broadly at a later date, in the meantime, enjoy watching your farmland being sucked up by a multi-national developer and be replaced with roads to drive your 3 cars on and a far less expensive and less detailed copy of a film set from The Truman Show.

Just some thoughts people, where do you want to live?

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PunchyP's election coverage...the major parties left us hanging on election day 2010. Why? #Corangamite #ausvotes #politics #greens

 

I went out into the Corangamite electorate to examine what was happening in this marginal seat on Election Day 2010. In sum, there was much confusion, little motivation or enthusiasm and some people did not know who to vote for before and after they had visited the polling booths! The election night was as dull as the one and only debate and any resulting hung parliament is clearly a consequence of having such an insincere, rushed and pseudo election campaign by both major parties. So watch for yourselves the thoughts of one marginal seat here in Corangamite. What's to come? A serious suck job by both party leaders and hopefully some sincere self reflection into what went wrong and why Australians did not buy their fakeness and fear campaigns. At the end of the day, it is a time to celebrate with the first Greens seat in the lower house and the beginning of a parliament that is truly reflective of what the people want from their leaders and their government - diversity, compassion and intelligent debate!

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Speech by a #refugee at the Rally for #refugees in Melbourne on Friday 13 2010 #ausvotes #greens #socialists

The second speaker at the rally was Gary Anan, a Tamil Refugee who escaped persecution and arrived in Australia in 1996, where he was sent to a detention centre.

He spoke of his false arrests, suffering and pain as a Tamil in Sri Lanka and how he finally escaped to Australia after much abuse and fear for his life. He spoke of his pain in the detention centre in Australia as a 17 year old refugee (and his experience now as a counselor for refugees) and he highlighted the fact (already obvious to me but apparently confusing for the LCD's who continue to mention some form of a queue that is supposed to be lined up in) that refugees do not have a choice, they do not have any other options and that they are escaping persecution and threats of violence.They are running from, not running to.

He also mentioned an experience he had on a tram one day, when a woman came up to him and said,

"If all the migrants left we would have some space"

which he replied "yeah maybe we should all leave and let the aborigines have their land back."

Gary ended his speech with ‘open your hearts, that is all we’re asking.’

Now that’s not that hard is it? Is it Australia? Make a stance against the derogatory terms being publicly broadcast by the major party contenders Spillard and Abbutt. Refugees are not “boat people”, the only real use of the term should be how former Prime Minister Bob Hawke recently used it, “we’re all boat people, that’s how we found the place.” And on the front cover of the Big Issue magazine this week, there was a photo of surf life savers in a boat with the title "boat people, Australia would not be the same without them!" These are the only appropriate uses of the phrase 'boat people', any association with this phase and asylum seekers is immoral, inhumane, illegal, racist and unacceptable.

 Refugees are people, they are fellow humans, they are mothers, fathers, children, they had homes that they loved and lost due to war, persecution and violence, they have friends and loved ones that they miss, they have no belongings, no tangible assets, all they have is their strength, their hearts and their torturous memories of where they have come from and what they have been through to get to a land and beg for help, some of them have spent their entire lives in refugee camps and prisons, with no clean water, no food, no clothing, they left everything to merely try and survive and make it through one more day without being killed or dying of disease. Come on Australia, open your hearts and at least form your political decisions on facts, our proven racist past and not on propaganda, lies and campaigns that focus on causing fear and hysteria in our society.

 

To see some photos and information from this rally check out melbourne protests blog

 

 

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PunchyP's election coverage...why would #ausvotes choose the #greens? Compassion for #refugees and intelligent #debates

Adam Bandt opens his address at the Rally for Refugees on Friday 13 August 2010 with the point that "despite what you see on the television and despite what people may want you to think, there is a very strong undercurrent in Australia and especially here in Melbourne, that says 'we are going to stand up for compassion and we are going to stand against racisim'". Adam Bandt states that the creation of hysteria and the political ads by both Spillard and Abbutt which contain images of boats highlights the disturbing arguments they are both presenting. The deceitful correlations between population, immigration and refugees - "which are entirely separate issues" needs to stop. Adam made the important point that what Spillard should be stating to the LCD Australian public in regards to the very small numbers of refugees that are arriving in Australia (it would take 20 years to even fill the Melbourne Cricket Ground) is "I understand that you feel anxious but there is no need to be." Instead she and Abbutt continue to spread fear and paranoia through our society and fail to draw attention to our international obligations (in signing the UNHCR 1967 Protocol) and humanitarian obligations to help fellow humans who are seeking assylum from persecution and homelessness from war, famine and torture.

UNHCR 1967 Protocol is a legally binding treaty and a milestone in international refugee law. The majority of member states in the UN have accepted responsibility in providing protection for persons obliged to flee their country because of persecution. Australia ratified the 1951 UN Refugee Convention on 22 January 1954, and the 1967 protocol on 13 Dec 1973.

And in a country so large, we only host 0.013% of the world's refugees. Adam's speech was truly relieving to finally hear and can be heard in my attached video. This is why Australia should give The Greens to make a difference in parliment and show political leaders that people do care about the treatment of refugees and the indigenous communities that we (the only actual 'boat people') stole their land from and now have spread our racism and hatred across. As Bob Hawke recently said, 'we're all boat people, that's how we found the place' and this is the only appropriate use of this phrase. Refugees are not "boat people", they have names, they have mothers, children, fathers, they had homes that they lost, that they miss, that they loved, that were taken from them or destroyed, they have friends and loved ones that they miss, they have horrible memories from their torturous past and devastating stories to tell about their time in Australia since they somehow survived long enough to make it here, through no other way possible, with no other options, with all the risks involved, it was their only hope to live. Please open your hearts Australia and all over the world and help these fellow humans that only want to be able to live and work somewhere safe, where their lives are not at risk every second of every day.

 

 

 

 

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PunchyP's Election Coverage...What #ausvotes really think...Rally for #Refugees Melbourne. #racism #politics #greens #socialists #spillard #abbutt

It was Friday 13th and it was a dark day for Australia. When people need to organise a rally to send a message that racism is not acceptable and that the current political campaigns which are focused on fear campaigns, lies and the promotion of racial wars are unacceptable it is a sad day. And this was evident to many intelligent and diverse people who reside in the stolen land which is Australia.

The Rally for Refugees which started at the State Library in Melbourne was organised by the Socialist Alliance and The Greens to make a powerful statement prior to Australia voting next weekend. I was excited and refreshed after seeing so many people turn up and make a stance against the long history of racism and abuse that this country's potential leaders are continuing to promote in Australia and elsewhere. As you can see in my previous blog I feel very disturbed and saddened by the continuation of political campaigns (as seen with johnny for 12 years) based on lies, manipulation and racist propaganda. I was excited to finally hear a politican (the Melbourne Greens candidate, Adam Bandt) say aloud and in public on Swanston Street in the CBD that the deliberate and deceitful propaganda that the major parties are promoting needs to be addressed and argued against.

Watch the videos (will be posted in separate blogs) and hear the powerful words yourself and hopefully be temporarily relieved by the fact that there are people (many people) that are willing to "stand up for compassion and stand against racisim" (Adam Bandt) now and always in Australia. With a week to go in the 2010 election, its unlikely one of our two abhorrent major party contenders will reverse their fear campaigns and racist policies but with a few more Greens holding seats and Socialist Alliance senators we will make a difference and one day, not too far way, I hope, a Prime Minister of Australia will speak with honesty and dignity, as Adam Bandt, had the intelligence, compassion and motivation to speak, on this black Friday 13th in Melbourne.

 

*And I apologise for the quality - as I filmed on my iPhone, at least the message remains a powerful and poignant one!

Download now or watch on posterous

The_intro.mov (33687 KB)

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Why we all should blog and create an online presence

From my good friend Maria, I found this video on why we should all reflect, engage and of course blog!

 

MAKE MEDIA MATTER from MAKEMEDIAMATTER.COM on Vimeo.

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