"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. No price is too high for the privilege of owning yourself." - Friedrich Nietzsche
John Hawkins* Pic: Rupert greets US Pres Donald Trump
20.04.18 7:15 am
Malcolm’s Prayer
“God, I thank you for all those Aussie Battlers who,
like your flock, pay their tax without complaint.”
The massive immorality of mass immigration
Dr Vino Veritas* Pic: Flickr, Nicole Rodriques
20.04.18 5:45 am
… Like a lead weight attached to our cultural identity, our quality of life was dragged down by a new vision of cultural and class relativism. Our dog-boxes are cheaper and better than dog-boxes in China you see; just ask someone from China and let them set the demand here in Australia. Of course, if you live at Point Piper or Toorak the fire sale of working and middle-class Australia’s amenity and our cultural values didn’t affect you. You were still be able to walk your dog in leafy streets and in near-empty and manicured parkland. Long ago your community’s planning laws meant that you’d never experience high-density living or a need to pay the ultimate ‘great big new tax’ by relinquishing your access to public assets and space. Your standard of living will just get better as the gap between you and the rest widens - and that’s the whole point …
‘Richard Flanagan: ‘Our politics is a dreadful black comedy’ – press club speech in full’
Richard Flanagan, Guardian
20.04.18 5:30 am
Indigenous Australia, Anzac Day, the descent of democracy – in a National Press Club address Flanagan examines a divided Australia which he says can be free only if it faces up to its past
… The growing state-funded cult of Anzac will see $1.1bn spent by the Australian government on war memorials between 2014 and 2028. Those who lost their lives deserve honour – I know from my father’s experience how meaningful that can be. But when veterans struggle for recognition and support for war-related suffering, you begin to wonder what justifies this expense, this growing militarisation of national memory or, to be more precise, a forgetting of anything other than an official version of war as the official version of our country’s history, establishing dying in other people’s wars as our foundation story …
… Lest we forget we will all chant next week, as we have all chanted for a century now. And yet it is as if all that chanting only ensures we remember nothing. If we remembered would we 100 years later still allow our young men to be sent off to kill or be killed in distant conflicts defending yet again not our country, but another distant empire, as we have in Iraq and Afghanistan … ?
… Anzac Day, which is a very important day for my family, was always a day to remember all my father’s mates who didn’t make it home. But it was also a moment to ponder the horror of war more generally. But of late Anzac Day has become enshrouded in cant and entangled in dangerous myth. If this seems overstated ponder the bigoted bile that attended Yassmin Abdel-Magied’s tweet last Anzac Day in which she posted “LEST.WE.FORGET. (Manus, Nauru, Syria, Palestine ...)” …
‘Doctors alarmed by renewed Tarkine destruction ... ’
Dr Rohan Church* Dr Elen O’Donnell* DEA Media Release. Pic: Ted Mead
20.04.18 5:20 am
Tasmanian doctors have been alarmed to see escalated threats to biodiversity with renewed and seemingly accelerated destruction of native forests in the takayna / Tarkine region …
The Good Samaritan: Give Directly to Refugees
Scott MacInnes* Pic*
20.04.18 5:00 am
Alain de Botton argues in his book ‘Religion for Atheists’ that religions still have some very important things to teach us, even if we no longer believe their supernatural claims. Rather than mocking religions, non-believers should instead take the best of what they have to offer …
George Smiley* Pic: Flickr
20.04.18 4:45 am
… This was written many years ago when abductions were being reported regularly. The alien intent seemed so absurd as to make the reports a joke. It was assumed the victims were pathological liars or clinically mad, imagining that interstellar visitors would be anal obsessives just like they themselves, as if early toilet training has a lot to answer for here and therefore throughout the far - flung reaches of the galaxy …
‘Big-name chefs back seafood entrepreneur’
Herald Sun, Mercury. Pic: of Mark Eather
20.04.18 4:35 am
This is an immensely complex case. In the interests of transparency it is presented here, as Mark Eather says: “Finally my side to the story ...” … I love this industry, and this glorious state of Tasmania, and it deserves better. I have lost count of the amount of people who have approached me with stories of similar bullying … in fact, I don’t know a female in this state that hasn’t at some time been bullied in the workplace, and numerous men, also. This state is so small, and the greater percentage of employment is either directly within the Government sector, or in an associated industry where the Government is the most significant client. A Federal ICAC needs to start right here – in Tasmania – many, many people are well aware of what goes on here, but fear speaking out – as the retribution will be contrived and often career threatening. Please ask yourself … ‘How on earth does one ‘Traffic’ Lobster that has been legally caught, legally attained, and legally purchased … and further, every one of those ‘Trafficking’ transactions being properly documented and ethically invoiced … ?’
• ABC: Money wasted in rush to control fruit fly outbreak in Tasmania, Labor says
Overview of poll results by John Hewson
John Hewson*
19.04.18 4:15 am
Proposition: The recent US corporate tax cuts will have no impact on investments in and capital flows into Australia.
Has TasWater breached the Law by opening the Emergency Gate Valve?
Bill Smith*
18.04.18 7:36 am
On Friday 13th April 2018, TasWater fully opened the Emergency Gate Valve of the Waratah Reservoir …
Editor
18.04.18 6:00 am
Tasmanian Times has a prizepack of movies to give away from Madman Entertainment ... All you have to do is write to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) , giving your snail-mail address. As always, first in best dressed ...
Tarkine old-timers ... Gone are the days of abundance!
Ted Mead* Pic*
17.04.18 6:15 am
Tayatea the world’s largest crayfish lives on, but not as it did before European settlement. For the Tayatea, the Tarkine and the adjacent northern rivers are the strongholds for its future survival, and only full protection of its habitat in a permanent secure reserve can ensure this …
Reviewed! A Tasmanian Requiem ...
Jaiia Earthschild*
17.04.18 6:00 am
… It has been frustratingly obvious that the economic woes of this extraordinarily rich island are rooted in the denied shame and guilt that lie at the foundations of a society built upon the blood of the original inhabitants. This artist collective has successfully created a ceremonial event that has the potential to assist in bringing peace to this land and amongst the cultures dwelling here. I felt for the first time that it might be possible for this unique island to flourish once again. Repetition is key to the telling of stories to heal ancient wounds, so one can only hope that this work becomes integral to Tasmanian culture and is performed regularly …
Candidate for the Legislative Council seat of Prosser Jim Playsted Media Release. Pic*
17.04.18 5:45 am
… It makes no sense – to promote the further growth of industrial scale fish farming, if and until the Wild Fishery and the families who depend upon it, is properly understood and protected from the detrimental effects of inshore salmon farming. Surely none of us want that? …
NATION: Trump reaches for the Tomahawk while Turnbull’s rivals sharpen knives ...
Urban Wronksi (aka David Tyler*) Cartoons: Martyn Turner* used with permission
16.04.18 6:00 am
Mafia Don, as former FBI Director, James Comey designates Donald Trump in his best-seller, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership is ever more desperate, as Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation closes its net on the nepotist-in-chief and his comic Corleone family’s alleged criminal collusion with the Russian government …
• The Conversation: Syria, chemical weapons and the limits of international law
• consortiumnews.com: On the Reaction to the U.S. Strike in Syria
‘The truth hurts: why whistleblowers get such a hard time’
Sydney Morning Herald. Pic: Flickr
16.04.18 5:45 am
The truth hurts. And when you blow the whistle, people get upset …
Reg A Watson* Pic*
15.04.18 6:45 am
… The very historical church with its remarkable stainglass window at St John the Baptist, Buckland. There is the belief that the stainglass window is many hundreds of years old. The window was preserved from destruction from Oliver Cromwell’s puritan troops by hiding and storing it. Later it was sent to St Johns and mounted. Whether the story is true or not, what will happen to this window … ?
John Hawkins* Pic*
15.04.18 6:30 am
Here in Tasmania we are about to spend more than $500,000,000 of public money moving the UTas campus from Sandy Bay to the centre of Hobart, and in Launceston from Newnham, with its spacious 50 hectare grounds overlooking the river, to the flood-prone, cramped Inveresk. Additionally, The Berejiklian government in NSW is poised to dismantle the iconic Powerhouse Museum …
A Letter to the Editor in response to Elise Archer
John Green*
15.04.18 6:14 am
I refer to the article that appeared in The Mercury on the 4th April 2018 written by Elise Archer. That article was based on the false premise that the Tasmanian Judges and Magistrates were soft on crime and the Government had to bring in minimum sentences. There is no evidence that the Tasmanian judiciary is soft on crime, judges and magistrates are experienced professional lawyers who hold highly desirable jobs and you don’t get to be a judge or a magistrate by being a fool or being soft on crime …
‘Tasmanians rally for a ban on live animal export’
Andrew Wilkie, Independent Member for Denison Media Release. Pic: Animals Australia
14.04.18 5:15 am
The Independent Member for Denison, Andrew Wilkie, will speak at a rally this morning organised by Stop Tasmanian Animal Cruelty, calling for a ban on live animal exports. “The footage aired last Sunday on 60 Minutes quite rightfully shocked Australia,” Mr Wilkie said. “But we shouldn’t be surprised because we’ve known for years about the systemic cruelty in the live animal export industry. In particular the worst offenders are these sheep ships travelling to the Middle East, on which animal fatalities are often way beyond government standards and records are routinely falsified …
Annika Schmidt* Pic: of Premier Will Hodgman from the Premier's website ...
13.04.18 7:15 am
Dear Mr Hodgman, I’m well aware of your dislike of answering emails, I’m just sending my views and facts ... I don’t require any answers. Better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than open it and tell the truth …
Abbott’s unconscionable coal coterie
Ted Mead* Pic*
13.04.18 6:30 am
A group of backbench MPs, calling themselves the Monash Forum. are currently pushing for the government to build a new coal-fired power station, but this is at odds with the prime minister and treasurer’s view that new coal power stations are not the answer to our future energy needs. So will this be the issue that sees the demise of Malcolm Turnbull …?
• UTAS Bike Fair 2018
• Minister refuses to release details of probe into polo pony deaths
• Kim Peart’s address to Northern Midlands Council
• The Briefing ... Harsher punishments for corporate wrongdoing
• Sickening bank behaviour shows need for broader probe
• What do we need? A royal commission into tax evasion now
• Sunday: 4th Hobart Language Day
• New York Times Opinion Today
• Live Exports: Scathing of politicians who keep supporting the trade
• The Nib: Wedding Weirdness
• Labor and Liberal must remain open-minded over calls to break up the banks
• 100 Day Plan: Family Violence Action Plan evaluation under way
• Farewell Event – Au Revoir to Bertrand Cadart (former Mayor GSBC)
• Josh Frydenberg must settle on recycling solution at upcoming Meeting of Environment Ministers
• Guardian Brit: Labour would rip up definition of affordable housing, Corbyn says
• Hodgman must go back to the drawing board on short-term accommodation
• Guardian Oz: Lib MP introduces bill to ban live exports ...
• Young local artist finds support through innovative new employment program
• Standing together for quality aged care. Rally today Noon, Parliament lawns, Hobart ...
• Crikey Worm ... for early birds
• The health of Australia’s mums and bubs varies by where they live
New York Review of Books: Will Trump talk to Kim?
Best things to do on a day trip from Queenstown or Wanaka – Cardrona Valley
Hon. Mr Wilkie, is there any meaningful progress on your insightful demand for a ‘Mental Health Crisis Summit’…
