Posted on by Reflections of an Untidy Mind

The Choice

Australia — Stop Adani.  No coal.

So often novelist, Richard Flanagan, speaks for me on matters close to my heart.  He is spot on when he says the fight to stop the Adani Carmichael mine is not just about Adani.  (Read Richard Flanagan’s speech to the Stop Adani rally by clicking on the above link.)

The Adani mine infrastructure is needed to make other prospective mines in Galilee basin viable.  Political power broker, Clive Palmer, also has mining interests in the Galilee basin.  Mr Palmer’s political party, United Australia Party. has just signed a deal to direct preferences to the Liberal and National parties.  The tag line for the United Australia Party is “Make Australia Great”.  Seriously!  In addition, the family of Matt Canavan, the Minister for Resources in the Morrison Government, also has interests in the Australian coal industry.

Several years ago, I attended an event where the Australian Council of Trade Unions had an information and merchandise stand.  They were selling T-Shirts advocating for wind power.  I remarked to the woman on the stand that there was an inconsistency between what she was selling and the views of then leader of the Australian Workers Union (AWU), who was concerned about the how the shift to renewable energy would affect his members.  She said to me that the AWU does not represent the views of her union or the union movement as a whole.  The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (rivals to the AWU), has recently been applying pressure to the Australian Labor Party to support the Carmichael mine.  It should be noted that the PM-in-waiting, Mr Bill Shorten, was once head of the AWU.

Do I need to remind Mr Shorten and his party that the AWU and the CFMEU do not represent the views of the entire Australian labor movement?  Voters, if you come across representatives of the ALP door-knocking, remind them of this and send them a strong message that the Adani coal mine must be stopped and our environmental legislation amended immediately to ensure that the carbon footprint impact of projects is taken into account.  Carbon neutrality must be a minimum for project approval. Read more

Posted on by Reflections of an Untidy Mind

The Changing Seasons – April 2019

Take me to the April sun in Canberra (pronounced Canbra).  In the words of George Eliot:

“Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.”

Daylight savings has ended. so we sleep in another hour.

sleeping

Read more

Posted on by Reflections of an Untidy Mind

Lens-Artists Challenge – Less Is More

This week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge is hosted by Amy.  Her chosen theme is “less is more“.  Amy’s inspiration for this theme is a quote by Antoine de Saint-Exupery:

“A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” 

Now that is a very intriguing notion to me, because it seems to me that there is nothing more perfect than nature’s design. Read more

Posted on by Reflections of an Untidy Mind

Dangerous Liaisons?

Hello Groovers, I was going to start with a joke about how I’ve been hanging out in a hotbed of radicalism, but that doesn’t seem very appropriate now.  So instead, I will tell you about how lovely it was to spend last weekend at the National Folk Festival (Canberra) with many people of goodwill.  Admittedly we were a little cranky given the political times/blame games, but we took our frustrations out in peaceful and creative ways, such as through humour, verse and songs of kindness.  Here’s how it goes. Read more

Posted on by Reflections of an Untidy Mind

A Prayer For Those Lost To Terror

My thoughts are with the good people of Sri Lanka as you mourn the loss of many lives to terror and ignorance.  I am sorry for your loss.  May God give you the strength to respond to violence not with more violence, but with peace.

Kind Regards
Tracy.

Posted on by Reflections of an Untidy Mind

We Won’t Fade Away

 

A post for the environmentally-conscious and chocolate-mad.

chocolate

Ladies and gentlemen, I’ve got Friday on my mind.  I’ve been waiting for this event all year.  For many years it has kept me going — my National Folk Festival.  It is a magnet for extremists.  I say extremists because that is the language that is now being used by some leaders to describe the environmentally and socially-conscious. In the wake of the Christchurch terrorist attack, you would think that our leaders would have learned that scare-mongering can have dire repercussions.  It legitimises the warped views of those who would seek to achieve their aims through violent action.  It is the responsibility of our leaders not to characterise peaceful, concerned citizens as extremists.  Instead, let’s have a reasoned debate on solutions given the evidence.  In other words, let’s have some evidence-based policy making without the histrionics, and then we can vote on it. Read more

Posted on by Reflections of an Untidy Mind

All My Trials – Fynnie Chows Down

Warning:  this post contains many exclamation marks.

It’s hard to be serious about blogging, ladies and gentlemen, when the sun is shining brightly.  So yes, I am still procrastinating.  This is not my promised “dear-to-my heart” post, but rather my “fear-to-my-heart” post.  When my adrenaline levels peak, I have my werewolves in London moment.  I start writing very bad rhyming poetry.  It’s insane.  Thankfully the urge soon passes.  Anyway, here’s the first line –

On a bright and sunny day, Fynnie dog went out to play. Read more

Posted on by Reflections of an Untidy Mind

Two Kinds Of Music

I am having trouble organising/articulating my thoughts for my previously flagged “dear-to-my-heart” post.  When I write about serious issues, I like to think that I don’t talk crap – that my discussion is well considered (you can retire the girl from policy analysis but you can’t take the policy analyst out of the girl).  So, I have been doing some research and this has taken me down some holes that require, upon emerging, a full body scrub and several showers to feel clean again.

Anyway, this is not said post.  It is a link to a short TED talk from ex-shearer and award-winning West Australian C&W singer, Pete Byfield.  I caught a performance by Pete at a country market.

Read more