 |
https://tallyroom.aec.gov.au/HousePartyRepresentationLeading-27966.htm Click on image to enlarge |
Tuesday 31 May 2022
Grafton Midday Rotary Book Sale 8.30am Friday 3 to 6pm Saturday 4 June 2022 at Criterion Theatre
Clarence Valley Independent, 25 May 2022:
Grafton Midday Rotary is staging the next Book Sale June 3-4, fittingly, at the Criterion Theatre.
Book Sale coordinator, Grafton Midday Rotarian Peter Robinson said, “The book sale will run from Friday 8.30am to 6pm and Saturday 8am to 1pm.”
“We are planning a giant book sale! We were deluged with lots of new books during the Covid book sale suspensions, so there will be lots of opportunities to discover that book which is something special. And fresh stock will be added throughout the sale so there will be good chances to pick up books of interest over the two-day sale.”
“Prices have not changed: still $10 a shopping bag, and children’s books are Free.”
“With find that children simply love to go through the children’s section. They are often inspired to become book lovers and avid readers.”
“With Covid 19 in mind, masks are encouraged, especially if people feel safer that way, but are not compulsory.”
“A wet winter is coming up, so the book sale is a great time for book lovers, young and old, to stock up on some relatively new but preloved books as well as some well-worn tomes.”
The Grafton Midday Rotary book sale aims to promote literacy and to raise funds to support the local community.
Monday 30 May 2022
Meet the brand new Northern Rivers Member of the NSW Legislative Council, Sue Higginson
Echo, 27 May 2022:
As a brand new MLC, Sue Higginson’s first week in the NSW Upper House has been huge but she says it’s a taste of things to come.
Higginson was sworn in on May 12 and made her First Speech on Tuesday last week. Two days later, she voted after the Upper House spent 10 hours debating amendments to the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill, before a final vote of support 23 to 15. ‘I came in at the very end, basically, but my vote helped and supported and counted for voluntary assisted dying becoming law in New South Wales.’…..
Our endangered furry buddy
 |
| A precious tree faerie. Photo Tree Faerie. |
Higginson believes that the recent classification of the status of koalas to endangered will add leverage in the fight to save forests. ‘It has to. Having our national icon listed as endangered – only a step away from extinction – the science is on the table and the evidence is there. There is the legal acknowledgement that we are at the end of the road for koalas.
‘If we don’t pull out all the stops and do everything we can, we know what that means. We have to protect koalas where they live and their habitat right now. Part of that is our public native forests. And we’re still logging the crap out of them. We’ve got to stop.’……..
Sue Higginson MLC at Lismore’s Trees Not Bombs Community Recovery Café. ‘I’ve got five years. I’m a mature woman – I’m a mature woman on fire and I’ve got nothing to lose. I’ve got a five year plan.’ Photo Tree Faerie.
Now that she has taken her seat in the New South Wales Upper House she will be there for five years and Higginson is on a mission. ‘I’ve got five years. I’m a mature woman – I’m a mature woman on fire and I’ve got nothing to lose. I’ve got a five year plan and that plan is about improving action on climate and it is to protect our native forests once and for all. It’s to try to stop the absurdity of the extinction crisis and to level up the playing field in this inequality crisis that we experience, and all the things that that means.
‘And of course, fundamentally, it’s New South Wales’ turn to start working on First Nations justice properly,’ she said.
‘Seriously – truth, treaty and voice – we need to do that at the New South Wales level, and we need to do that at the Commonwealth level. That’s massive for me.’
Read the full article here.
Sue Higginson’s official biography at https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/members/Pages/Member-details.aspx?pk=2268
Sue is an environmental law expert and has practiced as a public interest environmental lawyer. She is the former Principal Solicitor and CEO of the Environmental Defenders Office, Australia's leading public interest environmental law centre.
Sue has been responsible for high profile environmental litigation in Australia. She has represented communities challenging mining giants, proponents of environmentally harmful development and holding Governments to account for the environment. She has delivered environmental legal services to rural, remote and regional communities and First Nations communities across NSW.
Sue has operated her own legal practice where in addition to her environmental legal practice, she assisted environmental protestors who came into contact with the criminal justice system as a result of their activities to protect the environment. She has represented hundreds of people in relation to forestry, mining and coal seam gas and climate change protests in courts across Australia.
Sue has lectured and taught environmental law in universities across NSW. She holds a Bachelor of Laws, with First Class Honours and was awarded the University Medal upon graduation.
Sue has sat on a number of Boards of not for profit charitable environmental organisations in Australia where she advised on governance and compliance.
Sue is a farmer, she grows dry land rice, and other crops, with her partner on their farm on the Richmond Floodplain in the Northern Rivers. Central to her farming practice is biodiversity management and conservation. Her farm is home to koalas, where she has planted thousands of trees to try to secure their future.
Ms. Higginson's term of service in the NSW Upper House expires on 5 March 2027, when hopefully she will consider standing for re-election.
Sunday 29 May 2022
National Reconciliation Week 2022 is happening 27 May - 3 June 2022
 |
The National Reconciliation Week 2022 theme, “Be Brave. Make Change.” is a challenge to all Australians— individuals, families, communities, organisations and government—to Be Brave and tackle the unfinished business of reconciliation so we can Make Change for the benefit of all Australians.
Last year Reconciliation Australia encouraged all Australians to take action; not just in National Reconciliation Week but every week of the year.
We saw unprecedented response to our suggested actions for everyday and for braver action.
This year we are asking everyone to make change beginning with brave actions in their daily lives – where they live, work, play and socialise.
National Reconciliation Week—27 May to 3 June—is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia.
Find out more about National Reconciliation Week #NRW2022 #BeBraveMakeChange
Source: https://nrw.reconciliation.org.au/
WHY WE LOST GOVERNMENT BY FORMER AUSTRALIAN LIBERAL PM MORRISON & FORMER NATIONALS DEPUTY PM JOYCE: eight successful female Independents ran "very vicious and very brutal" campaigns and an intellectually lightweight national electorate "just wanted to change the curtains"
Successful metropolitan Independents.
Top row left to right: successful incumbent Independent MP for Warringah (NSW) Zali Steggal, incoming Independent MP for North Sydney (NSW) Kylea Tink, & incoming Independent MP for Mackellar (NSW) Sophie Scamps.
Bottom row left to right: incoming Independent MP for Wentworth (NSW) Allegra Spender, incoming Independent MP for Kooyong (Vic) Monique Ryan, incoming Independent MP for Goldstein (Vic) Zoe Daniel.
IMAGE: The Guardian, 23 May 2022
Left to right: successful incumbent Independent MP for rural Indi (Vic) Helen Haines & incoming Independent MP for metropolitan Curtin (WA) Kate Chaney.
IMAGES: helenhaines.org & ABC News, 26 May 2022
IMAGE: ABC News, 25 May 2022
The first eight of these nine Independent female candidates at the 21 March 2021 federal general election were frequently referred to as "teal candidates". A soubriquet initially arising from the dominant colour of Zali Steggal's how-to-vote electoral material and, a tag which was adopted by right-wing media and political commentators in an attempt to overtly label these candidates as an ersatz politically aligned group. Faced with the absurdities being woven around the term, "teal candidates", Independent campaign teams seemingly decided to turn the term back on their critics and to successfully use it to their own advantage.
As is typical of both the Liberal MP for Cook Scott Morrison and Nationals MP for New England Barnaby Joyce, neither politician was willing to admit that the fault for the Coalition's loss at the 21 March 2022 federal election lay within the Liberal and National parliamentary parties - as well as with their own poor performance in the respective leadership roles of prime minister and deputy prime minister.
It was not a surprise to see the language used by both men had more than a tinge of resentful chauvinism.
The Canberra Times, 27 May 2022, p.10:
Scott Morrison has claimed his devastating election loss was simply Australians wanting to "change the curtains", and accused the teal independents of running "very vicious and very brutal" campaigns.
The former prime minister has also refused to be drawn on the future direction of the Liberal Party, facing a reckoning after its moderate wing was decimated at Saturday's poll.
Speaking to 2GB on Thursday, his first post-election interview, Mr Morrison said he was "going back to being a quiet Australian".
He claimed the "trauma" of two pandemic-ridden years explained the party's worst result in 70 years.
"It's been incredibly tough, and I can understand that," he said.
"After all of that, as Barnaby [Joyce] said to me the other day, sometimes people like to change the curtains. They just like to change the curtains."
The Liberals' moderate faction was decimated as teal independents won previously-blue ribbon seats, including Kooyong, held by former treasurer and presumed future leadership contender Josh Frydenberg.
Dave Sharma, who lost Wentworth on Sydney's eastern suburbs, has claimed the leader's personal unpopularity had damaged his chances, a view relayed by other moderate MPs privately.
Mr Morrison said whether his personal unpopularity had hurt the Liberals in inner-city seats was a matter for the party to work through, but attributed the teal movement's success to simply promising "to change everything".
"They were very vicious and very brutal campaigns, talking to my colleagues about them. They played things very hard on the ground," he said.
"Anyway, that's politics; it can be a tough and brutal business."
Mr Morrison said he was "devastated" by Mr Frydenberg's loss, describing the former treasurer as a "huge part of the party's future".
In Mr Frydenberg's absence, conservative Peter Dutton is expected to be elected Liberal leader unopposed on Monday.
Saturday's results included a surge for the Greens in both houses, and independents promising stronger action on climate action, a federal anti-corruption commission, and better treatment of women…..
While Morrison may focus on a handful of highly visible House of Representatives candidates when accounting for his demise and Joyce on what he sees as the fickleness of the national electorate, the fact of the matter is that a majority of voters across Australia numbered their Lower House ballot paper preferences in the hope of ridding themselves of what these two particular men represented.
That majority doesn't just live in those eight comfortable to affluent metropolitan electorates or in the 15 other electorates where like-minded Independent candidates ran - it comes from all walks of life, every economic circumstance and cultural perspective.
Something all re-elected and newly-minted federal politicians would do well to remember during the next three years.
Saturday 28 May 2022
Quote of the Week
'Today one MP with a talent for inflammatory language told News Corp Australia the beaten prime minister Scott Morrison should have resigned months ago, but instead “strapped himself to the Liberal Party like a suicide bomber and blew the whole show up”.'
[Political journalist Sam Clench, news.com.au, 23 May 2022]
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
