Must Melbourne keep growing? Open Mike Public forum, Hawthorne June 14th

Here is one approach to democracy. I agree with this person in regard to his statements about corporations and banks, but I don't agree that this is predominately due to one race - as far as I can tell greed and lust for power is equally distributed amongst all races!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDLAUmqp8f4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

If a lot of people started to do this every time they saw a politician then the pollies might start to think about what they want people shouting about them in public. Maybe Abbott and co. think they can hold their heads high? If so, then this shouldn't bother them. If it does bother them, then perhaps they should re-think their actions as that would suggest that their actions are not in accord with their consciences?

If you are overweight, the probabilities of developing heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure increase significantly. Here are the top 10 obesity-related diseases. There now appears to be a strong link between obesity and pain. Studies show that obese people are much more likely to feel light to intense pain in many parts of the body. Pain is a symptom that is seen in many different diseases and can vary in severity. A number of associations between obesity and chronic pain have been displayed in previous studies, and therefore it can be expected that the presentation of obese patients with chronic pain will rise in accordance with the prevalence of obesity. Population size and communities can be pictured as organic systems, interacting and depending on each other. The pain of population obesity is clogging of arteries of roads and freeways, and public transport. Victoria is already showing signs of human overshoot. Hospitals are overcrowded, nurses of facing many threats from patients, fatal mistakes are made, ambulances are not able to cope with the emergencies. There are budget cuts, and housing is unaffordable. Homelessness, crime, unemployment, over-pressure on public services and overload of charities and not for profit organisations. Why exacerbate the problems when they are already overwhelming our leaders and administrators? Housing growth is seen as "economic growth", and has become an end in itself. We have politicians sitting in comfort, in their seats of privilege and power, checking the economic figures, and seeing "growth". Population growth does increase the GDP, and housing does bring in $millions in revenue, but they fail to see the pressure Victorians are under. Addiction is the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma. We have leaders enslaved to the economic growth model, in abstraction to the real world.

The debate of the year will be Monday 13th October 2014, in Deakin Edge, Federation Square from 5.30 to 7pm. We have Mary Drost to thank for this event. In the mean time, come to the SPA and Victoria First event on June 14th to network and gather information as well as providing your views so that they can be filmed and made a record.

Media Release of 2 June 2014 - “Must Melbourne Keep Growing?” While many people don't think that Melbourne's rapid population growth is a good thing, most think there's nothing that can be done about it, and simply shrug their shoulders and get on with life. But some community groups don't believe population growth is inevitable or unavoidable, and they want to give ordinary Melbourne residents the chance to have their say on the subject.  Sustainable Population Australia and Victoria First will be hosting a panel discussion with audience contributions about Melbourne's population future. This Panel discussion - “Must Melbourne Keep Growing?” - will be held on Saturday June 14 2014 at 2 pm at the Chandelier Room, Hawthorn Arts Centre, 360 Burwood Rd, Hawthorn. The Panel members will be: The Hon. Kelvin Thomson Federal MP and President of Victoria First ;  Clifford Hayes , Former Mayor, Bayside Council, and planning activist, Sheila Newman ,  Author and Editor candobetter.net; and William Bourke, President, Sustainable Population Party.  The event will be MC'd by Jill Quirk, President, Victorian and Tasmanian Branch, Sustainable Population Australia.   Jill Quirk comments: “The State Government’s projection of Melbourne’s population at 7.7 million by 2051, revised upwards from last year’s estimate of 6.5 million, means that Victorians now live in a climate of uncertainty as to what our city will be like to live in over coming decades. Apart from unwelcome higher density housing, high rise and infrastructure development to accommodate greater population and increasing volumes of traffic, many people are extremely worried about the future sustainability of what will be a huge city growing well beyond 2050,  possibly to 20 million by the end of the century."   Julianne Bell, VF Secretary, advises: "SPA and VF have chosen the municipality of Boroondara for the location of this meeting. Residents here are currently under siege from developers and are attempting to defend their heritage shopping centres and surrounding suburban areas from the cancer of high rise development. Attempts to accommodate Melbourne's increasing population over "shop tops" and in shopping precincts are being vigorously resisted by concerned residents and community groups. Boroondara Council now has before it Amendment C 108 to the Boroondara Planning Scheme concerning 31 "Neigbourhood Shopping Centres" and   "Commercial Corridors" and reports are that we can expect a vigorous debate on this topic!"   Each new population projection for Melbourne is bigger and more outrageous than the one before it. The latest says we'll get to 7.7 million by 2051! But it doesn't have to be that way. Come along and have your say. (Bipartisan support for big growth, and "big Australia", means that our growth is being treated as inevitable, and unavoidable, when it's government policy. Since John Howard's era as Prime Minister, immigration rates have been increasing, despite budget cuts, unemployment, congestion, unaffordable housing, debt, and the distraction of asylum seekers. Not everybody is fooled, and must be a way to move our economy from the dominance of the property lobby,and the aggressive and silencing tactics of the pro-growth lobby.) Contact: Kelvin Thomson MP Victoria First 93505777, Jill Quirk SPA 0409742927 or Julianne Bell Victoria First 0408022408

Sustainable Population Australia & Victoria First Media Release of 12 June 2014 - “Must Melbourne Keep Growing?” Most current discussion of Melbourne’s population growth gives the impression that its certain destiny is to be a city of nearly 8 million by mid-century. The population levels after that milestone are barely mentioned. It is certain, however, that if the population is allowed to reach just on 8 million then it could grow to twice that size by the end of the century. But some community groups don't believe population growth is inevitable or unavoidable and want to give ordinary Melbourne residents the chance to have their say on the subject. Sustainable Population Australia and Victoria First will be hosting a panel discussion with audience contributions about Melbourne's population future. A panel discussion - “Must Melbourne Keep Growing?” - will be held on Saturday June 14 2014 at 2 pm at the Chandelier Room, Hawthorn Arts Centre, 360 Burwood Rd, Hawthorn. The Panel members will be: The Hon. Kelvin Thomson Federal MP and President of Victoria First; Clifford Hayes, Former Mayor, Bayside City Council, and planning activist, Sheila Newman, Author and Editor candobetter.net; and William Bourke, President, Sustainable Population Party. The event will be MC'd by Jill Quirk, President, Victorian and Tasmanian Branch, Sustainable Population Australia. Jill Quirk comments: “The State Government’s projection of Melbourne’s population at 7.7 million by 2051, revised upwards from last year’s estimate of 6.5 million, means that Victorians now live in a climate of uncertainty as to what our city will be like to live in over coming decades. Apart from unwelcome higher density housing, high rise and infrastructure development to accommodate greater population and increasing volumes of traffic, many people are extremely worried about the future sustainability of what will be a huge city growing well beyond 2050, possibly to 20 million by the end of the century." Julianne Bell, VF Secretary, advises: "SPA and VF have chosen the municipality of Boroondara for the location of this meeting. Residents here are currently under siege from developers and are attempting to defend their heritage shopping centres and surrounding suburban areas from the cancer of high rise development. Attempts to accommodate Melbourne's increasing population over "shop tops" and in shopping precincts are being vigorously resisted by concerned residents and community groups. Boroondara Council now has before it Amendment C 108 to the Boroondara Planning Scheme concerning 31 "Neigbourhood Shopping Centres" and "Commercial Corridors". Each new population projection for Melbourne is bigger and more outrageous than the one before it. The latest says we'll get to 7.7 million by 2051! But it doesn't have to be that way. Melburnians have been invited to attend the panel discussion to have their say. Contact: Kelvin Thomson MP Victoria First 93505777, Jill Quirk SPA 0409742927 or Julianne Bell Victoria First 0408022408

What the poll below reflects is the public's absolute confusion about what constitutes immigration and how many immigrants there are. Much of the public believes (a) that most immigrants are refugees and (b) that the government is 'cracking down' on refugees in the form of asylum seekers. People are absolutely unaware of the HUGE volume of legal planned migration, 200,000, plus all the short termers, the students, the family reunion. Then there are the people who are aware of 457 visas and who are really upset by this policy of bringing in cheap labour, but not everyone is directly affected by this. If the Lowy Institute chose useful indicators, like objections to rising prices for fuel, power, food, water, housing and objections to expensive, intrusive infrastructure like tollways - which are all indicators of population growth - they would conclude that almost 100% of people (perhaps with the exception of Mr Lowy himself and a few billionaire developers and bankers) do not want more population growth and would not want more immigration if they realised that immigration formed 60% of population growth in Australia. The Lowy Institute promotes itself as a think tank, but I think it is just a brainwashing organisation promoting population growth and nuclear power for the commercial ends of its benefactor. 2014 Lowy Institute Poll: http://www.lowyinstitute.org/publications/lowy-institute-poll-2014 From summary: Population and immigration "Most Australians (76%) believe the best target population for Australia in the next 40 years is 30 million people or more. More than a third choose a population target of 40 million or more people, while only 4% say Australia’s population should be smaller than it is now. Asked about current migration levels, just less than half the population say it is ‘about right’, while 37% say that the number of migrants coming to Australia each year is too high. For those 37%, concern about migration is squarely focused on jobs."