Planning Democracy will be holding a Pre-Election Forum for community groups on Saturday 8 October 2pm at the Ashburton Library, 154 High Street Ashburton. Full details are in the attached leaflet. Please feel free to forward the leaflet to your friends, family, and networks, and I hope to see you there.
Other local Pre-Election Forums that have been brought to my attention are – 
Video of debate facebook
All Labor and Liberal members voted down this simple but inspiring and compassionate motion. It was like watching people walk past a person trying to help someone bleeding on the road after a traffic accident, saying that maybe the bleeding had gone on 'long enough' but it wasn't up to them to help.
Yesterday I became aware of the terrifying circumstance where the Nordstream1 and Nordstream2 pipelines has been sabotaged by huge explosions, soon after the time when US helicopters were reportedly in the area.[1]
Entitled, "Growing Regional Victoria," the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry is pushing yet more growth in infrastructure and housing on regional Victoria, with the accompanying short-term jobs and destruction of environment, space, and biodiversity. Anyone travelling through regional Victoria (and almost any Australian state) will notice the drab housing estates with their ever meaner lots and devegetated surrounds, wedging miscellaneous drifts of precarious humans desperate for accommodation
Kevork Almassian does not agree with laws forcing women to cover their heads, in Iran, Saudi Arabia, or anywhere else. He thinks Iran should not have these laws, but he thinks that western media publicity for these protests is done because they don't like Iranian foreign policy, not because they care about women's rights. And we should think of why that is.
On his 27 September 22, program, Tucker also points out that a new pipeline from Norway has just opened as Nordstream 1 and 2 have been sabotaged. The US elites seem to be utterly sociopathic.This important document on youtube video has predictably since been replaced by a Hindi cartoon, but fortunately rumble.com is now carrying a copy, which underlines, again, the importance of the internet diversifying from youtube, and facebook etc. If you have problems viewing this, due to censorship, use TOR browser.
Community opposition to the secret deal of AUKUS, dropped on the Australian people one year ago, is evidenced by this petition being tabled today in the Senate by Senator Jordon Steele-John signed by almost 27,000 Australians.
Opposition to AUKUS is also evidenced by the public statement signed by over 1000 people, advertised over the past week in The Saturday Paper and The Weekend Australian.
Any new inquiry into Australia’s migration program needs to assess the full costs and benefits of population growth, especially the costs to our environment and the risks of collapse. I wish I had a dollar for every pro-population-increase article I have read that begins by telling the reader that Australia is a nation of immigrants, with some 25% born overseas and about 50% with at least one parent born overseas.
This interview actually gets to the nub of why Julian Assange (and David McBride) are being persecuted and why most Australians and the mainstream press have almost no idea of what is going on. McBride , who is a professional soldier and lawyer, and served in Afghanistan, lends credibility to John Shipton's explosive analysis.
Update, 5pm Wed 28 Sep 2022: See report on Adelaide protest.
This clear and passionate speech goes to the heart of why it is so vital that we all - especially PM Albanese - stand up for Julian Assange. If we want to be free, we need to free Assange. Lorine (or Anita) is the effective convenor of the Friday Night Flinders St Station Vigil for Julian Assange. She has been doing this for years now, in all weather, and has built up a regular crew of speakers and poster-bearers. She is a real Australian hero.
12pm Wednesday 27 September Frank Pangallo MLC will put a motion for Julian Assange (or see
A ceasefire is critical to avert the possible use of nuclear weapons and an escalation of the war. A ceasefire will enable negotiations for a security solution, to address the needs of all parties. A ceasefire will help provide a pathway to peace for the people of the region
At a protest for Julian Assange, which commenced outside the Victorian State Library at 12:00pm on Sunday 28 September, protestors demanded that the Australian government use the power vested in it as a sovereign national government to make British Prime Minister Liz Truss end the illegal imprisonment and torture of Julian Assange.
This article elaborates 8 reasons why Australia should not hitch its wagon to the US war-machine. The author, John Menadue, has a multi-author website called Pearls and Irritations, which contains many excellent articles on public policy. Menadue has a long political history and was private secretary to Whitlam.
The Defence Strategic Review must warn Minister Marles about the dangerous path he is committing Australia to. Does he understand the risks?
Seven electricians had their contractor licences revoked by NSW Fair Trading after investigations found they signed and submitted compliance certificates (CCEWs) for solar panel installations despite not having carried out, supervised, or inspected the installations themselves. Six of the electricians were either overseas or interstate on the dates listed on the certificates. The seventh contractor was in Sydney instead of at the job sites in regional New South Wales.
You can help build the protest by printing and distributing the A5 leaflet from which this article was adapted (front page PDF, back page PDF, instructions a
This article is about a groundbreaking investigation from the Dept of Mathematics, University of Australia, into the activity of bots in driving social attitudes to the Ukrainian war. It finds that pro-Ukraine bots dominate social media.
The public health measures that have worked so well in China should not be lightly dismissed.
In May and June of 2022 two milestones were passed in the world’s battle with Covid and were widely noted in the press, one in the U.S. and one in China. They invite a comparison between the two countries and their approach to combatting Covid-19.
The meeting showed huge community concern over our deteriorating living conditions and what the future holds. There are many community groups with detailed knowledge of the mechanisms and laws around what is happening in their various specific trouble spots. These people are community-minded, dedicated, and well informed.
Putin: "Europe is about to throw its achievements in building up its manufacturing capability, the quality of life of its people and socioeconomic stability into the sanctions furnace, depleting its potential, as directed by Washington for the sake of the infamous Euro-Atlantic unity.
“About one in 25 Australian homes are at high risk of becoming effectively uninsurable by 2030, according to a new Climate Council report based on analysis by a climate risk assessment group (ABC, 2022).” (Dr Peng Yew Wong, RMIT School of Property.)
Cost-of-living putting Australians at risk: A new survey shows 40% of Australians report cost-of-living and personal debt is causing them elevated distress compared with this time last year – while frontline services rank it the biggest risk to suicide rates - as the country awaits news of another interest rate increase later today (Tuesday 6/9/22).
Marion has a little lamb
His fleece is white as snow
And everywhere that Marion goes
That lamb is sure to go
This lamb whose name is Scruffy
Is really very lucky
He lost his mum before he was one
In fact before he got fluffy
Alone he cried whilst by her side
His Mum had now departed.
But he was found, now safe and sound
All wrapped up and sleeping.
Nils Melzer’s book about the persecution of Julian Assange – Nils Melzer, The Trial of Julian Assange, A story of persecution,[1] must be heeded, due to Melzer’s extraordinary position and status as an independent international investigator and legal expert in complaints of torture and ill-treatment, [2] which has given him access to details and documents not previously available. That is probably why it is hard to get the book in Australia.
Update 10 September: OfficeWorks no longer prints on the back side of an A4 sheet!? In just over a fortnight from today, at 12:00pm on Sunday 18 September, outside the Victorian State Library, 328 Swanston Street Melbourne, ther
Update, 28 Sep: 
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