(We) can do better

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, 28 Sep: More lies from your ABC. The title of an ABC story, published on 25 S

Title was South Australia's Parliament to debate Julian Assange's plight this coming Wednesday - Why won't Canberra? Update, Sun 6 Nov 2022: Parliament will be sitting Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this coming week.

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

https://rumble.com/embed/v1imdwt/?pub=10ptsz

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

The Federation University Branch of the NTEU has called a lunchtime protest this Thursday 1 Sept, 2022, to begin a campaign highlighting damage wrought by endless restructures, job cuts, and course cuts. Speakers will address the core issues of job security and mismanagement, protesting irrational and incoherent decisions, poor governance, poor student outcomes, and the undermining of regional communities. 

Australian Parliament, which sits next week from Monday 6 September, must be made, finally, to debate Julian Assange's fate. At the weekly vigil for Julian Assange outside Melbourne's Flinders Street Station in the evening of last Friday 26 August, James Sinnamon explained how, if Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to end its imprisonment of Julian Assange, he would almost certainly comply without delay, and Julian Assange would

The article below is an adaptation of a double-sided A4 leaflet (PDF attached below) which I handed out last night at a community meeting in Frankston, Victoria. The meeting was organised by Peta Murphy, the Federal Labor member for the local seat of Dunkley.

• Military Exercises further entrench us with the US and pitch us closer to war
• Northern Australia developing into a US military colony

The Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN) Media Release - For Immediate Release date - 20 August

Russian President Vladmir Putin and Turkish President Recep Erdogan held a four-hour meeting on August 5 in Sochi which may change the course of the Middle East, and end the US occupation of Syria.

Her Majesty the Queen is sitting on top of an explosive pile of stinking manure. Nils Melzer's book is like a bomb about to go off. How long can crooked judges and governments hide? How long can the mainstream press pretend that nothing's happening?