democracy alert

Today Australian Federal Parliament voted down Independent Senator David Pocock's motion to establish a Select Committee on Population Impacts to inquire into the effect of population growth and management in Australia. Pocock has a background in sustainable agriculture and sport.  Consider lobbying your member of Federal Parliament to help him move the motion again.

In housing markets today, the rise of rent-to-buy schemes purports to offer new opportunities for potential homeowners. These schemes portray an apparently promising pathway for the many individuals who cannot qualify for traditional mortgages in Australia's outrageously overpriced market, allowing them to rent a property with the option to purchase it later.

For years, World BEYOND War and other peace groups from around the world had been attending peace conferences in Cuba. When I visited Cuba this past January it was with a visa for that purpose. I published the remarks I made at the conference. We shouted as loudly as we could about January’s conference in websites, social media, emails, and media interviews. The notion that there could be anything wrong with it — or that some institution could punish us for it — never entered our minds.

I wrote to Sydney Water in 2021 on this [predictable] looming vital shortage, but received no response at all from Sydney Water, despite their promotion of themselves as concerned about sustainable water use and costs. The letter is published below.  The response was nil; complete disinterest.  Read into that what you will.

"Down Under Reform" on Facebook has issued a challenge.

There is another protest in Sydney for Zero Immigration Until Housing Affordability is Restored on Saturday 12 July at Sydney Town Hall - see Facebook event. 

All Australian mainstream media outlets push the idea that we must have rapid population growth in Australia and that this must be sourced by increasing rates of immigration. Whilst the mass media never shuts up about this, they are very repressive about any contrary opinion, although people are really angry about the increasingly obvious costs in all this, and they seek ways to express themselves.

Non è solo in Victoria, o nel NSW, o in Australia Meridionale, o in Australia Occidentale, o nel Territorio del Nord. I Centri di Attività e la densificazione vengono spinti in ogni parte dell'Australia. E la decentralizzazione non è la risposta; anche le città di campagna sono costrette ad accogliere nuovi insediamenti densi. E non siamo solo noi umani a essere colpiti.

It is not just in Victoria, or NSW, or South Australia, or West Australia, or the Northern Territory. Activity Centres and densification are being pushed in every part of Australia.  And decentralisation is not the answer either; country towns are being forced to accommodate dense new settlements too. And it's not just we humans who are impacted.  Dogs are flooding animal shelters because their owners can no longer afford space or food to keep them.  Horses cannot find paddocks.

Paul Edbrook, State Labor MP for Frankston, has repeatedly failed to respond usefully to complaints from constituents regarding the forced accommodation of a Metropolitan Activity Centre under the increasingly authoritarian regime of Premier Jacinta Allan's Victorian Government. Inside this article, we have published two complaint letters, along with the negligent and empty responses from Mr. Edbrook or his staff, despite the great importance of the matter.

Exercising his independence since leaving the Liberal Party,  Senator Rennick, (People First Party) lambasted the Libs and Labs as 'not serious' about pressing problems like the high cost of living, housing challenges, energy issues, and excessive immigration, but only 'serious about getting more power.' He criticised new censorship legislation, calling for less intrusion into people's personal lives and freedoms.

Venue: Camberwell Historical Society Meeting 25 February 2025 7.30pm. Speaker Michael Buxton, "Camberwell: Urban Planning and Heritage Protection." 25 Inglesby Road, Camberwell 3124. RSVP by Monday 24 February 2025.  [email protected] or George Fernando 0448296258. Camberwell is one of the State Government’s proposed Activity Centres. The suburb of Camberwell developed in the 1880s.

Join Kingston Residents Association, Mordialloc-Beaumaris Conservation League and Environment Victoria to protest at the Level Crossing Removal Project (LXRP) clearing remnant endangered highly significant Coast Banksia Woodland on Council’s Groves Reserve in Aspendale. Please see our latest update on this in the post below.

For the past few days, ABC Melbourne has been creating a talkback fest to make-believe the electorate is looking happily forward to having this city blown up and out beyond recognition and beyond their control.  I've received a plethora of emails and phone calls indicating the exact opposite.

6.30pm Feb 6, 2025, at Seaford Community Centre: Talbot Hall or (depending on the weather) in the shade on the lawn between the Hall and the Creek. Public meeting to discuss the future of Kananook Creek Corridor planning. Please join us in attending to show your support for the Kananook Creek Association (KCA). FCC has dissolved the Kananook Creek Governance Group without consultation.

A Prohibition Act passed 20 years ago stands as NT parliament's legal opposition to plans to dump nuclear waste in the NT. It simply prohibits handling, transport and storage of long-lived intermediate-level and high-level nuclear wastes (materials which are only found in the form of spent reactor fuel).

The Frankston Beach Association has expressed deep disappointment in Frankston City Council’s decision to discontinue the Kananook Creek Governance Group, saying that this decision, made by the new Council on Monday, 2 December 2024, reflects a concerning lack of transparency and consultation. 

Click on the image to read Report No. 46. 

Click on the image to read Report No. 45.

Announced examination of Australia Submarine Agency shows cracks in AUKUS; Nearly half of Australian voters support a review of AUKUS and nuclear sub acquisition; USA not building submarines fast enough to meet their own needs, let alone Australia’s; USA preference is to base 'their' nuclear attack submarines in our ports

The four former colleagues gathered at a suburban Italian restaurant for one of their regular "catch ups.” But were they really catching up?  They had not worked together for about fifteen years but, possibly through habit or email mailing list accident, had still kept in touch.  Only one still worked in the same clinical profession that had brought them together. 

Short simple video gives a good overview.

Nature conservation groups are questioning the motives behind the Victorian Government’s “comprehensive” review of Parks Victoria. The move is raising concerns about the future of Victoria’s popular national parks and reserves, whose integrity is vital for both nature conservation and community wellbeing. Environment Minister Steve Dimopoulos 

If the Electoral Legislation Amendment (Electoral Reform) Bill 2024 makes it into law, we may never get rid of the Lib/Lab duopoly and real independents and new parties won't ever make it into government. The Bill is currently at its third reading and in the Senate - which means there is not much time.

"The Victorian government is preparing Plan for Victoria – a strategic framework for the whole state – while it simultaneously rolls out the most radical program of planning system reforms in thirty years. This report summarises the publicly available information on both, adds analysis and commentary, and offers constructive feedback in the form of positive propositions.