Environmental Anecdotes (Episode 5). The Franklin: One Chair Down

The chair lay smashed in tiny pieces on the floor. I'm not certain how many times I had smashed it against the filing cabinet. It was the cabinet in which we kept the Pedder files (on Lake Pedder). Fortunately this was before the age of the church's descent in to child abuse infamy since, if you referred, today, to the location in which you kept your Pedder files many would look at you askance. Then no-one blinked. My memory is that I wielded the chair twice, with considerable force, but others, no doubt motivated by their concern for my welfare, say it was more - all no doubt to demonstrate my undoubted virility. Five or six times, they say. Oh, yes you were really angry. Well justified! And it was a well made chair!

Environmental Anecdotes (Episode 4) The Franklin: A Federal Government Wedding Team from the SMH

THIS IS NOT A HISTORICAL RECORD. AS PER TRUMPIAN LOGIC, NO APOLOGIES MADE FOR ERRORS, EXAGGERATION, OMISSIONS, BAD TASTE OR MISREPRESENTATIONS. The call came to Bob Brown's office at the Davey St head office of the Wilderness Society (TWS). Or at least what purported to be the head office, since no part of the organisation's... Continue Reading →

Environmental Anecdotes (Episode 3) The Franklin Campaign: The Leaker – they came in the Dead of Night.

THIS IS NOT A HISTORICAL RECORD. AS PER TRUMPIAN LOGIC, NO APOLOGIES MADE FOR ERRORS, EXAGGERATION, OMISSIONS, BAD TASTE OR MISREPRESENTATIONS. The call came from Canberra. I'd spent a year there as National Liaison Officer (NLO) for the Wilderness Society (TWS). A grand title but little else. I had been lobbying politicians and the media... Continue Reading →

Environmental Anecdotes (Episode 2) The Franklin Campaign: The Law of the Land and other Legends in their own Lunchtimes

This is not a historical record. As per Trumpian logic, no apologies made for errors, exaggeration, omissions, bad taste or misrepresentations. For those with a humour deficit it's worth pointing out that satire and sarcasm are not to be taken seriously, especially when written about individuals. I well remember the day and a few others... Continue Reading →

A lie is better than the truth in our society

We increasingly live in an Orwellian age where speaking out can have a high cost. Historically that has also been true - we need only think of the Nazis, Stalinism, the Inquisition, Pol Pot. But Governments have never been more capable of monitoring our every move. Our employers monitor our Facebook posts. Every phone has a built in recording device. The premium on truth has never been higher. And nowhere more so than in politics and political parties. For the Greens, which claim higher standards, the challenge has never been greater. We need internal systems that promote honest discussion rather than suppressing them; that provide clear and independent complaints processes. We need to take the beam out of our own eye. Because blind loyalty is a curse for organisations, and one that leads to corruption and incompetence.

Why neither Richard Di Natale nor Left Renewal speak for me

Neither Richard Di Natale nor “Left Renewal” Speak for me.... Or many people in the Greens. The media has been full these last several weeks with stories about division in the Greens following the establishment of a faction called “Left Renewal” which claims to be about defending/renewing the left soul of the party. Scribes from... Continue Reading →

The Failure of Representative Politics

  Repudiating Representative Politics Replacing career politicians with citizen politicians If you start with the assumption that the worst possible person to whom one should give power is someone who is narcissistic, ambitious, arrogant and self-interested, and one would almost automatically disqualify from political office every single person who puts their hand up to be... Continue Reading →

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