ANZAC Day 2011

Today is ANZAC Day. ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corp. It is a day when we Australians, and New Zealanders, commemorate:

• the ANZAC landing at Gallipoli Peninsula on 25-April-1915, and the heroic failure that ensued. ‘ANZAC’ initially meant a soldier who had landed & fought at Gallipoli.
• the various meanings of war, sacrifice, mateship, larrikinism, loyalty, bravery

During and after WWII, it became a day to remember all Australians who fought & died in wars, peace-keeping and police actions: the Boer war, WWI, including WWII, the police action in Malaysia, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and from all the services.

It is a commemoration: a public display of individual, group and society’s remembrance and respect.
This year, a relative of mine who has marched in Sydney for years, will not march. He is not well enough. He will watch it, and look for his mates on, the ABC’s TV coverage. I rang him yesterday to wish him a good day.

Ode to the Fallen (‘the Ode’)

(from ‘For the Fallen, by Laurence Binyon)

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.

Lest We Forget.

John

The Clubs Fight Back

This week, the Hotel and Clubs industries fight back against the introduction of measures to limit poker machine use. The measures would have poker machine gamblers nominate an amount they are prepared to lose. There are few who benefit directly from the profits: pubs, clubs, the State Government. Individual Hotels, Clubs and their Industry Associations make political donations to the major parties.

New NSW Liberal Premier Barry O’Farrell has come out in support of the Pubs and Clubs in their fight with the Federal (Labor) Government. It is appropriate to ask some questions:

• How much did the pubs, clubs, their industry associations, and their lobbyists donate to the Liberal & National Parties in NSW before the election? (this will be available at a later date from the Electoral Commission, but it requires some work to determine lobbyists affiliations)
• Mr O’Farrell seems to have issued a press release, but then has not been available for questioning. Why?
• How much does the State Government stand to benefit over the next 4 years from poker machine taxes?
• Does Mr O’Farrell believe all pubs and clubs conform to the Responsible Service of gambling?

John

What Price A Child's Life?

There were two news stories about the murder of two children this week. Yet the results of investigations are very, very different.



West Gate Bridge
Source: National Archives of Australia

 On 29 January 2009, 4-year-old Darcey Freeman died after being dropped 58m from Melbourne's West Gate Bridge. A lengthy police investigation, prosecution preparation and trial led to the conviction of Arthur Phillip Freeman of murder. He had been involved in a custody battle with his former wife, and, shortly before Darcey was dropped from the bridge, he rang her and said "say goodbye to your children". Darcey's 6yo and 2yo brothers saw him drop Darcey from the top of the bridge. Despite being recovered by people below, Darcey later died. Arthur Phillip Freeman was sentenced to life in prison, with a 32 year non-parole period.

In sentencing Freeman, Justice Paul Coghlan said  "Your crime is a most fundamental breach of trust and it is an attack on the institution of the family which is so dear to the community"

Also last week, NT Coroner Greg Cavanagh criticised Northern Territory Police for their lack of investigation of the drowning of an 8yo aboriginal boy in 2009. The boy had been weighted down with rocks in his shorts, and drowned in a waterhole. The case has now been referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions after he found a crime had been committed. Police were criticised for: being too quick to dismiss the death as accidental; not protecting and keeping the rocks; not making measurements of, and photographing or keeping other physical evidence; a beer can was not tested for DNA for months after the discovery (the DNA reportedly belongs to a person on remand for child sex offences); the waterhole was not drained and searched; evidence (a pornographic magazine and a singlet) was dismissed as unimportant without being tested. The list goes on.

Any unlawful death hurts society. The killing of a child is especially painful for family, and society. In the Melbourne, Victorian, case, police conducted an investigation which led to trial, and conviction. In the other, it is hard not to conclude that the death of an aboriginal child was deemed not worthy of rigorous investigation by the investigating police. Our society has been hurt twice by this case: once that a child has been killed; and again because the police we trust apparently did not do their job properly.

John

Australia Day 2011

Today is a public holiday, Australia Day. It's a day when we Aussies:

• celebrate being Australian
• remember the arrival of 11 convict ships, on 26-January-1788,  under the command of Arthur Philip.
• recognise the achievements of many Australians, at National, State, and local levels. Significant numbers are receive Australia Day Awards. The official Australia Day Awards. There are also Australia Day honours. We often refer to them irreverently as "gongs", as in "She/He got a gong for ..."
• have a BBQ with mates, or go to a cricket match (involving Australians vs an international team) in a one-day game.
• we welcome people from overseas who have chosen to become Australian citizens.

But our society is not perfect. Politicians, of both sides, continue to develop politically-expedient policy, rather than good public policy. On occasions they act unethically, even if not unlawfully. Perhaps the most recent example is the suspension (proroguing) of NSW Parliament in December. An election is due in late March, but it is widely viewed as an attempt to hinder or stop a Parliamentary Inquiry into the sale of NSW electricity supply and generation companies. We need to tell our politicians that we require higher standards of behaviour from them. We have groups of people whose purpose is to marginalise, or intimidate other people: there are Asian and Middle-eastern gangs; criminal motorcycle organisations; organised crime (think of the Underbelly series about both Melbourne & Sydney); far right wing, neo-nazi, racist groups. We still have poor & disadvantaged people in our towns and cities, and in remote areas of Australia, whose welfare and health are similarly below the national standards.

Australia Day is a time when we are proud of our achievements, recognise particular individuals, and encourage and show our mateship. I hope we also vow to work for an even better Australia. Goodonya! I'm off to watch the cricket (Australia vs the Pommies. we lead 3-0 in a best of 7-game series)

John

Mary Mackillop - Australia's Saint-In-Waiting

"Looking for something
We can rely on
There's gotta be something better out there
Love and compassion
Their day is coming
All else are castles built in the air
And I wonder when we are ever going to change
Living under the fear till nothing else remains"

So sang Tina Turner in "We Don't Need another Hero"

We have found something today: Blessed Mary Mackillop, founder of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, has had a second miracle confirmed by the Vatican. She will be confirmed as Australia's first saint sometime in 2010.

You can find more information about Mary Mackillop, and the order she founded at:
http://www.southaustralianhistory.com.au/mackillop.htm
http://www.marymackillopplace.org.au/museum/education_resources.asp
http://www.sosj.org.au/about/index.html

"We don't need another hero": politician, environmentalist, or any other. Mary Mackillop acted on her motto "Never see a need without doing something about it". She worked for the poor, the disadvantaged, the isolated. She was concerned with human dignity, not redistributing wealth to the wealthy, not avoiding taxes, not drugs and parties and "celebrities". Mary Mackillop was concerned about people, and did something about it.

What about you?? You could help with a charitable donation. Choose your favorite charity; see your local church, synagogue, mosque, temple; or checkout the following websites.

http://www.vinnies.org.au/
http://www.thesmithfamily.com.au/
www.charityhampers.com.au/salvos
http://www.salvationarmy.org.au/

Help someone else - all you feel is good! I did.

John

Alcoholic Violence: Is Society Stupid?

Over the weekend police in all states & territories, and New Zealand, had simultaneous operations on drunkenness and violence. They particularly targeted 'hot spots', including Oxford St, Kings Cross and George St in Sydney.

From the data so far, it looks as though the publicity telling people it was happening had absolutely no effect. None. Zilch. So are we as a society, and the people concerned, so stupid that there was no change in behaviour?? Well, yes! People still went out with the purpose of getting drunk; people still carried knives & machetes, looking for a fight; people still thought they could indulge in illegal drug-taking. One TV actor, Todd Lasance, was allegedly caught with cocaine. 'Who?' you ask - well he's a person who wants to be known for his acting on the tv soapie Home and Away, wants to got to the US to further his career; and, yes, just another drug addict. Perhaps the tv show 'Stupid, Stupid Man' was written with the likes of him in mind. If convicted, the US might deny him entry.

More and more people are beginning to think the solution involves some or all of the following:

• restricted opening hours for licenced premises. That is, the time they can be open, and the closing time.


• enforcement of the RSA laws. Many establishments and nightclubs are clearly NOT fulfilling their legal and social obligations for a quick buck. Those not complying with the Responsible Service of Alcohol laws should be shut down. Repeat offending licensees should be banned for a period of years, and repeat premises should have a licence suspended, and not reissued at that address for some years.


• higher rates of referral to drug and alcohol counselling

Me? I went to a party on Saturday night, had a few drinks, remained sober, and had a good time.

Those who go out to get drunk, and the premises that serve them, need to be targeted. I cannot see a reason why licenced premises need to be open beyond, say 1:30 am; or why drunks should be free to violently roam the streets. Nor can any taxi driver!

OK, I confess that all reads a bit like a weekday shock-jock, a species of which I am not fond. However, we, individually, and as a society, need to address the issue of alcohol, its irresponsible service by licenced premises, violence, and the people who go out to get druink and be violent.

John

Good News Week!

A group called "Something Corporate" had a song called "Good News". Part of the song goes:

I wanna read good news good news
I wanna be innocent again
I wanna read good news good news
But nothing good is happening

This week, some good things have happened:

• Conjoined Bangladeshi twins Krishna and Trishna have been separated after a marathon series of operations lasting more than 30 hours. A team of 16 doctors and nurses separated the twins, joined at the head. In intensive care in a Royal Melbourne Hospital, the twins are reportedly doing "exceptionally well". Many have cried and hugged each other: nurses; doctors; their guardian, Moira Kelly; and many people just listening to the news. In a Banglashi orphanage they and no hope, and no prospects. They were brought to Australia two years ago by the Children First Foundation. The rescue, the bringing to Australia, the operations and the care reflect much that is good in our humanity, and much that is good about Australians.
• Paralympian Kurt Fearnley, a man with no workable legs, and missing the lower part of his spine, has "walked" the Kokoda Track on his hands and arms, in 10 days, finishing at Owen's Corner. He did it to raise funds for disabled people, while remembering the suffering of those who fought in WWII. The Kokoda Track (some call it Trail) was the scene of bloody battles between Australian and Japanese forces in WWII. You can read some of the history at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kokoda_Track, and http://www.kokodatrail.com.au/history.html. Australians remember the heroism and hardship experienced by Australian soldiers.

These two, isolated and singular, events, give our society cause to reflect on the good side of our humanity. Bravo.

John