Ending

This blog is now concluded.

Not there yet

It is now over 10 weeks since Australia's first Marriage Equality Bill was introduced into the Tasmanian parliament.  It passed the lower house, but this week was defeated in the upper house and is therefore a no-goer.  There seems to be a feeling that some of those voting against the bill were concerned about the constitutionality of state-approved same-sex marriages, when marriages are currently a matter of federal responsibility.  This suggests that the bill might be reintroduced, if these legal concerns can be  addressed.    Will it be a case of not there yet, or will another state be more successful with a different bill for marriage equality?

It is also 10 weeks since the Forest Peace talks seemed to be on the verge of forging an historic agreement.    However, it now seems they are on the verge of collapse, following a proposed restructure of Forestry Tasmania by the government.  I'm beginning to think I will not see peace in the forests in my lifetime.

On the other hand, this week's  news is that Gunn's  Pulp Mill has bitten the dust and will not now be built and that situation has been on the cards for at least a decade.

Neighbourhood tree

More pictures from a decorated tree in my neighbourhood.

He said-she said

This week Tony Abbott actually appeared on the ABC's 7.30 program, where his inability to answer serious questions about substance rather than slogans was embarrassingly obvious.   24 hours later Julia Gillard faced a barrage of questions from the press gallery to deal with allegations about her conduct as a lawyer 17 years ago.  She spent 50 minutes answering all questions until journalists had no more to ask.

The contrast in media behavior between Tony and Julia was stark.

And one media outlet published one claim about the PM's past behavior, then retracted it and  apologized.  Again! (This claim had been published  by them,  then retracted on another occasion)  No prizes for guessing  which newspaper!

If only

Quick thinking by First Dog On The Moon when discussing on ABC RN an article by Barrie Cassidy.  Cassidy was critical of main-steam journalists for never really challenging Tony Abbott's claims or proposals, when they interview him.  Cassidy thought they let TA off too lightly.  Whereupon First Dog On The Moon agreed, but also lamented the lack of an hour-long TV show in which to really test TA out.  Ouch!

But perhaps, on second thoughts, Cassidy can't do much, if TA refuses to subject himself to the same degree of probing questionning that the PM has repeatedly undergone on Q&A; 7.30; Insiders etc?

Where next?

It seems that the best our politicians can do about asylum seekers is to come up with a fix rather than a solution.  No surprises, really

We have to be grateful for small mercies, I suppose.  At least the government has been successful in its campaign against the big tobacco companies and should be congratulated for that.  And now, rather than pursuing a total ban on tobacco products, couldn't this successful policy model be used to more effectively tackle the problem of alcohol abuse in Australia?

Family tree

On a neighborhood street the branches of an old tree reach over the footpath into the garden of a family home.  The family have taken to decorating the tree with mementos of family life, including soccer balls, shoes, models of family life, parties and so on.  It adds to the charm of West Hobart.

The answer is blowing in the wind

In 15 years Tasmania has gone from the state with the most homophobic laws in Australia to the first state to decide to legislate for same-sex marriage.  However, it has taken almost 30 years of conflict over the management of Tasmania's forests for conservationists and timber workers to enter into serious negotiations.  These peace talks have proceeded for two years and it is now decision time.   Social attitudes towards marriage equality have changed,  Gunn's Pulp Mill looks finished, NASA has landed its Curiosity Rover on Mars, but will we still be banging our heads on old growth trees for another thirty years?   Kudelka says it all, as usual.

UPDATE :  Final week-end talks lasted for 15 hours from Friday evening, but, as yet, all parties agree that no solution has been found.
UPDATE : It's now the 16th August and an interim report has been issued with the expectation that another 4 weeks will bring a conclusion to the peace talks.

To the rescue (again)

Another marvellous Tasmanian icon was the venue for a second uplifting experience this past week. MONA hosted a filmed production of the Ring Cycle from the Metropolitan Opera in New York. I count myself really fortunate to have seen Siegfried and Gotterdammerung.  The filming was imaginatively done and the singing, acting and orchestral performances were absolutely wonderful.  The elevator descent past magnificent sandstone cliffs to the underground setting of MONA's theatre was eerily appropriate and the intermissions spent absorbing MONA's inimitable atmosphere only added to the ambience. It is such a pleasure to have a first class gallery here in Hobart, which is free for any Tasmanian to explore. And to view a performance of the Met in Tasmania is indescribably inspiring.

TO THE RESCUE

The public discourse in Australia has been so crass, intemperate and unrelated to reality these last months that I haven't been able to bring myself to add to the noise.  However two events have conspired to persuade me try again. One was a celebration of 123 years of continuous literary activity in Hobart and the other was a visit to one of the special offerings of the Museum of Modern and New Art (MONA).

The Hamilton Literary society was established in 1889 by Lady Theresa Hamilton, the wife of the Governor of the day, to promote the appreciation of literature among young women.  123 years later the Society has remained true to its origins and is still promoting friendship between people who share a love of reading and writing. The President of the Society is by tradition the wife of the current Governor of Tasmania.

 On the anniversary of the foundation of the society a special lecture is given.  This year the lecturer was Dr Danielle Wood  (a Tasmanian award-winning author and academic) who spoke about well-known Tasmanian identity and author, Mrs Marjorie Bligh  The lecture was given at Government House, followed by High Tea.

This was an uplifting occasion - an enjoyable, interesting and well-crafted lecture held in the beautiful surroundings of a  treasured Tasmanian icon - Government House.

Mona and the festival of modern art

Mona-Foma is back again in Hobart and is receiving warm support.  It is not often that St Mary's Cathedral is packed for a concert and the audience gives a standing ovation to the performers.  However, Nick Tsiavos and his talented group were received enthusiastically, as they presented their particular take on new music, Byzantine chant, free jazz and new minimalism.  Deborah Kayser's incredible voice rose and fell in pure simplicity against a background of liminal bass tones and imaginative, sensitive percussion.  In this performance  the ancient did indeed become modern and the playing was passionate and beautiful.

Following the Liminal performance another packed audience listened to  Rod Thomson playing a number of organ pieces by Messiaen.   These meditations and musical visions also reflected Greek, Hindu, Indonesian, Japanese and jazz influences and were played in masterly fashion by the organist.  The cathedral resonated with the joy and splendour of the music celebrating power and majesty and the muted tones of the meditations on suffering.   This concert too was enthusiastically received and makes me wonder whether Brian Ritchie playing his shakuhachi flute    can possibly be any more inspiring next week.

A new year arrives

 Those of us who live in Tasmania know what a gem of a place it is.  When expatriate Tasmanians come home over the Christmas-New Year break, however, they remind us once again of the special delights of the Tasmanian summer. Their international companions are amazed by our gourmet food and wine experiences and marvel at the peaceful stillness of our unspoilt beaches and coves and the grandeur of our bush and wilderness. As our visitors wander round Salamanca and the wharves, explore our off-shore islands and the East coast resorts, admire the colonial buildings of the North and the pristine beauty of iconic mountains and tarns, they bring home to us the charm and value of so much we take for granted in our southern Australian outpost.

On this first day of a new year it is salutary to remember how fortunate we are to live in our island state. 

After the unseemliness of so much of Australian public life of late, it is also worthwhile remembering how remarkably well the Australian economy has performed to date, compared with most other countries.  An important analysis of this performance can be found here , while Mr Denmore has some cogent remarks about the performance of the media during 2011 that are well worth reading.

Quip of the month

The future is not what it was.

Thank God that's over!

The national parliamentary session has finally come to an end and it's goodbye to all that rancour, pettiness and negativity for a month or so.  Even the looming Silly Session appears attractive, when compared to the disappointing reality of this year's politics.  In other countries where voters have returned 'hung' parliaments (the UK, for example) politicians and the media have  managed to accept the consequences of the people's vote and to get on with their job in an adult, mature way.  Perhaps their more diverse media might even have conceded that the passage of over 250 pieces of legislation by a 'hung' government deserved some modest recognition, rather than today's depiction of the government's achievement as  'a political year riven by crisis... and that ends that way'. (The Australian).  It was left to an amateur blogger (Greg Jericho ) to attempt a more considered analysis of the political year's passage.  See here.

And it is to the public broadcaster that we have to turn to find an invaluable data-set with which to inform the debate on coal-seam-gas mining.  Using the tools that computerised data-mining provide the ABC has come up with an innovative web site (here) where multiple sources of information have been aggregated  to show in map form all 4000 sites, where coal-gas-seam mining currently occurs.  Interrogating the map allows readers to find information about all sites and has been prepared in anticipation of an expected expansion to 40,000 sites. 

Would that more journalists would follow this model!

Plumbing the depths

Can there be anything more unedifying than politicians haggling over which of their 'tough' policies would have prevented the latest tragic boat-people disaster, where desperate men, women and their children have lost their lives trying to get to Australia?

Retribution

The fall of a tyrant is once again filling our TV screens; this time in savage reality as Moamar Gaddafi is dragged from a drain, pummeled, man-handled, and his half-naked, bloodied body delivered up to his captors.  Shortly thereafter he is shot dead.  Humiliation and brutal, unexpected death.  Retributive justice ? execution ?  But no mercy.   Having lived by the sword he died by the sword, like Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden before him.

No mercy for these tyrants the last of whom died this week, at a time when we commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Siev X disaster. There was no mercy for the hundreds of men, women and children who perished on Siev X in the sea ten years ago, either.

And no justice yet for these innocent victims.

Pyrrhic Victories?

Against all the odds the PM has legislated to impose a price on carbon (a task attempted without success by four previous political leaders).  This was a considerable achievement.  However, the Opposition leader has 'pledged in blood' (!) to repeal this legislation as soon as he achieves office.

In the meantime the PM has had to give up on her plan to maintain off-shore processing of asylum-seekers arriving here by boat, after the High Court ruled this processing illegal.  The Opposition refused to support new legislation to empower executive government to maintain off-shore processing, even though they support off-shore processing  too.  Not sure who failed here.


We will have to wait to see the repercussions of the actions of the PM and the Opposition leader his week.


But if the Opposition is elected to government in 2013, it would appear that the PM's carbon pricing legislation will  be repealed, rendering today's achievement meaningless.    But an Opposition victory on this matter could prove to be messy and difficult to realise and will bring with it its own painful, political price.  Perhaps we will see new tax slogans appear, as the compensation for the costs of the clean energy legislation are withdrawn.


And could it be that, if the Opposition comes to government, it too may have to embrace some sort of 'Malaysian solution' as the only off-shore processing option available to them to stop the boats in the face of the inevitable court challenges to Nauru?


Pyrrhic victories all round this week, except for the asylum-seekers, of course.

Australia fair?

A 14 year old Australian is arrested in Indonesia for possessing cannabis and this makes headline news here, causes Ministerial statements and considerable public anxiety over the imprisonment of a minor, while his actions are investigated.  Meanwhile, back in Australia, 79 under 18 year old boys are arrested off our shores, sent to an isolated Australian centre in the middle of nowhere and imprisoned there in high security, under guard 24 hours a day.  Their crime ---seeking refuge in our country.
But their imprisonment and future fate hardly raise a murmur here.

UPDATE:
Pure Poison doesn't want to suggest that 'we have more sympathy for an Australian boy imprisoned in Indonesia than an Indonesian boy imprisoned in Australia (who’s not even alleged to have committed a crime) out of anything so base and repugnant as racism… but '.....
     Read More

Of Things Being Various

Yesterday an award-winning collection of poetry Of Things Being Various (40 Degrees South Publishing) was launched in the Hobart Bookshop in Salamanca Square.   This book showcases accomplished and engaging poems from Karen Knight, Liz McQuilkin, Liz Winfield, Christiane Conesa-Bostock and Megan Schaffner. 
Yet more evidence of the vibrant arts scene in Hobart.

Quip of the month

People who live at the foot of a mountain seldom climb its slope.

  (Trudeau)