Australia is breaking my heart :(

mccardey · Dec 22, 2013

Woman who miscarried on Christmas Island told to lower her expectations
'They keep telling me that you are in detention centre and should not expect a lot,' says Iranian asylum seeker who begged for ultrasound – as doctors on island highlight systemic failures

http://www.theguardian.com/world/20...-island-told-lower-expectations?commentpage=1

Helix · Dec 22, 2013

I can't stand this. There was a heart-breaking report of a mentally-ill asylum seeker who was denied her medication and removed from her mother on Christmas Island.

Refugee children on Christmas Island are having their medication, glasses and hearing aids confiscated on arrival.

On Twitter, ABC News Intern (@ABCNewsIntern) said what quite a lot of people have been thinking: "Pretty sure the last time I saw anything like that, I was watching Schindler's List."

mccardey · Dec 22, 2013

Helix said:
Refugee children on Christmas Island are having their medication, glasses and hearing aids confiscated on arrival.

Who takes glasses and hearing aids away from traumatised children?

Oh - wait... We're prolly not meant to be talking about that, Helix. We might be undermining the National Resolve.

Helix · Dec 22, 2013

mccardey said:
Who takes glasses and hearing aids away from traumatised children?

I know.

And I bet the government's next move will be to try to stop the doctors from speaking out.

mccardey · Dec 24, 2013

This year my family has decided to avoid the usual online petitions and donations of gold coins that disappear into the purses of NGOs. Instead, we will write a letter to immigration minister Scott Morrison to protest our government's appalling treatment of refugees. I hope that you will join us at a time when compassion and empathy are celebrated; if you're not convinced, let me first give you a rundown of the allegations which have been reported by journalists in recent months.

Sounds like a good family project while lunch digests...

Thank you Asher Wolf and The Guardian

mccardey · Jan 6, 2014

Scott Morrison may be able to hide the boats but he won't be able to stop the flow of tampons and pads to his office

Last week refugee advocacy groups including RISE (which represents refugees, survivors and former detainees) reminded Australians that women in detention do not have easy access to products like tampons and pads. They are forced to queue to get handouts - and when they get to the head of the queue, they get one or two doled out like special precious gifts.

<snip>

So a bunch of us at feminist action group Destroy the Joint decided there was only one way to get Scott Morrison's attention. And that was to give him a monthly reminder...
Read more: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/com...eeker-women-20140106-30db2.html#ixzz2pfsGSyCn

And here was me thinking they'd never be useful again...

Helix · Jan 6, 2014

Kon Karapanagiotidis, who was awarded an Order of Australia Medal in 2010 for his human rights work with refugee support, says this practice has gone on for years. Kon says those who say it doesn't happen are lying - the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, which he founded 12 years ago, has received these reports for some time.

Yes. I remember the Resource Centre in Melbourne collecting donations for basic toiletries years ago.

ajaye · Jan 6, 2014

This is sad and inexcusable.

There is little distinguishing the two main parties in Aus politics these days and that's a bad bad thing.

Helix · Jan 6, 2014

ajaye said:
This is sad and inexcusable.

There is little distinguishing the two main parties in Aus politics these days and that's a bad bad thing.

I think there's been a substantial shift to the right, but I'd argue that there are still major differences between the ALP and the Libs. (Ignoring the Nats for the moment, even though they are a substantial part of the current government.) The previous ALP govt brought in a huge number of reforms, which the current govt has overturned or is trying to overturn.

poetinahat · Jan 6, 2014

Just my personal perception, but:

Julia Gillard was an ineffective communicator and either unclear or disingenuous in her stances. Abbott has always been a mean bastard and upfront about it.

Abbott got in because people couldn't bear any more Labor incompetence, infighting and duplicity. With Abbott, people knew exactly what they would get. Well, now we've got it.

Trouble is, as much as people dislike him, we're once again in a situation like we had with Howard: bastard in power, but no credible opposition.

ajaye · Jan 6, 2014

Yes I agree little was the wrong word. Still, I'm disappointed with Labor's shift and I don't forgive them for woosing out on the whale slaughter issue.

Helix · Jan 6, 2014

I agree with both of you there. I do think it says something deeply unpleasant about us as a nation. That we're following trends in other parts of the world just makes it worse for me.

*slinks off*
*continues plans for rainforest retreat with drawbridge and trained attack cassowaries*

blacbird · Jan 6, 2014

Helix said:
I agree with both of you there. I do think it says something deeply unpleasant about us as a nation. That we're following trends in other parts of the world* just makes it worse for me.

* Euphemism for "United States of America."

Back in the 1980s, the mantra was "greed is good." Today it seems to be "mean is good."

caw

mccardey · Jan 6, 2014

Oh hello - Scott Morrison's office just made a statement about the care of asylum seekers!

She said women were provided with sanitary products on their arrival in detention, and after that were given sanitary products from the welfare office, ''on request, on demand, no limit''. She could not say how many items women were given on arrival.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-polit...-in-protest-20140107-30erc.html#ixzz2pgIdkoIS

Now let's see if we can get them to open up a little about those other health and safety concerns...

Rufus Coppertop · Jan 6, 2014

mccardey said:
Tony Abbott smacked his daughters, and thinks you should too

What's his address?

And is he offering petrol money and accommodation?

mccardey · Jan 28, 2014

For Australia Day,

In the lead up to Australia Day this year, news.com.au published an interactive game that allows users to “build the perfect Australian” by combining various bits and pieces from a stable of notable Aussies.

<<snip>>

There are 36 Australians of note on the app, and I did some quick maths: you can combine them to make over 40,000 distinct perfect Aussies. 40,000 is loads, but every single one of those perfect Aussies will be a white person, because every single person on news.com.au’s list of notable Australians is a white person, and that’s how genetics works (even Frankenstein-esque genetics). 40,000 perfect white Australians.

read more here - it's an excellent article by comedian Michael Hing. Because apparently comedians understand these things - as opposed to news.com.au which just doesn't get the whole inclusiveness meme.

Rufus Coppertop · Jan 28, 2014

Now if we could have Gallipoli beach as a backdrop, drape the figure in a flag, put a bottle of booze in its hand and have it vomit all over itself, we'd be onto an absolute winner.

Rufus Coppertop · Jan 29, 2014

Years ago I had a holiday from psychiatric nursing and joined an archiving temp agency. One of my jobs was for the post office at a building in central Melbourne and a Chinese-Australian lady took me for lunch in Chinatown. (Little Burke St. for anyone who's not from Melbourne but is thinking of visiting.)

Her family have been in Australia since the gold rush at Bendigo back in the eighteen fifties. She came out with the sentence, uttered in perfect strine, "faark mate, me rellies back in Choina reckon I'm a banaaana."

I don't have any First Fleet credentials and my ancestors on both sides came out here some time after the gold rush. Her family have been here longer than mine so I have to wonder, in what way am I more Australian than her?

Helix · Jan 29, 2014

Dearie me, that's some casual racism from Limited News.

I wonder if they know that Eric Bana's surname is really Banadinovich? Or maybe the whole Chopper Reid thing balances that out.

Rufus Coppertop · Jan 29, 2014

Speaking of Chopper Reid, here's him doing the weather.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2X_YoNZ39E

Helix · Jan 29, 2014

Rufus Coppertop said:
Speaking of Chopper Reid, here's him doing the weather.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2X_YoNZ39E

Ha! I like the way that the commenters on YouTube think that really is Chopper Reid.

mccardey · Jan 29, 2014

Abbott attacking the ABC, which we were expecting. And the conservative press is getting right behind him, of course...

‘THE ABC OF TREACHERY’, shouts The Daily Telegraph this morning. The editorial claims that “a former ABC chairman last night backed Tony Abbott’s blistering attack” on the national broadcaster — before slyly revealing that said chairman is, in fact, Abbott’s business advisor Maurice Newman, an open critic of the ABC who thinks climate change is “group-think“.

Helix · Jan 29, 2014

So what they really want is to turn the ABC into a propaganda machine for the government, rather like Pravda, because they're worried that the Fourth Estate might be fifth columnists.

[Insert puntastic rant here.]

screenscope · Jan 29, 2014

Abbott and his government are so bad, they can't help feeling offended every time their actions are reported honestly.

Like all their other actions, they have bitten off more than they can chew with their hypocritical attack on the ABC. Perhaps I missed it, but I haven't heard Abbott criticise the Murdoch press, where impartiality is an unknown concept.

Helix · Jan 29, 2014

It's difficult to imagine how the PM thought whinging to Ray Hadley would help his credibility*.

*What little, if any, he retains.

Australia is breaking my heart :(

mccardey

Helix

socially distancing

mccardey

Helix

socially distancing

mccardey

mccardey

Helix

socially distancing

ajaye

partial to a gum tree

Helix

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poetinahat

say it loud

ajaye

partial to a gum tree

Helix

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blacbird

mccardey

Rufus Coppertop

mccardey

Rufus Coppertop

Rufus Coppertop

Helix

socially distancing

Rufus Coppertop

Helix

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mccardey

Helix

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screenscope

Helix

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