Tag: Balanced Reporting

Atheist Point.

As a onlooker without a alliance to any religion I am troubled at the way the Kiwi Tragedy is being handled by social media and the media in general.

If we are to be consistent with reporting and coverage news their is no need to give the perpetrators religion a mention or ensure that when a unfortunate event happens call it equally.

However we  consistently read and view the Islamic faith linked to events by fanatics but rarely do we see the word Christian leading a headline when they impede. 

Hard Right Wing has blazed the headlines not Hard Right Wing Christians Fundamentalists for example which truly identifies those who hold that view but rarely identified in the media or any platform. 

I concede Christianity hold approximately 60% of Australian faith but that should not stand in the way of balanced reporting as that imbalance leads to false impressions and feeds divide.

Calling it as it is sometimes upsets and could threaten income streams of some news outlets but I suppose it comes down to journalistic ethics and brave editors to keep us well and truthfully informed.

Spot the Differences

Self Regulation in the Churches cannot be Trusted.

In the past week or so I have watched the wave of emotions surrounding the Pell decision and I am one who’s vote falls with the victims.

Sadly it’s not only one church or godly organisation that stands condemned it many. It’s not only one man it’s 100’s of years of perpetrators hidden, relocated or just plain tolerated to keep the cloth appearing sacred.

As a atheist I feel for those who’s faith in their gods and churches has been tarnished if not destroyed but I’m sure they will recover over time. They too are victims of this world wide culture of denial however I refuse to concede the churches do not have enough money to compensate the physical abuse.

I see church hierarchy’s bathed in gold, while their followers starve, struggle for food or justice and I appreciate the excellent work by the believers who work tirelessly across our nation as do the non clerical organisations helping our fellow travellers, but these “keepers of the cash” run the religion business’s ruthlessly as exposed by the commission.

My faith in our legal system is solid and justice will be done in the end, but after the dust settles who will watch the watchers as self regulation has proved totally inadequate for far too long.

The Unrecognised Aussie of the Year


By the time this goes to press The Australian of the Year 2019 would have been named and celebrated and well deserved. Some excellent nominations from all walks of life representing diverse parts of our great Australian culture.
But.. could we pause for second and look at the how we come to selecting the nominees and the criteria of those nominees.
I totally support the nominees but maybe we could extend the range of qualifications outside the professionals who get paid to promote their selected causes and give a chance to those who are not as high profile, the quiet achiever, the unknown Australian who looks after the elderly, the nurse or the emergency worker, the tradesman, the volunteer, who delivers the patients or food to outside venues who just does his or her thing often for a lifetime but will never get a chance at the big gig.
Yes I know we have local/state awards but that should not exclude a nominee just because of his or her personal status profile. We are at last considering the balance of men and women across our society so maybe we could look at rebalancing the nominee process.
And yes I do not want to be on the selection Panel

Upholding Journalistic Standards

Maybe I’m one who should be honoured to get a run occasionally in this forum but I actually think public debate is good for democracy. To be honest I was one of the first to burr up about taking Courier Mail copy and pasting Bolt and Murray in my QT.

Over time I have realised it’s important to have them there as it allows the masses to judge where the benchmarks of journalism are set in Australia and it’s becoming quite clear those columns make people aware of the lower end of the debate.

When people aspire to take this country back to the Menzies era of white Australia, coal burning, climate ignorant, society and try and spin that as the good times do not have Australia and our grandkids future at heart.

The light has finally fallen on the conservative ranks that climate change is not a political football and the right wing nutters like Bolt And Murray are so far out of step with real Australians views their opinions will only add the present to governments struggle for credibility, so keep it up.

In regards to our ABC every government regardless of ideology has bellowed bias from its inception and that’s great for our democracy and the cries from the crackpots from the right who want to silence it highlights its importance of a broader perspective, on political and social issues which is not on the media barons agenda who desire to claim the entire debate on their networks and engineer it accordingly.

Merry Christmas and let’s get to the polls.

Less Overheads better for Ipswich Ratepayers.

As our Council administrators get on with their jobs and we see basically nothing has changed in regards to day to day life of ipswich ratepayers.

Council staff are getting on with what they do best, so the question at the end of the day is “are we over governed” when it comes down to this extra layer of divisional councillors and the costs involved.

Remember please Local Government is facility of State Governments, not a seperate level of government.

In a world where we everybody has to qualify with qualifications to make a living under and directly overseen by superiors daily, I think the days of people being given massive wages on a popularity vote is well out of step with current society standards.

We cannot revert to any part of previous administration practices or culture or nothing has been achieved out of this dissolution process as it will re infest.

Ipswich is blessed with people of exceptional talent as we have seen by the top 100 run by QT, all of which I’m sure many have the skill sets required from hands on experience to sit on a board or take responsibility for facets of our great city.

No they may not be good at giving ratepayers money away to boost their own popularity come election time, or grabbing microphones or headlines at look at me rags, as true managers of our great city need to be business and socially focused on the city as a whole, not just 10 little patches each with if we are to believe the spin each like Shiltz and no nothing about the rest.

Less overheads would be better for ratepayers and qualified not popularly Appointees would serve our new beginning better come 2020.

One Law for All

          Keating said LAW IS LAW.

Australia went to a plebiscite on Gay Marriage and endorsed it overwhlmly  and it was  passed int Law accordingly. Agreed not all accepted  the law but that’s democracy.
Im sure some people incarcerated disagree  that robbing from the rich and giving to the poor is also conflicts with their faith in human equality but I’m sure any calls for special treatment would be totally rejected, the law is the law.
So, calls from  faith based entities calling for the special right to discriminate in schools is similar to reclassifying the laws of theft into categories justified theft for those who honestly believe they are doing the right thing and illegal theft for the rest.
People choose to follow faith, some choose not to have faith, the law should apply to both regardless and none should have a divine right, or above common law.

Our Visit to Queensland Parliament..

The invitation came, we thought no, then why not.

My local State Member Jim Madden’s office emailed me a invitation to join him and some other constituents to a afternoon BBQ and tour of Queenslland Parliament House on the 2nd December 2018 and after some hesitation both headed off to a unknown destination for a adventure. Not bad for two over sixty sixes.

Planning as I do the journey I proceeded past my beloved German Club and proceeded to cross the Story Bridge, down Ivory Street, past the old Waterside Workers Club of my childhood, left at the Customs House and down to what I thought was Parliament House,confusing that with the Parliamentary Annex which was our destination.

Typically we asked security who sent us to get a parking available but not explained to the security guard it was for disabled, consequently we circled the place twice then out of frustration returned to the guard who said Oh, park right here, this is the place your looking for. R..I..G..H…T..!!!!!

On entry we were scanned, X-rayed and interrogated all part of the hospitality then aimed towards the lifts and told the 7th floor was the target zone.

On entry welcomed accordingly and after introductions proceeded to have light refreshments and good conversation with fellow Ipswich people.

The subjects were broad but all ended up on a political narrative with topics from all levels of government with varying opinions, complying with the location.

After a sumptuous lunch, love the snags, we set out to tour our place of democracy in Queensland.

And impressive it was, steeped in history and tradition, and enlightening to us who follow the political game on what we see via the media and how it really is.

I got to sit in the Speakers Chair and that was recorded, as that is not how it works in my house where she who must be obeyed reins and often I’m in the Opposition.

We were treated to a extensive history lesson and fittingly the day concluded in the Parliamentary Chook House, home of the chickens who look after the herb and vegetable gardens used in the Parliamentary kitchen. Yes they do have real chefs and people employed in hospitality.

Really it’s a experience worth engaging in if you truly interested in how our democracy works.

Thanks Jim Madden Alp Member for West Ipswich. And staff for a memorable balmy Sunday afternoon indulging in Queensland history.

Time for our Youth To Shine.

Oh dear, the older we get the more wiser we are supposed to become.

We will always get those who think the old days were the best, the lifestyles were simple, so that’s good enough for us today, why change, and Now that group has become a political movement.

I’m a 50’s kid and we lived a dream compared to our parents, but ask our parents now if they lived a dream you will get a completely opposite response.

I’m yet to see those pushing the Trumpian ideology of protectionism, anti climate, anti migration, anti equal women’s opportunities, racial and religious divide, provide one forward thinking policy. They see our countries future is to go backwards to the way it was.

The hate youth involvement because it shakes the foundations of what is your place in society , your too young to understand, the cry, forgetting that youth today has 1000 times the access to information that was only available when a newspaper was finished being read or when the radio TV was turned on.

At 21 I could not have a beer in a pub but I could go to war at 19. Only the well off could go to university regardless if you had the talent, as long as you had the money, while the state school kids had to fight for a single grant, and the trades were regarded as the lower end of the class divide., and the shop assistants and labourers were servants.

They will have you believe they were the good times, and they were for the privalaged.

I see a case in today’s world for the voting age to be dropped to 16 as those young people today know and are aware and mature as much as some of the so called adult punters that go to the polls and vote informal deliberately, or turn up just to avoid fines.

We’ve run our race, started wars, split nations, invented weapons, diseases to destroy the the planet, yet say to our youth your too young.

What utter rot.

The LNP’s Trump Faction hard at work.

I would be the last person to tell the LNP how to do their business, however putting that aside I do take issue with the media description of them having a “female” problem within their ranks.

The truth is they have a “male” problem and if you look at their team sheet the line up speaks fo itself. People like Abbott, Abetts, Dutton, O’Sullivan, supported by the Kroger’s support fed by Jones and Hadley and Sky after Dark no wonder the boys club mentality sets a very slanted platform for any person who wishes to contribute let alone a female.

Personally,politically, I hope they don’t change, dig coal, close the borders, deny climate change. Reject renewables, and bully women out of the way, but that’s not good for our nation, any nation, and Victorians agreed, Saturday.

We need to install a government/governments that will look to our future, provide adequate and timely infrastructure and jobs with plans for our kids and elderly that will accommodate our growing population, and stop the scaremongering and fabricating excuses for ideology incompetence, and the real question is the LNP prepared to pay price of keeping the Trump faction worth loosing women’s participation at the ballot box..

The baseball caps have it Scomo.

Our Lingo is Precious.

Since the last round of musical Prime Ministers I have noticed a number of suttle image and cultural changes that trouble me.

Firstly it’s the new baseball capped advertising billboard PM mirroring Trump, then comes the lingo where our Returned Service Men and Women referred to as Veterans, our Emergency Workforce of Police and Ambulance, Fire Fighters and support are blanketed with the term of First Responders, all lazy American terms or lazy English..

Lets not hand over our culture and language and reject Americanisation or we will be left with that word “bunch” as a description for anything plural instead of a bouquet of flowers.

It starts with the little things that are important if we are to remain who we are.

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