Tag: Climate

A WEEK IN THE HALLS OF POWER

On By Everald ComptonIn Elections, Environment, Good Books, Government, History, Uluru

A decade of coups has caused the Australian Parliament to be a fragile example of the way that democracy is meant to work.

However, no matter whether you belong to right or left, we can acknowledge the fact that the arrival of the Albanese Government has changed the political atmosphere around the nation and created hope that we can experience a long period of political stability that enables us to achieve positive progress in meeting many significant challenges that face us.

Be this as it may, I have been an annual visitor to the Australian Parliament for 64 years, the first being way back in the days of Robert Menzies, and I continued my pilgrimage in this past week, enjoying the experience. MP’s told me that no one in Australia can beat that record.

I flew into Canberra on Sunday on yet another delayed Qantas flight, just in time to enjoy a splendid dinner at the Kingston home of my friend, Stephen Koukoulas, whom I regard as Australia’s finest economist, as well as being an astute political observer. He gave me a solid briefing on the political scene in our nations capital.

Armed with this, I descended upon Parliament for the next four days, having managed to organise 34 meetings with Members and Senators from the ALP, LNP, Greens & Independents, plus bureaucrats and press gallery. Some meetings lasted only 15 or 30 minutes, but others took an hour or more over breakfast, lunch or dinner.

A range of issues were covered in our conversations, with the key ones being my priorities – railways, longevity, housing, climate & Uluru referendum.

Here are three personal impressions of how Australia is travelling in political terms right now.

*When the Uluru Referendum is held, it will starkly divide Australia as Hanson and Palmer, backed by some high profile ultra conservatives from the LNP, will run one of the greatest scare campaigns of all time in an attempt to convince us that our homes will soon be taken from us by the traditional owners. Nevertheless, I feel confident that the referendum will produce a positive result and I am personally committed to work as a volunteer on the YES campaign to encourage oldies like me to back it solidly.

*The passing of Climate Legislation will be a solid test of the leadership skills of Anthony Albanese. The climate commitment he made during election campaign was better than that of Morrison, but far short of what is needed. To pass his climate bill through the Senate, he needs every Green Senator to vote with him, plus one Independent. This will be near impossible to achieve without expanding the goals of his climate policy as Independent David Pocock is the one most likely to vote with him. He is a deeply committed climate activist who will ask for upgrades.

*Inflation, plus the steep interest rate rises it is creating, is the most formidable hurdle for you and me right now. We will be hit hard, but we will survive. I have significant confidence in the economic knowledge and skills of Treasurer, Jim Chalmers. I first met him 15 years ago and we chat regularly. He knows what he is doing and does it calmly. You can have confidence that we are headed in the right direction.

A couple of matters especially upset me.

*I attended the swearing in of most of the 151 Members of the House of Representatives and was appalled when they were asked to give their allegiance, not to the people of Australia, but to the Queen. This means that they have sworn not to be accountable to you and me. This is a disgusting travesty of democratic justice.

*I had hoped that the behaviour of our leaders at Question time would improve. It has not. They still abuse one another. Don’t watch it. It is an appalling spectacle that represents a bad example to the nation and a total waste of your time and mine.

However, there are some good things happening.

*Seven indigenous people have been elected to the Parliament. This is a record. And its a good one.

*There are more women in Parliament than ever before and most of them are top quality. Cheers.

*My friend Milton Dick was elected Speaker. He will reform the way in which the entire Parliament and its staff go about their business. Discrimination by gender or race or religion will not be tolerated.

Did I enjoy this visit to Parliament? YES.

Is there really a positive attitude of change in the Parliament? YES

We can enjoy life with confident calm so long as we live and work with skill, confidence, determination and persistence, while ensuring there is justice for all.

Grace and Peace.

Everald

Buy my book DINNER WITH THE FOUNDING FATHERS and absorb the sad details of why indigenous people were left out of the Australian Constitution in 1901. It will encourage you to help fix this injustice.

You can buy it from any online bookseller or my personal websites.

https://dinnerwiththefoundingfathers.com

EVERALD@LARGE

USA SUPREME COURT DENIES WOMEN THE RIGHT OF ABORTION AND GIVES MEN YET ANOTHER PASS TO ‘GET OUT OF JAIL FREE’

On By Everald ComptonIn Community and Values, Government, History, Law, religion

During Donald Trump’s four year term as President of the United States of America, three vacancies occurred in the ranks of the nine Justices of the Supreme Court.

He nominated three ultra conservative judges to replace them and made it clear to those judges that he expected them to remove the constitutional right of women to have an abortion whenever the matter came before the Court. He has now publicly confirmed that he had obtained their commitment to do this. His own staff, who witnessed the discussions, have also confirmed what Trump had demanded.

Thus, it happened last month.

The Court struck out the famous ruling in the case of Roe versus Wade, made by the Court 50 years ago, and which rightly and justly gave women control over what happened to their own bodies.

The margin of the vote was 6/3. The winning votes were those of the three #Trump appointees.

At that moment, those three judges ceased to be independent custodians of the Law.. They became politicians, low grade ones. A sad day for America, and the world.

The decision hotly divided the American people who are already hugely torn apart by the issue of gun ownership.

Indeed, it is deplorable that the same people who defend the right to life of unborn babies are the same people who demand the right to own a gun so they can shoot people at will.

It is also unbelievable that, in a grossly overpopulated world,which is in grave danger of having insufficient food and fresh water for its 8.5 billion people, anyone would want to fight for the life of an unwanted child who is likely to live an unhappy life.

So it is that when an American woman falls pregnant and has reasons to abort the pregnancy, she now bears alone the full trauma, responsibility and cost of having to proceed with the birth while her male partner is not burdened in any way. He can simply walk away and make it look as though she ‘deserved it’.

Sadly, this is the way of the world in far too many unfair ways.

It becomes more clear every day that, in every challenge of life, it is women who become second class citizens.

This is not a society that I want to live in and I am certain that most of my readers will agree with me.

What can be done about it in America?

Absolutely nothing.

The Justices of the Supreme Court have lifetime appointments.

The devotees of Donald Trump will control the Supreme Court for a generation and will continue to practice their extremism. The blunt fact is that while Trump lost the election, his legacy lives on.

There is little chance of new legislation passing the Congress that will give approval for abortion as Republicans and Democrats are bitterly divided to the point of total hatred.

An unfortunate fact is that the female Justice who wrote the abortion judgement on behalf of the Court is a devoted Catholic who is a mother of 6. Her world is one in which she accepts that husbands are the head of the family. She did not set out to persecute women with this judgement. She just restored what she believes is the natural place of women, primarily child bearers, a role that she appears to have accepted herself.

It is a tragedy of history that the person she replaced on the Court was Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in my view the finest jurist ever to sit on the American Supreme Court in the history of the nation, She firmly stood for justice for all humanity, especially the poor and the oppressed and especially women who were denied their rights.

Her legacy has been demeaned by her successor but her book MY OWN WORDS is inspirational. I warmly recommend that you read it and applaud the prejudice against women that she had to overcome on her way to the top of her profession. Millions of women have been similarly oppressed.

And it cannot ever be denied that 5 male Justices voted to ban abortion.

They quite clearly do not believe in gender equality.

The same judges repeated their destruction this week by decimating the powers of the USA Environment Protection Agency.

A very disappointed

EVERALD

Don’t forget to enjoy some good winter reading with my books

A BEAUTIFUL SUNSET

DINNER WITH THE FOUNDING FATHERS

THE MAN ON THE TWENTY DOLLAR NOTES

Buy them online from any bookseller or get a signed copy from me.

EVERALD@LARGE

Click on BOOKS