Thinkfirst WA Protest

Today I went to a protest. WA Parliament were debating whether or not to introduce a bill that would ban the sales of spraypaint and +6mm markers to anyone under the age of 18 (without any educational/employment-related exceptions). No thanks!

Here's a pic drawn by IKA at the protest =



More information on the issue can be found at Thinkfirst WA.

Australia has waited long enough for this!

"Dear Friend,

To date, this Government has delayed the introduction of a paid parental leave scheme - waiting for the Productivity Commission to report, while making grand promises to mums and dads around Australia.

The Productivity Commission has now reported and the evidence is in: government-funded paid parental leave is good for babies, good for parents and good for the economy. And at $450 million a year, it's a sound investment.

We've just found out though that a decision on whether to include paid parental leave in this year's budget sits on a knife's edge.

Click below to sign the petition telling the Government this delivery is overdue - and we'll take it directly to Canberra next week as the Budget decisions are being made:

www.getup.org.au/campaign/DeliverOnPaidParentalLeave

The Government's excuse for not introducing it - the global financial crisis - simply doesn't stand up. Paid parental leave has proven economic benefits. It will stimulate the economy, retain parents in the workforce, and safeguard the nation's future prosperity.

A government-funded parental leave scheme would mean those working in small businesses or in low-wage sectors will have access to something previously only the domain of those lucky enough to work for big corporations that have their own scheme.

Decisions are being made now about this year's Budget. This is our one opportunity to show the Government we aren't willing to wait any longer for paid parental leave:

www.getup.org.au/campaign/DeliverOnPaidParentalLeave

There are only two developed countries that don't have paid maternity leave - Australia and the United States. There's no good reason to delay this scheme any longer - but without your support, the Government will sit on its hands and do nothing.

It's easy for a government to make grand promises like this - now it's up to us to make sure they deliver. Join our petition today and we will deliver it to Canberra next week.

Thanks for being a part of the solution,
The GetUp team

PS - We've designed a new series of bumper stickers to put on your car, pram or nappy to spread the message of this campaign. Click here to get your sticker".

__________________________

GetUp is an independent, not-for-profit community campaigning group. We use new technology to empower Australians to have their say on important national issues. We receive no political party or government funding, and every campaign we run is entirely supported by voluntary donations. If you'd like to contribute to help fund GetUp's work, please donate now! If you have trouble with any links in this email, please go directly to www.getup.org.au. To unsubscribe from GetUp, please click here.

Authorised by Simon Sheikh, Level 5, 116 Kippax St, Surry Hills NSW 2010

Niall Ferguson on Lateline - The Global Financial Crisis for Idiots - Part 2

Last night on Lateline there was an interview with financial historian, Niall Ferguson. Times like these certainly benefit from some historical perspective; if you really want to understand what's going on, watching this will help!

Here's the link to the Lateline website, the video is there on the front page. You can also see the transcript here.

The Global Financial Crisis for Idiots - part 1

If you are anything like me, you probably don't have much background in economics and financial theories. I was never really interested in this topic at school and I basically failed economics in upper high-school. In this subject area, I am myself, an idiot. However, the topic is both just so crucial and also, surprisingly interesting once you can tease out information from the enormous intimidating mess of abstract concepts and corporate disinformation. As the world falls into the economic crisis, it's about time we all took a bit of control over our own knowledge of money and the economy.

I thought that this video, Money as Debt would be a good start! Here's the write-up from the producer of the video, Paul Grignon. This guy is immensely interesting.


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"Born in Toronto, Canada in 1948, I first became suspicious of our money system when I was in high school in Ottawa. We were studying logarithmic functions such as interest and it struck me that a money system in which money accrues interest at every turn could only function with exponential growth of the money supply. Something did not make sense to me. I wasn’t sure what it was but I had a strong feeling that banking was a scam designed to benefit bankers at the expense of everyone else. I vowed never to get into debt to bankers.

As fortune would have it I got to (mostly) fulfill that vow. As a hitchhiking, backpacking young adult I was led to Gabriola, a forested coastal island off British Columbia, Canada where the building code was not yet in effect. My partner and I were able to take up residence in a tent, then a shack and as the years went by, and our four children arrived, our primitive shelter without water or power gradually evolved into a modest but comfortable owner-built paid-for home. This was achieved on a sporadic income that would never have been sufficient to buy a home had we gone the conventional mortgage route.

For several years, I made my living in the logging industry as a seasonal tree planter until injury forced me off the slopes. Taking whatever jobs I could get at first, I eventually established myself in my longtime ambition to be a landscape painter and visual artist. (http://www.paulgrignon.com)

In 1997, as a result of an inheritance, I was able to realize another long-held ambition. I set myself up as a digital video maker and produced several professional video projects.

In 2002 I was commissioned to produce a video for United Financial Consumers (http://www.ufc.ca), a small organization dedicated to defending credit customers from the predatory practices of banks. I taped a 5-hour seminar explaining an innovative strategy for reclaiming the equity banks defraud us out of when we sign for a so-called “loan”. I prefaced this rather abstruse lecture material by telling “The Goldsmith’s Tale” in animation form. Entitled “Money as Debt”, it was my first full animation project.

Other monetary reformers saw this original “Money as Debt” cartoon and approached me about using my animation as part of an information package being sent to municipal politicians, urging municipalities to demand interest-free loans from our publicly owned Canadian central bank, the Bank of Canada.

The Canadian Action Party, a federal political party devoted to monetary reform posted it on their website.

Two gentlemen from the American Monetary Institute in the USA also saw the animation. One described my cartoon as “far and away the best explanation of fractional reserve banking” he had ever seen. They requested that they be able to use it for their educational purposes as well.

I informed them that I was in the process of writing a much-expanded script. I knew there was a lot more to explain and felt certain that an animated cartoon was the best way to overcome the eyes-glazed-over reaction one often encounters when trying to interest people in this subject. I asked them if they could wait a few months until I had finished the project to my satisfaction.

They agreed to wait and to assist me. Their avid interest in the project spurred me on. I worked day and night (12 -20 hours per day) for 6 months to complete the movie.

My new US contacts were able to provide me with very valuable information and feedback on my script. One of them, a senior member of the Institute, had learned this information directly from US Congressman Wright Patman, who was Chair of the House Banking and Currency Committee for 12 years.

With the help of my partner Tsiporah and my neighbour and voiceover man, Bob Bossin, the final script was edited and rewritten numerous times. Money as Debt is now a colourful, fast-moving 47- minute animated short feature that explores the basic concepts of money creation in words and pictures that are not only clear but also enjoyable. It is intended for all audiences, including elementary school children. My particular hope is that it will convince environmental, social justice and electoral reform advocates that monetary reform is essential to the goals they hope to accomplish.

Money created as interest-bearing bank credit is a magic trick, a fraud - now 3 centuries old; one that very few people have seen through despite, or rather because of, its utter simplicity.

It is my intention to make this mysterious debt-money system comprehensible to everyone. It is also my intention to foster sufficient understanding of the problems with this money system that citizens will be motivated to join the monetary reform movement and/or create local alternatives to the global monetary system - a system in which most of the productive people of the world are collectively chained to an ever-increasing and perpetually unpayable debt.

This is a system designed for elite control of the people by those who have given themselves the privilege of creating money. It is also, I believe, a system that is designed for catastrophe. As the movie explains, there can be no sustainable civilization without a sustainable money system." - Paul Grignon

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The video is about 45 minutes long, so make sure you have enough time and possibly a nice cup of tea.

The death of Jørn Utzon - the architect behind the Sydney Opera House.

Here's a quick tribute to the Danish architect, and designer of the Sydney Opera House, Jørn Utzon. I was disappointed when I first learnt of how Utzon was treated by tne NSW government during the construction of this landmark building. Government construction projects invariably go into the red,...I don't know the specific details, but how could you blame the architect?

What is the point of architecture? Of course, function is extremely important. But something interesting happens when art meetings construction. This is when a building becomes 'a place', 'an icon' and 'a landmark'. In the international collective perspective of the world, what would Sydney be without the Opera House? Ambitiously edgy new buildings are always risky when it comes to public opinion and politics, but it would be even worse if we never tried at all.

Article from The Australian - Children don't come first in lucky country, says OECD report

Stephen Lunn, Social affairs writer | October 21, 2008

AUSTRALIA'S prosperity is masking an unpalatable truth - the health and wellbeing of our children lag unacceptably behind those of many developed countries.

More than 7 per cent of Australian children have fewer than 11 books in their family home, we rank in the bottom third of the OECD nations for infant mortality, and we are 21st out of 27 for children eating meals with their parents.

These are just a few of a raft of international indicators of childhood health and wellbeing that reveal the chasm between our perceptions of a prosperous country and the harsh reality, childhood expert Fiona Stanley has warned.

An international comparison of 42measures of childhood wellbeing to be published for the first time today by the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth shows we rank 13th out of 23 OECD countries on childhood mental health. Indigenous children fare disproportionately badly across a range of indicators from infant mortality through teenage pregnancy and exposure to poverty.

Professor Stanley, chair of the alliance board, told The Australian that the nation "continues to accept mediocrity for our young people" at a time when we top the rankings of some global prosperity indices.

"I'm disappointed in the way Australia has become smug about being top of the pops in wealth and sport, but for the most important element for the future of the country, our children, we're way behind the eight ball," she said.

"An international prosperity index published just last week had Australia the No1 one country in the world for life satisfaction, but how can we be so self-satisfied when there are so many indicators of childhood wellbeing that are in the middle of the range?

"We need to be asking how an affluent and successful country like Australia can be so average when it comes to raising our children and whether we're prepared to continue to accept mediocrity for our young people."

The ARACY report card, titled The Wellbeing of Australian Children, to be launched in Canberra today by Families Minister Jenny Macklin, will feed into the Government's policy agenda focusing on universal access to early childhood education, improving responses to childhood obesity and mental health issues, and combating indigenous disadvantage across the spectrum.

It notes Australian children are four times more likely to be living in poverty than a child in Finland, with 12 per cent of children in Australian households where the income is less than 50 per cent of the national median on the most recent measure.

About 7.2 per cent of children report having fewer than 11 books in their home, a figure that sits at 19 per cent for Aboriginal children.

A spokeswoman for Ms Macklin said last night the Rudd Government was committed to a child-centred approach to family policy and that the ARACY report card would "provide vital baseline data".

"Children are our most important asset and we are determined to make children's interests the driving force of our decision-making for families," the spokeswoman said. "This is reflected in the Government's commitment to introduce a paid paternity leave scheme, the development of a Child Protection Framework and increasing the child care tax rebate from 30 to 50 per cent in our first budget."

She said the indigenous indicators are "shocking" and closing the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians was an "urgent national priority".

Rob Moodie, professor of global health at the University of Melbourne's Nossal Institute and an ARACY board member, said obesity was one example of where we fell short in looking after children's wellbeing, to the point where the life expectancy of future generations was about to start falling.

Professor Moodie said that governments, communities, business and parents must work together to provide better options for the nation's children.

"We need to value teachers, we need to make sure there are safe public spaces set aside for kids to be active," he said. "We need to get kids walking to school, so they can get both exercise and get to know other children."

Professor Stanley agreed the response had to move beyond polite dinner party conversation.

"Society has to start changing what it values."

She labelled rising psychological problems among children and young people as a particular concern, one that "just shouldn't be happening in a successful country".

From The Australian News Online.