Australia, we have a problem: we are violent sadists

ABC Four Corners: Australia's shame

Dear Malcolm (my prime minister) and Barnaby (my elected representative for the New England notwithstanding that I live in the Hunter),

Where do I start? I don't know where to start.

What hope is there for a nation that has such a blatant disregard for life?

Our scorecard is abysmal: we mistreat ...

- our environment

- our dogs

- our cattle

- our women

- our asylum seekers

- our human rights commissioner

- our elderly

- our children

... and all of this has all been conducted on your watch, in fact countless Australian govenments' watch ... for decades.

We have had endless Royal Commissions into our various atrocities but nothing ever changes.

And here we are again in what seems like some hideously macabre 'Groundhog Day' loop this time regarding our children.

Oh it's all too easy to wave your magic wand and declare

Behold, I do believe we'll hold another series of Meetings-That-Take-Forever-And-Achieve-Nothing now that I've chatted to the Human Rights Commissioner whom we bullied and threatened but just a while ago ... oh chortle chortle, a mere trifle now that we need her imprimatur

... but how will any of what you're proposing improve the immediate lives of those poor children whose images were broadcast on ABC television last night?

The sheer agony and terror we witnessed on their faces, and their bodies and their spirits, should haunt us all forever because let's face it, we all stand guilty of turning away and letting this happen ... namely because some of 'us' keep on voting for the likes of you, making you our elected representatives, only for you to subsequently permit this brutal treatment to happen in our name.

How dare you.

This dark and cruel episode is yet another example of a systemic national and cultural government fail.

The children's so-called crimes, which landed them in that dickensian reform centre, were nothing compared to the torture and 'crimes against humanity' that were incessantly meted out to them.

Yes, these state-sanctioned 'crimes against humanity' inflicted with such an obvious intent to cause suffering must make us all hang our heads in shame that:

(1) these children were terrorised at the hands of people who were supposed to be looking after them, and

(2) we endlessly vote for such cruel governments that allow such physical and psychological suffereing to happen.

We have a problem, Malcolm and Barnaby, and you and we are it.

(Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister also emailed, facebooked and tweeted, and this blog post cross-posted to Freedom Cyclist Blog)

Journey's End

by Georgie Abbott

(Image: Mahmoud Salameh, Palestinian-Syrian refugee & friend of RAC)

The noise is loud,
She wakes in fright.
They have to leave,
This is the night.

The bags are packed
Waiting by the door.
She feels the bomb
Through the shaking floor.

She takes their hands,
Squeezing tiny fingers.
Time to go,
No time to linger.

Through the dark
They run and cry.
Please don't let
My children die.

Now on a truck
The road is rough.
The babies cry,
They've had enough.

On the coast
She pays the man,
Just get on the boat
To another land.

The waves hit the wood,
Everything creaks.
Silence is defeaning,
Too afraid to speak.

She dreams of new life
No more failure.
She dreams of the future
They'll have in Australia.

But they never reach
What they've searched for,
They are taken away
To be processed offshore.

After months of waiting
She cries in despair,
Why are we here?
It is just not fair!

Her children suffer,
She watches them grow.
A mother's pain
We may never know.

She didn't want much,
She just needed a home,
But now she is here
More than ever alone.

Keep my babies alive,
She silently pleas.
And fades into the night,
She's Finally free.

Let it be #ByeByeBarnaby

Screen capture: Barnaby Joyce, Sydney Morning Herald

Please please please, dear electorate of New England, let's not return this guy!

I mean what has Barnaby actually ever done for us? ... nothing!

And furthermore, what could Barnaby do for us? ... nothing!

We deserve better.

$$$ He pretends he is not committed to coal, yet will go along with any NSW state government decision to dig up Breeza and the Liverpool Plains

$$$ He is committed to coal seam gas and appears to have a perceived conflict of interest with regards to property he owns and a nearby coal seam gas exploration licence.

$$$ He is also committed to Live Animal Export in another perceived conflict of interest kind of a way nothwithstanding the recent revelations of that industry's terrible practices - he has no intention of shutting that shameful trade down.

Screen capture: The Three Fossils (my words), Scone Advocate

$$$ He is a pork-barreller and he is yet another politician to promise millions of dollars for a local bypass/overpass in Scone - politicians have been doing that in this town of mine ever since I first arrived here and I came to Scone in 1983. So thirty three years later we still don't have either, and as the coal industry inexorably grinds to a halt notwithstanding Barnaby and co doing their best King Canute routines, the need in Scone lessens exponentially for both.

$$$ He is incoherent .. and oh boy he is ... utterly offensive.

He's a dinosaur; he's a fossil; he's a National Party member; we can expect no more.

So let us remember when we're in that ballot box cubicle later on today that can do better, and that our children deserve a future, and if we elect Barnaby as our local representative, we can kiss that dream away.

Put the Liberals and Nationals last and VOTE 1 Tony Windsor!!!!

#PutLNPLast #VoteForSomeoneElse

#Vote1TonyWindsor 

 (Also cross posted to Freedom Cyclist blog)

'A Sunburnt Country'

By Georgie Abbott

I love a sunburnt country!
A land where people rest,
Of treeless city streets
Void of all protest.
I love her concrete jungle,
I love her laws on crime.
Her silence and terror
Moving backwards in time.

I love the price for freedom
To be told what to say
Or to be held without trial
It is the only way
I'm happy to live here
Where there is no Global Warming.
Lucky to have Baird
And the army he is forming.

I love the greater land
And the people at our helm.
It's reassuring to have intelligence
When ruling this great realm.
How beautiful her future
With the literate leading,
Keeping refugees offshore;
No need to hear their pleading.

Core of my heart, my country!
With her pale blue sky.
Chip away at her shell
And watch her slowly die.
This coal-hearted country!
Goodbye Coral Reef!
You are not that important,
No time for any grief.

Glory to Australia,
We erased her people power!
Glory to this nation,
In her final hour!
And as she lays dying,
We need not have great fears.
All we have to do
Is close our eyes and our ears.

Open letter to the Minister for Immigration & Border Protection

By Georgie Abbott

(Image: Mahmoud Salameh, Palestinian-Syrian refugee & friend of RAC)


Dear Minister Dutton,

I'm sure you are well aware of the growing tension on Nauru and Manus Islands. I am certain you have heard the tragedies surrounding Omid Masoumali and Hadon. Catastrophic stories of desperate people.

Tell me, Minister Dutton, hypothetically, what would you do if you had to flee your home country or face certain death? How would you feel if you had no other option but to make a perilous journey across the world? How would you act locked up in a detention centre? What would you do when it seemed all hope was lost?

Would you feel alone, Minister Dutton? Would you think no one cared what happened to you? Would you think this beautiful land in which you had hoped to find refuge was rejecting you in your time of need? Would you believe that not a single person cared for the outcome of your life?

Well, I am writing to tell you, still hypothetically of course... that if you were seeking refuge, desperate for a safe life... I would care. I would fight for your rights; I would tell you that you were not alone. I would give you hope and try my best to get you through it.

Why? Because in another life you could be my brother, my father, my friend, a man. I have and will always have compassion for my fellow man and woman.

This is why so many Australians are outraged by Nauru and Manus Islands. Human Rights are being neglected and our compassion for the people in these centres makes us weep. What has become of our country? How can we let such atrocities go unnoticed?

How would you feel if Hadon were your daughter? What would it mean to you if Omid were your brother?

Please, Minister Dutton, I implore you to have compassion and see what the people in detention really are... humans ... like you and me. Humans searching for lives better than the ones they have escaped. They are searching for something we are already lucky enough to have.

It could be you or me on these Islands, within these centres. It could be you or me taking our lives in desperation. You and I have family and friends who would mourn us deeply. Just like Omid and Hadon.

Yours sincerely,

Georgie Abbott
A fellow human

State Sanctioned Vandalism in Hunter is UNLIMITED

Dear Mike and Michael,

Alan Jones came to the Upper Hunter on Wednesday 20th April 2016 to listen to us - yes, that's right ... in direct contrast to you two, he came to listen to us, the people who live in this valley, the voters who continue to watch in horror as you continue to destroy this beautiful home of ours.


Son of a coal miner, Alan Jones came with Channel 7 primarily to inform himself about the wanton destruction that has been wrought upon our valley negating our claim to being world famous for Hunter Valley Wines (now Hunter Valley Mines).

He came to gather information from us voters, us farmers, us families, you know us real stakeholders, aka people without nihilistic vested interests hell bent on gutting this land and clearing out. 

He also took the opportunity whilst he was here to fly over our once beautiful valley. I didn't envy him that exercise knowing how distressing the view is from a train window let alone a plane or a helicopter. He told us that the footage they had collected told a story of complete devastation.

"Try telling someone to rehabilitate that land after what we have seen here this morning," he said to us.

Of course we already know that it is sheer fantasy to imagine that the land having been decimated to the extent that it has been decimated could ever be rehabilitated. It would take way too many $$$ for anyone or any company to rehabilitate the land to the standard that it was before the commencement of mining projects. As we all well know, there is no rehabilitating the Hunter. You both are deluding yourselves if you think for a minute that we believe your spin.

Many of us spoke to Alan, and oh, yes there was a theme. Notwithstanding that the group assembled all vote quite differently to each other, we all agreed that you, Michael Johnsen, are completely useless ineffectual and completely failing to represent us in our hour of need here in the Upper Hunter.



Arthur Mitchell, from the family-owned and operated Yarraman Park Thoroughbred Stud, reminded us that the horse farms in the Upper Hunter are arguably some of the best in the world, and cannot co-exist with the mines. The noise and dust emanating out of the mines create complete 'no-go zones' which are just not suitable for the breeding and raising of horses. 

Alan Jones asked him if anyone had been to Upper Hunter to see what he and the Channel 7 crew had seen on their flight over the mines, to which Arthur replied "no, no-one has." Arthur went on to say that the ugliness has grown, and that the country has been trashed and is only getting worse.

What do you both have to say about that, Mike and Michael? And what are you going to do about it?


Dordie Bragg, beef cattle farmer from Rossgole Pastoral Company, told Alan Jones that she was delighted to see him here in the Upper Hunter. She said that her family has been in the Upper Hunter for generations and that she is horrified at the extent of the pollution, the sludge in the water tanks, and how the dams of the surrounding mines are so toxic that there is never a bird to be seen on them.


When Alan Jones referred to the 'coexistent merchants' I thought of you, Michael, and how during your political campaign for the state election last year you were such an ardent fan of the imaginary concept of mines and farms coexisting.

What a load of nonsense!

Taking a turn on the microphone myself, I agreed with Alan Jones about how 'coexistence can not work, and how in my opinion Big Mine operates like the Mafia, and to that effect seemed to have already infiltrated governments and public institutions to get what they want.


Attunga Stud Principal, Brian Nutt, reiterated how farms and mines cannot coexist detailing that water is like gold, and that the mines are massive users of water.


Kiwa Fisher, one of our Upper Hunter Shire Councillors, listed future open cut mines on the cards for us, and mentioned that Dartbrook and Mount Pleaseant were already approved, which means more noise, more dust, and a massive impact on our local area and communities. 

At the moment he told us there is no cumulative measure of impact, yet we all know that Dartbrook is plagued with spontaneous combustion problems, water problems, gas problems, toxic tailings maintenance problems, and elsewhere there are open coal seam fire problems - basically the message we are getting from you lot is 'good luck.'


Over a cuppa, Alan Jones pointed out that many of the licences granted to the surrounding mines were granted years ago and would no longer be applicable.

This is correct, isn't it, Mike and Michael, that essentially the mining companies need to reapply all over again for new licences.

Alan Jones suggested that you could employ the KISS principle, Mike, and then all you would have to do when considering the following three projects would be to say 'NO, GO AWAY.'


(Screen capture: Gateway Application Supporting Document) 

1. West Muswellbrook project (above): applying KISS principle = unacceptable impacts to alluvial aquifers

2. Dartbrook: applying KISS principle = new application not granted

3. Mt Pleasant: applying KISS principle = given licence granted in 1997 was a massive administrative and bureacratic mistake, and that no mining construction has yet begun, and that ownership has since changed, existing licence should not be transferred

So, Mike, it is easy for you - all you have to do is say:

'NO ... these three mines may not proceed.'


Tony Lonergan, a resident from Dorset Road, Kayuga, representing one of only two families left from that former close knit community told Alan that his family have been there since the 1890s and now they have to face the prospect of the Muswellbrook West Project. 

Tony pointed out that the mining industry is in trouble yet still mines are in 'Care & Maintenance' or 'For Sale' exposing more of our beautiful land. Furthermore he mentioned that there is no requirement to fill the voids left by the mines and that in fact they (the voids) are left for us to sort out. Occasionally there is tokenistic rehabilitation and top soil is put back but the sub soil is not.

The final void can never be rehabilitated - so what do you both have to say about that?


(Catch-up time for Peter Hodges, farmer and former Upper Hunter Shire Councillor with Alan Jones)
When Alan Jones and Channel 7's footage of their aerial sojourn above our valley is broadcast it will tell the Upper Hunter Mine story in a most articulate way, and you will not be able to shirk your responsibilities, Mike and Michael.


(Screen capture: scone.com.au)
And before I sign off, to add to all our concerns is unsettling talk that Nathan Tinkler will be involved in the Dartbrook Open Cut Destruction Project - how can that possibly happen?

He is a business menace  ...
... and we are not impressed


... that this view from Blairmore Lane looking towards the currently moth-balled Dartbrook Underground Mine ...


... could end up like this?

Is this what you both really want for us?

All I can say is thank 'insert whichever-mythical-creature-you-like-to-invoke' that Alan Jones paid us a visit during the week because maybe now we might appear on your radar too. 

Let's face it, to date neither of you have given us the time of day on this issue nor do either of you seem to have a plan of any merit for our fast-disappearing Upper Hunter.

Yet now more than ever we need informed and principled leaders  to 'have our backs' and be prepared to say 'no' to Big Mine. 

Save Our Souls, please.

Kind regards,
Sue Abbott
(Scone resident)

NSW Government and the Trojan Horse Brigade

At a recent tree rally on Anzac Parade earlier this month many of us felt we had been sold out by those who ought to be protecting our beautiful heritage listed trees on Anzac Parade and Alison Road.

Where was the outraged commentary from Centennial Parklands, or Royal Randwick, or even the City of Sydney, and why had the RSL been so nasty?

And where was the covereage in the Sydney Morning Herald?

Why hadn't this issue been on every front page since the trees had started to be felled?

On reflection I guess the SMH were never going to get too involved given that they are so ridiculously propped up by both the horse-racing industry:



... and the oil industry:



Still notwithstanding the campaign to save the trees was gathering momentum on social media, there was a genuine sense of abandonement.

But the ever-growing revulsion of our New South Wales representatives was totally justified today by Background Briefing's explosive expose of our dodgy government and 'vested' interests.




Acording to Background Briefing's report, that curly scrolly bridge in the above image (the massively controversial Tibby Cotter Cycling and Pedestrian Bridge) turns out to be suitable for vehicles up to 10 tons.

Why, you ask, when to all intents and purposes the bridge was built for pedestrians and cylists?

Well as Background Briefing informed us, it is considered to be highly likely that this massive structure is the early beginnings of a massive underground carpark

The NSW government plans to completely commandeer our public lands and trees to build new stadiums and to create sporting precincts even for tennis which is so on the nose at the moment and may never recover.

The government has been eagerly aided and abetted by the pathetic Centennial Parklands Trust and its trustees who have got completely confused as to what their brief actually is ... namely protecting the parklands and keeping them safely in trust for people now and in future to enjoy and use freely and naturally.



Goodbye Anzac Parade and Kippax Lake as we know it ...


(screen capture: Fourfourtwo, Sydney Stadium Stuff)

... as we watch this out-of-control-government trash this unique memorial and get ready to clutch their hearts on Anzac Day to feign sorrow and gratitude.



For the benefit of NSW politicians, Background Briefing reminded us that the Anzacs marched down Randwick Road (later renamed to Anzac Parade in their memory) to Circular Quay and were bundled on to ships and off to war some of them never to return to Australia again ...



A sandstone obelisk designed and constructed by the city architect, RH Brodrick, was placed on Anzac Parade in 1917 to serve as a memorial to Diggers who did not return and as a meeting placed for those who did.



Yet even that poignant memorial was not safe from the machinations of a development-addicted government which under the premise of rennovation removed it indefinitely to some back lot of the Roads Department in order to build ...


... an entrance to a car-park ... so very disrepectful.


(Image: 1961 last day of Sydney trams on Anzac Parade, reservation Moore Park; Lindsay Bridge, Flickr)

And to think that if we hadn't got rid of Sydney's trams 55 years ago which we are now putting back at great cost and angst maybe this whole sorry saga might not have taken place ...

Oh we have not been well served by our state representatives ...

... is it time to dispense with such a silly tier of government?

(cross posted to Freedom Cyclist Blog)