Admirably clear, but an internet address that only a public servant could love! There is a QR code though.
So I went straight to the clumsily named Department of Climate Change and God Knows What Else — do something about that, Tanya — and found the appropriate section which is also quite easy to understand, once you get there. See Illawarra, NSW declared offshore wind area.
Here in The Gong there has been much weeping and gnashing of teeth about this, but also much support. I am for sure a supporter. For some tooth gnashing you can’t beat Sky Oz and Matt Canavan, who is about as far north of Illawarra as you can get. I wonder indeed if he has ever been here. But wind him up and you get this:
And on the other hand… The leaflet explains that the exclusion zone is just 50 metres around each turbine, but that otherwise neither shipping nor recreational fishing is prohibited. So stop scaring everyone, Matt!
Then of course there is the aesthetic objection! Our glorious views that people come from all over the world to experience will be vandalised, lost forever.
Here is what according to the Department the view from Mount Keira on a clear day will be like. Oh my, let’s all jump up and down, scream, panic and have conniptions at the vandalism Labor would inflict! Get out the binoculars and you just MIGHT see something 22km off shore!
Hi Neil, I am writing from France, where the latest reactor to go on line later this year began construction in 2007, so it has taken 17 years to complete. Originally costed at 3.3 Billion euros, it has actually cost 13 billion ( over 20 billion Australian dollars) and it won’t produce power until 2025. I can also say as a user of French electricity that is no cheaper than Sydney prices, in fact it is more expensive here, and will continue to be expensive for years to come, as the price of upgrading old reactors and building new reactors will be exorbitant.
I heard more today at South Sydney Uniting Church about what is happening here next Wednesday 13 February.
Events at the Redfern Community Centre start at 8 and continue all day, with another gathering at Redfern Park at 6pm. It is a shame that Redfern Park, currently mostly dug up as it is being rebuilt, along with Redfern Oval, is not available for the day’s activities, as that would have been a neat closing of the circle that began with Paul Keating’s Redfern speech in 1992.
Today we honour the Indigenous peoples ofthis land, the oldest continuingcultures in human history.
We reflect on their past mistreatment.
We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were Stolen Generations – this blemished chapter in our nation’s history.
The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia’s history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future.
We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.
We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country.
For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry.
To the mothers and fathers, the brothers and sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry.
And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry.
We the Parliament of Australia respectfully request that this apology be received in the spirit in which it is offered as part of the healing of the nation.
For the future we take heart; resolving that this new page in the history of our great continent can now be written.
We today take this first step by acknowledging the past and laying claim to a future that embraces all Australian.
A future where this Parliament resolves that the injustices of the past must never, never happen again.
A future where we harness the determination of all Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to close the gap that lies between us in life expectancy, educational achievement and economic opportunity.
A future where we embrace the possibility of new solutions to enduring problems where old approaches have changed.
A future based on mutual respect, mutual resolve and mutual responsibility.
A future where all Australians, whatever their origins, are truly equal partners, with equal opportunities and with an equal stake in shaping the next chapter in the history of this great country.
At least 1,000 people stood in the pouring rain at Redfern’s famous Block and watched on the big screen as Kevin Rudd moved the motion of Apology. I would not have missed it for quids!
Next to me an Aboriginal woman in her thirties or forties, her tears blending with the rain.
Cheers and a standing ovation greeted Kevin Rudd’s speech.
We didn’t get to hear the middle section of Dr Nelson’s speech as at that point the Lord Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore, was speaking to us live.
However, the symbolism near the end of Rudd and Nelson jointly presenting to the Speaker the gift from the Stolen Generations spoke to all our hearts.
Golden syrup and damper afterwards, and then a coffee for me on the way home at Cafe Cana.
William Yang was there at the Community Centre, and some people from church.
Big smiles from some little Aboriginal kids as I crossed Pitt Street and Redfern Street: “Look! He’s got a flag!”
A day truly to be treasured, long long anticipated and for a period the dread that it would never happen. But it has happened.
No more analysis today, no more commentary. The day is too good for that.
Ivan Clarke, one of the stolen generations, is comforted by a friend after watching the apology by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on a large screen in Redfern. Photo: Jon Reid Sydney Morning Herald.
Joy, that was the dominant note today: sheer joy.
But in 2023 the nation, not the Prime Minister, dropped the baton
I take no pleasure in writing this piece. I have spent my life campaigning for recognition and reconciliation in this country. Through all that time, I have found ways to feed hope. I have believed often in our better angels.
Now, though, I can see the truth: whatever the outcome of today’s vote, whether the double majority required to make this alteration to the Constitution is achieved or not, reconciliation is dead.
Australians had the opportunity to accept our invitation in the Uluru Statement from the Heart. Only they had the power to decide whether to accept or reject constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people by voting “Yes” or “No” on a representative body enshrined in the Constitution.
I hope I’m wrong, but everything around me is saying that today Australia will reject that invitation. It will choose to leave our hand outstretched….
I am hoping the Albanese government will work with our leaders to develop a robust policy stance following whatever outcome in the referendum, to turn the tide of the vicious assault on us as peoples and our right to exist, our right to health services, our right to live as long as other Australians and to thrive rather than just survive.
A slight positive from this campaign is that we have seen with our own eyes the Australians who now know more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and the challenges we face.
These voters can see the value not only in the representative body but in Indigenous peoples themselves, as human beings. They are aware of the mortality rates of adults and youth, the increasing infant mortality rate, health conditions that were eradicated in the rest of the population decades ago, and soaring incarceration and child removal rates. They know that this is unacceptable….
Nyunggai Warren Mundine called the Uluru Statement from the Heart, from which the Voice as the vehicle of recognition is drawn, a “declaration of war” against the nation, appealing to the deep sinkhole of racism where rational thought and evidence go to die. This new twist on fascism lies at the heart of the “No” campaign and it has turned our nation against the truth.
Noel Pearson said it so well in his National Press Club speech:
“This referendum is testing the idea that a nation conceived in the fiction of terra nullius – a continent empty of owners – can come to a new understanding of who we are.
“A nation blessed with an Indigenous heritage spanning 60 millennia, a British democracy captured in its Constitution and a multicultural unity that is a beacon to the world.
“If affirmed, this referendum will seize our first best chance and last best hope for a lasting settlement.”
The rejection of this offer of a settlement is the end of the notion of reconciliation.
What could follow this heartless, baseless rejection?
We are left with only the wit and determination of Indigenous people themselves to find another way to live alongside the descendants of strangers who hold us in contempt.
Those who stood by us throughout the referendum campaign will be invited to join us, but they too will face a bleak future. Australia will not be the land of the “fair go”.
Yes, in that article she may have overblown her rhetoric — but in essentials she may be right. The failure of the middle way — the path so eloquently argued for many years now by Noel Pearson — will leave the real radicals on the floor. Those who deny the very legitimacy of our polity and constitution.
My son, your troubled eyes search mine, Puzzled and hurt by colour line. Your black skin as soft as velvet shine; What can I tell you, son of mine?
I could tell you of heartbreak, hatred blind, I could tell you of crimes that shame mankind, Of brutal wrong and deeds malign, Of rape and murder, son of mine;
But I’ll tell you instead of brave and fine When lives of black and white entwine, And men in brotherhood combine- This would I tell you, son of mine.
Archie Roach, Emma Donovan, Blake Scott, Ella Hooper, and Richard Clapton cover the Kev Carmody/Paul Kelly classic song “From Little Things, Big Things Grow” with the RocKwiz Orkestra and Vika and Linda Bull to close the RocKwiz Salutes The Legends of Australia on SBS 2016.
From the Wiradjuri News Community Page on Facebook
A STATEMENT FROM INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS WHO SUPPORTED THE VOICE REFERENDUM
A Week of Silence for the Voice
Recognition in the constitution of the descendants of the original and continuing owners of Australia would have been a great advance for Australians. Alas, the majority have rejected it.
This is a bitter irony. That people who have only been on this continent for 235 years would refuse to recognise those whose home this land has been for 60,000 and more years is beyond reason.
It was never in the gift of these newcomers to refuse recognition to the true owners of Australia.
The referendum was a chance for newcomers to show a long-refused grace and gratitude and to acknowledge that the brutal dispossession of our people underwrote their every advantage in this country.
For more than six years, we have explained to our nation why the Voice was our great hope to achieve real change for our families and communities.
To the Australians who supported us in this vote – we thank you sincerely. You comprise many millions of Australians of love and goodwill. We know you wanted a better future for Australia, and to put the colonial past behind us by choosing belated recognition and justice.
We thank the Prime Minister and his government for having the conviction to take this referendum to the Australian people at our request.
We thank him for his advocacy and all parliamentarians who did the same, including members of the Teals, Greens, Nationals and independents who stood by us. We pay particular respect to the Liberal parliamentarians who bravely advocated for the voice.
We also thank our fellow Australians from all sectors of the community, including multicultural, faith, professional, business, creative and sporting organisations.
To the hundreds of thousands who took to the streets, knocked on doors and made over a million phone calls, thank you for your love and support.
Our deep chagrin at this result does not in any way diminish our pride and gratefulness for the stand they had the moral courage to take in this cause now lost. We know we have them by our side in the ongoing cause for justice and fairness in our own land.
Now is not the time to dissect the reasons for this tragic outcome. This will be done in the weeks, years and decades to come.
Now is the time for silence, to mourn and deeply consider the consequence of this outcome.
Much will be asked about the role of racism and prejudice against Indigenous people in this result.
The only thing we ask is that each and every Australian who voted in this election reflect hard on this question.
To our people we say: do not shed tears.
This rejection was never for others to issue.
The truth is that rejection was always ours to determine. The truth is that we offered this recognition and it has been refused.
We now know where we stand in this our own country. Always was. Always will be.
We will not rest long.
Pack up the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
Fly our flags low. Talk not of recognition and reconciliation.
Only of justice and the rights of our people in our own country.
Things that no one else can gift us, but to which we are entitled by fact that this is the country of our birth and inheritance.
Re-gather our strength and resolve, and when we determine a new direction for justice and our rights, let us once again unite.
Let us convene in due course to carefully consider our path forward.
We are calling A Week of Silence from tonight (Saturday 14th October) to grieve this outcome and reflect on its meaning and significance. We will not be commenting further on the result at this time.
We will be lowering our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags to half-mast for the week of silence to acknowledge this result.
We ask others to do the same.
— Central Land Council
— Marion Scrymgour MP
— Northern Land Council
— Senator Malarndirri McCarthy – Northern Territory
— Danila Dilba Health Service
— Empowered Communities
Do read Katy Barnett — a profound view
I read this much later today and it is a must. She is also a long-term blogging friend!
Wife, mother, academic, lawyer, author. Professor at Melbourne Law School specialising in remedies law, contract, tort, equity, animal law and legal history. Member of Heterodox Academy. Generally interested in everything.
First, a No vote does not mean that the Australian people don’t care about Indigenous people. Nor does it mean that they want Indigenous people to suffer. Given the high initial polling for Yes, evidently people do care.
Secondly, contrary to the Prime Minister’s comments before the Referendum, this should not be the end of the matter…
I’m a remedies lawyer, and my business is righting wrongs. One must recognise historical wrongdoing, and learn from it, but one should not make people in the current day responsible for the acts of their ancestors. That’s tantamount to blood guilt, a dangerous concept indeed. Our common law has statutes of limitations for a reason. There comes a point when—even if someone has done wrong—liability must run out so people can move on. Recognising wrongs is important; ruminating over them is unhealthy.
We can’t turn back time. Indubitably, Indigenous people suffered during the colonisation of Australia. However, once the egg is broken and scrambled, there’s no way to unscramble it, any more than it’s possible to take the Indigenous part out of me, and extract it from the convicts and settlers.
People from many different backgrounds now share this amazing and beautiful land with the First Peoples. All we can do is try to learn from the mistakes of the past, and move forward. It is really important not to come out of this process angrier and more broken than we were before…..
#Strongwomen. "I write about the power of trying, because I want to be okay with failing. I write about generosity because I battle selfishness. I write about joy because I know sorrow. I write about faith because I almost lost mine, and I know what it is to be broken and in need of redemption. I write about gratitude because I am thankful - for all of it." Kristin Armstrong
All abandoned: Chernobyl / Pripyat, Nara Dreamland, Anti-Zombie Fortress, Japanese Sex Museum - and many, many more! Plus: North Korea Special - 2 trips, 16 days / 14 nights! As seen on CNN...
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