tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59290098974797261602024-03-13T12:59:09.528+11:00fairgreenplanetWhat kind of future do we want? - health promotion, equity, social justice, environmental sustainability, climate change, feminism, politicsVal Kayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022522407838661280noreply@blogger.comBlogger121125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929009897479726160.post-87211713606263158502024-02-12T17:18:00.006+11:002024-02-14T17:40:18.763+11:00<p> Climate change and sustainability program</p><p>After I retired from teaching at Monash at the end of 2022, I started facilitating a program on climate change and sustainability for the <a href="https://u3amoreland.org.au/" target="_blank">Moreland (Merribek) University of the Third Age (U3A)</a> in 2023.</p><p>The program is continuing this year. We are currently thinking about the best way to store some resources from the program. We may be able to store them on the U3A website eventually but for the time being I will put some here. Only resources that are suitable for public access will be stored here (nothing with private information about individuals).</p><div style="text-align: left;">Below are copies of slides I gave to our first meeting for 2024. The idea of these is to define some key concepts and briefly review where we are in 2024. I've also included some notes and some additional links for more information. The images of the slides can be enlarged by clicking on them.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Introduction to Climate change and sustainability program 2024</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_j9LsE6gmYYSSa_BmNqq42Zb4bceXID6tCiMo98UOh-aRDJRnfcdPT8MT_Aeue86K-11ol7CohfR-DIj42e9NLMIkoX4GXSx0lUwUkS5ODdsUgSFc7NzX7ChXOpxfofTwTJwUgyma13rov4crDLdHvg1WWkn8fcE0Z2Lj68nFX4VGKiM-9mKwKkBp_bJd/s927/slide%202%20U3A%20intro%20to%20cc%20and%20sustainability%202024.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="458" data-original-width="927" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_j9LsE6gmYYSSa_BmNqq42Zb4bceXID6tCiMo98UOh-aRDJRnfcdPT8MT_Aeue86K-11ol7CohfR-DIj42e9NLMIkoX4GXSx0lUwUkS5ODdsUgSFc7NzX7ChXOpxfofTwTJwUgyma13rov4crDLdHvg1WWkn8fcE0Z2Lj68nFX4VGKiM-9mKwKkBp_bJd/s320/slide%202%20U3A%20intro%20to%20cc%20and%20sustainability%202024.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Çaring for Country is an Indigenous tradition that can guide both climate change action and broader action for ecological sustainability. The Victorian Heritage Council provides an explanation <a href="https://www.aboriginalheritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/taking-care-culture-discussion-paper/land-our-future-caring-country" target="_blank">here</a>. Caring for country is also often associated with caring for people, especially young people. As such, it is a model for how we can think about both the social and ecological aspects of climate action and sustainability (sometimes referred to as an écosocial' or 'socioecological' approach).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNzfOnndGOLJOSgF3M0DLFcILXbhd1Qt5i7izxHJwfXMPUpePyuJ2xwv1_cxex2YEHs645zfh2rJptMepwBtCmcc0kL7uQK_n0AJnPv21zlLspoFtSPoXivvmGhb664VkbfUrpWU9iQVoLOoRLwZ4yDX-rLvdw_J3xS_VV6uK-n2tEk2J41q4FQc_R10-q/s920/slide%203%20intro%20to%20U3A%20cc%20and%20sustainability%202024.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="460" data-original-width="920" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNzfOnndGOLJOSgF3M0DLFcILXbhd1Qt5i7izxHJwfXMPUpePyuJ2xwv1_cxex2YEHs645zfh2rJptMepwBtCmcc0kL7uQK_n0AJnPv21zlLspoFtSPoXivvmGhb664VkbfUrpWU9iQVoLOoRLwZ4yDX-rLvdw_J3xS_VV6uK-n2tEk2J41q4FQc_R10-q/s320/slide%203%20intro%20to%20U3A%20cc%20and%20sustainability%202024.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div>The majority of emissions causing global warming and climate change come from human production and use of fossil fuels for energy (plus some from other sources, particularly methane from animals in agriculture, and from waste; nitrous oxide from nitrogenous fertilisers used in agriculture; and some human-made gases in industry).<div><br /></div><div>The graphic on this slide, from the Climate Council, shows how prior to the Paris Agreement on climate change in 2016 the use of fossil fuels was rising sharply. Since the Paris Agreement, current policy suggests emissions from fossil fuels may peak in the 2020s (possibly around this year) but are not declining sufficiently to meet the Paris Agreement target of keeping global warming to well below 2C and preferably to 1.5C this century.</div><div><br /><div>The latest pledges from countries under the Paris Agreement (Nationally Determined Contributions or NDCs) potentially could put us on target for 2C, but would not be sufficient to stay within 1.5. If current practice continues it looks more likely we may reach about 2.6C, which would have severe and potentially disastrous effects for ecosystems, other species and many human societies.</div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjioOplHJCxsDuFGt0bQK-Z6Zmhz-3bD05DqAu8xgmR8pub80CpmcpKKJ2aRXbpBe7TkrDa4m5r5WhWWyuaSVNbgG8Hufw0ugcFO4WYrDakkUgo-5wc3pNEqbW_LIacWdXj-_rtIH-dJDucQJ_geeUYVAIXjgsx7C6khK2wO991LGYlrrt66Ly7c5SSxnsu/s925/slide%204%20U3A%20intro%20to%20cc%20and%20sustainability%202024.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="503" data-original-width="925" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjioOplHJCxsDuFGt0bQK-Z6Zmhz-3bD05DqAu8xgmR8pub80CpmcpKKJ2aRXbpBe7TkrDa4m5r5WhWWyuaSVNbgG8Hufw0ugcFO4WYrDakkUgo-5wc3pNEqbW_LIacWdXj-_rtIH-dJDucQJ_geeUYVAIXjgsx7C6khK2wO991LGYlrrt66Ly7c5SSxnsu/s320/slide%204%20U3A%20intro%20to%20cc%20and%20sustainability%202024.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The Australian government <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/climate-change/publications/national-greenhouse-gas-inventory-quarterly-update-june-2023" target="_blank">reports on national greenhouse gas emissions</a> under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The government has suggested we are on track to meet the target of 43% reduction on 2005 levels by 2030. However there are several problems with this:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> - much apparent decline comes from estimated changes in Land Use, Land Use Changes and Forestry (LULUCF), <a href="https://australiainstitute.org.au/post/the-government-needs-to-stop-using-dodgy-land-use-accounting-to-suggest-emissions-are-falling/" target="_blank">the reliability of which have been questioned</a>. Excluding LULUCF, there has been little change in most sectors, except electricity, where emissions have declined due to the growth of renewables, particularly rooftop solar. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">- there was an apparent decline during the pandemic, but recent levels suggest emissions in some sectors such as transport have subsequently risen</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">- the target of 43% is considered by experts to be much too low - a target of 75-100% is recommended.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/datablog/ng-interactive/2022/oct/03/tracking-australias-progress-on-the-climate-crisis-and-the-consequences-of-global-heating" target="_blank">graphs from the Guardian</a> in the slide above show, once these factors are taken into account, we are not really on track to meet even the low 43% target, particularly if LULUCF estimates are excluded.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMSXLmRc9IaRdoM559Fir9_tDtxICV4K4j8UfTGdGY9cuyPJR3QY9xr6FznQ4VUUChStVjWbWpQO1ChjIRD8X1kUZ0L_U0D-T-qLFGQhrP3HhcobsQbULuum4CpgjMwfHDTmF9i9PDjkGWt5zVUVWNJZo_dySVlkRIz2yktPsqfsM6p9lcBZrtd8auqjfq/s876/slide%205%20U3A%20intro%20to%20cc%20and%20sustainability%202024.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="490" data-original-width="876" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMSXLmRc9IaRdoM559Fir9_tDtxICV4K4j8UfTGdGY9cuyPJR3QY9xr6FznQ4VUUChStVjWbWpQO1ChjIRD8X1kUZ0L_U0D-T-qLFGQhrP3HhcobsQbULuum4CpgjMwfHDTmF9i9PDjkGWt5zVUVWNJZo_dySVlkRIz2yktPsqfsM6p9lcBZrtd8auqjfq/s320/slide%205%20U3A%20intro%20to%20cc%20and%20sustainability%202024.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Climate change is very important but it is only one of the ways in which human activities are threatening natural environments, ecosystems and other species. The 'planetary boundaries' concept developed by the Stockholm Resilience Centre identifies nine areas where human activities could be or are disrupting earth systems to a degree that poses significant risk to the stability of the systems and the safety of living beings who rely on them. As shown in the diagram above, they suggest we are already operating outside the safe area of six boundaries.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">One of the issues we face in addressing climate change is how to do so in a way that promotes sustainability (protecting planetary boundaries) more broadly. For example if we decided to reduce carbon emissions from transport by switching as rapidly as possible to electric vehicles, we could potentially reduce fossil fuel emissions, but would continue and in some ways increase many other environmental impacts from motorised transport. Reducing the use of motorised transport, particularly private cars, by switching to active transport (walking and cycling) while shifting to electric vehicles where they are needed, is much more sustainable.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Another factor is that while we talk about 'human activities' causing climate change and breaching other planetary boundaries, not all people are equally responsible. High income populations and nations generally<a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(22)00044-4/fulltext" target="_blank"> have a much greater responsibility</a>.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Clearly we need to live in ways that are more sustainable, particularly in high income nations, but there is currently debate about whether this can be achieved through '<a href="https://www.oecd.org/greengrowth/#:~:text=Green%20Growth%20means%20fostering%20economic,which%20our%20well%2Dbeing%20relies." target="_blank">green growth</a>' or whether we need to reduce production and consumption, for example through '<a href="https://degrowth.info/degrowth" target="_blank">degrowth</a>', '<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21550085.2023.2269055?src=exp-la" target="_blank">sufficiency</a>', '<a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/topics/en/article/20151201STO05603/circular-economy-definition-importance-and-benefits#:~:text=The%20circular%20economy%20is%20a,cycle%20of%20products%20is%20extended." target="_blank">circular economies</a>' and similar concepts</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3wKbXoPhfyKRQNjw7-J2YukpSzI9el0fSm0hvdXUO2OpdkH6FL5qtobJ0JdBfrAKiXVBu_ng5uq81RLXPHoiHT4KztijqjZrmehdTay20_gCs0bo0SRpE6jqa09arHcUCNKkitXrpkC1Im9wZaCli_LpYLf6BiyFhdtYCReM7yYm-rGQ-PlqcJiv7vpUD/s920/slide%206%20U3A%20intro%20to%20cc%20and%20sustainability%202024.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="516" data-original-width="920" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3wKbXoPhfyKRQNjw7-J2YukpSzI9el0fSm0hvdXUO2OpdkH6FL5qtobJ0JdBfrAKiXVBu_ng5uq81RLXPHoiHT4KztijqjZrmehdTay20_gCs0bo0SRpE6jqa09arHcUCNKkitXrpkC1Im9wZaCli_LpYLf6BiyFhdtYCReM7yYm-rGQ-PlqcJiv7vpUD/s320/slide%206%20U3A%20intro%20to%20cc%20and%20sustainability%202024.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Doughnut economics is a term coined by the economist Kate Raworth, who came up with this visual image of how we can think about social boundaries, where everyone is entitled to a fair and decent standard of living, and ecological boundaries, where we are not putting too much strain on earth's systems. This she defines as the 'safe and just operating space for humanity'. This is similar to current research on sufficiency, looking at how much we need to live a decent life and how we can best obtain this within planetary boundaries.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQwoN_uKyGNFlYv27LPG4VfXia0INh_AQ2EUhCDbQyLRMu6PvjpsNaeqTncWi1hQQyQmmwF99Cei7p8J_01k8Xz0602-KI8xVymlIk9ygdQi0PgJ8mOelPSZ2TjGZNIgF-wkwkqmS7SSGrc_Muud5jGQsRNhvUPnLQFl3ThMK9-ERLuTa1TZKKzWIquhxN/s869/slide%207%20U3A%20intro%20to%20cc%20and%20sustainability%202024.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="488" data-original-width="869" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQwoN_uKyGNFlYv27LPG4VfXia0INh_AQ2EUhCDbQyLRMu6PvjpsNaeqTncWi1hQQyQmmwF99Cei7p8J_01k8Xz0602-KI8xVymlIk9ygdQi0PgJ8mOelPSZ2TjGZNIgF-wkwkqmS7SSGrc_Muud5jGQsRNhvUPnLQFl3ThMK9-ERLuTa1TZKKzWIquhxN/s320/slide%207%20U3A%20intro%20to%20cc%20and%20sustainability%202024.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">There are numerous areas in which individuals and households can reduce their emissions and increase their ecological sustainability, particularly the key areas in the slide above which we will discuss further as the program progresses. However a question that often arises is, what difference can individuals make in the face of such a huge problem? </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In one sense the question is meaningless, in the same way that saying 'what can one country do?' is meaningless. Climate change and ecological sustainability are global problems but they are also directly related to individual behaviour and consumption patterns. In another sense, of course, the question makes a lot of sense - it is very easy to get disheartened in the face of such a huge problem, and realistically, while we are formally a political democracy, it is clear that very wealthy individuals and large corporations generally wield much more power in our system than ordinary citizens. What we can do, as well as being politically active, is look at what is being done in our local communities, and consider both how that can support our actions and also how we can strengthen and support that action. Two possible starting points for information are shown in the slide - Merri-Bek zero carbon strategy and the Victorian government's sustainability strategy.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Another key area for action and connection is health and wellbeing. Many actions that will make our lives more sustainable can also make them healthier - being more physically active, reducing meat and highly processed foods in our diets, reducing our energy bills while making our homes more comfortable, greening our local environments - these are just some examples. As seniors we also have a particular opportunity to feed in to local strategies, as both local and state governments are concerned with 'ageing well' - we can add to this the idea of not just living well as we get older, but also living sustainably.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p><br /></p></div></div>Val Kayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022522407838661280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929009897479726160.post-24282575133886794682022-03-27T11:50:00.000+11:002022-03-27T11:50:13.395+11:00Patriarchy, colonialism, inequity and sustainability<p> I’ve been feeling very flat for a few days (hopefully not Covid) so having a very quiet time and came back to this blog that I’ve neglected over the last few years. I’m planning to retire from teaching about climate change and health fairly soon, although I may go on doing voluntary work (I’ve given two voluntary talks so far this year), but before I do I’d like to publish an article on the relationship between patriarchy, colonialism, inequity and sustainability (or ecological breakdown more logically - that is, those factors are causative of ecological breakdown and we need to get rid of them to achieve sustainability).</p><p>I wrote a plain language version of my article about ‘<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1753-6405.13070" target="_blank">economism</a>’, which partially covered some of these issues, for The Conversation last year. However they decided not to publish it, which threw me a bit more than it probably should have. I might publish the draft plain language version here separately. The frustrating thing was they suggested it wasn’t topical or relevant, whereas it’s really relevant particularly now with an election due. Anyway I’ll leave that for a separate post.</p><p>The main unfinished business arising from my PhD studies is this relationship between patriarchy and the other factors named above. Of course there has been a lot of ecofeminist scholarship in this area but it seems to have dropped off and been largely ignored or forgotten in mainstream discourse. I’d like to do a really plain language explanatory article on this, but publish it in a high level journal to get some coverage.</p><p>At present I think patriarchy is an ‘elephant in the room’ or ‘fish don’t see water’ phenomenon - people don’t see it because it’s so ordinary, and it also has been somewhat successful in absorbing women/feminism into patriarchal structures and systems without fundamentally changing them.</p><p>The relationship between patriarchy, colonialism, inequity and ecological breakdown (which may not be the term I’ll eventually settle on but will do for now) is in broad terms:</p><p>- By patriarchy I refer to ‘pyramid’ type social systems and structures in which those at the ‘top’ have both more power and more wealth/control of resources, and in which men dominate the ‘top’ positions. (It’s important to note that these can to some extent be held by female spouses and relatives of men also, which is an ancient feature of patriarchy).</p><p>- patriarchy appears to be (particularly according to Gerda Lerner if my memory is correct) the oldest and original form of systemic inequality with these features. In previous societies it seems there may have been inequalities of power, but they weren’t systematically accompanied by inequalities of wealth and resources. For example in First Nations of current day Australia (which is where I’ll locate some of my discussion since it’s the country I know most about), there may have been some forms of patriarchal power but it seems generally agreed by early observers that resources were distributed according to need.</p><p>- patriarchy in the sense I’m using it is not timeless but appears to have begun several thousand years ago in areas of Middle East/Southern Europe. This possibly may have been related to invasions of what was a fertile area of people from less fertile areas? (Need to look at this question more closely)</p><p>- in these areas at least it seems to be pretty clearly linked to changes in religious belief and cultural myths, particularly to the rise of monotheistic religions centred on a male god.</p><p>- patriarchy is the basic systemic form of inequality - the belief or acceptance that it is right for certain people to have not just more power but also more wealth and resources/control of resources than others. It has also never been simply been about men having power over women but also about hierarchies amongst men, these two aspects are integrally linked. All men might be ‘heads of the family’ in patriarchal ideology but they were never all equal, they always competed and formed hierarchies</p><p>Gerda Lerner suggests the successful dominance of women set the pattern for dominance of groups of men which colonialism and racism are based on - that is, successful groups of men didn’t just destroy their male opponents but learned how to enslave or subordinate them systemically (leading to systems of slavery and colonialism).</p><p>The idea that certain men could hold power of resources underlies enclosures of the commons, mercantile households, and capitalism. They all rely on systems of inequality and couldn’t exist if the systemic idea of inequality wasn’t socially legitimised.</p><p>Control and enclosure of common land (which was common for socially defined groups of people not for everyone) underlies systemic and large scale land/ecological degradation (? Need some more analysis and info here)</p><p>- development of fossil fuelled industry then added climate change and greatly hastened this process.</p><p>- (incidentally the ideological rationale for this now is ‘productivity’ which basically seems to be the assumption that anything that saves human expenditure of energy is good - which from a public health point of view is wrong and should be critically opposed although it might be a bit tangential here)</p><p>Taking a break here but these are developing lines of argument to be further refined.</p><p><br /></p>Val Kayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022522407838661280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929009897479726160.post-49916313465150184812021-11-08T15:32:00.004+11:002023-01-18T14:26:47.152+11:00Submission to the Victorian Greens regarding treatment of women in the party<p>Edited 18 January 2023</p><p>I don’t want to get too optimistic about this, but I think I may be starting to make some progress on this. Last year I had a meeting with Senator Janet Rice, and we agreed on the following points:</p><ul style="list-style-type: "— "; text-align: left;"><li style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Vic Greens processes are intended to promote non-violent conflict resolution</li>
<li style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">They have not always worked effectively</li>
<ul><li style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">because of lack of skills and capacity and</li><li style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">because some people have used them in a way they weren't intended, to target individuals</li></ul>
<li style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">People, including people such as myself, Alex Bhathal and Liz Ingham, have been hurt through lack of processes, failure of processes or misuse of processes</li>
<li style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It would be good to find a way of reconciliation for these historical failures</li>
<li style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The Greens have recently set up a lot of new systems and processes in the party that hopefully will work better</li><li style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">An Inclusion committee has recently been set up, it is mainly focused on trans inclusion following recent disputes</li>
<li style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It is possible that it could look at some of these historical failures and look for ways of reconciliation</li>
<li style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">In the past there were differences between 'social justice’ and 'climate/ environment' people in Greens</li>
<li style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Janet now believes that it is widely recognised in the party that these are interlinked, that fairness and environmental sustainability are both part of an integrated agenda</li>
<li style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">She feels that a person like [name removed]* the former Convenor I was in dispute with, who had a commitment to environment but an authoritarian, top-down approach to authority, would not be seen as a suitable convenor for Vic Greens today</li>
<li style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Janet will follow up re inclusion committee and processes for reconciliation of historical hurt and damage [note - Janet later decided it would be better raised at State Council rather than that committee]</li></ul><div><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> think there is also some progress within my family circle towards resolving our differences over these issues but I won’t go into that further for privacy reasons at present. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">Won’t say anything further at present but gosh this has been a long and painful process.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">[*edited after posting because not necessary to name the person here]</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12px;">……………………….</span></span></div><p><br /></p><p>Edited 5 May 2022. The introduction below was written in November 2021. Since then I have been able to talk to one Greens MP (without making any progress) and another person has agreed to talk to me after the federal election (21May). I am hopeful that with this person there is more hope of progress, so have not entirely given up hope, in spite of the statements below.</p><p>……………………..</p><p>(Introduction originally written 8 November 2021)</p><p>This is a copy of a submission to the Victorian Greens that I first made in May 2021. I have unfortunately given up hope that I will get a respectful response.</p><p>It is very sad that in spite of all the protests about poor treatment of women in politics, the Victorian Greens are still unable to talk about problems in their own party. I really don't understand why they are like this.</p><p>I, and other women, have been deeply hurt by the way we have been treated by the Victorian Greens. The party's own values, or even simple humanity and kindness, might suggest they could acknowledge this and try to do something about it. Sadly, that does not seem to be the case.</p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><b>Submission
to the Victorian Greens regarding treatment of women in the party </b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">(First
submitted 17 May 2021, resubmitted 9 September 2021, resubmitted with
correction 20 September 2021)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">From: Valerie
Kay<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">To: The
Victorian Greens State Council<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">CC <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Samantha Ratnam<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Adam Bandt<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Tim Read (as of 20 September 2021)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Dear Victorian
Greens<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Following
previous discussions with office-bearers in the Victorian Greens in recent
years, I am making a formal submission regarding the treatment of women in the
party. I make this submission as a citizen and community member, as an academic
working on climate change and public health, and as a former member and office
bearer in the Victorian Greens. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The context
of this submission is that we face an environmental and climate crisis and are
seeing worsening inequality, but in Australia we have a federal government that
is unfit to deal with this situation. The current Morrison government still reflects
the values of the white supremacist, hierarchical, patriarchal and exploitative
social order that stole this land from First Peoples over 230 years ago. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">While
individual members of federal parliament, such as Lidia Thorpe, represent an
alternative to this, there is no clear alternative at party level. All major
parties, including the Greens, currently conform to the norm of a hierarchical
organization led by a white man. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In
Victoria, although the state party is currently led by a woman, the Greens have
shown a lack of fairness and accountability in the way they have treated women.
Numerous women (of whom I am one) have been effectively forced out of the
Greens, and the party has failed to acknowledge this problem or respond to it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The most
well-known case is that of Alex Bhathal, former candidate for the federal seat
of Batman (now Cooper).<a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn2" name="_ednref2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[ii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn3" name="_ednref3" style="mso-endnote-id: edn3;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[iii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
The way this situation was handled by the party led to the resignation of many
members and was the likely cause of a significant decline in support for the
Greens in the following state and federal elections. Several women who have
held significant positions left the party, citing concerns over party internal
procedures.<a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn4" name="_ednref4" style="mso-endnote-id: edn4;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[iv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn5" name="_ednref5" style="mso-endnote-id: edn5;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[v]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn6" name="_ednref6" style="mso-endnote-id: edn6;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[vi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn7" name="_ednref7" style="mso-endnote-id: edn7;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[vii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I am aware
that men have also been affected by the problem of poor internal processes
within the Greens, and that men have also resigned from the party over this.
However, it appears those most prominently affected have been women. Women who
have spoken out publicly about poor processes in the Victorian Greens include
two former Members of the Legislative Council in Victoria (Samantha Dunn and
Nina Springle), a former political adviser for the Victorian Greens (Liz
Ingham), and a former office bearer and local Councillor (Lynette Keleher). To
have these women, representing such a weight of experience in the party,
speaking out publicly, should be of great concern. Undoubtedly there are many
more, both men and women, who are concerned about the issues. Yet there is no
apparent evidence that the party takes these concerns seriously.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The
Victorian Greens ought to be a major area of strength for the party in
Australia, but lost support in recent elections, while Greens parties around
the world have been improving their position. There is no sign of the Greens party
leadership taking responsibility for this.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Please note
my criticisms are not directed towards Adam Bandt personally. I believe he is a
good politician and holds good values. But goodwill alone is not enough. The federal
and Victorian Greens must own the way women have been treated and deal with it openly.
Women who have left the Victorian Greens may not come back. But the party must
acknowledge their feelings and the hurt and harm that has been done and do
whatever it can to make up for this. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Greens
have now preselected Celeste Liddle for the seat of Cooper (formerly Batman).
This is a significant achievement, to have another Indigenous woman with an
impressive track record standing for the House of Representatives, in addition
to Lidia Thorpe in the Senate. However, it does not in itself make up for the
way Alex Bhathal was treated. It would be unethical for the Greens to act as if
women are disposable, as if the party can forget the damage done to one woman when
another woman (no matter how good) is pre-selected. Having another great
candidate makes it even more important to acknowledge the previous candidate
who was so deeply hurt by the actions of a few members and the party
leadership. It would be a great time to heal wounds in the party and begin to
repair the damage done.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In this
submission, although it concerns the way women have been treated, I am not attempting
to speak on behalf of other women. I am speaking for myself. However, my
research has explored how the treatment of women, and the global crises we are
facing, are related, through the history of patriarchal social organisation. I
believe this understanding may be helpful in clarifying what has happened in
the Victorian Greens and how it may be resolved.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Crises of
environment, climate and inequality are interlinked and result from the kind of
patriarchal, imperialist, white supremacist and exploitative social order that was
established in Australia following the British invasion. </span>I have recently
published, with my co-author Charles Livingstone, an article on political
discourse in Australia.<a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn8" name="_ednref8" style="mso-endnote-id: edn8;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[viii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
This includes analysis of the dominant ‘economistic’ discourse and how it is
used to maintain power in Australia. The economistic discourse expresses the
traditional values of white supremacist patriarchy, as exemplified by Scott
Morrison. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In contrast, we identified an alternative discourse at local
community level, of ‘socio-ecological’ or ‘ecosocial’ care. This discourse is
similar to values the Greens have expressed since their beginning, of the need
to care for both people and ecosystems. I would be interested in talking to the
party about this discourse and how the party might offer it as a more convincing
alternative to the current destructive economistic discourse. However, I would
not do so in circumstances where I and other women have been deliberately
excluded from the party.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I submit that
if the Greens wish to represent an alternative to the exploitative patriarchal
order in Australia – to provide real, grassroots leadership, for an effective
national response to the crises of our times – they need to make significant
changes. At national level, this would probably involve having a female leader,
or at least joint male and female leadership, not as leaders of a hierarchical
organization but as coordinators and facilitators of a truly democratic party.
At the Victorian Greens level, it needs to involve a genuine and heartfelt
apology to the women who have left the party, an acknowledgement of the
patriarchal and misogynist influences within the party that contributed to this
happening, and processes to ensure it does not happen again.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Detailed
submission<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">A more
detailed discussion and analysis of my own experiences and the reported
experiences of other women who have left or been forced out of the Victorian
party is below, showing how they reflect problems of patriarchy, hierarchy,
misogyny and an overall lack of transparency and accountability in the party.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I left the
party in 2004, due to concern about party processes. This followed my
unsuccessful attempts, as then convenor of the Victorian Greens Women’s
Network, to ensure female administrative staff were fairly treated during a
restructure in the Greens office. Some years later, when I applied to rejoin, I
found that internal processes in the local Branch were being used against me by
anonymous members to ensure I could not be readmitted. Their complaints about
me were never revealed to me and there was no opportunity for peaceful
resolution, even though this is meant to be a key principle of the Greens. At
the time, I spoke to the local media about this as I was concerned by the poor
process and lack of accountability. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">A few years
later I re-applied for membership of the Greens and was refused again. This
time, however, I was able to hold discussions with office bearers in the
branch. I found that although they showed understanding of my position and suggested
I could engage with the party as a supporter or ‘friend’, particularly in
policy development, the fact that I had previously spoken to the media was seen
as a mark against me. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Similarly,
when Alex Bhathal was unable to have her concerns satisfactorily resolved
within the party, she spoke to the media. In both cases this was held against
us. In summary, we were not able to have problems effectively addressed within
the party, but when we raised concerns publicly, this was held against us. This
is of great concern as it suggests a lack of democratic accountability and a practice
in the party of punishing whistleblowers. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Lack of acknowledgement
or action by the party<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Although
there have been several reviews, of the Batman campaign and of following
elections,<a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn9" name="_ednref9" style="mso-endnote-id: edn9;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[ix]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn10" name="_ednref10" style="mso-endnote-id: edn10;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[x]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
there appears to have been no acknowledgement of the number of women who have left
the party and spoken publicly about their concerns.<a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn11" name="_ednref11" style="mso-endnote-id: edn11;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn12" name="_ednref12" style="mso-endnote-id: edn12;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In relation to Alex Bhathal, in particular,
it appears the party was more focused on censuring her than it was on
identifying or censuring those who anonymously attacked her, undermined her
campaign, leaked confidential documents to hostile media, and seriously damaged
the campaign and the party. The author Paddy Manning, in his book <i>Inside the
Greens</i>, writes:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36pt;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Bhathal was surely but slowly forced out of the
party for talking to the media, unlike those who sabotaged the Batman campaign.<a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn13" name="_ednref13" style="mso-endnote-id: edn13;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xiii]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a></span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This
occurred even though it is known within the party who organized the ‘dossier’
of complaints against Alex Bhathal, and there are grounds for suspicion about
who may have leaked the material to hostile media.<a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn14" name="_ednref14" style="mso-endnote-id: edn14;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xiv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn15" name="_ednref15" style="mso-endnote-id: edn15;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
This is an extraordinary position for any political party to be in, let alone
one that purports to stand for fairness, social justice, accountability and
democracy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Conflict
with male authority and hierarchy<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">A common
theme, in Alex Bhathal’s, Liz Ingham’s and my case, is that we had come into
conflict with men in the party. In my case, the then convenor Adrian Whitehead
felt I was wrongfully opposing his authority. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In Liz Ingham’s
case, she made claims of misogyny and bullying against a sitting member, Greg
Barber. Even though she was awarded a payout, Greg Barber has repeatedly denied
her claims. Liz Ingham reported that officials of the Victorian Greens had
tried to dissuade her from making a complaint and suggested there would be
retribution against her for doing so.<a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn16" name="_ednref16" style="mso-endnote-id: edn16;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xvi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
It seems extraordinary that at a time when even Hollywood was finally learning
to “believe women”,<a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn17" name="_ednref17" style="mso-endnote-id: edn17;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xvii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
the Victorian Greens were still trying to silence women and say that they would
not be believed. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In Alex
Bhathal’s case, Trent McCarthy appears to have borne animosity towards her
because she supported Lidia Thorpe for the preselection for the state seat of
Northcote.<a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn18" name="_ednref18" style="mso-endnote-id: edn18;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xviii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">An
associated factor is that we came into conflict with hierarchical authority in
the party. In my case, I was in conflict with the party convenor, and part of
my concern was that he was trying to make the party administrative structures
more hierarchical. In Liz Ingham’s case, she was in conflict with a man who was
an elected Greens MP and her ‘boss’. In Alex Bhathal’s case, she was known to
have a record of opposing hierarchical concentration of authority in the party
and had come into conflict with party officials over this previously. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Hierarchical
‘pyramid’ forms of organisation, where power and income increase ‘up’ the
pyramid, are not neutral forms of social arrangements, but historically derive
from patriarchal forms of authority, of which the ‘kingdom’ can be seen as the
archetype. They have a ‘leader’ or ‘boss’, with subordinates ranked in decreasing
order of power, and the majority of people (employees, members, the general
population) at or near the bottom of the pyramid. This is still the most common
form of work organization in Australia and one which many people regard as ‘normal’.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">People may struggle
with more democratic and flatter forms of organization because they have been
brought up in a society where these are not the norm. Women who oppose
hierarchical authority (whether exercised by a man or woman) are at particular
risk of being seen as ‘difficult’ or ‘troublemakers’, because they are opposing
a patriarchal norm.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Victim
blaming<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Following the
problems in recent years, the Victorian Greens, particularly through the leader
Samantha Ratnam, have promised party reform. However there appears to be no
evidence of this, and there never appears to have been an apology to any of the
women concerned from the party. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In Alex
Bhathal’s case, and mine, there appears to have been victim blaming. The party
appears to have officially endorsed this in my case by suggesting that my
relationships with unspecified people had been ‘consistently fraught’. In Alex
Bhathal’s case it appears to have condoned ongoing suggestions that she was
‘the problem’, by allowing repeated censure motions against her. I am also
aware of individual Greens members who use victim-blaming rationales to explain
why the party has not effectively dealt with the attacks on her.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Why
women are blamed: understanding misogyny<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Researchers
who have studied violence against women have highlighted the common phenomenon
of blaming women in cases of conflict between men and women.<a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn19" name="_ednref19" style="mso-endnote-id: edn19;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xix]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
As the philosopher Kate Manne explains, this form of misogyny does not involve
hatred or contempt towards all women, but rather arises from a social
expectation that women should be supportive to others.<a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn20" name="_ednref20" style="mso-endnote-id: edn20;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xx]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Therefore, if there is conflict between a man and a woman, it is seen as the
woman’s fault: in the worst case, she is seen to have provoked the man’s anger,
in the more apparently neutral, she is seen to have handled the situation
badly. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Kate Manne
explains that this social expectation is shared by both men and women.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The feminist writer bell hooks similarly
notes that women, as well as men, can be patriarchal in their values and may blame
women when men are angry.<a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn21" name="_ednref21" style="mso-endnote-id: edn21;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It is
apparent that while there was conflict between a man and a woman in the
situations of Alex Bhathal, Liz Ingham and myself, some of the censure we faced
was from women as well as men. However, even taking the least apparently ‘victim-blaming’
rationale, for example that we could have handled the situation better, there
is no evidence that the men involved wanted peaceful resolution. For example, I
know that Adrian Whitehead, and some of his supporters, wanted me expelled from
the party for opposing him publicly. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In Liz Ingham’s
and Alex Bhathal’s cases, it similarly does not appear that the men involved
wanted a peaceful resolution. In Liz Ingham’s case it seems Greg Barber and his
supporters wanted denial and silence. In Alex Bhathal’s case, the people
associated with Trent McCarthy in the complaint against her wanted her
expelled, and when they could not get that, at least some of them wanted her
publicly shamed. If the response of a man who experiences opposition from a
woman, and of his supporters, is to call for silencing, expulsion or shaming of
the woman concerned, that is clearly not about peaceful conflict resolution.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Moreover, it
sends a message to other women. The labelling of women in these cases as
difficult, or disloyal if they talk about these issues outside the party, sends
a message to other women that if they upset anyone, they can be subject to victim
blaming, and the party will do nothing to support them. Thus, women are
effectively told that they can be accepted in the political sphere as long as
they don’t upset men or challenge patriarchal norms. How can real change in politics
happen if women are given such messages? It is similar to Scott Morrison’s
statement that women should “rise” but not at the expense of “others”.<a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn22" name="_ednref22" style="mso-endnote-id: edn22;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Undoubtedly
there were attempts by Labor to use the problems in the Victorian Greens for political
purposes, which led Samantha Ratnam to accuse Labor of dirty “smear” politics,
but this also looked like an attempt to cover up real problems.<a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn23" name="_ednref23" style="mso-endnote-id: edn23;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxiii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"> <a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn24" name="_ednref24" style="mso-endnote-id: edn24;" title=""><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxiv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Overall, the way that the party responded to Alex
Bhathal’s case, in particular, appears to have contributed to women leaving the
party, and to voters, particularly women, deciding not to support the Greens. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Why
‘careerism’ is not the whole explanation<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">How have
these problems arisen in a party which has a good track record in getting women
elected to Parliament? Lee Rhiannon, in a Q and A session (14 May 2020)
following the online screening of the film ‘The Candidate’,<a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn25" name="_ednref25" style="mso-endnote-id: edn25;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
suggested it is due to increasing ‘careerism’ within the Greens. Statements by
other Greens members in the media suggest this is a popular explanation.<a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn26" name="_ednref26" style="mso-endnote-id: edn26;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxvi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In this
view, as I understand it, the Greens are believed to have been committed to
inclusion and grass-roots democracy, but the increasing political success of
the party in the early 2000s led to people being attracted to the Greens who
were not committed to these values but were seeking political careers. Such
‘careerists’ were prepared to use methods such as creating factions for
personal advancement, and leaking ‘dirt’ on others, to advance their own careers
and get rid of potential rivals.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">While I
respect the experience and knowledge of those advancing this position, and
believe that it partly explains the problems, I suggest that there is more to
it than this. I suggest it is related to traditional, often unconscious,
understandings of politics in a society which has historically been, since the
British invasion of Australia, predominantly a white supremacist, hierarchical
patriarchy.<a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">White men,
particularly ruling class or educated men, were seen in this society as the people
who had a right to own and control land and property, and profit from the low
paid or unpaid work of others. This was supported not only by established
patriarchal tradition in Britain and Europe, but also by the more recent
enlightenment ideas of science and rationality,<a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn27" name="_ednref27" style="mso-endnote-id: edn27;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxvii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn28" name="_ednref28" style="mso-endnote-id: edn28;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxviii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
which saw white men as fitted to dispossess Indigenous peoples because they
could ‘improve’ the land through rational land management practices, even
though their impact in reality was environmentally destructive. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Adult white
men were seen in this society as natural ‘heads of households’ and natural
leaders in organisations and politics. Much of the law underlying this
patriarchal system has been dismantled from the late 19<sup>th</sup> century onwards,
but cultural practice lingers much longer, particularly in the hierarchical
organization of most institutions, where those ‘higher up’ have more power and
wealth, and the highest positions are disproportionately likely to be occupied
by white men. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Another
aspect of this patriarchal society was that the public world was seen as the sphere
of competition and conflict, where ‘rationality’ was supposed to govern
conduct, but where ‘toughness’, aggression, anger and violence could also be
positively valued (for example in war, but also in political competition).
Qualities such as kindness and care for others were seen as belonging to the
‘private’ sphere of homes, the domain of women. Caring for others, and keeping
loving homes for families, was seen as women’s responsibility. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Again,
while these are no longer formally endorsed positions, there are still many
people who see politics as a ‘tough’ area, where people are not expected to care
actively for the wellbeing of others. Gendered understandings of politics can
continue at an unconscious level, even when people think they are being
objective or gender neutral.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">What is
fairness in politics?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">People may
think that ‘fairness’ in politics consists of achieving equal numerical
representation, rather than changing the structures and processes. The
limitation of such thinking is apparent in terms of First People’s
representation. Indigenous peoples were almost destroyed by White Australia,
before their numbers began to increase slowly in the early 20<sup>th</sup> century.
To think that fairness can be achieved by electing a tiny number of Indigenous
representatives in a culturally White parliament is clearly unreasonable, even
if numerically representative. Much more profound change is needed, as set out
in the Uluru Statement from the Heart.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Achieving a
fair deal for women likewise is not only about numerical representation of
women in an institution designed by and for men. If parliaments are to be truly
equal for women, they need to change. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At
the most basic level, this has been illustrated by women bringing their
breastfed babies into the Chamber, as Senator Larissa Waters has done. More
broadly, the concept of Parliament, and public life in general, as an area of
competition between men, from which they can seek refuge in the domestic sphere,
can no longer apply. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Women still
do most of the paid and unpaid caring work in society, as Covid19 has
highlighted, but a progressive political party should be working to introduce
an ethic of care in public life, including parliaments and political parties.
The movement of women, Indigenous people and people of colour into politics
should not simply leave the institutions unchanged, because what would be the
point? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Recent
events in Australia have highlighted how much politics in this country is still
a ‘boy’s club’ and how damaging this is for women. Thousands of women have
shown that they have had enough, through the Women’s March for Justice in March
2021.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the Greens are to participate
in and support this movement, it is imperative to be a party that is inclusive
of all women, not a party that excludes women who are seen as ‘difficult’. <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Rightwing
patriarchal backlash and division in global politics<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Globally,
we have seen in recent decades a rise of right-wing parties led by conservative
patriarchal figures, such as Trump (until his recent defeat), Johnson,
Bolsonaro, Putin, Duterte, Modi, Hofer, Mareshki, </span><span style="background-color: white; background: white; color: #202122; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Orbán</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">,
Wilders, Erdogan, and Morrison in Australia. <a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn29" name="_ednref29" style="mso-endnote-id: edn29;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxix]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn30" name="_ednref30" style="mso-endnote-id: edn30;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxx]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
The recent coup in Myanmar provides a frightening example of patriarchal power.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">At the same
time, in some countries, there has been a rise in Green parties.<a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn31" name="_ednref31" style="mso-endnote-id: edn31;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxxi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
There has also been some increase in female representation in parliaments, and
an increase in female leaders, including relatively young women, for example in
some Scandinavian countries and New Zealand, even though globally women are
still a small minority of government leaders.<a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn32" name="_ednref32" style="mso-endnote-id: edn32;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxxii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In this
sense there appears to be an increasing division occurring in politics. Female
leaders and former leaders have warned that, although there has been some
increase in female representation and leadership, we are at a dangerous time
due to the rise of “strongman” politics, where the gains of women are at risk
of being lost.<a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn33" name="_ednref33" style="mso-endnote-id: edn33;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxxiii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If women are to resist and replace these
patriarchal, militaristic societies that are destructive to human life,
ecosystems and other species, we cannot allow ourselves to be divided into
‘good’ compliant women and ‘bad’ troublemaking women.<a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn34" name="_ednref34" style="mso-endnote-id: edn34;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxxiv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn35" name="_ednref35" style="mso-endnote-id: edn35;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxxv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In
Australia, women’s representation in federal Parliament has increased slowly in
recent years, currently being about 35%. However, women’s representation in
leadership roles has recently gone backwards, with no women currently in leadership
roles in the ALP, the Liberals or the Nationals. The Greens have Larissa Waters
in a co-deputy leader role, but both the present and former leader are men.
This contrasts with the earlier period when the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard,
and the Greens leader, Christine Milne, were both women, and even the Liberals
had a female deputy leader, Julie Bishop. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The sexist
treatment Julia Gillard received is well-known, but Christine Milne also was
subjected to gendered criticism and sexism during her career. It appears that since
then, rather than presenting a clear alternative to right wing populism and
patriarchal ‘father figures’, the supposedly progressive parties, Labor and
Greens, have responded by becoming somewhat more conservative themselves, including
by choosing male leaders. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In Victoria
in the 2019 federal election all but one of the five candidates for potentially
winnable or high-profile seats were men. I am not suggesting that this is a result
of ‘conspiracy’. As the historian Judith Bennett puts it, patriarchy is not a
conspiracy led by “a committee of white-haired men”<a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn36" name="_ednref36" style="mso-endnote-id: edn36;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxxvi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
but rather flexible processes by which, for example, it may simply seem that men
are the best candidates, or that women are not ‘choosing’ to stand. Women may in
reality be deterred by seeing other women subjected to relentless personal
attacks, as Alex Bhathal was. There is evidence that some young women were
deterred from entering politics by the way Julia Gillard was treated.<a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn37" name="_ednref37" style="mso-endnote-id: edn37;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxxvii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">If women
are leaving the Greens or are reluctant to stand for candidate selection or
leadership positions, it may appear simply as ‘natural’ that candidates for
winnable seats are predominantly men. Women who raise concerns may then be
stereotyped as difficult or anti-men. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Lack of
transparency and accountability allows Greens processes to be weaponized
against women</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Greens
processes have been used to exclude women from the party. In a general sense this
may be summarized, as Samantha Dunn and Lee Rhiannon have put it, as processes that
are meant to resolve dispute being ‘weaponised’.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">For example
in my case, some members of Moreland Branch argued against me being readmitted
as a member, on grounds that were not revealed to me, and against which I was
given no opportunity to defend myself, or to talk about positive things I had
done for the party. I do not know what they said, but it is the case that
anonymous members of the Moreland branch provided information about me to the
local Leader newspaper that was false. The Leader subsequently gave me an
opportunity to rebut this, but it raises the possibility that these members may
also have made false statements about me to the local Branch, under the cloak
of secrecy. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">These
members were using processes of the Greens that are meant to support consensus
and prevent crude injustices of ‘majority rule’. They are not meant to be
‘weaponised’ by allowing small groups to make statements about an individual, where
there is no check on the truth of what they are saying and no opportunity for
the person being attacked to defend herself. This is reminiscent of
totalitarian states rather than democracy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In Alex
Bhathal’s case, her opponents in the Darebin Branch weaponised complaints
processes that were intended for the peaceful resolution of disputes between
individuals. Rather than attempting to resolve their disputes with Alex, her
opponents organized a group complaint, including complaints which were trivial
and insubstantial, with the apparent intent of making it seem as if there was a
major problem. Party officials then seem to have compounded the situation by
dismissing the complaints without any attempt to resolve the dispute on a
personal level. Some members of the Branch then weaponised the process even
further when they leaked the complaint to hostile media who used it to attack Alex
and the party. The unsubstantiated accusations of bullying against Alex were
likely particularly damaging because as a female candidate she was expected to
be ‘caring’, as Kate Manne’s analysis explains.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Members and
officials of the Victorian Greens have portrayed these problems as
non-gendered, as simply being the kind of ‘dirty political tactics’ found in
all parties, or as related to one ‘dysfunctional’ branch (Darebin).<a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn38" name="_ednref38" style="mso-endnote-id: edn38;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxxviii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
This is a common form of denial, seen for example in references by journalists
to ‘sex scandals’ in federal Parliament when what is actually happening is
discrimination, harassment or sexual assault towards women.<a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn39" name="_ednref39" style="mso-endnote-id: edn39;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxxix]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
It is an attempt to deny or obscure the gendered nature of these problems. It should
be impossible, however, to ignore or deny the women in the Victorian Greens who
have spoken out or left the party. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">What can
the party do?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There appear to be limited guidelines or regulations in
Australia regarding how political parties should conduct themselves to ensure
fairness. In ‘older’ democracies, like Australia, such guidance was not
provided under original constitutions or parliamentary practice because parties
at the time were not well established and to some extent were regarded unfavourably.
Newer democracies appear to have given more thought to how parties should
regulate themselves to ensure procedural fairness and internal democracy both
internally and at parliamentary level, and may provide useful models for the
Greens.<a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_edn40" name="_ednref40" style="mso-endnote-id: edn40;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xl]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the case of the Greens, the fact that women are being
selected and elected nationally may have obscured the fact that simultaneously
other women, at least in the Victorian Greens, were being excluded. Yet, as
Kate Manne suggests, these may be two sides of the same coin, giving the
message that women can succeed but only if they conform to societal
expectations of not upsetting anybody, especially men.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I urge the Greens to acknowledge the harm that has been done
to myself and other women, and to the party, by these processes of exclusion. I
urge you to set up a process for apology and resolution. I do not suggest that
every woman affected would want to take part in this, but at least it would be
a start. This process could assist the Victorian Greens to identify what went
wrong, and how the party can become fairer and more accountable.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Finally, I will talk about the pain this has caused me
personally. I am deeply committed to the values the Greens purport to
represent. I worked hard for these values when I was in the party and have
continued to do so since. In my professional life I have been researching and teaching
about climate change and public health for years. Student evaluations of my
teaching have been consistently positive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It has been very painful to know that in spite of this work, I am
stigmatised in the Victorian Greens as a trouble-maker, someone the party is
better off without, someone whom people can say anything about with no recourse
or regard for truth. I cannot think that this is what the party wants or stands
for.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Yours sincerely<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Valerie Kay<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In making
this argument, I am drawing on my own experience in politics, both in the
Greens and as a former Labor party member, researcher and adviser in the
Victorian Parliament 1997-99. More particularly, however, I draw on
considerable research on Australian politics and political discourse, both for
my PhD thesis in public health and earlier research for an MA in Australian
history. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
</div>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;"><!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Luke Henriques-Gomez Former Greens
candidate Alex Bhathal quits party, blaming 'organisational bullying'<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>The Guardian</i> 1 February 2019,
available at </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/feb/01/former-greens-candidate-alex-bhathal-quits-party-blaming-organisational-bullying"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/feb/01/former-greens-candidate-alex-bhathal-quits-party-blaming-organisational-bullying</span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> accessed 22 May 2020<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref2" name="_edn2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[ii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Martin McKenzie-Murray ‘Alex Bhathal and discord in the Greens’ <i>The Saturday
Paper</i> 9-15 February 2019 available at <a href="https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2019/02/09/alex-bhathal-and-discord-the-greens/15496308007429?cb=1590111317">https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2019/02/09/alex-bhathal-and-discord-the-greens/15496308007429?cb=1590111317</a>
accessed 22 May 2020<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn3" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref3" name="_edn3" style="mso-endnote-id: edn3;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[iii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Bianca Hall 'I have been loyal':
Greens stalwart Alex Bhathal quits in disgust’ <i>The Age</i> 1 February 2019
available at </span><a href="https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/i-have-been-loyal-greens-stalwart-alex-bhathal-quits-in-disgust-20190131-p50uq8.html">https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/i-have-been-loyal-greens-stalwart-alex-bhathal-quits-in-disgust-20190131-p50uq8.html</a>
accessed 22 May 2020<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn4" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref4" name="_edn4" style="mso-endnote-id: edn4;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[iv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Stephanie Anderson ‘Former Victorian Greens MP Samantha Dunn quits over party's
'toxic' culture’ <i>ABC News</i> 15 March 2019 available at <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-14/samantha-dunn-former-greens-mp-resigns-from-party/10902050">https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-14/samantha-dunn-former-greens-mp-resigns-from-party/10902050</a>
accessed 22 May 2020<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn5" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref5" name="_edn5" style="mso-endnote-id: edn5;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[v]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Bianca Hall 'The tail is wagging the dog': bitter Greens consider their options’
<i>The Age</i> 3 February 2019 available at <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/the-tail-is-wagging-the-dog-bitter-greens-consider-their-options-20190131-p50uvm.html">https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/the-tail-is-wagging-the-dog-bitter-greens-consider-their-options-20190131-p50uvm.html</a>
accessed 22 May 2020<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn6" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref6" name="_edn6" style="mso-endnote-id: edn6;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[vi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Richard Willingham ‘Nina Springle quits Victorian Greens over 'cultural issues'
<i>ABC News</i> 9 April 2019 available at <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-09/nina-springle-former-mp-quits-victorian-greens/10984118">https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-09/nina-springle-former-mp-quits-victorian-greens/10984118</a>
accessed 25 May 2020<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn7" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref7" name="_edn7" style="mso-endnote-id: edn7;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[vii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Lynette Keleher ‘Victorian Greens overridden by a bullying and abusive internal
culture’ <i>Sydney Morning Herald</i> 11 April 2018 available at<span style="text-transform: uppercase;"> </span><a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/victorian-greens-overridden-by-a-bullying-and-abusive-internal-culture-20180410-p4z8qb.html">https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/victorian-greens-overridden-by-a-bullying-and-abusive-internal-culture-20180410-p4z8qb.html</a>
accessed 25 May 2020<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn8" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref8" name="_edn8" style="mso-endnote-id: edn8;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[viii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Kay VA & Livingstone CH. A socioecological discourse of care or an
economistic discourse: which fits better with transition? <i>ANZJPH</i>. 2021. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1753-6405.13070">https://doi.org/10.1111/1753-6405.13070</a>.
See also: Kay VA & Livingstone CH. Promoting environmental sustainability,
equity and health in Victorian Primary Care Partnerships. <i>Aust J Health Prom</i>.
2019. https://doi.org/10.1002/hpja.281<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn9" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref9" name="_edn9" style="mso-endnote-id: edn9;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[ix]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Paddy Manning ‘Whither the Greens? How a reckoning looms for a party fighting
to hang on’ <i>The Guardian</i> 4 May 2019 available at <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/may/04/whither-the-greens-how-a-reckoning-looms-for-a-party-fighting-to-hang-on">https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/may/04/whither-the-greens-how-a-reckoning-looms-for-a-party-fighting-to-hang-on</a>
accessed 25 May 2020<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn10" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref10" name="_edn10" style="mso-endnote-id: edn10;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[x]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>Adam
Carey<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘Greens' election review points
fingers at enemies and own goals’ <i>The Age</i> 29 March 2019 available at <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/greens-election-review-points-fingers-at-enemies-and-own-goals-20190328-p518m2.html">https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/greens-election-review-points-fingers-at-enemies-and-own-goals-20190328-p518m2.html</a>
accessed 25 May 2020<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn11" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref11" name="_edn11" style="mso-endnote-id: edn11;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Samantha Ratnam ‘Lessons and learnings from the Victorian state election’ 14
December 2018 available at <a href="https://greens.org.au/magazine/lessons-and-learnings-victorian-state-election">https://greens.org.au/magazine/lessons-and-learnings-victorian-state-election</a>
accessed 25 May 2020<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn12" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref12" name="_edn12" style="mso-endnote-id: edn12;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Caroline Schelle AAP ‘Vic Greens deny toxic party culture, again’ <i>Canberra
Times</i> 15 March 2019 available at <a href="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/5957191/vic-greens-deny-toxic-party-culture-again/">https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/5957191/vic-greens-deny-toxic-party-culture-again/</a>
accessed 25 May 2020<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn13" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref13" name="_edn13" style="mso-endnote-id: edn13;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xiii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Paddy Manning <i>Inside the Greens</i> 2019 p 422<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn14" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref14" name="_edn14" style="mso-endnote-id: edn14;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xiv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Paddy Manning ‘Green tensions build: The Batman by-election loss cannot be
swept under the carpet’ <i>The Monthly</i> 22 June 2018 available at <a href="https://www.themonthly.com.au/today/paddy-manning/2018/22/2018/1529646013/green-tensions-build">https://www.themonthly.com.au/today/paddy-manning/2018/22/2018/1529646013/green-tensions-build</a>
accessed 25 May 2020<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn15" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref15" name="_edn15" style="mso-endnote-id: edn15;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Research Matters ‘Facebook posts seeking justice for Alex Bhathal’ March-April
2018 available at <a href="http://www.research-matters.com.au/publications/FacebookPosts.pdf">http://www.research-matters.com.au/publications/FacebookPosts.pdf</a>
accessed 25 May 2020<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn16" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref16" name="_edn16" style="mso-endnote-id: edn16;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xvi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Bianca Hall ‘ 'The tail is wagging the dog': bitter Greens consider their
options’ The Age 2 February 2019 available at <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/the-tail-is-wagging-the-dog-bitter-greens-consider-their-options-20190131-p50uvm.html">https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/the-tail-is-wagging-the-dog-bitter-greens-consider-their-options-20190131-p50uvm.html</a>
accessed 10 June 2020<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn17" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref17" name="_edn17" style="mso-endnote-id: edn17;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xvii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xvii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
British Broadcasting Corporation ‘Harvey Weinstein timeline: How the scandal
unfolded’ <i>BBC News</i> 7 April 2021. Available at <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-41594672">https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-41594672</a>
accessed 17 May 2021.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn18" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref18" name="_edn18" style="mso-endnote-id: edn18;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xviii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Paddy Manning ‘Green tensions build The Batman by-election loss cannot be swept
under the carpet’ <i>The Monthly</i> 22 June 2018. Available at <a href="https://www.themonthly.com.au/today/paddy-manning/2018/22/2018/1529646013/green-tensions-build">https://www.themonthly.com.au/today/paddy-manning/2018/22/2018/1529646013/green-tensions-build</a>
accessed 10 June 2020<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn19" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref19" name="_edn19" style="mso-endnote-id: edn19;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xix]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Jess
Hill <i>See what you made me do: Power, control and domestic abuse</i> Black
Inc 2019<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn20" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref20" name="_edn20" style="mso-endnote-id: edn20;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xx]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Kate Manne <i>Down Girl: The logic of misogyny </i>Penguin 2017<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn21" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref21" name="_edn21" style="mso-endnote-id: edn21;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
bell hooks <i>Understanding patriarchy</i> No Borders (undated)<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn22" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref22" name="_edn22" style="mso-endnote-id: edn22;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Paul Karp ‘Scott Morrison wants women to rise but not solely at expense of
others’ <i>The Guardian</i> 8 March 2019. Available at <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/08/scott-morrison-wants-women-to-rise-but-not-solely-at-expense-of-others">https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/08/scott-morrison-wants-women-to-rise-but-not-solely-at-expense-of-others</a>
accessed 24 March 2021<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn23" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref23" name="_edn23" style="mso-endnote-id: edn23;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxiii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>Noel
Towell, Adam Carey & Gerard Cockburn ‘Women desert Greens, Ratnam blames
Labor's 'dirty smear campaign' ‘ <i>The Age</i> 23 November 2018. Available at <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/women-desert-greens-ratnam-blames-labor-s-dirty-smear-campaign-20181123-p50hza.html">https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/women-desert-greens-ratnam-blames-labor-s-dirty-smear-campaign-20181123-p50hza.html</a>
accessed 22 May 2020<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn24" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref24" name="_edn24" style="mso-endnote-id: edn24;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxiv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Richard Willingham ‘Greens' disastrous 2018 poll blamed on scandals, internal
disputes, 'cashed-up' Labor’ <i>ABC News</i> 29 March 2019. Available at <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-29/greens-blame-internal-problems-negative-media-for-election-loss/10950124">https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-29/greens-blame-internal-problems-negative-media-for-election-loss/10950124</a>
accessed 25 May 2020<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn25" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref25" name="_edn25" style="mso-endnote-id: edn25;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Helen Gaynor (Director) ‘The Candidate’ Documentary film, 2019. Available at <a href="https://fan-force.com/films/the-candidate/">https://fan-force.com/films/the-candidate/</a>
accessed 27 May 2019.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn26" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref26" name="_edn26" style="mso-endnote-id: edn26;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxvi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Paddy Manning ‘Green tensions build The Batman by-election loss cannot be swept
under the carpet’ <i>The Monthly</i> 22 June 2018. Available at <a href="https://www.themonthly.com.au/today/paddy-manning/2018/22/2018/1529646013/green-tensions-build">https://www.themonthly.com.au/today/paddy-manning/2018/22/2018/1529646013/green-tensions-build</a>
accessed 10 June 2020<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn27" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref27" name="_edn27" style="mso-endnote-id: edn27;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxvii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Carolyn Merchant. (1989). <i>The death of nature : women, ecology, and the
scientific revolution</i>. New York: Harper & Row.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn28" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref28" name="_edn28" style="mso-endnote-id: edn28;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxviii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Nancy Folbre, (2009). <i>Greed, lust & gender: a history of economic ideas</i>.
Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn29" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref29" name="_edn29" style="mso-endnote-id: edn29;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxix]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Annalisa Merelli ‘The state of global right-wing populism in 2019’ <i>Quartz</i>
30 December 2019. Available at <a href="https://qz.com/1774201/the-global-state-of-right-wing-populism-in-2019/">https://qz.com/1774201/the-global-state-of-right-wing-populism-in-2019/</a>
accessed 27 May 2020<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn30" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref30" name="_edn30" style="mso-endnote-id: edn30;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxx]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>Ulf
Mellstr<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ö</span>m
Editorial ‘A restoration of classic patriarchy?’ <i>Norma: International
Journal for Masculinity Studies</i> 2017 VOL. 12, NO. 1, 1–4
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/18902138.2017.1299901<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn31" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref31" name="_edn31" style="mso-endnote-id: edn31;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxxi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Emma Graham-Harrison ‘A quiet revolution sweeps Europe as Greens become a
political force’ <i>The Guardian</i> 2 June 2019. Available at <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jun/02/european-parliament-election-green-parties-success">https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jun/02/european-parliament-election-green-parties-success</a>
accessed 27 May 2020<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn32" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref32" name="_edn32" style="mso-endnote-id: edn32;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxxii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
UN Women <i>Facts and figures: Leadership and political participation</i>
(Factsheet) United Nations 2019 available at <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/leadership-and-political-participation/facts-and-figures">https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/leadership-and-political-participation/facts-and-figures</a>
accessed 27 May 2020<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn33" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref33" name="_edn33" style="mso-endnote-id: edn33;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxxiii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Kate Lyons ‘Rise of the 'strongman': Dozens of female world leaders warn
women's rights being eroded’ <i>The Guardian</i> 28 February 2019 available at <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/feb/28/rise-of-the-strongman-dozens-of-female-world-leaders-warn-womens-rights-being-eroded">https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/feb/28/rise-of-the-strongman-dozens-of-female-world-leaders-warn-womens-rights-being-eroded#</a>
accessed 27 May 2020<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn34" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref34" name="_edn34" style="mso-endnote-id: edn34;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxxiv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxxiv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Jill Matthews <i>Good and Mad Women: The Historical Construction of Femininity
in Twentieth-Century Australia </i><span style="text-transform: uppercase;">ANU
1985<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn35" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref35" name="_edn35" style="mso-endnote-id: edn35;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxxv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Anne Summers <i>Damned Whores and God’s Police</i> First published 1975, latest
edition 2016.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn36" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref36" name="_edn36" style="mso-endnote-id: edn36;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxxvi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Judith Bennett <i>History Matters: Patriarchy and the Challenge of Feminism </i>2006<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn37" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref37" name="_edn37" style="mso-endnote-id: edn37;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxxvii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Tory Shepherd ‘More women turning off politics after Julia Gillard was badly
treated’ <i>The Advertiser</i> 14 July 2014 available at <a href="https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/more-women-turning-off-politics-after-julia-gillard-was-badly-treated/news-story/321177664cf100e0316704bad5c5f8a6">https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/more-women-turning-off-politics-after-julia-gillard-was-badly-treated/news-story/321177664cf100e0316704bad5c5f8a6</a>
accessed 24 March 2021<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn38" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref38" name="_edn38" style="mso-endnote-id: edn38;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxxviii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Noel Towell ‘ 'Gaslighted': Greens' fury at attempted 'takeover' of Darebin
branch’ <i>The Age</i> 18 June 2018 available at <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/gaslighted-greens-fury-at-attempted-takeover-of-darebin-branch-20180618-p4zm3x.html">https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/gaslighted-greens-fury-at-attempted-takeover-of-darebin-branch-20180618-p4zm3x.html</a>
accessed 26 March 2021<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn39" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref39" name="_edn39" style="mso-endnote-id: edn39;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxxix]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
This can be seen for example in Paul Barry ‘Sexual politics’ <i>ABC Media Watch
</i>16 November 2020 available at <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/episodes/4c/12888562%20accessed%2025%20March%202021">https://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/episodes/4c/12888562
accessed 25 March 2021</a>. Paul Barry asks whether a “Four Corners’ expose on
Ministers’ sex lives” was justified. The reporter Louise Milligan points out
that there was a power imbalance between the male Ministers and female staff
members involved, but Barry continues to portray the program as being about
“sex scandals”, rather than gender and power.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn40" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/valak/Documents/Submission%20to%20Greens%202021.docx#_ednref40" name="_edn40" style="mso-endnote-id: edn40;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xl]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Some notes by me from the literature on this issue may be found in a blog entry
at <a href="https://fairgreenplanet.blogspot.com/2019/02/submission-to-greens-blown-off-course.html">https://fairgreenplanet.blogspot.com/2019/02/submission-to-greens-blown-off-course.html</a>.
Some relevant literature can be found in a special issue of <i>Election Law
Journal</i>, including:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText">Anika Gauja 'The Legal Regulation of Political Parties:
Promoting Integrity?' <i>Election Law Journal</i> 15(1) 2016<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText">Anika Gauja 'The Legal Regulation of Political Parties:
Is There a Global Normative Standard?' <i>Election Law Journal</i> 15(1) 2016<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText">William P Cross 'Considering the Appropriateness of
State Regulation of Intra-Party Democracy: A Comparative Politics Perspective' <i>Election
Law Journal</i> 15(1) 2016<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div><br /><p></p>Val Kayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022522407838661280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929009897479726160.post-58698887942516863152021-03-01T14:41:00.003+11:002021-03-01T14:43:29.116+11:00My experiences challenging patriarchy in politics<h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Introduction</span></h2><p>This post is prompted by the current situation in federal politics, particularly by the action of Brittany Higgins, a former Liberal staffer in federal Parliament, who has reported that she was raped by a more senior colleague in Parliament in 2019. This happened shortly before the federal election. Ms Higgins suggests there was subsequently pressure on her not to take further action and to cover up the rape. There have since been other complaints and allegations about politicians, some of a very serious nature.</p><p>The media coverage and discussion on twitter has raised issues for me relating to my own experiences in politics. I've written about these in various place on this blog and elsewhere, but this has been fragmented, so I am attempting here to write the story of my experience and how it has affected me in the long term.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Broader political context</span></h2><p>First I'd like to put this in a broader political context. The nation of Australia has its origins in invasion, in which First Peoples of the continent were forced off the land, and many killed, to make way for several white supremacist, hierarchical, patriarchal states. These states federated to create the nation of Australia in 1901. While much of the legislation and regulation underlying white supremacist patriarchy has been dismantled since then, Australia still operates as a white supremacist patriarchy to a large degree in practice, through hierarchies in which white men hold most high level positions of power and a disproportionate amount of land, property and wealth.</p><p>As a white person, I have benefited from privilege in this society. As a woman, I have experienced disadvantage, including direct and indirect discrimination, and occasional violence and sexual assault. </p><p>In class terms, for most of my life I have been middle class, but I did experience some financial and other hardship in my teenage and early adult years, particularly when we lost our family farm, which was also associated with conflict, family violence and mental health issues.</p><p>Overall, I have had a good life and have benefited from privilege as a white middle class person. I want to acknowledge that here, before talking about specific harms that I have experienced as a woman in politics.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Experiences with the Victorian Parliamentary Labor Party 1996 - 2002</span></h2><p>In late 1996 I accepted a job with the Parliamentary Labor Party in Victoria as a health and social policy researcher/adviser in the Office of the then leader of the Opposition, John Brumby. At the time I had recently completed a research MA in Australian history and had been working as a tutor and research officer at La Trobe and Monash Universities. I was not a member of the Labor party, although I subsequently joined. I was recruited through open advertising, not through the party. John Brumby's then chief of staff, Julia Gillard, who appointed me, gave me a contract that stated I was to be employed until the next state election.</p><p>I began work in early 1997. I found the working environment difficult, very pressured, and also very male dominated and 'blokey'. There were frequent sexual jokes and innuendoes in the office and comments on women's appearance and sexual attractiveness. During the time I worked there, there were rumours of sexual assault by a male MP, but I don't know enough about this to comment further.</p><p>The atmosphere in the Victorian Parliament at that time was demonstrated by an incident shortly after I started work, when the then Victorian Premier, Jeff Kennett, referred in Parliament to John Brumby and his recently appointed Deputy, John Thwaites, as "the girls from Grammar". This was a reference to Melbourne Grammar, the private boys' school Brumby and Thwaites had both attended, while Kennett himself had gone to another private boys' school, Scotch College. </p><p>In its boys' club misogyny, the remark summed up much of the situation on both sides of the Victorian Parliament at the time. While the Liberal and National parties were clearly male dominated and represented the wealthier classes in Victoria, the Parliamentary Labor Party was also dominated by four men who had attended private boys' schools, including John Brumby and John Thwaites, plus the Shadow Treasurer, Steve Bracks, and Shadow Attorney General, Rob Hulls, who had both attended Catholic boys' schools. </p><p>During the time I worked there, I worked hard and was good at my job, as was ultimately acknowledged. However, I sometimes struggled with the work environment. I occasionally found it distressing and at one time offered to resign, though I subsequently withdrew this. I worked mainly for John Thwaites, at that time the Shadow Health Minister as well as Deputy Leader, and for John Brumby, as required, when he was speaking on health and social policy issues. I was particularly involved in supporting Brumby's campaign in regional areas, recognised as a key factor contributing to Labor's eventual election success in September 1999.</p><p>In March 1999, John Brumby was replaced as Leader by Steve Bracks, who appointed Tim Pallas as his chief of staff. Tim Pallas conducted a review of staff. He met with most staff during the review, including male colleagues in equivalent positions to mine, but did not meet with me. At the end of the review he called me in to his office and summarily dismissed me. </p><p>Later two appointments were made, one of a social policy adviser at a more senior position than mine, and another researcher. Both were male. I think their appointments also partly reflected concessions that Bracks made to the left for their support, as he was from the right (as was Brumby). Between them they took up some of the work that I had done, including in areas like health and drug policy, where policy I had written or coordinated continued to be used, and was later published in a largely unchanged form.</p><p>My position was not a factional appointment and I was unaligned, although my views were left. Nevertheless, I had accepted that Bracks becoming Leader probably had consequences for me, particularly as I was mainly working for John Thwaites, his unsuccessful rival for leader. I would have been prepared for some downgrading of my position, perhaps being moved to a position as an electorate officer or similar. While my appointment was not 'political', and not factional, I nevertheless accepted that a leader has a right to staff they are comfortable with, and Bracks was not someone with whom I was particularly sympathetic. </p><p>I was not, however, prepared to be made to wait throughout the whole review process and then be summarily dismissed without even being allowed to speak for myself. It was shocking and traumatic.</p><p>Subsequently I contacted my union, only to find that Pallas had already spoken to a senior official in the union and a deal had been stitched up. The organiser who spoke to me told me she was unable to do anything other than arrange a small payout for me. She suggested I take the payout and go on a cruise or something. Apart from being a painfully ridiculous suggestion for someone who was a single mother and whose youngest child had just started year 12, it seemed to exemplify an attitude to women as people who had 'feelings' and might benefit from a treat, but weren't significant as workers. </p><p>Compounding it was a remark made by Tim Pallas in a subsequent meeting, to the effect that John Thwaites had said I would find it easy to get another job because of my skills. In other words he acknowledged I was good at my work, but that was irrelevant - I was still seen as disposable.</p><p>It took me some days to start collecting myself. By the time I found my contract, sought legal advice, and was advised that what I had been offered was below what I could have reasonably expected, it was a bit late, as I had already agreed in principle to the deal. Even so, there were points where the whole process could have been resolved. Two other MPs discussed offering me work, and I began working for one of them in another office at Parliament. One day I came in to visit my colleagues in the main office and talked to them about my view that I'd been unfairly treated. Tim Pallas obviously found out about it because he then banned me from entering the main office. After that I gave up the idea of continuing to work for the Labor party and took another job elsewhere.</p><p>The way I was treated still amazes me. If Pallas, Bracks and Thwaites had shown even the most basic compassion, the whole thing could have been resolved. But instead Pallas decided to treat me as someone who should be punished.</p><p>I looked into possible legal recourse, and decided that the Equal Opportunity Commission was the best avenue. Due to Kennett government legislation, I had very limited rights as an employee (staffers were officially employed by the Department of Parliamentary Services). It was also clear to me that I had been treated less favourably than male colleagues in equivalent positions, as I was aware they had been given the opportunity to speak with Pallas during the review. </p><p>I decided not to pursue the case until after the state election, which was expected to occur shortly at that time, because I wanted Labor to win the election and did not wish to be a distraction, or for my case to reflect unfavourably on the party as a whole. However, the election did not happen until September, and I had to bite my tongue until October, when Labor finally took power. This was very difficult. It was particularly difficult during the election period, when policies were published, and I saw Steve Bracks and John Thwaites on television speaking words that I had written for them, while I struggled with depression and social isolation.</p><p>The extent of my trauma can probably be gauged from the fact that it took me a very long time, even after Labor won the election, to accept that my former colleagues were no longer working in the opposition rooms at Parliament house. I knew rationally, of course, that they were not, that Labor was now in government and my former colleagues were now in Ministerial offices or different circumstances. At a deeper level, however, my mind refused to accept that and was stuck at the time of my trauma for a long time. Even now, more than 20 years later, I still sometimes have hopeful dreams that it has all been resolved.</p><p>Ultimately I lodged two complaints with the Equal Opportunity Commission in late 1999, one of discrimination in employment and one of victimisation. The Commission subsequently refused the discrimination complaint, saying it could not be substantiated (partly I think because some of my former colleagues, who were at the time going through a process of review to see whether their employment would be continued in government, refused to support me). It accepted the victimisation complaint. I exercised my right to have both complaints moved to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal and after a long and exhausting legal battle over more than a year, the Tribunal ruled that both complaints had substance and could proceed to hearing. The complaints did not go to hearing because after that the respondents (Bracks, Thwaites, Pallas and the Department of Parliamentary Services) agreed to negotiate a settlement and the matter was finally settled before hearing.</p><p>I agreed to a confidentiality clause on the settlement, against my initial wishes, for reasons set out in more detail <a href="https://speakingfearlessly.blogspot.com/2018/02/why-i-am-breaching-my-confidentiality.html">here</a>. Confidentiality clauses are a bad idea for many reasons, but were pretty much standard, and there was a risk of being seen as an unreasonable litigant if you did not agree to one. As stated in the post linked above, I have arguably breached this clause by revealing some of the terms, however much of it had already been reported in the media at that time (it was leaked from within the Labor party, I don't know by whom). Anyway it's not necessary to go into details - the discrimination case was settled essentially as a wrongful dismissal, and the respondents did not ever admit discrimination in employment, although victimisation was not disputed. I received a detailed written reference acknowledging my work, private apologies from Thwaites and Pallas, various other expressions of support, and a cash payment. The Department of Parliamentary Services undertook to introduce anti-discrimination training for members of parliament.</p><p>Later, in 2002, I tried to go to a community forum held by the Labor government, to discuss my concerns about the equal opportunity process with the Attorney General, Rob Hulls, and was refused entry. I made another complaint of victimisation following that incident, which again was settled before hearing. This was settled publicly, and the main outcome was that Steve Bracks agreed to receive a paper from me on equal opportunity processes. </p><p>Later there was reform of the Victorian Equal Opportunity Commission. Some measures that I had called for were put into practice, although I don't know whether my paper contributed to that. A significant change was that organisations covered by the legislation needed to have equal opportunity policies and procedures in place. If they did not, that could be taken as evidence against them in the event of a discrimination claim. In other words, some of the burden of proof was put on to employers and managers to show they were doing the right thing, rather than on individual complainants to prove that they were not. This is appropriate in relation to legislation intended to correct widespread past patterns of discrimination. Moreover, employers and managers have much more power than individual employees, and can cover up relevant evidence, or put pressure on other employees not to provide evidence.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Did my action achieve anything?</span></h2><p>Overall I think my action did achieve something, even though change is incremental. There are still problems in the Labor party, but it appears better than the conservative parties in relation to women in politics. Much of this is the result of pressure within the party, particularly from organisations like Emily's List, who support female candidates for pre-selection. However I think the actions of individual staffers like me, who stand up when MPs within the party behave wrongly, is also important.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Long term harms</span></h2><p>Some painful aspects of this for me remain. It had a long term impact on my mental health and through that on my family, and it affected my career, particularly that I was not able to do the work I wanted to do. It took several years for me to focus effectively on other avenues of work. It also gave me a reputation as a 'feminist trouble-maker' with some people, including some in the Greens when I later left Labor and joined the Greens in 2001. </p><p>Bracks, Thwaites and Pallas remained prominent in public life, reminding me of the trauma I suffered. Although I received private apologies from Thwaites and Pallas, there has never been a significant attempt on their part (or that of Steve Bracks) at meaningful reconciliation. John Thwaites has remained influential in the field in which I now work, creating considerable awkwardness for me, rather than the collegial support I should have been entitled to. </p><p>Overall I do not think any of the men involved has suffered professional harm, notwithstanding that in a broad sense I 'won' the legal action. I am not vindictive and do not wish them harm, but it is wrong that I, the person who was wrongly treated, suffered both psychological harm and career disadvantage, while those who did the harm experienced no disadvantage.</p><p>I have written extensively about patriarchy in my academic work, and this was a clear case of a woman coming up against a patriarchal organisation, as the parliamentary labor party was when I worked for it. I made a dent in the patriarchy I think, but the fact that in doing so I suffered more apparent harm than any of the men involved, is a cautionary tale.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">My experiences with the Victorian Greens</span></h2><p>In 2001 I left the Labor party and joined the Greens. This was partly because of my experiences in Labor, but mainly because of the Tampa incident and federal Labor's failure to take a principled position on asylum seekers.</p><p>During the time I was in the Greens I served as convenor of the Women's Network, cooordinated the national health policy committee and stood as a Greens candidate for the then Province of Eumemmering in the Victorian elections in 2002. I also did a lot of other volunteer work as a local Branch member. More details of my work for the Greens are available <a href="https://fairgreenplanet.blogspot.com/2019/01/submission-to-greens-my-cv.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p>I also became involved in some disputes, partly related to my previous history in Labor. My experience in Victorian parliament was recognised as relevant and contributed to me gaining positions of responsibility in the Greens, but some people also appeared to have ambivalent or hostile attitudes towards me as a former Labor staffer. </p><p>When I first joined, I was still involved in the equal opportunity action, and appealed for support within the Greens. My appeal was for personal support, because the action was so difficult, and was on the basis that women have a right to be heard (not necessarily that we are always right). This position might possibly be better understood now after the #MeToo movement, but was not so well understood then. </p><p>Some Greens members, through misunderstanding or anti-feminism, suggested I was trying to get the Greens to 'take sides' in a legal action or get involved in Labor's 'internal disputes'. One of these was Mike Puleston, an influential older man in my local Branch, and at that time co-convenor of the Branch. I believe Mike Puleston has been one of the Greens members who has opposed me for a long time, although it is difficult to know, because unfortunately Greens processes allow anonymous attacks.</p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: times;">The most significant dispute I had in the Greens was with the then Victorian Greens Convenor, Adrian Whitehead, around 2003-04. Adrian, with the support of State Executive Committee, proposed to restructure the staff in the Greens office. The key proposal was to create a new more senior position to replace the office manager position. All office staff at the time were women. I was then convenor of the Greens' Women's Network and it appeared the restructure was being done in a high-handed way and was likely to result in disadvantage to existing staff. (There is evidence that as organisations get bigger, they become more hierarchical and are more likely to appoint men to senior positions.)</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">The Women's Network put a motion to State Conference to defer any decision on the staffing restructure until further ideas could be considered. However, due to lengthy discussion on other items, the motion was not discussed. Adrian Whitehead said he was going ahead with the current plan and the new position would be advertised. I decided I had no option but to resign, as he was sidelining the Network, and I did so in an email to State Council outlining my reasons.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">Subsequently the Executive did appoint a man to the new senior staff position (I am not personally criticising him) and the female officer manager lost her job. </span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">I did rejoin the party somewhat later, through State Council. I got a lot of support from members, but there was a small group including Adrian Whitehead who opposed me and said I should be banned from the party. I continued to have some reservations about the way the party was working and let my membership lapse in 2004, after the national health policy was completed.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">Sometime later I applied to rejoin but was refused because some members of my local Branch objected. By this time the party regulations had been changed so that rejection of membership could occur at local Branch level. </span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">I don’t know who the people objecting to me were, or what they said about me. I had no opportunity to hear or respond to the objections. A few years later I tried again and was again refused. This time branch office bearers met with me to discuss, but I still wasn’t told the objections or who was making them. </span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">The officer bearers suggested that I could become a 'friend' of the Greens and become involved in policy development, but it seemed to me a ridiculous position for a political party to allow people to be excluded from membership because of unknown complaints by anonymous people, but allow them to be involved in policy development. I did, however, later do some voluntary work supporting local Greens candidates, prior to 2018, when Alex Bhathal was subjected to a campaign of undermining while she was Greens candidate for the then federal electorate of Batman (now Cooper). </span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">I won't go into detail about what happened to Alex, as there was widespread media coverage at the time. This <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/feb/01/former-greens-candidate-alex-bhathal-quits-party-blaming-organisational-bullying" target="_blank">article from the Guardian</a> gives a reasonable summary of what happened and how Alex finally quit the party in disgust. I was absolutely shocked. I had known Alex and worked with her when I was in the party and was appalled by the way she was treated. Like me, Alex was subjected to anonymous attacks, although her case was worse than mine.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">I know something about the attitudes of some people in positions of influence in the party who failed to support or undermined Alex (not those involved in the complaints against her, I don't know them), and I believe that disapproval of Alex as an outspoken women, and sexist victim-blaming, played a part in why the Greens were not able to resolve this situation. Alex, as a woman of colour, also has suggested that racism played a part.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">I am aware of other women in the Victorian Greens who have made claims of discrimination or harassment, or quit in disgust at failures in the party. I started researching this in preparation for a submission to the party, which I am still preparing. Below are some links to media reports of four other prominent women in the Greens, in addition to Alex Bhathal, who have chosen to resign in protest at the culture in the party:</span></p><blockquote style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/amp.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/the-tail-is-wagging-the-dog-bitter-greens-consider-their-options-20190131-p50uvm.html&source=gmail&ust=1614479441885000&usg=AFQjCNEZEsJwST5MVH8dzq8UYNtZpq9yFA" href="https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/amp.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/the-tail-is-wagging-the-dog-bitter-greens-consider-their-options-20190131-p50uvm.html" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://www.google.com.au/amp/<wbr></wbr>s/amp.theage.com.au/politics/<wbr></wbr>victoria/the-tail-is-wagging-<wbr></wbr>the-dog-bitter-greens-<wbr></wbr>consider-their-options-<wbr></wbr>20190131-p50uvm.html</a><br /><div><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/victorian-greens-overridden-by-a-bullying-and-abusive-internal-culture-20180410-p4z8qb.html&source=gmail&ust=1614479441885000&usg=AFQjCNGDLiPe6gWduQqyC-xlHpPEEp_x4g" href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/victorian-greens-overridden-by-a-bullying-and-abusive-internal-culture-20180410-p4z8qb.html" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://www.smh.com.au/<wbr></wbr>politics/federal/victorian-<wbr></wbr>greens-overridden-by-a-<wbr></wbr>bullying-and-abusive-internal-<wbr></wbr>culture-20180410-p4z8qb.html</a></div><div><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-09/nina-springle-former-mp-quits-victorian-greens/10984118&source=gmail&ust=1614479441885000&usg=AFQjCNELPOtP1aoe5Ssapv2nAo8AWhvlHQ" href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-09/nina-springle-former-mp-quits-victorian-greens/10984118" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://www.abc.net.au/news/<wbr></wbr>2019-04-09/nina-springle-<wbr></wbr>former-mp-quits-victorian-<wbr></wbr>greens/10984118</a></div><div><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-12/victorian-election-greens-woes-not-due-to-preference-deals-alone/10612276&source=gmail&ust=1614479441885000&usg=AFQjCNG5WofWZg7cE9QHIyQkhMpVVtFwGg" href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-12/victorian-election-greens-woes-not-due-to-preference-deals-alone/10612276" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://www.abc.net.au/news/<wbr></wbr>2018-12-12/victorian-election-<wbr></wbr>greens-woes-not-due-to-<wbr></wbr>preference-deals-alone/<wbr></wbr>10612276</a></div></div></blockquote><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">I won't comment further on these here, because I have not spoken to all the women involved, and will be trying to follow this up in preparing the submission. However, they show that the Victorian Greens have not been able to deal effectively with discrimination, harassment and bullying of women in the party, in spite of the fact that they have a female leader in the Victorian Parliament.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">I am not aware of any cases of sexual assault and rape in the Victorian Greens, however that of course does not mean there have not been any. There have been reported cases of sexual assault and rape of women in the NSW Greens. I won't comment further on that here, as I do not know much about it, but again it shows that even though the culture definitely appears much worse in the Liberal National Parties, none of the parties can claim to be exempt from these problems. </span></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Conclusions</span></h2><p>My overall conclusion is that even though the patriarchal and misogynist culture of politics in Australia is worse in the conservative parties, the ALP and Greens have also had problems in this area, and women like myself and others who have taken action to address this are at risk of exclusion and punishment. The situation seems to exemplify misogyny as defined in Kate Manne's 'Down Girl'. </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="background-color: white; font-style: italic;">In </span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic;">Down Girl </span><span style="background-color: white;"><i>moral philosopher Kate Manne argues that misogyny should not be understood primarily in terms of the hatred or hostility some men feel toward all or most women. Rather, it is primarily about controlling, policing, punishing and exiling the "bad" women who challenge male dominance. And it is compatible with rewarding "the good ones" and singling out other women to serve as warnings to those who are out of order. </i><a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/down-girl-9780141990729" target="_blank">(From description by publisher)</a></span></span></p></blockquote><p>In fact something very much like this was expressed to me years ago by Rob Hulls when I was working for Labor, when he said: 'we don't hate all women Val, only some of them'. It was a joke, but expressed a truth: men in patriarchal organisations believe that they are 'granting' equality to women, and that they have the right to decide which women are deserving and which aren't. This is exemplified in Labor and the Greens at federal level, where leadership is usually held by men, even in the Greens where women are the majority of MPs. When women such as Julia Gillard or Christine Milne become leaders, they face gendered criticism and undermining, including - at least in Gillard's case - from within their own party. Julia Gillard was widely liked and approved of within Labor while she remained in the Deputy Leader position. </p><p>I also want to talk about silencing. There has been a lot of pressure on me over the years to be silent. In Labor there was at first the pressure of loyalty to the party, later the pressure of not speaking publicly while the case was on (this is a grey area but complainants are often advised not to speak publicly), then the pressure of the confidentiality clause. </p><p>Then there is the social pressure, including from friends and family, to get over it, to move on, to put it behind me. This applies to my experiences in both parties. There is so much pressure in our society not to be a 'victim', but to be a 'survivor', to overcome the hurt and 'live well'. Women are subjected to pressure to be silent about the injustice we experience and the impact it has on us, and in a way this is all the more effective because of the stereotype of female 'weakness'. We resist that stereotype, and try to act as if we are ok, but this also means that the harm done to us by men and patriarchy is being hidden. It's a vicious circle.</p><p>Finally there is the question of why women don't support each other more. The 'divide and conquer' tactic of misogyny that Kate Manne identifies could not work if women supported each other. In my own case and in Alex Bhathal's case, I know women who could have supported us but didn't, instead resorting to victim blaming, to suggestions that we are 'difficult', that we somehow did 'bring it on ourselves'. </p><p>Women need to support each other if we are to overcome patriarchy, and we need to support each other knowing that we are imperfect. I've thought a lot about why women don't support each other more and I basically think it comes down to fear. I agree with the idea of internalised misogyny but I think fear is a greater reason. </p><p>I remember as a 15 year old, when I started at a new school in remote area of South Australia, seeing Aboriginal children vilified and shouted at on a school bus. I was horrified but I was also scared that if I spoke out the kids shouting would start on me, so I sat there, hating it but too scared to speak. I think many woman feel like that about patriarchy, hating it but too scared to oppose it. As Kate Manne says, singling out women like me as a "warning" as what happens to "bad" women is a way of maintaining patriarchy. I can only hope that more and more women will start to see this, to recognise that women like me, even though we are imperfect, don't 'deserve' the harm we have experienced in political life. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Val Kayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022522407838661280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929009897479726160.post-84809951154064215702020-11-27T17:19:00.003+11:002020-11-27T17:19:44.752+11:00Submission on the Climate Change Act 2020 proposed by Zali Steggall<div style="text-align: left;">Submissions on the Climate Change Act 2020, proposed by the independent member of parliament Zali Steggall, are being taken by the House Standing Committee on the Environment and Energy. They were supposed to close today (27 November 2020) but extensions appear to be available. More information here https://www.zalisteggall.com.au/submissions_open_for_climate_change_bill_inquiry. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I urge anyone interested to make a submission, even if short. This is a great opportunity to encourage parliament to end the 'climate wars' and take a non-partisan approach, which all MPs should have the responsibility and maturity to do.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">My own submission is below - made in a very short time, but hopefully if necessary the committee will ask for follow up information and evidence if needed. My submission obviously highlights my qualifications and experience, but I urge anyone interested to make a submission, because this is a matter that affects all of us, most particularly young people, and we are all entitled to have a say.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>My submission:</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><p class="MsoNormal">Submission to the House Standing Committee on the
Environment and Energy on the Climate Change (National Framework for Adaptation
and Mitigation) Bill 2020<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">From: Valerie Kay, PhD<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Dear Committee members<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Background to this submission:<o:p></o:p></p>
</div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>In 2018 I completed a PhD on promoting equity,
environmental sustainability and health in Victoria. A copy of my PhD is
available through the Monash University library here <a href="https://bridges.monash.edu/articles/Promoting_equity_environmental_sustainability_and_health_frameworks_for_action_and_advocacy/6199379">https://bridges.monash.edu/articles/Promoting_equity_environmental_sustainability_and_health_frameworks_for_action_and_advocacy/6199379</a>
and an article with some key findings is
available here <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/hpja.281">https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/hpja.281</a></p></div><div style="text-align: left;"><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Since 2014, I have been teaching in the unit
MPH5042 Climate Change and Public Health in the Monash University Masters of
Public Health course and am currently the Chief Examiner and Unit Coordinator
in the unit <a href="https://handbook.monash.edu/2020/units/MPH5042">https://handbook.monash.edu/2020/units/MPH5042</a>.
I am happy for this information to be publicly available in the submission, as
it is already in the public domain.</p></div><div style="text-align: left;"><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Unfortunately due to the very limited time I
have to prepare this submission, I cannot cite all the relevant sources for the
statements in this submission, but would be very happy to provide further
follow up information to the committee. If I can obtain the permission of the
University, I may be able to provide in confidence to the committee some of the
teaching material from the unit, which is in plain language and would be
available at short notice.</p></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As someone who has been researching and teaching in this
area for over ten years, I am writing to urge you to support this Bill, and to
suggest some amendments to strengthen the Bill.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Climate change is an unequivocal threat to the health and
wellbeing of Australians, people of the world, and other species. People in
Australian and elsewhere are already dying as a result of climate change,
particularly through extreme heat events. Other risks, including from floods
and other severe weather events, droughts and water shortages in some areas,
bushfire risk, and wider range and novel forms of infectious diseases, are also
increasing. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It is more than possible, it is unfortunately likely, that
significant areas of Australia and other parts of the world may become
uninhabitable for humans this century, unless we act now to reduce emissions
and do as much as humanly possible to hold global warming to 1.5C.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Even at 1.5C, much of the Barrier Reef is likely to be lost,
and at 2C it is likely that all will be. I cannot believe that committee
members can stand by and let this happen, let alone face the possibility that
your actions will be responsible for more deaths from climate change and a
frightening legacy for today’s children and young people.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I say this not to scare committee members, but because my
reading of the Bill suggests to me that even the drafters of this Bill,
well-informed as they clearly are, have not yet fully understood the risks to
health from climate change.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In order to address these risks, it is essential to have a
non-partisan approach to climate change in this country. Findings from research
outlined in the article linked above, strongly suggests that in the period
2009-16, particularly in the federal election year of 2013, health workers and
community members were deterred from acting on climate and environmental
sustainability by the politicisation of climate change in Australia.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The actions that they were taking were ones I am sure
committee members, as representatives of local electorates, would strongly
support. Their work involved projects to increase housing sustainability and
reduce energy bills for low income community members, support community members
in growing and sharing local fresh food, and increase active transport though
walking and cycling. All these actions have direct benefits for people’s
health, as well as a wide range of benefits from promoting a more sustainable,
fair and socially inclusive society, and reducing carbon emissions. I am confident
committee members would never again wish to see a situation where local
community members were deterred from such worthwhile actions by the
politicisation of climate change. It is imperative that Australia develops a
non-partisan approach to climate change, and this Bill, proposed by an
independent member of parliament, gives a chance to achieve that. I strongly
urge you to support the Bill.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As noted, I also suggest that the drafters of the Bill have
not fully recognised the degree of risk from climate change to the health of
humans and other species. Similarly, it appears they may not have fully
recognised the potential benefits to health and wellbeing from addressing
climate change. They also may not have recognised the extent to which the
science of climate change has been perceived as ‘top-down’ and remote, detached
from the everyday experience of people’s lives. These factors are connected. There
is research showing that when people realise the impact that climate change is
having, and will have, on health, it becomes much more meaningful to them and
makes them more likely to act, and support action, on climate change. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">On the basis of this evidence (which, as stated, I am more
than happy to provide to the committee), I make the following suggestions for
amendments to strengthen the Bill:<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">S1 Objects of the Act <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Clause (1) (a) should include reference to
serious challenges to health and survival of Australians, other people of the
world, and other species.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Clause (1) (b) should specify limiting global
warming to 1.5C as the primary goal and restricting it to under 2C as secondary.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Clause (2) (f) should include ‘community’ as
well as government and private sector<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">S17 <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->(2) (a) should include risk to ‘health of
Australia’s population’ first, before economy, and not confined to workers.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">S18<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->(a) health effects should be first, not economic
effects (climate change is genuinely a matter of life and death, and this
should be recognised)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">S30<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->(3) include benefits to health from emissions
reductions, and savings from reductions in healthcare costs due to reduced
climate change impacts<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>S 37</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->(2) should also include experience and knowledge
in social change, community participation and development, health impacts of
climate change, and the health co-benefits of climate action and emissions
reductions<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->(5) (b) a minimum of two members to be
Indigenous Australians (appointing one person to represent previously
marginalised groups can lead to further marginalisation on committees when the
single representative presents, or is inhibited from presenting, viewpoints
that appear to conflict with conventional or ‘mainstream’ perspectives)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thank you for your consideration and my best wishes for the
success of this Bill.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Valerie Kay<o:p></o:p></p><br /></div>Val Kayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022522407838661280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929009897479726160.post-44313571678949490582020-11-24T14:16:00.006+11:002021-02-14T14:42:43.325+11:00Long rambling post on coming out of lockdown<i>Have started to update this 14 February 2021, now in a new lockdown, hopefully only for five days.</i> <strike>This is a work in progress which blogger is being completely weird about so I can't fix it right now but will leave it here just for a change
</strike><p><i>Originally published 24 November 2020</i> - Haven't written anything on here for ages so thought I might do some kind of long rambling blog post about coming out of lockdown and everything I thought about writing over the last few months, partly to have a record, even if very imperfect, of a historic year.</p><p>What a year it's been. Started so positively for me with my visit to Myanmar (Burma) and travelling home over land and sea, as discussed <a href="https://fairgreenplanet.blogspot.com/2020/03/travelling-over-land-not-flying.html" target="_blank">a few posts back</a>. Then the Covid pandemic really got going. Today Victoria has no new cases and no active cases, after an extended and pretty hard lockdown. How do you write about that experience? </p><p>The thing I often wanted to do was a kind of photo essay on parks, and nature, because it was so important. So here is is, probably a bit random, but maybe I can use it as the basis for something more developed one day. <i>14 February 2021 - started adding captions</i></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wtuom-07Bfw/X7xuTZrs5KI/AAAAAAAADkg/0_fRDRNh4-E2DAIRBCjXrEXM7stF6_grQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_7851.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wtuom-07Bfw/X7xuTZrs5KI/AAAAAAAADkg/0_fRDRNh4-E2DAIRBCjXrEXM7stF6_grQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_7851.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Coming home, just before the pandemic really got going: Overland Train from Adelaide to Melbourne 1 March 2020. The Overland was due to close, then got some more funding from Vic government (I think?) but could not run in 2020 due to pandemic and border closures. Was due to start in early 2021, not sure if it did, but as of now (14 Feb 2021) SA has again closed its border to Vic.</i></td></tr></tbody></table><p><br /></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G0KfXpnOOmI/X7xvnqm1JCI/AAAAAAAADlI/6fTbqQm2KvQ4JVlvn1O8t9-Cco_zsgQbgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_8225.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G0KfXpnOOmI/X7xvnqm1JCI/AAAAAAAADlI/6fTbqQm2KvQ4JVlvn1O8t9-Cco_zsgQbgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_8225.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Community garden: it was great to get back to the community garden, but access was restricted shortly after I came home, due to Covid19, and became more restricted in the second lockdown (from late June in this area, as this suburb was a 'hotspot'). Even when we could only go down one at a time, for essential food purposes (maintaining and harvesting) it remained a great source of comfort, as well as food.</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-21_ID8MOEFM/X7xv-rlQtsI/AAAAAAAADlU/YGGMIdmZIdw5r8IDy5xVfBUIZIE5UzsmQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/MXBZ2676.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-21_ID8MOEFM/X7xv-rlQtsI/AAAAAAAADlU/YGGMIdmZIdw5r8IDy5xVfBUIZIE5UzsmQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/MXBZ2676.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>As autumn set in, people still wanted to use their gardens. Family members invested in a fire drum, which the kids loved, particularly toasting marshmallows.</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W1CbQHbYuks/X7xwMPgT1oI/AAAAAAAADlY/kMIkKJnkfDM9oJn6IJmepvLJxzfuNUhrACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_8068.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W1CbQHbYuks/X7xwMPgT1oI/AAAAAAAADlY/kMIkKJnkfDM9oJn6IJmepvLJxzfuNUhrACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_8068.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Late harvest of tomatoes from the community garden. I used some of these to make a Burmese tomato salad with peanuts, which I'd learned in Myanmar. Highly recommend.</i> </td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mx-GpIFT-D8/X7xwdNgAESI/AAAAAAAADlk/6yP98AHSCl8-NfXD8iLSvUGgB1c6-hpHACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/FRZK6797.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><i><img border="0" data-original-height="901" data-original-width="1600" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mx-GpIFT-D8/X7xwdNgAESI/AAAAAAAADlk/6yP98AHSCl8-NfXD8iLSvUGgB1c6-hpHACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/FRZK6797.JPG" width="320" /></i></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>I'm not entirely sure where this is 😀 but I think it's in Royal Park? I walked there a lot, especially after golf was prohibited and the golf course became available to walkers. Walking on the golf course in Northcote became so popular that when we came out of lockdown late in 2021, there was a movement in that area to keep the golf course for walking. Unsuccessful I think but interesting</i>.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2hXxKBLx5Rg/X7xwm27yQaI/AAAAAAAADlo/6bMTz9_eniI0xGO2KTr-QGzCLMfEdbvCgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_8314.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2hXxKBLx5Rg/X7xwm27yQaI/AAAAAAAADlo/6bMTz9_eniI0xGO2KTr-QGzCLMfEdbvCgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_8314.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>In the shorter days of autumn and winter, I walked often in the afternoon and saw many many sunsets. This and the next picture is Royal Park golf course (I wish it had an Indigenous name!) in the late afternoon</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eWl5yYwpuKc/X7xwvZ1l5FI/AAAAAAAADlw/6LNl7xZvadoyWQtm1gytYnyAKa-u2XVTACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_8316.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eWl5yYwpuKc/X7xwvZ1l5FI/AAAAAAAADlw/6LNl7xZvadoyWQtm1gytYnyAKa-u2XVTACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_8316.JPG" /></a></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MDtG69TqUCI/X7xw49geVyI/AAAAAAAADl4/AoTkLxUFDZoKQW8JzM69ae7U3bO1N8AqgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_8337.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MDtG69TqUCI/X7xw49geVyI/AAAAAAAADl4/AoTkLxUFDZoKQW8JzM69ae7U3bO1N8AqgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_8337.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Not a great photo, but captures a lovely conjunction of colour with the Rainbow Lorikeets in the sunflowers. Rainbow Lorikeets are a native species that have adjusted well to urban life and as such are possibly pushing out other native species. But who could entirely mind when they are so beautiful? People became very interested in birds. When we were only allowed an hour of outside exercise, baby Tawny Frogmouths in the Northcote golf course area became a highlight of people's day.</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F1-TkIpVsvc/X7xxC2kG1VI/AAAAAAAADmA/hKoSs2GQnaUZmpP02pZYJ6lUMB7gTNq1ACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_8350.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F1-TkIpVsvc/X7xxC2kG1VI/AAAAAAAADmA/hKoSs2GQnaUZmpP02pZYJ6lUMB7gTNq1ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_8350.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>More sunsets in autumn</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cwuemvmzRkE/X7xxLuoqdyI/AAAAAAAADmI/BThBYSO6S4oAoDVQ2qXIwZvMPhQkfpuVQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_8351.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cwuemvmzRkE/X7xxLuoqdyI/AAAAAAAADmI/BThBYSO6S4oAoDVQ2qXIwZvMPhQkfpuVQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_8351.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5b0IsxX-i5Q/X7xxP7_S5PI/AAAAAAAADmM/GQDlGBmL9H0ajYvDaWYZlWL5kdnxpcN0ACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_8352.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5b0IsxX-i5Q/X7xxP7_S5PI/AAAAAAAADmM/GQDlGBmL9H0ajYvDaWYZlWL5kdnxpcN0ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_8352.JPG" /></a></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P7LQeFL8KDI/X7xxdmaim6I/AAAAAAAADmY/6FjLNVbX_gs-uQ8RGYsPbunrg3kbD02EgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1280/IMG_8382.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P7LQeFL8KDI/X7xxdmaim6I/AAAAAAAADmY/6FjLNVbX_gs-uQ8RGYsPbunrg3kbD02EgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_8382.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Masks were not mandatory at first, but became so later. This is me trying out my first mask. I asked my grandkids (on social media) what superhero I could be, and one said 'Zebra woman'</i>.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-miJ8OYC3e-s/X7xxpI0fpBI/AAAAAAAADmg/PT5vLfz3elcy2AAh40PgR4MF-zYsAE7fwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_8417.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-miJ8OYC3e-s/X7xxpI0fpBI/AAAAAAAADmg/PT5vLfz3elcy2AAh40PgR4MF-zYsAE7fwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_8417.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>In May, the first lockdown was loosened. I was able to go for a walk along Merri Creek with my daughter and grandsons whom I hadn't seen 'in real life' for a while. We saw a kookaburra.</i></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jWE6lwGJeSo/X7xx9fiAQGI/AAAAAAAADms/9nk4lHUiO-oOQEkNMpZeyGG3n75zwNk_QCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_8464.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jWE6lwGJeSo/X7xx9fiAQGI/AAAAAAAADms/9nk4lHUiO-oOQEkNMpZeyGG3n75zwNk_QCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_8464.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>In June, we were briefly able to go outside Melbourne and visit regional areas in Victoria. I went to Ballarat for a short holiday with a close friend who lives in that area, to celebrate my birthday. This is from our walk around the lake.</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bN-NiLekUqM/X7xyF59jqoI/AAAAAAAADmw/XL0HdZslWEAjcQcXpGhyBwb4hOvN0G7sQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_8482.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bN-NiLekUqM/X7xyF59jqoI/AAAAAAAADmw/XL0HdZslWEAjcQcXpGhyBwb4hOvN0G7sQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_8482.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Birthday flowers from dear friends who gave me a 'high tea'. I was very lucky that my birthday fell in that brief period before the lockdown started again</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wzPoGMvWbzE/X7xy4gY_ygI/AAAAAAAADnM/Ms1LXIKJxB0hDQTOqPxfWR-qY1CLHlfAQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1024/HVNS8084%2B%25281%2529.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wzPoGMvWbzE/X7xy4gY_ygI/AAAAAAAADnM/Ms1LXIKJxB0hDQTOqPxfWR-qY1CLHlfAQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/HVNS8084%2B%25281%2529.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Tawny Frogmouths in Northcote.</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ACxCyDOLwZQ/X7xzN5vABYI/AAAAAAAADnU/JG8LFk2u2cEzWb4rJxyz_KR82rkp5WztACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_8644%2B%25281%2529.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ACxCyDOLwZQ/X7xzN5vABYI/AAAAAAAADnU/JG8LFk2u2cEzWb4rJxyz_KR82rkp5WztACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_8644%2B%25281%2529.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>One of my lockdown projects was to fix my courtyard on the southern side of my place. The white lattice is to make it brighter in winter and reflect light through my window. These orchids bloomed prolifically in winter and gave me a moment of happiness each morning.</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cNosfa0Cldw/X7xze1Q8jwI/AAAAAAAADnc/dgEZiryhr8kFyl8HvFEWHv3eDufMlVqKQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2710/IMG_E8656.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1160" data-original-width="2710" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cNosfa0Cldw/X7xze1Q8jwI/AAAAAAAADnc/dgEZiryhr8kFyl8HvFEWHv3eDufMlVqKQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_E8656.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Trying out my hand at good photography for once! These are all harvested from the community garden or donated by gardeners from their backyards. It took me a long time to do this, but I think it captures some of the beauty.</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uUHiov80HAM/X7x0ATm2kNI/AAAAAAAADnk/X01KFR7Kuk0ToORFSLr-ZXWMmAsDA0t4QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/GWLX2991%2B%25281%2529.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uUHiov80HAM/X7x0ATm2kNI/AAAAAAAADnk/X01KFR7Kuk0ToORFSLr-ZXWMmAsDA0t4QCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/GWLX2991%2B%25281%2529.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Note sure if this is Merri Creek or Darebin Creek, but if it's Darebin Creek it must have taken during the brief period in mid 2020 when we were allowed to go further than 5 kilometres from our homes. I normally walk with a friend once a week, and we often go along the creeks or the Yarra River, but we had to suspend our walks for most of 2020.</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h8XoraaJaPs/X7x0QkIN8xI/AAAAAAAADns/tUlbSsgwVX4Sm3R9fxR8mAkM8HFo9Z7XwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_8775.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h8XoraaJaPs/X7x0QkIN8xI/AAAAAAAADns/tUlbSsgwVX4Sm3R9fxR8mAkM8HFo9Z7XwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_8775.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>This is in late winter in the White calendar, or the beginning of the Petyan season, the season of flowers, in the Kulin calendar. The Hardenbergia (I don't know its Indigenous name) is one of the earliest flowers to appear. July to August was the hardest time in Melbourne, cold, short days, in lockdown but with Covid19 infections still rising. Even after infections started to go down, the sad toll of deaths in aged care continued for some time. The flowers were a reminder that the natural world is still beautiful.</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dTxjkQgG9OQ/X7x0qpPar4I/AAAAAAAADn0/TB02VrK2_KYJH5QNgpKUbWEwyJSudXaFACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/PJVB7286%2B%25281%2529.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dTxjkQgG9OQ/X7x0qpPar4I/AAAAAAAADn0/TB02VrK2_KYJH5QNgpKUbWEwyJSudXaFACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/PJVB7286%2B%25281%2529.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Coburg Velodrome was one of the places where kids could enjoy themselves safely, even when playground were closed. Throughout the lockdown, there were always people exercising in the parks, walking, playing games, rollerskating, riding bikes, skateboards, scooters and all sorts. They did my heart good.</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xhxx1_Tvhw8/X7x0_oIk9HI/AAAAAAAADn8/qJrXML6r1LIlYQ7S0mgnsj8rxsOQH3-ygCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_8901%2B%25281%2529.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xhxx1_Tvhw8/X7x0_oIk9HI/AAAAAAAADn8/qJrXML6r1LIlYQ7S0mgnsj8rxsOQH3-ygCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_8901%2B%25281%2529.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>My oldest grandson emailed me a really good picture of a bird that he had drawn and challenged me to draw one. I took this photo of a magpie, but it was a while before I got around to drawing it.</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DU5N7q-7-l8/X7x1JcprLTI/AAAAAAAADoA/xuRxmhnvVQwtw4UhpoawRQs0zeOgWng4ACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_8955%2B%25281%2529.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DU5N7q-7-l8/X7x1JcprLTI/AAAAAAAADoA/xuRxmhnvVQwtw4UhpoawRQs0zeOgWng4ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_8955%2B%25281%2529.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A hop bush blooming along the Moonee Ponds Creek path.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Wv1U9jGhOBE/X7x1olicBtI/AAAAAAAADoU/03xZdBUPEDs-1YyPFc_HRGcfcvsPiAH7wCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_8989.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Wv1U9jGhOBE/X7x1olicBtI/AAAAAAAADoU/03xZdBUPEDs-1YyPFc_HRGcfcvsPiAH7wCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_8989.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dQfJljti4cI/X7x1_uu_DXI/AAAAAAAADog/ZA49vjw6Sj4Ez3vXYbz0y0efTqW-cOzEwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_8994%2B%25281%2529.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dQfJljti4cI/X7x1_uu_DXI/AAAAAAAADog/ZA49vjw6Sj4Ez3vXYbz0y0efTqW-cOzEwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_8994%2B%25281%2529.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iPNOK8dPmek/X7x2UpmzQ3I/AAAAAAAADos/-OGUZd9QTSscMDGdQgy9wzXV4LypuR_iQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/GXFO2412.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iPNOK8dPmek/X7x2UpmzQ3I/AAAAAAAADos/-OGUZd9QTSscMDGdQgy9wzXV4LypuR_iQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/GXFO2412.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ngV3j6-c9eU/X7x2gsGJPdI/AAAAAAAADow/9PgmmccF0T8o3xYIaMHVpvjLo8nQ98sUgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9030%2B%25281%2529.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ngV3j6-c9eU/X7x2gsGJPdI/AAAAAAAADow/9PgmmccF0T8o3xYIaMHVpvjLo8nQ98sUgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9030%2B%25281%2529.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5KXdCiiJZU4/X7x2n9WhX1I/AAAAAAAADo4/gTdCBFMWRV4Z_dN8LVzurThhx7ueYmrZgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9031%2B%25281%2529.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5KXdCiiJZU4/X7x2n9WhX1I/AAAAAAAADo4/gTdCBFMWRV4Z_dN8LVzurThhx7ueYmrZgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9031%2B%25281%2529.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OO1TwIWZCZw/X7x2tvDfj3I/AAAAAAAADo8/qr60C9QTkk4IIy3cxrvA1g5xQMHDCmd8gCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9033.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OO1TwIWZCZw/X7x2tvDfj3I/AAAAAAAADo8/qr60C9QTkk4IIy3cxrvA1g5xQMHDCmd8gCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9033.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IWpK1sbokGE/X7x2yzgnMaI/AAAAAAAADpE/q5M6qK_BBqYmjq3-iM5csFrOQGfY6swSQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9037%2B%25281%2529.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IWpK1sbokGE/X7x2yzgnMaI/AAAAAAAADpE/q5M6qK_BBqYmjq3-iM5csFrOQGfY6swSQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9037%2B%25281%2529.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kcFgvkqGQcY/X7x25aP8sqI/AAAAAAAADpI/UFlT8y9mHRYh9OkxeHXOJj9B32nqMkZVgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9039%2B%25281%2529.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kcFgvkqGQcY/X7x25aP8sqI/AAAAAAAADpI/UFlT8y9mHRYh9OkxeHXOJj9B32nqMkZVgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9039%2B%25281%2529.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8NzgI2F94AE/X7x2-HeQTZI/AAAAAAAADpQ/mC7JXnnMKnAs-jX3OiB8zMzjU_eFapTgwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9036.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8NzgI2F94AE/X7x2-HeQTZI/AAAAAAAADpQ/mC7JXnnMKnAs-jX3OiB8zMzjU_eFapTgwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9036.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aDLJrwr1Sgs/X7x3FemxWeI/AAAAAAAADpU/AyxWXW_6eSkMaFBcLE0pF8DYsQwn8dt6ACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9037.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aDLJrwr1Sgs/X7x3FemxWeI/AAAAAAAADpU/AyxWXW_6eSkMaFBcLE0pF8DYsQwn8dt6ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9037.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SDfE7CcMzYs/X7x3OOii7lI/AAAAAAAADpc/Eu_eX9DWwn8u_J5Jc8pArSg8cJx-fw5oQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9047%2B%25281%2529.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SDfE7CcMzYs/X7x3OOii7lI/AAAAAAAADpc/Eu_eX9DWwn8u_J5Jc8pArSg8cJx-fw5oQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9047%2B%25281%2529.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EqyO7_ibtX0/X7x3UhrRjiI/AAAAAAAADpg/r_WHIcfv43oYUq5bV1xbk3WRB9twhmpfACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9046.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EqyO7_ibtX0/X7x3UhrRjiI/AAAAAAAADpg/r_WHIcfv43oYUq5bV1xbk3WRB9twhmpfACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9046.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WaLJip8Sm6Y/X7x3g6oo_aI/AAAAAAAADps/fNgxz6-cc4MwdPHnCFQsAubJzZ_eBpWxgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9127.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WaLJip8Sm6Y/X7x3g6oo_aI/AAAAAAAADps/fNgxz6-cc4MwdPHnCFQsAubJzZ_eBpWxgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9127.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vF3VSJJrH10/X7x34PMdHLI/AAAAAAAADp4/xPPqEAg0NdAZ6xJSckfgJfTN4gldrItuQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_0825.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1530" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vF3VSJJrH10/X7x34PMdHLI/AAAAAAAADp4/xPPqEAg0NdAZ6xJSckfgJfTN4gldrItuQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_0825.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qrw1Ui29sgc/X7x4OvrLioI/AAAAAAAADqA/fzWHY4k2EzMS1Rktxl1ol3f6p8oHQ1_PwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9202.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qrw1Ui29sgc/X7x4OvrLioI/AAAAAAAADqA/fzWHY4k2EzMS1Rktxl1ol3f6p8oHQ1_PwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9202.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fMRQUB9HHbc/X7x4i1DYerI/AAAAAAAADqI/IIlz4Akr98oPyRWaQejX0KDA6dSB7Q95QCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9201.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fMRQUB9HHbc/X7x4i1DYerI/AAAAAAAADqI/IIlz4Akr98oPyRWaQejX0KDA6dSB7Q95QCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9201.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />Val Kayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022522407838661280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929009897479726160.post-24739637381742488132020-06-20T11:28:00.003+10:002020-06-20T12:31:15.669+10:00Bad types of women<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
seeing a lot of anti-women sentiment on Twitter these days so just making a list of bad types of women, old and new<br />
<br />
All the insults on this list seem to be (or have been, because some are not used much now) directed towards women. Felmlee et al '<a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11199-019-01095-z" target="_blank">Sexist slurs</a>' is a good article discussing Twitter harassment of women and how insults to women commonly draw on stereotypes.<br />
<br />
There is a debate about whether 'TERF' is an insult or merely a descriptor (similar to bigot) but I've included it here because it's normally directed at women. Similarly to 'Karen', there seems to be no male equivalent word. This suggests to me that it relates to gendered expectations of women as being caring and supportive (see Kate Manne 'Down Girl').<br />
<br />
I think words like 'Karen' and 'TERF' are new because they are particularly used by the left, people who would see themselves as supporting social justice, thus they are gendered left wing insults. They take a behaviour or attitude which people on the left agree is bad (racism, transphobia) and direct censure for it particularly towards women, suggesting that either women are particularly inclined to this or that women deserve particular censure for this. It's concerning because it can divide the left (encouraging really bitter fights between women on the left, two of which I've just seen on Twitter) and support patriarchy, which is currently on the ascendant in many countries, including Australia.<br />
<br />
As far as I'm aware, there is no evidence that women are more racist than men (I can't find much research evidence on this, but this 2003 <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1519836?seq=1" target="_blank">article</a> suggests they are slightly less, although the difference is not great) and, as in nearly all violent crimes, men are much more likely to commit violence, including against transgender people (see eg <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1359178909000202" target="_blank">Stotzer 2009</a>). Thus there is no particular reason why there should be no male equivalent for these terms, and it could be expected that men would face even more censure. The fact that they don't suggest these terms fit the category of gendered insults, which draw on stereotypes of how women ought to behave.<br />
<br />
There's a recent book out on why women are blamed so much, but I haven't yet read it. Maybe I can look at this further later. Anyway here is my list:<br />
<br />
TERFs<br />
Karens<br />
Plain Janes<br />
Aunt Sallies<br />
Bitches<br />
Basic bitches<br />
Dogs<br />
Cats<br />
Cows<br />
Pussies<br />
Witches<br />
Mad fucking witches<br />
Sluts<br />
Slags<br />
Town bikes<br />
Schoolmarms<br />
Barren spinsters<br />
Frumps<br />
Gold diggers<br />
Dumb blondes<br />
Molls<br />
Hags<br />
Bimbos<br />
Feminazis<br />
Breastfeeding nazis<br />
Hairy legged feminists<br />
Harpies<br />
Mean girls<br />
Whores<br />
Madams<br />
Hussies<br />
Tarts<br /><br />(edited today to take ‘Beckies’ out because think that’s more a term of criticism by Black women for certain behaviour by White women specifically - critique of racism/privilege but could not have male equivalent so it’s different from Karens and TERFs, which could have male equivalents but don’t)</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
Here's another interesting article https://gen.medium.com/a-cultural-history-of-feminine-nouns-turned-into-insults-4f6d49a3e4be</div>
Val Kayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022522407838661280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929009897479726160.post-31876527641315190622020-03-25T12:32:00.002+11:002020-03-25T12:32:47.435+11:00Maybe a positive social movement can arise from the Covid_19 experience<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Maybe a long term positive social movement could come out of our experience of isolating to prevent Covid_19 infections<br />
<br />
Nearly <a href="https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/" target="_blank">19,000 people have died </a>from Covid_19. In spite of problems, societies are mobilising to reduce & prevent further deaths<br />
<br />
Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could also mobilise against Chronic Disease, Air Pollution, Climare Crisis and War which are still causing more deaths<br />
<br />
The underlying issues are the same - do we want societies in which all people are equal and valued and we look after each other and share resources fairly and sustainably? Or do we want societies in which 'the economy', power & wealth for the top are more important?<br />
<br />
This could be a historical moment where people start mobilising collectively to create healthier, fairer, more sustainable societies. <br />
<br />
The risk is it could be a moment where existing hierarchies consolidate their power. But it doesn't have to be. The old patriarchal model of an exploitative hierarchal society where those at the top get more than others doesn't have to be the way we live.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Val Kayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022522407838661280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929009897479726160.post-57765004208348267792020-03-08T14:47:00.001+11:002020-04-22T19:35:17.930+10:00Travelling over land, not flying<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
TLDR: if you're interested in the details of my travel mainly overland from Chiang Mai to Melbourne, read on below. If you just want the key environmental message I see at present, it seems like an elegy for rail. Governments in Australia and much of SE Asia seem to have massive amounts of rail infrastructure which they are just not using effectively, and yet it is the most sustainable alternative to flying.<br />
<br />
Reality has crashed right through this post, since with the Covid19 crisis, hardly anyone is able to go anywhere, let alone think about alternatives to flying. But in the consideration that it might be relevant one day, I have posted this here. Whatever kind of world we face when the corona virus crisis is over, people will certainly be aware that life goes on, even when you can't fly.<br />
<br />
First posted in early March 2020, updated late March:<br />
<br />
This is a post I said I’d write about my recent attempts to travel without flying. This will probably not tell backpackers much that’s new, but for people who are used to flying for work and holidays, maybe it will be of interest and use.<br />
<br />
I recently travelled to Myanmar and came back mainly without flying. One of my children moved to Yangon in Myanmar (Burma) for work in November 2019 and I went over to help her while her partner was away studying for a month in January 2020. I flew to Yangon because of time commitments, but while there, and on the way back, I mainly travelled without flying. Below is a report of my journey and its alternatives to flying.<br />
<br />
Left Melbourne airport 10 January 2020, flew to Singapore arriving 11 Jan 2020.* Flew to Yangon on same day.<br />
<br />
First week in Yangon, I was mainly helping daughter with school pickups for my grandson, shopping and so on, with some sightseeing in between. At first this was mainly by car but I started to walk a bit when I began to learn my way around. Yangon is not very pedestrian friendly, the traffic is often very heavy and the drivers are not accustomed to giving way to pedestrians. Unlike many SE Asian cities, motorbikes are not allowed in Yangon, which I imagine makes traffic congestion worse. At that time of year (winter/ dry season) it also tends to be very polluted.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-odE1g8Tgd6A/XmsQdk3V0wI/AAAAAAAADPg/TlP2ElFidCYxfw-XI3qm4_hY0RDn0FgNgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_6976.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-odE1g8Tgd6A/XmsQdk3V0wI/AAAAAAAADPg/TlP2ElFidCYxfw-XI3qm4_hY0RDn0FgNgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_6976.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vceOuEHpUKQ/XmsQhn4sOHI/AAAAAAAADPk/6qIqoLdWDLQF6PktCMfc7209noe930KVgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_6962.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vceOuEHpUKQ/XmsQhn4sOHI/AAAAAAAADPk/6qIqoLdWDLQF6PktCMfc7209noe930KVgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_6962.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yangon has many beautiful buildings (like the famous Shwedagon Pagoda above) and parks.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Later in my travels I met someone who had visited Yangon 20 years ago and she said it used to be very different - much less motorised traffic and you could still see bullock carts on the roads. I often thought how sad it is that two of the major legacies of ‘western’ industrialised societies and imperialism are traffic jams and air pollution. <br />
<br />
It also made me aware of how much of my enjoyment of Melbourne is due to it being a relatively pedestrian friendly city, with relatively clean air. Just before I left Melbourne the air had been heavily polluted with bushfire smoke, however.<br />
<br />
One of the underlying themes of my research and analysis is that so much of what contributes to our quality of life, health and well-being, aren’t measured by conventional economics. On this theme again - you can’t trade walkability and clean air, but they make life in urban environments so much better and healthier.<br />
<br />
After the first ten days in Yangon, I travelled to Kalaw by bus. Kalaw is a hill town in Shan state, in central Myanmar. It's a very popular holiday destination. I travelled by 'VIP bus' which is the more expensive form of bus travel, although still cheap by Australian standards. As in most parts of SE Asia that I travelled through, the bus was very comfortable, with large seats that recline a long way. Blankets and a meal are provided as part of the trip. The air conditioning was too cold in most forms of travel that I used in SE Asia (generally need to take blanket and warm jacket in case blankets are not provided). The bus was much more comfortable than interstate buses I normally travel on in Australia. As far as I remember the roads were reasonable.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YYTmDJRcJiM/XmsRymosVPI/AAAAAAAADQA/rjKZetbKPu8IF3S6YOwfcyKsM3Y0X_tSACEwYBhgLKskDAMBZVoBfByYCTJ02FoA9eSNlJavScS9ObZOWIekN_posCCvDhv-m0NUkiAs-LKKCLAVBiwWdmKj74U6xvBj0SWMZY9Z4t4AUZDxke-pvhaXbZlfG7Q67lkDigqhqoBVMxHGpjlAkvBCn-t0xSrjW_TznHIpS8sGiBPtDAN-T4L4fkw1_otfSA6FhuxZan_7JBhV81_9iA_IeLuC11x0s5TEfFfDYjRR0zcSQH1TbKMMmV79paroTAYjbq-c5USMHC81r34zmKxlZjWUs-EPtPvifiGniNU1mb4pA2cfCHWsIkxX4Z1WL-1_OuFJfRaACLSNvJPGH2hUdnSg4sYip33dudF7ofUTiZEFv0VOcoKWaZNmu7NrHdMXssC2I4B2XBevvuhnSrAdWzRkxaX_laeL_VfAqQyuMsDH2I8Tme3ZlVK6vl8sodRZRe26YTOwzvKzCN-jvd6sCgAmFBVYL5vHsw4wfLsbwdBr9HtyG6TVefFJXTTxLrscGRg2rz56iGplX1Nd6LOLxuRlzygL_79lkJZMFb1y0ErCMjPDYHcpXDpXspbVMqsyMe4uXWEiE9D_C6-SVtnXDybCCOZC1fDufyScy9h9aSDD2pqzzBQ/s1600/IMG_7015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YYTmDJRcJiM/XmsRymosVPI/AAAAAAAADQA/rjKZetbKPu8IF3S6YOwfcyKsM3Y0X_tSACEwYBhgLKskDAMBZVoBfByYCTJ02FoA9eSNlJavScS9ObZOWIekN_posCCvDhv-m0NUkiAs-LKKCLAVBiwWdmKj74U6xvBj0SWMZY9Z4t4AUZDxke-pvhaXbZlfG7Q67lkDigqhqoBVMxHGpjlAkvBCn-t0xSrjW_TznHIpS8sGiBPtDAN-T4L4fkw1_otfSA6FhuxZan_7JBhV81_9iA_IeLuC11x0s5TEfFfDYjRR0zcSQH1TbKMMmV79paroTAYjbq-c5USMHC81r34zmKxlZjWUs-EPtPvifiGniNU1mb4pA2cfCHWsIkxX4Z1WL-1_OuFJfRaACLSNvJPGH2hUdnSg4sYip33dudF7ofUTiZEFv0VOcoKWaZNmu7NrHdMXssC2I4B2XBevvuhnSrAdWzRkxaX_laeL_VfAqQyuMsDH2I8Tme3ZlVK6vl8sodRZRe26YTOwzvKzCN-jvd6sCgAmFBVYL5vHsw4wfLsbwdBr9HtyG6TVefFJXTTxLrscGRg2rz56iGplX1Nd6LOLxuRlzygL_79lkJZMFb1y0ErCMjPDYHcpXDpXspbVMqsyMe4uXWEiE9D_C6-SVtnXDybCCOZC1fDufyScy9h9aSDD2pqzzBQ/s320/IMG_7015.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The VIP bus</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VG-ZWYG2984/XmsR2Ff6GSI/AAAAAAAADQE/GVmEBHpwEmsnIQOMWs-7yMocrz2qest9wCEwYBhgLKskDAMBZVoBfByYCTJ02FoA9eSNlJavScS9ObZOWIekN_posCCvDhv-m0NUkiAs-LKKCLAVBiwWdmKj74U6xvBj0SWMZY9Z4t4AUZDxke-pvhaXbZlfG7Q67lkDigqhqoBVMxHGpjlAkvBCn-t0xSrjW_TznHIpS8sGiBPtDAN-T4L4fkw1_otfSA6FhuxZan_7JBhV81_9iA_IeLuC11x0s5TEfFfDYjRR0zcSQH1TbKMMmV79paroTAYjbq-c5USMHC81r34zmKxlZjWUs-EPtPvifiGniNU1mb4pA2cfCHWsIkxX4Z1WL-1_OuFJfRaACLSNvJPGH2hUdnSg4sYip33dudF7ofUTiZEFv0VOcoKWaZNmu7NrHdMXssC2I4B2XBevvuhnSrAdWzRkxaX_laeL_VfAqQyuMsDH2I8Tme3ZlVK6vl8sodRZRe26YTOwzvKzCN-jvd6sCgAmFBVYL5vHsw4wfLsbwdBr9HtyG6TVefFJXTTxLrscGRg2rz56iGplX1Nd6LOLxuRlzygL_79lkJZMFb1y0ErCMjPDYHcpXDpXspbVMqsyMe4uXWEiE9D_C6-SVtnXDybCCOZC1fDufyScy9h9aSDD2pqzzBQ/s1600/IMG_7016.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VG-ZWYG2984/XmsR2Ff6GSI/AAAAAAAADQE/GVmEBHpwEmsnIQOMWs-7yMocrz2qest9wCEwYBhgLKskDAMBZVoBfByYCTJ02FoA9eSNlJavScS9ObZOWIekN_posCCvDhv-m0NUkiAs-LKKCLAVBiwWdmKj74U6xvBj0SWMZY9Z4t4AUZDxke-pvhaXbZlfG7Q67lkDigqhqoBVMxHGpjlAkvBCn-t0xSrjW_TznHIpS8sGiBPtDAN-T4L4fkw1_otfSA6FhuxZan_7JBhV81_9iA_IeLuC11x0s5TEfFfDYjRR0zcSQH1TbKMMmV79paroTAYjbq-c5USMHC81r34zmKxlZjWUs-EPtPvifiGniNU1mb4pA2cfCHWsIkxX4Z1WL-1_OuFJfRaACLSNvJPGH2hUdnSg4sYip33dudF7ofUTiZEFv0VOcoKWaZNmu7NrHdMXssC2I4B2XBevvuhnSrAdWzRkxaX_laeL_VfAqQyuMsDH2I8Tme3ZlVK6vl8sodRZRe26YTOwzvKzCN-jvd6sCgAmFBVYL5vHsw4wfLsbwdBr9HtyG6TVefFJXTTxLrscGRg2rz56iGplX1Nd6LOLxuRlzygL_79lkJZMFb1y0ErCMjPDYHcpXDpXspbVMqsyMe4uXWEiE9D_C6-SVtnXDybCCOZC1fDufyScy9h9aSDD2pqzzBQ/s320/IMG_7016.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G0UuUtlnz5k/XmsRodBeCZI/AAAAAAAADQA/lhxGzzj9DjMWYShUjZava7Cq8vBKq21jACEwYBhgLKskDAMBZVoD8gaolSmOKocosfGJr1Op8PqED83ZEKZwyHMob9bvRm_KuAxlEaGVh8Gys78PeXQCCeJA3XUkuTa5NZ3j3hAdLeIPOnOVDXbiCh0sZ14gt5zR3Vwbic9a4ergup5Jgh2SMayPk7rLJ3_WES5sYuvyeOMdmnwDcwMmc5bdPC1YP6XnLLsp8HcvOKikqNAzeqp6ryQn_Qn0liFD2B-3vHgExtPyjaV7fXIckwO4FMQtA6E7HMxVh9ckeY5l8etqtSRCvr9GMPT9lFeMeC0JC6OuWPk9aXXrsPH3K-XRas0I1Er3lAPvvv7IbTnK0M4-3ikP80tq-3oY8bzl3xZkZGiovtv-Kn2r8gkklyFORfHYzpCFs_DJJzRJqA-NjC_DY4bTWnRx4tDhSjpikAwNQTc7F46vYHaZalsQrfvinPSEJF0YQXunbcXiKfjkFTk7cf54mI0klZZWav4XhNCgtVigIg2LJJwTvKjyELS8Xf4WBsyOWP9xY4Ma_DDBdg4E2U9YlwWjolVmX0cKybyuMxZDVbBY-qilX8BtaCX9DGbJh9cu2nWkFpOEzSSjx5XmABULRh_Xx69DDRwpp6n_g8iDpoYc2_jCDp6zzBQ/s1600/IMG_7034.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G0UuUtlnz5k/XmsRodBeCZI/AAAAAAAADQA/lhxGzzj9DjMWYShUjZava7Cq8vBKq21jACEwYBhgLKskDAMBZVoD8gaolSmOKocosfGJr1Op8PqED83ZEKZwyHMob9bvRm_KuAxlEaGVh8Gys78PeXQCCeJA3XUkuTa5NZ3j3hAdLeIPOnOVDXbiCh0sZ14gt5zR3Vwbic9a4ergup5Jgh2SMayPk7rLJ3_WES5sYuvyeOMdmnwDcwMmc5bdPC1YP6XnLLsp8HcvOKikqNAzeqp6ryQn_Qn0liFD2B-3vHgExtPyjaV7fXIckwO4FMQtA6E7HMxVh9ckeY5l8etqtSRCvr9GMPT9lFeMeC0JC6OuWPk9aXXrsPH3K-XRas0I1Er3lAPvvv7IbTnK0M4-3ikP80tq-3oY8bzl3xZkZGiovtv-Kn2r8gkklyFORfHYzpCFs_DJJzRJqA-NjC_DY4bTWnRx4tDhSjpikAwNQTc7F46vYHaZalsQrfvinPSEJF0YQXunbcXiKfjkFTk7cf54mI0klZZWav4XhNCgtVigIg2LJJwTvKjyELS8Xf4WBsyOWP9xY4Ma_DDBdg4E2U9YlwWjolVmX0cKybyuMxZDVbBY-qilX8BtaCX9DGbJh9cu2nWkFpOEzSSjx5XmABULRh_Xx69DDRwpp6n_g8iDpoYc2_jCDp6zzBQ/s320/IMG_7034.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The roads became more difficult as we ascended into the hills</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I stayed overnight in Kalaw and then went on a three day group trek by foot to Lake Inle. The distance is about 70 kms, mainly through undulating farmed country in the hills, with a moderately steep descent on the last day. The walking was generally easy although we were walking for long periods. Definitely people can still cover considerable distances by foot even though many of us don't these days! We stayed overnight in houses in villages, all sleeping on mats on the floor upstairs. There were outdoor cold shower rooms and outdoor pan toilets. The food was good. Most people on the trek were vegetarian and meals provided by the householders were mainly salads, stir fried or sautéed vegetables and rice, with some meat dishes for the meat eaters. Fruit was provided for dessert, and there was always local tea. We could also buy local beer. Myanmar has some very good salads, particularly pickled tea leaf salad and tomato salad, which both use a lot of peanuts.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iv58W1weMuM/XmsSxZcEXcI/AAAAAAAADQM/2O_BSNB2FhsPo5Idyaf5WKAqqaCPxrupQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_7050.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iv58W1weMuM/XmsSxZcEXcI/AAAAAAAADQM/2O_BSNB2FhsPo5Idyaf5WKAqqaCPxrupQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_7050.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Starting the trek</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HN_QvCzKJZY/XmsTCxGnMoI/AAAAAAAADQY/g6J_E4gE9p4gGlhWpSj_q_rd57G64p_IQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_7091%2B%25281%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HN_QvCzKJZY/XmsTCxGnMoI/AAAAAAAADQY/g6J_E4gE9p4gGlhWpSj_q_rd57G64p_IQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_7091%2B%25281%2529.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Morning of the third day</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
We were a group of privileged travelers from Europe, England and Australia, but the trek shows that a simple life can provide a wonderful experience. I am not suggesting we would all choose to live like the hill villagers of Myanmar, but it is a reminder that you don't have to have luxurious consumer goods to enjoy life. Somewhere in there is the possibility of compromise, a glimpse of what the future might look like in a sustainable society.<br />
<br />
We arrived near Lake Inle on 23 February and were taken by boat to the village of Nyaung Shwe. I stayed two days there, hanging out with friends I'd made on the trek, and then caught an overnight bus back to Yangon.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1MlHL5P1g2A/XmsTtKL-AnI/AAAAAAAADQg/aE9TD5ZDpu4qZhwG756JhMykgQtzY_zxQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_7108.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1MlHL5P1g2A/XmsTtKL-AnI/AAAAAAAADQg/aE9TD5ZDpu4qZhwG756JhMykgQtzY_zxQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_7108.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the boat to Nyaung Shwe</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
The following weekend my daughter, grandson and I caught the overnight train from Yangon to Bagan, an extremely popular heritage site in the Mandalay region of Myanmar, with many hundreds of ancient Buddhist stupas and pagodas. Bagan is on the Ayerawaddy (or Irawaddy) river.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c77DeiG7Mho/XmsU-73m-yI/AAAAAAAADQs/eSif_PNHQjsFg-F35d5Q8KqWGhv56xHZwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_7274.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c77DeiG7Mho/XmsU-73m-yI/AAAAAAAADQs/eSif_PNHQjsFg-F35d5Q8KqWGhv56xHZwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_7274.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="240" /></a></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12.8px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
Plenty of time for viewing the country. Farming comes right up to the rails.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12.8px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br />
The overnight train (18 hour journey in fact) was an interesting experience. I don't wish to speak badly of any country I travelled through, or patronise from my privileged position, but there was no doubt the train was a lower standard of travel than the buses I travelled on, or the train I later travelled on in Thailand. I like train travel and it was a great opportunity to view the country, but as my grandson said 'the toilet was not very smart' (he loved the journey though). Trains are government owned and run in Myanmar, they cannot be booked online and it is difficult to get tickets. I'll discuss train travel further at the end of the post, particularly why a form of travel where the infrastructure is there, the emission level is low compared to other transport, and there is capacity for fast and comfortable travel, seems so often to be in difficulty.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YRnefqO84JM/Xn09XCG7DHI/AAAAAAAADSE/mud2Dfzo8SYjRVLQKJcy7clF6CnYrsKDgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_7340.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YRnefqO84JM/Xn09XCG7DHI/AAAAAAAADSE/mud2Dfzo8SYjRVLQKJcy7clF6CnYrsKDgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_7340.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunset over the Ayerawaddy River</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I caught the overnight bus back from Bagan a few days later (my daughter and grandson left before me) and again it was comfortable and convenient.<br />
<br />
I left Myanmar on 7 February. The travel agent I'd booked through before my holiday had advised that I should have a flight booked out of Myanmar in order to ensure my visa application was successful (getting a visa for Myanmar is still more complex than for most of SE Asia), so I flew out of Myanmar, to Chiang Mai, to start my (mainly) overland trip home.<span style="background-color: white;"> This was<span style="color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"> while concern about the novel coronavirus (or Covid-19 as it's now known) outbreak in China was growing worldwide, and </span></span>Yangon airport was almost deserted when I left.<br />
<br />
I arrived in Chiang Mai airport on 7 February and went by car to the guesthouse where I was staying. I generally booked both accommodation and transport through online booking services, and used the 'Grab' app for taxi booking in most cases, which is convenient because you can pay in advance and it prevents any hassles over fares. The guesthouse was just outside the beautiful heritage listed old city, so for the two days while I stayed there I walked everywhere.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AAmKIPzk2bc/Xn1mnu_tWQI/AAAAAAAADS0/WuDwHafq-qwRHvNPmsoMYsgljDSd4glmACEwYBhgLKs4DAMBZVoD2OKS6fWqolMPJxm12ZwTgugX-RvA5vFoeIf8M1apioeHyopxl6Q-KqIdb985nikv3_bpQ4JfiKiFvmPUcT2HI2bQIg2pL4I4z6vW7s7ibZ-2KUFQe4fVeD_Ub2Yi38uYrixoQ-ONBwk3ciJyOywJF9LgG11-HVvrCyASCDxJN5UQ52zDCl-RewKg_2jYB3T1aHlMQDQlHCDNmAKcJx64kDoOuOSNLmmqKYIiCRgIWNFq2RQqxiYjT-OG5fdYBZ2Ao1_skKHPCMfNQTlxuiY0uS23p5rpi-4RvnWi0ZXpTjoq89h57wyn611dVpY5OXU5Sj6jUQET9P8ru-qYZ053D-Pc_t4Jv3QHvQrPn8LbCJgLbzfu-vjNmHU4HohGdwVvR6GX7AWm0ntEIfmb9eWc6bzhECzgUzrPr3F1f4d1QAygIW5-Y77PWaCxjcNC1MPrH7XKWzCArK2gazTSDx_5osBnBm3qSPSMSc9ySikbwLRAgUumIB9Vu26mD8rW9gF7dFUh8N1RafuueWv3kv3NMG-4f2F47kfvM2OfUdRpT918x2KAHHJwvcUKbP-C31WlxjOueRl9iuGub34dBm-FjqZK27hQ6toAqMPjS9fMF/s1600/IMG_7507.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AAmKIPzk2bc/Xn1mnu_tWQI/AAAAAAAADS0/WuDwHafq-qwRHvNPmsoMYsgljDSd4glmACEwYBhgLKs4DAMBZVoD2OKS6fWqolMPJxm12ZwTgugX-RvA5vFoeIf8M1apioeHyopxl6Q-KqIdb985nikv3_bpQ4JfiKiFvmPUcT2HI2bQIg2pL4I4z6vW7s7ibZ-2KUFQe4fVeD_Ub2Yi38uYrixoQ-ONBwk3ciJyOywJF9LgG11-HVvrCyASCDxJN5UQ52zDCl-RewKg_2jYB3T1aHlMQDQlHCDNmAKcJx64kDoOuOSNLmmqKYIiCRgIWNFq2RQqxiYjT-OG5fdYBZ2Ao1_skKHPCMfNQTlxuiY0uS23p5rpi-4RvnWi0ZXpTjoq89h57wyn611dVpY5OXU5Sj6jUQET9P8ru-qYZ053D-Pc_t4Jv3QHvQrPn8LbCJgLbzfu-vjNmHU4HohGdwVvR6GX7AWm0ntEIfmb9eWc6bzhECzgUzrPr3F1f4d1QAygIW5-Y77PWaCxjcNC1MPrH7XKWzCArK2gazTSDx_5osBnBm3qSPSMSc9ySikbwLRAgUumIB9Vu26mD8rW9gF7dFUh8N1RafuueWv3kv3NMG-4f2F47kfvM2OfUdRpT918x2KAHHJwvcUKbP-C31WlxjOueRl9iuGub34dBm-FjqZK27hQ6toAqMPjS9fMF/s320/IMG_7507.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Guesthouse Chiang Mai</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Kadn9vWJO0k/Xn1mqyB_zbI/AAAAAAAADS8/L-xeenfF1nMN3xO-PxccLsDUOj0VIaJaACEwYBhgLKs4DAMBZVoBBetiHXZ4y2pE296sIEa9y5dQ7aX9jujkn1NVZrt3zvfd6AvtU6h9Y54cKLWWN_fhhjdo134R1v78p9VBgrHF3DLPIEytk5vPeb3071mMS3f4XDWOHAITUc2qCcaIKrHljulbJnfaTu4maG0cTcfZ0B9OXkIcPptSdzL533aUGdt1aD12yjUkRE-VIeJdeLp2rT3TpwT6PNWVA5sYq3GD1rSoRldzE02BZ4s70vR5I5VRxquax8P3y3d1lJTUDoZKpHQDCHACoz6IIUL8m9DHH9uQkCHW2n6q5u7k0n7GuePkOzue9d5KeT32skIYR-fAVN9s4SDqd1KZkn1lvjnYzdjNbY8-PpoK0HKDomMLV3SnAl1UxW554dwxcLkCnGf8ntXrk9pJew19R8EEy_scmTqNkx8720uYNHMg8h0arvuvPlCRY_PCzeaUlfiYXrjHRXtZV9stgsVAtvMQ4cMcHPzUxOFzhut8regv_-MMUPz1DfbdgRxD5f623ILX9rZdwPFy9lx_MKFs_ZmcodxRa7T0aY8QFJBTYGmGcu0KptD1ETXjuaq7bEC0bNiAgKd2fmXKJneef97RIbkoxpmveec8ytHpLK2v_MIXT9fMF/s1600/IMG_7509.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Kadn9vWJO0k/Xn1mqyB_zbI/AAAAAAAADS8/L-xeenfF1nMN3xO-PxccLsDUOj0VIaJaACEwYBhgLKs4DAMBZVoBBetiHXZ4y2pE296sIEa9y5dQ7aX9jujkn1NVZrt3zvfd6AvtU6h9Y54cKLWWN_fhhjdo134R1v78p9VBgrHF3DLPIEytk5vPeb3071mMS3f4XDWOHAITUc2qCcaIKrHljulbJnfaTu4maG0cTcfZ0B9OXkIcPptSdzL533aUGdt1aD12yjUkRE-VIeJdeLp2rT3TpwT6PNWVA5sYq3GD1rSoRldzE02BZ4s70vR5I5VRxquax8P3y3d1lJTUDoZKpHQDCHACoz6IIUL8m9DHH9uQkCHW2n6q5u7k0n7GuePkOzue9d5KeT32skIYR-fAVN9s4SDqd1KZkn1lvjnYzdjNbY8-PpoK0HKDomMLV3SnAl1UxW554dwxcLkCnGf8ntXrk9pJew19R8EEy_scmTqNkx8720uYNHMg8h0arvuvPlCRY_PCzeaUlfiYXrjHRXtZV9stgsVAtvMQ4cMcHPzUxOFzhut8regv_-MMUPz1DfbdgRxD5f623ILX9rZdwPFy9lx_MKFs_ZmcodxRa7T0aY8QFJBTYGmGcu0KptD1ETXjuaq7bEC0bNiAgKd2fmXKJneef97RIbkoxpmveec8ytHpLK2v_MIXT9fMF/s320/IMG_7509.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Road to guesthouse</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-m4tpOCzwiK8/Xn1mwIZ7ehI/AAAAAAAADTM/Dmkn5VZS7q0b3J3X8_4OsL3q7-04CRBSACEwYBhgLKs4DAMBZVoAbQOgw9_bEYWeAe2V9puaFr2qXg3RwRPXu444ityTQHKxcKtQG1fUiYBaMwgdAoz4moGadBrfvMqZfWP-Bq-kVgXEZZufYKmF2krYr288nnun6-G_fqcRdUs5Gx7dB1UH0mbNwWGkf_jDWjY8imJv09ILWx5w530GkTSnX66Waer4hxO78X0ANWmUEGdg3BiJYkMhdd2abgscDgZNl_Nwe-9NHClqS4D6Bfn1qQgviheUiuK-0rWxm3bK-9pY6HdqQUtBy40ADVzEX1tfpVbWQnD2IpkT0a8zoQ13t6IJ7ILVz0aX8r0r9PT3yrSvDMlj7da9jJEQMrswxPSznTkzZhZIfwrlC1kat-Pca0CupKuQwN-EeyXyq9kNJSGsvCYZavJD6SnOYSvlPmUWpgKLdHEwzA7AR-qXb9bSxgLWc2f421qMY-S6A7PG5cbbPsrHl5N3iGBsj9t1jaBwZaoS9Ove9iLYGngH9xSyB6kpEeRJ_nyjOjZv9VaAqykHIUGt9LLGhYtbrfgRswKXwUSOdTPlSJf3k7lpavlRDkznnfk9WIlgPrVD6xdEl4pAC_s8COgy4EvY5NnloHLObVAO-L24KuZXyD7vZMJLT9fMF/s1600/IMG_7524.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-m4tpOCzwiK8/Xn1mwIZ7ehI/AAAAAAAADTM/Dmkn5VZS7q0b3J3X8_4OsL3q7-04CRBSACEwYBhgLKs4DAMBZVoAbQOgw9_bEYWeAe2V9puaFr2qXg3RwRPXu444ityTQHKxcKtQG1fUiYBaMwgdAoz4moGadBrfvMqZfWP-Bq-kVgXEZZufYKmF2krYr288nnun6-G_fqcRdUs5Gx7dB1UH0mbNwWGkf_jDWjY8imJv09ILWx5w530GkTSnX66Waer4hxO78X0ANWmUEGdg3BiJYkMhdd2abgscDgZNl_Nwe-9NHClqS4D6Bfn1qQgviheUiuK-0rWxm3bK-9pY6HdqQUtBy40ADVzEX1tfpVbWQnD2IpkT0a8zoQ13t6IJ7ILVz0aX8r0r9PT3yrSvDMlj7da9jJEQMrswxPSznTkzZhZIfwrlC1kat-Pca0CupKuQwN-EeyXyq9kNJSGsvCYZavJD6SnOYSvlPmUWpgKLdHEwzA7AR-qXb9bSxgLWc2f421qMY-S6A7PG5cbbPsrHl5N3iGBsj9t1jaBwZaoS9Ove9iLYGngH9xSyB6kpEeRJ_nyjOjZv9VaAqykHIUGt9LLGhYtbrfgRswKXwUSOdTPlSJf3k7lpavlRDkznnfk9WIlgPrVD6xdEl4pAC_s8COgy4EvY5NnloHLObVAO-L24KuZXyD7vZMJLT9fMF/s320/IMG_7524.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flower festival Chiang Mai</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
After two days I went to an 'Eco Lodge' about 50 kms from the old city centre. Unfortunately this involved a lot of car travel, first to get there, but also later to get some cash out to pay for my accommodation because I had not brought enough. The owners of the lodge were able to take me with them when they went on a shopping expedition the following day, but it still required an 80km round trip to get to a working autoteller where I could get cash <span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">(warning, many places in Thailand don't take card payment).</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">I did go on one walk from the lodge to the nearest village (a Karen hill tribe village), which was a very attractive but slightly unnerving walk because I had to walk past a water buffalo who looked definitely unfriendly. Anyway, I lived to tell the tale! I also went on a bamboo raft down a local river, but that also was a bit unsustainable because I to be driven to the start point and then picked up in a car at the end. It was a lovely ride, but nowadays the rafts are also transported upstream by motor vehicles (utes, as we would say in Australia). I don't know what they would have done in traditional times, possibly pulled the raft along from the bank, because the current was quite swift and it would have very hard to punt back up again. Punting was essentially what they were doing, the river was quite shallow, but the rafts floated downstream with the current.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MpqF9hbRIro/Xn1mxqwMm6I/AAAAAAAADTE/7b8Y8tY78m4MnpPG56onz7HCjPtVhNo2QCEwYBhgLKs4DAMBZVoCiml32eFWGWLjPs2iPdsca67spu20U3k9rT4Pz5DI7e9nuYSSNq9WItqD8Ph9YJHSxw23Q3iP6o5NKp3pk2uauLBkYUL3tWESI2-2UZ-rzj41Nm8lofGTrBtpBdokdlUJv7K4bCU2iWxFnU9M_0pg7kDseamuU0AAfxW0_YZQ-ZPSm9sOoOJdGd0i7eSxvxgZRJZQ6sK4HPdZNu-fsPh2njgow0TS0NFjcxURjIsICG12o3PEqf0uApc7mLKGVVz3SDmvtwNm5RQJSCDUrtzOJ6q6ABJa8DhXhFJIzX2S8Zl3n1KxNsVBve14HB2attRFnoYzgePzipreHnmJQsYklEaYgAhjb0_jsGt6d9dszDzmTf32yW8YWXhLFA-K8ogEAEdYlsFGFXAG_FIKhVWZSr-yg2Sh7zF5RJqeRcEhqBm5WdJpEIOy2Dg6fpm_MSaUUJVaj3uHlZVnfSxHjQCdtGMYz0TdRPRt-Bi5jzXHtMQ2O4HWvgjzbM-WxaglOLqRkNatBnk-XZWlUhpmu8qa1UTUx2huDfkeChVtTCvmFfNNMhrcPDZTyGO_eTbvlSwR0qUDLuo8AAV-433oZFOBx1cX5V3nu4UdyMKDT9fMF/s1600/IMG_7558.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MpqF9hbRIro/Xn1mxqwMm6I/AAAAAAAADTE/7b8Y8tY78m4MnpPG56onz7HCjPtVhNo2QCEwYBhgLKs4DAMBZVoCiml32eFWGWLjPs2iPdsca67spu20U3k9rT4Pz5DI7e9nuYSSNq9WItqD8Ph9YJHSxw23Q3iP6o5NKp3pk2uauLBkYUL3tWESI2-2UZ-rzj41Nm8lofGTrBtpBdokdlUJv7K4bCU2iWxFnU9M_0pg7kDseamuU0AAfxW0_YZQ-ZPSm9sOoOJdGd0i7eSxvxgZRJZQ6sK4HPdZNu-fsPh2njgow0TS0NFjcxURjIsICG12o3PEqf0uApc7mLKGVVz3SDmvtwNm5RQJSCDUrtzOJ6q6ABJa8DhXhFJIzX2S8Zl3n1KxNsVBve14HB2attRFnoYzgePzipreHnmJQsYklEaYgAhjb0_jsGt6d9dszDzmTf32yW8YWXhLFA-K8ogEAEdYlsFGFXAG_FIKhVWZSr-yg2Sh7zF5RJqeRcEhqBm5WdJpEIOy2Dg6fpm_MSaUUJVaj3uHlZVnfSxHjQCdtGMYz0TdRPRt-Bi5jzXHtMQ2O4HWvgjzbM-WxaglOLqRkNatBnk-XZWlUhpmu8qa1UTUx2huDfkeChVtTCvmFfNNMhrcPDZTyGO_eTbvlSwR0qUDLuo8AAV-433oZFOBx1cX5V3nu4UdyMKDT9fMF/s320/IMG_7558.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bamboo rafting</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">I went by car back to Chiang Mai central bus station and by overnight bus to Bangkok, arriving on 12 February. Bangkok was the only place where I had some minor misadventures. From the bus station I walked to Queen Sirikit park, one of the few big parks in Bangkok, and then on to a nearby market area for shopping and lunch, before returning to the bus station to collect my luggage and go to my hotel. However, the bus station is huge and I was tired, and it took me ages to find the lockers where I'd left my case, during which time I also lost my shopping. Then I stood in the queue for a taxi, rather than booking through Grab. The taxi driver could not understand the name of my hotel, and for some reason it did not appear in Thai characters on google maps either, so he ended up shouting at me to get out, and in my haste I trod on and broke my glasses! There was another really helpful taxi driver nearby, who came back with me while I tried to find my shopping (which I'd realised I'd lost at the same time as I was being ordered out of the taxi) and was generally very helpful, even though we couldn't find it. The hotel that afternoon also had a plumbing problem and the bathroom flooded and it took ages before someone came to clear it up, so Bangkok wasn't the most successful part of my trip. But really these were the only problems I had in the entire trip, and they were very minor. Most people were very kind and helpful - even when I didn't take enough cash with me to the ecolodge.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">The next day I caught a taxi back to the market to replace the gifts I'd lost, and then walked through Chinatown to the museum (a very good walk) and then found my back on the underground system (also very good). I got a Grab taxi to the station and then caught the overnight train to Suret Thani, en route to Phuket. There was a slightly alarming sign in Bangkok station left luggage area, where I left my case while I had dinner, which said not to leave food in your luggage because of rats. However the train was fine. I had a second class sleeper, which was quite comfortable and clean, with curtains for privacy, and very reasonably priced. There is a privately operated luxury train from Bangkok to Singapore, the Eastern and Oriental Express, but as I'd already decided to travel home through Australia on the Ghan, I wasn't interested in another luxury train journey and wanted to see a bit of Thailand, including the islands.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">From Suret Thani I caught the bus to Phuket. On Phuket I stayed at Patong Beach, a big mistake on my part because I hadn't done my research! Patong Beach is famous for its 'racous night life' and really not my scene, although the guesthouse I stayed at was off the main drag and fine. But the next day I caught a speed boat ferry to Koh Lipe, a small island down south, where I stayed at a quiet little resort, courtesy of my daughter as a thank you present for my help in Myanmar.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />A</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">part from the beach resort in Koh Lipe (which was lovely but not a luxury resort) I usually stayed at reasonably priced places such as guesthouses, rather than the cheapest places with shared rooms, where backpackers would normally stay. So I always had my own room, sometimes with a bathroom but more often with shared bathrooms. Some of the guesthouses were lovely, though none were luxury accommodation. </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-70bjGYPoSlw/Xn1m09DFXlI/AAAAAAAADTI/1sYaX8UHwqsXWP-1Od6UfUaTzb5SA6b-wCEwYBhgLKs4DAMBZVoBbbQDiRqpOuEOd0OsBYr-IHv1GfDZPiAzUHW8D5Wa9Qa8TGUT9_x2DZRpIKbUisdHgRTzJNLJyOYcG3o71CnNqiBVzsNzV8UvbCEDrzTs3vFxMoFELdCkny5MhlD5M0171omN7RDlyeV_d_ErjW4pC5xgvtDdSAHbGbWR9hh2ZbI5Nrvb2iU9lWOsgDxLnsCeYEnhH6MJQgi5P2EAia3GOVeUaOA4giFdlRCxPs7trfgjQ9VqgNbXvz98Brccd4oizj63-2AfEISjbIEW8S3K-uWyF4wRJ2stD0dw2-Lgejd2dJFbTyifDvS5mFSfHHZfko5TAbmkv8bzjq_htL-dRUHjknh7_iKPTIenm2qSEFJfhe5AkU1zeKnS3Tcba-ZUW5r8gCIVuRmPRPgtmERHbuarz1W_v-lyGUYZUsLo6b0hO4kR5TVUplQTwzdWiGE8oR4RHDwWdYiPrMPpx3J9AYQmS5zh_CN94AV0d6Pd6LPvFzyaJX5OPNUeJyGlQQsZuI0-WStZm6gOd8FCpa67z1-WrCz8gPzrJBHz6SY1dCZzmG50-_1168Xr_YDAD52euENfMcHXN-Ei7g4kgXE75YbqOVS6PBckrML7T9fMF/s1600/IMG_7667.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-70bjGYPoSlw/Xn1m09DFXlI/AAAAAAAADTI/1sYaX8UHwqsXWP-1Od6UfUaTzb5SA6b-wCEwYBhgLKs4DAMBZVoBbbQDiRqpOuEOd0OsBYr-IHv1GfDZPiAzUHW8D5Wa9Qa8TGUT9_x2DZRpIKbUisdHgRTzJNLJyOYcG3o71CnNqiBVzsNzV8UvbCEDrzTs3vFxMoFELdCkny5MhlD5M0171omN7RDlyeV_d_ErjW4pC5xgvtDdSAHbGbWR9hh2ZbI5Nrvb2iU9lWOsgDxLnsCeYEnhH6MJQgi5P2EAia3GOVeUaOA4giFdlRCxPs7trfgjQ9VqgNbXvz98Brccd4oizj63-2AfEISjbIEW8S3K-uWyF4wRJ2stD0dw2-Lgejd2dJFbTyifDvS5mFSfHHZfko5TAbmkv8bzjq_htL-dRUHjknh7_iKPTIenm2qSEFJfhe5AkU1zeKnS3Tcba-ZUW5r8gCIVuRmPRPgtmERHbuarz1W_v-lyGUYZUsLo6b0hO4kR5TVUplQTwzdWiGE8oR4RHDwWdYiPrMPpx3J9AYQmS5zh_CN94AV0d6Pd6LPvFzyaJX5OPNUeJyGlQQsZuI0-WStZm6gOd8FCpa67z1-WrCz8gPzrJBHz6SY1dCZzmG50-_1168Xr_YDAD52euENfMcHXN-Ei7g4kgXE75YbqOVS6PBckrML7T9fMF/s320/IMG_7667.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Boat returning after dropping passengers at platform for ferry, Koh Lipe</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">After three days at Koh Lipe, I caught the ferry to Penang in Malaysia where I was meeting some friends. This was the normal ferry, where you sit internally and don't really have a view. There are actually two separate ferries, one to Langkawi where you have to disembark and go through customs and immigration to Malaysia, and then another from Langkawi to Penang. Both were fine, not particularly interesting because of being inside and not having a view, but very cold because the air conditioning was set so low. Departing Thailand was done on the beach at Koh Lipe and is a very low key affair. Customs and immigration at Langkawi was a bit more formal but still quite straightforward. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">At that time there was no temperature testing, although some places in Myanmar (shopping centres and hotels) already had that when I left. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">A convenient feature of all borders is being able to get a new card installed easily in your phone so you can always have a local number. Mobile phones make everything about travel easier than when I was young, including the maps which are great for walking. I would have found Yangon in particular very difficult without that, but it was convenient everywhere.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">From the ferry terminal in Penang I got a Grab taxi to the guesthouse where I was staying, which again was very near Old Penang, the heritage part of the city. Penang was terrific, a bit hot and humid in the afternoon, but otherwise great for walking everywhere. The guesthouse I stayed in was also really good, a converted row house including original features such as the indoor courtyard. My friends and I climbed Mt Penang in the morning and then walked everywhere in old Penang for the next two days. I then caught a Grab taxi to the bus station and caught the overnight bus to Singapore.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pOu-ozD_V6U/Xn1nl0RhzkI/AAAAAAAADTY/-NnWhG6_xMwQk4ICh0A-3bqBs-7FGufPQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/9d8f26f9-18ff-4495-8a65-bc606c5e0021.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="876" data-original-width="657" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pOu-ozD_V6U/Xn1nl0RhzkI/AAAAAAAADTY/-NnWhG6_xMwQk4ICh0A-3bqBs-7FGufPQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/9d8f26f9-18ff-4495-8a65-bc606c5e0021.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Climbing Mt Penang</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">By this time, the impact of Covid-19 on travel was becoming very apparent, and my bus was almost empty. When we arrived at the Singapore land border, we had to disembark twice, the first time to exit Malaysia, then a few kilometres on to enter Singapore. The border crossing (in the morning by now) was still very busy as many people commute for work. It was quite challenging to find the way back to the bus but I somehow managed it both times. We were tested for temperature when entering Singapore.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">I hung around near the bus station in Singapore for a while, doing a bit of shopping and having lunch, until I could go to my hotel. Again that was by Grab taxi. I'd chosen a somewhat more upmarket hotel in Singapore for the last day before going back to Australia. I walked around a bit near the hotel that afternoon and evening but did not do very much there. At the airport in the morning, there was distance temperature testing (by a small crew using a screen and device on a tripod) but only for arriving passengers, not departing. The airport was fairly quiet although not nearly as quiet as Yangon had been. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">I arrived in Darwin on 22 February. I don't remember much emphasis on Covid-19 at the airport, no temperature testing that I was aware of. (Update: I had said - now deleted - that this was before the ban on flights from China started but that was wrong. Passengers from China were banned from 2 February. There was some statement about passengers from China when I arrived at Darwin airport, perhaps because passengers from China were still coming in via different airports? I'm not clear on this.) Passengers from the cruise ship Diamond Princess, where Covid-19 had been found, had already by this time been flown back to Australia from Japan, and were in a hostel in Palmerston, near Darwin. I presume they had been quarantined on entry at Darwin airport, but there was little sign of concern about general arrivals.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tXa40OXbFs0/Xn1m3VWETwI/AAAAAAAADTM/rIEJFQW7df0V4xDZNdwbUKL9Ieu13hSFwCEwYBhgLKs4DAMBZVoD8mLOh7Xylg1DxtFTdrWSvh36vswmbr96qGBFA1BU3Igtkiyj7oDiucwI29RtcW7PD7M8dJHh8m7WJcVosrIbGXbhxrRddbjVju6Ssd8ahh7lNSy01jntd6KnbrCqVfYtvSdzyjxtSEIYGwat55kdB7_6ONOv7qo_Y8MXIw2NnMULfqxSMNoUEFoeQDCk8qWMrTGUTSuuJHDjo0shxCrhjBLIvHzDsDRwFzuR7H0yURl-7qtuGlPRCqUrWF0IXHzxSwxfFKL2qrJ0d1WzW2O0qKa6fdR-I6HD5okfdQIhjGIF9s5-_CsrqWxNrRYdKD39XCZBRvbEBztAH328FA_xpUQWJofQEZft8xFe-OyyWM2agXhLVl5UcjnGwEPSng7lk66vSMNqPgCXqox3mSJnW5Upee1Lou1QF1GAXXbuiBMUl9l3ibyL3QOjq_cOguSU3VkFitgH3RmWkKn5gTEg9kFdKbGw4GhS1KhWDBwXyFjYIGvpjCYCxMNv_D0F9frDZnHaXN2hVNsDpnw1ENaWe3TSqxMclwcebFPmf0IgkDNrZ9pqKIYWH7y4K3Qqqz138iDB0czzZL9QzKXimVGmluMuaqrmUPRoqMJXU9fMF/s1600/IMG_7728.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tXa40OXbFs0/Xn1m3VWETwI/AAAAAAAADTM/rIEJFQW7df0V4xDZNdwbUKL9Ieu13hSFwCEwYBhgLKs4DAMBZVoD8mLOh7Xylg1DxtFTdrWSvh36vswmbr96qGBFA1BU3Igtkiyj7oDiucwI29RtcW7PD7M8dJHh8m7WJcVosrIbGXbhxrRddbjVju6Ssd8ahh7lNSy01jntd6KnbrCqVfYtvSdzyjxtSEIYGwat55kdB7_6ONOv7qo_Y8MXIw2NnMULfqxSMNoUEFoeQDCk8qWMrTGUTSuuJHDjo0shxCrhjBLIvHzDsDRwFzuR7H0yURl-7qtuGlPRCqUrWF0IXHzxSwxfFKL2qrJ0d1WzW2O0qKa6fdR-I6HD5okfdQIhjGIF9s5-_CsrqWxNrRYdKD39XCZBRvbEBztAH328FA_xpUQWJofQEZft8xFe-OyyWM2agXhLVl5UcjnGwEPSng7lk66vSMNqPgCXqox3mSJnW5Upee1Lou1QF1GAXXbuiBMUl9l3ibyL3QOjq_cOguSU3VkFitgH3RmWkKn5gTEg9kFdKbGw4GhS1KhWDBwXyFjYIGvpjCYCxMNv_D0F9frDZnHaXN2hVNsDpnw1ENaWe3TSqxMclwcebFPmf0IgkDNrZ9pqKIYWH7y4K3Qqqz138iDB0czzZL9QzKXimVGmluMuaqrmUPRoqMJXU9fMF/s320/IMG_7728.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunset beach Darwin</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h0oZHNXCRlA/Xn1m8-x7wxI/AAAAAAAADTU/WshD-ITF508xEugv_qbqoq7H52N0r-XkACEwYBhgLKs4DAMBZVoBSZaYIy8AwyGZR32veFUco9u5mytk8OHx-fsmguUDe83lKks9Ltv17IKhfHMJYhMLPCgx_36UVAN6su1-KmGbdPq3PcJg9dSNN94VqjADE0q8RSvyDphzoQoZHE9_9ZP4NBAb7qIwqpF_p3jdSFWDNemKuKM-Dn3JkYXcQ2wQbvnFqLUTffrZSRF2pbPAtNj_34Rb4953F5w3mWsY5EuIQO7MH3RsylB0OhRwY-hSz4cO5xWUMVrZDbXVH4tLGDNw3kLNamOmTdZeGWLAC-DbpcpGxVg-B1LOPXOiHlkzfRL2v7moUf9P6_6w9I1jio19zsdmbMvILOGGXh8dg0KZduyEpE3pxK9UdFWsh_MGix52QXOYV-Auk_R-IJiG59XVyD73UCpXmDtgCdGGREN4FMc868qYDSMISyR7wl-e_1abSULO4I4d51FkXMXSGd0nCtdzJZIp6BnnuuBm9FmT1HDbLuCe_pq8hhM_W3Wc4lp4-CFwaakKD1wy7EvmT8y_VS2gcrq58uJVljxudb2JhTs2UN8EmYXZgHOdtgXpGPv4uYRxJGcBuqVQjm3umSwTTzZIuH0tWuR4DJ78WefyMNCfFJQqPHXQMMJvU9fMF/s1600/IMG_9301.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h0oZHNXCRlA/Xn1m8-x7wxI/AAAAAAAADTU/WshD-ITF508xEugv_qbqoq7H52N0r-XkACEwYBhgLKs4DAMBZVoBSZaYIy8AwyGZR32veFUco9u5mytk8OHx-fsmguUDe83lKks9Ltv17IKhfHMJYhMLPCgx_36UVAN6su1-KmGbdPq3PcJg9dSNN94VqjADE0q8RSvyDphzoQoZHE9_9ZP4NBAb7qIwqpF_p3jdSFWDNemKuKM-Dn3JkYXcQ2wQbvnFqLUTffrZSRF2pbPAtNj_34Rb4953F5w3mWsY5EuIQO7MH3RsylB0OhRwY-hSz4cO5xWUMVrZDbXVH4tLGDNw3kLNamOmTdZeGWLAC-DbpcpGxVg-B1LOPXOiHlkzfRL2v7moUf9P6_6w9I1jio19zsdmbMvILOGGXh8dg0KZduyEpE3pxK9UdFWsh_MGix52QXOYV-Auk_R-IJiG59XVyD73UCpXmDtgCdGGREN4FMc868qYDSMISyR7wl-e_1abSULO4I4d51FkXMXSGd0nCtdzJZIp6BnnuuBm9FmT1HDbLuCe_pq8hhM_W3Wc4lp4-CFwaakKD1wy7EvmT8y_VS2gcrq58uJVljxudb2JhTs2UN8EmYXZgHOdtgXpGPv4uYRxJGcBuqVQjm3umSwTTzZIuH0tWuR4DJ78WefyMNCfFJQqPHXQMMJvU9fMF/s320/IMG_9301.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">I stayed a few days with my friends in Darwin and then caught the Ghan back to Adelaide. That was by far the most expensive 'transport' on my trip. I won't describe it in detail, it was very comfortable, the food was delicious, the wine flowed freely, and the views and excursions were wonderful, but it was a luxury experience rather than a standard way of travelling. I arrived back in Adelaide on 29 February, caught up with friends and relations and went to the opening night of the Adelaide festival, and then caught the Overland train back to Melbourne on 2 March.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">The Overland, which when I was young was a standard way of getting from Adelaide to Melbourne, and ran I think pretty well every day and night, now runs only two days a week and is in imminent of danger of closing. It is run by a private company, not at the same level of luxury as the Ghan, but is still marketed as an experience. However it is not able to keep afloat. The Victorian and South Australian governments used to subsidise it, but SA will not do so any longer and Victoria will soon cease. Closure I think is expected in May. </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jCbkWBEhxe8/Xn1m5wM2F4I/AAAAAAAADTQ/rkSaOYlFSTYQbjIWxDekRoGjre5FxAYzQCEwYBhgLKs4DAMBZVoBdG8pTVX30XLJbO4Agi9AW0ma7aj_r0eKSrOcUPVQNdDKALzbwJHWtfddvv1uAR3FULLW944TzPJPrebQ3H5nfL8Tf3p3FlIrKNYYRuxUrpxFQPgKUFPNA0k7qesX96PIJb_I01Dw6LWG6_imh7pM6E3av8wTiAsCxbv1VQWw5PbSltAyqBLkpEihnlG8zvdmq2XhGeHHh0XCV_h7gDs-aZ7JctLP2hwb37nOHYel8i6_7TZywXfSUOqS-T6bjyPdER9l9Q5vTbfIdMmQFdEQPffl_dV5E4MZdi1M6fL5-nWREQBfQP_Id20D8W_uQEwTDseVlnGUMsb_tjipNkWp2xPeeaiyIKyAJTGsjV0zhT8TfwjW8LxJjM1XycZZA8iCrQaAOPV5gyIW63NMf5NTUlhaZQyB1nf4W2_xTNT_NsCdGvla_3HP10LdgK17A1vzbaN8WYwfgmyju47VfiEs-_TXi1ZgipIzoHFjxT12_speNbxUpOlB1qfu9J-LcUQCUYlppXSHjOkU9LK9j2klboiHPt-l6dTnMJNirSKOhNUPLa122s4ZvsVMneChH0UDqLTdcJ0VabPocqSaMCT9hSoDH9CZbBZrVMKfU9fMF/s1600/IMG_7854.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jCbkWBEhxe8/Xn1m5wM2F4I/AAAAAAAADTQ/rkSaOYlFSTYQbjIWxDekRoGjre5FxAYzQCEwYBhgLKs4DAMBZVoBdG8pTVX30XLJbO4Agi9AW0ma7aj_r0eKSrOcUPVQNdDKALzbwJHWtfddvv1uAR3FULLW944TzPJPrebQ3H5nfL8Tf3p3FlIrKNYYRuxUrpxFQPgKUFPNA0k7qesX96PIJb_I01Dw6LWG6_imh7pM6E3av8wTiAsCxbv1VQWw5PbSltAyqBLkpEihnlG8zvdmq2XhGeHHh0XCV_h7gDs-aZ7JctLP2hwb37nOHYel8i6_7TZywXfSUOqS-T6bjyPdER9l9Q5vTbfIdMmQFdEQPffl_dV5E4MZdi1M6fL5-nWREQBfQP_Id20D8W_uQEwTDseVlnGUMsb_tjipNkWp2xPeeaiyIKyAJTGsjV0zhT8TfwjW8LxJjM1XycZZA8iCrQaAOPV5gyIW63NMf5NTUlhaZQyB1nf4W2_xTNT_NsCdGvla_3HP10LdgK17A1vzbaN8WYwfgmyju47VfiEs-_TXi1ZgipIzoHFjxT12_speNbxUpOlB1qfu9J-LcUQCUYlppXSHjOkU9LK9j2klboiHPt-l6dTnMJNirSKOhNUPLa122s4ZvsVMneChH0UDqLTdcJ0VabPocqSaMCT9hSoDH9CZbBZrVMKfU9fMF/s320/IMG_7854.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from the Overland, coming home to Melbourne. Sadly it is due to close in May, after running for more than 130 years.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">So the last journey of my trip reinforces the point - in this part of the world alternatives to flying are largely privatised and frequently by road. There is a huge infrastructure of rail and yet for some reason, much of it is either run down or else run by private companies as a luxury experience. My experience in Thailand shows that it is still possible for governments to run a long distance rail service that is affordable and reasonably comfortable, but it was an exception rather than the rule. It is also possible in Australia to travel up the east coast by train reasonably comfortably and affordably, according to friends, but I have not yet tried that. However the question remains: why in Australia and SE Asia, is comfortable, affordable rail travel the exception rather than the rule, when completely the opposite applies in Europe and Japan? It is clearly not just about distance because it is the case in SE Asia as well as Australia. It seems to be something to do with neoliberalism and privatisation, the neglect and decay of government services, and the availability of cheap bus travel, as well as cheap flights, but I confess I can't unravel this problem at the moment. It needs to be unravelled though, if we want to have sustainable travel, because rail is generally the lowest emitting form. (Update: on reflection I think I may be generalising a bit from my experience in Australia and Myanmar here. In Thailand and Malaysia the train system appears better. But consistently in Myanmar, Thailand and Malaysia it was easier to find and book buses than trains.)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Overall my trip was hugely interesting and enjoyable. It could be done much more quickly and cheaply, without the need for much accomodation, although the constant road or rail travel would be strenuous in its own right. However it could not, even with fast trains, be as quick as flying. I will reflect on it further and hopefully return to this subject, but for now it has been over-run by events. I arrived back just as Covid-19 was being recognised as a real threat. Luckily for my journey, I was running just ahead of the real fears, but three days after I arrived back I got a sore throat, and had to be tested because I'd come via Singapore (which ironically has now been seen as one of the countries that has dealt most effectively with Covid-19 so far). I spent 8 hours at the Royal Melbourne Hospital waiting to be tested, and two and a half days days in isolation waiting for results. Fortunately I was cleared, but my experience parallled the start of an intensifying process where every day more people were found to have the virus, and where alarming reports were coming from overseas, first from China then even more dramatically from Italy. Now of course everyone will be aware of the progressive shutting down of much of society in our efforts to prevent infections overtaking the capacity of the health system to care for the seriously ill. </span><br />
<span style="color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">In this context, my trip seems something like a dream, and my quest to find alternatives to flying seems remote and almost of another era. It does still matter - climate change and environmental breakdown are still urgent concerns and flying is still a significant source of emissions, when it happens. But so few people are flying now that this seems like a question for another time. Perhaps when we are on the 'other side' of this, we may be able to see this question another way: we can live without so much flying, so we could look more at alternatives. But this is all well down the track at present, so I will leave this here.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"></span><span style="background-color: transparent;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><i></i></div>
Val Kayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022522407838661280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929009897479726160.post-50722625248708219792019-10-05T10:02:00.001+10:002020-03-08T14:24:12.611+11:00standing here with my mouth open<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I haven't written anything on this blog for ages, and haven't done any further work on the draft article I posted in June (previous post)<br />
<br />
(Update March 2020 - I finished the article and submitted it to a journal in late November 2019, but I’m still waiting for results of peer review at present.)<br />
<br />
It's largely because I've been too busy, updating and teaching in the unit I coordinate, Climate Change and Public Health (link later, Monash links not working at present). So much information coming out all the time, it's hard to keep up.<br />
<br />
I feel very pressured to do the best I can with this unit, because so little is being done.<br />
<br />
Another reason I haven't written anything though is that I'm aghast - metaphorically standing open-mouthed - at what is happening in the world. Trump, Johnson, Morrison - they are like clones of a loud overbearing white man who is determined to destroy our world in order to maintain his dominance, his order, his idea of how things should be.<br />
<br />
It's not even clear what they want. It seems to be some idealised past, in which rich white men were in charge, women were decorative creatures controlled by men, the earth was there for men to use, the lower classes were happy and subordinate, and foreigners, people of colour, and Indigenous people knew their place, and either stayed there, or were grateful for being allowed into superior civilisations.<br />
<br />
They can't say any of that, which is why it's not clear, but they show it by their actions.</div>
Val Kayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022522407838661280noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929009897479726160.post-46979208884278331362019-04-24T19:43:00.001+10:002019-11-23T07:46:38.836+11:00Discourse article for comment<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The draft article that was here has now been submitted to a journal, because finally I am almost finished marking and had time to finalise and submit it (VK 23 November 2019)</div>
Val Kayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022522407838661280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929009897479726160.post-39288720774253071612019-04-01T14:34:00.003+11:002019-04-02T15:02:48.317+11:00Why we should address both climate change and inequity - responding to the Green New Deal<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Rhiana Gunn-Wright, the policy lead for the <a href="https://newconsensus.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/new_consensus_gnd_14_pager.pdf" target="_blank">Green New Deal</a> in the USA, paid me the courtesy on Twitter of being interested in my research findings.<br />
<br />
It's been hard to respond, for reasons I explain at the end of this post. However I've tried below.<br />
<br />
The question is, why should we try to address both equity and environmental sustainability (or climate change more specifically, as the Green New Deal does)? Rhiana has posted several threads addressing this question on Twitter, because people evidently ask about it a lot (for good and bad reasons). I won't try to summarise all her answers here, but recommend people to look at some of them, for example <a href="https://twitter.com/rgunns/status/1098238192233398272?s=21" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
I've encountered similar questions, including an email discussion I had with a prominent 'public intellectual'. I've referred to this in the thesis, but won't quote directly because the person's views may have changed. As I understood it at the time, he agreed that addressing inequity was important, but saw it as a very complicated and difficult long-term challenge, whereas climate change has to be addressed urgently. Therefore trying to address equity while addressing climate change means we risk dangerous delay.<br />
<br />
Most people in the climate change/ environmental sustainability policy area probably recognise that the risks for people are most severe for disadvantaged groups. So in that sense, most probably recognise we have to take that into account. But in regard to the question above, it's not just about minimising risks, it's about actively seeking measures that will improve equity as well as mitigate climate change and promote environmental sustainability - and in the case of my research, specifically health and wellbeing as well. (I apologise for calling it 'my' research, but as I'm writing this post, and indeed this whole blog, as an individual, I can't always say 'our', or attempt to speak for everybody concerned, even though it was collaborative research.)<br />
<br />
The Green New Deal is a policy to address climate change and equity in one of the world's largest and most powerful countries, whereas our research project was a collaborative project involving just over a hundred people in three areas of Victoria, Australia. So this is very much small meets big. But intensive small scale research can help us understand big questions.<br />
<br />
The focus of our research was on 'how' to promote equity and environmental sustainability together. It was a practice-based question that arose from the fact that both were existing priorities for us in the original Primary Care Partnership where the research started. But as it went on, I realised the 'why' question was important, and started to think a lot about it, particularly about the issue of common causation - are there common causes for inequity and environmental sustainability? Because of course this really provides a logical basis for addressing both together, as well as an ethical one. I spent quite a lot of time looking at this, but because I came to it late in the project, I didn't have much opportunity to consider it with participants. I am writing further about this now and trying to pull the threads together. Specifically the key points are:<br />
<br />
1. The insight of research participants that we are living in a society in which some or many people feel they are entitled to have more wealth and resources than others, and to use the earth's resources in ways which are unsustainable and cause harm, including harm to other species (how far this is conscious or unconscious was not explored).<br />
2. Evidence that this is not just 'natural', but culturally constructed, because in the preceding (and continuing) Indigenous society, people were (and are) specifically constrained to look after the earth (country) and the children of the earth.<br />
3. My analysis, drawing on ecofeminist theory and historical evidence, that this is not only due to capitalism (as suggested by some research participants) but to a society (established following the British invasion) which was patriarchal, hierarchical, white supremacist and capitalist. The underlying proposed ethical basis or justification for this society may be expressed as 'white men who have the capacity (through capital, education in scientific rationality, and, particularly in the occasional case of emancipists, hard work) to improve the land, have a natural right to own and have control over it in order to make profits and accumulate wealth. They also have an associated natural right to be heads of households and in charge of governance.'<br />
4. A lot of this has now been contested (especially the overtly anti-democratic, sexist and racist aspects of it) and some dismantled, but by no means all. Many aspects are still reflected in practice if not in theory, and some have not even been contested, including the rights to private ownership of land, and to unequal income, power, wealth and authority (especially evident in work hierarchies, which are getting less, not more, equal). The right to environmentally destructive actions is being contested, but this is very difficult, and the grounds are limited, with many politicians and their expert advisors preferring a system based on price, rather than dealing with questions about inherent rights to environmental destruction.<br />
5. The idea that societies can be egalitarian is often contested by those who point to the 'failures' of socialism. But socialism in this sense is a very limited social experiment of recent times, and still had many of the sexist and racist assumptions, and assumptions about 'man's' superiority to, and capacity to improve upon, nature, embedded in it. If we want to look for examples of egalitarian and sustainable societies, we have a much better and extremely long lived example in the Indigenous societies that preceded British invasion in Australia. To say we can learn from them doesn't mean we have to exactly replicate them, or that white society hasn't produced anything good or useful. But we have to lean to critically evaluate both societies, and recognise that a lot of the ideas we have about the so-called 'primitive' nature of Indigenous societies are actually myths based on racism (see for example <em><a href="https://www.magabala.com/culture-and-history/dark-emu.html" target="_blank">Dark Emu</a></em>).<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Why it's hard to write this.</h2>
<br />
This discussion is inherently complicated and difficult and lends itself to misinterpretation by those who want to retain the status quo. But additionally, as a feminist who has been quite heavily involved in politics as a researcher, adviser and candidate, I've often been extremely depressed and discouraged by the way I've been treated - especially by men, but also by some women. This depression and discouragement makes it hard to do the intellectual work of putting my ideas in a coherent form. I feel 'what's the point, no-one's going to listen'.<br />
<br />
In fact, two political parties (Labor and Greens) have taken my policy work to elections, but they've done it while deliberately excluding me - and few people seem to care about that. I think this is one important reason why white male dominated politics persists, because we 'others' who dare to question it get discouraged by the constant belittling or ignoring of our perspectives or contribution.<br />
<br />
But I am trying to keep going. It is important to focus on positives, and Rhiana's interest is a positive. Therefore I will try to do the work of responding to it.<br />
<br />
Like most academics, I'm also under pressure to publish in academic journals if I want to be taken seriously, and this kind of work is also hard to do for that reason. There's the constant feeling 'I should be working on my article' even though the kind of political work that Rhiana is doing will have much bigger immediate consequences (I also know that Rhiana and others have done the academic work behind this as well, of course). Anyway, I've had a go, as above. </div>
Val Kayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022522407838661280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929009897479726160.post-6979563467658528052019-02-10T12:21:00.001+11:002019-02-10T12:21:27.594+11:00Submission to Greens - blown off course<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
My draft submission to the Greens has been blown off course by the resignation of Alex Bhathal from the Greens. You can read about that <a href="http://alexbhathal.com/2019/02/01/why-i-have-resigned-from-the-greens/" target="_blank">here</a>, <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/i-have-been-loyal-greens-stalwart-alex-bhathal-quits-in-disgust-20190131-p50uq8.html" target="_blank">here</a>, <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/the-tail-is-wagging-the-dog-bitter-greens-consider-their-options-20190131-p50uvm.html" target="_blank">here</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/feb/01/former-greens-candidate-alex-bhathal-quits-party-blaming-organisational-bullying" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2019/02/09/alex-bhathal-and-discord-the-greens/15496308007429" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
I was aware of the possibility that Alex might be taking legal action against the Greens and have therefore for some time been trying not to comment on Alex's situation, although it was that situation that sparked my plan to do a submission in a sense. I had pretty much given up worrying about my own poor treatment by the Greens, and had continued to support the party for policy reasons, until I saw what was happening to Alex last year and thought I could not stand by and let this go.<br />
<br />
Alex's resignation means I need to rethink my position. Should I continue with this submission, or should I be calling for a new party, because the Greens are - currently - a lost cause? I've talked about this with various family and friends, and I don't have a clear view.<br />
<br />
In the meantime, I will just paste here the most recent readings and notes from preparing my submission, without trying to write them up properly. I think they are still relevant, and hopefully I will have time and inclination to extract the key points in another post soon.<br />
<br />
Notes for (possible) submission:<br />
Anika Gauja 'The Legal Regulation of Political Parties: Promoting Integrity?' Election Law Journal 15(1) 2016<br />
- introduction to issue of journal on this topic<br />
- "Together, the articles in this symposium strive to draw deeper connections (through both theoretical and empirical approaches) between the intentions, the substance, and the effect of party laws, build- ing on the concept of ‘‘electoral integrity’’ as an overarching heuristic device (Norris 2014; 2013). Grounded in international commitments and global norms, electoral integrity can be defined as the ‘‘universal standards that apply to all countries worldwide throughout the electoral cycle, including during the pre-electoral period, the campaign, on polling day, and in its aftermath’’ (Norris 2014: 9). A prominent example is the requirement set out in Article 21(3) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), which provides that: ‘‘the will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in peri- odic and genuine elections which shall be by univer- sal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures’’ (see also Davis-Roberts and Carroll 2014: 21–24). While the concept lends itself to the evaluation of a multi-stage electoral process (see Norris 2014: 34), the authors in this symposium have been asked to focus specifically on how these norms of regulation affect the operation of political parties in a diverse range of democratic settings (for exam- ple, as voluntary associations, as electoral competi- tors, and as legislative groupings) and across their various functions" p 1<br />
-<br />
- Discusses article by Cross which looks at internal party regulation and idea that representation should be encouraged or regulated (sees regulation as too limiting?)<br />
<br />
Anika Gauja 'The Legal Regulation of Political Parties: Is There a Global Normative Standard?' Election Law Journal 15(1) 2016<br />
"Given the diversity of regulation across the globe, the primary objective of the analysis is to determine whether there is a consistent set of universally ac- cepted principles that govern the regulation of polit- ical parties (particularly as electoral actors), and where there is not, to determine the opposing prin- ciples and competing rights that are at play" p 5<br />
- Elections a partic concern inc "free" vs "fair" elections, finance in elections<br />
- "core values such as equality, liberty, participation/deliberation, and integrity are still actively contested" p 6<br />
- Concept of free elections reasonably well understood and regulated, fair elections (including conduct/regulation of parties) not so much<br />
- "the role and place of political parties in demo- cratic societies have always been contested" p 7<br />
- "For example, should party government be privi- leged at the expense of assemblies of independent legislators? Are political parties voluntary associa- tions—free to determine their structure, or should a particular organizational form be imposed upon them?" P 7<br />
- Looking at international law, there appear to be clear regulations on conduct of elections but not so much on conduct of political parties<br />
- Only two binding international treaties specifically mention political parties<br />
- "one report from the UN Human Rights Committee mentions political parties— acknowledging their existence insofar as they facil- itate the individual freedoms of political association and expression provided for in Article 25 of the ICCPR.6" p 8, and there are several other reports from international orgs (found about 6 in total)<br />
- Generally parties seen as important in ensuring participation and representation<br />
- "most pro- lific source of international principles on the legal regulation of political parties is found within elec- tion handbooks." P 8 , tend to be from NGOs, found 25 sources<br />
- "Are there consistent international standards for the regulation of political parties?<br />
The international documents that contain men- tion of political parties do so in the context of five main aspects of the electoral contest that cut across stages in the electoral process: freedom of politi- cal association, freedom of political expression, electoral competition, public funding and state sub- sidies, and political finance. The role and accep- tance of parties within each of these five elements varies between sources, as do the regulatory pre- scriptions that follow" p 9<br />
"The role of political parties as facilitators in en- abling individuals to exercise their freedom of polit- ical association and expression is the most accepted global norm" p 9<br />
Also appears to be some norm around the need for electoral competition, therefore multiple parties, hence an "open and inclusive" process of party regulation p 9<br />
- there are issues around conflicting needs for open and inclusive processes and the need to ban or restrict unacceptable or "frivolous" parties p 10<br />
Issues around public funding - lack of clear norms in this area<br />
However general norms around party accountability and transparency of funding, and at least the possibility of limiting or capping finance (eg donations)<br />
<br />
"The internal organization of political parties is a dimension of party politics that is left virtually un- touched by international norms and standards. None of the public international law documents in the Carter Database prescribes a particular organi- zational form or any standards of international best practice for matters relating to membership, in- ternal party decision making such as candidate<br />
or leadership selection, as well as policymaking— activities that could all be regarded as core functions of political parties in representative democracies. The closest international law comes to setting stan- dards for the internal organization of parties is the requirement that political parties embrace equal op- portunity and endeavor to balance the number of male and female candidates. States must take appro- priate measures to ensure that political parties do not discriminate against women.24 Hence [author suggests there is a norm that]:<br />
9. Political parties should be supported through appropriate regulatory measures to facilitate gender parity in candidate selection and equal access to public office.<br />
[although there seems to be no positive regulation around this nor enforcement]<br />
There is no general requirement that candidate or leadership selection should be inclusive, nor for that matter any suggestions that party organizations be internally democratic." P 11<br />
Overall:<br />
"The source and scope of international public law standards<br />
A number of interesting findings arise from an analysis of international public law contained in the Carter Database concerning the legal regulation of political parties. The first is that binding interna- tional standards found in treaties and interpretive sources are extremely rare and have only been utilized by states with very limited or no experience of stable party systems, for example the CIS and the AU. The bulk of international norms come from state-level documents and reports authored by re- gional bodies such as the EU and a variety of NGOs. The second finding is that within this body of law there is general agreement upon the regula- tion of parties in a number of areas. Political parties should be recognized in facilitating the individual freedoms of political expression and association, that regulation should seek to establish minimum levels of party competition, that state support consistent with the principles of equality may be provided to parties, that party finance should be transparent and may be legitimately restricted, and finally that political parties should encourage the equal representation of women. All of these princi- ples are expressed in broad terms, however, and very few detailed prescriptions are made with re- spect to the specific type of regulatory measures (for example, provisions for registration and levels of expenditure caps). These are matters for individual states to determine. In addition, international law con- tains practically no standards that relate to the internal organization and form of political parties." P 11-12<br />
The Carter database does not include constitutions and state docs so have looked more generally at these as illustrative of differences and tensions. Eg many constitutions don't mention parties, but German constitution specifies that they should be "freely established" and that their organisation should "conform to democratic principles" (response to Nazism) cited p 12<br />
"This type of con- stitutional provision is common to other states with previous experiences of authoritarian and fascist re- gimes." P 13<br />
Similar provisions may be found in "developing and transitional" democracies p 13<br />
"In this context, parliamentary common law states, such as the U.S. and the U.K., as well as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, now appear as curious outliers (Gauja 2010: 24–5). In one sense, this omis- sion could be seen as a response to practical consid- erations: political parties were not significant organizational entities at the time when many of the first influential constitutional documents were drafted. It might also be viewed as a product of ‘‘min- imalist’’ constitutional designs as mechanisms for preserving flexibility in the design and regulation of future forms of representative democracy (Gauja 2010: 28). However, debates surrounding the inclu- sion/omission of political parties from constitutional documents also reveal the dominant social attitudes towards parties at the time: parties were viewed negatively and not seen as appropriate or desirable constitutional actors worthy of codification. The<br />
dominant ideals of legislative independence— including the influence of Burkean notions of rep- resentative democracy stood in tension with the concept of party government. " p 13<br />
Comment: there is little in the article that relates to membership. The requirements for "democratic principles" are probably the only relevant sections and as shown in the article these seem to be mainly found in countries which have had relatively recent experience of fascist or non-democratic government. The older democracies, which have evolved, don't seem to have considered these issues much. Within these countries, as discussed in my own research in Australia, there is a conflict between democratic and egalitarian principles, and an inherited tradition of top-down, hierarchical, white male dominated forms of governance.<br />
<br />
William P Cross 'Considering the Appropriateness of State Regulation of Intra-Party Democracy: A Comparative Politics Perspective' Election Law Journal 15(1) 2016<br />
This article considers the pros and cons of state regulation to ensure internal democracy, however it is not concerned to define internal democracy broadly and is mainly concerned with processes for candidate selection and leadership rather than more general internal party organisation and conduct. However it cites relevant sources<br />
"There has been a considerable amount written in recent years regarding state regulation of political parties. The most comprehensive study is that led by van Biezen at Leiden University. This project finds an increase in the regulation of political parties and notes that ‘‘many of these regulations were first introduced or were substantially extended in the wake of the introduction of public funding for par- ties’’ (van Biezen and Romee Piccio 2013: 27). Some of these regulations are purely administrative in the sense that if parties are to receive taxpayers’ dollars there must be some minimal regulatory scheme in place to oversee things such as qualifica- tion as a party, public registration, eligibility for financing and perhaps expenditure disclosure require- ments. As van Biezen and Romee Piccio (2013: 27) note, while regulation of party affairs was initially ‘‘limited to the organization of the electoral pro- cess . In recent years, however, the state has in- creased its propensity to intervene in both the external and internal manifestations of party politics" p 22<br />
...<br />
" The internal regulation of parties concerns state rules dictating both how parties organize themselves and how they make their internal decisions. Because parties are key players in public life, and in general elections, the distinction between their internal and external activities is not always clear. Van Biezen and Romee Piccio (2013: 35) describe the internal regulation of parties as state prescription of the in- ternal channels of accountability, the composition of internal organs, the frequency of party meetings, voting and election procedures, rights and duties of party members, eligibility for party membership, and the type and form of organizational structure. In their comprehensive survey of European democ- racies, they find that while ‘‘a considerable number of party laws make explicit reference to the various aspects of intra-party democracy,’’ they generally leave it to the parties themselves ‘‘to elaborate spe- cific rules in their internal party structures’’ (38). In this way, the state signals that it sees internal party democracy as a virtue deserving to be ‘‘elaborated in greater detail in party statutes, while at the same time keeping away from infringing upon their autonomy and freedom of association by not legally prescribing specific directives.’’ Thus, they find that ‘‘party laws tend to assign the prerogative to outline the precise details of intra-party processes to the party statutes, rather than regulating them di- rectly’’ (48). "<br />
The question for my discussion however is not centrally about whether and how far the state should be regulating parties, however, but what are the norms and principles of internal democracy and are they being implemented in practice?<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Val Kayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022522407838661280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929009897479726160.post-19348890475880493172019-01-13T20:13:00.003+11:002019-01-15T10:44:44.421+11:00Submission to Greens - political and legislative context - in progress<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Notes for submission to Greens<br />
<br />
<br />
The <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Senate/Powers_practice_n_procedures/Constitution.aspx" target="_blank">Constitution</a> does not contain much information on voting except that qualifications of electors are as in original state constitutions (subsequently modified to ensure women, and much later, Indigenous peoples, were all entitled to vote). Political parties are not discussed.<br />
<br />
On political parties, the Parliament of Australia <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/House_of_Representatives/Powers_practice_and_procedure/00_-_Infosheets/Infosheet_22_-_Political_parties" target="_blank">Info sheet 22 - political parties</a> says: "Political parties are not formally recognised in the standing orders of the House." However, in practice, the operation of Parliament is based on political parties forming the government and opposition (plus cross benchers, minor parties and independents).<br />
<br />
Political parties are governed by the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2018C00498/35d8baca-3c24-4f35-8d9a-f184544b0100" target="_blank">Commonwealth Electoral Act </a><br />
<br />
(15 January 2019 continued) - and presumably similar state Acts which I haven't consulted, which set out the conditions for a party to be registered or deregistered by the Electoral Commission.<br />
<br />
For the purposes of this discussion, the relevant requirements are that a party either has representatives in Parliament already or has at least 500 members, that it has a written constitution, and that it stands candidates for Parliament. There are other requirements regarding name, logo, etc that are not relevant here.<br />
<br />
Generally speaking it appears that political parties are not highly regulated. An article by Anika Gauja 'The legal regulation of political parties: is there a global normative stadard?' <i>Election Law Journal </i>15(1), provides an overview.<br />
To be continued ...<br />
<br /></div>
Val Kayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022522407838661280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929009897479726160.post-82138044574567508662019-01-05T19:27:00.001+11:002019-01-05T19:27:17.842+11:00Submission to the Greens - my CV<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I've had a response from the State Secretary of the Victorian Greens to the concerns I raised during the state election. We've had some email discussion to and fro, which I think can be summarised as Sean (the State Secretary) trying to explain to me what the relevant Greens administrative rules are, and me trying to explain why I think they're wrong. So we are talking past each other a bit I think, and I need to focus on getting the submission together. <div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I won't reproduce the emails in full but I will be drawing on the information provided by Sean. I've let him know that and am awaiting his response, so prior to discussing the process further, I'll set out some background information, this time about my work for the Greens. This is particularly in response to the claim by the Greens that the reason for refusal of membership to me was that my relationships in the party were "consistently fraught". </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I've discussed the most significant "fraught" relationship, my dispute with the then party convenor, <a href="https://fairgreenplanet.blogspot.com/2018/10/" target="_blank">previously</a>. I'm not suggesting there were not other "fraught" or difficult relationships, but most of them I would say were relatively minor, and of the sort you might expect in politics, particularly if you're a feminist. The information below relates to my positive work for the Greens (I'm not exactly sure of some dates but this is accurate as I can make it).</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I joined the party in 2001 and was a member until 2004. During this approximately three years, I did the following:</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Stood as a candidate for the then Province of Eumemmering for the Victorian Legislative Council in the state election in 2002, achieving an overall vote of 11%.</li>
</ul>
<div>
This was a very good result given that there hadn't been a Greens candidate for that Province before. Eumemmering (which doesn't exist now, since the electoral system for the Legislative Council was changed prior to the 2006 state election) covered the lower house Districts of Dandenong, Gembrook, Narre Warren North and Narre Warren South. As well as my own campaigning, I put a lot of effort into supporting my Greens colleagues who were standing in those seats, preparing election material, getting stories in local papers, organising how to vote cards and organising people to hand out at polling stations. Compared with the other candidates, I was more experienced, as I'd been an adviser in the Labor party prior to joining the Greens, and I was therefore able to give them support. The Greens had not stood before in most of the area (there was a Greens lower house candidate in the former district of Pakenham, which covered some of the current District of Gembrook, in 1999).</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It's difficult to compare the 11% result with successive elections since there have been many changes, not just in the electoral system, but because there are many more parties contesting, particularly in the upper house. So the fact that the result hasn't been equaled since is not simply related to the efforts of me or anyone else. However I can say that in the area where I had lived until 2001, the town of Cockatoo, the upper house vote for me at 20% was a lot higher than the 1999 vote of 10.3%. I was very honoured and humbled by this, however I don't think many of my fellow members in the Moreland Branch would have known or cared about this result, as they were very focused on the Brunswick election, where Pamela Curr was the candidate.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I have also volunteered for the Greens, including variously handing out how-to-votes, campaigning, serving as a booth captain and scrutineering, at state and federal elections, and some local Council elections, right up until the 2018 state election, when I decided I could no longer ignore the problems in the party.</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Served as Convenor of the Victorian Greens Women's Network in about 2003-04.</li>
</ul>
<div>
I was invited to take on this position and elected unopposed when I agreed. This probably gives some idea of the challenges. In theory, the Greens have always been very supportive of women, and had a commitment to affirmative action where required. Certainly the Greens had a better record on standing female candidates than other parties at that time. Nevertheless, the State Executive and State Council tended to be dominated by certain men who spoke loudly and held the floor. Trying to deal with this was quite difficult, and in addition to the problems of the staff restructure (which I've discussed elsewhere) meant my job was very difficult. I don't think it's at all unusual that women in such positions are perceived as difficult, however I did the job as best I could.</div>
</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Coordinated the national health policy working group and the development of the Greens national health policy for the 2004 federal election, and supported both state and federal health spokespeople.</li>
</ul>
<div>
As well as coordinating the development of the national health policy, which involved pulling together and editing the contributions from members of the working group, and writing some sections myself, I also wrote a submission to Senate inquiry on Medicare and arranged for Richard Di Natale and myself to speak at the inquiry, and prepared material for distribution at a Medicare rally in 2004 where Kerry Nettle spoke. </div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
As well as these formal positions I was also a branch member and helped out with fundraising and social activities of the Moreland Branch during the time I was a member. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I acknowledge that I had conflict with some members of the Moreland Branch at times, but to suggest that I could have achieved all these things, in the relatively short period of my Greens membership (only about three years) if I had really had "consistently fraught" relationships with everyone, as some Moreland Branch members apparently allege, is self-evidently questionable.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In the next post, I will discuss the question of whether, and how, some Greens members use processes such as consensus and complaints, in a way that is similar to factionalism and is at odds with the way those processes are intended. In doing this, I will discuss my own experiences but I will also have to refer to what happened in Darebin Branch and the former electorate of Batman in 2018. I'm trying to confine this submission mainly to my own experiences, because others are following up those issues and I don't want to confuse that process, but I need to talk about it eventually because what happened in Batman is crucial to this submission and why I decided to make it, after letting these issues go for so many years.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Val Kayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022522407838661280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929009897479726160.post-89525957655257462882018-12-20T16:27:00.000+11:002018-12-20T16:29:37.450+11:00'Consuming the world'<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Below is a copy of the presentation which I gave to the <a href="https://addictionconcepts.com/2018/11/21/thinking-dangerous-consumption/" target="_blank">Dangerous Consumptions Colloquium</a> in November 2018, with my notes (edited for sense and ease of reading).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SwYOenJV33Y/XBrrCMLWDqI/AAAAAAAACx0/FQhqqP_9yso4NUb-gg_wsvh_cfeHD1MwACEwYBhgL/s1600/Slide1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SwYOenJV33Y/XBrrCMLWDqI/AAAAAAAACx0/FQhqqP_9yso4NUb-gg_wsvh_cfeHD1MwACEwYBhgL/s640/Slide1.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="-ms-word-break: normal; language: en-AU; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.19in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.19in; unicode-bidi: embed;">
</div>
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; language: en-AU; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; language: en-AU; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;"><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;">I begin by paying my respects to Elders and custodians
- in particular to the Bunurong people, on whose land we meet, and
specifically to Elders who participated in and supported my research project. The
image refers to:<span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; language: en-AU; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;"></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; language: en-AU; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;"><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; language: en-AU; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;"></span></span></span><br />
<ul style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; language: en-AU; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;"><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; language: en-AU; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">
<li><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; language: en-AU; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;">human activities heating the world (climate change), and</span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></div>
</li>
<li><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; language: en-AU; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;">the discourse of humanity (or 'Man') as lord of creation, with power over other species and ecosystems, through the image of the <a href="http://allrecipes.com.au/recipe/6529/crown-roast-of-lamb.aspx" target="_blank">“crown roast”</a></span><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
</li>
</span></span></span></ul>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; language: en-AU; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;"><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; language: en-AU; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">
</span></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; language: en-AU; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;"><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; language: en-AU; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; language: en-AU; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">The image of a lamb crown roast fits the Australian history of white invasion of Indigenous country, and over-running it with sheep (ironically still celebrated in <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-australia-day-ad-regarded-as-the-biggest-fail-20180119-h0l90v.html" target="_blank">Australia Day advertisements</a> for lamb barbeques).</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; language: en-AU; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;"><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; language: en-AU; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; language: en-AU; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;"></span></span></span></span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; language: en-AU; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;"><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; language: en-AU; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; language: en-AU; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">However, it also refers to the latest <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/sites/2/2018/07/SR15_SPM_High_Res.pdf" target="_blank">IPCC report on global warming of 1.5</a>, which suggests reducing meat eating and switching to plant based foods as an important part of one possible pathway to stay within 1.5C warming.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; language: en-AU; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;"><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; language: en-AU; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; language: en-AU; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">This is the first time I am aware of that the IPCC has put strong emphasis on ‘demand reduction’ and ‘behaviour change’ as feasible parts of the response to global warming. Meat eating represents danger for planet, but also <a href="https://www.who.int/features/qa/cancer-red-meat/en/" target="_blank">danger for human health</a>, through the way meat is consumed in high income countries. Like other forms of dangerous consumption, meat eating is often valorised and associated with pleasure. It is also often associated with a certain construction of dominant <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/record/2012-30417-001?doi=1" target="_blank">masculine identity</a>.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; language: en-AU; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;"><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; language: en-AU; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; language: en-AU; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">The IPCC report also mentions demand reduction in relation to transport, but seems to have less confidence that it can be achieved. However, the report does go beyond a price-based, 'market driven' focus alone. It also looks at co-benefits, and links with the <a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/" target="_blank">Sustainable Development Goals</a>. Like the <a href="http://www.climateandhealthalliance.org/news/2015-lancet-commission-on-health-and-climate-change" target="_blank">Lancet Commission on Health and Climate Change</a>, the IPCC report also begins to look at 'bottom up' as well as 'top down' responses.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; language: en-AU; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;"><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; language: en-AU; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; language: en-AU; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">As well as affecting climate by our 'dangerous consumption', we are also destroying biodiversity. A recent <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/press-releases/wwf-report-reveals-staggering-extent-of-human-impact-on-planet" target="_blank">report by the World Wildlife Fund</a> says the population of species they monitor has decreased by 60%. Similarly several indicators of the United Nations Environment Program are <a href="http://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/8057/-GEO-5%20Summary%20for%20Policy%20Makers-20121089.pdf?sequence=8&isAllowed=y" target="_blank">already at or past crisis point</a>. </span></span></span></span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; language: en-AU; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;"><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; language: en-AU; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; language: en-AU; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: black; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-style-textfill-type: solid;">
</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EQaaC1k5Zno/XBrrD2f9qBI/AAAAAAAACx4/lcyw0NEnKRwM4UDBawtlUh-A3bjn8xF8gCEwYBhgL/s1600/Slide2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EQaaC1k5Zno/XBrrD2f9qBI/AAAAAAAACx4/lcyw0NEnKRwM4UDBawtlUh-A3bjn8xF8gCEwYBhgL/s640/Slide2.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The research project involved research with three <a href="https://www2.health.vic.gov.au/primary-and-community-health/primary-care/primary-care-partnerships" target="_blank">Primary Care Partnerships</a> (PCPs) from 2009-2017. PCPs are alliances of local health and community services, usually covering several municipalities. During 2011-16, we looked at theory and
practice at community level.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">We identified 32 projects promoting
health, equity and environmental sustainability in the three PCPs. These involved:</span></span></div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Sustainable food systems & caring for natural environment, healthy eating, growing food, reducing food waste, community gardening, links to Indigenous cultural awareness</span></div>
</li>
<li><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Housing sustainability, particularly for low income groups, reducing energy use and costs</span></div>
</li>
<li><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Active transport, walking cycling and public transport use</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Even though small scale, these projects fit with the sectors identified by
the IPCC, and with bottom up responses. This work is community
based rather than market driven. However it faced significant challenges,
particularly political and discursive challenges.</span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4mWFEtWVLag/XBrrEAqiPjI/AAAAAAAACx4/p3R4rU3ApRomzGMQYH40GS7R59YadiyyACEwYBhgL/s1600/Slide3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4mWFEtWVLag/XBrrEAqiPjI/AAAAAAAACx4/p3R4rU3ApRomzGMQYH40GS7R59YadiyyACEwYBhgL/s640/Slide3.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Across Victoria as a whole, planned action to address climate change or
environmental sustainability in PCP strategic plans declined from almost 50% of
plans in 2009-12, to just over 10% in 2013-17. Some PCPs kept doing the work
but ‘labelled’ it differently, however there was clearly a real decline. One respondent in the research project said that the biggest challenge to the work was that climate change was so politicised that "people are too scared to even talk about it".</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The politicised context was also a threat to health
promotion in general. There were major cuts to health promotion and public health after the federal Liberal
National Coalition (LNC) government was elected in 2013. However, there was a particular
threat to work on climate change or environmental sustainability.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">This political context was also gendered. Julia Gillard was
the Labor Prime Minister until September 2013. The government at the time of
the image above (2011) was proposing to legislate a carbon price and other measures to
address climate change. Ms Gillard was demonised as a liar and ‘witch’, who had
sneakily overthrown the male Labor leader Kevin Rudd, and had ‘lied’ about her
intention to introduce a carbon price ('tax').<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">This movement was led by a conservative white male, Tony
Abbott, as leader of the Opposition, but as apparent in the photo, it was not
supported only by conservative white males. Several LNC female MPs went along
with this. (Two of those pictured above subsequently left Parliament, one losing
her seat to a female independent)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d_cFkBK8D-Q/XBrrEinuPqI/AAAAAAAACxo/5GqHjRRzrgUn6As0iDFWjvf6SZCyURobwCEwYBhgL/s1600/Slide4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d_cFkBK8D-Q/XBrrEinuPqI/AAAAAAAACxo/5GqHjRRzrgUn6As0iDFWjvf6SZCyURobwCEwYBhgL/s640/Slide4.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The thesis also explored the deeper level of discourse
underlying this immediate level of political conflict. It explored how the
discourse of mainstream economics – the most politically powerful discourse of
our polity – although apparently neutral, and about ‘individuals’, actually has
embedded assumptions from the patriarchal discourse of the white invasion of
Australia<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">This approach draws on ecofeminist theory, particularly the
work of Carolyn Merchant. However, this theoretical approach is complex
and not easily accessible, and can provoke opposition, particularly in
conservative regional areas, where two of the PCPs in the study are located.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">I am now trying to relate this analysis more clearly to
public discussions about climate change and environment. Some examples of such discussions come from participants in the thesis, others I have seen
in media and twitter, and in academic sources.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">One type of discourse often drawn on is about culture, lifestyle, and even addiction. For example, a participant
in the research spoke about a “car culture”, saying people would get into
their car to go from one end of the street to the other (talking about a street
in a country town such as the one in the image). I also conducted a review of relevant health promotion literature, which looked in part at suggested causes for the ecological crisis. Several articles suggested 'lifestyle', or people's desire for affluent lifestyles, as a cause<span style="font-family: "calibri";">. Some academics, such as <span style="font-family: "calibri";">Frederica Perera (2008), specifically use the language of addiction (‘<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2516589/" target="_blank">Children Are Likely to Suffer Most from Our Fossil Fuel Addiction’</a>).</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">I also recognise the role of capitalism, or commercial
determinants, and the concept of creating ‘addictive products’, which others
will talk about in this colloquium. However, I want to explore deeper
levels of discourse, and consent, particularly how mainstream economics often
constrains us, including people working in public health, into a form of
consent to its assumptions.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qzfkQWZui_8/XBrrFEbeZpI/AAAAAAAACx4/T_ShJwp5_ZYllBQGhgYO_HOsgyYPTJFvwCEwYBhgL/s1600/Slide5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qzfkQWZui_8/XBrrFEbeZpI/AAAAAAAACx4/T_ShJwp5_ZYllBQGhgYO_HOsgyYPTJFvwCEwYBhgL/s640/Slide5.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">I don’t know much about these images and their sources, so
show them just for fun, but they do convey messages about advertising and
masculinity that are significant culturally, even though contemporary ads
aren’t normally so blatant and make at least some appeal to women and diversity
(sometimes in a very patronising way).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4tenSNl5qIk/XBrrFOaV_gI/AAAAAAAACxs/9kyF1M_uCqIhuNfWH3RXygNi-swne57ZQCEwYBhgL/s1600/Slide6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4tenSNl5qIk/XBrrFOaV_gI/AAAAAAAACxs/9kyF1M_uCqIhuNfWH3RXygNi-swne57ZQCEwYBhgL/s640/Slide6.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Different suggestions, such as those shown above, can be found
in both popular and academic sources. Many are sensible. But I am
concerned with examples of how the apparently neutral language of economics,
maths and numbers, actually hides many issues of power and inequality, and
diverts from real issues and responsibilities that we need to face.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">This may arise from the intersection of contemporary,
supposedly ‘non-gendered’ and ‘non- racialized’ ideas, with a continuing underlying
discourse that is in fact gendered and racialized. There are continuing
historical influences, for example in Australia, from a discourse in which the
normative individual clearly was, in the late 19<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> and early 20<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>
century, and in some ways implicitly still is, a white adult middle class man.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">In this analysis I am focusing particularly on suggestions about technology
and babies.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2TnKRsMAt30/XBrrFgXaM3I/AAAAAAAACx4/gDj9kWEp2VcWJAB12TyMM8oCR_0LEO3rgCEwYBhgL/s1600/Slide7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2TnKRsMAt30/XBrrFgXaM3I/AAAAAAAACx4/gDj9kWEp2VcWJAB12TyMM8oCR_0LEO3rgCEwYBhgL/s640/Slide7.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">One of the commonest examples of what I call the ‘technology
will save us’ approach I see in popular discourse, is a focus on electric
cars, powered by renewable energy. I think this was particularly cleverly demolished
by this image which I saw on twitter. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Clearly the resource implications alone of changing the
entire fleet (millions of cars) in 10, or even 30, years, are enormous, and
would have major environmental consequences. But even if this reduced carbon
emissions, and reduced the negative health impacts through less pollution, many of the
environmental and social issues are not changed. The environmental impacts of roads and
infrastructure, and the mining and production of metals, plastics and glass,
would not be reduced, and some could potentially be increased.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The idea that we can keep living much as we do, but with new
technology, seems to involve a reluctance to admit that major social change is
needed. Even the focus on climate change alone, rather than environmental degradation
more broadly, can be reductionist, although this is a separate and complex
issue.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bPO_ROlt__M/XBrrGJyPLJI/AAAAAAAACxw/Kec3QvffhG4FIEQxdb8XcOst2jV-P3sIACEwYBhgL/s1600/Slide8.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bPO_ROlt__M/XBrrGJyPLJI/AAAAAAAACxw/Kec3QvffhG4FIEQxdb8XcOst2jV-P3sIACEwYBhgL/s640/Slide8.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The quote and the picture above are both from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Scientific American</i> on population issues.
The language of the quote is neutral, about average “people”, or individuals. However the picture
tells a different story. It is about a woman of colour. The discourse of
population growth and climate change is not always racist and sexist in its
unspoken subtext, but it often is. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">The parallel with
the discourse of economics is suggested by the utility curve. </span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">P</span><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">eople are envisaged as individuals who want
to maximise their utility. This is all supposedly value free and neutral.</span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;">
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fNv3_Yu_L5c/XBrrGLB0kKI/AAAAAAAACx0/L95NQzcCJuMeFcBATlmI-SFms8r-go_bgCEwYBhgL/s1600/Slide9.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fNv3_Yu_L5c/XBrrGLB0kKI/AAAAAAAACx0/L95NQzcCJuMeFcBATlmI-SFms8r-go_bgCEwYBhgL/s640/Slide9.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">When we look deeper, there is no average person<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">On a country or national level, there are particular
countries, Australia being one of them, which have very high incomes, high CO2e
levels and large ecological footprints, but low birth rates<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">There are others that have high fertility rates,
and are very low on the other indicators, like Afghanistan. Basically even if
the population of Afghanistan doubled in a generation, it would still represent
a very small fraction of the environmental impact of countries like Qatar and
Australia.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Stable population is an important goal. Improving
the conditions for women in low income countries (which many, although not all,
of those who focus on population growth admit is necessary) is also important. But
focusing on these issues alone is a diversion from the responsibilities of high
income, fossil fuel producing countries.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BWtfzTgF2ok/XBrrCn2AuCI/AAAAAAAACx4/RZt6dChFTisDScyYo-X1GewnzOFPWojZACEwYBhgL/s1600/Slide11.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BWtfzTgF2ok/XBrrCn2AuCI/AAAAAAAACx4/RZt6dChFTisDScyYo-X1GewnzOFPWojZACEwYBhgL/s640/Slide11.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Ultimately I suggest we need to change from the
dominant ‘economistic’ discourse, where we are conceptualised as individuals who
compete for resources in order to improve our utility, to one in which we are
understood as part of a socioecological system, where we all have
responsibility to care for each other and share resources fairly and sustainably. As one of the participants in the research project said, we need to think about 'what kind of future we want'. In doing this we can learn from ecofeminist theory and from Indigenous knowledge.</span></span></div>
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lBx5Kj4sS9E/XBrrDoHywBI/AAAAAAAACx4/WqDXPHOwEJczw9-V2_Uf4bZIPS9wAV16ACEwYBhgL/s1600/Slide12.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lBx5Kj4sS9E/XBrrDoHywBI/AAAAAAAACx4/WqDXPHOwEJczw9-V2_Uf4bZIPS9wAV16ACEwYBhgL/s640/Slide12.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">‘Random people on the internet’ are those who
shared their thoughts with me on the research project blog and on twitter and
the internet more broadly.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
</div>
Val Kayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022522407838661280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929009897479726160.post-43970422164806291082018-12-19T17:03:00.004+11:002018-12-19T17:03:57.663+11:00Submission to Greens - draft notes<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Over the next few weeks, I plan to develop a submission to the Victorian Greens, with two main purposes, one specific and personal, the other broad and policy oriented. The first is to ask for a review of the refusal of membership to me, with a clear statement of reasons. The second is to call for a clearer vision and purpose for the Greens, looking at what kind of society they are aiming for, and how the party itself represents that vision.<br />
<br />
In brief, do the Greens aim to be an egalitarian, inclusive, democratic and open party, aiming for an egalitarian, inclusive, democratic and open society? Or do they aim to be a hierarchical organisation, dominated by small groups, with limited accountability, and aiming to manage society in the way they deem best? That seems to be the position confronting the Greens, and to be exemplified in the way I was treated, and others have been treated, in the party.<br />
<br />
Some of this will necessarily be impressionistic. However, I will assemble and present as much clear evidence as I can. First, I begin with a general description of the Greens' position in Victoria at present.<br />
<br />
Results of the last six elections:<br />
<div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;">
Lower house votes</div>
<div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;">
<div>
2018, Greens 10.71, ALP 42.86, Liberal/National total 35.20, Other 11.23</div>
<div>
2014, Greens 11.48, ALP 38.10, Liberal/National total 42.00, Other 8.42</div>
<div>
2010, Greens 11.21, ALP 36.25, Liberal/National total 44.78, Other 7.76</div>
<div>
2006, Greens 10.04, ALP 43.06, Liberal/National total 39.61, Other 7.29</div>
<div>
2002, Greens 9.73, ALP 47.95, Liberal/National total 38.21, Other 4.11</div>
<div>
1999, Greens 1.15, ALP 45.57, Liberal/National total 47.02, Other 6.26</div>
</div>
<div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;">Upper house votes</span><br />
<div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;">
2018, Greens 9.25, ALP 39.22, Liberal/National total 29.43, Other 22.1</div>
<div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;">
2014, Greens 10.75, ALP 33.46, Liberal/National total 36.13, Other 19.66</div>
<div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;">
2010, Greens 12.01, ALP 35.36, Liberal/National total 43.15, Other 9.48</div>
<div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;">
2006, Greens 10.58, ALP 41.45, Liberal/National total 38.98, Other 8.99</div>
<div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;">
2002, Greens 10.87, ALP 47.49, Liberal/National total 38.88, Other 2.76</div>
<div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;">
1999, Greens 2.23, ALP 42.19, Liberal/National total 47.00, Other 8.58</div>
<div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;">
Overall the Greens have been a significant presence in Victoria since the 2002 election. This likely reflects the big shift in 2002, following the Tampa incident, when Labor members like myself began leaving the party and switching to the Greens. </div>
<div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;">
The Greens vote, however, has declined somewhat in recent elections. For the lower house, it has declined from 11.48% in 2014 to 10.71% in 2018, while for the upper house, it has declined from 12.01% in 2010 to 9.25%. The Greens upper house vote is at its lowest point this century. </div>
<div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;">
This decline would likely in part reflect the increase in votes for minor parties and independents, which has been very marked in the upper house in the last two elections, and also present, though to a lesser degree, in the lower house (see 'Other' figures above). It is noticeable though that this has not affected the Labor party to the same degree. While the Labor party vote has declined since 2006, it has increased in the upper house in the most recent election and in the lower house in the two most recent elections. The Liberal National total vote has decreased since 2010 and declined dramatically in the most recent election. </div>
<div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;">
Overall, both Labor and minor parties/independents have increased their vote significantly in the last two elections, particularly at the expense of the Liberal/National coalition, but also apparently at the expense of the Greens. I argue very strongly that this should not be happening. At a time when climate change and environmental degradation are existential concerns, inequality is increasing dramatically, and the Victorian population overall seems to reject racist populism and the demonisation of asylum seekers, the Greens should be the party of choice on the basis of policy. The fact that they're not seems to indicate problems in the way the party is perceived, and in its messages to the people. It is in this context that I make this submission.</div>
<div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Val Kayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022522407838661280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929009897479726160.post-32020832797762223432018-12-11T10:07:00.001+11:002018-12-11T15:25:10.081+11:00Continuing the discussion about population and emissions <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
In my previous post, I discussed why 'not having children' isn't the most important thing people can do to reduce emissions, contrary to what some people believe. I think this idea particularly comes from some American modelling a few years ago, which I will try to analyse in a subsequent post. However in this post I want to expand on my simple calculation in the <a href="https://fairgreenplanet.blogspot.com/2018/12/why-not-having-children-isnt-most.html" target="_blank">previous post</a>.<br />
<br />
In that post I suggested that if everyone in Australia stopped having children, the theoretical reduction in total emissions by 2030 would be 12%, which is well below the necessary reduction of about 50%. However of course it's totally unrealistic to think everyone would do that, so I suggested we could probably think about a 10-20% decline in births at most, which would equal a 1.2-2.4% decline in emissions - not nothing, but very small.<br />
<br />
That's a highly simplified and theoretical calculation of course, and is more like 'emissions forgone' than an actual reduction. If we were currently reducing our total and per capita emissions, it might be more meaningful, but we are not. A slightly more realistic way of looking at this might be to calculate the actual population decline involved (leaving aside immigration).<br />
<br />
The current number of deaths per annum in Australia is around 160,000 (<a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/3302.0" target="_blank">ABS</a>). (It puzzled me a bit at first that they are so much fewer than births, which are around 310,000, but the discussion below* explains this.) I won't show the detailed calculation, but if you think of the impact of not having children in terms of population decline and associated decline in emissions, the annual decline in emissions would be about 0.6%, or cumulatively 6.6% by 2030. This is a more 'real' way of calculating it (potentially an actual decline rather than emissions forgone), but again the likely decline in births is much less. Taking the 10-20% estimate again, the likely real decline would be 0.66-1.3%. A tiny amount of the needed 50% in other words.<br />
<br />
Over the long term, a declining population would reduce emissions of course. And over the long term, because our fertility rate (births per women) is below replacement rate, we could have a declining population (depending on immigration levels). A declining population also causes some social and economic problems, which I won't go into here, but the big issue is we don't have a long time. We have to reduce emissions fast, and the thing we as Australians can do is work out why our emissions are so high and how we can reduce them. (Suggestions based on the IPCC report are in the <a href="https://fairgreenplanet.blogspot.com/2018/12/why-not-having-children-isnt-most.html" target="_blank">previous post,</a> I'll try to expand on them later.)<br />
<br />
Finally, it's an ethical question. Even if we could reduce our total emissions in Australia by reducing births and restricting immigration, why should we continue to have such high per capita emissions rates? What is there that justifies us emitting so much CO2e per person, one of the highest rates in the world, if not the highest? We need to think as global citizens rather than just Australians, and calculate how we can get down to a sustainable level of emissions, as fast as possible. We could do this in ways that have multiple social and health benefits - to be continued ...<br />
<br />
*The reason deaths are so much fewer than births is that the number of older people is still much fewer than younger people (see figure <a href="https://www.indexmundi.com/australia/age_structure.html" target="_blank">here</a>). The Australian population grew rapidly until about the 1970s, when the birth rate began to drop. So although the fertility rate is now below replacement rate (which is about 2.1 children per woman, while the<a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/3301.0" target="_blank"> current fertility rate is about 1.7</a>), births still outnumber deaths at present as there are many more in the reproductive years than in older age groups.<br />
(<i>Edited slightly for clarity today</i>)<br />
<img src="webkit-fake-url://34a60c23-b9b3-44fc-b38f-3dbd4754f845/imagejpeg" /></div>
Val Kayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022522407838661280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929009897479726160.post-4361984825815469792018-12-09T16:21:00.001+11:002018-12-11T09:07:08.555+11:00Why 'not having children' isn't the most important thing you can do reduce emissions<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>(Edited 11 December to clarify a few points. I also wanted to look at this from the perspective of population decline, but I can't write more on this page on the iPad, so will have to start a new post)</i><br />
<br />
On Twitter and elsewhere, I frequently come across people who believe that not having children is the best thing they can do to reduce emissions. I discussed the problems with this idea in my presentation to the Dangerous Consumptions colloquium, which I'll post soon. Basically it's the problem of trying to apply averages in situations where they don't apply. In summary, the reason why this doesn't work is that countries with high birth rates tend to have low emissions, while countries with high emissions tend to have low birth rates.<br />
<br />
Differences in emission rates correlate with wealth, but also reflect whether the country produces fossil fuels. Countries like Australia, USA, and the Arab gulf states (wealthy fossil fuel producing countries) tend to have very high emission rates. Australia's per capita emission rate, according to the latest <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/e2b0a880-74b9-436b-9ddd-941a74d81fad/files/nggi-quarterly-update-june-2018.pdf" target="_blank">greenhouse inventory report</a>, is almost 22 tonnes CO2e per capita. (Around 2 is probably a sustainable level).<br />
<br />
To help make it a bit clearer why 'not having children' isn't the most important thing anyone can do at present, I've included some simple calculations below. I should make it clear that I'm not saying sustainable population isn't important - Australia's birth rate is a bit below replacement rate at present, which without immigration would lead to a declining population. That's not a bad thing at present. However decreasing the birth rate even further isn't the most urgent or important thing we collectively can do to reduce emissions.<br />
<br />
I'm interested in any comments on this, including the calculation below. I haven't seen much research on this, which is why I'm looking at it, but there's bound to be people somewhere specialising in this, I'd think.<br />
<br />
Calculation<br />
<br />
Australia's current population - c 25 million (<a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/1647509ef7e25faaca2568a900154b63?opendocument" target="_blank">ABS</a>)<br />
Australia's average yearly births - c 310,000 (<a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats%5Cabs@.nsf/0/8668A9A0D4B0156CCA25792F0016186A?Opendocument" target="_blank">ABS</a>)<br />
Australia's per capita emission rate - c 22 tonnes CO2e (as above)<br />
<br />
So total emissions = c 550 million tonnes CO2e (25m x 22). If we had no births next year, and if we assume babies have the average per capita rate (questionable, but to keep it simple), then we would save about 6.8 million tonnes CO2e (310 thousand x 22), or 1.2% of current emissions. Over the course of 11 years to 2030, that would be cumulative, so would add up to about 12% reduction in emissions per annum by 2030.<br />
<br />
So is that the biggest thing we can do? Well no. Over the 11 years to 2030, we need to reduce emissions by about 50% or more if we want to stay within 1.5C global warming (<a href="https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/resources/australias-rising-greenhouse-gas-emissions/" target="_blank">Climate Council</a>), so it's only a minor proportion. Secondly, it's of course completely unrealistic to expect everyone to stop having babies for 11 years. I've got no idea what you could realistically expect. The birth rate certainly declined a lot in the 20th century, but once it's below replacement rate, it's hard to say how much lower it could go, especially in only 11 years. Maybe a decline of 10 or 20% is possible, which would amount to less than 3% decline in emissions, out of the more than 50% decline we need.<br />
<br />
On my reading of the latest IPCC report on Global Warming, the most important things we collectively could do (not in any particular order) to reduce our emissions, are:<br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Reduce energy use and shift to renewables (which of course includes stop mining coal)*</li>
<li>Shift to a locally grown, organic* plant based diet as much as possible </li>
<li>Shift from motorised to active transport as much as possible </li>
<li>Reduce consumption across the board (reduce, reuse, recycle)</li>
</ul>
<div>
I'd argue the main obstacle to these is the 'economistic' discourse of growth, shared by both major parties in Australia, and not effectively contested by the Greens so far. Underlying that, I'd say, are the assumptions of hierarchical, capitalist patriarchy, but that's a long story I'm trying to write about in articles at present, so won't expand now. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Interested in any comments on this, especially if my calculations are wrong.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
*as far as I know the coal we sell isn't currently included in our per capita emissions, but we should stop mining and selling altogether anyway</div>
<div>
* organic in this case to reduce emissions associated with production, transport and spreading of synthetic fertilisers, although there's other good reasons as well.</div>
<br />
<br /></div>
Val Kayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022522407838661280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929009897479726160.post-9783915139280554512018-11-16T07:39:00.004+11:002018-11-16T07:39:59.247+11:00Confronting the discourse of economics<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-d9v6S0wM_zg/W-3ZCFd6TJI/AAAAAAAACvs/HPDx7vyBOxo3LFUjz_y_mF6dyH4Ok5q8gCLcBGAs/s1600/image.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1133" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-d9v6S0wM_zg/W-3ZCFd6TJI/AAAAAAAACvs/HPDx7vyBOxo3LFUjz_y_mF6dyH4Ok5q8gCLcBGAs/s320/image.jpeg" width="226" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Yesterday I gave a presentation at the <a href="https://www.monash.edu/medicine/sphpm/news/events/16th-dangerous-consumptions-colloquium" target="_blank">Dangerous Consumptions Colloquium</a> in Melbourne.<br />
<br />
I'm trying to work out an article on challenging the discourse of mainstream economics and the colloquium is venue to try out new ideas. I didn't manage to articulate my ideas in full, as I spent a lot of time discussing background, but it was a start.<br />
<br />
A fun thing I did was draw a picture for my presentation - above<br />
<br />
Will post the rest a bit later<br />
<br />
<br />
(The Victorian election continues and I am still disappointed with the Greens, but life goes on ...)<br />
<br /></div>
Val Kayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022522407838661280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929009897479726160.post-7013227978232033932018-10-31T07:08:00.001+11:002019-01-05T10:57:30.603+11:00Calling for procedural fairness in the Greens<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
(Edited 16 November 2018)<br />
<br />
People who follow me on Twitter may have seen that I've been expressing some concerns about the Greens. I've been meaning to write about it here. I think the Greens represent the best option in Australia policy-wise, in regard to environment and social justice. However there's been some serious concerns about internal processes and fairness in the party lately, which the leadership has not responded to well.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So I've decided to tell my story, in the hope of getting some more action and transparency around these issues.<br />
<br />
The original disputes between me and other members (apart from everyday disputes that happen in political parties) go back to confrontations between the then convenor, Adrian Whitehead, and me in 2003-04. Adrian, with the support of the State Executive Commitee, proposed to restructure the staff in the Greens office. The proposal was to create a new more senior position to replace the office manager position, and advertise the new position. All the office staff were women. I was then the convenor of the Greens' Women's Network and it appeared that the restructure was being done in a high-handed way and was likely to result in disadvantage to existing staff. (There is considerable precedent that as organisations get bigger, they become more hierarchical and are more likely to appoint men to senior positions.)<br />
<br />
The Women's Network put a motion to State Council to defer any decision on the staffing restructure until further ideas could be considered. However due to lengthy discussion on other items, the motion did not get discussed. Adrian said he was going ahead with the current plan and the new position would be advertised. I decided I had no option but to resign, as he was sidelining the Network, and I did so in an email to State Council outlining my reasons.<br />
<br />
Subsequently a man was appointed to the new senior staff position and the female officer manager lost her job.<br />
<br />
I did rejoin the party somewhat later, through State Council. I got a lot of support from members, but there was a small group including Adrian who opposed me and said I should be banned from the party. I continued to have some reservations about the way the party was working and let my membership lapse in 2004.<br />
<br />
The text below from a Twitter thread (21/10/18) sums up the rest of the story:<br />
<br />
1. The situation with #Greens and me is, I was a member but let my membership lapse in 2004. Sometime later I applied to rejoin but was refused because some members objected. I don’t know who they were, or what they said about me. I had no opportunity to respond to objections .../2<br />
<br />
2. A few years later I tried again and was again refused. This time branch office bearers met with me to discuss, but I still wasn’t told original objections. Legally I think there’s no obligation on parties to give details, but ethically it’s questionable ... /3<br />
<br />
4. There’s a need for procedural fairness in #Greens. Otherwise provides opportunities for ppl to attack/exclude ‘opponents’. I’m constituent of @SamanthaRatnam & wrote to her but no response. Been asked to volunteer for @TimRRead but want concerns acknowledged .../5<br />
<br />
5. Happened years ago, and I’d let it go, but decided I shouldn’t any more. If #Greens aspire to be more than ‘just another political party’, they need to respond to concerns about #Fairness, not ignore/deny. #Fairness matters @TimRRead @SamanthaRatnam</div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Thread can be viewed on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/valakay/status/1057352579120685056?s=21" target="_blank">here</a>, with replies.<br />
.<br />
<br />
Also below is a copy of my original letter to Samantha Ratnam, the leader of the Victorian Greens. This was more focused on what happened to Alex Bhathal in the former Batman by-election, but I'm no longer talking about Alex's situation, because I believe she does not want it discussed at present. I'm now focusing only on my own situation, but I believe the principles of honesty, transparency and fairness have a much broader applicability in the Greens than just my case. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div class="page" title="Page 1">
<div class="layoutArea">
<div class="column">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11.000000pt;">28 July 2018
</span></div>
</div>
<div class="layoutArea">
<div class="column">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11.000000pt;">Ms Samantha Ratnam<br />
Leader of the Victorian Greens
MLC for Northern Melbourne
</span><br />
<span style="color: rgb(13.300000% , 13.300000% , 13.300000%); font-family: "arialmt"; font-size: 10.000000pt;">Dear Samantha
</span><br />
<span style="color: rgb(13.300000% , 13.300000% , 13.300000%); font-family: "arialmt"; font-size: 10.000000pt;">I am a former Greens member and a long term volunteer. I have worked in numerous election
campaigns, including volunteering for your campaign in the last federal election.
</span><br />
<span style="color: rgb(13.300000% , 13.300000% , 13.300000%); font-family: "arialmt"; font-size: 10.000000pt;">I am writing to you to express my deep concern about apparent failures of democratic accountability
</span><span style="color: rgb(13.300000% , 13.300000% , 13.300000%); font-family: "arialmt"; font-size: 10.000000pt;">and respect for people’s rights and welfare in the Victorian Greens</span><span style="color: rgb(13.300000% , 13.300000% , 13.300000%); font-family: "arialmt"; font-size: 10.000000pt;">.
</span><br />
<span style="color: rgb(13.300000% , 13.300000% , 13.300000%); font-family: "arialmt"; font-size: 10.000000pt;">As you know, the campaign by Alex Bhathal in the recent by-election in the (former) seat of Batman
(now Cooper) was severely damaged by one or more individuals who leaked details from a
confidential complaint against Alex to hostile media sources. The resulting media coverage was
deeply damaging, not only to the Greens, but to Alex and members of her family.
</span><br />
<span style="color: rgb(13.300000% , 13.300000% , 13.300000%); font-family: "arialmt"; font-size: 10.000000pt;">I have not seen any statement from the Victorian Greens, or from yourself, which acknowledges this. I
read mainstream media, follow social media, and receive regular emails from Greens, including from
yourself and Richard Di Natalie. At the time of the by-election Richard condemned these actions, but
since then I have not seen any recognition by the Greens or yourself that these actions were wrong
and caused harm.
</span><br />
<span style="color: rgb(13.300000% , 13.300000% , 13.300000%); font-family: "arialmt"; font-size: 10.000000pt;">This is an appalling situation. It is a betrayal of the Greens and the people who support the Greens.
</span><br />
<span style="color: rgb(13.300000% , 13.300000% , 13.300000%); font-family: "arialmt"; font-size: 10.000000pt;">For me, it also has some personal resonance. As I said, I was previously a member of the Greens. I
stood as a candidate in the 2002 Victorian election, and was national health policy convenor in 2003-
4. I also served as convenor of the Victorian Greens W</span><span style="color: rgb(13.300000% , 13.300000% , 13.300000%); font-family: "arialmt"; font-size: 10.000000pt;">omen’s Network in about 2003. In that role, I
</span><span style="color: rgb(13.300000% , 13.300000% , 13.300000%); font-family: "arialmt"; font-size: 10.000000pt;">had a dispute with the then Victorian Greens convenor, Adrian Whitehead, over his treatment of
female staff in the Greens office. I resigned over this issue, then subsequently re-joined the party, but
continued to be somewhat disillusioned with Vic Greens leadership and subsequently let my
membership lapse in about 2004.
</span><br />
<span style="color: rgb(13.300000% , 13.300000% , 13.300000%); font-family: "arialmt"; font-size: 10.000000pt;">Since that time I have twice applied to re-join the party, and been rejected, apparently because some
anonymous people in my local branch (Moreland) are opposed to me. None of these people, whoever
they are, have spoken to me directly or attempted to resolve their differences with me.
</span><br />
<span style="color: rgb(13.300000% , 13.300000% , 13.300000%); font-family: "arialmt"; font-size: 10.000000pt;">Looking at these issues, it seems to me there is a serious ethical problem in the party, possibly
relating to a misunderstanding of the principle of consensus. Consensus should mean that all
viewpoints on issues are respected, even if they are minority viewpoints, and solutions sought that
recognise the validity of different viewpoints. However, some people in the Greens seem to be
interpreting it to mean that members who are opposed to a particular individual can do whatever they
want to exclude that individual, regardless of harm to that person, to those associated with them, and
to the party itself.
</span><br />
<span style="color: rgb(13.300000% , 13.300000% , 13.300000%); font-family: "arialmt"; font-size: 10.000000pt;">Consensus should mean seeking to resolve differences, not seeking to harm or exclude others
because of personal differences.
</span><br />
<span style="color: rgb(13.300000% , 13.300000% , 13.300000%); font-family: "arialmt"; font-size: 10.000000pt;">Surely you, and the party, can see that this is ethically wrong? In the case of Alex, I, and many others
I know, including people who have never been members of the Greens but have voted for the Greens,
are astounded and dismayed by your and the Victorian Greens</span><span style="color: rgb(13.300000% , 13.300000% , 13.300000%); font-family: "arialmt"; font-size: 10.000000pt;">’ </span><span style="color: rgb(13.300000% , 13.300000% , 13.300000%); font-family: "arialmt"; font-size: 10.000000pt;">failure to act. I urge you, and the
Victorian Greens, to take a strong stand on this, and to make it clear that you do not support or
condone behaviour that is primarily intended to damage or exclude individuals. </span><br />
<br />
<div class="page" title="Page 2">
<div class="layoutArea">
<div class="column">
<span style="color: rgb(13.300000% , 13.300000% , 13.300000%); font-family: "arialmt"; font-size: 10.000000pt;">I have seen the Victorian Greens admit to failures of process, but this is not only about a failure of
process. It is about a failure of ethics and principles. The Greens should stand for peaceful, non-
violent resolution of conflict, not condone actions which are primarily designed to harm individuals.
</span><br />
<span style="color: rgb(13.300000% , 13.300000% , 13.300000%); font-family: "arialmt"; font-size: 10.000000pt;">If individuals are to be undermined and publicly humiliated as candidates, or denied membership, as
</span><span style="color: rgb(13.300000% , 13.300000% , 13.300000%); font-family: "arialmt"; font-size: 10.000000pt;">in my case, or even expelled, as some of Alex’s opponents apparently </span><span style="color: rgb(13.300000% , 13.300000% , 13.300000%); font-family: "arialmt"; font-size: 10.000000pt;">called for her to be, then that
needs to be a decision made by the party, based on very clear and publicly accountable grounds. It
should not be the result of a few anonymous individual Greens members acting without accountability.
The right to belong to, or represent, a political party is an important civil and political right, and should
not be denied or undermined merely on the basis of anonymous individual grudges.
</span><br />
<span style="color: rgb(13.300000% , 13.300000% , 13.300000%); font-family: "arialmt"; font-size: 10.000000pt;">I urge you to make it clear publicly that the Greens do stand for the principles of democracy,
accountability, honesty, care and respect for others, and peaceful conflict resolution, and do not
condone actions intended to exclude or harm individuals. I also urge you to acknowledge the harm
that was done to Alex, and those associated with her, and commit to ensuring that the party will do its
best to ensure this does not happen again. Whether Alex wants any form of public acknowledgement
or apology is up to her, but I believe it needs to be acknowledged that harm was done, and made
clear that you, and the party, support her.
</span><br />
<span style="color: rgb(13.300000% , 13.300000% , 13.300000%); font-family: "arialmt"; font-size: 10.000000pt;">Yours sincerely</span><br />
<span style="color: rgb(13.300000% , 13.300000% , 13.300000%); font-family: "arialmt"; font-size: 10.000000pt;">(Signed by me) </span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Val Kayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022522407838661280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929009897479726160.post-41665252908481286562018-10-24T20:16:00.001+11:002018-10-24T20:17:05.564+11:00Moving the debates<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Let this go for ages as usual, in spite of good intentions. So much happening and I am more engaged on Twitter, which is immediate and easier than blogging. However I should try to keep a record. I attended the award ceremony for my PhD yesterday, interesting though the mystique has worn off a bit for me I suppose.<br />
<br />
There are so many things to think about, it's hard to focus on just one. To prioritise - we have perhaps an opportunity to get some action on important issues. We've had the IPCC report and the Wentworth by election recently. There's been an opportunity to focus on two particular issues: Australia's response to climate change and off-shore detention. This is largely because the popular independent candidate in Wentworth, Kerryn Phelps, has taken a position on these issues.<br />
<br />
I understand the concerns of those on the left and feminists of colour that she is a privileged white woman who is probably quite conservative on many issues. But to ignore or minimise that she has been able to take clear positions on these issues, and win the by-election, is counter-productive. She has moved the debate significantly and we should appreciate that and build on it.<br />
<br />
Which moves me on to my next issue: apparently the Greens cannot acknowledge that women like Alex Bhathal, and me in a less prominent way, have been treated badly. I really don't understand what is wrong with these people: what would it cost them to acknowledge there are some problems in the party? They go on about the 'old parties' but my experience is that Labor is more tolerant of dissent than the Greens, notwithstanding that the Greens have better policies.<br />
<br />
So I'm thinking I'll make my dispute with the Greens public. I wrote to Samantha Ratnam - for whom I campaigned! - weeks ago, and I've heard nothing. No acknowledgement. I think Alex has decided that she will stay in the tent, and campaign for Lidia Thorpe - a worthy cause - but I don't think I'll do that. Much as I appreciate what Lidia stands for, and how important it is to have her, and people like her, in Parliament, I also think the Greens must be honest.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Val Kayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022522407838661280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929009897479726160.post-52938568619754553372018-09-25T10:33:00.000+10:002018-09-25T10:33:41.484+10:00Racism and the new PM<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
As ever, I find its hard keeping up to date with the blog. Nearly a month has gone by since my last post, the situation I was writing about there is still unresolved, and other things have happened. Perhaps the only way to keep this blog up with any regularity is not to worry about being consistent or writing in a considered, in-depth way but rather to write quick, impressionistic pieces when the opportunity is there. <div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I'm currently on holiday in WA. I've stayed in Broome and spent one night in a remote Indigenous community (staying in the house of a white service provider). It has brought home the challenges and complexities of racism and reconciliation in Australia. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Across the street, something bad was happening, involving Indigenous women - shouting and crying in the night, sounds of violence. Police were called. Someone said it was due to ice (or crack?). </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In the remote community, white service providers said 'surely people want education for their children?' They equated wanting education with caring for children, but what if it's white education? In a sense, we lock children up in schools.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I listened to reminiscences of old people about their childhoods in Broome on a social history podcast, and they reminded me of my childhood. Our society then was racist - clearly more formally racist than today. Yet as children, we made spaces for ourselves. We had more freedom, we were allowed to do more. That's partly growing up in the country, but it made spaces where white children and Indigenous children could come together as friends and playmates. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The children in my tiny rural primary school used to go to school early, sometimes in spring, so that we could go looking for orchids in the bush. I don't know if our parents even knew - they must have I suppose, since even though we walked to school, we would have had to leave earlier than usual - but it seemed like something we organised for ourselves, like the children in Broome organised their play in the mangroves. It wasn't till later, when I went to live in the irrigation areas, that I saw Indigenous children being ridiculed and abused and effectively driven out of high school.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But those are stories for another time, maybe. This week Scott Morrison talked about "indulgent self loathing" because another Council has decided to change the date of Australia Day. I felt such fury when I read that - just fury. I tweeted angrily that he could "fuck off forever" with his racism, that he was not my Prime Minister. Generally I try not to swear on Twitter but there are times when it seems the only way to show feelings of outrage. So yeah, I'm the lefty outrage brigade. I am outraged by racism and sexism. I'm furious about them. Conservative white men are stuffing up the world, and I am furious at their sense of entitlement, their born to rule judgements. This business of not allowing Councils who change the date of Australia Day to hold citizenship ceremonies is outrageous. It's dictatorship. How come we let this happen? </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Today Morrison is trying to walk back his comments a bit, while still keeping the substantive stuff around refusing to change the date and not letting the Council hold citizenship ceremonies. He has suggested another day for celebrating Indigenous culture (we already have NAIDOC week and having a separate day is an apartheid type suggestion anyway). He has rabbited on about </div>
<div>
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; color: #262626; font-family: LiberationSerif, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 19px;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; color: #262626; font-family: LiberationSerif, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">" ... </span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; color: #262626; font-family: LiberationSerif, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">that is the day [ie 26 January, when the First Fleet carrying white people landed in 1888 and the invasion began] where we have to deal with everything and we have to embrace it all, warts and all, and accept our successes and acknowledge where we haven’t done so well.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #262626; font-family: LiberationSerif, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 23px; padding: 0px 0px 14px; vertical-align: baseline;">
“There are scars from things that have happened over the last 200 years and more, and we look at that like anyone looks at their entire life. ..."</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #262626; font-family: LiberationSerif, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 23px; padding: 0px 0px 14px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Well if his life has included the near genocide of an entire people ... I don't know where to start. Who is the "we" in this statement? Is he saying that white people committing near genocide is an example of "where we haven't done so well"? Are Indigenous people included in this "we"? What was it that they "haven't done so well"? They didn't gracefully accept their new overlords? What is he talking about? </div>
</div>
Val Kayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022522407838661280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929009897479726160.post-53985288410820562812018-08-28T20:49:00.001+10:002018-08-28T20:49:10.943+10:00The everyday awful problems confronting women<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
As ever it's been too long since I wrote my last post, and many things have happened, including the political turmoil of last week, resulting in a new PM who is less popular and possibly more likely to lose the next election than his predecessor, but is more conservative and probably less likely to act on climate change, which apparently satisfies some powerful people. We can all speculate as to what has 'really happened' here, but that's my take on it.<br />
<br />
Rupert Murdoch, and the rich fossil fuel and conservative interests who ally themselves with him, may think they can play us like fools, but who knows? Even Scott Morrison may be more complex than he appears. Peter Dutton, when he still had hopes of being PM, said he would have liked to bring all the refugees on Manus and Nauru here. Of course, we on the left scoffed at him, but it shows he wanted to be seen as a decent human being. In a weird way, it suggests there is (maybe, perhaps) hope for this country. I can only hope so, for the sake of those people, particularly the children, locked up in those camps.<br />
<br />
But anyway, I am turning back to my personal/political problems, which are mine, and personal, and include particular individuals, but which are those of all women on the left - how we do ally ourselves with men who have behaved badly? How much should we ask for, in terms of apology and reconciliation? It's a difficult balancing act, when those on the right can do so much harm. But we should not be asked (again and again) to sacrifice our right to decent treatment for the greater cause.<br />
<br />
This is like the issues that face Indigenous people and people of colour. I am always amazed at the generosity of those who accept me as an ally and a friend, when my ancestors were amongst those who dispossessed their people. I feel they should spit in my face. But they don't - they accept me, kindly and graciously, and I feel blessed by a kindness I have no right to expect.<br />
<br />
So if I learn from them, maybe it is this - I won't pretend that injustices didn't happen, but I will forgive and work with those who admit the wrongs they were part of. And I won't pretend that I was perfect, or that I never made mistakes or did bad things, but I won't let that hide the structural injustices that translated down to some individual men treating me unfairly.<br />
<br />
I am in a position where one of those men who treated me unfairly could now help me in achieving a really worthy cause of addressing climate change, promoting environmental sustainability and equity. I think it's a goal that we've always shared, but in the past he was prepared to sacrifice me, a middke aged woman, while young men were protected, all in the name of the greater good. So it's a difficult quest.<br />
<br />
Will try to write the next episode more quickly, but this is hard.<br />
<br /></div>
Val Kayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022522407838661280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5929009897479726160.post-67096082959966955792018-08-05T13:52:00.000+10:002018-08-28T20:13:23.873+10:00Reconciling person, citizen, paid employee 1<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
It was a common saying of ‘second wave’ feminism that 'the personal is political' - that what happened in homes and ‘private life’ was not outside the sphere of politics, but reflected power arrangements in society.<br />
<br />
We are still seeing that playing out, particularly in the sphere of work-life balance, domestic and family violence, and sexual harassment and violence. It’s been a long struggle to get these issues taken seriously, and the struggle continues. For example, recently the Age (3/8/18) had a front page story and editorial about violence against women. It was strongly worded, but it's certainly not the first time there have been such calls. Will it make a difference? I don’t know, but I am fairly certain that it is less acceptable for men to hit their wives than it was when I was young.<br />
<br />
The struggle to show that the personal is political continues. The unfair burden of domestic and caring work on women, and family violence, still go on, but are no longer (I think) seen as just ‘private’ matters. In the area of sexual harassment and violence there is still a huge way to go, for example in that that most rapes are not reported to the police and there is very small chance of successful prosecution.<br />
<br />
Most informed commentators agree that underlying this, there is a broader social problem of discrimination against women, of women being taken less seriously than men, as Jane Caro recently expressed it. Old patriarchal ways of thought still see men as more important. Kate Manne provides a useful discussion of misogyny as social circumstances that function to subordinate women, rather than some kind of individual hatred of women (see <i>Down Girl</i>, chapter 1).<br />
<br />
Like most women, particularly of my age, I can provide many examples of sexual harassment or violence in my private life, particularly as a young woman, including being hit, or being groped in the street, to the doctor who made me walk around his room naked under the guise of a medical examination. One of the reasons I don't talk about this much is that it's demeaning, even, or perhaps most, those things that seem minor and foolish. I think people would probably laugh at me if I talked about these things, or try to silence me from embarrassment. The shame - which should attach to the perpetrators - somehow seems to attach to me, to those who have experienced such things. Moreover, if we try to talk about such things, we are also likely to be seen as persecutors, as vengeful women who are trying to shame men who are basically 'good guys' who haven't done anything 'serious'.<br />
<br />
This silencing of women, which Manne also writes about, is serious. Today, however, I want to discuss my experiences as a citizen, in that area between the ‘private/domestic’ and the 'public/paid employee'.<br />
<br />
In that area, I've been active in recent years through discussion on blogs and on Twitter, over the longer term through participating in many protests and marches for more than 50 years, and, particularly in the late 1990s and early 2000s, through being a member of political parties, and active in policy development and campaigns. In that area, I've experienced several forms of silencing and exclusion, which I find confusing and hard to analyse: are they about 'me' as a (difficult) individual, or are they about misogyny, in Kate Manne's sense? I'll start a new blog post to discuss this</div>
Val Kayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04022522407838661280noreply@blogger.com0