"Welfare recipients have no right to vote" - US Republican (audio)

Just when you think you've heard all the US nightmares that you could ever imagine, some wingnut over there comes out with something so preposterously out there that you just can't believe someone could believe that.

Yet he sounds so much like he's serious in the audio.

This nut Wayne Root, an opening speaker at a Trump rally, is actually proposing that those on welfare shouldn't be allowed to vote. 

Interestingly, the reason he gives is that they're "takers". Sound familiar? 

Again the Turnbull gov has nothing original. It's all borrowed from overseas wingnuts.

  

Chairman of gov "environment policy committee" questions climate change :s

If you didn't know better you'd seriously think that this news article was satire. It's not. The more I read the more my chin fell to the floor. Shaking my head in complete disbelief. What stupidity. What stubborn ignorance. These people don't deserve to lead. Indeed they're followers not leaders; puppets of their corporate masters.

Lieberal Craig Kelly has been appointed as the head of the gov's "environment policy committee", and exercise in Orwellian doublespeak that even tests the perverted logic an hard core Lieberals I suspect. Far from having anything remotely intelligent to do with the environment, the committee appears to be nothing more than a bugle for far right climate denialism. Spectacularly so.

The Liberal chairman of the Coalition’s environment policy committee, Craig Kelly, has questioned solar and wind power subsidies and would like a cost-benefit analysis of future emission reductions policy, due to be reviewed next year. 

Kelly was named chairman of the environment and energy committee at the party room meeting on Monday, making him responsible for coordinating backbench feedback to the government on climate and energy policy. 

He said he was proud to be a climate sceptic rather than “wallow in groupthink, to be a sheep, or a lemming”. The Guardian

Far fuckin out.....Ship of fuckin fools. How many $billions does the gov give out in fossil fuel subsidies?


 

Gay Vloggers wedding - music video :)

These two YouTube Vloggers got married recently in real life. They've put together a music video of their wedding.

It's a strange feeling watching this in Australia, knowing that it still can't happen here.

 

Labor abandons plebiscite :)

Well that was quick. The very next email I read after the Greens calling on Labor to abandon the plebiscite, was one from Labor abandoning the plebiscite :) Hooray!

Instead Labor will introduce a private members bill. This from the email: 

Peter,

You and I both know that the quickest and most effective way to make marriage equality a reality is to have a vote in the Parliament. 

Why should vulnerable members of the LGBTI community be subjected to hateful language? 

Why should we empower anti-equality campaigners to spread their hateful and divisive views? 

Why should we waste at least $160 million of taxpayer dollars on a plebiscite that won’t even be binding on Coalition MPs? 

It’s just ludicrous that Malcolm Turnbull won’t stand up to the far-right of his Parliament and make marriage equality a reality by having a free vote in the Parliament. 

That’s why Tanya Plibersek and I will introduce a private member's bill to make marriage equality a reality. 

We don’t need an expensive and divisive plebiscite – and we need to make that message loud and clear. 

We’re so close to achieving marriage equality and we can make it a reality if Turnbull allows his colleagues a free vote in Parliament. 

Thanks for your support, 

Bill  

Greens call on Labor to abandon plebiscite - petition

The Greens, after deciding to vote against the marriage equality plebiscite, are calling on Labor to join them in abandoning it. They have got a petition going saying thus:

We call on Bill Shorten to join us in rejecting Malcolm Turnbull’s plebiscite. The best way to achieve marriage equality is a cross-party approach, moving forward together to enact this long overdue reform. 

Equality is not negotiable. Marriage equality is inevitable - and Australia is ready for it. 

There’s no need for an unnecessary, expensive and divisive vote. John Howard didn't need a plebiscite to change the Marriage Act to deny marriage equality and we don't need one now to change it back. We could amend the Marriage Act this week if our PM just let parliament do its job and we had a free vote in the Parliament. 

Add your name now to block the plebiscite and bring on the spring weddings! Sign here  

Complaint accepted by anti-discrimination board against Oxford Hotel

We received a letter from the anti-discrimination board of NSW telling us they have accepted our complaint of discrimination against the Oxford Hotel. Or as they put it very officially; "accept for investigation your complaint of homosexual discrimination in the area of goods and services against the respondent Oxford Hotel".

Well well well..... 

I was half expecting to read that we were over-reacting or something, and that the complaint had been rejected. This whole process we've been quite shocked by what happened, and you do wonder if somehow it might have been your fault. But  as I've said the whole thing seemed to snowball.

Starting with almost a query to Alex Greenwich, followed by a visit to the social worker at ACON, then to the Inner City Legal Centre, and now to the anti-discrimination board. To hear from the board that our complaint is legitimate enough to investigate is vindication in itself, whatever happens from here.

We don't wish to take this too far BTW. We just want to shame the pub publicly and let the new management know that you just can't treat the LGBT like this.

The events of the complaint I posted about here.  

"They're trying to kill us!" - christian persecution video of the day :)

I have a crazy christian video for the day! It's a classic of persecution. You know how some of those christians are; they just loooooove to feel persecuted. If that's anything to do with sado-masicism I have no idea, but it does make you wonder. All that self flagellation and guilt over perceived wrong doing and all...... 

This one is from bullshit rip off artist Jim Bakker. Remember him and Tamy getting busted for fraud? Well now he's been released from prison and pushing another fraud; Tribulation slop buckets of food that look like sick when you prepare it. The Tribulation is something that christians have been waiting for for centuries darlings. Nothing like total persecution to get the christian faith pumping!

In the same mode of fantasy, Bakker has claimed now that people are out to kill christians for some reason. I just wish the rapture would happen and they'd all fuck off to the invisible sky man, but you know how these fantasies go.... all show and no go unfortunately.

 

It's all our fault (again) - how dare the poor and sick!

Scott Morrison (ScoMo) has gone a bit SSJoe (Hockey) lately. Is it something about the pressure of the job? I mean how hard can it be to flush money down an F-35 toilet and then blame the poor for eating? Or to watch as heaps of companies earning bazillions pay no tax and blame the poor for eating? All you have to do is yell a lot and be angry. Pretty much like SSJoe (smokin sloppy Joe).

SSJoe actually had the countenance for a bit of a holler though, being largely large. ScoMo is like some wimpy lightweight feigning toughness and comes across like, well a wimpy lightweight feigning toughness :s  Honestly the way he's carrying on now about us poor (again for the umpteenth time from this Abbott/Turnbull gov) he just looks entirely unconvincing and stupid.

The Lieberal lines are wearing very thin in voter land. Indeed we've had it all before. Not just from this gov but from those crazy as fuck Republicans in the US. It seems this gov hasn't any original ideas of it's own. The script, and even the slogans are all tired old history from overseas.

Not only is Mr Morrison playing at class war and division, with aged and stolen rhetoric, he hasn't even got his facts and terminology right. 

Perhaps it would behoove the treasurer to borrow another American politician's trick: we call it the Food Stamp Challenge. It's pretty basic: members of Congress attempt to make their lives work under the same restrictions they'd face on welfare: no prepared food, no wine at that function in the evening, and the total daily food spending can't exceed $6.37 per person in the household, which is what the average recipient gets. His parties would be cheaper, in any case, which might do more to plug the budget gap than demonising the poor will – his last big party cost more for the single evening than a Newstart recipient will get in a year. 

Mr Morrison would have you believe that your pensioner grandmother is the most vital threat to the Australian economy. That seems … unlikely at best, we'll say. 

Australians should be chary of this path, but if the government really wants to be the GOP, they'd do well to see where that's got the Republicans so far: fetishising the investment and business classes at the expense of anyone who's less fortunate so much that they're running Donald Trump – the ultimate businessman, we're told – for the Presidency. 

Jobs and growth (a slogan of George W. Bush in 2006) indeed. 

Or was Continuity with Change what they meant? It's hard, actually to figure out what the government of Australia means to do when they can only speak in discarded Americanisms. The Age 

 Even their anti-gay, anti-safe schools, anti-bestiality because gays, anti-Nazi gays, is all borrowed from far right religious lunatics in the US. We've heard it all before and the arguments are meaningless now. It's like they don't realise there's an internet FFS.

What makes them think that we Australian's will accept the same policy failures, rhetoric, and arguments from overseas when we've watch them from afar fail from overseas? 

Tasmania's bitter debate over gays that destroyed lives - 1990's

Rodney Croome

Recently the leader of Australian Marriage Equality (AME) Rodney Croome resigned as head for the sole purpose of campaigning against the proposed plebiscite. The leader of the AME is now Alex Greenwich BTW. To a casual observer this may appear nothing of note, but it's anything but.

Rodney Croome has been a proponent of gay rights for many years, in particular marriage equality in Australia. If anyone wants marriage equality it's him. So that reason alone makes it notable that he's taken the drastic step of quitting AME to try and stop the plebiscite.

To understand his passion against this you have to go back to, what was evidently, a terrible few years in Tasmania in the '90's, where gayys kept pushing to have homosexuality decriminalised (yes it was the 1990's). By all accounts the struggle was a bitter shit fight in the public sphere. Gay lives were ruined and some took their lives because they couldn't deal with the hate anymore.

Croome wrote about this at The Drum in 2011:

The debate about decriminalising homosexuality in Tasmania was the most divisive, bitter and damaging of its kind in Australian history.

It involved the mass arrests of gay rights supporters, large anti-gay rallies, and the mobilisation of thousands of people on both sides.

Over nine years five bills were angrily rejected in the state's Upper House with MPs calling for gays to be "tracked down and wiped out".

The United Nations, the Federal Government and the High Court were drawn into the fight.

There was even a national boycott of Tasmanian products.

Our reputation for bigotry was deeply embarrassing for many Tasmanians and was held partly responsible by prominent economists for a decline in tourism, immigration and investment.

Worse, families and communities were torn apart by the issue.

Some families will always be scarred by the gay law reform debate because the hatred was too much for some young Tasmanians to bear and they took their own lives.

All the Labor MPs who spoke so movingly in favour of equality during Wednesday's debate lived through our dark past and almost all referenced it.

They all witnessed the immense pain and trauma caused by discriminatory laws and the prejudice that feeds off them.

They all heard, ad nauseam, the hysterical fear-mongering that seems to accompany every attempt to provide same-sex attracted people with respect and equality. The Drum

Homosexuality was finally decriminalised in 1997 in Tasmania. 

Now it's 2016, and the Abbott/Turnbull gov is saying that Australia needs to have a national debate on marriage equality. Because Turnbull hasn't the back bone to give the party a free vote on the issue. A coward's way forward.

Croome has recently written about this after leaving the AME and his reasons for being so rigidly against a plebiscite. 

We've seen the sort of bile that the Australian Christian Lobby produces, which will go around in the public space during a plebiscite, the most recent of this being that gays were Nazi's. And the ACL isn't the only christian hatemongers out there. 

Croome goes back to his experiences in Tasmania to give his most personal of reasons to oppose the plebiscite:

The other reason I have shifted to work against a plebiscite is deeply personal. 

In the mid 1990s, at the height of the bitter and divisive debate about decriminalising homosexuality in Tasmania, a young gay man, Nick Donovan, found himself in a quandary. 

Nick had bought a one-way ticket to Melbourne because he could no longer bear the anti-gay hate. But neither could he leave his family, his friends and the place that gave his life meaning. 

The night before he was due to leave he took his own life. 

We know what he was thinking because he wrote about it in his suicide note. 

At the time, I was busy trying to move decriminalisation forward by making submissions to the United Nations, lobbying state MPs, advocating in the media and speaking to community groups. There is a part of me that will always fear I was too distracted by all this lobbying and advocacy, and that I didn’t do enough to protect vulnerable people such as Nick. 

He is a splinter in my bloodstream that has finally reached my heart. 

If there is a plebiscite, and when the first gay kid dies at his own hand because of the hate and fear-mongering, I have to be able to look at myself in the mirror and know I did everything I could to stop it … everything. The Guardian

Me and David :)

For myself I was very happy when the Greens announced they would vote against it. Personally, it felt like the claws of the ACL and the like were being pulled away. After all, it's the christian hatemongers who want the plebiscite and who are complaining about anti-discrimination laws in arguing against marriage equality. Champing at the bit to stick the knife in to us dastardly LGBT who offend them by our very existence.

Again, the gov tries to dictate that the only way forward on marriage equality is through a plebiscite, and if the plebiscite doesn't go ahead there won't be gay marriage any time soon. In essence they're telling us some of us must have our lives ruined or die if we want marriage equality sooner than later. Despicable.

To me there is no choice. How much is even one life worth? Are we supposed to step over a dead body walking down the aisle?

 

 

Police arrest man putting hydrochloric acid in lube dispensors - Aarows

You've got to wonder where the head of someone is to do this.  Obviously thought out and premeditated. A man has been captured putting hydrochloric acid in to lube dispensers at gay sex on premises club Aarows in Sydney. 

It wasn't the first time it had happened and Aarows had put alarms in the dispensers and I guess literally caught him in the act. 

A man has been charged with filling a lube dispenser with hydrochloric acid at a gay and bisexual sex club in Sydney's west. 

The 62-year-old man allegedly tampered with the dispenser fitted to the wall in a room at the Aarows club in Bridge Street, Rydalmere, on Saturday. 

Items in the room had been fitted with sensor alarms because similar tampering had happened several times recently, police said. 

"Police will allege an alarm sounded and security detained the man before police from Rosehill Local Area Command attended," police said. 

Hydrochloric acid is a clear, pungent chemical that is corrosive to the eyes, skin, and mucous membrane. It can cause burns to the skin depending on how concentrated it is. 

No serious injuries have been reported to police and a worker at Aarows declined to answer questions on Sunday. 

The 62-year-old customer has been charged with administering poison intending to injure or cause distress or pain, entering a building with intent to commit an indictable offence, malicious damage and driving while suspended. Sydney Morning Herald  

Alarms in lube dispensers, WTF is the world coming to? 

A paper census form was pushed under our door *faints*

Another day another internet failure. I had this post ready to go at 1pm this afternoon, however Turnbull's internet chucked another hissy fit and just before posting it the dreaded red warning thing came up saying error saving. It saves every minute or two I think. When it can't it means it can't connect. Same thing happened yesterday and it was non-connectable for hours.

So anyway we were awoken this Sunday morning at an ungodly hour by a knock at the door. By the time I got something on and to the door the guy had gone, but hearing me open the door he came back. I thought he was someone from the god squad being Sunday, told him I wasn't interested and shut the door before he could speak.

Later I was taking out the rubbish and noticed an envelope had been put under the door. Upon closer inspection I found it to be a census form. Good grief I nearly fainted! Nearly three whole weeks after the census date, we had finally got something from them. Finally recognition of our existence.

As for the online debacle, we never got any letter for our census login online so we never had to go through the drama that many went through that night. 

And no, we won't be putting our names on them.

I will report if Australia Post sends the thing back from the bar code being stuffed.

Michael Kirby destroys Chinese community's aghastness at Safe Schools :)

It's always so very true that the way to address bigotry and fear is knowledge. In this case knowledge from Micheal Kirby who addresses the recent Chinese Australian opposition to the LGBT Safe Schools program. Knowledge about us LGBT. 

We're not evil people. We're not wrong simply for being authentic about who we are. We're not inferior to straight people. We don't have an agenda to take over society with gayness. We simply want to exist equally and without the viscous and wrong innuendo, the demonisation that is wrongly inflicted on us by the religious. mostly because of their own struggle with their own sexuality.

Like it or not, the LGBT exist in our schools. Like it or not there is no denying the horrendous amounts of LGBT suicides that take place amongst the young LGBT. They are indeed too young to have developed a rough hide so to speak. Scared and frail emotionally in a world that can say they don't belong in, and often does.

Story of my life folks. Still is. In the end I just accepted the fact that I'm incredibly sensitive and emotional. Growing up in Taranaki, New Zealand, these were attributes that were definitely no appreciated. I found myself on the outer often from the local community, weird and strange for not being the tough male, especially when I became a teenager.

I can't embed it here but you can watch it through the link:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-26/former-high-court-judge-backs-safe-schools-program/7790666
 

"Christian Warrior" terrorist arrested wanting to kill gays - US

US christian terrorist Bryce Cuellar, god casualty

More love from the christians.....


So this christian, full of the love of the invisible sky man apparently, views himself as a self described "christian warrior" (pictured above). How very Crusades darlings.

One night when he was pissed as a fart and angry as a turd, he decided to post some maniac christian warrior video threatening those evil of us who dare to be ourselves; ie gay and whatever. He posted said video of all places on YouTube (yes folks he was about 5 tinnies short of a six pack) who pulled it down. 

His excuse was he was drunk and angry (I see a pattern here) not to mention he bashed his wife one hour after posting the thing. Perhaps someone should have taken away his six pack?

So now this christian crusades warrior has been arrested by the anti-terrorist authorities over there. There you go; a christian terrorist.....  

BTW how does a nutter like this get access to guns FFS? Oh yeah, America.....

Las Vegas police say they were notified on July 2 by Interpol via Google about a suspicious/threatening YouTube video. 

Although Google had removed the video, they were able to provide a link for a detective to watch the video. 

In the video, a man named Bryce Cuellar reportedly showed off two rifles and was wearing a military flak vest and night vision goggles. 

Cuellar reportedly said in the video that he is tired of the government trying to take away his First and Second Amendment rights and says that he cannot wait to use his rifle in the manner in which the founding fathers intended. 

He also said that he wanted to kill "gays, faggots, lesbians and satanists" and claimed to be a Christian warrior. Cuellar also said that he is tired of America and would begin killing soon. 

Police also checked his Facebook page and found posts about the Orlando shooting and posts that outlines his anti-government, sovereign citizen and militia ideologies. Police say that Cuellar has become increasingly more radical and aggressive in his videos over the past 3 years. 13 Action News! 

So very pissed off with Turnbull's internet today - blog off 4 hours FFS!

I'm still trying to calm myself from the Australian internet rage I've been experiencing all afternoon today. Smack in the middle of eastern Sydney there is no NBN yet, not that I have faith it'd be much better than what I've got now, being ADSL2+ through the 100 year old local Sydney copper network. 

Today after doing the dishes and letting David have his go for a bit (his PC died yesterday looking like a fatal death, however he does have an extended warranty on it) I proceeded to the PC and almost immediately the internet screamed at me about the gay hating pastor in Florida who'd said the Orlando victims deserved it, getting arrested for aggravated child sexual assault. Oh how I wanted to post about that!

However near the end of it, after a small rave (see last post) suddenly in the early afternoon the blog went nonconnectable. Not just a hiccup for a minute or so, but it went on for hours. Just as I get on my blog for the day it dies.

Turnbull lately reckons he's fixed it, which I can only say is some kind of Orwellian doublespeak. He has so far, as communications minister and now PM, presided over one of (if not the biggest) Australian infrastructure catastrophes in our modern history. 

In fact historians will look back at the Lieberal politicking about the internet in decades to come and the dog's breakfast they made it, as they continue spending billions to fix the disaster that it has become. 

Pastor who said Pulse victims deserved death busted for aggravated child molesting

Mugshot

Another one bites the dust. Isn't it amazing how someone accuses gays of being child molesters and then get arrested for that very crime?

This pastor was a real piece of work folks. He absolutely despised the LGBT. After the pulse massacre he said that "homosexuals got what they deserved".

However pastor Ken Adkins has now been arrested for child molesting and currently resides in jail.

My my how the world turns.....

Adkins is a controversial figure in Jacksonville politics, particularly because of comments and crude caricatures he posted on his Twitter account while he helped lead the fight against expanding Jacksonville’s anti-discrimination law to cover lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. 

Among the criticisms that Adkins lodged was his assertion that expanding the law would make it easier for sexual predators to find victims in bathrooms. 

Adkins served as a panelist last December on one of the community forums that debated whether Jacksonville should broaden the law. Mayor Lenny Curry ultimately decided against doing so. 

Gough hinted that there could be a political motivation to the charges brought against Adkins. 

“Given his past very vocal positions on issues, it’s a concern,” Gough said. 

After the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando in June, Adkins tweeted, “been through so much with these Jacksonville homosexuals that I don’t see none of them as victims. I see them as getting what they deserve.” The Florida Times

   

Fred Nile wants to delay the plebiscite even further :s

Not that I think it's going to happen, but it's of interest anyway.

In further confirmation that the plebiscite is simply a delaying tactic by the homophobes, NSW MP Fred Nile has requested the state gov to ask the federal gov to delay the plebiscite even further to as late as September. 

Why? Because Mardi Gras will be on in Feb and everyone will I guess be feeling extra warm and fuzzy about us gays. Particularly business owners with the Mardi Gras kicking in $bazillions to the local economy.

Honestly, sometimes I do wonder about that Fred. I think he still prays for rain on Mardi Gras.

Gilead prices PrEP out of the market, fails to get Australia PBS listing

For those reading this who may not know, PrEP is a daily dose of the HIV anti-retro-viral drug Truvada taken by someone who is HIV negative. It has been proven to stop HIV infections by around 90%.

The drug maker is Gilead, who were trying to get it listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) where it's subsidised by the gov and made accessible to all Australians. 

However Gilead put the price of the drug so high that the gov balked at the price ($700 a month). 

Gilead says it will make another application for the PBS listing in the future.

Health advocates say Gilead attempted to restrict subsidised access to Truvada – used in the HIV prevention regime pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) – so it could continue to charge an exorbitant price. 

The details of Gilead’s submission are not publicly available, but HIV advocates believe the company asked the government to subsidise the full retail price of the drug, which sells for around $700 a month. 

They say the company also wanted to restrict access to only people with a higher risk of contracting HIV, but HIV advocates and the Department of Health both say these restrictions were unacceptable. 

A spokesperson for the Department of Health said Gilead’s proposed cost for the drug was “far too high”. “[Gilead’s] attempt to limit PBS subsidy of Truvada to a smaller, high-risk subset of the whole ‘at risk’ population was not feasible and would not be acceptable to prescribers or consumers,” the spokesperson said. 

President of the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations Dr Bridget Haire told BuzzFeed News that in attempting to protect its profit margins, Gilead had failed to protect the Australians who are most at risk of contracting HIV. 

“We know that you can buy generic Truvada equivalents over the internet for as low as $55 or $60 a month,” she said. “It’s pretty hard to justify charging over $700 a month for the same pill. 

“The case that should have been put to the PBAC [Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Scheme] should have been trying to get access to PrEP for all of the Australians who are going to benefit from it at a price that’s going to be affordable for the country.” Buzzfeed  

Beer production grinds to a halt (OMG!) - shortages predicted (shit!)

Boycott these beers to support sacked workers

The situation at Carlton and United's biggest brewery down in Melbourne is escalating as the entire factory went on strike in support of the sacked maintenance workers there. For three hours they stopped the production lines completely whilst attending a stop work meeting.

Although the company is putting on a brave face and saying beer production is fine as it's winter (I have no idea why cold weather would make one drink less beer BTW) but that remains to be seen. Production is already well down due to the inexperienced temp staff they replaced the sacked staff with not knowing the intricacies of the job. Breakdowns are also well up and workers on the factory floor are now worried about safety.

Hundreds of workers at Carlton and United's biggest brewery walked off on Thursday, and have raised the threat of further strikes against the beer giant. 

Production lines came to a halt for three hours as the Abbotsford brewery's production and distribution workers attended a stop-work meeting in condemnation of the company's "trashing of Australian jobs", union officials said. 

The meeting also voiced concerns that the "inexperienced" temporary labour-hire staff, brought in to replace the brewery's recently sacked maintenance crew, are jeopardising site safety. Workers are warning of "escalating action" that could threaten beer supplies to bars and bottle shops if the former staff are not reinstated. 

It comes as the brewery's sacked maintenance crew continues picketing outside the gates of the plant. The dispute has gone on for 10 weeks since 55 workers lost their jobs and refused to reapply for the positions on inferior pay and conditions with a new contractor. Sydney Morning Herald  

Unions also have a campaign for people to boycott beer produced on the site on the weekend of the footy grand final. 

Greens to block plebiscite in senate! - Hooray!

*Update: Bill Shorten signals Labor likely to block marriage equality plebiscite, The Guardian
  
I completely agree with them too.

The Greens have announced they will use their senate votes to block the legislation necessary to implement a plebiscite on marriage equality. After inviting people to give their views, a massive 83% not wanting them to support a plebiscite.

There is now growing pressure on Turnbull to let the parliament do it's job and not be hijacked by the far right of his party. If he let his party have a free vote we could have marriage equality in a day.

If Labor now also sides with the Greens then the plebiscite will be dead. Which will be a good thing. We would rather see the plebiscite dead than members of the LGBT community from suicide.

This from the email:

Dear Peter, 

We just announced that the Greens will block the proposed plebiscite on marriage equality in the Senate. 

Australia is ready for marriage equality. We don’t need an unnecessary, divisive and expensive vote that could be ignored by the hard right of the Coalition. 

We could take this important step towards equality next week if Turnbull would just let Parliament do its job. 

This was not an easy decision. If the Liberals and Nationals continue to deny their members of Parliament a free vote it could delay marriage equality for several years. So, we asked all of you what you thought we should prioritise and the message was clear – 83% of us said we should not support a plebiscite in parliament at all. Not only because it could be very harmful, but because it’s the wrong way to achieve this reform. 

John Howard didn't need a plebiscite to change the Marriage Act to deny marriage equality and we don't need one now to change it back. 

Maybe the most amazing thing that came out of our survey was that if this plebiscite is forced on us, more than 60% of us would still go out and campaign for a ‘yes’ vote. That’s exactly the brave defiance that defines this community. 

We have already seen the kind of vile hate speech coming from the Australian Christian Lobby who would play a central role in opposing marriage equality for a plebiscite vote. Such vile and repulsive accusations against the LGBT on a national scale will cause havoc within the LGBT community in Australia, and there is consensus that it will cost lives.

I hope now that Labor will stand with the Greens on this.

The lives in our community are far more important than our right to marry. It's a tragedy that we have to chose between the two. 

Should #marriageequality be decided by Parliament? @Greens to block legislation setting up #plebiscite #TheDrum pic.twitter.com/ATjxQKQSlk

— ABC The Drum (@ABCthedrum) August 26, 2016

“#SSM is a human rights issue, a matter of principle” @acgrayling says #plebiscite is a cop out by the govt #TheDrum pic.twitter.com/jOyQEu24pu

— ABC The Drum (@ABCthedrum) August 26, 2016

Aboriginal genocide after white invasion day (video)

Australia has a very dark racist past. In fact after white invasion of their continent the Aboriginals (here for 40,000 years) fought back greatly but were slaughtered in what can only be described as genocide.

Unbelievably, it wasn't until the 1960's that Aboriginals were even granted the right to vote (not by a plebiscite BTW but an act of parliament) and counted in the population.

I suspect Australia's history after British settlement has been whitewashed, literally. Perhaps many of the atrocities committed by the British over more than 100 years will never see the light of day in modern history, but live on only in the generational stories passed down by Aboriginal elders.

 

 

 

"We have been very respectful" - Australian Christian Lobby (video)

OMFG! I've just watched this video and have actually heard Lyle Shelton of the Australian Christian Lobby say that they've always been "very respectful" in this thing about marriage equality. 

At the same time he spouts all this bullshit about Safe Schools in the interview. He recently called the gay community Nazi's for supporting the Safe Schools program for the LGBT. He calls that "respectful" FFS. WTF planet does this asshole live on?

 

The people's inquiry into privatisation of services - submissions needed

Public Services International

Public Services International, who are affiliated with public sector unions in Australia, have launched an Australian inquiry into the effects of privatisation on public services in Australia. They want to hear from all affected by said privatisation; ie, how has it affected you or your community?

Submissions close Sept 9th 2016. You can make a submission here. I will be making one about the Abbott/Turnbull gov attacks on Medicare, how it affect me in a financial hardship position, and how gov savings to shift payments for Medicare services into the private sector via co-payments will have an effect on the future spread of HIV. 

Australians have always been proud of our public institutions - Medicare, the ABC, our hospitals and schools. But our public services are threatened by politicians who want to privatise them so companies can run them for profit.

The Turnbull Government has directed the Productivity Commission to conduct an inquiry into how to further privatise our public services, without looking at whether handing over control of our services to corporations is in the best interests of all Australians.

But we think communities should have a say over how our services are run, and for whose benefit.

That's why we've initiated the People's Inquiry into Privatisation. We want to start a national conversation about the impacts of privatisation, and talk directly with communities about the services they need.

We want to hear from you! People's Inquiry into Privatisation  

 

Update: My submission:

I have had HIV since 2008. I was diagnosed in early 2009 after having a particularly hard sero-conversion. I attended the publicly funded and free Albion St Centre for the HIV test and diagnosis as I felt my local GP was out of her depth with it.

After starting HIV meds I had an allergic reaction to Truvada and Naprosyn causing complete kidney failure in a matter of days. My kidney specialist at Prince of Wales hospital told me upon discharge that I was about 48 hours from death when I arrived at the Prince of Wales Emergency. If not for the co-ordination between Albion St Clinic and Prince of Wales hospital I'd very likely be dead. The kidney failure was picked up by chance in my three monthly blood tests in having HIV, which were of course free and done at the Albion St Centre.

You can find my experiences of that time on my blog:
https://lifewithhiv-peter.blogspot.com.au/p/i-nearly-died-in-hospital-special.html

Since that time it has been a long recovery back to something like a life. I'm now classified as chronically ill, with kidney functions monitored regularly along with HIV levels, and everything else they do. I take 13 tablets a day for both mental and physical health. I struggle with suicidal thoughts at times. I survive on the DSP paying private rent, having to draw money out of my super under financial hardship legislation ($10,000yr) to get by.

I rely completely on bulk billing for my medical needs. I rely completely on free blood tests and free HIV doctor visits for my regular health preventative checks. There are times I go to the doctor without a cent, as I often go for days on end with no money at all.

Currently I'm having trouble with my eyes, the left one I think a cataract. My doctor sent me to a bulk billing optometrist but when I got there they said I had to pay a $30 "imaging fee". This because the gov is shifting costs from the gov to the private sector, the private sector passing that cost on to me, a pensioner.

I couldn't pay it. I tried to but couldn't get the money together. This financial year I'll get about a bit under $17,000 for the partnered DSP and my share of the rent out of that is about $10,000. It's just impossible that I would be expected to pay anything.

The wider concern is of course the threats of a co-payment to blood tests (I need at least 4 a year as a default, but often more) and the threats of a co-payment to see my doctor. Luckily my doctor has been seeing me for years and the centre understands people in my situation. For those working they charge more to subsidise those of us who simply can't pay.

However my concern is for many medical centres around Australia that of June this year are stopping bulk billing for everyone, including pensioners. Can you imagine me having to pay to see a doctor and for a blood test? Impossible as it is I'd likely just not go having no choice about it.

The bigger concern is for those in the community with HIV. The strategy to end this bloody virus is to get tested regularly, if positive get on treatment straight away and become "undetectable" re HIV virus levels, and maintain good health, making it just about impossible to pass it on.

Many of those who have HIV don't know they have it. They go around infecting people without knowing it. What will happen to HIV infection rates  if these people have to start paying to see a doctor and get a blood test?

All the encouragement is presently aimed at ending HIV in Australia by 2020. The privatisation of services which shifts costs away from gov into the private sector, businesses, and patients is diametrically opposed to the fight against HIV.

Thank you for your time,