NBN considers wireless technology to bypass unreliable copper NBN areas :s

And here we go for the latest fiasco from Turnbull's copper NBN lemon. Yes folks, they've come up with a solution to fix some areas of fibre to the node deemed to be "unreliable" or "corroding". A 5G wireless Network to bypass problem areas.

Um, which is what is already being built by the private sector.

Which will cost NBN more per home than putting fibre to the premises in the first place. 

Which is an admission by NBN that parts of their Network are fucked.

What's more the minister doesn't even now about the 5G overbuild.

Demand the removal of Barnaby Joyce - please sign petition (+my latest Barnaby dummy spit)

It's getting more and more ridiculous and tenuous for Barnaby Joyce to remain in the parliament. He should at least step down until a full inquiry is completed into his use of public money in dealings with his pregnant mistress (who he's now living with rent free thanks to a rich party donor). Soon he will assume the office of acting PM as Turnbull goes and talks bullshit with Trump in Washington. Surely this shouldn't happen with so much of a controversial cloud of corruption hanging over his head.

The public is getting more and more outraged by the day at the excuses and cover ups. We're being told it was all OK to have his mistress moved from office to office, with high paying taxpayer funded jobs being created for her after her presence in Joyce's parliamentary offices was causing major problems (one staff member eventually left over it). That it's all above board with travel expenses. That it's all none of our business as it's a "private matter". 

Today the latest bullshit from Turnbull is that by parliamentary rules his mistress isn't classed as his "partner" so therefore he didn't break any ministerial guidelines in her being moved out of his office to a newly created job in another office, in which she wasn't replaced upon leaving. By parlaimentary rules she's not even considered his partner today even though he's been shacked up with her for weeks! WTF? Centrelink deems someone a partner from the day the couple move in together. Why on earth is it one rule for us having to comply with Centrelink, and another for politicians?

Sydney Morning Herald

If this pisses you off then there's a new petition taking off that you can sign here. It's bad enough that he's in parliament at all, but this drunken carousing buffoon being our acting prime minister is just beyond the pale. It's an insult to the office of prime minster, but mostly and insult to all Australians. We're being treated with contempt as simpletons who will mindlessly believe any bullshit that comes out of the mouths of this gov. 

Sign here.

Getting your wife a job in a minister's office - not allowed. Getting your mistress a job in a minister's office - no worries. https://t.co/6eXzWALca3

— Adam Gartrell (@adamgartrell) February 12, 2018

As Barnaby Joyce faces growing scrutiny, @Lisa_Wilkinson explains why the scandal is about more than just a private affair. #auspol #TheProjectTV pic.twitter.com/0aljmDhPNc

— The Project (@theprojecttv) February 12, 2018

Political journalist @barriecassidy weighs in on whether Barnaby Joyce can survive. #TheProjectTV pic.twitter.com/EETAdaldoT

— The Project (@theprojecttv) February 11, 2018

Zac and Casper reunite :)

*click to enlarge

Zac and Casper have always gotten on well, but with Cloe around pretty much all Zac's attention was taken up with her. They were a team, just about joined at the hip. Wherever one was the other wouldn't be far off.

Zac has really missed Cloe since she passed away. He's a very smart cat too. After Cloe died we neglected to put the carrier box back up on top of the wardrobes where it's stored. After a couple of days I found Zac staring up at the top of the wardrobe looking for the box. Maybe wondering if Cloe had somehow survived and would be coming back home in said box. I went and got it out of the spare room, gave David the towel in it as he was putting washing in, and showed Zac the empty box for him to look in. Then I put it on top of the wardrobes highly visible.

He still really misses her though, you can see it in his eyes. He's been very clingy and loving too, and at times just very quiet a sullen.. We've made sure to give him lots of cuddles and attention. This is the first time he's known death. After all he is only three years old.

Casper, Cloe's sister of one year old, I think is maybe a bit young to understand death yet. I think he thinks she may just appear again one day after being away. The other day he walked through the lounge room looking for her. She used to hide in various places and pounce when Zac or Casper walked past, so funny she always outsmarted the boys playing with them. So Casper was looking at the various places she used to hide to see if she was there.

All very sad, but thankfully animals seem to get over death quite quickly. There's an acceptance that it's just nature and everything dies; sometimes sooner, sometimes later. So now with Cloe gone the whole cat dynamic is changing again.

Both Zac and Casper have started playing together again a lot, and Zac is giving Casper a lot of attention. Licking him and showing love to him, even disciplining him at times with a hiss. David reckons it's because he lost his little girl Cloe so he's not going to lose Casper too and will be really protective. 

In any case it's great to see them bonding again. You can see Cloe in Casper; he has the same loving personality and not a mean bone in his body.

Zac giving Casper a licking :)

Turnbull goes Barnaby hypocrisy over his "private" life (video)

Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce pissed at work

*Update: Is this man fit to serve?

The deputy PM Barnaby Joyce's affair with his pregnant girlfriend has well and truly exploded across Australian media, turning into another massive headache for the Turnbull gov. You'd think the gov would be used to headaches by now, but this one is a doozy!

The anger in the community you can almost taste. My guess is that he'd not have won the New England by election had this have been reported as now back then. People are appalled at what he's done to his wife and 4 daughters. Appalled at what he did in his Canberra gov office workplace. Appalled that he didn't even have the forethought to practice safe sex, particularly with a real possibility of pregnancy. Appalled at the way he's treated those staff of his who disagreed with the affair, overlooking them for positions or promotion. At the way the prime ministers office was forced to intervene to get her moved out of his parliamentary office, a new full time job being created in MP Mat Canavan's parliamentary offices that wasn't there before. The position wasn't advertised and she was not replaced by anyone after she left. And on and on....

But most of all for us LGBT it is the sheer unadulterated hypocrisy from Joyce, pleading for privacy after throwing our private lives to the wolves for months during the marriage equality postal survey. Up until now it's pretty much been Joyce pushing this line, albeit other Canberra politicians giving the statutory line of staying the fuck out of the Barnaby affair. However, the prime minister himself has entered the fray pleading for Joyce's privacy in entirely hypocritical language at least equal to Joyce's. It's not just Joyce now, but hypocrisy from this gov on the issue.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says he and his wife Lucy are acutely aware of the hurt Barnaby Joyce's marriage breakdown has caused his estranged wife and daughters.

 Mr Turnbull would not be drawn on reports the Deputy Prime Minister's new partner and former staffer was offered a posting in a colleague's office last year, saying he did not want to publicly discuss private matters.

 "It is a tough and distressing episode and I am very conscious - Lucy and I are very conscious - of the hurt occasioned to Natalie and their daughters in particular," he told reporters in Canberra on Friday.

 "So that's why I don't want to add or contribute to the discussion about it."

 The Prime Minister rejected the need for Australia to follow the United States and ban MPs from sleeping with their staff.

 "Relations between consenting adults is not something that normally, you would be justified in, if you like, seeking to regulate," he told reporters. 

 "Adults can conduct their relationships - if it's consensual, respectful - that's their right." The Age

*My bolding.

Shame the prime minister didn't think like that about us LGBT in the postal survey. He certainly wasn't "acutely aware" of our pain. 

He could have simply called a free conscience vote in parliament (like Howard did 5 times in 11 years) and the numbers were already there for marriage equality to pass. But no, he put us through hell just to placate the RWNJ's in his party. 

One rule for us and another for the gov.

More stories to come on #Barnaby #auspol #insiders #nswpol pic.twitter.com/alf6ItRSKj

— Comrade craigjack36 (@craigjack36) February 10, 2018

Joyce with soon to be pregnant girlfriend, taxpayer funded trip to Sydney

How is it even possible for someone to have sex with this man?

PrEP is going on Australia's Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme

The HIV prevention drug (Truvada) PrEP , which is 99% effective at preventing HIV infection, is soon to be listed on Australia's Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). The price will be drastically reduced with the gov subsidy provided through the PBS from around $10,000 a year to about $500 a year. Less for those on a pension or benefits I guess. It will make the drug accessible to many Australians for the first time.

Truvada can currently cost up to $10,000 a year but a PBS listing is expected to bring the price to below $500 a year, meaning thousands of at-risk individuals, including men who have sex with men, injecting drug users and sex workers, will have greater access to the drug.

 The likely decision has been welcomed by advocates. Nic Holas, the co-founder of the The Institute of Many (TIM), a peer-run group for HIV positive people, said in a statement: “For too long, people living with HIV have born the brunt of expectation, responsibility, and blame when it comes to keeping the community safe from HIV. PrEP offers HIV negative people the opportunity to take more responsibility for their own safety”.

 “PrEP is a necessary and urgent tool, and one of a new array of options in the fight to end HIV,” Holas said. “We have long said that until PrEP is fully accessible, it will not be fully effective. We have already seen in some jurisdictions how PrEP, in combination with other prevention methods, testing strategies, and meaningful community engagement, has helped to reduce instances of HIV transmission. Now, we hope to see the same effect across the country, and beyond just the community of gay and bisexual men affected by HIV.” Junkee

Media release from Positive Life

Crooks stole $500 out of my debit card account using Paypal

Update 2: The money was returned to my ban account today, nine days after I noticed it first gone and four days late for the rent. But it's here finally.

*Update: I rang Paypal again to day to see what was happening and they had processed the reversal yesterday with the money being accepted by my account. I then rang the bank asking how long it would take for them to process it and the $500 finally arrive back in my account. They said up to seven working days from yesterday (Monday). WTF? So it may not be next week before I can finally belatedly pay this fortnight's rent. I've sent three emails to the real estate agent keeping them up to date of whats going on. The rent was due yesterday BTW.

Unbelievable. 

I checked my account yesterday to make sure there was enough left for the fortnightly rent and got a big shock. There had been a $500 withdrawal from my account by some mystery person, through Paypal. WTF? They'd taken over half of the rent money!

So I rang the bank and had the card cancelled and an investigation started, but it wasn't looking good for the money being put back any time soon. Between 4 to 40 days they said. Thing is the rent is due on Monday and I've set it up to go out today. The bank couldn't help me there, instead told me to go and see the manager at the local branch and tell him my situation. FFS! They also told me to ring Paypal as likely they could sort it out much sooner than the bank could.

So I rang Paypal. The account they used was one I'd had for years and had forgotten about, not used it at all for ages. It was even set up through my old email address. I must say Paypal was really good. Long story short they reversed the transaction there and then, but said it would take a few days for the bank to process it and the money to be put back into my account. 

So I've had to suspend this weeks auto pay rent thing and send an email to the real estate agent telling them the story, and that I'd pay it manually in a one off transfer when the money came through.

So WTF happened? How did the crooks do it? I always use Paypass as it's secure and can't be traced. The only thing that I've bought online in recent times are a $20 pair of PC speakers from J B Hi Fi which I went and picked up after ordering. That's it. Haven't even topped up my Opal transport card online. Has the J B Hi Fi database been hacked? I asked this to the Paypal guy reversing the transaction, and he said no matter how big the organisation no one is immune from hacking. Or was it an employee with access to that information?

The other thing is this debit card is only a couple of months old, yet they had my name, the card number, expiry date, and even the three digit security number on the back. How the fuck did they get that?

The other thing is when I was on hold to Paypal they were advertising this new feature they'd invented. If you link your card to your Paypal account then you can buy stuff through Paypal and it goes straight out of your card account, even when your Paypal balance is zero. Honestly, what a dead set stupid invention. They're just about asking for crooks to take advantage of it.

So that's as near as I can figure out what happened. The only place they could have gotten my debit card number was via the J B Hi Fi purchase. What's more they'd have had to hack my Paypal account to link the card with the Paypal account, thereby making a purchase direct from my debit card even though my Paypal balance was zero.

The other thing is that it happened on Wednesday; the day my DSP pension went in. The Paypal guy also said the transaction was done in Australia. Did they know I was on a pension? Were they waiting for my pension to go in to steal it? It would appear so, which makes it even worse - stealing off a pensioner FFS. They must have had some sort of access to my account with the card details, I can't think of any other way they'd know I was on a pension and the day I was getting paid. Centrelink pays different benefits on different days.

Anyway I rang the bank back and told them Paypal had come to the rescue and they cancelled the investigation. No more J B Hi Fi online purchases for me folks!

Barnaby Joyce grilled in interview over "private" life/pregnant girlfriend (video)

Our adulterer and glass jawed deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce

Update: Gay rights campaigner slams ‘hypocrite’ Barnaby Joyce as his ex wife speaks out on ‘devastating’ affair 

On the ABC's 7:30 report last night Barnaby Joyce was questioned over his affair with a staffer, getting her pregnant, and subsequently leaving his wife of 24 years along with his four kids to shack up with the 20yr younger girlfriend. All this happening with the deputy prime minister when he was preaching "the sanctity of marriage" to Australia and him quite happy to have our private lives debated in the public arena for months.

Here he replies to all the innuendo after the main stream media frenzy on him began yesterday. It's appalling to see him in this interview, the precious petal crying foul because his private life was now out in the public arena for discussion and debate. Everything he says in this interview should be seen in the light of the postal survey on our LGBT lives that he was so willing to hoist on us. Everything he says about himself is what we were saying about us in the survey. 

But instead of taking it on the chin and getting on with the circumstances hoisted on us, it's clear that Joyce has a glass jaw. His circumstances weren't even hoisted on him but were of his own doing. Now it's news for Australians to digest he can't take the heat. Imagine if we were to have a national vote on his personal life like we did ours. The snowflake would melt. He's happy to dish it out, but the coward can't take even just a little bit back.

This isn't about his marriage breakdown and all the sordid details of the new pregnancy. It's about his hypocrisy during the marriage equality debate and his own preciousness. Indeed it's one rule for us LGBT and another rule for Barnaby Joyce. 

Questions are being asked as to why the main stream media hadn't reported this earlier. It was the worst kept secret in Canberra. Questions about whether it was newsworthy or not just don't cut it. How different things might have been if it had of been widely reported during the marriage equality survey! Surely in the debate about our personal lives that alone would have made it newsworthy if only for topical reasons. But it wasn't. The Canberra press gallery decided Joyce's personal life was out of bounds. Shame they didn't think that about us eh.

.@Barnaby_Joyce tells @leighsales the end of his marriage was “one of the greatest failures of my life”. #abc730 #auspol pic.twitter.com/maRfgpuL4u

— abc730 (@abc730) February 7, 2018

"Resources Minister Matt Canavan created a new high-salary job for Barnaby Joyce’s girlfriend as the affair created serious dysfunction in the Deputy Prime Minister’s office." https://t.co/k8w8hc6T9d
And these drips don't think illicit affairs with a staffer compromise? 🙄

— Noely (@YaThinkN) February 8, 2018

Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce leaves wife for his pregnant girlfriend

The very pregnant ex staff member of Joyce's, Vikki Campion (from the Daily Terrorgraph)

This has been in social media for weeks without the main stream media picking it up. The press gallery in Canberra decided in all their wisdom that such a thing was a private matter for the deputy prime minister and off limits for reporting. 

Such an attitude by the Canberra press gallery was pretty hard to swallow. This was happening during the same sex marriage postal survey nationwide debate about our personal lives. He was screwing around on his wife whilst preaching to us about the "sanctity of marriage" and saying that same sex marriage would have an adverse affect on his daughters.

Well now the main stream media has picked up the story, after the Daily Terrorgraph published a tell all story this morning complete with pictures of his pregnant girlfriend (an ex-staffer of his) that he'd left his wife of many years for. The hypocrisy of asserting that same sex marriage would harm his daughters whilst he was behaving like this, and eventually leaving his wife and daughters for his ex-staffer that he got pregnant, is staggering.

The estranged wife of Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has broken her silence over her husband’s affair with a former staff member, saying she is “deeply saddened” to learn they are now having a child together.


Natalie Joyce released a statement today, after 9NEWS confirmed the 50-year-old Nationals leader and his 33-year-old former press secretary, Vikki Campion, are expecting a baby within months.

 “I understand that this affair has been going on for many months and started when she was a paid employee,” Mrs Joyce said.

 “This situation is devastating on many fronts. For my girls who are affected by the family breakdown and for me as a wife of 24 years, who placed my own career on hold to support Barnaby through his political life.

 “Our family life has had to be shared during Barnaby’s political career and it was with trust that we let campaign and office staff into our homes and into our lives.

 "Naturally we also feel deceived and hurt by the actions of Barnaby and the staff member involved.” nine.com.au

Why didn't the MSM pick this up during the by election he had to have when it was discovered he was a dual citizen? The media is supposed to be the guardians of truth, not covering it up like the press gallery did. Who are they to decide what is off limits? Joyce set himself up as the preacher of "the sanctity of marriage". Surely his hypocrisy in this area is at least newsworthy, but more so in the public interest as well.

I have absolutely no sympathy for Joyce and his wanting to keep it all a private matter. The legitimacy of our personal lives was put up for debate in the public sphere for two months leading up to the postal survey deadline. We were told to "grow a spine" when a radio caller to the ABC praised Hitler for rounding us up and killing us in concentration camps. Accused of being paedophiles and a disease infecting society, amongst other very "respectful debate". 

If Barnaby is so precious he can dish out that sort of bullshit to us but not take even a very small percentage of it back, well too bad. He's the deputy prime minister of Australia FFS! He should grow a bloody spine. What a buffoon.

He whined that same-sex marriage would negatively impact his 4 daughters, while he was involved in an affair that has destroyed their family.

— Helen Murti (@HMMurti) February 7, 2018

This piece by @JacquelineMaley on the @Barnaby_Joyce story is really good. Is the scandal likely to be a career ender for the leader of the Nationals? "... if a female politician fell pregnant to a staffer while married to someone else, you can bet it would be." You betcha! https://t.co/CQbrfk6Jrd

— Emma Alberici (@albericie) February 7, 2018

What the RWNJ christians want - homophobic submission religious freedom inquiry

More love from the christians....

Now that submissions for the inquiry into religious freedom have been made public after a huge outcry, submissions from the far right christians can be read. 

A Bernard Gaynor (I've never heard of him) has made a submission that can only be described as extremist in it's homophobia.

You can find the whole 46 page submission here if you can be bothered, but here are some excerpts. They are indeed mind boggling. I think it goes back beyond the 1950's, even going so far as to demand the police LGBT liaison officers go through some kind of deprogramming of their friendly attitude to LGBT people. He even wants the NSW anti-discrimination board abolished and compensation paid to christians who have had unfavourable outcomes in decisions made by the board!
‘Homosexual marriage’ 

1.‘Homosexual marriage’ laws should be repealed.
2. Laws should be enacted to: 

• provide marriage celebrants freedom to refuse marriage to homosexuals; 

• protect freedom of expression regarding the morality of homosexuality; 

• protect charities for discriminating on the grounds of sexual orientation; 

• protect religious bodies and schools for discriminating on the grounds of homosexuality and expressing views opposing homosexuality; 

• protect parental choice by ensuring that they can withdraw their children from programs like the ‘Safe Schools’ program; 

• protect freedom of expression defending Christian positions on marriage, family and morality. 

3. Government funding of homosexual organisations and programs such as Safe Schools should be scrapped and they should be removed from classrooms. 

‘Cultural change’ within Defence and other government agencies 

4. An inquiry should be held into the anti-Christian impact of cultural change program within Defence and other state and Commonwealth departments and agencies.
5. Government agencies and departments should not participate in events that vilify Christianity. 

Anti-discrimination law 

6. State and federal anti-discrimination laws should be abolished.
7. An inquiry should be held into the conduct of the New South Wales Anti-Discrimination Board and its conduct towards Christians.
8. The New South Wales government should pay compensation to victims of its anti-Christian antidiscrimination laws. 

Attitudes of state and Commonwealth police 

9. An inquiry should be held into the apparent bias of state and federal police forces against Christians.
10. Programs such as the New South Wales Gay and Lesbian Liaison Officer program should be scrapped.
11. Police officers who have been known to support LGBT activist causes should be involved in the investigation of any complaints against other LGBT activists. The Stirrer

South Australia to build world largest virtual power plant (video)

Off the back of getting the worlds biggest battery from Telsa, now South Australia is continuing to piss off the federal gov's coal lovers and building the largest virtual power plant, with the help of Telsa also.

Basically it means putting solar panels on house roofs with the extra energy generated being feed back into the grid. They're starting with public housing would you believe.

Despite Canberra doing everything it can to quash clean energy, SA is going full steam ahead and has become a world leader in green technology.

BREAKING: My Government has already delivered the world’s biggest battery. Now, we’re delivering the world’s largest Virtual Power Plant. #renewables #energy #solar #storage #future pic.twitter.com/0JPAMogPOV

— Jay Weatherill (@JayWeatherill) February 4, 2018

More renewable energy = cheaper power & more jobs for South Australians. #RenewableEnergy #solar #storage pic.twitter.com/wRkaBjwMMw

— Jay Weatherill (@JayWeatherill) February 5, 2018

Daughter is having a girl

*click to enlarge

Daughter had quite a visit at the ultrasound at 19 weeks to find out the sex of the baby. They've told her it's a girl. So I'm going to have a grand daughter.

She's 21 weeks now, and the baby will be a winter one due in July :)

She'll be having at least 6 months off work I think on paid parental leave. Hopefully the little baby won't wake up through the night for nine months like she did!

Cloe: Feb 1st 2017 - Feb 3rd 2018 xxx

It was a night of drama last night, with Cloe finally going to sleep and passing away as I rocked her gently. She died at 2:45 AM this morning. Today both cats and humans are in mourning.

She had only a short life but one filled with love. A cheeky little thing she was never afraid to pounce on Zac or Casper and wrestle with them. All the cats loved her including the matriarch Natasha. Casper was her brother from the same litter but the only competition between them was in cat play. But Zac especially loved her to death, they played and wrestled and washed each other. She was his little girl. Zac was the most concerned out of the three yesterday and the one who I had to show him her body afterwards so he knew for sure what had happened.

Still not clear the cause of death. The samples from the lab came back as some sort of yeast infection which is a total mystery, but the Vet said he'd go through the results himself in detail. He did say yesterday that she had a heart murmur, which would fit with the way she died if it was her heart. She was breathing very quickly very shallow breaths, the same as 17 year old Kiera did a while back.

David was a mess. Near the end he couldn't even watch. He does get very attached to the cats and Cloe was a very special one. I took her into our bedroom then and put her on a towel in an open box (cats go and hide away from everyone on their own to die). She was still very distressed and struggling for life poor little thing. So I started rocking the box gently back and forward, like I used to rock her in this computer chair at times and she'd go to sleep as I talked and whispered to her.

It was the same this time. The fear and distress soon gave way to the comforting rocking with my calm voice and she completely relaxed. Proceed to slow down  in her breathing and making her contented cat noises as she did (like a Star Trek tribble, so cute). After about ten or so minutes she went to sleep as she had done with me many times before on this chair, only this time she was going to sleep for good. She died a very peaceful death and I was so pleased that I could do that for her.

During this time Zac and Casper came in the room (Natasha already knew what was going on). Casper stayed at the door looking horrified, but Zac was very concerned and came in looking into the box as I was rocking it, before leaving the room. After she died I put the box covered in the spare room and shut the door to sort out in the morning. Soon Zac came in sniffing the bed where the box had been and looking on top of the wardrobes where the box us usually stored, wondering where she was. So I picked him up and took him in the spare room, put the box on the bed and opened it, tilting it over so he could see. He looked in a few times doing a soft cat growl, he was not impressed. His little girl had died. Today he's  sleeping on the lounge where Cloe used to sleep on her cushion.

Bye Cloe, a wonderful little cat and missed by all.

*Click to enlarge:

Cloe is really sick :(

Poor little thing, just as she's turned one.

She's been off her food for about three days now and acting very quiet and unlike her playful self. I said to David she's not well. We didn't notice until last night though she's got a couple of lumps suddenly come up on her neck, one quite large and the other not so. 

David took her to the vet this morning who gave some antibiotics for her to take and took a sample of the lumps with a needle and syringe to get tested. Probably find out Monday as it's the end of the week now. Vet reckons it might be an infection of the saliva glands or something, or perhaps a reaction to an insect bite. If it's a tumour and cancer though she'll have to be put down. Never heard of a cat getting cancer at one though.

She's drinking water but hasn't eaten anything for a couple of days now. We might have to hand feed her bits at a time if this keeps up as she's got to eat. Is already looking weak.

Australian democracy improved due to marriage equality, whilst the US slipped

According to The Economist's Global Democracy Index released findings, they show that Australia'd democracy has improved with the advent of marriage equality and binning of the discriminatory marriage laws that it replaced. (So there Lyle!)

We've gone from 10th best to 8th best in the world, after performing terribly for the two years that Abbott was prime minister. Australia is classed as a "full democracy" along with New Zealand, being the only two full democracies in the Asia Pacific region.

Democracy went backwards across the world in 2017, but advanced in Australia. This appears attributable to the successful democratic rejection of the old marriage laws.  

The Economist Intelligence Unit revealed yesterday that Australia has moved to eighth place on its Global Democracy Index, up from tenth last year.  

The Index “provides a snapshot of the state of democracy worldwide for 165 independent states … based on five categories: electoral process and pluralism; civil liberties; the functioning of government; political participation; and political culture.”  

Australia has now snuck ahead of Finland and Switzerland. Its eighth ranking is behind (in order) Norway, Iceland, Sweden, New Zealand, Denmark, Ireland and Canada.  

This is a welcome turnaround for Australia which has tumbled on virtually all global rankings since 2013.  

Australia is now one of only 19 “full democracies”. These are the countries with secure basic political freedoms, respect for civil liberties, diverse and independent media, and an incorruptible judiciary whose decisions are enforced. Crikey

On the other hand, the US has failed for the second year in a row to qualify as a full democracy, instead being a "flawed democracy".

For the second year, the US did not make to the list of “full democracies”, but was classed as a “flawed democracy”, due mainly to “a serious decline in public trust in US institutions in 2016”.

The US has “a disjuncture between still generally high levels of public support for democracy across the globe and deep popular disappointment with the functioning of democracy and systems of political representation”. Crikey

Cloe and Casper are one today :)

It's a big happy birthday to Cloe and Casper today as they turn one year old (that's in human years of course). Just got the above rather blurry snap of them both at the back door earlier as I was doing the dishes. Casper, on the right, has grown like mad, he's going to be a very big cat. Cloe on the left remains the petite femme fatale who has Zac wrapped around her little paw.

Below is a year ago when we got them as kittens.