valakay.bsky.social
PhD in sustainability, equity & health. Former policy adviser for ALP & Greens. As a feminist I came into conflict with male authority in both. But Labor never tried to ban me, while Greens did. As patriarchy resurges, Greens need to come clean on this.
176 posts
48 followers
153 following
Regular Contributor
Active Commenter
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Thank you Daniel for doing this. It needs to be said. The hypocrisy of those who are supposedly condemning the booing when they have actively worked to undermine Welcome to Country, and respect for First Nations in general, appals me.
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I think one of the biggest things to remember Denise is that many boomers (my age group) did not have the opportunity for tertiary education or even to complete high school. Education makes a big difference to voting patterns. It is not their fault, they just didn’t have the opportunity.
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My father lost his twin brother in WW2, my mother her first husband. They never took part in any glorification of war, all they wanted was peace.
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Yes! There’s an attitude I’ve seen in Ratnam & others in Greens, which is to suggest Alex was somehow in the wrong too, without specifying how - uncomfortably close to victim-blaming in my mind. That’s what I mean by less than honorable. Anyway I’ll wait & see, I’ve only had a brief convo w her
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In fairness, she has said she will try to respond to my concerns & I understand that she’s too busy to do so right now - but I think there’s been years previously when she turned a blind eye, so we shall see. I’d still prefer to see her elected than PK.
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Ha ha yes I see that. Well as u seem to know fair bit abt inner north politics, I will just add that I think Ratnam has been less than honorable in her treatment of me, Alex Bathal & other women the Greens have decided to demonise & that’s a bit more serious than weakish advocacy for car parking
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I disagree w her advocacy for car parking (I’ve lived in Wills w/o a car for 25 yrs tho as she says, Brunswick is different from N Coburg) but I can understand how her ‘grass roots’ approach might mean she has to at least try to represent local views on this issue. It’s tricky
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Just read SA review, v interesting thanks. As expected, felt you were a bit hard on SB. I suspect apparent pro-car-parking stance is response to local pressure - eg in recent case SB advocated for more parking but apparently voted for no-car motion in the end brunswickvoice.com.au/car-free-hou...
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Looks like the emergency warning has been downgraded to watch and act, thankfully - but yes it’s not good
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Bad news. My private theory is that while temperatures are actually rising alarmingly fast, in Australia we haven’t recently had major climate related disasters such as we had in earlier years, and this is possibly making ppl complacent?
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This promises to be very interesting!
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I even got kicked out of the Greens for being too intense and hard to get on with.
Tho to be fair, that was being too intense about fair treatment of women rather than just climate change. 😂
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Oh dog I am so tired. We’re in an election, temperatures are running 5C above normal, no-one is talking about it.
It’s just beautiful weather Val. Why can’t you just enjoy it. You’re always so intense.
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Absolutely awful. Trump et al seem to have a mad idea that anything involving women is ‘special treatment’ (which is what they think DEI is apparently) - that’s the impression I get as non-USA resident
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Sorry last thing - I just remembered Bolton was whacky on parking issue (pro-car parking) I think - that was a kind of nimbyish thing. V wrong on that. Sorry will stop
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more regs around green space - they’re doing some good stuff w micro-parks but the developments themselves need trees as well as creepers etc - it can be done if they try. Too much concrete, not enough trees. Anyway better leave you in peace to do VS and SA …
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Yes I think I remember that … tbh it’s a hard issue here, I love a lot of the nightingale developments and so on but around that area I also remember an interesting little Victorian terrace that had been deprived of almost all natural light by an ugly block of flats. And Council needs to put much
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Oh yeah? That’s interesting looking forward to seeing it. I like Bolton & ofc she is well known here. I have personal reasons for putting her before Greens (I got treated like absolute shit by them) but also I like her down to earth quality vs Ratnam’s polish
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Thanks, interesting re Fusion. Can I ask have you reviewed the Socialists (vic Socialists/Socialist Alliance)? Not sure how many candidates they’re running but Sue Bolton is standing in Wills. Couldn’t find them on your blog
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I didn’t listen but sadly I’m not surprised if those things were not mentioned
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Yes and of course the Labor govt (led at that time by John Brumby who I once used to work for) did not take advice about long term water saving measures but opted for a desal plant. But during the drought there was some good leadership - if only it had been maintained
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True, but it’s interesting they thought they needed to do that. Reminds me of the old history truism ‘the weakest moment for a bad government is when it starts trying to reform’
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I know it’s not the main item in @amyremeikis.bsky.social blog today but it’s a great idea
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Yes - general way to get climate and environment focused outcome is to put minor parties/Independents who are strong on climate & environment first, then Labor, then Libs/Nats/minor right-wing parties last. Check ACF or other score-cards for your electorate if unsure www.acf.org.au/scorecard
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I contrast this to the long drought when the VIC govt showed clear leadership and had straightforward messages (with a small amount of regulation and penalty to back it up, but not heavy-handed) on water restrictions. People responded really well, it’s a model of how governments can lead on climate
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This suggests that if governments showed clear leadership and direction, many more people would be persuaded. At the moment our federal Labor government says one thing - act on climate change - but does another - approves more fossil fuel development. No wonder if people are ambivalent!
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Thank you also for this information
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Thank you. I find your updates very useful.
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Southern parts of Australia in general are experiencing high temperatures so far this year and several areas have also had record low rainfall. Yet federal candidates from major parties try to avoid this pressing issue, even in an area where agriculture is so important. #auspol
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Temperatures in South Australia have been 2-3C above average for the first three months of this year www.bom.gov.au/climate/
Likely at least 3C higher than pre-industrial averages
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Yes I am very concerned, living here in southern Australia where temperatures are currently running 3 -4 C above long term averages (even more above pre-industrial levels). Unfortunately I think David Spratt’s advocacy in his other work for risky climate intervention is a distraction and unhelpful
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Yeah I walked to local supermarket, noticing how quiet and peaceful the streets were, and bought a few groceries. Then I walked home again. I’m so brave, I need a medal 😂
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Oh ok I hadn’t seen that, thank you
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I am in Australia, we are just now charging an EV as we are returning from a holiday (it is my daughter’s and partner’s car, I don’t own one, which is perfectly doable in inner Melbourne tho most ppl do) - still can be a bit tricky to find chargers outside major cities
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Including of course that it doesn’t include Electric Vehicles - I suspect it’s an old quiz?
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I didn’t realise that about the rail but not surprising as the whole transport section doesn’t work properly. Interesting attempt at a simplified quiz to raise people’s awareness but transport section needs to be redone
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the quiz doesn’t properly cater for people whose main or sole method of transport is walking or cycling. There may not be many in North America , but there’s quite a few in other countries