Category Archives: GOVERNANCE
Planning in Canberra
the sage continues….
Planning in Canberra
Chief Minister gouges strata title unit owners
It is now part of our daily lives that people bear the brunt of increased charges brought on by large corporations inventing more ways to gouge consumers.
Continue reading Chief Minister gouges strata title unit owners
2020 ACT Election forecast
Observing the current government and its attitude towards the electorate, it does make you wonder about the 2016 election results and whether this will be repeated in 2020.
Signs of intrigue within the inner north
First an update on the 2016-2017 ACAT appeal about the proposal to remove the carpark in front of Woolworths and to build an apartment and supermarket complex.
Where to for Civic in Canberra?
I can only guess how many committee meetings have been held to discuss some aspect of how to improve Civic– the traditional urban centre of the city of Canberra.
Katherine Murphy
and the ship of dangerous fools
ACT Chief Minister fails urban basics
Downtown Singapore.
I have just spent three weeks in Singapore.
Good café – bad café
It only usually takes a moment to gauge what sort of service you are to receive when you enter a café.
Three Ministers and a Parkland
A week or so ago the ACT Planning Minister announced that the government was open for consultations on the Dickson Parklands (Section 72 to the bureaucrats).
NCDC in context
Often when posting on planning and development in Canberra, someone will comment that things were so much better when the Commonwealth, through the National Capital Development Commission (NCDC) ran the joint.
ABC heritage under attack
Being Turnbulled
Bad design spreads like a disease
My post last week on the lack of good design and planning that is evident in the more recent parts of Gungahlin definitely caught a lot of people’s attention.
Gungahlin – urgent climate adaptation required
A couple of weeks ago I wrote on the threats to biodiversity caused through inappropriate developments across Canberra.
Continue reading Gungahlin – urgent climate adaptation required
Respect and Responsibility in planning and development
Someone needs to ask the ACT Planning Minister why the planning directorate continues to encourage local residents to form residents’ associations to oppose inappropriate developments.
Continue reading Respect and Responsibility in planning and development
being turnbulled
Social Housing vs community spaces
With Canberra having such an informed and aware community, one would have thought that a community-focused government planning minister would have surfaced by now – one being committed to development and the future growth of the city while simultaneously embracing the enhancement of (rather than reducing) the city’s amenities that are admired internationally.
equity and talent in cabinet
Government and religion
In Australia we have a small band of conservatives who work tirelessly to have their brands of religion have a greater influence on government and the country’s laws.
Luckily till now they are more of less not so successful – well most of the time.
In their last round of attempts to achieve more religious freedoms (whatever that meant) – what would have been more applicable would have been to remove religion and the influence of such religious fundamentalists completely from the workings of government.
Meanwhile in a land not far away – things are going from bad to worse.
Click here for the story in the Guardian.
The ACT Government allows planners to plan
Surprising things can happen when you are involved in advocacy with the ACT Government on urban environment issues.
How women dress
Pedestrians be aware – be very aware!
Life for pedestrians in Dickson is not as safe as it should be. Here’s a few events to illustrate my point.
Marea Fatseas and Community Councils
The 2016 ACT election was just over 12 months ago (how time flies) and the hot election topics back then included planning, development, community engagement and a host of issues around the ACT Government’s dealings with residents.
Dickson auctions
Just months ago a Luton’s auctioneer stated that the property going under the hammer was the only house for sale in Dickson.
Danger to dogs from the ACT Government
Some issues just do not go away. Dogs that are dangerous or potentially dangerous is such a topic.
Thanks for Flu
Here’s a message from me – and the many others who suffered through the flu recently:
This goes out to those thoughtful people who insisted on going out into public areas when they had the flu.
Midnight Oil
Selling off the Parliamentary Triangle
for Wednesday 27th
There’s nothing new about governments across Australia selling of assets, infrastructure, land, buildings or anything that they can put on the market to make instant cash.
Federal COALition
we are being Turnbulled – over and over again.
Same old spin in new clothes
There is no doubt that the spin doctors within the ACT Government worked hard to get journalists to take a positive spin on the establishment of the City Renewal Authority and the appointment of their CEO, Malcolm Snow
architecture and constitution ave
Back in 2013 plans were announced for the next stage of Canberra’s Constitution Avenue.
politicians lie
Michael Leunig
George Monbiot
Bill shorten on equality
Bill Shorten unleashes on Turnbull
Welcome Bill Shorten, the next Prime Minister of Australia
despots galore
alternative facts
David Marr on equality
iGen and depression
Being Turnbulled
Australia has been Turnbulled yet again – click here
being Trumped & being Turnbulled
trump
a Telstra NBN story
Another mess made by Malcolm Turnbull
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154819656957544&set=p.10154819656957544&type=3
post-truth planning
Dr Elizabeth Farrelly is outraged
Dr Elizabeth Farrelly sets the scene for how planning might navigate the post-truth political landscape – click here.
Will your house burn?
As I watched the horrifying footage of the London Grenfell Tower fire, I remarked that this is what could have happened in Docklands, Melbourne, in 2014.
Populism
Populism now divides, yet once it united the working class
The words populism and populist have no simple, coherent meaning.
Women in music
A list of women in music – turning the tables; click here
All Liberal – all men
click on the image for the story – and wonder which century these people live in?
J J Cale
J J Cale & Eric Clapton: Call me the breeze
post truth & politics & energy
A good article summing up the state of politics, where truth is an option to be discarded.
Elizabeth Lee and Dickson Parklands
You will often hear commentators state that politicians are unpopular. I don’t think it as simple as that.
New Poster: Fakewit
Inequality
What we can learn about fighting inequality from Australia’s convict past
Analysis shows that while land values per acre rose at 2.2% per annum, land rents fell by 0.3% per annum in the 1800s. Powerhouse Museum/Flickr, CC BY-SA
Being Trumped
They marched to demand Congress DO THEIR JOB and remove the President from The White House. click here
Malcolm gets a pay rise
Being Turnbulled again
click on image for the video
George Monbiot
George Monbiot on Brexit – where to now?
click on the image for this very interesting view on Brexit
moratorium on Tony Abbott
Today Tony Abbott called for a moratorium on wind farms.
Share this if you think it’s time for a moratorium on Tony Abbott.
Fake Trump
Another laugh – well maybe? click on the image for the truth.
NO is NOT enough
New book by Naomi Klein
this is my second post on this book:
here’s a new review of the book on The Guardian – click here
Continue reading NO is NOT enough
K D Lang
Uber and Defeating Sexism
The story of one woman who demanded to be heard
The Uber CEO is gone – why?
click here for the story in The Guardian and read about Susan Fowler, the person who did not do as advised – to ignore the sexist behaviour around her.
Pauline Hanson on excluding the artistics
Setting the record straight!
Yet again the media has misunderstood what Pauline Hanson said!
Rebecca Solnit on Trump
It’s Time (again)
It is definitely time for all forms of peaceful and concerted actions to adjust our democratic structures to deal with the damage being done by forces that have resulted in Trump and his cronies being where they are.
Noam Chomsky
Neoliberalism Is Destroying Our Democracy
the democracy experiment continues – but will it get beyond the influence of neoliberalism
inflammable clading
Nothing wrong here!
oh how we wish we could believe the Minister and the building industry spokespersons – of course here in Canberra we have the laws in place! But – we all know better than that.
Anna Gray AM
Queen’s Birthday honour to former NGA curator
As listed: Dr Anne Mary Gray AM
Man of the onions
says it all.. the idiot of Australian politics
NO is NOT enough
New book by Naomi Klein
“This is one attempt to uncover how we got to this surreal political moment. It is also an attempt to predict how, under cover of shocks and crises, it could get a lot worse.
And it’s a plan for how, if we keep our heads, we might just be able to flip the script and arrive at a radically better future.” — From the Introduction
Looking for arts policy
will we ever have an arts minister?
While Australia is a great country – it has been a long time since we have experienced a government that was actually committed to its culture.
Trump hair
Turnbull not so generous
Being Turnbulled
Once Australia was a leader in supporting equality and was generous in its assistance to other countries. Oh how things have changed. Here’s a post from Michael Moore on the greedy nature of the Turnbull government – click here.
Culture Heist
Book Notice: Culture Heist, Judith White
ART VERSUS MONEY: The fight for the soul of a
great public institution
Emmanuel Macron
The world leaders are stepping forward! – click here for the story
MIT and Climate Change
MIT Speaks for Science & Climate Change
A message from the MIT President in which he reacts to the Trump announcement on how Trump is yet again out of touch with the rest of the world. Yah for our scientists!
A tale of two parklands
Very strange things happen in the urban design planning space in Canberra.
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton makes a fiery commencement speech at her alma mater – taking aim at Trump and his colleagues. She makes the speech nearly 50 years after graduating from Wellesley College in 1969
Being Negative
The message from ACT Labor friends
There’s definitely something evil being played out locally.
George Monbiot
George Monbiot on how dark money is subverting democracy in the UK.
Click on the banner above
ACT labor and the need for new leadership
Very strange events have been unfolding since the local ACT elections in late 2016.
Monbiot on Terrorism
Nicole Lawder, a Liberal who has your back
We expect a lot of our politicians. People rightly expect their elected representatives to do just that – be representatives of the people who elected them. That’s not always a success story.
Dickson on Northbourne
There’s significant redevelopment underway on Northbourne Ave in Canberra.
Remember they are people
A lot has been written about the ACT Government’s announcement to establish small government housing estates on community-zoned land in Weston Creek suburbs.
Hillary Clinton
Inventing the Wicked Witch: Review of Susan Bordo’s The Destruction of Hillary Clinton
Penguin - Michelle Smith, Deakin University
Hillary Clinton
A message to all the purists liberals
see message below – very appropriate for all those who bought the lies
Hillary Clinton
The Destruction of Hillary Clinton
I have already reviewed this book – click here.
However I cannot stop pondering the challenge this story throws up for anyone interested in equity, fairness, and the role of the media in so many aspects of our daily lives.
If we had a real media, this story would have been totally different. Instead what happened here was the total manipulation of the media and through them members of the public, by all forms of malicious groups of people and individuals.
Architecture
a note to the ACT Chief Minister
About the architecture along Northbourne Avenue
Architecture
How to waste public money
The saga of the proposed Garden Bridge over the Thames in London has been well covered in the UK press. It is indeed a saga. It is about a folly.
Hillary Clinton
The Destruction of Hillary Clinton
It was on hearing certain phrases used over and over again on Australian TV programs talking about the 2016 US election campaign that I became suspicious that we were witnessing a lazy press.
Almost daily the media was taking the same phrases and words and using them over and over again – with no evidence that they could be accurate except that they were the words and phrases being used by most journalists and commentators at the time.
On the basis we were supposed to accept their words as fact.
Caroline Le Couteur MLA
Canberra’s planning system remains super complicated and out of reach of ordinary citizens.
Higher Education
Australian Universities screw themselves
Australian universities have made a mess of their own advocacy – at the expense of students.
Julia Baird
Julia Baird on the sleaze bags that affect people’s lives – click on the image
Being Turnbulled
Australian Values – The Master of Spin
Australians are again being subject to being Turnbulled. Yet Again.
The New Yorker
A great magazine cover!
Rhiannon Giddens
Music Review: Rhiannon Giddens: Freedom Highway, February 2017
My comments have nit changed much from my previous post on Rhiannon Giddens: This 2017 album features a woman with a strong and beautiful voice – singing folk songs of America – making very beautiful Americana music.
Neoliberalism has run its course
A few stories on this topic – and the world needs more people to identify this and to lead the change away from this nasty ideology.
Urbanity Bites
Weston Creek and public housing
There’s been some great public discussions in the media around the spin that has been put out by the government to distract from the real problems with the decisions to place new government housing developments into several Weston Creek suburbs.
SHOUT and Jon Stanhope
Sometimes you wonder just what is going on in the heads of our local government and its bureaucrats who make funding decisions.
Quarterly Essay – David Marr
David Marr – The White Queen
From the publishers: Most Australians despise what Pauline Hanson stands for, yet politics in this country is now orbiting around One Nation. In this timely Quarterly Essay, David Marr looks at Australia’s politics of fear, resentment and race. Who votes One Nation, and why? How much of this is due to inequality? How much to racism? How should the major parties respond to anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim voices? What damage do Australia’s new entrepreneurs of hate inflict on the nation?