Letter #3

Though I have fallen behind in my challenge, I have decided to get back on the horse and try again. 

I found some time to respond to the response I got from my MP. I really should of done it earlier. It took about two weeks to compose as I initially wrote it one night when I was very angry with the world after reading this awful piece and probably not in the best state of mind to write.  But it reminded me that I still needed to write and communicate. So here's my third letter, sent via email.

Hi XXXX

Thank you for your phone message you left for me about 3 months ago.  I understand that it must be really difficult balancing a work place in both Canberra and Sydney. I apologise that it has taken me so long to reply back to you. As a professional working part time and juggling two young children in an electorate that you should understand has some of the highest costs of living, especially real estate and rent, it is hard to find the time to meet and chat with friends and family, let alone your local MP. I do appreciate that you offered to meet to discuss education after my two unanswered letters.

My last two correspondences have been about education; first on the public education system at a primary and secondary level and the second about tertiary education.  In both correspondences, I express dismay at to the current Liberal Governments desire to reduce funding to these. I notice that some of these have not occurred. I do not understand what direction the current Government is going in this space.

As a member of your electorate, I wish to express two more issues that I find extremely difficult to see the current government acting in ways that seem contrary to the wishes of the Australian people:

1)      Climate change, and especially the constant government support for coal.  Coal is a resource that we know is limited and supports technology that is dated.  To keep propping up this industry is not the correct action for economic recovery and the US – China agreement on Climate Change proves that Australia is taking the wrong direction. Australia has so many more resources than the ones that can found in a mine and less environmentally damaging.  Would it not be better to invest in those?

2)      Funding Cuts to the ABC.  ABC provides many varied and amazing services to children and the country that commercial networks just do not offer.  As a mother of two young children, ABC 2 is a life saver for the end of the day when I need to get dinner together and need the children to rest without commercials selling them toys.  As a government who, in opposition, positioned itself as a government of truth, this latest proposal is an obvious election promise broken.  

Please understand XXXX, that your electorate is made up of many working professionals and young families who are directly impacted in a negative way by these proposals of the current Liberal Government.   The electorate will not ignore these when it comes to choose the member who cannot stand up for the services we want and require. Liberal only won your seat by a 4% margin last year. It’s not a big margin.

Thanks again for reading this letter and my past letters and trying to respond. I look forward to hearing from you in regards to this letter and understand if that happens in the New Year. Wishing you and your family a very merry Christmas.

Kind regards

It has to stop!

(Cartoon via Compassion without Borders)

I am haunted by the stories of children in asylum.... either en-route to Australia or in Australian-funded detention centres in Nauru or PNG. The Australia government did not cause this but it is DEFINITELY NOT making it better!! The government that was technically elected by me is adding continuous physical, mental and physiological stress to hundreds of thousands of people because of it's inhumane treatment of asylum seekers.

IT HAS TO STOP!

This story from Indonesia is the latest I read. As this article said

"Without the distraction of boat arrivals, this pain and suffering will begin to gain greater attention. It will trouble not only human rights activists and opposition politicians, but also the general public and some Coalition MPs – just as it did in the years after the post-Tampa crackdown."
"
And today there was news that the Australian Human Rights Commissioner confirmed the high rates of self harm by children in detention centres and the poor health and education provided.

This article and this article from March made me cry.

My Peppa and George are 4 and 2. I would not, in a thousands years want them to have to go through any of this, nor my neighbour, nor my worst enemy. No human should have to.

I understand the need to deter people. But to TORTURE people who are already in detention. Maybe not torture them with gas or electric shocks, but withholding medical needs, education and any hope to future ANYWHERE (not just in Australia) is a guilt that no Australia can shake off.

THIS HAS TO STOP! How?

The new senate and news...

The new senate is to come in 7 July. I confess I really don't know what that means except that that there is a real chance that the carbon tax will be axed and that there will be a lot of squabbling for the next few years over different pieces of legislation. I also realise that Clive Palmer will be in the news WAY more than I care to read! (because he has quite a few seats he can bargain with the other parties).

 I found this very helpful to read about the Senate. It is funny and sad all at the same time.

And yes, I did somewhat cheer about Palmer's stance on climate change by supporting emissions trading. I cannot believe I am cheering at anything to do with Clive Palmer.....

Some real exciting news this week is that the United Nations rejected the Coalition's application to reduce the Tasmania's World Heritage Area. *CHEER*

It has been called "global diplomatic humiliation" for the Abbott government by Bob Brown. I would of thought that moment would of been when Julie Bishop was made Foreign Minister! Her international gaffs continue this week. First she alienated PNG, then she outraged Indonesia less than a month later. She has then gone to criticize China (massive regional neighbor who is both a source of export income and imports) then appear to support the Sri Lankan Government who is under suspicions by everyone else in the world for human rights abuses. And, of course, reduce the foreign aid budget by $4.5 BILLION dollars (AUD). But this week she has now invoke the anger of North Korea. They have said to want to "resolutely punish anyone who dares slander the dignity of its supreme leadership". Maybe we will not need to vote the Abbott government out. They may get assassinated by communist spies first. It is a bit surprising that we haven't started a war with any of our neighboring nations (yet!). Foreign policy is a little out of my league, but it feels like the current government can't seem to get it right.

Look out Australia!!!

(Thanks to The Man for this pic)

Letter #2

It takes time, to write letters. To think about the facts and to shape a view and express it in words. 3 months in I have fallen behind my goal of one letter a month to my local member.

But I'm back! And I have lots up my sleeve!! I think that it is because there is so much I feel like complaining about, that, in the rush to get out of my brain, the ideas get clogged. Sounds silly, I know.

Below is another letter. It was suppose to be about the budget, but it became about education again. Maybe too safe. But I thought I would try again since I got NOTHING - zip/zippo/zero/ nuttin' - no response from my first letter.

It may be because it was via email. So I am going to do this the old fashion way - snail mail on paper.

Here is it:

3 June 2014

To the Honourable XXX XXX,

I write to you as a member of the local community, a working professional and a mother of two young children, to speak against the governments' proposed cuts to education.  I request that these changes are not acted on and that the funding proposed in the Gonski report as well as continued support for the FEE-Help and other tertiary education funding at their current levels.

I understand that cuts are required to service the budget deficit.  But for a country who has one of the lowest deficits in the world, cutting education seems to be a very short-sighted.  It lacks respect for the needs of future generations.  It will affect the opportunities open to children, not just as young as mine but also as old as yours.  I know you have two currently in primary school and these changes would challenge their opportunities at university.  As someone who had the opportunity to go to university because of the HECS scheme, I want my children to have equal opportunities and these not be reduced by financial constraints.  Education should not be limited to only those who can pay.  It limits Australia's ability to harness the intellectual capacity of all people in the country. 

As the member of a marginal seat in Sydney, please know that this voter, and many others like me, have taken note and are not impressed with a government that has decided to take away our children's educational opportunities instead of considering taxes in other areas (ie. mining tax or company tax).

I also note that I did not receive a response from an email dated 20 March 2014 in regards to education as well.  I understand that everyone is busy.  It would of been nice for my local member to at least provide a receipt from a letter from a member of their electorate.  Because of this, I write to you the ol' fashioned way.

Regards

Me (and I provided my details)

Let's see how this goes!!

Our honourable leader....

Because it wouldn't be Australian politics if we couldn't have a laugh at the politicians, I had to share this piece by a British comedian in America.



The weird thing is it made me laugh and cry. Cry because I cannot believe we elected this person as PM.

And yes, confession: I had a good chuckle at the last line.

Signing to change - Tasmania's Forests

Hi all. It's been a while. Sorry. I am not afraid to use that word. My only excuse is really a lack of time. How does anyone have time to keep abreast of all the issues and read widely to see the different points of view?

I am writing to advocate signing the petition for the World Heritage Committee not to overturn their decision and remove 74,000 ha from the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage area. I am not sure what signing petitions actually do. I do know it shows my support, even if it's just my name on a list. I am unsure if those like the World Heritage Committee give much weight to petitions. But I am signing it anyways. If it's a small way I can help towards the conservation of forests.

It troubles me that many believe you need to chose between jobs (ie money) and the environment. The environment, especially trees, have been undervalued for both their productivity (their capacity in the essential service to make the oxygen we need to breathe!) and their intrinsic value both in their beauty and habitat value (as homes for other potentially productive creatures of the world).

Having visited the Tasmanian Forests near Strahan in 2009, I was really amazed at how amazingly beautiful the forests are there. It really did provide a glimpse of what Australia would of looked like before European settlers came. While I was there, it made me believe that maybe Tasmania does have the cleanest air in the world!

So I have signed this petition. I like oxygen. And I ask you to sign. Especially if any of the points above resonate with you.

http://www.acfonline.org.au/be-informed/land-forests/tasmanian-forest-protection

(Tasmanian forest, January 2009)

A bit of kick-ass

For the casual observer, reading this blog, they would think that my politics maybe more left than I acknowledge. As my introduction stated, I actually don't really get left or right in politics, but if I am agreeing with anything that comes out the Greens party, I realise that makes me a bit left.

As previously stated, I do not hold a membership to any political party and I don't really think I align with any.

But I loved Senator Scott Ludlam's final speech on 4 March, 2014, before Western Australia goes to the polls again to vote for the Senate. It's kick-ass to a Prime Minister who seems to be hitting hard against the 3 policies I am particularly interested in.

Read or watch the speech here:

http://greensmps.org.au/content/speeches-parliament/adjournment-speech-abbott-well-see-you-wa

My favourite lines are:

Mr Prime Minister, at your next press conference we invite you to leave your excruciatingly boring three-word slogans at home. If your image of Western Australia is of some caricatured redneck backwater that is enjoying the murderous horror unfolding on Manus Island, you are reading us wrong. Every time you refer to us as the 'mining state' as though the western third of our ancient continent is just Gina Rinehart's inheritance to be chopped, benched and blasted, you are reading us wrong. 

and....

Mr Abbott, your thoughtless cancellation of half a billion dollars of Commonwealth funding for the Perth light rail project has been noted. Your blank cheque for Colin Barnett's bloody and unnecessary shark cull has been noted. Your attacks on Medicare, on schools funding, on tertiary education-noted. The fact that your only proposal for environmental reforms thus far is to leave Minister Greg Hunt playing solitaire for the next three years while you outsource his responsibilities to the same Premier who presides over the shark cull has been noted too.

and this is just plain funny....

So to be very blunt, the reason that I extend this invitation to you, Mr Prime Minister, to spend as much time as you can spare in Western Australia is that every time you open your mouth the Green vote goes up. 

and my real favourite, because it reflects some of how I feel about the Abbott government's treatment of asylum seekers.....

And, perhaps most profoundly, your determined campaign to provoke fear in our community-fear of innocent families fleeing war and violence in our region-in the hope that it would bring out the worst in Australians is instead bringing out the best in us. Prime Minister, you are welcome to take your heartless racist exploitation of people's fears and ram it as far from Western Australia as your taxpayer funded travel entitlements can take you.

I wished I lived in Western Australia! (That maybe the only time I ever say that!) Voting happens on 5 April.

I don't know about anyone else out there trying to keep abreast of Australian politics but it's amazing how little I heard from the other political parties on the media. It felt like Tony Abbott's face was everywhere during the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years. But Bill Shorten is no where. I have actually had to subscribed to a certain Labour MPs FB just to get some of Labour's comments. Is there a government stranglehold on the media? (*conspiracy theory*)

And, no, I have not received a reply from my first letter to my local MP. It's early days though. I am gracious.

Letter #1

It has taken me a while to decide what the best topic to write my first letter as there seems to be so much I could write (complain?) about. Was feeling slightly overwhelmed.

The topic needs to be timely. And there seems to be new issues every week that require research (time) to write a good, informed letter to my local representative. 

So, I've decided in writing to ask that the funding to Schools as the first topic. After researching how to write a letter to your local politician, this felt like a good start point, considering I am a mum with a child on the verge of starting school (how did she get so big?!!) So, see my letter below. I am sending this to them via email, as The Man has already contacted him in this way (yes, the political edge runs in the family).

To the Honourable Mr Local Federal Member,

I am writing to you as a member of your electorate and as a mother with her eldest child on the verge of starting school in 2015.  I write to ask that you vote not to reduce the funding recommended in the Gonki review that became the Better Schools Program. Our children are our future and to cut funding to their education will have impact long after any budget surplus. Cutting the funding shows that the Abbott Government do not value equality, our children and the people who teach, train and help them to become the successful people of the future. The Gonski report highlighted fundamental funding changes needed to not just improve our children's education but attract intelligent and gifted teachers and also provide Australia with intelligent and smart population. 

Though I have heard The Government's claims that it is not reducing the funding, the reality of funding for only four of the committed six years (so cutting funding by 2 years) plus providing unspecified and unstructured funding to the three states and territories that didn't agree in the original rounds of talks still sounds like funding cuts. 

Thanks for your time. I would appreciate a response to this email.

Regards

What do you think? Let me know below.

Writing a letter is not as easy as making a cup of tea. Tea at Nan's (2010)

What I am going to do

Hi there... Yes... This blog hasn't completely died. It has been nearly 6 months since the last Australian election. I have really tried to stay as engaged as before. But I lost a bit of steam. It is really time-consuming to stay politically engaged! And when one is balancing work, family, housework, friends etc keeping up with the news and trying to read outside news and reading between the headlines takes effort that sometimes just isn't there at the end of the day. I like to think I am not unlike other Australians, so I wonder if some of this busy-apathy (as I call it) is norm for Australians in general.

I hope that this is one of the major reasons for the amazing ability that one of my main policy issues (see old post here for all of them) feels like it is getting smashed all over the park! (To put it nicely!)

Apart from busyness, the other reason I haven't stayed engaged is that when I read about the current government's policies on refugees and the environment I am appalled/dismayed/sad/angry/cranky/overwhelmed.

This picture really describes it best...

George in Jan 2014

I cannot believe how "firm" means "will dehumanise others" physically, emotionally & psychologically in a squandering tent city of a third world country. That's not punishing human traffickers. That's punishing the desperate people who are so desperate they enter into the hardship of asylum to escape the hardship of their homeland!!!!!! (to still from the mindblowing article on the boat people here.) 

But I digress...

I struggle to see how I should allow my government to reflect views and values I do not share. Of course there will be points of difference with all governments but I feel overwhelmed and powerless to do anything. 

This is not democracy.

What can I do?

I don't really have time to work with refugees in Sydney and or fund-raise for them or other lobby groups. I have signed various getup campaigns and shared FB articles with my friends, but the cynical part of me thinks "what does that really achieve?" Do I wait for the next election and use the power of my one vote to change (too many years away!!)?

There is one thing I can do

I can write. Not on this blog (which no one reads) but to my local Federal member and Federal Senator. They are technically speaking on behalf of me when they vote for policies in Parliament. I should tell them what I, one voting member in their electorate values. I am going to get involved in the political process beyond the once-in-4-year vote. 

So, I am going to write to one of my member once a month. And, I am going to post the letters (actually emails) on this blog. If I get a response, that's will be good.  And hopefully I can post about that here too. (Though of course, probably not their actual response as I will try to respect their confidentiality)

This may well be an interesting political experiment.

And, would love any help I can get! So if you have any suggestions on what to write, what to read, what other things I can do, let me know in the comments. 

Maybe it's not a massive move. But it's something I can do. It's better than nothing. And it might help change something.