Rubénerd!

Usually I wouldn't dignify the likes of The Australian with my readership, but someone on Twitter linked to this article by John Black about how us Greenies are destroying his party and figured it was work a look-see. I thought I was only destroying the Internets by clogging all them tubes with my words and whatnot.

Greens 07 were very well-paid inner-urban renters who made extensive use of public transport and had few religious convictions. They tend not to have children until their late 30s, if at all, which makes them even richer and gives them lots of spare time to organise local political activities and annoy the rest of us.

That's right, The Greens are only taking votes away from your [formerly left leaning] Labor party because they annoy people. Yeah, that must be it! I've also read those greenies tend to get angrier at those calling themselves journalists who make broad, sweeping generalisations to attack them as if they're the only reason people are becoming bored with Labor's talk and no action.

For what it's worth, I am an inner-urban renter who makes extensive use of public transport and have no religious convictions, at least he got that bit right. Stick to reporting facts Mr Black, and you may have a shot at this here journalism thingy!

Now where's my joint and John Lennon record?!

Oh crap, I didn't leave it lit ON the John Lennon record, did I? I am so friggen high, bro! Eh, my mum was a hippie, but I can't pull it off.

Voting for The Greens in the South Aussie state elections today, and you'd better too if you know what's good for you. That goes for you too Tasmania. I mean come on, Labor? Liberal? Family First?!

First some shameless, self serving quoting:

Tomorrow, South Australian voters have a genuine alternative to the old parties, and can join over million voters Australia wide who vote Green, says Greens MLC Mark Parnell.

This election the Greens have run on a positive platform of green jobs, water security and ensuring a better government.

“I urge all South Australians to consider a fresh, positive alternative to the old parties and vote for the fastest growing political force in the country – the Greens,” he said.

I still think it's ironic I've only been here a few years (cumulatively) but I have full voting rights because of my passport, and I lived in Singapore most of my life and I have no voice there at all. I could tell you more about GRCs than electorates. I know more about Goh Chok Tong than Rob Kerin. That's politics for you.

Some related thoughts, when I was in Adelaide back in 2006 I remember Nick Xenophon walking around wearing those sandwich boards in Rundle Mall. Are people angry that he went Federal? What ever happened to his state seat thingy?

As an extra fun tidbit, Mark Parnell is one of the few politicians who has ever replied to emails I've sent. Heck, he has his own dedicated tag here! Even when I was back in Singapore and technically outside of his jurisdiction (and cares) entirely he still took the time to answer my questions and have some lighthearted discussion. That counts for a lot in my book :).

I just read this report on Somebody Think of the Children having just seen it commented on by Cameron Reilly on Twitter and shared by Alex in Google Reader. I'm speechless. Game over man, game over.

A ballot was held in the upper house on Tuesday to decide which minor party or independent senator would be appointed to a federal parliamentary committee on cyber-safety.

In a very close secret vote, Senator Fielding was awarded the job with 34 votes to Senator Ludlam’s 32.

For those not following Australian politics, Scott Ludlam is a senator with the progressive Greens party who's been one of the few to stand up and grill Senator Conroy about the proposed mandatory internet filters, and Senator Fielding is a senator with the ultra conservative and Orwellian-titled Family First.

Any already fleeting ideas that this would be a productive and useful committee have not only been shot down, but shoved into a rocket and hurled into the centre of the sun.

And to think this morning I was worrying about novelty gadgets being sold as ultra secure devices to people who don't know. If I had a graph showing my view on humanity, it would have taken a nosedive today.

It seems with each passing year since 2007 things have happened that have made me less optimistic and more cynical about the world. In an attempt to find the good in it, I've attributed this slide in my opinion of humanity to simply growing up and becoming more realistic. Well, another thing has happened -__-.

If you recall, Senator Conroy wants to filter the internets here in Australia to protect children from pornography, free speech and all that. Leaving aside the dubious justifications, even if it was a noble cause such a national filter simply would not work.

From a press release by Scott Ludlam, a Greens senator from Western Australia:

The Australian Greens today reiterated their strong concerns over the Government's internet filter plan.

"The Greens position on the Government's proposed internet filtering plan remains the same - we have serious concerns over the viability of the scheme being put forward by Communications Minister Conroy," said Australian Greens communications spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam.

So far so good.

"Dr Hamilton has, in the past, outlined his support for any system designed to prevent children accessing pornography online - a sentiment that the Australian Greens fully support.

Whoa, wait a minute. Are you saying Dr Hamilton, the person the Greens is backing for a contested seat, actually supports the idea for a filter?

To put this post in context, I registered to vote in Australia as soon as I was living back here again and was eligible and had an address here again. I've voted for The Greens in one national election and one South Australia state election. Why?

• I inherited my mum's hippy green save the earth and all its creatures attitude
• I intensely dislike the conservative coalition
• The ALP has slipped a bit too far to the right and is in the pockets of big polluters
• The Democrats, the small third party designed to "keep the bastards honest" in the own words is no longer effective at all
• I admire Senator Bob Brown (pictured above with the Dalai Llama) and support all but a few of The Greens positions

All those positions are just fine and peachy, but the primary reason was that The Greens were the more honourable, upstanding and honest party I could vote for. Granted the bar is set painfully low which means such a comparison is essentially meaningless, but there you go.

Anyway it seems the Greens have finally decided a gamble to win another seat is worth sacrificing some of their principals by welcoming into their ranks a person such as Dr Hamilton. In other words, The Greens have just made a move the ALP and the coalition would have.

They're probably still the lesser evil in Aussie politics, but if they were a bright green pear before, they now have a large blemish on their side. It's disillusioning, if inevitable. :P

As you may have noticed if you've been reading my blog for a while, I'm somewhat of a public transport nut. Having lived in Singapore most of my life, moving back to Australia for part of the year made me realise just how much I'd taken the public transport there for granted.

Many Singaporeans complain about the reliability of some of the buses and that they think it costs too much money to constantly build new underground train lines, but those are the kinds of investments that will be paying dividends for decades.

In comparison most Australian cities seem to follow the American model (sans perhaps New York City and Portland) of new expensive highways over public transport; while there are token efforts every now and then there is still the publicly held consensus that car ownership is a right not a privilege, and that the opportunity cost of building a new highway in place of a new train line is an acceptable one to take. I've been arguing for years this is entirely backwards and that if people are given a reliable, fast, comprehensive and affordable public transport system they'll use it.

Anyway, I was going somewhere with this! Scott Ludlam of the Aussie Greens had this to share this afternoon in regards to the current Senate report on public transport, in particular the issue I was talking about with road transport always getting priority:

The report on the Senate Inquiry into Public Transport tabled today recognised a multitude of reasons why public transport is a vital part of our nations' infrastructure and that its significance will grow in the years ahead.

[...] only states with coherent public transport plans and proposals will benefit. States that retain outdated planning policies favouring freeways over public transport will miss out. I hope that this report will play a role in focusing Government attention on the urgent need for a systematic re-prioritising of transport funding," Senator Ludlam said.

Trips made using public transport increased by 14.7 per cent from 2004 to 2008 in the eight capital cities.

These figures nearly made me fall out of my chair:

In the 30 years to 2004 the Commonwealth spent $58 billion dollars on roads, $2.2 billion on rail, and just $1.5 billion on public transport.

Even if you "John C Dvorak" the figures they still seem wildly disproportionate:

In the 30 years to 2004 the Commonwealth spent a meagre $58 billion dollars on roads, while spending a huge $2.2 billion on rail, and a whopping $1.5 billion on public transport!

I just don't know where to begin with these. Yes roads are needed and are useful for a functioning economy, and Australia's vast size and limited population presents formidable challenges for dealing with moving people and goods around, but come on... 1.5 billion? 2.2 for rail? It just boggles the mind!

Ah well, at least I'm lucky enough to live next to a train station here so I can commute into Adelaide and return without too many problems. The vast majority of Aussies aren't so lucky.

For those who don't use Twitter and who aren't following South Australian Legislative Council Greens member Mark Parnell, he had this to say earlier this afternoon:

Marine Policy 101: Kill seagrass with pollution = mobilised sand = eroded beaches = $$$ to pump more sand on shore to keep our beaches nice!

It's funny (in a kind of tragic way) because it's true. Welcome to the world of reactionary rather than preventative environmental politics, or as I see it, fixing the symptoms not the causes. It works so well for health, education and transport, might as well put it into practise for the environment too.

It seems that while we debate how to best address the real threat of climate change before it's too late (some argue it's too late and we should already be in disaster recovery mode), some are still not convinced it's even happening.

South Australian Greens representative Mark Parnell (who's state party I proudly voted for in 2006, and who I've blogged about before) posted a new blog entry today discussing one local professor's new book that seems to take issue with climate change.

Adelaide University Prof. Ian Plimer is in Parliament House launching his book claiming that the science of climate change is not settled and that global warming and cooling are natural phenomena unrelated to human activity. I agree with the first bit - the science is never "settled", but the trends are plain to see and the causes are overwhelmingly agreed by scientists to be anthropogenic. When faced with a choice between believing the good Professor and believing the thousands of scientists who have contributed to the International Panel on Climate Change's comprehensive reports, then I think I'll go with the consensus view. So yes, I guess that makes me one of Ian Plimer's "rabid environmentalists". If you seem me and I'm frothing at the mouth, (and not cleaning my teeth at the time) then stay away.

I know plenty of climate change denialists too, it seems to be a position that's very much in vogue right now especially by those online who label anyone who base their views on evidence as "sheeple". It'd be hilarious if it didn't have the potential to have such disastrous results.

The time for debating whether this is even happening has long passed; we should be spending our energy (no pun intended) coming up with solutions to this problem instead.

And hey, as I tell people who deny climate change is happening, if it turns out this isn't true, our actions to protect our natural environment would still have been worth it. I want future generations of people to be able to visit unspoilt nature reserves, to drink clean water, to breathe clean air and to live in sustainable cities and clean, lush countryside. If that idea of the future makes me a "rabid environmentalist" too, I'll join you Mark!

Sad news being reported by South Australia's Greens senator Mark Parnell this month. It's really sad this kind of discrimination is still legal in this day and age.

I've previously blogged about Mark Parnell here. We need more people like him in politics.

clipped from markparnell.org.au

Critical amendments to the Equal Opportunity Act that will allow religious schools to continue to discriminate against gay teachers have passed the SA Upper House with the support of Liberals, Family First and No Pokies.

"The Greens were extremely disappointed that Labor had previously backed down on removing discrimination against teachers on the basis of sexuality. Now, this already compromised Bill has been compromised again.

"An individual's sexuality or chosen gender has absolutely no impact on their ability to teach well. So why will schools be able to discriminate on that basis?

"Freedom from discrimination on the basis of a person’s sexuality is a basic human right. Our state used to have an enviable reputation for progressive social policy. Not any more" he said.

Writing about the recent Frome by-election in South Australia made me remember the lower house state elections back in 2006 when I voted for Mark Parnell of the South Australian Greens. To date he's been the only politician aside from Bob Brown who has ever returned a message I sent to them. The again, I suspect many members of parliament don't use those blasted email intertube things :).

Hello Mr Parnell, congratulations to you and The Greens South Australia on your won seat following the March election!

I voted for the Greens because I'm a firm supporter of the principals of your party and am very pleased The Greens now have a voice in South Australian politics. You've all done an amazing job and I look foward to hearing about how The Greens are changing South Australia for the better in this term and in the future.

Yours Most Pleased,
Ruben Schade

His reply, less than a few hours later:

Thanks very much Ruben. I was sworn in today - so now it's down to business.
Cheers,
Mark

Mark Parnell
Greens SA Member of Legislative Council

I really admire Mark, being the lone Green in the state must get pretty intimidating! I appreciate his sense of humour; his down to earth approach to interviews and voting; and surprising lack of hot air when discussing issues. We need more people like him.

Not to mention his website is pretty slick!