Hello Internet
It's December. It's the holiday season for many people around the world. And as the year closes, it is tradition to look back at the year gone and try to process all that has happened. I don't know about you, but I have personally had one of the shittest years of my life. But I'm trying very hard to process the world through the lens of positivity. I have been looking for all the good in the world this year.
And I have been failing.
Because there is a lot... Just so much shit going on in the world right now. I can barely get past the bullshit around me in Australia to begin to comprehend how bad it is everywhere else. And so to help me process this, I wrote a song. Well, a song parody. I shared it on Facebook and Twitter this morning, and now I'm sharing it here. I present the new holiday anthem for Australia
"Have A Go (A Let It Snow parody)"
Oh the fires outside are frightfulBut the cricket is so delightful
In the Land Of The Fair Go
Have a go
Get a go
A fair go
The police show no sign of stopping
So children's pants will keep on dropping
Everyone fear the Popo
Have a go
Get a go
A fair go
Now the bosses are all in awe
Because the workers walked off of the job
But the unions will be declawed
Because there's so many wages to rob
Human rights are slowly dying
And MedVac is no longer flying
But we gave LNP a go
Have a go
Get a go
A fair go
And now, like any good joke, I intend to kill this one by explaining all the shit I've been sifting through in my search for joy and good vibes.
Australia is on fire
Australia is a hot place. It's also a place with a lot of bushland and rain forests. And right now it's on fire. Australia is on fire for a decent chunk of every year, but this year we're approaching record levels of damage from bush fires and a major problem is that it has been hot and dry on unprecedented levels. These fires spread across multiple states, have claimed people's lives and homes and have caused the air to become dangerously toxic. It's bad, yo.Meanwhile, our federal government has spent an awful lot of time twiddling its thumbs. The prime minister thinks the cricket season should be enough to cheer up those who have lost their homes to fires. At the suggestion that volunteer firefighters who are taking time off work to fight fires should be compensated for their bravery, our head of state also suggested that's a silly idea since the volunteers want to be out there fighting fires.
Oh, they're also under-equipped for this ongoing disaster and so the fire service has begun crowdfunding for replacement gear. Important things like face masks. Sources below.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/dec/16/nsw-braces-for-severe-heatwave-as-bushfire-threatens-blue-mountains-homes
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/nov/22/australia-bushfires-factcheck-are-this-years-fires-unprecedented
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/dec/10/sydneys-air-11-times-worse-than-hazardous-levels-as-australias-bushfires-rage
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/something-to-cheer-about-scott-morrison-slammed-over-bushfire-cricket-tweet
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/dec/12/firies-and-fury-exhausted-volunteers-decry-pms-claim-they-want-to-be-there
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-11/nsw-bushfires-firefighters-raise-money-to-buy-face-masks/11790096
Police Strip Searching Minors
The New South Wales police force has faced harsh criticism recently for a series of full body strip searches conducted at a music festival. This particular music festival is an event run exclusively for teenagers (age 13 to 17), so these strip searches were conducted on minors. Regulations for police require that any minor being strip searched by police must have a guardian present. In more than 20 cases, this didn't happen. Strip searches also shouldn't be happening outside a police station unless there is an imminent and serious threat. These searches were conducted on site. Oh, and they didn't find any drugs or weapons or anything at all that would be a threat or, you know, illegal.
The state commissioner of police defended these searches, despite them appearing to be in obvious violation of regulations. He also said that people should be afraid of the police. That's a thing that happened. I could spend more time unpacking this but it's kind of sickening and I don't want to think about it much more. Sources below. Look for yourself to see the depth of this insanity.
Job Walk-Offs and Union Busting
In Sydney, port workers, construction workers, and electrical workers have walked off job sites and refused to work while exposed to the dangerous levels of smoke in the air because it is hazardous to their health. Obviously. That's just how it works when the air has become poison. Obviously employers are not happy with workers putting their health and life ahead of profits.
Meanwhile, the federal government has been trying to pass a bill that gives more power to the courts to interfere with workers unions. These powers include terminating the employment of union officials or de-registering a union as a union. What horrible crimes would a union need commit for these punishments? Poor administration. Errors of paperwork. You know, the big issues. The bill is called the "Ensuring Integrity Bill" but basically everybody recognises it is about trying to weaken union power.
But that's not the only front on which our government wants to empower business owners over workers. While the coalition says it will come down hard on wage theft and introduce harsher penalties, they're making sure those penalties won't apply in situations where it was just a mistake. Of course it just so happens that "We accidentally underpaid our staff millions of dollars" is the favourite go to excuse for people like George Colambaris whose company was found to have failed to pay more than 7 million dollars earlier this years. Apparently it was a mistake because paying people is so hard to figure out. Anyway, the Australian Council of Trade Unions has described wage theft as a systemic problem in this country. Sources below.
Medvac Repeal
Sigh. I don't even want to talk about this. But anyway, the federal government has just repealed the 2018 medical evacuation laws that empowered doctors to arrange for immigrants in off-shore mandatory detention centres to be transferred to hospitals in Australia if they need care. At this stage, the government holds the power to universally and without question veto any such suggested treatment.
Only last year, the UN addressed Australia and called for a revision of its laws after ruling that the country had breached several international human rights laws. That is obviously not happening. In fact, CIVICUS has reported that civil rights in Australia shrank this year. This fact may come as a shock to any white people in the audience and probably nobody else. Sources below.
The fuck is a "fair go"?
The concept of "a fair go" is meaningless nationalist rhetoric used to talk about how fair Australia is. It's the concept that in Australia, in anything you do, you will get out what you put in and everybody is on a level playing field if you're willing to work hard for reward. Everyone is treated fairly.
It's obviously not true, but it's a trope our Prime Minister wheeled out in his first press conference as head of government. There's really not much to say on it and no point to explore just how hollow and vapid a concept it is. Especially not when the below satire comic has done it fine without me.
