Category: News

The Australian Greens have welcomed the announcement of a February 8th by-election in Griffith as the first litmus test of Tony Abbott’s leadership.

Candidate Geoff Ebbs said the Coalition Government was hurting the people of Griffith.

“People in Griffith are already suffering from Campbell Newman’s harsh cuts and we can’t afford more pain to come from Tony Abbott.

“Here in Griffith we want action on global warming, a healthy reef and a compassionate society. Tony Abbott is out of step with our community.

Australian Greens acting-Leader Richard Di Natale said the Griffith by-election would be a test of Tony Abbott’s leadership.

“Less than six months into his leadership, Tony Abbott has left a trail of broken promises, cruelty and environmental vandalism.

“This is the people of Griffith’s opportunity to send a message that Australians deserve better.

Candidate Geoff Ebbs said the Greens would be running a strong people-powered campaign and would be aiming to doorknock 3,000 homes in the electorate. The campaign is data driven and powered by social media. The research and training for the campaign has been provided by Simon Sheikh, national director of Get Up for for years and then candidate for the Senate in the ACT.

“We might not have the resources of Labor and Liberal, but we will make a difference with our people-powered campaign.”

Local Brisbane GP and Vice President of the Doctors Reform Society, Dr Tracy Schrader has called on Dr Bill Glasson, LNP candidate for the seat of Griffith, to a debate on his support for mandatory copayments on GP visits.

“This will be the end of Medicare” said Dr Schrader.

“The government and Dr Glasson believing a $6 copayment is affordable are living in a different world. These costs add up and most of my patients have difficulties already affording medication and other care. This will be another deterrent in seeking care.” concluded Dr Schrader. “This won’t just stop at $6 either. These fees escalate”

“Price signals do not work in health care. This is not cups of coffee or luxury items you’re dealing with here. This is people’s lives and health. People don’t need to be hit with a financial hammer when seeking care. Preventative care, screening and chronic illness management will all be impacted,” Dr Schrader said “and down the line more illness that could have been dealt with more efficiently in the primary care setting.”

“Who determines what’s ‘affordable’ or who’s the ‘most vulnerable’? Most of us are all vulnerable in different ways at some time. Isn’t the taxation office the best place to determine who should pay what and not the doctor’s surgery where we sometimes do feel vulnerable? Free at the point of service is a fundamental principle of universal health care and Medicare. This will only create bureaucratic chaos and won’t save money. It will be more costs for the sick and less well off and less tax for the wealthy.” said Dr Schrader. “Yes, Dr Glasson, if you can afford to pay you should pay – through your taxes.”

“Doctors fees always blow out after the introduction of copayments. Bulk billing has been a cost constraint on doctors fees. Compare the cost to see a GP ($36/$72) with the fees private specialists charge often around $300 plus. Dr Glasson as a private ophthalmologist should be well aware of this. It is the thin edge of the wedge. The death of Medicare Dr Glasson claims to support.” said Dr Schrader.

“Is Dr Glasson also supportive of the proposal of extending the copayment to public hospital emergency departments to “stop the rush of Medicare patients to the state hospital ‘free’ ED”?” asked Dr Schrader. “Introducing a copayment in emergency departments would create an administrative nightmare. The practicalities are almost unthinkable. Who collects and when? Would you be sent a bill if unable to pay at the time? Would debt collectors be sent after people unable to pay? Remember back in the early seventies before Medibank/Medicare, failure to pay medical bills was the main reason for imprisonment for debt in South Australia. And then there’s interference with administrating care. The so-called frontline services the government proclaims to want to protect.”

“Dr Glasson is the endorsed LNP candidate for the Griffith by-election. He and the government have to come out and tell the Australian people exactly where they stand on this. Medicare is an issue at the heart of the Australian people. Why wasn’t such an important policy issue raised prior to the last federal election? Is it bad policy on the run or is there more to it?” said Dr Schrader. “I call on Dr Glasson to a public debate on this issue so the people of Griffith have the opportunity to make an informed decision prior to the by-election.”

(Dr Tracy Schrader also lives in the seat of Griffith)

When, just after Christmas, the Australian Centre for Health Research (ACHR) announced it had made a submission to the Government’s Commission of Audit proposing the introduction of a mandatory Medicare co-payment, there were calls on Twitter for the media to ask Dr Bill Glasson whether he would support such a proposal.

That seemed like a big ask: the first day back at work after the Christmas break, Dr Glasson’s answering service issued the message that his office would be closed until Monday, January 6.

Yet an enterprising ABC reporter managed to get hold of him, and the resulting report sparked a storm of interest, not just in the Griffith electorate, but nationally. Dr Glasson’s comments were a trending issue on Twitter this week, and have been reported in the mainstream media.

His response was always going to be of interest for two reasons: he is a doctor and past president of the Australian Medical Association (AMA); and he is Tony Abbott’s friend, a ‘hand-picked’ candidate for Griffith.

The ABC quoted Dr Glasson: “I do support an affordable price signal, but we have to make sure it wouldn’t impact on the most vulnerable in our society, especially children, the elderly, Indigenous and patients with chronic conditions”.

“If you can afford to pay, you should pay, to keep the system fair and affordable.”

Given the speed and ferocity of the negative responses to the proposal, not least from the current president of the AMA, Dr Steve Hambleton, Dr Glasson’s contributions to this debate sets him apart, because neither his leader, nor the Health Minister, have made their positions clear, preferring to leave any decisions to the Audit Commissioners.

The ALP’s Terri Butler, Dr Glasson’s challenger in the Griffith by-election, spoke to No Fibs today.

“As he (Dr Glasson) is standing for Federal parliament, I would like to think his comment was a considered one. I would hope that when radical ideas are proposed he gives them due consideration,” she said.

“If he is in favour of this initiative, is that then indicative of what Mr Abbott might be saying?”

Asked what reactions she is hearing in Griffith, Ms Butler said: “If people are floating an idea that undermines universal health care, people will react strongly”.

“People are really confused about what’s being suggested and why,” she said.

“If you look at what the proposed savings are, this proposal looks to be much more ideological than financial.”

Ms Butler said that people are rightly worried about how this might play out for them. For example, she said, the fee might start at $5 or $6, but some are worried it will be increased later.

“It has certainly been the case that co-payments for pharmaceuticals have increased substantially since they were introduced,” she said.

“It is confusing and worrying for people who have grown up with universal health care. There is confusion for people my parents’ age and older, who gave up pay rises in the 1980s. They are rightly saying: ‘well hang on, what’s happening to universal health care in Australia?

“Mr Abbott hasn’t ruled it out. Mr Dutton hasn’t ruled it out. The only member of the Liberal party who has been categorical in his support is my opponent, Bill Glasson,” she said.

The Greens’ candidate for Griffith, Geoff Ebbs, was quoted in a press release today: “Tony Abbott should be looking to his billionaire mining mates to help balance his books, not every day struggling residents”.

“The people of Griffith will be queuing up at our local hospitals’ emergency departments to avoid paying this extra cost,” Ebbs said.

“Alternatively, they just won’t go to the doctor themselves or take their sick kids because they can’t afford it.”

In a statement to No Fibs, Geoff Ebbs said: “These backwards ‘robbing hoods’ invent a new way every day to rob the poor. Ordinary working families are now struggling as the underclass in a two-speed economy. The Greens will stand up to these bullies and fight for ordinary Australians.”

Given the current political climate, the residents of Griffith might rightly be wondering, ‘what next?’.

STOP PRESS: Health Minister Peter Dutton says Medicare unsustainable without ‘overhaul’ (undisclosed before election).

– See more at: http://nofibs.com.au/2014/01/04/dr-glassons-new-years-medicare-resolutions-griffithelects-reports/#sthash.Za47kRcc.dpuf

Tim Anderson looks at Syria, the attacks on Wikileaks and the Sydney Morning Herald.

The Sydney Morning Herald has dutifully joined in with the international chorus of protest over a delegation of Australians that has gone to Syria on a fact finding and solidarity tour. See: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/wikileaks-party-defends-its-cup-of-tea-with-bashar-alassad-20131231-304ne.html

Herald journalists Leesha McKenny and David Wroe do the profession no honour in producing their dirt sheet on the delegation’s visit that spins all the same old lies and insinuations and includes the gratuitous comment that one of the participants in the delegation was Dr “Tim Anderson – who was acquitted of the 1978 bombing of the Sydney Hilton hotel”. Well, if he was acquitted of an event that occurred more than 35 years ago why bring it up in this context, other than to imply that even though he was acquitted he was somehow guilty, or the crime somehow reflects on the nature of the man, even though he was found not to be guilty of the crime?

Likewise the key person the delegation met with, according to the authors, is “accused war criminal President Bashar al-Assad.” This claim, frequently made by those prosecuting the war against Syria, should be treated with caution by any journalist who claims to write objectively. Like the Anderson insinuation, here it is used merely to colour the article. In the absence of any substantial evidence to back the claim (as opposed to the mountains of evidence from the ‘rebel’ forces of their own war crimes), it is a mere reiteration that Assad and the Syrian government are the instigators of the war in Syria, and the chief perpetrators of crimes within the course of that war.

This demonstrates above all what tools these journalists are, given the mountains of evidence that the violence in Syria has been instigated from outside and is the result of a well prepared proxy war. This following Washington Post article, ironically enough the result of a Wikileak in early 2011 should make that clear. See: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/us-secretly-backed-syrian-opposition-groups-cables-released-by-wikileaks-show/2011/04/14/AF1p9hwD_story.html

Also – the whole world – except the mainstream media and the politicians apparently – knows of this article from Seymour Hersh in the New Yorker in 2005, that revealed the making of an insidious alliance between US and Saudi governments to reshape the Middle East, which included the targeting of Syria, as an ally of Shia Iran. See: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/03/05/070305fa_fact_hersh

The insidiousness of the journalists’ unsubstantiated, or actually falsified claims is demonstrated in the smear that the “Assad regime, … among other alleged atrocities is accused of using chemical weapons against its own people.” Once against, the journalists use an accusation to imply a truth. Conveniently, by ignoring the actual results of enquiries into the allegations, they do not have to deal with evidence that the US administration tried to use concocted charges against the Syrian government of chemical warfare against its own people to launch a military strike against Syria – what would have been another of what history shows to be many war crimes committed by the United States to defend and extend its empire. By avoiding the facts, or declining to actually investigate, the journalists and their employer continue to be a part of the conspiracy to smother the truth and parrot propaganda when it comes to Syria.

Simply the allegations that the Syrian government was the instigator of chemical warfare in Ghouta and other places has fallen apart, as revealed, among others, by Seymour Hersh in the London Review of Books. See: http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n24/seymour-m-hersh/whose-sarin

His article has been studiously ignored by the US and Australian media, because it interferes with the narrative they are peddling. They have also ignored the findings of the UN Commission that investigated the attacks, which effectively dismantled the case against the Assad government. See: http://consortiumnews.com/2013/12/23/un-investigator-undercuts-nyt-on-syria/

The writers of the SMH article also trimmed the comments made by the Abbott Government’s Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop. The only reason for this could be the level of double think in her statement was too preposterous to reveal, if the dirt sheet was to retain any plausibility. Bishop is reported in the article to have ‘expressed anger’ saying the visit was “exceedingly counterproductive” and ”reckless”, adding that ”Assad has been accused of war crimes … It was exceedingly counterproductive of an Australian political party to meet the Syrian leader given the volatile conflict that is under way … This was a reckless action to take.”

What is not reported is her comment that: “It is not in support of the sanctions regime that Australia has in place, in fact it risks undermining the sanctions regime we have in place, and it risks aligning Australia with one side of the conflict in Syria, which is something we would not do.” See: http://news.yahoo.com/wikileaks-party-meeting-syrian-president-222339893–spt.html

How on earth do Australian governments impose sanctions on Syria – and close down the Syrian embassy – and join the predatory “Friends of Syria” that supports the US created “Syrian government in exile” and is already planning for the lucrative ‘post-Assad’ reconstruction of Syria, and consider themselves to not be taking sides? It is this “neutral” stance demonstrated by Australian governments that these journalists and the mainstream media generally are rock solid in supporting. It puts them firmly within the camp of those criminally conspiring to destroy Syria as part of a plan to re-order the Middle East in favour of imperialism and the most reactionary social forces imaginable.

And by the way – it makes a mockery of the Sydney Morning Herald’s motto – “Independent, Always”

sources:
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/wikileaks-party-defends-its-cup-of-tea-with-bashar-alassad-20131231-304ne.html
https://www.facebook.com/wayne.sonter.7/posts/10152180014204391

 

 

Twighlight Markets and Joynt regular Karl S Williams is taking Woodford by storm. With at least one gig every day the West End troubadour has turned heads with his gutsy passion, huge vocal register and eclectic material.

Diners at the Pineapple Bar last night postponed their departure as Williams slipped seamlessly from piano ballads to dark banjo pieces that gave a new dimension to that generally underdeveloped instrument.
Sound techs are raving about the clean, spare sound that mixes swamp, remote hilltop and Hootanany back block with Williams’ Brisbane Southside roots.
Williams is not the only local turning heads at Westend’s cultural summer sojourn. Joe Hallestein of community hub Turnstyle presented his rousing talk on windmills, Jo Sri from Rivermouth is in the running for a free ticket to next year’s Woodford as a “walk up” to the Poet’s Breakfast. Rivermouth itself has been rocking the after midnight crowd at the Joy Luck Club. Of course, there is lots going on from places other than West End but that is not our concern, is it?

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Nova Heart wants to push things forward. Do something different. Avoid what has become the norm for Chinese popular music. Being validated through association of a major brand and western culture. Instead they want to make it by doing their own thing and pushing things forward.

They have toured five continents before publishing their debut album. A feat very few bands can brag about.

Helen Feng Nova Heart, vocals] told me, as we were standing outside in the rain at Woodford Folk Festival, that this has been made possible thanks to their Fake Music Media manager Philipp Grefer’s hard work.

Fake Music Media’s name is a play on the assumption that everything that originates from China is fake.

When it comes to music, regarding both China and South Korea, the music industry often focuses on who an artist has played for or is associated with. This is used as a way to validate their popularity.

If an artist plays at a store for a certain brand, then the band is popular — not because the artist has something interesting or revolutionary to say.

“The music industry stopped being relevant when it became an industry.”

She explains to me that this is because of hipsterism. Certain bands are cool because they are sold as cool, and if you listen to that band you are cool. Also, you have to wear a certain type of clothing, because you need to show you are cool and hip.

Hipsterism is nothing more than post-materialism.

“Everybody is reading the same stupid Pitchfork reviews and doing the same stupid hipster shit.”

To avoid this Nova Heart has had to make it big outside of China first — while also trying to push things forward. Something that can either be extremely successful or a complete failure.

“I am scared.”

She tells me that as a musician you often spend 90% of your time on the road. This makes it hard to have an interesting life. Therefore musicians are not really that interesting people — which results in most music being not very interesting.

“Am I a complete a**hole saying that?”

If your life is different from everyone else, only then it is easy to be interesting.

To start a revolution with music, you must have something interesting to say, she explains. Music is just sound, not a revolution on its own — something people need to get over and understand. Have a reason for what you are doing.

“That is bigger than being famous.”

As we part our way I am left questioning not only the music industry, but also what we easily label as popular music. Is it really interesting, does it have any reason and why is a certain band popular?

She did touch upon that during our conversation, when she said that we have become too focused on being happy and that everything is fine. If your are negative or critical of something, then you are the problem.

Let us just pretend that everything is great and ignore what can and should be changed, right?

Interestingly enough, I am also left with the notion that there is hope for music. As long as we have more artists like Helen Feng that are daring enough to criticise the industry and willing to risk everything for the sake of changing it.

On their Australia Tour Nova Heart will be in playing at two venues in Brisbane. Check them out if you are looking for something different and a band that wants to make a difference.

http://youtu.be/NDcip9JtwtU

Nova Heart Australian Tour 2014
Thursday 2nd January 2014 @ Ric’s Bar – Brisbane (QLD)
Friday 3rd January 2014 @ Old Museum – Brisbane (QLD
Saturday 4th January 2014 @ Great Northern – Byron Bay (NSW)
Thursday 9th January 2014 @ The Brass Monkey – Cronulla (NSW)
Friday 10th January 2014 @ Spectrum – Sydney (NSW)
Saturday 11th January 2014 @ The Standard – Sydney (NSW)
Wednesday 15th January 2014 @ Beach Road Hotel – Bondi (NSW)
Thursday 16th January 2014 @ Ding Dong Lounge – Melbourne (VIC)