Loggers ‘the ultimate conservationists’: Abbott’s environment vandalism policy

Speech delivered by Tony Abbott to the Forestworks Dinner in Canberra Tuesday, 4 March 2014 Julie, I want to thank you very much indeed for that kind introduction. It’s nice to have a list of things recounted to an appreciative audience – it really is nice. But the most important fact, at least insofar I suspect […]

Then they came for the farmers… #SPC #leardblockade

[clear] By Alison Parkes  6th February 2014 Two recent issues have been in the news lately concerning rural and regional communities – the impending closure of SPC and the Leardblockade. People in capital cities, on social media and old media talk about thinks like SPC or live export or another mine as if they are […]

Ain’t nothing like the real thing: #GriffithVotes candidates’ forum @GriffithElects reports

[clear] Video by Mark Doyle @ffrickenstein Both Bill Glasson and Terri Butler held virtual ‘town-hall’ meetings in recent days, using new technology which enabled them to talk simultaneously with audiences of 10,000 and more. These virtual meetings gave all the control to the candidates and their teams, allowed them to target particular sections of the […]

#SPC Ardmona isn’t just a factory – @AmyFeldtmann memories

[clear] By  Amy Feldtmann  @AmyFeldtmann 2nd February 2014 Originally published at amyfeldtmann.com I am a graduate of Dookie Primary School No. 1527, where there was a grand total of five students in my grade. All up, our school roll-call peaked at about 60 in my later years. The primary school was on a block so large […]

Margo interviews @macavitykat, monopole sitter at #leardblockade

By Margo Kingston @margokingston1 31st January 2014 I met Kat Moore briefly the evening before she was arrested on Tuesday at #Leardblockade up a monopole on the Whitehaven construction site after stopping 13 Trucks from working all day. I interviewed her yesterday by phone shortly after her return to Melbourne. Margo How does it feel […]

#leardblocksde stops #Whitehaven work – Margo’s Day 13 live Twitter report

Citizen Journo MARGO KINGSTON preview of Tuesday’s action at the #leardblockadeon Citizen journalist Margo Kingston talks to Paul Bevan about #leardblockade and the hash tag as space for comment from all sides of the debate on the Maules Creek mine in Western NSW. He also speaks to 91 year old Bill Ryan on why he […]

Best Polly Ticks Quotes and Moments of 2013

by Sarah Capper 23 December 2013 A week is a long time in politics. A year is an excruciating amount of time, and as we near the end of 2013, our third prime minister for the year has just reached his first 100 days in office. Awww. In many senses, it’s been Tony Abbott’s year. So […]

Shaking pressies in Griffith: a by-election Christmas wrap from @GriffithElects

By Jan Bowman  @GriffithElects 15 December 2013 Following candidates around my electorate has proven a hit and miss affair at the same time as everyone’s getting ready for Christmas. Aware that she would be rallying the troops last weekend, I kept missing Terri Butler, but it was not hard to spot her supporters in their red t-shirts, […]

Reporting Indi: A reflection by Margo Kingston

[clear] By Margo Kingston, 1 December 2013 I take the Gold Coast train to Brisbane airport, the plane to Melbourne, the sky bus to Southern Cross Station, the train to Seymour, and the bus to Wangaratta train station. Wayne Jansson leads me to his battered old car and drives me to the hamlet of St James. […]

Groundwater: out of sight, not out of mind: @molessarah reports

By Sarah Moles Very wise people have said some crucially important things about water. For me, Leonardo Da Vinci summed it up best with: “Water is the driving force of all nature”.  W.H. Auden comes a close second: “Thousands have lived without love, not one without water.”   Given its essential place in supporting life, […]