Dear Young Friends

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Dear Agnes, Maggie, Sofia, Mike, Emily, Damien, Evan, Sam, Colin, Gina, Andy, Lauren, Caroline, Phil, Dan, Josh, Anna, Brooke, Stephen, Siobhan, Peter, Sarah, Oskar and more.
Thanks for letting an old fart like me into your world and treating me as an equal. It’s such a pleasure to learn about your world – which is so different from mine – and to be able to ask you challenging questions and get challenging answers back! Being included energises me to be included. Learning and understanding about things and situations you know little about is exciting, thought-provoking. You keep me young.

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Dear Josh (Frydenberg)

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I write to you as my local Federal member of Parliament.  After the shambolic chaos of your party’s internal power plays last week that led to yet another new Prime Minister and you accidentally being elected Deputy Leader and Treasurer, I realised that the National Energy Guarantee (NEG) you had fought so hard for, though very flawed, was a genuine attempt to plot your way through the minefield of environment and energy policy.

Though I campaigned against it, and against you because of your support for coal mining, I realised that you almost achieved balancing a carbon emissions reductions target, an energy supply guarantee and some commitment to price reduction, in the face of the warring sections of your party.  Here’s why I’m sorry now that you failed and what you need to do if you want to be the next leader of your party.Read More »

Penises, Vulvas/Vaginas and Breasts: Let’s Talk about Them!

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At fringe festivals in Adelaide and Minneapolis over the last three years, I’ve seen entertaining and educational shows on these taboo topics.  Yet, mentioning this to friends brings nervous laughter, uncomfortable reactions and a desire to avoid discussing the topics.  These normal, small, but important parts of our bodies – we all have them – just can’t be discussed normally…and we are the poorer for it.  Let’s talk about them.Read More »

MyHealth: Centralised Health Records are Valuable. You Should ‘Opt-in’.

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Australians are debating whether or not to opt out of the centralised electronic government health record system, MyHealth.  If you don’t specifically opt out, you are ‘in’.  In principle, this is a no-brainer, though there are practical issues and risks, as always.  Here’s why you should do nothing…and therefore opt in.Read More »

The Plastics War? We’ve Barely Started

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So we (Victorians) have just stopped using single-use plastic bags in supermarkets and we are feeling very good about ourselves.  But this is just a drop in the ocean in our plastics use.  Research shows that over 800 million – yes million – pieces of plastic enter Pt Phillip Bay from just its two main rivers each year.  Research shows that plastics have infiltrated every ocean, every water supply and many food products.  Films such as ‘Blue Planet’ and ‘The Plastic Ocean’ and TV series such as ‘The War on Waste’ show how badly our environment has been and is being damaged by our uncontrolled use of plastic.  How can we address this environmental disaster?Read More »

Trump is a Success. Forget what he says. Look at what he does.

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Liberals (including me) hate Trump.  We look at what he says, his fallacies, inconsistencies, morals, the people he chooses, the processes he uses.  But liberals fail to look at his amazingly successful achievements – what he does.  He is on his way to being one of the most successful, influential US Presidents of all time, rather in the way that Reagan influenced world economics and politics for over 20 years.Read More »

Getting to a New Model for Being a Man

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As #MeToo rumbles through society and radicalism infects disaffected young men, it seems clear that, while women are asserting themselves, many men are feeling increasingly emasculated.  The old make roles of family breadwinner, provider of strength and protection, being unemotional, putting up with/sacrificing one’s life for the family are going or gone.  #MeToo is a reaction to unequal power – physical power, sexual power, aggression. Men have more of these.

As horizons expand for women, they are seen to be contracting for men.  Why will men accept equality, when men want to be aggressive, have the power to be aggressive?  If we want social equality, how can we breed out, train out or control these innate male characteristics?  What role does a man have when a woman is better educated, can earn as much, can hire strength, buy protection and live alone – with or without children, with or without a man, let alone a husband?Read More »