The world’s oldest living rainforest has been returned to its custodians in a historic handback ceremony in Far North Queensland.

Key points:

• Native title had already been established over the land, but the traditional custodians wanted more involvement
• They will jointly manage the country with the Queensland government and say it will lead to cultural learning and employment opportunities
• About 20 per cent of the 160,213ha handed back comes in addition to the land already under native title

The Eastern Kuku Yalanji people have taken formal ownership of 160,213 hectares of country stretching from Mossman to Cooktown, including the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Daintree National Park.… Go to Article

I am not sure that these repeated calls for inquiries into the practices of the Public Trustee is the answer. What is needed is for the government to return the public trustee under the control of the public service and for the office to be made fully accountable and for ordinary people with limited assets be provided with a free service to wind up the financial affairs of their family and friends when they die.… Go to Article

To the Minister for Police and Corrective Services and Minister for Fire and Emergency Services, Mark Ryan MP.

Jonathan Sri is not our local councillor but I think he is a model of what a Brisbane City councillor should be.

I am concerned that he is being harassed by specific police officers in the performance of his duties particularly this one (pictured).… Go to Article

Queensland police refuse to remove traditional owners occupying Adani’s coalmine site

Miner says group is ‘trespassing’ but police have acknowledged their cultural rights under human rights act

Queensland police have told a group of First Nations people occupying the site of Adani’s Carmichael coalmine for the past five weeks that they have no intention of removing them from the area “at this time”.… Go to Article

Italian film festival suggestions

The Italian film festival returns to Brisbane after a pause for Covid 12. Here are some suggestions.

IFF21 Journey to Italy (PG) 

Barracks SAT 23RD OCT 1:10pm 

IFF21 The Ties (M) 

Barracks SAT 23RD OCT 6:00pm 

IFF21 The Ties (M) 

Barracks FRI 29TH OCT 6:30pm 

IFF21 Paisan (PG) 

Barracks THU 4TH NOV 6:30pm 

IFF21 Stromboli (18+) 

James St FRI 5TH NOV 1:15pm 

IFF21 Paolo Conte – Via con me  

Barracks SAT 6TH NOV 8:00pm 

IFF21 Marriage Italian Style (M) 

Barracks SUN 7TH NOV 4:00pm 

IFF21 Padrenostro (18+) 

James St TUE 9TH NOV 7:00pm 

IFF21 Three Floors 

James St THU 11TH NOV 8:20pm 

IFF21 Amore (18+) 

Barracks SAT 13TH NOV 1:30pm 

IFF21 Three Floors (M) 

James St SAT 13TH NOV 6:00pm 

IFF21 Rome, Open City (18+) 

James St SUN 14TH NOV 6:30pm 

… Go to Article

Bill Tully (1937-2021)

If there were a good cause getting underway in Canberra in the decades after 1970, Bill Tully was lending a hand.

Bill and I met when he enrolled for history honours at the ANU, writing his thesis on the New Guard. When I moved flats, he turned up to help re-stack the bookcases.… Go to Article

The Kadaitcha Sung – A novel by Sam Watson Penguin Books (1990) – a review

It does not seem that long ago that I first heard about Biamee, “the one god, a greater being, (who) made his camp on the rich veldts and in the lush valleys of the South Land”.… Go to Article

“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.” George Orwell

“Semites are people who speak Semitic language, so really “Anti-Semitism” should be defined as “fear or dislike of people who speak Semitic languages.

Semites are speakers of Semitic languages and this term was coined by German linguists – Semitic languages included Arabic, Hebrew, Aramaic and some other languages of Africa and Asia.… Go to Article

Why wait for the planes to come
When everybody’s got us on the run
South Pacific carry on
Here come the Hercules
Here come the submarines
Sinking South Pacific dreams
– Midnight Oil

Andrew and Bevan from APAN have put together this critique of the Australian government’s AUKUS deal with the United States and Britain.… Go to Article

“The offshore dumping of Refugees in impoverished Pacific communities has become an irretrievable disaster necessitating urgent action by Australia. No new direction in refugee policy can be complete without a change to the current offshore policy which has been an unmitigated disaster to both the refugees and to their unwilling hosts in the communities of the Pacific Islands.”… Go to Article

Motherland cradle me, close my eyes,
Lullaby me to sleep.
Keep me safe, lie with me,
Stay beside me don’t go
– Natalie Merchant

Local community choir ‘Singpatico‘ saw their way through Covid and managed to put in a great performance at the Laura Street Festival on Sunday 10 October 2021.… Go to Article

October 7, 1571

450 years on

‘… marvelous in our eyes’  (Psalm  118:23.)

Pius V instructed that the Psalmist’s words – ‘this is the Lord’s doing’ be stamped on medallions commemorating the Holy League’s destruction of the Ottoman fleet off Lepanto on October 7, 1571. Of 230  enemy warships, thirty escaped, leaving behind 30,000 dead or dying.… Go to Article

Here is the wattle,
The emblem of our land.
You can stick it in a bottle
Or hold it in your hand.

Barry Humphries.

As one of the lost legion of letter-writers, I’m always on the look-out for stamps not blighted by royal parasites or trained killers.

 Imagine my delight to spot these ‘Wattle Wonders.’.… Go to Article

At the close to the most successful Big Ride for Palestine (Australia) about fifty (50) from the community who support Palestine assemble near the Baladi (=home) Coffee Cart run by Farrah and Tony. Already 115 riders and walkers have completed over 11,720 kilometre Australia-wide and have raised over $45,000 (so far) for the Palestinian Women’s Humanitarian Organisation in the refugee camps in Lebanon.… Go to Article

Rotterdam​ city centre sits a few miles inland from the North Sea, its skyscrapers and office buildings lining the New Meuse River, a tributary of the Rhine. A ferry tour takes you past ship repair yards, grain silos, terminals receiving coal and iron ore for Ruhr Valley industries, and even a massive orange juice storage facility that receives its cargo from Latin America.… Go to Article

“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.” – Jane Eyre

Of all the characters in the Bronte sisters novels, I find Jane Eyre the most sympathetic character. Raised in a terrible orphanage before being forced into work as a governess with a cruel boss, Bronte portrays the plain Jane Eyre as a kind and heroic figure even before she meets the stormy Rochester in the rain one night on the dark moors.… Go to Article

We post this invitation by IPAN to a meeting of interested organisations to discuss the potential formation of a broad national coalition campaigning against Nuclear Submarines and AUKUS. This Introductory invitation is signed by 15 organisations listed at the bottom of the letter.

Australians are facing a dangerous turn of events with the Government joining the AUKUS military agreement (Australia, UK, US) that can open the door to nuclear power and nuclear weapons in Australia. … Go to Article

Labor Party resolutions (Queensland & Britain) on Israel and Palestine

It is interesting that the strong condemnation of Israel by the British Labour Party has occurred after Jeremy Corbyn left the leadership. It appears that this motion is a truly rank & file motion within the Party given the bumbling, pro-Murdoch attitude of the leadership.… Go to Article

To a man with no name,
I don’t trust intellectuals. They can make anything sound true. If there is a truth, it lies in struggle. If you can’t make it happen, what’s the point? So long as you know which side you are on and why.
No one of consequence,
6 October 2021

Gladstone … observed that even love had not turned more men into fools than has meditation upon the nature of money.… Go to Article

The Seabreeze Effect – Do the coastal areas always stay cooler?

“Brisbane has recorded its hottest October day since 2004, with the temperature today hitting 36.6 degrees earlier this afternoon. The Bureau of Meteorology says temperatures across the south-east were between five and 10 degrees above average. Senior forecaster Felim Hanniffy says the heat was the result of a trough travelling towards the coast — from an area just west of the Darling Downs — and northerly winds.”… Go to Article

There has been a rapid community response opposing Scott Morrison’s government’s embracing Aukus war pact and nuclear- powered submarines.

The response to Scott Morrison’s decision to embrace Aukus and nuclear submarine technology has sparked opposition in the Australian community and overseas. A coalition of concerned people and organisations is being formed to challenge and oppose these decisions.… Go to Article

In the absence of a viable plan to release Julian Assange, the media is speculating about a reported CIA abduction/murder plan. Everyone is treading water including Joe Biden.

Did the CIA plan to abduct, perhaps even murder, Julian Assange. Why? What are the Vault 7 secrets obtained by Wikileaks. The article explains that they are a trove of CIA software exploits.… Go to Article

Foco can mean a central space, however in revolutionary politics Che Guevara gave it real meaning in guerrilla warfare against military dictatorships around the world. It was a place from which the poor and oppressed could launch their attack on the ruling class.

On the Paradigm Shift, this week, Andy talked “about creating radical collaborative spaces in Brisbane.… Go to Article

Having left the Middle East In chaos, the United States is trying to protect its military superiority in the Indo-Pacific. Like a devoted child, Australia is going along for the ride providing an even greater base for US military superiority.

On this week’s Paradigms Shift, Andy manages to get a submariner to criticise the new nuclear sub deal with United States.… Go to Article

Show your solidarity – donate to provide food parcels to families in Lebanon A recent report by the World Bank says Lebanon’s current economic and financial crisis is among the world’s worst since the 1850s. The report is full of statistics and dire predictions, but it does not say much about the terrible ways people on the ground are suffering.

… Go to Article

What was Trev doing on Monday?

I did a 30 kilometre bike ride along the Redlands coast, with friends Ian and Lachlan in support of the Big Ride for Palestine. We joined partners Katherine, Claire and Susan as they undertook a 7 km walk which formed part of our ride. We are all part of team “Araucarians”.… Go to Article

We shall return
the nightingale told me
when we met on a hill
that nightingales still
live there on our dreams
and that among the yearning hills
and people there is a place for us
0 heart then
how long has the wind scattered us.
Come, we shall return
let us return.… Go to Article

From the frontlines – an update on the situation in Lebanon

For nearly two years Lebanon has been assailed by compounded crises – specifically, the economic and financial crises, followed by COVID-19, massive inflation, the inability to access goods (medication, baby formula, etc.), unemployment, the explosion at the Port of Beirut in August 2020, the gasoline crisis, and in the past few months the electricity crisis.… Go to Article