Painting Fakes

So, I finally got a reply to my previous letters to the Prime Minister (you can read them here and here ).  At least, I got a letter from the Prime Minister which was apparently prompted by my letters.  It's essentially a piece of spin, assuring me what a great job the government is doing on climate change.  If only that were true! Of course I didn't have high expectations and I have decided to discipline myself to be persistent in this correspondence, so unlike the PM's staff, who ignored everything I said and just spun their own lines, I decided to reply point by point.  Here it is for your enjoyment! Dear Prime Minister Thank you for your letter of 13 November in response to my letters to you on climate change. It is heartening to me that you have not followed the lead of some of your colleagues and tried to cast shade on the science of climate change – it’s a relief not to have that discussion. It’s possible I would have been more reassured by ...

I've been writing about human rights, in the light of Australia's debate about religious freedom and the Government's proposed Religious Freedom Bill.  In the first post I had a look at the controversy over Israel Folau's infamous meme.  In the second I provide a beginners guide to the international covenants which provide the basis for human rights legislation and the question of what happens when rights collide.  In the third I provided a quick analysis of  the proposed Australian legislation.  To conclude I'd like to share some thoughts on how Christians should approach human rights. Christians often make the claim that the idea of human rights is founded in a Christian understanding of humanity.  The Centre for Public Christianity's documentary For the Love of God provides a good example .  Christians adopted the Jewish idea that humans are made in the image of God, and this was profoundly countercultural in the Roman Empire where human worth...

Extinction Rebellion has been making headlines around the world, including here in the centre of the universe (Brisbane, or course).  Their campaigns of nonviolent civil disobedience, aiming to create pressure to accelerate action on climate change, have disrupted daily life in major cities around the world.  Here in Brisbane, as elsewhere, they have blocked roads and other transport routes, gluing themselves to roads and locking themselves on to pieces of infrastructure to ensure long delays.  Plenty of people have been arrested, some multiple times, but this is part of their intention. Like many people who feel strongly about the need for action on climate change, I am torn about Extinction Rebellion.  Overall, I support them.  I agree with their message - that we need to urgently decarbonise and that we are a long way from taking climate change seriously either in Australia or globally.  I'm also not troubled by nonviolent civil disobedience, a time...

So, in Part 1 of this series I discussed the religious dimensions of the Israel Folau case, and in Part 2 I provided a summary of how international human rights treaties frame religious and other freedoms.  Now, onto the current Australian legislation.  The Commonwealth Attorney-General, Christian Porter, released the government's draft Religious Discrimination Bill at the end of August 2019, with a consultation period of a little over a month (ending October 2). The drive to legislate for religious freedom gained pace during the process of legalising same sex marriage, and is a kind of compensation to conservative religious people for losing that battle. In the wake of that process the government established a Religious Freedom Review led by former Attorney-General Phillip Ruddock.  This review found that there is no particular immediate threat to religious freedom in Australia. The Panel also heard that, as a whole, Australians generally enjoy religious freedo...

So, I never got an answer to my last Dear Scomo letter.  So instead of waiting forever, I wrote him another one. Dear Prime Minister Jon I am still awaiting your reply to my letter of 14 June, but I thought that I would write to you again given that events have moved on since then. Back in June I wrote asking you to lead your government into a more positive engagement with the issue of climate change.   I suggested you needed to move Australia towards more willing and enthusiastic participation in global mitigation efforts, planning for our economic transition to net zero emissions and getting serious about adaptation. While you have not replied to my letter the actions of your government since then have left me with little confidence you are getting to grips with this important issue, despite your reassuring words. You have repeatedly assured Australians that we are well on track to meeting our 2030 emissions reduction targets.   Yet official governm...

The Climate Strike and associated heightening of social media discussion has also brought the usual trolls out of their caves. I have no positive proof of this, but I'm pretty sure one or other of the Koch Brothers-funded entities has produced a 'Guide for Climate Trolls*' which is circulating somewhere on the dark web. It contains a short compendium of appropriate trolls from which followers are encouraged to select one or two and elaborate to taste. While I have never personally seen this document I am fairly sure I can list its contents. They are presented below, with handy counter-troll responses in brackets, and now numbered for easy reference . Part 1: For the Striking Children Children are easy prey for trolls and bullies because they are smaller than the rest of us.  The guide makes bullying them even easier with some handy tips.  Here are some replies to help you stand up for the small people in your life. 1.1 -  'I bet they drove there in cars.' (Yo...