..to see The Well Spring and the end of Civil Society

Shane Framed

G'day Possums,

we've been to another exhibition
at Photonet Gallery in Fairfield: the 4th annual women photographers' exhibition for International Womens' Day which afforded some good looking and conversations and a much needed distraction from the appalling descent into an un-civil society that Oz is spiralling down to. More later in Wombat Droppings.



Three photographers in this show stood out to me; Julie Hough, Judith Crispin and Tania Gioffre.

Julie Hough, Deanna- Firefighter

Julie Hough's three portraits showed  her direct empathy with her subjects without having that "in-your-face" bluntness that some photojournalists seem to aspire to.
There seems to be an absorption of information from both the subject and the viewer that lets the story unfold in a gently informative fashion. 

Judith Crispin, Le Peintre de Lumiere

The look of Judith Crispin's images, taken in Cafe' Bibo in Ballarat are redolent of a European sense of humanity. Photographers like Kertesz, Sander and Cartier-Bresson come readily to mind because of their narrative quality and capacity for observation. It is interesting to note in comparison with Julie hough's work how differently space is utilised even when the subject is treated, as in "Cafe' Bibo" in a planar manner. 

Tanya Gioffre Untitled 4

The warm tones of Tanya Gioffre's six gently surreal pieces are counterpointed by the sense of isolation of the white clad figure in space. Although I found the figure in "Untitled 3" a tad awkward in placement, in "Untitled 6" it was interesting to feel that the figure was the source of the light and not the window. An intriguing ensemble of images. 

Julie Hough

Joyce Evans  and Deborah Horner

The Well Spring at Photonet

Steve Marshall
An interesting show with a variety of styles and approaches, Photonet, 15A Railway Place Fairfield till March 15.


Wombat dropping or Low Down politics in Oz

"Rabbott-the-Hun" feigns horror at "The Drone"Morrison's 3 Badge General being accused of political cover-up whilst ignoring the murder of a young asylum seeker on Manus Island which is run by an ex military type from Sri-Lanka. Tamil refugees on Manus avoid him with good reason.

Where's Wally?

In greeting Canadian Pollie "Rabbott" said, "It's good to be here, It's good to be here, It's good to be here, It's good to be here...."  It is not known whether this will be set to music for future occasions. 

Pyne "The Lying Whyne" screeched around Parliament that ".... telling the truth in Parliament was extremely important.." He did not say when this revelation had occurred to him or whether he felt it applied to him, too. 

Princess Fiona of Young is still confusing conflict of interest,  misleading Parliament, and promoting unhealthy foodstuffs with being a honest, solid member of the House and caring  representative of the people.

It is also suggested that if Tony Shepherd's directorship of Reardon Capital  isn't a conflict of interest with his role as Audit Commission Chairman then Pigs can fly.

Joe "Cereal/SPC/Toyota Killer" Hockey opined that paying less for Health, Welfare and Education would improve these services and that bailing out Qantas so it can sack all its workforce, sell its aircraft and terminals which will actually make the airline stronger, more efficient and less likely to crash and allow its CEO Alan "Leprachaun" Joyce bigger bonuses.

Tardis State, "Where-All-Goes-Backward", pretend Premier Dennis "Inutilus Rusticus" Naptime was celebrating  giving away taxpayer money to have 300 call centre jobs in Geelong whilst at the same time 30 scientists are to made redundant because funding has been withdrawn.  Liarbril imagination at work again ...who needs Bionic Eyes, Ears, and simpler ways of assembling DNA fragments when you can staff a call centre? 

Advance Australia Fare?

The Bosses of both Box Hill and North Melbourne TAFE's have quit...as they now understand that education is justifiably, only for the upper-middle-classes.... no matter how stupid they are; thereby proving Joe "Cereal Killer" Hockey's point that education is improved with a $300,000,000.00 cut.

The first Unionist to be arrested under the new Tardis State "Where-All-Goes-Backward" "Move-on" Laws has been handcuffed and taken away. Police Commissioner Ken "Did-they-Really?"Lay, said, "Did They?" 

Chris Uhlmann now ABC radio presenter, in response to blog, FB and other criticism of his reportage and questioning style of singing only from the Liarbril Party song sheet said, "I don't give a Rat's arse what people think!"  Which is, although not exclusively a Liarbril Party attitude, pretty much the aspirational bogan core of their values.   

Cheers, Petals,

Shane

...welcome to the real world... the Fantasy Land of the Aspirational Bogan

In only six months the myth of an egalitarian, fair and benign Australia has been well and truly trashed by Rabbott-the-Hun and his Murdoch Mandated fellow rabble.

We now oversee the killing of refugees.

Shane,
in disgust at our Fascist government and venal, selfish society.

Shane caught in Film-Noir mood... probably...

 “…we never descended into the undergraduate and bad-mannered and ungentlemanly behaviour that Labor descended into yesterday,'' he insisted.

''[Leader of opposition business] Tony Burke needs to grow up and stop being juvenile,'' Mr Pyne, lying again, to journalists outside Parliament House.
''I know that he's about my age, perhaps a little bit older, and maybe he feels that the previous government was a manifest failure and he played a part in that.''

In Western Australia, endangered great white sharks are being slaughtered. In Queensland, dredging spoil is to be dumped on the Great Barrier Reef. In Tasmania, ancient forests – harbouring some of the planet’s tallest trees – are in danger of being stripped of their World Heritage listing.

Australians could be forgiven for wondering if the federal government they elected last September is the most conservation-hostile in living memory.

Critics warn that moves by Tony Abbott and his Environment Minister, Greg Hunt, will not only degrade the country’s most outstanding natural assets, but make Australia an international laughing-stock…

Compounding the right-wing government’s apparent disregard for Australia’s unique environment, say conservationists and scientists, is its resistance to any meaningful action to tackle climate change…

Meanwhile, US-based online magazine, Slate, has launched a similar attack, questioning whether the Abbott Government is “currently the most hostile government to the environment on Earth”:
John Roskam, Head-Coot-With-Queer-Ideas-From-a- Parallel-Universe,  (IPA)  “ …we are not right-wing, we are free-market” in response to an introduction on ABC…and then goes on to conflate his local video shop closing down with SPC’s immanent demise.

Since the election we have lost 54,000 full-time jobs in Australia, which is more than Australia lost in the entire calendar year of 2009, during the global financial crisis, under the stewardship of the previous Labor government.

We managed to save Australian jobs in the most difficult global circumstances since the 1930s, and on this government's watch already we have seen more jobs lost in less than six months than we saw in the entire calendar year of 2009, during the global financial crisis. Australia was one of only three advanced economies out of 34 to avoid recession during the global financial crisis (Chris Bowen, (Labor) Parliament)

 "Is the Prime Minister aware that Minister, Princess Fiona of Young, Senator

Nash did not disclose at the meeting of the Australia and New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council, that the Minister chaired in December, that her chief of staff (Duke Alasdair Furnival of Red Bull) held a shareholding in a food industry lobbying firm, notwithstanding that conflicts to be declared were on the agenda?
"Why hasn't the Prime Minister taken any action in accordance with his own ministerial code of conduct?"
Princess Fiona of Young said "all information around her chief of staff" Duke Alasdair Furnival of Red Bull, was given to the Prime Minister's office "in accordance with appropriate timing".

But Senator Wong called that answer "dropping the Prime Minister's office in it".

Senator Nash says Labor is pursuing the matter to avoid debating substantive policy issues. (Heeeee.Heeeee, Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee)

Yet, under questioning by Labor Senate leader Penny Wong on Tuesday, Nash blithely asserted: “There is no connection whatsoever between my chief-of-staff and the company Australian Public Affairs.” That was simply untrue. And the Prime Minister’s office knew it was untrue because full details of Furnival’s involvement with the company had been canvassed in the vetting process before his appointment.

That process had been overseen by Tony Abbott’s chief-of-staff, Peta Credlin, and Tony Nutt, once John Howard’s shrewd political fixer. Aware of the risks of employing someone with a lobbying background, they had looked at his business affairs very carefully.
The public servant bullying, Duke of Red-Bull has resigned… and senior Public Servants now know the lie of the land apropos unentitled advisors… or do they?

As one government job falls vacant, two others have been filled. Howard government finance minister Nick Minchin will be Australia’s consul-general in New York, 10 days after Peter Costello was formally appointed chairman of the Future Fund.
When there was pressure for the former treasurer to get the job two years ago, Minchin — co-founder of the fund with Costello — said it would be a very bad idea.
“The fund must be, and be seen to be, independent, professional, completely above politics,” he wrote in a letter to The Australian newspaper. “Appointing a former politician, even one of Costello’s stature, as chairman would therefore be most unwise.”
As speculation mounted about Costello’s appointment this time, however, Minchin was silent, leading a Liberal MP to suggest there was only one explanation.
“Nick must be lined up for New York,” he said.
That is a most uncharitable view. Minchin himself says he has simply changed his view, “given the length of time Peter has now been in the business world and away from politics”.
Environment minister Greg Hunt is set to grant himself retrospective legal immunity against potential claims that he failed to consider environmental advice before approving key mining projects.
The legal fraternity has accused the Abbott government of undermining the rule of law through retrospective legislation to prevent court challenges to the approval of mining projects where conservation advice is ignored.
A Senate committee has given the green light for Environment Minister Greg Hunt to introduce protections that would effectively sandbag him from legal action against all approvals he has made or will make.
Those include permission for Clive Palmer's giant coal mine in Queensland's Galilee Basin that will ship its product through the Great Barrier Reef, the expansion of the Abbot Point coal terminal and a fourth coal-seam gas plant at Gladston Harbour.
Mr Hunt told Parliament the law will ''ensure that past decisions are not put at risk. This will provide certainty for industry stakeholders''.
Greens senator Larissa Waters criticised Labor for supporting the bill and said it was a sign of the Abbott government's ''anti-science, anti-environment agenda''.
For too long, people have been too nice, too forgiving, tolerant and willing to discuss when it is painfully obvious the other side isn’t interested in listening. Note Emma Alberici last night constantly pulling Timmy W. back to the point as he mentally meandered around his new little frolic (worth $330,000.00) or the lobbyists/ “Advisors” (of no legal standing) harrassing senior public servants to get what they need for their real clients.
Time to change game plan and play a bit of “Hard-Ball”.
If you don't stand up now then you will never know what you could have achieved if you had.

I didn't write this I collated it...  
Shane ... with shame

.. back to Medievalism

G’day Possums,

Shane with Australian Auto Manufacturing

Some shots from BTA’s recent Summer Intensive

 and some local scenes looking at the bushfire smoke haze we have

Smoke haze Greenhills Rd, Greendale

Smoke haze, Ballan Rd, Greendale

Wombat Droppings or Low-Down politics in Oz

Taking a leaf out of the late Adolph Hitler’s modus-operandi from May 2, 1933: “We must close union offices, confiscate their money and put their leaders in prison. We must reduce workers salaries and take away their right to strike”.

 “Rabbott-the-Hun” has instituted another Royal Commission into the unions rather than waste money assisting Oz’s debilitated manufacturing and agricultural sectors. This double pronged attack on workers wages and conditions and the viability of the Unions involved allegedly has been applauded by our biggest miner Gina “What Munificience” Rinehart who thinks that “Work-for-the-Dole” is too generous and should be adjusted back to C18th levels and Janet “Hisssss I never buy canned fruit anyway” Albrechtson agreed.

 “Rabbott-The-Hun” also congratulated the 50,000 Toyota and ancillary manufacturing workers who have just been told that in two years they can apply for “Work-for-the-Dole” having been relieved of the stress of working 40 hours a week. “For um, every um, job that’s um, lost”, haltingly intoned “Rabbott”, “a new um better one will um replace it…um, a better one will replace it”   Failing to specify just what these jobs will be, fewer and fewer seem to be taking him seriously.

Nikki Savva, once a minor apparatchik on the parochial Melbourne “Hun” and since elevated to the national sphere with “The Australian” (although this has made no difference to the quality of the tripe she has on sale), recently opined that Julie “Death Stare” Bishop is doing a wonderful job in foreign affairs because she has a dazzling smile and such nice manners to most of those who agree with her and has single-handedly made the Indonesians so confused as to Australia’s real intentions; that the invasion, via life-boats full of missionary’s is a complete success.

That no-one really cares what Savva thinks is probably a good thing and that the audience for the Australian seems to disappearing faster than that of “illegal” refugees, is even better.

"Rabbott-the-Hun" and friends

Casually employed Defence Minister, Senator David “Gunna” Johnston has finally surfaced from his tub after a lengthy round of submarines and upped periscope to pop-gun a broadside of invective at the ABC for reporting the news.

In the usual Liarbril, Orwellian version of truth, “Gunner” fulminated that the Navy had been “…. maliciously maligned…” for their actions in belonging to a White Supremacist Cabal and the brutal “Hazing” of other ratings. Their actions were carried out, he said, “…in a fully professional manner,” as were all other issues with hot pipes or inadvertently lost situations without the lights on. On stamping his foot for dramatic effect, “Gunna” slammed it onto the soap which causing him to slip whilst losing his towel and he fell backward, back into the bath.

This timely salvo diverted some attention from further investigation of Prime Miniature, “Rabbott-the-Hun’s” and Eric “Vichy” Abetz’s loose grasp on the facts of workers’ entitlements at SPC and allowed “Rabbott” time to meet his IPA bosses and other business constituents and to find out what to do next in his crusade on the dismemberment of civil society.

Non card carrying Liarbril and IPA (The-Coots-With–Queer-Ideas-From-A-Parallel-Universe) member, Timmy “Twat” Wilson, new commissioner designate of Speech Free of Leftist Bias, announced on his final interview on ABC with Jon Faine (and before the “Coot’s” have their way and the ABC is sold to “The Ugly American,” Murdoch) that he will be hosting regular IPA propaganda,  re-education,  damnit  education, information sessions on Community radio stations around OZ. When asked on talkback if the other commissioners would have the same opportunity he evasively replied that “…there was nothing to stop them…” and was rather shy of detailing if they would have as much opportunity as he has been “offered” to proselytise with his always abundant words spouting forth (which are essentially just ideas of the moment running around in his head replicating those of his faceless backers) in the quest to impose fundamentalist aspirational economic “values” on all of society for the benefit of the few.

Never quiet, never uncertain of his “right” and never reflective of the social damage that his “rightness” imposes by the subjugation of 90% of us to serfdom, Timmy “Twat” will be one to watch in his $330,000.00 p.a. sinecure. 

"Fiddles" Frolicking

The Till Eulengspiegel of Tardis State (Where-All-Goes-Backward) politics and de- facto Premier, ex-Liarbril, now Independent, Geoff “Fiddles” Shaw has been up to his merry pranks again, re-arranging the legislative program that Pretend-Premier, Dennis (Inutilis Rusticus) Naptime hoped to have in place before the public’s planned March Revolution. In an effort to save Tardis State citizens’ time and effort, “Inutilis Rusticus” is planning to ban pickets, rallies and demonstrations so that there is no reason to leave home. He apparently has not yet decided on the (allegedly)  IPA suggestion to limit potentially subversive conversations on FaceBook by allowing only one contact per week with only one other, which has to be conducted in Yoruba and without benefit of Google translate.

Pretend-Premier Naptime has also instituted a Courts Martial of all Liarbril Munchkins to de-frock “Fiddles” and ban him from manifesting his idiosyncratic personality in Parliament. Asked if he thought the ban on public meetings and the de-frocking of “Fiddles” un-democratic, “Inutilis Rusticus” replied that it was a natural development of a process to keep things simple and that it had been quite effective in parts of Europe in 1933.

The Labor Party was not available for comment as they were all out, looking for their Federal leader.

Dark days Petals,

Shane.

…Canning the “Age of Entitlement”

 

G'day Petals,

Shane being canned

It's been an interesting few days where the myth of an "Egalitarian Australia" has been well and truly shown to be just that: a myth.

More later in Wombat Droppings.

A new book and some more of the last studio shoot. 

Ballet Theatre Australia's last performance has just been finished and published and a preview can be seen here ...

http://au.blurb.com/books/5067495

Unusually, I had to almost force myself to do the post-process on these shots and was pleasantly surprised at the books outcome.

Book cover

 Alec Bell, an Englishman commented on deviant-art on one of  the "Gille's" studio images with this delightful Hai-ku:  

Standing immobile as the dance whirls around him,

He Dances stillness.

He really caught the intention of the shot.

I hope you who are viewing also enjoy the following.....

Emma

 

Laura

 

Gus and Olivia

 

Gus

 

Olivia

 

Gus 2

Wombat Droppings or Low-Down Politics in Oz

Scott “Drone” Morrison, he of brutal cruelty to refugees, lying and dissimulation to the nation and obnoxious bullying of the press and appalling treatment of Minh Duong made this as his maiden speech in Parliament, 2008: "From my faith I derive the values of loving kindness, justice and righteousness, to act with compassion and kindness, acknowledging our common humanity and to consider the welfare of others; to fight for a fair go for everyone to fulfil their human potential and to remove whatever unjust obstacles stand in their way … Desmond Tutu put it this way: 'We expect Christians … to stand up for the truth, to stand up for justice, to stand on the side of the poor and the hungry, the homeless and the naked, and when that happens, then Christians will be trustworthy believable witnesses.' These are my principles."

Hmmmm... must have walked backward on the road from Damascus. What a hypocrite! 

The lowest levels I expected of this Murdoch mandated rabble has been well and truly exceeded within the first six months of their tenure. "Rabbott the Hun", Joe "Cereal-SPC Killer" Hockey, and Eric"Vichy"Abetz have been proven as liars and have been called such by one of their political colleagues. Whereas the Murdoch dominated media would be frothing at the mouth and maniacally screaming from the rooftops if this had been a Labor gaffe they were utterly quiet, Nine and Ten's News had it briefly as their last items and "The Herald Sun" reported it in a small way on page 2,  two days after the story broke. This is all happening as the ABC is facing a torrent of abuse for its "bias" and... "not supporting the home team...!" 

"Tardis State" ( Where-All-Goes-Backward) pretend Premier Dennis "Inutilus Rusticas" Napthine is bringing in legislation to ban pickets and rallys...which sounds awfully like Fascism to me, whilst the real Premier, the tarnished ex-Liarbril, Geoff"Fiddles" Shaw makes merry with the Liarbrils legislative program.

Do you want to be part of a serious effort to save this planet? Not a serious effort at collective delusion, not a serious effort to feel better, not a serious effort to save you and yours. But an actual strategy to stop the destruction of everything worth loving. If your answer feels as imperative as instinct, then you already know it’s long past time to fight.  www.deepgreenresistance.org

 

..during a severe heat -wave...

Mark Diesendorf: Associate Professor and Deputy Director of the Institute of Environmental Studies at the University of New South Wales, gave this interview  

http:/www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/latenightlive/strategies-for-addressing-climate-change/5239754

In the light of "Rabbott-the-Hun" saying that we are too energy expensive, he and his Non-Environment lackey "Ozone-Hole" Hunt will no doubt not read Diesendorf's book, particularly the part of the research that says Wind and Solar are now cheaper than gas and Coal and that Wind is Britain is half the price of electricity produced by nuclear and that we could have reliable full base load electricity by 2020. This research  makes their position on re-newables utterly stupid and ludicrous.They would prefer the insanity of advice from "The-Coot's-With-Queer-Ideas-from-a-Parallel-Universe" the IPA whose secret backers couldn't care less for the future of the planet, only for their personal profits.

This intellectually lazy and imagination bereft rabble  were well and truly "King-Hit" when the satirists Clarke and Dawe  in one of their 5 minute works, used solely only what "Rabbott-the Hun" had said publicly to make a hysterically funny (but sad) piece of satire. I have never seen anything as pointed. Needless to say the MSM didn't notice as they were busily repeating that "The Age of Entitlement" is over and we have entered "The Age of Personal Responsibility". Read: Code for reverse Robin Hood tactics.

Leigh Sales once again allowed an interview with "Rabbott-the-Hun" into a Liarbril slogan fest... she's turned 7:30 Report into a light-weight puff-piece and is a disgrace.

cheers Possums

Shane.

PS., copies of "The Horst Wessell" song will be available soon... get your orders in quickly as they're sure to go off with a bang...