Rebuild
I am here and you are where you are.
There were images of the surrounding region, and images of places he had never been, swamp lands, birds rising, an armour plated falcon preparing for war, the seagulls and pelicans nestling on the sand banks of Lake Illawarra, the flocks of cormorants flying low over the nearby shore.
There were children everywhere in this area of young families; far from the inner city streets where he had dwelt for so long. Far away, well ten kilometres or so, was Minnamurra Falls, which, the signs assured him, had been running through that narrow channelled gorge for 25 million years.
What struck him, he supposed, was how little the ancient spirits of this place cared for the war between Hamas and Israel, the desolation of Gaza, and then how insulated was the Australian population, where Married At First Sight was the most popular television show, viewed by more than two million people.
As the ABC reported: "Channel Nine's Married at First Sight (MAFS) has once again dominated Australia's TV ratings with a reach of 2,461,000 viewers for the season 11 debut."
The ABC was also running a series called Nemesis, dissecting the dismal history of the nation's last three Prime Ministers, Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison.
So much did he dislike the slime bags that had dominated Australian politics in recent years he couldn't bring himself to watch more than ten minutes of it, although he might disappear. Or persist. He just disliked them so much, and as the saying went, the fish rots from the head. These people had done far more harm to the country than simply being inept self aggrandising greedy and unpleasant men and hopeless Prime Ministers might suggest.
There was no national pride, because no one could swear allegiance to these people. As for the incumbent Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, the less said the better.
From out of the swamp. Birds rising in the early dawn.
As for the weather, once again the rain drenched down on last year's men, as the song went, and the forecasts by the now thoroughly discredited Bureau of Meteorology of a long, hot, dry summer never came to pass.
It was cold. The climate change cult was in full swing. Farmers gathered outside Parliament House. And here, here, he struggled to gain a semblance of form, he struggled back into real life, to no longer feel suicidal, to prepare for war, to be strong, courageous, intent, and prayed for high intelligence, good will, good health, truthfulness, compassion forbearance, to return to duty, to become at one with the world at large, to do good work.
While all around him, old friends, well the few that remained, struggled with their own mortality, growing sicker, frailer, and more out of step with their past lives than ever before.
Compassion. There was none that surrounded him. And those who watched and waited, well let them wait. We are not for exploitation. By you. Or anybody else.
AUSTRALIAN MAINSTREAM NEWS
ABC
Australian Yang Hengjun has been sentenced to death by a Chinese court, Foreign Minister Penny Wong has confirmed.
It is a suspended sentence that can be converted to a life sentence after two years subject to good behaviour.
The Australian citizen, writer and democracy activist has been imprisoned in China since 2019 on charges of spying, which he has always denied.
Senator Wong has called the court's decision "harrowing" and "appalling".
The Australian government has petitioned for his release, but officials had not been able to attend Dr Yang's closed trial, which began in 2021.
GUARDIAN AUSTRALIA
The deaths of Australia’s rough sleepers are largely invisible.
We don’t know how many are dying on a national scale, how they are dying or how many deaths can be attributed to systemic failings in housing, health and the justice sector.
No government in Australia bothers to count or understand the circumstances in which these deaths occur.
Researchers have described that as a “shocking failure” and a sign of Australia’s cruel apathy to its most vulnerable citizens.
It also sets us apart from similar countries. England, Scotland and Wales, as well as parts of Canada, annually track the number and cause of homelessness deaths. Understanding the scale and nature of the problem is the first step to working out a solution.
SKY NEWS AUSTRALIA
Sky News host Chris Kenny has called for the government to index the tax thresholds every year just as they index the alcohol and petrol tax takes.
Alcohol drinkers are set to pay more with the excise to increase by almost two per cent on Monday.
Drinkers will now pay $101.85 in tax per litre of pure alcohol.
While this happens, Mr Kenny explained how the government will reap a high proportion of people’s revenue as they are pushed through higher tax thresholds through bracket creep.
“It hurts you and helps the government and those tax thresholds don’t go up automatically, they are not indexed, they stay the same under law no matter what happens to inflation,” he said.
“So in this case, the lack of indexation boosts the government's coffers because our wages are pushed above static thresholds. See, how they win every way?”
SPECTATOR AUSTRALIA
A superior weapon is of no use if you do not know how to wield it. In a debate, the truth is the most powerful weapon we have, but few know how to apply it in the heat of the moment.
Regretfully, we are seeing this played out in the Western world across several issues – climate change, biological gender, the rise of the neo-socialists, and so on. The sad fact is that on each of these issues, the truth takes a backseat to other agendas, and those that have the truth on their side do not understand how to apply it.
The art of the polemic has been largely lost. If we don’t know how to prosecute an argument, we may as well not have one.
There is, however, a new dawn. We are seeing the emergence of several politicians and journalists who are starting to push back at some of the nonsense that has been foisted upon us.