48 Comments

What you have described is WHY I am contesting the federal seat of Riverina as an independent, in May.

penpen is what my ten grandchildren call me and I sincerely hope they will experience the beautiful natural realms I was fortunate to grow up in.

As a result of the recent court case to which you referred, Sarah, which Sussan Ley won (she, or any other politician / minister?) is not responsible for caring / planning / ensuring the future for anyone.

What?

If this isn't a politician's / ministers primary role, what the f**k are they there for?

To collect a pension for the rest of their life?

I'm at the age and stage of my life where I have nothing to fear and nothing to lose.

I prefer to die in the attempt to STOP these political parties from arrogantly ignoring the wishes of the people, than to have never tried at all.

When you are fierce with love..... nothing will stop you.

penniescott.com.au

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Great one! Thx for sharing your link for anyone in Riverina

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Pennie, you're amazing!

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My heart aches for those young people who went through that legal ordeal only to 'lose' and be told that the very people who can protect and secure their future don't have a duty to do so and clearly don't care. I have to say, I haven't looked at the outcome in detail; maybe it came down to very technical definitions, so that no 1 single individual can be deemed responsible...

If the court had found that the Minister does have a duty of care, what would the ramifications of that be? How would that play out?

Good luck in you election campaign... politicians who are fierce with love are sorely needed!

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So hear you Sarah. I hid my ‘intensity’ about politics for many years as a woman growing up in the materialistic 90s having this incredible wake up call now in middle age- that you have been a part of😊 reawaken the passion, the activism and the give a shit ness! Let’s go down fighting.

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Or rise fighting!! I think we could win this

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I agree!

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We seem to push to achieve then settle. Maybe that’s a natural rhythm, but there’s so many areas to try and improve. We’ve become more risk aversive.

Creatives often point it out - Van Gogh in 1884 wrote to his bro: “If one wants to be active, one mustn’t be afraid to do something wrong sometimes, not afraid to lapse into some mistakes. To be good — many people think that they’ll achieve it by doing no harm — and that’s a lie… That leads to stagnation, to mediocrity … But however meaningless and vain, however dead life appears, the man of faith, of energy, of warmth, and who knows something, doesn’t let himself be fobbed off like that. He steps in and does something, and hangs on to that, in short, breaks, ‘violates’—they say.”

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THAT IS THE MOST PERFECT THING I COULD READ JUST NOW. I'm going to have to share it about. Do you have an IG handle so I can pay a nod to you when I do?

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Aw, that’s lovely. I don’t have insta, and no need to credit, but thanks. I was inspired at the Lume :)

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I can recall the precise moment when for me, the idea of Australia as the Lucky Country simply keeled over and died. That was October 2001, the time of the Tampa affair when Howard was still Head Honcho. Politics had always been ugly, but after that moment all the xenophobic asylum seeker policy came into play, Australia really ran out of luck in my eyes.

Mark Twain astutely observed that "Australian history is .. picturesque; It does not read like history, but like the most beautiful lies." Yep, the Lucky Country is the biggest lie we ever told ourselves, along with "She'll be right." Australian identity is like having a savage sunburn in just the wrong place.

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I'd forgotten that Mark Twain quote...it's incredible he took time to opine on our ordinariness

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My Aussie-expat-indignation just fired up enough about the Tampa thing to recall Howard's terrible minions at the time: Ruddock and Reith. But the really, really depressing thing is that the aggressive lie culture established by that malignant little cohort really set the standard for every Government ever since.

More from Twain: "Full of surprises, & adventures, & incongruities *& contradictions, and incredibilities; but they are all true!"

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I do think that era set the tone. Prior to that there was dignity and decency from both sides

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I agree - ordinary and comfortable doesn't cut it.

And yet, I grapple daily with the conflict between my desire (and need) to work and grow a business, and my desire to devote my life's attention and work to improving our country's leadership and action on all the big clusterfuck-ish problems we face as a species.

Some days, I feel aligned; as though my work helps people come home to themselves, to be better equipped to face major existential crises with aplomb. And, ergo, I am doing "my bit" to help the planet heal.

Other days, I feel like running, screaming and crying, into the ocean/bush. Like it's just too big. The gulf between myself and influence/power is too great.

It's a grappling match worthy of my life. But some days I feel like ordinary and comfortable would be nice for a while.

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you are certainly not alone. But the fact you're wrestling with it suggests you couldn't have it any other way. Ordinary would present as a sad waste of an existence

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Yeah, you know, you're right. If I opted for ordinary, it would drive me bonkers in short order. Good call. It's these kinds of challenges that we *choose* to gnaw on which add meaning and colour and spice to this weird human experience, yeah? 😃❤️🙏

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PS Forgot to say: Thank you SO much for who you are and what you do.

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oh, that's lovely of you to say, Israel

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Reminds me of my maternal grandfather - a sheep farmer - who told everyone he was a 'self-made man'. Well, that and the hefty dowry he got for marrying my long-suffering grandmother.

The stories we tell ourselves help us to sleep at night, but they are often just that - stories.

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yes...and they're helping us sleep, as opposed to waking us up!

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Oh my goodness Sarah! What you so poetically put into words is what I have been feeling sick about for years also. I’ve been banging on to anyone who’ll listen about no one actually showing LEADERSHIP in this country. No one saying the stuff we have to hear and telling us we need to do it for the greater good. You know. LEADING. The fuckers. And yes, I too am over intense and too sensitive at family gatherings full of old white men who don’t see what the problem is. Fuckers. Keep the megaphone to your lips my friend. 💥💪🏽🙏🏽💃🏻

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you are not too intense...just intense enough! and, yes, fuckers!

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I could not agree with you more on this. Exactly how I feel about people in my life and how I’m criticised for trying to help the planet :(

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be steady and resolute. You are needed

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Thank you for writing this. My first response from my body was F*&^%$Ck YES!

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The body keeps the score as that Bessel dude says

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I love your newsletter and podcast…

I think you are on the right track… I think we can be more bold as a country and we need to listen to some amazing experts and talent right here at home.

In terms of other people to have on the podcast - there are some great Australians doing great work with wild ideas.

These include:

- Hugh Mackay (Australia Reimagined)

- Danielle Wood - CEO Grattan Institute (the generational bargain) - her John Button oration was amazing.

- Jess Scully - Sydney Councillor - Her book is Glimpses of Utopia - Real Ideas for a Fairer World

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Thank you - I've done a bit of work with Hugh. I'm going to go look up Danielle...I know John Daley's work and have been meaning to listen to her vibe

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It would appear that prolonged exposure to sunburn has caused a societal cancer of mediocrity. Forget the blancmange people, I want the chilli, the sour and the umami flavours to spice up and motivate it's people with a renewed hunger.

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to take a metaphor even further...

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Loved the podcast with Peter singer.

However the point you made about sending your kids to a public school rather than private made me think.

If parents do this - will children really get the best education without the government supporting public education? I’d imagine if we did this right now many would become overcrowded and education worse off.

I love the idea but people voice and government action is needed before we al just switch.

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I think while we live in a supple/demand world, governments will support public schools more if wealthy people enrolled their kids in them. Rich/educated/privileged people lobby well. They have a voice and power. They can steer MPs to move dials.

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And let's face it, if you're doing well, you already live in an affluent suburb, which means your local public school are reasonably good. I loathe religion and find it unconscionable to for compulsory education. I wasn't born here, even my university degree was free.

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I'm in my 30s and grew up in a predominantly white, middle class suburb. I feel disconnected from nearly everyone in my life right now because no one seems to care about anything important. I know I annoy people with my 'intensity' but I am really getting over hearing how it is much worse in other countries. Some, yes. But overall? Australia is not what our parents brought us up to think it is. My partner moved here from New Zealand for the opportunities and we're contemplating moving back to NZ for the future because I am just so disheartened by where things are going in Aus. People think I'm a bit weird for getting so down about it but I think they're the odd ones for not caring at all!

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Don’t you just want to take all the politicians for a hike. They need it.

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ye gads....

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You speak for me Sarah and we need loud megaphones to be heard. I left Australia in the mid1990s to work & live in UK & Europe. Brexit turned me into an activist. I joined pro-EU campaign groups, marched, campaigned, wrote to MPs, picketed & protested - all to no avail. Having watched with disbelief how easily a country can destroy itself, I became a Brexit refugee & returned to Australia 3 years ago. A child of the Whitlam era, I had always believed in our approach to multicultural Australia, seeing first hand the wonderful transformation that our post war migration had wrought. I believed we were welcoming, committed to solving challenges like the environment & transforming the lives of all people including indigenous Australians no matter how slow that process seemed. i returned to a country I hardly recognise - obsessed with affluence, house prices, safety, comfortable lives for some, the rest left to shift for themselves. People on pensions & other public support shamed, micro-managed & humiliated. Elders left to an mostly failed aged care system. Humanities, heritage & cultural lives unfunded, cut, destroyed. It has taken me a long time to accept I am a nomad - a person of the world rather than espousing narrow nationalism - & Australia today seems a very small, mean place, determined to present itself as uncaring, punishing & cruel to refugees, ignoring indigenous visions of a future in the wonderful Uluru Statement, care less about the impact of climate change & hellbent on putting personal comfort ahead of general well-being & global responsibility. When I speak passionately to others of this I am accused of complaining, that that ‘is how it is’, that there is nothing we can do, that I am always angry & I should just stop looking at the problems. Now I have returned I cannot afford a roof over my head - rent or buy - as a 68 yr old divorced woman who always worked in the humanities I have little super & while I have money, it is not enough for both a roof & living. I see so much wrong here & so much powerlessness & complacency - a tax system unfit for purpose, a punitive welfare system & above all leaders who are criminally negligent of the people & the land.

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Late to reply to this but you encapsulated how I feel as a current expat and triple citizen of three of the worst offending countries politically right now. I am a person of the world rather than espousing narrow nationalism.

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Thanks for replying! It is extraordinary how so many people feel

threatened & angry by someone who calls them self a citizen of the world - in Australia & U.K. I encounter it often. Somehow it equates for them with disloyalty & lack of patriotism - the usual ‘if you don’t like it, you can leave’ syndrome. When you have a planet, why would you settle for less?

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I think more than ever we need to be citizens of the world for so many reasons! There is nothing wrong with being aligned with or relating to your country of birth or where you live, but to be absorbed by it to the point of blindness on many issues in your own backyard serves no one. It's almost as if the tall poppy syndrome is coming into play (and not just in Australia). I was home last week for the first time in 2.5 years. It still feels like home to me and we would love for our daughter to spend some time there but right now that seems out of reach both personally and financially. For now, anyway. Let's try and change that!

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I am with you - experiencing the wonders & challenges of the world gets you caring more about the bigger picture. I worked in U.K. for 25 years & then, for family reasons, returned to Australia in 2018/19 & then, as I was about to leave for Europe in early 2020, was unable to get back to before Brexit took effect. I aim to feel at home wherever I am. Theresa May accused us of being citizens of nowhere & I am fine with that! I am finally back in Crete on a boat which is where I want to be right now but only allowed 90 days now …

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I'm with you Sarah. So sick of people not caring enough, it worries me that people may have become so turned off and apathetic that we may end up stuck with the same government for yet another term.

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