March 2016 Guest Speakers from CLA

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Dr Kristine Klugman and Bill Rowlings from Civil Liberties Australia addressed the Vintage Reds meeting in March.

Civil Liberties Australia is a non-party-political organisation, which makes it able to criticise or praise impartially. Bill introduced the meeting to one aspect of the CLA’s activities, the Better Justice Strategy, illustrating this with the case in Tasmania of Sue Neill-Fraser, imprisoned for the murder of her husband. It’s a case with multiple disturbing details, and a number of people believe that she is innocent of the crime. And there are other troubling cases around the country, including here in the ACT. A few members of the legal profession have risen to high office without any apparent good reason, and some of their judgements reflect this.

Australian courts of law have barely changed in 50 years. CLA has put together a series of initiatives for reform, covering modernisation, affordable and timely access to the law, improvement in the quality of magistrates/lawyers/judges, etc.

February 2016 Guest Speaker, Jenny Miragaya

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Jenny Miragaya, ACT secretary of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation, spoke to the Vintage Reds February meeting on the ACT government’s needle and syringe program (NSP).

There have been attempts over the last few years to address the problem of needle safety in the Alexander Maconochie Centre. Unions representing staff employed at the prison, the CPSU representing prison guards, and the ANMF, have worked with government health and corrective services staff to resolve the question. Continue reading →

VR Christmas lunch, and a fishy story

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Vintage Reds tied up the end of the year with the December meeting, followed by lunch.

We filled the restaurant, an impressive turn-out of VRs and family members which augurs well for next year’s activities.

The diners were treated to a brief performance of songs: Joe Hill, Bread and Roses, and Solidarity, sung by the VR Christmas Lunch Specialist Singers. Then the plates arrived and we mowed our way through large quantities of food and drink.

The Singers’ table encountered some confusion in the ordering and paying for its dishes; but from this confusion has sprung Art, namely a poem commemorating the event:

Never mind the metre, keep an eye out for the bones
by Bill Rowlings

Continue reading →

People’s Climate March

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Canberra’s march was a big one, 6000 or so, filling the traffic ramp from Parliament going down to the lights, and still a tail coming around the corner at the back.

Vintage Reds joined the red contingent, representing “the front lines of change”, and made up of a vast swirl of AEU flags, individual AEU school banners, and ALP T-shirts, among others. Others clumped into purple, green, rainbow groups… a lovely sight.

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Photo: Jane Timbrell

Don Dwyer’s Canberra Calendar, December 2015

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17 to 29 November @ Civic Square
Aspen Island Theatre Company, “The Public Theatre”

21 to 29 November @ the Street, 7.30 pm (and 6 pm Sundays)
The Chain Bridge, by Tom Davis

Friday 27 November @8 pm Q Theatre, Queanbeyan
Sydney World Music Chamber Orchestra

Sunday 29 November @ 12  Parliament  House
People’s Climate March

@2 pm NLA Theatre
2015 Harold White lecture: Hannie Rayson,
“The Author is Not Dead: She is coming to a microphone near you.”

Monday 30 November @ 6 pm National Library Bookshop
Book launch: Inspiring Australians, by Penelope Hanley 

Continue reading →

November 2015 Guest Speaker, John Minns

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John Minns from Canberra’s Refugee Action Committee spoke to the Vintage Reds at our monthly meeting on 17 November 2015.

There are lots of sources of information available which correct the “myths” about refugees – for example this one from the Federal government’s Parliamentary Library.

The Refugee Action Committee’s humanitarian and rational alternative policy for Australia’s response to refugees can be found here. See a summary of John’s address  below: Continue reading →

Joe Hill Centenary

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“Joe Hill ain’t dead”, he says to me, “Joe Hill ain’t never died.
Where working folk are out on strike, Joe Hill is at their side.”

Joe Hill, unjustly convicted and executed on 19 November 1915, was remembered in Canberra with an evening concert at the Woden Tradies’ Club, courtesy of George Mann and friends, and a lunchtime busk in Civic.

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photo: Gavin Holmes

Fair Go for Canberra’s IKEA stunt a brilliant success!

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Copies of Fair Go for Canberra’s “FAKEA” leaflets caused a buzz at the Vintage Reds November meeting, which was held the day after the grand opening of the new IKEA store.

IKEA_269.jpgActivists placed mock IKEA catalogues and fake price tags on sale items around the store, highlighting the aggressive corporate tax minimisation of major multinationals like IKEA. Over the decade to 2013, IKEA paid just 3% tax on its profits in Australia, instead of the 30% one would expect, resulting in $269 million missing tax dollars for health, education, etc. etc.

Clever accounting tricks are used to minimise tax – some spectacularly ingenious, along the lines of being charged by a family member to use the family surname and claiming the cost as a tax write-off!

 

 

 

October 2015 Guest Speaker, Lyndal Ryan

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Lyndal Ryan, ACT Secretary of United Voice, addressed the Vintage Reds October meeting, on the issue of “Penalty Rates”. 

United Voice represents workers in cleaning and security, childcare, aged care, higher education, hospitals and clubs, leisure and hotels. Its history goes back to the Watchmen, Caretakers & Cleaners’ Union of 1910, and more recently the Liquor, Hospitality & Miscellaneous Workers Union (LHMU or “Missos”), formed by amalgamation in 1992. So it’s celebrating a hundred years of looking after workers’ interests.