Back to Work
Yes back to work tomorrow after five days off. I was hoping that I might have received a call on Monday letting me know that there were more classes than expected, but that didn’t happen and I’m beginning to think that it’s time for a complete change – i.e. looking for a new job. I like where I work and generally I enjoy the work I do, but I can’t continue working part time. I can live on the money I get working part time, but there’s not much left over. 2005 could be a year of big decisions.
I was still feeling quite tired at the beginning of the week, but yesterday I felt like I had more energy, so in the afternoon I took a ferry out to Watson’s Bay and went for a swim. Ended up staying there to watch the sunset so didn’t get home until nearly 10pm. I missed one bus by 1 minute so to pass the time I treated myself to a gelato. This morning I pulled myself out of bed early and caught a ferry across to the zoo, from where I walked all the way to Middle Head. Have no idea how far it is, but my legs are sore after all the walking I’ve done. Basically I’m making the most of the fantastic summer weather before I make some decisions. Some may suggest that I’m just procrastinating and they’re probably right. Still there could be worse places than Sydney to procrastinate in!
Off to Canberra this weekend to visit Kirsten, Jon and Sofie – my first visit to the Heart of the Nation for 2005. If – which is looking increasingly likely – I’m only working Thursday and Friday next week as well, I’ll probably stay in Canberra until Tuesday and will hopefully get to see Parliament sitting. Would love to heckle John Howard from the public gallery!
Last week the documentary ‘Outfoxed’, which investigates the role of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire in US politics, was on TV and I finally got round to watching it today. Be afraid, be very afraid. It’s unbelievable how much control one organisation and one person can have over the spread of information and it frightens me to think that the same thing is happening in Australia. Luckily here in Australia we still have strong public television and radio – although saying that in recent years John Howard has done his best to neuter both the ABC and SBS, the two government stations. Unfortunately most people in Australia still get most of their information from commercial TV stations, which is also frightening. I can’t watch the news on the commercial stations and it frightens me how much influence they have.
The big story here in Australia over the past few days has been that of a woman called Cornelia Rau – an Australian resident who came to Australia from Germany when she was 18 months old – who ended up in an immigration detention centre. Apparently she was found in a remote indigenous community in northern Queensland and because she was speaking in German and insisting that she was a tourist from Germany the government decided to lock her up. They didn’t bother to find out that she was listed as missing and it was only when refugee groups raised the issue that it was discovered who she really was. On top of that because she was mentally unstable she was locked in an isolation unit most of the time – which is the kind of treatment that asylum seekers receive here in Australia. Of course the government is refusing to apologise, but the general populace is outraged (interesting how it takes an Australian being locked up for people to start questioning what goes on behind the razor wire of the detention centres) and hopefully this will bring to light just how badly people – many of who have suffered severe trauma and have often been tortured – have been treated in the immigration detention centres. Yes – Australia is a great country!
I was still feeling quite tired at the beginning of the week, but yesterday I felt like I had more energy, so in the afternoon I took a ferry out to Watson’s Bay and went for a swim. Ended up staying there to watch the sunset so didn’t get home until nearly 10pm. I missed one bus by 1 minute so to pass the time I treated myself to a gelato. This morning I pulled myself out of bed early and caught a ferry across to the zoo, from where I walked all the way to Middle Head. Have no idea how far it is, but my legs are sore after all the walking I’ve done. Basically I’m making the most of the fantastic summer weather before I make some decisions. Some may suggest that I’m just procrastinating and they’re probably right. Still there could be worse places than Sydney to procrastinate in!
Off to Canberra this weekend to visit Kirsten, Jon and Sofie – my first visit to the Heart of the Nation for 2005. If – which is looking increasingly likely – I’m only working Thursday and Friday next week as well, I’ll probably stay in Canberra until Tuesday and will hopefully get to see Parliament sitting. Would love to heckle John Howard from the public gallery!
Last week the documentary ‘Outfoxed’, which investigates the role of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire in US politics, was on TV and I finally got round to watching it today. Be afraid, be very afraid. It’s unbelievable how much control one organisation and one person can have over the spread of information and it frightens me to think that the same thing is happening in Australia. Luckily here in Australia we still have strong public television and radio – although saying that in recent years John Howard has done his best to neuter both the ABC and SBS, the two government stations. Unfortunately most people in Australia still get most of their information from commercial TV stations, which is also frightening. I can’t watch the news on the commercial stations and it frightens me how much influence they have.
The big story here in Australia over the past few days has been that of a woman called Cornelia Rau – an Australian resident who came to Australia from Germany when she was 18 months old – who ended up in an immigration detention centre. Apparently she was found in a remote indigenous community in northern Queensland and because she was speaking in German and insisting that she was a tourist from Germany the government decided to lock her up. They didn’t bother to find out that she was listed as missing and it was only when refugee groups raised the issue that it was discovered who she really was. On top of that because she was mentally unstable she was locked in an isolation unit most of the time – which is the kind of treatment that asylum seekers receive here in Australia. Of course the government is refusing to apologise, but the general populace is outraged (interesting how it takes an Australian being locked up for people to start questioning what goes on behind the razor wire of the detention centres) and hopefully this will bring to light just how badly people – many of who have suffered severe trauma and have often been tortured – have been treated in the immigration detention centres. Yes – Australia is a great country!
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