Graffiti

The second one was found in the toilets of the Fisher Library, at Sydney Uni. The other one on a wall in the Surry Hills you should soon squeeze the juice out of if you think of it a little.

Then, there's Jesus in the sky, but is it really a graffito, given someone paid shitloads of dough to get it fleetingly marked by a plane?

Never mind, I guess. The ways of the lord, you know...

Bargain shops do better than the Chapman Brothers!

Howdy!

I try to avoid bargain shops these days because Austudy wouldn't be enough to get all the unnecessary but funny, pleasant, cute and fluffy thingies we get out of there with.

But this time, it's different. I was looking for a birthday present for a friend who's turning 30 (Joyeux anniversaire, Bri!) and I found the most amazing squeezable items you can dream of just round the corner from my place. Now I've got birthday presents for the next ten years for an army of pals and mates and buddies, both in Oz and Cheeseland.

the most normal are these hollow bright-coloured balls with spikes on the outer side you can stretch and wear as a soft mohawk. A couple of years ago, you had to go to a chichi exclusive Oz Geographic in Darling Harbour or the airport to get the precious thing. Now, it's as democratised as the rubik's cube, and way tackier in ten years from here.
The next item is a funky variation on the relaxing ball, which came as a smiley, then a boob. This one is green doted with purple, and when you squeeze hard enough, yellow pops out from deep inside.
That's still tamed.
The Halloween version is a livid head with the occiput opened on a purple netted brain. When you squeeze, the brain pops out in many small bubbles the size of the stitch. Store it preciously and get it out often, kids!
Then, there is the Chapman brothers version. Remember, these crafty dudes who had reconstituted a whole massacre scene life-size, or rather death-size, aith corpse hanging from a tree and decomposing, zith rotten flesh and armies of maggots. Was just missing the smell. Well, that's it: you squeeze a skull and worms, leeches and blood jump at you from the eye-sockets with an titillating sucking noise. yuuuk!
This one is for Mayhem, the captain of Scatsquad: that's a poo and you squeeze it between your fingers and agh.... you've got to try it, true poo brown.....
Back on sheer Kitschland, there's the chicken from the ass from which (mon cul, c'est du poulet?), at squeeze, a raw egg appears with white and yolk; and the piggy with the eyes bulging off the head.

...you know what? I think I'll go to bargain shops more often, now.

Bomb and Mayhem

All right, i'll go straight to the point: if I mentioned the Bomb in the title of this blog, it is because if you write my name in a sms with the so-called 'intuitive' dictionary on, Bomb is what you're going to come up with.

It is not because of North Korea.

It is not because I'm a terrorist. As far as I'm concerned, i.e. as a citizen, an artist and a woman, wymyn, trucmuche, whatever you call her, the motor is less terror than furor.

Furor? Furor. You know, the story of Aphrodite (Venus, dear latinists, Goddess of lust, sex, love, whatever you call it) fucking Ares (Mars, not in a bar, God of war, t'fouh, t'fouh, t'fouh!) when she's married to Hephaistos (Vulcan, the Blacksmith God, patron of the makers and other artists, or whatever you call them, the not farty enough to claim Apollo [Apollo in Latin too!] as their 'Mr President'). And they're rooting in the marital bed, and he catches them at the climax. At this point, "Ciel, mon mari!", if you're a French husband and you happen to shoot the lover, well you were right, no-one is going to hold that against you in court. You were rightlously jealous, right? Or hopefully the law has changed lately?... Look, vote for a woman (or wymyn, or wha...) at next election, ok?
Indeed, Hephaistos is volcanically jealous! Fury turns blood into lava in his veins!! but instead of killing them with his mace and feeding them to the fire of his forge with his hottest plyers, well... he goes back into his workshop and invents the most amazing forged arty thingies a shameless Victorian balcony can dream of.

Fury is how Marcel Proust wrote 'à la recherche du temps perdu'.
Fury is how Pat Benatar sang 'Love is a Battlefield'.

So here you go: the more love, the more deceived it is, the more fury, therefore the more mind-blowing art. You know, 'Luxury, Calmness and Volupty'. QED. ;-)


Now, you're going to ask, '-but Bomb or Abel, or Bumfluff, or whatever you are called, is your blog some art, then? (or wha...) '

Well, dunno guys. After all I could be bitching about my ex, my transients and my future, but frankly, would I find relief by spitting publicly onto someone else's face? or pissing on it? (That is a Salo or the 120 Days of Sodome thing! except that it is the pissed-on who finds relief, not the pisser! It's all about perversion, you see?) or what not?

'-But, Fluff, other people do it when they're very angry and throwing up is not enough... They've suffered a lot and they feel like protecting themselves...'

Yep. Right. Well, I guess that's the g-string the Israelian government wears to hide their shaving of Lebanon, and the USA of Irak. T'fouh, t'fouh, t'fouh! Besides, if it's Mayhem you're talking about ('-Yes, we read the title...'), let me tell you something: she's writing a PhD in the shape of a crypto-fiction. Crypto-fiction, kat'onoma (sorry, can't swap into greek alphabet), is not an observation thing, it's a compositional work linking theory with examples drawn from the reality and carefully polished and simplified so they can reach the theoretical level, ok? And she's a master in it: she has a convincing style and a deep abstracting insight. To differenciate a piece of fiction made of real moments of her modelling experience she's condensed and synthetised into a text fitting just her analytical purpose and referential perspective from a piece of real experience of yours in the life drawing class is as hard as differenciating Labour from Libs when it's about (not) founding arts institutions.

I got so used to the bitch'n blog that I didn't even respond. Sure, I cried tears of blood reading it from the start, you know, catching up on the anger and stuff, when words go beyond what you really think but, shit hey, it brings such a comfort to get them out, where's the toilet paper now? But I would turn away, if not turn the other cheek (yes, of my bum. So what? I'm a life model, my bum is pretty well known, acknowledged and valued in the community). But when it hurts other people as well, I've got to acknowledge how furious I am that she does that; acknowledge that outrageously throwing one's raging passionate heart on the net like she does amounts to throwing one's ditto arse as well, outrageously.

It reminds me when two members of my housing coop accused each other of giving them gonorrhea at our monthly meeting.

Well, I guess we life models are all a little bit furiuously exhibionists. Throw'em first, grrl, I'll return twice as many!

Merdre!

Ben merdre alors:(

ça fait trois heures que j'essaie de mettre à jour mon blog sérieux en rosbif, et blogger refuse de corriger mes conneries! c'est à se les mordre!

à propos, merdRe, ce n'est pas une connerie, c'est une citation. C'est la première réplique d'Ubu-roi de Jarry. Je me demande comment ça passe dans la traduction de frog à rosbif.
shyte!
shite!
shitre!
à vous, proposez quelque chose... le gagnant a un carambar.

Allez, la prochaine fois j'explique la bombe.

Have you ever been blue?

Comme le savent tous les familiers de la langue rosbif de Shakespeare , si vous êtes Blue, c'est que vous avez le cafard. Moi, pas plus que d'habitude, merci, mais m'étant aspergée de bleu de méthylène pour préparer une installation, j'ai les mains turquoise vif et les passants bronchent. Que peuvent les détergents pour réprimer une telle effusion de couleur? Pas grand'chose. Je me suis passé les mains sur la figure, il m'en est resté le nez bleu et un teint hâve à la Nosferatu.

Je me demande si ça a fait marrer Mayhem ou si elle s'est dit que je dépérissais depuis notre rupture. Nous étions dans le même Buzzz Bar sur King Street, à écouter la retentissante Kath Ellis et son groupe d'allumés à cordes, vents et percussions, the Church of Kathellisism, et j'ai réussi à garder la tête froide et une distance suffisante, c'est-à-dire à ne pas lui adresser la parole. Elle portait une perruque brune qui lui faisait une drôle de binette, elle qui se péroxyde depuis tellement de mois que si j'étais dupe, je croirais qu'elle est devenue blonde, et des atours en rouge et noir d'une élégance dramatique.Oui, d'ailleurs en descendant King Street à vélo, surprise, le noir et les pelures gothiques reviennent en force à la mode de ce printemps sydneyen.

Merdre, dès qu'il se met à faire chaud, tout les Oz sont harnachés de noir!

Dans le fond, Mayhem a raison de garder ses distances, et de citer the Old Scabet son kathellisism à l'appui: ça fait mal d'être dans le même lieu sans pouvoir se rejoindre, se tomber dans les bras et rigoler comme des tordues en stéréo. Il en faut, du courage, pour ne pas se laisser démoraliser... bon, on a dessiné, chacune de son côté; mes petits croquis sont pleins de sa silhouette, et le sien de la mienne:)...

indécrottables.

Tu vas voir qu'on va se remettre à faire des blagues scatos à tous les coins de blog. Caca! hi, hi, hi!

voiiilà: au lieu de raconter ma vie d'ex d'exil d'expectatives exetera, je vais raconter les aventures de Scat squad, ou le réinventer en français puisqu'a la base, c'est une histoire d'oz. On pourrait appeler ça les Drôles de dames-pipi. Non? Bah quoi?... ou des petits hommes de merde? des schtroumpfs en brun, des scheissfs? hi, hi, hi!

Dans les Fleurs bleues de Raymond Queneau, Cidrolin rêve qu'il est le duc d'Auge, qui rêve qu'il est Cidrolin, etc. Cidrolin passe son temps à bouffer, dormir et picoler sur sa péniche, et trouve à chacun de ses copieux repas que c'en est "encore un de foutu!" Eh bien pour en revenir à la fameuse expo qui m'a valu, à moi, des mains bleues pendant trois jours, et à ce blog son titre, j'ai réussi à ne prendre que des photos merdiques où le bleu brille par son absence. Je retournerai en prendre.

D'ici-là, foin de procrastination, je retourne à mes recherches pour mes exams à l'école. ça presse!

Le meilleur film du monde!

Mon film préféré n'est sans doute pas confortable à regarder, mais quelle puissance dans la critique sociale! Même Dada fait figure de blague de potache à côté. de la roupie de sansonnet. en anglais, on dirait: "it shits on Dada", et ce serait spirituel car on y voit beaucoup d'étrons passer d'anus en bouches et en d'autres parties du visage et du corps, après transit dans la plus belle vaisselle du monde, dans le château le plus magnifique dont puisse rêver tout grand duc.
Le film, c'est Salo ou les 120 jours de Sodome, où Pier Paolo Pasolini, transposant le roman de Sade dans l'Italie fasciste à la veille de l'arrivée des alliés franco-anglo-étatsuniens, démonte les rouages d'une société raffinée au possible, où la culture et l'art sont mises au service de quelques vieux hommes riches, nobles et influents, dans le seul but qu'ils satisfassent toutes leurs envies sans tenir compte de rien d'autre au monde. Sur les murs du château s'étalent oeuvres d'art classiques et modernes; dans l'enceinte hermétiquement close, musique et narrations sont effectuées par des maquerelles, complices bienveillantes des notables. La stimulation esthétique n'a d'autre but que d'inspirer les notables, qui usent alors de jeunes gens qu'ils ont fait enlever à cet effet dans la campagne environnante, comme d'une matière première pour réaliser leurs fantasmes.
Les femmes ne sont là que pour être humiliées, ou être les complices de cette humiliation. Les Les jeunes hommes sont utilisés comme objet de désir, objets sexuels dont le corps, s'il es glorifié le temps du bon plaisir de ces messieurs, est mortifié, détruit avec un raffinement égal par la torture commise à titre ludique.
Pasolini, suivant Sade, attaque toutes les institutions, le mariage, la justice, l'art, la mode, l'ordre social, l'obédience, et dans la foulée, pose bien des questions au spectateur sur le cinéma lui-même, sur le spectacle, moteur social critiqué par Guy Debord vers la même époque dans sa Société du spectacle.

Mazette!

If anyone had read this blog, I'd know it: they'd post an amused or spiteful comment about my bad taste and I'd answer that given the templates on blogger, you'd better choose the worse tatsing you can, because there's no escape. Just have a look at the pics: you cannot but confirm that bad taste has been taking over the world since consumerism exists, right?


trêves de conneries.

More info on ARTQUAKE:
it'll happen in the Stone GAllery at Eastside Arts, Paddington Markets, on Saturday 7th October 2006, open for viewing from 10am, auction at 3pm onwards.

...and more to follow, because this is Sydney!

Chauffe, ma recelle, chauffe...

C'est parti pour écrire n'importe quoi et casser du sucre à tour de bras sur tous les dos qui se présentent.
Si Mayhem a, de son propre aveu, transformé notre histoire d'amou-hour en monologue nostalgique pour s'en sortir à bon compte, pourquoi ne lui tiendrais-je pas la dragée haute au lieu de la laisser raconter des trucs et des machins que je conteste, que je conteste Monsieur, Madame, croque et croque et croque!
- Parce que tu te retrouves encore à la suivre sur son terrain, où elle va te laisser te débattre toute seule dès qu'elle aura envie d'aller tailler quelque chose ailleurs, à quelqu'un d'autre.
- Minute Piéride, minute. Et d'une, ça fait huit ans que je la suis, ex- ou pas, sans m'accorder la plus petite chance de jouer à jeu égal avec elle. Je m'embarque dans son ferry sur le harbour au lieu de l'amener dans mon fluctuat nec mergitur; en plus, même terrain, c'est vite dit: je blablatère dans mon idiome, et elle le sien. Et puis, j'en ai marre de me confir dans le silence alors qu'à la base, j'étais universitaire à la tête d'un bon mémoire de maîtrise, et que de ce point de vue-là, si je l'ai rejointe dans les arts visuels, elle, elle m'a rejointe à la fac.
- Elle t'a même dépassé tu veux dire.
- Ben ouais, ça va... Elle me montre la voie, en quelque sorte. C'est pas elle qui a laissé tomber boulot, études, famille, amis, pendant quatre ans avant de tout recommencer; ça lui donne une certaine avance...
- Oui, bien sûr. enfin, ne na prends pas pour Lao-Tzeu, quand même. Elle pourrait bien te trancher la tête avant de te la montrer, la voie.
- Tu te crois dans Tintin, toi, hein?
- On ne va pas s'attarder là-dessus; tu as des infos à donner, non?
- Oui, mais comme je lui en ai laissé certaines et qu'elle ne veut plus me répondre, elles sont un peu guillotinées, mes infos. Enfin, je donne ce que j'ai, hein...

I'm need popular software for SEO.
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I am just looking for new friends here who also speaks english and hoping

That somebody can refer me to a job.
That somebody can refer me to a Communal Pool with jacuzzi and mini golf.

I was surprised how easy was a process.
Video an even better place for people to create, share, and discover great video online.
Yes, Video an even better place for people to create, share, and discover great video online.
Communal Pool with jacuzzi and mini golf. So now problem of depression is solved forever!
Communal Pool with jacuzzi and mini golf. Check it out - I hope you will find it useful!
You can also share your holiday experience with others by making a post in this forum, or by mailing us your review.
Hundreds of small bears on a shelf all the way along the floor, medium sized ones on a shelf a little higher and huge bears on the top shelf along the wall. Anybody can recommend me some.
Hundreds of small bears on a shelf all the way along the floor, medium sized ones on a shelf a little higher and huge bears on the top shelf along the wall. I was surprised how easy was a process.
I used it in the past and closed a loan with one of the folks there.
As long as you are two you would be better off looking for an apartment to rent together.
Communal pool with jacuzzi and mini golf. They get back to her place, and as she shows him around her apartment, he notices that her bedroom is completely packed with teddy bears.
but many apartments that are for rent private lets u take pets.

Herrr; is this poetry or spam? À vous de vous faire une idée/ make up your own mind!I wanna choose the former, so I arranged the angles of the piece before trashing it out of my mailbox, and it is nowa little flânerie in the e-realm of ubunet.cum, n’est-ce pas?

Ok, more seriously now, between two art history essays for nas due one before, one after the current break, here’s what’s going on in town. Sorry to trample on your grass, Mayhem, désolée de piétiner tes plates-bandes, but I have a couple of good addresses about art and stuff too. Bdoies I don’t guarantee.

Tomorrow Wednesday 4^th October 2006:

Opening at Mori Gallery, 168 Day Street, Darling Harbour, 6-8pm:

Wed to Sat, 11 to 6pm, morigallery@bigpond.com

Saturday 7^th October

Opening at Sheffer Gallery, 38 Lander Street, Chippendale, 5-8pm

Jo Allsop’s ‘Intimate Horizons’, wide cloudy skies in a dynamic, realistic style, show going to the 28^th October, wed to Sat 11 to 6pm. Check it up on sheffergallery@optusnet.com.au.

And also a fundraiser organised by Mori Gallery at Paddington Markets,

Artquake

Thursday 12^th October:

Opening at Gaffa Gallery, 330 Crown Street, Surry Hills, 6-8pmp: this is Profile Week III, a show giving an overview of how diverse artworks can be in that fabulous space dedicated to jewels and hypercontemporary stuff. And I’ll be in it, in both surprising outfit AND position. Ciel!

Sunday 15th October:

A concert in the memory of Ian Bowie is to be held at the Addison Rd Community Center in Marrickville next week:

And before finishing this first stroll-marathon, let me forward you a letter from RAC NSW on ChilOut:

1. ChilOut’s Direction
2. Our Benefactors
3. Our Legacy
4. More Power to the Greens!
5. Human Rights Act Campaign
News
…So long and thanks for all the fish

---

Watching the sensational response to our last call on August 13 as the numbers on the GetUp petition, No Child in Detention, reached 100,000 and continued to rise was just amazing. Thanks to each and every one of you for all the rallying around, emailing, letter writing, enrolling of friends, families and workmates that must have gone on to get such a result.

The ill-conceived, badly-motivated DUA (Designated Unauthorised Arrivals) Bill was withdrawn on August 14 and (entirely co-incidentally?) the next day 8 Burmese were found dumped on Ashmore Reef. Seven of these hapless individuals were last week despatched to Nauru at goodness knows what financial cost to join the remaining 2 Iraqi detainees in this godforsaken outpost of our Pacific Solution.

The human cost of misery inflicted by long term indefinite detention is well-documented but here we go, sending another bunch of fellow human beings off to long term, indefinite detention…

There are still so many wrongs in the operation of our asylum seeker processing policy that need to be addressed:

• the whole underlying philosophy of the “Pacific Solution”
• the inequity of Temporary Protection Visas, where proven refugees are not allowed full rights, such as learning English, to leave the country or have family reunion for three years and then have to re-prove their refugee status
• the harsh practice of allowing thousands of people, including families, on Bridging Visa Es to subsist for years in our communities with no work rights, utterly dependent on charities.

1. ChilOut’s Direction

Our five year voyage has been absolutely amazing. We have come into contact with so many inspirational people, both inside and beyond the razor wire.

We now feel though that we have gone as far as we can in our core aims. The Migration Act is not going to be changed to fully comply with the Convention on the Rights of the Child but families are, at present, detained in the community. There are ongoing issues concerning the splitting of families and the time it is taking to determine final resolutions.

We like to think we, along with numerous other groups and individuals, might have had something to do with the seeping into the collective Australian psyche the idea that:

it is very wrong to lock up innocent children!

After the recent attempt to renege on the agreement brokered in July 2005 we know we cannot rely on this government not to try and consign families to razor wire detention at some future point. We are winding down our operations but not totally disbanding. The website will remain and, with your permission (you don’t have to do anything!), we will keep the email list on ice so if ever there is any suggestion that the government intends to lock children up again and the barricades need manning once more, we will be able to let you know.

Thank you for the many different forms of support you have lent us over the years. It has been an honour and a privilege to meet so many of you and you have ALL made a difference.

2. Our Benefactors

To the many of you who been quietly supporting us financially, THANK YOU!!!

You have enabled us to be nimble enough to respond to situations as they arise without have to divert energies to the draining tasks of fundraising.

You might care to consider reassigning your funding to organisations directly supporting those affected by our inhuman policies:

Bridge for Asylum Seekers Foundation (BASF)
The Bridge for Asylum Seekers Foundation (BASF) was officially launched on 11th June 2003 by a broad coalition of churches, human rights groups, unions, political representatives, and individuals. The Foundation seeks donations to financially assist asylum seekers on Bridging Visa Es or released under Habeas Corpus orders and who have no adequate means of survival.

Telephone: 0418 261 160
Postal Address: PO Box 483, Glebe, NSW 2037.
Email: asylumseekersfoundation@bigpond.com
Website: http://www.asylumseekersfoundation.com/

Refugee Claimants Support Center - Windsor, QLD
Services provided by the Centre include a drop in centre, English language classes, emotional support, information and referral, no interest loans for employment purposes, limited emergency relief, computer skills, and assistance with accommodation, food, employment and health (including dental health).

The Centre also provides opportunities for group activities. At least twice a year refugee claimants, workers, volunteers and friends go camping for a weekend.

Telephone: (07) 3357 9013
Fax: (07) 3357 9019
Email: refugees@ecn.net.au
Web site: http://www.refugees.org.au
Street Address: 12 Bonython Street Windsor QLD 4030 AUSTRALIA
Postal Address: PO Box 160 Lutwyche QLD 4030 AUSTRALIA

Australian Refugee Association (ARA)
Established in 1975, the Australian Refugee Association is a non-profit organisation made up of concerned people, born here and overseas, who are dedicated to helping refugees rebuild their lives. The Australian Refugee Association provides many services for newcomers to South Australia to assist them settle in their new homes and to help them start their new life.

"Circle of Friends" is coordinated through ARA.

Address: 304 Henley Beach Road, Underdale SA 5032
Telephone: 61-8-8354 2951
Fax : 61-8-8354 2953
Email: reception@ausref.net
Website: http://www.ausref.net

Asylum Seeker Resource Centre - West Melbourne, VIC
Since opening our doors in June 2001, the ASRC has become the largest provider of aid, advocacy and health services for asylum seekers in Australia. We work directly with asylum seekers, both living in our community and detention, to provide direct aid and support. We also campaign and lobby on behalf of asylum seekers and all Australians who want to change the and unjust asylum seeker related policies Australia has adopted. Most importantly, at times of despair and hopelessness, we are there to offer comfort, friendship, hope and respite.

Address: 67 Jeffcott Street, West Melbourne, VIC 3003.
Telephone: (03) 9326 6066
Fax: (03) 9326 5199
Email: asrc_volunteer@yahoo.com.au
Website: http://www.asrc.org.au/

CARAD - Coalition for asylum seekers, refugess and detainees
Since January 2000 CARAD has provided settlement services for over 2000 refugees who are sent to Perth from detention centres. These refugees have Temporary Protection Visas (TPVs).

Address: Top Floor, Suite 38, Trinity Arcade 72 St. Georges Terrace Perth, WA
Phone: 61 +8 9321 2900
Fax: 61 +8 9321 4955
Email: carad@iinet.net.au
Website: http://www.carad-wa.org/

OR :

You might follow Kate Gauthier and me in our activities with A Just Australia (AJA), where we continue to campaign to get those damaging policies changed.

The defeat of the DUA Bill was brought about by the orchestrated opposition of a number of groups. AJA played a key background role, from lobbying in Canberra to providing accurate and detailed analysis of the legal changes which enabled us all to understand the principles involved. Changing policy is slow, unremitting work and like all NGOs, AJA has a Grand Plan – and a shoestring budget.

The biggest boost you gave ChilOut was allowing us to employ our wonderful dynamic Alanna. Transferring your $$$ support to AJA will help us continue to employ Kate and Anna Samson (both part-time but hugely committed and effective).

Please consider. http://www.ajustaustralia.com/thingsyoucando_donatemoney.php

(And, all our supporters, if you’re not already on it, sign up to the AJA email list so we can still count on your help in the many areas where action and focus are still needed. http://www.ajustaustralia.com/whoweare_individuals.php )

3. Our Legacy

Some appalling anniversaries are coming up.

The spectacular SIEV X memorial spearheaded by author Steve Biddulph is coming to fruition. After countrywide participation it is to be assembled on the Canberra lakeshore in October for the fifth anniversary of the tragedy.

It will be 353 poles in child and adult size, emerging from the water and going across the land for almost 300 metres.

Please contact Western Australian Refugee Alliance (WARA) if you can contribute financially:

Three Perth-based Iraqi men who each lost their wives, all their children and other family members are decorating 22 poles to remember their loved ones. They have waited five years for a permanent memorial that we can only hope will help them in their grieving process and healing journey.

To cover cost of the 22 poles, freighting them to Canberra and ensuring that next of kin can attend the memorial service, please make donations to:

Commonwealth Bank, BSB (Morley WA branch) 06 6132
Account number 10435629
Account name - Family of SIEV X Inc

If we collect more than we need for the Perth contingent, excess funds will be forwarded to the National SIEV X Memorial Project.

For more information contact Sue 0401 238 567 or Vanessa 0433 811 831. Arabic speakers contact Abo Roma on 0413 288 719
Email: wara@optusnet.com.au

Also congratulations to Don Maclurcan who, in this climate of increasing history awareness has made sure the part the sinking of the SIEV X played in our history is captured in making available a case study/reader for secondary school history students. This is being launched at Parliament House on 19 October. See www.sievxreader.com.

We wish Don and Steve well in their endeavours.

4. More Power to the Greens!

Australian Greens Senator Kerry Nettle earlier this month moved an amendment to the Migration Act to allow long-term bridging visa holders to work after 28 days. In 2005 there were 7,927 BV(E) holders and some asylum seekers have been on a bridging visa E for many years.

This sank after ninety minutes debate with no backing from the ALP. You might take any opportunity to ask ALP members the reason for their failure to support this humanising proposal.

5. Human Rights Act Campaign

As we bow out, ChilOut reiterates its support for the Human Rights Act campaign initiated by New Matilda.

If we can get the basic tenets of Human Rights recognised so that every weaselly piece of legislation that comes through does not seek to compromise them, perhaps we can get on with other important matters. As it is we cannot leave human rights undefended. Such as they are, they have been hard won and once legislated away, they will be very, very hard to get reinstated

Please lend this campaign your support too.

News

ChilOut has participated in one of the rounds of DIMA consultations as the department seeks to implement the recommendations of the Palmer and Comrie reports.

The focus was on the detention service reforms, basically the contracting out of functioning of the detention centres. While many worthy goals were discussed and we were impressed with the obvious commitment of the officials we met, we have concerns that only patches of the whole picture are being addressed. DIMA has a responsibility for the well being of asylum seekers while they are in the whole determination process not just actual detention. Issues such as BV(E) holders existing on thin air with no right to work, must be resolved.

…So long and thanks for all the fish

I can’t believe this could well be my final CTA (Call to Action). I shudder to think how many I have written but thank you all for responding to them so magnificently.

ChilOut supporters assumed so many different roles along our journey, from lobbying Parliament in London, holding placards along the City to Surf route, carrying balloons on numerous rallies, queuing up for hours to visit detainees, signing Free Them books, selling chocolates, taking refugees into your own homes… We know you will carry on directing your energies into many areas where they are still needed but be mindful of burn out and take care of yourselves.

I cannot end without acknowledging the wonderful ChilOut Team.

Junie Ong and Tom Ryan, whose inspiration and commitment kickstarted us.
Leonie Gardiner who set up and became totally immersed in the Visitors’ Program.
Nicola Gates first got our structure into place and us incorporated.
Fiona Walkerden who put her hand up to set up the website, set up and managed the mailing list and formatted and sent out our CTAs.
Kate Gauthier started off as our merchandise coordinator, then went on several grand tours of all the detention centres, became Refugee Spokesperson on Aden Ridgeway’s staff before finding her current position with AJA.
Jane Denning took on the merchandise-coordinating role, which translates to hours standing in post office queues and meticulously attending to thousands of details.
David and Anthea Meggitt have gamely tried to bring us to account over the years.
Jo Gow and Mary Quilty are our policy specialists and take care of making submissions, preparing reports and attending conferences.
Anthony Meggitt and Jo Hind are the backbone of the coordination team, arranging meetings, fundraisers and doing the myriad of background tasks that came their way.

Our corps of ChilOut Ambassadors are young people we can all be proud of. Former detainees or strongly motivated people from within the community, they are the source of great hope for our future.

Thank you, guys, for all you have done on behalf of ChilOut –

YOU’RE ALL SIMPLY THE BEST!!!

ChilOut is now more or less synonymous with Alanna Hector (formerly Sherry). The experience and networking skills she brought to her role of National Coordinator were just perfect. Her energy, enthusiasm, organisational and lobbying skills, strategic sense made such a difference to what we were able to do as an organisation. As she awaits the birth of her second child in December we wish Godfrey, Sean and Alanna all that’s wonderful.

We have grown in so many ways and, like any family, experienced the full gamut of life changing experiences:-

3 divorces,
1 remarriage
1 engagement/wedding
the sadness of breavements and the joy of
1.75 children plus
several grandchildren!

I know I have said it several times but I can’t say it enough. ChilOut wouldn’t be ChilOut without YOU, our tireless, wonderful, inspirational supporters!!!

Our effectiveness would be nothing without you behind us. You all took time from your busy lives, put yourselves out and made the necessary effort. We have made a difference from the grass roots level up, AND YOU DID IT!!!

I fervently hope you don’t hear from me again but rest assured, if the need arises, WE WILL BE BACK!

Dianne Hiles and all of the ChilOut Team

Voilà. See you soon when I’ve caught my breath again

La Fluff.