Dear friend,

You are invited to attend the first meeting of Transition Illawarra.

When: 2pm Saturday 23 August 2008
Where: Project Contemporary Art Space, 255 Keira Street, Wollongong

The Transition model offers communities a unique way of responding to Peak Oil and Climate Change. Our community has the capability and will to increase local resilience and drastically reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. By coming together, we can develop and implement solutions.

The purposes of this first meeting will be to (1) explore what a Transition Town means and (2) establish a steering committee.

This will be an open space meeting. This means that participants define the agenda, and may adjust it as the meeting proceeds. Further purposes of the meeting may be determined by participants.

For further information about Transition Towns, please see www.transitiontowns.org

If you have questions please contact Keely Boom by email (keelyboom@gmail.com) or phone (0418884804).

Please help spread the word. The meeting is open to anyone and everyone.

See you there!

P.S. We have a Facebook group (Transition Illawarra). Feel free to join!

i think i haven't got any chance to open my own TIG account for ages!!!!!!!!!!!

well, actually for almost 3 years :-)

see, i happen to always forget my password n things got complicated everytime i report any password changes..... until today.

so, welcome back for me from myself, i guess...

Some of my friends often joke "Crossing the roads in Vietnam is an art and the pedestrian is such an artist". Driving on the roads in Saigon is still in many ways challenging and threatening me as I have been growing up in this nice and busy city. In some levels, driving in the rush hours is really a physical and mental test over all the patience, persistence and skills to almost the drivers. One day, I drove my friend around district 5 and 10 at the time when people started knocking off for home. He was hit by all the smokes from motorbikes, cars and buses. What did really strike me is in which ways it can help to decline the traffic congestion in order to create healthy spaces for all people on the roads.

THE RACE ON THE ROADS

The roads are now so packed with many people that I can not even find the space to move ahead. As soon as there can be a little space somewhere on the roads, very sooner or later it would be occupied by a bunch of ones who are trying to push forward from behind. At the traffic cross, people even take up the space beyond the crossing lines to right after the police's stand. They don't care lots where there are the traffic limits. I am also pushed to the positions where it must be. Now the roads noticed for me have become a high-competition race track where people see themselves as racers who try to take up beyond the "others" as much as possible. What really struck me is which keeps people driving harshly on the roads in the ways of pushing ourselves ahead of the others. Somewhere in the question may help us to underly which causes the traffic congestion even worse despite all the controlling efforts/ declining solutions.

WHAT NOT SEEN? OPENING UP "THE ONION" TO SEE WHICH LEADS TO THE CONGESTION INCREASE.

Under the latest report of the municipal department of traffic safety, the traffic accidents go up by 4.63 % in 2006 compared to 2005. The "black" spots of congestion such as Nguyen Tri Phuong street, 3/2 street, Nguyen Kiem street, etc. are getting worse. What people normally see as the reasons of the issue is the focus on the traffic infrastructure, the increase in vehicles ownership and the lack of people's "awareness". However, what is noticed is that even in the big cities, where there is a certain level of traffic structure development such as Bangkok, Jakarta, Manila, Kuala Lumpur that I visited, the congestion is still a big concern to people.

Some days ago, I was talking with my Singaporean friend - Sheila as she is running a series of workshops on Learning Organization in Asia and Africa - a part of the workshop is on system thinking. I have shared my concern about the traffic issues in Vietnam, particularly on the congestion and traffic accidents. The traffic pattern obviously noticed in Saigon and Vietnam is the continuous increase of those in spite of all the strict enforcements by patrolling, fines, etc. What I feel very curious about is which part of the whole system on congestion that we are not seeing and that whatever we try to do, the problems are not going away. It is so interesting as Sheila forwarded me the congestion systemic structure (the above picture or see more in the below links) that she has worked on since 2006. The part which is surfaced to me is that the self-esteem-related emotions have framed people into "I am not good enough so there are still a lot that I need to do". That is what make us to set more targets to go and rush in life. Noticing here the fears of failure, rejection and in a certain level of survival.

As soon as we can see the parts of the system, now the question is which can help to do it better with the congestion? Please feel free to drop here all your thoughts/ reactions about the structure and which the leverages are to you.

Tuan Anh - 11 Sep., 2007

For the kindness of Sheila

Some useful links:
1. Case-study on Road Congestion
http://lopn.net/ST_Casestudy14_RoadCongestions.html

2. Answer.com on Traffic Congestion
http://www.answers.com/topic/traffic-congestion

3. Traffic Accidents in Ho Chi Minh City
http://www.nld.com.vn/tintuc/chinh-tri-xa-hoi/186692.asp

4. Traffic Congestion Increasing Dramatically
http://www.tuoitre.com.vn/Tianyon/Index.aspx?ArticleID=219823&ChannelID=3

5. See the full article and the systemic structure on the blog
http://www.360.yahoo.com/nguyentuananhftu

I was listening to a Ben Harper song recently and heard some powerful words. “The unfinished work of our heroes must truly be our own.”

My hero is, without a doubt, Mohandas Gandhi. He had a few things that he felt he left unfinished (untouchability and the Muslim/Hindu divide among them). But in his autobiography the unfinished work that he laments most strongly is his failure to liberate our fellow creatures. Unfortunately I don’t have his autobiography here, so will have to share the quote once I get back to Australia.

This is the unfinished work of my hero that is my own.

We search for intelligent life in the rest of the universe. We dream that in this big, big universe “we are not alone.” The discovery of minerals and matter on Mars that shows some faint possibility of life makes headlines. The possibilities of a distant star and a neighbouring planet like our own light years away excites scientists, astronomers and the lay alike. Stories of aliens capture imaginations and bring the creation of science fiction books and movies.

But we are not alone. All around us, we are surrounded by intelligent life forms that breathe, eat, drink, love, show compassion and companionship. They are troubled by fear and will cry out in pain. They bound about with youth, then care for their young, and finally slow down in old age. Every one of us has interacted in some way with these life forms. Most of these creatures we give the name “animals.”

In the aftermath of the tsunami, it was revealed that no elephants died. Indeed, in the Yala national park of Sri Lanka, not a single animal carcass was found. Amazingly, these animals had sensed the coming danger and knew to go to higher ground. Working elephants in Thailand even picked up people and carried them on their backs to safety. This is but a small taste of what our fellow creatures do in our world. What they offer besides their flesh and skins.

The immense intelligence, compassion and complicated relationships these beautiful and spiritual beings demonstrate should captivate us. Imagine that any of these animals were found on a neighbouring planet. We would strive to communicate, to understand, to learn; and we would show respect. We would not see our difficulties in communicating to mean that they are below us. We would realise that these differences are characteristics to be truly celebrated.

I find it incredible that despite this, for most people, the dominant thoughts about our fellow creatures is what dish to make out of them.

Life is life. Pain is pain. Death is death.

I have heard that it is hard to give up “meat”. I have heard that we need to eat “meat”.

For me, well, I’ve never eaten any of our fellow creatures. Their blood is not on my hands. But I have been a witness. I have sat down so many times to a table where the remains of my fellow creatures have been served up. I have talked with people as they crewed on bones and cooked flesh. I have lived in houses where the fridges and freezes seem like crime zones for the remains of slaughtered females and males, and babies, are preserved within.

As someone who was raised in a vegetarian household, I am continually overwhelmed and disturbed by the way the world is. I will always have my separate meal, but I cannot help but feel that I am letting fellow life down when I sit at that table. It is a denial of truth and I am constantly fighting my urge to walk away in protest.

My reasoning for staying is that in showing people my meal, that by answering those predictable questions, I may help bring more people to this way of life. Over the years I have seen this happen. But not enough. Not near enough.

I really don’t know how much more I can take of this horror. I am realising that I must speak up. I will never try to force my opinions on someone. But I refuse to be a bystander to cruelty and suffering. I will bear witness. I will be a force for change.

There will always be people who get some enjoyment from killing others. We can do things to bring them back to the light, with patience and love. But we can not let them influence our group ethics to such a degree any more. The time for violence and greed is over.

For anyone who today eats flesh, I ask you to please stop. Gandhi believed that we can each find the truth through experimenting. Society tells us that there is nothing wrong with taking the lives of cows, sheep, pigs and other creatures. What I ask of you is to consider that perhaps society is wrong. Experiment with a new way of life. You will be welcomed.

China has been pretty overwhelming for me. Shanghai is a huge city with buildings that hold 2,000-3,000 people. The buildings are exactly the same, literally there'd be 20 or 30 buildings that are exactly the same all next to each other. And then down on the ground there's beggars. More beggars than I've ever seen before. Mostly old men, some families, some mums with their little children/child. They all get ignored by the high flyers or should I say high risers. On my first night I went out with a friend of mine. I was simply overwhelmed by the number of beggars. My belief is that you should always give, but as soon as I gave I was surrounded by all the other beggars around and they all wanted more more more. I came across a man in a really horrific way. He would have been 60 years old, he was laying face down on the ground, sobbing and banging
his head on the cement. This was next to the Bund which is a huge tourist attraction. I walked past him with my friend and her family and came up to the Bund (basically just a platform on the harbour) where there was a huge crowd of people taking photos of all the tall buildings and flashy light displays, laughing and smiling, and I just felt sick. I went back to the man and sat with him. I put my hand under his head so he wouldn't be banging it anymore. At some point I started crying with him. I can't remember exactly. He ended up sitting up. Seeing the tears falling down his face made me even worse. Then I became aware that people were stopping around us. I couldn't look at them but started to feel some hope that perhaps they (mostly Chinese people) would help. How mistaken I was. They all started taking photos like this man and I were some sort of tourist attraction. It was
SICKENING. The man then got scared and got up on his frail legs. His legs were bowed out, he didn't have any shoes, his feet were filthy and battered, like all of his body. He had a small black plastic bag that I suppose his whole life is in. He stumbled away, I went with him for a little while, he was still sobbing, and then he said bye and went off, with this look of fright and pain on his face that burns in me. That was my introduction to Shanghai.

The next day was much better as a truly extraordinary thing happened to me, I would call it a miracle. I came into the city by the metro, got out and started walking down Central Tibet Road. I didn't get very far before I came across a musician. The music was utterly captivating, and though it was in Chinese I would tell immediately that he was there with a message. He was a hippie, young man with long hair, a look of determination on his face. He had posters set out on the ground in front of him. Clearly his message was a political one. There was a big crowd around him. I listened to him, took photos of him. As I started taking photos of his posters he was pulled up. It
was the police. The police woman spoke to him and the musician had a friend that rolled up the posters while the musician packed up his guitar and amp. I tried to speak to him but he didn't speak English. So I just gave him the thumbs up and then clapped for him. I expected everyone else to join me in clapping but no one else did. Anyway, the musician said thank you to me a number of times and then left. I felt so inspired by him and the courage he had shown. I don't think this sort of thing happens often in China and so I believe I am truly blessed to have been a witness and minor participant in such an event. I realise that there was some risk for me being there, taking photos,
but really my risk of having my camera taken, being deported etc is nothing compared to what he risked. Showing him support was the least I could do. I was disappointed after though, when I told my friend about it she wasn't the least bit interested in the musician's message or courage, and instead told me off as she considered that I was putting her and her husband at risk since I was staying with her. It is amazing how powerful fear can be.

Xian has been similar but perhaps a bit better. The Terracotta warriors were simply amazing. Completely violence/killing-worship in nature but nonetheless very interesting. There is a huge amount of beggars here. Again I was overwhelmed by them, I gave some money and then was swamped by them. I ended going to a market and buying some green bean cake which comes in little packets and giving out handfuls of those. All of the beggars loved them and I had heaps to spare so I think I'm just going to go around with reserves from now on. The last lady and child I gave them to were asleep on the pavement the first time I passed, and then when I gave them the green bean cake they were both so happy that as I walked away I would glance back and the lady
would wave to me, a big smi le on her face. The beggars are certainly overwhelming, but the reward for showing them kindness is immeasurable. I just wish I was here for longer and could get them into shelters with some sort of long-term solution.

These experiences are helping me develop my understanding of the world. Our world is so wrong. I should mention, the pollution here is horrific - the rivers, the air, everything is simply awful. To the
level that it is ever present and makes people sick - from the rich to the poor. The problem in all this is that for some bizarre reason we value material outcomes in life, the fancy apartments, the gadgets, the fancy clothes, all the status symbols that we can get our hands on. We value
being number 1, the competitive spirit infects all of us. This form of living means that a person can exploit another, feel as though they are not responsible for another's misery, and then amazingly walk past someone who is suffering and is truly desperate and not even glance at them. They do not feel the need to show compassion as they have all their status symbols and a beggar can offer them no more material benefits or help them climb the social ladder. This is all terribly wrong. To my mind and heart, a society that creates and reinforces this world (and let's face it, Australia is pretty much exactly the same) is a society that has failed. What does any of that flashy crap
mean if even one person's suffering is ignored, or if the land is polluted and exploited so badly that the only fitting term is "rape". I'm sick of it all. I simply can't believe that people buy in for this crap.

On my bright note, I do feel hope when I think of that musician. I had another friend translate some of the posters and he couldn't get it all but it said something like "People are suffering" and "This has gone on too long." I am so inspired by this musician's courage, his commitment to truth and kindness, his determination. As long as there are people like him there is hope. At the spiritual level, I know that I was meant to see this man. Neither of my friends have ever seen anything like this
despite living in Shanghai for some time. I didn't go out looking for political protesters, I was just strolling along being a tourist. I believe my spirit guided me there and guided my actions. Before seeing him I was having that awful feeling again that I am such a freak that I question whether I belong here at all. But I know that I belonged in that moment, my applause was the perfect match for his music, just as I belonged with that old beggar. Even when we're in the smallest minority, even just of one, we still belong.

So this has been China. I go to Beijing today and then leave on Wednesday on the trans-siberian. This is a long blog so if you've got this far BRAVO!! Peace, Keely

"Be realistic," you say to me,
But to be realistic, is to believe.
Recognise the problems in our world,
But know that we can alter all this and more.
Recognise your own failings and sin,
But never doubt the power and strength within.
This Truth comes from the depths of my soul,
If you understand, you won't say I'm a fool.
Naivety isn't in our great dream,
But when our fear hides what we harbour within.
The world you dream of is within your grasp,
It is just your doubt that stands in its path.
So join me now and shake all that free,
Let's be realistic, rid of naivety.

On April 20th, nine Australian politicians charged with the responsibility of reviewing cruel pig industry practices voted to allow the use of inhumane sow stalls to continue unabated for another decade.

These politicians ignored community views, pre-eminent science, international precedents and their ethical responsibilities to provide millions of Australian animals with fair and just governance.

This shameful decision will leave Australia behind other Western countries that have acted to ban or phase out the use of cruel sow stalls.

All is not lost. Recently the world's largest pig producer—US-based Smithfield Foods—announced a voluntary phase out of sow stalls over the next decade. The following week Canada's largest pig producer followed suit.

These decisions were not forced by governments; they were forced by community concern. In the US Burger King (Hungry Jacks in Australia) and major supermarkets have listened to consumers and have committed to sourcing free-range products—their purchasing power is underpinning the decisions by pig producers to end cruel practices.

Change for Australian pigs will be brought about when these powerful companies are made aware that civilised societies will no longer tolerate industrialised animal cruelty.

It is time to make uncaring politicians irrelevant.

Please take a moment to send this important message. Tell McDonald's, Hungry Jack's and Subway that whilst Australian politicians don't care about animal cruelty—you do.


Take action and send your message here: http://www.savebabe.com/eupdate/takeAction.html

All info taken from www.savebabe.com

Today, an Indigenous baby born in Australia is statistically likely to have a shorter life than a child born in remote rural Bangladesh or Nigeria. We can take a real step towards ending this disgrace at next Tuesday's federal budget by demanding the Treasurer commit just a small portion of our bumper $16 billion surplus to ending this preventable injustice. The budget decisions are being made right now, so put your name to the petition and together we will end the inequality within a generation.

www.getup.org.au/campaign/CloseTheGap

Near where I stay here in Ho Chi Minh City, there is a man who I regularly see begging. He has lost a leg and so has a board with wheels that he pushes himself around on. He has a block of wood that he holds in his left hand to move along without putting his hands on the ground. He is an older man, probably in his mid 50s. He does not know much English (and my Vietnamese is shocking) so our communications have been mostly non-verbal.

I remember the first time I saw him. I was walking along and I saw him down below, his hands reaching out. I stopped and said hello, and as there was a street vendor nearby I let him choose a drink and paid for it. He immediately expressed so much gratitude. And then, miracle of all miracles, every time I have seen him since he remembers me and greets me with the most brilliant of smiles. He reaches his hand out to shake him, uttering "Xin chao! Xin chao!" (hello) over and over. Every time I see him I feel so uplifted. It is the same feeling I used to have as a child on Christmas morning when I saw all the presents under the tree. The elation and excitement is extraordinary. To think that what appeared to be such a small act of giving by me could be followed by these continuing gifts from him... He has far outshone anything I have done for him.

Last week when I saw him he was very sad. We had had a lot of rain and he immediately started telling me how horrific it had been for him. He gestured to the skies, made motions to show that the rain had fallen, and then shivered and hugged himself, telling me so directly of how he had suffered. He asked for help, telling me his story over and over. I communicated to him a promise that I would do something. Yesterday I bought him a rain jacket. Its not much, nothing like actually having a roof and shelter, but I do hope it will help. My prayers are with this man. What a lonely and rough life he lives today. And yet he, through the strength and beauty of his spirit, has GIVEN to me. For anyone to say that they do not have the time, the resources or whatever to give to a fellow being is absolute rubbish. This is a homeless, crippled and aged man, and he has given to me more than any rich tourist I've met in this city.

It is so interesting seeing how people react to beggars. I look out and see across the way a table of tourists. Women wearing high heels and dresses complemented with their dyed and straightened hair. The men with rich sunglasses on their heads.

A short man, skinny as bones, approaches them. His clothing is ragged, he carries a stick to help his walking. He looks to be 60 years or so. And how do they react? They ignore him. They do not even glance at him, let along give him a second of their time. What injustice in the world. Such power they have. Their money yes, so great to his. But their love, their kindness, their compassion. This they and the man share, or rather they could share, if only these people took the chance. Took a chance on him.

The injustice is not so much in the sharp inequity of their finances, it is instead the high pedestal that they choose to remain on, the barrier they create by choosing to ignore him.

Let us imagine for a moment that you are a person who has just come into existence, as a fully grown adult. You are not tarnished by any cultural prejudices, racism or greed, yet you are filled with a conscience that comes from the essence of your being. You find yourself at a table, a great feast is before you. So much amazing food! Just as you begin, an old man like the one I tell of approaches you. You can immediately tell that he is hungry, in fact he looks as though he has not eaten in some time. He is malnourished and battered.

What would you do? Invite the man to join you that instant, before he even has a chance to degrade himself by begging for food? I believe that this is it. If we were true to our inner voice, our divine consciousness, we would not even hesitate.

The question is, why don't we all do this all the time? It cannot be because we cannot afford it. These people did not finish all the food on their plates (they have gone now). Perhaps it is racism? Or a fear of acknowledging that we can actually do something? Perhaps it is different for each person. Perhaps it is our entire culture, the culture of the world... But I know we can overcome it. We can help each other. And more importantly we can meet each other as equals in this journey called life. As we feast, if a hungry person approaches, we can indeed look that person in the eyes and say "welcome, my brother, I am your sister and here is your seat beside me."

I am so inspired by George Bernard Shaw. His writings have been a huge source of light for me when things have seemed so dark. I would like to share with you a powerful poem of his - entitled 'Living Graves'. He captures the link that I wish everyone could see...

We are the living graves of murdered beasts,
Slaughtered to satisfy our appetites.
We never pause to wonder at our feasts,
If animals, like men, can possibly have rights.
We pray on Sundays that we may have light,
To guide our footsteps on the path we tread.
We're sick of war, we do not want to fight -
The thought of it now fills our hearts with dread,
And yet - we gorge ourselves upon the dead.

Like carrion crows we live and feed on meat,
Regardless of the suffering and the pain
we cause by doing so, if thus we treat
defenceless animals for sport or gain,
how can we hope in this world to attain,
the PEACE we say we are so anxious for.
We pray for it o'er hecatombs of slain,
to God, while outraging the moral law,
thus cruelty begets its offspring - WAR.

Here's a quote I recently came across. Its from Plutarch. In Ancient Greece, people who did not eat animals were called "Pythagoreans". That's right, after the same man responsible for Pythagoras' triangle... Those maths lessons are all coming back!! In fact, it was only in 1847AD when the term "vegetarian" was invented that use of the term Pythagorean ended. Anyway, Plutarch wrote the following:

"Can you really ask what reason Pythagoras had for abstaining from flesh? For my part I rather wonder both by what accident and in what state of soul or mind the first man did so, touched his mouth to gore and brought his lips to the flesh of a dead creature, he who set forth tables of dead, stale bodies and ventured to call food and nourishment the parts that had a little before bellowed and cried, moved and lived. How could his eyes endure the slaughter when throats were slit and hides flayed and limbs torn from limb? How could his nose endure the stench? How was it that the pollution did not turn away his taste, which made contact with the sores of others and sucked juices and serums from mortal wounds? … It is certainly not lions and wolves that we eat out of self-defense; on the contrary, we ignore these and slaughter harmless,tame creatures without stings or teeth to harm us, creatures that, I swear, Nature appears to have produced for the sake of their beauty and grace. But nothing abashed us, not the flower-like like tinting of the flesh, not the persuasiveness of the harmonious voice, not the cleanliness of their habits or the unusual intelligence that may be found in the poor wretches. No, for the sake of a little flesh we deprive them of sun, of light, of the duration of life to which they are entitled by birth and being."

Faced with the problems of the world, the sweatshops, the wars, the pollution, the dying species, it is easy to be overwhelmed. It is easy to feel helpless and that there are no solutions. Or that if there are solutions, someone else will handle them.

But we, as people, cannot adopt this attitude. When it comes to matters of our heart and our ethics, we cannot expect someone else to take responsibility. What we do matters.

When you go to buy take away food, stop for a moment. Will that plastic container take 50,000 years to decompose?

When you go to a shop to buy some clothes, stop for a moment. Were those clothes made by someone who is overworked and underpaid?

When you go to the supermarket to buy some food, stop. Did that food travel hundreds or even thousands of kilometres to come to you?

When you go to eat and a meal is before you, stop. Was an animal's life taken for it to be before you?

When you go to fuel up your car, stop. Has that fuel ignited a conflict?

I speak of pollution, of sweatshops, of carbon emissions, of animal suffering. I speak of our planet, our people, our creatures.

It is easy to believe that just one person cannot make a difference. But in just one life, a person can eat 2,400 animals. For each of these animals, your decision matters. For the child working long hours to harvest the cocoa beans for your chocolate, your decision matters. And so it goes on.

Ultimately the solutions lie with each of us. We can blame the corporations and the governments, but each day it is we who decide to buy a product or service. It is we who create the demand that drives us on and on.

So let us now come to a new day, and stop.

Right now the oldest and largest collection of rock carvings in the world – some of it six times older than the Pyramids – is being dismantled and destroyed. We couldn't stop the Taliban from destroying the Buddhas of Bamiyan, but we do have the power to protect our own Indigenous heritage from further ruin.

Late last year, thousands of GetUp members rallied to save the Burrup rock carvings in Western Australia: a little-known Indigenous site that includes one of the earliest identified images of a human face and the now-extinct Tasmanian Tiger. And for the first time in Australia's history, we've nearly succeeded in protecting it once and for all.

Colin Barnett, former head of Industry and Resources in Liberal Western Australian Government, stated in his speech to WA's Parliament:

"I concede that although I was aware of the presence of rock art, I did not grasp its significance. I believe I do now. I stress that I am not some born again environmentalist or conservationist… [The Burrup] is an area that needs to be protected, preserved and enjoyed."

The WA Government must now come clean and re-negotiate the lease with Woodside to expand somewhere else. The Federal Environment Minister must heritage-list the remaining carvings. And Woodside's board needs to listen to their own shareholders, many of whom are unhappy about this expansion. A GetUp representative will be there to share your views at their Annual General Meeting on Thursday.

Act now, and we'll make sure leaders get the message when and where it really counts. Call for the win-win solution that supports a growing economy while respectfully preserving Australia's priceless Indigenous heritage.


Sign the petition today:
"I support an inclusive management plan for the Dampier Precinct that heritage-lists all of the remaining rock carvings, and balances the aim of future economic development with the duty to care for cultural treasures, that once destroyed, can never be replaced.

Please move all future industry to any one of the other suitable, nearby sites, as called for by a diverse range of leaders from business, science, conservation and politics."

We've achieved 93% of our goal of 20000 (18615)!

If you want to sign the petition please go to http://www.getup.org.au/campaign.asp?campaign_id=76

All the info I've included here is taken from this website.

As the months and years tick by, the Iraq war looks more like a never-ending nightmare. Australians now need an honest conversation from our Government, so we can find an honourable path forward - and home.

The American people have finally forced the Bush administration to face its failure in Iraq: George Bush's Republican Party has lost control of the US Congress and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has resigned.

But our Prime Minister seems to have forgotten that the Australian-American alliance is bigger than his personal friendship with President Bush - a President whose war strategy now faces intensifying criticism from voters, as well as growing numbers within his own Party.

From the beginning, Australians were told to support this war for a variety of reasons that turned out to be untrue. We deserve better.

Now our Government needs a plan of its own.


Dear Prime Minister,

For years your Government has adopted the Bush administration's Iraq policy as our own, even as that policy has repeatedly failed. With Australian troops still at risk and the situation in Iraq deteriorating, Australia urgently needs an independent Iraq policy.

We ask that you announce a plan for a new way forward, including a clearly defined exit strategy for Australia in Iraq.

*Petition updated as of February15, 2007

We've achieved 47% of our goal of 40000 (18878)!

If you want to sign the petition please go to http://www.getup.org.au/campaign.asp?campaign_id=57.

I got all of this information from their website.

Let's take action Australia!! :)