FARMERS WALK AWAY.

I’ve been terribly remiss about updating this journal, but I promise I’ve been spending the elapsed time doing things that matter. The recent spike in diesel prices and the continuing unavailability of petrol (LPG is strained as well) has resulted in an absolute collapse in the farming sector. Despite record rainfall for the month of May here in WA, farmers across the state are (literally) walking off their land, unable to afford the diesel or petrol to run farm machinery or vehicles. I’m not overstating this when I say this is a catastrophe. Not only will hectares and hectares of crops go completely to waste, unharvested and untended, livestock will be entirely without feed or water most likely resulting in massive losses of cattle and sheep.

 

Despite that disturbing poster, last night was a really good night. We had an very productive collective meeting. Firstly, we decided we would call the collective ‘Tiny Lights’ after the title I wrote on my LJ post… or at least Adrienne and I decided and everyone else agreed. We’ve kinda taken that from a Godspeed You! Black Emperor liner note in their record Yanqui UXO. Me and Adrienne really look up to both that band and the collective nature of their record label. Check it out – www.cstrecords.com.

 

EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

Well, time really flies in a civil crisis… The news started filtering through overnight that the Federal government has already struck back at WA’s nationalisation of natural gas and formal declaration of separation from the rest of Australia. According to eyewitness reports, small contingents of Federal Police officers descended on several key drilling rigs and refineries in the Northwest and placed the facilities under their 'supervision'. As one would expect there was no resistance by the unarmed employees and there’s rumours flying around that managers of at least one of the rigs were in contact with the Feds prior to the takeovers.

 

Then this afternoon the Prime Minister announced on national television that, because of Western Australia’s decision, we would suffer a naval blockade and a suspension of all interstate trade. As a result, I presume that our access to the LPG coming in from the Northwest is shut off and any other energy or goods coming in from the Eastern States. I just walked down the street from my work to look at the nearby petrol station and it was totally clogged with cars and people carrying jerry cans buying up petrol that has already risen to AU$2.50 a litre. No doubt we are about to experience the same shortages and price explosions that the US is already experiencing very soon.

 

INTERESTING TIMES - WESTERN AUSTRALIA HOLDS FIRM.

“May you live in interesting times” – it’s a famous Chinese curse and it, quite astutely, observes that interesting times do not necessarily equate to good times. So here we are in this oil-shocked world, and we’re definitely experiencing interesting events. Australia as a nation has had a bare minimum of civil strife in its entire existence. The bloody Eureka Stockade strike by mine workers in 1854, where gold-miners in Ballarat struck over high prices and poor conditions and were put down ruthlessly by colonial troops, is one of the few small spikes in the long linear march of Australia into nationhood.

 

But it looks like all of that is about to change. The Premier of Western Australia, Rosa Paine, met with the Prime Minister of Australia this morning after an urgent meeting was called following Paine’s decision to effectively nationalise Western Australia’s natural gas reserves, primarily off the North-West coast of WA. It was a short meeting.

 

The North-West.