Touch grass they say – but don’t repeatedly kick the same toe on things, it gets tiring after awhile, and it doesn’t give it a chance to heal and somehow you’re still hobbling weeks later.
So I got overloaded, took on too much mental load, spread myself too thin, so I’m cutting back on somethings, to make life sustainable.
I’m ensuring I follow my little routine, that includes meds and white hot chocolates, and winding down after dinner. This means I’ll be declining after 6pm meetings from now til the conference in June. I’ll be showered and onesied on time, meds around nine, white hot chocolate before that. Breakfast has gone back to porridge sachets for winter – except this week since my partner bought a dozen hot cross buns I’m trying to get through!
I’m going to go back to (close to) daily Japanese practice and streaming. Started on a new vocab game yesterday. So, the plan is an hour of practice followed by variety game streaming a few mornings a week, no real schedule it’ll depend on everything going on around me and of course it’s more about getting back into good habits that nourish me – and the Japanese language has always been that for me. Recommendations for websites and programs to use are more than welcome – I know Duolingo did that things with more AI use since I was last using it, so while I’ll probably tap into that a little, I’m all for a scattered approach. I’ll set up my second cam for colouring and kana practice, and perhaps my cheap graphics tablet if I can find a kanji program that would work well with pen input rather than mouse. There was a program I had on an emulator that I was going to use with that but then I did a system reinstall and it’s gone.
Also keen to fill this board with stuff – Amazon slips or pictures from frens or whatever may come. I’m pleased to say I’ve a couple of regular monthly supporters here, and it’s such a mood boost even though one’s for $1/month!
You know how some people use all the right buzz words but their heart’s not in the right place? Usually in activist spaces they talk the talk and can focus on the hot topics, but move on once it’s not cool anymore, or there’s a better opportunity elsewhere. Or, their methods don’t work to lessen or get rid of the root cause of a problem but mainly build systems to sustain bandaids around it. These systems and often businesses will call themselves “not-for-profit” but everyone being paid to do it lives a comfortable life that doesn’t need them to challenge whether they’re doing this the most effective way.
That’s a problem with everything being a business, or using the language of business in charitable endeavours. Are you working to establish new markets or expand your footprint? Are you doing ANYTHING to remove the need for your services? Does your model depend on continuing the status quo – do you need a steady supply of people or animals to keep suffering in order for your day job to continue? Are you treading water on their behalf? We’re all part of the systems, but it’s great to know where you fit in and question your role in keeping people down rather than actually improving their lot in life.
Do you claim to speak for the voiceless? If a person is conscious, they are likely able to communicate for themselves in some way. Even the pre-intentional or pre-symbolic communicator can communicate with those familiar with how they communicate. But if you’re seeking to be the voice of someone who can actually say what they need and want, what they struggle with and how they can be best helped? You’re probably talking over them rather than giving them the chance to speak to those in power themselves. Help them to learn “they ways” of policy jargon or talking in the media, rather than saying hey look at these people suffering give us money for short term remedies rather than addressing the problem.
You can help people short term, it’s okay. But you have to stop building your lives and businesses around keeping people down.
I’m repeating myself but so long as we’re seeing organisations aiming to expand themselves without daring to mention the causes of the issues – all the while talking for people in need rather than helping them speak for themselves – I’m going to have to.
We’ve announced the new dates for the People Against Poverty Summit – June 21 and 22 up in Maganjin/Brisbane. You can get tickets here – free and low cost tickets are available and people and organisations with money are encouraged to contribute more when booking or donate to the travel fund to enable us to get people in poverty from around the continent to the conference.
Our first online session is on Youtube for those keen to hear from me, Rick Morton and Kristin O’Connell about “Talking about Poverty” in media and online and IRL:
Also, if you’re inspired – get a Break The Poverty Machine tshirt or tote from the Antipoverty Centre store! It’s a great conversation started about tearing down the systems that keep people down in order to sustain themselves.
It’s not about a particular charity, I just talk about Foodbank because I’m a “customer” and we all need food.
I went into their ACNC listings today and this bit got to me (yes in amongst all the large amount of money changing hands for wages and rent and transport and buying food and selling food and school breakfast and so much more rather than just going directly to people in need to do with what they need to) from the Foodbank Victoria 2024 financials:
“Advocacy – Be the leading voice for those in need of food We will deepen existing relationships and explore new partnerships that strengthen and expand our food relief work and allow us to be the voice and storyteller for all those in need of food relief.”
This is without any mention of the word poverty in the whole document. “Welfare” or “Pension” is not even mentioned. “Cost of living” is 3 times – in relation to increased demand and how “working families” and “the elderly” (not pensioners) are over represented as clients. Oh and decreased monetary donations such as at the checkout.
There is no lobbying from these organisations to raise welfare above the poverty line. Foodbank is a member of ACOSS, who also doesn’t have in its current asks welfare above the poverty line.
BUT TO SPEAK FOR PEOPLE IN NEED OF FOOD?
Do jam that pack of ANZAC biscuits in your mouth and shut up and listen to people in need. Let them talk for themselves and not through the filter of your organisational expansion goals.
Oh and it’s not one particular aspect of the reselling of donated or cheaply sourced groceries that gets me. It gets me that Foodbank highlights that they are struggling for food donations so has to buy it to keep up the supply. It bothers me that they then sell this on to local charities. It then bothers me that these charities feel the need to mark these up (a little or a lot) in order to fund their rent and emergency hampers. It bothers me that items end up similarly priced to supermarkets. It bothers me that there is so much machinery and expense around all this.
When people just need money to be able to buy their own groceries. When and what they need. Where they prefer to. Without restricted choices of what someone else considers important.
Yes, some people will always need emergency aid. There’ll be people with nothing for whatever reason – maybe they’re escaping violence or had a natural disaster or their house burned down, but guess what? When the rest of us can sustain ourselves, we have more to share directly with our neighbours and relatives and strangers who need a quick hand. Without the need for warehouses and charities taking details and eligibility and rationing something that’s actually pretty fucking abundant in this country.
So, I got access to a FOI (freedom of information) request about a grant “Grant agreements and expenditure reports for identified grants with Oz Harvest, SecondBite, Foodbank Australia” through my Antipoverty Centre connections. I’d like to say it’s shocking but then it’s all so fucking broken out there than it doesn’t surprise me any more that these organisations use language like “capturing new markets” and talk about how the “gearing” of certain essential items is better than others and they’re happy to source from overseas if it means better gearing.
So one way Foodbank sources staples is the "collaborative supply program" where the supplier donates the indigents but foodbank pays for the production. Thus the Vetta povvo branded pasta for $1 at your local food pantry pic.twitter.com/5RR9ieFfSx
— 💜 phonakins 🍉 speak because your voice shakes (@phonakins) April 8, 2025
I did learn more about how their povvo pasta and similar “collaborative supply program” products work – the company donates the ingredients and Foodbank pays for the production (then on-sells the items to local food pantries aka “emergency relief organisations” EROs). They also purchase other staples direct at mates rates – at least 40% below retail price, more often 50%. Which again then gets sold onto local EROs for distribution (sale or giving out.
I also read about how the “food rescue” organisations like OzHarvest and SecondBite source extra produce if it’s in high demand – yeah they buy it using grant money. Not so food recue anymore.
One of the organisations also noted that there was high demand for gift cards – again not food rescue anymore – but that doesn’t help supply food on the ground if there’s a natural disaster.
So much money is spent on transport and warehousing and “relationships” and advertising and branding and so on.
The major supermarkets in this country – Coles, Woolworths, Aldi, IGA and Foodbank.
Just give people enough money to afford to feed themselves maybe? FFS
I went to Canberra last week, it was fun, tiring and good to spend time with the people who I work with every day, but in person. It was to mark 5 years since the Covid supplement was introduced, but it was also to get our own stuff in the media before the Budget this week and the inventible election being called (today).
With politicians themselves this year reminding us that budgets are about choices – it’s infuriating, but not unexpected, that Labor have chosen to keep millions in poverty by refusing to raise welfare above the poverty line. Instead, they give cash to power companies and pretend that it’s responsible to give short term bill cuts rather than plan ambitiously for the future.
I have “thoughts” on the budget but here’s a couple:
They could have raised the tax free threshold rather than giving a percentage tax cut. This would have helped everyone, but it would have helped those at the bottom the most – those on JobSeeker whose every dollar earned is taxed and then starts to eat into their payments because the tax free threshold is less than the single jobseeker payment and your JS started to reduce when you earn $150 a fortnight.
I’d argue for the tax free threshold to be above the poverty line. You should certainly let people get to poverty level earnings before you start taxing them, particularly if you’re not giving them enough to live off to start with through welfare.
OMG stop asking for welfare BELOW the poverty line. I’m looking at ACOSS and any other organisations that claim to speak for welfare recipients because they know what’s best for us. Pensions are below the poverty line, and people are struggling on them. Your cite them all the time saying how people are struggling on pensions and yet you ask for LESS for others. Well done.
“Mutual” obligations aren’t really a part of the budget but I hear Labor are cutting Social Services staff – maybe you can keep current service levels that have improved a bit since you came in if you also remove mutual obligations. They’re turning out to be looking pretty illegal on top of their well known cruelty.
Indexation came in – I’m going to be getting more rental relief from May 19 when I don’t have to pay thee $1.50 a fortnight for the direct debit of my rent anymore than the 80c from rent assistance indexation :/
I also got to relive some feels – my food blogging days were mostly in Canberra, so got my “nooooo you can’t eat that til I take a photo” back on!
Wasn’t going to bother with brekkie at the hotel, but then I had to hang back a bit later to do the phone interview (travel all the way to Canberra just to talk to ABC Newcastle – but they asked for a Hunter person if there was one and that was me!) SO I got the $12 breakfast pack at the hotel and had it with my instant coffee….
Coffee at Parliament House with macadamia cheesecake:
Got the see the carpark the CEO Vinnies sleepout was in last year.
Post presser lunch at the Kingston Hotel – giant parmi!
And my bewbs made this really good Crikey article from press conference day:
