Gilly Flower

. . . in which I have two poems, as previously mentioned. I received details of the book launch yesterday. Unfortunately I won't be able to go as I'll just have nicely arrived in the UK on 10th September. A flying visit (literally!) to see my mother during the two-week school holiday break here. Actually, I squeezed another week out of school, which I'm able to do because my colleague is able to work fulltime for that week, God bless her cotton socks, but given travelling time the time at home will be little more than a fortnight. Hopefully summer will still be lingering though and the weather will not be too autumnul. Signs of spring are on the rise here. The swallows are back already (at least a month earlier than usual), and the chooks are already laying, (also about a month earlier than normal). Not quite time to pack away the winter woollies, but warmer days are certainly here.

As for the mill - well the feeling is that we are reaching a crisis point. Loads happening & when I'm not working, writing articles, media releases, or submissions, then I seem to spend my life going from meeting to meeting in relation to all the different strands of the desperate fight to stop this polluting monolith from wrecking our valley and our lives. We are much closer to the ultimate position of blockading the road. What could be the dress rehearsal for this is planned for next week. And I'm very sweaty-palmed at the thought of it.

More later. Or that's the plan.

. . . has resulted in using the mill fight for publishing success. Tassie's premier small press magazine, Island, is publishing my essay 'Writing for my life' in the December/January issue, and two pulp mill poems have been accepted for an anthology being published by Fellowship of Australian Writers (Tas) later this year. Success with Island really took me by surprise. I was persuaded to submit this piece by a friend, after I read it at one of our informal writing workshop afternoons, but having sent submissions to Island before, without success, I didn't really hold out much hope. I'm pretty chuffed actually, just quietly.

. . . since I've had time to write anything in this blog that I began with with such enthusiasm, fully intending to keep up regular posts, and record the mill saga, as well as some of life's daily trivia. But life got in the way, as life so often does, and the intro to my last piece is as relevant today as it was back in March. I'm having trouble keeping up with it.

=> Read more!

. . . . is proving extremely difficult at the moment. Which is one reason I've failed to contribute anything to this blog for a few weeks or take time out to read and comment on anyone else's. Not too sure the situation will change much before Easter either, when I can at least look forward to a well earned week off the school job.

=> Read more!

Along with heaven knows how many other people in the country I currently have no email access. At some point on Sunday, ISP Hotkey (or their server) experienced major power problems, and as at Tuesday evening, (ie today) these problems have still to be fixed.

=> Read more!

It was 38 degrees today, so I'm still dripping over the keyboard. There is the promise of a thunderstorm as I write, but to be honest it's not looking too likely at the moment from the view outside my window.

J and his girlfriend had got the Greens stall all set up by the time I arrived at the Hillwood River Festival shortly after 8.30am. They'd scored a fantastic spot close to the jetty, next door to the mobile coffee van, and opposite the berry pancake van. Perfect! We also had some shade thanks to MB's loan of an umbrella.

Cloud cover meant it didn't get really hot until around 11am, which is also the time when the crowds started arriving in force. Just in time for some of the river races. Kim Booth (Bass Greens' MP) and Kerin were unexpected arrivals, rocking up in their fancy red vintage open-topped jaguar (I think, but not a car buff), and their presence certainly made a difference to how many people stopped by.

I'd planned on leaving around midday, but that wasn't really possible given the crowds. The first suggestion about going for a swim was made by J's girlfriend, but somewhat wistfully since she didn't have her bathers with her. Neither did MB or I, but we decided what the heck, we'd go in anyway. Others were going in fully dressed, and towels were hardly necessary - we'd drip dry in no time. A looked dubious (she is only 20, and probably more image conscous than us!), but she and J joined us in the end as we scrambled down the rocks and into the river.

It was bliss to submerge in cool water - which was saltier than I expected even though the Tamar is tidal - and cool off completely.

Now I know that the river is safe to swim in off the Hillwood jetty I'll be doing it again. Possibly even tomorrow if this heatwave continues.

Just when we thought it couldn't get any hotter, Lonnie set a new record today for the hottest day ever.

Today the mercury hit 39 degrees, and last night it reached 21 - so a bit more than the 19 that was predicted. No wonder sleeping was a problem. I thought I'd left these sort of temperatures behind when I left WA, but after 20 years they seem to have caught up with me. And no relief in sight tomorrow, when I've volunteered to assist on the Greens' stall at the Hillwood River Festival.

The original plan was to join other TAPpers on the bus to the Florentine, where another rally to support the tree-sitters from Still Wild Still Threatened has been organised.

Some of these kids have been camping out at "Camp Flozza" for up to two years in the effort to protect Tassie's forests from Forestry Tasmania's obscene and brutal logging practices. I went down there with some friends two weeks ago for a fantastic community picnic. About 1000 people were there that day, which was chilly and showery - a far cry from what we're experiencing at the moment - and of those approximately 400 entered the Exclusion Zone. This action has potentially put them in a position where they can be arrested for trespass, acircumstance that is really bizarre considering these are state forests, and belong to the people - not Forestry Tasmania!

Everyone was videoed though, and with so many conservationists, activists, or simply citizens concerned about the planet, now being easily identified either through RB's stopthemillintasmania website, or fom TV footage, it's more than possible some arrests will happen. If only to intimidate the rest of us.

Much as I wanted to cross that uneven line of yellow tape, I decided not to. Frankly I can't afford to lose my job, and as Greens MP Cassy O'Connor said "save it for the pulp mill, Anne."

The following describes the extraordinary stuff that is occurring down here, and what is already being planned as the next step in the fight to bury the mill:

http://newmatilda.com:80/2009/01/28/its-time-break-law-tasmania

So tomorrow my activism will be confined to encouraging the good people of Lonnie to learn more about the Greens, and hopefully persuade a few of them to vote out Ivan at the upcoming LegCo elections.

Must remember to take a hat, sunscreen and some bottles of water though, and I hope a few others will come to relieve J and me throughout the day, before we either cook, or melt. Or do both.

Choosing a title for today's blog entry was easy. Lonnie has just recorded 37 degrees, its hottest day for 100 years, so melting is what I'm doing.

Dripping onto the keyboard in fact. Even so it's not as hot here as it's been in Adelaide or Melbourne where they've endured 44 degrees for the second or third day running. Now that is hot. I've survived a few days like that when I lived in Perth, where you stepped outside and breathed fire, and all you wanted to do was spend the day in a darkened room, and in a tub of cold water.

That's pretty much what M and I did actually on the day I first experienced 45 degrees. I'd only been in the country for six months, and in that time Perth recorded its hottest day, an earthquake, and rather more than just the tail end of a cyclone. It all made for some very exciting letters home.

That first hottest day was one of those rare occasions when our days off coincided. We spent it lying on the floor of our flat, on damp towels, reading and drinking vast quantities of iced water. No aircon in our basic rented accommodation. I don't remember even having a fan, so we had to sit out the day until the 'Fremantle Doctor' blew in at some point during the afternoon.

In subsequent years when the mercury topped 38 degrees, and didn't feel any cooler at night in the house, I did what many of the locals did, and spent the night on the beach. It was surprising how cool it became on the beach at around 3am, so sleeping bags and a waterproof mat were a definite necessity, but great to get up in the morning and start the day with a quick dip in the ocean before heading home to a hot and airless flat, a cool shower, and a hurried brekkie before heading out to work.

A shower is what I need right now. After yet one more glass of cold water. The house still feels like an oven, and the overnight temperature is to be about 19 or 20. That is a seriously warm night for northern Tas, and doesn't bode well for a good night's sleep.

No cool change either until at least Sunday. I wonder how the climate change deniers are justifying these extremes.

Now if you've been curious enough to check out the stopthemillintasmania website, you'll understand a little better where I'm coming from.

This is another link to an article that TAP spokesman Bob McMahon was invited to write for The Age newspaper, and which was published on Wednesday, the day after our second Action outside Jodie's office.

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/its-time-to-stop-and-get-off-the-gunns-pulp-mill-merrygoround-20090107-7byn.html

Action number two was great fun. Well attended, (we lined the pavements on both sides of the road) we carried our banners, wore our Stop the Pulp Mill teeshirts, and sang ourselves hoarse. Or those of us in the choir did. The Voices of the Tamar of which I'm an occasional member. One that offers more enthusiasm than musicality I suspect, but at this kind of gathering lack of genuine talent doesn't really matter. Plenty of supportive honks from drivers passing by, and many more signatures were added to the Voters Block sheets. (ie People who pledge not to vote for any politician who supports the pulp mill. If they all follow through, several more Greens should be a shoe-in to the parliamentary ranks.)

Media were there in force, and so, thankfully, was Bob McM. Initially he was to be away that day, and I'd been designated TAP's stand-in spokesperson. The idea of having cameras and mics thrust in my face as I stuttered to 'stay on message' was frankly terrifying. And given Garrett's decision wasn't as cut and dried as we'd anticipated, I've never been more relieved Bob's trip fell through, so he could do the honours after all. There's no way I could have fielded all the Qs without stuffing up bigtime.

Of the 12 remaining outstanding modules, PG approved nine of them. The other three are subject to further conditions. Good news! was the initial reaction. Gunns can't start building. (Arguably Gunns can't start building anyway, they still have no finance.) But once the euphoria had worn off, and we looked at the facts more closely, all Garrett has really done is caused further confusion. He's condemned us to two more years of uncertainty. March 2011 is now the date we have to consider, which takes us beyond next year's state, and federal, elections, guaranteeing the pulp mill will be an election issue for both events.

A political chess game if ever there was one. Hence all the meetings. With more to come as we design new strategies to continue the fight. Finance is the big one. We know Gunns don't have a backer, and we also know John G has been lying through his teeth about jetting around the world trying to drum up the dollars. We now discover he's been holed up at home, receiving medical treatment! Is it serious, this illness ofhis? You bet. And am I sorry for the man? No, I'm not. If ever there was a man who has brought about his own ill fortune and health, John Gay is that man. Closely followed by Robin Gray - who, rumour has it, is also in poor health.

So it looks like the champagne will remain on ice for another year. Meanwhile I have a little more than three weeks to get a few Vet articles in the writing bank, organise my office and the piles of paperwork a bit more, read several books, (I'm ever the optimist!), before it's back to school, and the daily grindstone.

But if you have been in any way moved by any of this, or are outraged by some of the things being done to the environment in general, do - please - feel free to forward the links to as many people as possible.

We - and the planet - need all the help we can get down here against the corporate greed of companies like Gunns Ltd, as well as against examples of political corruption, such as those currently practised in Tassie.

Cheers all.

So much has happened since my last contribution to this blog I hardly know where to begin. Already this week feels more like a year, and I am totally meetinged-out with all the de-briefing that has been deemed necessary post Peter Garrett's 5th Jan decision on the outstanding permits for environmental modules relating to the pulp mill.

All of which is probably as understandable as ancient Greek to anyone reading this - with the possible exception of any Aussies of course.

I'll backtrack a little, which may also help to explain why I've been quiet on the blogging front for the past couple of months, both as a writer and a reader.

Towards the end of September I was approached by the community group Tasmanians Against the Pulp Mill (TAP) and asked if I would be able to assist the fellow who was currently managing both the website, and all the written communications for the group. Stuff like media releases, mailouts, flyers, etc. The workload had grown to such an extent he could no longer cope. And nor did he want to, given all the work is done on a voluntary basis.

With some hesitation I agreed. Not because I didn't want to do it, but because my time is already so stretched with the paid workload, and the pulp mill work I do on behalf of the Greens, I didn't want to commit to something I wouldn't be able to sustain. So, on the understandng there would be times I may not be able to help with TAP stuff, I'm now part of TAP's Co-ordinating Committee, and of course therefore privy to a good deal more information re mill than I was before.

All good, but it is time-consuming, and the email traffic has escalated to unprecedented heights. Which takes up even more time.

As we neared the end of term, and the school year, life on the paid work front stepped up a few paces, so by the time I finally collapsed in a pre-Christmas heap, having worked a week beyond the official end of term to transfer catalogue records for approximately 1800 books from the junior library to the new middle school campus, (don't ask!) the last thing I wanted to look at when I got home in the evening was a computer screen.

December too, is when our sneaky state and federal governments think they can slide important legislation into law without us noticing, so there was in fact a need to face the computer screen in order to write a couple of submissions. I really wanted to do three but ran out of time.

With Christmas and New Year over all attention in the Tamar Valley was on PG's pivotal decision. On Jan 2nd we held a mini rally outside Bass MP Jodie Campbell's office, just to remind all the pollies (and the media) we were still here, and what they could expect if Peter did as we expected and ticked all the boxes.

But he didn't. More about what he has managed to do tomorrow. At least that's the intention . . .

In the meantime, check out this website. Launched just before Christmas it's the webiste that showcases Richard Butler's photographic portraits of people opposed to the pulp mill, as described in an earlier blog entry. Yes, I'm there. And a clue to finding me is to look under the 'A's. If you click on the woman wearing a green teeshirt & white jeans, that's me!

http://www.stopthemillintasmania.com/index.html