User Comments

shauna020473 March 21, 2024

I think this was clearly written by someone without kids :)

Kids don't only drop things, although they do that a lot too. They purposely put unexpected things anywhere in the house, car, garden, other peoples' homes, etc etc because they are playing with it. 

shauna020473 January 11, 2024

North and South. Even better than Pride and Prejudice.

shauna020473 December 15, 2023

Australia is now increasingly isolated as one of only a few developed nations where smacking kids is still legal. The evidence is clear of how this normalises physically violent reactions towards those we love. Then we wonder why we have such high rates of domestic violence…..

shauna020473 December 15, 2023

Does Anna have a gofundme or is there another way we can help? Living in a tent with 5 kids is ?!&##!!!

shauna020473 December 2, 2023

So true. The worst part of the sexist and abusive public commentary about women who accuse men of assault is that the victim blaming silences other women. It sends the message to abusers that they are justified and will not be punished. And the cycle continues… 

shauna020473 October 17, 2023

So much of the media sowed confusion, didn’t report or explain the Uluṟu statement. 9 years of Coalition govt meant that many people had forgotten or never known about the Stolen generation, the massacres, deaths in custody, indigenous kids in adult jails. Australia’s shameful secrets. The Voice was a very modest step towards change, ie try asking before you impose, but we couldn’t even do that.

shauna020473 September 15, 2023

@gu3st Yes, I understand about 'letting it run'


I wanted to add something because, the 1) point of Pippa is actually the most alarming to me, similar to holocaust denial. Genocide denial. 

Yes, the majority of countries have been invaded, occupied or colonised. But for the majority of the world's population (ie India, China, much of Asia, most of Africa, European countries fighting Nazi occupiers, Ukraine right now etc, etc ), these events are associated with trauma and tragedy, and most have long since become independent of their attempted or actual invaders or colonisers. 

In Australia, the British went much further than most, in literally attempting to 'assimilate'/wipe out indigenous people through various policies, with results such as the Stolen Generation. 
What kind of country are we if we sanitize this history?  Just because we are mostly the descendents of the colonisers doesn't make it ok. This is by no means a secret, its all out there in classic history books like The Fatal Shore. 

shauna020473 September 14, 2023

@laurenella 

I don't see anywhere in the article where specific politicians are referred to, or anyone is called naive, misinformed etc. 
Unfortunately the conversation on the Voice has degenerated and become quite toxic and racist in the past couple of weeks. The whole point of this article is to counter the claims that are untrue, as there are just so many being said at the moment.

shauna020473 September 14, 2023

@pippa 

Your rose coloured glasses about British colonisation are funny. Historical research shows exactly the opposite - Britain was one of more brutal. Ie 
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/04/04/the-british-empire-was-much-worse-than-you-realize-caroline-elkinss-legacy-of-violence

shauna020473 September 14, 2023

@gu3st 

In regards to 1, the statement was "The history of every country in the world is one of conquest and colonisation, usually much more brutal than the English."
Countries that have never been colonised are: Liberia, Ethiopia, Japan, Thailand, Bhutan, Iran, Nepal, Tonga, China, and possibly North Korea, South Korea and Mongolia. But more to the point, even many of the countries that were 'colonised' are now independent and run by the indigenous people, ie India, most of the Pacific, most of Africa etc. 
Also, as stated above, often the British have been uniquely brutal in their colonisation methods.

shauna020473 September 14, 2023

Wow, how tragic. What caught my eye is that her mum was a successful software engineer on the board of a feminist organisation. 

Maybe she is just rebelling against her parents, and enjoying lots of attention while she's at it. 

shauna020473 September 12, 2023

So true. Sexual harassment was so common in the 90s that we didn't even recognise it . We used to chat about it, as though it was a joke - what that old fart said, did, etc. But the truth was that we were trying to pretend it didn't effect us, because we had no recourse. No one cared. 


Helen Garner, a feminist, even wrote a whole book (The first stone) basically about how a Uni professor should not have lost his job for sexually harassing students.  That he was treated too harshly and the girls should have sucked it up. 
When 'me too' happened... l  thought every woman was 'me too'.  That was the only surprise about it.

shauna020473 September 7, 2023

I am humbled by the grace of so many first nations people in Australia who put aside past wrongs and come together to find modest solutions to the economic and social consequences of generations of denial even of their citizenship, identity, family, language and culture. ie even today, there was an article about the torture of stolen generation first nations boys in Kinchela boy's home as recently as the 70s.


The VTP seems like the least we could do, but more than that, it could enrich us all. Over the past few years we seem to be finally waking up to how unique and special it is that we have the oldest surviving culture on earth.

shauna020473 August 10, 2023

@snorks  If housing investors can't make any return from their investment properties without causing tenants significant hardship, then perhaps they should sell and invest in something else. 

It would be much better for Australia if we all invested more in startups, research and development, companies - assets to build the country. Leave the housing market to those who need to buy something to live in.

shauna020473 August 10, 2023

@di_p So true ! As a woman in STEMM we are working hard to help young girls believe in themselves.  There is no gender difference in maths skills, but girls have to fight against a culture that tells them they’re not good at it. Reinforcing cliches undermines confidence and teachs others who love maths that they’re outliers. 

shauna020473 August 10, 2023

In my maths class, 20 years ago, girls were usually the best. Have you seen Hidden Figures? Is this 2023?  

 But in any case, I don’t understand why taking resale amounts, length and amount of use and depreciation ( or not) into account would be considered bad maths (or bad accounting, rather)?

shauna020473 August 7, 2023

I love how they are tough competitors but also normal women, who do things like comfort their friends in opposition when they're crying because they lost. 


They can tackle hard while wearing pretty ribbons, and no one thinks its incongruous. 75,000 fans watching and the New York Times asking questions about Sam Kerr's form ... is just normal. Their example is giving women everywhere more space to be whole human beings.

shauna020473 August 6, 2023

A die-hard WD here.  A WD is kind of the ultimate team player - they know that they are never going to stand out as  special (never going to score, direct everyone around, dramatically stop a goal) but they just have to keep running anyway and give their all for the greater good of the team.

shauna020473 July 24, 2023

This was hilarious!  There is also a great analysis of this movie by Cinema Therapy, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzW3tQFV5M0&t=1313s


basic conclusion - these people need some help with their mental health....

shauna020473 July 16, 2023

Yes, and also- expect to become public property. People will feel that they can touch your body, give you lots of unsolicited advice, tell you what you’re doing wrong and what you should be doing at the drop of a hat. Everyone’s an expert.

Except that they’re not. The vast majority of  ‘baby books’ are not evidence-based, many ‘baby book’ writers have no relevant qualifications and some ‘experts’ don’t even have kids.