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Political party life should include all Australians

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  By Helen Said, rank and file Labor Party member, We should all feel equally included in our country’s democracy, regardless of ethnic background, religion, disability or medical condition. Disappointingly, many of Australia’s political get togethers are non-inclusive and this is hurting our democracy. Many important Australian political meetings are held in licensed venues which are inaccessible to some Australians on the basis of culture and religion. For example, some Labor Party branches hold their monthly meetings in pubs, which are inaccessible to traditional Muslims. Even without religious restrictions, people with different cultural dress or racial appearance can feel out of place in some pub environments. Accessing some private meeting rooms within pubs can involve approaching the bar where alcohol is served to ask where the meeting room is; walking past men who are drinking and staring; or sometimes, climbing stairs to get to the meeting, which can be difficult or imposs...
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Should Australians use their superannuation to buy a house?

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by Helen Said, Melbourne Australia. Pauline Hanson's far right One Nation policies will destroy Australia's compulsory superannuation system. This is a threat to the retirement incomes and economic security of Australian workers. Hanson's latest attack on super savings is to say that workers should sell out their retirement security by using their employer funded retirement nest eggs to buy a house. If Senator Hanson was that worried about housing, why did she vote against the Housing Australia Future Fund Bill in 2023? In fact, Pauline Hanson has consistently voted against federal legislative packages and funding initiatives aimed at increasing housing affordability and public housing, including the federal social and affordable housing funds and the Help to Buy legislation. She prefers to blame migration for the housing shortage, rather than to use her position as a Queensland Senator to vote for real improvements. She has also opposed other cost of living measures whic...
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Smart Glasses - balancing disability and privacy needs

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  By Helen Said, Autistic advocate, Melbourne Australia A GetUp! petition, demanding Kmart stops selling affordable smart glasses, is gaining thousands of new signatures every day. Sponsored by Gina Martin, who successfully campaigned to outlaw upskirting in England and Wales, the petition cites legitimate concerns about smart glasses being used to covertly film women in change rooms or children at the school gate and the unauthorised uploading of such films to the internet. While motivated by very real dangers to women and children, the campaign to limit or stall the sale of smart glasses has overlooked their vital role in providing everyday assistance to blind and vision impaired people. The glasses can assist with reading, identifying objects and navigating spaces, amongst other uses. Smart glasses specifically designed for vision impaired people can cost thousands of dollars, and might not always be funded by the NDIS. Vision Australia sells the lower cost mainstream Ray Ban sm...
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Growing up under the White Australia Policy

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  By Helen Said, Melbourne, Australia With the White Australia Policy back in the media spotlight, I have decided to share my personal story as a person from a Greek-Egyptian ethnic background. My parents and older sister were born in Egypt and were part of a Greek speaking ethnic minority. They left Egypt as refugees from the Second Arab-Israeli War. As Greek-Maltese British Subjects living in Egypt, they had been placed under house arrest, following the tri-partite British, French and Israeli invasion, and ordered out of the country, under threat of imprisonment. My family arrived in icy London in the winter of 1956, carrying two suitcases of light Egyptian clothes and five worthless Egyptian pounds. My parents have always been grateful for the kindness relatives and strangers showed them when they were broke and homeless, and this motivated them to later become refugee advocates in Australia. But back in 1950s London, when my parents were refugees, there were some who were...
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One Nation's "English-only services" - ignorant and mean-spirited

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  by Helen Said, Melbourne Australia My grandmother (Yaya) moved to Australia when I was a teenager. Upon arriving at Tullamarine Airport, Yaya proudly announced to me and my sister that she read three English newspapers every day.  Yaya was born in Libya and learned to speak seven languages. She was the granddaughter of the local Greek Orthodox Priest. She grew up as a Greek speaker in Constantinople (Istanbul) and attended the local American Ladies College, where she learned English. She married a Greek-Maltese British Subject. My grandfather (Papou) found work with the occupying British Army shortly after the First World War, and accepted a transfer to Egypt upon marrying Yaya. Yaya and Papou raised their family in Egypt where my grandfather continued to serve the British NAAFI (Navy, Army and Air Force Institute) for the next 45 years.  In widowhood, living in Australia, Yaya developed dementia and lost her ability to speak all of her languages except her native Greek...
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Men of quality don't fear equality

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  By Helen Said, Autistic advocate, Melbourne Australia A Melbourne brothel owner helped fund a gutter level sexist attack on Victoria's Premier, hiring a truck to drive around the street bearing a huge sign depicting Jacinta Allan dressed as a witch, with the words "ditch the witch". There is nothing clever about this slogan; it has been used before on Australia's only woman Prime Minister, Julia Gillard. The purpose of these campaigns is to mock and belittle powerful women, especially powerful middle aged or older women. All women are being given the message that if you come forward and show your worth, in a non-traditional field, you will be shamed as a woman and compared to an ugly, fearful stereotype. This attack is not happening in a vacuum. Older people have grown up in a world where almost all power resided with men. Some boys and men fear recent advances in women's rights and are determined to drag women down so they can feel superior. But anyone who need...
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Drew Hutton is urging a vote against the Greens and there needs to be consequences

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 By Helen Said, Autistic advocate and former Green, Melbourne Australia Queensland Greens founder Drew Hutton was expelled from the Greens last year for refusing to remove anti-trans comments that appeared on one of his facebook posts. He claimed his expulsion from the Queensland Greens was undemocratic, and the party's own lawyers agreed. Hutton's Greens membership was then reinstated. Since then, Hutton has been on a non-stop anti-trans crusade, often making several posts a day, each of which attracts hundreds of comments. While some of his facebook followers' comments are supportive of trans people, most comments are simplistic, ignorant or downright hateful. This commentary has exploded since the pro-trans ruling in the Tickle VS Giggle court case, turning trans people into a political football and ignoring their humanity.  Hutton supports the reintroduction of Pauline Hanson's anti-trans "Sex Discrimination Amendment (acknowledging biological reality) Bill...
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