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I’ve called this website The Point for a couple of reasons. The first is that I live in Point Clare and I was looking for a title that summed up what I love most about my life. Where I live, on the Central Coast of NSW, is certainly one of the things I love.
The other reason for calling this site The Point is that I regularly hear people ask “What’s the point?”.
They ask it when they get up in the morning. They ask it when they’re driving to work. They ask it when an election is called. They ask it when parliament is indefinitely cancelled. They ask it when someone says something outrageous on the evening news. They ask it when those paid by our taxes to represent our best interests serve themselves first.
They ask it in resignation. It denotes a feeling of powerlessness, hopelessness, even despair.
I get it. Working as a journalist for most of the past 34 years has certainly shown me how many of those who gain power use it against what any reasonable person would consider to be the common good.
I do not accept it though. There is a point. The point is that we all have things in our lives that we value the most. Perhaps you value family beyond all other considerations. Perhaps you value truth or hard work. I have discovered over the past couple of years that I personally need to use my writing to stand up for social and environmental justice.
If we don’t look after the planet that sustains us, we will not be able to sustain life. The same will be true if we do not look after each other.
That is why, over time, I will be exploring issues of environmental justice, starting with the Morrison Government’s proposals for the EPBC Act, exposing flaws in state environmental and planning laws and telling you what you can do to stand up for what you value.
The list of social justice issues I want to tackle is even longer – domestic violence, childhood trauma, social housing, privatisation of just about every human service, the failure of the NDIS.
This is finally where I get the chance to write what I want to write and stand up for what I truly believe to be right. I hope you come along on the journey with me.
