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From the Editor
Welcome to another Bulletin. As well as a comprehensive write-up of last meeting’s presentation, we have a report on our interaction with the Rotary Club of Warsaw (both thanks to Juris); an update on our membership efforts; another report from roving Rotarian Faye; information on the next meeting, including the duty roster; and an illustration of how to crop a photo for Facebook. Happy reading!
 
Last week’s meeting
Pictured is member Juris presenting a certificate of appreciation to Tom Calma AO
 
Our speaker on 29 June 2023, Tom Calma AO, rightly attracted a large audience.  Among the many highly significant roles he has filled, including as Human Rights Commissioner, he is Chancellor of the University of Canberra, 2023 Senior Australian of the Year, and a long-standing human rights and social justice campaigner.  Together with Indigenous Elder Professor Marcia Langton of the University of Melbourne, he is the instigator of the Voice to Parliament, which arises from the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
 
We were treated to a down to earth, clear, humble and rational exposition of the history and prospects for the Voice to Parliament.
 
There have been many prior Indigenous consultative bodies that have been set up and disbanded again and again, in various forms, by various brands of government together with or without Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.  Tom never used denigratory language, but I would call what he was describing, over a succession of decades, as governments treating existentially important issues for Indigenous people as a political football, for political point-scoring.  Rarely was it to seriously address righting wrongs, often taking advantage of some aspect of innate racism in the wider Australian community.  Or to repeat a well-known aphorism, using “Lies, damn lies and statistics”, to present information in an unfair way. 
 
This is inescapable, given Australia’s history of explicit racism, from the declaration of “terra nullius” in 1788, to the Australian Constitution’s explicitly racist clause 25; from the context of discredited Western imperial social Darwinism through the 1920s to the 1950s and even later, to the White Australia policy, which was not progressively dismantled until 1973.  Thankfully since then, what has occurred at least in Australia’s large urban centres over recent decades is increasing anti-racist enlightenment, particularly through our education system from an early age.
 
How does one get justice for the wrongs done to, and still reverberating through, Indigenous societies, with past casual genocide, vivid recent memories of a stolen generation and people herded into reserves without even some of the most basic human rights, with young Indigenous people profiled by police and disproportionately filling our gaols?  The Uluru Statement from the Heart of 2017 was a genuine attempt to bring about lasting reconciliation in an open model, already exemplified in some aspects of government functioning in Australia, and well established in some post-colonial countries abroad.  The Voice is its implementation.
 
Currently reports in the media would indicate a decline in support for the YES vote in the upcoming referendum, but other surveys and information, which Tom Calma finds more trustworthy, show maintained support for a Voice to Parliament in its current form in larger population centres, running at around 60 per cent and in some cases even 80 per cent.  Tom says he maintains neutrality so that people think things through for themselves, but I say it makes little sense not to vote YES.  What we often see is prominent people heavily criticised and the whole project rejected.  Which brings to mind two Australian sayings: the tall poppy syndrome, and throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
 
I hope we desist from both.
Juris Jakovics
 
Helping children from war-torn Ukraine to holiday in Poland
Our club has recently raised and sent funds to the Rotary Club of Warsaw in Poland, together with funds from the Rotary Club of Hall.  The total amount we sent last Thursday, 29 June, was A$9,500, including a contribution of A$2,500 from the Rotary Club of Hall.
 
The funds we sent came in large part from fundraising at our Changeover Dinner on 22 June at the Saffron Restaurant in Kingston. A diplomat from the Embassy of Ukraine attended the dinner, along with a representative of a Ukrainian youth organisation, who spoke eloquently and emotionally about Ukraine’s current plight and thanked us for our fundraising efforts.
 
The project is being co-ordinated by the Rotary Club of Warsaw. Our communication has been facilitated via our long-standing member Olek Gacarz. 
 
The Rotary Club of Warsaw has provided the following information on the project:
- who: 50 Ukrainian people, mainly children, including 4 teachers
- travelling: from Ukraine by bus
- period: 10 days in July 2023
- where: The Pine Club (Klub Susnowy), 10km from central Warsaw
- for: accommodation, meals and various cultural and sporting activities
- total cost: 21,500 EUR (35,600 AUD)
- via donors to date: Rotary clubs in Warsaw, Frankfurt and Canberra.
 
This is a great project deserving and receiving our club’s wholehearted support.  Our connection with Rotary in Poland goes back many years:
(1) with former Honorary RCCBG member, the late Jack Olsen, a former member of the Rotary Club of Canberra and sponsor of our club’s inauguration;
(2) Jack rejuvenated Rotary in Poland in the 1990s after the breakup of the Soviet Union;
(3) our club visit to Poland in 2018 organised with Olek’s help; and
(4) ongoing projects we have supported through the Rotary Club of Warsaw.
 
We can all identify with the task of helping Ukraine to combat and deal with an unjust and inhumane aggressor in whatever small way we can.
Juris Jakovics
 
Membership matters
Some of the happy audience at our changeover dinner
 
The recent board meeting agreed that the informal meeting on the 28th of September will be conducted as an information evening for prospective new members, between 5.30-6.30 pm.
 
The idea is that the acting President for the month (Ross Brown) will write to all those potential members suggested to the membership committee. To date we have received names of potential members from Bill, Keith, Russell, and myself. Please think about your own contacts, associates, family, friends, or people who you think may benefit from becoming involved in our Rotary activities and we will arrange for an invitation to that person or people. All you have to do is to provide an email and phone number for the contacts. We will do the rest.
 
The evening will be casual: a few members will speak about their own experiences of Rotary and the evening will finish with an invitation to all attending to consider joining us for further activities.
 
The changeover dinner and the lunch with Tom Calma AO were both a great demonstration of just what we can achieve as a group. Hoping to receive some suggestions from you.
Michael Rabey
Membership Director
 
Look Out Rotary’s About - Ballina Postscript and Gold Coast
We are currently staying on the Gold Coast and using it as a base for activities in SE Queensland and the far north coast of NSW. At Murwillumbah we cycled out and back on the Northern Rivers Rail Trail, which was like Pitt Street, so many people from the very young to the very old on e-bikes. Like the two other Rail Trails in NSW, at Tumbarumba and Belmont’s Fernleigh Track they have proved so popular that cyclists, and walkers, just keep coming in droves. Those communities have had some big economic benefits as they come to realise that “the heaviest thing cyclists carry is their credit card.”
 
Following my photo, in our club bulletin, of the cans and bottles recycling bins at Ballina, I managed to catch up with a member of the Rotary Satellite Club of Ballina Lifestyle for a chat.
 
Since October last year they have made over $4,000 from other people’s drinking habits and that has gone directly back into their community. The bins are emptied fortnightly (weekly in summer holiday season) by Rotary members on a roster system with each member doing a collection run a couple of times a year. Cans and bottles are accepted in bulk at a recycling centre, avoiding the single can at a time deposit at public collection points.
 
The caravan parks donated the cost of all materials and the bins were made by Rotary members.
 
The Ballina Rotary Lifestyle Satellite club is one of the new model Rotary Clubs developed by RI as one way to build membership. The satellite club is part of the main Ballina on Richmond Rotary Club but operates as a completely separate entity with their own club committee structure, they meet only monthly for a combined social / business activity, communicate and plan digitally and have targeted new members from the many active retirement independent living communities in Ballina. 
 
The reason I have not sent a photo of a Rotary item from the Gold Coast is I haven’t seen a Rotary branded activity or facility. I am sure they are here but just not as visible as those in smaller regional communities.
Faye Powell
 
Next meeting
On 6 July, at the Commonwealth Club, Kent Fitch will talk about the potential for a shared fleet of autonomous cars in Canberra. He believes it is very likely to be the best approach within 2 - 5 years. Advantages include: cheaper and more convenient than cars or public transport; universal, on-demand, 24x7, door-to-door transport; less congestion; and suited to Canberra's current and future urban environment. It’s therefore prudent to start planning for this now.
 
Duty Roster
Date
6 July
13 July
20 July
27 July
Door
Ross Brown
Ross Brown
Ross Brown
Ross Brown
Open meeting; introduce President; and Toast to Rotary
Michael Rabey
Sally Goodspeed
Liz Scrivener
Juris Jakovics
Thank speaker and write up for Bulletin
Bill Andrews
John Little
Keith Gray
Monica Garrett
If you are not able to perform your allocated duty, please arrange a replacement and advise Acting President Warrick. Please advise Stephen of any planned absences to avoid being rostered on while away.
 
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