At our Politics session on Tuesday 8th April we digressed a little and discussed recent Chinese History.  The topics:- 
Opium Wars, 
Formation of the Communist Party of China
Long March
War with Japan
Civil War
Great Leap Forward
Cultural Revolution
Deng Xiaoping
Command Economy
Tian an Men
Xi Jinping

We also touched on Helen Haines and her statement about Whistle Blowers

​Neville Gibb

There will be several interesting developments occurring this year. We will have a Federal Election and we may have a State Election. The Benalla Council will be in session.

We will attempt over the next few months to examine each Parties policies in detail.  We will try and ascertain what differences there may be between the various parties. In particular we will check if any policy applies to us in particular.

We spent most of this session exploring Greens Policy on the Greens Website. The website is quite extensive and contains several points of intense interest. Some policies appear to be in contradiction with what could be perceived as local public opinion.

A lot of time is  taken up with interesting conversation. This is always welcome.

Neville Gibb

During September we had the privilege of spending time with three people standing for Council, Justin King, Gail O’Brien and David Blore.   

This was definitely a worthwhile experience, as the candidates were able to speak at length about their ideas, experience and intentions.  We touched on the big picture as well as digging down to the more mundane matters councils are concerned with.

​The sessions were enjoyed by the Politics group, and we hope the Candidates enjoyed them also.

We are looking for new recruits to our Politics class.  If you are interested, it is ‘Taster Month’ in October, so why not come along to one or both of our October sessions – Tuesday 8th and Tuesday 22nd October, 10am to 12 noon in Classroom 1. 


​Neville Gibb 

At our second session on 23 July, we watched an episode of Parkinson in Australia, filmed in the mid 80’s, in which Gough Whitlam reflected on his life and career in Australian Politics. In an age where every person of the left is labelled a ‘mad bloody lefty” by Sky News and in a society where most politicians are called liars and cheats it was interesting to watch Whitlam explain that while they were only able to achieve half of what they wanted when they were in office nevertheless given time all their policies would be put into place.  Mr Whitlam comprehensively explained his grasp of just what government can do and should do.

After that we looked up the Rural City of Benalla’s website, attempting to glean just where our rates are spent.
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Neville Gibb

At our most recent session we covered a number of subjects. We started off by each person relating any discrimination we had encountered in our own lives. We then watched a special Insight edition talking about woke complaints and political correctness. Lots of discussion ensued.

Discussion in February ranged from the Hamas military member casualties and the form a peace treaty might take in the Israel/Gaza War to where the refugees on the US/Mexican border come from, how far south in Central and Southern America they come from, and why they come.  

Amongst other things, we listened to the impressive maiden speech in the New Zealand Parliament of Greens MP Efeso Collins, half in Samoan and half in English. 
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Class members raise subjects for discussion during our Politics and Current Affairs sessions.  All welcome. 

Neville Gibb

Join us in October ​as we dissect local, state, federal and world affairs – Tuesday 10th and 24th October, 10 – 12, Classroom 1.

​Brian Harker and Neville Gibb

At our last session I went through an incident that allegedly occurred several years ago, detailing the facts that the public have slowly become acquainted with since the incident allegedly occurred. These have been ventilated at length in the media. Hoping to promote thought, I then compared this incident with other similar incidents that occurred earlier in our history.  

In the last part of our session, we worked through the ten main issues that currently are in the minds of the Australian people.   As expected, this provoked a great deal of discussion - we did not get to even halfway through.  We will resume discussion about the issues we did not get to at our next session.
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Neville Gibb

At our last session of Politics, we considered a Family Court scenario where a complicated family relationship covering several generations had to be resolved. The family court is sometimes confronted with issues that can only be described as the result of unintended consequences. Much discussion ensued.

We also went through the British Royal Family since Henry 8th focusing on the number of children - or lack of - for each monarch. There is quite a history - both tragic and mundane. Some Monarchs had many children but none who could succeed them because no offspring were legitimate. Others had children who unfortunately did not survive childhood or died in childbirth. At one point the authorities passed over 55 local claimants to the throne and awarded the Monarchy to a German branch of the family. This proved ultimately to be a wise choice. Our Royal Family are descendants of this family.

We also considered the issues Australians consider to be the most important. When the polls dig down it reveals that the main issues are the economy, health care and immigration. There are lots of sub issues which are of great interest, and these were discussed at length.

​Neville Gibb

At our last session we considered amongst other topics the conflict in The Ukraine.

We talked about the history of the Soviet Union - its conception and its breakup. Ukraine as a country has only existed since 1992. Its existence has always been precarious. Is it an area or a country that no one recognises. Napoleon invaded Russia through the Ukraine. The Nazis invaded the Soviet Union through Ukraine. Is Russia seeing history repeat itself by claiming that NATO is coming to Russia through the Ukraine.

We will continue to consider all things relevant to current events over the next few months.

​Neville Gibb

During February discussion was held on the Voice and related subjects. The group also covered current affairs and political happenings since the group met last year. Our second session included an excellent presentation by a class member on the RoboDebt issue, its unlawful processes and its effects on those people who were most effected.
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Heather Wallace