• Good lord, who would buy those, and no, it won't stop the perverts! - Will Marshall
  • Hi Ian . You might remember also in the first two years of the Howard Government ( I'm going from memory here ) seven Ministers were forced to step down . I'll have to see if I can find the site I found this information on but it did provide info. on every Australian Government . Cheers. - Carole/m
  • @ Brew: "your need to resort to personal insults instead of having a discussion says more about your character than I think you realise." You're right Brew I'm certainly no angel and I don't suffer fools gladly. I mistook your comment to mean you were unable to discern policy differences b/w the major parties, an oft-heard complaint from a younger generation too lazy to engage intellectually with politics. Commonly heard from the mouths of Green voters too. You're right of course in saying their core principles are not so far apart. I think you'll find that goes back to the '80s when Hawke took a giant step to the right and captured the middle ground. Keating consolidated by focussing our minds on the economy, traditionally Liberal territory, rather than social reform itself (except for Mabo which cost him office). All this forced the Libs to move right in order to differentiate themselves, and we saw that under Howard who ultimately went a step too far with WorkChoices. Rudd/Gillard brought us back to the centre and now the LNP must try to stay right without mentioning industrial relations. That's impossible of course, but they've been gifted a woman PM which has enabled them to Destroy the Joint and thereby escape the policy debate. They don't need to defeat the government's argument, they just need to tear down its leader and wreck the Parliament, while Murdoch suppresses the government's message. Consequently we don't know much about them - they're not coming to power by the traditional route, they've manage to usurp parliamentary democracy, which we haven't seen since the Dismissal in '75. We really can't pinpoint them on the political spectrum, I expect they'll swing widely in the years ahead according to whether Abbott, Hockey, or Turnbull is leader. I'm a Labor voter myself for one reason only - history shows all this country's progress has been achieved under Labor governments, including steering us safely through WW2. Australia stagnates or even goes backwards under Lib govts - no better example of stagnation than under Menzies and Howard, and Abbott has already declared he wants to reverse direction on virtually every front. Obviously we need a strong Conservative party to moderate the usual excesses prone to by Progressive parties, but that relies on democracy which for the moment has been hijacked - principally because the Fourth Estate itself has been hijacked in this country. Of course, there's no place in that system for a third party. We only need to look to the Greens to see the danger of handing the balance of power to minor parties. It was the Greens who precipitated our current woes by blocking Rudd's ETS, which gave Abbott a platform on which to challenge Turnbull. Which reminds me - he won by 1 vote! - Tony W
  • @Looby Loo and Serene...I am so with you! People call me a control freak like it's a bad thing! LOL ! being organised and getting rid of STUFF really does change your life and frees your time for more interesting things than digging around in handbags and cupboards such as commenting on Hoopla articles! :-) - Pea
  • Looks like my winter legs. Seriously, they might actually attract more creepy perverts, they aren't called perverts for nothing. - helena
  • Love this topic: during my (planned) 10 min afforded to Facebook time, I have enjoyed reading the article and posts. I am SUPER DOOPER organised and have been insulted by lots of people who think I am boring and without spirit. BUT being organised means having SO MUCH EXTRA TIME on your hands to do all the things that bring you joy. My tip: No matter what, have ONE day per week (mine is Sunday) where you have a blank canvas, to be painted over with dining out, seeing a movie, doing whatever takes your fancy. And always, always, always: leave the kitchen benches clear and wiped down. And make LISTS.... - Looby Loo
  • Just remember to vote for the party (whatever party) you think will do the best job. If recent years have taught us anything, the leader is not guaranteed. We vote for the party only. It doesn't matter how much you like and respect the leader, or detest them, they are easily gone tomorrow. - Monkey
  • Thank you Germaine, great writing, well said and all the facts, no bullshit. What a shame people like Ann Noyd, can't see the forest for the LNP trees! PM Julia Gillard, will prevail, will win and will take our great nation on to even further greatness. The options are not even worth throwing up about, that's how Abbot makes so many of us feel. Lately I've even had friends who have never had a political sinew in their bodies before saying to me, "got to keep Julia Gillard, that liberal moron will send us all back to the 1800s" and he would, given half the chance. Julia Gillard, as Tony Windsor seconded, has been brilliant as the PM of a hung parliament, JG must be permitted to continue her great work for our nation. - NarelleM
  • And in Victoria it is impossible to get a taxi to take you a short distance and with Jill Maher case she was a short distance from home, in a brightly lit street with people around her and there is no way a taxi would take her that short distance from the safety of her friends to the safety of her house. So even the bloke walking home with money would not be able to get a taxi here. The blame the victim attitude in Victoria in the late 60s they seriously tried to put a curfew on women. And we need to understand that even walking with a male to escort you is not safe, I have been in three situations where the men I was walking with (either close friends or husband) were attacked. My earlier experiences of being assaulted led to me being explosive (vocally) as they were attacked. In one case I stepped in and took a punch to protect the young man I was with as I knew that the blokes across the road would react to a woman being hit and come and help me, the second case my friend and I walked around the block for some fresh air whilst at a party, we passed a group of men who ran up behind us and smashed him over the head with a bottle. He arrived back at the party so stunned he had no idea where I was, others at the party found me screaming abuse at the blokes and rescued me. The third time we had just left a bookstore I worked, for after an evening with an author, by the time the blokes in the car had done a u turn to attack us, we were saved by the sheer number of our party who they had not noticed. - sue Bell
  • Give us a break , Ann Noyd , I watch the Parliament and Gillard is across every issue , she makes Abbott look like an absolute amateur. - Carole/m
 
9
Categories:  News and Opinion, Wellbeing

HAPPY ‘FREE RANGE’ CHRISTMAS!

By Tammi Jonas
December 15, 2011

Perhaps the only thing to make a meat-eater more anxious than having a vegan to Christmas dinner is having the ethical omnivore.

“Is that a free-range turkey?” “Is this ham from a happy pig?” “I only eat free-range pudding.” At least with a vegan there’s a clear line – no animal products allowed on the plate.

But ethical omnivorism is a minefield – ‘free range’ has joined ‘natural’ in the meaningless stakes, especially with poultry, where most of the certification standards are generous, though not to the animals.

Meat chickens certified ‘free range’ by either the Free Range Egg and Poultry Association (FREPA) or the RSPCA can have up to 28kg of live birds per square metre. Given the average meat chook weighs less than 2kg, that’s going to be more than 14 chooks per square metre. According to Lilydale’s website, they offer double that space – which is still seven or more chooks per square metre.

While some may not be bothered by that stocking density, surely it’s a stretch to call it ‘free range’?

Egg chooks, of course, are often kept in cages their whole lives, but those certified free range must have some room to move around, though I’d argue that the RSPCA standard of 9 chooks per square metre is also really pushing the notion of ‘free range’.

So what eggs to buy? For the majority of Australians who live in cities and don’t have access to local producers like we do in the country, I’d say if you have room for chooks in your yard, raise some.

Failing that, look for eggs with the Humane Choice certification, which is the best one I’ve been able to find. RSPCA and FREPA, as I said, are not what I’d call free range.

For pigs, you’d think ‘free range’ would be quite straightforward, and it was, really, until ‘bred free range’ entered the market.

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9 Responses to this article

  1. Milk Maid Marian December 15, 2011 Reply
     
     

    At least you can buy any brand of Australian dairy foods – they’re all free range!

     
  2. Jay December 15, 2011 Reply
     
     

    One of my worst hates is animal cruelty, it’s strange that you don’t think of it that much when your shopping, but when I see a doco or read about the way animals in the food chain are treated.. well I just want to go vegetarian!

     
  3. Charlotte Wood December 15, 2011 Reply
     
     

    Hey Tammi and Hoopla gals, thanks heaps for this – I am so pissed off about FREPA as I when I did my own research on this a while back I thought they were the ones to follow – jeez it gets confusing. Which is why I try to buy all my meat via Feather & Bone or Urban Food Market, but I’m lucky as I live in Sydney so can do that. Anyway am going to have a look at your list and FlavourCrusader’s chook one too. Thanks for doing all this leg work for we piggy chickey gluttons.

    Oh and i’ve taken to organic milk since your talk with MilkMaid Marion about dairy farmers being ripped off by the supermarkets… as far as i’m concerned the only way to make agriculture work in an acceptable way for animals is to make the business profitable enough for committed ‘sustainable’ farmers to stay in the game. So because I can afford it, I pay more. The idea of ripping farmers off blind is as horrible as making meat animals suffer while they’re alive . Anyway – end of blather. But thanks.

     
    • Tammi Jonas December 16, 2011 Reply
       
       

      Thanks for the comments, all. Marian, such an important point about dairy. In fact, I choose organic in many cases, but certainly not all, as Charlotte says, that matrix of things to support is incredibly complicated, but I put ethical treatment of animals, sustainable ag and support for farmers first. Sometimes that means organic, sometimes not. You can try to buy organic of the produce with the most pesticide residue, such as in this (American) list: http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/eat-safe/dirty-dozen-foods#fbIndex1

      Kid – I clearly don’t know enough about ‘Australian salmon’! I’d love to hear more – feel free to comment here or email me on tammois (at) gmail.com. :-)

       
  4. Carol A December 15, 2011 Reply
     
     

    Thank you so much for hightlighting ethical eating. The truth is hard to swallow. Literally. Not everyone is having a happy Christmas. Just ask factory farm animals. For those of you who care about animal cruelty please keep educating and informing people. This needs to be a mainstream issue. Pigs are social and intelligent animals, who naturally live in family groups and are arguably smarter than dogs. Yet on factory farms, these sentient beings are treated like machines on a production line. Most pregnant pigs in Australia are confined to lives of chronic suffering in ‘sow stalls’. These small cages are barely larger than a pig’s body. She can’t even turn around. Each year, we allow around 250,000 mother pigs to suffer in these devices. All living creatures deserve to live with dignity and die humanely. You can change the way animals in Australia live. I am a vegetarian of 40 years and my ethical eating guidance system is truly simple. I only eat what I would happily kill. Now for some of you this includes meat. OK. Pain and suffering need not apply. Please visit http://www.savebabe.com or http://www.voiceless.org.au

     
  5. milkmaidmarian December 15, 2011 Reply
     
     

    Hi Charlotte – thanks for thinking of the farmers too! Organic is not necessarily the only way to make sure your milk dollar gets passed on. The way to do it is to buy dairy sold through farmer co-ops. Ours goes to become Devondale products, which are 100% owned by Australian dairy farmers.

     
  6. Kid December 15, 2011 Reply
     
     

    Thanks for a very helpful and informative article.

    Small whinge: “Australian salmon” is an incredibly misleading “marketing name” for a very ordinary fish which bears no resemblance to any kind of salmon. How they’ve gotten away with that particular fraud for so long is beyond me – but that’s an issue for another time :)

     
    • Charlotte December 16, 2011 Reply
       
       

      I agree, Kid – it is a weird substitute. The Sustainable seafood guide is a very bloody depressing book as almost all seafood we eat is verboten. But it has led me to lots more octopus – and oysters and mussels are allowed! hooray! Another great site is http://goodfishbadfish.com.au/ – check it out as it’s really well designed and written.

      And Marion, thanks for clearing up that organic is not essential in order to support dairy farmers. Will look for Devondale too … it’s the balancing of farmer support + sustainable + ethical + local that gets people lost and confused I think, but any attempt is better than none I guess!

       

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  • Will Marshall: Good lord, who would buy those, and no, it won't stop the perverts!

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  • Carole/m: Hi Ian . You might remember also in the first two years of the Howard Government ( I'm going from memory here ) seven Mi...

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  • Tony W: @ Brew: "your need to resort to personal insults instead of having a discussion says more about your character than I t...

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  • Pea: @Looby Loo and Serene...I am so with you! People call me a control freak like it's a bad thing! LOL ! being organised an...

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