The changes, the changes!

Indeed I do apologise, but there has been method in the madness.

I have been reading Rachel McAlpine’s Web Word Wizardry: A Guide to Writing for the Web and Intranet (2001) and recommend its clear style and common sense. In choosing this template and the one now on Ninglun Apr 06 to Nov 07 and Ninglun’s Gateway I have been driven by the idea of a single column format and minimal scrolling. “People scroll on the web — sometimes,” says McAlpine. My friend Sirdan is apparently typical; if he doesn’t seen an entry in one or two screens he tends to miss it altogether.

 

Australian poem 2008 series #17: "Australia" — A D Hope

Your “Friday poem” arrives early this week, partly because I obscurely alluded to it in the post Just about everyone I know is ambivalent about the USA, and it would seem Hope was a bit ambivalent about Australia. What I think he was ambivalent about was the state of Australian culture, turning both against the bush ballad tradition and the more avant-garde aspects of modernism.

You will find another poem by A D Hope and my account of meeting him

 

Interdependency

Interdependency is a bureaucratic invention with which I became very familiar in the years 1990-1995, during which time M attained first his permanent residence and then his Australian citizenship. It was a long and sometimes frustrating saga, but in the end M achieved what he wanted and, I would assert with no qualification whatsoever, Australia was also a winner — first because Australia gained a good citizen, and second because at least two Australians, M and I, had reason to be proud of what this country can be like.

The Interdependency Visa Class still exists.

This visa is generally for same-sex partners. An Interdependency visa allows you to enter or remain in Australia on the basis of your interdependent relationship with your partner:

• on a temporary visa (usually for a waiting period of approximately two (2) years from the date you applied for the visa)
• on a permanent visa if, after the waiting period (if applicable), your partner relationship still exists and you are still eligible for a Spouse visa.

Your partner must be one of the following:

• an Australian citizen
• an Australian permanent resident
• an eligible New Zealand citizen.

The point is it doesn’t officially recognise same-sex relationships, not in any way that impinges on the Marriage Act, despite everyone knowing, and as you see the Immigration Department explicitly saying, what comes under the heading of “interdependency”. It is also true that there would be other kinds of relationship which may be classed as interdependent.