Without moral integrity and ethics, it cares little for implicit and respectful social mores.
Like a delinquent child pushing the limits of tolerance, it sets off grenades, taking no responsibility for shrapnel damage to mental health and well-being.
Mass media too is guilty of less than diligent fact-checking.
Balanced media reporting often kowtows to a business model guided by factional interests.
Quasi-experts and panelists tell us what to think and how we should interpret the world.
Mass Media has become entertainment.
David Bowie once suggested that children, now so exposed to media influences, are lost to their parents by the age of 12.
Australia Introduces Social Media Restrictions
As of 5 November 2025, eSafety Australia‘s view is that ‘Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube, Kick and Reddit are age-restricted platforms.‘
Gaming will be exempt from these restrictions that come into force on December 10. Trying to soften a public outcry, the following was stipulated:
“It’s not a ban, it’s a delay to having accounts.”
This means no penalties for under-16s who access an age-restricted social media platform, or for their parents or carers.
Under the Australian ban, platforms including TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X, and Instagram will be subject to fines of up to $50 million for systemic failures to prevent children younger than 16 from holding accounts.
Denmark has followed with a similar proposal.
The Denmark proposal would set the minimum age at 15 rather than 16 years.
How Australia’s Social Media Ban Verifies Age
Options for social media platforms to verify age include facial age estimation from photos or videos, uploading photo ID, using credit card checks, and verifying with a third-party service or digital ID. Platforms may also infer age from existing data, such as user activity and existing connections.
Aside from privacy and security concerns, some folks have concerns about age assurance accuracy and government oversight.
The Conversation quotes an ABC report that the trial found face-scanning technologies “repeatedly misidentified” children as young as 15 as being in their 20s and 30s.
“All of us who professionally use the mass media are the shapers of society. We can vulgarize that society. We can brutalize it. Or we can help lift it onto a higher level.”
– William Bernbach
Questions for Bloggers
What are your thoughts on this ban?
Do you agree?
Do you foresee any implementation problems around data safety/privacy?
Is your social media use increasing or decreasing?
A salient quote to ponder about
“Whoever controls the media–the images–controls the culture.” — Allen Ginsberg
Despite having only 16% of the world’s population, high-income countries produce 34% of the world’s waste contributing disproportionately more to climate change and greenhouse gas emissions.
Roughly one-third of the food produced globally is wasted each year with electronic waste (e-waste) a growing problem, and little recycled.
Eight Ways to Re-think Trash
Ask yourself these things before throwing to landfill:
Can you reuse it in another way?
Can you share it?
Can you rent it out to someone in need?
Can you repair it?
Could it be re-purposed in some way?
Contemplate a redesign of its structural uses.
Sell it second-hand?
Vote with your dollars. Spend your money at stores that make the effort to introduce innovative packaging or low-impact goods and support individual companies that do the same.
Composting Community Recycling Apps
Perhaps you have chickens or a worm farm and are looking for even more food scraps or compost to enrich a garden.
Or it may be that you have too much compost and wish to share it with others?
www.peels.app helps ordinary citizens connect with neighbours in their own local area sharing food waste and composting scraps.
Browse their map online to find a donor or host and connect with them to arrange a collection.
A wise friend from Iceland once told me her mantra, one that is echoed by biblical advice – ‘Return everything to the earth to enrich the soil from whence it came.’
When something serves no further purpose: recycle or compost it.
Let’s look at Australia’s attitudes to migration – being as it is – an island continent.
A Migrant’s Attitude to Asylum Seekers
I’d assumed that once migrants settled in a new country, they’d be far more sympathetic towards other refugees and asylum seekers. It was a surprise to me that some feel no such kinship – trauma, it seems, can override any feelings of camaraderie or compassion.
Folks who have escaped homeland conflicts and have made Australia home, may in fact be so traumatized by their experiences, they are fearful – terrified even.
It seems attitudes towards immigration are dynamic.
They tell me they worry war or genocide might occur again in their adopted country, if more and more refugees arrive on our shores. Thus, they are, ironically, against further migration.
The First Boat Migrations to the Australian Continent
First Nations Peoples arrived in boat to Australia ca. 80,000 years ago – they are the world’s oldest continuous living culture. A culture that has learnt a thing or two about survival in harsh deserts and dense tropical rainforests, something the colonial boat people, arriving in the 19th Century, struggled to do.
The colonial boat peoples arrived in the late 18th century, bringing British prisoners, white settlement and disease. The Australian continent became a dumping ground, of sorts.
Those born in Australia, called the later arrivals – POMs. (Prisoners of his Majesty.) The nickname stuck – slang still used for British immigrants, even today, (but not said to their face).
Free settlers to Australia clear felled the countryside and brought agricultural practices better suited to temperate climates. They introducted foreign animals – sheep, cattle and animals, at times triggering environmental calamities- (i.e. the rabbit plague and cane toad problem).
The intention: to make Australia like England or Europe.
They failed to understand this continent was different. Rabbits multiplied like- well rabbits, damaging Australia’s fragile soils and displacing native animals and destroying their habitat. The new country needed an alternative approach to the settlement of new species.
Just as it needed a new attitude towards immigration.
Post War Migration Waves to Australia
Australian governments canvassed for people to emigrate in 19th and 20th centuries. We needed workers and more citizens to grow. Post-war migration waves brought boat people from war torn Europe and the UK.
We wanted them. Their passages were subsidized. Politicians said we needed them, lest we be overrun by the ‘yellow peril‘ – supposedly.
Despite our position in the Asiatic region, Government preferred, ‘White and European ethnicities, in a misguided racist ‘White Australia’ policy, designed to restrict non-White and non European settlement which was finally abolished in 1973..
It was thought Australia had to populate with preferred citizens or perish.
An explicit racial policy was avoided with the control mechanism being a dictation test in a European language selected by the immigration officer. This was selected to be one the immigrant did not know. [Wiki]
Ostracized, at first, native-born Australians called those coming from Europe, another name – ‘Wogs.’
A generation on, many businesses particularly a vigorous restaurant scene has thrived thanks to new citizens arriving from Mediterranean regions. They also arrived here by ‘boat’ (a steamship) and made Australia their home.
A child of a UK emigrant became our first female Prime Minister!
But change was in the wind.
The Rise of Australian Multiculturalism
In the late seventies, Australia welcomed Vietnamese boat people fleeing the war.
Setting aside English, Vietnamese is now the second most common language spoken in Australia. Australian society has flourished with new faces and customs. Multiculturalism was the buzz word in the 1980s.
As a new nation, ‘White’ Australia,’ lacked a unifying history of traditions and customs. As we entered the new millennium, new arrivals and First Nations people were celebrated in multicultural festivals around the country.
In later years, the tide again turned against boat people.
In 1999, Kosovo war refugees were only offered temporary asylum, then sent back home with $3000 each to help them re-settle.
Australia encouraged the voluntary return of many of the 4,000 refugees it had provided temporary protection visa, and provided $500,000 to Kosovar refugees in Australia to teach them how to avoid land mines before flying home.
Stop the Boats
In 2013, the Australian border force were instructed to turn away asylum seekers arriving illegally from Indonesia and Asia. Labelled queue jumpers, governments were elected to power after whipping up hysteria via the media – lies about asylum seekers throwing children overboard, (later found to be fabricated).
The anti-asylum seeker 3 worded political slogan, “Stop the Boats,” evolved into a policy of offshore detention (under inhumane conditions) for the processing of asylum seekers.
The UK recently used a similar strategy and slogan. This can only end badly, at hideous expense, as it did for Australian Government and the asylum seekers.
NB. It is far cheaper to house asylum seekers in society than at an Alcatraz-like processing jail such as existed on the island of Nauru.
The War in Ukraine
Nearly 7 million people have fled Ukraine, the majority seeking refuge in Europe.
Let that number sink in. That many displaced persons looking for a new home.
More than 11,400 Ukrainians have arrived in Australia since the conflict began.
The Government issued visitor visas for Ukrainians fleeing war and temporary protection and permanency for those eligible. [www.refugeecouncil.org.au]
Migration in 2025
Migrants arriving in Australia from India has overtaken immigrants from other countries.
This will likely change again – in time.
One World, One Planet
Mass movement of people has been a continual facet of human history. It is fact of life that there are wars and people move across borders to escape it.
The human race lives on but one planet – a world of many cultures. Critics of multiculturalism aside, there will always be voices of dissension against foreigners.
But this is a feature of a free and diverse society.
Australia is a land of Boat People, fortunate to live without civil war or vengeance on our streets. We have a cohesive society in part thanks to immigration, not despite it. Worries about illegal arrivals by boat have and should diminish, notwithstanding government immigration controls.
Do the Maths. We need immigration or economic growth stops.
Anti immigration sentiment is not a new phenomenon, but the attitude of some people towards it belongs firmly in the past.
It’s mid-morning, around 10 am. At this time of day, depending on the season, I’ll find either a sunny spot or a shady corner in my garden, arrange some comfy cushions on a patio chair and boil the kettle for a cup of tea.
Like a fine wine, tea is best enjoyed when it is sipped, lingered over and (if you’re anything like me), partaken of with a dose of meaningful conversation and a sweet treat. When technology sidetracks my attention, the tea might remain in the pot for too long. This means the tannins over-extract, and the tea becomes bitter and undrinkable. It is such a waste.
If this happens to you, I have a solution.
There’s an organic tea that not only delights the tastebuds and is ethically-sourced, it does not over-brew or become bitter when left to steep.
Each Tielka tea blend I’ve tasted is just so good. The new blend, Petal and Myrtle, has delighted my family and friends. My local coffee shop regularly runs out of Tielka Tea, which speaks volumes about its quality.
So what is it that makes Tielka Tea better?
Is the tea better because Tielka source premium, fresh tea buds and leaves that retain the sweetest, most delicate flavours, or that their tea is hand-harvested by artisan tea farmers and lovingly crafted by Tea Sommelier, Rebecca Domorev?
I read up about it some more to find out.
Tielka speciality tea is 100% organic, is only minimally processed, has won 49 awards and offers customized brewing suggestions, (temperature and steeping times), tailored to each tea blend.
Could that be the secret to avoiding over brewed bitter tea?
Considering my kettle doesn’t have a temperature gauge and I’m imprecise with steeping times, it’s a testament to the tea’s superior quality that it tastes delicious no matter how long it brews, or how distracted I am before sipping it.
It is amazing!
Despite this, I was hesitant to try the new blend of white tea.
I hadn’t tasted white tea before and didn’t quite know what it was or what to expect.
I’d settled in to drink my favourite teas – the malty, rich flavour of Tielka’s Breakfast Tea served at my local coffee shop, the digestive support of the Lady Betty tea with its flower petals and Italian Bergamot oil, and the herbal Peppermint Leaf Infusion for late afternoon and evenings.
“In blind tastings, white tea outperforms black teas, but most people don’t know what white tea is like.”
~ Tielka founder, Rebecca Domerev
When I read that the Tielka white tea was preferred over black tea in blind tastings, I was curious.
Would Petal and Myrtle Tea be as good as my favourite Tielka blends?
Tielka Petal and Myrtle Tea
Visually, Petal and Myrtle delights the senses – brimming harmoniously with soft-lemon and orange flower petals, and fragrant, deep sage leaves. It is fresh, light, and bursting with flavour and hits a sweet spot between delicate notes of a jasmine-style lemon myrtle infusion and a full-bodied tea taste.
Not only that, Petal and Myrtle does, as Tielka relates, stimulate brain function and elevate mood. When I drink it, I get a much-needed energy boost around mid-morning, that one that most coffee drinkers would similarly seek.
I like that about this tea.
Yet, a brew seems to be equally calming if sipped in the afternoon or early evening. Thus, I’ve decided it is my new go-to tea.
Surprisingly, the founder of Tielka Teas, Rebecca Domorev, reveals the creation of the Petal and Myrtle blend was more of a happy accident than a deliberate act.
Developing the Petal and Myrtle Tea Blend at Tielka
When a mix-up of ingredients occurred at the blending house, Rebecca began experimenting – blending fragrant jasmine buds and Lemon Myrtle, (an Australian plant known for its anti-viral, antiseptic and mood-enhancing qualities), along with a 2024 Yue Guang Bai White Tea harvest from Yunnan, China.
The result – the beautifully named Petal and Myrtle .
Brewing Recommendations for Petal and Myrtle Tea
For best results steep Petal and Myrtle at 70°C (158°F) for four-five minutes.
Adding milk or sugar is unnecessary, but you may serve the tea with honey, if a sweeter tea is preferred.
Loose Leaf or GMO and Plastic-Free Teabags
Tielka Tea is available in loose leaf tins or pouches, or tea bags, with worldwide shipping options. More importantly, Tielka tea bags are made from a bio-renewable material, GMO and plastic-free. Proof of Tielkas ethical and planet-conscious ethos.That’s good news for avid tea drinkers such as myself, who can now sip away without concern for ingesting nasty chemicals.
Have you Heard about White Tea?
Pale-yellow in colour, the name ‘white tea’ is derived from the silvery-white appearance of the hairs on the unopened tea plant buds and immature tea leaves from which it is made.
Wiki tells me that unlike more traditional teas, white tea is not rolled, bruised or oxidized, but picked before the buds fully open, then dried in the sun, or alternatively, steamed or fired before drying.
It is this process that imparts a lighter flavour than traditional green or black tea.
Life is a patchwork of moments — laughter, solitude, everyday joys, and quiet aches. Through scribbled stories, I explore travels both far and inward, from sunrise over unfamiliar streets to the comfort of home. This is life as I see it, captured in ink and memory. Stick around; let's wander together.
