Disconnected !

The electricity bill for the average household has risen by between four and six dollars per week - and further savage increases are certain in the near future - and yet the rate of disconnection for unpaid bills has fallen.

In the 2007/08 financial year  37,594 premises were disconnected and this decreased to 30,646 in the 2009/10 financial year.   It seems that the electricity authorities are bending over backwards to try and keep the power on to family households.

Every power bill now contains a plea to contact the power company if there is a problem paying the bill - and a range of relief measures will be privately suggested to those that do.   Payment may be deferred for a period of time if that will help, or an arrangement can be entered into whereby small regular payments reduce the outstanding amount - and those who wish may arrange to pay a static amount weekly so that there is no crisis when the quarterly bill arrives.

What frightens both the government and the power suppliers is the prospect of a disaster to a family disconnected for a crippling power bill.    Electricity can be considered one of life's essentials and without it many households are unable to cook meals, wash the kids in hot water - and have to face the danger of lighting the home with candles to survive.    What the media would do with such a story if it turned to tragedy sends a shiver down the spine of those tasked with collecting the money.

Strangely, this very same fear caused relief when it came to disconnection from the water supply for unpaid water bills.   Water is considered an " essential for life " and only partial disconnection occurs.   A mere trickle remains - and that is enough to supply drinking water and the flush of toilets.

It is hard to see how such an arrangement could be applied to electricity, but maybe in the future some sort of flow restriction could reduce the supply to that sufficient to power two or three very low wattage lights.   That would not help with cooking or hot water - but at least it would dramatically improve fire safety.

We live in changing times - and finding remedies for old problems requires innovative, new thinking !

A lonely little Petunia in an onion patch !

Kiama is the eastern Australian guinea pig for the National Broadband Network ( NBN ) roll-out and yesterday the service was turned on.   Predictably there were rapturous reports from the users with some commenting that download times were forty times faster than " ordinary " broadband.   In some cases users experienced 80 Mpb's, close to the 100 Mpb maximum possible.

There seemed just one rather odd feature of this report.   The NBN is available to 2350 homes in the test area - and for yesterdays turn-on ceremony - just nine homes were actually connected to the network.

That seems an incredibly small sample to trot out singing the praises of a system that is going to cost billions of taxpayer dollars across the entire nation.  Some people may wonder if there are some hidden problems that the NBN have failed to declare that are holding back a more reasonable sampling of the new service.

NBN expects to go " commercial " in September or October - and reports that by then this number will have expanded to over a hundred users - and that is still a very small segment of what was touted as a mass market of eager consumers.

Is it a matter of price ?    A tentative price structure has been released and there are suggestions that competition will reduce this further, but to any thinking person the connection of just nine consumers on release date is not up to public expectations.

It seems possible that NBN has encountered some unforseen difficulties and this switch-on has been very carefully stage managed to select a small number of preferential customers who will sing the praises of the system - and keep silent about any difficulties.

It certainly has the "Geeks " who understand this technology wondering !

Housing affordability !

A study by AMP  reveals that Wollongong affordability of housing is fourth - behind Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.    The dream of owning their own home is slipping away from the average family as the gap between house prices and salaries continues to widen.

As Julius Sumner Miller would have said. -  " Why is this so ? "

The problem is not the price of bricks and mortar.  Where prices have surged the most is in the cost of that piece of land on which the house is built, and there are many causes for that which make little sense.

The law of commerce states that when an item is in short supply the price increases.  As cities grow the land in the centre becomes more valuable, and that land decreases in price as distance extends to the extremity of the city.  Government impact including zoning changes create price surges.   Land set aside for commercial factories becomes more valuable than land for individual housing - and that zoned for high rise faces a similar increase.

Where this system loses the plot is when it comes to small country towns.  The " short supply " argument fades to zero in towns like Cooma, with a population of about eight thousand people - sited in the middle of extensive grazing country.

Land owners wishing to sell, price blocks at a similar level to that on the outskirts of a city such as Wollongong - and that is completely unrealistic.   It seems to be a mind set that defies all logic.  There is absolutely no reason that land in a remote country town should have any relevance to that of land in a crowded city - but it does.

Many country towns deplore a steady population loss as residents move to the city, but if country land was available at reasonable prices there is a good chance that new industry and new people could find affordable housing a good reason to reverse that flow.

Surely the fact that many country towns have vast amounts of unsold building blocks stalled at ridiculous prices should see a return to sanity.

After all - what something is worth is in direct relation to what someone is prepared to pay for it !

Sustainability !

During the second world war the people of Britain suffered hardship because their country could not sustain itself without massive imports.   It could not produce sufficient food to feed it's population.  It had no oil to convert into petrol to keep it's air force flying - and it's supply lanes were under attack from German U-Boats.

By contrast, Australia has prided itself on achieving a high level of sustainability.  We can not only feed ourselves.  We export food to feed half the world.  We have great industries that provide the essentials of life and in a world crisis we are not so vulnerable to blockade.

That is about to change.  The Shell oil refinery at Clyde in Sydney is to close by 2013.    It will cease to refine 75,000 barrels of oil daily and it will mean the shedding of 2,200 jobs either directly or in downstream industries.    The old refinery will be converted into a receiving depot for imports from refineries in other countries.

The changes at Shell will leave New South Wales reliant on just one oil refinery - the Caltex operation at Kurnell in Sydney.

We live in an uncertain world and one of the great strengths of Australia has been the notion that we have sustainability in the event of war.   Unfortunately that is now changing - fast !
The coming carbon tax imposes a threat to the last remnants of our steel industry and the imposition of " globalization " is resulting in a loss of manufacturing and reliance on other countries for goods that we used to produce here.

It seems ludicrous that we have an oil industry pumping crude in Australia, and yet if this loss of sustainability continues we may soon be unable to refine this natural product into petrol to service our transport fleets.

The elevation of the "bean counters " to put profits before sustainability is reducing our defence capability !

Mirror image !

There is an old adage that warns us to be careful what we wish for - and that could well apply to the boat people deal signed with Malaysia.

The next eight hundred who arrive on our shores by boat will be immediately shipped to Malaysia  and placed at the end of the queue of those waiting to be processed as asylum seeking refugees.  Even if they eventually make it to the head of that queue they will not be eligible for consideration for settlement in Australia.

It is hoped that this will be a positive disincentive to pay big money, take an even bigger safety risk and try and force their way into this country by paying people smugglers.

But - those seeking escape from oppression in their home countries might see it differently !

There are at present ninety thousand existing refugees in Malaysia - a country that is not a signatory to the UNHCR accords.    They are imprisoned in overcrowded, unsanitary refugee camps and face a deliberately slow and tedious refugee status approval - and during this incarceration their children are not offered any form of education - the food is meagre - and they are denied the opportunity to work and earn money to relieve their lot.   Health care is almost non existent - and if they give offence to their captors they may be caned !

Compare that with what they may term " the lucky " eight hundred - who will not be joining their ranks.

These people will spend a few weeks in containment before being moved into the general community.  They will live amongst the Malaysian population - and they will have the right to get a job and earn money.  Their children will receive education - and they will all have the benefit of health services.  It is promised that they will be spared caning as a punishment for any rule infringement.

And all of this will be paid for by the Australian taxpayer.

There are some who may think that the risk of a boat trip to Christmas island and the money needed to obtain that journey is worth it if the end result is to becoming a privileged migrant in Malaysia with a life way above others.    They may also have the sneaky feeling that because Australia is paying for these services there will be pressure on the Malaysians to speed up approval and pass these migrants on to another country.

Maybe our expectations will have a mirror image - and the Malaysian processing will be seen as more of a blessing than a punishment.

A lot will depend on just what the government wished for !

Sentencing re-think ?

A hundred years ago the objective of sentencing was " punishment ".    Today - in what we consider a more enlightened age - the focus is on " rehabilitation. "

Perhaps this is a wheel that has turned too far.  The court system in Norway stipulates that the maximum sentence that can be applied, irrespective of the nature or magnitude of the crime committed - is twenty years.

Anders Behring Breivik ( 32 ) blew up the centre of the city of Oslo and then went on a killing spree on the island of Vtoeya, leaving a death toll of near a hundred young people.   It seems unimaginable that this man will be automatically released back into society at fifty-two years of age, but that is what will happen if the existing Norwegian law remains unchanged.

What will also anger many people are the " demands " he is making about his court appearance.   He obviously relishes the prospect on taunting the public with his deranged manifesto and insists that he be tried in an open court - and that he appear in military uniform.

The retreat of what many would consider justice for crimes committed is not restricted to European courts.   Malaysian national Chew Seng Liew ( 68 ) murdered heart surgeon Victor Chang and has now served his twenty year minimum sentence.   He is in poor health - and wants to be released on parole and deported to Malaysia - where parole supervision is out of reach by Australian authorities - and he will be a free man.

Surely there are some crimes that are far outside the general sentencing scope of the law.  Even the people who carried out war crimes in Europe and Asia - resulting in the mass death of thousands - can only be handed a gaol sentence.

The death sentence was never put to a vote by the public.   It was quietly discontinued by politicians who wished to appease " bleeding hearts ".    Perhaps it is time for the world to have a re-think for those events which go far beyond  punishment by just " time served " !

Rising world food prices !

It is ironic that as the world's poor escape economic slavery from existing on just two dollars a day, this emergence is the main factor in the coming famine that will send food prices through the roof !

It is a fact of life that the world's poor exist mainly on grain and vegetables.   As industrialization gives them a bigger pay packet the first priority is to increase from one meal a day - and pile more food on their plates.  With better food, more children survive to become adults, and with prosperity the whole family adds meat to their diet.  
Meat production takes more land than grain or vegetables, and as sheep, cattle and pig farms increase many such animals become grain fed - and it takes six kilogram of grain for every one kilogram of meat produced.

So many of the poor are subsistence farmers - and when they find paid work they are converted from producers to consumers.

The emancipation from peasant to factory worker happening in India, China and other Asian countries is being exacerbated by industrial changes in the developed nations of the west.   New uses are being found for old products, and the popularity of ethanol as a car fuel has seen forty percent of the American grain crop converted from food to that use.

Urbanization is seeing a decreasing land use for agriculture at the same time as rising living standards are increasing food demand, and that can only lead to an increase in food prices as demand exceeds supply.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development  (OECD ) predicts that by the end of this decade cereal prices will be twenty percent higher - and meat will increase thirty percent.

Unfortunately, the losers will be those who miss out on the benefits of industrialization in poor countries.   Those still stuck in the two dollars a day cycle face a very real famine !

And hungry people are usually angry people !

A question without an answer !

This weekend  thirty-two year old Norwegian Anders Behring  Breivik declared war on his world.  He exploded two powerful bombs in the centre of Oslo, killing seven people and injuring many more.  The damage to mainly government buildings will run into millions of dollars, but that was the minor part of his plan to impose carnage on the civil population.

Hours later, Breivik travelled thirty kilometres from Oslo to Vtoeya island where the Norwegian Labor party was holding a youth camp.  He was wearing a police uniform - including a bullet proof vest - and armed with an assortment of automatic weapons.   Calmly and methodically he walked through the camp shooting young people.  He unzipped tents and dispassionately murdered those inside and when survivors swam away from the island he systematically shot those in the water.  He killed over eighty people - men and women - before security police intervened and captured him.   Deaths from the bombs and shooting amounted to over a hundred people.

Breivik is said to be a " Christian fundamentalist " with a history of posting anti Muslim rants on the net.  At this stage he has given no reason for his murderous rampage, but many Australians will compare it with that of Martin Bryant, who shot to death thirty-five people at Port Arthur in Tasmania in 1996.

There was never a conclusive reason given for Bryant's murder spree.  All the usual reasons attributed to murder were missing.  Bryant was not poor and underprivileged.  In fact, he had inherited a fortune, travelled widely and lived the good life.

He was not lonely.  He had a live-in girl friend and held no discernible political or religious views.  He will remain in Risdon prison until he dies - and it seems that there will never be a reason given to explain his rampage.

What is chilling about the Breivik murder spree is that it gave no prior warning that such a plan was hatching in his mind.  He managed to collect both data and material to construct sophisticated bombs, and at the time of his attack on Vtoeya island he was dressed in a police uniform.  It seems that he was also a registered gun owner - and obviously it was his intention to deliver mass murder of the type associated with the Oklahoma city bombing carried out by Timothy McVeigh.

If that can happen in politically stable Norway - and in a rustic state like Tasmania - then no place on the planet is safe from a mind intent on mass murder.    The best brains will try to determine why Breivik did what he did - but it is unlikely that we will ever learn a satisfactory answer.

It seems to be only a matter of time before - somewhere else in this world - a mental aberration send another mind over the edge - and produces mass murder without reason !

The " Control " illusion !

A meeting of state and Federal representatives has agreed to introduce a R 18+ category for computer games.   This is intended to make the new breed of very violent games unavailable to children, and at the same time allow into Australia content for adults that had previously been denied classification.

The existing top rating of MA 15 + was considered inappropriate for the level of violence shown and it is likely that many games bearing that classification will be upgraded to R 18+, similar to the grading applied to the film industry.

The cynical amongst us will probably concede that this is a good idea, but it will do little to prevent R 18+ games  circulating between young people under eighteen years of age.

Our law books are full of legislation designed to filter what we consider harmful products out of reach of young children.   It is a serious offence to supply those under sixteen with cigarettes, and yet those wishing to smoke seem to have no problems obtaining supply.

Sex, violence and nudity are now part of the film culture and back in the days when going to a cinema was the only way to view a film, age classification could be controlled by vigilant theatre managers.    The march of technology brought in the hire movie industry and when the ability to screen movies on the family TV became a fact of life - age control became a thing of the past.

The next frontier for the classification people will be trying to control the product of the underground film industry - which is refused any sort of classification because of it's content.    Keeping that out of the country seems to be a lost cause.  It can be downloaded via home computers, brought back in travellers luggage - and is many cases is actually created right here in Australia.

Gaming falls into exactly the same category.   Social networking such as Twitter and Facebook spread the word when something illicit - and therefore appealing - makes an appearance, and from there human ingenuity will always triumph over the plodding pace of legislation.

Classification reform has been long overdue.   Pity that it will make little difference to what is circulating here in the real world !

The " Cosco " revolution !

Yesterday the American bulk quantities store - Cosco - opened it's  warehouse in Sydney, and it was rushed with customers.   The concept will be popular with many people, but there will be problems for some when the gloss wears off.

For a start, customers need to become members to shop at Cosco - and that costs $ 60 per year.   The goods on offer are bundled in mega-packs - at very cheap prices because of the quantities involved - but that introduces the need to have space at home to store them and brings the danger of jaded appetites if the same food is served too often.

How long will it take to devour a two kilogram pack of Fetta cheese ?     And where do you put a pack of sixty toilet rolls ?    Then there is the space problem of a two hundred and twenty pack of baby nappies ?

Cosco will be a boon for those with big families and some people will overcome the quantities problem by sharing with friends and neighbours, but this type of supermarket is unlikely to serve the needs of small families, lone pensioners or those living in small apartments.

You may have noticed that the traditional supermarkets have devised methods to counter the Cosco threat in advance of the new store opening.   Sales brochures and advertising in recent times have offered special prices if customers buy two or three of the same item at the one transaction - and this has spread to liquor sales with most spirits subjected to multiple buys for the best price.

It is easy to see the tacticians at work here.    They expect their customers to rush Cosco in the first instance, but have prepared a fall back position.   Once those customers become disillusioned with mega quantity buys - they are offering a lower alternative quantity at a reduced price.

It seems that the old adage that " All is fair in love and war " should have added " and supermarket pricing " !

Drug approval delays.

A change to the way new pharmaceuticals are approved for inclusion under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme ( PBS ) has been quietly put in place by the Federal government.    Under the old procedure, new drug approvals passed through a price filter.   Those that would have a price impact on the scheme of ten million dollars or less were passed automatically provided they had approval from an independent expert committee.   It was only new drugs with a huge impact on costs that needed to go to cabinet for a decision. Now - each and every new drug will need to be examined - irrespective of cost - and that means extended approval delays.

With this procedure in place it will not take much time for Australia to lag behind  other civilized countries in the flow of newly developed drugs reaching citizens under the PBS.   It also introduces politics into the decision making process.  Decisions previously made by an expert committee will now be subjected to the vagaries of non-medical politicians who may question drugs in the context of patient lifestyle or specific gender usage.    Approval could become a whole new ball game.

There will also be a dramatic change to decisions on research within the drug industry.  When a new drug is developed there is a long gap between discovery and it's appearance on the pharmacy shelf.  There are years of testing and long consideration by that expert committee - and that delay cuts into the time the developing company is protected by patent.  

It costs millions of dollars to develop a new drug and the developer hopes to make a profit while the patent gives exclusive right of production.  If approval delays shorten this window - there is less incentive to spend money on research.

The PBS is a big component of the national budget and spending has to be controlled, but in this instance the decision to bring all new drugs under individual parliamentary approval destroys a practical filter that has worked well.

We will soon be seeing stories in the media of miracle drugs curing patients in other countries - but not being available here in Australia because they are caught up somewhere in the labyrinth of committees that choke the political process.

Whoever heard of politicians delivering speedy and accurate solutions to problems that involve decisions ?

Religious punishment !

Many people are surprised that a group of men broke into another man's apartment - and delivered forty lashes as punishment for drinking alcohol.   What really surprised them is that this happened here in Australia.

This was a case of religious punishment.  Alcohol is forbidden for those who follow Islam, but that relates to religious law and has no place under civil laws that prevail in this country.  The culprits have been arrested and charged - and may face gaol time as a result.

We are fighting a war in Afghanistan because when the Taliban were in control they ruled by way of religious law.   Women were forbidden to either be educated or get a job.  Television and all forms of music were banned.  There were strict dress codes - and no intermingling of the sexes - and even flying kites was a punishable offence.

Religious law takes precedence in Iran as well.   Religious police roam the streets and the law seems to concentrate on women.  Those wearing lipstick - or showing too much hair can be publicly caned and humiliated. 

Christianity also practised religious law.   For centuries the " Spanish Inquisition " operated under the control of the Catholic church - and those convicted of heresy were burned at the stake.   All it took was a hint of suspicion and the supposed offender was tried by the inquisition - and that routinely included torture.

This whipping case for alcohol consumption is probably more a matter of misguided religious zeal than an attempt to impose Sharia law on the country, but it needs to be heavily stamped out because every religion has a hard core of enthusiasts who would love to have the power to impose their basic religious beliefs on the public - by force !

We see that in the opposition to ethics classes to replace scripture in schools where children refuse religious instruction - and the almost hysterical denial of same sex unions by most of the churches.

Hopefully, this whipping will be seen as an isolated aberration - and religious sanity will prevail !

A crime from afar !

Conscience has compelled a Burmese man to come forward and admit that he murdered  many people when he was a member of a government death squad in that junta controlled country.   This raises the question of whether he should face justice here in Australia.

This man is now an Australian citizen - and he has a wife and children here.  He shows remorse for the time he and his squad infiltrated student ranks and posed as agitators to identify leaders of the student movement for democracy - who were then murdered !

It is a strange situation.   There is no appeal from the Burmese government for his extradition to face murder charges because that government recruited and trained him to commit those murders, and while it is a government in power by rigged elections - it is the legitimate government of Burma.

There must be many - perhaps even thousands - of people now living in Australia who have a past that includes what we would consider murder.   Both sides in the struggles that included ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia were guilty of slaughtering their neighbors - and we have citizens who were former residents of places like Biafra, Congo,Sudan, Uganda and Rwanda - and many more similar trouble spots.

In many cases citizens were press ganged into service and forced to carry out killings - and in others they believed that what they were doing was the right thing at that time.   It is impossible to bring them to court and deliver clear justice for events that happened in another place - and in the fog of civil war.

Probably the best policy is to adapt to the outlook that applied to those who joined the French foreign legion.
The past was the past - and no questions were asked.

Coming to Australia for many is to embark on a new life.    Perhaps the time they step ashore should start the clock ticking on where their record of history commences !

Assimilation !

When the rush to populate this great, empty land got under way after the end of the second world war the aim was to assimilate the new arrivals as quickly as possible.   They were urged to learn English and the oath of allegiance required them to virtually disown their previous nationality.

Somewhere down the track that changed.  " Multi-culturism " became the buzz word.  We now encourage newcomers to retain their national customs, style of dress - and language, and to broaden this policy we have SBS giving overseas news in foreign languages - and a host of national language newspapers to serve national groups.

The most visible signs of ethnicity relate to women.   Muslim men appear little different in the streetscape mix - but Muslim women wear a distinctive headscarf.   The sari remains popular with women of Indian descent - and anywhere a suburb contains a majority of a particular ethnic group - items particular to that grouping start to appear.

Unfortunately, this policy is likely to reinforce the " Balkanization " of Australia.    One of the problems of Europe is enclaves that retain ethnicity - and nurture old hatreds.   Becoming an Australian was supposed to be a new start - a new life in a new country - with those old shiboleths left behind dockside !

Perhaps the biggest mistake was to abandon the requirement for new settlers to adopt English as a common language.   Understanding a common tongue was the great leveller.   Looking back at history we see that those who came here in the 1950's are the most integrated - and very proud to be called " Australian ".

Differences of appearance are minor matters - but a common language is the glue that holds a community together !

Prohibition - in Australia ?

Most people think that prohibition was a failed law enacted in the United States of America in 1919 - and that it has no place here in modern Australia.    They would be wrong - and breaking it could be a costly mistake.

Parts of northern Queensland, the Northern Territory and northern Western Australia are designated " no alcohol " zones in an attempt to reduce the harm caused by alcohol dependence.  It is a crime to be in possession of any form of alcohol within these zones.

What many people do not realise is that this applies to travellers passing through on the main highways.  The most likely victims are the " Gray Nomads " - retirees who have bought a four wheel drive and a caravan - and set off to see Australia.   The caravan is their travelling home - and they enjoy a quiet drink in the evening.

The police have every right to maintain road blocks - and search cars and caravans for liquor at any time of the day or night.   Even that part bottle of cooking sherry in the food cupboard is a technical breach of the law - and can result in a heavy fine or even a period of incarceration.

Alcohol free zones are clearly signposted and travellers are urged to take them seriously - in similar manner to areas in which it is illegal to take fruit because of possible fruit fly transfer.   Those planning a trip in northern Australia would be well advised to do their homework - and obtain maps showing where alcohol free zones apply even on main highways that pass through them.

It may seem a strange law - and even an infringement on civil liberties to those southerners who enjoy a beer at days end - but it is the law and it is strictly enforced in that part of Australia.

Ignore it at your peril !

Urban warfare !

This week Greenpeace activists broke into a CSIRO facility in Canberra and used weed whackers to destroy a test crop of GM modified wheat.    These activists wore overalls clearly bearing the Greenpeace logo and it was their intention to eliminate whatever scientific data this test crop would provide.

There is a mixed reaction to GM modifications to food across the community and the government has tasked the CSIRO to determine fact from fiction.  We live in a world with an expanding population and it is becoming critical that we must increase the food supply.   Clearing more land for agriculture risks destroying the very means of absorbing carbon, hence to achieve balance we need to breed more productive crops from the existing acreage - and that is where GM can make the difference.

The objections are many.  Some fear GM crops may escape and contaminate traditional varieties.  Some fear agricultural giants such as Monsanto gaining a monopoly on crop strains.  Some think GM food will adversely affect human health.    Much of this could be totally irrational - but the one way to prove or disprove these objections is to make scientific investigations - and that Greenpeace seeks to destroy.

There is little difference between urban terrorists breaking into a government facility to destroy legitimate science and hackers breaching government archives to steal secrets and disrupt communications - and all of that is just a short step to activists setting bombs and trying to destroy property and people in an attempt to gain their objectives.

The terrorist creed is that " the end justifies the means ".   If we accept that, then we accept anarchy.

Law and order needs to make a point - and hunt down and prosecute these Greenpeace activists.  All forms of terrorism need to face the full strength of the law.

The " Arab Spring's " lost dividends !

The driving force behind the rebellion that is called  " The Arab Spring " was  wholesale corruption by the leaders of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.   Untold billions of dollars were squirrelled away not only by the dictators - but by their clans and high public officials.    Now the people of those countries are looking to bring the loot home !

It will not be easy, and there is a very good chance that most of the money will simply " disappear ".

Corruption is a disease that has root and branch in many nations.       Many years ago the Swiss banking system was the envy of the world.    It had a reputation for discretion - and to many people having a numbered Swiss bank account was the apex of security.

Then came National Socialism in Germany - and with it " the Holocaust ".   Not only the murder of six million Jews, but the plunder of their wealth - and much of this ended up in Swiss banks.    Years later a bank defector revealed the shame of greed that prevailed to an outraged world.   Swiss bankers realised that the true owners of much of this money were dead - and decided to keep it for themselves.   They demanded the production of death certificates to release funds - and stonewalled all efforts to gain access.

Once again the world's bankers will be confronted with claims that are hard to prove.  Those dictators and their families will have used great cunning to hide their wealth and much of it will be held under proxy.   At best, making a claim will take years - and success will depend on the honesty of those who are in banking power.

The " Arab Spring " is a revolt taking place in poor countries.   If this immense wealth can be returned it is possible to use it to bring the standard of living from " third world " to a level approaching that of the west.
It all depends on the level of honesty in countries who claim to hold higher standards !

Personal decisions !

Warning labels on alcohol bottles seems to be designed to head-off future legislation now that cigarettes can no longer be displayed - and will soon only be available in plain packs.  The gambling industry is in turmoil as new laws get drafted to require punters to first have a license before they can have a flutter on the poker machines.

Part of this rush to legislation to save us from our own follies is directly linked to a Federal election that bestowed almost unlimited power to a few individuals.    Holding the balance of power is heady stuff - and what would otherwise be unreasonable demands are the price of forming government.

There has always been a " wowser " element in society.   There are those who would like to bring in prohibition and ban the sale of all forms of alcohol.   Gambling is forbidden by some religious creeds - along with dancing and any form of intermingling of the sexes.   Cigarettes and other forms of smoking tobacco have been frowned upon by some sections of society ever since Sir Francis Drake brought the evil weed to Europe - and then we have the crazy laws that forbid Marijuana, despite it being available on most street corners in our cities.

It now seems that we are seeing a more truculent form of prohibition.   The average person is being denied his or her choice on whether to smoke, drink or gamble.   It is not outright banning but rather the introduction of hoops which we must jump through before we can exercise free choice.

The circumstances that make this legislation possible will not persist - and when next we go to the polls there is every chance that whoever governs will do so without the need to placate a bunch of individuals with some sort of weird socialist agenda.

Then the worst of these restrictive laws will probably be rescinded - but not before they will have inflicted damage on firms and institutions - and denied the public the right to make their own decisions on matters of personal choice.

Fantasyland !

The plans for this coming carbon tax sound like an episode of the " Mad Hatter's tea party ".  We are now told that because of a " legal technicality " we will not know who the five hundred firms to be taxed will be.

Are these five hundred to be secretly tipped off in advance ?   So that they can at least implement some plans to try and reduce the damage ?    Or is application of the tax to be the work of some secret " Star Chamber " ?

Even limiting the tax to just five hundred firms in it's initial stage reeks of injustice.  Two firms producing the same end product face differing tax regimes.   The bigger of the two gets hit with a carbon tax while it's competitor goes tax free.   That is anything but a level playing field.

Eventually, every producer of carbon will be taxed, but that will not happen until the carbon trading scheme comes into play in 2015.     Three years is a long time to apply tax on a purely selective basis - and the government is silent on just when this " legal technicality " will be overcome and the details of who will be taxed released !

It seems to be just one more straw blowing in the wind that will convince the voters that the Labor/Greens plan is heading towards another disaster of the roof insulation kind.    The legislation has yet to pass parliament and implementation is just a year away - and still the plan has more holes in it than a Swiss cheese.

All it will take is for a public spirited politician to jump ship - and put this coming disaster out of it's misery !

The sooner the better !

End of " Third World " image !

Wollongong's annual free rubbish pick-up was a great service for the citizens, but it certainly did nothing for this city's image to see huge piles of rubbish littering the nature strips, often for weeks when the service was running late.

Under the old regime residents had a progressively advancing date to put rubbish kerbside as the pick-up advanced across the city.  Now, people are permitted two free removals each year  - by appointment.    This booking system ensures a prompt removal that reduces the time an unsightly mess is on view to the public.

There is a limit on the amount of rubbish the council will remove for free.  Rubbish should be no more than that contained in an area two metres long, and a metre high and wide - and that creates a new problem.

There is an old saying that " nature abhors a vacuum ".    It is a fact of life that few people can resist adding to a pile of rubbish - and the moment a resident with a booking creates a pile it suddenly starts to grow much larger.

Even if this pile is put kerbside late in the day before pick-up there seems to be magic afoot because mysterious additions appear during the hours of darkness.

At least this is preferable to the habits of some citizens, who simply discard unwanted items kerbside at any time of the year - on the basis that eventually people will complain to council and this will have them removed.

At least we are reducing that " Third World " image that drew unfavourable comment from the tourist industry.

And pigs might fly !

There are some reassuring figures supporting the announcement  of the coming carbon tax.  Costings endorsed by government accountants expect the tax to cost the average household $ 9.90 a week, but compensation will amount to $ 10.10 - hence each home will be " over compensated " by a whole twenty cents.

More than half of this hit on household budgets will be caused by just two items.   Electricity bills will rise by $ 3.30 a week - and gas bills by $ 1.50  - to a combined $ 4.80 of that $ 9.90.

The announcement has been big on explaining how pensioners and low income people will be shielded, but there is not a word on another cost casualty that can be expected to try and balance it's budget by price increases across the board.

Just imagine what an increase in electricity and gas costs is going to impact on each state government ?

The mind boggles when the extent of  electricity use is considered in the thousands of government offices across the state.  Think of the number of primary and secondary schools - the gaol system - fire stations -and probably the biggest electricity user of them all - the electric railways serving the city of Sydney and it's surrounds.
And it doesn't stop there.   Then there is the power used to run the traffic light system and the hospitals - and when local government gets added - how about the street light system ?   And then there is heating in the school system.   Sadly, schools use unflued gas heaters - and that gas hike will be another big hit on the state government.

Back when state government's owned the electricity supply the bills for government use were merely a contra entry in Treasury ledgers, but today electricity is privately owned - and the government gets a bill, just like every other user connected to the mains.    They need to write a cheque - and that comes straight out of " Consolidated Revenue ".

Nobody seems to be talking about how the state governments are going to fund these extra charges - and of course the Federal government will say that this is not their problem !   But when push comes to shove, wait for the plethora of state government charges that will get hiked to balance the books - and when that promise that we will not be worse off comes home to roost - it can sit alongside a rejoiner that " pigs might fly ! "

Bats - out of Hell !

There is something really scary happening in the countryside outside out cities.  A strange virus is killing horses - and fast developing the ability to kill people.

The problem is that the Hendra virus has been part of the DNA of fruit bats for thousands of years, and yet it has only become active in recent decades.   This particular virus can be transmitted from bats to horses - and when it does the horse usually dies.   It seems to have adapted to transmission from horse to humans - and when that occurs about sixty percent of those afflicted lose their lives.

So - we have a multitude of problems.   Bats are a protected species because they are part of the transfer of pollen that drives the growing cycle of plants.   Like bees - bats distribute pollen when they feed on fruit and as a consequence they exist in big quantities wherever there are fruit trees - and that also happens to be where we have  horses at pasture.

Right now eleven properties in New South Wales and Queensland are under quarantine, a number of horses have died - and dozens of people are anxiously awaiting the results of tests to determine if they have been infected.

The ramifications are enormous.   The horse racing industry is a multi-billion dollar business and bats roost in proximity to most race courses.  Then there is the domestic horse industry, housed on hobby farms and at riding schools on the periphery of every city, town and village.  Not only the horses are at risk, but the array of people who ride horses - and the army of attendants who service the industry.

It will be impossible to separate bats and horses.   There is virtually nowhere that is bat free, and in fact there are moves to increase bat numbers because a new disease is decreasing bee populations, making bat pollen transfer essential to agriculture.

Perhaps the day of owning a " pleasure horse " is coming to an end and the risk will be considered too great - or perhaps science will come to the rescue and devise an inoculation that will prevent the transfer of Hendra virus from bats to horses.

Right now - being in close proximity to any horse in bat country - is not a good idea !

Fire safety help !

Winter always produces a peak when it comes to house fires, and this past few days of low temperatures has been no exception.   The fire brigade has issued a warning to be careful in using room heaters and electric blankets - and to maintain smoke alarms.

The problem with smoke alarms is that they are easily forgotten.  They need a battery to be able to emit that shrill warning when they detect smoke - and that means that the battery must be tested regularly - and replaced at least once a year.

Smoke alarm maintenance is a huge problem for some elderly and infirm people.  To be effective, smoke alarms are sited on the ceiling or at least high on the wall - and that involves using a step ladder for access.   Old people with poor balance should not be climbing ladders, and those without a close family to give assistance can not do this basic service function.   As a result, many smoke alarms are not functional and can not do the job for which they are intended.

Help is available - but unfortunately the service is poorly advertised.   Pensioners and people with mobility problems have only to call their local fire station and a fire crew will respond by making a call and servicing their smoke alarm.   Not only will the alarm be serviced, but in New South Wales the fire brigade will provide and install a new battery - free of charge.

To add a reminder to call again next year, the fire brigade provides a fridge magnet on which they write the date of the service, hence a service and battery replacement should become an annual event for elderly people.

Having a working smoke alarm is the first line of defence when it comes to house fires.   It is a pity that this excellent service is not more widely advertised  in pensioner magazines.

A denial of justice.

In 2008 a man died a terrible death in the distant Goldfields of Western Australia.  This week the wheels of socalled justice dispensed a $ 285,000 fine against the West Australian government. No person received any sort of punishment for the acts of neglect involved.

This man - an Aboriginal elder - was charged with exceeding the alcohol limit while driving and was to be transported from Laverton to Kalgoorlie in the heat of the day.   The prisoner transport vehicle was manned by two security guards, who knew that the air conditioning in the rear prisoner pod was not working.  The air conditioner in the crew cab was fine, and there were facilities for the crew to view the prisoner in the back.  During the journey, the temperature was in the order of 40 c.

The transport crew were indifferent to the health of this prisoner and made no attempt to check his condition.  When the van arrived at it's destination - the man was dead from heatstroke !

Incredibly, an enquiry found no fault with any person involved.   The blame was finally laid at the door of the state government - and this fine was imposed !

A government is not an entity.  It is not flesh and blood.   Actual people had to be responsible for ordering the removal of a prisoner in the heat of the day.  Actual people had to be responsible for the condition and safety of the transport used.  Actual people had to have the responsibility of seeing that the prisoner arrived safely - and none of these were deemed to have been at fault.

So - as a sop to the public - a fine has been levelled at what is little more than a name registered as belonging to a legal instrument described within the country's constitution.    What makes it even more of a joke is the fact that this fine will simply be a cheque drawn on one arm of government - and deposited in the account of another arm of this same institution.

For the people who caused this man's death it is " business as usual ".

Whatever happened to the notion that we must bear responsibility for our own actions ?

What if ?

On Sunday we will supposedly get all the details of the new carbon tax scheme.  The price of carbon will finally be revealed and we will learn what will be exempt - and how it will impact on our way of life.

There is a wide gap between what is  planned - and what actually happens with this sort of thing.   The theory is great - but somewhere down the track a different result could eventuate.  Let us look at one of the possibilities that may occur.

All the state governments went into panic mode when they considered applying a carbon price to electricity generation.   They owned each state's electricity industry and therefore the cost of changing to renewables would be their cost.  Their answer was to sell this industry to private enterprise to shift the blame for cost rises elsewhere.

Now the theory of what is to happen is very reasonable.  As the carbon tax increases electricity generation costs because plants are coal fired - it provides a cost incentive for the owners to invest in renewables.  What is not explained  is where the finance to achieve this is supposed to come from ?

Suppose the commercial people who now own the electricity supply simply consider the cost of converting plants from coal to natural gas as a partial remedy is too high - and that renewables such as wind or solar are out of the cost question anyway - what happens then ?

They are the only suppliers of electricity - and that is a product we can not do without because if it ceases - so does our way of life.    They simply hike the price to recover their costs and make a profit margin to placate their shareholders.     The end product becomes out of reach of low income people and the high cost makes whatever industry is left uncompetitive.

It is a scenario that could happen because neither the Federal  or state governments have control of the electrical generational industry any more.  It is in private hands, and the decisions on how it will react to a carbon tax - or a " emissions trading scheme " - is up to the board of management.

The details to be released on Sunday give the nuts and bolts of a scheme with a theoretical outcome.  What happens in the real world will be something else again !

A gain with no pain !

What a pity that Wollongong council has discontinued it's annual calendar that depicted the correct week for yellow top and green top recycling bins to be put kerbside.   This used to arrive with each new financial year's rates notice - but last year it went missing.

A call to council revealed that it was still printed, but would only be supplied on request.  Of course such requests inflicted a sixty cent stamp cost on council - hence the total omission this year.

This is supposedly the " City of Innovation ", but so far there has been little innovation in removing this valuable tool for the aged - and those with a poor memory.

Suppose the council advised to the media that they were interested in finding a business organization willing to produce and print these calendars in exchange for featuring their name and logo.  In return, council would include them with their rate notice distribution - thus making use of the stamp costs that council must spend anyway.

There would be a huge response from real estate agents, pizza stores and those firms so desperate to get their name before the public that they clog our letter boxes with junk mail.  Council would probably have to draw a name from a hat to award the right.

It would be a win - win - win situation !   The public would get a win because they would have that source of information on wheelie bin week restored.    The council would win because they are again providing a calendar - at no cost to council finances - and the successful firm would be a winner because they had succeeded in getting their name and logo on every refrigerator in the city.

All it would take is a little innovative thinking.   Something you would expect from a city that bills itself as " the city of innovation " !

Identity requirement !

One of the basics of law enforcement is the ability to identify any person who comes to the attention of the police.   In the past, this has been a gray area.   The police have had the power to demand to see a person's face in any criminal investigation, but that was not extended to civil policing, such as stopping a car to give the driver a breath test.

As usually happens with the law, a celebrated incident brought the matter into  public notice when a woman driver refused to remove her burqa for police identification when her car was pulled over.   Later, a burqa clad woman attended a police station and lodged an official complaint that an officer had forcible tried to remove her burqa - and that this constituted assault.

If proven, such an assault would have serious consequences on that police officer's career status and could see a fine - or even dismissal from the police force imposed.   On the other hand, making an untrue statutory declaration is also a crime - and could result in a gaol term.

Two interesting events then followed.   The " forcible removal " claim was utterly destroyed when video surveillance from the police vehicle recorded the entire incident - and proved that the claimant was lying.  This woman was then charged with making a false claim - and appeared in court.

The prosecution failed - because the woman who attended the police station after the event was wearing a burqa - and it could not be proved that the driver of the car and the woman who made the complaint were the same person - because the police saw neither woman's face for identification.

The state government has amended the law so that uncertainty has been removed.  The police have the right to demand to see a persons face for identification purposes - at all times and for any reason.

This is not specifically aimed at the burqa.  It simply requires a reasonable request for facial identification to be met by anyone of either gender - and that includes doctors wearing surgical masks, motor cyclists wearing full face helmets - or carnival workers in costume.

A former gray area - is now clearly black and white !

The " save money " illusion !

Many older people will have a quiet chuckle at Woolworths announcement that they will freeze the price of apples, tomatoes, carrots, onions and potatoes for a year - and Cole's plan to reduce their house brand bread to one dollar a loaf.

They will remember the time - about sixty years ago - when the manufacturers controlled the price of what they produced - and therefore the price of grocery items was the same at the corner store as at the larger food shops.

Then came the " supermarket " concept - and with it the need to wheel a trolley around the shelves instead of being served at the counter.   The inducement was unheard of low prices - for some items !

The marketing people added psychology to their bag of tricks.  Pick several popular items and slash the price to cost - or even sell them way below cost - and make up the loss by adding a few cents to every other item in the store.

And that's where we are today !    Some very clever people sit at the pricing computers and work in tandem with the advertising gurus to devise the " bait " which gets people into the stores - and convinces them that they are getting " bargains ".    What actually counts is how well this strategy delivers a profitable bottom line to appease the shareholders.

About eighty percent of grocery purchases occur in the stores of just two major players in Australia.

Don't ever think they are in business just for the financial health of their customers !

The kiss of death !

There are two conflicting needs that confront air travellers when they decide to book a flight.   They want the cheapest possible fare - and they demand that the airline has a high safety record.   Unfortunately cheap seat prices and aircraft maintenance are at opposite ends of the safety spectrum.

Australia has an enviable record on air safety.  Qantas even got a mention in the movie " Rain Man " - as the safest airline in the world and since aviation began the Australian public has believed that the Commonwealth Air Safety Authority ( CASA ) runs a "tight ship" - and that we can expect to reach our destinations without incident.

Yesterday, that safety issue came to the fore when CASA banned discount airline " Tiger " from flying for a week - over " safety concerns ".

Tiger is a spin-off from Singapore Airlines and this low cost off-shoot is a relative newcomer to Australian skies.   It has a small fleet and serves limited destinations but it was also a lynchpin in setting the base rate on seat prices, something that it's competitors were forced to take into consideration in setting their own discount prices.

There is speculation that Tiger is finished !    Public confidence is expected to take a shattering blow when air safety is cited as the reason for keeping an airline on the ground.   Even if Tiger solves the safety problems troubling CASA - it is a moot point whether customers will continue to buy seats once that magic word - " Safety " - has been tacked adversely to it's name.

It may be remembered that the mighty Ansett Airlines received bad publicity when cracks were found in some of it's aircraft - and in 2001 it collapsed, leaving a huge hole in Australian air services until Qantas expanded to takeup the slack - and new carriers entered the market.

Just as in the automotive industry, a bad safety record can kill the sale of a particular car model - in aviation even a hint of safety concerns can be the kiss of death.

The future of Tiger is on very shaky ground !

Plastic shopping bag ban !

The Australian Capital Territory has decided to ban plastic shopping bags in Canberra shops and this ban will come into effect on the first of November.   It will only apply to the type of bags normally used to bag groceries and similar purchases - and will not apply to those bags presented in roll form - used to contain items like loose vegetables, nuts, and fruit.

The battle to rid the nation of plastic bags that clog landfills, blow about city streets and are blamed for the death of many sea creatures which ingest them in mistake for food has had a long and checkered history.
Years ago German owned supermarket - Aldi - stopped supplying free packaging and customers quickly adapted.  This supermarket chain has expanded and is still growing, proving that a bag ban is possible if applied with determination.

It is also interesting to review the fate of those green reuseable fabric bags that dominated the grocery scene about a decade ago.   It seemed that at least half the population were shamed into buying and using these bags to lug their groceries home - but that was a fad that slowly passed - and now represents only a tiny core of shoppers.

What happens in Canberra will be an interesting test of resolve.   We will probably see a sharp increase in the number of supermarket trolleys abandoned in city streets and parks.  People who would normally carry their groceries away in plastic bags will be more likely to wheel them loose in their trolley to get to wherever their car is parked - load them into the boot - and then dump the trolley rather than return it to the store.

Compliance will also depend on how this ban is enforced.   Unless there is a heavy fine for giving a plastic bag to a customer there will be some traders who simply ignore it - and others may get around the ban by providing a more expensive plastic bag of heavier microns on the basis that this is a " reuseable " unit.

It seems inevitable that once more those green fabric bags will get heavily promoted in the ACT, but what sort of shopping scene evolves a decade from November will be an interesting study that will occupy journalists and university lecturers - and may influence the decisions of politicians in other states.

So far - the plastic bag has survived all forms of attack !

Numbers !

There are now about seven billion people living on planet Earth and that  fascinates researchers in the field of " Demography " - which is the study of facts related to numbers.

National Geographic Demographer Carl Haub has compiled some statistics that would be very handy for those tasked with finding questions for trivia nights.  He has looked at this earth's population from the time humans started to walk erect on their hind feet, shed most of their body hair - and began to migrate from the Great Rift valley in Africa.

For instance, each year about fifty-seven million of this planet's population die - although this figure can be far from accurate.   People in developed countries have a far more healthy and predictable lifestyle, and each year can up or down the numbers - depending on the weather cycle and it's delivery of feast or famine - and other factors such as the outbreak of various plagues - and of course - war !

Haub also set out to calculate just how many people have ever lived on this planet and to do that he set the benchmark from 50,000 years BC.   Had he illustrated his findings by some sort of graph he would most likely have produced a very long, thin funnel.    Today's population would be represented by the wide top of that funnel - and it would then descend in ever thinning mode - to a long way south.

Haub estimates that the earth has been home to one hundred and eight billion people during that time period.

That is an interesting statistic, but most people will be more interested in knowing what sort of future is in store for us people living now - and those who follow us.    A lot depends on whether the broad top of that funnel continues to expand - and whether it exceeds the food supply.   It also depends on whether we ever learn to live peacefully together - and whether some moronic idiot opts for war - and presses that red button that starts a thermo-nuclear war !

Then perhaps we end up with a handful of survivors and the whole process starts again - right back in the days of 50,000 BC !