For nearly four centuries the tiny Pacific island half of Timor had been a Portuguese colony until the Indonesian other half of the island - with a nod from Australia - invaded. For the next thirty years it was ruled by the Indonesian military and subjected to a guerrilla insurgency to try and achieve independence.
Eventually, the United Nations ordered a referendum and on May 20, 2002 it became the first newly sovereign state of the twenty-first century. It was desperately poor and its institutions damaged by Indonesian actions to try and swing the referendum to Indonesian advantage. Its biggest asset was the discovery of a major oil and gas field in the stretch of water between Timor and Australia.
Ownership had already been negotiated between Indonesia and Australia but East Timor's independence required a new negotiation. Its inexperienced ministers sat down to map out an agreement in Dili and it seems that Australia took unfair advantage by having its ASIS spy agency bug the room of the East Timor delegation. The Australians were privy to the thoughts of the East Timor government and the resulting treaty was very much to Australia's advantage.
There was consternation in International circles when a former ASIS operative and a lawyer previously contracted to ASIS revealed the nature of this spying episode in media interviews. Australia was embarrassed by this revelation and it led to the treaty on oil and gas distribution being renegotiated with the terms now heavily in East Timor's favour.
The former ASIS spy and the lawyer have been served with a writ that could see them serve a two year prison sentence under a 2004 counter terrorism law. Such prosecutions require the assent of the Federal attorney general and it seems that this has been granted. In judicial circles there is concern that this prosecution is proceeding on counter terrorism grounds when what is involved is clearly an Australian breach of faith.
East Timor is appealing to the permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague for a further revision of this oil and gas treaty and the evidence of both men are vital to its case. If they are in prison in Australia this will prevent them appearing as witnesses. It is obvious that Australia is sending a very clear message to all the personnel in its security agencies that it will employ criminal proceedings if they divulge information they are sworn to keep secret.
Bugging ministerial offices was a shameful use of our spy agency but this is common in the world of international relations and personnel act accordingly. Those newly created East Timor representatives may have been naïve but governments do have a need to preserve secrecy and these revelations can not go unpunished.
It seems that personal moral values come into conflict with the need to gather information in the world of espionage agencies and the men and women involved are often faced with contrasting emotions. Perhaps a need to resolve which way they will act, before accepting entry into the complex world of information gathering !
Saturday 30 June 2018
Friday 29 June 2018
The Justice Illusion !
No wonder so few people use the courts to settle cases where the publication of untrue claims damages their reputation, and in some cases actually causes a loss of income. Actress Rebel Wilson took that course when a women's magazine ran a story that depicted her as a serial liar. She claimed that this adverse publicity caused her to be dropped as the starring role in a coming movie and the court upheld her claim that the magazine knew when they published the article that their claim was untrue.
The judgement handed down was a $4.7 million defamation payout and this provoked headlines around Australia because it broke records. Wilson reported that it was a matter of principle rather than money and that she intended to donate the payout to charity. The publisher handed over that $4.7 million promptly and Wilson had the money three weeks after judgement.
Our judicial system consists of an overlapping series of courts of ever increasing seniority. The magazine publisher has taken the case to a court of appeal and this court has seen fit to vary the payout. In early June it reduced that $4.7 million to $3.9 million for economic damage related to the loss of income. It ordered Wilson to repay the publisher $4,183,071.45 - including $60,316.45 interest for the period she was in possession of the money.
One of the reasons so few use the courts to settle disputes is the vagaries that surround court costs and how they will be awarded. In this instance the appeals court has ruled that Wilson must pay eighty percent of the publishers legal costs and these have yet to be determined.
Wilson does not dispute her need to repay $4.1 million, but she disputes the rate of interest the court has applied for the period the money was in her hands. This has been calculated at 2% while the Reserve Bank cash rate stands at 1.5%. Self funded retirees are very aware of the difficulty of achieving interest above that cash rate in the present economic climate.
This case clearly illustrates the hazards of taking court action to redress a wrong. A court delivered a finding that a published article had been factually wrong and that the magazine editors had known it to be wrong when they proceeded to publication. Wilson will have her own liability for legal fees arising from her action and now must pay eighty percent of the appeal fees of the magazine that caused her harm, plus an elevated interest rate on the time the money was in her hands.
The case publicity has cleared her name in the public arena, but it may be that it delivers a negative financial result. The worth of an actor is determined by the movie roles they manage to gain and if that bad publicity caused her to lose a role the public expected her to win her worth had been diminished. To add insult to injury, the costs now attributed to her by way of interest on that money and the publishers legal fees seriously reduce the compensation intended in that original judgement.
It is a sad fact of life that a lurid story helps sell magazines and this case will do little to compel publishers to keep strictly to the truth. It also illustrates that you can prove that you have been defamed, and still walk away with negative compensation. It is indeed a brave person who seeks redress through the courts !
The judgement handed down was a $4.7 million defamation payout and this provoked headlines around Australia because it broke records. Wilson reported that it was a matter of principle rather than money and that she intended to donate the payout to charity. The publisher handed over that $4.7 million promptly and Wilson had the money three weeks after judgement.
Our judicial system consists of an overlapping series of courts of ever increasing seniority. The magazine publisher has taken the case to a court of appeal and this court has seen fit to vary the payout. In early June it reduced that $4.7 million to $3.9 million for economic damage related to the loss of income. It ordered Wilson to repay the publisher $4,183,071.45 - including $60,316.45 interest for the period she was in possession of the money.
One of the reasons so few use the courts to settle disputes is the vagaries that surround court costs and how they will be awarded. In this instance the appeals court has ruled that Wilson must pay eighty percent of the publishers legal costs and these have yet to be determined.
Wilson does not dispute her need to repay $4.1 million, but she disputes the rate of interest the court has applied for the period the money was in her hands. This has been calculated at 2% while the Reserve Bank cash rate stands at 1.5%. Self funded retirees are very aware of the difficulty of achieving interest above that cash rate in the present economic climate.
This case clearly illustrates the hazards of taking court action to redress a wrong. A court delivered a finding that a published article had been factually wrong and that the magazine editors had known it to be wrong when they proceeded to publication. Wilson will have her own liability for legal fees arising from her action and now must pay eighty percent of the appeal fees of the magazine that caused her harm, plus an elevated interest rate on the time the money was in her hands.
The case publicity has cleared her name in the public arena, but it may be that it delivers a negative financial result. The worth of an actor is determined by the movie roles they manage to gain and if that bad publicity caused her to lose a role the public expected her to win her worth had been diminished. To add insult to injury, the costs now attributed to her by way of interest on that money and the publishers legal fees seriously reduce the compensation intended in that original judgement.
It is a sad fact of life that a lurid story helps sell magazines and this case will do little to compel publishers to keep strictly to the truth. It also illustrates that you can prove that you have been defamed, and still walk away with negative compensation. It is indeed a brave person who seeks redress through the courts !
Thursday 28 June 2018
The Finance Perils of Farming !
The farmers of Australia have long complained that the policies of the banks are geared towards the finance needs of manufacturing industry and bankers fail to understand the vagaries of farming finance which tends to even out over a number of seasons.
This Royal Commission on banks is uncovering unethical conduct which has forced farmers off their land in instances where ANZ bank admitted that its actions fell below community standards and expectations or was in breach of the Banking Code of Practice.
There were 268 submissions before the Royal Commission and 32 related to the ANZ acquisition of Landmark in 2010. At that time ANZ acquired 7124 farm loans with a value of $2.3 billion. The Royal Commission heard testimony from a 87 year old Queensland farmer who was forced off his property despite never missing a mortgage payment. The bank simply devalued the property due to the drought and this lower valuation brought the loan below the loan to value ratio demanded by the bank.
The risks of farming are many and varied. Drought can sharply curtail income, but droughts eventually end and most farms need to endure these cyclical variations which do not apply to conventional manufacturing industry. The price of wool, grain and livestock are all subject to price rises and price falls due to demand, and that is often the result of world events that range from wars to fashion. That is why the mixed farm is so prevalent in Australia. It spreads the risk, but it still requires a banker with patience.
That Landmark acquisition revealed a sad story. By 2013 a third of the farm loans - 1050 accounts - were considered impaired or high risk. Their valuation had decreased to $722 million and farmers were being forced to sell their properties. It was clearly a case of loans being transferred from a lender that understood farming, to a lender with a rigid and uncompromising attitude dictated by a scant knowledge of farming practice.
The Commission heard evidence where farms were allowed to trade for the rest of the season on the understanding they would sell assets in 2011 to clear the debt. However, by October 2011 they were given just two months to sell their properties under this asset management agreement, and if it did not sell at auction they would need to surrender their properties to ANZ within seven days of ANZ's demand.
People who had farmed successfully for many generations were facing oblivion because the finance for farms was changing from banks and finance organizations with a close affinity to farming to big city financiers who applied the criteria applicable to an entirely different type of industry. In particular, this was playing into the hands of foreign governments who were seeking food production assets in Australia and other countries in expectation of future world food shortages.
It seems to be quite clear that the banks were neither fair or reasonable in their application to farm finance. Now we await the action the Royal Commission may put in place to correct that situation !
This Royal Commission on banks is uncovering unethical conduct which has forced farmers off their land in instances where ANZ bank admitted that its actions fell below community standards and expectations or was in breach of the Banking Code of Practice.
There were 268 submissions before the Royal Commission and 32 related to the ANZ acquisition of Landmark in 2010. At that time ANZ acquired 7124 farm loans with a value of $2.3 billion. The Royal Commission heard testimony from a 87 year old Queensland farmer who was forced off his property despite never missing a mortgage payment. The bank simply devalued the property due to the drought and this lower valuation brought the loan below the loan to value ratio demanded by the bank.
The risks of farming are many and varied. Drought can sharply curtail income, but droughts eventually end and most farms need to endure these cyclical variations which do not apply to conventional manufacturing industry. The price of wool, grain and livestock are all subject to price rises and price falls due to demand, and that is often the result of world events that range from wars to fashion. That is why the mixed farm is so prevalent in Australia. It spreads the risk, but it still requires a banker with patience.
That Landmark acquisition revealed a sad story. By 2013 a third of the farm loans - 1050 accounts - were considered impaired or high risk. Their valuation had decreased to $722 million and farmers were being forced to sell their properties. It was clearly a case of loans being transferred from a lender that understood farming, to a lender with a rigid and uncompromising attitude dictated by a scant knowledge of farming practice.
The Commission heard evidence where farms were allowed to trade for the rest of the season on the understanding they would sell assets in 2011 to clear the debt. However, by October 2011 they were given just two months to sell their properties under this asset management agreement, and if it did not sell at auction they would need to surrender their properties to ANZ within seven days of ANZ's demand.
People who had farmed successfully for many generations were facing oblivion because the finance for farms was changing from banks and finance organizations with a close affinity to farming to big city financiers who applied the criteria applicable to an entirely different type of industry. In particular, this was playing into the hands of foreign governments who were seeking food production assets in Australia and other countries in expectation of future world food shortages.
It seems to be quite clear that the banks were neither fair or reasonable in their application to farm finance. Now we await the action the Royal Commission may put in place to correct that situation !
Wednesday 27 June 2018
The " Wall " Culture !
We are beginning to live in a world that has vastly changed since the Soviet Union imploded. The Communists built walls to keep their subjects from escaping to the west. Today it is the west building walls to keep refugees from both war and poverty from flooding over borders and demanding sanctuary. That " Wall " can consist of both a physical structure or simply a closed border. A huge number of asylum seekers exist in squalid camps in both Europe and Asia, waiting for their fate to be decided by unfriendly governments.
A few centuries ago all the cities of Europe were encased with a protective wall and the citizens were drafted into militias to defend it against attack. There were gates in this wall and they were closed and locked at night. War was a common occurrence as a prevalence of small countries sought to expand their borders by force and the weak were invaded by the strong.
The number of people living on planet Earth has passed seven billion and there is the expectation that it will reach ten billion in the near future. There is a doubt that the food supply can accommodate those numbers and a hotter planet is likely to disrupt the rainfall pattern. We may see droughts extend where food bowls are now present and this exodus of people moving to where life promises to be better could become unstoppable.
We are seeing a rise in xenophobia in many parts of the world. There is a rising tide of rejection to allowing refugees to settle and change the culture of many communities. When governments fail to close their borders they risk being replaced by populist regimes and sometimes democracy is being replaced by strong leaders who assume dictatorial powers. Across the world, fear of foreigners and the promises of protection is accelerating this trend.
We now live in a world on instant communication and how the people of advanced countries live is there for all to see. The dispossessed simply vote with their feet and there is an ample supply of assistance ready to take their money and help them achieve that journey. People smuggling is a growing industry and is now one of the " dark " ventures that make its exponents very rich.
Unfortunately, what we are now seeing is simply the tip of a giant iceberg. If global warming achieves the outcomes that science predicts we will see much of the people of this planet on the move later this century. That may cause target countries to need to go to war to stop the inflow, and such a tragedy can only be prevented by action now to improve the living conditions that cause that exodus.
Instead of building walls, the money would be better spent in creating water retention and improving crop yields to achieve for the people of poor countries a better life and freedom from hunger. The present refugee numbers are only a sample of what will eventually become a flood tide unless we take remedial action !
A few centuries ago all the cities of Europe were encased with a protective wall and the citizens were drafted into militias to defend it against attack. There were gates in this wall and they were closed and locked at night. War was a common occurrence as a prevalence of small countries sought to expand their borders by force and the weak were invaded by the strong.
The number of people living on planet Earth has passed seven billion and there is the expectation that it will reach ten billion in the near future. There is a doubt that the food supply can accommodate those numbers and a hotter planet is likely to disrupt the rainfall pattern. We may see droughts extend where food bowls are now present and this exodus of people moving to where life promises to be better could become unstoppable.
We are seeing a rise in xenophobia in many parts of the world. There is a rising tide of rejection to allowing refugees to settle and change the culture of many communities. When governments fail to close their borders they risk being replaced by populist regimes and sometimes democracy is being replaced by strong leaders who assume dictatorial powers. Across the world, fear of foreigners and the promises of protection is accelerating this trend.
We now live in a world on instant communication and how the people of advanced countries live is there for all to see. The dispossessed simply vote with their feet and there is an ample supply of assistance ready to take their money and help them achieve that journey. People smuggling is a growing industry and is now one of the " dark " ventures that make its exponents very rich.
Unfortunately, what we are now seeing is simply the tip of a giant iceberg. If global warming achieves the outcomes that science predicts we will see much of the people of this planet on the move later this century. That may cause target countries to need to go to war to stop the inflow, and such a tragedy can only be prevented by action now to improve the living conditions that cause that exodus.
Instead of building walls, the money would be better spent in creating water retention and improving crop yields to achieve for the people of poor countries a better life and freedom from hunger. The present refugee numbers are only a sample of what will eventually become a flood tide unless we take remedial action !
Tuesday 26 June 2018
When " Politics " become " Personable " !
It has long been said that both religion and politics are best avoided when people of good manners communicate with one another. They both tend to stir passions and they are unlikely to reach resolution by the application of logic. Many of the wars that have engulfed nations and led to unspeakable acts have been generated by either religion or politics being enforced by the power of a military weapon.
America is riven by a deep political divide. The form of government chosen to hold office has been decided by the anonymity of ordinary citizens casing their vote in secret behind a screen and dropping it in a ballot box. The will of the majority applies and they get to reinforce that choice at regular intervals.
The same sex marriage issue introduced a new trend. Those opposed to same sex nuptials declined to supply services like flowers or a wedding cake as their act of protest and this became an issue with the anti discrimination crowd. The legality of withholding a service because of opposition to whatever it will be applied broke new legal ground.
Now that same issue has devolved to the personal level. To be associated with politics now seems to be a reason for that person to be denied personal service. That opens an ever widening gap of frightening dimensions.
The victim was the woman who draws her payroll as the press secretary for President Trump. It seems that she walked into the Red Hen farm to table restaurant in rural Virginia and was recognised by the chef because of her role of making announcements on television. The restaurant owner who resides nearby and had strong anti-Trump feelings immediately drove to this twenty-six seat restaurant and asked Sarah Huckabee Sanders to leave. This owner commented that " the restaurant has certain standards that I feel it has to uphold, such as honesty and compassion and co-operation. I said ' I'd like to ask you to leave ' ".
This raises a whole new political schism that could rock the nation. Love him or hate him - Donald Trump won the presidential election and is now the legitimate president of the country. In November he will face the mid term election. Will we see those wearing " Make America Great " caps be ordered out of restaurants or off public transport ? Will we see " Vote Democrat " badge holders suffer a similar fate where the opposite opinion holder is the service provider ?
Such extremity could be condoned under the " only in America " label but we would be wise to keep politics in Australia firmly shackled to the ballot box. Taxation reform and immigration are both emotive issues which invite deeply divisive views. This personal political rancour is territory we don't want to tread !
America is riven by a deep political divide. The form of government chosen to hold office has been decided by the anonymity of ordinary citizens casing their vote in secret behind a screen and dropping it in a ballot box. The will of the majority applies and they get to reinforce that choice at regular intervals.
The same sex marriage issue introduced a new trend. Those opposed to same sex nuptials declined to supply services like flowers or a wedding cake as their act of protest and this became an issue with the anti discrimination crowd. The legality of withholding a service because of opposition to whatever it will be applied broke new legal ground.
Now that same issue has devolved to the personal level. To be associated with politics now seems to be a reason for that person to be denied personal service. That opens an ever widening gap of frightening dimensions.
The victim was the woman who draws her payroll as the press secretary for President Trump. It seems that she walked into the Red Hen farm to table restaurant in rural Virginia and was recognised by the chef because of her role of making announcements on television. The restaurant owner who resides nearby and had strong anti-Trump feelings immediately drove to this twenty-six seat restaurant and asked Sarah Huckabee Sanders to leave. This owner commented that " the restaurant has certain standards that I feel it has to uphold, such as honesty and compassion and co-operation. I said ' I'd like to ask you to leave ' ".
This raises a whole new political schism that could rock the nation. Love him or hate him - Donald Trump won the presidential election and is now the legitimate president of the country. In November he will face the mid term election. Will we see those wearing " Make America Great " caps be ordered out of restaurants or off public transport ? Will we see " Vote Democrat " badge holders suffer a similar fate where the opposite opinion holder is the service provider ?
Such extremity could be condoned under the " only in America " label but we would be wise to keep politics in Australia firmly shackled to the ballot box. Taxation reform and immigration are both emotive issues which invite deeply divisive views. This personal political rancour is territory we don't want to tread !
Monday 25 June 2018
Koori Incarceration !
Nationally, Aborigines and Torres Strait islanders make up just 2.8% of the Australian population, but in New South Wales they represent 28% of the prison population. Both the NSW Bar Association and the Police Association are calling for the trial of a special court to try and break the nexus of Koori men offending and constantly re-offending.
They cite the example of the outcome when the state instituted a special court to hear drug cases in 1999. The re-offending rate dropped by 37% when drug matters were heard before this special court and it definitely did not include a " soft on crime " outcome. The monitoring of court orders received a more onerous treatment and included the use of drug and alcohol testing on a random basis.
A similar approach in Victoria has had a reduction in Koori crime. The Walama Court hears matters which involve Koori sentencing and seeks reduced rates of recidivism by looking deeply at the crime patterns involved and their effect on the entire Koori community. When a Koori man is sent to gaol there is an obvious outcome on the living standards of other family members.
The proposers claim that a similar court here would have a positive result and a five year trial would cost about $15 million. Considering that it costs $181 each day to keep a prisoner behind bars anything that reduces prison numbers would be a welcome saving.
Before European settlement arrived in Australia the Aboriginal community did not use imprisonment as their punishment for crime. They had no prisons and therefore justice was more an " on the spot " form of punishment rather than the prolonged loss of liberty as practised by the incoming white regime.
The tribal elders would decide on punishment and that could take the form of deliberately spearing the offender in an arm or a leg. Apart from the obvious pain, this was a disability that prevented the offender from hunting or providing for his family while the wound healed, and there was always the risk of blood poisoning resulting in death. It had the salutary effect of discouraging recidivism with the knowledge that the outcome would mean another spearing.
We considered that barbaric, but to an Aboriginal the loss of freedom while confined to a prison may have seemed more a matter of mental anguish than the pain delivered by a sharp spear. The police and the Bar Association are not proposing a return to spearing but they do believe that Aboriginal justice may be better served by Aboriginal elders fitting a penalty to the crime which is more conducive to punishment than the white mans logic of putting the offender behind bars.
Unfortunately, there is now a certain inevitability when a young Koori man faces court. There is the expectation that he will be sentenced to imprisonment, and when he arrives at that prison he will be enveloped by a fraternal protection of fellow Kooris and he will quickly become a student at what is commonly called the " University of Crime ". He will be a far more knowledgeable alumni when he walks out that gate to freedom.
The maxim " Nothing ventured - Nothing gained " applies. Giving something like the Walama court a trial may both reduce the Koori prison population and save the state a lot of money. This is a case where the system IS broken - and it needs fixing.
They cite the example of the outcome when the state instituted a special court to hear drug cases in 1999. The re-offending rate dropped by 37% when drug matters were heard before this special court and it definitely did not include a " soft on crime " outcome. The monitoring of court orders received a more onerous treatment and included the use of drug and alcohol testing on a random basis.
A similar approach in Victoria has had a reduction in Koori crime. The Walama Court hears matters which involve Koori sentencing and seeks reduced rates of recidivism by looking deeply at the crime patterns involved and their effect on the entire Koori community. When a Koori man is sent to gaol there is an obvious outcome on the living standards of other family members.
The proposers claim that a similar court here would have a positive result and a five year trial would cost about $15 million. Considering that it costs $181 each day to keep a prisoner behind bars anything that reduces prison numbers would be a welcome saving.
Before European settlement arrived in Australia the Aboriginal community did not use imprisonment as their punishment for crime. They had no prisons and therefore justice was more an " on the spot " form of punishment rather than the prolonged loss of liberty as practised by the incoming white regime.
The tribal elders would decide on punishment and that could take the form of deliberately spearing the offender in an arm or a leg. Apart from the obvious pain, this was a disability that prevented the offender from hunting or providing for his family while the wound healed, and there was always the risk of blood poisoning resulting in death. It had the salutary effect of discouraging recidivism with the knowledge that the outcome would mean another spearing.
We considered that barbaric, but to an Aboriginal the loss of freedom while confined to a prison may have seemed more a matter of mental anguish than the pain delivered by a sharp spear. The police and the Bar Association are not proposing a return to spearing but they do believe that Aboriginal justice may be better served by Aboriginal elders fitting a penalty to the crime which is more conducive to punishment than the white mans logic of putting the offender behind bars.
Unfortunately, there is now a certain inevitability when a young Koori man faces court. There is the expectation that he will be sentenced to imprisonment, and when he arrives at that prison he will be enveloped by a fraternal protection of fellow Kooris and he will quickly become a student at what is commonly called the " University of Crime ". He will be a far more knowledgeable alumni when he walks out that gate to freedom.
The maxim " Nothing ventured - Nothing gained " applies. Giving something like the Walama court a trial may both reduce the Koori prison population and save the state a lot of money. This is a case where the system IS broken - and it needs fixing.
Sunday 24 June 2018
Attacking Our Democratic Process !
Salim Mehajer is probably as familiar a face to the general public as our prime minster. He has figured prominently on both television news screens and newspaper headlines since he burst into prominence six years ago with his wedding, which had all the grandeur of the enthronement of a Pope and the elevation of a Viceroy. A city centre was closed down for hours as drum beating supporters, helicopters and a convoy of expensive motor vehicles heralded the nuptials of this property developer and recently elected councillor in the style of a Maharajah.
Mehajer craved publicity but much of it was the wrong sort. We were privy to the failure of his marriage and a messy court action when a staircase supplier sued to claim payment for the work of art installed in the marital home, and now the worst publicity of all. This week Mehajer left court in handcuffs as Magistrate Beverley Schurr sentenced him to a maximum of twenty-one months in prison for electoral fraud.
In fact Salim Mehajer has been in and out of jail for the past six months as various indiscretions have caught up with him, but the serious affront to society is a conviction for stacking the 2012 Auburn council election by simply enrolling people who were not entitled to vote, with the result that he not only gained office but went on to become deputy mayor.
Magistrate Schurr found that he had engaged in joint criminal enterprises with his sister, Fatima to rig the 2012 Auburn council election in his favour. Electoral office staff became suspicious after an unusually large number of online enrolment applications were received in July 2012. Fatima received a suspended two month jail sentence and a $500 good behaviour bond. She also had been an unwilling council candidate on the basis of her position in the family hierarchy.
Salim Mehajer's lofty ambitions have fallen to earth and the man who professed a desire to become prime minister is now disgraced. He has announced that the sentence will be appealed, but the focus is now on our democratic process and the ease with which that old political ploy of branch stacking has been so successfully employed to rig a council election.
It is painfully obvious that the electoral commission which supervises elections in Australia needs to have another long look at the process in which voters are enrolled. Voting in Federal, State and council elections is compulsory in Australia and failure to vote brings a hefty fine. In the past applications to join the voting roll have been largely taken on trust but this successful fraud is sending warning signals. It received a positive result, and it will clearly become an option in future elections.
A vote is something of value in the hands of the general public and we are concerned that outside forces are manipulating public opinion by feeding fake news through public media outlets like Facebook. The fact that the voting rolls may be tampered with will only throw doubt on the whole democratic apparatus to deliver government that is the will of the people.
Salim Mehajer may have done us a public service if his crime results in the electoral roll being tightened to the degree that we have confidence that every person casting a vote has had that right fully authenticated. He has thrown the spotlight on what seems a very obvious weakness and it needs to be rectified !
Mehajer craved publicity but much of it was the wrong sort. We were privy to the failure of his marriage and a messy court action when a staircase supplier sued to claim payment for the work of art installed in the marital home, and now the worst publicity of all. This week Mehajer left court in handcuffs as Magistrate Beverley Schurr sentenced him to a maximum of twenty-one months in prison for electoral fraud.
In fact Salim Mehajer has been in and out of jail for the past six months as various indiscretions have caught up with him, but the serious affront to society is a conviction for stacking the 2012 Auburn council election by simply enrolling people who were not entitled to vote, with the result that he not only gained office but went on to become deputy mayor.
Magistrate Schurr found that he had engaged in joint criminal enterprises with his sister, Fatima to rig the 2012 Auburn council election in his favour. Electoral office staff became suspicious after an unusually large number of online enrolment applications were received in July 2012. Fatima received a suspended two month jail sentence and a $500 good behaviour bond. She also had been an unwilling council candidate on the basis of her position in the family hierarchy.
Salim Mehajer's lofty ambitions have fallen to earth and the man who professed a desire to become prime minister is now disgraced. He has announced that the sentence will be appealed, but the focus is now on our democratic process and the ease with which that old political ploy of branch stacking has been so successfully employed to rig a council election.
It is painfully obvious that the electoral commission which supervises elections in Australia needs to have another long look at the process in which voters are enrolled. Voting in Federal, State and council elections is compulsory in Australia and failure to vote brings a hefty fine. In the past applications to join the voting roll have been largely taken on trust but this successful fraud is sending warning signals. It received a positive result, and it will clearly become an option in future elections.
A vote is something of value in the hands of the general public and we are concerned that outside forces are manipulating public opinion by feeding fake news through public media outlets like Facebook. The fact that the voting rolls may be tampered with will only throw doubt on the whole democratic apparatus to deliver government that is the will of the people.
Salim Mehajer may have done us a public service if his crime results in the electoral roll being tightened to the degree that we have confidence that every person casting a vote has had that right fully authenticated. He has thrown the spotlight on what seems a very obvious weakness and it needs to be rectified !
Saturday 23 June 2018
Collision Course !
If it hadn't been for either a comet or an asteroid colliding with planet Earth we would probably be sharing the land with Dinosaurs today. Those Dinosaurs were at the peak of the animal kingdom and its a moot point whether us Homo sapiens could have survived in combat with these armoured monsters which dominated the land, oceans and had achieved flight. When the first humans evolved their weapons were primitive and they could have been hunted for prey.
Science believes whatever struck Earth was so catastrophic that it sent the planet into a frigid winter that lasted for years. The dust in the atmosphere blocked out the suns heat and light and brought in an ice age that killed most animal and plant life. When sunlight returned and the ice melted it became the age of the marsupials - and the world we know today.
We are nervously aware that the Kuiper belt contains trillions of rocky objects left over from the formation of planets after the big bang and occasionally a space rock collides with Earth. In 2013 one measuring about twenty metres in size entered the atmosphere over Russia and damaged thousands of buildings and caused many injuries. That one escaped our vigilance and was a timely warning of an ever present danger.
NASA believes it has tracked ninety-five percent of all near Earth objects and has catalogued 18,300 space rocks of all sizes. Of these, eight hundred are a hundred and forty metres long - or bigger. What gives scientists sleepless nights is that other five percent - out there somewhere !
Our massive telescopes are very good at tracking objects in the night sky but the danger area is when objects approaching are masked by the sun and only appear in our vision when they suddenly appear on the day side, when sunlight is shining on Earth. That is when our reaction time to prevent a collision is desperately short.
Donald Trump is promising to activate greater efforts to give earlier warning of approaching space rocks, but he has also alarmed other countries by declaring that he intends to project the United States military into a space defence role. Space is protected by a widely signed moratorium which Trump proposes to set aside. That agreement forbids the use of space for the positioning of military hardware capable of waging war from above the countries on the Earth's surface.
The danger is that this will set off a space arms race. We know that many countries already have rocket trajectories aimed at the communication satellites circling this planet and in a war these would be the first target to achieve a communications blackout. Anything the United States does in space to track space rocks will be misinterpreted as having military overtones.
An undetected space rock hitting Earth would be catastrophic. It could deliver the type of destruction that wiped out the Dinosaurs, only this time the victims would be us. Given enough time warning we may be able to deflect a coming hit, but that depends on an effective early warning system being in place.
It is important that whatever early warning is planned is under the auspices of the United Nations and not controlled by any singular country. It is equally important that the space moratorium be honoured and Donald Trump persuaded to abandon his plan to put weapons in space. An arms race in space would be the ultimate act of stupidity likely to destroy the only place the human race can yet call " home " !
Science believes whatever struck Earth was so catastrophic that it sent the planet into a frigid winter that lasted for years. The dust in the atmosphere blocked out the suns heat and light and brought in an ice age that killed most animal and plant life. When sunlight returned and the ice melted it became the age of the marsupials - and the world we know today.
We are nervously aware that the Kuiper belt contains trillions of rocky objects left over from the formation of planets after the big bang and occasionally a space rock collides with Earth. In 2013 one measuring about twenty metres in size entered the atmosphere over Russia and damaged thousands of buildings and caused many injuries. That one escaped our vigilance and was a timely warning of an ever present danger.
NASA believes it has tracked ninety-five percent of all near Earth objects and has catalogued 18,300 space rocks of all sizes. Of these, eight hundred are a hundred and forty metres long - or bigger. What gives scientists sleepless nights is that other five percent - out there somewhere !
Our massive telescopes are very good at tracking objects in the night sky but the danger area is when objects approaching are masked by the sun and only appear in our vision when they suddenly appear on the day side, when sunlight is shining on Earth. That is when our reaction time to prevent a collision is desperately short.
Donald Trump is promising to activate greater efforts to give earlier warning of approaching space rocks, but he has also alarmed other countries by declaring that he intends to project the United States military into a space defence role. Space is protected by a widely signed moratorium which Trump proposes to set aside. That agreement forbids the use of space for the positioning of military hardware capable of waging war from above the countries on the Earth's surface.
The danger is that this will set off a space arms race. We know that many countries already have rocket trajectories aimed at the communication satellites circling this planet and in a war these would be the first target to achieve a communications blackout. Anything the United States does in space to track space rocks will be misinterpreted as having military overtones.
An undetected space rock hitting Earth would be catastrophic. It could deliver the type of destruction that wiped out the Dinosaurs, only this time the victims would be us. Given enough time warning we may be able to deflect a coming hit, but that depends on an effective early warning system being in place.
It is important that whatever early warning is planned is under the auspices of the United Nations and not controlled by any singular country. It is equally important that the space moratorium be honoured and Donald Trump persuaded to abandon his plan to put weapons in space. An arms race in space would be the ultimate act of stupidity likely to destroy the only place the human race can yet call " home " !
Friday 22 June 2018
Replacing Plastic !
Shopping is about to become a very new experience now that free plastic shopping bags are disappearing from the market place. Woolworths no longer offer plastic bags and Coles will follow at the start of next month. It is hoped that this will help reduce the mountains of plastic ending up in the oceans and which is causing the death of birds and sea creatures.
A few years ago we went on a voluntary crusade to end this plastic bag menace. Hundreds of thousands of people presented at the checkouts with their own green reusable carry bags and at its height this seemed unstoppable, but gradually the tide receded and today only a small minority of these green bags survive in a sea of plastic.
The options for those who shop unprepared will be either a return to sturdy, reusable green bags or purchase what we hope will be a biodegradable large plastic bag for about fifteen cents to hold our shopping. It is highly likely that we will see a return to those green bags of yesteryear that are on offer at most checkouts.
It is likely that customers will quickly adapt for the multi item weekly grocery shopping purchase, but there will be a problem with the impulse buy of several items that can not be accommodated in pockets or purse. The bags for sale on offer all seem large and the shops may be forced to consider small biodegradable bags as an option, but the principle remains the same - the era of free bags has ended.
At the moment, public opinion is running seventy-five percent in favour of phasing out free bags but many people claim they had secondary uses for those free bags. In particular, they were widely used as liners for household rubbish bins and now replacement bags will need to be purchased for that same purpose. It is hoped they will be of biodegradable material otherwise there will be little gained.
We are creatures of habit and from its appearance in Australia the Aldi supermarkets never offered free bags. It is noticeable that Aldi customers come prepared with their own bags or wheel the trolley to their cars and deposit their purchases loosely in the vehicle. The turning point in the withdrawal of free bags is the compliance of Woolworths and Coles, who have a major market share.
Unless this free bag removal is supported by legislation there is a risk that smaller stores will retain the option of free bags as a way of encouraging trade. The main objection was that because they were free they were made by the cheapest method that resulted in material that was not biodegradable and which lasted for centuries. It is possible to make bags that degrade with time but that involves a higher cost which commerce rejects.
It will be interesting to see how public opinion reacts as the ban becomes widespread. It would be perfectly logical for packaging of goods at the retail level to become an option. Bring your own container, or have a biodegradable bag supplied and added to the purchase price. In this way, bags that were formerly polluting the world would be replaced by a biodegradable alternative and these would probably cost the customer about twenty-cents per bag.
The decisive factor will be in the minds of the public, but how goods are packaged in shops has probably changed forever !
A few years ago we went on a voluntary crusade to end this plastic bag menace. Hundreds of thousands of people presented at the checkouts with their own green reusable carry bags and at its height this seemed unstoppable, but gradually the tide receded and today only a small minority of these green bags survive in a sea of plastic.
The options for those who shop unprepared will be either a return to sturdy, reusable green bags or purchase what we hope will be a biodegradable large plastic bag for about fifteen cents to hold our shopping. It is highly likely that we will see a return to those green bags of yesteryear that are on offer at most checkouts.
It is likely that customers will quickly adapt for the multi item weekly grocery shopping purchase, but there will be a problem with the impulse buy of several items that can not be accommodated in pockets or purse. The bags for sale on offer all seem large and the shops may be forced to consider small biodegradable bags as an option, but the principle remains the same - the era of free bags has ended.
At the moment, public opinion is running seventy-five percent in favour of phasing out free bags but many people claim they had secondary uses for those free bags. In particular, they were widely used as liners for household rubbish bins and now replacement bags will need to be purchased for that same purpose. It is hoped they will be of biodegradable material otherwise there will be little gained.
We are creatures of habit and from its appearance in Australia the Aldi supermarkets never offered free bags. It is noticeable that Aldi customers come prepared with their own bags or wheel the trolley to their cars and deposit their purchases loosely in the vehicle. The turning point in the withdrawal of free bags is the compliance of Woolworths and Coles, who have a major market share.
Unless this free bag removal is supported by legislation there is a risk that smaller stores will retain the option of free bags as a way of encouraging trade. The main objection was that because they were free they were made by the cheapest method that resulted in material that was not biodegradable and which lasted for centuries. It is possible to make bags that degrade with time but that involves a higher cost which commerce rejects.
It will be interesting to see how public opinion reacts as the ban becomes widespread. It would be perfectly logical for packaging of goods at the retail level to become an option. Bring your own container, or have a biodegradable bag supplied and added to the purchase price. In this way, bags that were formerly polluting the world would be replaced by a biodegradable alternative and these would probably cost the customer about twenty-cents per bag.
The decisive factor will be in the minds of the public, but how goods are packaged in shops has probably changed forever !
Thursday 21 June 2018
Insurance !
It is surprising how many Australian houses are uninsured. When a city or a suburb is hit with a storm event we see news pictures of roofs ripped off and trees toppling onto buildings and the damage can run to hundreds of thousands of dollars. That happens regularly - at least several times a year - and for the uninsured home owner it can be a catastrophic event.
Then there is the fire risk ! House fires are a daily event in most cities and we have well trained fire brigades to limit damage, but so often we see distraught families surveying the ruins and reporting that they have lost " everything " - and they were uninsured.
The concept of insurance began on China's silk road centuries ago. Merchants taking their goods to western markets needed to cross wild rivers on their journey and it was common for a boat to capsize. A merchant with all his goods in that one boat was ruined when they were lost and a clever elder devised a way to spread the loss.
Traders formed groups and spread their goods over a number of boats, hence if one boat capsized the loss was just a fraction of each persons goods and the loss was sustainable. These journeys were also dangerous because of bandits and the idea spread to covering the lives of the traders. They established a pool of money and if a trader was killed and his goods stolen that pool reimbursed his family for their loss. It was the basis of " life insurance ".
Of course, to reduce the cost of that insurance cover to a reasonable amount the more people that contribute the lower the cost and that seems to be the problem we face today. The fact that a vast number of homes are not insured elevates the premium the insured must pay - and that increases the proportion of homes that are not covered.
Now a new phenomenon is contributing to the increase in those uninsured. In previous eras the value of the dwelling was far higher than the mere block of land on which it was situated. The price bubble that has occurred with housing has reversed that trend and now the land beneath is usually worth many times the value of whatever is built above it.
The incentive to insure has evaporated. In fact, older homes are being demolished to free the land for more modern structures hence the financial loss would be well covered by selling the land and buying elsewhere. The need for insurance has shifted to covering the personal effects of the contents against fire or loss by storm damage.
Change has also encompassed life insurance. In the days when few were covered by superannuation, people insured their lives to build a nest egg which they could negotiate for retirement money. That was " assurance " rather than " insurance " because the policy guaranteed an ever increasing sum of money would be paid - on death or sooner if the policy was surrendered. Consequently, the premium was higher than if it were just death cover for a nominated period.
Today, life insurance is more likely to be cover against death during a twelve month period with the rate of premium dictated by the persons age at the time of negotiating the policy. It has little relation to retirement, which is now covered by compulsory superannuation legislation.
Sadly, it seems that the insurance industry is set to further retreat from the days when most homes were insured and life assurance was seen as a necessity for a comfortable retirement. As more people are forced to embrace the rental market because of unaffordable house prices not keeping pace with lower pay levels the insurance of home contents takes greater importance.
Unfortunately, that also seems to be in decline !
Then there is the fire risk ! House fires are a daily event in most cities and we have well trained fire brigades to limit damage, but so often we see distraught families surveying the ruins and reporting that they have lost " everything " - and they were uninsured.
The concept of insurance began on China's silk road centuries ago. Merchants taking their goods to western markets needed to cross wild rivers on their journey and it was common for a boat to capsize. A merchant with all his goods in that one boat was ruined when they were lost and a clever elder devised a way to spread the loss.
Traders formed groups and spread their goods over a number of boats, hence if one boat capsized the loss was just a fraction of each persons goods and the loss was sustainable. These journeys were also dangerous because of bandits and the idea spread to covering the lives of the traders. They established a pool of money and if a trader was killed and his goods stolen that pool reimbursed his family for their loss. It was the basis of " life insurance ".
Of course, to reduce the cost of that insurance cover to a reasonable amount the more people that contribute the lower the cost and that seems to be the problem we face today. The fact that a vast number of homes are not insured elevates the premium the insured must pay - and that increases the proportion of homes that are not covered.
Now a new phenomenon is contributing to the increase in those uninsured. In previous eras the value of the dwelling was far higher than the mere block of land on which it was situated. The price bubble that has occurred with housing has reversed that trend and now the land beneath is usually worth many times the value of whatever is built above it.
The incentive to insure has evaporated. In fact, older homes are being demolished to free the land for more modern structures hence the financial loss would be well covered by selling the land and buying elsewhere. The need for insurance has shifted to covering the personal effects of the contents against fire or loss by storm damage.
Change has also encompassed life insurance. In the days when few were covered by superannuation, people insured their lives to build a nest egg which they could negotiate for retirement money. That was " assurance " rather than " insurance " because the policy guaranteed an ever increasing sum of money would be paid - on death or sooner if the policy was surrendered. Consequently, the premium was higher than if it were just death cover for a nominated period.
Today, life insurance is more likely to be cover against death during a twelve month period with the rate of premium dictated by the persons age at the time of negotiating the policy. It has little relation to retirement, which is now covered by compulsory superannuation legislation.
Sadly, it seems that the insurance industry is set to further retreat from the days when most homes were insured and life assurance was seen as a necessity for a comfortable retirement. As more people are forced to embrace the rental market because of unaffordable house prices not keeping pace with lower pay levels the insurance of home contents takes greater importance.
Unfortunately, that also seems to be in decline !
Wednesday 20 June 2018
The " Community Garden " Concept !
In the not so distant past the average Australian family lived in a free standing home on a quarter acre block of land in the suburbs. The reality of today is more likely to be an apartment high in the sky in one of the towering apartment blocks that are replacing urban sprawl.
Some apartment dwellers welcome the end of chores such as mowing lawns and tending gardens, but deep in the genetics of Homo sapiens lurks an attachment to the land from the era when we farmed for our living. The urge to get our hands dirty and grow things is fast becoming a missing component of modern lives.
The city of Launceston in the state of Tasmania has instigated a " Community garden " concept that fills that gap. A stretch of land in the suburb of Punchbowl used by the council for storing road machinery became vacant and the city planners created raised garden beds which could be worked at table height for comfort. Each of these measured about a metre by two metres and they were offered to city residents for a fee of just ten dollars each per year. Some people took more than one adjoining plots.
This community garden was safely fenced and those taking up garden plots were issued with a gate key, to enable 24/7 access. The concept quickly took on a life of its own and plots were quickly sought. A small glasshouse was added to enable seedling growth and this was sponsored by Rotary and other commercial interests became involved. Visiting experts gave advice and there is now a monthly newsletter emailed to plot holders advising planting times for the various vegetables for each season.
These are plots that are vigorously sought after by residents and it is astonishing just what a variety and abundance of fresh vegetables can be produced from such a well planned space. The cost of vegetables in the shops has been steadily increasing and many canny plot holders find they can grow most of their needs if they avoid things like potatoes which need a lot of space to expand beneath the soil.
There is a high degree of camaraderie and a mix of old and young tending these plots. Some migrants who remember the war years in Britain see the concept as reminding them of the " Victory gardens " of those troubled times. Apart from the money saving, there is something so satisfying in the freshness of produce that you have grown in your own garden, and with careful selection many plants can be re-harvested as they continue to regenerate.
It is an innovative use of otherwise unproductive council land and the idea could spread to other councils as a community service. It would be particularly applicable in Sydney where the city comprises many small council areas highly served by high rise. These often have land reserved for future council use that could be converted to a community garden and bridge the isolation from the land that is an integral part of apartment living.
The community garden idea seems the ideal solution to that lack of communion with the lands that affects so many apartment dwellers. It may be small and distant but it fills a need that is otherwise impossible to sustain.
Some apartment dwellers welcome the end of chores such as mowing lawns and tending gardens, but deep in the genetics of Homo sapiens lurks an attachment to the land from the era when we farmed for our living. The urge to get our hands dirty and grow things is fast becoming a missing component of modern lives.
The city of Launceston in the state of Tasmania has instigated a " Community garden " concept that fills that gap. A stretch of land in the suburb of Punchbowl used by the council for storing road machinery became vacant and the city planners created raised garden beds which could be worked at table height for comfort. Each of these measured about a metre by two metres and they were offered to city residents for a fee of just ten dollars each per year. Some people took more than one adjoining plots.
This community garden was safely fenced and those taking up garden plots were issued with a gate key, to enable 24/7 access. The concept quickly took on a life of its own and plots were quickly sought. A small glasshouse was added to enable seedling growth and this was sponsored by Rotary and other commercial interests became involved. Visiting experts gave advice and there is now a monthly newsletter emailed to plot holders advising planting times for the various vegetables for each season.
These are plots that are vigorously sought after by residents and it is astonishing just what a variety and abundance of fresh vegetables can be produced from such a well planned space. The cost of vegetables in the shops has been steadily increasing and many canny plot holders find they can grow most of their needs if they avoid things like potatoes which need a lot of space to expand beneath the soil.
There is a high degree of camaraderie and a mix of old and young tending these plots. Some migrants who remember the war years in Britain see the concept as reminding them of the " Victory gardens " of those troubled times. Apart from the money saving, there is something so satisfying in the freshness of produce that you have grown in your own garden, and with careful selection many plants can be re-harvested as they continue to regenerate.
It is an innovative use of otherwise unproductive council land and the idea could spread to other councils as a community service. It would be particularly applicable in Sydney where the city comprises many small council areas highly served by high rise. These often have land reserved for future council use that could be converted to a community garden and bridge the isolation from the land that is an integral part of apartment living.
The community garden idea seems the ideal solution to that lack of communion with the lands that affects so many apartment dwellers. It may be small and distant but it fills a need that is otherwise impossible to sustain.
Tuesday 19 June 2018
We Are Being Poisoned !
It is very comforting to passengers of airlines around the world to know that should a fire erupt on their aircraft the fire services will promptly spray great masses of fire suppressing foam and that this is good at blocking off oxygen and snuffing out the fire. This same foam is widely used by city fire brigades in dealing with electrical fires.
After each fire incident is concluded we give little thought to what happens to the remains of that foam. It has long been regarded as harmless and is usually hosed away with water and it eventually either soaks into the ground or travels through the drains to our rivers and harbours.
This product is poly-fluoroalkyl which is commonly known as PFAS. The problem is that it is far from harmless and we are now encountering reports of cancer clusters in areas where tests reveal a high concentration of PFAS in the soil. In particular, this risk is prevalent near airports and around defence facilities sites and these are scattered widely in this country. At least ninety sites are being investigated for elevated levels of poly-fluoroalkyl FPAS chemicals.
A doubt is being expressed about the safety of recreational fishing in Botany bay. The Cooks river circles Sydney airport and empties into Botany bay and it is quite evident that this foam residue may have entered the food chain. It has been widely used as a fire suppressant for a very long period of time and the contamination will now be widespread. People living in close proximity to airports have a reason to worry.
It is likely that there will be fishing bans and residents will be warned to refrain from growing and eating vegetables in suspect soil. It may have an influence on house prices not only near airports but anywhere where industries may have had a fire risk attended by use of this foam. Even a car fire in a suburban street would usually be quelled in this way.
There will also be an urgency in developing a replacement for PFAS. Unfortunately, the mixture of chemicals is not always immediately apparent as to what risk factor is involved. It has taken decades for the harm PFAS can cause to become evident and it is such an important fire suppressant that its use can not stop immediately.
It seems certain that the fire industry will now use PFAS as a last resort and where possible will fight firers in other ways. It all depends on how quickly a safe replacement can be developed, but the public may be alert and watchful as to what technical substances are being deployed in their neighbourhoods.
Too often new products are coming to market without their full implications being known !
After each fire incident is concluded we give little thought to what happens to the remains of that foam. It has long been regarded as harmless and is usually hosed away with water and it eventually either soaks into the ground or travels through the drains to our rivers and harbours.
This product is poly-fluoroalkyl which is commonly known as PFAS. The problem is that it is far from harmless and we are now encountering reports of cancer clusters in areas where tests reveal a high concentration of PFAS in the soil. In particular, this risk is prevalent near airports and around defence facilities sites and these are scattered widely in this country. At least ninety sites are being investigated for elevated levels of poly-fluoroalkyl FPAS chemicals.
A doubt is being expressed about the safety of recreational fishing in Botany bay. The Cooks river circles Sydney airport and empties into Botany bay and it is quite evident that this foam residue may have entered the food chain. It has been widely used as a fire suppressant for a very long period of time and the contamination will now be widespread. People living in close proximity to airports have a reason to worry.
It is likely that there will be fishing bans and residents will be warned to refrain from growing and eating vegetables in suspect soil. It may have an influence on house prices not only near airports but anywhere where industries may have had a fire risk attended by use of this foam. Even a car fire in a suburban street would usually be quelled in this way.
There will also be an urgency in developing a replacement for PFAS. Unfortunately, the mixture of chemicals is not always immediately apparent as to what risk factor is involved. It has taken decades for the harm PFAS can cause to become evident and it is such an important fire suppressant that its use can not stop immediately.
It seems certain that the fire industry will now use PFAS as a last resort and where possible will fight firers in other ways. It all depends on how quickly a safe replacement can be developed, but the public may be alert and watchful as to what technical substances are being deployed in their neighbourhoods.
Too often new products are coming to market without their full implications being known !
Monday 18 June 2018
The " Poor " of Australia !
A recent survey delivered alarming news. We are one of the world's richest countries, but a third of our citizens would run out of money and become destitute if illness or something other caused their income stream to suddenly cease. They lack the savings to survive beyond a month and they are virtually living from one paycheck to another.
That is indeed alarming news when the great powers are threatening one another with a trade war and if that eventuates a recession would be inevitable. We do have a safety net that covers the unemployed, but that is mere survival money. It would not cover the weekly rent or pay electricity and food bills and very soon many would find themselves living on the streets.
Some families would not even last a month. It is now common for people with a lowly paid job to exhaust the money in their wallet before the next pay day arrives and they either go hungry or take out a loan to survive, and that leads to a cycle of debt that is unsustainable. In too many cases that debt is not fully repaid and is simple rolled over into a new loan at an interest rate that is measured by the elevated risk factor. The debtors find themselves on an unstoppable debt rollercoaster.
Educators report that many children arrive at school without the benefit of eating breakfast and often other meals of the day are uncertain, and this detracts from their concentration and has an adverse effect on their school progress. Some schools have developed a breakfast programme as a matter of necessity.
Many blame this situation on our Capitalist style of society, but Australia is a hybrid society embracing some of the mores of capitalism with a socialist base. By law we demand a minimum wage and bestow pensions and our legal system is designed to protect the weak from exploitation.The poor have always had access to fast money loans by way of the old pawnbroker system and later by loan companies that operated on a door to door basis and usually outside of the legal system. That has now come full circle with the appearance of instant loan machines similar to bank ATM's appearing in suburban shopping centres.
These machines are sited where incomes are thirty percent lower than the national average and promise same day loans based on repayments geared to what the borrower earns as a wage or gets as a benefit from Centrelink. The lenders profit comes from a twenty percent loan establishment fee and an interest charge of four percent per month.
These " payday " loans are often associated with rental-buy arrangements where consumer goods are offered at up to five times their retail price. In one instance an air conditioner and table and chair worth $1650 were rented out for $6000 over two years. It is clearly evident that the low interest paid by banks for money deposited has fuelled a redirection to the fast loan industry seeking higher rewards by way of high interest loans to the poor.
The activity in this area has increased from $476 million to $538 million in the past year and is rapidly ensnaring many people in unpayable debt. It is being widely advertised on television and legislation is required to break the nexus with overpriced goods offered on a lease/buy basis and on loans that exceed a limit of ten percent of the borrowers net income.
Such action has been promised but seems to be proceeding slowly in coming to a vote !
That is indeed alarming news when the great powers are threatening one another with a trade war and if that eventuates a recession would be inevitable. We do have a safety net that covers the unemployed, but that is mere survival money. It would not cover the weekly rent or pay electricity and food bills and very soon many would find themselves living on the streets.
Some families would not even last a month. It is now common for people with a lowly paid job to exhaust the money in their wallet before the next pay day arrives and they either go hungry or take out a loan to survive, and that leads to a cycle of debt that is unsustainable. In too many cases that debt is not fully repaid and is simple rolled over into a new loan at an interest rate that is measured by the elevated risk factor. The debtors find themselves on an unstoppable debt rollercoaster.
Educators report that many children arrive at school without the benefit of eating breakfast and often other meals of the day are uncertain, and this detracts from their concentration and has an adverse effect on their school progress. Some schools have developed a breakfast programme as a matter of necessity.
Many blame this situation on our Capitalist style of society, but Australia is a hybrid society embracing some of the mores of capitalism with a socialist base. By law we demand a minimum wage and bestow pensions and our legal system is designed to protect the weak from exploitation.The poor have always had access to fast money loans by way of the old pawnbroker system and later by loan companies that operated on a door to door basis and usually outside of the legal system. That has now come full circle with the appearance of instant loan machines similar to bank ATM's appearing in suburban shopping centres.
These machines are sited where incomes are thirty percent lower than the national average and promise same day loans based on repayments geared to what the borrower earns as a wage or gets as a benefit from Centrelink. The lenders profit comes from a twenty percent loan establishment fee and an interest charge of four percent per month.
These " payday " loans are often associated with rental-buy arrangements where consumer goods are offered at up to five times their retail price. In one instance an air conditioner and table and chair worth $1650 were rented out for $6000 over two years. It is clearly evident that the low interest paid by banks for money deposited has fuelled a redirection to the fast loan industry seeking higher rewards by way of high interest loans to the poor.
The activity in this area has increased from $476 million to $538 million in the past year and is rapidly ensnaring many people in unpayable debt. It is being widely advertised on television and legislation is required to break the nexus with overpriced goods offered on a lease/buy basis and on loans that exceed a limit of ten percent of the borrowers net income.
Such action has been promised but seems to be proceeding slowly in coming to a vote !
Sunday 17 June 2018
Creating Tourist Attractions !
For many decades the Sydney Harbour bridge was the iconic image of this city and was recognised as such a landmark worldwide. When it was joined by the Opera House they became inseparable on the literature that attracted a huge surge in tourists arriving here in 2000 when Sydney hosted the Olympic games, but the primary reason for the bridge was to get cars, trains and people across our sparkling harbour.
Motorists paid a toll to use the bridge and it was costly to maintain. A steel bridge over salt water is constantly in need of protective paint and the crews that performed this never ending task were legendary. One even went on to find fame and fortune as a television and movie star.
The bridge also served as part of the prize when New South Wales and Queensland met on the playing field to do combat in Rugby League's annual " State of Origin " series. The two state premiers agreed to a wager that the losing side would hoist the winning side's flag atop their city bridge to publicly accept the humiliation for the loss.
One day, someone had the bright idea of allowing tourists to climb the bridge and view the spectacular scenery of the city from such a commanding height. Safety was paramount and bridge climbers were required to wear protective clothing and have a safety line attached as they progressed, but it became reality and we were surprised at the numbers prepared to pay money for that experience. Bridge users are now accustomed to seeing a steady line of climbers ascending the arch in all kinds of weather.
The contract to manage this bridge climb has just been let for the next twenty years and since the venture started in 1998 more than four million people from a hundred and forty countries have made the climb. The present price for that experience is on average $ 378 per person.
The bridge climb is a contributor to state revenue and the bridge comes under the jurisdiction of the department of Roads and Maritime services and the price that won the tender is treated as Commercial-in-confidence and not revealed, but it was widely tendered and this included the past tender holder. In the 2015-16 financial year it paid $ 1.9 million annually to the state government.
Perhaps the most rewarding of this successful venture is the way it has opened eyes and had people thinking outside the proverbial " nine dots ". Not only is a climb over the Sydney Harbour bridge now a " must do " for many international tourists but it is contributing nearly two million dollars to the state economy. A new tenderer can be expected to add interesting features to the climb and further the appeal of this city as a tourist destination.
Hopefully, it will have other entrepreneurs looking for opportunities that can be turned into successful ventures. The tourist industry is looking for challenges, and all it takes is for inventive minds to widen their horizons.
Motorists paid a toll to use the bridge and it was costly to maintain. A steel bridge over salt water is constantly in need of protective paint and the crews that performed this never ending task were legendary. One even went on to find fame and fortune as a television and movie star.
The bridge also served as part of the prize when New South Wales and Queensland met on the playing field to do combat in Rugby League's annual " State of Origin " series. The two state premiers agreed to a wager that the losing side would hoist the winning side's flag atop their city bridge to publicly accept the humiliation for the loss.
One day, someone had the bright idea of allowing tourists to climb the bridge and view the spectacular scenery of the city from such a commanding height. Safety was paramount and bridge climbers were required to wear protective clothing and have a safety line attached as they progressed, but it became reality and we were surprised at the numbers prepared to pay money for that experience. Bridge users are now accustomed to seeing a steady line of climbers ascending the arch in all kinds of weather.
The contract to manage this bridge climb has just been let for the next twenty years and since the venture started in 1998 more than four million people from a hundred and forty countries have made the climb. The present price for that experience is on average $ 378 per person.
The bridge climb is a contributor to state revenue and the bridge comes under the jurisdiction of the department of Roads and Maritime services and the price that won the tender is treated as Commercial-in-confidence and not revealed, but it was widely tendered and this included the past tender holder. In the 2015-16 financial year it paid $ 1.9 million annually to the state government.
Perhaps the most rewarding of this successful venture is the way it has opened eyes and had people thinking outside the proverbial " nine dots ". Not only is a climb over the Sydney Harbour bridge now a " must do " for many international tourists but it is contributing nearly two million dollars to the state economy. A new tenderer can be expected to add interesting features to the climb and further the appeal of this city as a tourist destination.
Hopefully, it will have other entrepreneurs looking for opportunities that can be turned into successful ventures. The tourist industry is looking for challenges, and all it takes is for inventive minds to widen their horizons.
Saturday 16 June 2018
Defamation - and Damages !
Rebel Wilson had a big win when she sued the publisher of a leading women's magazine for defamation and was awarded $3.9 million in compensation. The court accepted that the magazine knew that the story it published was untrue and Wilson claimed that the adverse publicity caused her to lose the starring role in a movie.
What the courts giveth - the courts can also take away. The Court of Appeal reduced that payout to just $600,000 dollars but Wilson had pledged to give the money to charity anyway and her main reason for the action was to clear the slur on her name. The publicity surrounding the case and its award will have achieved that objective.
Now another interesting case is wending its way through the courts. In 2011 the Lockyer Valley received flood rains which send a deluge racing through Grantham, sweeping away houses and cars - and killing twelve people. It was a tragedy which played out on the television news and resulted in a wide ranging enquiry.
The walls of a local quarry collapsed under the volume of water and this caused broadcaster Alan Jones to claim that the quarry owners were responsible for those deaths. Jones had previously pursued the Wagner brothers on other issues on his radio show and he further claimed that they were guilty of a coverup as well as corruption and intimidation. The Wagner brothers are suing Jones, journalist Nick Carter , Harbour radio and 4BC for $4.8 million in compensation.
This raises that hoary old chestnut of " honest opinion " as a defence, and that received a setback when Justice Flanagan delivered a warning that such a defence would fail if his alleged defamatory statements were untrue. Jones' lawyer has admitted that some of the claims against the prominent Queensland family could not be defended.
Alan Jones is a controversial broadcaster and one of a fraternity known as " shock jocks ". Just as lurid headlines spur magazine sales, radio and television ratings are heavily influenced by the nature of the matter being discussed on air - and the more controversial the greater the audience interest.
Many are offended, but few take the dangerous step of going to court and suing for defamation. Actions in the courts are perilous because litigation costs are impossible to predict, as are the outcomes. Even when an action is successful there is the inevitability of appeal and once legal process is started it must run to its logical conclusion. In many cases the cost far outweighs the intrinsic value of the matter being fought over.
These days the courts and the entire legal system is the province of those with very deep pockets. The ultimate disaster for most " ordinary " people is to be accused of a crime and have the need to engage a lawyer to prepare a defence. The court system automatically applies heavy sentencing discounts for those who enter a guilty plea and many simply throw themselves on the mercy of the court rather than commit their family to penury by mounting a defence.
It seems that the courts are fast becoming a form of entertainment which is best viewed from afar !
What the courts giveth - the courts can also take away. The Court of Appeal reduced that payout to just $600,000 dollars but Wilson had pledged to give the money to charity anyway and her main reason for the action was to clear the slur on her name. The publicity surrounding the case and its award will have achieved that objective.
Now another interesting case is wending its way through the courts. In 2011 the Lockyer Valley received flood rains which send a deluge racing through Grantham, sweeping away houses and cars - and killing twelve people. It was a tragedy which played out on the television news and resulted in a wide ranging enquiry.
The walls of a local quarry collapsed under the volume of water and this caused broadcaster Alan Jones to claim that the quarry owners were responsible for those deaths. Jones had previously pursued the Wagner brothers on other issues on his radio show and he further claimed that they were guilty of a coverup as well as corruption and intimidation. The Wagner brothers are suing Jones, journalist Nick Carter , Harbour radio and 4BC for $4.8 million in compensation.
This raises that hoary old chestnut of " honest opinion " as a defence, and that received a setback when Justice Flanagan delivered a warning that such a defence would fail if his alleged defamatory statements were untrue. Jones' lawyer has admitted that some of the claims against the prominent Queensland family could not be defended.
Alan Jones is a controversial broadcaster and one of a fraternity known as " shock jocks ". Just as lurid headlines spur magazine sales, radio and television ratings are heavily influenced by the nature of the matter being discussed on air - and the more controversial the greater the audience interest.
Many are offended, but few take the dangerous step of going to court and suing for defamation. Actions in the courts are perilous because litigation costs are impossible to predict, as are the outcomes. Even when an action is successful there is the inevitability of appeal and once legal process is started it must run to its logical conclusion. In many cases the cost far outweighs the intrinsic value of the matter being fought over.
These days the courts and the entire legal system is the province of those with very deep pockets. The ultimate disaster for most " ordinary " people is to be accused of a crime and have the need to engage a lawyer to prepare a defence. The court system automatically applies heavy sentencing discounts for those who enter a guilty plea and many simply throw themselves on the mercy of the court rather than commit their family to penury by mounting a defence.
It seems that the courts are fast becoming a form of entertainment which is best viewed from afar !
Friday 15 June 2018
Letting Teachers " Teach " !
We are about to inject six billion dollars into the New South Wales education system over the next four years and yet comparisons show that education in Australia is actually going backwards in comparison with other countries. One of the problems is the diversity of curriculums that apply because education is a state matter and consequently we have six states and two territories setting their own different standards. All attempts to coordinate a national curriculum founder on a tertiary dogfight of state educators claiming that their system is best.
They are not able to even agree on a common reading list, and consequently when the job market moves parents from state to state their children are utterly confused when they need to change schools. Education has amassed into a huge bureaucracy which tends to micro-manage and which has a gargantuan appetite for statistics which it pushes around endlessly to illustrate combative view points. The time teachers spend - face to face with their students - seems to be ever shrinking.
The latest impost is something called " Plan 2 software " which applies to kindergarten to year two classes and is supposed to help teachers diagnose student weaknesses and eliminate gaps before they are moved forward. Teachers claim it is " time consuming and overwhelming ". It involved addressing over a thousand indicators across seven segments of literacy and numeracy for each child.
One teacher reported that it took him an entire day each week to do the necessary data entry and consequently his teaching place was taken by a casual teacher. Others compare it to the rigors of personally filling out their annual tax return, which most people leave to a professional service. It does seem to merge the skill and knowledge of the teaching profession with a mix of accountancy and data input that has little impact on pupil learning.
Another problem is that the schools are seen as an opportunity to achieve many objectives not directly connected to tertiary standards. Time is set aside for sport to enable healthy bodies, but in many cases teachers are not involved and the student must make his or her own arrangements. Then we have religious instruction taking up a segment each week, with many opting out and being idle for that time. It has become the custom to use the education system to facilitate a social agenda covering many aspects of desirable human conduct. This may be worthwhile in building a better society, but it detracts from the business of equipping the kids with the basics necessary to actually earn a living.
When we reminisce about our own school days we mostly remember a teacher that made his or her subject alive and interesting - and that was the subject at which we excelled. A good teacher needs the time to carefully plan and prepare each lesson, so that they can hold pupils interest and make the subject interesting. That can not be achieved if they are overwhelmed by data input and attending to the demands of a huge bureaucracy compiling statistics rather than concerned with teaching results.
That six billion dollars will not improve student results unless we improve the face to face time they spend with their charges and less time shuffling piles of paper. The job of a good teacher is to combine knowledge with the presentation a talented actor employs to bring a role to life on a stage.
Just as that actor holds the audience spellbound in their seats, a talented teacher has that magic ability to present the subject in an interesting form and to simplify the message and make it understandable. That comes naturally to some teachers, and needs to be learned by others.
Australia is the lucky country free of internal land borders - and a common language. It is time we adopted a common education curriculum and scale back the demands of the bureaucracy - and allow teachers - to teach !
They are not able to even agree on a common reading list, and consequently when the job market moves parents from state to state their children are utterly confused when they need to change schools. Education has amassed into a huge bureaucracy which tends to micro-manage and which has a gargantuan appetite for statistics which it pushes around endlessly to illustrate combative view points. The time teachers spend - face to face with their students - seems to be ever shrinking.
The latest impost is something called " Plan 2 software " which applies to kindergarten to year two classes and is supposed to help teachers diagnose student weaknesses and eliminate gaps before they are moved forward. Teachers claim it is " time consuming and overwhelming ". It involved addressing over a thousand indicators across seven segments of literacy and numeracy for each child.
One teacher reported that it took him an entire day each week to do the necessary data entry and consequently his teaching place was taken by a casual teacher. Others compare it to the rigors of personally filling out their annual tax return, which most people leave to a professional service. It does seem to merge the skill and knowledge of the teaching profession with a mix of accountancy and data input that has little impact on pupil learning.
Another problem is that the schools are seen as an opportunity to achieve many objectives not directly connected to tertiary standards. Time is set aside for sport to enable healthy bodies, but in many cases teachers are not involved and the student must make his or her own arrangements. Then we have religious instruction taking up a segment each week, with many opting out and being idle for that time. It has become the custom to use the education system to facilitate a social agenda covering many aspects of desirable human conduct. This may be worthwhile in building a better society, but it detracts from the business of equipping the kids with the basics necessary to actually earn a living.
When we reminisce about our own school days we mostly remember a teacher that made his or her subject alive and interesting - and that was the subject at which we excelled. A good teacher needs the time to carefully plan and prepare each lesson, so that they can hold pupils interest and make the subject interesting. That can not be achieved if they are overwhelmed by data input and attending to the demands of a huge bureaucracy compiling statistics rather than concerned with teaching results.
That six billion dollars will not improve student results unless we improve the face to face time they spend with their charges and less time shuffling piles of paper. The job of a good teacher is to combine knowledge with the presentation a talented actor employs to bring a role to life on a stage.
Just as that actor holds the audience spellbound in their seats, a talented teacher has that magic ability to present the subject in an interesting form and to simplify the message and make it understandable. That comes naturally to some teachers, and needs to be learned by others.
Australia is the lucky country free of internal land borders - and a common language. It is time we adopted a common education curriculum and scale back the demands of the bureaucracy - and allow teachers - to teach !
Thursday 14 June 2018
Much Adoo About Nothing !
The much hyped person to person meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un produced mutually signed statements that they would hold further talks. President Trump volunteered a suspension of war games between the US and South Korean forces which will save the US a lot of money and which could be seen as being provocative.
The sack of gold at the end of the rainbow is North Korea's promise to give up its nuclear weapons but exactly what it wants in exchange is not yet clear. Now that historic meeting is out of the way the horse trading will begin between the diplomats on both sides and they will have to juggle both the needs and opinions of South Korea in any workable agreement.
It is hard to see any arrangement that unifies the two Koreas becoming reality and the reunification of Germany delivers an objective lesson. Decades later the old Communist East Germany is still a virtual wasteland in comparison with the productive west. West Germany has poured trillions into rebuilding the east but the stagnant years under Communist rule appears to have sapped the will to be productive and creative and the east continues to be a financial burden.
North Korea is virtually two countries. A vast army surrounds an inner core of gifted technicians who have developed both nuclear weapons and their delivery systems. The rest of the country is basically agrarian peasantry living in squalor. It has become clear that South Koreans want no part of trying to absorb and educate this mass of people which would only lower their own standard of living.
Kim Jong-un desperately wants the sanctions that are squeezing the life out of his economy lifted and the promise of denuclearization has certainly grabbed the worlds attention. What he needs is to come in out of the cold and develop a legitimate economy that does not depend on selling narcotics and forging currency to gain a living. It is unlikely that he will be willing to give up the reign of terror he uses internally to hold dictatorial power over his country.
Kim Jong-un is no fool. He certainly remembers what happened to Quaddafi and Ukraine when it gave up its nuclear weapons in exchange for guarantees of security by the great powers, and Trumps reneging on the Iran deal sends a sobering message. North Korea is well known for reneging on past agreements and whatever the outcome it is likely that nukes will be hidden away in reserve as the final guarantor.
Ideally, negotiations with North Korea would be better under the auspices of the United Nations, but that is not the Trump way. Any deal will be personally negotiated by Trump and his hawkish advisers and North Korea will be heavily influenced by both China and Russia, who have their own interests in play.
There is a chance that a great benefit may emerge from these talks - if North Korea is not merely playing for time and Trump can conclude a legitimate deal that benefits all sides, but it will not be easily won and it will not happen quickly. The biggest problem is that to banish a nuclear nightmare it will involve direct negotiations between two of the weirdest human beings on this planet.
This will be something that will one day be pondered in the history books !
The sack of gold at the end of the rainbow is North Korea's promise to give up its nuclear weapons but exactly what it wants in exchange is not yet clear. Now that historic meeting is out of the way the horse trading will begin between the diplomats on both sides and they will have to juggle both the needs and opinions of South Korea in any workable agreement.
It is hard to see any arrangement that unifies the two Koreas becoming reality and the reunification of Germany delivers an objective lesson. Decades later the old Communist East Germany is still a virtual wasteland in comparison with the productive west. West Germany has poured trillions into rebuilding the east but the stagnant years under Communist rule appears to have sapped the will to be productive and creative and the east continues to be a financial burden.
North Korea is virtually two countries. A vast army surrounds an inner core of gifted technicians who have developed both nuclear weapons and their delivery systems. The rest of the country is basically agrarian peasantry living in squalor. It has become clear that South Koreans want no part of trying to absorb and educate this mass of people which would only lower their own standard of living.
Kim Jong-un desperately wants the sanctions that are squeezing the life out of his economy lifted and the promise of denuclearization has certainly grabbed the worlds attention. What he needs is to come in out of the cold and develop a legitimate economy that does not depend on selling narcotics and forging currency to gain a living. It is unlikely that he will be willing to give up the reign of terror he uses internally to hold dictatorial power over his country.
Kim Jong-un is no fool. He certainly remembers what happened to Quaddafi and Ukraine when it gave up its nuclear weapons in exchange for guarantees of security by the great powers, and Trumps reneging on the Iran deal sends a sobering message. North Korea is well known for reneging on past agreements and whatever the outcome it is likely that nukes will be hidden away in reserve as the final guarantor.
Ideally, negotiations with North Korea would be better under the auspices of the United Nations, but that is not the Trump way. Any deal will be personally negotiated by Trump and his hawkish advisers and North Korea will be heavily influenced by both China and Russia, who have their own interests in play.
There is a chance that a great benefit may emerge from these talks - if North Korea is not merely playing for time and Trump can conclude a legitimate deal that benefits all sides, but it will not be easily won and it will not happen quickly. The biggest problem is that to banish a nuclear nightmare it will involve direct negotiations between two of the weirdest human beings on this planet.
This will be something that will one day be pondered in the history books !
Wednesday 13 June 2018
Compulsory Land Acqusitions !
Receiving notice that the government will acquire the land on which your home stands can be a crushing blow to any family, but any fair thinking person will concede that it is usually a necessity to provide the ever expanding need for services in a growing city like Sydney.
A property developer has just won a decision in the Supreme Court that throws the entire land acquisition matter into doubt and at the very least it may delay projects under way and cause the state a financial catastrophe. If far advanced projects are subjected to delay the costs will increase and contractors will have to be compensated because completion delay costs them money.
Billions of dollars are involved and some of the projects under construction include the redevelopment of Prince of Wales hospital at Randwick, a road upgrade to the new airport at Badgerys Creek, The Parramatta light rail line and the Sydney Metro - and there is even doubt about completion of the massive West Connex.
Eighty-six acquisitions have been thrown into doubt with double jeopardy. More than forty are in danger of lapsing because a completion date for the acquisition is fast approaching and if the matter is not concluded in time those notices will automatically void.
This Supreme Court ruling is going to be appealed, but the appeal will take time and that completion date is hanging like the sword of Damocles over the head of many projects that are well advanced. It throws those that are not yet started back into the melting pot and it delays the property owners concerned from getting their money - and getting on with their lives. It is a situation in which nobody wins.
The state will argue in its appeal that the judge in the Supreme court erred on five grounds and that the state government right to acquisition was not fundamentally impacted in its right to compulsorily acquire property. This blockage will be eventually cleared, but at what cost to state projects ?
Land acquisition is a potentially explosive issue. It is couched in politics and establishing a fair price will always be argumentative. As a result, the courts are open to challenge and each individual acquisition can take time to wend its way through the courts. Perhaps the government would have been wiser to fully acquire the land before letting tenders for each project, but the longer the delay the more the tender price seems to increase.
Perhaps the only alternative is a law change that prevents owners of acquired property from challenging that decision and leaves the price to be paid a matter for the courts. If a hospital needs to be extended it is logical that land adjacent must be acquired for that purpose and nobody wants to live in a home surrounded on both sides by a busy state highway. The needs of the state are imperative, it is only a matter of compensation that is usually the heart of the objection.
A property developer has just won a decision in the Supreme Court that throws the entire land acquisition matter into doubt and at the very least it may delay projects under way and cause the state a financial catastrophe. If far advanced projects are subjected to delay the costs will increase and contractors will have to be compensated because completion delay costs them money.
Billions of dollars are involved and some of the projects under construction include the redevelopment of Prince of Wales hospital at Randwick, a road upgrade to the new airport at Badgerys Creek, The Parramatta light rail line and the Sydney Metro - and there is even doubt about completion of the massive West Connex.
Eighty-six acquisitions have been thrown into doubt with double jeopardy. More than forty are in danger of lapsing because a completion date for the acquisition is fast approaching and if the matter is not concluded in time those notices will automatically void.
This Supreme Court ruling is going to be appealed, but the appeal will take time and that completion date is hanging like the sword of Damocles over the head of many projects that are well advanced. It throws those that are not yet started back into the melting pot and it delays the property owners concerned from getting their money - and getting on with their lives. It is a situation in which nobody wins.
The state will argue in its appeal that the judge in the Supreme court erred on five grounds and that the state government right to acquisition was not fundamentally impacted in its right to compulsorily acquire property. This blockage will be eventually cleared, but at what cost to state projects ?
Land acquisition is a potentially explosive issue. It is couched in politics and establishing a fair price will always be argumentative. As a result, the courts are open to challenge and each individual acquisition can take time to wend its way through the courts. Perhaps the government would have been wiser to fully acquire the land before letting tenders for each project, but the longer the delay the more the tender price seems to increase.
Perhaps the only alternative is a law change that prevents owners of acquired property from challenging that decision and leaves the price to be paid a matter for the courts. If a hospital needs to be extended it is logical that land adjacent must be acquired for that purpose and nobody wants to live in a home surrounded on both sides by a busy state highway. The needs of the state are imperative, it is only a matter of compensation that is usually the heart of the objection.
Tuesday 12 June 2018
Religion - and Education !
The law in New South Wales demands that every school sets aside at least a thirty minute period each week for " special religious education " ( SRE ) and until 2015 this choice was an option chosen by parents when their children were enrolled. It took the form of ticking one of two boxes to decide between SRE - or instructions based on " Ethics " !
In many schools a proportion of students were enrolled in this SRE option and those whose parents opted out simply had a free period, in which they did their homework or amused themselves by reading books. It became very apparent that many kids implored their parents to free them from the chore of attending SRE.
When that permission form was revised in 2015 the box pertaining to " ethics " was deleted and replaced with a statement urging parents to contact the school about information on alternatives, including " ethics " when this was available. There was a groundswell of resentment that this former clear choice was now masked by a need to take both time and effort to resolve the issue.
Australia is a country with a wide diversity of religions. In the earlier part of the twentieth century the main religious divide was between Catholic and Protestant, but today school children may belong to a wide variety of the worlds religions and there is usually no clear indication of what form SRE is going to take. It is hard to see how religious instruction can encompass the divide between Christianity, Islam and the many Asian religions now widely practised in Australia.
The form SRE takes seems to be the choice of the principal and many try to choose widely and obtain a speaker capable of delivering matter that would be uncontroversial and generalise rather than promote any particular religion. Often, the relationship between religion and ethics covers similar ground.
Comparison between education standards in the worlds schools is not kind to Australia. We are below par and slipping further and many think that is because our curriculums are loaded with extraneous matter more conducive with social objectives than education. By world standards, we have a short education day and perhaps that thirty minute period dedicated to religion could be better used to strengthen areas where improvement is urgently needed.
Religion is a personal choice by each individual in Australia and many religions run schools in which that particular religion is exemplified, but we are careful to keep the public school system secular. The census shows that religion is a decreasing interest in the general community and many will now question why it should intrude into teaching time when it has no application to educational objectives.
In the past, religion education was specifically served by the churches running Sunday schools before the main church services. These specifically taught the dogma that pertained to that religion and was usually a duty of the priest in charge of a church district. Now is perhaps an apt time to determine if religion still has a place in our public education system.
In many schools a proportion of students were enrolled in this SRE option and those whose parents opted out simply had a free period, in which they did their homework or amused themselves by reading books. It became very apparent that many kids implored their parents to free them from the chore of attending SRE.
When that permission form was revised in 2015 the box pertaining to " ethics " was deleted and replaced with a statement urging parents to contact the school about information on alternatives, including " ethics " when this was available. There was a groundswell of resentment that this former clear choice was now masked by a need to take both time and effort to resolve the issue.
Australia is a country with a wide diversity of religions. In the earlier part of the twentieth century the main religious divide was between Catholic and Protestant, but today school children may belong to a wide variety of the worlds religions and there is usually no clear indication of what form SRE is going to take. It is hard to see how religious instruction can encompass the divide between Christianity, Islam and the many Asian religions now widely practised in Australia.
The form SRE takes seems to be the choice of the principal and many try to choose widely and obtain a speaker capable of delivering matter that would be uncontroversial and generalise rather than promote any particular religion. Often, the relationship between religion and ethics covers similar ground.
Comparison between education standards in the worlds schools is not kind to Australia. We are below par and slipping further and many think that is because our curriculums are loaded with extraneous matter more conducive with social objectives than education. By world standards, we have a short education day and perhaps that thirty minute period dedicated to religion could be better used to strengthen areas where improvement is urgently needed.
Religion is a personal choice by each individual in Australia and many religions run schools in which that particular religion is exemplified, but we are careful to keep the public school system secular. The census shows that religion is a decreasing interest in the general community and many will now question why it should intrude into teaching time when it has no application to educational objectives.
In the past, religion education was specifically served by the churches running Sunday schools before the main church services. These specifically taught the dogma that pertained to that religion and was usually a duty of the priest in charge of a church district. Now is perhaps an apt time to determine if religion still has a place in our public education system.
Monday 11 June 2018
Privacy Laws !
Over recent decades the privacy laws have encroached on what should be publicly available information as laws have been passed to shield us from intrusion. In fact in some cases they simply make it impossible to exercise our legal rights and prevent us from gaining redress from what amounts to a crime.
When we have legally parked our car in a street and we observe another motorist crash into it while reverse parking, we may observe the registered number but if it speeds away we can not learn the name and address of that vehicles owner by contacting the police. The police are preventing from releasing that information by the privacy laws.
If we conduct our own research and discover that vehicle in a repair yard, awaiting rectification of the damage it sustained in the collision, the repair proprietor is unable to release the owner details to us by those same privacy laws, and yet a law has been broken when damage occurred and the erring driver failed to exchange license details and insurance information.
The police may investigate our complaint and even lay a charge against the driver but those same privacy laws prevent us gaining that information from the courts. In a technical sense, all those who have that information and refuse to divulge it are aiding and abetting a crime.
Any motor vehicle is a mobile mass of metal capable of delivering damage or death if it comes into violent contact with another road user. The law requires that it be identified by a registration plate on which is affixed a number and to be legally driven on a public street it should have current registration which includes indemnity for injury to others. We call that " Green slip " cover. Whether it is covered for property damage is optional.
It seems farcial that a veil of secrecy is imposed to cover the ownership of something that has mobility and is therefore capable of escaping the scene of a law breach but can be identified by that number which is applicable to just that one individual vehicle. The police and public agencies are empowered to stop the vehicle and ascertain the identity of the driver for the purposed of issuing a fine for law breaches and may even impound it for serious offences, but its victims are specifically prevented from learning the identities of the driver and the owner to pursue compensation for loss or damage through the courts.
This should be public information, freely available and accessible by simply using the internet for a search of public records. It will require a law change to bring this type of information back into the public arena.
When we have legally parked our car in a street and we observe another motorist crash into it while reverse parking, we may observe the registered number but if it speeds away we can not learn the name and address of that vehicles owner by contacting the police. The police are preventing from releasing that information by the privacy laws.
If we conduct our own research and discover that vehicle in a repair yard, awaiting rectification of the damage it sustained in the collision, the repair proprietor is unable to release the owner details to us by those same privacy laws, and yet a law has been broken when damage occurred and the erring driver failed to exchange license details and insurance information.
The police may investigate our complaint and even lay a charge against the driver but those same privacy laws prevent us gaining that information from the courts. In a technical sense, all those who have that information and refuse to divulge it are aiding and abetting a crime.
Any motor vehicle is a mobile mass of metal capable of delivering damage or death if it comes into violent contact with another road user. The law requires that it be identified by a registration plate on which is affixed a number and to be legally driven on a public street it should have current registration which includes indemnity for injury to others. We call that " Green slip " cover. Whether it is covered for property damage is optional.
It seems farcial that a veil of secrecy is imposed to cover the ownership of something that has mobility and is therefore capable of escaping the scene of a law breach but can be identified by that number which is applicable to just that one individual vehicle. The police and public agencies are empowered to stop the vehicle and ascertain the identity of the driver for the purposed of issuing a fine for law breaches and may even impound it for serious offences, but its victims are specifically prevented from learning the identities of the driver and the owner to pursue compensation for loss or damage through the courts.
This should be public information, freely available and accessible by simply using the internet for a search of public records. It will require a law change to bring this type of information back into the public arena.
Sunday 10 June 2018
On A Wing - And A Prayer !
This week the Australian Energy Market Operator issued a " level 2 alert " which is the highest alert in the system. That warned that it was forecasting a serious lack of reserve power later in the day. The purpose of this alert is to warn operators that additional supplies may have to be activated from gas or other means to avoid blackouts
It is chilling to learn that we are short on power generation at this early stage of winter. What happens if we get a blast of frigidity from the frozen south and how will we cope in six months time when summer returns ? It seems that our generating capacity is skating along on a wing - and a prayer !
One of the reasons is that we are relying on some very old fossil fuel generating plants to keep the lights on and their reliability is now suspect. In the Hunter valley Bayswater was down to just one of its four generators after scheduling one for maintenance and Liddell was running at about half capacity. At the same time, Vales Point had one of its two coal fired units trip this week.
Apart from the inconvenience of citizens of this state sitting in darkness in their homes, the remainder of our manufacturing economy is at risk. A power blackout for only a short time can be disastrous and already we are getting a warning from the aluminium industry. Tomago is a smelter that uses about a tenth of the power generated in this state and it has had to curtail operations by a third because of power unavailability.
Smelting aluminium relies on continuity and any break in the power supply means that potlines have to go through the long and difficult restarting process. The cost can be horrendous and any doubt on the reliability of the electricity supply seriously throws the viability of the entire operation into doubt.
The big difference is now generating power is no longer in government hands but relies on trading companies that have a first commitment to delivering profit to their shareholders. There are two factors that heavily influence all decisions that they make. Can existing plants continue to deliver the end product profitably to the company, and what costs are involved in upgrading, or replacing them with newer technology.
That is exactly where we are at this point in time. Those decisions are in the hands of companies who first look to their own profitability and the time factor in making decisions is imperative in keeping the lights on because of the construction time before new generating capacity can be brought online.
To further complicate this issue, power generation is a state responsibility in each state and territory and yet most people will apportion the blame on the Federal government if the lights go out. The Australian power supply is probably an issue that ranks in importance with issues like immigration and defence. Perhaps the Federal government needs to grant itself emergency powers to take whatever steps are necessary to ensure control or power generation and ensure adequate supply is forthcoming. It is unsatisfactory that such a vital public amenity can rest with the capricious decisions of private companies who lack public accountability !
It is chilling to learn that we are short on power generation at this early stage of winter. What happens if we get a blast of frigidity from the frozen south and how will we cope in six months time when summer returns ? It seems that our generating capacity is skating along on a wing - and a prayer !
One of the reasons is that we are relying on some very old fossil fuel generating plants to keep the lights on and their reliability is now suspect. In the Hunter valley Bayswater was down to just one of its four generators after scheduling one for maintenance and Liddell was running at about half capacity. At the same time, Vales Point had one of its two coal fired units trip this week.
Apart from the inconvenience of citizens of this state sitting in darkness in their homes, the remainder of our manufacturing economy is at risk. A power blackout for only a short time can be disastrous and already we are getting a warning from the aluminium industry. Tomago is a smelter that uses about a tenth of the power generated in this state and it has had to curtail operations by a third because of power unavailability.
Smelting aluminium relies on continuity and any break in the power supply means that potlines have to go through the long and difficult restarting process. The cost can be horrendous and any doubt on the reliability of the electricity supply seriously throws the viability of the entire operation into doubt.
The big difference is now generating power is no longer in government hands but relies on trading companies that have a first commitment to delivering profit to their shareholders. There are two factors that heavily influence all decisions that they make. Can existing plants continue to deliver the end product profitably to the company, and what costs are involved in upgrading, or replacing them with newer technology.
That is exactly where we are at this point in time. Those decisions are in the hands of companies who first look to their own profitability and the time factor in making decisions is imperative in keeping the lights on because of the construction time before new generating capacity can be brought online.
To further complicate this issue, power generation is a state responsibility in each state and territory and yet most people will apportion the blame on the Federal government if the lights go out. The Australian power supply is probably an issue that ranks in importance with issues like immigration and defence. Perhaps the Federal government needs to grant itself emergency powers to take whatever steps are necessary to ensure control or power generation and ensure adequate supply is forthcoming. It is unsatisfactory that such a vital public amenity can rest with the capricious decisions of private companies who lack public accountability !
Saturday 9 June 2018
Guilty - But Without Any Evidence !
Our justice system is based on the premise that we are " innocent until proved guilty " and that means either a magistrate or a jury makes that decision when we appear in court. If an accused is considered a risk to others or a flight risk they may be held on remand in a prison until that court appearance.
Many legal minds are expressing concern at a new police tactic that will be implemented at a coming music event that will be attractive to young people. The police intend to site sniffer dogs at the concert entrances and deny entry to any person a dog indicates may emit a drug scent by sitting beside them. They will not be arrested, but they will be denied the entry that the ticket they have bought for $128 would allow.
The legality of that refusal is questionable. The police contend that sniffer dog indications mean that the person has recently had contact with drugs, regardless of whether they are now actually being carried. This seems to be refuted by the outcome of sniffer dog events which led to the search of the person indicated. In 2011 the police carried out 14,102 searches as a result of sniffer dog indications and of those 11,248 disclosed no drugs. That is an eighty percent failure rate.
It is very easy for an innocent person to be tainted with a drug scent. Simply passing through a room in which marijuana has been smoked will leave enough on their clothes for the dogs nose to detect and the sight of police sniffer dogs at a venue entrance may cause some drug users to panic and drop Ecstasy on the ground rather than take the risk. Other patrons stepping on and squashing these drugs would certainly have a shoe scent that would alert sniffer dogs.
Patrons denied entry would have a very good reason for anger. Music events with top line artists are quickly sold out and the price of tickets is high. It is not unusual for fans to camp out for days to be first in line and then to be denied entry on the vagaries of a sniffer dog would seem an assault on their civil liberties.
Presenters of this dance music festival - Above and Beyond - have stepped in and promised that they will provide on the spot refunds for those tickets disallowed by police. At least the money loss can be compensated, but it is highly likely that the main cause of entry restrictions will be the detection of Marijuana - and that has long passed being considered a dangerous substance.
Here the police simply issue a caution when they detect small quantities and in other parts of the world it is rapidly becoming a legal product. This new police tactic is obviously an over reaction which will simply annoy people and do nothing to stem the import of the drugs that cause loss of life.
The tactic must be subjected to a legal challenge !
Many legal minds are expressing concern at a new police tactic that will be implemented at a coming music event that will be attractive to young people. The police intend to site sniffer dogs at the concert entrances and deny entry to any person a dog indicates may emit a drug scent by sitting beside them. They will not be arrested, but they will be denied the entry that the ticket they have bought for $128 would allow.
The legality of that refusal is questionable. The police contend that sniffer dog indications mean that the person has recently had contact with drugs, regardless of whether they are now actually being carried. This seems to be refuted by the outcome of sniffer dog events which led to the search of the person indicated. In 2011 the police carried out 14,102 searches as a result of sniffer dog indications and of those 11,248 disclosed no drugs. That is an eighty percent failure rate.
It is very easy for an innocent person to be tainted with a drug scent. Simply passing through a room in which marijuana has been smoked will leave enough on their clothes for the dogs nose to detect and the sight of police sniffer dogs at a venue entrance may cause some drug users to panic and drop Ecstasy on the ground rather than take the risk. Other patrons stepping on and squashing these drugs would certainly have a shoe scent that would alert sniffer dogs.
Patrons denied entry would have a very good reason for anger. Music events with top line artists are quickly sold out and the price of tickets is high. It is not unusual for fans to camp out for days to be first in line and then to be denied entry on the vagaries of a sniffer dog would seem an assault on their civil liberties.
Presenters of this dance music festival - Above and Beyond - have stepped in and promised that they will provide on the spot refunds for those tickets disallowed by police. At least the money loss can be compensated, but it is highly likely that the main cause of entry restrictions will be the detection of Marijuana - and that has long passed being considered a dangerous substance.
Here the police simply issue a caution when they detect small quantities and in other parts of the world it is rapidly becoming a legal product. This new police tactic is obviously an over reaction which will simply annoy people and do nothing to stem the import of the drugs that cause loss of life.
The tactic must be subjected to a legal challenge !
Friday 8 June 2018
The Solar Power Enigma !
It seems that rooftop solar panel installations are creating more power than the system can handle. In April new installations topped 109 megawatts and this was the seventh month that 100 megawatts had been exceeded. The high price of electricity has opened the flood gates and there is no reason to think that solar will not continue this expansion.
The problem is that the midday sun creates a power peak just when the demand is low. The electricity industry is thinking it may have to disconnect homes from delivering to the grid to save the system from overload and localised blackouts. The obvious answer is to convince more householders to install battery options to store the electricity they generate for night and off peak use.
That creates an entirely new problem. Households with solar and battery supply simply disconnect from the grid and so the huge cost of the poles and wires that deliver to the rest of the community rises for individual households. Those price increases cause more households to install solar to try and reduce their power bills. It could destroy the economics of the entire power industry.
What that industry sees as a problem is really a tremendous opportunity to retune the system to take advantage of this power generating peak. At present, the majority of electric hot water systems are metered to go to work heating water in the middle of the night, when power demand is lowest. That is when the power used is supplied at the cheapest price.
It makes sense to change that option to the middle of the day when the sun is creating a power excess due to solar and thousands of how water services can soak up that power and further lower the generating cost during the night hours.
Perhaps the prime opportunity to resolve this problem rests with the " pumped power " strategy of Snowy 2, the huge extension of the hydro electric system installed generations earlier in the Snowy mountain. This plan envisages reusing the same water by pumping it back to higher lakes when demand for electricity is low and then using it to generate new power when demand is high. That pumping back option is expected to occur at night - when demand is low.
Solar is reversing that situation. It would make sense to redirect that power excess at the hottest part of the day to running the Snowy 2 pumps so that we have power reserves for when the sun is not shining.
This midday power excess provides an opportunity for industry. At present, we discount the price of electricity in the middle of the night for hot water generation because we have a power excess at that time. If we now have a middle of the day excess that should be attractive to industry who would concentrate their power needs to a time frame where cost is cheapest. Industry is very good at scheduling the heaviest power usage to where economic benefits apply.
Our present electricity pricing is dictated by the production structure of fossil fuel power generation. Solar has changed that structure and we now need to rethink our whole price strategy to shift the demand pattern accordingly. It delivers a marvellous opportunity to deliver benefits, if we can get our thinking right !
The problem is that the midday sun creates a power peak just when the demand is low. The electricity industry is thinking it may have to disconnect homes from delivering to the grid to save the system from overload and localised blackouts. The obvious answer is to convince more householders to install battery options to store the electricity they generate for night and off peak use.
That creates an entirely new problem. Households with solar and battery supply simply disconnect from the grid and so the huge cost of the poles and wires that deliver to the rest of the community rises for individual households. Those price increases cause more households to install solar to try and reduce their power bills. It could destroy the economics of the entire power industry.
What that industry sees as a problem is really a tremendous opportunity to retune the system to take advantage of this power generating peak. At present, the majority of electric hot water systems are metered to go to work heating water in the middle of the night, when power demand is lowest. That is when the power used is supplied at the cheapest price.
It makes sense to change that option to the middle of the day when the sun is creating a power excess due to solar and thousands of how water services can soak up that power and further lower the generating cost during the night hours.
Perhaps the prime opportunity to resolve this problem rests with the " pumped power " strategy of Snowy 2, the huge extension of the hydro electric system installed generations earlier in the Snowy mountain. This plan envisages reusing the same water by pumping it back to higher lakes when demand for electricity is low and then using it to generate new power when demand is high. That pumping back option is expected to occur at night - when demand is low.
Solar is reversing that situation. It would make sense to redirect that power excess at the hottest part of the day to running the Snowy 2 pumps so that we have power reserves for when the sun is not shining.
This midday power excess provides an opportunity for industry. At present, we discount the price of electricity in the middle of the night for hot water generation because we have a power excess at that time. If we now have a middle of the day excess that should be attractive to industry who would concentrate their power needs to a time frame where cost is cheapest. Industry is very good at scheduling the heaviest power usage to where economic benefits apply.
Our present electricity pricing is dictated by the production structure of fossil fuel power generation. Solar has changed that structure and we now need to rethink our whole price strategy to shift the demand pattern accordingly. It delivers a marvellous opportunity to deliver benefits, if we can get our thinking right !
Thursday 7 June 2018
Safety - and Justice - clash !
The Australian justice system combines the maximum length of a prison sentence with the promise of earlier release for good behaviour. It is the job of the parole board to constantly evaluate the progress of prison inmates and often they are granted day leave to commence paid employment to ease their way back into community life. Early release comes with the obligation of supervision by a parole officer and conditions may apply.
Apart from life sentences where the file is marked " never to be released ", all prisoners will walk free when their maximum periods of confinement end. Even people who have committed heinous crimes know that they will walk free when their sentence finally expires and we consider that the foundation stone of our justice system. A new law called a " Continuing Detention Order " or " CDO " turns that on its head.
The state is presently making application to the Supreme Court to validate a CDO on a twenty-six year old New South Wales prisoner under the Terrorism ( High Risk Offenders Act ) of 2017. The sentence the prisoner is serving is not connected with terrorism and it is believed that he was radicalized during his confinement in the prison system.
Alarm has been expressed over the contents of recorded conversations. This prisoner is threatening to bomb the City2Surf fun run, at which the prime minister is usually present, and there have been specific threats to bomb the Holroyd police station in the city's west. The prisoner has been heard gloating about his plans to behead an ordinary Australian citizen as his contribution to jihad.
The people who evaluate prisoners are convinced that this mans intentions are serious and that he will be a menace to society if released. There are limits to the supervision that can be implemented and the only way to protect the public is to keep him behind bars. A CDO would be specific for a nominated period of time and it would be necessary for a new application to have it renewed further.
Unfortunately the CDO is introducing the prospect of indefinite imprisonment which has plagued the methods of oppression used by various totalitarian regimes from which refugees have been escaping to the safety of Australia. There are many countries where offending the state may be rewarded by being locked away without hope of eventual release and usually the reason is not because a crime has been committed but because of political differences of outlook.
A CDO may serve a useful purpose if it is combined with a programme to deradicalize an extreme belief but it must have clearly defined limits. Otherwise it becomes too convenient an instrument to lock away those who are a threat to the holders of power. This has become the chosen way to remove any form of political dissent in many authoritarian regimes.
Eventually, this man must walk free out the prison gate even if he has murder on his mind. The police and the security services will have the task of preventing those plans reaching maturity and their efforts may offend many as a breach of the personal freedoms we hold so dear, but where murderous intent is clearly evident a reduction in personal freedom is the price we have to pay for enhanced security.
This radical may eventually succeed in achieving the murder he craves. Despite intense oversight he may whip out a knife and kill an innocent on the street. Such is the price we have to pay to retain a justice system that has clear limits and obeys the rule of law.
Apart from life sentences where the file is marked " never to be released ", all prisoners will walk free when their maximum periods of confinement end. Even people who have committed heinous crimes know that they will walk free when their sentence finally expires and we consider that the foundation stone of our justice system. A new law called a " Continuing Detention Order " or " CDO " turns that on its head.
The state is presently making application to the Supreme Court to validate a CDO on a twenty-six year old New South Wales prisoner under the Terrorism ( High Risk Offenders Act ) of 2017. The sentence the prisoner is serving is not connected with terrorism and it is believed that he was radicalized during his confinement in the prison system.
Alarm has been expressed over the contents of recorded conversations. This prisoner is threatening to bomb the City2Surf fun run, at which the prime minister is usually present, and there have been specific threats to bomb the Holroyd police station in the city's west. The prisoner has been heard gloating about his plans to behead an ordinary Australian citizen as his contribution to jihad.
The people who evaluate prisoners are convinced that this mans intentions are serious and that he will be a menace to society if released. There are limits to the supervision that can be implemented and the only way to protect the public is to keep him behind bars. A CDO would be specific for a nominated period of time and it would be necessary for a new application to have it renewed further.
Unfortunately the CDO is introducing the prospect of indefinite imprisonment which has plagued the methods of oppression used by various totalitarian regimes from which refugees have been escaping to the safety of Australia. There are many countries where offending the state may be rewarded by being locked away without hope of eventual release and usually the reason is not because a crime has been committed but because of political differences of outlook.
A CDO may serve a useful purpose if it is combined with a programme to deradicalize an extreme belief but it must have clearly defined limits. Otherwise it becomes too convenient an instrument to lock away those who are a threat to the holders of power. This has become the chosen way to remove any form of political dissent in many authoritarian regimes.
Eventually, this man must walk free out the prison gate even if he has murder on his mind. The police and the security services will have the task of preventing those plans reaching maturity and their efforts may offend many as a breach of the personal freedoms we hold so dear, but where murderous intent is clearly evident a reduction in personal freedom is the price we have to pay for enhanced security.
This radical may eventually succeed in achieving the murder he craves. Despite intense oversight he may whip out a knife and kill an innocent on the street. Such is the price we have to pay to retain a justice system that has clear limits and obeys the rule of law.
Wednesday 6 June 2018
Heads should Roll !
The wording of a press release about the Commonwealth Bank and the penalty for its money laundering activities will have many people grinding their teeth in rage. It says the Commonwealth banks " has agreed " to pay a seven hundred million dollar fine to settle this matter.
Since when does a criminal have to agree to the penalty imposed by the government financial intelligence agency ? This may be the biggest fine in Australian corporate history, but it is a mere slap on the wrist from what the letter of the law could have imposed - and that would run to billions.
It also raises the question of who exactly suffers that fine loss ? The Commonwealth Bank exists as a registered entity on a piece of paper filed away somewhere. The people who own the bank - and who are called shareholders - will have seven hundred million dollars less available to fund dividends, and their shares have lost value on the stock exchange because of the adverse publicity from this imbroglio.
What is missing is delivering accountability to the highly paid people whose lack of diligence allowed millions of dollars of drug and crime money to be laundered through the banks ATM network for ages after the misfeasance was disclosed and some of this money found its way to terrorist organizations. The very people with a control function allowed a criminal activity to proceed unchecked and they are not being brought to account for their actions.
So far the chief executive has fallen on his sword and resigned. He simply collected his superannuation and walked away, and it appears unlikely that any of the management team will face a court and answer charges. This was a crime that the bank committed. It broke the laws of the Commonwealth and an audit can track the crime procedure to the very person with the responsibility to see that the law was obeyed.
This does not deliver a necessary message to the business community. The people who sit on company boards and the executives who manage company affairs are people of prestige who usually receive very high salaries and other forms of compensation. They are just as responsible for obeying the laws of this country as ordinary citizens. A fine imposed on the corporation for which their actions constitute a crime does not absolve that individual from the accountability for which they are legally responsible.
We will not get honesty in the business world until the agencies tasked with supervising business accountability go after the individuals who had the responsibility to ensure those illegal actions did not occur. It is no excuse that they were committed by a subordinate. Department heads are accountable for whatever takes place under their control.
Until erring people are removed in handcuffs and face the publicity of their appearance in court the absence of ethics in making a firm profitable will be applauded in business circles. In this Commonwealth Bank instance the people who allowed this crime to happen are hiding behind the power and majesty of a national institution.
This seven hundred million fine is meaningless while the law is appeased by simply ignoring the individuals responsible and going after the trading name for punishment.
Since when does a criminal have to agree to the penalty imposed by the government financial intelligence agency ? This may be the biggest fine in Australian corporate history, but it is a mere slap on the wrist from what the letter of the law could have imposed - and that would run to billions.
It also raises the question of who exactly suffers that fine loss ? The Commonwealth Bank exists as a registered entity on a piece of paper filed away somewhere. The people who own the bank - and who are called shareholders - will have seven hundred million dollars less available to fund dividends, and their shares have lost value on the stock exchange because of the adverse publicity from this imbroglio.
What is missing is delivering accountability to the highly paid people whose lack of diligence allowed millions of dollars of drug and crime money to be laundered through the banks ATM network for ages after the misfeasance was disclosed and some of this money found its way to terrorist organizations. The very people with a control function allowed a criminal activity to proceed unchecked and they are not being brought to account for their actions.
So far the chief executive has fallen on his sword and resigned. He simply collected his superannuation and walked away, and it appears unlikely that any of the management team will face a court and answer charges. This was a crime that the bank committed. It broke the laws of the Commonwealth and an audit can track the crime procedure to the very person with the responsibility to see that the law was obeyed.
This does not deliver a necessary message to the business community. The people who sit on company boards and the executives who manage company affairs are people of prestige who usually receive very high salaries and other forms of compensation. They are just as responsible for obeying the laws of this country as ordinary citizens. A fine imposed on the corporation for which their actions constitute a crime does not absolve that individual from the accountability for which they are legally responsible.
We will not get honesty in the business world until the agencies tasked with supervising business accountability go after the individuals who had the responsibility to ensure those illegal actions did not occur. It is no excuse that they were committed by a subordinate. Department heads are accountable for whatever takes place under their control.
Until erring people are removed in handcuffs and face the publicity of their appearance in court the absence of ethics in making a firm profitable will be applauded in business circles. In this Commonwealth Bank instance the people who allowed this crime to happen are hiding behind the power and majesty of a national institution.
This seven hundred million fine is meaningless while the law is appeased by simply ignoring the individuals responsible and going after the trading name for punishment.
Tuesday 5 June 2018
Sieg Heil !
There is something remarkably reminiscent about the nineteen thirties and what is happening in our Pacific ocean neighbourhood. We called that the era of " appeasement " and it reached an awful climax in 1939 when the world went to war.
China claims most of the South China Sea on the spurious grounds of a line on an ancient map. The ruling of the world court should have settled that but China simply ignored that ruling and went ahead dredging sand to create artificial islands which are now equipped with naval facilities and airstrips - and guarded by defensive and offensive missile batteries.
China is fast building a blue water navy and aggressively challenging shipping using the South China sea. This ignores commercial trade and is directed mainly at the naval presence of other nations. It seems inevitable that this will one day result in a naval clash, the outcome of which can not be predicted.
China is the worlds most populous nation and it has an immense diaspora. There are significant Chinese communities in most small Pacific nations and these are usually commercially significant and often resented by more numerous indigenous populations. At times of stress there have been incidents where this resentment has led to riots and anti Chinese pogroms. We are fast reaching the stage where China may actively offer protection to its compatriots living overseas. This was a common cause of border intrusion in the nineteen-thirties European tension era.
Economists detect a pattern in Chinese overseas aid. The " Belt and Road " initiative to restore the viability of the old silk road trading regime aims to create modern facilities to support trade and soft loans are offered to small countries to enable work to progress. When these nations struggle to make repayments China is very supportive. Payment arrears can usually be transformed into a new agreement which brings local infrastructure under Chinese direct control, and often this has a military significance. China gained control of a port in Sri Lanka by this method.
We are seeing Chinese aid money slipping into the pockets of politicians in many countries as bribes to ensure that Chinese companies with direct links to its Communist government are successful in gaining access where their goods and services can result in valuable data being collected and returned to China. This is part of an expansionist drive across the region that seems to use the massive trade surplus as a weapon to achieve military superiority.
The big unanswered question is what exactly are Chinese intentions ? It used its massive millions of workers to achieve dominance as the " world's factory " and now a newly emerged middle class is putting pressure on food supplies. China is fast becoming a military power with the ability to project that power to other parts of the world. Significantly, Xi Jinping has assumed dictatorial control and the future course of China is locked away in his mind.
In the 1930's the fate of the world resided in a single mind and that resulted in the death of millions. Let us hope for a better outcome this time !
China claims most of the South China Sea on the spurious grounds of a line on an ancient map. The ruling of the world court should have settled that but China simply ignored that ruling and went ahead dredging sand to create artificial islands which are now equipped with naval facilities and airstrips - and guarded by defensive and offensive missile batteries.
China is fast building a blue water navy and aggressively challenging shipping using the South China sea. This ignores commercial trade and is directed mainly at the naval presence of other nations. It seems inevitable that this will one day result in a naval clash, the outcome of which can not be predicted.
China is the worlds most populous nation and it has an immense diaspora. There are significant Chinese communities in most small Pacific nations and these are usually commercially significant and often resented by more numerous indigenous populations. At times of stress there have been incidents where this resentment has led to riots and anti Chinese pogroms. We are fast reaching the stage where China may actively offer protection to its compatriots living overseas. This was a common cause of border intrusion in the nineteen-thirties European tension era.
Economists detect a pattern in Chinese overseas aid. The " Belt and Road " initiative to restore the viability of the old silk road trading regime aims to create modern facilities to support trade and soft loans are offered to small countries to enable work to progress. When these nations struggle to make repayments China is very supportive. Payment arrears can usually be transformed into a new agreement which brings local infrastructure under Chinese direct control, and often this has a military significance. China gained control of a port in Sri Lanka by this method.
We are seeing Chinese aid money slipping into the pockets of politicians in many countries as bribes to ensure that Chinese companies with direct links to its Communist government are successful in gaining access where their goods and services can result in valuable data being collected and returned to China. This is part of an expansionist drive across the region that seems to use the massive trade surplus as a weapon to achieve military superiority.
The big unanswered question is what exactly are Chinese intentions ? It used its massive millions of workers to achieve dominance as the " world's factory " and now a newly emerged middle class is putting pressure on food supplies. China is fast becoming a military power with the ability to project that power to other parts of the world. Significantly, Xi Jinping has assumed dictatorial control and the future course of China is locked away in his mind.
In the 1930's the fate of the world resided in a single mind and that resulted in the death of millions. Let us hope for a better outcome this time !
Monday 4 June 2018
Driving License Reform !
Possibly the worst personal disaster that can happen to a person is to be hit and seriously injured by an unregistered motor vehicle being driven by an unlicensed driver. All the forms of compensation carefully built around the licensing of car and driver become null and void - and do not apply.
There are many unlicensed cars on our roads and many are driven by unlicensed drivers. The usual reason cars are unlicensed is the owner lacks the money to pay for both the green slip insurance that covers accident victims for personal injuries and the usual fee for annual registration demanded by the state government. Those lacking a valid driving license seem to be over represented in unlicensed vehicle on our road statistics.
We have every reason to expect that unlicensed vehicles will be swiftly detected. All police cars have scanning equipment that reads the number plates of the car stream and checks automatically for unregistered or cars reported stolen. Usually, the penalty for the driver of an unregistered vehicle is both a fine - and driving license cancellation.
The cancellation of driving licenses has become a form of penalty that has moved far from actual driver behaviour. It can be inflicted for failing to vote in elections or even fishing without an appropriate fishing license. The state debt recovery office uses driver license cancellation to pressure citizens to pay all manner of monies owing, including unpaid court fines. It has become a weapon of choicer for debt collection.
The problem is that we seriously undervalue driving licenses in todays society. For many people the car is the only possible means of transport. In country towns public transport ceases to exist and those on the fringe of cities have simply no other means of getting to work or getting the kids to school.
There is an unfortunate continuity of offences resulting in the permanent cancellation of many driving licenses. They run cumulatively, hence once a timed cancellation is in force any addition simply extends that cancellation and it can quickly amount to an almost indefinite ban on the right to drive. Such a person may find access to paid employment severely limited and youthful indiscretions extending driving license suspension into middle age.
The figures are alarming. In 2017 we issued 20,000 driving license cancellations in this state, and 12,000 people were caught driving without a license. In the past, there was no way a license cancellation could be restored by review and no way a reformed driver could regain the right to drive a car.
It is now possible for a person with driving license cancellation to apply to a magistrate to lift what amounted to a lifetime ban if they can convince that they had reformed or that the cancellation was for a reason not applicable to driving. This will not apply to serious offences such as hit and run or menacing driving. So far 700 reformed drivers have been given a second chance.
This is certainly controversial but it seems that driving license cancellation has become a convenient penalty that has extended far outside the bounds of disciplining road behaviour. The onus is on the cancelled driver to convince the magistrate they deserve a second chance and in many cases age has resulted in a mature outlook on driving that was lacking in their youth.
There are many unlicensed cars on our roads and many are driven by unlicensed drivers. The usual reason cars are unlicensed is the owner lacks the money to pay for both the green slip insurance that covers accident victims for personal injuries and the usual fee for annual registration demanded by the state government. Those lacking a valid driving license seem to be over represented in unlicensed vehicle on our road statistics.
We have every reason to expect that unlicensed vehicles will be swiftly detected. All police cars have scanning equipment that reads the number plates of the car stream and checks automatically for unregistered or cars reported stolen. Usually, the penalty for the driver of an unregistered vehicle is both a fine - and driving license cancellation.
The cancellation of driving licenses has become a form of penalty that has moved far from actual driver behaviour. It can be inflicted for failing to vote in elections or even fishing without an appropriate fishing license. The state debt recovery office uses driver license cancellation to pressure citizens to pay all manner of monies owing, including unpaid court fines. It has become a weapon of choicer for debt collection.
The problem is that we seriously undervalue driving licenses in todays society. For many people the car is the only possible means of transport. In country towns public transport ceases to exist and those on the fringe of cities have simply no other means of getting to work or getting the kids to school.
There is an unfortunate continuity of offences resulting in the permanent cancellation of many driving licenses. They run cumulatively, hence once a timed cancellation is in force any addition simply extends that cancellation and it can quickly amount to an almost indefinite ban on the right to drive. Such a person may find access to paid employment severely limited and youthful indiscretions extending driving license suspension into middle age.
The figures are alarming. In 2017 we issued 20,000 driving license cancellations in this state, and 12,000 people were caught driving without a license. In the past, there was no way a license cancellation could be restored by review and no way a reformed driver could regain the right to drive a car.
It is now possible for a person with driving license cancellation to apply to a magistrate to lift what amounted to a lifetime ban if they can convince that they had reformed or that the cancellation was for a reason not applicable to driving. This will not apply to serious offences such as hit and run or menacing driving. So far 700 reformed drivers have been given a second chance.
This is certainly controversial but it seems that driving license cancellation has become a convenient penalty that has extended far outside the bounds of disciplining road behaviour. The onus is on the cancelled driver to convince the magistrate they deserve a second chance and in many cases age has resulted in a mature outlook on driving that was lacking in their youth.
Sunday 3 June 2018
Going Backwards !
For most of the twentieth century Australia had draconian divorce laws. Divorce was seen as a social sin by many people and was totally unrecognised by some churches. The law in place at that time made it extremely difficult to obtain and the cause was closely examined in public testimony. The aim seemed to be to establish who was the guilty party and punish that person in the property settlement.
The two prime reasons for ending a marriage was desertion or adultery by one of the partners. Desertion involved a waiting time of seven years - later reduced to five years - before the degree nisi was granted and adultery opened an era of private investigators peeking through bedroom windows with a camera to gather evidence. Divorce was a titillating subject for the yellow press and drew audiences to court hearings.
All that changed with the passing of the Family Law Act in 1975. This ushered in " no fault " divorce and from January 5, 1976 divorce in Australia was handled by the Family Law court . The court did not decide blame but presided over a fair property settlement and established the best interests of children of that marriage. It urged divorcing couples to negotiate and in many cases the court merely appended its seal of approval.
Unfortunately some litigants were both bitter and hostile to the court and considered any division of assets unfair. The placement of children was always contentious. We had an era of bombings and the murder of family court justices and now there are delays in obtaining hearings that the government is trying to resolve. It is proposed that the Family Court be merged with the Federal Circuit Court and this would result in the phasing out of this new entities specialist family law division. It would result in new judges who have had no background in family law.
This prospect has raised alarm from Women's Legal Services of Australia who contend that the introduction of judges without specialist backgrounds could usher in bad decisions that endanger vulnerable women and children. The speciality of the Family Court was to achieve amicable consensus, and in this is was remarkable successful.
Surprisingly, this merger is supposed to expand the hearings by 1500 extra cases a year. That seems to suggest that the Federal Circuit Court is underutilised and can take up the overload from the Family Court. Surely it would be better to simply expand the Family Court and train incoming judges with the nuances of dealing with family breakdowns ?
It looks like we are abandoning the conciliatory approach and going back to the harsh interpretation of legal statutes in deciding family law. Considering the high number of unions that fail and the tendency for marital discord to lead to violence this could have an unsettling effect on social harmony and policing.
We were once wise enough to accept that the irretrievable breakdown of relationships needed a legal way of dissolution with the distribution of assets and the best interests of children. In most respects the Family Court has achieved that objective. We will be winding the clock backwards if we reintroduce harsh legality to the ending of marriages !
The two prime reasons for ending a marriage was desertion or adultery by one of the partners. Desertion involved a waiting time of seven years - later reduced to five years - before the degree nisi was granted and adultery opened an era of private investigators peeking through bedroom windows with a camera to gather evidence. Divorce was a titillating subject for the yellow press and drew audiences to court hearings.
All that changed with the passing of the Family Law Act in 1975. This ushered in " no fault " divorce and from January 5, 1976 divorce in Australia was handled by the Family Law court . The court did not decide blame but presided over a fair property settlement and established the best interests of children of that marriage. It urged divorcing couples to negotiate and in many cases the court merely appended its seal of approval.
Unfortunately some litigants were both bitter and hostile to the court and considered any division of assets unfair. The placement of children was always contentious. We had an era of bombings and the murder of family court justices and now there are delays in obtaining hearings that the government is trying to resolve. It is proposed that the Family Court be merged with the Federal Circuit Court and this would result in the phasing out of this new entities specialist family law division. It would result in new judges who have had no background in family law.
This prospect has raised alarm from Women's Legal Services of Australia who contend that the introduction of judges without specialist backgrounds could usher in bad decisions that endanger vulnerable women and children. The speciality of the Family Court was to achieve amicable consensus, and in this is was remarkable successful.
Surprisingly, this merger is supposed to expand the hearings by 1500 extra cases a year. That seems to suggest that the Federal Circuit Court is underutilised and can take up the overload from the Family Court. Surely it would be better to simply expand the Family Court and train incoming judges with the nuances of dealing with family breakdowns ?
It looks like we are abandoning the conciliatory approach and going back to the harsh interpretation of legal statutes in deciding family law. Considering the high number of unions that fail and the tendency for marital discord to lead to violence this could have an unsettling effect on social harmony and policing.
We were once wise enough to accept that the irretrievable breakdown of relationships needed a legal way of dissolution with the distribution of assets and the best interests of children. In most respects the Family Court has achieved that objective. We will be winding the clock backwards if we reintroduce harsh legality to the ending of marriages !
Saturday 2 June 2018
Student Debt !
There is no doubt that a university degree is now a necessity if you want to enter a profession with above average pay levels. The age of " learn it on the job " is over and both teaching and nursing entry involve time at university as part of the curriculum.
A long time ago the government opened university study widely across all social spectrums by schemes in which student debt became part of a government loan with an undertaking that this debt would be progressively repaid when the student entered the workforce and their salary reached a certain level.
An amazing amount of that debt money is in arrears and now seems unlikely to be ever repaid. A popular guise for gaming the system is to earn a degree and then pop off overseas with that valued diploma and get well paid work in a foreign country far out of reach of the Australian tax office. Another tactic widely used is to continue studying, either to gain a masters level or to branch into another discipline to accumulate an even greater debt - without entering the work force. That is what some cynics call a " professional student " !
The government is proposing to cap student debt at $100,000 and reducing the salary level at which repayments become mandatory from $54,000 to $ 44,000. The debt figures are alarming. The number of students with debts in excess of $ 50,000 has blown out from 28,664 to 159,475 in the past six years and of those 14,000 now owe more than $ 100,000.
Analysis shows that students on pathways that include law, accounting, banking and business management were the most likely to exceed that $ 100,000 threshold. It is increasingly common for students to take on more complex combinations of degrees, often without a break to enter the workforce.
Another concern is the drop out rate. Some students take up courses beyond their ability level and others simply lose interest as it progresses. Those who walk away and discontinue are still responsible for the debt accrued, and in many cases their lack of qualification ensure that they never reach the salary level where repayments are enforced by the tax office, but that debt remains a burden on their credit record.
This proposed $ 100,000 cap will pose a major threat to those undertaking post graduate study and those returning to study after a lengthy travel break to visit other parts of the world. Hopefully, it will have the effect of making students more careful in evaluating courses and comparing them with their intended future lifestyle - and taking into account the end debt load.
Perhaps one of the problems is the pressure from families for young people to take up university because of changing work demographics. Some who are better suited to the trades, and these days qualified trades folk are often earning better money than traditional professions. Hopefully, it may bring a more careful evaluation of life choices when school ends and critical career choices need to be made. Not everybody is destined to go to university.
A long time ago the government opened university study widely across all social spectrums by schemes in which student debt became part of a government loan with an undertaking that this debt would be progressively repaid when the student entered the workforce and their salary reached a certain level.
An amazing amount of that debt money is in arrears and now seems unlikely to be ever repaid. A popular guise for gaming the system is to earn a degree and then pop off overseas with that valued diploma and get well paid work in a foreign country far out of reach of the Australian tax office. Another tactic widely used is to continue studying, either to gain a masters level or to branch into another discipline to accumulate an even greater debt - without entering the work force. That is what some cynics call a " professional student " !
The government is proposing to cap student debt at $100,000 and reducing the salary level at which repayments become mandatory from $54,000 to $ 44,000. The debt figures are alarming. The number of students with debts in excess of $ 50,000 has blown out from 28,664 to 159,475 in the past six years and of those 14,000 now owe more than $ 100,000.
Analysis shows that students on pathways that include law, accounting, banking and business management were the most likely to exceed that $ 100,000 threshold. It is increasingly common for students to take on more complex combinations of degrees, often without a break to enter the workforce.
Another concern is the drop out rate. Some students take up courses beyond their ability level and others simply lose interest as it progresses. Those who walk away and discontinue are still responsible for the debt accrued, and in many cases their lack of qualification ensure that they never reach the salary level where repayments are enforced by the tax office, but that debt remains a burden on their credit record.
This proposed $ 100,000 cap will pose a major threat to those undertaking post graduate study and those returning to study after a lengthy travel break to visit other parts of the world. Hopefully, it will have the effect of making students more careful in evaluating courses and comparing them with their intended future lifestyle - and taking into account the end debt load.
Perhaps one of the problems is the pressure from families for young people to take up university because of changing work demographics. Some who are better suited to the trades, and these days qualified trades folk are often earning better money than traditional professions. Hopefully, it may bring a more careful evaluation of life choices when school ends and critical career choices need to be made. Not everybody is destined to go to university.
Friday 1 June 2018
Our Overworked " Lifeline " !
When we dial 000 in an emergency situation, we expect an ambulance to promptly deliver a paramedic to stabilize the patient and get them swiftly to hospital. Any delay can cost lives and we are now finding that being a paramedic is a dangerous occupation. In particular, the prevalence of " Ice " in the drug trade has resulted in irrationality from both patients and their loved ones and it has become common for help to be resisted and the paramedics physically attacked. We are fast reaching the stage where they need to work in pairs - as is the situation with the police.
The Health Services Union (HSU) claims that New South Wales needs an additional eight hundred paramedics to cut response times, relieve overworked staff and deliver improved patient outcomes across the state. Unfortunately Ambulance Services are only equipped to train two hundred new paramedics each year. With our ever rising population, the risk is growing that we will face a future shortage of paramedics.
The HSU fears that budget restraints may tempt the government to lower training standards to generate more paramedics to fill this gap. Usually, the paramedic is the first to reach a patient and that evaluation is critical. What happens immediately and during the journey to a hospital emergency room is often the balancing factor between life and death. Paramedics have the highest degree of trust and that has been eared by the results delivered.
Now a new law change is imposing a personal cost on every paramedic that has to come from their own pocket and this seems grossly unfair. Later this year it will be a requirement that paramedics be registered with the Australian Health Practitioners Registration Association (AHPRA) for their " Working with Children " check . This involves a $190 fee which each paramedic must pay to be legally able to continue working as a paramedic who may encounter child patients. The government has now made a provisional offer to reimburse that fee and that is likely to be accepted by the HSU.
Paramedics really are amazing people. Their diagnostic skills are legendary. They may encounter the entire spectrum of trauma, ranging from gunshot wounds to heart attacks and stroke and their evaluation of what is needed is similar to the knowledge of a general practitioner, with the added backup of radio contact with the hospital emergency room and its range of speciality services. A well stocked ambulance and its paramedics are a mobile emergency room that provides a first response when sometimes life or death is measured in minutes.
We remember the anguish when a recent lighting strike knocked out the 000 service for several hours and those ambulance calls went unanswered. Making sure that the paramedics can deliver an adequate response time should be at the head of our priorities !
The Health Services Union (HSU) claims that New South Wales needs an additional eight hundred paramedics to cut response times, relieve overworked staff and deliver improved patient outcomes across the state. Unfortunately Ambulance Services are only equipped to train two hundred new paramedics each year. With our ever rising population, the risk is growing that we will face a future shortage of paramedics.
The HSU fears that budget restraints may tempt the government to lower training standards to generate more paramedics to fill this gap. Usually, the paramedic is the first to reach a patient and that evaluation is critical. What happens immediately and during the journey to a hospital emergency room is often the balancing factor between life and death. Paramedics have the highest degree of trust and that has been eared by the results delivered.
Now a new law change is imposing a personal cost on every paramedic that has to come from their own pocket and this seems grossly unfair. Later this year it will be a requirement that paramedics be registered with the Australian Health Practitioners Registration Association (AHPRA) for their " Working with Children " check . This involves a $190 fee which each paramedic must pay to be legally able to continue working as a paramedic who may encounter child patients. The government has now made a provisional offer to reimburse that fee and that is likely to be accepted by the HSU.
Paramedics really are amazing people. Their diagnostic skills are legendary. They may encounter the entire spectrum of trauma, ranging from gunshot wounds to heart attacks and stroke and their evaluation of what is needed is similar to the knowledge of a general practitioner, with the added backup of radio contact with the hospital emergency room and its range of speciality services. A well stocked ambulance and its paramedics are a mobile emergency room that provides a first response when sometimes life or death is measured in minutes.
We remember the anguish when a recent lighting strike knocked out the 000 service for several hours and those ambulance calls went unanswered. Making sure that the paramedics can deliver an adequate response time should be at the head of our priorities !
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