Risk To Our Drinking Water !

Sydney and Wollongong are both fast growing Australian cities served by finite sources of drinking water. We rely on predictable rain to replenish those water levels and from time to time residents face water restrictions, as happened with a recent drought.

A past dry spell convinced the government to invest in a desalination plant that creates drinking water from sea water by removing the salt.  It sits idle when we experience normal rainfall and as storage levels fall it is only capable of contributing a fraction of the daily usage.  Science warns that we are gaining an added population density that exceeds the capacity of existing water storage to service the city needs.

The catchment area that collects that falling rain and delivers it to storage is precious and seriously protected by law.  In the past mining has been refused permission to tunnel under water catchments because of the fear of subsidence.  When cavities are created deep in the earth there is a long term tendency for the land above to subside and this opens cracks through which the water may drain away.  It is not unusual for this to occur twenty-five years after the cavities have been created.

That has long created an ongoing battle between mining interests and conservationists over extending long wall mining under water catchment areas.  Mining is permitted underneath housing land but subsidence is reduced by the implementation of restrictions on the type and weight of permitted building materials used.  The mines are also taxed to provide a fund for restoration where subsidence harms homes.

Now there are two mining applications before the parliament to extend long wall mining into catchment areas.  The Planning Department has given Peabody Energy permission to extend its Metropolitan mine long walls under Woronora reservoir and South32's Dendrobian mine will also be granted permission to extend under a Sydney catchment area.

The miners are adamant that this is safe and the applications were confirmed by the Independent Experts Panel on Mining in Water Catchments.  A recent report shows Metropolitan has no evidence of a connected fracture regime to the surface.

This is the usual battle between well paid mining jobs being maintained if existing mine facilities are extended.  There is definitely coal under those reservoir lands but if mining proceeds and the experts are wrong there is no possibility of rectification if a fault develops and the water drains away and reduces storage.

It is a fact of life that we know very little about the land beneath our feet and one of the basic essentials for life is a constant supply of water.  Any interruption to the water supply would be disaster for metropolitan Sydney.  Surely a basic on which we can not afford to be wrong  !

Land Clearing !

The New South Wales government conducted a secret report on land clearing which was branded " cabinet in confidence " until legal action forced it to be tabled in parliament.  This audit revealed a " catastrophic failure " of land management that added to the threats facing wildlife.

The report revealed that 37,000 hectares were approved to be cleared in the 2018-9 years, or almost thirteen times the average rate of approval to clear 2700 hectares in the decade prior to a law change in 2016-7.  Much of this clearing has involved  approvals for " thinning " to allow pasture expansion. Under this rule, such clearing has amounted to a " state wide risk to biodiversity", and the policy intent of the reforms have not been achieved.

We are fast reintroducing the native animals that existed here before 1788 and it is essential that breeding colonies can intermix to strengthen  biodiversity.  Cleared land is an obstacle to free movement needed to strengthen bloodlines.

We have just had a combination of intense bushfires and the worst drought in recorded memory that scorched  about 5.5 million hectares across the state, burned a vast number of homes and killed a number of citizens. There is the expectation that those rebuilding will want to clear a safety perimeter around their homes and the bushfire brigades that heroically fought the summer fires need to establish fire breaks if the expected future fires can be kept under control.

Science is telling us that eating meat derived from animals is an inefficient way of feeding the ever growing world population.  We are already seeing meat substitute derived from vegetables appearing as an option and it seems inevitable that meat as we know it will become an item that is fast moving out of reach of the average family.  Economists predict that because of cost meat will steadily retreat from the average family menu.

We are urged to plant more trees as a way of slowing global warming.  Trees are natures way of absorbing carbon dioxide and replacing it with oxygen.  Unfortunately, food production is replacing the great rain forests of South America and Asia with farming land and every year what some call the " lungs of the planet " grow ever smaller.

This presents our parliaments with a vexing problem.  Most farms are a mix of cleared and uncleared land and farmers are anxious to bring more of their holdings under production.  The demand to clear trees to create pasture is an economic concern that the decision makers fear to resist.   At the moment the balance favors land clearing.

With the horror of this last summer fire season fresh in people's minds any plan to create more fire breaks will be publicly supported.  It is hard to see this tree clearing reduced by law.

When Thinking Turns To Action !

New Zealand is a peaceful little country in the South Pacific and it received world attention for all the wrong reasons on March 15 last year.  Brenton Tarrant, a 29 year old Australian who had migrated to that country went on a shooting rampage that left fifty-one people dead and many others wounded.  It was a hate crime that shocked the world and now Tarrant is facing justice in the New Zealand court system.

Tarrant is facing fifty-one charges of murder, forty charges of attempted murder and a charge of engaging in a terrorist act in the High Court in Christchurch, the city in which he committed these crimes.  Appearing by video link from prison, he changed his plea from " not guilty " to " guilty " and this will save relatives of his victims from enduring a long trial in which the ghastly events of mass murder will be played out in court.

This was a crime that people on both sides of the Tasman sea are unable to understand. Tarrant is both a white supremacist and a religious bigot.  He amassed an arsenal of guns, ammunition and petrol bombs and drove from his Dunedin home on March 15 to the Al-Noor mosque where Friday prayers were being held.  He sprayed automatic gunfire on those at prayer, got back in his car and drove across town to the Linwood mosque where he repeated that shooting spree.  He was on his way to a third mosque when police rammed his car and arrested him.

In all other respects, Tarrant seems to be a perfectly sane, ordinary citizen and unfortunately there are others with his outlook on both sides of the Tasman.  Not only did he commit mass murder, he filmed those events as they happened and brought the crime to world attention by posting it live on the internet.  There is no doubt those with similar interests will be encouraged to  consider similar crimes.  It will have appeal to those who detest skin colour that is other than white and hate the Muslim religion.

Tarrant is yet to be sentenced, but both Australia and New Zealand have ended death sentences and the only outcome will be for this mass murderer to be locked away for the rest of his natural life.He will be considered a martyr by those with a similar white supremacist, racist outlook and will no doubt continue to spread his views within the New Zealand prison system.

Sadly, the democracy under which we live allows residents to hold view that are repugnant to their fellow citizens.  Our freedom of speech law allows them to spread those views openly.and the law only comes to our aid when a crime similar to that which happened in New Zealand brings death and  harm to victims of that style of thinking..

In some parts of the world the " secret police " are active in discovering thinking that is itself a crime and removing those people from society.  This New Zealand crime is the price we have to pay for allowing freedom of thought.

A Coming Gas Shortage

It seems that the east coast of Australia is facing a shortage of natural gas at the same time that the country is becoming the biggest exporter of  gas in the world, and it all depends on geography.  The gas we export is mined in the remote north of Western Australia while the gas we use in the eastern states comes mainly from the gas field under Bass Strait, separating Victoria from Tasmania.

The problem is that Bass Strait is now an aged and declining gas field and geologists predict it will decline by a further thirty-five percent in the next five years. As a result, work is underway to build a massive gas terminal at Port Kembla to  supplement our gas supply from overseas.   We seem destined to become both an exporter and an importer of gas.

There is plenty of gas in the ground underneath our feet in both New South Wales and Victoria but to access it we would need to employ what is known as " fracking ".  Not only does this interfere with the natural flow of the underground water system it is also capable of causing earthquakes as gas extraction leaves empty cavities deep in the earth.  For that reason, fracking bans are in force in both states.

Natural gas is preferable to both oil and coal in the release of carbon dioxide and many of our coal fired power stations are being converted to gas.  Gas is destined to play a more important role in our lives and it will inevitably gain prominence as the home heating fuel for the average home during the winter months.  The fact that we are facing a gas shortage should be of major concern.

In fact, this problem is finding different solutions in New South Wales and Victoria.  The New South Wales government has put its faith in that gas import terminal at Port Kembla while Victoria has lifted the ban on onshore gas exploration in that state from July, 2023, and that is despite intense opposition from farming interests who fear it will disrupt natural water availability.

Mother Nature has been benevolent in providing Australia with massive amounts of natural gas beneath the part of this continent with the least population density.  The government would be remiss if it does not ensure that local needs take preference over export contracts and how that is delivered to the eastern states is a matter of economics.

One option would be gas pipeline across the vast interior of the country which would need to be cost compared with shifting gas between Western Australia and the eastern states by ship.  That ship option could be quickly brought into reality as the receiving hub is already under construction.
Now that a gas shortage is a known reality it requires the combination of governments involved to settle their differences and agree on a common solution to this energy problem.

The energy needs of eastern Australia depend on just that being achieved  !

The " Rent Control " Bogey !

The government is wisely introducing protection measures to stop landlords serving eviction notices on people forced out of work by this COVID-19 lockdown.  This not only applies to the eight million Australians who live in rented accommodation but will also protect rented business property forced to close because of the health risks.

The government has used its lawful powers to force shops and offices to close and will pay $1100 a fortnight to  compensate those out of work.  This protection is simply an interim measure until we see where the virus is going and how long the lockdown may last.  The government is not stepping in to pay rents but seeking to spread the loss of income from the lockdown over both the people renting and their property owners.

Rents are a significant measure of the economy and represent  $ 16.5 billion in Sydney alone. A lot of rental properties are owned by retired people who rely on the rent for their income and what could be termed a rent freeze will have a wide financial impact.   It may even drive down the inflation in house prices as buying to achieve a renting income becomes more risky.

This humanitarian  measure is clearly necessary, but many people will compare it with the rent control era of the second world war. Our troops serving overseas were paid just a fraction of their civilian income and rents for their dependents were frozen accordingly.  These " protected tenants " could not be evicted under any circumstances and as a result of legal judgements the low rents they paid continued for years after the war's end.

It reached the stage that the property owners were often receiving rent at a level insufficient to even pay the council rates, and they were legally responsible for maintaining the property value and replacing items like hot water services that failed with age.  It often required a substantial cash bribe to persuade a protected client to yield and vacate a rented property.

The government needs to be very careful that this rent protection does not gradually - by one court decision at a time - evolve into a similar " protected rental " shield that seriously impacts on the rental market.  The owners of rental property also have needs and in framing the necessary legislation it needs to have a clear time frame.  Otherwise - like that war time measure - it simply becomes too politically sensitive to gain the numbers to bring it back under control by the parliament.

Drug Driving Increases !

In the distant past alcohol was the main target in the road safety message. Incremental changes in the law covering detection finally led us to the " booze bus " era where the entire traffic stream can be pulled over and tested and we are now seeing a positive result.  Australian drivers are finally getting the message that what they saw as a social crime can cause them to be separated from the use of their car.

Put bluntly, random breath testing increased the risk of being caught to such an extent that fewer drivers now take that risk, but unfortunately the alcohol nemesis has been replaced by drugs. Research listed in the journal " Traffic Injury Prevention " records  that fifteen percent of those admitted to hospital after road crashes in South Australia tested positive for illicit drugs.

In contrast, just eleven percent of such drivers and five percent of motorcyclists recorded a blood/alcohol concentration above the limit of 0.05.   It seems that the same trend in evident in New South Wales where comparison of the figures for the nine years preceding 2018 showed that twenty-one percent of the drivers or riders who died in road crashes had illicit drugs in their systems.

It seems unlikely that roadside testing for drugs will ever achieve the outcome evident in reducing alcohol use before driving. The alcohol testing is quick and accurate.  In contrast, a drug test involves requiring a driver to wipe a testing probe across their tongue.  If positive, they are required to give a saliva sample which is sent to a laboratory for testing.  The final outcome is not known for several days after the roadside test.

This drug testing campaign lacks the " random " factor of alcohol testing.  Because it is both time consuming and expensive, it is concentrated at high risk locations such as concerts or raves.  The average drug user has good reason to think they will not be tested and what is tested to reveal is the presence of cannabis, methamphetamines, ecstacy and cocaine.  There are many drugs which do not fall into any of these categories.

To make matters worse, all forms of roadside testing have been suspended because of this Coronavirus Pandemic.  Both alcohol and drug users know police road testing has been cancelled and now testing will only be carried out on those killed in road crashes.   That is not an encouraging outcome for the average motorists sharing the road with drug affected drivers.

Surviving the Pandemic !

It is now very obvious that the outcome of this Covid-19 virus is going to be a huge surge in unemployment and it is quite likely that the numbers will replicate the levels last experienced in the " Great Depression " of the 1930's.   The need to stop people congregating as a way of spreading the infection is being enforced by regulations and it is anticipated that unemployment levels will quickly rise to about fifteen percent of the population.

Even in this early stage we are seeing long lines around Centrelink offices as people register for the relief the government is offering.  Both phone and internet access have crashed under the volume of traffic and entry to Centrelink offices is being regulated to ensure a one metre gap between customers.  It is inevitable that there will be a time delay than could run to a month before the unemployment benefit of $1100 a fortnight starts to reach recipients.

Our main political parties may disagree on the details but they are united on the fact that this is not just an Australian problem but a world Pandemic  that is going to cause countless deaths.  The danger is that small, single issue political parties that gain little support at the ballot box will use this issue to promote their populist solutions.  Both the far right and the far left favour extremist regimes in power which reject democracy and rule by force.  At a time of crisis their persuasive promises can have attraction for desperate people.

Unfortunately, this crisis will permanently change the Australia we knew.  A lot of businesses that were only marginally profitable will go out of business and not recover and new trends will emerge in both sporting activities and general business. Recovery will be in the hands of the entrepreneur and this will be reflected in our forms of entertainment, eating habits and way we do business.  We will need to develop new skills to blend back into this new workforce.

The extent our way of life changed was sudden, but the recovery will be protracted.  Hopefully, a vaccine will tame Covid-19 and the infections will cease but the job market will take time to develop back to a normal level and a lot of what we considered " permanent " jobs will have failed to reappear. Before this crash the " casual " and the " gig economy " were fast replacing the old style of work we had experienced in our past.

As dismal as things appear, there is every prospect that there will be a jobs recovery.  We will need to be patient and not swayed by radical ideas.  The " working Australia " that emerges will be what we put in place when the dust from Covid-19 settles  !

A Global Retreat !

There is now no country in the world that is not experiencing the Covid-19 virus Pandemic.  The passage of people around the globe is coming to a standstill as airlines cease flights and supply chains are interrupted.  It seems inevitable that there will be shortages because the world became obsessed with " globalization " and just about everything became composed of various parts from many countries.

As a result, high wage western countries lost their manufacturing dominance as jobs flowed to countries where the wage structure was much lower.   The various countries of " Asia " competed in a race to the bottom as the supply chain sought even lower prices to maintain a marketing edge.  We are used to cheaply priced goods and any disruption will quickly increase living costs.

A lot of car manufacturers tried their luck making cars in Australia and all failed.  We now do not have a car industry and as a result the world competes aggressively and we are enjoying very low prices for cars with the foremost engineering.  Never has the Australian car fleet been so modern and safety conscious.

Prices would be much lower but for an anomaly from the beginning of the car industry.  At that stage Britain was the leader of the world and they chose right hand drive.   The rest of the world chose the opposite, and today car manufacturers need to build in both modes to serve the world audience.  It is unlikely that right hand drive countries will change because of the confusion that would create.

The arrival of the self driving car is imminent, and then that driver position will become irrelevant, and that delivers an important message to Australian industry.  This interruption to the world manufacturing industry prevents an opportunity for the parts manufacturers who previously supplied Holden and Ford.  They mastered the high quality engineering that enabled them to make precision auto parts and now a whole new field of engineering is opening up with this supply chain interruption.

We were able to compete effectively on both price and quality in the very competitive car industry and there is no reason that success can not transfer to general engineering.  To avoid delivery delays, an Australian supplier has a distinct advantage over those Asian rivals.

Marketing is really having the right sales pitch to convince product manufacturers to see it that way !

The Lost Girls !

In 2014 a news story flashed across the world that terrorists had kidnapped two hundred and seventeen Nigerian schoolgirls.  It  had been a night raid by truckloads of young men owing allegiance to a religious terrorist organization known as " Boko  Haram ".  In English, that translates into " Western education is forbidden ".

The terrorists quickly infiltrated the dormitories of this girls school in Chibok and forced the girls at gunpoint into the yard where they were ordered to climb into the trays of trucks.  It was a confusing scene in the darkness and many girls escaped and ran away into the night, but when a head count was taken 278 were missing.

The Nigerian government mobilised its army and promised speedy recovery, but the terrorists had dispersed into into the Nigerian badlands where they have sympathy from the nomadic tribes and little has changed in these ensuing six years.  A few girls have been returned in exchange for " deals " that usually involve the release of Boko Haram prisoners or for ransom that involves guns and ammunition.

The attack sparked an international campaign headed by Michelle Obama under the " Bring back our girls " banner but the outcome has been meagre. Fifty-seven girls escaped early in the ordeal and were offered refuge in American schools.  The terrorists have continued their war in Nigeria where many schools have been burned to the ground and parents warned not to educate their children.  It is now quite clear that the Nigerian government has washed its hands of the affair and any further progress is unlikely.

The news filtering out from the remaining captives is grim.  The escapees report that the girls are ordered to convert to Islam and choose a husband from the terrorist ranks - and marry.  Those that refuse are forced into a life of slavery and are portioned out to serve terrorist families in harsh conditions.  They are held far from any point where rescue is possible and hope is slowly withering away.

It seems that we in the west have also forgotten the Chibok girls.   Religious intolerance and a refusal to let girls achieve the outcomes that education can deliver have split this African country on a war basis.  The United Nations was specifically created to be the neutral umpire to settle civil wars and yet it chooses to remain aloof from this problem.   The lost girls have long awaited seeing that blue and white flag coming over the horizon - to their rescue.  No such action is even on the drawing boards !

Like a Locust Plague !

News footage of people fighting in supermarket aisles over dwindling stocks of toilet paper served to  increase the rate of panic buying and now shoppers are confronted with empty shelves and limits on what will be processed through the checkouts.

The problem is that when the rumour mill sends thousands of shoppers on a buying spree this peak overwhelms the supply chain and incoming replacements are being snapped up as soon as they arrive at the store.  As a result, city shoppers have turned their attention to the out of town supermarkets that serve the rural community and there have been reports of bus loads descending on country towns, described as " like a plague of locusts ",

A lot of small country towns are served by a single supermarket which keeps stocks levels commensurate with demand.  They serve local farming communities and many of these come to town fortnightly or even monthly because of the distances involved.  This depredation caused by city folk plundering local stocks is causing distress and hardship in the farming communities.

It is fast reaching the stage where strangers are being made to feel unwelcome.  Towns that usually welcome tourists are looking hard at out of area number plates on cars if the occupants are in town to raid supermarket supplies.  Strict rationing has been applied in some stores on the basis of preserving stock limits and store managers have been told to close and lock their doors if they sight a tourist bus full of shoppers.

It was hoped that this buying panic would quickly hit a peak and subside, but that is not happening. To some is is reminiscent of the days when New South Wales was the sole state tolerating poker machines and each day bus loads of eager players poured over the borders keen to throw their money down the coil slots of these gambling machines.  Today's hordes are only interested in gaining access to hard to find grocery items.

If this continues, the government may have to turn to the solution that balanced demand during the war years.  Older folk well remember the days when they shopped with " ration cards " and handed over a " coupon " which determined their right to butter, meat, groceries and eggs.  Strangely, toilet paper was not at that time included in the list of " rationed " goods.

Hopefully, sanity will prevail and all that will not become necessary.  There will be no shortages if the public revert to their normal buying quantities and certainly no prospect of this virus causing a siege.  A little logical thinking would quickly end this panic buying.

The Blame Game !

It is probably inevitable that this coronavirus pandemic would get the rumour mill running.  The Chinese Communist party leadership is using that same fake news strategy that was employed to divert votes in the 2016 American election to suggest that this virus actually originated in the United States.

A story launches from a Canadian disinformation site has tweeted a video of US Congressional testimony suggesting COVID-19 did not originate in Wuhan but in the United States instead.  Like all such disinformation, it was cleverly  edited and framed to deceive.  Now that the epedemic seems to have run its course in Wuhan, China is posturing to present itself as the world's saviour and carefully erasing its disgraceful attempts to shut down news of the outbreak by heavily punishing doctors who sounded the alert.

Prominent Chinese diplomatic officials and news outlets  are now promoting the outright conspiracy theory that the US military  brought the coronavirus to Wuhan.  This is more in line with the tactics employed by Moscow and echo the methods of the old Nazi propaganda machine that " if you tell the same lie often enough it will become the truth ".

This is intended to hide the fact that the CCP government " handled this horribly " and the entire world is paying a price for that.  The Chinese model did not solve this virus dilemma.  It created it - and it wants to hide that.

It is noticeable that for the first time President Donald Trump has referred to COVID-19 as the " Chinese disease " as a counter to the disinformation campaign.  COVID-19 has disrupted the world economy and the passage of time will decide whether or not it leads to a world recession. There is no doubt it will alter career paths for many people and it seems that China is desperate to shift the blame elsewhere.

Interestingly, China may be wondering about the reaction of its big neighbour - Russia..  The Russian economy is dependent on oil sales - and the oil price has dipped to below thirty dollars a barrel.  If Russia is struck with mass unemployment President Putin may decide that a national  military adventure is the best way to draw attention away from economics.

It is impossible to predict just where this coronavirus outbreak is taking the world, except in a very different direction from the immediate past.

Coronavirus - And The Criminal World !

This Pandemic phenomenon sparked a rush of panic buying.  Crowds of people rushed the supermarkets buying insane quantities of toilet paper, hand sanitizer, face masks and food that will not deteriorate in storage for a long period of time.   There was a similar panic buy of chemist items and as a result shoppers are now finding bare shelves and quantity buy restrictions have been imposed.

Australia is on a virtual war footing as it tries to limit the spread of a deadly virus and inevitably the conditions are right for the emergence of a price gouging black market.  The criminal world will see this as an opportunity to exploit shortages and the internet is the ideal way to connect the seller with the buyer. We have laws in place to stop the hiking of hard to get theatre tickets, but they do no apply to general merchandise and we will need specific new laws if this is to be brought under control.

The measures taken to restrict crowd numbers and force isolation will move many businesses to the point of closure and the government is handing out subsidies to keep them open.  It is again evident that criminals will exploit this opportunity with magnified claims and the need for speed will hinder the close investigation of each claim.   It is more important to get the money flowing to keep jobs filled and the work to weed out fraud will be left until later.

What is extraordinary is the length that people will go to set up a new criminal endeavour.  A Sydney couple have just been charged with an intricate day care scam that defrauded the Commonwealth government of four million dollars.  Seventeen people have so far been charged for complicity in making a day care centre that did not exist seem real and some were the parents of children supposedly attending that mirage.

This bogus day care centre was the brainchild of a man and his wife who enlisted others in a complicated criminal enterprise.  It even involved time sheets filled out to support day workers and a roster of children supposedly under the care of the centre, and it is likely that more charges will be laid as the investigation goes deeper.

Right now money is being handed out without the necessary legislative safeguards being in place to check the bona fides of the applicants.  That is of necessity, and later the necessary investigators will take a long look at how things worked out.

Eventually, this Conaravirus will have run its course - and then some interesting questions will need answers  !

Into The Unknown !

This Pandemic is taking us on an interesting journey and at this stage nobody can accurately predict just how it will turn out.  The pundits claim that we may be heading into a hundred billion dollar deficit when all the assistance to keep the economy running is added up.

Initially, the world tried the containment strategy.  The Covid-19 originated in Wuhan, China and Chinese movement around the world was heavily restricted in an effort to stop it reaching this country.   That clearly failed and the virus is now loose in the community and we are starting to see the panic effect as the population reacts.

The supermarkets have experienced a rush on goods customers are keen to stockpile in preparation for a coming siege.  Opening hours have been reduced and a limit placed on the number of items that can be passed through the checkouts at each visit.  Surprisingly, the item that heads the list is toilet paper, and that is not expected to play a major part in what is essentially an influenza epidemic.

The sporting world is the first casualty in a drive to reduce the number of people congregating together and assisting the spread of the virus. Most sporting contests have been either cancelled or held in empty stadiums and legislation is restricting group activities to crowds of less than five hundred people.  Industry is urged to have their employees work from home rather than attend a crowded office.

At this stage, the schools are still open although the universities have taken education online to try and service the vast number of overseas students prevented from returning to Australia to commence this years courses.   The world tourist industry has taken a hit and airline companies have been grounding planes and many cruise ships are stuck at sea as ports refuse them clearance to dock and discharge passengers.  It is obvious that this will be a lean year for the many activities that have made Australia a world tourist destination.

This was to be an Olympic year in Japan and that is still scheduled to proceed, although much will depend on how the virus progresses.  There is encouraging news on a virus vaccine development but that will need months of trials to eliminate safety concerns.   Each night the number of virus cases confirmed in Australia continues to climb in the news reports and it is now obvious to most thinking people that the world we knew is about to  change.

The world that emerges when this virus finally runs its course is going to look very different.  Many aspects of that old world will have faded away and been replaced with something entirely new.  These may be exciting time for the entrepreneur looking for new opportunities.  For most people what the future looks like will be dictated by the need for survival  !

That " Fluoride " Question !

As moves to engineer a vote at a coming council election to remove fluoride from the water supply grows stronger it raises alarm in state medical circles.  There is a small cabal in the Port Macquarie  Hastings council who are making fluoride a political issue.

Queensland local government councils have an election due on March 28 and already thirteen have removed fluoride from their water supply by popular vote. That happened in 2013 and now the dreadful effect on dental health is plainly evident.  Dentists report an enormous surge in tooth cavities across all age groups but with particular impact on children.

Natural fluoride is lacking in most Australian sources of water and to achieve dental health most communities have agreed to its addition, but there has always been a small element of opposition.  This is mainly encouraged by the same rumour mill that creates opposition to having children vaccinated against childhood diseases and this is despite overwhelming scientific advice that fluoride is perfectly safe.

Just as opponents of vaccination claim that this programme is responsible for autism the people against fluoride claim that it is a poison that the government insists on  using as some sort of control measure.  That is widely believed in conspiracy theory circles and some adherents  even drive miles to bring household cooking water home from a non fluoride source.

Unfortunately, this very active rumour mill can be very convincing and when they sew doubt in enough minds the tenets of democracy swing into action and a geographical area is excluded from fluoride protection.  It is possible for fluoride supporters to switch to toothpaste with a fluoride addition but inevitably tooth deterioration soon becomes evident.

The strong action of the government has swung solidly behind child vaccination.  To achieve herd immunity the government is refusing enrolment in pre-school and schools for unvaccinated children and this has resulted in some die hard opponents resorting to home schooling.

It is quite possible the issue of a popular vote will be indecisive.  In  1991 Port Macquarie voted to remove fluoride but that was treated as a request and denied by NSW Health.  It seems that the democratic process does have limitations and the government can claim a mandate in the operation of public health issues.

If nothing else, the timing of this fluoride question was ill opportune.   Just as the Federal government was issuing strict health guidelines to combat a Pandemic.

Computer Glitches !

A lot of people who have the Windows 10 system on their computer will have recently had an approach asking them to permission to install an update.  If they have chosen the " later " option it is likely that the next time they boot up their computer they will find that update will stop them in their tracks because it will commence automatically.   The time your computer will be out of your control will run to about two hours.

Windows 10 uses that update to install a search engine of their own - and they don't bother to ask your permission. You may find that when you try and use whatever old system you had installed you  are blocked from internet access.  Usually the blockage takes the form of an interruption to accessing items on Facebook, or working familiar internet programmes.  Strangely, the inward and outward flow of emails is not affected.

That annoying message that your internet is blocked becomes very persistent.  Self help will detail ways to correct the problem, but few with basic computer skills will manager to achieve that outcome.  Usually it involves the cost of getting external help and it does raise the ownership issue.  It is more than just a minor nuisance.  If you conduct your financial affairs on the computer the lack of internet access can isolate you from your bank and cease your bill paying ability.  Coming at a time when this Covid-19 virus is forcing people to isolate themselves to stop the infection spreading the computer remains the only safe way of communicating for many people.

What annoys many people is that every upgrade in the operating system imposed on them leaves vast changes in the operating system that they need to work out on their own.  Simple procedures such as adding a new contact to the address book has taken a new format and often what seemed a simple and straight forward procedure from the past has been abandoned - without warning or comment.

In many ways the computer can be compared to the automobile.  When we buy a new car we accept the technology that it represents at that time.  We may encounter newer and more advanced models on the road in later years, but the technology in our vehicle remains unchanged.  We have the choice of  sticking with the technology we know and understand - if that is our wish.

It should be the same with computers.  - with the old and new technology running side by side.  Upgrades should be a matter of choice, not something forced on computer owners.  There is an old maxim that the sales people should remember.   The  customer is always right  !

The " Colour " Question !

Shreya  Siddanagowda was just eighteen when she had the misfortune to be a passenger in a bus crash on one of India's chaotic roads.  Her hands were crushed and because there was a delay in  extracting her from the wreck and getting her to hospital the surgeons had no other option that to amputate both arms below the elbows.

She was put on the waiting list for a transplant, but in India that is a slow process because Indian families are reluctant to donate limbs.  Barely a year later she was offered the option of replacements for both hands.  They matched her blood group, but they were far bigger than her originals - they were hairy and the colour was much deeper than her own body colour.  They were the hands of a man.

The donor was a man killed in a motorcycle accident who was pronounced brain dead on arrival at the hospital.  Shreya accepted instantly, and after a thirteen hour procedure they were successfully attached.  Now, two years after the operation her doctors are baffled.  Very quickly the donated hands began to show a lot of change.  They are now hairless and slender and appear to be changing to the body type of the now twenty-one year old student.

Even more remarkable is the colour change.  The much darker skin has lightened and the doctors are convinced that this is because of the actions of MSH - a brain controlled hormone that stimulates melanin production.  It seems to suggest that MSH influences the skin colour.

Obviously, this will attract the attention of many of the pharmaceutical companies scattered around the world.  MSH is barely understood but it offers a promising avenue of research which would bring a fortune to the company able to patent a product that changed skin colour.

That would certainly introduce social change of an overwhelming nature.  Our skin colour is something we are born with and which dictates many aspects of the life we will lead in most countries of the world.  The prospect that one day skin colour may be optional opens new avenues of challenge.

Perhaps the day when the colour of one's skin will be seen as a fashion statement !

A Suspect Named !

A curious accusation has emerged in the inquest into the disappearance of William Tyrrell, the boy in the Spiderman suit who mysteriously disappeared while playing in the garden of his grandmothers home in Kendal on the state's north coast.

A woman was babysitting two young boys and what is called William's song " Bring him Home " was playing on the radio.  The younger boy suddenly blurted that " he knew who killed William Tyrrell ", and his older brother tried to shut him up.  It was suggested that if the secret was revealed their mother's neck would be snapped.

The younger boy went on to comment that William had been killed and his body buried in a suitcase.  The killer was named as Frank Abbott, who is in Cessnock prison serving a paedophile sentence.  The shocked babysitter recounted this to her mother, who took it to the police and this resulted in a dam and a caravan at Logan's Crossing being closely examined by forensic police.  Frank Abbott previously lived there but the search was unproductive.

A reward of a million dollars was recently posted for information that broke this case and there is always hope that the lure of money will get some associated person to talk.  Frank Abbott is now a person of interest to the police, but no connection has been discovered that would link him to the boy's disappearance.

It seems strange that a young boy would make such an accusation without prompting and the babysitter is adamant that he appeared truthful.  The only factor leading to the admission was the song and its reference to William that was playing in the background.  That information has been in police hands for some time, and the case has not progressed.

There is no doubt the William Tyrrell disappearance has convinced many parents that he was the victim of a paedophile.   The personal freedom kids enjoyed in an earlier age has come to an end and today they are more likely to be escorted to and from school than allowed to make this journey on their own or in a group.  Several famous missing children cases come to mind every time a boy or a girl goes missing and these range from the Beaumont children in Adelaide to Samantha Knight in Sydney.  William Tyrrell is rapidly becoming a similarly remembered name.

No statute of limitations exists in murder cases and the police books will be open in this case until it is solved.

A " Spending " Solution !

Australia will go from the prospect of a small surplus to a fourteen billion deficit as it injects money into the economy to ward off a threatened recession.  The cause is a pandemic that came roaring out of China and can not be fully contained.  It now seems inevitable that it will sweep through the world and be fatal for some people.  The good news is that the vast majority will experience something like influenza from which they will recover.

The first fiscal indications are frightening.  The world stock market took a beating as investors backed away and prices fell sharply.  The huge superannuation industry has its members funds invested wherever it can get the best return and this retreat will lower retirement expectations.  If industry is forced to shed workers because of this economic downturn many planned comfortable retirements are at risk.

The government has spread the impact of its relief funds widely.  The need to isolate to slow the spread of the virus will impact on most retail business and fifty million dollars will be allocated in grants from two thousand to twenty-five thousand dollars to keep the doors open and survive the downturn.  Up to 70,000 eligible employers will be able to claim help to retain apprentice and trainee positions with the government kicking in with wage support.

Importantly, people forced into isolation by the virus who can not fund their current income support obligations  will be offered a personal crisis intervention for fourteen days.  This will not require a medical certificate unless a further extension is required and help will be forthcoming under youth allowance, sickness allowance or the jobseeker payment system.

Another big initiative is a one off cash payment to welfare recipients.  The 6.5 million  Australians who receive the aged pension, family tax benefit, youth allowance, Newstart, Austudy, Disability support and carer payments will receive this payment of $750 on March 31.   It is imperative that this be spent and not locked away in a savings account.

By putting $750 into the hands of this vast array of people the flow-on to retail premises of individual purchases will help to restore confidence in the business sector.  It does not matter where - or how - the money is spent, just so long as it circulates swiftly to achieve the intended outcome.

That is a calculated gamble.  Each recipient finds $750 they did not expect to receive in their hands and the are being asked to shed their austerity budgets and spend it in the national interest.  It is hoped that most will comply and that amount of money coming into immediate circulation could well be the stimulus that keeps many small business operations from closing their doors.

How the Australian economy fares in the face of this pandemic is now squarely back in the hands of its people !

Unpaid Superannuation !

The law is quite clear when it comes to the superannuation obligations of employers.  Quite independently of the money handed over in pay packets, they are obliged to pay a percentage of that wage into their employees superannuation account where it will draw interest until the day of retirement comes around.

When that doesn't happen, not only is the employee cheated but it is also a law breach that can result in a prison term.  The lawmakers have just introduced an unusual amnesty that will allow employers to avoid fines if they admit the breaches that have occurred and make good on the missing money.
That amnesty was first announced in May, 2018 but never made it into law.  It got bogged down in the usual political wrangling and thousands of businesses which had taken the promise at face value and admitted the crime were left in limbo.

That will be of great relief to many companies who feared instant retribution from the tax office.  The legislation is now in force to allow them to avoid fines if they repay the superannuation owed to their employees, plus a ten percent interest fee for the time it was not earning any interest.  That money will need to be paid upfront, or by way of a payment plan.

What is frightening is just how widespread this non payment of the superannuation levy has become. When the amnesty was first announced seven thousand businesses admitted their guilt and it is expected about another seven thousand will put their hand up now that the amnesty has passed into law.  In the past five years, 17,000 employers have admitted being liable for unpaid superannuation.

It seems that this superannuation obligation is the first casualty when an employer faces difficulty in making payroll.  If sales are down and the money flow is meagre handing over that pay envelope on Thursday takes precedence because without it the employees obligations for rent and food can not be met.  The superannuation payment merely becomes at item mentioned on the accompanying pay slip.

Unfortunately, when a business closes its doors and files for bankruptcy one of the prime debts discovered by the receiver is usually money owing to the employees superannuation fund.  Even if payment of this receives priority it is doubtful that the employees to which it is owed will ever see even a small percentage repaid.

The fact that parliament is considering an increase in the wage percentage to be paid to superannuation is likely to increase this problem. On any given year a lot of businesses cease trading and go out of business.  Whether that omission in paying superannuation is deliberate or caused by lack of cash flow the end result is wage theft.

It will continue to go unchallenged until the wage earner can be conditioned to seriously coordinate with their superannuation fund to ensure that company contributions are up to date - and on time.  At present, few employees regularly check on the health of their superannuation fund or raise the issue with their employer.

Defining a Doubtful Crime !

Two star Rugby League players have been stood down indefinitely  by their club for what is described as a " breach of the player's code of conduct ".  It is alleged that when the team played a match at Port Macquarie they had consensual sex with high school girls after the game.

There seems little doubt that this matter will be contentious because no laws were broken.  The age of consent in New South Wales is sixteen and  having attained that age having sex is entirely a decision for the people concerned of both genders.

In this case, the emotive words seem to be " school girls ".  The law comes down hard on a school teacher having sex with students under his or her control and attaining the age of consent is not a condoning factor.  It is not suggested that these girls were in school uniform at the time they made contact with the League players and it is usual for fans of both genders to congregate and make contact with players after the game.

In the music world, what are termed " groupies " follow successful bands and go to great lengths to establish intimate contact. Sex is usually freely on offer and girls boast of their success with a favoured artist.  It would not be unusual for a similar outlook to condition contact with players who had attained fame on the sporting field.

So - once again we have sex rearing its ugly head.  Rugby League has been constantly damaged by player behaviour off the field and this has involved drunken behaviour and  sometimes even  complaints of rape.  The League has cracked down hard.  Now just drawing adverse publicity can result in player suspension and that is exactly what has transpired as a result of this Port Macquarie incident.

Now we are coming to the defense stage and it is expected that the players will; demand the suspension be lifted.  A century earlier attitudes to sex were vastly more moralistic, but in todays world it has become a rite of social intercourse that is often taken for granted.  The invention of the " pill " removed the threat of maternity and sexual freedom became a subject dragged screaming into the public domain.

There is now nothing unusual about girls still going to school having sex.  Interestingly, it is not their parents complaining and the only litigant seems to be the Rugby League officials. In these circumstances, this seems to be a case of " much ado about nothing "  !

Surviving Covid-19 !

ACTU Secretary Sally McManus raises a valid point when she refers to the  3.3 million Australian workers who fall under the " casual " designate in describing their employment status.   They are not entitled to either annual leave or sick leave and the isolation need of this coming pandemic leaves them in economic peril.

It is essential that those who show signs of infection do not needlessly spread the disease by continuing to work and when the income stops this lower paid segment of the workforce will not be able to keep paying their bills.  Those renting will quickly face a housing crisis and few have cash savings that can tide them over a period of income loss.

There is also the aspect of keeping the nation's essential services running.  Food and pharmaceutical manufacturing needs to keep working to supply the nation's needs and another necessary essential is the transport system.  We need a degree of flexibility to ensure that enough healthy members of the workforce can fill gaps where these become necessary.

The giant Uber company has made an early response with an announcement that it will provide  fourteen day  "compensation " to drivers who need to isolate themselves due to the virus.  It is hoped that industry generally will make a similar approach to see the nation through this crisis.

The economic community is looking to the Federal government for the obvious lead that would involve providing " Newstart " as a temporary relief for those who would need isolation because of the virus.  Basically, Newstart is just another word for the " dole " and it would certainly be appropriate to shield those temporarily removed from the workforce by Covid-19.

The problem is that Newstart has not been updated in line with inflation for years and now falls far short of a living wage.  There are calls for it to be increased by nearly a hundred extra dollars a week but this is being resisted on the grounds that it would make unemployment too attractive to those seeking to avoid the responsibilities that go with a permanent job of work.

There is no doubt that this coming Pandemic has thrust as unwelcome strain on the national economy. All hope of delivering a surplus has been removed from economic thinking and the government will need to increase borrowings to stimulate the economy.  The unknown factor is - to what degree and for how long ?

Bushfire Road Recovery

This Christmas and New Year Australia suffered a bushfire emergency that impacted the south coast from Batemans Bay to near Melbourne in Victoria.  Many homes burned to the ground and lives were lost.  A vast army of volunteers from the Rural Fire Services fought the fires for weeks until they were reinforced by members of the armed services.  In some areas, residents were forced to wade into the sea when the fires burned to the waters edge and navy ships were urgently despatched to effect rescues.

The Princes Highway is the direct connection between Sydney and Melbourne by way of the east coast of Australia. It is mostly a single lane each way and during the fires great stretches were overwhelmed by flames and closed to traffic.  Welcome rain has now eased the fire threat and the highway is open again, but there is a vast difference in the remedial action taken by the two state governments.  This would have been very apparent to any Sydney motorists taking the highway to visit the motorbike races at Phillip Island in Victoria over the March weekend.

For the first time, this blog carries pictures.  The top picture shows the Princes Highway in a section of New South Wales where it was impacted by fire.  Trees damaged by fire and in danger of falling have been removed, but that seems to be the extent of the restoration.  Massive trees are still as close as a metre from the edge of the carriageway, providing the danger that is the outcome in all too many motoring accidents.

The lower picture shows the Princes Highway in Victoria.  The tree line has been withdrawn two hundred yards from each side of the highway and the sight line has improved. Oncoming traffic is no longer hidden by trees masking a bend in the road and the light factor has sharply improved. This is the standard which should be applied to all traffic roadways in this country.

The Victorians have achieved this with admirable forethought.  The trees that were removed were valuable commodities and as each tree was cut down the bark and branches were removed and the trunk was sold to the sawmilling industry.  The trees removed in the interest of highway safety simply replaced trees that would otherwise be lost to fulfil housing needs for timber.

There is no doubt that this Victorian initiative has increased highway safety. How often do we see an accident report that contains the words " the car ran off the road and crashed into a tree " ?  On too many roads the carriageway is lined with trees that would stop a Sherman tank in its tracks.  The safety issue of setting back the tree line by two hundred yards is obvious.

An example has been set and it is now important that the motoring public insist that this standard be applied, not only to safeguard the road system against the fires we know will be generated by global warming, but to introduce a safety factor to save lives.

Bummff !

How extraordinary that with the threat of a Pandemic we have thousands of panic stricken people rushing the supermarkets and pulling reams of toilet paper off the shelves.  Some households will have enough bummff on hand to last them well into the next year.

This Coronavirus is really influenza on steroids and has very little to do with the patients rear end. The vast majority of people recover and every year the conventional flu season causes a number of deaths.  It is more important that the medication used to combat flu be available in the quantities needed and not lapse into short supply.

Perhaps now is a good time to review the long history of toilet paper use in Australia.  In those far distant days when the nation was unsewered and the "nightsoil collector " took the pan away every week it was common practice to nail a merchants catalogue to a stud in the outhouse wall.  It was thought a lot of sales occurred from people reading a page of the catalogue as they sat and awaited its use and the merchants were given credit for the softness of the paper used.  Few high gloss catalogues made the cut.

When the sewer connection arrived it was very different.  There was a need for paper that dissolved and didn't clog the sewer and this resulted in a great new industry.  Hundreds of millions of trees are felled and used each year to produce the toilet paper consumed by the nation. A giant section of the advertising industry extolls its virtue.

Sadly, preferences have changed and many people are now using what are referred to as " wet wipes " and these do not dissolve and tend to cause costly blockages. Perhaps this toilet paper stockpile panic will be a blessing because it will revert people back to using the stuff that dissolves.  It is noticeable that this buying panic did not extend to wet wipes.

It is interesting to compare toilet habits here with the rest of the world.  In France toilet paper has been replaced with the bidet.  A French bathroom is not complete unless there is a bidet alongside the conventional toilet.  It brings a certain elegance that only the French could add to conventional bathroom etiquette.

It is said that India is a country that lacks toilets.  Its citizens use the great outdoors and back in the days when the British ran India is was common for them to be disparaged as " the people who have not yet learned to wash their bottoms ".   In India, the citizenry carry a little water and other necessities for just that purpose.

In Japan this function has degenerated into toilets that combine the benefits of the bidet in the one smooth operation, and the cost can run into many thousands of dollars.  Users complain that like most electronic marvels the operating instructions are confusing.  Pushing the wrong button can have unfortunate consequences and they are yet to gain wide acceptance into private homes.

Now that it is likely that most Australian homes  have a vast stockpile of toilet paper it is a matter of waiting to see if our toilet habits change.  It could be said that we have all eventualities covered  !

A Timely Warning !

Pharmaceutical products giant Johnson and Johnson has been ordered to pay $2.6 million in damages to three Australian women who suffered injuries from one of its products.  This opens the door for a massive class action because Johnson and Johnson manufactures the leading mesh product that is widely used to combat urinary stress incontinence or pelvic organ prolapse, both of which can occur after child birth.

The problem is this product carries no warning that it can cause serious complications, and that these include chronic pain, infections and damage to surrounding organs.  Because the product carried no warnings a mass of Australian women are involved in a class action and the court having found in their favour there is now the expectation that compensation will be widely awarded.

This week the Federal court followed up on its ruling by ordering Johnson and Johnson and its affiliates to provide patient information leaflets  and similar information on promotional material if it continues to sell its products in Australia after March 20.

The terms of this court ordered warning include that the products are " designed  to and will " elicit an acute inflammatory response for as long as the implants remain in the patient's body.  In some cases, they will cause " adverse effects ".

How adverse the outcome of using this product will be seems to be a matter of luck.  Some women find the relief balanced against the discomfort caused, but others have been forced to seek surgical removal.  The class action was against nine such products and five of these are no longer available on the Australian market.

This outcome is a timely warning to the entire pharmaceutical industry.  All too often the profit motive has induced companies to rush a new product to market before the long term adverse effects of its use have been known.  It is usually promoted to the doctors who will prescribe it to their patients as being entirely safe and the adverse effects only become known over a period of time.  At the time of release, this seemed a very reasonable response to what was a condition that would seriously restrict a woman's lifestyle.

It seems there is a fortune out there waiting for a company that can find an answer to this debilitating condition and which is virtually free of adverse side effects.  They just need to be sure that their product comes with adequate warnings.  Leaving the outcome to chance is no longer a viable option.

Restricting Credit Card Use !

The  " Newsagency " used to be an integral part of every suburban shopping centre but today they are few and far between.   It is now a common sight to find an empty shop where the newsagent used to have his or her stand. The profitability is simply not there to support that kind of business anymore.

The newsagent used to sell - and deliver - the daily newspaper to most households but newsprint has been replaced by the constant news channels flowing through mobile phones and tablets.  First came the end of afternoon newspapers and now even the main dailies are struggling to make a living.

Another important staple of the newsagency business was card sales.  Christmas was the peak of the card giving bonanza, but card sales were buoyant for Mothers day, Fathers day, Easter and even Valentines day.  The astronomical rise in postage and the development of messaging apps changed the way we respond to these national events.

Another sales bonanza for the newsagent was the resumption of the school year.  We traditionally went to the newsagency for the books and bags and all the other gear the kids would need for school, but discount specialist stores have emerged to tap into that market and with heavy advertising budgets they have taken a major share of the sales.

The meagre profitable business remaining for the newsagent was as sub-agent for Lotto and seller of the ever popular " scratchies "  which were convenient birthday gifts, but even that is under threat now that the Australian Banker's Association is threatening to withdraw the use of credit cards to purchase any form of gambling.  Such a move would not only sound the death knell for newsagents but would probably seriously restrict the entire horse racing industry.

A long time ago the only way to legally place a bet in New South Wales was to go to a racecourse and bet with a bookie. That restriction encouraged a massive plethora of illegal SP bookies operating out of the back bar of the local pub, and depriving the government of much needed tax dividends.  The government bowed to financial pressure and legislated for the creation of the TAB and a legal bet is now within reach of all who have attained their eighteenth birthday.

Unfortunately, gambling is addictive and it is a sad fact that problem gamblers sometimes deprive their families of life necessities when they fall into the clutches of their addiction.  This move to restrict credit cards use will seriously inconvenience the thousands of people who gamble responsibly for pleasure and disrupt the lives of thousands who make their living from the dog and horse racing industries.  Very obviously, it will also restrict the tax flow which is an important finance source for the government.

Not only newsagents will suffer if this move becomes reality. Restrictions on access to gambling will resurrect that crime element which made gambling accessible when it was illegal.  We could see a resumption of the days of the " loan shark " - going door to door providing finance at usurious interest levels.

The outcome could be very different from what was intended !

That " PFAS " Debacle !

The most effective method of fighting an oil or electrical fire is to smother it with poly-fluoroalkyl chemicals which we know as " PFAS ".  This is a product manufactured by the giant 3M Company and one of its characteristics is that it does not break down over time. It has long been suspected of causing harm to human health.

The problem is that no research has so far been able to determine where it has been specifically harmful to the human body and it is therefore impossible to fully counter the government claim that it is harmless.  There simply is no alternative as a fire fighting weapon and PFAS runoff has contaminated countless properties adjoining airports and government defence facilities.  The owners have been seeking compensation from the government and finally a settlement has been reached in regard to land adjoining defence bases at Williamstown, Oakey and Katherine.   This will involve an outlay of millions of dollars and  open the door to a flood of similar claims from all over Australia.

Where PFAS runoff has soaked into the soil of land adjoining a government facility it is quite clear that the owners have suffered loss.  The market rejects agriculture or animal food produced on that land and it is unsalable as real estate.

This government backdown on compensation came a week after a court appointed independent umpire delivered a health report derived from his investigation.  This finding reported that PFAS exposures potentially harmful health effects including high cholesterol , kidney and testicular cancer.
Observers noted the use of" potentially " rather than " specifically " because these same chemicals are widely used in two commercial products widely found in most households - Scotchguard and Teflon frying pans.

It is quite possible that some time in the future medical science may pinpoint specific risks from contamination with PFAS that are not presently detectable.  That would open an ever growing scale of compensation claims because the product is widely used by city fire brigades and the runoff must affect adjoining properties.   Even a car fire on a suburban street is extinguished using PFAS foam and eventually rain will disperse the residue widely onto surrounding property.

At this stage, the harm is specifically sheeted home to high volume PFAS contamination caused by major fires involving defence equipment.  PFAS foam is often sprayed as a fire suppressant rather than actually fighting an existing fire and in airports the runway is sprayed before an aircraft with mechanical trouble is permitted to land.  It is inevitable that the areas contaminated will widen as the years progress.

This presents us with a totally untenable situation.  Perhaps the most effective method of fighting fire is still being widely used while we wait for science to collect sufficient data to prove that it is specifically harmful to those who come in contact with it.

That proverb about " shutting the stable door after the horsed has bolted " comes to mind !

Splitting Straws !

A curious case in a courtroom illustrates the fine line the justice system walks when it has the job of drawing a line between civil liberties obligations and the punishment of criminals.  It all boils down into deciding the precise letter of the law but to many people it sounds liker splitting straws.

The police became suspicious that two brothers with lengthy crime records were using their car wash business as a front to launder the proceeds of a drug empire they were running.  One of the brothers was already the subject of a firearms prohibition order which gave the police wide powers to conduct searches.  When a similar order was served on the other brother because of a 2006 conviction for possession of an illegal gun it gave the police a legitimate reason to raid the car wash business.

In August, 2017 officers conducted a raid on the car wash premises and searched the operational area, office, storeroom and toilet without discovering anything of interest.   They were about to wrap up the operation when a junior officer asked to search the roof space over the storeroom and his senior agreed.

A short time later the searching officer reached into the space and recovered a lunch box containing two packages of a crystalline substance. One was found to be 154 grams of methylamphetamine and the other 140 grams of cocaine, and the DNA of one of the brothers was found on the lunch box zipper.  The find led to appropriate charges being laid.

This week in the New South Wales District  court judge Robyn Tupman dismissed those charges on the grounds that the search had been a " reckless impropriety " because the correct search warrant had not been used to conduct the raid.  A firearms prohibition order does give police the right to search for firearms, but that does not cover searches for drugs.

It seems this hinged on a comment the search leader made three weeks after the raid in which he admitted that the police had information that drugs might be secreted in the buildings roof cavity, and that was his reason for giving permission for the roof search when it was asked.

Had drugs been found  in the legitimate search for firearms hidden on the premises they would have been allowable evidence, but because the police search was drugs oriented and not specifically looking for firearms the search breached the provisions of the warrant.

It is interesting to note that the police have declined to pursue this matter in the appeals court.  The man whose DNA was found on that zipper is serving a nine and a half year prison sentence on other charges relating to drug manufacture and firearms possession.

Such is the precision required of investigators who must be sure that their paperwork is correct before conducting field operations !

Rise of the Far Right !

It looks like Europe is facing a repeat of the years 2015 and 2016 when a flood of middle east migrants seeking shelter from civil war in both Syria and Iraq poured across national borders and provoked serious unrest wherever they were allowed to settle.

The plug in the neck of the bottle has been Turkey.  It is clear that the Assad regime has won the civil war in Syria and with the help of Russian war planes it is mopping up the last pockets of resistance with total disregard for human life.  Hospitals and refugee camps have come under attack and fleeing hordes have augmented the already crowded numbers already in Turkey awaiting settlement wherever they will be accepted.

Initially, Angela Merkel  opened Germany's door and this provoked an angry backlash from the German population.  Merkel is now a fading figure on the German political scene and migrants already in Germany have revived interest in far right politics.  A thinly disguised replica of Hitler's old National Socialism won enough votes to establish a presence in the German parliament.

Now Turkey is threatening to unleash the hordes in its country onto a totally unprepared Europe.  The Turkish government has announced that " it will not stop them leaving " and this has resulted in thousands flooding out of Turkish refugee camps and trying to cross the border into Greece.  Greek border guards are trying to stop them with tear gas but the most likely outcome is that the pressure will become unstoppable and as happened in those earlier years the Greeks will give them free passage to stream into other European countries.

Europe has clearly signalled that it is unwilling to provide a new home for people of a different religion and social outlook.  Few want to settle in any country other than Germany and the prospect of new hordes pouring over borders has given extreme right wing politicians offering solutions a fast growing popularity in many European countries.  In many instances, this rekindles the animosity that for centuries has afflicted Jews wherever they have settled.

The timing of this new wave battering at Europe's door is unfortunate.  Britain's exit from the EU remains to be finally negotiated and the remaining countries were looking forward to living the European dream of travel across national borders without the need for either passports or visas - and with a common currency.  That would only be possible in a Europe with a stable population.  A new migrant influx would make that dream an unreality.

The obvious answer would be the restoration of peace in the middle east that allowed those refugee hordes to return to their old homes, but that has no hope of ever becoming an eventuality.  The middle east is the location of much of the world's oil supply and is too tightly wound in the machinations of the great powers.  This imbroglio started centuries earlier when those great powers carved up the middle east to suit their own interests and totally disregarded both the religion and the tribal loyalties of the people that lived there.

Europe caused this problem, and now it seems that the chickens are coming home to roost !

Decision Day !

Here we are again, at the first Tuesday in a new month and that is when the Reserve Bank of Australia meets and decides that all important interest rate decision.  The pundits were hoping that the already dangerously low rate of  0.75 would be unchanged, but that was before the stock market made a calamitous correction and the Coronavirus showed signs of breaking out of isolation and raging on the world stage.

There are fears that later today the news will be that our interest rate has again been lowered and now stands at just 0.5%.  The thinking seems to be that a lower interest rate will deliver more money into the hands of people with home mortgages because the rate they pay will be lower and they will splash this money around to stimulate our sagging economy.

Each previous interest rate cut had exactly the same thinking and the end result was completely different.  The vast majority of borrowers simply applied that extra money into further reducing their mortgage and that predicted shopping bonanza failed to eventuate.  That is evidenced by the steady stream of restaurants closing their doors and the failure of clothing chains to maintain their previous discounted offerings to remain in the black.

The more likely outcome is that the rate cut will encourage more first home buyers into the market and cause the spiral of home prices to take another upward twist.  The required deposit is already at an all time low and many new buyers now have minimum equity in the home they are buying and are really gambling on ever higher prices.

Past history tends to back that gamble.  Many first home buyers struggled to pay the mortgage for the first year and then placed the home back on the market - and made an immediate gain of a hundred thousand dollars because of home price inflation.   The wise will remember the short lived 08 recession and the speed with which the banks foreclosed on delinquent mortgages.  The house price spiral collapsed because of lack of buyers and that failed gamble left many without a home but still owing a massive mortgage debt.

Interest rates are at an unusually low level in world financial history and it is inevitable that they will restore natural balance between lending and saving.  The benefit of low interest rates being a gain for borrowers is balanced by people with superannuation needing a return on their money to back living expenses.  The lack of a safe return from money lodged with banks is encouraging risk taking by speculation on the share market and other risky ventures.  The pressures that force interest rates to rise or fall are propelled by differing needs.

The fate of the money market will depend on which way the Reserve bank decides today.  Will it deliver a win for the borrowers - or the savers  ?  The one thing that is very certain is that this low interest rate will be judged an anomaly and  they will eventually rise to as more traditional level.  The wise people will be the ones who correctly guess just when that will happen !

Pandemic !

Perhaps we are about to experience a Pandemic.  If Covid-19 escapes isolation attempts and rages across the world it may cause a million deaths - or two million - or three  ?  Very distressing for the loved ones of those who die but really of little consequence in a now overcrowded world of seven billion people.

What is far more frightening is the prospect of economic upheaval that may change the ordered world we live in - forever.  Our world is now integrated in what we call " globalization ".  China has emerged as the world's workshop and its Communist rulers have clamped down on movement to try and stop the spread of the disease.  Even a slowdown of exports out of China is going to affect manufacturing  jobs in the rest of the world.  Attempts to stop the spread of this disease seem likely to trigger something even more fearful - a world recession.

China is an enigma we in the west do not fully understand.  When Chairman Mao won the civil war he installed a Communist state that killed millions with famine and his disastrous " great leap forward . This was followed by the disaster of the " Cultural Revolution " and finally China got a reprieve under Deng and adopted a Capitalist economy within a Communist state.  Its people live under a totalitarian regime but can amass wealth and travel the world.  How they would react to unemployment is a nightmare that scares their Communist masters.

Here in the west we have seen billions wiped off our stock exchange.  That will flow on to superannuation funds that will reduce retirement incomes.  We face the prospect of huge numbers of retired people having to reduce living standards and move to the age pension.  That impact on government finance will be felt across all stratas of society.

Perhaps the greatest impact of a world recession will fall on the food supply,. A great many countries now have a population that exceeds the ability of its agricultural resources to meet their food needs, and this comes at a time when agriculture is under threat from a hotter, drier world caused by global warming.  Countries that rely on imports to feed their citizens face fierce competition for dwindling world supplies.

That is a depressing scenario unfolding before our eyes and it is not caused by a pandemic, but by world efforts to prevent a pandemic. Because Covid-19 originated in Wuhan it is China that is isolating person to person contact.   The curtailing of jobs in China will have an ongoing effect across the entire world.  The thought of a Pandemic sweeping the world may be delivering more harm than the actual disease can impact in its worst form.

The impact with which we measure a Pandemic is the Spanish Flu that swept the world in 1918/19.  It is estimate that it killed about two percent of the world population at that time.  The world today has very different logistics.  It is possible that attempts to provide a shield against Covid-19 could deliver an economic disaster that is felt many decades into the future.

It seems to be a case of being very careful about what we wish for !

Deaths in Custody !

The death penalty was abolished in Australia and it is no longer on the statute books as punishment  for any type of crime, but " death by neglect " seems to be a replacement when people sentenced to prison are denied medical attention, and that seems all too common if the prisoner is Aboriginal.

The state coroner has released her findings into the death of Aboriginal man Eric Whittaker (36 ) who died of a  ruptured brain aneurysm while he lay shackled in a hospital bed.  It was the events that preceded Mr Whittaker's removal to hospital that drew gasps of horror in the coroner's court.

Mr Whittaker made twenty emergency calls for help over the intercom in his prison cell and officers waited for a shift change before attending to him.   When an attending officer finally arrived at  his cell he found the prisoner crouched at the rear and it was obvious that he had urinated, defecated and vomited on himself..  This visit occurred at 8-08 am, shortly after the 8 am changeover and the officer failed to understand that Mr Whittaker needed medical attention.     Despite the prisoner shouting for help for over three hours no action was taken to bring him to the attention of the  clinic staff.

The court listened to a recording of those desperate cries for help and when the prison staff finally responded and despatched him to hospital in an unconscious state he was shackled to the hospital bed by leg restraints.  He became just another " death in custody " statistic.

Thirty years ago we had a Royal Commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody and it seems very little has changed.   Aboriginals are still massively overrepresented in the prison population and  death in custody seems to rarely invoke any sort of crime investigation.  The fact that a prisoner serving a sentence died because of neglect does not seem to warrant a criminal investigation, nor is anyone personally held to account.

Such is the anonymity of the prison system.  It is beset with rules and regulations but responsibility fails to rest on individual shoulders.  The best outcome to come from Parklea Correctional Facility where the prelude to this death occurred is a vague promise that changes will be made to address shortcomings that occurred at the time of this death.

Prison officers do a demanding job in difficult circumstances, and they have considerable political muscle.  Their union is closely associated with the police union and the one thing that strikes absolute fear into any government is the thought of a police strike.  It is that thin blue line that stands between the lawmakers - and the mob !

We will not eradicate this indifference to prisoner health outcome until responsibility rests on individual shoulders.  A group of officers decided not to respond to calls for help because they could leave it to those shortly arriving to commence the next shift. When that happened, there was an inadequate response to what was needed.

This Coroner's inquest system is configured to safely deliver the blame on the dysfunctional prison system itself rather than individual participants.   Nothing will change until any death in custody provokes an immediate criminal investigation that results in failure of duty that in any way resulted in that death resulting in an outcome.

So far, no government has had either the courage or the integrity to apportion blame to the individuals who failed to carry out their legal duties.