War Drums are Beating !

 An Australian general has warned the special soldiers he used to command  that the " war drums are beating " and eventually conflict with China seems inevitable  He noted that China was already engaged in what he called " grey zone " warfare against our country and it was likely this would spill over into actual conflict in the future.

What Major General Adam Findlay is saying is what a lot of people in government are thinking.  China has chosen to virtually annex the South China sea and fortify the islands it has created there in defiance of a United Nations ruling.  It is harassing fishing boats from other nations and sea traffic is being constantly monitored by units of the Chinese navy.

China is now ignoring a treaty it signed with Britain when the lease on Hong Kong expired and it returned to Chinese control.  It has reneged on the freedoms promised and Hong Kong citizens can now be tried in mainland Chinese courts for what the Communist government terms " disloyalty " and whisked off to labour camps deep in the interior.

Its Communist government badly mismanaged the outbreak of the coronavirus in Wuhan province and allowed it to escape to kill millions around the world.  When Australia insisted on a scientific enquiry to determine how it emerged, China angrily retaliated b y slapping tariffs on Australian exports and discouraging Chinese students from attending Australian universities.

There have been numerous cyber attacks on Australian industry, seeking out our trade secrets. It is obvious that they maintain a spy ring in this country which distributes misinformation and puts pressure on people from a Chinese background that now have citizenship here.  Those with relatives still in  China are particularly vulnerable.

China is in trade conflict with the United States and is using its huge trade surplus to influence its relationship with Pacific rim countries.  It is quick to fund infrastructure projects by way of a loan, and if payments lapse it will negotiate alternatives, such as access to a port as a supply  base for its navy. Its aim is to clearly gain superiority over the US  Navy.

China is seeking world power, but this is completely different to the old cold war with Russia.  Russia sought to export communism to the world and impose it on other countries - by revolution or with military force where necessary.

China simply wants to dominate world trade and needs the worlds biggest military machine to force its edicts to be recognised.  It is likely to force land conquests if the threatened food shortage eventuates, and that's when it may turn its eyes on Australia.

That's why it is important for Australia to keep its defence treaties intact with friendly other countries and maintain a coordinated defence against Chinese aggression.  We are a " middling nation " in the South Pacific and would be best served as part of a defence bloc.

Major General Findlay's warning is something we can not afford to ignore.

Authoritarian Sports Training !

 Australia is very proud of its record of sporting achievements in the world of sport and many parents dip deep in their pockets to help their children attain the fame and fortune that success can bring.  Success is usually the result of professional coaching and training and now a report from the Human Rights Commission has revealed a systemic disfunction awaiting those that take this training method.

The report noted the handicap of a fragmented national structure, leading to friction in leadership and pressure to perform for the sake of funding. This pressure trickled down and led to a toxic culture which created a haze around people's judgments on what were ethical and healthy ways to achieve these goals.

Sadly, this report makes it plain that there exists constant instances of  abuse, misconduct and bullying, and that this includes sexual abuse. Some instructors were known to have " wandering hands " when positioning  their charges to obtain the best results and students devised signs and signals to give warning to others.

Young sports people have an urge to succeed and contend that this abuse is simply part of the system and necessary if they are to achieve their ambition.  In reality, it delivers risk and  harm to athletes and the report contains twelve recommendations to bring training under control.  

Gymnastics Australia, which last year commissioned the report said it was " confronting " and  that it would adopt all recommendations. It is quite obvious that strict oversight is necessary to clean up abuse that should not have been allowed to happen.

It seems that the coaches have been able to instill a culture of fear and control which one submission detailed as " archaic and authoritarian " and which relied  on guilt as a key driver. The driving force was focussed on perfection.

What seems to be missing is the reality that not everyone in a class is going to become a champion.  It will quickly become obvious that unrelenting harsh indocumentation of all will not attain for many the pinnacle necessary for outstanding sporting success. 

Honesty is the best policy. Pushing a person beyond their best ability without hope of ultimate success is actually harmful. They will be better physically and mentally if they choose a new goal and that this is one in which success is possible.

That depends on which is deemed more important.   The success of the coach and trainers, or the development of a champion from those being trained.

Ability to Pay !

The need to achieve distance apart during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic was subjected to a thousand dollar fine   During that period, which ran from January 1, 2020 until February of this year the police issued 1854 such fines and fewer than a quarter have been paid in full.

It seems that most have been ignored .  Just 246 have been reviewed, resulting  in 206 being upheld, 12 withdrawn and 23 replaced with a caution.  All these fines would have returned  $ 1,854,000 to the government but the return to Treasury has been a mere $ 415,000.

If nothing else, this fine fiasco illustrates the gross unfairness of fixed sum fines being applied to offences without the slightest examination of that persons ability to pay or their age. Some of these thousand dollar fines were handed out to children aged between ten and eighteen and few of these would have any taxable income.

By edict, most businesses were forced to close and while several government relief schemes kept wages constant a lot of individuals slipped through the net and lost their means of support. It is what happens next that becomes a burden on these people.

It is likely these unpaid fines will pass to the government Debt Recovery office, which will pursue them relentlessly. When the debtor eventually returns to the workforce a " garnishee " will probably be served on their employer requiring a portion of their wage to be withheld and paid to the debt recovery department.

It is also likely that issues like obtaining a driving license, or registering a car may be refused until such unpaid debts are settled.  In fact, unpaid fines  may be taken into account when the debtor applies for a housing loan later in life.

In certain circumstances, such debtors may find themselves serving time in prison because of the unpaid debt.  In past years, this was a favourite means of wiping the slate clean, mainly used by young men for motoring offences.

Both the severity and the punishment value of a fine is directly related to the wealth of the person fined. This will be exacerbated by the withdrawal of warning notices and the extending of hours for mobile speed camera use which is now in effect.   Exceeding the posted limit by a mere fraction will now incur an automatic fine of equal magnitude to a wealthy business person, a pensioner or perhaps a student driving to university.

Ability to pay is not taken into account.  What some people would accept in their stride would be catastrophic to those on a lower level of society, and this is handed out daily when a fixed sum fine is applicable to every day transgressions.

Our fine system is simply grossly unfair. But it seems that those thousand dollar pandemic fines will be allowed to run their course  !

Those " Watches " Fiasco !

 It seems that the sacking of Christine Holgate as the boss of Australia Post is coming back to haunt the Prime Minister.  Once again our big four greedy banks are cutting back by closing branches and removing ATM's  from public streets.

In particular, the banks are losing interest in providing services to country towns. Instead of providing the services people need, they want to drive most forms of financial transactions onto computer contact which greatly enhances their profits.

Ever falling letter rates and the vastly increased price of stamps was making Australia Post a dwindling asset and the government feared that closure would send thousands of employees who ride motorbikes and deliver letters to households onto the dole queue.

In desperation, they lured Christine Holgate from the private sector and hoped private sector magic might save the jobs at Australia Post.  It would take new thinking and private sector initiative to do just that, and Christine Holgate's mind was equal to the task.

She turned Australia Post into a bank, and that was an incredibly complex negotiation with the states and territories. All the people manning post offices all over Australia will keep their jobs and the government will be spared the anguish from closing down an essential service.

Christine Holgate achieved this miracle by the negotiations of her four top lieutenants and in true private sector reward she  presented each with a Cartier watch, which represented an outlay of $20,000.  That fell outside the guidelines of the public service and sent the Prime Minister into a rage.  He used the power of his office to influence the government appointed Post Office board to force Ms Holgate's resignation.

Now it seems the wheel is making a full turn.   The big four banks are closing branches in city suburbs and country towns despite a big section of the public still preferring to do their banking on a face to face basis. Christine Holgate got it right when she undertook the difficult negotiation to turn the Post Offices into a bank.  It looks like the Post Office bank will be the only bank in many suburbs and country towns.

The government sought private sector ingenuity to get it out of trouble, and then reneged when private sector rewards were bestowed on the talented executives who made this success possible.  It is a sorry story of government ineptitude and Ms Holgate is using the courts to validate the integrity of her actions.

We live in an ever changing world and the rigidity of the public service will need to give way to private sector methods to solve many problems.  That will not happen if people recruited to save faltering services are crucified for using private sector thinking to solve these problems.

The Prime Minister should at least admit that he was wrong, and extend a public apology to Ms Holgate.

Progress - At a price !

 The Sydney suburb of Randwick is popular as a residential location and one of its attractions is its famous racecourse in the middle of the suburb.  This provides a vivid patch of green and the new light rail connection provides a fast and comfortable journey into the city centre,.

Land in Sydney is becoming a very valuable commodity and now the Australian Turf Club has set its sights beyond merely running day time race meetings.  It is proposing to convert Randwick racecourse to night racing, and use the vacant ground in the middle of the track as a landing zone for skydiving.

These proposals are causing consternation amongst local residents.  For a start, night racing will require the ground to be lit and that will encompass the installation of seventy five light poles, each forty metres heigh at a cost of about $23.4 million.

These lights will turn night into day for a vast area around the track and that will not be welcome by some families,. It will be hard to get kids to go to sleep when light penetrates their rooms and this light source will make any form of astronomy impossible.

The ATC is proposing to hold sixteen night racing events at Randwick, between 6 pm and 10 pm, during the October to April period.   During race times, attendees usually park in nearby streets and this will create a shortage of parking space for residents who can not park on their own properties.  It is common for there to be more than one car based at each house.

The proposal to use the track centre as a landing ground for skydivers has many residents worried as it is intended to become the premier tandem skydiving landing point.  Sudden wind gusts can throw skydivers off course and this suggests damage to surrounding homes.  There is also the privacy aspect.  Backyards will no  longer be private if people are hanging in the air above.

The proposal suggests skydiving would operate about four times a month on Sundays and public holidays, from 8 am to 5 pm.  These are changes that alter the complexity of the suburb and were not present when most residents made the buying decision  on their homes.

Obviously, two different objectives are in play here.  The ATC has a valuable asset which would generate a higher profit if its time of use and complexity was extended.  The residents simply want to enjoy this suburb of their choice without the necessity for change.

Such is life in this twenty-first century.  If it is not the government compulsorarily acquiring your home for a car park it is commercial interests intruding with developments which will upset the equilibrium.

Tax Relief !

 For many years Australia was served by a clutch of breweries which used their power to keep small craft brewers from selling their product across the bar in pubs.  The spirit trade was in International hands and only wine was widely produced and sold by individual vinyards.

That has been fast changing in recent times and today there is a much wider choice of beer available in most pubs. In fact, brewing beer is a fast growing industry and Australia now has six hundred, small independent brewers competing for market share.

A similar change has taken place with the distilling of spirits.  There are now four hundred small distilleries scattered across the states and territories supplying a wide range of spirits, including some new tastes which are finding wide appeal.

Next month, a new excise package will come into force that will make it easier for this industry to achieve market penetration.  Eligible brewers and distillers will be able to claim a refund on any excise they pay up to an annual cap of $ 350,000.

 This will replace the present arrangement, where  they are entitled to a rebate of sixty percent of the excise they pay up to a cap of $ 100,000.   The incentive will be there to expand and find a bigger market and this will dovetail with the return of our tourist trade, where visitors are looking for a host of new experiences.

Treasury department modelling expects this to benefit small brewers and distillers by about $ 55,000 a year, and these sectors directly employ about 15,000 Australian workers.

This is a long awaited relief. Our excise code is complicated and the tax on distilled spirits is the third highest in the world with a bottle of whiskey or gin attracting 57% of the retail price to tax.  Breweries also suffered an unfair tax burden, with tax on both drafted and packaged beer being the fourth highest in the world.

There is also an expectation that craft brewers and distillers will have a look at the export market. Australians travelling overseas would be gladdened to see a familiar brand on the shelves and would use the opportunity to introduce Australian ingenuity to friends and hosts.

This excise tax change is overdue and very welcome.  In the early days, all forms of alcohol was frowned upon by the churches and heavy taxes and reduced opening hours were imposed, resulting in the notorious " six O'clock swill ".

It is now recognised that a glass of beer after a days work, or wine or spirits with a meal is part of civilized living.  It is unfair to tax it out of existence !

The Call is " Genocide " !

American President Joe Biden has taken the step of  calling the killing of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire a genocide.  This is a question that has been delicately pushed under the carpet because after the war what was left of the Ottoman Empire became Turkey  and its leaders hotly deny their guilt.  To complicate matters, Turkey is a key component of NATO.

When the first World War started in 1914, Germany sought the massive Ottoman Empire as an ally in its fight against Russia, France and Britain.   In 1915 a battle between Russians and the Ottomans at Sankamish resulted in a crushing defeat at the hands of the Russians.

At that time,. Armenians were looking for autonomy and many Armenian soldiers were serving in the Ottoman army.  The defeat was blamed on Armenian treachery without any certifiable evidence and Armenian troops were promptly disarmed.

The Ottoman government then decided to be rid of the Armenians living in its country and rounded up over 200,000 men, women and children and force marched them over the border and into the Syrian desert.  No arrangement to provide for water or food was put in place and the vast majority of these deportees died under the summer sun.

The number who died is hotly contested.  The Armenian people still living in and around Turkey are still seeking an independent state and they claim more than a million brethren lost their lives in pograms within Ottoman land during the war.

It seems strange that Turkey indignantly continues to deny that a genocide took place, despite photographs and survivors accounts featuring in the world news at that time.  Turkey does agree that Armenians were forced to leave the country, but strenuously denies that this constitutes genocide.

The rest of the world has diplomatically left this matter undecided in the interest of maintaining good relations with Turkey.  It is quite possible that America's decision to call out the " genocide " epithet may have trade repercussions between the two countries and Turkey may even leave NATO.

It is probable that Joe Biden is rewarding the Armenian diaspora for their support against ISIS during the war to evict them from Syria and Iraq.  The Armenians are mainly Christian and and that expulsion from the Ottoman empire in 1915 was most likely more a religious clash than disregard for Armenian loyalty. 

The Armenians again suffered horribly under ISIS and willingly participated with American troops when fighting began to take back captured territory. On the other hand, Turkey has often been difficult in its relations with NATO allies.  Now that 1915 genocide is being named for what it was Turkey would be wise to accept reality.

What else can you call sending two hundred thousand people to their death in a desert   ?