School computers.

Kevin Rudd's pre-election promise of a school computer for every child in Australia was one of the reasons he got elected. Unfortunately, after the win this offer was scaled back to one computer shared by every two school children - and now it seems that it may not happen at all !

One thing that nobody thought about was the infrastructure necessary to support that number of computers. Few schools have wiring adequate to deliver the power necessary to handle the load - and the New South Wales government is threatening to back away from the scheme unless the Federal government delivers a multi-million dollar fund injection to basically rewire the entire school system.

Maybe this might be a good time to stop and think - and reappraise this whole computer idea !

The Rudd thinking revolved around desk top computers sitting before each student. Obviously desk top computers are the cheapest to buy when such quantities are involved - but are they best suited to do the job intended ?

The world is moving very fast towards lap top computers - and it is likely that many high school students from middle and upper income families already have their own lap tops. Huge numbers of school kids already live in a home with a family computer which they are permitted to use.

Ask anybody who knows computers are you will learn that restricting their use to a few school hours is not to gain the maximum advantage. If the thinking is extended to providing each and every student with his or her own lap top then a whole host of added advantages appear.

Then it becomes possible for a smaller number of school computers to be used to get the kids started - and once started computing learning advances swiftly. The fact that the child has a computer within reach 24/7 means computer literacy will be enhanced at lightning speed.

Of course a free computer to every child will mean abuse of the system by some. That is inevitable, but the gain is in higher proportion than the loss - and it would not be unreasonable to ask the family of each child to contribute to an insurance policy to cover that lap top against loss or damage as a condition of issue.

There is another advantage. This scheme would put a computer in every home with children - and that means that adults would be exposed to the computer world which is becoming an increasing requirement in the job market.

The original Rudd concept was a good idea. It simply needs more work to fit it in to the reality of an under wired school system - and to extend the thinking to make kids - and perhaps their parents - computer literate and thinking outside the limitations of the class room.

Olympic medal tally.

Many people are in for a great surprise when the Bejing medal tally is finally counted. China has spent an enormous amount of money to groom it's athletes and seeks the top spot on the success ladder.

This coming Olympics will be the fulmination of a carefully structured plan that has seen hundreds of thousands of carefully selected young men and women inducted into training camps and fine tuned to perfection.

China has carefully thought out it's success plan. Athletes have been trained for the full spectrum of Olympic competition, but special emphasis has been given to women's sports because these will attract lesser funding in the US and Europe. Better funding in China brings hope of an enhanced medal tally.

Only a chosen few will perform at the Olympics, and for the others who failed to make the grade life will be uncertain. The training camps have sport as the only objective and consequently after the Olympics China will have a vast army of lesser sports people who lack skills to enable them to succeed in life.

To be the biggest medal winner has been a state objective set by the Communist party - and it must be of concern to other nations that the world's most populous country has aspirations to be world number one in many areas - despite the cost in national resources and personal sacrifice.

There is only a fine line between domination in sport and commerce - and the use of military force to meet national objectives.

Comparing prices.

Pressure is building to force all food retailers to adopt " unit pricing " - where each item on the shelves has the price per one hundred grams - or the price per one hundred Milli-litres - in addition to the price of the item.

It is difficult for shoppers to determine which pack offers the best value when a similar product is presented in packs of different quantities. A price based on a common denominator levels the playing field.

As is usual these days, there is opposition to the suggestion from some quarters. Claims are made that the introduction of unit pricing will encourage Coles and Woolworths to import more cheap goods from low cost countries and that these will disadvantage Australian made products.

Aldi has had unit pricing for some time and it has been welcomed by shoppers - with no discernible effect on local products.

One of the advantages of adopting this method of price comparison is that it will encourage manufacturers to review the way their product is presented. Some manufacturers try and seek advantage by puffing up the pack size to give the impression that the customer is gaining more of the contents. That will not work when the unit price comparison is present - and in many cases the deceptive pack design is more expensive because of the quantity of packing material involved.

Grocery prices have increased well beyond the rate of inflation in the past twelve months and any system that allows shoppers to make better price comparisons is welcome.

The only losers will be those who employ deception to gain advantage for their products !

Deadly confusion !

It seems that Wollongong hospital is suffering a totally unacceptable breakdown in it's management function.

Confusion exists as to who is responsible for cleaning beds previously occupied by a patient suffering from Golden Staph - or one of several other similar deadly infections resistant to antibiotics.

Nurses and cleaning staff both emphatically claim that cleaning such beds is not their responsibility. As a result, there have been instances where uncleaned beds have been put into service - putting patients at risk of death.

Cleaning a bed after a patient infected with Golden Staph is not a small matter. The requirement is for the bed to be dismantled entirely and all metal parts thoroughly cleaned. This would be both time consuming and requiring skill.

It would seem to be a waste of a skilled nurse's time - and we are desperately short of nurses - for this function to be included in the list of nursing duties. It is a cleaning function, and the hospital should have cleaners specially trained to carry out this work.

What is absolutely disgraceful is that management has allowed this dispute to reach this stage. The function of management is to set parameters of responsibility and ensure that they are understood.

The bed cleaning responsibility should have been established long ago - and the fact that patients have been placed in contaminated beds because hospital management has not resolved the issue is little short of criminal neglect.

If a patient contracts a disease and dies because neither nurses or cleaners are disinfecting beds - then the blame can clearly be sheeted home to those who are paid to make these decisions.

An appearance before a court would not be out of the question !

Back to the future.

Half a century ago kids were enthralled by comics that depicted Buck Roger's adventures in space and Dick Tracey with a phone in his shoe. Today, space travel is a reality - and most of us have a mobile phone.

Wollongong has been selected for trialing a gadget that could be a harbinger of what our motoring future looks like !

This trial will see a hundred or so cars equipped with a monitor that not only reads the speed of the vehicle, but uses global positioning to plot it's position relative to the speed limit prevailing in that section of road, whether or not school restrictions apply - or whether it is obeying stop signs and traffic lights.

A buzzer will alert the driver to a speed infringement - and in a smaller number of cars an advanced system will reduce fuel flow to automatically reduce the cars speed to comply with the posted limit.

The driver will be able - in an emergency situation - to over ride this restriction to avoid danger.

Wollongong was chosen because it is necessary for every speed sign change to be entered into the computer and every school, set of traffic lights, intersection with a stop or give way sign to be noted in the control memory. Sydney would have been a far more daunting task for this test.

The problem is the possibility for " big brother " control to be applied to motoring some time in the future.

Such a system would have obvious advantages. If all cars had no option other than to obey all and every speed requirement then accidents would be sharply reduced - if not eliminated.

It would also be possible for law enforcement to know if a driver used the speed option and broke the law - and issue an automatic fine.

Stolen cars would be easy to identify - as would those without proper registration - and a touch of a button at police headquarters would render them immobile.

It is quite possible that some time in the future we may seem the situation that cars have an in-built management system that prevents them from speeding or being in any way anti-social. At the same time, sensors will probably control braking and make rear end crashes impossible.

They may be a lot safer - but once the skill of driving is replaced cars will be just a boring transportation chore !

The Schapelle Corby story.

In the past week TV viewers have been watching over four hours of a documentary series depicting the events surrounding Schapelle Corby's arrest, trial and conviction for allegedly trying to smuggle marijuana into Indonesia.

It has been a fascinating experience with all the twists and turns of of a TV crime drama - but it probably left unanswered as many questions as it purported to lay to rest.

Much was made of the fact that a friend and neighbour of Schapelle's father was convicted of growing and selling marijuana. There is no suggestion that this was a sophisticated hydroponic operation and it seems that the plants were for his own use - ands to generate a little much needed cash.

There is no doubt that the Corby family made an unfortunate choice when they labelled the Indonesian government and it's courts corrupt and vindictive. Had the approach to the trial been less hysterical and accusatory there is every chance that the outcome might have been less severe. The sensational media coverage locked in the Indonesians to a retaliatory stance.

The biggest bombshell was the claim by Schapelle's former lawyer that the " baggage handlers " defence - which suggested that the marijuana had been put in the surfboard bag by airport baggage staff engaged in drug distribution - and missed by a collector - was a lie he dreamed up without any foundation.

This was absolutely devastating - and stripped away the main plank of Schapelle's plea that she was an innocent victim of criminal drug distribution gone wrong in Australia.

It should be taken into account that the lawyer concerned is in bitter dispute with the Corby family. He was summarily sacked when the court handed down a guilty verdict and it could be reasoned that his claim might be payback to get even for perceived insults.

There is no doubt that there was corruption in the baggage handling area at Sydney airport at the time Schapelle left for Bali, but whether or not this involved drug distribution by way of passenger bags is not clear.

What is clear is that the crime for which Schapelle was tried and convicted makes absolutely no sense.

There are large numbers of people in Indonesian gaols for trying to smuggle heroin and cocaine into the country from Asia's " Golden Triangle ". There are people in gaol - including the " Bali Nine " for trying to smuggle drugs out of Indonesia to Australia - but Schapelle is the only person accused of trying to smuggle marijuana IN to Indonesia !

Marijuana is expensive in Australia. It is both readily available and cheap in Indonesia. Why would anybody knowingly take the risk of trying to smuggle a commercial quantity of a drug through customs checks to where it would sell for substantially less than it's point of origin ?

That question was studiously avoided in both the court trials and the documentary aired in recent nights.

This has been an unfortunate affair and viewers of the recent programme must make up their own minds as to Schapelle's guilt or innocence. Unfortunately events have got out of hand and it is now near impossible for the court to back down from an overly harsh verdict - or for the Australian government to intervene.

In all probability Schapelle will languish in a squalid gaol until the affair fades from public interest. The airing of this documentary merely ensures that day will be a lot longer in coming - and any hope of an early release will depend on all those involved holding their future silence !

New road rules !

Just six days from now a new set of road rules will become law in New South Wales. The only problem is that the NSW government has not bothered to make the public aware of the changes.

It sounds like another government attempt at revenue raising. Some of the new requirements attract a fine in excess of four hundred dollars - and three demerit points. Ignorance of the law is no legal defence - but in the absence of any advertising campaign the police will have a field day handing out tickets.

One new provision will certainly be controversial. The new law provides for a painted section of road in the left lane where a two lane section is intersected by traffic lights.

Cyclists are permitted to weave through stationary traffic stopped at these lights and to take up station at the head of the queue. When the lights turn green whatever number assembled may proceed as a group, reducing following traffic to the speed of bicycles.

It will be an offence - punishable by a heavy fine and demerit points - for any motorist to encroach on that painted zone, whether or not cyclists are present.

Without prior advertising the vast majority of motorists will not have a clue what that painted zone represents - nor be aware that they are required to stop short of it rather than proceed to the normal stopping area level with the lights.

The government is usually heavy handed with advertising extolling what it is doing for the public. It seems strange that a change in traffic rules is not being awarded the same treatment - but then gathering revenue by way of fines seems to have greater interest to this government than road safety.

Ingenuity !

As any school teacher will verify - you need to get up mighty early to out think and our maneuver the kids of today.

That is something that prime minister Kevin Rudd has just learned !

Binge drinking by under age kids has recently been highlighted as a problem. One particular drink - Alco-Pops - seems to be a favourite with girls and to curb it's use the tax was recently sharply increased.

As usual, the kids were one step ahead. The sale of Alco-Pops nose dived but the sale of hard liquor replaced it and the kids created their own mix with soft drinks, the only problem being that the alcohol content increased well above the five percent usual in Alco-Pops.

Now the kids have move on - and discovered a source of alcohol that is not only more potent than their own mix efforts - but easy to obtain - and ridiculously cheap.

For years supermarkets and grocery stores have stocked flavouring essences used in cooking. These 100 ml and 50 ml bottles have an alcohol content of 69% - and sell for as little as one dollar a bottle.

Using the ingenuity for which kids are famous, our youngsters have discovered that not only are orange and lemon flavours very palatable, but it is possible to get drunk cheaply - and without the hassle of trying to buy liquor by getting around the age restrictions imposed by liquor outlets.

Moves are under way to close this loophole. The big supermarkets will add a trigger to computerised cash registers to alert assistants to look for proof of age when such essences pass through the scanners, but it is doubtful if the smaller grocery outlets will bother - and kids are resourceful enough to get a person of legal age to do their shopping.

Which all boils down to a fact of life which seems to escape our politicians. Nomatter what laws are passed to control a perceived problem - human nature will find a way to circumvent those laws.

Under age drinking has been with us since the dawn of time - and will still be with us when the last history book is written !

Time to pay !

The public are being warned to be cautious before jumping into the prolific " No deposit - no interest - no repayments " schemes offering " goods now " and settlement years into the future.

That old adage - " If it looks too good to be true - is probably is too good to be true " applies.

These sort of schemes have great appeal to both the naive - and the desperate !

If you can't afford the goods on offer now - what makes you think you will be able to pay for them when the bill comes due some years down the track ?

It is a big mistake to think that all these schemes on offer are the same. They are provided by a large number of financial sources, and each tailors the scheme to their own requirements - and as a consequence they differ widely.

It pays to read the fine print - carefully. Some demand a monthly " account keeping fee " which can add up to a substantial sum over the period of what is really a loan. Others impose a draconian rate of interest for any balance left owing at the end of the " free " period, and still others have various fees and penalties for occurrences such as early or late payment.

It is also a good idea to check the price of the goods offered under such schemes with the cash price at a competitors store. In many cases there is a substantial difference, and the purchaser might be better off making more conventional credit arrangements.

The best advice the credit analysts offer is to " do your homework ", " don't rush into signing on the dotted line " and think long and hard whether you can afford whatever it is that tempts you before making a commitment.

A lonely death !

Most people react with horror and revulsion when they read of a person lying dead in their home - undiscovered by others for weeks and in some cases months.

Just such an event happened in a Housing Commission block of units this week. It is easier to understand when this happens in an isolated farm house, but in a heavily populated block of units - where neighbours are only separated by the thickness of a brick wall ?

How could it happen that a human living in close proximity to others could simply fade from sight - and go unnoticed until the smell of putrefaction caused neighbours to seek the source ?

This incident will cause a flurry of well meaning citizens to suggest remedies. There will be calls for the aged and infirm to receive regular telephone contact and for a " buddy " system to be developed where others in a building look out for the welfare of those living alone.

These are good ideas - and they have been tried before - but the single obstacle to their success is that some people simply do not want contact with family or friends - and specially not those who are simply neighbours.

It is a fact of life that a proportion of the population has an advanced wish for privacy and would resent any form of regular contact as an intrusion.

That is not a reason to abandon such " contact schemes ". To do so would remove a practical solution for those who are isolated because of a lack of the English language - a shyness that prevents them from making friends - a lack of living relatives - or the onset of a disease such as Alzheimer's which divorces them from reality.

For those that prefer their own company and shun others - the only help possible is for neighbours to be alert and contact the authorities when a suspicious lack of sightings occur.

The " after oil " age !

'' Be careful what you wish for ..... " is an old adage that is coming back to haunt governments. For over half a century they have implored citizens to " leave the car at home " and " take public transport ". Now that is happening - and public transport has been found wanting !

Each time the cost of petrol at the bowser jumps another five cents a litre a further commuter segment joins the queue at train stations and bus stops. The new record of over seventy cents a litre will add substantially to that number - but if the pundits are correct and petrol tops two dollars a litre before Christmas - then we are about to see an avalanche of people switching to public transport.

People are not using public transport because they like it - or because they won't to. Sheer necessity is driving the change. Trains and buses are inconvenient, unreliable - and lack toilets and drinking water - and they are grossly over priced considering that passengers are packed in like sardines and expected to stand for journeys that often exceed two hours each way.

Sadly, the move to public transport is about to see a massive change in the economics that govern our lives. Homes in the suburbs which are far from railway stations and have minimal bus services will drop in value as commuters pay more for homes that have these facilities.

Country folk will fare even worse - because so many country areas have no bus service at all and a car is essential for getting to a place of work and getting the kids to school.

Either wages must rise to accommodate the cost of petrol in such areas - thus sending inflation soaring - or the government will be forced to finally provide public transport in the bush - which will blow the budget.

There is little prospect of the price of crude oil dropping sharply anytime soon - short of a calamity like a world depression of the 1930's magnitude. As a result, the onus will fall on governments to provide a method of people movement that has passed beyond the economics of using the car.

No doubt governments will urgently order more buses and rolling stock to increase public transport, but the necessity of providing transport beyond the major cities is probably beyond their financial capacity.

One of the strange anomalies of our tax system is that every time the price of petrol increases the tax take going to the government increases with it - and the majority of that tax disappears into the black hole known as " Consolidated Revenue " - with very little spent on roads and transport infrastructure.

There are promises of a complete review of the tax system to make it fairer and less complex. The government needs to make a major decision before it undertakes that review.

Either is bites the bullet and opts to provide a national public transport system that encompasses both city and country - or it opts for the lesser expense of restoring the car as the preferred means of public transport by doing away with the need for petrol.

That would be possible by legislating that all new cars be powered by auto gas - which we have in abundance - and subsidizing the conversion cost of all existing cars under five years old.

At the same time, it would need to remove the supply and marketing of auto gas from any form of control by the oil companies - and implementing a tax regime that keep auto gas within the reach of the average citizen.

The option of doing nothing will see the biggest change in living standards since the industrial revolution !

Famine !

On rare occasions the acts of mankind seem to conspire with the vagaries of nature to create world catastrophe - such is the impending famine set to engulf the world.

Mother nature has seen fit to deliver drought to Australia and floods to the American food producing mid-west. Hence production in two of the world's greatest food exporting countries has slowed to a trickle.

At the same time, our reliance on oil to power the world car fleet has resulted in such an alarming increase in it's commodity price that food has doubled in price. The oil price shock has increased food production and transport costs, and it's price level has induced farmers to transfer agriculture from food production to crops that can be sold to produce the petrol alternative - ethanol.

The rich countries will grumble at the high cost of food, but they will pay and they will hog more than their share of the diminished supply. The losers will be those who exist on an income of a dollar a day - who will see food retreat beyond their reach.

Hungry people are angry people - and we may be entering a period of unprecedented unrest. World bodies such as the United Nations will try and feed the starving, but we live in a selfish world - and most government's will be more interested in ensuring that their own interests are met than donating to those in need.

Perhaps we have contributed to our own downfall by over populating this fragile planet. Perhaps planet earth is barely able to feed six billion people when nature turns her back and unleashes the twin scourge of drought and flood.

It seems that nature has turned loose the four horsemen of the Apocalypse - and as famine stalks the land we are destined to suffer two inevitable consequences - war - where the hungry try to obtain what food is available - and disease - from the turmoil that follows.

Perhaps the twenty-first may be the unlucky century !

Criminal neglect !

A terrible news story out of Brisbane this week.

Eighteen month old twins found dead in a house. They had been dead for over a week and were decomposing - but the horror was that they had barely advanced beyond their birth weight. Neither nappy changes or meals were regular events - and they starved to death !

Obviously the person responsible will face court, but most likely a psychiatrist will find that there is a mental illness making that person unfit to plead. The usual outcome is a court imposed term in a mental institution - until the medical authorities deem that person is fit to return to society.

And that is where we have a problem. How many cases have we seen in the past where a person said to be suffering a mental illness has been a model patient, regularly taking the prescribed medication - and released back into the community with a glowing report ?

How many times have we read of such patients throwing away their medication once released, returning to mental instability - and repeating the original crime ?

Surely any person - male or female - who brings about the death of children by way of sheer criminal neglect should lose the right to bring further children into this world.

No doubt the civil liberties people will yell blue murder, but neutering such people would not be an unreasonable requirement of the courts. If deprivation of liberty is a punishment for crime then surely neutering is not a punishment but a safeguard to prevent further child atrocities.

In many cases it should be a basic requirement before any form of release is considered !

Picton Road.

The Picton road saga continues.

The state government claims that Picton road is not only a safe road, but that it is perfectly capable of handling the extra traffic that will be generated by the Port Kembla container terminal.

The delivery of imported cars and general container traffic to the new facilities will result in an increase in truck traffic - mainly B-Doubles - dispersing that freight to southern and western Sydney.

The number of deaths on Picton road gives the lie to that claim. In particular, the number of fatal accidents that have two common factors - they occurred in rain - and they involved vehicles acquaplaning to head-on collisions.

The long term need for Picton road is for it to be transformed into a multi-lane, divided carriageway. That will not happen in the short term because to do so would involve a huge amount of money.

The immediate problem is that the heavy truck traffic has worn down the road surface resulting in depressions allowing rain to " pool ". This is exacerbated by poor roadside drainage which allows overflow - with the result that water tens to flow across the road surface.

This combination is lethal. The tyres of vehicles acquaplane when they strike a body of water and steering ability is lost, resulting in the number of head-ons occurring when rain is involved.

The state government may not have the money to turn Picton road into a divided carriageway - but it must find the money to remove those " ponding " grooves - and provide a decent drain system to stop rainwater flowing across the road.

That will cost money, but a mere fraction of what would be needed to do completely refurbish the road into a divided carriageway.

Excuses are not acceptable when lives are at stake - and the main cause of fatal accidents is known. Surely the lives of those who must use this road must rate higher on the government's list of priorities !

The " binge drinking " fiasco.

The so-called " experts " have decreed that anyone who drinks four middies of beer at a single session is a binge drinker !

The only problem with such nonsense is that the average person knows differently - and will simply cease reading and turn off at such a glaring inaccuracy.

Public definition of binge drinking varies. To the anti grog mob Aunt Aggie's once-a-year small glass of sherry with Christmas dinner is binge drinking. To others, binge drinking is when the drinker is near paralytic drunk - and only ceases drinking when either the supply is exhausted - or he or she collapses in a stupor.

Four middies of beer does not induce that latter definition. In fact many people would be quite capable of consuming four middies and then legally drive a motor vehicle.

The effect of alcohol varies. It can depend on the drinker's build - whether or not it is taken on an empty stomach - and the length of time over which it is consumed.

The danger with this dogmatic definition is that it will contribute to the public uncertainty concerning alcohol. On one hand we have medical experts who claim that a few glasses of red wine will guard against heart attacks. Others claim alcohol should be avoided entirely and blame it for a litany of medical problems.

We have just had the Federal government's knee jerk reaction to under age drinking. Alco-Pops got hit with a huge tax increase - which poured millions of extra dollars into the government's coffers.

The teenagers certainly stopped drinking Alco-Pops, but instead they substituted it for hard liquor and created their own mix - which usually had a much higher alcohol content than the 5% Alco-Pops.

So - nothing really changed. Nor is it likely to. We need to look back into our own history. Teenage drinking has always been a rite of passage and every generation has instances where it proved fatal for some.

But the greater majority eventually pass that rebellious stage in their lives, settle down and become the moderate drinking citizens that inhabit suburbia.

People like you and me !

Environmental menace !

It is likely that in the near future Savannah cats will be introduced into this country. These creatures are a cross between the wild African Serval and domestic moggies - but they are almost twice as large as the local breed of cats and can weigh up to twenty kilos.

They will be expensive - and that will appeal to the rich who seek exotic pets for their novelty value, but unfortunately a high price does not ensure security. People tire of their pets, as evidenced by the huge numbers of dogs and cars abandoned to welfare agencies - and these include pure breeds which initially cost a lot of money.

If the government is stupid enough to allow Savannah cats into the country it is inevitable that they will go feral - and if they do our native creatures will have a new and more powerful predator than the present scourge of feral cats.

Importing a feline of this dimension makes no sense. There are existing laws to prevent other than zoo's importing Lions, Tigers, Jaguars, Leopards and similar animals and the Savannah cat is large enough to be included in this category. A twenty kilo cat on the rampage is quite capable of inflicting serious injury to an adult human - and death to a child.

Australia has a sad history of importing animals that later became a curse to the environment - and these include rabbits, the fox and cane toads. Now is the time to put a stop to the entry of this giant cat - before one more is added to that list !

The ego of politics !

" Oh ! What a tangled web we weave .....

" When we make plans to deceive ..... "


Politics is a strange business. Those chosen to represent us in the nation's parliaments usually get an elevated sense of worth. This past weeks events illustrate that point.

A party was dining at a smart restaurant when staff asked them to move to a different table because the one they were using encroached on the dance floor.
Two of that party were politicians - a man and his wife - and they objected to the request - which may or may not have been made in a pleasant manner.

Push turned to shove and the argument developed into a screaming match with threats of using political power to remove the restaurants liquor license and have staff sacked.

Such is the version presented by the staff involved. Statutory declarations were signed testifying to these events.

The dining party saw it differently - and statutory declarations were signed to give their version.

From there it all went downhill. The restaurant delivered a statement of apology to the two politicians, denying that there had been an altercation - and four of the six staff rescinded their statutory declarations.

That provoked other people dining independently and who witnessed these events to sign statutory declarations supporting the staff version.

Then came the bombshell. It was revealed that the " apology " submitted by the club had been drafted by .... one of the politicians involved.

That was too much for the leaders of the political party involved. One of the dining politicians was stripped of his ministry and the other ordered to undertake " Anger Management " instruction.

But - it didn't end there. Now the police are involved. It is a serious offence to sign an untrue statutory declaration and the penalty is a term in gaol.

Obviously - when two lots of statutory declarations describe a single event - and these give a totally opposite direction - then somebody is lying !

This will come to nothing, of course ! Politics will ensure that the police return a finding that " the truth can not be determined " and the matter will lapse.
Truth depends on facts and in a case like this the evidence rests on recollections of the event - something impossible to pin down with absolute certainty.

It has been an unwelcome incident that has tarnished the credibility of politics - and it underscores that old adage that " power corrupts ". Politicians attain power when in office - and there is a problem of ego when dealing with what they consider lesser mortals.

Hopefully, lessons have been learned.

The " Gateway " bungle !

Some bright spark recognised that the ideal place for a " Welcome to Wollongong " information centre would be where Bulli Pass and the F6 from Sydney intersect.
The site had a run down cafe and petrol outlet with magnificent views of the city and the Illawarra coastline.

A modest plan for a reasonable outlay was devised - and then the " movers and shakers " of this city got in the act. Like topsy - the " Gateway " as it was named - simply grew - and grew - and grew !

It is now going to cost an astronomical $ 9.3 million - ninety times it's original estimate - and has become a regional Taj Mahal with all manner of additions, including an Aboriginal centre.

We now learn that an additional $ 1.3 million will be coming from Wollongong ratepayers funds - because the city did not do it's paperwork and a contribution by the Federal government has fallen foul of Kevin Rudd's plan to punish Liberal party voters.

John Howard's " Regional Partnership Programme " was axed by the incoming Labor government because it considered projects favoured Liberal and National held seats. The irony of that decision is that Labor voting Wollongong - the heartland of Labor - will suffer a $ 1.3 million penalty.

The Labor dominated Wollongong council failed to ratify that $ 1.3 million to the Illawarra Aboriginal Corporation ( IAC ) for Gateway by way of a formal agreement or contract, and as a result - it has been cancelled.

Just another example of council ineptitude that not only has the Gateway " White Elephant " blown out to ninety times it's original estimate, but another huge contribution to it's cost has been lost - and now will be paid by the long suffering ratepayers of this city.

Turf fight !

Doctors will never willingly concede ground to what they consider " lesser " medical professionals. Attempts by the government to off-load more routine work to nurses in areas where doctors are in short supply has received a cool reception.

Obviously delivering flu shots could be undertaken without the need for a doctor to be present, but doctors guard their turf ferociously - and they fall back on the argument that only they are fully trained to detect ailments that a lesser trained professional might miss.

In recent years the government provided incentives for medical practices to include a staff nurse who would do the time consuming work of taking blood samples, delivering flu shots and similar work.

Have you noticed how this has been artfully worked into the medical regime ? When you present for a routine matter - including script renewal - the nurse attends to you and gets proceedings under way - and then the doctor pops his head in the door - listens to a briefing from the nurse - signs any scripts needed - and returns to seeing other patients !

Technically - you have just " seen the doctor " - and the bill that will go to Medicare will be for a consultation with the doctor !

The medical profession has two things in mind. The first is to guard their expensive and long training period's reward of earning a high income - and the second is to guard their monopoly on giving health advice.

We live in a changing world. The cost of medicine is pushing budgets to unsustainable levels and the training of nurses has reached tertiary levels. The time has arrived for a more balanced approach. Just as general practitioners pass patients on to specialists - nurses seeing patients should be referring them to doctors when ailments are beyond their skill levels.

This is unlikely to happen unless legislation makes it so !

The " Hybrid " decision !

Kevin Rudd has decreed that Australians will drive petrol/electric hybrid cars - and has given Toyota $ 35 million to build 10,000 of them at it's plant in Melbourne. He hopes that Ford and Holden will take the hint - and to encourage the hybrid market share the giant Commonwealth car fleet - and many state car fleets - will make the change.

It is a marginal improvement on the present situation - but Toyota has since announced that it intended to build hybrid cars in Australia anyway - hence that gift of $ 35 million was probably unnecessary.

The down side of this decision is that Australia will still be stuck with a car that uses petrol - although less of it ! As a result, the ordinary Australian family will still be hostage to both OPEC and the oil companies as far as the price charged at the petrol pump.

There is another down side which nobody seems keen to talk about. The hybrid is all whiz bang marvellously new - except nobody wants to have one as a second hand car. The problem is that hybrids have a very expensive battery pack - which needs renewal about every five years. The cost of that renewal is about the same as a major engine overhaul for a conventional petrol car.

With a conventional car, engine wear equates to the distance covered. With a hybrid battery life is measured in time, irrespective of the distance covered. As a result, buyers become nervous when any battery pack is approaching it's third year of life.

Kevin Rudd could have taken a different direction with his plan to " green " Australian motoring. He could have decided that the Australian car fleet will be in future powered by natural gas - totally eliminating it's need for petrol and freeing us from the clutches of OPEC by replacing oil with the gas reserves which we have in abundance.

Had Rudd decreed that all new cars sold in this country be powered by natural gas the mechanics of change would be far simpler for manufacturers - and one car - the Ford Falcon - is already produced in this mode.

That $ 35 million would have been better spent subsidizing the conversion of existing cars under five years old to natural gas - and attrition would have taken care of older vehicles not worth the cost of conversion.

There would have been one other absolute necessity. Rudd would have needed to ensure that auto gas remained outside the orbit of the oil companies, otherwise they would hike the prices to parity with petrol and sabotage Australian reliance on an abundant natural product.

Unfortunately Rudd made a contrary decision and it looks like we will be stuck with hybrids, for better or worse. The pity of it is that a great opportunity to free this country from a dwindling world commodity has been lost !

" Fromelles ".

It was referred to as " the Great War " by many, but " the war to end all wars " certainly didn't achieve that objective. It was by far the bloodiest war of the twentieth century when it came to men in uniform killed in battle.

The " First World War " came at an unfortunate time. It was near the end of the " horse " era, but motor vehicles were still feeble and unreliable - and aircraft were in their infancy.

Unfortunately the machine gun had been perfected and when two great armies clashed the generals' had no better idea than to order troops to advance in the face of murderous fire. The casualties were enormous !

One of those battles was at " Fromelle " in France. It was a disastrous defeat that had no hope of success. Huge numbers of British and Australian troops advanced over open farmland swept by massed machine guns and strafed by artillery. Two thousand Australians died in a single night.

The dead were buried in mass graves - and now, ninety years later those graves have been located. Initial digging has unearthed Australian metal badges which prove that men in Australian uniform were laid to rest there.

Now comes decision time. Should these graves be disturbed and attempts made by way of DNA evidence to identify the missing dead ? Should whatever remains of those killed be exhumed and transferred to nearby war cemeteries - or perhaps repatriated to their home towns in Australia ?

To some extent the wishes of the next of kin of those killed should be respected, but a lot of time has passed and few direct descendants remain alive today. Perhaps those fields should be declared war graves and left undisturbed, acquired from their present owners and sanctified as a permanent memorial to those who fell in battle and were buried there so long ago.

A park of peace might be a dignified way to remember them !

Religion - and China !

Religion has travelled a rocky road in China. When the Communists took control of the country their philosophy was to ban all forms of religion. This failed miserably - and in the end they changed course and granted permission - provided that they controlled it.

This led to a monumental fight with the Catholic church. The Communist government insisted on appointing priests and bishops - and these owed their allegiance to the Chinese government, not to Rome.

We now have an official Catholic church which worships openly in the country's churches - but is not recognised by the Pope - and an " underground " church which meets secretly in member's homes - and is persecuted by the government.

The religion of Tibet - and of many Chinese - is Buddhism. Based on perpetual reincarnation the Buddhist leader is selected by a complicated process of search which leads to a young child believed to be the reincarnated person of the deceased previous leader. This youth is then groomed for the job ahead.

The exiled present leader - the Dalai Lama - has a problem. When the second ranking Buddhist leader - the Panchen Lama - died the Chinese government muscled in and selected their own candidate as a successor.

The third ranking leader - the Karmapa - fled China for India as a fourteen year old boy and is now being groomed for his place in the hierarchy.

The problem for the Dalai Lama is that when he dies there is every expectation that the Communist government will again muscle in and select it's own candidate to lead Buddhism.

In that case we will probably again see a divided religion with an underground group following what they believe is the reincarnated Dalai Lama - and a government sponsored version answering to his masters in Bejing.

The Communists would be wise to study history. Over centuries religions of various kinds have survived attempts to control them - and they remain long after their persecutors have faded into history.

Where evil stalks undisturbed !

" Power corrupts - and absolute power corrupts absolutely ".

Those are words that those setting up the New South Wales Crime Commission would have been wise to ponder. They were seduced by the enormity of terrorism, the power of the Middle Eastern crime gangs operating in this country, and the ever present, world encompassing drug trade into creating a super crime commission without any form of oversight.

The warning signs have been present for some time. Phone taps have by-passed the usual authorisation and ordinary cops questioning this action have been threatened with arrest. All requests for information have been refused on security grounds.

Finally - the pressure from within boiled over. The chief investigator of the NSW Crime Commission, Mark Standen was arrested for master minding the import of material destined for the drug trade which would have returned a profit of twenty-four million dollars.

Further revelations disclosed a huge gambling debt of over a million dollars - and a mistress who happened to work for ICAC, the very investigative body that uncovered the criminal activity within the Crime Commission.

All the ingredients to corrupt a top crime investigator were present, but went unnoticed until luck entered the equation. It seems likely that the deeper the investigation digs - the more corruption will see the light of day - and much of this will have a bearing on past criminal cases investigated - and prosecuted - by the Commission.

It is now a case of locking the stable door after the horse has bolted - but at least we should be in a position to learn from this debacle.

Nomatter how grim the threat from terrorism or organised crime no super agency should be created without the checks and balances necessary to ensure that it's activities remain within the law.

No law should be rushed through the parliament - as a matter of urgency - to validate action by a crime body that is questionable under the provisions that guard citizen's rights.

What happened in trying to create a crime fighter immune to the law highlights the need for a " Bill of Rights " to be added to the constitution to protect the ordinary citizen from the actions of illegal use of the law.

In this instance the law was out of control - because there was no body to ensure that it was acting legally - and that must never happen again !

Justice !

We have a strange sort of justice system in this country.

On too many occasions an individual - or a group of individuals - attacks and delivers a severe beating to a complete stranger they encounter on a city street.

Usually they are affected by alcohol or drugs and thanks to the ever increasing number of CCTV cameras the attackers stand a good chance of being caught and put before a court - and that's where the concept of justice ends.

The judge or magistrate has the option of sending them to gaol, imposing a community service order or selecting a lesser punishment such as a fine - or even a " slap on the wrist " good behaviour bond.

If that option was a fine, the money goes to the government. None of it goes to the victim !

The victim suffers pain from something that was not his or her fault, and in most cases has to pay medical bills - and loss of pay from time off from work. There is an option to sue the assailants but this is rarely taken up because of the costs involved - and the difficulty in extracting money from a successful verdict.

Compensation should be high on the judge or magistrate's options. Apart from imposing a penalty for the law breach the judgement should include reasonable compensation for medical costs and any out of pocket expenses - such as time off from work - as a result of the assault.

Once such compensation is handed down the matter should become the responsibility of the taxation department - just as child support matters are handled - and ten percent of the offender's wages should be garnisheed and paid to the victim until the compensation is completed.

In cases where the offender is not yet in work the order remains in force until the allocation of a tax file number on the first job activates it.

Justice is not served if the victim of a crime is left out of pocket - and under the present system that is precisely what happens in the majority of cases.

It is now time for a law change !

Lifestyle decisions !

Decades ago psychiatrists condemned the state's mental health institutions, insisting that patients would better respond to treatment if they were outside high walls and living in the community.

It was proposed that facilities be made available to meet these objectives - and so the mental institutions closed and a new order dawned. Unfortunately the government reneged on the promised help - and those with mental problems were cast adrift to find their own way in an uncaring society. It seems that the gaol regime is the new mental health system.

Now the reverse is being proposed for those with physical disabilities.

In past years a very successful system of " group homes " was established for those with disabilities. This was flexible and ordinary domestic houses were home to several people with difficulties, sometimes with a " house mother " to exercise control - and often with the combined skills of the people living there handling the job.

The state government is now proposing abandoning this system in favour of large institutions housing a great number of people. Obviously these would be cheaper to run than scattered facilities - but they would create an " institutional " feel and destroy the " home " atmosphere that is so necessary to let people with disabilities get on with their lives.

Unfortunately in this age of " doing more with less " anything that results in a decrease in expenditure usually gets the nod - despite the damage it will do to the lives of those who most need help - and despite the fact that the present system is a success.

It seems that we are to return to an era of high walls - with those the government does not wish us to see locked away out of sight !

The unworthy one !

Barack Obama has finally secured the Democratic party nomination. His tally of votes from the primaries and now a rush of " super delegates " to his banner exceeds the magic number for victory - but Hilary Clinton still refuses to concede.

Clinton has now demonstrated that she is unworthy to attain the highest office in the United States. She puts her personal pique and ego above that of both her political party and her country.

Instead of graciously conceding and doing her best to swing her supporters behind Obama she is selfishly holding out to negotiate terms for her own benefit.

Early in the primaries - when she failed to win in a landslide - she had to put her own money into the campaign - and she now wants it back. The Clintons are not poor people. They are both multi-millionaires and Bill Clinton gets a king's ransom for speaking engagements. After this contest, Hilary will command similar sums.

Perhaps Hilary is holding out in the hope of achieving " second prize " - the VP position. Hopefully this will be denied her because the job of a vice president is to support the president - and Hilary has demonstrated that this is not her style.

Unfortunately how Hilary handles the situation could be decisive in the coming battle between Obama and John McCain. If she fails to deliver her supporters to back Obama the chance of a Democrat victory could fade.

Perhaps the United States has had a lucky escape that an unworthy person is not running for the highest office in the land. Many voters will be turned off by her ongoing machinations for personal gain at the expense of party unity !

The state budget.

Yesterday the 2008/9 state budget was presented in parliament. It is a huge change of direction from the Bob Carr/Michael Egan years when the impetus was on reducing debt and making this state debt free.

The Iemma government has no other option than return to borrowing - with $ 20.9 billion earmarked for transport, education and health. This borrowed money will prop up a health system that is actually killing patients, start to fix crumbling schools and provide more Outer Suburban Rail Carriages ( OSCARS ) to replace what commuters refer to as " cattle cars ". It seems that long suffering commuters from the north coast, Illawarra and the Blue Mountains may finally get trains that have toilets !

Business will be surprised to see a small change in payroll tax - from 6% to 5.5% - which will be implemented over four years. Again the Iemma government had no option. Payroll tax is so out of kilter with the other states that many companies were considering migration to a less predatory regime.

As usual, the Illawarra not only missed out but from this budget will get $ 32 million less than last year's $ 455 million. The government re-announced existing projects such as the Northern Distributor extension - which is half built - but will again rely on Labor voting Wollongong to toe the party line without reward.

Many think the Iemma government has abandoned traditional Labor principles and this seems evident from the present policy of restricting pay rises for nurses, teachers and police to 2.5% - despite inflation at over 4%. In effect, the government is demanding that union people take a pay cut in real terms, setting the scene for a major confrontation between unions and the government.

By and large this is probably a reasonable budget. More money will be spent on health, education and transport which are in bad shape - but the question remaining is whether this government has the skill to achieve the promised achievements - or if we will see a repeat of the debacles that have plagued these three services in past years.

The " elephant in the corner " is the unresolved conflict of power generation. This could easily degenerate into open warfare between the unions and ALP branches - and the government. If that happens - all bets are off.

The fate of this state government depends on two things - resolving the power crisis - and managing a credible restoration of public facilities !

End of " the good times " !

Just after the end of the second world war Australia experienced an era where the caravan was " king of the road ".

It seemed the perfect answer to the battling Australian family. Overseas travel was out of the question. Hotel accommodation too expensive. Simply attach the caravan to the family car - cram the kids into the back seat - and go and see wonderful places for very little expense.

About then a new phenomenon developed. Families found a place that met all their dreams and instead of further meanderings they put down holiday roots. They left their caravan permanently on that site and paid an annual site rental.

A new style of holiday developed. Christmas, Easter and long weekends saw the family travel to their favourite holiday spot and mix with the same friends who owned adjoining vans. BBQ meals were shared - the kids fraternised - and a new way of holiday life emerged.

That is now under threat up and down every section of the Australian coast. Councils are discovering that there is more money in erecting luxury cabins than simply hiring caravan sites. Site hiring fees are going through the roof.

Caravan parks in Wollongong are about to be hit with a thirty percent increase, taking annual site rental to $ 3,700. That is a lot of money for what is essentially just a parking spot, but there are restrictions that pose further limitations.

The rules do not allow the owner to rent that caravan to others, thus defraying the overhead costs - and it is becoming obvious that councils plan to get rid of vans and use the space for more lucrative holiday accommodation.

The number of caravan parks shrinks each year and the number of site spaces available for casual hire within such parks is being reduced annually. The time is fast coming when owning a caravan will become a liability because the only permanent parking spot available - will be the owner's backyard.

Farewell to a graceful era - and goodbye to the only holiday the " battler " family could afford !

Cheaper petrol !

A fact of life - the Queensland government is not as greedy as the government of New South Wales. Petrol north of the border is 8.35 c a litre less than the bowser price in this state.

Queensland imposes a lesser tax regime on petrol and NSW residents holidaying there have been overjoyed at the price relief - but that is about to change. The Queensland government is making plans to restrict it's largess to bona-fide residents of the " Sunshine state ".

Soon motorists filling their tanks will need to swipe their drivers licenses past a scanner and if the Queensland barcode is not present - then neither will be that 8.35 c a litre discount.

It sounds a reasonable proposition. Why should one state subsidise drivers of another state who happen to have the misfortune to have a tightwad for a government ?

But there will be repercussions - and it will be many people and industries in New South Wales who will be the losers.

At present the New South Wales government implements a " rationalization " scheme on petrol prices in towns which straddle the Queensland border. A " special tax dispensation " applies to keep prices even and stop a rush over the border to fill up.

If NSW drivers are barred from cheaper Queensland petrol the need for this evaporates - and there is every chance that money hungry bureaucrats will drop the subsidy and apply full tax in border towns.

Of critical impact will be the disadvantage suffered by NSW registered trucks and truckies carrying freight into Queensland. If their competitors have an 8.35 c litre advantage on fuel costs then they can forget successfully competing in that market.

Of course, the lurks and perks industries will be gearing up to get around the problem. Computers and graphic artists will be churning out fake Queensland drivers licenses by the dozen - and truckies will be " borrowing " Queensland driving licenses from friends and relatives who live north of the border.

The move will create a new illegal industry - and Queensland law enforcement will be directed to preserve this state revenue source from exploitation.

It looks like the concept of this huge continent being a single country with basically similar laws is changing - and further down the track we may look a little more like Europe.

It is not a change for the better !

Tobacco - a legal product ?

There is now no dispute that smoking tobacco causes deadly health problems. For decades the tobacco industry was in denial, but conclusive proof exists that smoking tobacco causes lung cancer, heart disease and a number of other associated health problems.

With this in mind, various governments have restricted access to tobacco and prohibited it's use in places where people congregate. It is illegal to sell it to people under eighteen - and the list of prohibited venues seems to grow each year.

It is illegal to smoke in bars and restaurants, on trains or ferries, in office buildings or theatres - and on some public beaches. Now there are proposals to ban smoking in private cars whenever a child under eight years is also a passenger.

By far the most contentious piece of proposed legislation is a law that would prevent tobacco products from being visually displayed at any point of sale.
Tobacco would become an " under the counter " product that would have to be specifically asked for. It would also be illegal for the person selling it to be under eighteen years of age.

This begs the question - Is tobacco to remain a legal product ?

If tobacco is so damaging to health that all these restrictions apply why has the government not taken the logical final step and banned it ?

Years ago marijuana was a legal product - until people started smoking it. Marijuana falls somewhere in the category between tobacco and alcohol. It is possible to get " stoned " smoking the stuff - and for that reason alone it was declared illegal - not that this stopped it's availability.

The government stops short of banning tobacco for several reasons. By far the greater is the hit treasury would take from the tax revenue stream that would be lost. There would also be opposition from northern New South Wales and Queensland farmers who earn their living growing tobacco - and by far the biggest disincentive would be the loss of political support from the over twenty percent of the population who smoke.

There is also the certainty that by banning tobacco the government would be creating the biggest illegal smuggling operation this country has ever seen, dwarfing the illegal supply of marijuana which at present absorbs a huge amount of police time and effort without in any way diminishing availability.

Without the courage to take giant steps it seems we will continue to see incremental law changes to harass the industry and make the product difficult to buy. At the same time, these new edicts will multiply the selling costs of already struggling small business - and no doubt increase the government revenue stream by fines imposed by the compliance police.

Perhaps the banning of tobacco would be a worth referendum item to be included beside the vote at a future election !