The " Wowser " Element !

Alcohol has always enjoyed a leading role in Australian life.   In the early days of the colony it actually substituted as currency during what was termed the "Rum Rebellion ".  Military officers who controlled the flow of goods into the country formed an importing monopoly that controlled the price of "Grog " !

The world alcohol industry is big and powerful.  They spend millions lobbying politicians to enact laws in their favour and we recently saw a tussle to bring Sydney's notorious Kings Cross "Golden Mile " under control.  Alarmed by the over use of alcohol and street bashings resulting in death the government imposed lockout laws and earlier closing times.  Almost instantly many of the night clubs, bars and "girlie " shows closed their doors as the crowds dwindled.

Alcohol industry money motivated an enquiry that seems destined to roll back many of these restrictions. Sydney's drinking habits changed with the virtual closing of Kings Cross and there is now a wider dispersal of drinking facilities across the city.

Australia conducts a regular five year review of its laws pertaining to alcohol and such a review will soon be underway.  A fourteen member panel will scrutinize the guidelines for the National Health and  Medical Research Council. The composition of this panel is causing concern.

It seems that two of its members have direct links to temperance organizations which campaign for an alcohol free Australia.  This seems to be a contradiction of the hope that any review of the rules that govern alcohol will be made by open minded people who do not have a political axe to grind.

At present, health warnings on alcohol urge people to restrict their alcohol intake to no more than two standard drinks per day.  There are rumblings that this review may become captive of anti-alcohol public health activists who may stiffen these public standards and lobby for draconian price increases.

It is almost unthinkable that Australia would  even consider the introduction of prohibition.  The American experience would ensure that.  On October 28, 1919 the Volstead Act came into force, making it illegal to make or sell alcohol in the United States of America.   For the next fourteen years defiance of prohibition saw fortunes made as criminal elements fought each other to supply illicit public demand.  On December 5, 1933 the US government threw in the towel - and prohibition ended.

We have a similar embargo here in Australia when it comes to narcotic drugs.  Despite the best efforts of both customs and the police the rich rewards for supplying an eager public ensure a steady supply.  The profit margins dictate that both the risks and penalties are acceptable to the entrepreneurs that run the drug trade.

The alcohol industry is calling on Health Minister, Sussan Ley to rethink the composition of the committee before its work starts.  Fair minded people may think that the presence of two anti alcohol advocates on a panel of fourteen achieves balance.  It is quite reasonable that both sides of the argument - for and against alcohol - be presented.

The final decision will rest with the parliament.  Politicians are a canny lot.  The American prohibition chaos will be in their minds as well as the huge impact alcohol taxes have on the Federal budget.   They will be well aware of the political impact on voters minds should they impede the supply - or increase the price - of the nation's popular tipple  !

Dudded by the Government !

Anyone thinking of buying a home in Sydney would be well advised to do a property search before signing on the dotted line.   Many distraught residents have found to their horror that the introduction of light rail in city streets and both a metro systems and rail extensions have made it necessary for compulsory acquisition of property to clear the way for these improvements.  At the same time, the building of widened highways to relieve the commuter snarl is adding to the volume of property acquisitions.

The government is required by law to maintain what is termed the "Register of Restrictions ", which lists any interest government departments may have on land that a purchaser is interested in buying.  In this way, a potential buyer is warned if a property may become parts of a future government development or be subjected to the intrusion of drains, easements or overhead wiring that may affect property values.

A statement by the Finance, Services and Property minister advises that this department has issued incorrect certificates through the Central Register of Restrictions from June 27 until October 24.   During that period it received 309 requests for searches, and of these 140 are believed to have proceeded to purchase.

The error relates to the F-6 freeway which is the missing link providing access to central Sydney from southern Sydney and the south coast.  This has been on the drawing board for many decades and much of the required land is already in government hands, but if it becomes reality a degree of compulsory acquisition will be inevitable.

Divided, multi lane expressways have been built to the north coast and westward to the Blue Mountains, and a similar link was provided between Engadine and Wollongong decades ago - but the connection from Engadine to St Peters repeatedly lacked funding.   It has regained attention to ensure that the West Connex integrates traffic and allows a smooth flow to and from the north, south and west of the city.

This error means that 140 people have been incorrectly informed that their property is free of government acquisition interest, and that opens an interesting can of worms.   Heading the list of grievances would obviously be the land value.   Should a buyer think of reselling because of the future acquisition danger that will now be reflected in the search advice - and probably adversely  affect the valuation.

Recent buyers affected by this error may look for compensation but to further muddy up the water there is no chance that work on the F-6 extension will commence in the foreseeable future. The timetable for finance is at least ten years away and should that eventuate creating the road structure would extend over a similar period.  It is most unlikely that actual acquisition of any property may happen for at least a decade.

This looks like developing into one of those messy claims that will be batted away to be decided when - and if - events are resolved by an acquisition order.   The only decisive factor would be a buyer selling a property that failed to reach the price achieved before that incorrectly issued certificate, despite the ever upward march of Sydney property prices.    That would constitute the sort of logic to be determined by a court.

Of course there must be other purchasers who didn't bother getting a property search, but who are theoretically affected by that lack of valid information affecting the property they purchased.  This looks like being a blunder that will filter through the court system for years.

" Bad " Language !

In 1939 crowds flocked to cinemas to see the Hollywood blockbuster " Gone with the Wind ".   This film version of Margaret Mitchell's famous book featured Clark Gable as Rhett Butler and Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara and at that time they were the reigning stars of the movie world.

" Gone with the Wind " was probably the first Hollywood movie to stir controversy on a world wide basis.  Breaking up with Scarlett O'Hara, Rhett Butler spoke that memorable line of "  I don't give a damn " - and this provoked a storm of protest.

Church leaders rushed to their pulpits to order their congregations to avoid seeing the film because of its " shocking use of profanity "  !   At that time, the word " damn "  was considered offensive and " not to be uttered in the presence of a lady ".

Australia - and the world - had loosened up after the end of the second world war, but people were still being arrested for profanity.   The word that had people frowning if used in mixed company was " Bloody " and this became synonymous with the Australian image overseas.   The typical Australian was depicted in movies as tall and sun burned, wearing a wide brimmed hat and punctuating every sentence with that word " bloody ":  !

Over the years, " bloody " became accepted, but the emphasis changed and what polite society considered offensive language became known as those " four letter words " !   What was tolerable in the closed male bastion of a pub bar was completely unacceptable in mixed company.

How things have changed.  For decades those four letter words were screened in written publications by the tongue in cheek use of hyphens.   If " Shit " was essential to a story line editors saved the blushes of readers by substitution to present it on a news page as " Sh-t "  !

Now it seems that those four letter words have been unmasked and we are free to use them in any sort of context - and in a place of our own choosing.   The police brought a charge of offensive language against members of the LGHTI community who were demonstrating against delays caused by opponents of same sex marriage legislation.   They were holding up placards in public bearing the message " Fuck Fred Nile ".   The Reverend Fred Nile is a member of parliament opposed to the passage of this bill.

One of those facing an offensive language charge told the court that forty-eight hours after the demonstration she received a phone call telling her that the police had her on film footage and she could expect a $500 fine in the mail.   She and others were later charged with using offensive language and served with notices to appear in court.

The charges were heard by Sydney Magistrate Geoffrey Bradd - and were dismissed.   It was found that the charges were invalid under a law that prevents police from issuing such notices during " an
 apparently genuine demonstration or protest ".

Those viewing television news broadcasts may have noticed that editors no longer screen out the use of four letter words uttered by subjects outside courts or where a crowd of people are being filmed. The concept of freedom of speech now apparently now has no limitation.

Those restrictions back in Rhett Butlers day were mild by comparison.

Solitary Confinement !

Back in the harsh old days after 1788 the punishment of prisoners was draconian by the standards of today.   Even a misdemeanour often  resulted in the offender being strapped to a metal triangle and awarded fifty lashes with the dreaded "cat of nine tails ".  Food was scarce in this new colony and holding back rations was another way of meting out punishment,

Human nature being as it was there were some prisoners who were beyond redemption and their warders found a new use for a rocky outcrop conveniently situated in Sydney harbour.  It was known to the navy as Fort Denison, but to the miserable folk forced to spend time there it was known as "Pinchgut "!

Incorrigible repeat offenders were chained on this rock and left for weeks with little shelter.  Even worse, the delivery of food was irregular and apart from the vagaries of the weather they suffered hunger and thirst, hence the name they bestowed on this place of torture.

A recent episode of the investigative programme "Four Corners "threw the spotlight on prison conditions for juveniles in the Northern Territory and that has morphed into an enquiry that is encompassing the conditions prevailing in state juvenile institutions.   Some people even draw a comparison with the punishments that prevailed two centuries ago.

In particular, the conditions of Kariong  Juvenile Correctional centre in Sydney is raising alarm.  It seems that many offenders spent twenty-three hours of each day in what can be termed solitary confinement - locked in their cell and allowed just one hour of what is termed "recreational activity ". In most cases, during that one hour their hands remain shackled in handcuffs.

There is a twenty-four hour limit on using solitary confinement as a punishment, but the fine print allows this to be extended when it is deemed necessary as part of a "Detainee Risk Management Plan "( DRMP )"- where it can persist for ten days.   During that time, the detainee will have no contact with other offenders, not attend education facilities - and be deprived of cutlery with which to eat meals.

The National Children's Commissioner has given evidence that depriving juveniles of peer contact and having them serve in solitary confinement is harmful to brain development.  Statistics supplied to the enquiry reveal that seventy percent of those held at Kariong - are Indigenous.   In particular, the tribal loyalties that are a part of Indigenous culture are very important in maintaining Indigenous well being.

This enquiry faces an impossible situation.  Any reasonable person can see the harm of a young person deprived of conversation and companionship for twenty-three hours a day.  That one hour of recreation would have little meaning with hands shackled by handcuffs and the fact that meals would need to be eaten without implements would be completely degrading.   The overall effect would be to diminish the veneer of belonging to the human race.

It is easy to forget that some of the young people held in Kariong are there because they have committed serious crime - and in some cases that is willful murder.  Many are big and physically powerful and they have absolutely no respect for their jailers. Some are predators who are likely to prey on weaker prisoners and in some cases they are withdrawing from drugs like Ice which inhibit all forms of rationality.   Some are suffering diseases which they try and inflict on the staff serving the institution and many are part of a gang culture.

It would be very easy for warders to opt for personal safety and use the DRMP provisions to isolate a very troublesome and dangerous detainee by using solitary confinement ass a form of intimidation. The job of this enquiry is to seek balance.  Not all detainees are subject to draconian restrictions.  The problem is that if unworkable restrictions are put in place these institutions quickly become perilous for other inmates and those who guard them.

Sadly, the decisions that will be drawn from this enquiry will be made by politicians and once again party politics will muddy up the water,.    We have a problem that far too many Indigenous Australians are in our prison systems - and so far we have not found an answer.   We obviously need to have a long and careful look at the rules that apply to make sure that the treatment in place to deal with disorder is not being abused, but it is equally important that the staff maintain control.

Unfortunately, the opposing views are so wide apart that whatever decisions are made will not suit all the factions involved !

Maternity Leave !

There is no doubt that the demographics of Australia have changed in recent decades.  The two income family is a fixture across even the middle income salary bracket when it comes to home ownership.  As a consequence, many women are putting off having children until their family finances are settled - and some are choosing to remain childless.

Our national birthrate is below replacement level and we are now relying on migrants to swell our numbers.  For decades there has been pressure from women's groups to ease the financial burden of having a child and this finally convinced the politicians that we need a national Maternity Leave scheme.

Thats where the objective to be obtained becomes somewhat hazy.  Some in the medical profession claim that the greatest benefit of a period of paid leave would be to allow the mother to bond with the new infant.   Others from a more financial aspect are concerned that the loss of earnings during the period away from work can be disastrous for those on low salaries.  What level of compensation - and for how long - have finally reached a broad agreement of twelve weeks Maternity Leave - paid for at the average wage level.

Just to complicate things even further, during the decades this has been argued between the parties in parliament, some private sector firms have introduced their own Maternity Leave schemes as an inducement to hold on to valued female staff, and many of these pay salary compensation at the level their employee is earning.   In some cases, this leave is split between the mother and the father of the child - in the interests of sexual equality.

Now that the parliament is grappling with putting together a bill to bestow a national Maternity Leave scheme across Australia a new enigma has split the political parties.   The government sees this Maternity Leave scheme as a "safety net " to give financial support to those who do not have the good fortune to be covered by their employers private scheme.   The Opposition wants it to be an equal right and be available in addition to what any private scheme may deliver.

There seems to be a degree of confusion as to just how this is meant to apply.  Some suggest a single twelve week leave taken, but paid for by individual payments from both the government and the employers schemes, whilst others suggest the leave may extend to twenty-four weeks, paid for by contributions from both schemes.

The point of contention seems to be that some will benefit doubly because they are in an existing scheme and this is fast developing into the usual Capitalist/Socialist fracas between the two main political parties.

Wiser heads will see the danger of two levels of compensation being delivered across the Australian work force.  Those served only by the National scheme may consider themselves second class citizens and should the privileged get a twenty-four week entitlement that would introduce an unacceptable manning level problem to many businesses.

There is a danger that unless this is regulated to an "either /  Or  " basis it may work against female employment.   Many firms may develop a preference for employing women edging past their child bearing age as a safety precaution.

Hopefully, sanity may prevail !

Ratcheting Up The Risk !

This week there was another "incident " in the South China sea.    The United States exercised its "Freedom of Navigation "" in International waters rights by sending a warship close to manufactured islets claimed by China.   These same islets are claimed by several other nearby nations and were recently the subject of an investigation under the Law of the Sea.   The ruling by this International court debunked their validity as a land mass to be granted territorial waters rights.   This ruling is being ignored by China.

The protest by China over the presence of the guided missile Destroyer  USS  Decatur is that the vessel infringed Chinese Territorial waters.  This particular man made islet in part of the Paracel islands and is known as "Xisha " in Chinese.   The Chinese are claiming that all these islets are Chinese territory and therefore have a twelve mile exclusion zone, permitted under International law.

The United States claims that the USS Decatur passed well clear of this claimed twelve mile territorial zone - which it does not recognise anyway - and threats were issued by the Chinese naval authorities.   It seems that China is claiming authority over the entire South China sea and is demanding that aircraft flying over it seek permission from Chinese air control.   It seems only a matter of time before a similar demand is made on ships using International shipping routes.

The United States and several, other countries - including Australia - regularly send naval units through the South China sea to uphold the validity of the right to sail through International waters.  So far the Chinese have not challenged passenger jets using that route, but there have been issues when war planes of various nations have faced a challenge.   On one occasion, this resulted in a collision between an American surveillance plane and a Chinese fighter jet.

Many people who closely watch world affairs are concerned that the Chinese may think the run up to this years Presidential election in America is the right time to turn the screws in their sovereignty demand in the South China sea.   Whoever is elected will not take office until early next year and whatever move is made will have to be countered by the present holder of office - and they may consider Obama weak because of his hesitancy in Iraq and Syria.

Allowing China to exercise right to stop passage through the South China sea would have a huge impact on world trade.    This is an International "choke " point like both the Suez and Panama canals and any interruption to sea traffic would be disastrous.   China could use such power to discriminate against nations disputing its demands as a powerful financial lever.

This issue is not helped by the recently elected president of the Philippines.   The Philippines has long been a United States ally but it is now cosying up to China and seems to be retreating from its claim on this particular islet.   China may use that retreat to enhance its demand to control navigation rights to the entire area.

The last few weeks of Obama's presidency may be a time of high risk in the South China sea.  The chance of a minor incident escalating may tip the balance and take matters out of control if China decides that the times are in its fasvour !

Empty-Nesters !

Trying to balance the Australian economy is similar to trying to blow up a square balloon.   When you push on one side it bulges out somewhere else.  From the first of January new rules come into force which dictate what assets you may hold to become eligible for the aged pension.

Another aspect of that "square balloon " is housing.   First home buyers are being squeezed out of the market by the escalating price of homes.   In the distant past a very sensible progression of home ownership saw a form of home recycling.   The average young couple purchased a three bedroom home in the expectation of raising a family, moved to a villa or townhouse when they became "empty-nesters " - and finally ended their years in a retirement village.    In this manner, the "used home " market became vacant and started the progression for first home buyers.

From January 1 the maximum asset a couple may hold for receiving the age pension has been set at $575,000 .   Now that the median price for a Sydney home has reached a million dollars that presents a huge problem for the average homeowner.   If they sell and buy down market they will have too much money to receive the pension, plus the fact they will be charged stamp duty on the new purchase is a disincentive to making the move.

Those considering entering a retirement village have a similar problem.   It is now customary to demand a refundable bond upon entry and this is usually of the order of more than two hundred thousand dollars - and it is still regarded as an asset by social security.   Many will be required to fund their own retirement until their assets work down to meeting the asset test.

It is not hard to envisage the decision many people will make when faced with this financial conundrum.   While they continue to live in the house they own it is exempt from this asset test. Those getting a full or part pension will have a strong incentive to remain in their homes and this will further diminish the hopes of first home buyers to enter the market.

The average Mum and Dad has an expectation that they will pass on at least a small inheritance to their children and they will see this battle between the family home and the asset test as a threat to that dream.   The outcome in Sydney will probably be vast numbers of empty bedrooms as couples - and in many cases the surviving partner - continue to occupy large homes long after they would be better served living in a village.

Of course, the logical answer to that problem would be to include the family home in that asset test, but that would be unpopular enough to tip the government that introduced it out of office.   The task for the Mandarins of Treasury is how to juggle the disproportionate height of property pricing with the needs and aspirations of ordinary people when it comes to managing a lifestyle that includes the ravages of age.

As things stand, the present regime seems set to clog the used home market with a diaspora of empty-nesters, clinging desperately to homes far bigger than their needs simply because making a move imposes an unacceptable financial imposition.

Civil Discord !

The third and final debate between the contestants for the American Presidential election was fairly predictable.  The polls show Hillary Clinton with a marginal lead over Donald Trump and the debate offered an opportunity for Trump to close that gap.   There were the usual personal accusations of incompetence and impropriety and both constantly talked over the other, but neither landed a "knockout " blow that would be decisive.

There was one issue in which a vast number of Americans have a critical interest. Trump has constantly asserted that the American election is rigged.  In some instances he has claimed that the result is manufactured by the titans of Wall street and  at others he has blamed the associates of his opponent.  In a speech, his vice preseidential running mate promised that Trump would abide by the decision of the American voters.   Many watching the debate were waiting to hear him repeat and confirm that promise.

Trump was evasive.  His answer indicated that he would examine the result before making a commitment.   For the first time it seems that the result of an election in a highly civilized western country may not be settled by the declaration of the poll.   That is a result that many citizens will have reason to fear !

In many parts of the world elections are little more than a farce.  Despots cling to power by stuffing ballot boxes or by arresting and jailing likely competitors.   Sometimes elections are cancelled for spurious reasons and in others the holder of office stacks the parliament and tries to achieve a constitutional change to alter term limits.   Often, the office holder releases a reign of terror on the voters by the use of thugs and hoodlums to influence the vote. This is not restricted to dirt poor little countries in Africa. Populous trading nations in Asia have suffered similar convulsions.

The results of unfair elections can have extreme consequences.   In some countries it ends democracy when it leads to a military coup and in others it leads to civil war as the contenders of both sides of politics take up arms to achieve their ends.   Often, not even the intervention of the United Nations peacekeepers can restore peace and these guerilla wars go on for years.

This American presidential election has produced a strange phenomenon.  Donald Trump has become a cult figure and he has attracted a following more in keeping with a movie star or a vocal celebrity.  There is no doubt that he is a divisive figure.  He has split the Republican party by taking a stance quite opposite to Republican orthodoxy and it is obvious that his campaign has been shunned by many former Republican presidents.

He has taken up a "populist "agenda that has appeal to many financially hurt by the 08 recession and the many civil liberties movement people who cling to a bygone era. He has passionate followers and if he disputes the result of this coming election he is capable of generating national discord.

Donald Trump is a performer seasoned to the limelight.  He has hosted television shows and is a skilled television performer.  Should he choose to lead a revolt against a loss in this election he could cause serious disharmony across the United States.  He could command the allegiance of a serious number of citizens.

This is an election that may not end with the usual declaration of the result !

Vote Early - And Often !

Donald Trump is preparing the ground in case he is defeated in the coming American Presidential election.  He has long claimed that elections in America are rigged by Wall street but now he is directly accusing his opponent - Hillary Clinton - of using her husbands past presidential influence to tilt the vote in her favour.

Here in Australia our voting process has always been regarded as beyond question.   The nations entire electoral vote is managed and supervised by the Australian Electoral Commission ( AEC ) and this covers everything from ensuring that eligible voters are recorded on the roll, to providing and manning voting sites and vote counting centres.   The vote counting is a meticulous process with scrutineers from all the interested parties keeping a close watch to ensure there are no irregularities.

It is something of concern that we learn that at the last Federal election more than eighteen thousand people appear to have voted twice - and in some instances - many times.   Such is the process of the AEC that the electoral rolls from all the voting stations are subjected to comparisons where any duplication will be apparent.

To speed an orderly flow of voters on election day the AEC provides sufficient voting stations in each electorate and as each voter presents they are asked their name and address and this is then marked off on the electoral roll.  This voting duplication comes to light when all the rolls for a given electorate are compared - well after the poll.

The statistics reveal that in New South Wales 6760 people appear to have voted on more than one occasion, In Victoria 4780,  Queensland 2792 - and in the Northern Territory a minuscule 178.
Some people appear to have moved from one polling station to another - to record a vote on five occasions.

This is a criminal offence and it carries penalties of a $ 10,000 fine or twelve months imprisonment.A similar penalty applies to those impersonating another person to record a bogus vote.   Those eighteen thousand who have recorded more than one vote will be required to explain this anomaly and it may involve a police investigation.

Eighteen thousand is a mere small fraction of the overall vote, but it could be crucial in elections that were decided on a mere handful of votes.   No doubt the AEC will be seeking a solution and the most obvious one would be to ask voters to provide personal identification before their name is recorded as having voted on the voting roll.

Passports or photo driving licenses would be ideal, but such a plan risks depriving those without such documents of their lawful vote.   In some other countries, personal identification has been used as a ruse to deliberately exclude unwanted citizens from having a vote.

We are reluctant to move to online voting because of the fear that hackers could disrupt the result, but perhaps the computer could work alongside paper voting rolls to detect duplications.   When a voting slip is issued and the name is recorded on the paper roll, entry to the computer would not permit a vote for that same person at any other voting booth.

It is up to the AEC to solve this problem.   In some countries voting corruption was so pervasive that a frequent comment on voting day was   "  Vote early - and often ! "

Compulsory Acquisitions !

The ultimate disaster for a Sydney homeowner is to find that their property is in the path of a major road extension or in the way of the new Sydney Metro.   The evil hour arrives when the postman drops mail in their letter slot advising that they are subject to "compulsory acquisition " - and horror will turn to rage when they read the price offered.

The price of property is determined by the Valuer General - and usually it bears no relation to what is termed "market value " - which is the price comparable homes nearby have brought when they recently changed owners.   The usual reaction is to lodge an appeal, and here a curious aspect of the acquisition process comes into play.    If you continue to live in the home while the appeal runs its course the government will charge you rent for that privilege !

The price the government pays for compulsory acquisitions has been a hoary old chestnut for many years.   Most of the victims find it impossible to buy a home at a comparable standard in the same area for that amount of money and suffer a loss.   The appeal process is slow and tedious, and rarely delivers a result that satisfies the aggrieved owners.

This whole question was the subject of a government enquiry which never saw the light of day for the past two and a half years.  When it finally surfaced it delivered bad news for the government.  Its finding was that the average home was being acquired at between $ 200,000 and $ 300,000 below replacement value.

The government has implemented immediate changes.   There is now a six month negotiating period to settle the price and if that fails and the matter goes to appeal, the charging of rent if the owner continues to live in the property has been quietly dropped.

Another important amendment concerns what is termed  "Solatium " - or the "disturbance " an owner experiences in moving from one property to another.   In the past this was pegged at just $ 27,235 and it has now been increased to $ 75,000.    Basically, the government is throwing another $ 50,000 in to compensate for the various costs and eventualities involved in moving house.   All these changes will be backdated to acquisitions that occurred after 2014.

The Valuer Generals report indicates that in this state there is an average of 400 acquisitions each year and this revision of terms will probably cost the government an extra sixty million dollars. It will also put pressure on other states to offer similar terms.

At last a degree of fairness is emerging in compulsory acquisitions.  The provision of public services will always come into collision with private ownership and for the good of the city property will need to be acquired.   In the past, this has been below replacement value and the unfortunate owner has suffered loss.   With the price escalation of recent times, in many cases the loss to an owner can be equal to the major prize in the $2 state lottery.

Most people will still dread that compulsory acquisition order, but at least the terms are a little more equal !

A Man of Honour !

A bankruptcy in the building industry is not unusual.   Usually the directors of the firm involved are protected by the laws in place and are free to walk away - and often start a brand new firm on the ashes of the old one.    Members of the public left with a half finished house suffer the protracted misery of financial loss - and a long wait before a new contractor can be persuaded to take on the restoration of the building programme.

An Australia wide building company has just placed its affairs in the hands of a liquidator - and the man at its head happens to be a member of the Australan Senate.   Bob Day is a Family First Senator and he has signalled his resignation to concentrate his energies on sorting out the mess and trying to bring relief to victims awaiting completion of their dream homes.   As part of this plan, he intends to sell his own home.

Home Australia was a holding company that operated independently named subsidiaries in each state.  They were known as Huxley Homes in New South Wales and Ashford Homes in Victoria.  There order books disclose that two hundred homes are partly built in NSW and a further fifty-seven wait completion in Victoria.

Today's building regimen is based on contractors delivering their trades to the assembly of a new home.   This starts when the concrete slab is poured, and then the frame and roof trusses are delivered from various factories.  Assembly teams put these in place and then the plumbers, electricians and roof tilers move in and do their work.    Finally, the finishing carpenters and the painters finish the job - and it is ready to be handed over to the new owners.

The bankruptcy of this major building company will have wide repercussions.   In all states a host of small contracting firms will be seriously out of pocket and many building supply companies will face losses for materials which have not been paid for.   It is probable that this will result in a further string of bankruptcies.

Owners of these half finished homes will search for insurance compensation and then have the task of finding a new builder prepared to complete the task.   That will not be easy.  Most builders are reluctant to work where a bankruptcy is involved in case money shortages have resulted in "short cuts ".  Any sub standard work would be at their expense to rectify.

No doubt there will be an enquiry into why this building group failed.   Pricing building activities is a risky business because the work is subjected to weather delays, changes of building ordinances, sudden price increrases of building materials - and outright thuggery by building unions seeking to extract utopian working conditions and increased pay.

Bob Day is a very unusual man.   He is relinquishing a well paid job in the nation's parliament - to which he was recently reelected - and will take much of the task of sorting out the affairs of Home Australia and their subsidiaries on his own shoulders.

This is a decision which unquestionably says much about his own integrity !

The China Enigma !

James Packer moved his fortune from media to casinos when he judged that change would adversely affect the world of television.   His Crown casino in Melbourne has been a great success and a new one will shortly emerge in Sydney, to join his other casino interests in Macao and in China.  All this is suddenly at risk because of a mood change by China's leader, Xi Jinping. 

For a Communist state, China has developed a very "capitalist " way of life.  Corruption and cronyism have seen a rich elite emerge and until recently they showered their largess in the high roller rooms of gambling establishments - until Xi Jinping cracked the whip.   High living is now taboo.   The rich Chinese are very careful about how they spend their money.

It seems that further change is in the air.  Without warning the Chinese police raided Crown establishments in China and eighteen employees are in custody, although no charges have been laid. That is an ominous sign in a place like China where policy seems to rest entirely on the whim of the one man at the top of the power pyramid.

Fear is contagious.   Casinos are the haunts of the rich people of this world who like to show their wealth.   If China cracks down on high living that sets the pace in other countries.  The tax authorities take notice of who is spending - and where.   It could be the death knell for casinos.

  China is a complete enigma for all in the business world.  There are few businesses in China which do not have at least some government input and many are completely government owned entities. What the Communist government tells them to do is exactly what happens.   This is aptly illustrated by what is happening with world steel production.

During the Chinese construction boom steel was at a premium and Chinese steel mills opened new plants and extended existing ones.  When the boom subsided, China was producing more than half the world steel - and they began dumping it overseas at less than the price of production.  Because they were government owned and had no shareholders to satisfy selling at a loss was a mere matter of adjusting the figures on government ledgers.

The impact in the rest of the world was catastrophic.  Centuries old steel millls in America, Britain, France and the rest of the world were forced out of business.  Here in Australia our last remaining mill in Wollongong is barely hanging on with workers taking a pay cut and making economies.

Protests to China brought the promise of relief.   China ordered its older and less efficient mills to merge with newer units and the world thought that this would result in old units being shut down - and steel production halved.

Not so.  Not a single mill closed and what actually happened was the more modern plants transferred technology to the old clunkers to bring them up to speed.   It seems that China has no intention of lowering steel production and it may be their intent to try and force their steel monopoly on the world by driving all others out of business.

Just as China's intentions in the South China sea are an enigma, so too are the trading intentions of the one man who holds the reigns of world trade.

Poverty !

The word "Poverty " means different things to different people.   We have desperately poor people here in Australia, but their living conditions do not match those that are so common in parts of Asia and Africa.  Many charities here ensure that those down on their luck can at least look forward to a square meal and basic clothing.

The  World Bank tries to compile statistics on world poverty - and that is extremely difficult.  Many countries do not conduct a regular census and some have no idea of their total numbers, much less the state of how those in far villages are faring.  What is becoming clear is that world poverty is retreating and that the biggest gains in recent times have been in India and China.

The World Bank issues a "guesstimate " that 767 million people are presently living in dire poverty and they base that on those subsisting on just $ 1.90 per day. In Australia that would probably buy just a small pack of French fries from McDonalds.   As a comparison, the report dissects how it would be distributed by a subsistence farmer in Zambia.

That $ 1.90 would buy two or three plates, depending on the size - of " Nshima " which is a maize staple known locally as " mealie meal ", a sweet potato, several spoons of oil, a couple of tea spoons of sugar, a handful of peanuts - and twice a week a banana or a mango.   Any type of meat would be a rare luxury.

Basically, such a person is living on a food ration of $ 1.33 per day and the balance of  57 c from that $ 1.90 must be divided across the need for finding shelter, providing clothing and for all medical needs.   The balance between life and death is finite.

The good news is that sharply improving trade and living conditions in two continents have lowered the numbers living in dire poverty.  In India the numbers fell by218 million from 2004 to 2013 and in China by 320 million between 2002 and 2012, the latest periods in which numbers are available.

Location has a lot to do with poverty.   In all countries it is evident that the coastal fringe is the first to emerge from poverty and the further inland the people live the more entrenched poverty remains.   That has a lot to do with trade and transport.   Lack of roads to get goods to market tends to isolate those living far inland.   Those in land locked countries suffer a double whammy.

There is hope that the wonders of this twenty-first century will speed the conversion of the desperately poor to a better way of life.   The mobile phone has spread far faster than the road network and the exhilarating advent of communications has opened new doors.  For the first time, phone banking has brought finance to the deep bush - and together with micro loans this is empowering entrepreneurs and enhancing self employment.

Some of the charities have also taken a new approach.  Instead of giving money to alleviate poverty, they have started giving goods to more forward thinking people.   Perhaps a cow to one family and a few chickens and a rooster to another.   The sale of milk and eggs can have a profound effect on improving that $ 1.90 a day and turning the recipient into a trader.

We will probably never totally eliminate poverty, but the numbers are shrinking and as new people gain prosperity they enhance the total world marketplace - and that is the hope for a peaceful and prosperous world.

A Sobering Thought !

The days to the American Presidential election are shortening and there seems a chance that Donald Trump might just inch over the line - and be the next US president.   Perhaps a time to reflect and imagine what sort of country America could become if he actually put in place some of the crazy things his stump speeches have promised.

We actually have just such a scenario playing out in real time in the Philippines. A man named Rodrigo  Duterte stood for election on a rather similar platform to Donald Trump.  Amongst other extreme policies he promised to rid the country of the drug scourge.   He intended to ignore the law and threatened to fill Manila Bay with the rotting bodies  of drug dealers.

It was wild talk - and the voters loved it !  Duterte was seventy-one years old and had form as the Mayor of the city of Davao.  He was a refreshing change from conventional politicians and he shot up the opinion polls as the voting day drew near.- and won handsomely when the votes were counted.

"True to his word, the day he stepped into office he declared "open season "on drug pushers and drug users.    The cops responded enthusiastically - and the body count mounted.  There were no investigations or coroners reports and law in the Philippines simply ceased to exist.  The door was wide open for all kinds of extra judicious killings and grudges were being settled and the underworld sorting out rivals to consolidate home turf.

The problem is that Duterte now has a situation out of control and he is powerless to stop it - even if he wanted to.  More to the point, he is being threatened by the International Criminal Court ( ICC ) of which the Philippines is a signatory.   If he steps out of the country he may be arrested and put on trial in the Hague.

At least this is a reminder that presidents do have limits on their powers, although in the case of America that is tempered by its incredible military power - and Trump has not suggested extra judicial killings to solve the drug problem.   What he has suggested is a withdrawal from the security alliances America has with many other world countries - and that includes Australia.

Hopefully, this is just rhetoric that may ginger up those sheltering under the American nuclear umbrella and convince them to increase their own defence budgets, but should Trump gain the presidency and put that threat into practice the consequences could be catastrophic.

We have an expansionist Russia and a growing belligerence in China's claim for the South China sea. Both would greet what they would see as an American withdrawal with pleasure and assert their claims.   It is almost inevitable that in such circumstances South Korea would seek its own nuclear deterrent and there would be a similar reaction from Communist Vietnam.   Such a policy would certainly bring to an end our protection under ANZUS.

No doubt a lot of world countries will be just as avidly watching the votes being counted in this American election - as the voters making the decision on who will sit in the oval office !

A New Apartheid !

There is a shocking similarity emerging from the Royal Commission in the Northern Territory that must remind some people of South Africa and its policy of "Apartheid " !   We Australians are not tropical people.    We have chosen to populate the southern and cooler regions of this huge continent and in our far north white rule and white law predominates.

The original settlement was planned for Botany Bay but Port Jackson had better facilities and from there the expansion of the new colony moved south.   The next settlement was in Hobart and later John Batman crossed Bass Strait to establish Melbourne.   Darwin came a long time later, and by world standards it remains a very small city.

By contrast, our Indigenous people favour the tropics.   Their hunter/gatherer lifestyle and tribalism imposed no boundaries and their greater numbers are to be found to our north.  It seems inevitable that there must be a clash between those who live by tribal law and the statutes and limitations that rule from afar in Canberra impose on all who live in this land.

For the first hundred years of European settlement the Indigenous people were either basically ignored, or ruthlessly exploited.   We didn't know what to make of them and many unfortunate interventions had unpleasant results.   They are now equal citizens, but this equality is limited because the Indigenous and the white lifestyles have little common interaction.

What started this Royal Commission was a horror news story that broke on television and showed Aboriginal youths stripped, bound and gagged in Northern Territory prisons.   They were subjected to cruel punishment that would never be inflicted on white offenders and once again the authorities are clueless on how to manage the vast majority of people under their control.

Aboriginal people have a far shorter life expectancy than the white population and their general health is poor.   One of the revelations coming out of this enquiry is the fact that 94% of Indigenous prisoners have impaired hearing and this relates to hearing loss of 45% in the general Indigenous community.   Some experts relate this to the use of split handcuffs and the type of hoods forced on prisoners in our northern prison system.   In particular, the use of this restraint on boys and youths for very long periods.

No doubt at the end of this Royal Commission there will be impassioned pleas for improved medical services and the end of repressive imprisonment.   Once again, what will not be addressed is the one factor that is the most divisive between the white and black cultures - lifestyle change.
The white lifestyle of Australia is fairly simple.   Get an education - and get a job.    That has little bearing in the Indigenous mind.   The tribal life involved living off the land and home ownership is not important.   We face a clash of cultures that seem insurmountable.

In some quarters the white answer is to force Indigenous kids to attend school and be educated - and then integrate into what they term " the normal " Australian lifestyle by getting a paid job.   Perhaps that is not high on the aspirations of many tribal people - and it raises the question of whether they should be left alone to live as they please.

There is no universal answer to that question.    Many of our Indigenous people have already merged with the white population - and more will do so in the future, but the urge to live a tribal lifestyle is still strong.   What sort of accommodation will emerge in the distant future will come by evolution - and not from the policies that emerge from Canberra and Darwin !

Grist for the Rumour Mill !

Across Australia's vast number of nursing homes a shadow of fear has fallen and this is duplicated in the homes of those whose loved ones are being cared for in their twilight years.  A case is being heard in a court where a trusted nurse is accused of willfully murdering two of her patients because they dared complain about her sloppy service of care.

It seems  inevitable that many helpless older people will feel fear when their carers proffer their daily medication.  The element of trust between the cared and their carer has suffered doubt.  The rumour mill will run wild - and the honest, dedicated people who serve in nursing homes will find their reputation tarnished.

This was a nurse forty-nine years old with a problem that had resulted in three "incidents " where misconduct had resulted in increased supervision.   As a result it seems that, she was experiencing employment difficulties and had only held her position at the nursing home for a short period.

The prosecution alleged that three elderly patients lodged complaints about her standard of nursing and the following morning two of them were found to be comatose - and both shortly died.  One was 75 and the other 82 - and neither was Diabetic.   The coroners inquest found that both had been injected with Insulin.

Diabetes is caused by elevated sugar/glucose levels in the blood and is common in older people who do not watch their diet and lack exercise.  Blood sugar levels are checked several times daily and if the Pancreas is not delivering sufficient Insulin the correct level is then maintained by injections.  An unneeded and high level of Insulin can be fatal.

During the prosecution evidence was given that this nurse commented - while watching the television programme CSI - how easy it would be to commit murder without leaving incriminating evidence.   She suggested that an overdose of Insulin in an elderly person would quickly dissipate and because of their age an inquest would be unlikely.

No doubt this trial will run its course - and many people will remember a nursing home fire several years ago where several patients were burned and more died as an aftermath result.   Again this was caused by a nurse, addicted to drugs and in charge of the drug store - who committed arson to try and cover discrepancies in a coming audit.

The elderly have every right to have confidence in the vast number of dedicated people who work in nursing homes.   The chances of death at the hands of such a murderer are probably even more remote than being struck by lightning.

What will cause a degree of anxiety is the publicity this trial has given in the public arena.  When the general public thinks of poison the names Cyanide, Arsenic, and a few others popular in detective stories comes to mind.   What we had just made known to the masses is that Insulin can be deadly if it is used in quantity, and it is unlikely to be detected if a regular Insulin user is given on overdose.

What an invitation to the greedy waiting for a rich old relative - who happens to be a diabetic - to die.  !

A Dirty Business !

It is understandable that those with ecology in mind will protest at any proposal to start a new coal mine anywhere in Australia.  Unfortunately this same distaste is also accorded to oil and yet oil is not just restricted to the stuff we put in the tank of our car.   It is the base material for most manufacturing industries and takes a part somewhere in everything from pharmaceuticals to the watering can we use to water our house plants, and it will remain vital for the next thousand years.

BP has just announced that it has abandoned plans for two exploratory oil wells to be drilled off the South Australian coast in the Great Australian Bight.    The official explanation for this move is that "it could not compete in capital expenditure plans at present "!    In other words  - because of the low world price of oil.

No doubt BP was also considering the vocal opposition it could expect from the ecology lobby seeking to block all forms of mining - and that includes drilling oil wells and fracking for oil and gas. The fact that this would have been the first test drilling in the Great Australian Bight would have certainly brought mention of the Deep Water Horizon catastrophe and claims that a similar incident here would foul our entire southern coastline.

Life is never without risk and Australia is now an oil and gas producing country.   At present, we live in a world which is over producing oil and that is why the price is at a historical low, but it will not always  remain that way.   If there are more undiscovered oil and gas deposits here it would be in our interests to find them, even if we have no immediate plans to bring them into production.

This element of risk seems to be stifling a lot of creative thought here at present.   We are still grappling with the conundrum of how we generate enough electricity to serve our needs.  The storm that blacked out the entire state of South Australia sent shock waves through the nation.   There has been the usual political finger pointing, but it is South Australia that is leading the nation in utilising wind and solar to meet its needs.

Accidents in nuclear power plants in Ukraine and Japan sent the world into a tail spin.   Japan and Germany shut their nuclear plants, but now new and safer nuclear power generation is thriving in many countries.   There is simply no real alternative to nuclear to provide a base load and fill the gap when the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow.

This natural alternative seems to bring a deathly silence here in Australia.   The very mention scares our politicians witless.    The most logical way to power up a whole continent like Australia is by an interconnected power grid making use of our vast size.  Because of the disparity of time zones a lot of our need can come from wind and solar, but we need a reliable base load to even things out - and that can only be either coal or oil - or nuclear.

We are a uranium producer and the fact that we have an entire continent at our disposal spreads the load - and the risk.   Its about time nuclear got dragged out of the closet and we had a serious debate on how we are going to power the nation for the rest of this century.

WHAT'S IN A NAME ?

The  issue that is roiling Australian politics is - "Same Sex Marriage "!  Traditionalists recoil at the thought of what they term the "sanctity " of the union between a man and a woman being violated by the same term granted to a union between two of the same sex.

Much of this opposition would probably drain away if such a union was termed "a Legal Cohabitation Agreement ", provided it conferred all the inheritance rights, tax advantages and rights to adoption that are granted with the signing of the traditional marriage certificate.   But that would be totally unacceptable to the Gay community.

Strangely, this push for Same Sex Marriage is likely to confer one of the tribulations that afflict married couples but does not apply to those who choose cohabitation.  If marriage is legally granted to gays of the same sex, with it will come the rigors of divorce - if they separate !   Right now they have a degree of freedom that many married people envy.

Perhaps this is a good time to have a think about something that seems to have originated out of the "Old Testament ".   In that era it was the custom for a man to choose a wife to nurture and raise his children, and she was treated as a chattel rather than a person.   There is no doubt that sex outside marriage played a part in biblical times because it gets many a mention in the bible, and it was frowned upon by the church.

What we term the "Christian Church " has always struggled to separate "sin " and "sex ".   In earlier times they preached that sex was only for the begetting of children - and should not be engaged in for sheer pleasure.   The pleasures of the body were regarded as sinful, and marriage was a contract that lasted for the lifetime of those who marry.   Strangely, the only valid reason for annulling a marriage was the refusal of one of the parties to engage in sex.

Islam was the other great religion of those times, and it had a very different view on marriage.  A Muslim was entitled to have up to six wives, if he could afford to feed and clothe them.   Islam had very liberal laws on the matter of divorce.  A man simple uttered the phrase "I Divorce Thee "" three times - and the marriage was over.   Unfortunately, this divorce action was not available to the wives.

Today, we are fast approaching the stage when almost half the marriages in Australia ultimately end in divorce.   Most of the Christian churches accept the re-marriage of divorcees and welcome them back into their congregations.   The holdout is the Catholic church, but even they have been making conciliatory noises in recent times.

This Christian pre-occupation  with marriage as a monogamous union of a man and a woman that lasts a lifetime was once used as a weapon by an unbending church.   Eventually,  civil law replaced the iron clad edicts of the clergy and the ending of a marriage dissolved into a custody fight over children and division of the spoils accumulated during the time of the union.

We seem to be moving into a new age where marriage is a quaint custom still practiced by traditionalists - but ignored by the bulk of the community.   Most young couples live together openly and the children of many families have different fathers.    This custom of monogamy  seems to be suffering a slow death.   Perhaps the human race was not conditioned to be other than fruitful with many partners.

It is highly likely that this same sex marriage bill will eventually become law, but it is equally possible that the greater number of marriages performed may be same sex unions because the " straight " world has abandoned the practice.    That seems to be the direction in which we are headed !

Hidden Prejudice !

All the opinion polls are quite clear, although the numbers vary from area to area.   The majority of Australia's residents accept that homosexuality is no longer a crime and that same sex marriage will soon become legal in Australia.    The problem is that a small, hard core of people with either religious objections or who follow a tight moral code are still bitterly opposed, and many of them are in high places where they hold positions of power.

A minority of politicians are blocking the passage of same sex marriage legislation in the parliament and being "Gay " can reduce promotion prospects in many aspects of the commercial world.  Many national companies which openly claim to have "gender equality and Gay acceptance policies "in place actually practice the reverse.

It a fact of life that attitudes change over a period of time.  In the early part of the twentieth century the Gay community remained hidden in the closet and were virtually "unmentionable ".   The  "coming out " was a traumatic period for many and it was only when Gays began to take their place in society that attitudes changed.   Today, Gays are openly serving in our armed forces.

Perhaps the last bastion of homophobia is lurking in our police force.   Many Sydney residents may remember the first Gay Mardi Gras decades ago.   The state government refused to grant it a parade license - so it was held unlawfully.   The attitude of the police was very mixed.  Some officers enthusiastically swung batons and tried to drag contestants off floats.  Many others simply stood aside and watched the parade, and took no action.

Today, Gays serve openly in the NSW police and official policy is one of complete acceptance.  Gay recruits do their training at the police academy without discrimination and the police promotion system is supposed to grant elevation purely on merit.   The police now actually enter a float in each years Gay Mardi Gras.

Disquietening evidence has emerged that Gay officers seemed to be concentrated in one inner Sydney police district and that this was subjected to an undercover investigation which was obstensively tasked with detecting the illegal use of drugs.   Gay officers claim they were singled out and they feel that this was a move by senior level officers to remove Gays from police ranks.

There has been an investigation, and as is so often the case when police investigate other police, a finding that there is "no evidence "of wrong doing has emerged.   Of course, even a rumour that Gay police are not really welcome into police ranks will do damage and cause potential Gay recruits from even thinking of joining the police force.   Whats the point - if discrimination still exists and pathways to promotion are blocked ?

One of the essentials of a free society is equal treatment by the police.   Even at a matter such as a traffic stop the attending policeman or policewoman makes a judgement.    Your explanation of what happened is either believes - or rejected.   If that person making judgement has a prejudice against Gays - that can be a decisive factor.

We will soon have a new police Commissioner.   One of his most urgent tasks will be to cleanse his senior management of homophobic views.  If personal prejudices are allowed to filter police attitudes the laws passed by parliament will not be fully implemented and Gays will remain "second class citizens "!

End Of An ERA !

It was a sad day yesterday in Geelong.    The last Ford cars rolled off the production line and six hundred employees received their termination pay cheques.   Unfortunately, worse days are to follow.  Next year General Motors will end its car production here in Australia and a few months later Toyota will follow.  The closure of Australian car manufacturing will probably result in the loss of six thousand five hundred direct jobs, plus an unknown number in the various industries that feed in components.

Over the years a host of International car companies have tried their hand in Australia - and pulled out a few years later.  Car manufacturing was concentrated in Victoria and South Australia but some New South Wales residents may remember Leylands ill-fated move to establish a factory here in Sydney - resulting in the arrival of the " P-76  " !

The use of robotics has reduced the human workload in the car industry, but it is still labour intensive and our high wage regime puts us at a disadvantage compared to Asia.  As a result, the Australian government was forced to prop up the local industry with ever increasing subsidies and to protect locally produced cars with tariffs on imports.   Relief in this sector has lowered new car prices and we now drive a more modern - and safer - car fleet.   The sight of a ten year old car on our roads is becoming rare.

The way ahead for what we term the "family car "is uncertain.  For a while it looked like the internal combustion engine would give way to either the hybrid or the entirely electric car, but now the development of the driverless car is reaching frenetic pace.   The concept of hiring when we need transport rather than owning something that spends most of its time idle is an entirely new concept. Traditional car manufacturers are watching market trends with trepidation.    This seems to be the biggest transition in people moving since the Model T replaced the horse.

We seem to be heading in a new direction which involves almost every aspect of life as we know it.   If we no longer own cars, the suburban garage which is now part of every home becomes redundant,and that certainly solved the parking problem that plagues those living in high rise apartments.  Traffic gridlock becomes a thing of the past if small driverless "pods " replace moving people from transport hubs to their final destinations.

So far, nobody has meaningfully suggested a cost factor but we are assured that driverless cars will rock the insurance industry.   The huge cost of greenslip insurance could drop to a few dollars and if we no longer own a vehicle we would have no need to insure it against theft or accident.   So far, the governments need for tax dollars and how that will apply to fleets of electric hire cars - is unknown.

It seems that we are on the cusp of a changing era.  Car manufacturing in Australia is about to become a thing of the past - and the future is unknown.   We will now have the benefit of world manufacturers offering us their products at very competitive prices without the distortion of tariffs to protect local production.   As a result, the guarantees offering and the price of lower range new cars has completely decimated the used car market price.   We can afford to be driving a shiny new world class car.

While it is sad to see iconic models like the Falcon and the Commodore retreat from the local market, the timing is right for Australia.   The car world is stepping into the unknown and without a car manufacturing industry all the benefits and few of the losses seem to be headed our way.

A Daunting Task !

At last the decision has been made !     The five veto wielding members of the United Nations Security Council have reached consensus and the next Secretary General of the world body will be Antonio  Guterres, the former prime minister of Portugal.

Some will offer him their condolences !  In recent times the job of Secretary General has been an impossible job trying to meditate the warring factions behind so many actual shooting wars plus the antagonism between the western way of life and the closed societies that insist on rule by decree. The present Secretary General, Korea's Ban Ki-Moon will lay down his task with relief and enjoy a well earned retirement.

Antonio Guterres comes well equipped for the job.  After he served as Portugal's prime minister he spent ten years administering the United Nations Refugee agency, and he fluently speaks English, French, Spanish and Portuguese.

Many people regard the United Nations as a failed world body and a continuation of the similarly failed old League of Nations which was formed after the immense slaughter of the first World War.
The concept at both bodies was for all nations to sit at the conference table as equals and use their combined strength to decide world issues and prevent war.  In neither instance did it work out that way.

In every age since the Roman Empire the world has been dominated by super powers, usually with both the power of wealth and military arms.   They form power blocks with lesser nations of such strengths and become de facto rulers of the world, often achieving their ends by the way of proxy wars.

The present United Nations structure had to take notice of five major nations all equipped with nuclear arms.   They became permanent members of the Security Council - each with the power of Veto.   Essentially, the task of the Secretary General is to negotiate with this " inner body " and to concede just enough so that consensus is achieved.   Unfortunately, on the issues that matter this is rarely possible and is the main reason why we still have active shooting wars.

The Secretary General must be a person of rare insight and skill.  He or she must be a negotiator with extreme patience and have the ability to juggle trade, world agreements and the deployment of United Nations armed forces as the Chess pieces of diplomatic relations.    There are usually many more failures than successes in the deliberations of the world body.

Some Australians will be incensed - and others relieved - that one of our former prime ministers was not considered for the job.   Kevin  Rudd certainly put his hand up and looked to the Australian government for support, but it was not forthcoming.  Rudd's terms in office were marked by micro management and snap decisions and that is not the way of International diplomacy.   It is doubtful that Rudd could have got the necessary consensus from that inner body to become the next Secretary General.

Now that Antonio Guterres is confirmed he will be the man in the spotlight on the world stage.  World peace will probably depend on the skills he brings to the job !

Bad Taste !

Nine sports mad Australian men between the ages of twenty-five and twenty-nine travelled to Malaysia to watch the Malaysian Grand Prix.   When Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo won the event they applauded the win in typical Aussie fashion.   They drank a lot of beer and they cheered loudly - using the refrain  "Aussie  Aussie  Aussie - Oi Oi Oi  ".   What carried the merriment further was their stripping to what they term an Aussie swimming costume in the hot Malaysian sun.  Unfortunately, their choice of apparel was printed to represent the Malaysian national flag - and many in the crowd took umbrage.

What was intended as a bit of fun has escalated to an International incident.  The nine were promptly arrested and they have spent several days in a police cell while the Malaysian prosecutors decide whether to apply a fine, deport them or put them before a court to face charges which carry a two year prison sentence.

This came at a bad time in Malaysia.   The ruling political party is under stress because millions have been siphoned out of a national wealth fund and blame has been sheeted home to the prime minister. Any issue that diverts public attention away from that mess is welcomed.

The Australian diplomatic mission to Malaysia is keeping contact with the prisoners but as with all breaches of local law the outcome rests entirely on whether the host government decides to play hardball or takes a friendly approach and delivers a mere slap on the wrist.    To some degree, it will be affected by how much Malaysian public opinion has been affronted and whether a soft decision will create public outrage.

This seems to be another of those embarrassing incidents when visiting Australians fail to take notice of local customs.  Malaysia is a predominantly Muslim country which forbids the imbibing of alcohol.  What was seen as drunken behaviour in public would not have gone down well with other spectators.   Even worse, stripping to what Muslims would consider their underwear would be a serious affront to local custom.   The Muslim religion insists that the body, arms and legs be covered at all times, hence the Australian TV viewer sees what is often termed the Muslim national dress code for men of trousers, with a long sleeved shirt not tucked in but allowed to float free below waist level. Most Muslinms would consider the display of underwear offensive.

To cap this off, the Australian men were displaying the Malaysian flag on this garment and many would consider that as an intended insult to their country.   The Australians were proudly waving their national flag while the flag of their host country was displayed as an item of underwear.   Of course, to the Australians it was regarded as a swimming costume, but that difference would have been lost on most Malaysian viewers.

No doubt these nine Australians intended no insult and their behaviour would have been precisely the same at an Australian Grand Prix.   The difference was that they did not bother to learn a little about the laws and customs of the country they were visiting.   All too often we consider that the laws of Australia are universal across the world and we offend others by our ignorance.

In the next few days the fate of the Australian nine will be decided.   One of them is an adviser to Australian defence minister Christopher Pyne and all may face repercussions from their employers on return.   Hopefully it is a lesson learned.    Pay attention to local laws  and customs well before you set foot in any foreign land !

StandOver Tactics !

The usual Internet scammers have long used phone calls supposedly from the tax department to scare people into paying imaginary tax bills.   You get a surprise phone call and someone who identifies as being from a government department explains that there has been an error in your tax return - and you owe the government a nominated sum of money.    The tone of the callers voice then usually becomes very demanding and all sorts of unpleasant outcomes are threatened - unless this bill is paid immediately.

A variety of methods are used to gain the money, all of which are quickly discontinued immediately after use and which defy searches if the police are alerted.   This scam has netted hundreds of thousands of dollars from honest people who have been stampeded into paying money they do not owe

Wise people simply hangup the phone because they know the tax department serves notice of any tax matter via the mail and never demands money over the phone, but the elderly and those not schooled in business practice are susceptible to shock tactics and  often fall victim to this sort of crime.

The scammers are ever refining their methods and now they are specifically targeting migrants new to this country and those migrants in the process of sponsoring family members to join them in Australia - and it seems obvious that they have done considerable research in selecting their victims.

In particular, they are approaching migrants recently from India with a story that  a major error has been discovered in the paperwork that authorised their arrival and often the threat of deportation is used unless a newly discovered bill owing is paid - immediately.

This approach relies heavily on the custom in India of bribe paying to get any sort of paperwork expedited.  A new arrival presented with such a situation could expect that to be normal custom here.  The scammers wisely do not claim a ridiculous amount of money and the usual demand is for about $ 2,600.

The approach to those expecting the arrival of a family member is different.    It is claimed that this person has been arrested and will be instantly deported unless money to settle whatever claim is causing the problem is instantly settled.    It is designed to cause panic in the receiving family and is often successful.

It now seems that the scammers are gathering background information on selected Indian target families and many victims have been surprised at the degree of knowledge used in the approach.  It is quite possible that some of the scammers come from an Indian background and circulate freely in the Australian Indian community, but it is also likely that they are avid users of Facebook and other social media.

The fact that this approach is getting wide media attention will certainly make the Indian community here cautious and most likely the scammers will drop the scheme and retool their approach to target a different ethnic group.

The best defence is the sure and certain knowledge that - in this country - no legitimate arm of government ever asks for money over the phone !   Simply - hang up !

Diplomatic Immunity !

In modern parlance the word "Diplomat " has become synonymous with "Spy " !  It is conceded that scattered  throughout the members of a diplomatic mission are people who represent the security services and who are working undercover to gain information.  By International arrangement, all diplomats are protected from harassment by the host country by what is called "Diplomatic Immunity ".

The land on which the embassy is located is deemed to be the sovereign soil of the country over which its flag flies.   It can not be entered or searched by agents of the host country, nor can any person who takes refuge there be arrested.   Usually, this protection is extended to cars used by the diplomatic mission and the protected person is immune to the laws and by-laws which apply to ordinary citizens.

One unintended consequence is that most diplomatic missions use this diplomatic cover to refuse to pay for parking fines and to escape punishment for infringements like driving under the influence of alcohol.  As a consequence, most world cities that host diplomatic missions have a huge backlog of unpaid fines and often this includes damage to public property.

Anger and resentment arises when diplomatic vehicles kill or injure citizens of the host country.  An innocent local driver who is uninsured has no hope of recovering restitution from an at fault diplomatic vehicle involved in a crash.  Worse - if that local driver suffers long term injuries and permanent incapacity no compensation may be forthcoming.

The only redress available to the host country is to declare the guilty diplomat "persona non gratia " and require them to remove themselves from that country.   Usually this draws a stiff protest from the affected country and may sour relations, but rarely does it deliver any payment for the injured.

In recent times many countries that regard themselves as "civilized " have demanded that their diplomats obey local laws very strictly.  Unfortunately, they are in the minority.  Abuse of the "Diplomatic Immunity " protection is still rampant and the only real redress would be a change of the International agreement to exclude motor vehicles from that cover - and that is unlikely.

The International  community is hoping that the arrival of self driving cars will eliminate this problem.  The lack of a driver will solve the inebriation issue and self driving cars simply deposit their passengers and return to their base.  That eliminates the parking problem.

A new development in the interim is causing concern.   The car industry has managed to link navigation systems to "read " the posted speed limits that apply and these are now being used to govern the cars speed.   If the car is matching the posted speed limit and the driver accelerates the accelerator is inactive.   It is thought this may moderate the speed problem with embassy cars.

Many experts condemn the idea as downright dangerous.   There are times when an illegal use of speed may save the car occupants from death.    This is an idea that is theoretically brilliant, but deadly in a practical sense - and should be abandoned.

Far better to amend Diplomatic Immunity to preclude the waiver of civil fines !

A Lesser Confrontation !

All through the years of the cold war the world trembled at the prospect of a nuclear exchange between America and Russia.  Both countries remained on hair trigger alert with nuclear armed bombers constantly in the air and silo based missiles targeting enemy cities.

The tension eased with the collapse of the Soviet Union.   The nuclear club had extended its membership but China was less threatening as it embarked on a quest to become the manufacturing centre for the world.   The main " unknown " was the belligerent regime in North Korea that was amassing one of the worlds biggest armies and was intent on developing both ICBM's and nuclear warheads.

Today, North Korea is a bit of a joke in many circles.  It is constantly threatening nuclear war on both South Korea and the United States and yet is is probably one of the least developed regimes on the planet.  It is constantly wracked with famine and when seen from space its countryside resembles the dark age of Europe - bereft of light in contrast to teeming Asia next door.

North Korea may be a major threat sometime in the near future but at present it lacks the ability to hit major distant targets and it is slowly gaining the skill to miniaturise nuclear war heads to fit on ICBM's.    If it continues on that course the world powers may agree to take action to neutralise the threat.

The world was not unduly fussed when both India and Pakistan tested nuclear technology and joined the nuclear club.  They were both deemed " civilized "  countries although their mutual enmity ran deep and stemmed from the breakup of the old British Raj which once ruled India. This nuclear arsenal seemed more a matter of self defence than destined for attack.

India and Pakistan have fought two brief wars before they gained nuclear technology and in both cases the cause was Kashmir.   When Britain granted India independence it was soon clear that the Hindu and Muslim religions could not peacefully coexist in one country.   The only answer was to split India and create the country of Pakistan and this led to a great migration as Muslims quit India for Pakistan and Hindus left Pakistan for the safety of India.

One small segment of the old India remained undecided.  The residents of Kashmir were predominantly Muslim but they were not keen to come under Pakistani rule.  They wanted independence, and that was promised after a vote - that never took place.  Kashmir is jointly ruled by India and Pakistan, divided by what is termed the " line of control ".

The problem is that Pakistan has a history of military coups and even when it has a civilian government control is far from guaranteed.  The country has a border with Afghanistan and elements of the military have fostered al Qaeda because that serves their interest and it is highly likely that Osama bin Laden was sheltered under their orbit.   The Americans did not announce their raid once they discovered his presence and had they done so he would most likely have been spirited away to safety.

These same anti western elements inside the Pakistani government are stirring trouble by sending saboteurs into India and there is fresh fighting along the Kashmiri line of control.   India is unlikely to first use nuclear weapons in anger but just how secure the arsenal is in Pakistan is an open question. There is a constant fear that extremist elements could supply nukes to terrorist groups.

Perhaps that is the greatest possibility of a nuclear exchange running out of control.   Should an Indian city be annihilated  by a Pakistani supplied nuclear bomb there is no doubt that India would retaliate.    That makes Kashmir the most dangerous place on earth when it comes to the trigger for a nuclear war !

Inhumanity !

When the second world war finally came to a close the victorious Allies were quick to seize officers responsible for atrocities and put them on trial.  The Nuremberg trials held the attention of the world when the survivors of the Nazi death camps were paraded on film.  From a practical point of view only the most senior commanders were tried and sent for execution.   Thousands who played a lesser role simply melted into the crowd of demobilized soldiers and settled into civilian life.

The civilized world was aghast because for the first time the movie camera and journalists embedded with the troops brought the true horrors of war to newsreel screens and to emerging television.  The world shuddered and promised - "Never Again " !

Inhumanity persevered - right before their eyes.  Communism rolled across " liberated " countries and refused to retreat. Hundreds of thousands of refugees escaped to the west and many more endured the embrace of barbed wire frontiers, the Berlin wall, the Stazi - and the midnight knock on the door by the secret police.

There was an air of hope when the Soviet Union collapsed.  Mikhael Gorbachov offered the chance of a friendly Russia and the west relaxed, but unfortunately dictators still ruled in many countries and the world was never free of war.  Anarchy prevailed in many parts of Africa and South America was mostly ruled by despots.

The world has seen new atrocities go virtually unpunished.   In many parts of the world invading armies forcibly recruit child soldiers and Europe has seen an era of  " ethnic cleansing "  when innocent people have been driven from their homes - and in some instances - summarily executed for the sin of having a different ethnic origin.

The hot spot at the moment is Syria.   The " Arab Spring " brought hope of a peaceful, secular Middle East, but it was not to be.  The religious divide and the tribal nature of the various lands brought civil war and once again inhumanity emerged as a prime weapon of war.

Once again, hundreds of thousands have fled in the face of death, torture and the forced change of religion.  The flow of asylum seekers to Europe is causing death on the high seas and causing European countries to fortify their frontiers with barbed wire to keep them out.  It is quite possible that the fear of foreigners may change the politics of Europe.    The spectre of the rise of the far right is a new possibility.

What the world is seeing on recent news broadcasts is a repeat of the inhumanity visited on Warsaw when Poland was invaded in 1939 and in the worst of the Communist rule in the countries they occupied at wars end.

Syria's city of Aleppo is partly held by Bassar Assad's troops and partly held by the various militias fighting to end his rule.   Caught in the middle are civilian men, women and children who are now the victims of a policy of extermination.

Russian war planes have joined the Syrian airforce in deliberately targeting civilians by dropping barrel bombs on civilian neighbourhoods and deliberately destroying every hospital in what they term " rebel held areas ".   At the same time, they are refusing to allow safe entrance for United Nations food convoys and the policy seems to be to force the surrender of the defenders by exterminating all civilians caught in this trap.

War in this twenty-first century is front and centre in the nightly news.   We deplore the carnage that we are seeing but we lack the will to go to war to make it cease.   No doubt it will eventually come to an end when one side or the other is victorious, and then a few token offenders will be dragged before an International court and punished.

It seems that modern humans have toned down their horror of inhumanity delivered in far away places.   Their consciences are spared when they drop a donation to one of the many appeals that promise to deliver relief.

Risky Bets !

Today is the AFL  Grand Final and the Sydney Swans and the Western Bulldogs will do battle at the MCG.   Tomorrow is the turn of Rugby League and the Cronulla Sharks will meet the Melbourne Storm in Sydney - and  November is Australia's biggest sporting event when the horses line up for the Melbourne Cup.

The clash of football codes will be very much a Sydney/Melbourne contest for those who do not closely follow either sport.  The Sydney Swans will find massive home territory support for their rivals and the reverse is expected when the Cronulla Sharks run onto the field.

Traditionally, both these grand finals and the Melbourne cup will have a maximum television audience right across Australia, and these are events that are usually viewed with a beer in hand.  There is a risk that the excitement of the game and the consequent consumption of alcohol is going to induce some followers to place bets that they will afterwards regret.

This past year has seen a massive increase in betting advertising on TV.  International bookmakers are now permitted to field in Australia and many of the old restrictions have been swept away.  It is now permissible to have a betting account that can be accessed by Smartphone.  A few clicks on the handset - and that stake is subtracted from the users balance

Unfortunately, it is a fact of life that a proportion of the public have the genes that result in them becoming problem gamblers - just as genes induce some people to become alcoholics.  We are now seeing a flood of SPAM from Internet casinos and much of this offers complimentary free bets or free rolls of the dice as an attraction.   Of course to access this largess the entrant is required to lodge full details and establish a betting account - to deposit the winnings from those free bets.

In the distant past, the government placed restrictions on all forms of gambling.  Here in New South Wales a state lottery was only approved when the profits were promised to go to hospitals and the Sydney Opera House was financed by a Jackpot lottery.   For many years the only legal way to place a bet was to go to a race course and place it in person with an attending bookmaker.

Of course this spawned the era of the SP bookmaker and just about every pub had an illegal bookie operating from the back bar, and eventually the state lamented the tax it was missing and licensed the TAB.   This required each punter to physically attend a TAB or an other licensed venue, fill out a betting slip and place it in the machine.   The state intent was to make sure that betting was "not too easy " !

One of the perils of phone betting is the inability to enforce age restrictions.  A ban is enforced on those under eighteen and those entering a TAB may be challenged and required to provide proof of age, but many establish a betting account with the help of a parent or an older sibling.  Once established, they are just an account number to the betting company.

There is no doubt that these two grand finals will result in a betting splurge of monumental proportions and the Melbourne cup on the first Tuesday in November will most likely exceed that again.    We live in the age of instant gratification, but the gambling doors have been opened wide and for those with the complicit genes that can spell disaster !