A Vast Power Imbalance !

What do you do if you receive a letter from Centrelink claiming that you owe them money - and demanding that you pay it back or face recovery by a debt collector  ?   A lot depends on the sort of person you are and the sort of records you are in the habit of keeping.

Last year Centrelink issued  65,000 such demands in November 2016 claiming that Family Tax Benefits had been overpaid.   About 21,400 families were able to prove that this Centrelink claim was false - and that they owed - nothing !

Centrelink turns away criticism of its methods with the claim that these errors are the fault of it's clients because they failed to " engage " by meticulously informing the welfare agency of all and every change of circumstance that occurred.   It didn't seem to register with them that being badly wrong in one third of their demands for repayment was an unacceptable rate of error.

It also raises another worrying possibility.   How many of those served with a recovery notice simply rolled over and paid the money because they are lousy record keepers and they had no way of proving Centrelink wrong ?    In the eyes of the Centrelink " customer ", they are dealing with a monolith that has all the power.   Many families lack the educational ability to take on the highly trained Centrelink professionals they will face across a desk if they lodge an objection.  They need an accountant or a lawyer, and that brings the prospect of immense bills way beyond their ability to pay.

Few disagree with the notion that welfare fraud is a blight on the treasury but the methods now being employed to cross check with the taxation office are fraught with danger.   They are two totally different regimes with vast anomalies that are bound to produce incompatibilities.  When the computer records of each are subjected to a cross match - as happened with this Centrelink fiasco - a disaster for welfare recipients was inevitable.

The Mandarins that run government departments can see that this age of the computer has the ability to clean up the mass of records that are kept by a vast assortment of government agencies.   When the computer displaced card systems and book keeping ledgers each little entity created its own computer records in isolation.   We now have literally hundreds on separate government departments with individually crafted computer systems keeping the records of whatever line of business they are responsible for.   It is the ambition of many government planning bodies to see them all integrated into a common functionality so that tapping in an individuals code will bring the entire access of that persons data for viewing.

Such a utopian dream has obvious advantages, but there are also dangers.  Nobody can seriously claim that computers are secure from penetration by hackers.   It is evident that should this world return to war the communication age will be an early battlefield.  Even in times of peace, many would question the wisdom of allowing any form of national government to have ultimate control of the citizenry by allowing their existence to disappear - at the click of a mouse.

Perhaps this Centrelink fiasco is an opportunity to think long and hard about just what sort of society we will allow to develop into the future !

A " Green " Beating Heart !

One of the leading causes of the death of human beings is a malfunction of the heart.   Put simply, a " heart attack " in one of many forms is the end we fear because it can arrive without warning and we usually only survive if we are lucky enough to get immediate medical attention from someone with life saving skills.

Over recent decades the ability of the medical profession to repair a diseased heart has become legendary.  People who have undergone a quadruple by-pass to graft new veins to carry the blood supply through this organ are out and about in a matter of days and go on to live many years of productive life.  Sadly, for some the damage done is too extreme and the only option is a heart transplant, and that relies entirely on a donor heart becoming available.

We all probably know someone who has lived within reach of a mobile phone, awaiting that call that a heart with the required match tendencies has become donated and now time is the factor. The heart and its new owner need to come together on an operating table within a very short time span and that often requires the intervention of police under lights and sirens to bring them together.

Those on a waiting list despair that every day a huge number of hearts that could save lives go up the chimney at crematoriums or into the earth in burials because so many people have a revulsion against what they see as an invasion of the bodies of their loved ones.  It is the truly courageous who overcome their grief, often acting on the known wishes of the departed.

We have come a long way in the search for a heart replacement.   There have been a number of mechanical devices that have kept people alive for a while, but the need for battery replacement and control function have brought limitations.  The discovery of 3D printing of tissue seemed a likely innovation, but one of the problems was getting a blood flow to all the cells.  The human heart is an inordinately complex organ and to completely replicate it has so far been beyond us.

Now a breakthrough is getting the science people excited.   Two biomedical engineers were having a cordial lunch when their conversation dwelt on this problem of getting a blood flow in materials suitable for inclusion in an artificial heart.   By sheer chance, one of the items on their plates - was spinach, and this green vegetable has some unusual properties.

Spinach leaves tend to replicate the human body.  They have a network of veins, as are present in the human body.  These researchers from the Massachusetts  Polytechnic Institute found that they could remove the cells, leaving behind cellulose, a plant material known to be compatible with mammal tissue.  Cardiac muscle cells were added - and after five days it began to develop a beat, pushing dye through the spinach veins.

It is indeed early days, but the humble spinach has a lot of people thinking of ways to create a new material that may make a created heart possible, probably in conjunction with 3D printing and a host of other innovations.

And according to the comic books, it was spinach that gave Popeye his amazing strength.  Amazing how legend comes full circle !

A Rouge Cop !

The ultimate disaster for the New South Wales police force. When one of their own changes sides and joins the criminal element and feeds them the intimate information of how the police force works when it puts together the strategies that break cases and put offenders in prison.

Fortunately this rogue cop got greedy and was not content to just supply critical information for money and started to dabble in the illicit drug scene as well as running a money laundering racket.  He came unstuck and has been charged with commercial drug supply and criminal group offences. He has been refused bail and will appear in court in May.

Security is a nightmare for the police high command.   They take ordinary men and women and  eventually they go on the streets in uniform after a lengthy training regime at the police academy at the lowest rank of "probationary constable ".   Their integration into specialised units comes after careful evaluation and they are carefully monitored as they move up the police ranking and pay scales.

Unfortunately, these are human beings with all the stresses and faults that come built in to the human psyche.  Some will develop undesirable traits and have a very short career.   Others will never rise above the rank of constable and simply become part of the "herd " when police numbers are needed to control public events.   A few will go on to head up police departments, only to later be unmasked for a life of crime that has included wilful murder.

This thirty-two year old officer joined the police force and served for four years before resigning six years ago.   He registered a business providing services as both a private investigator and as a labour hire supplier and maintained contact with criminal elements that he had cultivated during his time with the police.  Initially, he gave advice on how to operate under the police radar and used his specialised knowledge to bring both guns and drugs into the country in ways that would least likely attract attention.   He finally fell victim to an organised prime sting that uncovered fifteen kilograms of drugs, and ten firearms being moved stealthily into this country.

There is little doubt that these charges will bring a prison sentence and that will bring new problems for the law and order people.  A former cop sentenced to prison does not receive a hearty welcome from other prisoners and usually has to be kept in solitary confinement for his own safety.  But when that cop has become a fellow criminal the reception he will receive is something prison officials will need to ponder.   He will certainly have valuable information on how the cops infiltrate prison supply networks that distribute mobile phones and instructions to criminal associates.

Fortunately, with the passage of time that knowledge of policed procedures will become less relevant.  Police methods move on and new technology joins the fray but the sheer size of the police force means that normal attrition delivers steady resignations and it is inevitable that there will be a number of people joining the civilian workforce who have intimate knowledge of how the police system works that would be valuable to criminals.   To the relief of the police hierarchy, going rogue seems to be extremely rare !

Car Fuel Efficiency Testing !

When the average person buys a new car one of the decision making aspects is usually how much fuel it will consume each week.  If it will be used for the commute to work the distance covered and the road conditions are a known factor and the buyer relies on the sticker attached to the windscreen which is what the car manufacturers claim their economy tests show.   Unfortunately, in practice these often vary wildly from reality.

It is one of the inconsistencies of the car industry that fuel economy tests are conducted by each manufacturer and naturally they aim to achieve the best results possible.  These test cars are driven as frugally as possible and are specially prepared for the event.  The weight is kept to a minimum - and even the spare tyre is missing on fuel economy test runs.   Even the gaps between doors and the car body are masked over to prevent wind resistance increasing fuel use.

Car owners have long complained that new car economy varies wildly from those claims and the Australian Automobile Association commissioned an independent  study after the Volkswagen  emissions scandal.   It tested seventeen of the most common new vehicles sold in this country under what it termed " normal driving conditions ".

The results were certainly interesting.   Just one of the cars tested did better than their claimed manufacturers test results.   The other sixteen  did between one percent and sixty percent worse !  Some new cars are using twenty-five percent more fuel that what is claimed on those government mandated fuel economy labels.

The cost of car fuel fluctuates wildly and represents a big percentage of the family budget. The average buyer is trying to balance the seating number that suits his or her family size with the type of vehicle that will meet that need, and the engine size and type that will deliver an acceptable performance.   When the choice is between several model and makes of near equal standard the final choice is often left to fuel economy claims.

Car buyers are entitled to better than a " lucky dip " when it comes to vehicle standards.  Before any new model is cleared for registration on Australian roads it is tested by our national road safety authority and awarded up to five stars which relate to injury protection for the driver and passengers, and even damage that the vehicle may inflict on pedestrians in its path.   Few vehicles sold in Australia today lack that five star standard.

It would be reasonable to expect that same national testing authority to conduct fuel economy tests at the same time safety ratings are established and those tests would be done on Australian streets and country roads to give a mix of conditions, and under the weather conditions that prevail in this country.   Such independent tests could be expected to give results consistent with what the driving public could expect under average driving conditions.

The Association is not " naming and shaming " the makers whose cars did not meet their claimed economy standards but these tests have sent a very clear message to the Federal government and the car industry that the present economy testing regime is lacking credibility.   It can not be left to the car industry to continue to conduct tests to a lesser standard and make fuel economy claims that do not equate to any reality in actual driving conditions.

The facility to test here in Australia is ready and waiting in the hands of the road safety standards association.   It would be fair to give the car industry warning that from now all new models sent for registration testing evaluation will also be tested for fuel economy - and the results of those tests will be a mandatory requirement to be shown on each new car offered for sale.

If manufacturers decide to withdraw models that they know will not meet acceptable fuel economy standards that would be a welcome outcome.   The existing tests are clearly designed to sell inefficient vehicles by subterfuge.  It is time that custom ceased !

A War - Without Nukes ?

Australian beef has now gained access to the Chinese domestic market and we are the first country to do so.  Chinese Premier Le Keqiang used the occasion to issue a gentle reminder that China will not back out of the South China sea and regards its outposts in international waters as sovereign territory. This flies in the face of international law as expressed in the " Law of the Sea "  and defies the ruling of an International court.

A lot depends on what happens next.   The world rejects China's claim and the US insists in sailing warships through these international waters and flying planes through its skies.  The Chinese have installed military weapons on these artificial islands and confrontation at times reaches trigger point. A clash would become unavoidable if China closed the waters of the South China sea to International shipping and refused entry to air traffic.    World trade passes through these waters and has done so for centuries.

That raises the question of whether war is possible between China and the United States in which nuclear weapons are not used.    There is such a precedent. Poison gas was the horror weapon in the first world war and it was extensively used on the battlefield, but not used on civilian populations.  At the start of the second world war, all the participants had poison gas stockpiles and in fact civilians were issued with gas masks in the expectation of its use - but this did not happen.

In the latter days of that war it was clear that Germany faced defeat but German V2 rockets were falling on London.  Given Hitler's ideology that German must " win the war or be destroyed " it would have been logical for him to turn to gas as a last resort.   It is quite possible that he did, and his forces ignored that order.   For whatever reason, this weapon capable of creating enormous casualties across European cities was not deployed.

The doctrine of MAD - Mutually  Assured  Destruction - in credited with preserving peace between America and the Soviet Union during the years of the " Cold War ".   Half the world was host to missile batteries with nuclear warheads aimed at the other side and a nuclear exchange may have made life on earth impossible for the survivors.    We will never know if events had triggered an actual war whether nukes would have been an unused threat, or the world would have faced Armageddon, -  but exactly that same scenario seems to be in the offing.

Chinese intentions seem to be the enigma.   China has a Communist government but seems disinterested in exporting that ideology to the world.   In contrast, the Soviet Union was intent in creating a Communist world, by using whatever force was needed.  China seems content to dominate world trade and at the same time surround itself with at least neutral neighbours who pose no threat to its borders.   Provided it makes no interference with shipping through both the South China and East China seas ownership is simply a matter of rhetorical debate.

China has border disputes with India and some other countries and some of these have degenerated into minor military clashes.   The world can live with a dispute in which China claims ownership of the South China sea and this is rejected by the rest of the world - so long as the status quo is maintained and world shipping is free to travel this waterway and air traffic is not interrupted.

Provided China accepts such a situation there is no reason such an arrangement can not continue indefinitely.

Disease-Mongering - For Profit !

Along with cancer, the trio of diseases that most frighten Australians are heart attack and stroke.  They can happen without warning and apart from death they can inflict lifestyle changes that persist to the grave.  Stroke sufferers often suffer part paralysis and loss of memory function - and across this country someone falls victim to this disease every ten minutes.

Customers of a popular chemist shop chain are urged to have their susceptibility to stroke checked with an on the spot examination by a resident doctor.  If the doctor finds evidence of plaque or narrowing in the carotid artery of the neck you will be referred to a specialist and most likely booked for an ultrasound.  That doctors examination will be bulk billed and the ultrasound will cost Medicaire hundreds of dollars, but the patient will pay nothing.

To most people that sounds like medical progress.  Relief from the worry that artery stenosis may be narrowing the arteries of the neck and bringing us closer to collapse and the need for an ambulance to rush us to hospital.  Unfortunately the Australian and New Zealand Society of Vascular Surgeons see it differently.   They consider it as disease-mongering and masquerading as a charity to make money out of Medicare.

This seems to be operated by a group of people with no medical experience who have teamed up with a gym, a university and a large company to promote its work.  The Ultrasound can produce many " self positive " results and this was terrifying people who had no real risk of stroke.  In fact the US Preventive Services Taskforce had evaluated ultrasound to screen the risk of stroke in 2014 and concluded that it did more harm than good. The best defence against stroke was to have regular checks with your general practitioner who would be likely to know the family history and keep a host of other determining factors under control.

Unfortunately open ended medical protection such as Medicare is always under cost risk because of over use of its services.   The propensity of patients to sue doctors has seen the ordering of many tests that are more designed to protect the doctor from negligence action than to screen the patient for disease - and they blow out the overall cost of Medicare on the taxpayer.

What is being offered by this stroke service is perfectly legal.   The problem is that it does not deliver value for money !

War - On the cheap !

The terrorists had a cheap victory in London.  All we know at this stage about Khalid Massood, the fifty-two year old perpetrator is that he was known to police for possession of offensive weapons and public disorder offences, but he was not on a terror watch list.  Credit for the attack has been claimed by Islamic State, but it is probable that the perpetrator was not known to them and was radicalised by what he was reading in the newspapers.

This is the type of incident against which there is no defence.  When someone deliberately drives a car off the roadway and onto a footpath and mows down pedestrian the only answer is to turn the city into a fortress with bollards and barriers - and that would be unacceptable to most people.  This incident left four dead and twenty-nine wounded.  Had the terrorists managed to get the use of a heavier vehicle the damage could have been greater.

Here in Australia we awoke on Thursday morning to find the London terror attack dominating the television news channels.  Throughout the day we were bombarded with " breaking news " as the security people raided flats and made arrests.   World leaders expressed their sympathy and in Paris the Eiffel tower was lit in red, white and blue to express solidarity with London.

This is the sort of publicity that Islamic State could not buy with a billion dollars - and they are getting it for free.  In some parts of the world an incident such as this would be suppressed.  The heavy hand of the censors would close down news stories, or the report would be relegated to an inside page.   That is not the sort of society in which we live.   We are horrified that lives have been taken and people badly injured because renegades of a great religion are making war because they want to force their twisted extreme dogma on the rest of the world.

Perhaps we need to evaluate the damage on a rational basis.    Four people are dead and one of them was a uniformed, unarmed policeman.   The British have long maintained the myth of the unarmed " London Bobby " maintaining order in the city.   When faced with a man with a knife or gun, their defence is paltry.  Time for a reality check.

Most likely the death toll on British roads amounted to about four deaths and a similar number of injured on that same day, and yet that was not "news ".   This was wilful murder and that was what provoked the story to world wide prominence.  If the terrorists hoped that such incidents would halt the tourist trade they are badly mistaken.   Death in a terrorist attack is now a hazard tourists accept as part of the risk of travelling overseas - and few are deterred.   The odds of being one of the unlucky ones - is about the same as being hit by lightening.

There is a strange metamorphose taking place in attitudes to terror attacks.   World leaders are duty bound to express sympathy and make public statements and the media compete for viewer attention by building the storyline, but repetition is dulling the impact on the mind of the average person.   It is no longer new and as such it is now accepted as just one of those hazards that is part of normal life.

Watch how quickly this London story retreats from the main news sector and reemerges as " public interest " interviews with spectators and those who suffered minor injuries.  Just as the truck slaughter in Nice had its day in the news and quietly faded from view, this London incident will suffer a similar fate.    To the terrorists, it is becoming part of the " law of diminishing returns "  !

Terrorists Target Laptops !

It seemed inevitable that the security people would have to take new security measures when an exploding laptop blew a hole in the side of a Somali passenger jet and killed a passenger.   It seems that this was a suicide bomber testing the ability to smuggle hidden explosives onto a jet liner.  Fortunately, the plane was able to land safely and the only casualty was the actual bomber.

We know that international terrorists employ some very talented people in developing new ways to create death and destruction that evades discovery by the security forces, and bringing down passenger jets with a big loss of life is high on their agenda.  It is obvious that our security people have reason to suspect that they have achieved the ability to disguise the batteries that power laptops, tablets and a whole host of electronic devices with the explosive ability to destroy an aircraft in flight.

Britain and the United States have now imposed a ban on any sort of electronic device bigger than a mobile phone from being carried in the passenger cabin of aircraft flying from a number of Middle East and north African countries.    The fact that these can be checked in and form cargo carried in the pane's baggage compartment indicate that some sort of triggering activity is required to activate such a bomb.   The ban is obviously designed to remove all such devices from the hands of passengers until the flight has ended - and the baggage is collected at the terminal.

Here in Australia no such ban is being immediately contemplated and Britain has implemented a softer version of the ban than the United States.  The British will not include stopover flights that include Middle Eastern hubs such as Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Qatar.

It is reasonable to suppose that this ban may be universally extended to include all forms of electronics as cabin baggage on a world wide basis if a terror group succeeds in downing a passenger jet.  Even this present ban is going to have an enormous impact on the travelling public.  In the business world, a laptop contains the information needed on a business trip and few families travel without at least a tablet to keep the kids amused on a long journey.  Electronics have become a way of life and being deprived of instant contact is likely to become a new medical ailment.

There is also a new " fear factor ".   The security people would not have imposed this ban unless they had good reason to suspect that a danger now exists.  No doubt passengers on flights where laptops are permitted will look long and hard at their fellow passengers.   We now have reason to regard anything powered with a battery - with suspicion.

The Law - And Fare Evaders !

Passengers using the Sydney rail network regularly see fare evaders vault the barrier both entering and leaving train platforms.  In many cases this is in full view of station staff but there is a curious lack of action to apprehend the culprits and put an end to these free rides.

The actual degree of authority in the hands of railway employees seems to be uncertain and they leave the task of dealing with fare offenders to the police, but even here the degree of authority to stop and search seems to have limitations, as a recent court case illustrated.

Two cops observed a twenty-four year old man use both an Opal card and a concession card at Liverpool train station.   They approached him and demanded that he produce both his Opal card and the concession and provide his identity.   He objected, and one of the police called him a '" Smart Arse ".   It was made plain that he was " not leaving " until the officers had verified his identity.  He was asked to produce his photo driving license for that purpose.

This man took the state to court with a claim that he had suffered false imprisonment.   The time he was detained by police was four minutes and fifteen seconds.  The police told the magistrate that they had reasonable suspicion that the concession card may have been either stolen or was being used illegally because the traveller appeared " young and fit " and was evasive when asked to supply proof of identity.

The detainee denied he had been evasive and objected to the request to produce his photo driving license " when he was not in possession of a car at that time ".   The judge agreed that the police had an " honest suspicion " about the validity of the concession card, but this was based on " tenuous " rather than " reasonable " grounds.   He ruled that a case of false imprisonment had been established and awarded damages of $ 3201 - which included interest.

Is it any wonder that the police seem reluctant to intervene when what seems blatant fare evasion is taking place before their eyes.   They observed a young man using a concession card that is usually  granted to pensioners and decided to check that it was being legally used to obtain a discounted fare.  They did not put the card holder in handcuffs or place him in a patrol car or a police cell.   They merely had a conversation with him - on a public street - and made it clear he was not free to go until their enquiries concluded.

No doubt both these officers will have a notation that they were found guilty of false imprisonment recorded on their police record and this may tip the balance in some future promotional evaluation.  It seems that there is a very fine line between the job expectation we require from the men and women in blue uniforms and the limit the judiciary now places on their actions.

These unreasonable decisions deter the police from implementing the rule of law we expect to apply in our multicultural society !

Split Shifts !

Centuries ago the utopian aim in socialist thinking was a day that formed three distinct segments.  Eight hours to work and earn a living.  Eight hours to sleep and rejuvenate the body - and eight hours for family and leisure.   In todays world few get eight hours sleep, a lot of people are desperately seeking more work time to improve their earnings - and that leisure component for many is based on working just five days in every seven.

The Transport Workers Union has shone the spotlight on work practices at Mascot, Australia's busiest airport.  Because of split shifts, some workers spend fourteen hours of each working day within the airport confines and the union claims that this is imposing " third world "  conditions on Australian employees.

An army of people work for Aerocare, a service company that provides baggage handling, the loading and unloading of aircraft and the manning of towing vehicles that assist aircraft to dock at the terminal and move between maintenance facilities.   The union claims that these are "low paid ".   They certainly do not draw the salaries of aircraft captains, but their pay is subjected to an award thrashed out between the union and employers and the current enterprise agreement was signed off in February, 2013.

Airports are busy places, but they are also subject to load peaks and Sydney Kingsford Smith is specially prone because it has imposed a night flight curfew to prevent aircraft engine noise from disturbing the sleep of city residents.   Because of this, the work load consists of " split shifts " and sometimes there is a six hour gap between the end of one shift and the commencement of another. Few employees bother to return home during this down time.

The union points to the common practice of such employees finding a discreet nook out of public sight and creating a " nest " with airport blankets and cushions in which to rest, perhaps read a book or enjoy a few hours sleep.   The unions condemn this practice, but split shifts were an agreed item when the award was negotiated and it was necessary to ensure that the running costs of Sydney airport remained consistent with world standards.

Aerocare services the needs of the aviation world and should the handling costs become disproportionate to those that apply at other hubs flight schedules can quickly divert to where the costs lead to the lowest ticket prices.   Such is the competition in the air services world.

This is a problem that relates to other industries and it seems inevitable that it will steadily worsen. Every check reveals that the commute time in Sydney gets longer and it is not practical to go home and expect to return with a degree of time certainty - and that is an essential in many forms of employment.   What can be achieved at a country airport such as Devonport in Tasmania is impossible in Sydney.

Probably the furore over split shifts at Sydney airport will have a strong bearing on future award negotiations in the food and beverages industries.   Many already work split shifts to accommodate the lunch and evening meal peaks and how employees spend that down time will come under the microscope.

Putting an end to split shifts can only result in increased costs !

A Very Bad Idea !

The proposal to allow young people to use their superannuation savings to access the purchase of a home has taken flak from a wide section of industry leaders who have the financial knowledge  to fully understand the risk factor.   Former prime minister Paul Keating has added his voice to that opposition.

Perhaps those pushing this idea have forgotten the " how " and " why " superannuation came to be a contract between employers and employees by legislation passed by the national parliament. The nation's money managers sounded the alarm that paying the aged pension out of the public purse was unsustainable.  We were living longer and retiring earlier and the demographic of workers to retirees was heading to disaster.

As a matter of necessity we adopted a policy of forcing employers to contribute to the retirement savings of their employees and for all to make a similar contribution to their own retirement.   The aim was to eventually see the nation become a country whee the vast majority of people left the workforce as self funded retirees.   The aged pension would remain as a backup for those who through misfortune or ill health had not participated in accumulating superannuation in their working lifetime.

The cost of an average home has escalated out of sight and this is particularly prevalent in the capital cities.  It has slipped beyond the reach of the average wage earner and many are now destined to rent for their entire lifetime.  It is inevitable that if a huge surge of people are allowed to become first home buyers because they can access their superannuation as a home purchase deposit, the cost of homes will become stratospheric.   It is the old story of supply and demand - and if demand increases the price inevitably rises.

There is also the problem of this housing bubble bursting and a sharp price retreat.  We would do well to remember 2008 when a lot of people found they had a mortgage far bigger than the market price to which homes had dropped.  Many also faced foreclosure because they lost their jobs and could no longer pay their loan repayments.   Like all commodity markets, housing is subject to price volatility and sudden change.

Even if the housing market retains stability, many will have lost those golden years when their superannuation compounded to the point of providing a sufficient nest egg for retirement.  Even selling and downgrading to a cheaper home would be unlikely to leave sufficient balance for a comfortable retirement.

This is not just as Australian problem.  It affects housing availability and affordability across world cities and many governments are grappling to find solutions.  It is unlikely that we will ever see mass affordable housing within major cities but prices decrease the further away we extend, and the long term answer seems to be cheap and fast public transport to take advantage of that trend.

We open that superannuation door for housing deposits at our peril.  Not only may we instigate an unstoppable price spiral but we may doom many to a miserable old age of penury because their nest eggs have been sacrificed for other than their intended purpose.

" Hillbilly " Wealth.

Many people laughed along with an American sitcom called the "Beverly Hillbillies ".  Jeb Clampett got suddenly rich when he discovered oil on his property.   But of course that couldn't happen here in Australia because we do not own the minerals that may exist under our homes.  That is officially the property of the Commonwealth of Australia.

We do have a problem with the huge trove of natural gas beneath this continent.  It was a very expensive operation to find and tap into the supply and create the gas hub to store it and liquefy it for transport to overseas markets in specially designed ships. International consortiums put up the money and got the required licenses, and now we are short of the stuff to generate electricity and provide energy for cities and towns. Too much is being exported overseas, creating a local shortage and it seems we need to pay the world price for what we use here.

The Geology people tell us we have heaps of gas - right under our feet.  It's called "Coal seam gas " and it is embedded in sandstone rock and it requires water under pressure to be pumped down to crack the rock and release the gas.   A lot of people are concerned about the safety of this method and there is a fear it could damage the water table and plug aquifers.  There is strong resistance to gas extraction, particularly in the farming community.

This concern has resulted in embargo's and there is a vast resistance movement ready to fight any extension of the few gas wells already in place.  Extraction is really an impost on farmers. It is an intrusion on their property with the movement of heavy machinery and they are only compensated a few dollars for the inconvenience.

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has revealed a new plan that may change thinking on Coal seam gas extraction.    He is simply proposing offering the landholder a share of the reward for the gas extracted and the figure of ten percent is being suggested.

It is proposed that gas extraction be fully banned on prime agricultural land because of the unknown risk to the water table, but offering an incentive opens up a whole new ball game on huge areas of marginal grazing land that could deliver a new gas supply to power electricity generation, industry and the cooking and heating gas we use in or suburban homes.

Many farmers would think very differently if gas wells on their property were delivering regular cheques that ran into thousands of dollars and it is probable that we would see the creation of "gas millionaires ".  It will be interesting to see how this suggestion fares in the political climate and if a pragmatic view can be established to get the necessary legislation through parliament.

The initial plan to access CSG seemed designed to antagonise farmers.   It permitted gas survey teams to enter their property without permission and they would be paid a pittance for the actual land on which a well was situated.   Continued intrusions would disturb stock and there would be the movement of heavy machinery.  There was also the danger of gas leaks fuelling bushfires and the entire concept delivered no gain to the landholder.

No doubt this suggestion will be bitterly opposed across the social spectrum and those with damage to the ecology in mind will continue to resist.  At least it will introduce a practical element and that was what was missing with the "gun at head " approach of the initial plan !

The Scales of Justice !

Gordon Wood spent three years in prison when he was convicted of murdering Caroline Byrne by throwing her off the Sydney " Gap ".  It was a sensational case that attracted much media attention and one of the points of contention was the fact that Ms Byrnes body was found seven metres from the base of that cliff.  It was contended that would be impossible if she had simply jumped, and the distance proved that she had been " thrown ".

An expert witness testified that a " spear " action might have produced that result and the jury was shown a photograph dated 1996 which showed bushes that would have prevented Ms Byrne running to gain momentum.  It was later fond that this photograph was taken in 2003 - and those bushes were not present earlier.   The expert witnessed wrote a successful book on the trial and it was suggested that he had a motive for wishing to see a conviction recorded.

Mr Wood (54 ) is now suing New South Wales for a multi million compensation package and the action has seen the Crown prosecutor, Mark Tedeschi QC take the stand to deny that he withheld evidence that might have cleared Mr Wood.   At that time, Mr Wood was employed as a chauffeur, bodyguard and general dogsbody for controversial share trader Reve Rivkin.

Mark Tedeschi has an illustrious career success in gaining convictions and this line of questioning over his impartiality has drawn friends and relatives of those of his past convictions to sit in court and carefully evaluate proceedings.   It has become evident to many people that the purpose of a prosecutor is to gain a conviction rather than establish that justice has been served.   The court is merely a " theatre " in which prosecution and defence do battle to convince a jury sitting before a presiding judge that they have the better argument.   To either - the guilt or innocence of the accused is immaterial.   They are there to win and such wins burnish their careers.

This Wood/Byrne case illustrates how an outcome can depend on external factors.  It became clear that the initial police investigation was deficient.  Many details of the position of the body were not accurately recorded.  The tabling of an incorrect photograph was a cardinal error, but it is unlikely that it was done with malice.   Expert witnesses are free to write books, but this was not made clear as an intention at the time evidence was given, and it must be accepted that the conviction was sensationally acquitted by the  Court of Criminal Appeal in 2012.   They got it wrong !

That is one of the reasons why we discontinued the death penalty.  Later acquittals are common, but that is of little use if an execution has extinguished the life of an innocent person.   Gordon Woods will probably get his compensation - and further trials will again be a battle between the prosecution and defence - with actual justice coming a very poor second to the skill of those adversaries in court to twist words and create illusions to suit their case.

Facing prosecution is very much a roll of the dice.  Luck will feature in many decisions and luck can go either way, but across the civilized world it is a fact of life that asking an accused to be judged before a jury of his or her peers is probably the best form of justice that we humans have been able to devise !

Sugar Daddies !

A resident of an aged care home in a city with a flourishing university got a surprise this week when he answered a knock on his door.  His callers were two twenty-somethingish young women, immaculately groomed, who asked him if he would help them with their studies by taking part in an opinion survey.

He invited them in and they quickly setup a question and answer routine.  Let us call one Diane and the other Belinda.  Diane was the confident, outgoing type who asked the questions and Belinda was more retiring, recording the answers on a tablet.

The questions ranged over topical matter concerning the state of the economy with heavy emphasis on the Sydney housing bubble and the likely aftereffects.  It was very concerned with the personal views of the resident and as it progressed it moved on to the social changes that are taking place in this country. The legalising of Marihuana.  The Gay marriage debate.  Diane admitted that part of the survey was interested in attitudes to the sexual revolution that had taken place in recent years in this country.

Some of these questions took a rather personal tone.  Eventually, Diane was edging onto the hidden agenda behind this survey. The two girls were studying at University and they had evolved a plan to at least pay the living costs and allow them a decent social life - and it involved sex.

Diane took the plunge - and her plan became a proposition !   The girls were looking to recruit four men who would sponsor their lifestyle in exchange for sex once a month for an entire year.   This was based on the premise that the numbers would involve a single night of sex just once a week.  They had a nice unit in a better part of the city and they proposed to pickup their customer and drive him there for an overnight stay.  In the morning, he would be driven home in time for breakfast.

Of course this raised the question of remuneration and Diane insisted that they would require a three thousand dollar up-front payment to cover the whole year.  It then became clear that both Diane and Belinda intended to recruit four such " clients " each, hence each would earn twelve thousand dollars with a combined total of twenty-four thousand.   Enough to embellish a very reasonable lifestyle in exchange for one night of " duty " each week.

She explained their thinking when it came to aged care residents.  Some would have sold valuable homes and have a degree of wealth at their disposal.  Those still interested in sex might welcome being pampered by a young woman who catered to their tastes and provided a service that was utterly discreet.  There was also a safety aspect.  There was a reduced chance of violence from the older aged group.

The resident was bemused as to how he had been chosen.  Belinda explained that evaluation involved discreet questioning of aged care home staff to exclude the unlikely.  The oldest of sales techniques then came into play.   It was suggested that the quote had been almost filled - and a decision was quickly required.

A few enquiries revealed that this form of " Sugar Daddy " exploitation is rife, but that Diane and Belinda are simply picking the low hanging fruit.  Many set their charges from a single donor and have the expectation of emerging from their course debt free after enjoying a luxury lifestyle paid by their benefactor.   Interestingly, this does not break any current laws.   Sex for sale is now a legitimate industry !

Our Energy Resources Policy !

There is something intrinsically wrong when we are told the good news that by 2020 Australia will be the worlds biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas  ( LNG ) and at the same time the incredibly bad news that we may suffer blackouts in the eastern states because of a gas shortage to run our electricity generators !

Not only a gas shortage afflicting the power industry, but even a doubt over the gas people use in their homes to cook daily meals and heat water for bathing.  Our industries are also worried. Gas is an essential to the production of goods in many factories and if that is in short supply there is a very obvious threat to employment.

Fortunately, it seems that this crisis has been overcome.  The prime minister summonsed the head honchos of the gas industry to face him in Canberra and a deal has been struck.  We will not lack the gas for either the power generators or for the internal market, but that was not in the form of a legal document that is binding.   It was in the form of a " gentleman's agreement " sealed by the shaking of hands.

Of course the government has at its disposal the awesome power of legislation to enforce its will if the gas industry chose to renege on the agreement, but there remains another obstacle to the public access to one of our greatest natural resources.   It looks like we will have to pay the world price for what comes out of the ground in our own country.

It is certainly true that the gas exporting companies have invested some sixty billion dollars in building the facilities to extract, store and ship LNG to world markets, but this is something that belongs to every man, woman and child in Australia - and it is a finite product that will eventually be exhausted.

It would be reasonable to expect that we have a policy in place to cover all existing and future natural resources and that our national needs are reserved at the head of the list for supply, and that they be subject to a discounted price as a reward fort allowing others to exploit their potential.

It is a national disgrace that as we near becoming the worlds greatest exporters of LNG we are receiving only a fraction of the price reward flowing to other natural gas exporting hubs in the Middle East.   When the contracts were signed, we obviously did not appreciate how LNG would rival oil as a preferred energy source because of its lower polluting capacity.

That should be a lesson learned.  The development of the computer, mobile phones, space exploration and a host of other endeavours has expanded the number of minerals used in industry and more will find favour in the future.   Many of those will be found here in Australia and we should have a policy in place to control and administer their world supply for our national advantage.

Right now our gas needs seem to being brought under some sort of control but an ever growing world population means many resources will come under supply and price pressure.   We have an entire continent at our disposal.   We should ensure that our own needs receive priority !

Where to go Now !

The investigation into the police bugging of a hundred cops to try and influence the selection of the next police Commissioner was doomed from its inception.   The fact that it broke the law was totally ignored.   It simply became an incestuous witch hunt to muddy up the waters and prevent the warfare that is being waged in the top level of the police command from becoming public.

In the end, it evolved into a nine hundred page report by the New South Wales Ombudsman which rambled on for ten years and cost $10 million.   When that concluded, just about everyone named in the proceedings disagreed with its findings.

Now the NSW Crime Commission has taken the extraordinary step of making public its damning response.   It has labelled the Ombudsman's report as flawed and many of the recommendations are based upon errors of fact/or law.    This response claimed that the Ombudsman's report " lacked procedural fairness ", misled witnesses and that it's findings and recommendations are " technically  invalid and of no legal effect ".

That seems to be precisely - word for word - exactly what Deputy Commissioner Nick Kaldos claimed at the time he was on the witness stand - and it seems that Kaldos was the main target of this entire bugging probe.   He was a cop with an impeccable record who commanded the admiration of the rank and file and seemed destined for elevation as the next police commissioner.

The Ombudsman report accused Kaldos of giving " false and misleading " evidence in a secret hearing and suggested he could face criminal charges.   That seemed sufficient for him to be formally rejected in choosing a new police commissioner and upon being formally told of that decision he resigned from the police force.   Junior police ranks commented that Kaldos was " the best police commissioner we never had " !

Now this imbroglio has landed on the shoulders of new state premier Gladys Berejiklian.  The present police commissioner has extended his retirement several times but has announced that he will quit next month.  The appointment of a replacement is now a matter of urgency, and those same faces that instigated this police bugging scandal are leading contenders for the job.

This is leading to a " pressure cooker " moment for the government.  It is unsafe to disregard the power that resides in the top echelon of the state police.   When a state government implements an unpopular decision it is the police who man the barricades and stop protesters running riot in the city. There is a degree of thuggishness in the way police do their job and it is well known that they never apologise for their mistakes.

Logic says that the best course of action would be to reinstate Nick Kaldos and give him the job, but  that may not sit well with the police hierarchy.   Kaldos is a reformer and many senior cops would resent any interference with the cosy arrangements they have to wield power in the community.  When the new commissioner is revealed, it will say a lot about whether the government was courageous - or whether it opted for safety !

The End Of - Money ?

You need to be old to remember how it used to be.   The banks opened on the dot of ten in the morning, and they slammed their doors shut at precisely three in the afternoon, Monday to Friday.  Most people had a " Savings Account " with a cute little book that provided a record of their deposits and withdrawals and only the wealthy had a cheque account.   Cash was king and those that failed to get to the bank on Friday spent a miserable weekend with an empty wallet.

Those were the days when Australia had a dozen or more banks which seemed to have a branch on every street corner.  Many oldies will reminisce about getting stuck in the bank queue when a local merchant chose to bank the days takings and the  teller seemed to be endlessly counting small change.

Early in the 1980's the banks pulled a shabby trick on the public.   They announced that they had better things to do with their capital than own branches and offered them for sale - with a five year lease and an option for a further renewal.   Many thought this was an ideal way of securing their retirement money because the banks would continue to rent - forever.

Suddenly the banks began to close branches - and replace them with the ATM.   A funny looking electronic gizmo set in a wall that was loaded with cash.  The customer needed to insert an access card and enter a PIN and with the push of a few buttons this machine disgorged the requested amount of cash money.   You actually got charged an additional fee to enter any of the few bank branches remaining to access cash and the ATM provided a 24/7 service.    The public griped when the service was down or when the machines ran out of cash.

It seems that the days of the ATM are drawing to a close.  The day of the debit card and the transition of the credit card onto items such as Smartphones has sharply lowered the number of cash transactions in play.   When we buy a cup of coffee or pay the hairdresser all we need to do now is tap the phone or the card on the terminal and the payment is transferred automatically from our bank account to that of the merchant.  No need to remember a PIN.  No hassle to enter a card and select the account to which the transaction will be debited.

ATM withdrawals are now at the lowest for fifteen years.  In January they fell by another 7.7% compared with the same period last year and this trend is expected to increase sharply.  As a consequence, we can expect the number of ATM'S to start falling in tandem with lesser demand for their services.

At the same time, the amount of " cash out " money being withdrawn from store terminals when debit cards are used to pay for purchases is also falling sharply and the average credit card balance across Australia has declined by $ 84 to $3083.20 in January.   The message is clear.   The use of banknotes and coin is fast diminishing.

Later this year this trend will accelerate when the Reserve Bank of Australia  ( RBA ) rolls out a new real time payments platform that will do away with BSB numbers to identify bank branches and account numbers to identify accounts.  All that will be replaced with a uniform, simplified electronic payment system.  It will do away with that hated " three working day " interval gap when funds are transferred between banks.

The likely outcome will be a multiplication of merchants who decline to be paid in cash, or who demand a price premium for cash payments.   The banks are now reluctant to count coin and they demand that fee charging cash transport companies collect and count shop takings rather than process them at branches.   We are fast reaching the stage where the processing of cash money has become an expense that is avoided when customers use an electronic payment method.

Before the end of this century we may see the day when wealth is a figure recorded on a hand held video screen.   The day of it becoming actual reality in the form of banknotes and coin will have ended !

Arrival of the Power Storage Era !

When Elon Musk has something to say we ordinary mortals would do well to listen.  He has made a tantalising offer to solve the electricity shortage which is threatening to cripple South Australia.  One by one those polluting coal fired power stations dotting the eastern coast of Australia are winking out as we struggle to lower the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

South Australia placed its power bet on solar and wind generation with the need to draw in power from other states when the sun is not shining and the wind is not blowing.  A massive storm destroyed transmission towers and the state had a power disaster.  Now there is growing uncertainty as to whether power generation in the eastern states will be sufficient to supplement South Australia in the months ahead.

Elon Musk has proposed that he can build battery storage to accumulate unused power from those solar and wind generators to serve the state during the hours of darkness and to provide the backup when power is unavailable from the eastern states - and he has promised to have that in place within a hundred days of the contract signing - or do it for free !

That is the sort of offer that would be greeted with uncertainty if it were made by most ordinary people -  but Elon Musk is a most unusual man.   He just happens to be the ninety forth richest man in the world and in 2017 his fortune was estimated to be at $ 13.9 billion.   Not only is he rich, he has a very impressive track record of success with whatever business interest he has chosen to undertake.

Musk made his first fortune when he and several others devised a pay system to compliment the growing trade in goods on the Internet - and that is now trading under the name " Pay Pal ".   Flush with cash he found interest in battery storage and created Solar City, the biggest battery farm in the entire world.   He is credited with being at the forefront of developing the electric car and the name Tesla is now a production model that seems light years ahead of his competitors.  At the same time, he became interested in the world of space and put together a very successful range of space rockets under the brand Space-X.   This is now a going concern delivering supplies to the International Space Station and may shortly start sending tourists into space flight.   Space-X astonished the world of technology when it found a way to recover and return used rockets to their launch pad, lowering costs and bringing in the era of multi mission use.

Mr Musk's offer is to provide a 100 megawatt on grid battery for South Australia for $ 330 million. He is so confident that this can be achieved that he has added the promise that it will be in place and working within a hundred days of the signing of the contract - or it will be entirely free.

The ball is in the court of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill.   We have long been arguing and procrastinating over how to reduce carbon dioxide and generate power and $330 million seems a very reasonable price to find a solution to our problem. Elon Musk is putting his name and reputation on the line, and he has a magnificent track record of success in whatever field he engages.

We would be wise to not to take too long to reach a decision.   That is an offer many other countries would find appealing.

Quad Bike Danger !

They are relatively cheap and they are tantalisingly attractive for children.   The Quad bike seems a better option for parents when the kids are agitating to join their friends on their own trail bike next birthday.  I seems logical that something with four wheels must be more stable than a motorbike with just two ?

The Quad bike has claimed a place as a recreational riding machine for Australia's young people and at the same time become a farm accessory in this country in recent years - and they have an appalling accident record.   They featured in more than 110 fatal deaths nationally in the past six years and there have been constant calls for improved safety regulations.

The common danger factor seems to be weight.   They are much heavier than a motorbike and as they are classed as an " all terrain vehicle " - they are ridden accordingly.  In so many accidents the rider is pinned under an overturned quad bike and crushed, and sometimes the accident happens in a creek and the rider drowns.   Mature farmers are meeting their end on quad bikes and the danger is obvious when the rider is a child.

This danger could be reduced if Quad bikes came with a roll bar.   This is an optional accessory but is not taken up by most owners.  A roll bar limits the ability to travel under low hanging trees and seems particularly unpopular with young people who also seem reluctant to wear a safety helmet.   A quad bike is seen as a " fun " machine and half the thrill is riding at high speed over rough terrain.  The average rider completely over rates their riding ability in relation to the stability of the machine they are controlling.

The Royal Australian College of Surgeons ( RACS ) has urged the government to place an age limit on quad bike use.  In some other countries, fourteen is the minimum age they can be ridden legally but that is unlikely to reduce the death toll here.  Quad bikes can not be legally registered for use on Australian roads and consequently they are mostly either ridden on private property - such as farms - or used illegally on public land on the outskirts of cities.

The added danger is that quad bike availability is still evolving.   At least the products on sale now are well made and structurally sound, but many people will remember the mini motorbike craze of a few years ago.   Tiny, functional motorbikes the size of which seemed more suitable for a pre-school children were on sale with functioning petrol engines - and they were capable of amazing speeds.  They were relatively cheap - and soon they were being used by hulking great teenagers whizzing around suburban streets and on footpaths terrorising the locals.

At that time, it was not illegal to import them.  Only illegal to actually use them unless this was done on private property.   It is quite possible that we may see similar versions of mini quad bikes churned out by Asian manufacturers seeking novelty product appeal.

The existing version of quad bikes presents the government with a quandary.   If they proclaim an age limit it is likely to be widely ignored and yet we have a product with a bad safety record making increased sales.   About the only achievable option would be to make such items a prohibited import - unless it came fitted with an integral roll bar that could not be removed.

That would seem to be the only functional safety measure possible. !

Window Safety Compliance !

Less than a year from now a new window safety ordinance will come into effect in New South Wales to prevent windows opening wide enough for little kids to fall and sustain serious injury or death.  Property owners have a period of grace until March 12, 2018 to have safety locks installed on all windows that meet the criteria of being two metres above the ground and are less than 1.7 metres above the floor of the room in which they are situated.

This legislation was enacted in response to ongoing tragedies over many years.  It proved the fallacy that a fly screen on a window is a sufficient barrier to prevent this type of accident.  Many people will remember a recent accident at Bankstown where two children fell from the same window - with tragic results.

The purpose of the legislation is to ensure that windows overlooking a fall danger can not open wide enough to allow the passage of a one-twenty millimetre sphere.   There is sufficient gap to allow a cooling air flow, but not enough space for even a small child to squeeze through.   The legislation is explicit on attachment details and minimum specifications.

Passing legislation is one thing.  Getting the public to comply is an entirely different matter.  Short of requiring a window inspection in every home in this state it is obvious that compliance will be spotty.  People who have no children will question the need to fit child proof safety measures to the windows in their home and many will ignore that need.

The measure probably needs supportive legislation to be effective.  It should become an offence to offer a rental property that lacks this safety measure and the compliance issue would need to be addressed by the Real Estate industry.  These letting agents should have the responsibility of ensuring that the stock passing through their hands is compliant.  It should be a responsibility of the letting agent to inspect and certify that the property complied with regulations when offering a property - or when the lease of a present rental is being renewed.

This fitting of safety locks would also be a useful addition to the property searches that relate to the conveyancing of home sales.  Safety locks in new constructions would automatically become a necessity for councils to sign off on completion but whenever an existing home changes hands making window safety locks a condition of sale would ensure that an ever increasing percentage of the national housing stock would be covered.

A lot will depend on whether the government is prepared to enforce this legislation with fines for non compliance.   I will not suffice to only take sanctions after accidents which injure children.  These safety locks are a means of preventing such accidents and to be effective they need to be in place across the entire housing spectrum.   It would be helpful if similar conditions applied to the installation and maintenance of smoke alarms !

The End of the "3801" Era !

There is something about the initials  "  3801 " that stir fond memories of a magnificent steam train that for thirty years ran regular weekend trips from the heart of Sydney to the town of Robertson way up in the southern highlands.  This vintage locomotive pulled a string of heritage carriages kept in mint condition by a team of railway enthusiasts and the venture was only financially possible with help from the state government.

3801 and a large stock of vintage carriages were kept securely in a shed termed the " Large Erecting Shed " at Everleigh rail yard in the city.  Their maintenance was a work of love by the large group of men and women enthusiasts who also crewed the train on those weekend journeys.   The trip was constantly booked out and getting a seat required careful planning months ahead of the intended journey.

It was a big hit with tourists and a booking on 3801 was often a long planned birthday treat for an entire family.  It was an all day event, rolling through the Sydney suburbs and down the Illawarra line to Wollongong, and then through magnificent scenery to a long luncheon stop in the historic town of Robertson.   That luncheon stopover was a carnival for the business community of Robertson and it included a visit to an operating cheese factory.   Robertson was " potato country " and visitors viewed and commented on a controversial giant potato monument in the main street.

Unfortunately the regular journeys of this vintage steam train was controversial.  It was the custom to sound its steam whistle when travelling through the Sydney suburbs and through Wollongong and this was not welcomed by all.     While is summonsed many little kids to vantage points to see the train pass by some whingers wrote to the newspapers and complained, declaring it " noise pollution ".   To the disappointment of many, the steam whistle was silenced !

Summer trips brought a safety problem.   Steam trains have a tendency to drop burning cinders and so 3801 was banned on days when bush fires were a danger, and to the disappointment of many the steam engine was replaced by a diesel locomotive at short notice.  At the same time, the vast sheds that housed this railway memorabilia were being eyed off by industry in a city desperately short of expansion space.

The axe has now fallen.  The locks have been changed and 3801 and its carriages have been separated from the enthusiasts who maintained them.  Unfortunately the steam age required facilities that no longer exist in this modern electric railway era.    The old trains needed to take on water and coal, and those facilities have disappeared.  It is unlikely that we will ever again hear that sensational steam whistle or see monster locomotive 3801 steaming through city suburbs.

What happens to it - and those vintage carriages ?   Most likely they will not be scrapped, but quietly towed away to some distant derelict railyard where they will be left to rot in the unlikely event that some feasible tourist use can be resurrected.

It is said that it is not over - until the fat lady sings.    For 3801 we are hearing that aria - loud and clear !

Greenslip Cost Blowout !

Sadly, the New South Wales government has been forced to cut back the benefits from Greenslip car insurance because scammers have been rorting the scheme and forcing annual premium costs above the seven hundred dollars mark.   Originally, Greenslip was introduced because of concern that when people without assets and driving uninsured cars had an accident that left innocent people injured there was no avenue of compensation for the injured to turn to.

Contrived car accidents have now become a cottage industry and this has driven Greenslip premiums to increase by eighty five percent over ten years and now are the highest in Australia.   It is common for cars loaded with passengers to have a contrived low speed collision resulting in many persons claiming soft tissue damage.   This is almost impossible to disprove and many claims persist for years.

The new rules coming into force will put a six month limit on less severe motor accident injuries, cutting off the soft tissue and psychological injury claims to allow bigger payouts where serious damage has occurred.   Income replacement for injuries will also face a six month safety net embargo but compensation will now extend to all drivers instead of just the " at fault " drivers.   It is expected that Geenslip premiums will decrease by an average $120 a year as a result of this revision.

Rorting of benefits seems a typically Australian way of treating any form of legislation that immediately becomes an " entitlement ".  It manifested itself when the concept of " sick days " first appeared in awards.   Workers in industries that involved manual labour and heavy lifting often suffered muscular injuries and unions negotiated a benefit in awards in which they were entitled to a given number of sick days a year with full pay without having to provide a doctors certificate.   In some union heavy instances every worker meticulously made sure they took their full quota of sick days and often this was done to a roster to ensure that a fellow worker was called in on his or her day off - and received penalty rates for that imposition.   Often, that roster was carefully crafted so that every employee received the benefit of a penalty rate bonanza in their turn.

This systematic rorting of the Greenslip system is hard to fully explain.    To some degree it is simply the criminal element taking advantage of what they see as " easy money " but some can be attributed to the prevalence of " under employment " in this country.   The number of full time jobs has contracted and been replaced with casual work, and many can not obtain the number of hours they need to earn a comfortable living.

As an alternative, the idea of packing the wife and kids in the car and in conjunction with another family arranging a low speed car accident that delivers an almost endless array of compensation cheques is very appealing.  The fact that it is almost without risk is a big incentive.   Even normally honest people can be tempted if they know that others in their street are living the good life as a result of such a scam.

Unfortunately, forcing up the premium for every other motorist is not the full extent of the damage caused.   That seven hundred dollar premium for car drivers is only the tip of the iceberg.  The premium for taxis can cost up to nine thousand dollars a year and it is almost unimaginable when applied to the trucking industry - and those costs trickle down into the cost of goods at the supermarket and living expenses generally.

Once any benefit becomes an " entitlement " it seems to be fair game for exploitation  !

A " No Brainer " !

There have been many calls for a Royal Commission into the conduct of the big four Australian banks but instead a tamed down Parliamentary enquiry has been looking into the excesses that have shocked the public in recent years.   The power of these four great banking institutions is enormous - and so is the profit they declare every year at the end of the reporting season.

The scandals that keep breaking like tsunami's on the wealth of ordinary Australians seem like the expectations of Mafia crime.  Thousands of people who went to their bank for investment advice on providing for their retirement were duped into buying assets that delivered a poor return, but enriched both the bank and the person giving advice because of commissions paid.

We are now hearing of bank customers being billed for financial advice that they never asked for - nor received.  The interest charged on credit cards was both excessive and surrounded with wealth traps like fifty dollar fines for being just a day late in making monthly repayments.  The banks became expert at milking their entire operations with  " fees " to extract wealth from customer accounts.

World banking came into disrepute in 2008 when the " Derivitives  "  scandal broke and caused a world recession.  Home mortgages were sliced and diced into supposed triple A rated securities which were sold to unsuspecting commercial investors.  These were mortgages based on a price bubble and in many cases were issued to buyers who lacked the solvency to repay their loans.  It cost governments billions to bail out that mess - and not a single banker served even a days prison time for that debacle.

This Australian parliamentary enquiry is examining a proposal that is striking fear into the heart of banking executives.  It is suggested that the people responsible for these debacles be named and shamed.  It has actually been nominated by the head of one of the banks, and bitterly opposed by the others.

As things stand, when one of these scams is exposed the banks pleas mea culpa and institute a programme of compensating the aggrieved, but usually this falls far short of the overall profit made, and the lower rated people who probably faced the customer across a desk are dismissed.   The senior executives - on whose watch these transgressions occurred - continue to draw their fat salaries and enjoy the privileges of office.

This proposal delivers responsibility to where it is due.  A senior banker named and shamed has no further place in the banking industry.  His present employer is duty bond to show him the door, and he in anathema for employment anywhere else in the  industry.   It is a huge incentive to be scrupulously correct in ensuring that the process under his or her control complies with legal - and moral -  conduct.

That is a responsibility that has ben missing in the industry standards that apply to senior banking executives.  The aspects of banking that come under government control fall within the enquiries of the Australian Securities and Investment Commission ( ASIC ) which usually takes years and is hesitant in naming offenders.

Holding those who have the power of decision and making their jobs depend on the outcome of those decisions should be an absolute no brainer !

Paying for Emergency Services !

When you find that your house is on fire you expect the fire brigade to arrive under lights and siren and extinguish the flames.   When a storm blows tiles off your roof you expect the emergency services people to place tarpaulins to keep the rain out.  If your child gets lost on a hike you expect emergency service volunteers to find and bring him or her to safety.    Until now, these essential emergency services were very unfairly funded in New South Wales.

Funding consisted of a tax applied to every insurance policy taken out by owners for the cover provided by inasurance to protect their property - and that was added to the premium insurance companies charged.  Not every house was insured, and so the cost was spread very unevenly.   The uninsured received the benefit from emergency services but were blatant free loaders when it came to sharing the cost.

All that is about to change from July 1.   The $950 million cost of Fire and Emergency services in this state will be an added charge to rate notices.  It will be distributed across all dwellings in this state, whether they are insured or not and previously exempt sections will now pay their fair share. Consequently, the cost of home insurance should see a sharp fall in premium costs.

For the first time, churches and what is called " public benefit land "  such as scout halls will contribute a fixed charge of one hundred dollars a year and farm land and commercial property will be levied a fixed $ 200 plus an amount calculated on the unimproved value yet to be determined by the valuer general.

Emergency services are a universal necessity which is free to all.   The fire brigade does not enquire if you are insured before trying to put out a house fire and the task of spreading the cost across all property owners is long overdue.  The cost of house insurance has been steadily rising and the pool contributing to funding our emergency services has been diminishing.  Transferring this cost to council rates spreads the load evenly with no increase in collection costs.

The valuer generals office estimates that the cost to each rate notice will be about $185 a year and that will be determined by each years emergency services budget, but it is important that the government ensure that Insurance companies pass on the cost of lifting that heavy tax load imposed on insurance premiums.   There is the expectation that cheaper prices will see an increase in the stock of suburban homes covered by fire and storm insurance.

Insurance is a competitive industry provided by a huge number of individual companies.  Removal of the emergency services impost means that householders can seek a price benefit by comparing insurance prices across a wide price spectrum.   From July 1 the charge to protect property against fire and storm damage should be much more affordable !

Freedom Of Choice !

A lot of people die without making a will.  There used to be a degree of personal satisfaction in directing how your worldly goods would be distributed and the sure knowledge that this would happen according to your instructions.  In today's world, that outcome is far from certain.

The law of the land has given itself the right to over ride your wishes and second guess where any wealth you leave behind may be distributed.  That decision will now be made by a learned judge who knows absolutely nothing of the lifestyle you lived, nor the reason that personal relationships broke down - and simply makes judgement on a mix of formulae and how he or she is feeling on the day of that decision    Often personal feelings and attitudes to life will colour the outcome.

It is perhaps understandable that the estate of the hugely rich may be contested by relatives.  Where multi millions of dollars are involved there are usually family expectations and even promises that have not been fulfilled.  The cases passing through the court system today reconfigure the outcome and distribution of more modest wealth and its progression to nominated beneficiaries.

One recent case involved the estate of a woman who passed away at the ripe old age of ninety-nine.  She left an estate valued at $2 million, most of which was represented by the modest family home at Turramurra which was valued at $ 1.8 million because of the  Sydney home price bubble.  It is doubtful if that woman would have considered herself " wealthy " 

She willed her estate to one of her two daughters.  The daughter who was not mentioned in the will went to court to sue her sister and a benevolent judge promptly handed her $ 425,000, completely ignoring the wishes of the deceased.  In a breakdown of this judgement $ 2615 was specifically awarded for pilates and water aerobics.

The estranged daughter admitted that she had never had a close relationship with her mother and had been rebellious.  She had become estranged from her mother, who did not attend her graduation and disproved of her marriage, which ended in divorce.  There was further friction following the death of her father in 1996.

It seems that there was a degree of balancing of estate distribution between her mother and father.  Her fathers estate of $ 86,168 went entirely to the errant daughter and this went unchallenged by her sister.   It could be argued that to a degree the imbalance of value between the father and mothers estates could be mainly attributed to the recent surge of home prices in Sydney, and yet that anomaly was completely disregarded by the judge.

Knowing that her errant daughter had benefitted from her fathers estate this mother had probably felt justified in rewarding the daughter who has stood by her in her declining years, only to have that benefit snatched away on the whim of a Supreme court judge.   Her wishes on how her estate was to be distributed were completely ignored.

No wonder so many people fail to go to the trouble - and expense - of making a will.   What's the point, when the judiciary will treat it with contempt and make their own decisions ?

Those Fabulous - Diamonds !

There is no doubt that the most expensive mineral on planet Earth, given its value by weight and size  - is the Diamond.  It came to prominence in 1866 when a farmer's son picked up a curiously glistening stone on the banks of the  Orange river in South Africa.

At that time the British genius colonizing South Africa was Cecil Rhodes and he was astute enough to realise that diamonds would only hold their value if they remained rare. In 1888 Rhodes founded  De Beers, the company that persuaded diamond miners to channel their product through this venue so that the quantity going to market could be controlled.

Diamonds are amongst the oldest minerals on earth.  They formed more than a billion years ago between the crust and the molten interior of the planet where the pressure was high enough and the temperature low enough for carbon to form into the stone that gives light its brilliance.

For more than a century De Beers was the controlling force in the diamond trade.  It carefully regulated the flow of these gems to the cutters and polishers who predominated in Antwerp and London and its hand on the flow pipeline was legendary.  Buyers were ushered into a sealed room and handed a velvet envelope containing precisely the stones that D Beers was offering for sale - and the price that they would charge for each stone.  They were free to reject individual stones, but they also realised that De Beers totally controlled supply and should they offend, next time they may be offered far fewer stones - or none at all.

De Beers used its monopoly wisely.  Its advertising linked this glistening stone with the world of romance.  Its marketers created the image of the diamond riding on the finger of the left hand of young women consenting to become someone's wife - and even a rigid protocol was established as to the cost.  It became accepted that such a ring should cost two months pay to be acceptable and the memorable slogan " Diamonds are Forever " came into vogue.    This custom swept the western world and by 1939 ten percent of brides received a diamond engagement ring on betrothal - and by the end of the century this had increased to eighty percent.

By the 1990's De Beers grip had began to loosen.  More was understood about how Diamonds are formed and new strikes were occurring in Canada, Angola, the Soviet Union and Australia.  The natural gem was also under pressure from commercially produced diamonds, which were fast reaching similar quality. Diamonds were also finding an increasing market in industrial uses and a huge scandal in Africa tarnished its image.  Rebel armies were enslaving villagers to mine diamonds and selling them on the open market to finance their wars.  The movie " Blood Diamond " caused some people to distance themselves from these precious gems.

Today, the former control levered by De Beers has disappeared.  More diamonds are finding their way to market and obviously that old maxim of over supply is causing prices to drop.  Unemployment and a lowering of wages may change many interests, but it still seems that many young women dream of that sparkling stone that they hope one day may adorn a finger on their left hand.

How De Beers orchestrated a custom that spread across the western world - and which may yet find resonance in a fast emerging Asia - is probably the classic example of a great marketing strategy.  It also illustrates how linking a product with romance created a custom that has survived for more than a century.   Something that today's marketing people may ponder !

The Right To Know !

It seems that "  Privacy  " is no longer a right for the average citizen.   The moment we attract the interest of the news media because we become the victim of a road accident or we witness an incident that involves the police both our name and picture may appear in a newspaper report or on the television news - and that information will include our age.

Many people - and specially women - are sensitive about their age and yet whenever we are called upon to provide our identity that age question seems to automatically be part of the process and in many cases it becomes part of the judgement people make in evaluating the story.

Should a seventy year old pedestrian become the victim of a street attack by a drunken reveller most people will feel sympathy, but should the victim be a twenty-two year old many will wonder if he did something to provoke that attack.  We do tend to evaluate the seriousness of incidents by considering age as a contributing factor.

Another area of sensitivity is the salary we earn.   That is part of the image we project in the society in which we live and it further manifests itself in the house we occupy and the car we drive.  Various levels of seniority in the workplace deliver a mix of pay levels and to most families their earnings are a very private matter.  Pay and bonuses have become common conjecture in the media as the subject has become part of political debate.

Recently, the dignity of a man charged with bringing a government entity into the black from a calamitous financial position had his salary publicly questioned and compared with holders of similar job levels.   That man saw fit to tender his resignation and will no doubt seek new challenges in the commercial world.  Wherever he settles, the salary he negotiates will undoubtedly be of interest to the media and will be discussed in a public forum.

It seems that what we considered our right to secrecy is now " public information " but the wheels have turned when it comes to delving into our past.   We have gained " the right to be forgotten " when it comes to the searches made by information providers such as Google.

The power of an Internet search engine to minutely search old records makes it easy to dredge up details that are no longer relevant, but which could impose a degree of embarrassment.   Perhaps a messy divorce action.  All manner of traffic infringements from a long time ago.  Details that are not pertinent to the lifestyle that person is living today.  Any computer search could continue to divulge this unnecessary detail endlessly.

Citizens now have the right to have that past detail " forgotten ", but they need to lodge such a quest with the company undertaking such searches.   It would help if we had a statute to safeguard private information such as age and salary earned from public disclosure, without our permission !

Musical Chairs !

The OECD has given an unusually blunt warning that a lot of people are going to be seriously economically hurt when the housing price bubble comes to an end.  The logic of ever increasing house prices is unsustainable.  In Sydney they increased by a further 4.5% in the three months ending in February, making an increase of 18.4 %  for a full year.

What we are seeing in the housing market is reminiscent of that old children's party game - Musical chairs.   More children than chairs continue to circle while the music plays, and when it stops those unable to be seated are eliminated.  

We have vast numbers of potential first home buyers locked out of the housing market because they lack the deposit required by the banks to finance a mortgage and in many cases their earnings are insufficient to service the required monthly repayments.   Unfortunately, many have borrowed from parents to pad the deposit and are just keeping the mortgage payments current by sacrificing living standards.   Their finances are on a knife edge as a consequence.

They justify this entry into the market with the thought that if things get too tough they can place their new home back on the market and reap a handsome profit because of these ever rising prices. Some existing home owners have used the equity in their present dwelling to upgrade to a better suburb and increased their mortgage payments accordingly.

All those with mortgage payments above their comfort level are vulnerable to the inevitable increase in interest rates.  Interest rates run in cycles and at present we are at the absolute depth of the present cycle.  A tenuous upward movement has started by the American Fed and when increases take hold they may move with surprising rapidity.   The housing market may tank the first time a panic headline appears in the financial press.

We should be warned by what happened when the last recession broke back in 2008.   The people who rushed to put their property back on the market found that there were no longer buyers interested and asking prices collapsed.   Many found that their equity was " under water " - they owed more on their mortgage than the dwelling would bring on the market.   The banks were merciless - and foreclosed immediately payments went into arrears.

The survivors were the people with years of equity in mortgage reduction and who purchased way back in the inflation bubble, and those with earnings that could accommodate an increase in mortgage rates caused by higher interest rates.   The losers were the people with an unsustainable mortgage and a home that could not realise the expected asking price because of this downturn.   Like the children playing "Musical Chairs "- they found themselves stranded when the music stopped.

The message coming from the OECD is loud and clear.  An increase in interest rates is inevitable - and we have a recession again looming - and it is coming fast !   The wise will act accordingly, or they will share the fate of many who expect this entrancing price increase music to keep playing forever !

The " Franchise " System !

Possibly one of the best known business logos in the world would be the McDonalds "  Golden Arches ".  They can be found in just about every country on planet earth, and this form of " franchising " is spreading into all avenues of trading because of the obvious advantages it delivers .

" Franchising " is a way of doing business that has expanded into so many areas of the business world that it now represents a significant proportion of paid employment figures.  Often this is a small number of permanent employees and a floating population of " casuals "  who supply the numbers to cater for peak demand periods.

Franchising also offers a low risk way for entrepreneurs to establish their own business by taking up a franchise with a nationally known brand name. By paying a fee they get to use the brand logo and the national company provides the plan for the store layout, signage, uniforms for staff and even dictates the actual stock on offer.  Usually franchise owners and their staff are trained by the logo owner so that the chain of shops presents a degree of uniformity to their customers.

Some franchise arrangements require the franchise holder to provide an approved premise while others extract rent for a company owned venue.   The appeal for most franchise holders is that this proven trading formulae virtually guarantees that the venture will be successful.   Over recent decades franchising has spread from fast food chains to all manner of merchandising and now encompasses everything from lawn mowing and gardening to the marketing of petrol.

Unfortunately, it now appears that many franchising plans deliver skimpy profits.  In some cases, the achievement of an operating profit relies on keeping staff payrolls below what is legally required by law and some operators have resorted to what is called " the black economy ".   The employer tampers with wage receipts to lower the hours the employee is supposed to have worked and the pay received is sub-standard,   In other cases, pay is " cash in hand " and without record, but seriously below the rate per hour stipulated by law.  Under employment ensures that many desperate people are forced to accept such arrangements.

In the past, the big holding companies have been able to shrug their shoulders and ignore this problem because employee pay is a responsibility of the franchise holder.   Some franchise holders in the petrol retailing industry claim that the franchise arrangement deliberately short changes them into using unpaid family members or gouging paid staff to go past the break even stage of profitability.

Recent public scandals involving national brand name franchise stores cheating on employee pay in ways that suggest that this is becoming part of the logo operating procedures has induced the government to prepare legislation to make the logo holder equally responsible with its franchisee for pay fraud.

The business world warns that this will discourage investment in franchise networks.   It will certainly throw the spotlight on franchise offers which are unrealistic on returns to the operator unless pay levels are maintained below legal levels.   The entire franchise system will need to be reworked to ensure the offer to new franchise applicants can be examined by accountants with the expectation that it is commercially feasible.

The franchise industry has become so integral in the business world that a tightening of control is long overdue !