Police Pursuits !

After a tardy investigation, the 40 year old senior constable who crashed a police car in Cronulla last week was charged with dangerous driving  occasioning grievous bodily harm.  His patrol car was driving at high speed without lights or sirens when it T boned a Mercedes Benz and that driver remains in a coma with extensive major industries.   The police car was in pursuit of another driver, for the offence of using a mobile phone while driving.

Statistics show that police pursuits have increased by thirty-seven percent since 2014.  Police drivers are highly skilled and in the majority of cases it is the car being chased that crashes and causes material damage or injuries to innocent people.  When an erring driver takes that escape option the adrenalin kicks in and this often results in disastrous driving decisions.  Police pursuits are usually abandoned by a remote controller when safety standards are judged to be inadequate.

Policing is all about the power of the badge worn by sworn officers.  The police culture demands obedience and there is something romantic about turning admiring heads with a highspeed pursuit under lights and sirens.  It is a skill contest and officers get the satisfaction of eventually pulling over the offending motorist when they gain victory in the chase.

There seems no doubt some police find pursuit exhilarating and find it a welcome diversion to the boring job of policing.  They claim that if police pursuits are curtailed it will increase the number of events where offenders speed away, knowing pursuit is unlikely.  In particular, drivers with alcohol or drugs in their system avoid breath testing stations and these are the focal point of many chase incidents.   Incidence of alcohol in the blood can not be tested unless that driver is subjected to an immediate test.  Evasive tactics on test approaches always result in police action to apprehend the driver.

One of the main reasons for police pursuits is recognition  that the car has been reported stolen.  A modern car is a very expensive piece of machinery and a bandit has prevented the owner gaining the benefit of its use.  It is a legitimate police task to arrest that bandit and return the car to its owner. That can not be achieved unless the stolen car is stopped and the driver arrested, and for that to happen a pursuit is necessary.

We can not avoid police pursuits entirely, but we can reduce their incidence for minor matters.  That offence of someone using a mobile phone while driving is a case that proves that point.  The photography present in police cars would have captured both the number plate of the car involved and a picture of the driver using a phone.  In most cases that would result in a fine arriving through the mail, but a follow up visit to the drivers door step would consolidate the seriousness of the offence - without the need for a dangerous pursuit.

It seems amazing that with the advance of modern technology todays cars can still be stolen by a youth with a screwdriver and a piece of wire.  Cars will never be immune to theft by professionals, but security could be vastly advanced at the cost of an higher sale price.    Just as the crash safety of the vehicle must achieve a government mandate, security should require similar intervention.  Theft prevention could make use of a star system to denote theft rating.

Police pursuits have become too common.  The reason for instigating a pursuit needs upgrading to remove simple police gratification and reserve the danger for serious threats to public safety.

Bias ! A Matter of Perspective !

The discord in the Australian Broadcasting Commission opens a sore wound that had bedevilled every side of politics since this "public broadcaster " commenced service many decades ago.   The fact that the ABC draws its funds from the public purse  makes it beholden to the government of the day, but it enjoys a degree of autonomy that ensures that it is not simply a vehicle for relaying government propaganda.

It is claimed that this mess started when former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull  objected to the views expressed by ABC journalist Emma Alberici and complained to boards chairman  Justin Milne, who emailed the ABC managing director, Michelle Guthrie with the demand that Alberici be sacked. Michelle Guthrie refused and as a consequence she was stood down from her position which commands a salary of $900,000 a year.  It is likely she will contest her sacking in the courts.

It is suggested that Justin Milne's demand for Alberici to be sacked breached the integrity of the ABC for journalistic freedom of expression and he promptly offered his resignation, leaving the board rudderless and unable to meet without the presence of a chairperson.

The fact that Australia has in the past regularly exchanged Federal governments of opposing socialist and conservative persuasion has constantly raised the question of bias.   Discussion panels have been clearly stacked with members with a particular outlook that suits the view of the convenor and as a result the outcome has been subjected to bias that offends those with a differing viewpoint.   It is quite clear that commentators inject their own view into the direction of the presentation.

That is perfectly equitable, as long as such views are evenly balanced with the opposite view also going to air but the ABC has long held a rather left wing outlook and many of its programmes are slanted in that direction.

What seems to be missing is an independent assessment into the validity of Turnbull's complaint.  Did Alberici present statistics which were wrong - and which she should have known were incorrect ?   Did she slant her presentation in a way that knowingly distorted the truth and which could be described as " fake news " designed to mislead viewers  ?

Expressing a point of view is a legitimate right upheld by our freedom of speech constitution, no matter how abhorrent that view may be to other people, but the ABC as the national broadcaster is expected to maintain a standard of accuracy to the degree that matter that goes to air will be respected.  If that is knowingly false complaints are justified.

Put simply, the  ABC is expected to deliver a higher standard than the commercial channels and radio networks.  We will never satisfy the politicians that broadcast matter is entirely fair, but the ABC should ensure that statistical matter can be justified as to its accuracy.

Bias is entirely a matter of perspective !

Church School Enigma !

Decades ago a lot of people elected to send their children to Catholic schools because they had an enviable reputation for delivering a good education. As a result, Catholic schools contained a mix of Catholic and non-Catholic children and the fees charged were a mere fraction of what the independent private school system demanded.

In that era the school staff and teachers were primarily Nuns and Priests and class discipline was a vast improvement on the public school system which was forced to accept many children from disruptive home environments who had no interest in any form of education.  Some of these public schools had a very poor reputation and were studiously avoided by parents.

The shortage of Nuns and Priests within the Catholic church has seen most Catholic schools now staffed by a mix of teachers from many religions.  Catholics are naturally preferred, but the days of schools taught by ordained and unpaid religious Catholic clergy are over and the government has seen fit to inject a greater proportion of education funds to the Catholic system in recognition of the important part they play in the overall education system.

The timing of this fund increase seems strange considering that the Catholic church has just been dragged kicking and screaming into the public spotlight with the coverup of child sex abuse by its clergy revealed. Paedophile priests have been moved to fresh parishes when their sins became known to their superiors and the reputation of the church has been paramount above the damage that has been inflicted on the children under their care.

This has been rumoured for years, but recent events have put the abuse of children by priests beyond doubt.  Criminal law has been broken and for the first time a Bishop has received a prison sentence for failing to turn an offending priest over to the police.  The good name of the church has suffered a heavy blow and church attendance has fallen in many areas.

It remains to be seen how this scandal will affect enrolment in the Catholic school system , by both Catholics and non-Catholics. Many may be reluctant to trust a religious system that has just been savaged by the disclosures of how widespread this abuse has been and how high the concealment has penetrated.  In the minds of many people, priests are no longer trusted and pose a threat to children of all denominations.

Analysis by the Centre for Independent  Studies Education Policy show that the shift away from state schools to the private sector had reversed two years ago.  That was when the MySchool website began to provide  parents with data on school performances.   It is now possible to carefully evaluate each school and many parents take this into account when buying or selecting rental property. The property value of individual suburbs is often related to the appeal of schools within that geographical area.

Perhaps this injection of funds into the Catholic education system should await the outcome of enrolments in the new year.  The impact is most likely to be seen in school commencements. Parents with a child about to start their education may now opt for the state school system - from a safety point of view.  The issue is so divisive that there is even a doubt if the Catholic education system can survive in its present form  !

Closing the Gap !

Cigarette smoking is fast becoming the ultimate anti social activity that can be legally performed in a public place.  The ash trays have long been removed from restaurants, supermarkets and even the bars of pubs and people smoking in the street draw distasteful looks from other pedestrians.  It is now a criminal offence to light up in the privacy of your own car - if you have children present in that vehicle.

But there is a hard core of smokers that persist despite ever hardening regulations and the price hikes that have measured each individual cigarette in dollars when it used to be mere cents.  We are accustomed to see the huddle outside office buildings where the smokers gather for a quick puff and which are identified by cigarette butts discarded in the gutter.

North Sydney Council unanimously passed a new regulation that for the first time in Australia would create an entire city CBD as a smoke free zone.   Councillors see this as progressive because in 2016 both Brett Whitely Place and Elizabeth Plaza were gazetted smoke free.   The council has extended that ban to the entire CBD.

This is probably an inevitability.  First smoking was banned where food was being served and then it moved to the bars of pubs - with strident opposition.   The right to smoke in any enclosed public building is long gone and recently nicotine abstinence was enforced on our prison population.  The no smoking net is ever closing.

This edict by North Sydney council is a brave move and it will be watched with interest by other councils.  It will affect a great many people.   There are about 72,000 residents living in North Sydney and another 46,000 commute daily to office jobs there.  This ordinance requires them to completely refrain from lighting a smoke for the entire period they remain within the North Sydney council boundary.

North Sydney is Sydney's second largest CBD and erecting signs and making this ordinance known will not be completed before Christmas.   The new regulations will come into force by the new year and at this stage they will be enacted on a " goodwill basis ".   Rangers will not be patrolling the CBD and handing out fines, but smokers will be stopped and counselled.

This is in line with all previous anti smoking measures.  Compliance was negotiated gently and for a time smokers were simply directed to butt that smoke without having a penalty imposed.   That period of grace expired when the majority became accustomed to the law and now any sort of infringement in a pub or café has become rare.

A long time ago nearly half the population of Australia smoked some form of tobacco.   Today, those still using nicotine in New South Wales has dropped to just 15.2 % of the population, and in North Sydney the level is just 9.5%.    It is evident that this CBD ban will see that figure drop even further.

Silencing the ABC !

"  Uneasy lays the head which wears a crown " is apt when that particular crown is that of CEO of the Australian Broadcasting Commission.  Political parties continuously wrest the spoils of office from one another and the ABC is expected to stay neutral and deliver the news without political bias.

In a distant age, the ABC was virtually the only source of national news broadcasts.  Its noon and evening news broadcast were relayed to every commercial radio station in Australia and during the war years the content was vigorously censored in the interests of national security and to maintain public morale. When television arrived in this country both the competing television networks and the radio stations developed their own news systems and the news content lost most of its veracity.

The age of the computer delivered a new element and the internet spawned the personal communication age. The Facebook phenomenon and its ilk enabled ordinary citizens to voice their opinions and very quickly sinister external elements used this new medium to coerce public opinion by circulating " fake news " stories.  This became so persuasive that it became  critical to delivering unusual election results.

The political tone of the ABC has always been of concern to whichever political party was holding national office. It has long been accused of holding a distinct left wing bias and its CEO has been constantly criticised for the way news reports have gone to air.   The fact that the CEO reports to a board of governors and not directly to the government in office has been a constant point of criticism in political circles.

For the first time, the managing director of the ABC is a woman and the board has seen fit to terminate her in mid term.  No reason has been given beyond the vague statement  that the ABC was seeking a " new leadership style ".  The position carries a $900,000 salary and Michelle Guthrie has indicated that she may take legal action over her dismissal.

The ABC is an institution highly regarded by many in Australia.  It aims to deliver a serious and consistent news content and events being pursued through the courts and the subject of Royal Commissions have been vigorously and meticulously reported by the ABC, to the consternation of some politicians.   The removal of the ABC head will be seen in some circles as an attempt to neuter the public broadcaster and reign in its growing tendency to provide an in depth evaluation of the issues involved.

It is now inevitable that the spotlight will be turned on the configuration of that ABC board and what they intend to achieve - and what sins Michelle Guthrie may have committed that resulted in her being removed from office.  The independence of the ABC is now in question !

Precious Water !

It seems that two issued are connected and need to be considered when the future of the city of Sydney in the remainder of this twenty-first century is decided.  Migration is feeding into the expanding population growth of Greater Sydney and there is a strong body of opinion wanting input lowered or forced to populate country towns and not permitted to settle in this city.  The other issue is the adequacy of the Sydney water supply.

The precious fresh water we drink in Sydney comes from Warragamba dam and this was first built in  1957 when Sydney was a far smaller city.  Over the years we have both seen it filled to capacity and with a lower level that has forced water rationing.   A few years ago the situation was so desperate that we installed a costly new plant to remove the salt from sea water as an emergency backup in time of drought.  It is feared that global warming will lower the natural rainfall in Australia in the years ahead.

We are a very small population in a very big continent and since 1788 our population growth has relied on migration. To others we are an island of tranquillity in an  angry and overcrowded world.  It is because we allow a steady flow of new arrivals that desperate hordes have been restrained from forcing their way into this country by illicit boat arrivals.  We are seeing the chaos this is causing in Europe.

We need steady migration to add to the ingenuity that creates new industries and adds to industrial expansion. The natural flow sees some settle in rural towns but the majority head to the cities which provide the major job markets. Forcing migrants to settle in rural areas without any guarantee of work opportunities is impractical. We would simply create resentful ghettos of unhappy people.

If Sydney is to continue to grow it will need a reliable water supply.  The most practical way of achieving that objective would be to raise the wall height at Warragamba dam to create an enlarged reservoir of fresh drinking water and that will also have the benefit of shielding the people living on the flood plain below the dam from regular flooding.  At present, when Warragamba reaches maximum capacity there is no option other than to open the flood gates.   A huge number of people now live on the flood plain below the dam.

When raising the wall at Warragamba was first costed in 2015 the price was about $ 670 million and the backup of water will flood 3,000 hectares of the Blue Mountains Heritage area.   This raised wall will rise another fourteen metres and create a magnificent lake of fresh water that will serve Sydney's needs well into the future. It is inevitable that some Aboriginal sites will disappear underwater and this greater lake will change the appearance of the original site, but drinking water is one of life necessities and that is the price we have to pay for continuity.

No doubt the Greens and environmental groups will protest loudly and demand further EIS reports but if this project is delayed we may rue the day when crippling water restrictions become essential.  The issue of migration and water needs go hand in hand.  Both are essential if Australia is to progress and those decisions rest in the hands of the Australian people.

A Waste of Money !

There seems to be a rising tide of excitement in Australia at the news that Captain Cook's famous ship Endeavour has finally been discovered.   Cook sailed her to Australia in 1770 and it seems that her remains are resting on the muddy bottom of Rhode Island in America.  She has been there for 230 years and because she was a timber ship there will be very little of her still recognisable.

Ships of that vintage had a working life of only a few years.  Worm infestation rotted their timbers and many ended up as prison hulks on the banks of the river Thames.  Endeavour passed into other hands after Cook's voyage and ended up in America where a civil war was in progress to secede from British rule.  Britain's old nemesis - the French - were assisting the colonists and the British were finding ways to stop French ships supplying arms to the rebels by entering American ports.

Endeavour had been renamed " Lord Sandwich 2 " and was no longer owned by the Royal navy.  She was now a cargo carrying merchant ship, old and of little value and she was seized and deliberately sunk to form a port blockade.  The exact location was not accurately recorded and she was simply one of several ships scuttled across the entrance to Rhode Island.

Historians in the United States have been interested in that era of American history and research on the wrecks at Rhode Island has been ongoing for twenty-five years.  One distinctive feature of the Endeavour will be the type of timber used in her construction.   Unlike the other scuttled wrecks, she was built in Yorkshire in the UK from local materials.  Wood samples can be scientifically evaluated to prove authenticity.

This search for the Endeavour has escalated into a major operation.  The Maritime Museum has released  3D images of the wreckage compiled from 10,000 separate photos and core samples will be sent to Australia for scientific evaluation..   It seems to be a simple matter of dotting the i's and crossing the t's to prove her identity.

The big question is what happens then ?   No doubt there will be pressure to salvage the old wreck and bring it back to Australia.   What remains bears little resemblance to a ship and we already have a replica built as a bi-centenary project.  The remains will probably end up in a museum in Canberra where bemused visitors will read the plate and wonder why we bothered.

What odds that recovering a few bits of timber from the Endeavour ends up costing multi million dollars ?  There seems little intrinsic value in having timber from this old ship on display if it has no recognisable form.   We already have cannons and various other artifacts from the Endeavour abandoned when she was careened in Queensland after hitting the Great Barrier reef and being holed.

There are a lot of worthwhile projects awaiting funding that would serve a better purpose than wasting millions recovering rotting wood that has long passed recognition as part of a ship.   It would not rank high on the national priority list.

The " Mafia " Reappears !

Remember the Donald McKay murder  ?    That was the spark that lit the fuse to throw the crime spotlight on the New South Wales town of Griffith in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation area.   The blatant murder of a political aspirant had Australia mesmerised as the investigation uncovered what were termed " Grass Castles " , palatial homes financed by the Mafia which had penetrated the Griffith farming culture to create a Marijuana empire.

It had all the ingredients of a Hollywood movie.  Crooked cops on the take.   The " Omerta " code of silence imposed with the threat of death.  A political influence in Canberra protecting this crime scene.  Immense riches as this well organised Mafia operation supplied the syndicates who distributed the end product in every city and town in Australia.   The body of Donald McKay was never found.

We have just had a new farm scandal when metal sewing needles were found in strawberries, resulting in this fruit being withdrawn from the market.   It was more the thought than the actual risk.   The number of punnets of strawberries contaminated was small and only one person actually swallowed a needle and required hospital treatment, but the damage done to this important farming industry was catastrophic.

We were treated to media news footage which showed truckloads of prime strawberries being dumped at landfills and left to rot.  On the cusp of summer, many families will have trepidation about buying strawberries because of that lingering image that the needle attacks have put into their minds.  This is a labour intensive industry because strawberries are unsuitable for mechanical harvesting.  Each individual fruit is picked by hand and lower sales will result in job losses - and a drastic drop in profits for growers.

Now we learn that a small farming operation in the strawberry heartland near Brisbane is owned by a man with a very interesting past.   He was a " person of interest " in a National Crime Authority investigation in the 1990's of Calabrian Mafia intrusion into the agricultural industry in Mildura.  That investigation revealed a similar background to those "Grass Castles " in Griffith and this same individual built a home of titanic proportions with gold taps in the bathrooms and the splendour of a palace.  A red Ferrari was seen parked in the drive.

The owner of that farm has drug trafficking convictions and in recent times has been active in enlarging his strawberry business in the area.  It seems certain that crime investigators will be looking closely at all the aspects of how this needle attack might be linked to the machinations of those with financial interests in the industry.

It should also set alarm bells ringing in Australia to carefully examine what interests are rampant in our agricultural industry. Across the world, national crime syndicates have learned that it is more profitable to divest into legitimate areas of business and use their muscle to edge out competitors than to indulge in traditional criminal activities.   This form of infiltration usually goes unnoticed by crime authorities.

Our sleepy farm sector may be gearing up as the new crime battleground  !

An improved " Rental " Law !

More than a third of New South Wales residents live in a property rented from an owner who uses a Real  Estate agent to collect the rent and manage the property.  We are about to see a law change to improve renters rights and establish minimum standards that rented properties must achieve.

These changes to the Residential Tenancy Act would require the property to have basic standards such as access to electricity and gas, be structurally sound and have natural or artificial lighting and ventilation.  Tenants will gain the right to make those changes necessary to create the atmosphere of a private " home ", such as the right to install picture hooks and hang decorations and photos on walls.  The ban on keeping or owning pets of any kind will be abolished.

A major change will be limiting rent increases to once in any twelve month period and set standard fees for breaking a fixed term lease.  No such penalties will apply to domestic violence victims.  This new law seeks to achieve a " natural balance " between the needs of tenants and landlords.

The glaring omission is the retention of the landlord's right to serve a " no grounds " eviction order on a renting family.  In the past, renters complained that this was usually the outcome if they asked for repairs or improvements to the property or complained about a rent increase.  It was often used if rising tenancy demand suggested that such a property could be relet at a higher rental because of increased demand.

One of the aims of this reform is to save renters from the clutches of what are called " Slum Lords ". People who extract the maximum rental from properties that lack any sort of decent standard of living.  There is the expectation that a rental property will contain both a kitchen and a bathroom, and in some instances - one or both are missing.   Often a building has been illegally subdivided to provide a number of letting opportunities that fail to meet minimum standards but are the only way the dispossessed  can create a home.

Another restriction is the unreasonable requirements for a written approval before installing even minor change within the structure.  Where a property is let " furnished " this can even require permission to slightly move chairs or a table to achieve comfort and a family atmosphere.  This law change seeks to improve renters rights to a positive tenancy.

People who rent need the stability of certainty that when they sign a lease it will remain their address for the nominated period of time.  Moving furniture and establishing a new home comes at a cost and that often involves changing the schooling for kids and sometimes even a change of job  for one of the parents.  That certainty is still lacking while ever that " no grounds " eviction order remains an option.

It is a fact of life that some tenants are troublesome, cause damage to properties and inflame relations with neighbours, but some landlords are also rapacious and unbending.  It is the job of the Residential Tenancy Act to set the rules that apply to both parties - and to act as the arbiter whenever a dispute arises.

The Power of the Press !

In many parts of the world strong leaders are using their muscle to force newspapers to close and intimidating journalists who write opposing stories.  This often goes hand in hand with the abolition of competing political parties.   As a consequence, elections are a sham with no credible opposition offered to the voters.

We value a free press but that can have unintended consequences. In 1898 aspiring American politician Teddy Roosevelt gained the backing of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst to turn public opinion against the remains of the Spanish empire and create a war of acquisition. This came to a head when the American battleship " Maine " mysteriously blew up in Havana harbour in Cuba and the Hearst newspapers vilified Spain.  The mantra " Remember the Maine " on newspaper mastheads eventually led to war and the United States replaced Spain as the guiding power in Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippine archipelago.   This war delivered Teddy Roosevelt's dream of an American " empire " !

In the twentieth century the Russian revolution delivered Communism and a way of life that demolished the concept of a free press.  The Soviet Union refused to retreat from the countries it liberated from Hitler's Germany when the second world war ended and then Mao triumphed in China and the worlds most populous country came under Communist rule.  For several decades this clash of cultures resulted in what became known as the " cold war ".

The implosion of the Soviet Union offered the hope of world peace, but this proved to be a mirage. Newspaper news gave way to television and then the age of computers brought the internet into play and created the phenomenon of Facebook.  New media barons emerged and despite laws to prevent the concentration of power just that is happening in the media world.

We have just seen the phenomenon of a sitting prime minister forced from office here in Australia and replaced after a disgraceful scrimmage to secure the votes to climb to the top of that totem pole.  Many political commentators ascribe that loss of office to a handful of people guiding the puppet strings of public opinion that encouraged dissidents within the ruling party to rebel.

In America, a most extraordinary presidential candidate won office by marshalling the grievances of workers displaced by globalization with unlikely promises.  In office he is conducting a trade war that could have disastrous consequences for the world economy.  His campaign was made possible by using the media to sow divisions and appeal to America's lower order.

The man who has emerged as the undisputed Czar of media is Rupert Murdock, an Australian who now holds American citizenship.  Murdock accumulated a newspaper kingdom in Britain before turning to the world stage. and extending his spheres of influence.  They now range across television, what used to be termed " cable " and a vast magazine empire.  Rupert Murdock has influence over what people see, hear and read in most of the western world.

Rightly or wrongly, it seems he and his fellow moguls just changed the prime minister of Australia from one person to another.   That is a very unhealthy situation, but how it can be changed raises some interesting questions.  It would take a very strong politician to go head to head with such a power !

The Mobile Phone " Monster " !

In any Australian city street scene the absence of a mobile phone would be unusual.  They are everywhere !   People are either talking on them, listening or viewing the information or entertainment on the small screen.   Just having one in your hand has become one of life's normal accessories.

Legislation is about to apply additional demerit point losses for using a mobile phone while driving and their use has become so compulsive that this is unlikely to achieve much of a reduction in this law breach.   The most likely outcome will be an increase in those driving with cancelled licenses.

We are about to enter the age of the 5G network and this will push the mobile phone boundaries ever outward. The mobile phone is fast replacing a wallet or purse to pay for shopping and now it is being accused of being responsible for the problems in our education system.  It is claimed that mobile phone use is disrupting the attention needed to progress in class and we are falling behind in comparison with world standards.

It stands to reason that if use of mobile phones while driving is dangerous because full attention is needed for safe driving, then using a mobile phone during class will certainly divert attention from what is being taught.  That delvers a compelling argument for banning mobile phones while pupils are at school.

This is getting a mixed reception from teachers.  Some see the mobile phone as an essential aid for pupils from homes that lack a computer and in schools in which computer use is limited.  A ban would certainly result in an angry backlash from the kids and many of their parents.  Many see those phones as a safety measure.  They are in contact with their children at all times of the day and night.

Supporters of this ban in schools claim it will reduce the bullying problems, but this is enhanced on the Internet and is most prevalent out of school hours.  The main objection is the distraction of phone use taking attention away from what is being taught and that can only be achieved if the phone is turned off - or has been handed in before the start of class.

The sheer logistics of that is daunting.  The task of receiving and specifically identifying each phone, storing and returning them to the correct owner would be labour intensive.  Mobile phones are now a fact of life and we need to integrate them into the school process to gain the advantages they deliver. They are an advanced scientific instrument with the ability to search and retrieve knowledge that was formerly the prerogative of the school library.

The more they are integrated into the learning process, the ability to disrupt is reduced.  It seems to be a case of adapting teaching methods to gain the benefits when the advance of technology creates new frontiers.

Branch Stacking !

There is a high degree of both power and prestige in winning a seat in parliament - and the salary is a further inducement.  The chances of winning are increased if you have the good fortune to be representing one of the major political parties.  Many voters ignore the individual and vote on party lines.

Getting selected as the candidate for a political party is hard for individuals who lack fame.  The party bosses are usually heavily influenced in favour of those with a sporting or business personae and often such a well known person is ' parachuted " in to a seat against the wishes of the local branch of the party.

Candidate selection otherwise depends on a popular vote within that electorates political branch and in the past this was a favourite tactic of the " factions " within the Labor party.  Today, it is fast finding use across all aspects of politics and even being used to displace a sitting member.  It is a simple but effective tactic.

The person seeking selection - or the faction wanting precedence - urges friends and colleagues to apply for membership of the political party.  They profess to be party supporters and want membership so that their vote will be counted in branch affairs.   Usually they attend meetings prior to a vote on candidate selection, and then quickly lose interest.

This is known as " branch stacking "   Often voting rights have an attendance time factor to disenfranchise new members shortly before an election but that is usually short and easily overcome. It is not unusual for the person with interest in a voting result to pay the membership fees of the new branch members.

That is now becoming prevalent in the Liberal party.  Ann Sudmalis won selection and a south coast seat in 2012 and has just announced that she will not contest the next election.  She contends that branch stacking has replaced her support team and made her position untenable. A senior Liberal supporting an alternative candidate had leaked damaging material to the media and undertaken an unfair and unethical campaign to unseat her.

The Liberal party has become a predominately male bastion with fewer seats held by women and a severe lack of women in ministerial roles.  It claims to be seeking equality but the numbers will not encourage the women's vote at the next election.  The recent spill that saw the position of prime minister replaced apparently  involved bullying and stand over tactics in amassing votes for the challengers and this has resulted in some women members retiring from politics.

The Liberals need to lift their game if they hope to retain the treasury benches.  This factional warfare within the party is damaging at a time when world events require hard decisions to be implemented to protect Australian trade from tariff disruption.  Ideally, the gender balance in parliament should equate to the gender balance in the community.

The Australian " Prohibition " Era !

When will be ever  learn ?   The state's answer to a spate of drug deaths at a music festival is to close down such events and ensure that they can not obtain a legal venue anywhere in New South Wales. The Defqond Music Festival in Penrith attracted thirty thousand patrons over the weekend  and seven hundred people required medical assistance from the paramedics.  Tragically, two people died and another three are on the critical list in hospital and it is obvious that illicit drugs must have been freely flowing despite the presence of police with drug sniffer dogs.

The age of those who died was 21 and 23 and those in a critical state in hospital ranged from 19 to 28.  It is simply a fact of life that young people in this day and age seek the euphoria of the drug culture to take them above the heights possible with alcohol when they are in party mood.  The efforts of both customs and the police to keep drugs out of this country have failed and we have a flourishing local drug industry reacting to the mantra of " supply and demand " !

If we ban any sort of music festival from performing here we encourage what are called " rave parties " held in the bush.   The numbers will be smaller than that Penrith event and secrecy will mask the location until the last minute, but they could be even more deadly because at Penrith the paramedics were on hand in the expectation of drug abuse.

The state has rejected drug testing as a safety measure but drug users are blindly taking what drug labs turn out and this can range from a mere placebo to a lethal mix put together by an inexperienced drug cook.  We regularly bust such drug labs, but the big money to be made ensures that drugs will always be readily available.

For many decades the " Don't take drugs " mantra has fallen on deaf ears.   The drugs that induce euphoria are addictive but no more dangerous than alcohol if produced under controlled conditions and to a determined strength.  Should such a drug now be legally available to supply public demand ?

We seem to find ourselves in a similar position to American when it applied prohibition.  The public wanted alcohol and the criminal fraternity supplied it.   Illegal alcohol created the gangster era and the government admitted defeat and lifted the prohibition laws.  Isn't that very similar to where we are now with drugs ?

A lot of the police drug effort is directed at Marijuana and in the rest of the world that is being legalized.   It is hard to envisage a drug death that is related to smoking " pot " and that should be legal here if our brave politicians were ready to legislate to public opinion.  It is the lure of illegality that makes prohibited substances so  attractive to many people.

Perhaps a time to analyse the logistics of that music festival at Penrith.   Thirty thousand flowed through the gates - and seven hundred felt sufficient effect from illegal drugs to consult the paramedics.   The death toll could have been a lot higher if that had been an illegal rave party somewhere in the bush.

We will be doing our young people a grave disservice if we push music festivals underground and out of sight.  Just telling them to say " No " has not worked for a very long time !

The " Aged Care " Enigma !

A century ago most families lived in a home on a quarter acre block of land in suburbia.  When our  working life ceased we enjoyed a few brief years of retirement and then we died.  Women traditionally lived longer than men and so the aged care problem often was resolved by building a " granny flat " in the backyard.

We now tend to live an extraordinary number of years in retirement  and that aged care need has passed beyond the capability of most families.  The needs change as the elderly become more frail and the disjointed nature of the present aged care regime is simply not suited to progress people through the various stages that preclude their end of life.

Entry to aged car is fully managed by the government.  It is means tested - and priced accordingly. The actual accommodation  offering is a mixture of mutual and " for profit " facilities which  provide a mixed range of services.  Usually the choice of service level upgrade when it becomes necessary remains in the hands of the government.

As a consequence, the elderly find themselves passing from one independent care provider to another as they progress from self care retirement living, to hostel care and finally to a bed in a nursing home.  The standards of care vary according to the nature of the provider and there are many complaints about the staffing levels, food quality provision and general staff attitude to patient care. Unfortunately, dementia is common as we age and this often causes us to become uncooperative.  In some instances this seems to lead to rough handling and there have been proven instances where elderly patients have been bullied into compliance.

Aged care is now heading into investigation by a Royal Commission.  There is little doubt that many adverse findings will emerge.  In such a vast industry, it is inevitable that some care providers will be judged a lot better than others and the public will be alarmed when a few " worst cases " attract lurid newspaper headlines.

Longevity seems destined to increase further.  Medical science is ever improving and by the turn of this century we will need a huge increase in the aged care industry in this country.  Hopefully, this Royal Commission will set the guidelines so that the aged can be handled seamlessly through the various stages of age care development without jarring disruptions and financial trauma.

This will provide the opportunity to integrate the various components of aged care into a coordinated  network of service centres which provide an agreed high level of care.  It will require a very large workforce and it is essential that this is equipped with professional training standards to achieve uniformity.  Aged care needs the standing achieved in our public hospital system where it achieves a rewarding career path.

It seems that aged care seems destined to become the growth industry of the twenty-first century.

Urban Food Terrorism !

The Strawberry used to be a summer treat many home gardeners carefully nurtured for family enjoyment.   Today, they are in fruit and vegetable shops all year round and they constitute a huge segment of our agricultural industry.  Growing strawberries is very labour intensive.  They are not suitable for machine harvesting and each individual fruit is picked by hand, with regard to size and eye appeal.  Strawberries are a fruit we buy for their exquisite  taste and this has become an industry giant in our agricultural sector.

The strawberry market in Australia is under attack from an act of urban terrorism.  Someone has been lacing individual strawberries in punnet packs with sewing needles.  This attack seems to be concentrated in southern Queensland and is perpetrated on sales from both Woolworths and Coles.  As a result, stock from the farms named as affected have been withdrawn from sale and police are investigating.

The publicity surrounding this outrage is a cause for alarm.   People are warned to be careful of strawberries they may have in their fridge or freezer because swallowing a sewing needle can be life threatening.  Unfortunately, it seems to have triggered copycat incidents in the southern states and all customers are being warned that they need to adopt a safety regime to ensure that strawberries are needle free.

Each fruit should receive two cuts to divide the fruit length into four quarters, and then a single cut to halve that length.  In this way, should a needle be present the size reductions will clearly reveal its presence.

Initially, this attack seemed concentrated on two strawberry farms in southern Queensland but it has since widened.  The number of incidents is not large, but because of the danger the fruit from those farms is virtually unsaleable.  The financial loss will be enormous and a lot of people will suffer a job loss.  The scare will probably last a long time and the industry fears that sales of strawberries will probably take a very long time to fully recover.

There is intense conjecture about the cause and exactly where this sabotage is occurring. Because the industry is a big employer of labour there was speculation that this could be the work of a disgruntled ex-employee, but the attacks seem ongoing.  The inserting of needles could occur anywhere from the picking stage to where this fruit was on display in merchants stores.   It could occur in mere seconds and it is customary for buyers to pick up punnets and closely examine the fruit before making a buying decision.

Unfortunately, the publicity seems sure to encourage dissidents to adopt this new form of urban terrorism.  A packet of a dozen sewing needles costs just a few cents and in the hands of a terrorist it can cause mayhem to industry and harm individual people if needles were to be inserted into a variety of fruits.  It has immediate application to fruits usually consumed without prior preparation - and bananas come to mind.

It is also possible that these attacks are commercially based. The sales loss can cripple an agricultural company financially and make it prone to a share price loss that makes acquisition cheaper.  No doubt the investigators will be closely examining all these aspects but essentially urban terrorism has entered a new chapter and our food supply is now on the firing line !

A Time Bomb in the Kitchen !

The age of plastics expanded dramatically from the 1950's.   The number of plastic items in the average household grew exponentially from that time.  It was the wonder product of the " throw away " age and today we find it in various forms surrounding most of the merchandise we buy.

Initially, it was thought to be harmless to our health until  science pointed the finger at Bisphenol A - or BPA as it is known - which is an ingredient in many plastic bottles and food packaging.  The boffins discovered that BPA had a detrimental effect on  human sperm counts and it is a fact that in the western world sperm counts have decreased by sixty percent in recent years.

There was an instant reaction from the food industry.  Today many plastic products are clearly labelled " BPA free " and that particular chemical has been replaced by variations known as BPS, BPF and BPAF, all of which are deemed to be safe for humans.

Now concern has been voiced about these replacement chemicals.  Laboratory experiments have revealed that mice, zebrafish, rats and human cells are affected by these replacement chemicals and some of the possible side effects are alarming.  It seems that they are linked to penis defects and the shrinking of penis sizes.

Of course this has yet to be genetically proven, but one of the test outcomes suggests that age may be the pivot point of when plastics move from inert to potentially harmful.  The danger seems to arise when plastic items start to show their age by becoming brittle or the surface degenerates to the point of flaking.  This form of contamination provides the bridge to the human body.

It seems that this link was discovered by pure accident.  When scientists in a laboratory noticed that the egg cells in juvenile rats did not look right they began looking for a cause.   All the tests came up negative - until someone thought to look at their cages and discovered the plastic was showing signs of wear. Small slivers were breaking off and getting into their food.

The danger to the average household seems to be storage containers made of plastic that may have been giving service for years.  They need to be carefully examined for ageing, and if showing even the slightest defect - promptly discarded.   Any plastic product produced before 1998 would be very suspect because the Bisphenol A contamination was only discovered in that era.

The major portion of plastic used in food packaging today serves to get the  product from the store to your home and is discarded in the early stages of meal preparation.  Perhaps now is a good time to carefully examine the average kitchen for whatever plastic fittings it contains.  How old are they ?  And what is their condition ?

Plastic was once the wonder product.  Like all new inventions, the defects only become obvious over the passage of time.

Easing Prison Sentences for " Car Crime " !

New South Wales has both the problem of crowded prisons and the most severe punishment for the driving offences of lacking a valid driving license or driving a vehicle while their license is suspended.  The statistics show that one of every three people sent to prison for these offences were of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent.

The courts had less discretion to consider the circumstances that led to unlicensed driving than for offences such as drink driving or negligent driving that caused death or serious injury before a sentencing revision took place, and a driving license ban could be imposed for a multitude of reasons that were totally unconnected to behaviour behind the wheel of a car.

Cancelling a valid driving license had become the deterrent to make people pay all sorts of fines imposed by the courts.  If someone was caught fishing without a license and was tardy paying the fine, a driving license cancellation would often result.   Riding a bicycle without a helmet or flashing headlights to warn of a radar trap could easily result in driving license cancellation if the fine was unpaid.

No consideration was given to the harshness of the penalty in relation to the circumstances of the person before the court.  A hundred dollar fine to a wealthy business person would contrast unfavourably with a similar fine imposed on someone struggling on the dole to feed their family and find a job.

This unbending law ignores the contrast between the city and the bush.  Public transport offers an option in the city that is entirely lacking in country areas.  The car is usually the only reasonable means of transport for getting the kids to school and the breadwinner to their places of employment.  The inability to drive in a country town can impose forced isolation that deprives a family of the necessities for normal life.

In October 2017 these laws were changed to give the courts more discretion in imposing sentencing. Unauthorised driving is the most common offence seen by NSW courts and in 2017 16,537 people appeared charged with driving while disqualified or suspended, and 6,454 appeared because they had not ever had a driving license.

It was feared that a more tolerant approach to prison sentencing for driving offences would impact badly on road safety, but this has not been apparent.  One significant change has been the relief for those caught in a cumulative cascade of fines which make gaining a license return virtually impossible.  Such people can now have a driving license disqualification lifted if they apply to a court with a clean record for two to four years, provided that license loss was not for an offence that caused death or bodily harm.

There is the expectation that a more rational approach to fines will reduce the number of license suspensions and this should quickly reflect on fewer people serving time in prison for unpaid fines. The courts are now authorised to consider the circumstances of those appearing before the court when deciding the fine that is appropriate for the crime committed.  That should deliver a more balanced outcome.

A Protected Species !

There has been world wide uproar over a cartoon in an Australian newspaper that depicted tennis star Serena Williams having a meltdown at the American Open.  The women's movement found it offensive because Serena had her African/American characteristics emphasised and some viewers complained that the cartoonist deliberately introduced a subtle shading that conveyed an " ape " like image.

Television viewers who watched the American Open saw the match interrupted when the chair umpire intervened because Serena's coach was in the audience and " coaching " while the game is in play is prohibited.   This led to a heated altercation in which the umpire was called a " liar " and a " cheat ".  Serena smashed a racquet and all this was far removed from the " etiquette " usually associated with tennis.

That same cartoon would probably never have gone to print in an American newspaper.  The status of African Americans in that country is too strained for a cartoonist to take such liberties and editors would instantly reject it if offered.  Here our sensitivity is directed at people of Aboriginal background.  Depicting an Indigenous person - male or female - in an unflattering way would bring a strong public reaction.

A lot of the heat directed at this cartoon seems to be because the person unflatteringly depicted - is female.  It has become very noticeable that women bristle if the way they are shown in commercials can be construed as " stupid " and that is now portrayed by the male character.  The story lines are carefully constructed to avoid situations where the female character exhibits characteristics which are unflattering.

The game of tennis has - over the years - produced many contentious male players who have interrupted play with their antics and they have been the subject of lampooning cartoons.  Many have been very unflattering, but they have passed without comment.  Incredibly, the creator of this Serena Williams cartoon's wife and children have received death threats posted on social media.  Women who have achieved fame and fortune from across the world have gone to the media to air their protests.

Whatever happened to our sense of humour ?  Serena Williams is probably the best tennis player the world has ever produced and her string of victories has been amazing.  But her melt down at the American Open certainly was fair game for the cartoon writers.  The objection seems to be that she is black - and she is a woman.   It seems sheer rejection that a black woman in a rage can be the subject of a cartoon which shows her unflatteringly.

That cartoon has now had world wide coverage.  The person who has maintained silence has been Serena, herself.  It is very likely that this cartoon is destined to reside amongst the collection of cartoons that have achieved fame over the centuries.  This world reaction is its own certainty of everlasting fame !

A Lesson Not Learned !

Germany emerged from the ashes of the second world war in ruins.  Its cities were bombed to rubble and invading armies from the Soviet Union and the Allies were discovering the atrocities perpetrated in concentration camps where millions were brutally murdered.  The horrors of Hitler's " National Socialist " regime were laid bare for all to see.

Germany started that war and it paid a heavy price for its defeat.  For decades it faced partition and it was the German people who enacted laws that forced its citizens to face the national shame of its departure from the code of civilization expected of a leading European country.  It is a law breach to deny the Holocaust and the collection of Nazi paraphernalia is forbidden.

Incredibly, the harbinger of National Socialism is again rising across Europe.  A small political party with National Socialist roots now sits in the German parliament and this is deemed a result of Angela Merkel's compassionate stance in opening Germany's doors to refugees from war in the Middle East. This same refugee rejection has seen borders closed in other European countries and now the most liberal in Europe - Sweden - has elected a new party with Nazi roots to where it will influence the policy of government.

We would do well to remember how Hitler rose to power.  A German defeat in the First Word War led to a very unfair Treaty of Versailles.  That was designed to keep Germany poor and disarmed and it produced weak government, leading to shambles when the great recession hit the western world. Hitler tried to seize power in a putsch and when that failed his oratory struck a note with the masses and caused the streets to be filled with his " brown shirts " with swastikas on their arms.

Hitler was simply a " strong man " with dictatorship in his sights, and similar figures ere emerging in several European countries.  The danger is that this looming trade war between America and China can very easily slip out of control and the rest of the world can not escape becoming involved.  It could easily lead to a severe recession with massive job losses as countries erect trade barriers to protect their own industries.

Another recession of the 1929 magnitude would be a total disaster.  The Communist party rules China with an iron fist and their greatest fear is mass unemployment that they can not manage. In such circumstances, countries often turn to nationalism and create an external enemy to blame. We saw that happen in Germany when Hitler began to invade surrounding countries to create " living space " for his greater Germany.

The signs are on the wall that " National Socialist " thinking is not dead and buried.  It is very much alive and expanding and the presence of foreign refugees is fast becoming the rally point for its standard bearers.   Free trade was the impetus for that successful world that emerged after the end of the second world war.  We restrict that now at our peril.  Unfortunately, some of our world leaders seem to have missed learning the message that the history books so clearly illustrated from our past !

The " Small Print " in Policies.

Now that the banks have had a shakedown - from top to bottom - the Royal Commission is about to move on to have a look at the insurance industry.  This is a massive number of insurers who operate in both property and life assurance and there is a guarantee that huge numbers of very dissatisfied customers will front the enquiry with their complaints.

This is an industry which relies on the fine print hidden away in the mass wording of conditions in the policy document that ensures that what seem legitimate claims are rejected when the policyholder needs the money.  Storm damage victims often find that their insurer splits hairs in defining water damage as caused by a " flood "  - which is not insured - when water penetration was caused by unusually heavy rain simply overcoming the usual drainage protection.   Very often the sum offered falls far short of repairing the damage caused.

Disability insurance is another in which claim definition can vary widely.   Claimants are often required to demonstrate stringent  " activities of daily living " (ADL ) tests before claims are approved.  These usually vary widely from the criteria used by the government when granting a disability pension.  Usually, claim rejection standards are as defined by the insurer.

In recent years, the insurance industry has combined with retailers to add pointless " protection policies " at the point of sale of some goods.  This provides the retailer with sales commission on the premium paid but the policy itself is virtually useless.   It contains so many " ifs, buts and maybes " that few people gain any sort of payout.

Even the life insurance industry is riddled with rorts.  Most life cover involves a medical examination and the disclosure of past medical history.  A policy that guarantees to pay a nominated sum of money on the death of the insured often contains clauses that void that payout if death is caused by events that can be attributed to that past medical history.

Many people remember a violent rain storm that hit the city of Wollongong in 1998.   Damage was widespread and the entire insurance industry initially claimed this was floods damage and refused claims.  When this was hotly disputed by the legal industry several of the big insurers relented and very quickly the event was accepted as a legal claim, but three insurers closed their local offices and moved away interstate.  Their customers received no compensation, and years after that event they returned to the city and resumed doing business, safely hoping that memories had faded.

Insurance is one of life's necessities.  We insure our homes against storm and fire and our lives against death when family and children need the protection of a breadwinner.  This Royal Commission can deliver certainty to policyholders if it insists that the policy document contains comprehensible language that the average person can understand that details exactly what risks are covered.

The likely outcome is that many of the shonky insurers in the business for a fast buck will be driven from the field and the insurance industry will gravitate to insurers of substance who offer policies with a predictable protection level. That is something that has been long overdue.

The " Population " Question !

We have just ticked over twenty-five million people who call Australia home.  In today's world that is a very small population to be the sole occupier of a vast continent.  A huge proportion of those numbers reside in five major cities and the population numbers are becoming greater on the eastern shore of this Australian landmass.

A lot of the things we hope to achieve are directly geared to population numbers.  We only recently achieved a divided carriageway dual lane road linking Sydney and Melbourne and those capitals are only a little over a thousand kilometres apart.  Much of the other centres within Victoria and New South Wales are served by virtual horse and buggy era roads - a single lane each way - and many are even yet to get a blacktop seal.

It all comes down to the tax base that funds these types of improvements and we are just spread too thinly for those tax dollars to deliver the world of our dreams.  We are also questioning the inward flow of migrants and there is strong pressure from some residents for that flow to be curbed.   We live in a world where millions of people have been displaced by war and tribal friction and many live in refugee camps.  Australia is high on the hope of becoming their future home.

If we seriously reduce our migrant intake, this country will stagnate.  Migrants arrive here with virtually the clothes on their back and they need to innovate to survive.  We have only to look to America in the seventeen hundreds and eighteen hundreds when they opened the doors to the poor of Europe to see a country that quickly became the world leader in innovation, but that surge of progress also comes with change.  New arrivals bring a change of tempo and we absorb new customs, it is inevitable that they bring a surge in criminal activity and there is the usual problems of language and housing to be overcome.

Australia was most prosperous during the gold rush days of the eighteen hundreds, and then the Brit/European surge after the end of the second world war.   This migrant surge changed to the arrival of the " boat people " after the end of the Vietnam war and it is remarkable how our new Asian arrivals have settled peacefully and profitably into our economy.

A long time ago we adopted that " populate or perish " mantra because we were threatened with invasion.  We live in a troubled world and it is doubtful if our small population can defend this country from the pressures that will build in the future.   We are heading into an overcrowded world and the movement of people may become unstoppable.

We need to decide what sort of population numbers we need to turn Australia into a defensible and prosperous country, and decide how we will manage that situation.  We live in an ever changing nation and that change has been beneficial.  The worst decision we could make would be to close down immigration and decide to freeze Australia in its present time frame.

The past is something we remember with fondness.   The present is a contradiction because the decisions we make now will dictate the future.   The future has immense promise or the threat of disaster, depending on the wisdom we show today !

Religious Freedom !

Scott Morrison is treading on shaky ground when he promises to enact laws to give religious freedom.  Even trying to define what " religious freedom " really means seems certain to divide the community.

There is no doubt that religion is a waning force in Australia.  Every census sees more people tick the " no religion " box and the numbers attending church are ever diminishing.  Australia started out as basically a Christian country but immigration has introduced other religions and there is no such thing here as a " state religion ".   Australians are free to practice whatever belief they choose and the law guarantees that right.

Where it gets tricky is where the custom of another country masquerades as a religious requirement. In some countries it is the practice to marry young girls at a really early age because of preserving the cult of virginity.  This same moral concentration on virginity causes some mothers to medically make changes that end sexual pleasure to ensure that their daughters do not " stray ".  Some claim that this is a religious requirement and its ban in this country is seen as a religious restriction.

We have many hard core Christians who believe that the law of their church should  also be the law of the land, and would seek to impose that belief on all, irrespective of what religion they profess to follow. In every religion there is a hard core that becomes very vocal about any law change that they believe impinges on their religious rights. They believe that religious law takes precedence over all forms of state law.

One of the problems of a democracy is that whatever is the most numerous religion usually elects members of that stripe to the parliament and they have the numbers to dictate what laws will be passed.  In many cases the broad will of the general population is at odds with a hard core of parliamentarians who cite a religious difference for impeding laws that have popular support.

In recent times it is noticeable that Christian pageants such as Christmas and Easter are subdued and not publicly celebrated.   Thee seems to be concern that street decorations celebrating Christmas would be offensive to other religions and Christmas music in shopping centres is becoming muted. This is despite lack of evidence on such concern.

We enter a mysterious world of unexpected consequences when we seek to codify laws to both ensure religious freedom and at the same time guarantee that normal commercial practice remains lawful.  A baker has a right to refuse an order for a wedding cake if work pressures are excessive, but if that refusal is because it is to celebrate a gay wedding it becomes a law breach.  We are entering a world where religious silence is imposing on our cherished right of free speech.

The more we try and clarify religion by the use of law, the more complicated it becomes.  We might be wise to back off and not try to bring all eventualities within the law.   If that baker offends someone by refusing to bake a wedding cake perhaps it is better left as a simple argument between two people - rather than a law breach.

One thing is certain.    We will never enact laws that satisfy all parties when religion is concerned !

Land Acquisition Widens.

A judgement in the NSW Court of Appeals will send a shudder down the spine of property owners in this state.  We have always accepted that property resumption to enable major projects to proceed is an unfortunate necessity, but we expect to be paid a fair price and there have been rules governing these transactions.

One of those rules was a requirement that the government accurately define the need for the acquisition, and a ruling this week in the Court of Appeals simply set that back to zero.   In fact, it overturned a victory for the land owner obtained previously in the NSW Supreme Court.

The land in question was to be resumed as part of the Roads and Maritime Services plan for the $16.8 billion West Connex road project.   This 5274 square metre piece of land in Rozelle was challenged over the validity of the acquisition notice.

Plans for the West Connex have had several major revisions.  In May 2016 cabinet agreed to turn 10 hectares of land on the western side of the disused Rozelle rail yards into parkland.   This land under acquisition in Rozelle formed part of the land being used for that purpose and the Supreme Court ruling found that the purpose of acquiring land for open space and parkland  was " ulterior to the purpose of the acquisition notice ".

The Appeals Court has now found that there is no uncertainty that the land will form part of a construction site and " there was no need to identify the specific use with precision " at the time the acquisition notice was issued to the property owner.   The Appeals Court ruling went on to say that using the land for open space or parkland would not occur until after the project was finished " and did not mean Roads and Maritime was actuated by an improper purpose."

A new precedent has been set that seems to remove the protection that should a plan be changed to make the acquisition of property redundant to the use nominated in the acquisition notice the land owner could appeal to have the acquisition set aside - and continue to own the property.   In the past, many acquisitions have failed on these grounds.

This new legal thinking will have wide repercussions across Sydney.  It immensely strengthens the governments hand in acquiring properties associated with the redevelopment of Price of Wales hospital and the growing light rail corridors which are reaching into Sydney's western suburbs.  A change of plan is no longer a valid reason for a successful  appeal.

Being served with an acquisition order is a nightmare for the average property owner.  Usually the acquisition will take place some time in the future and their property is likely to stay in limbo for a long period of time.  One of the avenues fort a successful appeal has just been closed off.  Home owners now learn of government plans for their suburb - with apprehension  !

Sheer Arrogance !

Despite the findings of the Royal Commission into the Australian banking industry revealing clear evidence of customers billed for services that were not provided and even continuing to impose fees on the accounts after the death of their customer, the banks are claiming that not everything had to be in the best interests of their members.

They are now denying that a range of legal breaches that had violated the Corporations Act was potentially a criminal violation .  It denied that charging advice fees to dead people amounted to a potentially criminal breach of the Superannuation Act.

With that attitude to what has been clearly revealed to the public gaze the expectation that the banks will improve their accountability and turn a new leaf is very doubtful.  Their priority seems to be concentrated on serving the best interests of their shareholders at the expense of whatever integrity they owe their customers.

It may be relevant to remember the history of banking in Australia. In 1947 then prime minister Ben Chifley announced that he intended to nationalize all the Australian banks and the nation would be served by a single bank, the government owned Commonwealth Bank of Australia.   This was seen as a plank in the Labor party's socialist agenda and was roundly condemned by the business world.   The degree of control it would place in the hands of the national Treasurer was overwhelming.

The force of opposition eventually made bank nationalization an election issue and Labor lost office in a landslide.  Not long after that, we began to see mergers and takeovers.  The number of banks began to dwindle, until banking in Australia emerged as the present quartet which clearly march in lockstep.

In those lost days of competitive banking the fact that the Commonwealth bank was government owned made it the standard bearer.  This mix of private and government banking gave us the best of both worlds, until the government decided it had no business in banking and sold the Commonwealth Bank. The problems encountered in this Royal Commission clearly originate from that change.

The government needs to consider breaking up these four pillars and forcing them to diversify or of embedding the supervisory agencies within the banks so that all aspects of marketing are under the direct surveillance of those tasked with implementing the rules.   It is essential that breaches are not simply policed by a monetary fine, but that criminal penalties committed by both the bank and the supervising authority will result in imprisonment.  That area of responsibility reaches as high as the board of directors.  It needs to be clear that those at the top of the pyramid bear responsibility for the actions of those working under their control.

The findings of this banking Royal Commission have been horrific.  Greed for profit has been endemic and the nation has been plundered mercilessly.  Many who looked to the banks to manage their retirement have seen their savings squandered and the ball is clearly in the government's court to institute the changes to bring integrity back to banking.

Promises of piety will not ensure that happens.  Now is the time for those hard decisions that make banking subjected to the oversight that has been lacking.  The government itself will be judged on that outcome !

Prescription Abuse !

We are now perilously close to the last of our antibiotics being effective against infections that pose a threat to life.  We are warned that there is a real chance that within a few years we may have to abandon common medical procedures such as joint replacement, Caesarean births and many cancer treatments because they are simply too dangerous.  The prospect of a skin scratch in the garden resulting in a lingering death is becoming a reality.

For a long time our hospitals have been haunted by what is called " Golden Staph ", an infection that is resistant to all but the few remaining antibiotics that have the power to bring it under control.  These are carefully rationed, but now a new version of this " Staph "  is on the move and gaining immunity over the last treatments offered.

What is killing off our antibiotic defence is simply overuse !   When antibiotics were first developed they were considered a " wonder drug " and patients thought they could cure anything - and everything.   There was pressure on doctors to prescribe them, and many did for the range of common viruses which do not respond to antibiotics.

Even worse, many people did not complete the course and stopped taking them as soon as they felt a little better.   This allowed the surviving bugs a chance to gain immunity to the drug and slowly but surely that immunity is killing off the effect that antibiotics have as a means of disease control.

The National Centre for Antimicrobial Stewardship has sounded a warning that there is a defect in our system of prescription control.  Many prescriptions for antibiotics have a twelve months expiry period and it is common for patients to resume use of this drug when symptoms of their ailment reappear.  Sometimes they will self diagnose another illness as having a need for antibiotics and with that prescription still current they can obtain fresh supplies without the need to see a doctor.

The recommendation is for a limit on the use of repeat prescriptions for antibiotics.  As well as a ban on repeat prescriptions, it is suggested that the initial prescription have an expiry of between two weeks and three months, depending on the particular reason it is issued.   It is vitally important that the casual use of antibiotics be brought under control.

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners  supports this idea of new date limits on prescriptions and it awaits the legislation needed to bring it into effect.  Unfortunately, even that may not fully resolve the problem.  Antibiotics are widely used in agriculture and it seems that the immunity genie is out of the bottle - and free of containment.

We are facing a risk as severe as our wonderful age of enlightened medicine going back to the " dark ages ".   Without antibiotics, microbial resistance may become the worlds greatest cause of death - eliminating ten million people a year.

The " Phoney Honey " Business !

You carefully read the label on the jar and are assured that it contains unadulterated pure Australian honey.  You spread some on your toast - and take a bite.   It certainly tastes like honey, but then your taste buds would not detect the difference if that honey had been mixed with a proportion of sugar syrup to make the mix more profitable for the honey producer.

New testing has disclosed that much of the honey sold in Australian supermarkets is adulterated with " extenders " to either give the product a competitive price edge or to cover for product shortages when drought prevents the bees from their normal rate of honey production.

The apiary industry in Australia is constantly moving hives for two reasons.  Crop pollination by bees is essential to Australian agriculture and the taste of the honey produced is reliant on the type of flowers that the bees visit.  This is what gives the honey the " taste "that matches the crop description that appears on the label.

All foreign honey imported into Australia is tested by the Australian government using what is known as the " C4 Test " to determine if sugars derived from plants such as sugarcane or corn are present.   As we know from the testing of drugs used in sport, a huge industry is engaged in looking for ways to beat the methods used for drug testing and it is suspected that this test is now failing the reliability option.

This alarm on adulterated honey came from laboratories in Germany which use a test known as Nuclear Magnetic Resonance ( NMR ) test and Australian honey producers are urging the government to adopt this test in Australia.   It is more complex and requires specific laboratory capability and expertise in the interpretation of results.  It is ahead of the curve when it comes to test reliability.

This honey scandal is just the tip of the iceberg.  During the years of the second world war there were genuine product shortages and industry had to be imaginative in reformulating food products with whatever was available.  We noticed that biscuits were not as " sweet " as in the pre war era and " taste " became a victim of the war effort.

In todays competitive world, taste is now enhanced with products that are not good for our health but which add to product appeal.   Both salt and sugar are additives that enhance that taste that has us adding the product to our shopping list and consequently we require the content list to be clearly identified on the food label.

It is highly likely that many foods have " extenders " added to reduce the amount of an expensive product that is present and replace that volume with something of a much cheaper nature.  Not only is this hard to detect but it could go unrecorded on the listing of ingredients.

All food products on offer in Australia need to be subjected to high quality testing and this information clearly identified.   From both a health and a cost point of view, we have a right to know precisely what constitutes the food that goes into our grocery orders.

The " Daylight Saving " Obstacle !

The negotiations to allow Britain to disentangle itself from the EU seem to verge from matters of weighty substance - to the ridiculous.  The latest stumbling block to arise is the fate of Daylight Saving across the time zones of Europe.

It seems that an EU consultation on daylight saving earlier this year revealed that 4.6 million European responders showed that seventy-six percent disliked changing their clocks twice a year and wished for daylight saving to be abolished.   As a result, Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission was putting forward  a bill to abolish daylight saving.

This throws the spotlight on that all important obstacle to an orderly British departure, the need for an open border between Northern Ireland and Ireland..  If Ireland adheres to the cessation of daylight saving along with the rest of Europe there will be a time difference of one hour between Belfast and London and that could be crucial to trade between the two segments of Ireland.

To further complicate the matter, in 2012 there was a move in Britain to extend daylight saving onto an all year basis to lower road deaths, save energy and boost jobs and tourism.   This was scuppered by the vote of Scottish parliamentarians and supporters noted that the EU consultation which delivered a vote against daylight saving was responded by just 13,200 Britons and 8,000 Irish south of the border.

The accord which brought peace in Ireland is already under threat from political differences and so far only theoretical solutions to the border impasse have been forthcoming.  It would be very easy for Ireland to slip back into the open warfare that roiled both sides of the border for many decades as the issue of sovereignty runs deep.

Initially, the issue that divided Ireland was one of religion.  Northern Ireland was a Protestant bastion and the rest of Ireland was devoutly Roman Catholic.  The laws of the church were the laws of Ireland and as a consequence contraception was prohibited and abortion was illegal in all and any circumstances.

Today, that situation has vastly changed.  Contraceptives are freely and legally available to all and Ireland has voted to allow same sex marriages, but the bogey of religion still runs too deep to permit the thought of Ireland becoming a united country to become a reality.   It would be the obvious answer to the Brexit problem but that solution is probably still a century into the future.

Perhaps in the interests of European uniformity Britain needs to give ground on that daylight saving issue.  There is no doubt that different time zones will play havoc with commercial practice and a degree of central uniformity would have advantages.  That could become part of the trading of principles that are part of the disassociation process.   Reality needs to play a part in achieving a working solution.

A New Trade Deal !

It was an auspicious start when new prime minister Scott Morrison travelled to Indonesia to ink the preliminary papers of a trade deal that will abolish most of the tariffs that apply to goods traded between the two countries. There is the expectation that the application of visas for holiday travel will be eased for Indonesians and this will result in a big fillip for our tourist industry.

A virtual free trade deal between Indonesia and Australia simply makes common sense. Indonesia is an archipelago containing two hundred and seventy million people - and it is right on our doorstep. We have a problem with our live exports of sheep and cattle to Middle East markets because they are six weeks sailing away and this is debilitating to the stock carried through the tropics.  The Indonesian market is little more than a days sailing away from our nearest port and could be the answer to our vast livestock industry.

The rise of China has been creating friction in the vast Pacific ocean area.  Much of world trade passes through the East China sea and China has laid claim to this waterway and that is not recognised by world authorities.   There are clear advantages where trade between our two countries avoids this area of confrontation and military cooperation has been steadily improving in recent years. This integration of our economies is likely to further strengthen those ties.

There is the expectation that by mid century the Indonesian economy will have expanded to become a world player.  That metaphor that " a rising tide lifts all ships "  applies.  We are likely to face a hungry world and the expectation that Australia's great land mass can be the food bowl of the Pacific is an expectation of prosperity that is very appealing.

This free trade deal has the prospect of creating jobs in both countries and until now it has been a neglected market.   The removal of tariffs brings a vastly expanded opportunity for expanded trade in agriculture, manufacturing and those important services of banking and financial commerce that support world trade.  Australia will need to quickly improve the services offering if it is to compete with the service centres opening in places like Singapore.

This free trade deal opens the door of opportunity.  It seems that Scott Morrison is able to continue the good relations forged by Malcolm Turnbull and Indonesian president  Joko Widodo is extending the hand of friendship.  It is important that the Australian business community move promptly to take advantage of the opportunities offering.

A new customer base comprising two hundred and seventy million people does not open on our doorstep every day and this is the opportunity of a lifetime !

Obeying the Law !

The Roman Catholic Church has now made it quite clear that the " Seal of the Confessional " will remain unchanged and consequently priests will not report confessions of child sexual abuse that they hear in confession to the police.

This is despite a separate report compiled by the Australian bishops and 150 religious orders under the heading of the Truth and Justice Council calling on such reporting to be mandatory.  These - and other recommendations arising from the Royal Commission  that has been running for five years are not the prerogative of the Catholic Church in Australia but would need to be changed by the authorities in the Vatican.

Amongst those recommendations is abolishing the order of celibacy required of priests and an increase in the role of women within the church.  It seems that ninety-eight percent of the recommendations of the Royal Commission have been accepted, but these glaring inconsistencies remain unchanged.

It is highly likely that all the Australian states and its territories will enact a law requiring knowledge of child sexual abuse - no matter how or where gathered - to be reported to the police.  As a consequence, priests who offend are likely to serve prison sentences.

It has become abundantly clear that sexual predation of children has been an inglorious church practice on a world wide basis for a very long period of time. Prosecutors have simply looked the other way to protect the reputation of the church and as a result church attendances in many devoutly Catholic countries have been dropping sharply.  In the broad sphere, Catholics are no longer willing to accept Catholic law which is so out of character with the modern world.

In the view of the Roman Catholic church their order is above the rule of kings and presidents because they answer directly to God.  A Catholic bishop has been found guilty in Australia of failing to report child sexual abuse and is now serving a sentence.  It is quite clear that the laws of Australia apply equally to all religious practitioners and that withholding knowledge of sexual offences against children will result in punishment.

By refusing to change its protocols the church is condemning its priests to a contradiction between the law of the church and the law of the country in which they reside.  Unless they follow the law of Australia they will face prosecution and the disgrace of a conviction and  prison sentence.  It is possible that will further diminish the numbers training for the priesthood.

In the distant past the good name of the church was upheld in almost all circumstances. It was reason for the authorities to look the other way and  for ordinary people to forgive its sins. Those days are gone - forever. That seal of the confessional is fast turning into an accusation of both deceit and odorous practice within the priesthood.    The most probable outcome is that those with the guilt of child sexual predation on their conscience will cease to go to confession.

War at Sea !

It seems increasingly likely that Britain will leave the EU without a trade deal smoothing the edges of this separation.  Over past centuries the English and the French have fought many wars and one of the purposes of the EU was to bring the countries of Europe under a common mantle of law and arbitrate disputes peacefully.

Perhaps a harbinger of things to come that we are now seeing the fishing fleets of these two countries doing battle in the English Channel - over Scallops.   This is a marine delicacy that is very popular on both sides of that waterway but now French scallop boats are ramming and harassing their English counterparts to prevent them from dredging up their catch.

It seems the French became concerned that the Scallop beds were becoming over fished and a French court imposed a " season " on harvesting.   French fishing boats are only allowed to remove this delicacy between October 1 and  May `15 each year.    No such law exists on the other side of the channel and the British are free to take Scallops all year.

If this situation has developed while both countries are subjected to the laws and protocols of the European Union, it does not bode well that industrial harmony will prevail once Britain leaves that union.   The French insist that the English fishing boats adhere to the rule that allows fishing stocks to recover and this is degenerating into the two fleets ramming each other and destroying fishing gear in an ugly clash in channel waters.

Battles over fish stocks have being going on for a long time.  Most Europeans remember what were called the " Cod Wars " decades earlier when fishing fleets from many countries did battle in the North Sea.   That revolved around the issue of " ownership " of the fish in the sea and the rejection of fishing quotas by some countries.

The worlds oceans are lawless places and the law of the sea allows a degree of protection around the coastline of individual countries.   This is preserved for use by that country's fishing fleet but " pirate " fishing boats often intrude and each country needs to police its own home waters.

Huge factory processing boats roam the world oceans and long line fishing depletes fish stocks.  There is concern that many fish types are being seriously depleted and fish are a heavy proportion of the diet of many countries.  Gaining acceptance of catch quotas and implementing a sustainable world industry is slowly gaining a degree of acceptance, but violations are common and hard to police on the high seas.

No doubt the EU will move quickly to resolve this scallop war in the English Channel.  The fact that it has broken out before the British leave the union delivers a warning that harmony will be a lot harder to achieve if Britain leaves without a protocol in place to settle future disputes.