Mesothelioma Ruling !

From the early days of settlement in this country one of the most usual building materials was an asbestos cement sheet produced by buildings material manufacturer James Hardie.  It was not unusual for asbestos in one of its many forms to be represented in most sections of the typical Australian house.

It usually formed the thick slab floor of bathrooms and laundries.  It was a very common roofing material - and as a wall cladding for both the exterior and interior walls of a home whole suburbs were defined as " fibro " in the lexicon of the day.

Unfortunately, asbestos had a hidden danger.  When cut or sawed the tiny fibres accumulated in the human lungs and often took over twenty years to make their presence felt.  That deadly disease was called Mesothelioma and it delivered a lingering and painful death to its victims. Asbestos was phased out of building materials in the 1980's and from December 2003 it became illegal to be used to manufacture, use or reuse in this country.   All building materials now sold are completely asbestos free.

James Hardie moved its Australian headquarters overseas but was forced to provide a fund to compensate victims and even today new cases of Mesothelioma are continuing to appear.  As sheets of old fibro age the tiny fibres break free and float in the air.  Renovating any home built before the 1980's is almost certain to involve asbestos removal.   By law, this removal must be carried out by specialist teams with the protective devices to avoid contact with those deadly fibres.

This week the NSW Dust Diseases Tribunal delivered a ruling that will hearten victims of Mesothelioma.  It ordered the James Hardie compensation fund to pay about $152,000 to an 84 year old man to allow him to live his remaining life in a serviced apartment overlooking Cronulla beach.
The fund had claimed that it was only responsible to pay for the cheaper option, which was to force that man into a nursing home.

It is expected that this ruling will serve as a precedent and the judge hearing the case agreed that the quality of life in a serviced apartment would be " far superior ".  Unfortunately, it seems that new cases of Mesothelioma will continue to appear almost indefinitely into the future.   There is still an incredible amount of asbestos material in old housing stock and as this ages those fibres will be freed by a mix of storm activity and the fierce Australian sun eroding the grip of the cement in the sheeting.

The biggest problem now seems to be recognition of just where this asbestos lays in wait to claim new victims.  It is often hidden away behind many coats of paint and even drilling a hole to install a new doorbell can free fibres that can be inhaled.

We will not be free of asbestos in Australia until the last home containing the product is demolished and that is unlikely to happen before this century comes to an end.

Death On A Mountain !

Media pictures of a great line of people waiting to reach the summit of Mount Everest was a shock to most of the world.  The fact that they were passing the unrecovered bodies of humans who simply ran out  of oxygen and died on the mountain was a testament to the madness that is now encompassing this experience.

Mount Everest on the border of Nepal and China is this worlds highest mountain and it remained unconquered until 1953 when New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tensing Norgay gained the summit in a historic climb.  It was known in climbing circles as " the mountain of death " for the number of earlier climbers who failed to reach the summit and died, either from the intense cold or lack of oxygen in what became known as the " death zone ".  Many famous climbers perished on that mountain in attempts to be the first to reach the summit.

Mount Everest quickly became " an industry " as aspiring celebrities hired Sherpas and bought expensive equipment for the climb.  They followed the route used by Hillary and Norgay and now ladders and other helpful equipment help mitigate the fall dangers.  The main unpredictable is the weather.   At that height, conditions can change very quickly and climbers need to heed their Sherpa guides and know when to retreat.

It seems that Everest is now on many people " bucket list ".   Something to be achieved before they die.  An unusually fine weather break has seen the danger of too many climbers forming a continuous queue to get to the summit and it seems inevitable that sooner or later this will lead to a mass tragedy.  There simply is not enough room for all those people to reach the summit in an orderly manner and safely make their way back down to the base camps.

One seasoned climber comments that the problem is " cut price operators " who are providing limited services to the climbers who have tried a number of time and failed - and have run out of money.  In many cases these climbers lack the physical fitness needed for the climb and if they run out of oxygen and get really sleepy they simply lie down and die.  A guide responsible for too many people will be unable to deliver the type of safety needed on such a high mountain.

Unfortunately, this overuse of the worlds highest mountain is delivering the same major problem that is happening on the rest of the planet - pollution.   The numbers passing through the various base camps is ever growing and what they leave behind ranges from used food containers , empty oxygen cylinders  to the human waste that stains these pristine slopes.  Now it seems that dead human bodies are another uncommon sight.

The number of climbers needs to be reduced as a matter of urgency and it is proposed that foreign climbers be first required to successfully climb another of the mountains famous peaks as a test of their physical fitness.  It might also be useful to require that guides have both the proper equipment and a limit of the numbers of climbers under their control to eliminate this queue of people passing each way on such a perilous trail.

Climbing Everest is a test of courage and endurance.   The mountain delivers the same hazards as Hillary and Norgay encountered back in 1953.

A Vote for Disunity !

Like most of the rest of the world, voting in European Union elections is optional  and in the past few citizens actually bothered to go to the polls and cast a vote.   This recent election was very different.  Just under fifty-one percent of the citizens of Europe voted and that was a huge increase on the forty-three percent who participated just five years ago - and the highest turnout in twenty years.

This election came at a critical time for the residents of Europe.  Individual governments in countries which are EU members have lurched to the right in many recent elections and this has created a new interest in the overall government that will rule from Brussels.  This time around the mood was different and the vote did not favour the traditional parties that have long held sway over EU decisions.

Many pundits fear that while the vote is a clear affirmation of the  European project, the result delivers fracture and fails to present a clear mandate for the parliament to follow.   Because the EU is a massive block ranging over a vast territory the issues in people's minds varied widely.  In some parts of the EU immigration control was at the forefront while in others concern was centred on the dangers posed by a hotter planet.   It is very clear that the Brexit issue and the problems of negotiating a deal with the British was on voters minds when they placed their votes.

The British EU vote favoured Nigel Farage's Brexit party and swung heavily away from both the Conservatives and Labor.  The United Kingdom is awaiting the emergence of a new prime minister and this vote will make it much harder to get the EU to agree to modify the terms of exit from the EU which the British people have continuously rejected.   It is now more likely that the final outcome will be an acrimonious no-deal breach.

Britain has had an awkward stance as a EU member country.  The fact that it was not part of the Schengen agreement which allowed travel across borders without the need for passports or visas and kept its own currency instead of converting to the Euro did away with one of the greatest benefits of being a EU member.

It is clear that the " ever closer " integration within the EU will eventually create a new country where the existing nations become its states and it will probably have unified arms forces to provide protection.   The problem for Britain is the recent experience of being head of a vast empire has reinforced the unique concept of its place in the world and created a reluctance to share power within the EU.  This EU rejection is mostly a form of nostalgia for something that no longer exists.

The one thing that is made clear by this election is that final Brexit will not be made any easier to negotiate now that the European masses have cast their votes.

The Abortion Debate !

This move to ban abortion in  Alabama in  almost all cases except to save the life of the mother is not a Catholic church inspired option to reinstate church opposition to abortion.  The legislation is put forward by a cabal of white Republican men of mixed religion.  It seems to strike a blow against the rise of women who seek equal pay and equal opportunity which for centuries has been the domain of the world of men.

The one thing that has stymied women in the past has been control of their bodies when it comes to maternity.  In todays world many women put off having babies until they have established their career - or remain childless by design.  It can be argued that the innovation of the " pill " type of birth control in its many forms has eliminated unplanned pregnancies and with them the need for abortions, but human nature ensures that many pregnancies are unplanned.

This is shaping up to split the conventional Republican/Democrat divide across the American heartland.  Perhaps half a dozen Republican majority states may restrict abortion and a Republican president has obviously decided to rebalance the High court to the right by his choice of candidates while he remains in office.

America's population is about an equal split of men and women and next year they go to the polls to either give Donald Trump another term, or select a new president.  The fact that the anti abortion state action should alarm women that legislation in Alabama and some other states is intended to force the issue back to the High court where their right to abortion may cease if " Roe v Wade " is reversed. There is a very real danger that abortion may become illegal across the entire country - with little warning.

Public opinion polls clearly show support for the status quo.  Getting an abortion is a personal decision and abortion clinics provide a safe and efficient service across the nation.  Now it depends if this becomes the election issue when the people go to the polls next year.

Pope Francis has wisely refrained from demanding that American Catholics support abortion suppression.  He has merely firmly confirmed the opposition of his church to abortion, even when the foetus is afflicted with pathological disorders.

It is interesting that in one of the countries which used to engage its laws in strict conformity with Roman Catholic liturgy the split between church and state ever widens.   Ireland recently held a referendum on same sex marriage - which is opposed by the church - and that is now legal.

Now another of the church's dogmatic rules is under fire. It teaches that marriage between a man and a woman is a bond until their deaths but Ireland already has divorce on its law books and that is about to become easier.   A referendum has approved by 82% a move to end the stipulation that people seeking divorce must separate for four years before that divorce can be granted.

It seems strange that church dogma is being reversed in countries where the church held overwhelming power, and making a comeback in the country that promised its citizens the apex of personal freedom.   Such is the shackle of politics  !

Implementing a Law Change !

Activists are on the streets trying to stop the release from prison of a notorious paedophile with a long history of sex crimes against children.  In 1996  Michael Guider faced sixty sex charges and was put away for a long time, and in 2002 another extension was added for the manslaughter of a child.

That was the disappearance of nine year old Bondi schoolgirl  Samantha Knight in 1986.  Samantha  simply vanished during the walk from her school to home and this sparked a long police investigation.  Her picture was widely distributed but the search ran cold and it was years later that Michael Guider was arrested and confessed that he had abducted Samantha - and that she had died in his hands.  He claimed this was an accident and he was sufficiently convincing for the police to reduce the charge to manslaughter.

Guider has consistently refused to divulge where and how he disposed of her body.  This refusal has  been the cause of parole being refused, but now the end of his sentence is coming due and soon he will walk out the gates of his prison as a free man, and many fear he will return to his paedophile activities.

Activists are calling for a law change to make release conditional on the information of body disposal being divulged. Samantha Knights mother and her now adult school friends would be heartened to give her a headstone to mark her final resting place and this is impossible because the man who abducted her maintains his silence.

This will probably be resisted by those who contend that a prisoner must only legally serve the time handed down by a judge but surely there is another form of punishment for consistent sex offences against young children that should be at a judges disposal.   That is the application of the surgeons knife to perform castration.

In some rare instances judges have been known to order chemical castration, but this can be reversed.  That surgeons knife is final and it would seem a very fair tradeoff for eventual freedom with the sure knowledge that the released would not reoffend.  In fact, agreeing to the surgeons knife should be the only option for consistent sex offenders with a long string of convictions to their name.

This refusal to divulge the disposal of a body does not only relate to sex crimes.  It is quite common in murder cases and it would seem a very reasonable sentencing option for the incarceration to be indefinite until the body disposal information is revealed and the body discovered.

The law seems squeamish in putting castration on the law books, but it may even be welcomed by offenders who find their bodies sending controlling urges that they are unable to control.   The law needs to change to embrace twenty-first century options rather than to simply stick to the rules that prevailed in earlier times.

Paying the Price !

Here we are, on the cusp of winter and we are enjoying the type of hot weather that usually ceased many weeks earlier.  If this is the result of global warming there are many people who would consider it a very good thing.  Unfortunately, it is not as good as it seems.

Along with those blue skies comes a persistent drought that has dried up the countryside and looks likely to impose water restrictions on Sydney.   Warragamba dam is hovering just above the half way mark and the costly desalination plant is running again to supplement our water supply.   We had hoped that rain associated with a cyclone might have been drought breaking, but it fell short and our farming sector continues to face tough times.

We are actually importing Canadian wheat because the eastern states wheat crop failed during this past year.  Our scientists tell us that global warming is changing the ocean currents that determine rain patterns and combined with an el Nino effect Australia will be a drier continent in the future.  It is worth noting that Warragamba supplied our drinking water when Sydney was a far smaller city. If our population continues to grow at the present rate it begs the question of where will it draw its water needs in the future  ?

It seems strange that we are considering opening a new coal mine at a time when coal use is blamed as one of the main reasons we are having a hotter world.  Coal was the fuel that enabled the industrial revolution to take the world from farming to factories and along with oil and the motor car it is pumping out the huge amounts of carbon dioxide that is poisoning the planet.

Our enthusiasm for that new mine in Queensland is conditioned by the jobs it will create, but this is fast becoming the age of robotics and artificial intelligence and both of those will feature heavily in how this mine operates and there is a huge risk that its exports will harm both the Great Barrier reef and the artesian water table.  When we excavate deep into the earth we are interfering with the flow of water that has sustained a dry continent for millions of years.

There is another aspect of a hotter Australia that seems to have escaped notice.  This week a case of dengue fever was confirmed in the Queensland city of Rockhampton.  The victim had no history of overseas travel or having visited the far north of the state and this is the first known outbreak in thirty years.  It is a reasonable assumption that the cause was a bite from a mosquito.

This has resulted in a " full outbreak " response by the Queensland health authorities as Rockhampton is known to harbour pockets of the Aedes  Aegypti mosquito which is a carrier of dengue fever and a lot of other tropical diseases - including Malaria.

Along with those warm summer day extensions we find so pleasant will come a new host of dangers and not the least of these will be Crocodiles.  The warmer inhabitat is causing them to creep ever south down our eastern and western coast and they will pose a danger to our tourist trade.

It seems some degree of global warming is unstoppable, but we will pay a price as with warmer weather comes the tyranny of diseases and pests we previously thought safely restricted to our far tropical north.

When " Image " is Everything !

There is little doubt that the people who play poker machines are usually those who can least afford the money they lose in this gambling venture.  It is a form of " escapism " with the promise of a huge jackpot to lure them into another roll of the symbols on the screen.  The odds of winning that illusive pot of gold are about a million to one.

We are well aware of the illusions created by the poker machine makers.  Patrons are attracted by the bells and whistles and the machines are programmed to signal exciting jubilation when even a minor win delivers less money than it cost to make that individual play.  The siting is important and most poker machines are concentrated in suburbs with the lowest socio/economic population.

Two retail power groups control an overwhelming portion of the grocery trade in this country.  It is hard to find even a small country town that does not have competing Woolworths and Coles supermarkets.  Both promise to offer the lowest prices and Woolworths uses the slogan " The Fresh Food  People " to enhance its image.  Woolworths also owns the biggest number of poker machines in this country.

This poker machine empire is sited in pubs and clubs and is operated by a Woolworths offshoot registered as the ALH group. They have more than twelve thousand poker machines scattered across 323 pubs and clubs in Australian states.   Woolworths is under pressure from its shareholders to divest itself from gambling because it does not sit well with its squeaky clean image.

That poker machine offshoot was named in an enquiry for collecting data on big spending gamblers and offering free drinks to get them to continue to gamble.   One of Woolworths most influential shareholders, Perpetual Investments is urging the grocery retailer to withdraw from gambling because that was incompatible with its forty-four billion trading image.

One of the problems Woolworths faces is a peculiarity of Queensland's liquor licensing law.  In that state it is necessary to own pubs to be able to also trade by way of licenses for its bottle shops.  Woolworths also owns the stand alone Dan Murphy's and BWS bottle shops.

This call for Woolworths to withdraw from poker machines is welcomed by the Alliance for Gambling Reform. The fact that it is being instigated by a major Woolworths shareholder illustrates the damage it is doing to Woolworths image.  It is time for Woolworths to bite the bullet - and get out.

If Woolworths accepts that advice it is certain that there will be plenty of eager investors waiting in line to field an offer for the ALH groups assets.  Poker machines in pubs and clubs delivers healthy profits, even if it does immense damage to the healthy image of the owner of these machines.  It seems that Woolworths faces an image problem.   Its squeaky clean presentation as a responsible food retailer is being defaced with the poker machine tar brush !

An Obvious Choice !

When the British people went to vote in a referendum on leaving the European Union in June, 2016 it was a seemingly simple decision.  The country did not want to be ruled from Brussels and they were assured that the withdrawal could be negotiated amicably.  As a result the narrowest margin voted to leave when the vote came in at 51.9% choosing " Brexit ".

As a result, Britain invoked " Article 50 " of the treaty that covers European Union membership and a parting date of March 29, 2019 was set.  Since then, the mood in the United Kingdom has shifted and all attempts to put together a programme of how so many things involved in the separation will work have failed to find agreement.  It would be fair to say that Britain is now irrevocably split on how this can be achieved.

Britain is now perilously close to having the EU simply terminate their membership because they are running out of time to reach an agreement that will gain a majority in the British parliament.  Even an attempt to negotiate between sworn political enemies, the Conservatives and the Labor opposition, failed miserably and degenerated into bitter name calling.

Now the British nation has been rocked by the news that British Steel has sought bankruptcy protection by putting its affairs into administration.  That imperils thousands of jobs, both directly and in the supply chain and delivers a sobering image of what lays ahead.  Without access to the market on the other side of the channel the future of many other British industries is at risk.

To be fair, this steel collapse is part of the problem facing the world steel industry. China over produced steel in its industrial rise and being a Communist country they have absorbed its losses in the interests of keeping their job market stable.  But unless Britain leaves the EU with a plan in place to allow goods to pass freely across borders the manufacturing sector will lose cohesion.   That writing is clearly on the wall.

The Conservative government of Theresa May has so far refused to even consider holding another referendum to let the people decide.  It took those years of negotiations to try and reach a settlement that have revealed the core issues that will need to be in place to avoid a " no deal " withdrawal, and they are very different from the structure on which the British people voted back in 2016.

Now the only way to gain vindication is to put this issue back to the people.   They will be voting on the facts that are now clear and it will be a choice of retaining the suffocating rule of Brussels in the interests of financial stability or accepting the risks of a " go it alone " nation hoping to find a market for its goods in an unfriendly world.

Hopefully, that choice will deliver a much wider decision margin.  It may also hasten the movement of Scotland to split from the union but at least a clear decision by the voters is something all side in this dispute will have to accept. Another referendum seems the only way this issue can be clearly resolved.

Choosing Where to Die !

Not surprisingly, a great many people would prefer to die in their own home but an ever increasing number end their life in a hospital bed.  There is a big difference between specialised palliative care to end a persons life with dignity and the reduction of pain and being admitted to a hospital where the impetus is directed at providing treatment and a cure for medical conditions.

The statistics are illuminating.  Dyeing is becoming increasingly institutionalised with death in hospitals increasing  from 62,000 to 77,369 between 2012/13 compared to 2016/17, while hospitalisation overall increased by just 17.6%. That represents an increase of 25.6%.

The problem seems to be that people have an aversion to talking about how their lives should end with their carers and their loved ones and the reasons are varied.   Surveys carried out by Palliative Care Australia show that 70% of people express a wish to die at home and yet only 15% do so.   The reasons people give for not discussing the manner of their death with carers ranges from " they were not sick ", 40 percent,  " They were too young ",  30 percent, " The subject makes them uncomfortable ", 24.5 per cent, " They didn't want to upset their loved ones ", 21.2 per cent.   The age of those surveyed was more than fifty-five.

Death is an inevitability  that should not be left to a last minute decision made by others.  Most people wish for a pain free death and that can usually be achieved with a little fore-planning.  What is essential is that the patients wishes should not be clouded in mystery.   If they are clearly known they have a very good chance of being achieved as requested.

Palliative care advocates have long called for more support for " at home " services to be provided.    The inability to manage a crisis at home is the main reason people are admitted to hospital in their last weeks according to the Grattan Institute's 2014 report.

What is clear is that Australia has a growing aged population and along with the march of chronic and incurable illnesses this form of death care in hospitals is adding to the health budget.  The average stay in hospital for palliative care patients is just under ten days and cost Medicare $6.1 million, up from $4.7 million in 2012/13.

There could be both a cost saving and the benefit of meeting patients wishes if the provision of in home services was expanded to relieve the pressure on loved ones and provide a pain free death that is the wish of so many people.   Perhaps the first requirement in bringing this to fruition is to remove the " unspeakable "  limit that prevents a rational discussion we must have with both loved ones and carers to enable our wishes to be fulfilled.

Patients wishes can not be met - if they are unknown  !

Drink Driving Law Change !

The law in New South Wales finally got tough on drink driving and driving under the effect of drugs. Those who now fail a breath analysis test will automatically lose their driving license for three months and be served with a $561 fine.   That now applies to all - first offenders and even the slightest measure over that 0.05 limit.

Before this law came into effect the offender had to face a court and sometimes the court was lenient.  The big difference was that they could legally continue driving until that court appearance.  License cancellation was only imposed on those who returned an 08 or greater breath analysis.

Those tested for drugs face an anxious wait until the results are returned by the states drug testing laboratory, but the penalty is the same as for alcohol.  Three months license loss means facing life without the use of the car, and in many households that is little short of disaster.

We are long past the days of the " six o'clock swill " when the roads were awash with drivers with alcohol in their blood. The great majority of people carefully limit what they drink before they drive but there is an unruly element who regularly dice with the law and they are the people constantly arrested for trying to evade breath testing stations.

This law change will accelerate the number of people who completely abstain from alcohol at social functions if they need to drive afterwards.  It is just too easy to have that one drink too many - and lack of a driving license can mean job loss or the inability to get the kids to school.  In many households the car is synonymous with suburban living and where public transport is non existent.

The number of cars on our crowded roads is ever increasing and these draconian measures are needed if we are to avoid soaring deaths and injuries.  It is quite evident that this new law will increaser the number of people illegally using a car when their driving license has been cancelled and the police will need to take counter measures.

Don't be surprised if the police give attention to the cars in a family with a suspended driver. Police cars on traffic duty have equipment capable of reading the number plates of cars passing in the road stream and these can be instantly compared with the records to ensure they are registered and have green slip insurance.   The suspended driver who thinks he or she can avoid surveillance by driving a family members car will probably get an unpleasant surprise.

What goes with this license crackdown is a penalty increase for those found ignoring license loss and still driving on our roads.  Just as driving above that 0.05 limit now has increased consequences, driving after license loss must be more heavily punished.   We are rapidly reaching the stage where that will mean an automatic prison sentence.

We now have a practical reason to avoid alcohol when we need to drive.

The Nation Decides !

It was certainly a Saturday night to remember.  All eyes were glued on the tally room numbers, but by eight o'clock a pattern was clearly emerging.  The election was not going to deliver a change of government and Bill Shorten's years as opposition leader was spiralling towards resignation.

The one thing that was clear was that this election had cost - and promised - a mint of money.  It also showed that the voting public are not as stupid as the politicians think they are.  The media and the pundits clearly got it wrong and walked away from this election with egg on their faces.  Wishful thinking replaced the in-depth research that might have revealed what the canny electors were really deciding.

It was interesting that the huge amount of money spent by Clive Palmer to secure a presence for his United Australia party failed to win a seat in either house.  The voters decided to stick with Scott Morrison and his Liberal/National government and handed him the victory that clearly establishes his authority to pull those disruptive right wing rebels into line and make and enact clear decisions which the country needs.

Scomo needs to use that authority ruthlessly.  He has the opportunity to emerge as one of this country's great prime ministers if he pulls his people into line and takes positive action on issues like climate change.  Former prime minister and chief disrupter, Tony Abbot got his marching orders from the electors.  He seriously displeased his voters when he ignored the plebiscite on same sex marriage delivered by his electorate and voted with the Catholic church against the legislation.  His support of convicted paedophile George Pell lost him the vote of many.

Perhaps the greatest impact of this election will be felt by the Australian Labor party.   The loss makes it clear that a leadership change is necessary.  Anthony Albanese is a likely contender but it will probably be a crowded field and deputy leader Tanya Plibersek would certainly have appeal from women voters - and a dark horse could enter the fray in the person of Senator Kristina Keneally.  It is  a chance for Labor to shake off some of the old union dogma and emerge as a progressive party with a twenty-first century outlook.

It seems quite clear that we live in a troubled world and we need a steady hand on the tiller if we are to survive the great power clashes that are forthcoming.  This trade war between America and China is turning ugly and Europe is becoming very unsettled with far right politics gaining power in Austria, Hungary and Italy and National Socialism gaining seats in Germany.  All this is not helped by the indecision in Britain over Brexit.

In Australia the voters have made their choice. Now it all depends if Scomo is up to the task of guiding us through the next three years in an orderly and efficient manner.

Ending the Fur Trade !

New York is about to enact a city ordinance that will ban the sale of new clothing that contains the fur of an animal and that will join similar laws in force in both Los Angeles and San Francisco.  A very vocal minority have been agitating for years for a fur ban on the grounds that it is cruel to raise animals for slaughter for their fur and in many cases those hunted for the clothing trade are from the endangered list.

In Australia, the garment industry steers clear of fur because of similar rejections but fur in America had wider appeal because of that country's harsh winters and the fact that certain fur types were regarded as indicators of both wealth and position.   It was the aim of many women to be seen wearing the comfort of a coat made from mink, chinchilla or lynx.

That raises the issue of " faux fur ".  A few years ago the garment industry tried a new approach by introducing a limited fur look with the claim that the fur was artificial and therefore no animal was harmed.  In fact it was quickly proved that the fur was imported from China and it came from a flourishing trade in dogs and cats.  Not only were dogs and cats impounded as strays killed for their fur but stealing pets from family homes was rife.

These American city ordinances leave a little wriggle room.  Shops could still sell second hand fur items and  the law does not preclude the owner of a fur garment from wearing it openly in the street. Unfortunately in this modern day and age people who do just that are open to a physical attack. It is not unusual for fur activists to throw dye or even paint to illustrate their opposition to fur.

Strangely, this opposition to fur seems specifically aimed at women.  The cowboy look some men copy calls for calfskin jackets with the fur side exposed and the leather jacket is winter attire for men across the whole world.  Clothing made from the skin of a pig is both fashionable and very practical and there seems no movement to impose a ban based on the protection of pigs from harm.

This opposition to fur is specifically directed at fur as a fashion item and not at the underlying membrane of leather and the higher the price of the item sold the greater the rage of opponents.   Decades ago it was the sign of financial success if a businessman bought his wife a mink coat.
Today that is becoming a bad taste faux-pas as this opposition to fur steadily expressed its fury.

This New York ordinance calls for fines of up to two thousand dollars for retailers who break the law but there is one market segment where fur still predominates.  Children's toys where fur delivers a comforting feel are still on toy shop shelves and traditionally this use came from the cuttings derived from the fur fashion industry.  As that fashion industry retreats, it would seem to open up a new sales opportunity for faux fur from Asia.

A question that should predominate when we looks to buy toys for our kids !

The " Hawke " Legacy !

Nomatter which side of politics you support, Bob Hawke was the sort of character that stood out amongst the ranks of world leaders because he was " different ".  He came from humble beginnings and he rose to become a trade union leader.  That is not from where Australia usually selects the person handed the keys to the Lodge in Canberra.

He was a man who loved having a beer and he had a sense of humour.  He could show temper when provoked and like most Australians in this day and age he underwent  divorce and remarriage but from the time he joined the ranks of this country's former prime ministers he had the respect of the wide mainstream of Australian society.

The Hawke years in office were innovative years for this country.  Hawke was ready to implement social change and many of those innovations have passed the test of time.  He was also known as the prime minister who would gladly stop in the street and listen to the views of ordinary Australians.  Some of his interview quips were made famous.

Australians visiting London on the other side of the world may encounter a strange memorial from the time he was a student at Oxford university.  Its Turf Tavern contains a notice drawing visitors attention to the fact that Bob Hawke, former prime minister of Australia holds the record for drinking " a yard of ale " in eleven seconds, something that is confirmed in the Guinness book of records.

No doubt in the coming days this nation will offer a public funeral to his family and no doubt the television industry will search its library to bring back memories of his time in office.  Amongst them will be views of Hawke in a colourful jacket celebrating an Australian yacht winning the Americas cup from the United States. His comment chiding bosses against action against workers who stopped work to watch that race received prominence around the world.

Perhaps the greatest message that the Hawke years in office delivered is that this is an egalitarian  country where prime ministers are not drawn from a stratified elite.  It is a country which turned its back on titles at its time of joining colonies into a Federation and by opening its doors to immigration is now a melting pot that draws from the entire world.

The " Death Ray " !

Its seventy-four years since the second world war came to an end and a lot of vital information is only now having its security clearance removed.  It is chilling to learn how close we came to losing that war. That was mainly a matter of timing.

If Germany had managed to produce its Messerschmidt ME 262 jet fighter in quantity for the battle of Britain that encounter would have ended in defeat and the invasion of England would have followed. German scientists were far ahead of the allies in many fields and both the terror weapons - the VI and the V2 - would have been decisive earlier in the war.

At wars end there was a mad scramble by the Americans and Russians to capture German scientists to compliment their own warfare development. During the war there were whispers that Germany was developing a " death ray " and a search of military archives revealed plans that may have brought it to fruition if the war had lasted a few years longer.

The plan called for the establishment of a giant mirror in space which would enable the suns rays to be concentrated on an enemy city. Western scientists were horrified to learn that this was entirely practical.  The temperature would reach hundreds of degrees and buildings and people would simply incinerate in a ball of fire.

Germany was far ahead of the west in the development of rocket science. They firstly developed the " pulse jet " that powered the V1 flying bomb and then went on to build the world's first ballistic missile.   The V2 roared high until it curved across the edge of space and descended to its target at more than the speed of sound.  It could not hit a specific target but its range of two hundred miles was capable of delivering it to the greater London area.

What Germany lacked was the ability to take men into space and return them by solving the re-entry problems.  That was something both America and Russia quickly learned when they deployed their captured German scientists.   We are now at the stage that many countries have gained the ability to reach space and deploy satellites and even build a space station that remains in permanent orbit.

The technology that prevented the Germans from deploying their death ray is now freely available.  Even private firms are competing in the delivery of hardware to space and it seems inevitable that this new frontier must become a battlefield in the event of future wars.   Putting a huge glass mirror in space may be impractcal, but the same effect could be achieved with a thin membrane with a reflective surface.  All that eluded the Germans was the ability to take people into space and enable them to work outside their means of conveyance.

In this age in which we now live that death ray idea has become entirely practical.  It is a chilling thought that in some future war we may encounter a surprise attack from space which arrives without warning.The impediments that stopped its deployment for Germany in the second world war no longer exist.

Eroding Abortion Rights !

The political ground between the Republican party and the Democrats in America is changing. The right of women to have a career and share equally in  family relationships relies heavily on their ability to limit the number of children.  The right to abortion to end unplanned pregnancies is an essential to achieving that aim.

That right has been part of American law since  1973 when the US  Supreme court handed down its decision in the " Roe v  Wade " case, firmly establishing the right of women to legally have a pregnancy terminated.  In most parts of the country clinics perform that service swiftly and at a reasonable cost but where Republicans are in power there are moves to restrict abortion by limiting access by the use of legislation.

Now the state of Alabama has taken that further and introduced legislation that would essentially end the right of women within its jurisdiction to have an abortion in almost every circumstance.  Even abortion to end a pregnancy caused by rape or incest would be forbidden and the only exception would be where it was necessary to save the life of the mother, which takes it into controversial medical territory.

This seems to be shaping up as a test case.  Alabama has a Republican administration and its Senate comprises thirty-five seats, of which twenty seven are held by Republicans, all of whom are white men.  The aim seems to be to challenge Roe v Wade to enable revision by the American Supreme court which has now tilted to the right with nominees selected by Donald Trump.

The tactic being used is a limitation that forbids abortion wherever a heartbeat from the foetus can be detected.  In the majority of cases, this occurs even before the woman is aware that she may be pregnant.  It is a severe limitation which would in effect ban abortion in the majority of cases where it now proceeds unchallenged.

Legislation to restrict abortion has been introduced in sixteen American states this year and four Republican state governors have signed those bills to make heartbeat detection the lawful impediment to the process. It looks like becoming a critical issue when America goes to the polls next year to decide who sits in the oval office for the next presidential term.

The tactic in play is not to directly challenge the ruling of the Supreme court, but to install limitations which may not have been available when that decision was made in 1973.  Medical technology has advanced much further in those intervening years.

What is happening in America does raise the issue of abortion rights here in New South Wales.  In Australia abortion is a state issue - and almost unbelievably - abortion is illegal under this states existing legislation.  The protocols that allow it to happen are " dodgy " and the availability of abortion could suddenly cease if we ever elected a right wing administration to take power.

This American move to restrict abortion serves clear warning.  A law change is needed to enshrine abortion rights if women in New South Wales are to attain career equality and equal pay in the workforce.  For too long our legislators have avoided that certainty  !

" Age " and " Life Terms " !

We have just opened a new, updated version of the " Supermax " at Goulburn prison to accommodate the growing number of prisoners who will end their life behind bars because of terrorism or calculated murder.  Despite the crimes these people have committed, we are a humane society and they receive medical care and sometimes that requires treatment in a hospital.   It is not a comforting thought that ordinary citizens might find themselves sharing a ward with a convicted murderer.

Perhaps one of the best known inmates of the Supermax is the Belanglo Forest backpacker killer Ivan Milat - and he is now seventy-four years old.  His condition deteriorated to the point that hospital treatment was necessary and the prison authorities have released details of the procedures in place to ensure both the safety of the public and the security necessary to prevent any possibility of a prisoner escape.

The state maintains a secure, inmate only annex at the Prince of Wales hospital at Randwick.  It is staffed by a mix of hospital workers and Corrective Services staff and is safely isolated from the main building.   Prisoners are taken from their cell to hospital in a prison van with adequate external security measures in place and maximum internal security is maintained for the duration of their stay.

Corrective services has not commented on the reason Milat is in hospital, but it is believed to enable diagnostic tests to be carried out and it is expected he will be returned to prison in a matter of days. Milat was convicted in 1996 and given seven life sentences for the brutal murder of seven backpackers whose bodies were discovered in a state forest between 1989 and 1993.

In the conventional prison system most prisoners are returned to society before they reach old age and signs of infirmity are usually taken into account when considering early release and parole.  That is not an option for those committed to the Supermax.   They are there for the term of their natural life and there is the expectation that they will die in that same confinement.  Every effort will be expended to try and maintain their good health until that naturally occurs.

The Supermax was conceived as a necessity to house the " worst of the worst " and keep them in isolation to prevent them contaminating other prisoners with their doctrine of war on society.  We have abandoned the death penalty as a punishment and this has been replaced by a form of ultimate detention until the end of life.  The nature of terrorism crimes is such that many people think that return of the death penalty would be a more suitable punishment that a life term and it would certainly be far cheaper than maintaining a prison like the Supermax.

It seems unlikely we will ever return to the death penalty.  The numbers contained in the Supermax continue to grow and eventually even more expansion will be needed.   The only saving grace is that eventually the life of those so contained must naturally come to an end.

A " Civilized " Election !

We are just days away from a Federal election and it is most likely that the result will be known before midnight chimes next Saturday night.  Immediately the poll closes in the eastern states the counting of votes begins and millions of Australians will be glued to their television screens as patterns emerge.

The leaders of the parties contesting the election will eventually emerge to either claim victory or to concede defeat and it is inconceivable that Scott Morrison or Bill Shorten will refuse to accept the result as is the outcome likely in other countries embracing the democratic voting system.

The people of our near neighbour - Indonesia - have recently been to the polls and with such a massive population the vote count is taking almost a month to fully tally.  Indonesia has been a democracy for just twenty-one years and its population is spread over a vast archipelago of islands.  The contest is between the incumbent president,  Joko Widodo and Prabowo Subianto.   The preliminary results indicate 67.6 million votes for Joko compared with 52.6 million for Prabowo.  It seems likely the challenger fell short by between 8 and 10 percent.

A situation similar to Indonesia's 2014 election is emerging.  Prabowo was the challenger in that election and on election day he claimed to have achieved sixty-two percent of the vote even before the first vote was counted.  This victory claim had his supporters rioting in the streets and it was weeks before the police restored order.  Indonesia is predominantly a Muslim country and religion takes a dominant position in how its citizens cast their vote.

The outcome of this Indonesian election is of more than passing interest to Australia.  Joko has ruled with a policy of religious tolerance while Prabowo is a military general with hard lines Islamic views which came to the fore during the campaign. A Prabowo presidency would put strains on the emerging defence ties between the two countries.

It is also election time in the worlds biggest democracy.     More than a billion voters in India are about to decide whether Narendra Modi deserves another term in office.   Once again, religion is at the centre of this election as Modi tries to elevate the Hindu religion to dominance by both decree and the imposition of supporting law.

India is so large and so populous that this election is staged in phases over several months.  In a country so enmeshed in poverty vote buying is endemic but even so the hold of democracy is such that a vote that reflects the will of the people is expected to emerge.  India and China share a common border and these two Asian power houses seem destined to dominate world trade if India can attain the manufacturing dominance that has emerged in China.  It is interesting that their forms of government is the exact opposite of each other.

By comparison, this election in Australia is expected to be a very civilized affair.  Come Saturday the voters will dutifully troop off to the polling stations and cast their vote and in a matter of hours the outcome will be known.  One side will celebrate victory and the other will lament that the decision was not in their favour.   What all will  appreciate is that elections in Australia do not involve bloodshed - as is the outcome in many parts of this world.

Another Threat to Music Festivals !

That controversial music festival license law implemented in New South Wales got a good test at the weekend.  Big crowds attended the Midnight Mafia festival at Olympic Park and there was both a big police presence and plenty of paramedics and helpers to monitor the health of music lovers.

Thirty-two people were charged with drug possession and the search of a car parked near the festival entrance involved the seizure of over fifty MDMA tablets.   One hundred and sixty five patrons sought medical treatment at the event - and there were no deaths.

That seems to prove that a combination of police searching for drugs entering music festivals and a big medical presence to deal with overdoses is the right combination safety factor.  The fact that big crowds continue to go to festivals now that the new law is in place disproves the claim that festivals will no longer be held in this state.

But is seems that there is a threat to end this new law in the upper house of the NSW parliament. Labor's shadow minister for music has signalled a disallowance motion which would effectively rescind the regulatory scheme.  It would go back to the drawing board and we would once again put the future of music festivals at risk.

It seems that the new makeup of the upper house has that chamber eager to test its muscle.  Labor will need at least seven of the eleven member crossbench to cross the floor and support it to gain that  objective and that could be an interesting mix of political reality.

They say the likely grouping would include two from the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party, two from One  Nation and one Christian Democrat..    They would also need one vote from the Conservative block comprising three Greens MP's, Two Animal Justice part MP"s and Independent Justin Field. Somehow that tally seems to come up one short.

The most likely outcome would be to again bring the issue of drug testing to the fore.  That does not form part of the present music festival legislation and many think it delivers a false sense of security because drugs can be given only a cursory safety probe with the limited equipment  available outside a laboratory.

The other factor is the determination of fans to gain a drug " high " which enhances the euphoria delivered by music.  Despite the threat of a prison sentence crowds at music festivals either bring their own drugs or are eager buyers for the pushers circulating in the crowd.   At least the present regulation  caters for reality by providing medical treatment on site to save lives.

The gains we have achieved could easily be lost if we endlessly search for a form of safety that is clearly unobtainable

The Antiquity of " Stolen Goods " !

The ownership of a bark shield on display in The British Museum raises an interesting question that goes back two hundred and forty nine years.   That was the time when the barque Endeavour was moored offshore from a New South Wales beach, and its captain - James Cook - came ashore accompanied by some of his officers and several armed Marines acting as bodyguards.

That must have been an interesting tableau.  They were confronted by several naked indigenous inhabitants of this new country who were armed with spears and shields.   The Englishmen wore colourful clothing that must have been totally confusing in this first confrontation between the new world and the old.

We can only guess how things developed where no common language existed to aid communications but we know that one of the Marines fired his musket and the musket ball pierced the shield of one of the natives.  This first experience of gunfire must have been frightening.  The native holding the shield was not injured, but he dropped it and fled.   It was picked up by an Englishman, taken back to the Endeavour and eventually found its way into a display case at the London museum.

Now a relative of the man who dropped that shield is in London and he is demanding that it be given back.  Rodney Kelly is a Dharawal and Yuin tribal man from New South Wales and he claims the shield belonged to " Cooman ", who was his great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather.

The British museum is not having sympathy with this claim that the shield is "stolen goods ".   The articles on display from the days when the British empire spread across the world are protected by British law and contains many items hotly disputed by the original colonies from which they were taken.

Similar claims were more successful when they involved the bones of native people put on display on the other side of the world from their home.  The remains of several Tasmanian native people were returned and given a proper burial in their tribal homelands but other specimens are still in dispute and involve claims from many world countries.

If nothing else, the statute of limitations must come into this claim for a stolen shield.   We can hardly expect the police to investigate a crime from two hundred and forty nine years ago and decide whether the owner abandoned it or whether it was seized illegally by intruders making an armed incursion.

That British arrival is termed an invasion by many indigenous people but it must be judged by the custom that was prevalent at that time.   The countries of Europe had advanced both the design of ships and the mastery of navigation to allow them to sail distant oceans and they claimed countries that they discovered.  The era of acquisition covered both north and south America, Africa and Australia and a lot of little islands in between.

We will probably still be arguing over who owns that shield another two hundred and forty nine years from now !

Rescue from a Firey Fate !

In June 2017, Australians were mesmerised by breaking news scenes from London where a towering apartment block was becoming a flaming pyre on the city skyline.  What was unusual about this inferno was that the fire was creeping up the outside of the building and terrified residents could be seen at their windows as the fire crept closer.

That was the " Grenfell Tower " tragedy that left seventy-two residents dead.  The inquest that followed revealed details that sent reverberations around the world. This tower block was recently renovated and its exterior was clad with a combination of aluminium and urethane panelling which was highly flammable.

It seems a very containable fire broke out in a lower floor apartment and escaped through a window, setting alight the exterior cladding and quickly moving to higher floors which were beyond the reach of the ladders brought by the fire brigades.  In keeping with fire safety rules, residents were ordered to stay in their apartments and await rescue.  The blackened shell of the building remains on the London skyline as a grim reminder to apartment dwellers world wide.

Unfortunately, this cladding has been used in many other world countries and it is fairly prevalent here in Australia.  It is illegal to clad a residential building with a flammable cladding and fire safety regulations demand that where this is in place it must be removed and replaced.  The dominant issue is who picks up the tab for the cost of this work  ?

Next month it will be two years since that London tragedy and there are many buildings here with that flammable cladding still in place.   In the majority of cases, the cost of rectification which will run into millions of dollars will fall on the shoulders of apartment owners.  They simply lack the ability to pay - and the work remains undone.

The news from London is that the British government has now agreed to foot the bill for the removal of this cladding and its replacement with a safer product on 170 privately owned apartment blocks at a cost of $372 million.  It seems that the government recognised that this financial catastrophe was something beyond the ability of ordinary people to pay and it could not stand aside and let citizens live at risk of another Grenfell fire terror.

There are hundreds of Australians who go to sleep at night in buildings with a similar fire risk. Should that rectification fall on the buildings owners or the building firms that did the construction, many would be forced to seek bankruptcy protection and the risk cost would descend on individual apartment owners who bought their homes in good faith.   This decision in Britain will put pressure on the Australian government to take a similar measure and pick up the tab for rectification costs.

We can not go on indefinitely with this fire risk in place.  We have had several fire scares since the Grenfell disaster and thankfully none have resulted in loss of life, but simply relying on good luck is not a sustainable option.  It seems that only the government has the deep pockets to rescue innocent apartment owners from living with the risk of a firey death or total financial insolvency.

The " Dementia " Crisis !

The spotlight has recently turned on aged care and how we deal with our elderly who have ever increasing years of life after they retire from the workforce.  Aged care is a rapidly growing industry and there seems to be a growing gap between the care envisaged by loved ones and the reality of creating a safe and comfortable environment for people who have lost the ability to be cooperative.

We now live in an age where dementia is common in people of advancing years and this is often the reason that loved ones seek to have the elderly confined in some form of aged care.   The onset of dementia is often characterised by memory loss, instability in making financial decisions and a tendency to wander beyond the regular confines of security.

Unfortunately, the characteristics of dementia vary greatly between individuals.  Some aged are easy to care for and very cooperative with aged care staff. A lot depends on the nature of the person and the type of relationship they have had with others over their lifetime.  Some tend to become very aggressive, both to other residents and staff and need a form of restraint.  This presents an acute area of conflict between care providers and the residents  loved ones.

There are two areas of control that are often the subject of conflict.   One is the use of restraints to keep a restless resident confined to a chair. This usually take the form of a seat belt similar to that used in an airplane and individual aged care facilities have different regulations on how long this may be used during the day.

The other is the use of anti-psychotic drugs to calm the resident.  These are given on the instruction of an attending doctor but they cause the resident to become uncommunicative with visitors and often appear to be sleeping.  Their need is often questioned by loved ones.

There is no doubt that both these methods provide a convenient option for aged care staff to maintain control and in some instances are resorted to far too frequently and for long periods of time.   The need to establish a reasonable time limit is something those tasked with regulating the aged industry are struggling to achieve.

Unfortunately, there are some people with dementia whose conduct makes them unsuitable for tenancy in which they share common space with others.   There have been instances where fires have been lit and combative attacks have resulted in the death of other residents.  Loss of inhibitions can cause obscene or insulting rantings and sometimes sexual intrusions that cause distress to others.  It is sometimes necessary to turn away such a resident from further accommodation.

In the past, the government maintained a separate aged care facility for such people, but it has long been closed.  It is not possible to house those with a tendency for violence in close proximity to more cooperative residents and the provision of a separate facility with added staff numbers to maintain control is an absolute necessity.

We are seeing an increasing incidence of dementia in the elderly and this clash of control measures will not be sorted successfully until we accept that extremes of dementia can not be shared with residents in all aged care facilities.   It requires the establishment of special facilities and this must be included in forward planning.

Robbing the " Public Purse " !

A police raid this week arrested eighteen people and uncovered a sophisticated child care fraud that was drawing millions of dollars of government tax money into the pockets of its organizers.  It seems that the ramifications go ever deeper and it seems that ordinary families simply sold their names and identities to enable the syndicate to claim for childcare subsidies under childcare schemes.

One source close to the investigation claimed that this groups organization can only be described as parallel with sophisticated organised crime.  Search warrants were executed on homes in Greenacre, Bass Hill, Georges Hall, Chester Hill and the Illawarra.  In one instance a property masqueraded as a daycare centre despite being without electricity for 22 days in February and never having any children present.   It is feared that this is merely the tip of the iceberg and similar rorting of the public purse is widespread.

The problem is that whenever the government responds to the needs of society with the provision of welfare in the form of an entitlement there are some who see that as an opportunity for plunder.  In fact many people see that as a " victimless " crime because taking money from the government is just the same as making false claims for bogus income tax deductions.  In many circles cheating the government for a form of gain seems to be a legitimate national pastime.

We recently learned that the practice of creating organized car crashes with the aim of gaining compensation for imaginary injuries was adding seventy dollars to the premium we pay for all third party greenslip car insurance in New South Wales.  In addition, repair of damage to the crashed vehicles was part of an organized crime ring involving unscrupulous repair shops in the motor trade industry.  A low speed crash with close orchestration can be a long term payout for the organizers.

 It is impossible to estimate what degree of public money is lost to fraud across the entire spectrum of government entitlements but there is speculation that it would be massive.  Of course, without that loss a lot of unfunded other benefits would be possible and with an election just days away we are inundated with promises of greater benefits to attract our votes.

The police are probably not the ideal organization to detect entitlement fraud. A specific institutional   branch of government tasked with investigating the dispersal of public money could be more productive in eliminating welfare fraud.   It will be interesting to learn as this childcare case proceeds to court action just how long it has remained undiscovered and what amount of money has been lost.

What is even more interesting is the undoubted rorts that persist undetected and await a public examination.

A " Democratic " Decision !

How often do we find that an issue which has overwhelming public support is voted down by the very people we send to parliament to represent us ?   The fate of the terminally ill to get medical help to end their lives got exactly that fate in New South Wales by a margin of just one vote.

It is frustrating when party politics gets in the way of issues either getting on the agenda or getting a conscience vote despite opinion polls clearly indicating massive public support.  For a long time gay marriage was in legal limbo until the politicians decided to put it to a public vote that settled the matter decisively.

Another issue that is gaining momentum on a world wide basis is the legalization of Cannabis as a recreational drug.  It is now legal in Canada and Uruguay and recently Americas biggest and most populous state - California - made it available to their citizens.  It seems that Marijuana got swept up in the hysteria to ban drugs when heroin use became a problem many decades ago.

Our tolerance of Marijuana is ever softening.  People caught with small amounts now are merely given a warning in most cases and law enforcement goes after the commercial growers.  It is thought that if Marijuana was legal it would probably replace the " high " many concert goers crave and now get from dangerous drugs that are causing fatalities.

It seems that New Zealand, our neighbour across the Tasman - has decided that Cannabis is an issue that is best decided by its people.   The issue of whether to legalize Cannabis through a simple yes or no vote will take place at the 2020 general election.

The question that will be put to the vote is whether New Zealanders above the age of twenty should be legally able to  use and purchase Cannabis for recreational purposes.  This would include commercial supply controls, limited home growing options and a public education programme.  If - as expected - that vote is in the affirmative, Marijuana will be a legal product across the Tasman.

That raises the spectre of what is happening in America.  With a common border, Americans visit Canada and indulge their passion for Marijuana quite legally, but face onerous prison time if they try and bring that product home with them.  American Federal laws have not budged an inch on the Marijuana question.

It is obvious that relaxed Cannabis laws in New Zealand will become a good reason for many Australians to visit that country.   In fact, many Australians will be angry that New Zealanders have been given a choice that is denied us here to decide by way of a public vote.

There can be no more of a democratic choice than to put such an issue to the people - and let them decide  !

" Drink Driving " Law Change !

Random breath testing was the law change that had the most effect on reducing the number of drivers on the road with an illegal amount of alcohol in their blood.   Prior to that legislation it took either an accident or the police observing an unusual driving pattern for a driver to be pulled over and breath tested.

Today those " Booze Buses " can be anywhere with police pulling over drivers at random and the tests will check for both alcohol and drugs.  At this stage, drug testing requires the sample to be evaluated at a drug laboratory and the driver has a nervous wait until the results are known.

The test delivers a quicker result with alcohol. A low range reading is anything between 0.05 and 0.079 and that driver is dealt with by a court appearance.  High range drink driving is punished by immediate license cancellation.

From May 20 that all changes in New South Wales.   All drivers - including both low and high range - will lose their licenses immediately for a nominated period of time and low range will bring a $561 fine.  The big difference is that low range will now be processed  by the issue of an infringement notice that will avoid the need to appear before a magistrate.

The NSW Law Society is concerned that an infringement notice tends to lower the seriousness of what is a serious crime.  The experience and shame of having to appear before a magistrate is an important deterrence.  The need to undertake a traffic offender programme and a warning of the consequences of further drink driving is a far greater deterrence than just an infringement notice and a fine.

This law change has been implemented to free up state courts and police resources.   This is despite low range driving prosecutions representing just 1.9 % of matters in NSW courts.  Court cases are open to the public and covered by the media and there is the further deterrent of having the offender named and shamed in the local press.

There is no doubt that drivers impaired by alcohol contribute heavily to death and injury on our roads.   It has been a long, hard slog to put laws in place to reduce this alcohol incidence but we are finally getting there.   The risk of getting pulled over and breath tested is not just a matter of " bad luck " but almost a certainty in any given time frame.

It is the sight of those flashing lights and breath testing stations combined with the experience of people they know getting caught that is ever reducing the numbers taking a chance of drinking and driving. Taking backward steps from a system that works is not intelligent thinking.

Robo Debt Win !

The outcome of a recent test case will bring a sense of hope to thousands of people in  a confrontation with Centrelink who is demanding they repay debts they don't believe they owe.  What is termed " Robo debt " is a nightmare for the average citizen forced to try and prove their innocence.

It usually starts with a letter from Centrelink claiming that their records show that an entitlement has been overpaid.  Technically, Centrelink have the legal authority to raid bank accounts to recover money owed but they usually exert  overwhelming pressure and force their customer to repay on an instalment plan.

The complexity of the legal definitions that underpin the legislation that supports entitlements is beyond the layman to understand.  All the power is with Centrelink.  Many people claim they are repaying debts they simply do not understand and in many cases, debts they do not owe.  This caused Victorian Legal Aid to launch a test case to determine the validity of one of the methods of determining debt.

The basis is sometimes determined by taking the fortnightly average rather than the amount actually claimed and this resulted in a nurse facing repayment of a $4000 debt.  When the case went to court the Department of Human Services immediately wiped that debt with a claim that new information had revealed the potential double accounting of income by one of the nurses former employers.

This leaves Robo Debt unclear, although the nurses lawyer has asked for the case to proceed in order to test the legal basis of the methodology used to calculate debts.  The department was accused of acting in " bad faith " by its withdrawal.

The Australian Council of Social Services comments that this challenge has created significant doubt for thousands of vulnerable people who have settled debts.  It called for the programme to be scrapped and remarked: " This isn't a one off case. It's one example of a system that doesn't work ".

The ball seems to be back in the court of Human Services and the outcome will be watched with interest.   The nurse at the centre of this case no longer owes a debt, but the method that established that debt itself is going to trial if the case proceeds.

The Department of Human Services has declined to comment as the matter is before the court but this case is likely to decide the entire future of Robo debt.  If nothing else, the outcome may be a new clarity on the way such debt is established.

Interest Rate Cut !

The interest rate in Australia is in the hands of the Reserve bank and with the economy slowing the pundits of the financial world are predicting a rate cut.   The Reserve bank meets on the first Tuesday of each month and the anticipated change is that we will see a cut of 0.25 points with a similar fall to quickly follow.

Predictably, the banks will be slow to pass a rate cut on to home mortgage customers and quick to apply it to term deposits.  At present term deposit interest rates are hovering a little above two percent and any cut will be critical to self funded retirees who have received their superannuation nest egg and have the task of making it last for the remainder of their lifetime.

If this cut eventuates it will be the first movement since August 2016.   Interest rates have not been keeping pace with rising prices and five years ago deposits were earning better than four percent. There is now the expectation that we will see interest rates drop to just one percent.

A rate drop will benefit those with variable home mortgages and probably bring a lot of first home buyers back into the market but that may not stop the present downward trend in home prices.  That is more of a realistic adjustment of the price hysteria that was ever pushing prices higher.

Interest rate relief is marginally available to customers looking further than the big four Australian banks.  Three year and five year terms are bringing three percent to term deposits but obviously these will be influenced by Australian rates if they go lower.  The safety aspect makes many customers reluctant to consider any source other than the traditional Australian banks.

Apart from self funded retirees, there are also many with a part pension who rely on their savings to provide the income pensioners are allowed to earn without lowering their pension.  Many will find they are now depleting capital to draw the amount they previously gained from the interest earned.  There is a danger than in desperation they may turn to far riskier investments in the hope of reversing that capital depletion.

Many may turn to the stock market but that is also facing change as we absorb the impact of artificial intelligence and robotics in the manufacturing sphere.  Many previous high income earners have fallen on hard times and those investing for the first time face a daunting task.  There is no shortage of new firms with an enticing prospectus that predicts high profits and good returns.  Making a buying selection is a bewildering experience for a novice.

The big danger is that we appear to be heading into an era where too much money is looking for a safe place to earn a reasonable return.  It is inevitable that the criminal element of society will respond accordingly.   The wise need to remember than axiom that " if it seems too good too be true " - then it probably is !

Cyber Security !

The man former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull chose to advise the government on cyber security is quitting that role and has made a chilling warning that a cyber attack on the Australian national  structure under which we  live is now inevitable.

Alastair MacGibbon has for the past three years been the face of cyber security in Australia and in that time he has managed the attack on the national census in 2016 and the hacking earlier this year of both the parliament and its political parties.  He makes it quite clear that cyber attacks are now the greatest danger to this country and that they have the ability to cripple our economy.

We now live in the age of the computer and its communication systems  for every aspect of our lives.  When we buy groceries, put petrol in our cars, pay bills the money travels electronically between the buyer and the seller.  We are aware of the sheer panic anytime that system has a failure that lasts a few hours.  Imagine if a cyber attack shut down banking for days or perhaps weeks.

In this modern world our main essential is the electricity supply.  That would probably be the prime target of a cyber attack on this country because it would cause the most harm.  Without electricity the banking system would collapse and the shops would have to close.   The electric trains that bring commuters to their jobs would grind to a halt and without electricity our mobile phone networks would cease to function.  Life as we know it would cease to exist if a cyber attack was successful in closing down the power supply.

Unfortunately, electricity and banking are both closely integrated with the computer systems that deliver the complex infrastructure which makes them work.  We are well aware that both criminal hackers and military departments of possibly hostile governments have the ability to bypass the passwords and other protections that guard entry into our computer networks.  Some of the biggest and most complex organizations in the commercial world have had intrusions that stole commercial secrets and gave access to personal data that compromised the security of their customers.

With every passing year the extent with which computers run our economy increases.  We are reliant on the computer networks because that is the most economical way to run the business world and we believe in the safety of numbers.  Our military is also developing the ability to penetrate other countries computer systems and competing countries are similarly vulnerable to attacks on their electricity and banking segments.

The problem is that it is difficult to clearly identify the source of a cyber attack and therefore impossible to deliver a timely response.  An attack can be cleverly masked to disguise its military origin and the intention may be to do commercial damage that will suit a competitor for international markets.  It is clearly a new venue for commercial war.

This is a clear warning that we need to improve our cyber security.  Having the best military defence system gives little protection if the infrastructure of the country can be crippled and prevents that military might from doing the job.

The " Superannuation " Enigma !

Before the second world war the average Australian reaching retirement age expected to draw the old age pension.   He or she also expected to die within a very few years of becoming a " pensioner " and as our life span became extended economists warned that the numbers drawing the aged pension were becoming unsustainable.

The government of that day sought to fix the problem by introducing compulsory superannuation for all.   It required every employer to contribute to their employees retirement fund and there is no doubt that this imposition was at the expense of wage growth at that time.   At present every employer is required to contribute 9.5% of their employees wages into superannuation.

Both the major political parties have plans to increase that employer contribution to 12 % and this is timed to become fully functional in 2025-26.  The reasoning is two-fold.   Most Australians now retire without enough money to last for the ever extending years of their remaining lives, and the government needs to reduce the numbers drawing the old age pension.

At present, we are experiencing a wage hiatus.  Inflation is low but wage growth has fallen behind despite a growing shortage of skilled labour.  The reduction of penalty rates has actually reduced the take home pay of many casual workers and the " gig " economy has displaced many full time jobs with part time employment with fewer hours.

When compulsory superannuation was introduced there was the expectation that employees would also contribute to their retirement nest egg, but this has not fully eventuated.  For a vast section of the workforce the amount available at retirement will consist solely of their employers contribution.   This increase to 12% will probably have very different outcomes across the broad employment spectrum.

The big and very profitable segment of industry will probably take it in their stride but the effects will be more noticeable with small business.   The move to internet shopping and the problems with franchise administration has drastically changed the throughput of much suburban business and this cost increase will be unwelcome. In many instances, employees have been replaced by family members to keep costs down and often the business format has been changed to a self serve operation. The change to giant hardware complexes has closed many suburban hardware stores and it is noticeable that the ranks of newsagents is ever thinning.   The sight of empty shops in shopping centres is increasing.

There seems little doubt that this superannuation increase will be seen as increased wage commitment and that will dampen any enthusiasm for wage increases by employers.  It may also increase the move away from full time employment to the use of casuals on shorter hours.   What seems to have been forgotten is the idea that accumulating retirement money was supposed to be a joint venture between the employer and the employee.

Mental Health Facilities !

A long time ago New South Wales had a specialist hospital with high security to treat patients with mental health issues that were considered dangerous to the public.  It was derided by some people as an " Asylum " and closed, and now mental health treatment seems to mainly consist of specialised wards in the general hospital system.

This week our lack of security for the mentally ill resulted in a 31 year old woman delivering a frenzied attack with a pair of scissors on a  28 year old male teacher at Byron Bay public school. It occurred at 7-30 in the morning, before the school office staff arrived for work and this confrontation happened at the school gates.

There is an obvious back history here because the school had in place emergency procedures to be followed if this same woman entered school premises.  We now learn that this attacker escaped from a mental health facility and was unmedicated.  The attack was completely unprovoked.

The young male teacher is lucky to be alive.  The attack resulted in a broken arm and deep cuts behind his left ear and cuts to his arms and face.  He  was rushed to hospital and underwent surgery.   His attacker fled the scene and was later arrested at her home

This is a familiar outcome to the police and the families of those suffering mental illness.  When someone breaks  the law and it is determined that mental illness is involved they are sent to a supposedly secure ward at the local hospital where they are medicated.  This ensures the return of stability and they are usually soon discharged with ongoing medication - which they often refuse to continue.

Security at mental health wards in public hospitals is more an illusion than a reality.  The sheer volume of staff passing through delivers a security risk and preventing escape is in the hands of security staff spread thinly over the entire hospital structure.  The psychiatrists tending mental health cases are under pressure to treat and release quickly to free up badly needed beds.

This medical failure is usually compounded by what has become the ultimate destination of the mentally ill - our prison system.  A high proportion of those serving time in state jails are suffering mental irregularities and because they are deemed " prisoners " they are excluded from the medical help that could control that condition.  Many are simply serving time with the inevitability that they will reoffend and return to prison shortly after their release.

All aspects of medicine has made great strides as science delves deeper into understanding the human body and we have the ability to deal with mental health.  What is lacking is our ability to secure the patient for the period of time that rehabilitation needs to become effective.  Now that this young woman has committed a serious offence a judge will decide her fate.  The most likely outcome is that she will pass from the medical system to the prison system - and from there a safe return is unlikely  !

A Variable Electricity Charge !

In 2018 there were 2176 plug-in electric cars sold in Australia.   Just one in every five hundred cars that rolled out of the auto showrooms was electric and next year we can expect that ratio to change dramatically as many new models roll out and the price variation between electric and petrol improves.

The conundrum facing the Federal government is how to recover the tax money that is now so easily collected by simply adding it to the price of petrol and diesel that is the essential fuel for internal combustion engines.  The stuff that runs electric cars is the same electricity that runs the television at home, keeps the lights bright at night and cooks people's dinner.

The solution seems to be the " fast charge " that seems to be the answer to extended distance cover that will increase the range of electric vehicles.  We are fast reaching the stage where a fifteen minute fast charge will deliver a further four hundred kilometres range before the batteries need another similar top up.   That charge involves recharge stations delivering a commercial voltage to achieve that fast charge component and obviously this can cost much more than the electricity delivered to home power supplies.

The problem for the government is that it is possible for electric car owners to deliver an overnight " trickle "  to their cars batteries by connecting to the lower voltage mains that serve their homes.  The ones with solar on the roof and a battery to hold overnight power can avoid fast charging points until they need to take an out of town journey.  That delivers a less reliable tax than applies to the present regime on petrol and diesel.

We are on the cusp of the 5G rollout - and that changes everything.  Just like our mobile phones, 5G has the ability to know exactly where our cars are at any given moment - and what they are doing.  It opens the door to distance covered charging and varying rates for peak and off peak use.   Using an electric car in the future may be similar to the toll situation now.   You will need an account with a positive balance and as you drive the distance covered and the time you travel determines the rate at which that balance declines.

The government appears to be dragging its feet on the introduction of electric vehicles.  The construction of a fast charge network is going slowly and this tax conundrum will have been high on the planning agenda.  It seems likely the government is hoping that electric vehicles and the options that 5G will provide will coincide together to solve that tax dilemma.

The people currently driving electric vehicles are getting the benefit of both worlds.   On the one  hand they are avoiding the present tax regime of oil based fuels and powering their batteries from the domestic charge for electricity.  Whoever thought electric cars would deliver cheap motoring are in for a shock.   When it comes to tax needs - nothing changes  !

A New Natural Gas Facility !

The price of natural gas in New South Wales is in the hands of the people owning the gas pipelines that bring it here from distant sources, but that is about to change.  The green light has been given for the establishment of that long awaited shipping terminal which will see New South Wales open its doors to bulk natural gas from both Australia and other parts of the world. This terminal will handle seventy percent of New South Wales energy demand.

This $250 million gas terminal project will be sited at Port Kembla, right in the heart of Wollongong.  There is every expectation that it will ease cost of living pressures by lowering gas prices.  The project will be in the hands of Australian Industrial Energy which is in partnership with Andrew Forest's business, Squadron Energy.

For a long time gas price relief has hinged on New South Wales allowing " fracking " to access the bulk of natural gas in the ground under this state but that access could be at the price of neutralising agricultural land and disturbing the flow of natural aquifers.  Australia is becoming the leading natural gas exporter to world markets and now New South Wales will have the means to tap into gas at a price that has previously passed us by.

This project will involve the building of a new natural gas berth for the huge ships that carry liquified natural gas around the world, a handling facility and new pipelines to distribute the gas to the existing gas network.  It will deliver a jobs bonanza in the construction stage and open a new opportunity for those who train for this industrial field to gain rewarding permanent employment.  There is also the expectation that this increase in gas supply will result in the development of a new electricity generating plant nearby to relieve our dependence on coal.

This is the natural transition of industrial services which moved out of Sydney harbour to Botany Bay and is fast handling that overflow at Port Kembla.  Port Kembla loads both coal and grain for export supply and is the main import terminal for cars from overseas souces.  The establishment of this gas facility will probably see the port further expanded as the New South Wales shipping gateway.

It will probably bring the end of using Port Kembla as a cruise ship terminal.   Docking space in Sydney harbour has resulted in some cruise ships being relocated to Port Kembla but the danger factor of a gas terminal may not be compatible with that mixed use and the vista would not meet tourist expectations.

In fact this further expansion of Port Kembla will exert pressure for both the completion of the Maldon Dombarton rail link to western Sydney and  fast rail to  connect the giant Sydney job market with the ever expanding Illawarra home base.  Port Kembla is fast becoming one of Australia's most important sea terminals.