Summer Fire Safety !

 The last winter weekend in Sydney brought a reminder of last summers fire events as the city was wreathed with smoke.  The fire services took the opportunity of settled weather and a lack of wind to conduct controlled " burn off " fires to reduce the fire hazard for the coming summer.

Last year was unusually dangerous because of drought.  The bush was tinder dry and the inevitable summer lightning strikes saw many fires blaze out of control, and sadly some were deliberately lit by idiots who get their kicks out of arson.

The weather forecasters predict this year will bring a " La Nina " effect of a " wet " summer and areas burned last year will not have regrown sufficiently to burn again so soon, but there is a lot of the state with a heavy fire load and global warming promises more record breaking hot days.  If we get a fire respite it will be sheer good luck and the future seems certain to deliver longer and more dangerous fire seasons.

What is now ringing alarm bells is the knowledge that the risk management plans held by local government are more than five years out of date.  To some extent, this is blamed on the aborted plan to amalgamate many councils as an economy measure which did not proceed and put forward planning on hold.

In many cases, this time lapse was compounded because upgrades were waiting for council approval and encountering the usual political lack of consensus that occurs when anything changes the status quo. This is legislation that will substantially effect the average ratepayer and will be vigorously resisted by elements opposed to any sort of change.

It is now clears that global warming is a real issue with which we have to contend.  Heat records are being broken and we face a longer fire season than in the past and how we build the homes we live in and our responsibility for clearing away surrounding fire danger needs to equate to that increased risk.

In the past, councils were obsessed with tree preservation. and it was difficult to get permission to lop even dangerous trees overhanging a house. A lot depends on the type of tree involved because some have characteristics that add to a fire and need to be replaced with a safer variety.  It is also fast becoming a requirement that the owners of land take action to clear away the type of kindling matter that allows a fire to advance across their property.

This may seem like radical change to many people, but it is plain common sense.  It is near impossible to build a fire proof house, but small changes can make a home very fire resistant.  Usually an ember attack precedes the fire front and owners defending their home can cope with that if the property is well prepared.  A little effort extended before the fire season starts can pay big dividends in leaving a home untouched once the fire front has passed.

We live in a changing world and it is imperative that those council ordinances are brought up to date.  The responsibility of home owners need to be clear and concise and the task of seeing it is undertaken is best conducted at the council level.

A " Citizenship " Test !

 The Australian population ticked over twenty-five million and yet we have close to a million residents - about half of working age - who do not speak English well.  This is based on the 2016 Census which revealed this lack of English  proficiency grew from 560,000 in 2006 to 820,000 in 2016.

We claim to be a multi-cultural country but the advantages of having a common language is obvious. A person who does not speak adequate English is hard to fit into the Australian workforce and that counts against him or her when applying for employment.  That is vitally important with the expectation that job opportunities will dwindle as the economy struggles to recover from this coronavirus pandemic.

This tended to relegate adults that lacked English to laboring jobs and this class of work is declining. In the distant past many non English speaking households relied on their children as interpreters when the kids went to school and quickly grasped their new language.  Clearly, the non working members of such households never did achieve fluency in the national language.

The intrusion of foreign governments attempting to influence the thinking in Australia is making English language proficiency more important and the government is proposing to extend unlimited language learning classes to close this language gap.  People who do not read or understand English are vulnerable to propaganda distributed from their original country when national objectives clash.

All this raises the question of whether English proficiency should be an influencing factor in gaining Australian citizenship - and that breaches political consensus.  The Federal government attempted a crackdown in 2017 and this was opposed by Labor, the Greens and the Nick Xenophon team.  Once again the need for a value test for intending citizens is creating discord in the ranks of our politicians.

Many people see a need for intending citizens to read and sign a pledge to uphold what we call our " liberal, democratic values " but this crashes in ambiguity.  It means different things to different people and so far we have not  reached anything like a basic consensus.

At present,  citizenship once granted is forever.  We take the risk that this person will be a good citizen and obey our laws, but if we are wrong - there is no way back.  Perhaps citizenship should be more in tune with the way we grade people we license to drive cars.

That starts with a learner license in which the driver gets to gain road experience under the care of an experienced driver.  When they are judged competent they are granted a red " P " license which is hedged with certain restrictions.  If they perform for a number of years without incident, this is upgraded to a green" P " class license and many of those restrictions are lifted, and as further time passes leads to the issue of an unrestricted license.

Citizenship probably deserves a similar experience.  Provisional citizenship would be granted for a qualifying period of time, and should the contender successfully pass  each stage it would proceed to permanency.  It would be a positive incentive for the applicant to obey our laws and be a model citizen.

Gaining accreditation as an Australian citizen is sought by many people and should not be given lightly. What takes time and patience to earn is something people value above all other.  Efforts to gain proficiency in the English language should be helpful in gaining that right to call Australia " home "  !

Crime - And Punishment !

 Brenton Harrison Tarrant, a twenty-nine year old Australian white supremacist stood shackled in a New Zealand court while a judge pronounced sentence for the murder of fifty-one Muslim worshippers gunned down while in prayer at two New Zealand Mosques.

The judge decreed that Tarrant will spend the rest of his life behind bars and no clemency by way of parole will apply. Tarrant finally entered a guilty plea to fifty-one counts of murder, forty counts of attempted murder and one count of terrorism.  His guilty pleas saved the survivors the ordeal of giving evidence.

That sentence was the harshest possible under the laws in place in New Zealand.   Australia and New Zealand have both abolished the death penalty and replaced it with something worse. Tarrant will spend years rotting away in a small cell, protected from other prisoners who will try and do him harm.  If he is not insane now, he certainly will be by the time his life eventually ends by natural causes.

Many citizens here and in New Zealand will view that sentence with satisfaction.  It contains a " revenge " element for a crime that shocked the world. Not only did Tarrant hold white supremacist views, he also loathed the Muslim religion and carefully planned this massacre knowing that men, women and children would be involved.

The main objection to the death penalty was the thought that an innocent person might be found guilty and be executed before evidence emerged that proved innocence. That certainly can happen with the ever widening scope of forensic science, but there is no doubt about Tarrant's guilt.  There is every chance that he may live another sixty years and that will impose an astronomical burden on the public purse.  There is debate on whether the sentence should be served in New Zealand, the home of the crime or in Australia from which he originated.

In earlier times, public executions were a social event.  Crowds gathered to see murderers swing on the end of a rope and for the most heinous crimes the guilty bore the indignity of being " hung, drawn and quartered ".  When that was thought to be too grisly for public view, executions took place within prison yards and the remains were buried in unmarked graves.

We condemn the use of torture, and yet Tarrant is to be subjected to a form of torture by the very nature of the sentence handed down. Her will spent twenty-three hours of every day locked away without company in a small cell to which meals will be served.  For one hour he will have access to a closed exercise yard and at all times he will be electronically monitored.

Years ago, " Katingal " was closed in Sydney because it was described in an enquiry into prisons as an " electronic zoo " that did little to enhance rehabilitation from crime.   There is no thought of rehabilitation in the sentence handed down to Tarrant.  It is the worst kind of retribution available to the sentencing judge and deprivation of liberty for the remains of his lifetime is now an unusual form of punishment reserved for crimes that deserve the death penalty.

It could be argued that such life terms are more of a punishment on the taxpayers who have to foot the  bill for life internment.  Perhaps now would be a good time to re-examine all aspects of crime and punishment.  Our death penalty rejection might not stand up to scrutiny as the penalty for some of the more gruesome crimes being committed today.

Diplomatic Immunity !

 Diplomatic Immunity is a courtesy nations extend to one another as a protection from arrest for their diplomats when relations between the nations concerned become tense. This was clearly illustrated back in December, 1941 when Japan launched a surprise bombing attack on the American Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbour in Hawaii.

That led to a declaration of war, but the Japanese diplomats in Japanese embassies in American cities were allowed to leave and travel to neutral countries from where they returned unharmed to Japan..  Similarly, the Americans in their Tokyo embassy received a similar courtesy and returned home unharmed.

Unfortunately, this privilege is often abused.  The vast number of representatives who gather at the United Nations in New York are notorious for not paying parking and other traffic fines because they hide behind the protection of their diplomatic immunity.  They know they can not be arrested and put before a court and so their simply ignore American road rules.

Over time, diplomatic immunity has extended from diplomats to many ranks of military and civil personnel and their families who represent the American government abroad. A road accident in Britain is straining relations between America and Britain because diplomatic immunity is shielding one of the parties involved in an accident  from the reach of British law.

In 2019 there was a collision between a car and a motorcyclist on a public road outside RAF base Broughton in which 19 year old Harry Dunn was killed.  The car was driven by a 42 year old American woman, wife of an American officer serving at the base. Both she and her husband were covered by diplomatic immunity.

She immediately boarded a flight home to America and has refused to return to Britain to attend the inquest into the cause of that death.  The American government has refused to intervene and waive that diplomatic immunity and the injustice involved is straining relations between the two countries.

The whole point of diplomatic immunity was to shield people send abroad on their country's behalf from spurious charges and imprisonment by regimes that oppress their citizens.  In this instance it is viewed as stopping the apportioning of blame for who was responsible for that road accident from being decided in a law court.

Should this American woman return and be found the guilty party, diplomatic immunity might shield her from a prison sentence, or even a fine, but the fact that she has used it to stifle an accident investigation between two countries that have friendly relations is a gross distortion of the rules that apply.

Friendly nations need to urgently revise the rules that apply to diplomatic relations and where they will apply.  It is simply unacceptable that the proper investigation of a death can be avoided by a blanket cover that avoids all responsibility because the person involved holds a diplomatic passport.

Justice demands that diplomatic immunity has limitations  !

Fire Proofing the Nation !

Last summer's bushfires were certainly a wakeup call on a lot of fronts.   Householders need to revise their insurance cover because many were woefully under-insured and - tragically - many were not insured at all.  Insurance is all about risk and there is the expectation that homes closely surrounded by bush will attract a significant premium increase this coming season.

Unfortunately, for many people it is that close proximity to the surrounding bush that is the charm they seek. A tour of the outskirts of cities and towns reveals homes that the fire brigades would term " suicidal " in a bushfire.  Many of the homes burned last summer are being rebuilt in exactly the same location.

The enquiry into last seasons fires has produced a slate of recommendations and foremost is a demand that land owners take action to reduce the fire risk.   That will be interpretted by many to mean cutting more fire breaks to stop fires breaking out of forest areas and reducing the combustible matter surrounding homes by lighting controlled fires when the conditions suit.

Both the city fire brigades and the country fire authorities carry out that work on a regular basis but the volume is hampered by unsuitable weather conditions and the magnitude of the work. There is a very real risk that many householders will take that instruction literally and try to reduce the fire hazard by lighting their own controlled burns.  Mum and Pop reduction hazard fires would have a tendency to get out of control and could do more harm than good.

Many parts of Sydney are intersected by steep slopes on which no homes are possible but which constitute a fire hazard.  Homes adjoining these are at risk from the accumulated tree litter and yet the task of clearing it away is beyond the ability of often elderly, untrained householders to manage.  Many are not in a financial position to employ labor to get that job done.

In many cases, what is required is for the combustible material to be slashed and gathered into piles and burned under the supervision of trained fire people and all that is required is an available labor force.  We have such a force available in the form of the people ordered by the courts to perform community service for the crimes they have committed and this is served over weekends under the supervision of corrective services officers.

All that seems to be missing is the necessary coordination for corrective services to supply the workforce to clear areas determined as high priority by the fire brigades as necessary to reduce the city fire hazard.  Once the litter is slashed and gathered into concentrated areas the actual burning would be undertaken by the fire people when conditions suit.

That seems to tick all the boxes.  It would be a practical task for the people serving weekend detention instead of prison and it would certainly be returning a worthwhile function to the community.  Exactly the same benefit would apply in country areas where hazard clearing would be shared by corrective services marshalling their prisoners in conjunction with the rural fire services to get the work done.

A Small Inconvenience !

It sounds like a classic fiasco.  We are spending $1.3 billion to replace the present fleet of River Cat ferries and the new boats will not comfortably fit under two bridges on the journey to Parramatta. But it is not as serious as it sounds !

This deficiency was clearly understood at the time the new ferries were under consideration and it was a matter of buying boats from the plans readily available, or spending millions more to have new designs drawn up, costed and which would have taken years longer to create at a much higher price.

The problem is two bridges close to Parramatta city and it means those seated on the top deck will need to vacate and move to a lower deck when the ferries pass under the Camellia railway bridge and the Gas Works bridge - at high tide.  This inconvenience will simply occur twice each day and it is only a safety precaution.

It is interesting to compare the new ferries seating with the soon to be replaced  River Cats which each seat 250 people.    The new ferries have capacity for 200 and this includes 122 seated inside,  18 outdoor seats on the lower deck - and just `10 seats on the upper deck which might need to be vacated at times of high tide.

Ten of the new ferries are on order and  and four have already arrived and are undergoing testing.  There are no plans to raise those bridges and for most of the day they will  not be considered a hazard to the ten passengers who will be asked to move for a brief part of their journey.

It is not as if these new ferries are to be exclusively serving the run to Parramatta.  They are replacing the ageing  River Cats, Super Cats and four charter vessels which service all destinations within Sydney Harbour.  All other destinations will not be affected by height restrictions for the small number using that upper deck.

This is all about value for money.  Some will be critical because our new ferries are not being built in Australia, but that would cost a lot more and take a longer period of time.  There is greater value in buying things like railway carriages and ferries overseas and government purchasing agents are required to get value for taxpayers dollars.  These ferries were sought on world markets and Indonesia responded with the best price consistent with value and delivery time.

Those ten upper deck seats should be considered as a bonus.  Considering the known obstacle of those bridges at Parramatta it would have been reasonable to leave the upper deck bare of seating but the decision was taken to use it to increase the passenger load and be attractive to tourists who enjoy taking photographs of the passing scenery.

Sydney is about to get a classy new breed of ferries and shortly the new names for each vessel will be announced.  We will quickly get used to that upper deck vacation requirement and regulars using the ferries to Parramatta will get into the habit of knowing the tidal movements as a matter of course.

A small inconvenience in making use of our glorious waterways to combat the commuter snarl of the city road system.

A Dodgy Vaccine Offering !

 There is real concern that rushing a vaccine to counter COVID-19 onto the market before full testing is complete could allow the pathogen to mutate into a more deadly form.   Getting infected with the coronavirus is not a death sentence unless you are older that sixty and even then many people manage to survive.

We are still working our way through the intricacies  of what is called the SARS-CoV2 virus and while early testing is looking promising it could be many months before science can prove that an effective vaccine has been developed.  It is not helpful that Russia is now claiming a vaccine success and appears willing to release it on the market well short of the completion, of long term testing.

Unfortunately, a desperate world seems ready to take risks to try and get people back to work and save their nation's economies and it seems this Russian vaccine may be readily accepted, despite prominent   scientists warning that " a poor vaccine is worse than no vaccine at all. "

The fact that this vaccine claim is coming from Russia is in itself a warning.  Russia is ruled by Vladimir Putin, who emerged from the implosion of the old Soviet Union and has cemented himself in the unassailable position of president for life. He runs a corrupt regime and the Russian people are stirring but elections are rigged and the remnants of the old KGB keep any form of opposition under control.

The Putin regime is well known for reaching overseas to silence critics and usually this involves some sort of poison. A dissident Russian businessman who fled to Britain died a lingering death when highly radioactive poloniun was administered in a cafe in London. Two other escaped Russian spies  recovered from a similar incident and the assassin escaped back to Moscow.

Once again a man who wanted to oppose Putin at the polls has suffered harm. Alexi Navalny was prevented from standing on trumped up charges and has been supporting a slate of opposition candidates.  While he was in Omsk in Siberia someone poisoned his cup of tea and he collapsed on the return plane trip to Moscow.  The plane made an emergency landing and he was taken to hospital, but the state prevented him being transferred to a top German hospital for several days until public opinion finally forced this to be carried out by air ambulance.  That delay may have prevented the exact poison used being traced.

Putin is desperate to win back the support of the Russian people and Russia is suffering the job losses and deaths from the pandemic.  A claim to be the first to develop a vaccine would certainly help him in the polls and could be the reason this Russian vaccine is being rushed onto the world market.

We would be wise to stay well clear of Russian politics.  Eventually, a vaccine will emerge that has completed all the necessary testing and can give the immunity that we need to safely dispense with isolation from one another.  Australia is well placed to manufacture the quantities needed to offer protection to our entire twenty-five million people.

The Commonwealth Serum Laboratories has the manufacturing depth to produce that vaccine under license and it is important that our government act quickly to gain that accreditation to access that formula when it becomes available.

That Vexing Superannuation Question !

 When superannuation became available to every permanently employed Australian by way of his or her employers contribution it was supposed to be a two way deal.   The contribution the employer made was fixed by law but it was hoped that the employed would implement their own saving plan and the two combined would deliver a nest egg that would free the retiree from having to rely on the aged pension.

In many cases, that did not happen.  The superannuation saving in most accounts was entirely the employers contribution and there was a serious doubt that the majority of retirees would have sufficient money for a self funded retirement.  As a consequence, the government intended to raise that employer contribution from the present 9.5% of the employees salary to 12%, starting in 2025. 

A lot of water has gone under the bridge since that idea was raised. An enormous number of people have been granted leave to raid their superannuation account because COVID-19 has closed their place of employment and it seems certain that we will have a big pool of unemployed people when the recovery finally gets under way.  Many former employers will fail to reopen and those that do will struggle to achieve the throughput achieved prior to the lockdown.

In the prevailing circumstances, that hike in employer contributions to their employees superannuation fund is unsustainable.  Even continuing the 9.5% contribution will be a serious hindrance to creating jobs in a depressed economy and a move is likely to methods that are less labour intensive.  The retail trade is likely to become more self service and manufacturing will embrace automation as AI develops further.

Before the coronavirus roared onto the scene we were already seeing change creeping into the employment situation. There was a serious imbalance between those working in government employ and for big corporations and those unable to find permanent work and who had gravitated to what was termed the " gig " economy.

People who drove cars for companies like Uber termed themselves " self employed " and industry embraced this concept because it freed them from many imposts, including that 9.5% superannuation contribution. We became accustomed to people having several gig economy jobs which together delivered less than the living wage. This " self employed " concept was widening and moving into many more industries.

Many low income people have now cleaned out their superannuation fund and there are insufficient work years remaining to rebuild it to self retirement level even if jobs were readily available. It is quite clear that retirement for a lot of the workforce that the government hoped would be self funded will be forced to rely on the aged pension.

Should the government persist and force that 12% superannuation dividend on employers it certainly will inhibit many from reopening and that will only further reduce employment opportunities.   That hike in contributions is simply dead in the water at this time and likely to remain so into the foreseeable future.

Time to go back to the drawing board and reexamine this whole retirement question.  When it comes to heaping the cost of superannuation payments onto employers payrolls that old adage from the days of the silk road between Asia and Europe comes to mind.   It was reputed to be the weight of that last piece of straw that broke the camel's back !

" Blackouts " ahead ?

 It seems that " push "has moved to " shove " when it comes to a reliable power supply for New South Wales.  Thirty-five percent of the electricity used in this state is generated by two power stations owned by AGL and both Liddell and Bayswater are linked by high tension transmission lines.  AGL has announced the removal of that link as part of it plan to close down the ageing Liddell power station.

AGL is a business owned by its shareholders and since 2015 Liddell has been on the chopping block for closure because of its unreliability.  The state government has been negotiating to keep it open until new electricity generation comes on line in the Snowy mountains and that prospect is not attractive for AGL from a commercial point of view.

A government review has been examining our power needs and AGL's announcement that Liddell will be " decoupled " from Bayswater has preempted  any finding it might deliver.  It seems that Liddell is essential to keeping the lights on in the coming summer and we are just a week away from the start of Spring.

This is the economic clash that many people saw coming when the government decided to sell the electricity generating industry to free up funds for other road and rail improvements that were deemed essential.   We were reliant on ageing power stations that burned coal to provide power, and now they were in the hands of commercial companies who needed to make a profit to keep their shareholders happy.

There is a real doubt that Liddell can meet its share of the load because of plant age, but coupled with Bayswater the two might manage to tide the state over days of high demand.  AGL has chosen to choke off that option by severing the link that connects the two stations and now the problem requires government action.  What that might be could be constricted by the legal options available to the government.

One line of thought involves forcing AGL to sell Liddell to either the government or another competitor, but that would involve countless delays in the court system.  There is no doubt that Liddell needs to be replaced by a modern power station, but that is a commercial decision that must be made by AGL's board of directors.

All the options have been under consideration for several years - without a final decision.  AGL has cleverly decided that " brinksmanship " is the only way to force the issue. Liddell will remain technically functional but once those transmission lines are removed both it and Bayswater will need to operate as freer standing units and Liddell reliability can not be masked by mixing the output with that from Bayswater.

This is what many critics feared.  A clash between a big commercial operation and its need to make logical economic decisions and the responsibility of the government to provide a reliable power supply. Those two ends are not compatible and what is at stake is the prospect of blackouts if power generation falls short of demand this summer.

It is in the interests of both to reach a workable conclusion to try and reduce the COVID-19 impact. The odds are that a last minute deal will be cobbled together in some smoky, backroom dealing and Liddell continues to work for the immediate future at added cost to the taxpayers of New South Wales  !

The " Puppy " Scam !

 This COVID-19 lockdown has generated a new interest in adding a " pet " to the household and animal shelters have had a rush of customers offering to give an abandoned dog or cat a new home. Usually the good samaritans who run animal shelters  check to see that the home is properly fenced and only charge a nominal sum before handing the anima to their buyer.  There is now a scarcity of unwanted animals to meet demand.

More selective buyers are choosing a preferred breed of puppy and are looking to registered dog breeders for supply and in this electronic age that has degenerated into sophisticated scams. Puppies from breeds that are in demand and which come with registration papers that guarantee their bloodlines can cost thousands of dollars and the police have taken a 27 year old man into custody and it is expected he will face charges that may run well in excess of a million dollars scammed.   He has been refused bail while the police wait for other victims to come forward to determine the full  extent of the scam.

The breed the scammer chose was blue Staffordshire Bull Terriers and he simply advertised puppies for sale on Gumtree and these were accompanied with appealing pictures of healthy pups to get the buyers excited.  He was asking for $2700 for each pup while legitimate breeders were asking for $3000.

This " bait " advertising got results.  New customers were asked to provide a " deposit " of between a thousand and two thousand dollars and quickly advised that the pup was on its way to them. They were then required to pay the balance, and often extra transport costs added on to cover delays when excited buyers failed to receive their purchase.

When the scammer thought no more money would be forthcoming, contact simply ceased.  He ceased answering emails and it quickly became evident that there were no puppies.   Those pictures used in the advertisements had been stolen from other web sites and the purchasers were buying " mirages " that did not exist. Police report that in the first six months of 2020 there have been similar scams with losses running well over a million dollars.

It delivers a timely warning that buyers need to check the bona fides of the seller before any money changes hands and the first move the buyer should make is to ensure that the breeder is registered with the Kennel Control  Council of Australia.   The KCC is the control that determines bloodline registration is correct and most breeders welcome a visit from buyers to inspect their facilities and actually see the dogs they are interested in.

Sometimes the sale involved breeders and buyers living in different states and the KCC registration serves as a degree of safety that the sale offer is legitimate.  Buyers often pick a breed of dog for more than their sheer looks.  Size is important, and whether the breed is good and safe with kids can be a factor.  A mixed breed dog can have very different characteristics and is a step into the unknown.

Unfortunately pictures of cute puppies is a big incentive for people to be unwise.  How a dog will fit in with their household is a big question that needs thought before that buying decision is made, and it must be remembered that most dogs have at least a twelve year lifetime.

That old adage is perfectly true in the electronic age.  If it looks too good to be true - then it probably is  !

Getting the Name Right !

In the dizzying heights of management decisions within our ABC the results are often rather pedantic.  The flagship news report that goes to air promptly at seven each evening is probably the most widely watched television news roundup in Australia and it is followed by the weather report.

ABC weather starts with the high and low temperatures achieved in the various Sydney suburbs and historically this included the range achieved in Wollongong because of that cities proximity to Sydney. Several months ago the ABC dropped the name of Wollongong and replaced it with " Bellambi Point ".

Bellambi Point would be a complete mystery to most Sydney viewers but at least its temperature would approximate that of the city of Wollongong, but when the report moves to the high and low temperatures across the state, Wollongong again goes missing and is replaced by " Albion Park ".

Albion Park is a suburb to the south west of Wollongong and - being inland -  has a very different temperature range to Wollongong city, and like Bellambi Point it would be unfamiliar to most people in the wider viewing area.

It can be reasoned that there is logic in replacing a city with a suburb when that report on temperatures within Sydney are reported on a suburban basis, but the state report includes cities and towns by their given name and to replace the mighty city of Wollongong with a mere suburban name is a disclaimer. Wollongong residents must wonder what their city has done to draw the ire of the ABC ?

It becomes more confusing when that weather report goes on to report the expected temperatures for the following day.  There is no further mention of either Bellambi Point or Albion Park in the state report and Wollongong reclaims its rightful spot to the south of Sydney, and - amazingly - its name is also restored in the report on the expected temperatures in Sydney suburbs.

Perhaps there is confusion in the higher reaches of the ABC.  Perhaps few of the Mandarins who control the ABC empire have ever travelled south of the National park.   Wollongong is a free standing city in its own right in similar fashion to Newcastle to Sydney's north.  It is noticeable that no attempt was made to reduce Newcastle to simply a suburban name.

While we are on the subject of place names it might be appropriate to mention a city that seems to have disappeared from the memory of the map makers.   Wollongong has a twin rapidly expanding on its southern border and Shellharbour long ago attained city status, yet it never appears on the ABC weather report.  Instead it gets lumped in together as part of Wollongong, and a similar situation appears with the city of Queanbeyan, which has a border with Canberra.

No doubt Shellharbour residents despair that theirs is a forgotten city and few in Wollongong would have been pleased when the ABC chose to drop their city name and replace it with two rather obscure suburbs.

In the interests of clarity, it is about time that misnomer was corrected on the weather map  !

The " Party Drug " Scene !

 Cocaine is fast emerging as the " party drug " in Sydney and it is in demand across our upper levels of society. There are very rich rewards to be made by those prepared to take the risk and devise a way of importing it into this country.  The police are successful in busting many such operations, but it is obvious that much is still getting through by way of the amount circulating so freely.

This week a tonne of cocaine was seized and three men arrested when police swooped on a fishing trawler off the coast of Newcastle. One of these was a 32 year old who moves in society circles, another was 27 and the third was a 41 year old Chinese national.  It is highly likely that all three will face life sentences when they face court.

The police operation that took a tonne of cocaine off the streets of Sydney makes interesting reading to those tempted to try their luck in the drug trade.  They obviously reasoned that there is nothing suspicious about a fishing trawler going to sea to seek a catch.  What they failed to understand is that our network of satellites circling the planet track the movements of shipping near our shores and this trawler simply sailed out to sea and made a rendevous with an overseas freighter - and then immediately returned to shore.

That alerted the police to have a look to see what it was carrying, and the three conspirators must have been unpleasantly surprised when a police launch pulled alongside and officers swarmed aboard.  There was a degree of drama when a fire erupted in the engine room, but it was quickly extinguished  and a tonne of cocaine was impossible to hide.

It is likely that money changed hands when that cocaine came aboard the intercepting trawler and the importing syndicate is now out of pocket for the cost of the drugs.  But is doesn't stop there.   That trawler will probably be impounded and those kind of vessels are expensive.  It is quite possible that more cautious investors with clean hands provided the funds to buy the boat and expected a share of the rewards once that cocaine was sold on the streets of Sydney.

That is why the lure of the drug trade is so strong.  There is steady and continuous demand for this party drug and a tonne of cocaine will turn into millions of dollars of profit.  Running parallel with the drug trade is another criminal activity where the profits from drug sales are laundered into " clean " money that can be legitimately spent without attracting attention.

At best, this drug seizure may make cocaine scarce on the streets of Sydney for a  week or so and probably the asking price may be a bit higher, but other importing sources will quickly fill the gap.  The source of the supply is many and varied and it is well known that North Korea is openly engaged in the drug trade to try and overcome the sanctions that prevent it from trading in legitimate commodities.  They are also engaged in counterfeiting the currency of other nations and are regarded as a " rogue regime ", now armed with nuclear weapons.

We will never be free of the illicit drug trade as long as there is still insatiable demand and right now cocaine is the drug of choice.  Prison and the seizure of assets is simply regarded as a necessary business cost to the people that manage the drug trade and the really smart people operate at hands length away from day to day operations.

This drug bust is encouraging, but little has actually changed on the streets of Sydney !

A Dangerous Election !

 On the other side of the word a political drama is being played out in Belarusia where president  Alexander Lukashenko claims to have achieved an overwhelming victory in a rigged election which would extend his twenty-six year rule.

The citizens are rioting in the streets and ominously Lukashenko has the support of his next door neighbor, Vladimir Putin who has promised military intervention if his ally is toppled.  Belarus has long moved in lockstep with Russia in the old days of the Soviet Union.

This November is election year in America, which claims to be the leader of the free world.  Controversial president Donald Trump is seeking another four year term and his popularity is waning.  According to the polls the vote is swinging behind Joe Biden and a desperate Trump is looking at ways to remain in office.

One of the reasons the voters are turning against him is the disruption to jobs and the climbing death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping America.  Trump was slow to implement safety measures and that allowed the disease to spin out of control and the voters seems likely to settle the blame on the president's shoulders.

There have been rumors that the election might be moved to well into the following year as a safety measure. Asking the voters to congregate in the voting booths seems a sure way to spread the virus, but America's election laws are rigid and a delay is unlikely.  It seems more likely that many people will seek to deliver a postal vote as a safety measure and it is claimed that Trump is deliberately making that impossible by withdrawing financial support from the American postal service to make the handling of that letter volume too slow to deliver an outcome in a reasonable time.

Already the president is claiming that postal voting is open to election rigging and that he may not recognise the result if it goes against him.  Trump swept into office with the vote of what are termed " redneck " Americans who rallied to his election pledge to " make America great again ".  He retains much of that support and these are the people most concerned with the right to bear arms as guaranteed in the American constitution.

If Trump loses the election, but refuses to leave office it would create a situation similar to what preceded the American civil war. A political division that could only be settled by the intervention of the American armed forces, and even there it is likely that both sides would be represented.  The prospect of a political collapse in a country armed with the greatest proliferation of nuclear weapons does not bear thinking about.

Sadly, the founding fathers who devised the checks and balances of the presidential system did not envisage a man of Trump's temperament ever winning office.  His outlook is conditioned by the " dog eat dog " incestuous regime of the business world and any sense of fair play or justice is jettisoned in favor of winning at any cost.

This is shaping up as being the most dangerous election which will decide the shape of the free world. If the American system dissolves into chaos it hands world leadership to the Mandarins in Beijing, and that could take us all into unfamiliar territory  !

Stretching Our Water Supply !

 Warragamba dam is now overflowing and we are assured that means that Australia's biggest city has five years worth of water in storage.  Despite this, water restrictions are still in place and there are no immediate plans for them to end.  Despite the water flowing to waste over the spillway there is a lingering doubt about water quality.

Global warming is delivering ever hotter summers and this rise in temperature is creating blue/green algae blooms and these are compounded by the run off from nearby mining operations and the growing cascade of polluting business activities in the catchment area.  Despite the dam reaching capacity, our desalination plant is still running and producing drinking water to add to Warragamba to raise the level of water quality.  Recent  flood rains washed ash from last years bushfires into the water stored there and that is decreasing visible clarity.

The water Warragamba delivers to the homes of Sydney citizens is classed as " drinking water ", and yet the vast majority of it is used for other purposes.  We flush our toilets with drinking water and the vast amount used to water parks and gardens must meet that quality standard.  The water used in food production needs to be of high quality, but many industries use water for industrial purposes where that is unimportant.  All that water eventually ends up discharged out into the nearby ocean.

The problem is the city of Sydney keeps ever growing and the catchment area that services its water supply is finite.  Unless we are to face a serious future water shortage we need to reclaim and recondition that discharge water and pipe it to where usage does not need to attain drinking water standards. The taps in city housing needs to deliver drinking water but some industries can run successfully with water of a lesser quality.

Technology is now able to recondition waste water to a high standard and piping reclaimed water to individual industries which high usage for an industrial purpose where lesser quality is acceptable would improve the capacity of the city water supply.  It is unlikely that housing will ever have a dual supply because of the cost of the infrastructure involved, but supply to selected industry would involve a lesser distribution network.

One of the tactics to reduce the demand for drinking water would be to zone areas for heavy industry with a high water use need which could be met by recycled water to where it could be economically distributed. Such clusters would reduce the draw from Warragamba and make the city storage capacity last the city well into the next century.

A hotter climate probably means that in future water from Warragamba may need to be reconditioned before it is put into household water supplies because of the effect of algae blooms on drinking water quality.  The sheer volume involved would be impossible unless the amount required to meet drinking water standards is substantially reduced, and that can only be done if industry can be convinced to use recycled water.

The technology exists to achieve this. Drinking water is too precious to be willfully wasted !

The End of " Money " !

 The Australian fifty dollar banknote has become our most popular item of currency.  The strange thing is that they keep disappearing and the Reserve bank has needed to run the printing presses to avoid banknote shortages.  Incredibly, 143 million more $50 dollar notes were needed in July than were in circulation in .February and that is despite the number of " tap and go " electronic transactions also increasing in frequency.

This seems to be related to the virus lockdown. There is a mood of uncertainty about the future and canny people are keeping their fortunes safely under the mattress rather than trusting the banks. The average wallet of today is unlikely to contain as many ten and five dollar notes as a year ago and the lack of any hundred dollar notes is because thev are shunned.

It is simply a fact of life that the fifty dollar note is accepted without question, while that hundred dollar bill is examined closely. It is not unusual for the receiver to hold the note up to the light to check its watermark and the fifty dollar note is more usual in day to day transactions.   Whenever a drug bust becomes an item on the nightly news, footage of drugs and cash seized usually shows a predominance of fifty dollar notes.

It is not surprising that the limited number of cafes and restaurants still open during this lockdown contain a greater number than refuse cash payments.  The old days when someone took the days takings to the bank and made a deposit are long gone.  The number of bank branches has shrunk and they are no longer interested in counting notes and causing queue delays.  Traders are obliged to  use the services of mobile banking  which collects the money, sort it into the correct denominations and bands it before delivering it to a central bank - and which charge for that service.  The banking of coins today brings similar obstacles.

When we converted to decimal currency in 1966 we had one and two cent copper coins and a one dollar banknote.  All three have been withdrawn from circulation, and our five cent coin looks likely to soon suffer a similar fate. Our entire monetary system is a holdover from the days when the only form of money was gold coins and silver and copper change.  At that time, the humble penny was traded in half pennies and even farthings, but its purchasing power diminished to the point that it cost more to mint than it represented at face value.

There is no reason the abolition of coin currency should inflate prices.  The decimal point is still valid in electronic transactions and allows a greater range of variations than the range of coins still in circulation, and there are now not many items priced singly below a dollar in value.  From a hygiene point of view, the exchange of both banknotes and coins in change delivers an unnaceptable risk factor in spreading this virus which is strangling our economy.

It seems inevitable that eventually the government will institute a currency change to flush out that money that is salted away under mattresses.  That has already happened in other overseas countries and residents are given a restricted time to change their holdings into legal tender. It has the advantage of creating consternation in the criminal fraternity while legitimate citizens suffer no harm.

We need to accept that this old method of paying for goods is as out of date as those one and two cents coins.

" Squatter's Rights " Law Claims !

In the early years of the twentieth century much of Sydney was unsewered.  Those were the days when every home had a brick outhouse in the back garden and this was serviced by the " dunny man ", who called weekly to replace the pan and take away what was termed the " night soil ".

Access was a problem and across many suburbs narrow laneways were created to allow this to be carried out with discretion.   Eventually, the sewer arrived and this network of service laneways fell into disuse, unwanted and forgotten, until this week the issue was decided by a judge in a New South Wales court.

The issue before the court concerned just such a laneway in the inner suburb of Redfern.  Its ownership was clearly on the deed of a neighboring property and was separated accordingly with a paling fence.  Over the years this fence deteriorated to the point that the man next door dismantled the fence and created what the judge described as a " small boutique Japanese style garden ".  He maintained this for forty years without any objection from the rightful owner.

That changed when the property that legally owned this garden went on the market and was sold. The new owner had the boundaries surveyed and had new fencing erected.  That fence restored the proper alignment and the careful gardener lost this miniscule piece of land measuring  88 centimetres by 3.81 metres.

He went to court with a claim based on an arcane old law embedded in the state law system.  This is termed the " Adverse Possession " law, but is colloquially known as  " Squatters Rights ".  The gardener was able to show that he had enjoyed uninterrupted and exclusive possession of the land for at least twelve years, as required by the law of adverse possession.   Accordingly, he was granted ownership of that land and his neighbor was required to remove that new fence.

That should be a wakeup call to property owners generally across this state.  It is common for arrangements that allow a neighbor to travel across a small section of your property or park a vehicle on land you own over a period of time. In earlier times the fence line was not usually established by a survey and it is quite usual for many dividing lines to contain significant variations.  The legal ownership of such land may be disputed in court if the user decides to apply under this adverse ownership provision.

It also opens an interesting can of worms in country areas of the state and specially in the many abandoned mining towns that dot the land.  Many farms have outlaying buildings that have long past their use and sometimes provide a home for families  down on their luck.  That is specially true in a recession when lack of jobs has desperate people seeking shelter.  What can be an act of kindness in ignoring the presence of a "squatter " can evolve into a land claim if that squatter maintains a presence for the stipulated period of time.

A similar situation exists in abandoned mining towns.  Usually , the town is abandoned because the ore mined has run out, but the homes have owners and the changing value of minerals or new discoveries can breathe new life and that brings ownership into question.

This " adverse ownership " law allows ownership to be disputed and most people are unaware that allowing uncontested presence can lead to loss of their property  !

A New Coronavirus Threat !

 New Zealand seemed to offer a shining example of how the coronavirus could ben tamed.  Their initial lockdown led to a three month period in which these  Pacific islands were disease free and life began returning to normal.

Now a cluster has suddenly appeared in their biggest city, and the " why question " can not be answered.  Suspicion is mounting that coronavirus may be travelling undetected on frozen goods arriving in the country and that is a danger that was unexpected.   We know that this virus can not be killed by either hot or cold weather, but whether it can survive in frozen form awaits further investigation.

The finger is being pointed at countries where the virus is rampant and which export food goods to the world.  It seems quite reasonable that if workers there are infected when they are packing goods for overseas shipment there is a possibility that this is a dangerous way the disease may be transferred to supermarket freezers.

The problem is that workers may be infected for many days before the conditions show  and because of air freight those goods can be on the other side of the world just hours after they are packed.  It seems inevitable that frozen fish and the wide variety of frozen vegetables on offer in our supermarkets will be viewed with buyer suspicion.

If this is correct, it is not just a New Zealand problem - but a world problem.  We live an interconnected world in which frozen goods play a big part in the world food supply.  If the buying public reject all foods packed overseas it will not solve the problem.  The food we pack and freeze here in Australia is just as likely to be handled by a worker with latent strains of the coronavirus in their system.  Frozen foods are an integral part of our entire farming system.

If the coronavirus is able to travel in frozen form it will certainly be put under the microscope by world   scientists to determine how long that may remain viable.  Because it is an entirely new disease we are yet to learn its inner workings and they may be different to the strains we encounter.  It may contain threats that cross normal boundaries.

It is quite possible that all forms of frozen food may be required to be held in storage for a nominated period of time once the lifetime of the virus is known.  We are aware that the all year round supply of seasonal goods is achieved by cold storage and a time delay would be a simple answer once a safety period is established.

If nothing else, this coronavirus has been a wake up call that our growing world population is vulnerable to newly minted diseases capable of upending the world economy.   We are lucky that this one has a moderate death rate and mainly attacks elder people.

There may be many more unpleasant surprises before this virus event is over and the world that emerges will have little relevance with the one that went before.

A Grudging Forgiveness !

For centuries, Afghanistan has been a country invaded and fought over by the great powers because of the position on the world map that it occupies.  Its proximity to India brought a disastrous British invasion in the nineteenth century that ended in a historic massacre from which just one man emerged alive.  It is very much a tribal country and its residents have been long denied the right to choose their own destiny.

In our eyes it is a backward place of strong religious convictions. These impose what we consider a way of life reminiscent of the Middle Ages where women are subservient and girls are uneducated.  They are farming folk and invasions by the Russians, followed by the Americans have been strongly resisted.  This has resulted in a long war against a local resistance which is known as the " Taliban ".

Australia was part of that American occupation in which they tried to impose democracy on an unwilling people. It degenerated into a guerilla war in which we suffered casualties.  We tried to train a local army to bring peace to the country after our departure and this sometimes brought attacks that we deemed " treachery ".

Afghan soldiers under training would sometimes turn their guns on their trainers, escape with their weapons and rejoin the Taliban.  In one instance, in August 2012 a man named Hekmatuliah gunned down three Australian soldiers who were playing cards during a training break.  Later in the war, this man was recaptured and sentenced to death for his part in these killings.

The world has wearied of this long Afghan war and Afghan president Ghani is fast reaching an agreement with the Taliban to end hostilities.  As a part of that agreement, some five thousand Taliban prisoners are scheduled to be released - and Hekmatuliah is one of them.

That has created strong opposition in Australia.  The fact that three of our unarmed soldiers were mercilessly slaughtered by a trainee who had willingly joined the Afghan army goes against the grain. That death sentence has been commuted to life imprisonment and the Australian government  is appealing to Ghani to have that release cancelled.

It all depends on how we see his action and that depends on our point of view.  To many Afghans the invading Americans and Australians were part of an overwhelming force to be resisted by whatever means were possible.  They would compare their actions to the people of Europe who opposed the invading German army with sabotage and partisan killings to weaken their enemies.

All wars eventually come to an end and some sort of agreement seems to be reached with the Taliban to end the killings.   To achieve that, a line has to be drawn under the past and usually that contains measures that are distasteful to both sides.  In this instance, a man we consider a murderer will regain his freedom.

Such is the price we have to pay, but that never changes in the aftermath of countless wars.  It would be nice to think that wars would be fought strictly in accordance with the rules that apply within the Geneva convention, but war brings out the worst aspects of humankind.

Now is the right time to draw a line under the Afghan war !

Harvesting The Crops !

In the distant past backpackers from Europe and North America flocked to Australia during summer and autumn and found casual work bringing in the crops. Different crops ripened at different times of the year and this enabled young travellers to travel widely and enjoy a holiday at the same time fruit picking work augmented their budgets.

It was a mutually beneficial experience.  There were simply not enough available people in country areas to bring in the crops without this iterant  help and farmers lamented that without it the crops would not get picked.  Visitors were encouraged because fruit picking was a legitimate reason for visa extensions to be granted beyond the applicable limits.

That was before the coronavirus put this nation in isolation and there is every reason to think that it will still be making its presence felt when summer rolls around again.  Not only does cheap air travel seem to be a thing of the past, visitors from areas where the virus is rampant are required to spend time in quarantine before they begin their holidays.   The tourist trade has slowed to a mere trickle ands it is doubtful that we will see many backpackers arriving here in the near future.

That could be a disaster for the Australian farm industry.  The industry freely admits that backpackers provided the main labour in past seasons and that contribution is essential to moving the crops from the trees to the shops and the factories where it is processed.  Without fruit pickers, we face crop failures.

It is also a fact of life that we expect a huge job shortage when commerce starts to recover from the lockdown and this will be specially heavy amongst those finishing school and those looking for their first job. It is probably not the type of work most envisage but bringing in the crops is a national emergency and young people must be encouraged to think outside the nine dots and seek a living where opportunity offers.

There is no reason why a fit and healthy young person can not make a good living fruit picking. The pay depends on the quantity pickled and the work requires the pickers to move from farm to farm and from crop to crop as the work progresses.  Pickers need to make their own living arrangements, but most farms provide at least basic shelter and backpackers usually have a van as a mobile home.

This is an opportunity for young Australians to broaden their horizons and gain a new experience, and at the same time deliver a national service. But there is a need to weed out a degree of corruption that has entered the industry.  Shady hire firms have emerged that recruit pickers and negotiate with farmers to pick entire crops, but the rate they offer pickers is sub standard and the benefits they claim to provide are illusionary.

One of the tricks they use is to offer high pay on an elevated daily pick quota that is impractical.  When the actual count runs short, the pay dwindles accordingly.  It is up to the farmers to ensure that  fruit picking delivers a fair days pay for a fair days work.

This coronavirus has created a new Australian work scene.  Traditional jobs in the city may be scarce but this opens new opportunities for those prepared to travel to where the work is offering - and embrace a new experience.

It's Un-Australian !

This weekend brought news of a savage attack at a suburban playing field at the end of a junior rugby game.  Without warning, a nineteen year old man produced a kitchen knife and stabbed a player from one of the teams and two spectators, before fleeing the scene.

Police and ambulances were called and two men are now in hospital in a serious but stable condition.  The third suffered light injuries and was treated and allowed home, and a search for the attacker involved the police helicopter and ground units.

The police successfully tracked the offender to a house nearby and arrested him.  He also had wounds and he was taken to hospital for treatment, where he remains under police guard.  The police took possession of a 15 centimetre kitchen knife and this will be used in evidence when the matter goes to court. 

What is obvious is that this young man went to a suburban football game armed with a knife and that is simply un-Australian.  In the past history of this country arguments were settled in fist fights and the end result was nothing more serious than a black eye or a bloody nose.  The police report that when they break up brawling youths it is not now unexpected to find a trove of deadly weapons and the outcome of these fights is often serious injury.

They illustrate this tendency where a man was found beaten and unconscious and looks likely to lose the sight in one eye.  A gang of nine young men decided to beat up a complete stranger and even when he lay on the ground they continued to beat him with baseball bats and kick him about the head. Sadly, there was no objective to this fury beyond the group having what they termed " fun " !

Being in possession of a knife is a criminal offence but the courts are reluctant to send young men to prison, specially for first offences.  Our jails are brutal places, often referred to as " the university of crime " and drug access is more readily available than on Sydney streets.  The liaisons made in prison often lead to an unending life of crime.

Unfortunately, Australia is gaining a gun culture and this is closely associated with the drug trade.  Our bulk container trade hides the import of both drugs and guns and the profit from the drug trade means  that the drug traders need to arm themselves for protection from the criminal fraternity seeking to rob them of their money.  The money market is rife with schemes to " launder " drug money and this becomes a " cat and mouse " game between law enforcement and the legitimate points of money exchange. A gun in criminal hands is no longer unusual.

We are fast entering the era where gang bosses travel with an escort of heavily armed protectors and the streets are becoming dangerous places for ordinary citizens.  The elimination of rivals is now often by way of assassination and a street ambush can involved innocent people.  It is this urge to carry protection that seems to be trickling down and resulting in young men carrying a hidden knife for personal safety.

Despite knives being considered very un-Australian that is reality on the streets of this country today, and even that is fast being replaced with a growing gun culture !

Just Replacing Petrol !

So far the electric car has not met the expectations of the industry analysts who for decades have predicted that it would help save the planet from global warming.   The majority of new cars sold each year continue to be powered by the internal combustion engine and it is obvious that the massive international car industry is reluctant to go much further than hybrid models.

The stumbling block is distance possible on a full battery charge.   That is ever extending, but the small number of all electric cars now on the road is inhibiting the building of fast charge refuelling  stations, and without these electric cars are reduced to an overnight charge on the mains electric supply.

The reluctance to change by the car manufacturing industry is understandable.  Their production lines and worker skills are based on the internal combustion engine and they are very good at what they make.  The government is also well satisfied with the tax regime it has applied to oil based car fuel and electric cars will necessitate a complex and costly new charging system.

The problem is we are now getting the effects of a hotter planet and the scientists tell us this is caused by our reliance on fossil fuels. They point the finger at the coal we dig out of the ground and use to generate electric power and the oil we use to drive the millions of cars running on the world's roads.   Wind and solar can replace coal, and the electric car seems like the answer to that oil problem.

Now a new challenge has arisen to the dominance of the electric car, and that would probably suit both the car manufacturing industry and world governments.  If the problem of global warming is the necessity of oil to run the internal combustion engine, there is a fast developing new fuel that can replace oil without damaging the planet.

That is the promise of hydrogen fuel.  Hydrogen is a combustible gas that is derived from the most common basic found on this planet - water !  Water, both fresh and salty - is known as h20 and breaks down into hydrogen and oxygen.  Hydrogen has many industrial uses and before airplanes it was the lifting agent in the age of airships.

It is the explosive gas from a mix of petrol and air that drives the internal combustion engine, and exactly the same result can be achieved by a mix of hydrogen and air.  A lot of research has gone into developing a hydrogen fuel unit and this has now reached the stage where field tests are underway in Australia.

What is promising is that this is being conducted with a car manufacturing company.  The hydrogen gas is manufactured by Jemena, a wholly owned subsidiary of infrastructure giant Wesfarmers and this work is being done in conjunction with Hyundai, an innovative South Korean car manufacturer who has claimed a fair share of sales on the world car stage.

The hydrogen fuel cell leaves behind no residue - except water.  Hyundai will install a hydrogen refuelling station in Sydney and the entire car industry will watch progress with incredible interest. The problem facing hydrogen is the same as bedevils the  electric car - the need for a range of fuelling stations to extend the driving range.

If that hydrogen fuel cell can be made compatible with existing service stations it could stop the electric car in its tracks.    The hydrogen fuel cell with zero emissions would suit the car industry and the government because it would retain the internal combustion engine - and the " pay as you pump " tax system.

There is very big money backing this hydrogen fuel cell development and the outcome could be a cooler, safer planet and less disruption to the car industry.

That " Mask " Solution !

 The sight of people rioting on the streets of Melbourne simply because they are now required to wear a face mask when travelling on public transport or shopping at a supermarket is disgusting.  The fact that the reason for this disturbance is sheer self indulgence is beyond belief.   They claim mask wearing is an attack on their civil liberties.

The entire Australian economy and way of life is threatened by this pandemic.  The smaller states have managed to get coronavirus under control, but the numbers are still rampant in Victoria and Sydney is  experiencing worrying pockets that seem hard to eradicate.   Even our best economists are unable to forecast the final outcome.  In fact, there is a doubt that we may never be fully rid of this troublesome plague.

The government would be justified if it implemented war powers.  The lockdown was necessary, but the damage to our economy will be felt across all stratas  of the Australian economy.  Many long standing old companies will fail to reopen their doors because this lockdown has destroyed their capital base.  They are still responsible for repaying the debts they incurred to improve machinery and the rates and taxes that apply to factory sites are ongoing - but income has ceased.   The one thing on which the economists agree is that we will face a severe jobs shortage when - and if - this virus is vanquished.

Putting our hopes on a vaccine seems to be wishful thinking.  At best, it may become reality  sometime next year and then we will face the prospect of many of these self indulgent rioters refusing to take the needle to achieve herd protection.  It does not auger well for the future that some sections of society are rejecting the very reasonable restrictions being put in place to get the economy moving again.

When we were threatened with hostile forces advancing down the island chain to our north the government instituted rationing of food and clothing and placed severe restrictions on movement.  It would not be unreasonable to expect citizens to wear a breathing mask whenever they leave the security of their homes to avoid infecting others they come in close contact with.   The wearing of gloves could be another requirement to avoid contamination from the many contact with objects we encounter in our travels.  We are in the habit of disinfecting hands when we enter shops and disinfecting gloves would have the added advantage that wearing them reduces the tendency to touch our faces.  It would be a small imposition to improve public safety.

The fact that people ordered to isolate in their homes because they have been in proximity to infection are disobeying that instruction can not be tolerated.  Offenders need to be arrested for this breach of trust and held in maximum security until the infection period has passed.  The fact that many confined to their homes are moving freely in society is probably one of the main reasons we are seeing infection clusters break out which can not be traced.

Our entire way of life is under threat and the containment of this coronavirus is a national emergency. The longer it is allowed to continue the greater the harm it will cause.  If the government needs to assume war time powers that would be reasonable in the present circumstances  !

A New Approach To Sentencing !

It is an inescapable fact that our  Indigenous " First Australian " people are incarcerated at 13.5 times the greater rate than the rest of the Australian population.  The government has been looking for a new approach to reduce this over representation and what is being considered is a new initiative to be called the " Walama Court ".

That name was derived from the meaning of " come back " in the Dharug language and would involve Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander elders in sentencing discussions, rehabilitation and monitoring. The court would be open to between seventy-five and a hundred cases a year, all of whom would have pleaded guilty to an offence, including sexual offences.

This is an extension of of two other initiatives already in place.  Known as the " Koori Court " this is embedded in the Magistrates Court of Victoria and the New South Wales local court circle.   It recognises " elders cultural authority " and is instrumental in deciding holistic support for First Nations people.

One of the problems is that tribal people are unlikely to hold down a regular job and when a court applies a fine for a minor offence that usually goes unpaid.  That is specially true when it applies to Aboriginal women who are vastly over represented in women's prisons.  Eventually, that unpaid fine results in the offender being incarcerated for a length of time calculated to settle the debt.

The justice system is heavily weighed in favour of depriving an offender of money as a form of punishment, but this is a heavier burden on the unemployed.  In fact, the monetary fine system delivers a very different weight between poor Australians and those wealthy and is one of the reasons that community service orders were imposed in place of fines.   Rich or poor doing community labouring jobs tends to even out the punishment more than just imposing a fine.

The thinking is that this Walama Court would introduce a new element to crime and punishment.  Before the arrival of the first fleet the Aboriginal communities had their own system of punishment to institute law and order  and in some instances that involved the offender suffering a spearing.  It is highly likely the elders could suggest a cultural requirement that serves to bring shame on the offender and is recognised in the wider community as just retribution for the offence committed.

This would be better if instituted nationally but that is not likely to happen in the short term.  What is important is that the Walama court needs to be recognised as a legitimate  alternative to the regular court system if it is to achieve a reduction in the incarceration of Indigenous people.  It would not be there to reduce the severity of sentencing, but rather to apply what is considered a cultural penalty that fits the crime.

In the event of the offender not meeting the obligations imposed, the Walama court would have access to the backing of the judicial system to revert to incarceration when that was necessary.  Importantly, it has the backing of the many Indigenous lawyers practising in Australia and seems to deliver justice from both a social and a financial point of view !

Upward ? Or Outward ?

One of the reasons that Sydney has much lower building height restrictions than other world cities is the limitation of having our main airport at Mascot, adjacent to the city centre.   It was reasoned that aircraft approaching and taking off from Mascot would be at risk on days of low cloud or the occasional fog that shrouds the city.

We are fast finishing a new airport to the city's west and the instrument landing techniques that are in use today are a big improvement on the days when Mascot was first established as our air gateway.  The fate of Mascot after the new airport opens is yet to be decided but it seems inevitable that it will lose much of its traffic to where a faster traffic turnaround is possible.

Pressure is building to increase the height of new buildings in the city, and one of the arguments put forward is that adding another twenty stories to the present limit would sharply reduce the purchase price of a city apartment.   At present a new apartment in one of Sydney's towering blocks sells for about $ 873,000.  That would come down to about $ 519,000 if the economies of those extra twenty stories were taken into account.

That is the appeal of the " vertical village " concept.  Going upward has the advantage of adding more people to the existing gas, water and sewage facilities and new buildings sited adjacent to transport hubs encourage greater use of public transport.  The only way is upwards if we hope to end the outward sprawl of the city.

The economics are encouraging, but it does come at a cost.  Those ultra tall buildings cast a shadow and block the sun from the older, lower buildings that remain and the " canyons " they create increase wind speeds at street level.  The sheer economics of having a roof over our heads is diminishing the dream of having a backyard where the kids can play and making that the prerogative of the very wealthy.

If height limits are increased it will further serve to widen the price difference between an apartment and a free standing house.  A greater proportion of the population will be forced to adopt apartment living which many people consider a drop in living standards.   The city skyline may resemble the scenes we deplore in China where its vast population is housed in tiny apartments separated from the ground by massive elevator systems.  In the event of a power failure, thousands are stranded high in the sky.

The alternative is developing satellite cities on our outward perimeter but the blocks of land are now so small and the houses we build are so big that no free standing space remains and those packed structures simply deliver a calamitous fire risk.  We are warned of the risk of a bushfire sweeping into the suburbs ands causing mass devastation as happened in Canberra several years ago.

That decision on building heights is enmeshed in politics.  The decision whether to go with an apartment in the sky or a similar structure occupying all the available land in the suburbs depends on the outlook of the decision makers.   How we will live and what the Sydney skyline looks like in the future will be dependent on that balance  !

Living With A " Bomb " !

Six years ago a ship called at the Lebanese port of Beirut and was found to be carrying an illegal cargo of ammonium  nitrate.  It was seized by the authorities, unloaded and stored in a warehouse where it has remained awaiting a disposal decision by the Lebanese government.

Ammonium Nitrate serves as an important substance for agriculture when it is used as a fertilizer, but it can also be used to manufacture explosives.  It is often the substance of terrorist bombs and the addition of diesel fuel makes a deadly combination.  The quantity stored on the Beirut waterfront was over 2,700 tonnes and this week that mysteriously exploded.

The size of that explosion was catastrophic and can be compared to the devastation that would be caused by an atomic bomb, except for the radiation.  It tore the heart out of the city and the shock wave wrecked buildings in a wide circle.  In the immediate aftermath at least a hundred people are dead and that number will certainly increase as the wreckage is searched. Hospitals and medical centres are battling to cope with the thousands injured.

Lebanon is a country on the fringe of a war zone. Its depressed economy has not been helped by political uncertainty and the ravages of the coronavirus and this contributed to such a huge quantity of a dangerous substance being virtually abandoned on the waterfront and left unchecked for years.  We may never know what caused this explosion, but that country's main port is completely destroyed and this will put both commerce and the food supply at risk.

The timing is awful.   The world economy has taken a hit from the coronavirus lockdown and that will decrease the ability of many nations to offer recovery help.  Thousands have lost their homes and it is probable that many of the buildings still standing will need to be demolished.  Many of the residents of Beirut will be living in the streets well into the future.

This catastrophe will have thoughts of the dangers posed within cities brought to mind here.  Sydney is the jewel in the Pacific tourist destination crown and dangerous commerce has been  stripped away to other places, and Wollongong further down the coast has become the alternative destination.  What are termed " dirty industries " have been relocated to Port Kembla and that port is embedded deeply in the city of Wollongong.  It now contains the coal loader and the grain loader and the escape of dust from grain can be a powerful explosive if the conditions suit.

Port Kembla is a scene of building activity as the terminal for liquid gas imports is nearing completion.  It is envisaged that Port Kenbla will be the main entry point for gas from either our north west shelf in Western Australia or imports from Europe or North America.  The terminal will have the capacity to receive the specially built ships that contain hundreds of thousands of metres of volatile liquid natural gas that will be pumped into holding facilities and on to pipelines connected to state industry.

We are assured that high safety standards will apply, but Port Kembla is surrounded by densely populated suburbs containing the homes of Wollongong residents and the now high rise city centre is adjacent to the port.  With what happened in Beirut in mind,  it must be remembered that natural gas is an explosive substance and should a ship explode the outcome to Beirut would be similar here.

It is simply a trade off.  The acquisition of dangerous trades brings well paying jobs and an elevated standard of living.  Wollongong was known as the " steel city " because it was home to a massive steel works, but now it is becoming the access port for New South Wales.    Just so long as we remember that does come with dangers !

Tightening the Law !

The ubiquitous smartphone is - everywhere !   The world has learned to live in constant communication and that safety aspect is not lost on parents.  It is not unusual to see little kids of primary school age with that vital link to  Mum and Dad.

The one place where it is essential that mobile phones not be used is when it is in the hands of a person driving a car.  If that person takes their eyes off the road to send or receive a text message it can be a recipe for disaster and even talking on a phone while driving is a distraction.

The law is very firm and getting caught even holding a mobile phone while driving carries a penalty of a $344 fine and the loss of five demerit points.  There are now fixed and mobile cameras in place that can clearly identify phone use while driving and these have added $19 million to government coffers from 43,000 fines imposed.

Unfortunately, the concept of fairness in how the law is applied  is slanted against the average motorist when the offending car is registered to a company and not an individual.  If the company claims it can not identify who was driving at that place and time, those demerit points are waived and the fine jumps from $344  to $1745, a five fold increase.

Almost one in every ten such offences escapes the application  of demerit points by that method.  As a result, the demerit points system that is supposed to remove repeat offenders from the road is allowing a class of privileged citizens to virtually thumb their nose at the law.  The provision of a company car, registered and paid by the company is often part of the renumeration package offered to CEO's and department heads.  It is also usual for sales representative and the drivers of company delivery vehicles to be driving a company owned and maintained car or van.   In the small business field it is common for vehicles to be company owned.

In many instances, the company chooses to just pay that fine because the offender is the boss or someone of importance in the company.   The fine would be treated as a normal business expense and deducted when tax was audited for the tax office. The government chooses to ignore this anomaly  because the added tax is to their advantage.

There are probably a number of privileged people using phones while driving with complete indifference to the law.  Many would have accrued demerit points that resulted in their driving license being cancelled except for this " company vehicle "  shield.  Their illegal use of phones while driving goes  unchecked.

Those phone use detection cameras have high resolution face recognition ability.  It is time law enforcement started applying taking the evidence of the offending driver to the company owning the vehicle and pursuing the matter further.   That phone use law applies to everyone.  It is not justice if the privileged escape the law !

Toll Road Dangers !

Plans are being considered for construction of what is called the " Second Harbour Tunnel " under Sydney Harbour which would connect Rozelle with North Sydney.  It is not expected that a start on this project will commence before 2022. Expressions of interest are being sought  as it is expected that these twin 6.5  kilometre tunnels will be a joint venture between the government and private financial interests.

Put rather bluntly, the government is signalling that this extension of the city road system will be subjected to a toll.  We are fast becoming one of the most expensive world cities when it comes to road tolls and for vast numbers of motorists the road system is becoming unaffordable.

In the distant past, road construction was financed from taxes and was a government responsibility, but that now competes with the need to construct schools, hospitals and housing and each section of new highway constructed is sold off to a financier who retrieves a profit from the toll extracted from users.

The alternative to using these toll roads is the choked city street system which would adds hours to the daily commute.  It is not a question of whether we need a second harbour crossing.  This constant opening of new sections of toll roads  is adding to living expenses and we are fast driving out the lowly paid workers who are essential for keeping so much of this city running.  These road tolls are a privation that will make Sydney an unhealthy city.

That other harbour crossing was achieved by giant boring machines achieving a concrete lined tunnel far under the harboiur waters, but a new method calls for trenches to be dug in the harbour floor and tunnel sections lowered into them.   This will be done from barges and there will be a consequent disruption to harbour traffic while the work is in progress.

Excavating trenches for this crossing raises the question of how and where the highly contaminated sludge from the harbour bottom will be dispersed.   At this stage it is suggested that some will go to inland landfills and the majority will be put on barges, taken far out to sea and dumped in very deep water.  It is doubtful if this disposal method accords with our obligations under United Nations rules for care of the world's oceans.

It is also evident that our plans to improve the road system sre based entirely on our past history.  We seem to be on the cusp of the electric car replacing the internal combustion engine, and cars  not needing a human driver.   At the same time, this coronavirus has wrecked our economy and what emerges when it is finally quelled is likely to be very different from the past.

Perhaps a good reason to put that crossing on hold until we see what pattern starts to emerge.  There would be little point in a toll road system that far exceeds the financial ability of the average driver to use it, and that is a something that potential investors need to keep in mind  !

The Shark Safety Net Question !

Back in the mid twentieth century a shark attack in Australian waters was so rare that it would attract banner headlines in newspapers.  Now these attacks are regular news items that merely rate a mention in the inner pages. Fortunately, many victims manage to survive, but it does raise the question as to why this is now so common  ?

Our ever growing population means there are a lot more of us to invade what we regard as the shark's home territory but we are fairly safe swimming off city beaches.  The majority attacks happen to surfers riding the waves way offshore or people swimming at more remote parts of the shore line.

We have a very controversial line of defence that stretches between Newcastle and Wollongong during the September to April swimming season.  The policy in place calls for sharks caught in these nets to be tagged and released.   The record is good because we have only had one fatality from a shark attack in the sixty years these nets have been in place - and that was sixty years ago.

What is surprising is that these nets do not stop sharks coming close inshore.  Lifesavers at city beaches often see sharks near swimmers and clear the waters while they are chased away.  In particular, the shark species deemed most likely to attack humans are great whites,, bull and tiger sharks.

Critics of these nets complain that they catch and drown a host or protected species.  Of the 480 animals caught, only fifty were dangerous sharks, mostly great whites and unfortunately the over kill contained  dolphins, turtles and many " harmless " shark species including hammerheads and the protected grey nurse shark.   Whales also get entangled in these shark nets as they make their annual journey along our coastline.

Now most lifesaver patrols are equipped with drones and these cheap eyes in the sky are able to give early warning of sharks approaching.  Seasonal movement of bait fish encourage sharks to follow schools inshore and beaches are closed until this danger passes.  Critics who demand those nets be removed think modern technology is better able to keep bathers safe in the water.

One alternative used where an attack has occurred is the drum line approach.  Baited hooks attached to a float are regularly inspected and the tag and release policy applies.  This is more selective than netting, but it still culls a degree of protected species and draws the ire of critics.

Despite the damage they do to the ecology those shark nets have a proven safety record.  Swimming at a popular city beach with lifesavers in attendance is enjoyed by vast crowds and it is reasoned that there is safety in numbers.  It is the lone swimmer at a remote beach that seems more likely to suffer a shark attack.

We would do well to remember that when we go into the water we are entering the sharks feeding ground, and to a shark a human is an unusual delicacy unlike the other fish it encounters.  Curiosity creates an urge for it to take a nibble to see what we taste like.

Keeping that thought in mind is probably the best precaution most swimmers need to make sure they - and sharks - do not encounter one another in the water  !

The " Newspaper Mandarins " of Politics !

When television first started in Australia in 1956 it was thought that this new way of presenting the news cycle would drive newspapers out of business.  The number of mastheads has certainly been reduced to a small number of corporations, but it is a fact that the political leanings of their proprietors has a big impact on how the news is presented.

One Australian man has dominated the press both here and in Europe and today Rupert Murdock has great influence on how the news is presented.  His company - News Corporation - is the publisher of such important mastheads as " The Australian " and the " Daily Telegraph " and in the television world he is head of Fox Corporation.  That degree of control influences the politics of how the news is presented to the public.  Murdock's goodwill is vitally important to the leaders of Australian political parties.

Rupert Murdock is now 89 years old and eventually control will pass to his heirs.  He has two sons, James and Lachlan, and both have recently worked in the family company, but now a split has occurred and it is plain the family political outlook is not equally shared.   James Murdock has resigned from News Corp and made if quite clear that the separation was not amicable.   He disagreed with the family's political direction.

Rupert Murdock's political views were directed at what are termed " right wing "  politics and James has viewed the world through a " left leaning " prism.   The flash point probably came as a result of the deadly white supremacist protests in Charllottesville, Virginia in 2017 and the slant in which it was portrayed in Murdock newspapers.  This caused James to write an open letter to the company criticising President Donald Trump's response.  He commented:  " I can't even believe I have to write this: standing up to Nazi's is essential: there are no good Nazi's - or Klansmen or Terrorists. "

There will be a degree of consternation in Australian political circles.   It seems to set in stone the direction the political outlook the Murdock empire will take when Rupert's life ends.  There was the hope of balance with two brothers with differing political views but now all hope of consensus is broken.   With the departure of James, the heir apparent is now firmly settling on Lachlan's shoulders and he seems destined to follow in his father's footsteps.

The interesting question is what James may choose to  do with the rest of his life.  He and his wife recently donated $860,000 to Joe Biden's presidential campaign so he is very interested in American politics and he certainly has newspaper " know how " in his blood.   Rupert certainly set British newspaper publishing on its head when he went rogue and broke union power in London decades ago.  It remains to be seen if James will establish his own masthead and how that would influence the direction that politics takes in Australia.

The big question is whether James will emerge as the left wing newspaper voice to trumpet the socialist view across Australia.

Does Australia Need a Gulag ?

We live in a very disobedient age  !  Thousands of Australians took to the streets in defiance of both court orders and pleas from the health providers when they deemed the " Black lives matter " crusade took preference over stopping the spread of the coronavirus.

Now we are shocked to hear that one in four of the people who have come in contact with the virus and been ordered to undergo a period of isolation are not obeying that instruction.  We are seeing suspicious new clusters appearing in the community that can not be attributed to a known source and when police and army personnel started  making house calls to check, an alarming number of supposedly isolated people could not be located.

Obeying that isolation rule is both a moral and a legal requirement, but implementing it is more bluff than substance.  A fine of a thousand dollars is unenforcible on someone who lives from one paycheck to another and has virtually no assets.  In fact, time in prison is still the option employed by the state debt office when all other means of collecting the money have failed.

In the early stages of this pandemic, people returning to Australia from overseas and testing positive to the virus were held in hotels at government expense.  That has changed, and now such detainees will be presented with the bill when their isolation period ends.  It will be interesting to learn what procedure swings into place for those unable to settle that bill  ?

Requiring offenders who break isolation orders to serve a prison sentence is also an option not likely to be widely employed.  Our prisons are overcrowded and offer an opportunity for the coronavirus to spread like wildfire, and there would be justified retribution if the authorities knowingly placed infected offenders amongst the very prisoners they are charged with protecting.

Many overseas authoritarian  regimes impose control over the masses by the use of what we term " gulags ".   Usually this operates entirely outside of the regular court system and offenders against the edicts of the government simply disappear and find themselves contained in these work camps for an indeterminate period of years.   The brutality and harshness varies from country to country but they are greatly feared.   Break the social isolation code and you get whisked off to the Gulag.  They have no place in our democratic way of life.

That does present the various governments of Australia with the quandary of what to do with citizens who simply refuse to live by the civil code and obey an instruction to remain at home for a set period until infection from the coronavirus abates.  Their disobedience can have the outcome of spreading the disease and it is inevitable that some such victims will die an unpleasant and painful death.

In earlier centuries such offenders might have been put in the stocks in a public place where they would be shamed by being pelted with rubbish and rotten fruit, but that form of punishment has long gone out of fashion.  Willfully spreading a deadly disease is a social crime that seems to be awaiting the displeasure of the masses  !