A Diplomatic Success !

 Kylie Moore-Gilbert is back in Australia after two years in an Iranian prison.  Gaining her freedom could be a highlight of the skillful diplomacy undertaken by the Australian government who had the task of putting together a many sided deal to achieve that result.

Iran enjoys a prickly relation with the rest of the world and has been trying to develop its own nuclear weapons.  A deal was brokered to keep the nation nuclear free and Iran was meeting its obligations when Donald Trump withdrew American support.  Hopefully, when Joe Biden takes office he will bring that deal back to the status quo.

Kylie Moore-Gilbert is an Australian university lecturer who visited Iran for an academic conference. When she was about to leave the country she was arrested by the security police and charged with spying. It is believed that Iran discovered that her husband was an Israeli and her arrest was because of the enmity between Iran and Israel.  She was pronounced guilty and sentenced to serve a ten year prison term.

The Australian government avoided " megaphone "  diplomacy and negotiated quietly.  It quickly became obvious that success would involve some sort of " deal " and three Islamic terrorists in prison in Thailand seemed a promising compromise.  Our diplomats carefully created an arrangement that needed to get the nod from Iran, Thailand and Israel, with the transfers taking place in Australian hands.

That brought an aircraft from the Commonwealth air fleet to fly to Thailand and pickup those three terrorists and take them to Teheran, where it then brought the released Moore-Gilbert back to Australia. A very satisfactory arrangement which avoided compromise.

It does deliver a warning to Australians thinking of visiting the world's trouble spots.  Even a comment innocently made on Facebook could cause offence to an overseas government and bring about an arrest.  We are presently having a trade spat with China and many Australian exports to that country are being refused clearance in Chinese ports.

Should that situation escalate it could involve Australian tourists visiting China being refused an exit visa.  We should remember the many long years of the " cold war " when entry and exit to any of the countries of the Soviet block presented problems.  It was not unusual for dissidents to be trapped behind the " Iron Curtain " and forced to remain against their will for years.

Tensions have eased in many parts of the world but once a tourist steps on foreign land, he or she becomes subject to the laws in place in that country.  Those laws might be entirely different to the law in place in Australia.  It is a good idea to register your travel plans with the Australian government so that they know where to start looking if you suddenly " disappear ".

Kylie Moore-Gilbert's experience in Iran should be a lesson for Australian wise travellers to learn.

Corporate Ethics !

 Telstra, our biggest National Telco is facing a fifty million dollar fine for what the ACCC describes as " totally unacceptable behaviour."   This is only the second time a fine of this magnitude has been imposed in Australia.

This giant corporation admitted that it breached consumer laws at several of its stores in the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia.  There stores were at Alice Springs, Casuarina, Palmerston, Arndale and Broome and all had big surrounding Indigenous populations.

This fine follows a year long investigation by the ACCC in which it was disclosed that Telstra took advantage of people with poor English speaking skills, difficulty with reading and in some cases - unemployed.  One hundred and eight such customers were sold mobile phone plans, sometimes with overseas data allowances, that they did not need or want.

The average debt per customer was $7400 and the bill they were charged was $320 per month.  In some cases the customer was listed as " employed " and often it was suggested that the service was " free ".  When these bills went unpaid Telstra simply put collection into the hands of commercial debt collection agencies.

This situation resulted in some Telstra executives missing out on $758,000 of incentives last year and steps were taken to waive these debts because of the poor business practices involved.

Unfortunately, this scam by a highly regarded national identity will reduce commercial confidence at a time criminal intent is  using the logo of banks and government departments to gain entry to information that can lead to identity theft.  Innocent people are finding vast amounts of debt are being booked in their name or their bank accounts are being plundered,.

The rush to achieve sales volumes often imposes stress on sales staff that suggests that their job is insecure if quotas are not met or cash incentives are awarded for sales results and no enquiries are made into the selling methods employed.  Analysis of sales results from stores with an Indigenous hinterland should have alerted an astute management that something unusual was happening.

Once again, it is the Australian public with shares in Telstra who will feel the impact of that fifty million dollar fine.  In many cases, self funded retirees have been forced to deal in the stock market because interest rates are at an all time low and big name national companies are seen as a safe bet for their money.

The intent of the courts and the agencies tasked with the job of overseeing the ethics of commercial enterprise seem intend of processing ever bigger fines for transgressions.  It is rare to see the actual culprits singled out and punished by loss of their jobs, and even rarer to see them experience the inside of a court.

Perhaps we would live in a saner world if personal responsibility was the price individuals had to pay for the breach of consumer laws. We are each responsible for our own actions  !

A New Era Dawns !

The " working from home " option that was so necessary during the height of the coronavirus has run its course and now business owners are entitled to insist on their workers returning to the office. That will receive a mixed reception in many households and in some cases it may take a salary increase to get workers back into the office.

For many people, working from home was actually a big boost to their spending power.   They were spending less money on fuel for the car if they drove to work and not having to pay rail fares put more money in their pocket.  There were other less direct savings too.  Slapping something together from the fridge was a lot cheaper than buying lunch in the city and not having a few beers with the boys after work retained money unspent in their wallets.

For some women, it made an amazing difference.  The absence of child care or kindergarten fees boosted their spending power and they  managed to do their work and mind their children at the same time. The prospect of returning to the office is a financial disaster.

But it doesn't stop there  The astronomical sums charged for city office space subtracts from the firms bottom line and the one thing this pandemic proved is that a diversified office structure is the way of the future.  Both the internet and the electronic age have changed thinking and it is no longer necessary to congregate staff in a city building to perform the management function.

At the start of the twentieth century, occupying several floors of a prestige building in the inner city was seen as reflecting the power and financial strength of the firm behind the logo.  In particular, the insurance industry chose to advertise its stability by building and naming impressive buildings in the city centre.  That was the time when they employed large numbers of sales representatives selling insurance directly to the public, and today those sales are achieved by innovative advertising on commercial television.

It will be the old fashioned empire builders who try and recall staff back to desk jobs in the city. That was the way of the last century and business has moved to a new mode.  Some will claim that a diversified office structure will increase security risks but security in the electronic age is a matter of having the right protection in place rather than the issue of where it is stored.  Security in many Australian firms consists of not making passwords obvious by writing them, on the desk of the operator.

How commerce handles the end of the coronavirus will have a big bearing on how the stock exchange values firms.  Companies that insist on returning to the old ways and turn their back on the extra profits to be made from diversification will be priced accordingly.

We are about to enter the age of the astute company with a small footprint which manages to grow by selective diversification.  That is one of the benefits this pandemic unknowingly handed to us  !

" Workers Compensation " Dodge !

 Is the " Gig " economy bringing third world working conditions to Australia ?  Five food delivery riders have met their death on the streets of Sydney in the past two months and it appears that they work without any form of compensation cover.

This virus pandemic and the isolation required to fight it created a new trend in the food industry.  Home delivery became the buzz and the restaurants quickly recruited workers who conveyed the meal to the customers home in the quickest possible time.

Speed was of the essence and this usually involved the rider on a bicycle, motorbike or scooter to weave through the dense city traffic.  These riders are regarded as  " contractors "  who are self employed and not covered by the restaurants health and safety laws.

This is competitive business for both the delivery people and the restaurants.  Any delay means a cold meal -and a complaint. Riders tend to break road laws to keep being hired and the rate they charge for their services must be competitive.

This insistence that they are contractors and not employees frees their employer from having to cover them with health and safety insurance and in most cases the rewards earned are considerably lower than the minimum average wage.  They are constantly under quoted by rivals looking to break into this enterprising new trade.

Legal academics, unions and some members of parliament are calling for the extension of Chapter 6 of the  NSW Industrial Relations Act to cover food delivery riders.  This covers work conditions for truck drivers who are contractors and it could be amended to cover delivery riders.

What is now becoming obvious is the danger riders face when they are required to weave through city traffic to achieve deliveries in the shortest possible time.  This claim to be a contractor is something invented by proponents of the Gig economy and now appears in its many forms to disguise the relationship between the employee and employer.

The health and safety laws in place were intended by the parliament to ensure that the loved ones of breadwinners had protection in the event of an accident and this guise as working as " contractors " is really evading the intention of the law.

Those five recent deaths must be making the restaurant trade very nervous.  It will be up to the courts to decide on this issue and if they come down on the side of the riders they could be facing a big and unexpected claim for compensation.

As we emerge from the coronavirus pandemic with a pool  of unemployed it is obvious that taking on  work as a delivery driver will appeal to the unskilled.  It is important that this be swiftly brought within the boundaries of the intended law  !

That " Home Defence " Question !

A curious case is making its way through the court and it raises an interesting question in the mind  of most home owners.  What protection do they have if they must use force to prevent someone breaking into their home  ?

A young couple are facing a murder charge when a deranged man, under the  influence of ice, burst into their home wearing a balaclava and threatening them with both what appeared to be a gun and knuckle dusters.  That gun was later  discovered to be a starting pistol.

The householder had a Japanese Samurai sword as part of the furnishings and he grabbed this as he fought to stave off the attacker.  At the height of the fracas he struck his opponent on the head, delivering a cut twenty-five centimetres long and two centimetres deep.   That blow caused the death of the intruder.

The court heard from a forensic pathologist that the attacker had what she believed would be an almost fatal level of methylamphetamine in his blood and was also affected by alcohol.  The householders are claiming self defence, but the battle moved from the home and into the street and it could be argued that the immediate danger has passed.

This is exactly the sort of incident that many people fear.  They are at home when a complete stranger, affected by drugs and alcohol bursts through their door and launches an attack.  In the course of the defence, that stranger is killed or seriously injured and they find themselves arrested and facing a judge and jury.

For the householders, it is a nightmare. They will need to pay legal counsel for their defence and that can run to thousands of dollars.  If the judge considers them a flight risk, they may be refused bail.  Most people are anxious to learn just what degree of resistance they can legally use to deter an intruder, and that is not spelt out in black and white in the law books.

In this case, the unusual factor is that Samurai sword.  It was probably brought to Australia at the end of the second world war and while it would be an interesting decoration, it is also a lethal weapon with a razor sharp blade.  It could be argued that using such a sword as a defence weapon would increase the danger of serious injury to the attacker.

The " rule of thumb " interpretation of this defence law seems to be that defending with bare hands is permissible, but complications arise if a weapon is involved.   That is something householders need to keep in mind.  Some people keep a cricket bat or something similar handy  to use in the event they encounter a burglar breaking into their home.

It seems the law is on your side, as long as you do not do any serious damage to the burglar !

Taxing Electric Vehicles !

 The tax on electric vehicles is beginning to take shape.  Both Victoria and South Australia have announced a tax regimen that will impose a cost of 2.5 cents a kilometre on owners of electric vehicles. This will replace the existing tax arrangement on petrol and diesel where the tax is collected at the fuel pump.

There is the expectation that this will quickly become the arrangement put in place across Australia.  The technology is in place to make it work and motorists are already accustomed to paying their dues for using toll roads by exactly this same method.

It will most likely require the car owner to maintain a positive credit balance in his or her car account and the tax will be progressive.  Car movement will see the tax instantly applied to that account in a similar manner to the amount of petrol in the fuel tank of a combustion engine car.  The car owner will instantly know what credit balance remains.

It is quite possible that a negative credit balance may result in the car shutting down but the traffic jams on busy freeways this would cause may make that impractical.  Collecting fuel tax at the pump had the advantage that the tax was paid as the fuel flowed into the car.  With electric vehicles, the fuel is already in the car's batteries and so what is being applied is really a " movement tax ".

Initially, this is likely to be applied as a " flat rate ", but there are obvious advantages in using it as a means of traffic control.  The rate per kilometre could increase to discourage car use in the centre of the city at peak times and off peak mileage could attract a discount.

One of the advantages of this type of car tax is it is totally disassociated from the way electricity is stored in the car batteries.  That may be by way of a roadside " fast charger " or the slow overnight restoration of battery levels by plugging into the household electricity supply.

The car manufacturers were hesitant to commit to high volume electric production as they awaited public  reaction and statistics suggest that the Australian car fleet will only be about sixty-five percent electric by 2050.   We are relying on the evolution of electric vehicles to rebalance the amount of carbon increasing the world temperature and this rate will need government measures by way of incentives if electric targets are to be achieved.

Electric vehicle take-up here is slower than in OECD countries and this is probably because of the greater driving distances involved, but electric vehicles will have a clear advantage in  city areas which is where most Australians live.

 What remains to be seen is whether the mix of Federal and state taxes, including what is termed " Green slip insurance " will be combined and encompassed in this " movement tax ", and how it will affect the commercial rate of things like deliveries and cab fares.

Our " Good Guys " !

 The Australian fighting soldier is legendary on the worlds battlefields and we look to the traditional " slouch hat " with pride. The Anzac Day march is watched by thousands and every little town or village has a war memorial to remember those who lost their lives.

Over hundreds of years the way wars are fought has changed dramatically. The days of uniformed soldiers from each side engaged in battle has given way to civilians who plant hidden explosive devices and stage ambushes before melting away into suburbia.

This is very much the battle scene in Afghanistan.  This unfortunate country has been invaded by many nations over the centuries and now it is divided by civil war.  As part of our United Nations commitment, members of our Special Air Services regiment serve there under difficult circumstances.

Now we are shocked to hear that nineteen members of that illustrious unit have gone rogue and have needlessly killed either civilian farmers or prisoners  under their control.  These charges relate to what amounts to thirty-nine cases of of murder and that is being taken very seriously by our military command.

It is quite clear that Afghanistan is a difficult deployment.   Its people are deeply divided by tribe and religion and allies supporting the troops in the field can quickly change sides.  It is not unusual for Afghans under training to turn on their mentors.

In any war there are bound to be decisions that are questionable.  It is being suggested that many of these Afghan deaths were for the purpose of " blooding " replacement Australian troops in the reality of how the war was fought in this deeply divided country.  It may have been condoned by some officers, but it is clear that it was rejected  by the majority of the troops serving in that war theatre.

The Army High Command seems determined to bring offenders to trial.  It is likely that compensation may be offered to the families that have suffered a bereavement, but it is  equally likely that the trial will be opaque and more concerned with innuendo than certifiable fact.  There is a real danger that a slur will apply to our entire armed forces that is entirely unjustified.

By necessity a soldier must adopt the warrior creed.   His country puts a gun in his hand and sends him off to war, and that is a " kill or be killed " situation.  It is inevitable that some will develop superior war skills than their companions and that will be rewarded by both medals and promotion.

Having been publicly aired, it is imperative that this accusation be subjected to the military justice system.  It can not be condoned under the " fog of war " tenet if questionable conduct is allowed on the battlefield that would not be tolerated in civil society

The biggest danger is that sensationalist reporting will blow  the facts out of proportion and seriously damage the standing of the men and women who defend our country.

Asset Exempt Housing !

  It is inevitable that the Federal Government will eventually want to claw back the billions it has spent  keeping the economy alive while the Covid pandemic coursed through Australia.   Perhaps the most protected item preserved from the tax collector's reach is the family home.  It would only be the supreme optomist who believes that icon can stay isolated forever.

The price of housing has been on an ever upwards trend.  We are simply not building enough new homes to meet the growing demand and the median price in New South Wales is edging closer to a million dollars.  Owning the house we live in has been a part of the Australian  psyche since the first fleet dropped anchor in Botany Bay. 

The value of that home is not taken into account when a " means test " determines eligibility for the aged pension, and because of that benefit many aged people continue to live in big homes that are far outside their needs.  They are trapped in the need to retain ownership because in many cases a sale would inflate their assets and seriously reduce their aged pension,.

We are starting to see elderly people best described as " asset rich, but cash poor ".  They live in a home worth more than a million, but rely on the pension for their living expenses and to maintain the outgoings on that house,.  This stops them from down sizing, or selling and moving into a more suitable aged care community.

As a form of compensation for family home protection, the government allows people who rent to have higher asset values when eligibility for the pension is assessed.  It has been suggested that those people who own valuable homes draw down on that asset to fund a better standard of living by such methods as a " reverse mortgage ".

That is not a popular option.  Most wish to keep a high asset base because they may need very expensive medical treatment as they age and they want to leave an estate for their children when they die. Interest rates are presently very low, but that can change and send that " reverse mortgage " spinning out of control.

 Statistics reveal that the average median value of a  means test exempt pensioner's home is $560,000.  When the government comes looking for ways to reduce its deficit that would be the logical starting point for the exemption to cease  People with assets running way above that level would be expected to contribute to their upkeep in tandem with the pension.

There  is no reason to think that the price escalation of housing stock is not going to continue this upward trend and as a consequence the future will see some pensioners living in  properties off the price scale.

That concession served its purpose when pensions were a means of basic sustenance but they have gravitated to  a higher standard of living.  To be functional,  a more even asset standard needs to apply.

A New " Road Safety " Regimen !

 Driving a car in New South Wales is about to become more legally challenging. A number of law changes will come into force in the new year aimed at reducing the deaths and serious injuries that occur on our roads.

The road death statistics illustrate the problem,.  All too often the car at fault was travelling well in excess of the legal speed limit. We have  speed zones with limited speeds outside schools to offer protection to children but they are often ignored, and sometimes the very culprits are the parents of the children being put at risk.

Pleas to drive safely and within the speed limits have been ineffective.  The only answer seems to be the " fear factor ".   The sight of a marked police car brings other drivers back to the limit because of the threat of a heavy fine and the loss of demerit points.

The government plans to remove the warning signs that have alerted drivers to the presence of mobile speed cameras and vastly increase their presence on both highways and suburban streets.   We have forty-five of these mobile speed cameras in New South Wales and in the new year their hours of operation will be increased from the present seven thousand hours each month - to twenty-one thousand hours.

Be warned.  You are likely to encounter a speed camera in the most unexpected places and if you are over the speed limit, retribution by way of a fine and points loss is inevitable.  Many will grizzle that this is simply " revenue raising " but it is a serious attempt to lower the deaths and misery road accidents inflict on families because someone else was ignoring sensible speed laws.

Another law change relates to drivers caught behind the wheel affected by alcohol or drugs.  The fine regimen presently in place treats these separately, with a maximum fine of $3,300 for driving with an excess of alcohol, and a $2,200 fine for a drug driving offence.

Statistics reveal that many convictions show that the offender was guilty of driving with both drugs and alcohol impairing their judgement and this will now be regarded as a combined offence.  This combined impairment is much more likely to result in a crash and the penalty has been upgraded accordingly

A person convicted of driving with both a drug and alcohol impairment. will face the prospect of an $11,000 fine and two years imprisonment.   This draconian penalty will be known as the " Four Angels Law" in recognition  of the death of three sisters and their cousin, from the same family struck down by a twenty-nine year old driver who was three times over the alcohol limit and affected by drugs.

Very clearly, the onus is on the individual getting behind the wheel to make sure they are legally fit to drive and prepared to drive the car within the legal speed limit.   Failure to meet that challenge will now feel the full effect of the law enforcement people.

" Stamp Duty " Relief !

Stamp Duty is something the states added to conveyancing legislation over a hundred years ago.  It simply required what can be termed a "Tax Stamp " to be affixed to the documents to certify the legal procedure has been followed, and it was a useful form of government revenue.

The value of that stamp was directly related to the price paid for the property.  It was more an irritant than a sales obstacle in those early days because of the low cost of property, but after the end of the second world war, our returning troops and our open door to migration created a housing shortage.

We simply failed to build enough new homes to serve demand and steady price escalation is leaving home ownership out of reach of many families.   The stamp duty required on the conveyancing of an average New South Wales home is about $34,000.

Political consensus makes it likely a new bill will give home buyers the choice of paying stamp duty up front or opting to supplant it with an annual " land tax " similar to the council rates system.  If adopted, that $ 34,000 stamp duty would be replaced with a $500 payment and annual land tax calculated at the rate of 0.3 percent of the unimproved land value.

That would be welcomed by elderly Australians living in big unsuitable homes and wanting to downsize, but terrified of the capital loss stamp duty would impose.  The government expects all homes to eventually convert from stamp duty to land tax and once a property enters the land tax regime the stamp duty option will be unavailable.

The New South Wales Treasurer estimates that the average unimproved value of the land a house is sitting on would be about $437,500 and this would attract an annual land tax of $ 1812.

That is an option that will have many potential home buyers weighing up carefully.  Many people are specially proud that they own the home they live in outrightly.  They may see that annual land tax bill to be associated with a form of " rent " and prefer to stick with the stamp duty up front option.

There will be a considerable time delay while this bill is debated in parliament and this may cause home sale interruptions as buyers wait for this new legislation to become law.  It is being suggested that people who buy and pay stamp duty up front will have the right to get a refund and convert the purchase to land tax once the legislation comes into effect.

The main advantage is the removal of the need for people to put off a home purchase while they work to save both the money needed for a mortgage deposit, and the money they need to pay up front to settle the stamp duty bill.  That stamp duty lump sum would be reduced to a small annual payment similar to the council rating system.

No doubt the thousands of home owners who have paid stamp duty up front will be doing calculations on the back of an envelope to see how this new legislation will affect their forward housing plans.

The " Nuclear " Option !

The  Trump Presidency gave us reason to have doubts about our security alliance with the United States. We have long been sheltering under the American nuclear umbrella and that has been the reason we have not developed nuclear weapons to bolster our own defence.

Hopefully, the Biden term in the oval office may restore confidence that America will again lead the free world, but  Australia has  widened our defence alliances with a military pact with Japan.  In particular, the combination of the Australian and the Japanese navies will strengthen the vulnerable trade routes through the Pacific Ocean.

The flash point here is the South China sea.  China has virtually annexed this international waterway by dredging to extend small islands into extensive military bases which are now equipped with airfields and defence garrisons.  China's claim has been rejected by the United Nations, but it continues to challenge ships passing through what it now terms its home waters.

China is fast building a navy to challenge the might of the US Navy and is using its trade strength to form alliances with small Pacific countries to gain base facilities for its warships.  It has deployed its own fishing fleet to harass competitors out of the South China sea but merchant shipping is using these waters unchallenged.

Our military pact with Japan makes a lot of sense.  Our former enemy is now a democracy with formidable defence forces of its own. If China continues to show expanding tendencies in the Pacific ocean the best form of containment will be naval strength to keep the supply routes open, and that is beyond the capability of a single countries navy.

The missing component in this defence strategy is obviously nuclear weapons.  Neither Australia or Japan are nuclear armed and any clash in the South China sea would be with China's nuclear defence.  The old nuclear armed nations were concentrated in Europe and the southern hemisphere has remained nuclear free.

It is quite clear that America would deliver a nuclear response if it were attacked, but whether it would instigate a nuclear war in defence of another country is an unanswered question.  That doubt seems to be the main reason that China has threatened, but not made any concrete moves to force the island of Taiwan to merge with the mainland.

When its offshore islands have been shelled by China, the passage of an American naval force through the Taiwan strait has been sufficient to restore order.  It is the nuclear option that has kept the world free of a third world war since the end of the conflict in 1945.

Our military pact with Japan lacks a nuclear option and both countries continue to shelter under the American nuclear umbrella.  If faith in that protection is lost it would seem to be inevitable that either Australia or Japan would eventually seek to restore the nuclear balance.

Our nuclear defence seems to rest with the character of the person who sits in the oval office, and that is something that will change from time to time in America.

 

Taming the " Inflation " Monster !

 Fifty years ago the dragon we needed to slay was called " inflation " !  Our economists were quick to point out the sort of damage inflation was doing to our superannuation accounts and how it would dictate a miserable old age unless we brought it back under control.

At that time, the government fought all and every demand for a wage increase tooth and nail and justified it as necessary to curb inflation in the national interest, but in recent times our Reserve bank has been hoping for a target of about three percent annually as being good to stimulate our economy.

Unfortunately, inflation has been falling far short of that target and now we have this coronavirus pandemic putting thousands on the wait for a job as the lockdown closes many businesses and sends the economy into deficit.

The economists think a serious bout of inflation would be a good thing because it would revive our economy.  To make that happen, the government will put four spending vouchers into the hands of every adult Australian and urge their use by way of buying a meal or accessing some form of entertainment.

The government is actually handing out a hundred dollar measure to encourage inflation and it comes in the form of four $25 vouchers.  If spent in the way the government suggests there is hope it will get the small traders moving again and it is hoped they will hire the help they need to get the public pouring through their doors.

Unfortunately, human nature being what it is there is also an expectation that many canny citizens will keep those vouchers in their wallets - unspent.  That is the mental comparison reached by those with money in a savings account that is drawing virtually no interest, but there is no doubt the government will put a time frame on the validity of those vouchers.

If they are not spent in the way suggested, then they lose value and become worthless.  It is certainly a bold step in government thinking to give away money on the expectation that it will revive employment by increasing demand for services.

But it is increased demand that puts upward pressure on prices charged and the economists predict that  a little inflation now would restore the balance that has been missing in recent years.  That seems to rely heavily on the " Hail Mary " approach that this move will not see inflation roaring away out of control and become a monster that deflates the currency.

The economists seem confident that we will not need a wheel barrow full of banknotes to buy a loaf of bread, as happened in Germany when inflation ran out of control back in the 1930's.  The Reserve bank of Australia stands ready to hike interest rates immediately if inflation seems likely to get out of control again.

We are off on an interesting experiment.  Eventually, the history books will reveal how our sojourn with inflation turned out.

Prohibition in Indonesia !

   Indonesia is a mainly Islamic nation and the Muslim religion forbids alcohol. As a world tourist hub Bali has ignored that sentiment and it is one of Australias favourite holiday destinations. Some religious leaders have been calling for prohibition to be imposed but this plea has fallen on deaf ears because of the importance of tourism to the Indonesian economy, but change is now in the wind.

Two Islamist political parties have joined with a nationalist party to revive a bill that has lain dormant since 2016 and which if enforced would make it a crime to produce or sell alcohol in any of its known forms.

Indonesian economists are aghast at the likely damage this would do to the important tourist industry  which is struggling to recover from the damages caused by the virus pandemic.  There is a distinct possibility the bill make get the numbers and prohibition become the law in our northern neighbour. 

A lot would depend on how the law is framed.  In some Islamic jurisdictions the ban only applies to local people of the Islamic faith and visitors from other  countries are exempt.   There are also other exemptions and these include its use in religious ceremonies and for pharmaceutical production.  Incoming tourists are issued with a permit which allows then to buy and consume alcohol during their stay in the country.  This is often applied to foreigners actually living in the country.

It is evident that prohibition would sharply curtail the Australian exodus to Bali. It is highly likely that when this bill reaches the discussion stage in the Indonesian parliament there will be representation from Bali to have that island excluded from the ban. Bali has a big Hindu population and the religious ban on alcohol only applies to Islam.

The entire Islamic world has a very mixed reaction to alcohol control.  In Saudi Arabia being found in possession of alcohol is a serious crime which requires severe punishment.  In other regimes, it is treated leniently for most of the year and only brought into force at the time of important religious festivals.

There is no doubt that here in Australia alcohol does a lot of damage.  It is responsible for some of the car crashes on Australian roads and a high degree of domestic violence is caused by over use of drink.  At one stage, parliament was considering putting as floor price on every alcoholic drink, but this has lost momentum.  Both of the big political parties know they will lost voter support if they increase the price of alcohol or make it difficult to obtain.

The pressure in Indonesia is coming from zealots.  It will be interesting  to see how the move is received in the remote islands where alcohol use is rare.  Tourists visit such locations as well as Bali and the loss of revenue on hard scrabble communities would probably bring a very harsh local reaction,

The Australian public will be watching the progress of this bill  in the Indonesian parliament with more than passing interest !

Ten Critical Weeks !

The American Presidential election is over and it is evident that Joe Biden will be that country's new President, but that will not happen until the twentieth of January, next year.  This means that for the next ten weeks, Donald Trump will remain in the oval office and it will be his finger that will hover over the proverbial nuclear button.

Alarmingly, Trump is still legally the Commander in Chief of America's vast military and in his present mood all sorts of mischief is possible.  He might decide to pull the remaining 4,500 American troops out of Afghanistan against the wishes of the Pentagon generals.  It is impossible to predict how such an unpredictable move would destabilize the relationship with both America's friends and enemies.

Equally fractious will be the hand over to the new president. Common courtesy means Biden would be invited to sit in on security briefings so to be fully informed on the day he takes the oath of office, but Trump has not yet conceded defeat and intends to fight this election result in the courts.

It is quite possible that on January 20 Trump may barricade himself in the oval office.  The world may see horror pictures of the police breaking down the door and dragging Trump, kicking and screaming out of the White House.  It is obvious that Trump will not relinquish office quietly.

Changes are already underway to fragment the administration.  Mark Esper, the Defence Secretary has been terminated and it is believed that this was because he refused to sign off on Trump's decision to invoke the " insurrection act " and  bring National Guard troops onto the streets against the wishes of state governors.

The American Constitution closely defines the relationship between police and the American military when it comes to keeping civil order and Trump's administrative experience has come from the business world which disregards such ethics

Traditionally, an outgoing President has the power to bestow pardons on people convicted by the courts.  It would be technically possible for the President to pardon himself for crimes committed while in office or for his business dealings before taking that office.  When Trump steps down the protection of holding the Presidency will disappear and he may be called to account in the American legal system.  That is a situation many will be watching with interest.

Technically, having served only one term Trump is again eligible to stand for office again in the future.  This election saw more voters turn out than any previous election and the results were close.  Trump is clearly the leader of the giant Republican party and if he can keep the support of the voters who put him into office, another run for the Presidency is probably likely.

That will probably depend on how these ten weeks before Biden takes office impact on the American lifestyle and world events.  Trump will not be forgiven if he uses his powers to spread chaos and leave behind a barely functioning government.

The Cash Economy !

Sydney has a multi million landmark building nearing completion on its harbourfront  and it was built to house a high roller casino.  It was scheduled to open next month, but now there is a doubt that it may get the necessary license from the New South Wales Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority.

This casino is closely related to its counterpart in Melbourne and it, together with the big four Australian banks, have been negligent in applying the laws in place to prevent criminal syndicates from " laundering " their illicit profits.

The problem is that cash in the way of banknotes is disappearing from the commercial world.  We pay our bills electronically and our salaries go directly into our bank accounts and even buying a cup of coffee is now  reimbursed by a tap with our mobile phone.

The only time cold, hard cash is required to make a purchase is when we buy illegal drugs, play the poker machines in clubs or pubs, or gamble in a casino.  In particular, when the police make a successful drug bust it is not unusual for them to find suitcases crammed with fifty dollar notes.

The profits run to millions and stringent laws are in place to prevent this illegal cash money appearing as having been legitimately earned.  One of the favourite ploys is to gamble in a casino.  Winnings are withdrawn by a cheque  which legitimizes that particular money and the losses are written off as one of the costs of doing business.

This puts the owners of casinos in a delicate position.  They want people to spend big at their gambling tables because the odds are always in favour of the casino winning, but it is their responsibility to ensure that the money passing over their tables is legitimate money.  In many cases, the gambler is a citizen of another country and possibly a member of its government.

That is why casinos do not allow patrons to gamble with banknotes.  They exchange that cash for the casino's inhouse tokens and the casino is obliged to report that cash exchange to the ILGA.  All cash transactions above a ten thousand dollar limit fall into that reporting category.

Both this new Sydney casino and its counterpart in Melbourne are aimed at the high roller international market where individual gamblers think nothing of winning or losing a few million dollars at the gambling tables.  A lot of this money originally came from China when that country was putting its trading empire in place and graft was rife.  The regime is now reigning in its regional leaders and insisting on proper money accountability.

The Australian banks have been fined heavily for their lax control of money laundering and now attention has been turned on Sydney's new casino.  It appears that challenges to the board of management may be required before that license is granted and a strict regime to account for the money flow put in place.

Whatever the ILGA decides, gambling will always be the chosen path the crime syndicates take to launder their profits into legitimate money !

The " Gig " Economy !

Employing someone costs a lot more than what is put in the weekly pay envelop There is the cost of accident insurance and all those hidden costs.  Annual leave.  Long service leave. Maternity leave. Bereavement leave, and on top of all that the employer must deposit nine percent of the agreed salary into the employees superannuation account.

  No wonder many businesses prefer to have their hired help on a " casual " basis.  They pay a significant loading on the hourly rate paid to a permanent employee, but avoid all those extra costs.  We are now seeing many people who are " permanently casual. "  They work the same shift with the same employer, day after day for years at a time.

Should a business downturn make it necessary to shed staff, that permanent employee will probably be awarded a hefty " termination payment " by a court while the casual simply has the working hours reduced.

Now a new innovation has worked its way into the market place and it is called the " Gig " economy. The worker presents as a self employed business person who provides a service at a negotiated rate, and this is now prevalent in both the rapidly expanding food delivery sector and the innovative car and driver attached to new taxi services competing with the branded taxi fleets.

What is not clear is the degree of obligation those employed under this Gig economy can expect to receive should they sustain death or injury during the course of the service they provide.  Theoretically, they are an independent business and should have the necessary insurance in place to cover such risks but usually the rewards are meagre and this is unaffordable.

One particular trade is regarded as specially hazardous and that is the food delivery sector.  Speed is the utmost and riders of motorbikes or scooters find themselves weaving through city traffic to meet strict time deadlines.  There haver been more than twenty-five such crash reports this year, and one of these concerned the death of a young man who was an immigrant from China and who worked to support his wife.

His death occurred when he collided with a bus on a city street  and the bus driver has since been charged by police with four driving offences relating to this accident.  This man was not entitled to worker's compensation and it is unclear what his wife may expect to receive. She wants to expatriate his body back to China for burial.

All this is a grey area that will laboriously wend its way through the courts and be decided by overlapping precedent.  The uncertainty means that both employers and workers can not plan their cost structure with any degree of certainty and yet this is a rapidly expanding business model.

In this case, the food company involved paid for their worker's funeral and picked up the flight tab to bring his family to Australia but all such cases are being handled on a case by case basis.  It is now clear that this Gig economy is a step into the great unknown !

A Car Safety Issue !

 As life returns to normal as the lockdown to beat the coronavirus fades, we are again reminded of how sheer bad luck can cut life short in unexpected ways.  For most young people, Saturday night is " party night " where they expect to have a good time and shed the stresses of the working week. 

This Saturday night, a party of four young women were walking to one of the most popular Rugby League Clubs in Wollongong.  It is right in the heart of the city and it fronts the busy main road which services traffic  to and from Sydney.

They were walking on the footpath at about 10 pm when a car deviated off the carriageway, mounted the footpath and mowed them down before crashing into a telegraph pole.  It was a scene of carnage, quickly reached by a police patrol who called ambulances.

Sadly, a nineteen year old girl suffered catastrophic head injuries and died on the way to hospital.  Another 18 year old has a fractured pelvis and a third a broken leg.  A fourth member of the group was lucky to escape harm.

The 18 year old male driving the car was arrested by police and taken to hospital for mandatory drug and alcohol testing, but the police also arrested  his front seat passenger.  It has been suggested that this passenger may have applied the car's handbrake, causing the car to lose control and mount the footpath

All this is conjecture, but will be investigated by the police accident branch who will prepare a report for the coroner.  That allegation that the hand brake may have been applied does raise a valid safety concern that applies to most popular cars.

The age of the " bench seat " is long past and the majority of cars today come equipped with front bucket seats, and the hand brake is situated between them.  Consequently, it is accessible by both  the driver and the passenger.

The hand brake works by applying friction to the rear wheels of the car and its purpose is to immobilise the car when it is parked.  It can be catastrophic if the hand brake is applied when the car is in motion because the rear wheels lock up, throwing the car into a skid.

From the car manufacturers point of view, locating the hand brake between the two front seats is with the expectation that it is a control available to the person driving the car.   There is the perception that sanity will prevail and that passengers will not interfere with the driving function.

That may not be applicable if a passenger is intent in fooling around and lacks understanding of the brake function, or is in a rage and wants to exit the vehicle.  If nothing else, this senseless death will at least throw attention on a hazard that is long overdue for attention.

Perhaps making the hand brake inoperative while the car is in motion may be an innovative safety requirement for the car design people to consider !

Australian Independence !

The Mandarins of the Chinese Communist party are displeased with Australia for a number of reasons. We have called them to account for their actions in Hong Kong in which they have simply torn up a legal agreement with Britain which was part of the hand back of that colony to its original owner.

They are further displeased because we are criticising their seizure of islands in the South China sea and the treatment of minorities in Xinjiang.  Vast numbers of Muslims have been herded into concentration camps where attempts are made to suppress their individuality and force them into the " Han " mould.

Perhaps our greatest " sin " is to demand a public enquiry into the coronavirus outbreak that has shut down world trade, put milllions out of work and cut a swathe of death by way of this mysterious pandemic.  It started in China and the Communist party wants to deflect blame.

Australian exports to China constitute about $27 billion annually and the Chinese authorities are selectively  rejecting trade categories which will hurt our balance of trade. When Australian trade goods reach the dock in China, customs officials seem to find dubious reasons to reject their release.   This has been applied to Australian barley and wheat and now tonnes of live rock lobster look likely to be sent to a landfill.

Australian wine is being rejected and the ban may extend to timber, copper and even coal.  The Chinese authorities are also actively persuading Chinese tourists to cross Australia off their travel itinerary and not send their children to our universities.

Chinese trade officials are refusing to take phone calls from their Australian counterparts.  This is a form of trade sabotage carried out at junior level in the hope that Australia will cave in and toe the Beijing line.  The problem is that if we bow to Chinese pressure it will become unrelenting and we will be drawn in to the category of a Chinese subject state.

This is a clash with China that was inevitable.  In the long term, it may be a good thing because we are becoming too reliant on one country for a share of both out imports and exports.  There is nothing like a shortage to create local manufacturing ingenuity and we have a big, friendly neighbour in India which has a shipping route to and from Australia free of the constraints of the South China sea.

A trade war is something China is forcing upon us.  We had a reasonably mutual relationship in place before China started to dictate impossible terms on our diplomatic stance.  This spat with China will slow our recovery from the pandemic but it is the price we need to pay to keep our independence.

We will need to find new markets for our goods and we will inevitably see price increases for many  items cheaply produced in China like solar roof panels.  This is the age of AI and robotics and these can overcome the advantage of a low cost workforce that China uses to capture market share.

We are fast heading into an era where a world food shortage will give our farm exports a decisive advantage.  A cool head and a steady hand may make this temper tantrum short lived as the Chinese tend to plan for the long term.

With international relations, it is sometimes a measure of short term pain - for a long term gain.  China may live to regret starting this trade war !

 

When Insanity Rules !

Alcohol can be an enigma.  Taken in moderation, it can be a good friend but if we let it take control it can be a monster that shatters lives.  This week a ruling handed down in the New South Wales District court illustrated that point.

A thirty-one year old man was sentenced to serve  a fifteen year prison sentence for an act of sheer stupidity that happened in 2018.  He pleaded guilty to two charges of manslaughter and one charge of aggravated dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm.  The term of the sentence ensures he will spend ten years behind bars before he becomes even eligible for consideration for parole.

At the trial, the court heard that he had been drinking and playing the poker machines in a St Mary's hotel from 10 am until 6-45 pm on September 28, 2018.  He then got in his car and commenced a six kilometre journey to his home., despite having no license to drive on NSW roads.

Witnesses testifies that he was driving erratically and at high speed and it is estimated  that he was travelling at 112 k/mh in a 60 k/mh zone when he hit the medium strip, became airborne and crashed headlong into an oncoming vehicle.

The impact killed both a 23 year old woman, due to give birth to twin boys in the next week, her 17 year old learner drive relation and seriously injured the father of the unborn twins.   The medical examiners report at this trial revealed that the convicted driver had a blood/alcohol of 0.204 at the time of the crash.

Obviously, by taking his car to the hotel, this man intended to drive home and that decision wiped out another family. The court is usually unsympathetic when a relatively cheap cab fare would have eliminated that crash risk entirely.

In this case, it must have been obviously apparent to the driver that he was in no condition to drive, so for the next ten years he will be deprived of the comfort of his own family and his work skills will deteriorate. Whatever hope he had for a comfortable old age will vanish as his nest egg of superannuation ceases to grow.  Life in prison is deemed a misery because it is a punishment for wrong doing.  He will be forced to associate with companions he would not choose to be his friends.

To the victims family those deaths were a tragedy. They are gone forever because of the reckless action of a man abusing alcohol.  Reading such reports in the newspapers must give a twinge of conscience to many people who remember driving home when their blood alcohol content would have exceeded the 0.05 that is legal in New South Wales.

People who instantly dismiss the idea that they are committing a criminal act continue to drive above 0.05 by persuading themselves that they will be " very careful ".  In most cases they will arrive home safely, but should the " unexpected " happen they could have a death on their conscience.

That man who crashed with a blood alcohol reading of 0.204 was extreme but the risk factor rises sharply once we pass that 0.05 level because alcohol plays with our brain chemistry to convince us we are invincible.  We need to set the limit before the first glass rather than make that decision when alcohol is part of the thinking process.

Awaiting An Outcome !

In 2016 the world gasped when the " unelectable " Donald Trump swept into office in the United States.  Four years later it is evidently clear that an election to either reaffirm him or force him to leave office is balanced on a knife edge.

It looks like the final count will see Joe Biden claim the oval office, but then we will probably see a repeat of the Obama years with a a President's politics our of harmony with the political party with the numbers to control that all important Senate.

In state after state this has been the tightest vote in US history.   Voting is optional in the US and this time around more people took the trouble to vote than ever before.  Sadly, it is the wealthy supporting Trump and Black Americans and Latinos in fear of losing their health benefits who are behind Biden.

The balancing factor is those with previous manufacturing jobs who saw whole industries move to China.  Trump has withdrawn American from the role as the " world's policeman " and instituted an " America First " trade policy which rejects creating an equal world.  Trump has vast " redneck " support and that can be dangerous in a country awash with guns.

For much of the twenty-first century America adopted as " isolationist " stance until it was inevitably drawn into both the first and second world war.  Then it virtually rebuilt a shattered Europe and stared down Russia during the years of the " cold war ".  America is again turning inward and vacating the middle ground which is fast becoming a Chinese presence,.

For a " middling power " nation like Australia these are dangerous times.  We are tucked away in the lower South Pacific and China is our most important trade customer.  There is currently trade friction which is causing  retaliation by China rejecting acceptance of many Australian exports on dubious health and safety grounds.  Our prosperity heavily relies on establishing free trade agreements with either America or Europe if this China trade fails.

We are not a nuclear power and we shelter under the American nuclear umbrella.  Our defence arrangements rely heavily on the outlook of the person who sits in the oval office and this American election will be viewed with more than passing interest by our government in Canberra.  One of the flash points for world trade is contained in the South China sea to our north and this is becoming a divisive waterway between two powerful navies.

What happens in American politics affects the rest of the world and America is presently at turning point.  The American people are making a decision which will see politics swing to either the left or the right by whoever wins the oval office for the next four years.

Sadly, the end result may not be derived from the mere counting of votes.   That final decision may be made by a court judgement from the most powerful court in America.  That is the outcome that will effect how events are recorded in the history books.

Democracy Under Fire !

 For a great part of the twentieth century the world was balanced between western values of democracy, as practiced in both Britain and the United States of America and the Bolshevic ethic of Communism as the reverses of the first world war inflicted it on Russia.

For most of that era, Josef Stalin ruled as the leader of Soviet Russia and he instituted a reign of terror that cemented his power by ruthlessly eliminating rivals and crushed any form of dissent.  Thousands were arrested on mere suspicion and the country became a modern nation on the shoulders of its citizens labouring in the gulags for crimes they never committed.

The tragedy of the second world war saw Stalin increase his hold on the countries of Europe as the invading Germans were defeated. The advancing " Red army " enfolded captured countries as part of its realm and the world became divided by what was called " the iron curtain ".

That was the time the United States of America led the free world.  The aim of people at risk of death or imprisonment in seeking to escape the Soviet block was to emigrate to America where they could choose their form of government by voting it into power.  America gave freely of its blood and treasure in making that happen and eventually the Soviets imploded and it looked like world peace would become a reality.

Unfortunately, the roots of Communism had taken hold in the most populous nation on earth and as China rose to become both an economic and military super power it clashed with America's freedoms and its lower living standards saw manufacturing of consumer goods gravitate to that country.

That created a jobs exodus in America and divided the world into two giant trading blocks.  The Russian era sought to force a form of Communist government on the rest of the world.  Communist China seeks to dominate the would in manufactured goods by manipulating markets and stealing trade secrets.  It is using commerce to bring surrounding nations under its economic control.

This hollowing out of the jobs market in America brought many Americans to question their country's place in the world and in 2016 Donald Trump arrived on the political scene with a list of promises that sounded too good to be true.  He promised a wall to divide America from Mexico and stop the inward flow of  immigrant traffic, and he promised to restore jobs in industries that had gone offshore in this " globalization " age.

To the surprise of the world, Trump was elected president and ran his government by incredible " tweets " on the Internet. He has had some commercial successes, but mainly he has created chaos and now the time has come for the voters to decide if he warrants another four years in the oval office.

This week the nation went to the polls, and before the votes were counted Trump has declared victory and threatened to go to the Supreme court to validate his win.  That is the same Supreme court that he has just balanced in his political favour by a controversial appointment of a new justice.

This maverick president seems intent in destroying the American democratic institution by bringing his supporters onto the streets in insurrection.  The whole world watches with bated breath to see if American democracy destroys itself or if the wisdom of the founding fathers survives and counters this challenge !

A Moving Danger Zone !

 In the first half of the twenty-first century a shark attack in Australia was so unusual that it attracted banner headlines across the nation's newspapers.  Folklore even suggested that the shark danger did not exist in Tasmania and the reasons given were the coldness of the water and the huge fish stocks that satisfied the shark's appetite.

We had much smaller population numbers at that time, but the sea was still our playground.  The big difference is that shark attack now is so common that it rates a small mention in the inner pages  of our newspapers. There are few suggestions to explain why this danger has increased.

A pertinent factor could be global warming.  Warmer water temperatures are slowly killing our Great Barrier Reef and driving tropical fish further south. In the past, sharks relied on the availability of seals for much of their diet.  Perhaps this warmer water is coaxing them closer inshore and the balance between seals and humans is no longer clear in the shark's mind.

It is evident that we now face a greater danger of shark attack when we go in the water.  The main danger applies to surfers, sitting on their boards beyond the breaking waves and with legs dangling temptingly below the surface.   There seems to be safety in numbers and there have been no attacks on crowds enjoying the water at popular city beaches, under the protection of watchful lifesavers.

This great Australian continent is facing an increasing danger from two natural predators, the shark and the Crocodile, and both seem to be regulated by water temperature.  The crocodile is  common throughout much of Asia and has always been a denizen of our northern coastline in the Northern Territory and north of Western Australia and Queensland.  They are now moving ever south, both in the surrounding sea and through the inland river system.

At the end of the second world war, the presence of American and Australian troops in our north had driven the crocodile to near extinction.  The government declared it a protected species, and from there the numbers have multiplied.  They are part of farm breeding programmes in which their skin is manufactured into high end merchandise.  They are also a drawcard in attracting tourists to view them in their natural habitat.

The problem is that they are extending their range as the climate gets hotter.,  The dreaded " Saltwater " crocodile is moving ever south down the West Australian and Queensland coasts and taking up residence in the inland river system.  Once they become established they are almost impossible to remove and the impact on residential lifestyle for the human population is dramatic.

We have only to look at Africa to see what could await Australia.  Because the whole country has been divided into different jurisdictions the crocodile has spread freely and most Africans have had to learn to live with its presence. As a consequence, there is a high death toll, specially applicable to children.

The bulk of Australia has traditionally been free of crocodile infestation and it should remain that way. We can not control the movement of sharks in the sea, but crocodile movement can be kept within limits.  What is needed is legal control points from which any crocodile venturing south can be legally shot on sight.

Summer is Snake Season !

 Australia has some of the most lethal snakes in the world, and yet death from snakebite here is rare.  The main reason is that the nation's snakes have undergone extensive laboratory testing with the result that anti-venom is readily available.

The snakes most people are likely to come into contact with are the Eastern Brown, the Tiger snake and the Red Bellied black snake.  Further inland, they are likely to encounter the Taipan and that has the reputation of being the most deadly snake in this country.

The start of summer is the time those living in close proximity of the city are likely to find a snake in their backyard. Removal is best left to a certified snake handler because they tend to become aggressive if disturbed and most householders are no match for an angry snake.

At a time of drought, they are likely to invade backyards looking for water and curiosity seems to impell them to enter dwellings.  This includes the many varieties of non-venomous carpet snakes in which their sheer size terrifies residents.

Many will be happy to hear that snakes usually try to avoid contact with people. They are conscious of our footfalls as we approach and they usually vacate the area if there is time.  We probably pass quite close to snakes in the bush without being aware of their presence.

For some strange reason they seem attracted to motor vehicles.  When having a picnic in the bush or visiting a beach it is wise to keep the boot lid locked and the doors closed to avoid having a snake as an uninvited passenger.

If that does happen, a call to the police will usually result in a snake handler being found and the reptile removed. People trying to remove snakes from cars are at a disadvantage because it brings them into close contact, and often results in a bite.

In the event of a bite the course of action needed is clear.  Tightly bandage the bitten arm or leg from the bite point back towards the body, and get to the nearest hospital immediately.  It would  be helpful to identify the snake because different anti-venom relates to different snake types.

Do not listen to those suggesting treatments that were simply folk lore over a century ago. Charlatans then suggested deep cuts across the bite area and having someone suck the wound to extract blood and poison. This is ineffective and a complete waste of time.

Snakes are not normally aggressive and if they try to deliver a bite it us usually because they are trying to defend themselves.  Given the opportunity, they will escape rather than fight, and that is probably the main reason that death from snakebite is rare in Australia !

The " Car Safety " Enigma !

 Two seventeen year old boys are dead and another is in hospital after a car crash in Sydney over the weekend.  They were the occupants of a late model Holden Commodore which crashed into a pole and in this instance the police were not involved.

The youths were driving a stolen car, but someone connected with the owner saw it driving away and gave chase.  The thieves lacked high speed driving experience and ended their lives wrapped around a telegraph pole, and their pursuer was arrested by police and will face court for his actions.

What is surprising is that late model cars still lack theft protection to prevent juveniles with basic hand tools from breaking in and driving off in a matter of seconds, and that seems to be common despite the range of models and prices on showroom floors.

There have been many security promises over the years.  Many will remember the steering wheel lock which required the wheels to face the kerb when parking, and later we were urged to have an " immobilizer" fitted, but the thefts continued unabated.

It is technically possible to install adequate theft protection, but this is not high on the buyer's list of priorities. It is all about " driver convenience " and we still have many people who refuse to buckle their seat belt when they drive a car. Not having the seat belt buckled by the driver or passengers brings demerit points and a big fine, but it is still prevalent.

It is obvious that if car theft is not high on the owners priorities, it will continue to be ignored by the car companies.  Safely unlocking anti theft devices is an irritant car owners dislike and you notice that car advertising makes no mention of such a feature.

As a result, a man who made the unwise decision to give chase now finds himself facing serious charges which may result in a prison term.  The police do not appreciate civilians intruding on their turf.

What is even more amazing is that over a year after air bags were found to be defective in a wide range of cars, we still have ninety thousand such unfixed vehicles on our roads with their drivers playing " Russian Roulette " with their lives.

A fault means that if the air bag is activated it may shower metal parts into the drivers face because of an increase in the gas propellant.  That is like driving around with a loaded shotgun pointed at your head. These faulty units will be replaced at the car manufacturers expense and efforts have been made to track down owners and get the cars in for service, but despite wide publicity this safety concern is ignored by many people.

In desperation, the government is now relying on the annual safety check which is known as the " pink slip " which every car must undergo each year for registration renewal.  Part of that protocol will be to check that the air bag has been replaced or registration will be refused.

Given the safety empathy that is so under valued it is unlikely that car theft will figure highly in car design for the future  !

The Council " Debt Bomb " !

 This week the home owners living on the Central Coast of New South Wales got an unpleasant shock when they watched the nightly television news.  Their council was in such dire financial  constraints that it was unable to meet payroll.  This crisis was only averted when the state government granted an emergency injection of funds to see that all their employees got their paycheck.

The bad news is that a whole lot of other councils are skating perilously close to a similar situation.  They are simply living beyond their means and accumulating debt that it will be impossible to repay.  For years economists have been sounding warnings that council bankruptcies  are inevitable.

The state government moved on that issue by forcing council amalgamations.  It was thought that economy of scale council operations would deliver the necessary economics, but both the councils and the public resisted strongly and this move was only partially successful.  Very little change has occurred where council amalgamations did succeed.

As part of our democratic process the people who run councils are elected by the vote of those living within the council area. These elections are hotly contested on a political basis and usually aspirants promise improvements in council structures to attract votes.  Often it is " pie in the sky " projects that take precedence over the less glamorous aspects of maintaining existing council services, resulting in a backlog of work waiting to be done.

Councils are considered a " safe " investment source for banks and the financial sector because the loans are underpinned by the array of householders who share ultimate responsibility for the repayments. That money comes from council rates, which the state government has pegged to match the rate of inflation. It is unlikely that this rate embargo will be lifted as we struggle to emerge from the disruption caused by the virus pandemic.

Councils are a business similar to the firms that compose the business world.   They get hauled into court if they fail to pay their debts and there is absolutely no reason why a council can not be treated as a bankrupt - and closed down.  What many people do not realise is that they are the owners responsible for those council debts and those debts will become a charge against them and their property.

One of the outcomes of this debt crisis is a better evaluation of the contenders  offering for election to council office.   We will become more interested in their ability to contain costs and manage existing operations than uncosted development plans which are often used to attract votes.

The big difference is that when we vote someone into office we are handing them the authority to spend our money, and that is something we should not do lightly.  When we consider a candidate to represent us on council we are granting them permission to make binding contracts in our name.

The state of those debts will have a bearing on the value of the home we live in and what price it would bring on the open market.  The time is fast approaching when we will have more than a passing interest in the financial health of our local council.

The " Censorship " Issue !

 Does God have a sense of humour  ?    The answer to that question depends on who you ask !  France is still undergoing street executions that were sparked when a satirical magazine ran pictures of the prophet Muhammad in a manner that upset followers of Islam.

Many people defend the cartoonist's right to desecrate religion on the basis of the "freedom of speech " tenet, but this magazine illustration occurred over a year ago and these killings have continued and may go on long into the future.

The illustration is blamed for inciting a young migrant from an Islamic country to carry out an attack in France's Notre Dame church in the coastal city of Nice.  It seems he entered the church carrying a knife and attacked three Christian worshippers, decapitating one elderly woman and stabbing to death two other people.

The police shot and captured him and French goods are being taken off the shelves in Islamic countries in protest. When the murderer recovers he will face trial in France and that article will get another round of publicity. Whatever sentence he serves in a French prison will exacerbate religious tensions between Islam and western countries.

Here in the west, we regularly see God appearing in cartoons.  He is usually depicted at the Pearly Gates, making wise comment to counter someone's  ruse to gain entry.  In comparison, a cartoonist with an obvious slant against Islam can depict the prophet in sexual or other unflattering terms which would be viewed very unfavourably by most followers of that religion.

Unfortunately, any law that restricts the scope of religious cartoons would be seen as an attack on freedom of speech by many purists.  It would drive the cartoonists underground but it would remove offensive material from display on public news stands.

The obvious  limitation would be to determine what is - and what 'isnt - crossing the border between " fair comment " and " offensive ".  Here we would find the broadest possible gap between the views of those who follow different religions.  There is simply no safe ground that bridges this divide.

It would be nice if the publishing world could agree on a modicum of " good taste " which would screen offensive work and resolve this issue, but it would have to fit into a legal framework to be binding and that requires legal definition.

Sadly, we seem to be stuck in that time frame between " art " and " humour " which is impossible to bridge.  It delivers an incentive for the emerging cartoonists to dabble in the " black arts " to  create the " shock " which delivers both fame and fortune.

And for that, innocent people have to die !