A Dirty Old Man !

An independent enquiry found that Dyson Heydon was guilty of sexually harassing female associates and that his reputation for that sort of conduct was an open secret in the highest judicial circles.  Absolutely nothing was done to stop this abuse despite Heydon sitting as a justice on the highest court in Australia.

Since records began with the old testament of the bible, sex has been a problem for society.  The urge to copulate with a female is built into the psyche of evert male and it becomes active from puberty.  As every mother fears, this sex urge used to be a threat to virginity from the start of the courting ritual and daughters were urged to marry young to avoid this threat.

We now live in a more equal society and this has devalued the sex act to the extent it is now deemed a tradeable asset. Men with power in the business world know that an ambitious woman may trade sex for promotion or to a valued position for which many are seeking selection.  This was infamous in Hollywood where  the " casting couch " usually played a big part in the selection for starring roles.

There should be no surprise that sexual advantage took place in the precints of the High Court. A similar liason nearly saw the president of the United States turfed out of office on an impeachment charge and we should remember how that affair started. It seems that an intern in the White House encountered the president and struck up a conversation.   Somehow the subject turned to women's underwear and Monica volunteered that she was wearing a " thong ".   The president was unaware of that term, so Monica lifted her skirt to illustrate its brevity - and things started from there !

Dyson Heydon has been revealed as a " dirty old man " who uses the power of his office to entice young women to appease his exual appetite.  It is probable that the reputational damage may see him dropped from the board of prestigeous companies and shunned in the legal world.  It is unlikely he will be prosecuted because all of the women would have been over the age of consent.

It does send a strong message to society at large.  The predatory male using position to pressure subordinates for sex no longer has the benefit of silence for cover.  A company which does nothing to investigate and stop predatory behaviour risks exposure in the market place which may see both suppliers and customers shun their products.  Ignorance that the problem existed is no longer a defence for management.

If nothing else, it introduces a new factor for consideration in any new burgeoning relationship. Where any degree of seniority exists it poses a danger of misinterpretation because sex has become a very casual occurrence in social relationships.   The abilitty of women to speakup and accuse these violaters has changed the ground rules.  They are fast moving in the right direction.

Additional Benefit from Solar !

The ever decreasing costs of electricity storage is making solar farms an exciting alternative to rural farming communities and this is generating opposition to prevent the loss of prime agricultural land from contributing to the world food supply.

It seems we need a new definition of how we classify farmland when we examine this issue.  It would be a shame to see land presently worked to grow crops for harvest disappear under a mass of photo volcanic cells, but that argument does not hold up when the land in question is simply used for grazing.

A vast area of the Australian countryside is set aside for the grazing of sheep or cattle and is considered " marginal " from an agricultural point of view.  Evidence is starting to appear where a mix of solar gathering on farms that duplicate as grazing grounds for sheep and cattle actually benefit from the presence of those solar panels.

Last year Australia experienced a severe drought and one of the outcomes was a vast reduction in stock because most graziers were forced to buy feed to keep their animals from starving.  Vast herds shrunk to a nucleus of the best breeding animals and now the drought has broken it is estimated that it will take years to regain those herd numbers.

What is surprising is a report from a Dubbo farmer who has  an array of solar panels located on his fifty-five hectare farm.  During the worst of the drought his sheep continued grazing amongst the panels when surrounding farmers were buying in feed and reducing their herd sizes.   He noticed that night temperatures induced moisture to form on the solar panels and this dripped off onto the pasture below when the sun rose in the morning.  The panels were generating enough water to sustain the surrounding grass and delivering sustainability for his sheep.

There is a benefit to be gained by locating solar farms on marginal grazing land if this mix of activities can be managed.  The ideal situation would be electricity generated by solar during the day having the excess used to pump water back to elevated lakes to use hydro power to sustain supplies during rhe night when the sun is not shining, and this is the tactic that will be employed in the enlarged Snowy Mountains development.

There appears to be a strong case for combining solar farms on maginal grazing land to combine the   productive effect of leasing the land for that use with the benefit of drought protection. The right combination of land use can have a positive effect on farm finance by reducing that old drought scourge that has long affected the farming community.

ABC " News " Cuts !

For most of the earlier years of the twentieth century the most listened to new service in Australia was provided by the ABC.  In paricular, the midday news and the seven o'clock evening news was a regular news feature on every commercial radio station across the depth and breadth of Australia.  Those were the days when commercial radio relied on the ABC for what was termed " the National news " !

The arrival of television brought a drastic change and the establishment of rival networks quickly saw competing newsrooms see the value of news gathering in the quest for ratings.  The ABC was accused of having a left wing bias, but as the national broadcaster it reigned supreme as the  most watched news service with national appeal.   People tended to believe what they saw on the ABC.

Now budget cuts are intruding into the ABC's ability to provide a full spectrum of services.  Important in-depth shows like " Australian story " and " Foreign Correspondent " which expand on items covered briefly in the news will be reduced in number and many back office services will be forced to share with SBS.  Staff cuts will reduce the ABC payroll by two hundred and fifty people.

One of the casualties will be the closure of two ABC channels to fit the budget into a new five year plan.  The ABC is about to seriously shrink in size and one of the things that will disappear from air is the much watched flagship 7-45 am news programme.  Across Australia this was where many people got their first look at the world news as they ate breakfast or drove to work in the morning commute.

The fact that the ABC is retreating in news provision is coming at a time when the very authenticity of news in general is under question.  The computer and the internet have opened the door to phenomenons such as Facebook which may be inundated with news items created by banks of computers churning out input disguised as the contributions from Australian citizens.  Much of this originates from foreign government actions designed to enhance the vote for political parties with which they share a common interest.

We are facing what will probably be the greatest change to the Australian business cycle since Federation.   The lockdown to defeat the Coronavirus forced commerce to close and put people out of work and the shape of the recovery that is emerging will be very different.  It is important that the independence of the ABC news gathering remain intact to give an unfiltered view of how public opinion is forming. Otherwise, that view will be shaped by the external influences that create agendas by manipulation through media such as Facebook.

This budget cut back could be the first of many that emasculates the ability of the ABC tio provide a national news service on an Australia wide basis.  That is a unique reality that has served us well over a long period of time !

The " CSI " Effect !

In July of 2009 a crime in Sydney shocked Australia.  When a suburban newsagency failed to open early on Sunday morning to deliver the weekend papers, enquiries at the newsagents home revealed that the entire family had been brutally bashed to death in their beds.

Norman Lin (45), his wife Lily (43), her sister Irene (29) and the Lin sons  Henry (12) and Terry (9) had been the victim of an intruder.  The police found no evidence of a forced entry and the electricity had been cut off at the meter.  These murders resulted in a long and careful police investigation.

Eventually, the family brother in law,  Robert Xie wass arrested and faced prosecution.  Xie protested his innocence and claimed to have been asleep in his own bed alongside his wife on the night of the murder, and this was corroberated by his wife.

Four times Xie faced a jury and three of those trials were abandoned when the jury failed to reach a verdict.   That fourth trial reached culmination when the judge took the unusual step of allowing a majority verdict instead of a unanamous verdict in Januarty 2017.   Xie was subsequently sentenced to five life sentences, to be served without access to parole.

What is believed to be the damning evidence was referred to as " stain 91 ".   This consisted of a blood stain on the floor of Xie's garage and it was claimed that it contained DNA evidence from both of the Lin children and two of the adults.  The prosecution made use of a DNA " expert " and this appeal claims he went far beyond his area of expertise and intruded into the jury's role.

It is clear the prosecution offered no evidence on the age of the stain and it is believed that the Lin children often played in Xie's garage and he was frequently visited by the entire family.  The judge took the precaution of warning the jury about what she called the " CSI effect " where DNA claims made on an American crime show often veered well beyond the parameters that exist at that time.

Under Australia's " double jeapardy " laws had Xie been found not guil;ty at those abandoned trials he could not have been retried.  Because the jury failed to reach a verdict he could have faced new trials endlessly and many would assume that these failures showed that the prosecution failed to present a clear case of guilt.

The public will await the outcome of this appeal with interest.   Either an innocent man has spent years in prison and the perpetrater of this crime remains free, or the police got the right suspect but botched the case for the prosecution.

Once again, the ever evolving mysteries of DNA are proving critical in the justice system and non technically minded men and women on juries face the task of deciding what they choose to believe.  It does not bode well for the future where such evidence seems destined to inevitably land in the court of appeal  !

The Education Attrition Rate !

The attrition rate in the Australian education systemn is shocking.   Nationally, just one third of the  students who begin in year one go on to complete year twelve. Significantly, the loss mainly occurs in the transition to high school and we are losing an amazing degree of talent.

The Federal government is negotiatig a deal with the states and territories to implement a programme called " Closing the gap ".   In particular, this loss is impacting heavily on indigenous students, many of whom could speak two to five languages and would be regarded as highly talented in other circumstances.

The plan calls for six million dollars to fund the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience which would brng mentoring help to 250 schools to help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children engage in education.  A National University study found that indigenous children starting school have a 200 to 400 word vocabulary whereas non-indigenous children usually had an extended vocabulary of 600 or more words.

This will be even more important now that university fees are under review and it is likely that fees for the most popular courses are set to rise sharply.  The drop out rate at university is also a cause for concern and higher fees will probably bring with it a drop in the numbers seeking to advance their job prospects by seeking higher education levels and that is exactly the opposite of what industry in Australia needs to happen.

It is highly important that indigenous people have access to well paying career jobs and that will only be attained through them obtaining the necessary qualifications.  That can only be brought about by ensuring that they complete their education which then opens the right doors.  It is quite clear that incentives are needed to keep bright young indigenous minds within the education system.

This " Closing the Gap " is welcome as indigenous education suffered a five hundred million cut in the 2014 budget.  A lack of education is unacepptable.  These are not just statistics - they are real people.  Education is the key to a better lifestyle.

This programme will not miraculously cure the drop out rate, but it will help by making an improvement.  This is a problem that will be solved on a case by case basis - with one family at a time.  At least it is a step in the right direction  !

The Coming Fire Season !

Last Sunday was the shortest day of the year.   We are now on the annual curve back to longer days which will culminate in summer and with that comes a return of the bushfire season.  Last summer was the year we will never forget.  A combination of an enduring drought and the record high temperatures that are the outcome of global warming brought a fire storm that destroyed lives and property from which we are still recovering.

What got us through the inferno of last summer was the volunteer bush fire brigades who turned out in their thousands and battled the fires for weeks without a break. No sooner were the fires out than we had this coronvirus to contend with, and as a result the Australian economy is looking very different heading towards this next summer.

Those volunteer fire fighters were a mix of self employed and people who worked for a boss who released them to undertake their fire fighting duties.  Most of those businesses have been weeks in lockdown and a return to employment hinges on this pandemic being contained. There are tentative signs that this is happening, but there are also signs that we may be entering a second wave of the virus that may make local lockdowns a critical response.

Last summer's national emergency saw a heavily increased use of water bombing planes and helicopters.   The dropping of fire retardant from the air conbined with men on the ground to tame the flames and it is important that we have a repeat of the aircraft available for next summer. Exactly the same aircraft orbit between the fire seasons in both the north and south hemispheres, but they need to be booked in advance to ensure availability.

Perhaps the biggest danger is the possibility that many of those volunteers who gave their time unstintingly last summer may be unemployed when this fire season comes around.  The state of the economy will certainly make it much harder for employers to release employees for fire duties and it is highly likely we may have to cope with reduced numbers.

Volunteer members of rural fire brigades are highly trained people.   Fighting fire is a complex art and they give of their time all year to gain that expertise.   It would not be unreasonable to expect the government to chip in and make a pay contribution on the days that they are on the fire front.  In the present economic circumstances that should not be left to the goodwill of their employers.

What happens on the fire front next summer depends on luck.  If we have a wet sumer the risk will be reduced, but there is every expectation of fires to be fought and we have a volunteer army in place to respond.   In the changed economic cuircumstances, the government would be wise to put in place the financial incentives to ensure that happens.

Making Penalties Fit the Crime !

We are fast seeing the unemployment rate reaching eight percent and the state government is looking at ways of discounting fines to bring them into each individuals ability to pay.  The vast majority of fines are for a fixed amount and apply equally to rich business people and aged pensioners despite their uneven income levels.

From this July 1, people who receive Centrelink benefits may apply to have fines reduced by half where that fine is being collected by Revenue NSW.  That will include traffic, speeding and parking fines and  for minor court matters such as stealing, offensive behavior, intoxication and disorderly conduct.   It will not apply to court ordered fines, including jury duty fines and fines ordered against body corporates.

That fine regime is somethintg set by parliament.   Whenever an individual crime increases sharply in volume the politicians seem likely to increase its severity in the belief that a penalty increase will see the convictions drop.  Fines of five hndred dollars are now common and these take no account of the ability to pay of the person fined.

In particular, we are seeing many Indigenous Australians in prison because of outstanding fines and they are more likely to be unemployed or getting a low wage than other segments of the Australian population.  Aborigines are over represented in the prison system and the inflexibility of the fine system seems to be a leading cause.

The law in Australia is something we inherited along with the first fleet and that was something that harked back to Magna Carta.   In the earlier days of merry olde England kings ruled by divine right - and they owned everything.  They could personally impose taxes if they needed money to fight a war.  The local barons had a run in with King John and they forced him tio sign Magna Carta at Runneymede and that gave many personal freedoms.  Australian law accepts Magna Carta as its base.

It seems that this fine discount is a temporary measure while we fight our way out of this Coronavirus pandemic and the recession it has caused, but our fine system is basically unfair.   The fine applies to the event and not the person applicable.  The impost of the fine can be greatly different to the spending power of individuals subject to its measure.

Now - for the first time - that imbalance is being taken into account in the collection of fines.  If ever this concession comes to an end it will be difficult to return to a regime of applying fines without regard to ability to pay.  Perhaps we are seeing a watershed in Australian law that signals a new permanency  !