Medicare safety net
The Federal Government’s Medicare safety net is a good idea. Once people reach a certain threshold they are covered for 80 percent of out-of-pocket expenses.
This will help reduce the payments required for GP consultations, blood tests and x-rays.
The red tape is annoying though. First, we were required to register for the potential extra benefit. Why? Medicare already had our details. I registered online, which was painless enough, and I thought that was the end of it.
Today I opened a letter saying we’re close to being eligible for the benefit. However, to qualify I had to fill out another form and mail it to Medicare. The form simply asked me to confirm what I had already registered with them.
I guess some people won’t bother to register and some won’t bother to return the form. The savings for the government presumably offset the cost of printing these notices and mailing them out. Or am I just being cynical?
Gould’s Book of Fish
Gould’s Book of Fish by Richard Flanagan is difficult to describe. It received some rave reviews, which encouraged me to read it.
Upon reflection, I’m now surprised that so many critics were so impressed with a book that doesn’t have a plot.
Normally I would write here a brief summary about the book I’ve read. I can’t say much about Gould’s Book of Fish except it’s set in Tasmania during the convict period. The narrator is a convict artist, who both survives and gets into trouble through his mediocre gift.
The introduction portrays the narrative as wild fiction, which it certainly is. This book is anarchic, challenging, frustrating, stimulating, compelling, bewildering and a host of other things.
I didn’t think I’d make it to the end, but the raw humor made it worthwhile.
There are elements of political correctness in this book, which irritated me. The only heroes are the poor blacks who are killed, pox ridden, abused and mutilated.
Some of the scenes are horrific, but unlike the classic “For the Term of His Natural Life” you can’t believe anything that Flanagan writes, so it’s shock value is mitigated.
I suspect this novel, described somehwere as “post modern”, is more for the Chardonnay set in big cities than it is for ordinary punters who like a good story.
Education costs discriminate
A Victorian Government study has found that students from independent schools enrolled at university this year at twice the rate of students from state schools.
The survey of last year’s VCE graduates found that more than 67 percent of students from independent schools took up an offer at university, compared with nearly 34 percent of government school students. In Catholic schools, about 47 percent of students took up a place. Why?
I haven’t read the study, so these are my own conclusions:
Tertiary education has clearly become too expensive for children from ordinary lower/middle class families. Young people from families at the lower end of the income spectrum have to be extremely motivated to pursue a university degree.
This is contrary to past government policies, which effectively encouraged higher education to:
a) Keep the unemployment figures low; and
b) Build a more highly skilled workforce.
Employment today is more abundant, so governments have less incentive to worry about jobless figures. The growth of vocational education in the TAFE sector has also reduced the pressure on universities to fill some gap years.
I look back to my peer group, among the last to benefit from free education, and many went to university because they had no other productive option.
My children won’t have that luxury. I won’t encourage them to pursue higher education unless they show genuine aptitude and interest. We will also consider offshore options that potentially reduce their final debt if quality outcomes can be assured.
The effect of increasing the cost of university is to widen the gap between rich and poor.
That said, I’m not opposed to university fees. They help students to understand the value of education. But I think we need to work harder, as a society, to find solutions that level the playing field for people who don’t have privileged backgrounds.
Congratulations Karlene Maywald
I read today that South Australia’s only state National Party MP, Karlene Maywald, has been appointed a Minister in the Rann Labor Government, effectively ensuring a clear Labor majority in the Lower House.
The state Liberals are whining and the federal Nationals are suffering palpitations. The SA Nationals have been suspended from the federal organisation until after the election.
I can understand the federal Nationals being anxious, because John Anderson has about as much vision as a blind dog in the dark.
Maywald’s decision took courage, and my guess is it will be well received in her electorate. She’s going to be the Minister for Regional Development and the Murray River. In explaining herself she said:
“This job I’m taking on here is about the River Murray, it’s about being able to do the best job I can for my constituency. The River Murray is what is important to them, politics isn’t, they don’t care about Liberal and Labor and all the game playing.”
For the National Party to be relevant anywhere in Australia it needs to be a political deal maker. Only in Queensland can the Nationals ever expect to win more seats than the Liberals.
In most circumstances, the Nationals will find themselves ideologically aligned to the Liberal Party and form Coalitions when required. Sometimes though it’s worth shaking the Liberals’ complacency, or placing a brake on their excesses.
One way to achieve that is to make an occasional deal with Labor. The circumstances in South Australia were right for Maywald to do that. Rann was leading a minority government and was prepared to make concessions to secure his position.
The previous situation in Victoria, where a Coalition existed without the Nationals holding the balance of power, began a slow decay for the party in this state.
I admired Peter Ryan’s effort to turn things around at the last state election, and he’s certainly blazed an independent trail. Arguably though he could have been more conciliatory towards the Bracks Government in its first term, when the government enjoyed high goodwill in country areas.
Maywald showed a lot of guts in making her decision. Good luck to her.
Health consultant not objective
I failed in my personal effort to have dental care for children recognised as an issue in Alpine Shire’s Municipal Public Health Plan, now rebadged as a "community well-being plan".
Despite my submission, there was no mention of it in the revised draft. At a workshop yesterday I challenged the consultant Sally Rose and received an evasive reply that the report recommends advocacy for access to public dental services.
She must have missed the point. Isn’t it better to prevent dental decay than it is to provide free dental treatment?
She also mumbled something about seeking broader public opinion on fluoride before including that in the health plan. Excuse me, but wasn’t the public consultation and submission process the way to ascertain public opinion? Or do the submissions have to agree with the opinions of Ms Rose before they’re given any credence?
I can understand Council not wanting to enter any debate about fluoridation of water supply. It’s a controversial subject. Curiously, the loony left and raving right are aligned in opposing it. They see conspiracy theories, loss of choice, etc.
I don’t think there’s any opposition though to fluoride tablets being given to children. The problem in country Victoria is that no level of government has any program in place to educate parents about fluoride. It’s not an issue in Melbourne because fluoride is added to the water.
My eldest daughter is 10 years old and nobody had ever given us any information about fluoride until our eight-year-old boy recently showed signs of brittle teeth, possibly caused by taking antibiotics as a toddler.
The same dentist remarked that she’s had to extract the teeth of children as young as two years old due to poor oral hygiene.
How hard would it be for Alpine Shire to give parents a dental fact sheet when their children are being immunised?
The consultant’s dismissal of my submission makes me wonder if she viewed this suggestion objectively, or if her other position as a Shire Councillor clouded her judgement.
Methinks it is a conflict of interest for a shire councillor to also be a shire consultant. The new Local Government Act has provisions dealing with conflict of interest and I may examine these in some detail.
I suspect that an independent consultant would have been more considerate of public submissions.
When the Lion Feeds
When the Lion Feeds is Wilbur Smith’s first novel, published in 1964. I’ve come it by a roundabout route, beginning with Power of the Sword and more recently having read Monsoon and Birds of Prey.
I don’t think it matters to read Smith out of sequence; in fact it possibly helps to evaluate his characters without pre-conceptions and expectations.
If I hadn’t known this was his first book I could have guessed. The later trademarks are all there including: Strong masculine lead character, equally strong female support roles, conflict between brothers, treks into the wilderness, hunting, fighting, etc.
The noticeable difference is in the narrative style. Later novels flow like a rapid river and there is no author commentary. In When the Lion Feeds, Smith pauses for reflection and this doesn’t always succeed. I wonder if he personally fine tuned his style after this debut novel, or if an editor went to work?
Some elements make this novel more interesting than others, especially the unpredictability, which renders it impossible to foresee the fortunes of the volatile Courtney hero.
There is more tragedy in this book than others by Smith that I’ve read, mixed with the usual humour. I enjoyed the circumstances of his wedding to the Afrikaner trek girl, Katrina. Her father threatened Courtney with dire punishment if he harmed the girl, and a Portugese priest had to be fetched from hundreds of miles away to marry the pair before their child was born.
Katrina’s suicide was written with moving empathy.
This book sets the scene for Smith’s later works and should form part of any fan’s library.
Jackdaws by Ken Follett
Jackdaws by Ken Follett is a wartime drama set in England and Nazi-occupied France. It traces the story of women commandos who parachute into enemy territory to destroy a telephone exchange ahead of the Allied counter invasion.
The heroine is a feisty good-looking type who speaks fluent French and co-ordinates multiple cells of the French resistance. In her penultimate raid she encounters a steely German major who shadows her until the conclusion.
Follett’s narrative skill is superb and he weaves several interesting sub-plots into the main story. Conflict creates tension and there’s plenty of that: The likeable German Major and his Gestapo rival; stuffy English bureaucrats oppose the all-women commando ploy; a German cross-dresser joins the all-women team; the heroine falls in love with an American while her French husband is battling Nazis for the Resistance, etc.
The ending is fairly predictable, but this book flows at a hectic pace and is well worth reading.
New member of the family
We welcomed a new member of the family today in Snowy (pictured). He’s a maltese/shihtzu cross, about eight weeks old. The kids have been wanting to get a dog for a long time now and we gave in, providing they share responsibility for looking after him. He’s a cute little bloke and won’t grow too big.
Demon Ridge
Today I walked more than 30km in just under six hours, retracing some of my steps from last summer along Demon Ridge.
Juliet drove me to the starting point along the Clear Spot Road where it intersects with Dingo Ridge Road. I set off in cold conditions (three degrees according to Suzie) at 9.20am.
I expected to encounter snow, as there was a good fall overnight on Mount Buffalo and Mount Porepunkah, which we could see from home. It must have only settled above 1000 metres, because that’s the exact height of Clear Spot and there was no snow there.
I had good views though across to the snowy ranges on Buffalo and further afield. It was a steady 40-minute climb from the starting point to Clear Spot, which also offered spectacular views.
From there I walked along Demon Ridge, which extends scores of kilometres southwards at an elevation between 900 and 1100 metres. There was evidence of last year’s bushfire, but the regrowth and wet conditions made it less obvious.
Last year I missed the Mudhole Track turn-off to Wandiligong, taking a steeper and longer route. I vowed not to repeat the perilous descent, however temptation saw me in similar straits when I couldn’t resist exploring an unnamed track that I knew would reach the valley 550 metres below.
It was tame at first and then it dropped like a steeple. No harm though, I reached the bottom without much drama and then proceeded to wander a maze of forest tracks. There are only one or two places where the bush tracks meet the main road and I kept missing them. Finally I found myself at the back of an orchard and cut through to reach the road.
I then walked most of the Wandiligong Valley before resting briefly at Alpine Park at 1.10pm. I resolved then to walk home, or at least to Bright.
I followed the Morses Creek track to Bright and the rail trail to home. It was an enjoyable walk and I’m not feeling too sore at the moment. That will probably come tomorrow.
My plan now is to enjoy a barbecue, some fine wine, a Wallabies win against New Zealand and a Lions win against Collingwood.
The twins are crawling
The twins are both crawling now, but Margaret is more adventurous than James and travels further. James has three teeth and Margaret has two. Today they were seven months old.
Juliet and I enjoyed lunch in Bright today at the Star Hotel with the babies and they were both well behaved.
I changed a poo nappy after midnight last night for the first time in a few weeks. I had managed to avoid that task for a while!
The picture shows our beautiful twins enjoying a chocolate cup cake last night.
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