Editorial opinions
I’ve set up a web site for my editorial opinions at http://theborderwatch.blogspot.com/.
I’m not a big fan of writing editorials. I stopped them at Myrtleford and Kalgoorlie, except when I had something that had to be said. The Border Watch has a policy though to run them, and I accept that responsibility.
Opinion pieces for daily papers can be tricky, especially somewhere like Mount Gambier where we don’t cover much national news and don’t have access to AAP.
There are only so many local issues to opine about. Read more
Netherlands goes to pot
One of the more bizarre news stories I’ve read in a long while surfaced today when it came out that tobacco smoking has been banned in Dutch cafes and restaurants, but marijuana is still okay.
I’m half Dutch, but the country today is nothing like the one my mother and grandparents left in the 1950s.
I’m not qualified to explain why. I’ve been there and found a bigger cultural gap between the countryside and cities than what exists in other countries.
The politics of allowing cannabis to be legal while making public tobacco smoking illegal just escapes me.
Children have a right to care
Sometimes it seems the older I get the more passionate I become about certain issues. That contradicts my general tendency to take things as they come. Not much surprises me any more.
However, at the age of 41 I’m passionate about child protection. It bothers me that society turns a blind eye to child abuse.
Abuse is not just sexual, which is evil. Abuse is also emotional, physical, material, financial. It’s about love, care, attention and opportunity. Read more
What’s in a name?
That’s the logo of the Federal Government’s Area Consultative Committees (ACC). Not very impressive, is it? And you couldn’t blame anyone for wanting to change it. However, at what cost should it be changed?
Regional Development Minister Anthony Albanese announced just before Easter that ACCs would be replaced by a similar organisation called Regional Development Australia (RDA). Read more
Furore over mulesing
Wool continues to be one of Australia’s major industries but doesn’t get much mainstream news attention.
That’s a shame because like all industries there are issues, problems, challenges, successes and failures.
The fact growers have agreed to phase out mulesing by 2010 had escaped me. Mulesing involves surgically removing the skin around the sheep’s backside to prevent wool growth which reduces the risk of fly strike.
I’ve always been aware of the practice and never gave it much thought. It’s a vital part of animal husbandry, as far as I’m concerned. It’s important for the animal’s welfare to prevent flystrike. Read more
Hoon problem
Western Australia has a hoon problem. It exists everywhere to some extent, I suppose, but I never encountered it in the parts of Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia I lived in previously.
Hoon activity can be doing a burnout; dangerous or reckless driving; racing another vehicle, speeding, and accelerating or braking and skidding wildly.
I think it’s fair to say WA is the hoon state of Australia and Kalgoorlie-Boulder is the hoon capital. I saw some figures last year which showed there were more hoon arrests here than anywhere else. Read more
National Party review
John Anderson was a strange choice to review the structure and operations of the National Party following its disastrous Federal Election performance, considering he was an architect of the party’s demise.
The Nationals were indistinguishable from the Liberals under his leadership. It’s difficult to pinpoint any National Party legacy from the former Coalition Government.
The National Party (formerly the Country Party) has existed for 90 years as a collective of state-based organisations. Each state party has a unique history. Read more
Plastic shopping bags
There is speculation the new Labor Government will ban plastic shopping bags to shore up its green credentials.
City dog owners are unhappy with the idea because they use plastic bags to hold the poop they scoop.
I’d prefer to see the government discourage plastic bags, rather than abolish them. They should implement a 10-cent levy on them, so people have a choice.
We generally take carry bags on big shopping trips, but there are times you drop into the supermarket for eight or 10 items and don’t have one of them in your car.
We also recycle the plastic bags to hold kitchen rubbish.
The sickie
In his latest comment Bill Sullivan touched on that great Australian institution, the sick day. While I don’t condone people exploiting the example he mentions (a hangover) I know it happens.
In Victoria employers have virtually conceded the Monday before Melbourne Cup day (the first Tuesday in November) as a holiday because everyone was treating it as such to create a four-day weekend.
Most awards and contracts enable employees to take at least three sick days a year with no questions asked.
I’d prefer to see the term “sick day” abolished for those occasions and replaced by something like “personal leave” or “flexible leave”.
It creates a degree of suspicion and mistrust in the office when people take unexplained sick days, not just between employees and managers, but among the staff as well. Nobody enjoys having to work longer or harder to cover someone’s mystery absence.
As for myself, I can honestly say that I’ve not taken a sickie since 1994 when I had my wisdom teeth removed.
The road toll
Bill Tuckey wrote a thought-provoking article in The Australian today about the escalating road toll. He posed the question is there too much emphasis on speeding and drink driving as the cause of road deaths?
I think there is.
I saw some figures recently that police road patrols in Western Australia have reduced at a time the state’s road toll is rising. The government’s response was to say that police action is more targeted.
It’s more targeted towards catching speeders and boosting government revenue. Instead of motorists seeing police on the road, speed cameras are concealed to catch the maximum number of offenders. Read more
Recent comments
- delmer: I downloaded Chrome about 10 minutes ago and am using it now. It seems pretty zippy.
- Emily: I remember learning the meaning of the Greek fish symbol in Greek school. I think it had to do with the the...
- rgeo81: hey there, the other day i was riding my bike to work…i have never in my life been swooped by a...
- Michael: Hello Gerhard, rental accommodation can be difficult to find. If possible, you should travel ahead of your...
- Gerhard: Hello I have the opportunity to be transfer to kalgoorlie from South Africa. Is housing a promlem and do i...
Links
Random posts
Archives
Subscribe
Enter your email address here to receive a weekly email newsletter.Useful stuff
