23 July 2007

If I ruled a country …

This is one of those five-question blog prompts. I first saw it on Synaptoman. The starting assumption is that you are the absolute ruler of a prosperous, stable country without any immediate threats, no poverty or unemployment.

That means I can answer this question safe in the knowledge I don’t need to interfere with the economy or the social structure. They must be working already.

1) I’d appoint an advisory council made up of community and industry leaders. I wouldn’t have to accept their advice, but I could not govern effectively without it.

2) I would guarantee the independence of the judiciary, appoint a powerful ombudsman and ensure the police force was properly organised and well paid.

3)  The only taxes would be a value-added tax and a bank debits tax.

4)  I would ensure free quality education to university level.

5) I would build an excellent public transport system and ban cars from city precincts.

Tags: blog, economy, education, employment, media, NSW, police, PR, rant, Sport, transport, WordPress, work
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10 March 2007

David Hicks

I believe that David Hicks should have been brought to trial by now. His case should be dealt with as quickly as possible.

Most Australians hold that view, I believe, but I don’t know many who think Hicks is an innocent babe in the woods who has been unfairly persecuted.

Hence my surprise at the front cover text on the Saturday magazine of The Australian, generally regarded as a conservative newspaper.

Five years ago, David Hicks was seen as a traitor who deserved to be locked up for good. Now he’s portrayed as a freckle-faced kid and a victim of injustice. Just how did this sinner become a saint?

The magazine subs must be of the left-wing latte supping breed to produce that sort of rubbish. They are the only people I’ve come across who regard Hicks as a saint.

Tags: journalism, politics, rant
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1 March 2007

National Australia Bank

We had a bad experience recently with the National Australia Bank, the bank with the unfortunate acronym of NAB.

Juliet and I are reviewing our superannuation strategy and our financial adviser is setting up new accounts. Juliet’s super was dormant in a retirement savings account with NAB.

We’d lost the relevant paperwork so Juliet visited the bank to obtain the details and recover the money.

The woman who served her mistook our little-used joint savings account for the retirement savings account, closed it and gave Juliet the balance of $116.

I couldn’t believe there was so little money in Juliet’s superannuation and was ranting about how it must have all been consumed in fees when NAB lady rang and said she’d made a mistake.

According to her the super account thankfully did exist and held about $3000 but was lost. Needless to say there were numerous minions at the bank working in a frenzied manner to find it (we’re still waiting).

Meanwhile, NAB lady asked Juliet to drive back into town and re-deposit the $116 in our joint savings account. Hardly worth the trouble, except we have an investment account linked to that account.

That done, NAB lady rings again to say she was unable to reactivate the account and had to create a new one. That means my linked investment account with another bank is no longer linked and I’ll have to go into that bank to change the details.

Tags: finance, rant
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22 November 2006

Bad news

Some people seem to think that newspapers delight in publishing bad news. As an editor I admit that bad news, tragedy and conflict often help to sell papers. That says something about human beings, I think, rather than newspapers.

From a personal perspective I prefer to focus on the positive but unless you're colorblind or wearing rose-colored glasses the world necessarily appears in different hues. The "negative" stories need to be told as part of a balanced overview.

The stories that disturb me most involve assaults on children.

The Kalgoorlie Miner has this month reported a terrible case in which an immigrant father admitted to sexually assaulting his 13-year-old daughter 40 times.

I won't reprint the appalling details here.

I will say however that I received email contact this week from the victim's family overseas requesting copies of the reports. They thanked me with courtesy for providing the information in reply.

It was reassuring for me to know that people suffering indescribable pain appreciated the role of a newspaper in communicating such shocking information.

If society preferred to ignore that such things happen they would happen more often. 

Tags: children, email, family, Kalgoorlie, news, newspapers, PR, rant, sex, society, world
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11 October 2006

Citizenship test

There has been a lot of discussion in Australia about plans to introduce a citizenship test for immigrants. This PDF document is a beauty. I found it at FWDitOn.com, a web site for people to submit funny emails.

I love the question: Which Australian Prime Minister held the world record for drinking a yardie full of beer the fastest? Bob Hawke did us proud.

Tags: Australia, email, PR, rant, world
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24 September 2006

HESTA superannuation

This blog is a rant against HESTA, the health and community services sector superannuation fund.

I have an account with them into which my former employer made its nine percent compulsory payments.

Upon starting at the Kalgoorlie Miner I transferred my main super account seamlessly from ING to the WA News company fund without any hassle. That’s how it should be. Just fill out a form, sign it, send it away and everything is done.

HESTA though wanted extra proof of my identity. My name, address, signature, account number, birthday, phone number, etc wasn’t good enough. They demanded a certified copy of my licence before they would transfer MY money to the the account of my choice.

A cynic would say they just want to hold MY money for as long as they can. That’s me. I’m a cynic. If they had doubts about my ID they could have called my mobile number or my workplace.

Privacy is one thing but service with respect should be paramount. They’ve got it wrong. Avoid HESTA if you want service.

Tags: blog, health, Kalgoorlie, mobile, nature, news, PR, rant, superannuation, work
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29 April 2006

Breakfast for blokes

I was guest speaker this morning at “Breakfast for Blokes”. This is a Christian men’s group that meets monthly for prayer and fellowship.

I was honoured to be invited and used the opportunity to give some personal views on the media’s role in society and more particularly the role of newspapers in country communities.

I finished with this joke, which like nearly all jokes was adapted from elsewhere:

There were three men: an editor, a photographer, and a journalist, walking down a street when they discover a lamp. As they rub the lamp a genie appears and offers to grant them each a wish:

The photographer went first. “I would like to spend the rest of my life living in a huge house in Margaret River with no money worries.” The genie granted his wish and sent him off to Margaret River.

The journalist went next. “I would like to spend the rest of my life living on a huge yacht cruising the Great Barrier Reef with no money worries.” The genie granted his wish and sent him off to the Whitsundays.

Last, but not least, it was the editor’s turn. “And what would your wish be?” asked the genie.

The editor replied: “I want them both back after lunch. The deadline for tomorrow’s paper is in three hours.”

Tags: communities, life, list, media, news, newspapers, PR, rant, society
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10 April 2006

Religion

I admit that we lost contact with organised religion after the twins were born. It required a big effort to get the family to mass and the twins were a handful. Traditional denominations in Australia have lost members partly because they haven't been family friendly. As congregations grow older it's hard for parents to take young children to church in an environment where they have few peers. That's no reason though to forget or ignore one's faith. I came across a web site called the Catholic Show which reminds people that the church is a vibrant, growing, relevant organisation. With Kathleen attending a Catholic secondary school next year it's likely we'll become more involved in the local parish.

Tags: Australia, Catholic, children, church, environment, faith, family, rant, religion, school, Twins
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23 February 2006

Furniture has arrived

Our furniture arrived today. They didn’t finish unloading until late this afternoon, so we’ve got lots of unpacking to do and most things are still in boxes.

At least we’re all sleeping in our own beds tonight.

We nearly didn’t have it delivered today because I had to fax back a quarantine form declaring we had no fruit or vegetables in the container, and I only got back from a meeting before the deadline.

They’re very strick about quarantine regulations in WA, much more so than South Australia, where I crossed the border without fuss. At Eucla they searched my car and confiscated an apple box.

Tags: Australia, rant, sleep, south australia
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18 January 2006

Crossing the Nullarbor

I have crossed the Nullarbor and arrived in Kalgoorlie. Crossing the Nullarbor is like a rite of passage for many Australians. You’re not fair dinkum until you’ve done it.

I was happy to revisit Ceduna after an absence of 14 years. South Australia’s Mid North, Eyre Peninsula and Far West are fascinating for their history. There are ruined buildings dotted throughout the landscape as monuments to failed agricultural hopes.

There must be a couple of dozen signs around Ceduna and Penong showing old school sites, where 100 years ago there were scores of families and today there is one or none. Read more »

Tags: agriculture, Australia, culture, History, Kalgoorlie, office, PR, rant, school, south australia, war
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