Random thoughts and observations
There is widespread concern that none of the nine males who gang raped a 10-year-old girl in Queensland have been sent to prison. The Queensland Government is appealing the sentences. Six teenagers who pleaded guilty last month were placed on a 12-month probation order and had no conviction recorded against them for the 2005 rape [...]
There’s an interesting opinion piece in The Age about how Australian travellers are perceived overseas. Basically we are considered arrogant. I travelled in 1991 and the perception was emerging then. It doesn’t surprise me that it’s worse today. Seventeen years ago the “arrogant” tourists were Americans and Germans. Australians were considered brash but friendly. Australians [...]
Newspaper offices are nutter magnets. The vast majority of people who contact newspapers are sane and rational, but there is a significant fringe group of nuts. Classic behavioral symptoms include irrational abuse, attention seeking and pure wackiness. The latter is the most amusing, although the others have their humorous moments. A few months ago I [...]
There’s a good article in the Australian Financial Review today about the labor shortage in Western Australia. It’s the first time I’ve seen the subject addressed. Since I arrived in WA nearly two years ago, all the talk has been about a skills shortage. The shortage is across the board, skilled and unskilled. The state’s [...]
I’ve revamped the OzComments web site using the commercial WordPress Revolution theme. I don’t really know where I’m heading with this site. It’s largely an experiment in progress. One possibility is it might attract other authors and become a community site for Australian issues. It’s not getting many hits yet, but the election might kick [...]
