Carbon Tax Effects Already

Look what the carbon tax has done to Tony

Last night we had major storms and local flooding in Toowoomba.

There's absolutely no doubt, of course, that this is a result of the recent passing of the invidious Carbon Tax in federal parliament....

Open Statement on Asylum Seekers

Remember?

In the absence of real leadership on the asylum seekers issue, it takes some non-politicians to say what our elected leaders should have been saying since 2001.

An extract -

As the Vietnam War came to a chaotic end, Australia faced the prospect of a huge influx of refugees from the conflict. Fears for the well-being of asylum seekers, as well as concerns about whether Australia could successfully deal with such an influx, were well founded. A balance was struck however, and a humane and effective bi-partisan solution was put in place. Both Government and Opposition rose above party affiliation to act in the face of initially negative opinion polls.

Australia’s elected leaders created a system that worked with regional partners, ensured basic human rights protections and created an efficient and effective system which, over 20 years, dealt with the needs of more than 2.5 million Indochinese refugees. The system initiated by the Fraser Government ultimately resulted in some 250,000 Vietnamese refugees and immigrants being taken in. Many of these people were fleeing a war in which Australia was a combatant. We had a moral responsibility to assist them, and we did. 

Somehow, our national values have been shouted down by politicians since Howard, using xenophobia as a weapon, and we have forgotten this.

It's time someone knocked Abbott's and Gillard's heads together.

Things Have Changed

6.25am takeoff

I’ve just come back from four days in Adelaide, promoting my book and visiting family.

Whilst there, I took the advice of a mate from 7RAR and visited the unit which is now based at Edinburgh on a site which was once occupied by the RAAF.

I’m glad I did – it was a fascinating visit.

A fair bit has changed since 1969. The first thing you notice is the level of security. In order to get into the base you need to phone at least 24 hours ahead, and the reason for your visit. Once there, you’re taken into a security building, your photo taken, and a special pass made up with your pic on it, which you wear for the duration.

No doubt this is a rational consequence of recent events.

When I arrived, I left my rental car (bright red Hyundai i30) outside the gate because I wasn’t sure where to park. I was met with a fairly alarmed-looking civvie in security uniform who ushered me and the car to a parking area to the left of the security building.

His alarmed expression was a consequence of the fact that an obviously rented vehicle was parked close to the boom gates – apparently a scenario that was in the training manual.

7RAR has changed a bit. There are women – not many, but they’re about. The NCO showing me around was of the opinion that the recent changes won’t increase their numbers.

I reckon he’s right – most women of my acquaintance have more sense than to opt for infantry.

There are computers everywhere, both functional and recreational. The base is mostly new, physically vast, and with the exception of the diggers accommodation, very impressive. There’s been a bit of controversy in the local rag about the dongas the single diggers inhabit. Frankly, they’re a bloody sight better than what I remember from forty years ago. All accommodation is air-conditioned.

7RAR is mechanised, and I was shown an APC which looked very familiar. They’re an upgraded version of the M113 we used in SVN. Apparently they didn’t use them in Afghanistan, opting for the safer Bushmaster. The weapons are different. A platoon now has four guns (FN Minimi built by Thales in Australia under licence). They still look a bit like an M60.  

The mortars have gone high-tech. They use a kind of palm pilot, although I’m not sure exactly what the function is. Strangely, they resemble palm pilots used by teachers to record data for kids with disabilities. I was impressed by the people I met. They all reflect great pride in their unit – well deserved from what I saw. They’re struggling to set up a unit museum. There’s not a lot of time for this in a busy unit. 7RAR has forty years more history than it did when I was a member. Back then it was only five years old.  

I was unable to hook up with any ex 7RAR blokes I knew, although I talked to a few on the phone. They all live in the boondocks. One ex 5 Platoon bloke is in Port Lincoln – an eight hour drive.

The book promo went well – a breakfast radio interview should help. In Adelaide it’s on sale in Dymocks in the city and Glenelg.

Good Vietnamese tucker in Adelaide.

 

Blot in the Meida

Ole bumblefingers Blot is at it again......Meida?

Apparently they make Windstoppers.

That'd be right......

They'd have to be very effective to limit the wind that emanates from that quarter.

Click on the screen shot. I think I'll have to introduce a new post label. What do you think it should be called? Blot's Bloopers has a ring to it....

"Your freedom is in their hands.." Glad it's not in Bolt's fingers.

Give us this day...

It's a pity you can't smell this.

Baking bread (like slow cooking) is excellent aroma therapy. Even if you don't believe in the benefits of pleasant smells (and I don't) walking into a home where bread is baking is always a treat for the senses.

Anyway, I've taken to baking one of these daily. Apart from the baking aroma, it also tastes good, and the people around our place who snack find the fresh loaf attractive.

They must, because it's usually gone by mid afternoon. Because I'm away from home working every second week during term time, it's a fortnightly phenomenon.

The recipe (which turns out crusty loaves with the characteristics of french baguettes) is very simple - twice as much strong baker's flour as warm water, a teaspoonful  of salt, and a tablespoon of yeast. Nothing else - KISS principle. You need to turn the oven up to its maximum and put a container of water inside.

I have a bread maker, but use it only for kneading and proofing. Once those processes are through, the mixture goes into a fan forced oven for thirty minutes.

What's good for the geese….

I rarely buy the Fin, but this headline caught my eye – No slowdown for CEO pay amid market turmoil.

You can read it here, but it highlights a phenomenon that has become an accepted part of our national business landscape. I’m talking about the complete disassociation between performance and remuneration in the world of corporate managerialism.

As the Fin points out, many of these characters have overseen the bottom fall out of the share price on their watch, but there seems to be a total disconnect between this and the massive money they pull. It's telling that in this country only one third of the top 50 companies are prepared to disclose CEO remuneration to shareholders.

Remind me again how important it is that no ceiling is put on corporate remuneration. The party line goes something like this –

These CEOs must be paid at the top of the scale in order to attract people who improve the company’s bottom line.

You can assume, therefore, that applying the most basic of logic, if the firm is bleeding red, the CEO’s remuneration should also dip. Sorry – doesn’t happen, most of the time.

In 1970, average executive pay at the nation's top companies was 28 times average worker income. By 2005, executive pay had jumped to 158 times that of the average worker.

These are US figures, but not much is different here.

Back in the nineties I was on the board of a high profile charity. My fellow board members were a mixture of medicos, wealthy businessmen (no women) and individuals of influence in the city. There was one (token) person with a disability. We were all pro bono.

This was an eye-opening experience – they were well meaning people, but the culture of the board made me, for one, feel very uncomfortable. It was a culture of entitlement and privileged arrogance. No doubt this culture migrated from the boardrooms of the companies of origin of these people, but it was selfish, banal and cynical. They often spoke about their CEOs, and it came across that CEOs and board members were somehow a race apart, separated by some magical properties from everyone else in the organisation. It had to do with power and privilege, that most unholy of combinations.

Understanding this has helped me to understand why the obscenity of CEO remuneration is maintained, and why it resists with such determination any effort to rein it in.

We hear plenty about performance pay for teachers. I’d be prepared to give it a try, just as soon as it becomes accepted practice for CEOs.

Anita Heiss's statement

This is a bit lazy, but it's a reposting of a response from Anita Heiss, one of the people Bolt has labelled "white Aborigines".
There are two reasons for posting it.
One is to counter the "poor martyred me" meme from Bolt and his sheeple. The other is to demonstrate how sloppy his assertions about this person really are. The same inaccuracies were evident in his representations of the other plaintiffs.
Her blog is a cheerful read, so I've added it to my blogroll.
It's interesting to analyse the bigotry behind Bolt's writing. I've come across this thinking before when I worked in North-West Queensland in the nineties with a group of Murris who formed a community based reference group as part of the now defunct NATSIEP programme.
Because these women as a rule dressed well and wore makeup, there were those in Mt Isa who would describe them as "jumped up", whatever that meant. Apparently they had a view of how an Aboriginal woman should present herself, and anyone not adhering to that cliche was fair game.
It was pathetic, and most of them ignored it, but I know it did cause some distress.

When I left the position in 1996, the NATSIEP committee presented me with a picture. Regretably, I didn't ask them anything about its origin (who painted it - what it meant etc). It remains a happy reminder of those times and these courageous women, who worked so hard to advance their people.
Only a bigot would hold them up to ridicule. Bolt makes a living out of doing just that.