THE NATIONAL BROADBAND NETWORK, ASBESTOS and THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

What is it about this Labor Government. They now have a proud history of stuffing up nearly everything they touch.
Let me list them
The fuel watch.
The grocery prices watch.
The cash for clunkers scheme.
Set top boxes for pensioners...Costing at least 4 times more than retail price.
Building the education revolution. Drastically overpriced school halls and tuck shops. Millions wasted.
The pink batts scheme...Ill conceived and cost lives.
The net nanny. Never even saw the light of day.
The promise of a budget surplus.....Just a miscalculation by billions of dollars.
I am sure that some of you could think of many more.
NOW THE NBN.
Way behind schedule.
Way over budget.
Whilst the concept is praiseworthy it would have required a strict cost benefit analysis and a swot analysis ( strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats). None of this was done effectively or maybe not at all.
Now, a long way into the roll out, suddenly they discover that asbestos lined pits, that the government knew about at the start, are not being handle4d correctly. This is putting poorly trained contractors and the general public in danger. Does this sound a little like the pink batts fiasco!!
One must ask the question what can they do correctly?
UPDATE
The first death on a NBN site occurred just hours after I posted the above.
A man crushed to death by a truck driven by an unsupervised learner driver.

COAL SEAM GAS in AUSTRALIA

There have been many conflicting reports in the media about the consequences or lack thereof in the drilling for coal seam gas.
Firstly it is often called 'mining'. This is not correct it is a drilling operation.
There have been rallies and petitions claiming that it will harm our underground water reserves.
Most of the people that are campaigning against it are not aware of the science or techniques involved.
I believe that the government has launched a scientific enquiry into all aspects of coal seam drilling.
All parties should restrain themselves at the moment until the results of this enquiry are released.
It is always a degree of ignorance and misunderstanding that breeds fear of something new.
As a nation we must fully investigate all possible avenues that might assist with our future power needs.
If we say no to coal, no to nuclear, no to wind turbines no to coal seam gas and the production of roof top solar panels uses more energy than they produce during their restricted life span....WHAT IS LEFT.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH and SEXUAL ABUSE

Slowly the evidence of the extent of the sexual abuse of mostly minors by catholic priests is being revealed. Apart from the vile deeds perpetrated by the priests the most alarming thing is the way that the church protected the offenders and tried to deny and cover up the crimes.
Priests that were known by the church as sexual predators were just shifted to different parishes and the complaints by children and parents glossed over.
This is a world wide problem on a monumental scale committed by an organisation that is supposed to care for and nurture the most vulnerable. It is hypocrisy of the highest order.
Nothing less than, all those who committed these crimes being brought to justice, the church paying adequate compensation, the church purging itself of this insidious climate of protecting its own members and a radical overhaul of all church procedures is required.
There are a number of areas where change is overdue. The requirement for priests to be celibate should be scrapped. Women should be allowed to become priests. The church should try to bring its ceremonies, pomp, dress and attitudes into this day and age.
I am sure that if changes such as these are not made soon even the threat of eternal damnation will not stop people leaving the church. It is becoming increasingly meaningless and not relevant to life in this modern world.

HOME GROWN TERRORISM

Currently there are approximately 200 to 300 People from Australia fighting in the Syrian Civil War.
Many of these people are Australian citizens. The Australian Government is not involved in this conflict on any level.
My concern is that some of these people are joining known radical groups. When this conflict ceases, and one hopes that it is soon, will these people then return to Australia. If so will they be satisfied to settle back into a peaceful, tolerant society such as ours along side people that they were recently fighting against. There are many people from different branches of the Muslim religion living peacefully here and the last thing we need is old hatreds and sectarianism being brought back into our country.
One must also ask, if these people are so passionate about the future of Syria, surely they would be willing to remain there and help to rebuild after the conflict is over.
All Australians, no matter what religion or background, must be vigilant that the peace and security of our nation is maintained.

ANNIVERSARY OF THE CROSSING OF THE BLUE MOUNTAINS

Yesterday, here in Australia, we celebrated the 200th anniversary of the first crossing of the Blue Mountains by the European settlers. In may 1813 an intrepid group of men fought dense bush, sickness, and a very rugged landscape that included sheer cliffs to find a way westward from the settlement of Sydney. There had been numerous failed attempts before and some even said that every attempt would be blocked by impassable cliffs.
The current Great Western Highway very closely follows the route taken by these men. We rarely think of the hardships endured by these men as we travel in comfort for about 50 minutes over a route that took them weeks.
It has been said that the settlement of Sydney may even have been abandoned if a way had not been found over the mountains.
Their achievement is a vital part of the success of the colony of New South Wales and should be regarded as such.

RELIGION AND TOLERANCE

Nearly all, if not all, religions of the world claim to espouse peace. I say claim because the facts certainly do not bear out what they lead us to believe.
I will leave you to be the judge.
Acts of terror. Sectarian violence and hatred. The killing of innocent women and children. Total intolerance of other religions. The treatment of women as uneducated slaves. Dictatorships.
You be the JUDGE.

THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY and GONSKI

The Australian Labor Party wasted billions of dollars during the so called Building The Education Revolution. All we got were grossly overpriced buildings, many of which were not suitable and some never used. Millions were wasted on consultants and administration. Now they have the temerity to criticise Tony Abbott because he is wary of their further cash splash on an ill defined policy that is referred to as the Gonski Report.
In this report there is no discussion about how to achieve better teaching, better teachers or better outcomes just a mathematical formula for the distribution of money and a huge new public service department in Canberra to administer it.
There are many things wrong with the education of our children.
1 The quality of teachers has declined to a point where I have heard it said that some are bordering on illiterate.
2 The strangle hold on the education system held by the teachers union, abetted by the Union...oops Labor party, has to be broken. Education is not about them it is about outcomes for our children.
3 Head teachers should have more control over the teachers, standards and more say about what is required in their school.
4 The bureaucracy, red tape and duplication should be eliminated. Why does Canberra need a public service department of many hundreds when it does not even employ a single teacher.
5 Throwing money at the system has never worked in the past.
6 The curriculum must be looked at. Get rid of all the extraneous stuff and get back to core values.
7 Reporting on a child's progress needs to be changed. A report card that says, 'Met the standard' is meaningless. I want to know what score out of a hundred my child achieved and where he or she is placed amongst their peers.
Labor's past history in these matters should not lead anyone to trust them now.

WAYNE SWAN and THE BUDGET

The current Labor Government and their Treasurer Wayne Swan have just delivered their budget for the next 12 months.
There is currently much criticism of both the savings and expenditures outlined in the paper. There is obviously some good intentions in their projected projects such as the National Disability Insurance Scheme and the spending on education. However it has been proved over and over that just throwing money at the schooling system has not worked. The NDIS is praiseworthy; but the big question is can the country afford it.
ANYWAY all of this is a complete waste of time as neither Wayne Swan or this current government will be in power after the election in September. Seen in that light the budget is just a cynical attempt to try to leave some sort of legacy of this failed government and also to create a huge problem for the incoming Coalition.

THE NATIONAL DISABILITY INSURANCE SCHEME

Whilst most people in Australia welcome the introduction of this scheme there are still many questions arising about how it will be implemented and where the money will come from.
The way the scheme was announced by the Australian Labor Party could be likened to a person announcing that they are going to build a multi billion dollar house but have no land to put it on, no builder organised, and no finance arranged and no foreseeable way of raising the needed finance.
The way that the scheme is to be implemented has also not been properly explained. How will the money be allocated, to whom and when.
It also would need yet another huge new public service department to administer it. Under this, and all past, Labor Governments the public service has grown alarmingly.
To put it simply the country just cannot afford all the so called new initiatives of this government.
Again to break it down simply it is like a family that wants to build a huge new house, send their children to a top private school, install in their house all the latest energy saving devises, donate thousands to a climate control charity and all this while they are millions of dollars in debt.

SYRIAN CONFLICT and WHY THE WEST SHOULD NOT GET INVOLVED

I stress that this is my opinion.
The opposition forces fighting the Syrian Regime are not a single cohesive group but many different elements from a wide range of religious and political backgrounds. The two main Muslim factions, the Sunnis and the Shiites are on opposing sides, there are fundamentalist groups associated with terror organisations, many that are answering a call for Jihad and some opposition groups have started to launch attacks on each other. The whole situation is confusing and constantly changing.
The problem for any Western Nations contemplating intervening is; who would you help and what guarantee is there that the group that you helped would not eventually turn against you?It is actually possible that who ever eventually takes over in Syria could be more anti west than the existing government.
Surely we have learnt from the experiences of the intervention in Afghanistan after the Russian invasion, Iraq and the latest Afghani involvement.
Any intervention, based on the idea of saving lives or establishing democracy in Syria is doomed to failure and would just lead to more unnecessary loss of life.
Please let the Arab nations sort out their own problems.

AUTUMN (FALL) IN THE BEAUTIFUL BLUE MOUNTAINS

A change of pace with this blog.
This morning is the first really cold one so far this autumn. Temperature at 0800 just 4.4c. Winter is just around the corner.
Autumn, or as the Americans call it, Fall is a really beautiful time here in the Blue Mountains just west of Sydney Australia. The days are clear and warm, the nights cold enough for a fire and the streets ablaze with colour. Wentworth street in the village is particularly colourful as it is lined with tall, old deciduous trees that are covered in gold, red and bright orange foliage.
The many cafes are full of tourists that spill out onto the tables on the footpaths and the bush walks in the National Park are host to lots of people enjoying the great outdoors.
If you have never been to this part of the world then you are missing something magical.