Wednesday 2 January 2008

Ah Brendan, Brendan....

There's something rather pathetic about watching Mr. "My 100 per cent support" Brendan Nelson try to defend that dodgy Howard Government decision to buy $6.6 billion worth of Super Hornet aircraft.
A little dignified silence might have been the wiser course, as the Rudd Government reconsiders his past deeds as Minister for Defence and those fighter plane purchase contracts.
All Brendan's bleating has done is remind us all what a dismal minister he actually was. 
 

Tuesday 1 January 2008

Time to cut that credit card in half as banks raise rates

News.com.au reports today that bank interest rates are still rising.
 
"AUSTRALIAN households are about to be swept up in the global credit crunch, with the major banks raising interest rates across the board in an effort to protect their profit margins.
Lending rates for almost all loans - particularly fixed home loans, investment loans and some credit cards - have risen in recent weeks by more than the Reserve Bank's 25 basis-point increase in November.
Most at risk are credit card holders, who owe the banks a record $31 billion and face interest rates of up to 19.9 per cent as the Christmas bills fall due in coming months.-----------------------------------
CommSec equities economist Martin Arnold said despite record employment levels, some families would have been forced to borrow to survive over Christmas."
News.com.au article today:
 
Cutting the credit card in half may be the only way many NSW North Coast residents will survive increased debt this year.
The high interest rates on these cards are an added burden for low-income and pensioner families, who frequently use such credit lines as an emergency fallback measure in the face of an ever increasing cost of living.
Scarcity due to drought and high transport costs now see everything in the butcher's window 
(except sausages, mince and offal) at prices in the $13-$25 a kg range. Bread and dairy prices have also risen along with many other staples.
Bulk-billing GPs and other non-public hospital medical services that do not insist on upfront payment are often hard to find, and the cost of transport to North Coast medical specialists is becoming prohibitive.
Service fees and charges on basic utilities have been creeping up in recent years, so that these costs can sometimes exceed the total cost of actual electricity, water or telephone use for single or two person households.
That significant bloc of North Coast residents living in comparative poverty is likely to find that 2008 will be a rather grim year.
Increased credit card debt due to high interest rates will only make it harder to cope.
The phrase "Advance Australia Fair" sounds rather hollow right now.

Amateur pyrotechnicians = dangerous nuisances

Many New Year celebrations featured FIREWORKS, but most of the fireworks were unauthorised and illegal.

Responsible individuals and organisations respect lawful directions associated with fireworks displays. In NSW this involves making application to WorkCover to conduct public displays of fireworks.

WorkCover's website provides a search facility that shows listings of notified displays. The listings enable authorities and members of the public to take appropriate action in preparation for the displays. The website is http//www.workcover.nsw.gov.au/fireworks_search.htm

In addition to the nuisance factor associated with illegal fireworks, the far more important factor of PUBLIC SAFETY need addressing.

Unauthorised and illegal fireworks should not be tolerated. Contact POLICE, LOCAL COUNCIL and WORKCOVER to report incidents of such activities.
Authorised fireworks displays between 01-Nov-2007 and 31-Jan-2008 were registered with WorkCover. The list isn't very long, so obviously most fireworks are unauthorised and illegal.

Heavy seas, wind and rain bring in New Year on the NSW North Coast

The Courier Mail photo of the bar at Tweed Heads on the NSW North Coast

Wild weather in south-east Queensland flowed somewhat weakly through to northern New South Wales, resulting in heavy seas, strong winds and sporadic rain as we saw the New Year in.
Although the rain was welcome on the coastal strip it was not excessive and has not resulted in any significant run-off into local rivers so far.

Climate change predicted to dominate Australian economic outlook in 2008

Business Spectator predicts that "Climate change is expected to be the big issue for 2008, dominating public consciousness, affecting company strategies and influencing other issues such as development of alternative energy sources."
 
According to Craig James, chief equities economist at CommSec, other big economic issues are thought to be:
* Inflation/unemployment trade-off
* Agflation
* Aginvestment
* Industry consolidation
* Nuclear energy
* Global labour shortages
* La Nina
* Hilary Clinton
* Recession
 

It's the year 2008: one European city-state and one Antipodean nation are regressing

According to The Sydney Morning Herald yesterday, the Vatican announced this week that it will be training hundreds of new exorcists world-wide, because the young are being exposed to Satanism through the media, rock music and the internet.
And I thought all those devil vibes were coming out of the Bush Administration and the Pentagon!
It seems that Cardinal Ratzinger now Pope Benedict XVl cannot decide which century he is actually residing in.
Perhaps it's time for a few good, level-headed Aussie members of his flock to remind His Holiness that it is now 2008.

Meanwhile, according to ABC News on the same day, the new Federal Telecommunications Minister Stephen Conroy told Australia that all internet connections will soon be subject to mandatory ISP filtering in order to shield the young from violence and pornography.
Leaving us all to wonder exactly how much online news and current affairs will make it past this enthusiastic censor, if such 'filtering' causes regional download speed to decrease even more than the current snailpace or if the mooted opt-out function does not reliably work.
Has Senator Conroy been speaking with his Pope?