JINGOES JACK … the Fed Up YAK !

G’day YAKSTERS,

It seems you and I need more Apples !

The Federal Government has recently approved the importation of Apples into Australia from China.

In Australia where we produce more apples than we consume, using best practice production standards in a relatively safe and clean environment, our Federal government seems, for some unknown reason, to think we need to import more apples ! Why?

Our seafood industry cannot supply enough product to meet demand, so we import seafood to meet this short fall. That makes sense, although there are still concerns flagged about the production standards of these products and the quality of the sources where they are caught or farmed in.

Earlier this year there was the green light given to importing beef products, until the public raised their voice of disapproval. The Minister for Agricuture, Mr. Tony Burke put a hold on this proposed meat importation, due to the public outcry. It makes you wonder why it was given the go ahead in the first place by the minister?

Are our ministers really so out of touch with public views that they need to have the wider community flood them with emails each time they make a decision? In recent times it is becoming more apparent that this is in fact the case!

Our manufacturing industry within Australia has been greatly diminished and a majority has been moved offshore to countries that have a cheap labour pool so that profits (even taking into account the shipping costs from overseas) achieved for the sale of the manufactured goods is above that which could be achieved if produced in Australia. Do we want to see the same occur in our Agricultural Industries?

Now back to the apples.

Why do we need to import more apples? I have just eaten a crisp, juicy ‘Red Delcious’ brand apple which I purchased at $2.98 a kilo. Last week I purchased a kilo of apples for $1.29. I have seen apples advertised for sale for 99 cents per kilo! Is paying between 99 cents and $2.99 a kilo for Australia grown apples too much ? I don’t think so and I am sure you and most of the Australian community don’t think so either.

How ‘low will the price go’ when these chinese grown apples come onto the scene? What rock solid guarantees will their be regarding the production practices used by the chinese farmers? What is the risk profile relating to the possible introduction and spread of disease to the existing Australian Apple growing industry caused by these imports ? What are the economic implications to our existing Australian growers?

So the question to be answered is, why is Minister Tony Burke going ahead with the importation of Apples from China? Why has he NOT responded, thus far, to the widespread critiscm of such?

What role did the Minister have in this decision? Is this being done to placate an aggressive request from one of our largest trading partners? Does the  minister think if we do not sign off on the apples import (or other future imports from china) that this may impact on our natural resources exports trade with china? China need our Natural resources to keep their industries in production while we have no need for their apples whatsoever. Based on these facts, China will always need our resources regardless of us saying ‘NO’ to, in comparrison what amounts to, a bucket of apples. 

Is it the minister, Mr Burke, who has made this decision? If so, he should be explaining to all and sundry why he has done so. 

We certainly do not have a shotage of supply. We certainly do not have some form of price gouging by the apple growers or (in the majority) the retailers that warrants any increase in competition. So, Why is it so Mr Burke?

If we open this gate, that will put extreme pressure on our existing growers and we may very well see them disappear to a point where the Australia industry will not be able to meet demand and imports will then have to increase. Once the tipping point is reached there is no going back! Do we want this?

I believe the wider Australian community don’t want a protectionist system of trade in place but we also do not want a system that could potentially reverse our current situation of producing more than we consume, to a future position of having to increase imports of apples into Australia due to a decline in numbers of Australian apple producers.

Do we want to put another Australian industry from ‘Drive’, into ‘Park’ and then possibly, in the future, into ‘Reverse’?

I simply will not purchase these imported apples as I hope all Australians will decide to do.

So if these imported Apples are not for You or Me, who are they for ? Perhaps solely for our Politicians !

Wake up to yourself Minister Burke !

What do you think?

You can find ALL the Contact Details for the Minister for Agriculture. Mr Tony Burke by going to the YAKMATE POLITICIAN CONTACTS PAGE (http://www.yakmate.com.au/POLITICIAN%20COUNCIL%20CONTACTS.html#FEDERALGOVT) or click the following link & select his name. http://www.aph.gov.au/House/members/mi-alpha.asp 

Cheers

Jingoes Jack

(Have your say today mate by Joining YAKMATE on the LOGIN Page at www.yakmate.com.au and create your Username and Password so you can post your comments on Topics in JACK’s BLOG and in the YAKMATE COMMENT FORUMS).

G’day YAKSTERS,

In Australia during the 1950’s, the term ‘Riding on the Sheep’s Back’ was an expression associated with the prosperity that Australia derived from the wool and sheep industry. In this period there was a high dependence on primary industry and more particularly, wool and sheep, for providing a large slice of Australia’s national prosperity & wealth.

The ‘Riding on the Sheeps Back’ term, has now become ‘Riding on the Back of the Dragon’ as the new expression to describe a major driver, contributing to Australia’s current wealth, that is being achieved through large Mining operations across Australia.

The ‘Dragon’ is China and this term refers to its high economic growth and development, that has created a need for large amounts of natural resources, to accommodate the requirements of their booming economy. They need our iron ore to produce the steel they require, to continue their modernisation / development programs and they need our coal, to provide the fuel for their Power stations, for their production processes to occur.

Australian is blessed with a wide variety of Natural Resources (Iron Ore, Coal, Uranium etc), in quantities more than our ‘current’ population of 22+ million will ever need. As such, we are a prime target as a supplier for many countries who require these resources.

 In the Coal Mining industry in NSW, we have ships anchored off our coast line in a queue for 50km+ from the Newcastle Harbour all the way south to the beaches of the Central Coast of NSW. You can see up to 60+ ships as you drive down the coast, all waiting for their turn to enter the harbour Coal Loader facilities to load up and be on their way.

Our Mining industry extracts these resources and these are exported to many different countries. In doing so it creates employment to the Local Australian communities near the mining operations. This provides the availability of cash (through wages) to move through local community small businesses assisting their viability in many country / regional townships. Viability of Local businesses also assists in local employment and therefore helps reduce any decline in township population.

Mining also provides lease fees & royalty payments to the various State & Federal Government’s revenue collection (Consolidated Revenue) pot to be utilised for, the provision, operation and management of services, facilities and infrastructure, on behalf of the citizens.

Aside from the export side of the mining industry, local industries are also heavily reliant on the end products. In relation to coal mining, each time we turn on a light, watch TV or use anything needing electrical power from the grid, it is primarily courtesy of the power generators being fired up by the mined coal. In a country like Australia where we are 80% dependant on Coal for our power generation, Coal Mining plays a big part in our day to day lives.

Mining is obviously a major and important industry contributing to the overall national wealth and the day to day activities of us all.

However, is Mining also a possible contributing factor to a decline in health of the local communities, living close to the mines? Is Mining also a future threat or currently contributing to the decline of other Rural / Primary Industries? Is it a threat to the actual fabric (overall composition & lifestyle) as we currently know it, of the rural community & population ?

The novel, ‘Catch 22′ was a paradox based around the fact that, the only way the characters in the book, which was set during wartime, could avoid being sent on ’suicidal’ bombing missions, was if they were in fact insane. However if they had the clarity of mind to plead insanity, then logically, they must be thinking rationally and thus, in fact, Sane to make this detrmination! Therefore, they could not be excused from the mission. The characters were trapped in a Viscious Circle that they could not escape from.

Like the characters in Catch 22, many Rural Townships, that are strongly associated with the Mining Industry, are seemingly also in a similar Viscious Circle and quite a perplexing quandry. Financial Health of Local Mining Industry operations & the flow on effect to the finances of the Rural community economy & population versus the Impact to, Indivdual’s Physical Health, other Rural Industries, Population & Lifestyle.

As one local in Singleton mentioned to me, “it is very hard to bite the hand that feeds you !” Try it ! It hurts ! Ouch !

This is the Catch 22 style situation for the Local ‘mining’ township community members across Australia..

There have been generations of families that have lived within these rural communities, so there is an extremely strong bond and sense of place among the occupants of these towns. These may have in fact always been mining towns or where they may have once been primarily orientated towards Farming, they are quite quickly becoming Mining focussed townships.

With the increase in the ‘Demand’ side of any economic equation, so is there also a corresponding need to increase the ‘Supply’ on the other side, to meet the demand. In the Mining Industry this is being met by expanding current & developing new, Mining operations. In doing so there is an encroachment on or impact to, other existing Agricultural activities, populated Township areas and also the overall lifestyles of the surrounding populations. This is commonly referred to as Growth & Progress, but is it ?

On the Liverpool Plains of NSW, there are great concerns of the impact that Coal Mining will have on the Agricultural Cropping activities currently being operated in the area, as well as possible impacts to pristine underground Aquifers. Farms are being purchased for very large sums of money & the cashed up farmers moving away from these local communities. The Farming culture is being eroded by these departures and replaced, by the mining cultural activities. The majority shareholding of some of these mining companies, in many cases, is foreign owned, but they have full approval for the purchases of these farms, granted by the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB).

The ‘plant loving’ soils of the Liverpool plains provide crop yeilds far and away above the national average. You can view a well made short video on the Liverpool plains Agriculture vs Coal Mining situation that I have used as a ‘Sample Video’ for you to view on the YAKMATE VIDEO page. Click on this link to view the video http://www.yakmate.com.au/VIDEO%20YAKMATE.php?vid=197

In the Upper Hunter Valley Regions of NSW, where there are numerous Horse Stud Farms, there are concerns of the impact mining will have on the Thoroughbred Horse Stud operations and the ensuing impact to the Racing Industry itself.

Recently on the ABC’s Four Corners current affairs program, there was an Expos’e on the current impact of mining in general, as well as the possible future Health implications, to the residents in Singleton and surrounding Areas of NSW.

There were concerns raised of possible Cancer Clusters being present. The State Government responded quickly to this by stating an investigation would take place. Yesterday, 10 days later, the NSW government announced that a review was done and there is no obvious anomoly regarding the number of cancer patients within the area nominated. A quick response ! I hope it is a true and an accurate one for all concerned?

Also raised on the program were the concerns of a local GP in the Singleton area who has been a long time resident of  the community. He raised concerns about trends he is observing in his General Practice, of the decline in health of his patients in the community. Members of the community also had their own comments of obvious impacts to their health, that seemed to dispappear when they go away out of the area on holidays. The government, I suspect, would only take these reports as anecdotal evidence. Have the NSW government Health department formally been advised of the current situation and if so what was their response (if any) ?

The GP, at his own expense, has decided to undertake his own Lung Function & Respitory testing, on local school children, so that Empirical & Scientific data of the testing can be collected, analysed and compared to known national benchmarks and then presented to the government Health Department.

Should the GP be doing this or should the NSW Health department? Probably it should be the health department, as part of their repsonsibility to the community BUT due to the sensitive nature of the results that may be attained, then having these done by a respected local GP is probably the more prudent approach to best serve the community.

The process of blasting areas to be mined to access the coal obviously creates clouds of fine particulate matter, containing a variety of elements. The direction the dust clouds travel are dependent on mother nature and the direction of the wind. Obviously considerations of wind direction and strength would be a prime determining factor of when to blast during the mining process.

Individual reports to Environmental departments of ‘fallout’ from these mining operational activities, seems to have been met at a later date, with a response stating an investigation was conducted and the practices used by the mines were ‘legal’. As mentioned on Four Corners you have government department officials ‘unofficially’ telling those in the ‘fallout footprint’ to go to their local doctor for a check up ?

As with anything in life, sometimes ones best efforts in perfoming a task does not always result in the best result being attained, as there may in fact be a better way of doing it that you had not considered. While being legal, are the mining industry’s current best practices the best way of doing things? Can the current ‘Best Practice’ methods used by the Mining Companies in their processes be improved for better outcomes to lessen any detrimental impact to the community ? 

So the Catch 22 for people living in Rural Mining communities is all about making very tough personal choices, based around Health, Wealth and Lifestyle, for themselves but most importantly for their children. 

Do you stay in a community where you have strong emotional attachments (e.g. generational farming families) or sell out and move on? Do you stay in a community where you can earn a good living but it impacts on you or your family’s health? Do you move on so that you and your family can lead a more healthy life now and into the future?

Good Health by definition equates to a better life.

The Mining companies are there to stay, so I know what decision I would make.

What do You Think ?

Cheers

Jingoes Jack

(Have your say today Mate by Joining YAKMATE at http://www.yakmate.com.au/ to receive your Login & Password).

G’day YAKSTERS,

The BER is a Three Letter Acronym (TLA) which is actually short for the Building Education Revolution scheme.

The BER is the latest enterprise undertaken by the Australian Federal Government to, yet again, raise concerns in the community of the Taxpayer dollar being squandered through perceived rorts taking place & poor management of the scheme, as being reported by various forms of the media.

To all Parents and Citizens Associations (P&C’s) in ALL State Public Schools across Australia, the wider Australian community of Tax Payers needs you to be Active and Vigilant regarding the BER work being performed at your child’s school.

There needs to be an obvious ‘Value for Money’ test applied to ensure the project being delivered to each school is NOT an obvious rort that impacts on all Australian Taxpayers.

When I mention Australian Taxpayers, I am also referring to your children as future taxpayers because the way the current Federal Government is spending, or more so wasting, ‘borrowed’ money on past (Insulation Batts - $3 Billion) & present (B.E.R - $16.2 Billion) schemes, your now young children will be paying for this Government’s spending spree, on these poorly implemented policy schemes, when they start employment and enter the taxation system.

Depending on your viewpoint of the operation of the BER scheme, BER can mean different things to different people. In the text below I have made reference to a number of suggested alternatives that can easily be substituted as being represented by BER.

The current Federal Government’s Nationwide BER scheme was initially seen by all in the Wider Australian Community as a tremendous initiative in two areas.

Firstly, the BER would promote much needed employment opportunities in the Building & Construction sector (as well as other ‘flow on’ sectors), at a time when there was a worldwide economic downturn, due to the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), thus providing a stimulus to the Australian Economy.

Secondly, it would provide much needed financial resources to schools, in an attempt to address the disgraceful neglect of the Public Education Systems in general, by many of the State Governments. More specifically the scheme would attend to the glaringly obvious need for the upgrading of Public Schools outdated & crumbling Infrastructure. 

The Federal Government seem to have instituted a two tiered offering in it’s approach in relation to the implementation of the scheme, based on whether the funds are for a Private or a Public School.

On the ‘Upper Tier’, the Private schools have a say in what is being built and control over the building process, including contractors and cost. These Private schools, who are use to ‘watching their pennies’, are careful that they get what they want and that it is value for money.

On the ‘Lower Tier’, the Public schools seem to have not only NO (or very little) SAY but also often NO LOGIC seems to be used (by Bureaurcrats) in decisions being made for the chosen projects to be implemented for these schools.

Some Examples

1. We have had buildings not required by the School being built regardless of what the school actually does need / want;

2. We have had two or three older ‘demountable style’ classrooms that were perfectly usable being demolished only to be replaced by the same number of new ‘demountable pre-fabricated style’ classrooms (in the same place) & at a price that is simply not justifiable by any measure or metric used. The result being, NO net positive gain to the school;

3. We have covered outdoor learning areas (COLA’s) being priced at (in some cases) 3-4+ times the cost at what many in the business of supplying these say should be paid for the work;

4. We have similiar constructions being built for both Public & Private schools within a few kilometres of each other that, when compared brick for brick and dollars paid for these bricks, there is no sense whatsoever for the disparity between the two. A Public School has a hall built to accommodate around 300 children while the Private school has a hall built to accommodate over a thousand children and for less cost  … and on and on it goes !

How so and WHY ?

Now, Lets all think the following together

‘ You Are Kidding MATE ! ‘

These reports raise a couple of obvious concerns and ALL these concerns end up with the word ACCOUNTABILITY or more importantly the LACK THEROF !

1. Who had the final say (made the actual decision) in the projects to be constructed in the Public schools and under what (VALID) Criteria were these decisions instituted ? Were Principals allowed to put forward there requirements ? Were Principals, P&C bodies and Parents actually consulted ?

There have been some reports of both Larger Contractors & Bureaucrats making these decisions with ‘no avenue of appeal or say’ by the school community being actually considered. In some instances if input from the school community was presented as a desired option or if they asked for changes to be made, they were evidently told, that what was proposed was ‘it’ and no variations or alternatives would be considered. Why were some schools forced to have works done that they simply did not want or in fact actually need ? 

2. So this brings us to the question of what measures were put in place for this scheme to ensure the milestone of ’Real & Fair Value for Money ‘ was being provided, achieved & ‘ticked off’ the project list? Were there in fact any Accounting / Auditing processes put in place as part of the original scheme ? Who should have been overseeing the Costs and why didn’t they ?

Will anyone anywhere ever be held accountable for the scheme operation & outcome failures found thus far? I think not !

In relation to the Bureaucrats operating the BER, it could be said BER stands for the Bureaucratic Enabled Rorts scheme !

3. The very evident pricing Rorts as detailed in various media outlets are shameful. Do not forget it was the Government Bureaucrats who Selected the Large Prime Regional Contracting Companies to deliver these projects as they supposedly had the resources and structures in place to do so more efficiently & effectively, than the ‘little blokes’, but at WHAT COST !

It would seem that the actual tradesmen performing the work are not getting the bulk of the money but further up the builders ladder of the construction process, it would seem Consultant & Project Management fees have seen the ‘Snouts in the Trough’ Syndrome raise its ugly head !

So to a Few Builders the BER stands for the second alternative definition, being the Builders Early Retirement scheme.

There are many small local area builders who are parents of children attending the various Public schools and would have loved some of the BER Pie as well as help their own school community but that was not to be. Some of these local builders are sickened by the blatant waste of taxpayers money and in some cases, of the poor workmanship of the end product.

Many schools have suffered for years if not decades from under funding by our State Governments. They have had to make do with what they currently had or were allocated annually, even though it did not meet their current needs.

It seems the Federal Government has tried to steam roller this BER scheme ahead for the sake of Political Expediency at the expense of any real essential or fair value benefit being provided to the School Community, the Children and the Taxpayers. There did not seem to be too much emphasis on the COST vs the actual VALUE for what is being delivered.

As with the Insulation Batts Scheme and as admitted to by a Senior Labor Minister, I suspect the Processes put in place for the BER simply did not have all the ‘I’s dotted and ‘T’s crossed !

Why so? Is there an ‘I’ dotting & ‘T’ crossing Bureaucratic department in those Ivory Towers ? If so, have they run our of ink in their pens ?

With the large number of School Halls Planned to be or that have been built (but not needed), under the BER scheme, then perhaps some Political Mileage was meant to be gained with these being used as positive reminders to Voters on polling day, later this year, of where the halls they are voting in came from.

I know this is a cynical point of view of the Federal Government’s actual intention but it is afterall an election year and they are Politicians !  

So perhaps during the upcoming election campaign later this year, the BER will stand for Boastful Electioneering Rhetoric, in relation to the School Construction activities undertaken by the Government ! 

However, the ’subliminal’ reminder the Federal Government may be looking to achieve may in fact backfire and not be so favourable for them, due to (in many cases) the waste of Tax Payers Money & the increasing Public awareness of such being reported on by the media almost daily.

In this situation, the results of the scheme would to many in the community see BER standing for, Bilious Electioneering Rhetoric !

In Private Enterprise entities, the whole idea of effective increases in efficiency is to improve aspects of the overall business operation so as to provide a ’better bottom line’ (increased profits) for the annual balance sheet. However, in the Operation of many of these poorly implemented Government schemes, effectiveness & efficiency are foreign words and the bottom line does not seem to count as a priority due to an obvious lack of basic Accounting Principles.

If results of these Federal Government schemes are not being achieved as expected and are in fact questioned by the public or media, the first political answer seems to be to simply deny (lie) that there is a problem and hope ‘it all goes away’ out of the media cycle. The next step seems to just keep denying there is a problem with the process but, to show something is being done, throw more money at it.

Unfortunately for all the Governments in Australia at present, People have simply had enough of the Political Spin and Hyperbole they perpetuatually deliver to us. There is now more of an expectation of Accountability for their Decisions made and Actions taken (or not) though increasing Public Scrutiny being provided by various forms of media. 

Thankfully, as these schemes misgivings are increasingly being reported on by the media, so to does the level of Awareness of such for the Public. With this increase in Public Scrutiny of our Governments, Politicians & Bureaucrats Performance in handling these schemes there seems to be a growing disatisfaction level within the Australian community as to their actual Capacity & Competency to appropriately manage these schemes to achieve Positive Outcomes. 

With the Federal and State Ministers initially in ‘Total Denial’ of very evident examples provided to them of Rorting occuring in the BER scheme, they initially responded to the Australian Community with utter contempt, as evidenced in their original comments to concerns raised. They initially tried to brush it under the carpet and out of sight.

With many thousands of projects scheduled Australia Wide and only a relatively small proportion having actually been completed, then the ‘Rorts’ currently detected in the current BER scheme, I suggest, are only the tip of the iceberg.

So what should be done ?

1. ALL Works currently underway in the B.E.R scheme should have an IMMEDIATE INDEPENDENT REVIEW of the Costs involved. (While I was writing this B.E.R blog - it has been in draft mode for the few weeks - Julia Gillard has in fact announced such a review via the BER Implementation Task Force).

I have a suspicion that as much as the new BER Implementation Task Force, (with its allocated budget of $14 million - WOW !), will investigate all the projects and costs involved, they may very well find there is little that they can do depending on the Terms of the actual Agreed Contract between the parties. This taskforce may just turn out to be a Political whitewash to take the Federal Government up to the Next Election. I hope I am wrong !

All of the Top Tier Construction companies have very large legal firms representing them so it will be interesting to see what is found and what in fact can legally be done by the Government based on the findings. I hope I am wrong, but I suspect due to the Contractual arrangements there will probably not be much they can or will do !

If there is eviidence found of quite obvious Rorting taking place, will the perpetrators be Named and Shamed ? I hope I am wrong, but I think Not !  

2. All future planned works that are not yet at the ‘out of the ground’ contruction stage should be IMMEDIATELY Suspended pending a ‘Planning’ review that includes the School Community (P&C’s), prior to Contsruction commencement.

In the first instance the review should examine the Costs and also Selection Criteria used in determining what would be built. In the latter ALL planned projects should be reviewed wrt whether it is ‘What is Actually Needed or Wanted by the School Community’. If not why was this planned & who planned it ? If it is required, then is it value for money ?

In Conclusion …

These Federal Government schemes & their failed (or partial failure) outcomes really makes you wonder about the actual competency level of the Bureaucrats / Public servants making decisions, implementing & overseeing these projects.

In the case of the BER, Do they have a Construction / Building Project Management or Quantity Surveying Background ? Have they actually ever swung a hammer? How were they mean’t to determine if they were getting ‘ Fair Value ‘ ? More so, it makes you wonder if they (whoever they are) ever get held Accountable for their poor decisions and performance, as well as what action is actually taken against them ! I can assure you we will never know that.

Having had some experience in Government operated institutions, I know the usual slap on the wrist for government employees constitutes a ’sideways shuffle’ in most cases or in the extreme they may have the dreaded ‘NTBP STAMP’ placed on their personal file. NTBP stands for ‘Never To Be Promoted’. However, it is very difficult to actually see this stamp on a file as Invisible ink is now used as part of new Departmental Green Initiatives ! Perhaps they used the Invisible ink to Dot the ‘I’s” & Cross the ‘T’s’ !?

Will the Auditing process by the B.E.R Implementation Taskforce be an actual Forensic Accounting Examination showing the full Audit Trail of funds paid? Will the final assessment report by this Task Force be freely available for full Public Scrutiny or will it be a skim across the surface so as it gives the impression the Politicians have ‘been seen to be doing what was needed to be done ?’ Will anyone who has been found to have rorted the system actually be named and shamed or will they be protected due to the various Privacy and / or Commercial In Confidence considerations that are frequently used to deny information flow to the General Public ?

Thus far we have the following being represented by BER 

Building Education Revolution

Bureaucratic Enable Rorts

Builders Early Retirement

Boastful Electioneering Rhetoric

or

Bilious Electioneering Rhetoric

So in Closing, the final alternative that I would use to expand on BER does not relate to the actual scheme itself but does relate to the general perception by many in the community of our Elected Representatives and that is

BOMBASTIC ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES  !

The Community Want our Elected Representatives to be known more for their effective ’YAKKA’ (Work) & less for being expert ‘YAKKERS’ (Talkers) of ‘SPIN’ (Bombast)!

Perhaps BER is actually best used to describe, how the Australian community are being ’short changed’ by this scheme !

Politicians and Bureaucrats, Wake up to yourselves !

What do You think ?

Cheers

Jingoes Jack !

(Have your say today Mate by Joining YAKMATE at http://www.yakmate.com.au/ to receive your Login & Password).

G’day YAKSTERS,

In the past few weeks, media reports on a number of decisions handed down by our Magistrates & Judges has reminded me of exactly how YAKMATE came about, as I have been thinking to myself ‘ You Are Kidding Mate … that can’t be right ! ‘ 

In our Political system, ‘the people’ and their vote are used as the measure of our Politicians Performance at a local level. Even Prime Ministers can lose their seat, as evidenced in the last Federal Election!

Our Judicial system is a whole different kettle of fish. Our Judicial Officers are certainly not Elected into their position by the public. The Public have NO SAY! The Magistrates & Judges are recommended by our Politicians to the Governor-General or State Governors for their appointment to the bench. They can remain in this position until the age of 70.

The link below is from the Governments ‘Parliamentary Education Office (PEO)’ Website & shows a very basic diagram of the process flow http://www.peo.gov.au/multimedia/library/pages/0016.html. 

As a community, we can Police our Politicians Performance to a degree, as they are voted in or out of their position at the ballot box. Obviously, where some of our politicians are in true blue Labour, blue ribbon Liberal or other party stronghold seats, there is often a little less scrutiny of their performance, as most of these voters are one party, one eyed and that is that.

A Good performing Politician who is representing their constituents appropriately, will get rewarded by being subsequently re-elected.

A Poor Performing Politician (in most circumstances) will not be re-elected.

If the performance of a current sitting member is such that it is deemed as damaging to the Party, then they may be rejected at the grass roots level by party members during the pre-selection process, prior to any election. This happened recently in the Federal seat of Robertson where the sitting member, Belinda Neal, lost her pre-selection vote as the Labour Party representative, in Robertson, for the up coming Federal Election later this year.

So there are a couple of avenues available to the community where the element of People Power comes into play and that the Politicians will answer too in the long run via the ballot box.

As mentioned above, our Judicial system has Magistrates & Judges appointed to their position not voted for or elected by the wider community, as say in the USA.

While the decisions & sentences handed down by the Magistrates & Judges in Australia are open to full Public Scrutiny, the question still remains as to how do we actually measure the performance of our Judiciary in respect of their decisions / sentences, so that they are deemed correct, fair & palatable to the wider Australian Community in meeting their ‘current’ expectations?

In the USA, poor performing Judges can be voted out. I am not saying this is what we need here, however we do need to openly see that there is some accountability in the system for poor performing Judicial officers.

This brings up another issue of whether in fact the current Legislation enacted by our Politicians in the past, actually accommodates the ‘current’ expectations of the wider Australian Community so as the Judiciary can meet these expectations. Expectations change over time !

Is there Lazy or Out Dated Legislation that our Judiciary are operating under?  I suspect there is. If so, then as a priority, perhaps the Lazy Legislators need to act and make the changes needed to meet these expectations..

After a number of decisions handed down by our Magistrates & Judges which have caused outcry from the general public the Question has to be asked who is Monitoring the Magistrates & Judging the Judges?

Our ‘learned’ (ler-nid) Judicial representatives perceptions of justice being duly served in relation to their sentences handed down, seem to have a rather large disconnect from meeting the wider Australian Community’s expectations, of the required sentence deserved, for the crime committed. This gives the impression of ‘we (Judicial officers) know better than you (the Community) do’. The sentences handed down quite often seem to the general public to be grossly insufficient. Who is right? Is it the ‘learned’ Judicial Officer or the General Public?

Here are a few examples over the last two months that have had me thinking to myself 

You Are Kidding MATE ! 

Case 1 

We have a recent decision made by a Judge, where shared parenting has been granted to a father who is a convicted sex offender, having committed the offences against his own children.

The Judge while admitting the father “must present a risk to the children …” seems to have placed the rights of the one parent,(not both) as provided under the new shared parenting laws, above and beyond those of the children€™s rights to feel safe, secure and not to be abused ! 

Should this convicted sex offender have rights under this new shared parenting legislation? Perhaps there should be a new clause added that restricts or in fact removes altogether the shared parenting rights to these convicted sex offenders. As it stands at present it does not meet community requirements or standards.

Under these new laws, as stated by the Judge, “children have the benefit of both their parents in their lives” and the “right to know and be cared for by both parents”. That sounds fair and reasonable to everyone, when in fact the Parents are BOTH Fair & Reasonable and not child molesting criminals.

The Judge in granting the shared access stated that this situation was “one of those exceptional cases”.

The only thing exceptional about this decision is the total disconnect of the Judge’s thinking & decision handed down, from the community expectations of our Justice system.

The Community response to this is quite understandably one of Outrage & Disbelief! 

Every person I have spoken to about this case simply cannot believe or understand the Judges decision. His ‘Ratio Decidendi’ (reason for the decision) at Law may seem sound & fair to him but the community view it as totally inappropriate, disgraceful and ludicrous.

Has anyone reported what the children actually think about this? How much say under these new shared parenting laws do children have as to who they want to parent them?

Case 2

Then we have a woman entering a Pizza outlet threatening the staff with a knife in an attempt to rob them of cash. The woman is apprehended & arrested by an off duty police officer waiting for his pizza.

A few days later, she appears in a local court before a Magistrate who releases her on bail! WHY ? This was a premeditated act ? Does she no longer pose a risk to the community ? Has someone hidden all her knives ? I think not. 

The Logical Community response is that we do not want her out and about on the loose.

The release on bail makes a mockery of the Police Officers actions as well. Even though this particular officer was off duty he had to control an armed person. Most people in the general public would not attempt to confront a person armed with a knife but the off duty Officer did, as he saw it as his duty to do something.

It does not take a big Crocodile Dundee ‘ … now that’s a knife ‘ size blade to kill someone. A small knife blade put in the correct place in the body intentionally or accidentally will kill you !

The decision, on face value, to release her on bail is a joke regardless of her circumstances!

Case 3

Recently we have the case put before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT), where a person who was convicted of the manslaughter of a Police Officer and who was destined to be deported to Tonga upon the completion of his sentence in around 2012, has won his appeal against the deportation order.

He is not an Australian Citizen, he has an extensive & violent history of other criminal activities but he will be walking the streets of Australia in 2012.

The determination by the AAT to set aside the original decision to deport the criminal upon his release, seems to be based partly on the fact that he has a daughter residing in Australia. Should this be the basis for the community to have this person wondering freely amongst us and is this person someone that will be of benefit to the upbringing of the daughter? Will he make a positive contribution to the Australian Community once released ? At this point in time, he certainly does not meet any ‘Good Character’ criteria test for people wanting to become an Australian Citizen.

It so happens that yesterday this persons partner (the mother of his daughter) was arrested and put before the courts for commintting various crimes. If the mother has a custodial sentence imposed, the daughter will not have a parent to help bring her up, as they will both be behind bars. I wonder whether this fact will sway the Maigistrate in his decision & sentencing of the mother if she is found guilty. What chance does this child have with the role model parents she has been lumbered with?

It will be interesting to see what happens to the mother once she is put before the court.

I suppose you could argue there are others walking amongst us who have done similar crimes. However there is not any further action (unfortunately) that can be taken legally against these people if they have served their sentence and they are Australian Citizens.

In this particular deportation case there is another path to take and I believe the wider Community would overwhelmingly & in the majority want to see the back of this bloke on his way back to Tonga.

Finally, in our Judicial system there are avenues via the appeal process, where both the Decision & Severity of the Sentence handed down can be challenged & reviewed. So the convicted criminal has a pathway to attempt to have the decision overturned or the length of the sentence reduced. The Department of Public Prosecutions (be it on very rare occasions) also have the right to appeal the severity of the sentence, if it deems that it is too lenient. 

However, how are Magistrates and Judges overall Performance in both their Decision & Sentencing practices actually being monitored & measured? Are they monitored? Are they out of touch with Community expectations? What actions can be or are taken? What happens to them when, on appeal of the sentence they handed down, the Court Hearing the Appeal makes statements in regards to the original sentence, to the effect of ‘Grossly & Manifestly Insufficient or Inadequate’? What happens when this occurs on more than one occasion, to the same Magistrate or Judge?

I think it is quite obvious that in the examples above, it can be seen, while the Magistrates & Judges are handing down sentences under current laws available to them, in many cases they are NOT what the Wider Community expects, wants or needs!

The Faith in our Judicial system, based around sentences being handed down by our Judges & Magistrates, is on the decline.There is an increasing need for something to change to accommodate the growing sentiment of concern, among the Australian Community, of the performance of our Judicial System & Judicial Officers. 

I have heard of Judicial Officers being removed over the years for Corrupt behaviour but I have never heard of a Judge or Magistrate getting the ‘tap on the shoulder’ and being sacked for their poor performance. Have you ? Probably they do, but we never hear about it perhaps so as to ‘Save Face’ for that Judicial Officer & so as he / she can still be employed in the Private Sector Arena without a ‘mark’ against their name !

What do you think ?

Cheers

Jingoes Jack

(Have your say today Mate by Joining YAKMATE at http://www.yakmate.com.au/ to receive your Login & Password).

G’day YAKSTERS,

There is nothing like a freshly poured icy cold beer on a hot Aussie day with a ‘Frothy’ Head & a glass full of ‘Bubbles’ rising to the surface. I suspect a few may be enjoyed by many (please not the other way around) over this Easter long weekend break !

The Froth & Bubbles contained in the glass are inviting to the eyes with the actual Amber liquid providing the stimulation for the taste buds in our mouths and the enjoyment of each mouthful. I can taste it now !

So while the Froth & Bubble is nice to look at on the surface it is what is below this that you want to enjoy. You take a mouthful and then wipe away the Creamy White Moustaka (Moustache) left behind by the Froth thinking to yourself ” Aaarrrrggggghhh that was good !”

The Froth & Bubble however quickly disappears from the glass and you are left with the remaining Amber Liquid being the main substance of what you paid for.

Have you noticed that many of our Politicians like to use a verbal form of Froth & Bubble when they speak to us via the media. This is obviously supposed to be an enticement for our ears not our eyes or mouth. 

This takes the form of them telling us what they deem we ‘want’ to hear but it is often not what we ‘need’ to hear. An announcement of a newfangled project that either makes no sense whatsoever or has no possibility of ever commencing in their current term flows from their mouths effortlessly like beer from a Tap !

An example of this In NSW was The Sydney Metro that we were told is essential and that ” we need “. It was Scrapped with a $500 Million bill and rising for nada, zilch, zero beneficial outcome for the community. It did however cause a lot of Heartache for Homeowners & Bullying for Business in the ‘firing line’ of the projected route.

I agree with the fact that announcements of forward planning is a Good thing & essential as long as going forward the plan is acted upon in a carefully considered manner that becomes a reality!

When the Politicians make these Froth & Bubble announcements they obviously think they are doing the right thing but in fact they look extremely foolish and they seem to be treating us (the wider community) as fools that will easily accept what they are saying..

Are you a Fool, do you really believe what they are conveying to you ?

No I didn’t think so but it does have an effect on us all !

How so ?

The Wider Community have become Doubting Thomas’s (I had to get this in somehow as it is after all Easter) and extremely cynical to a point where when we hear anything being emitted from a politicians vocal chords that even vaguely resembles a promise of ‘things to come’ then in a Pavlovian (the Man not the Cake !) style response we often seem to automatically cringe and shake our heads in disbelief. 

The Politicians need to realise that as with the Beer the Froth & Bubble may rather quickly Disappear !

Where is the actual Substance beneath their Froth & Bubble announcements.

Where are some of these absurd announcements dreamed up ?

Is there in fact a Department of Froth And Bubble somewhere in those Government Ivory Towers with the Harbour Views ?

The FAB Department or the Department of FAB ! mmmm !

Are our Bureaucrats running the country via these Froth & Bubble departments by performing the practice of Lobotomy on some of our Elected Representatives minds to change their practical views & increase their Frothy-ness & Bubbly-ness ? mmmm !

In NSW, The North-West Rail Link has been announced, promised and scrapped almost as many times as I can count on all of my fingers plus my toes ! As such each time we hear of their (the NSW Labour Party’s) new proposal for this line we view their spin as one would a Freshly Poured Beer with No Frothy Head or Bubbles. It is Flat and Not worth considering.

However they will re-gas the Keg and I will bet it will be rolled out again prior to the next NSW state election in 2011 by the current NSW government. The one positive is that this on again off again Rail plan has more than likely kept a State Government Bureaucratic department in full employment making plans for the project, shelving it, making adjustments to the project, shelving it etc etc etc for the past 10+ years.

The contemptuous nature of this treatment of the community in the North West by the NSW Labour Government regarding this project has been disgraceful on many fronts.

It is a Fact that each time you take a sip of beer a ring is left on the beer glass as a reminder of where the Head Froth used to be. If you utilise this fact by having a sip of beer as a record of each time this rail link has been announced or cancelled you would have to be taking very small mouthfuls and be drinking out of a Yard Glass to accommodate all of the remnant Frothy indicators thus far!

The Rail Link example used is just one of many situations where our politicians have lost the plot.

What the Politicians think we ’want’ to hear (the Froth & Bubble words) juxtaposed to that of what we actually ‘need’ (the Action & Substance of the words) seems to be on the increase in favour of the Froth & Bubble with the Action & Substance fading away like the Frothy Head on a Glass of Beer!

Apathy in regards to the ‘Political Environment’ seems to be on the rise within the Australian community. Somehow we are becoming too tolerant & accepting of both the obvious increase in Verbal Froth & Bubble and the corresponding decrease in any substance of comments or real actions from our Politicians. In the ‘Real World Environment’ Revolution not Apathy would be on the cards as a response if our glasses were suddenly served full of more Froth & Bubbles than Beer! Don’t mess with the Beer Mate !

At election time as a community we all need to be very aware of the number of rings left in our ever increasing empty beer glasses before casting our (your) vote!

Where the Froth & Bubble from the top of the glass does contribute to the experience of a ‘coldie’ it has no effect on the actual taste in your mouth. The Politicians Verbal Froth & Bubble delivered via the Auditory Canal echoes in our Inner Ears resulting in many of us actually choosing to react by simply tuning out to what they are saying.

Curiously though while the Political Froth & Bubble may resonate in our ears it still somehow impacts on our taste buds by often leaving a Bad Taste in your Mouth ! It does in mine, what about you ?

Have a Happy Easter Break.

What do you think ?

I think it is Time for a Beer, Mate !

Cheers

Jingoes Jack

(Have your say today Mate by Joining YAKMATE at http://www.yakmate.com.au/ to receive your Login & Password).

G’day YAKSTERS,

” Buyers are Liars & Vendors are Worse ” !

The ‘Buyers are Liars’ part of this comment is actually noted in some of the Real Estate Property Training Course literature being provided for budding agents. Perhaps if that is what is being taught then Agents early on feel they have the right to reciprocate in kind during their dealings with prospective buyers! More on the above comment towards the end of this YAK !

Yesterday I saw a promotional preview of an item for a current affairs program this evening regarding under quoting in the Real Estate Industry. I look forward to seeing the report & the Real Estate Agents response to the accusations of their under quoting tactics.

In my opinion, this does occur and is supported by unethical Agents as well as an Auction system that needs to be changed, yet again. I have a solution to under quoting  & that is Disclosed Reserve Price Auctions as detailed below. The Agents & Auctioneers hate this idea as it provides a more transparent & even playing field for the buyers. The sellers are NOT really impacted negatively in the long run as explained below.

The current Prices being paid, I believe, are due to short supply of land being available to developers (i.e greenfields sites not being made available via governments), lack of government incentives to owners & developers for consolidation of existing housing stock to medium density housing and the increase demand due to increase in population (increase in migration intake, returned ex-pats as refugees from the GFC). Combine these with the ‘Urgency Factor’ Auctions and Agents actively promote as mentioned below and you have a pricing bubble growing to a point where it is simply not sustainable.

First up lets talk about the Economy of Auctions, Agents and ’some’ of their Actions / Tactics.

Many Vendors seeing reports of the high sales results of properties selling for 10’s to (sometimes) 100’s of thousands above the ‘Reserve’  request an Auction be held for the sale of their property to cash in on the market.

In ‘Hot’ areas such as the Major Capital City markets this is somewhat justifiable.

However there are still many properties that are put up for Auction that simply should not be. This is evidenced by the number of properties that are passed in due to Unreal Vendor expectations and / or in areas that there is simply not the competition for that type of property. The latter is the type of property that should not be sold at Auction. The Agents know this but some of them push the Auction method of sale for other reasons mentioned below.

The whole premise of a property being placed for sale by Public Auction is that it is a desirable property that will appeal to a number of people who are prepared to ’fight it out’ through the Auction bidding process to compete for the right to purchase.

As mentioned above if the property does not reach a Reserve price it is passed in and then placed on the market for sale by private treaty at a price usually somehere around the reserve price.

While preferable, the Agents don’t really care if the Auction is successful or not on the day as they usually have the vendor tied to a 12 week Agency Contact Agreement and the standard Auction campaign is typically only 4 to 6 weeks in duration from start to finish. This gives the agent another six weeks to find a buyer but more specifically to ‘work on you’ to lower the asking price. 

Secondly the Agents Don’t pay the Auctioneer or for the advertising in the Auction Program. This is all Vendor financed and through the agents ‘Bulk’ advertising arrangements with many of the media outlets they are able to take out large adverts which is a good form of promotion for their business with very minimal impact on their cashflow. The Auctioneer gets paid (Typically $440 to $550) regardless even if no one registers at the Auction. He is entitled to this money as soon as he is booked to conduct the Auction. Not Bad eh!

The Cash Cow of Real Estate Advertising $$$ for Local Newspapers paid to them by the various Agencies has given Agents a lot of Power on what does and does not appear in the Local papers relating to Agents in general & especially ’dodgy’ practices by Agents. When was the last time in a LOCAL Newspaper you actually read a negative report about an Agent. There have been reports shown on television (not the local paper) where independant Agents place their advertising offering Discounted Fee Rates etc in the Local Newspapers Real Estate Sections only to have some of the Big Boys threaten to Remove their advertising if the Newspaper continues to run the independant’s adverts offering the discount fees.

There is sometimes even pressure from competing Agents in the same area who have no problem in ringing up an Agent (who has tried to increase his business by placing discounted fee advertisements) and giving him a ‘mouthful’ so to speak for rocking the boat!

I know of one such Agent on the Central Coast that as an independant Agent (he is now one of the big real estate franchise boys) had an offer of 1% (conditional) fees as an advert. He told me that he had direct phone calls from a number of the other local agents calling and abusing him for such a tactic. There was a basic fee structure of 2.2% to 2.75% (inc GST) at the time that most of the 28 Real Estate Business on the Peninsula adhered to. With Agents sometimes establishing Conjunctions with other Agents for property sales, to ensure he would not be excluded and to keep the status quo, the 1% advert was soon removed.

In relation to the Agent you choose be very careful what personal information you freely give up to that Agent. I have been to view properties at open houses and when I have asked as to why it is being sold on occassions I have received responses of “…it is being sold as there is a divorce…”, “…the owners business went belly up …”, “…the husband has had a stroke …” etc. None of this Personal information should ever be disclosed or discussed as part of their code of conduct but it is.

They (Agents) do this to try and gain your confidence by letting you in on the (’secret’) reason for the sale! However often the reason they give you may only be partially true if at all !

Now to the impact of Underquoting.

Underquoting by agents be it real or percieved by the actual result achieved at the Auction due to ‘ The Market Conditions” as agents state does nothing positive for anyone including the already very low reputation of Real Estate Agents.

The Under Quoting tactic of Agents impacts on many peoples finances through pointless Pest and Building inspections being done from hopeful purchasers. Some people may attend a number of properties they believe are in their price range and spend hundreds of dollars each time on these inspections every time they miss out on a property.

There are many Pest and Building businesses that have relationships with agents through their property management departments and some prospective purchasers are pushed their way by Agents to provide the reports. In fact I was told by one Agent that ‘his’ pest inspector provided three reports for three different parties for the same property, got paid three times but only visited the property once. Also, Not bad eh !  (I beleive there are steps in place by the department of Fair Trading for the Vendor to provide a Pest & Building report as part of the contract which raises another bag of worms to consider - Risk & Liability for such !!! ).

The Pest & Building reports are sometimes not worth the paper they are written on. How many times have you seen some successful purchasers of a property find termites or building problems after they have moved in that were not identified on the reports they paid for. If you read these reports they are written in a manner so as the owner has NO avenue for compensation.

Don’t forget that by reporting the ‘Above Reserve’ sales figures it Talks the Real Estate Market up & it places Urgency on prospective buyers to get into the market sooner than later. It also gets Owner Enquiry more active for the Agents Business by way of Market Appraisals / Evaluations of Owners property and possible conversion to a future listing for sale.

You never hear of reports in the media of the Auctions where the Reserve has not been met on the day and the Agent / Auctioneer has paused the Auction to go in and ’seek instructions’ only to actually ’pressure’ the Vendor to lowering their pirce to ‘put it on the market’ as “there are other bidders just waiting for it to be placed on the market to make a bid”. The Vendor complies, the Auction resumes and the property gets knocked down on the existing bid !

Who wins at this Auction? Everyone except the Person who has paid all the costs for the Auction, the Vendor ! The Auctioneer gets paid, the Listing Agent gets their commission, the purchaser has won the property on a bid price they were happy to pay but the Vendor did not meet the Reserve price they wanted. This happens regularly but is never reported on.

THERE IS A SIMPLE SOLUTION TO UNDER QUOTING, MORE TRANSPARENCY !

The solution is that ALL Auctions should have a Disclosed Reserve Price of what the property will be placed on the Market for if the Property is Passed in.

What will be the effect of this?

1. If the property is such that it is ‘highly desirable’ then at the Auction the competing parties will still compete for the property & this may still exceed the Disclosed Reserve price as in our current system. In this case the property would still be sold ‘Above the Reserve’. 

2. If the property does not reach the reserve then we are at the same point as our current system of Undisclosed Reserve Price  Auctions but here ALL parties know where they stand in regards to after Auction Negotiations and / or a future Private Treaty Sale price.

2. It will stop the expense of unwarranted Pest & Building Inspections of people who now would know the property is actually out of their reach (budget).

3. It would provide more Transparency of the Auction process.

4. It would make Agents Behave more ethically & therefore improve the reputation of the industry.

5. It could possibly put more sanity into the prices currently being paid ?

6. Agents & Auctioneers HATE this idea as the least knowlege you know the more control they have of the process.

7. Agents could (with Disclosed Reserve Auctions) then more openly & honestly use the excuse for people questioning the final sale price amount achieved as ‘ It is the Market ‘.

Now to the Quote mentioned at the start of this YAK !

I had a property for listed for sale by Public Auction in August 2008. It was a Brand New Large 4 Bed Townhome on the Central Coast of NSW and the Reserve Price I had as a reserve was $520,000. The Agent I had engaged and the Auctioneer they engaged on my behalf are from two separate offices of one of the Largest Real Estate Franchises in Australia.

A day before the scheduled auction I Spoke to the Listing Agent who said the Auctioneer (one of the highest profile Auctioneers on the Central Coast of NSW) had viewed the property and said he estimated a ‘Sale Price’ of $475,000 to $485,000.

On the day of the Auction I arrived at the same time as the Auctioneer about one hour prior to the scheduled Auction time. It was the first time we had met and we introduced ourselves. In my discussion with him prior to the Agent arriving he told me that he estimated the sale price as $440,000 which was $45,000 below what the Listing Agent said he had stated. I said nothing.

The Agent arrived and opened up about 30mins before the Auction. A number of people came in along with some of my relatives (unbeknowns to the Agents). The Agent took the Auctioneer away and a few minutes later the Auctioneer came across to me and pointed out a gentleman to me with the words “that is your buyer”. I was surprised. Just before the Auction start time the ‘buyer’ came across to me and told me what a great job I had done on the development. This was sounding promising.

However nobody registered for the Auction, so no Aucton was held.

When I Questioned the Auctioneer in the Presence of the Listing Agent about the ‘buyer’ his comment to me was

“Well you know what they say, Buyers are Liars and Vendors are Worse !” 

This is from a High Profile Auctioneer who I had only met that day and have just Paid $495.00 to for nothing. I was angry but reserved in my response. I responded to him telling him that there was a second part to that comment but as there was a Lady (Listing Agent) present I would not complete there and then!

The Full Comment with my additions should be

“Buyers are Liars, Vendors are Worse, Agents are (Expletive deleted - insert your own) and the Vendors Costly Curse” !

So to top this disasterous day off, while my relatives were mingling and having a chat with some in the crowd the well dressed buyer had identified himself, in general discussion, to one of my relatives as the Listing Agents ‘ MAINTENANCE MAN ‘. The government will tell you that the Auction process has been cleaned up! Maybe it has on Mars but not here in NSW! 

At the end of the day I sold the Property MYSELF for $495,000 in Nov 08 !!!

In summary be careful of what you tell agents about yourself as it may end up with strangers and be mindful of what they tell you as they may be the LIARS ! 

Finally the idea of Disclosed Reserve Auctions, I beleive, should be considered by our regulators to even the playing field somewhat & provide more transparency !

What do You Think ?

Cheers

Jingoes Jack

(Dip. Property)

(Have your say today Mate by Joining YAKMATE at http://www.yakmate.com.au/ to receive your Login & Password).

G’day YAKSTERS,

If you were asked to provide two categories only to describe the people in the world you would probably come up with the obvious ones of Male & Female or perhaps Good & Bad.

If you are asked ’What do you think of … (someone) ?’ your response is based on your experiences with that person. If we have had a positive interaction with them then we use terms like ‘He is a Great Bloke’ or ‘She is a Lovely Woman’ etc.

Conversely, if our experience was a negative one we may use terms such as ‘He or She is … (insert your own adjective). I am sure you know what I am talking about !

Our description is based on our impression of them in regards to their observed personality & character traits, what they say, their actions & how they make you feel in your interaction with them.

Descriptive terms used for a person fall into one of two main broad headings of ‘Good’ and ‘Bad’ regardless of gender.

I would suggest that in fact a better way of describing people as a whole is to use the following two categories being those that are ’Givers’ or those that are ‘Takers’ !

A Bad person by the very nature of the Tag is a Taker.

At one end of the spectrum there is the Taker that actually looks like a Giver to the wider community until he is ‘outed’. At the other end is the Sociopath.

The Takers impact on someone negatively removing something from them (e.g. their possessions) or diminishing that person (e.g. their confidence, dignity etc) in some way. This loss can be in both a physical & / or mental capacity as well as impacting on them both in the short or long term.

Predominantly a Good person is a Giver.

The Givers are giving of themselves in time, actions & perhaps finances if they can afford it. Basically they put a high emphasis on others in most of what they do. In their activities they not only think of the outcome for themselves but often also any impact to others. They are considerate, empathetic & have a conscience

However there are many who put themselves forward as a Good person but they are really Takers.

Some real life known examples …

1. Look at a Billionaire philanthropist that hands out money to many charities to help them help others, he is viewed as a Good person. However what if the funds that he is passing to the charities is money earned by illegal practices, collusion & corruiption?

He has gained these funds by taking from others, handed a portion of it to charities so as ‘they can do good’ by helping others & in return he raises his own profile as a generous, upstanding member of the community & receives a healthy tax write off for his company to boot. Not a red cent of ‘his own’ money was used !

This person hides behind a shield of Respectability for decades & he is perceived as a Good person even after he is found out. The emphasis is placed on the Good he has done (by providing funds) but not how he obviously took from others to achieve this. In some circles I suppose he is viewed as a new age Robin Hood, but those that he Took from were certainly not rich. They were struggling smaller businesses !

When found out he gets a slap on the wrist by our regulators with ‘A record’ fine amount but even though the fine was in the 10’s of millions it was estimated to be only about 10% of what he aquired corruptly ! (A well known businessman Taker) !

2. What about the ‘One day a Week Warrior’ who attends to his religious beliefs on a weekend only to forget all about these & his faiths teachings for the rest of the week and treats people in a less than acceptable or in fact an appalling manner. He hides behind his false religious shield of perceived respectability.(I have worked with one of these Weekend Warrior Takers) !

3. What about the person who volunteers their time to a charity shop to help sort donated items only to ensure that the ‘best donations’ don’t make it to the store or those that really need it but they do end up going home with the volunteer. This could be viewed as some form of payment for their time but does that not change their actual status as a volunteer & question their true motivation ? (A Charity Taker).

So when next you are asked your opinion of someone take a very close look at all their personal characteristics then slot them into either the ‘Giver’ or ‘Taker’ Column to make a more true assessment of a person. Beware of the TAKERS !

Who are You, a Giver or Taker ?

What do you think ?

Cheers

Jingoes Jack

(Have your say today Mate by Joining YAKMATE at http://www.yakmate.com.au/ to receive your Login & Password).

G’day YAKSTERS,

It could be suggested that the recent outcome of the pre-selection for the Labour candidate in the next Federal election for the Federal seat of Robertson was as a result of either Accountability or Karma (or both) at play!

Over the last few years there have been a number of incidents and comments reported in all forms of media Australia wide which have been attributed to the current sitting member for Robertson Belinda Neal. All of these have had controversy attached to them in some manner or form and have been deemed by many political analysts as ‘bad news’ events for the Labour Party.

These media reports combined have obviously presented a Chaotic Labour Party image to people within (and outside) of the Robertson Electorate. The majority of the wider Australian community has on a number of occassions been both intrigued and somewhat disappointed with these reported incidents in relation to the Labour Party representation being provided in Robertson in general.

The Labour Party Rank and File members showed their hand on the weekend and they overwhelmingly voted for change.

On the day of the Pre-selection vote, I was buying lunch at the Woy Woy Fishermans Wharf. On my way back to the car I enquired as to what was going on at the CWA hall and I was told it was the Labour Party Pre-selection voting.

After three years of receiving Handouts, Flyers and Fridge Magnets from Belinda Neal I took the opportunity to reciprocate by personally handing her a YAKMATE Business Card and Refrigerator Magnet. I asked her to have a read of these and in leaving I said that “I could not see much hope for her !” which unfortunately for her & her 60+ voting Labour Party Member supporters turned out to be correct.

I hope that she took the time to read what I presented to her as the First Line of Text on the Fridge Magnet and Business Card (as shown by clicking on the Link Below) says :

” Accountability for Actions … Respect for All ! “

I think these words say it all so … that is the end of this YAK, Mate !

What do you think ?

Cheers

Jingoes Jack !

Link to view Business card / magnet http://yakmate.com.au/SHOP%20LARGE%20PICTURES.html#SUPPORTER_PACK

(Have your say today Mate by Joining YAKMATE at http://www.yakmate.com.au/ to receive your Login & Password).

Australian Blog Directory

G’day YAKSTERS,

M.A.S.H was a famous long running television Comedy series.

M.A.S.H stands for Mobile Army Surgical Headquarters.

The Doctors were the Comical Component to the show while the Patients and the Hospital provided (in the majority) the Serious component to the show.

The Roles have been reversed in our Australian Hospital Health systems.

Our Doctors present a Serious Professional attitude to their work (rightly so) wanting to provide quality service while the Service Delivery to Patients and Hospital Management have become the joke of the health system for an equally long running period !

What the Wider Australian Community needs. wants and deserves are M.A.S.H Hospitals where our Hospitals are run to Maintain Adequate Services Humanely = M.A.S.H ! The Service Delivery should be focussed & measured primarily on the Humans providing & needing the services in our Hospitals / Health system and not be dictated to in the majority by the Bank Balance Budget for the cost of the service ! To have a chance at a Good Life you need Good Health !

The State & Federal Governments have got away with the decline in Hospital Service and Infrastructure by playing the blame game & tossing the hot potato of respsonsibility from one to another for way too long.

The Red Tape in our Bureaucracy’s operating the numerous health systems seems to have become viral.

All staff working in our hospitals have been infected & have become (unwillingy so) very adept at having to live with the resulting sympton, known as the ‘ Bureaucratic Tango ‘, simply so as to survive their workplace ! 

In using a reference to yet another current television show & to respond (on behalf of the doctors) to the Statement ’ So you think you can Dance ! ‘ … the answer would be Yes they can; they have to on a daily basis !

The Federal Government has recently announced they will take over the ‘ majority ‘ funding and operation of the Health Systems & Hospitals.

This sounds terrific to all in the community at first glance.

This does need to occur to stop the blame game and restore community faith in the health system as well as offer hope for our medical practioners who need to see positive changes sooner than later. 

The Federal Government proposing to utilise GST funds collected (when all GST Funds collected are mean’t to be distributed to the states only) to pay for the running of the systems (or should that be the ‘operation on’ the systems - excuse the pun) will be a first hurdle for them to overcome.

The State Governments are not known for giving up anything willingly even though the deficiencies in our current Health (& Hospital) Systems have traditionally always been somewhat of a ‘ bad news ‘ event for the various governments & as such a major target for the media.

Providing the operation & decision making power at a more ‘ local ‘ level as proposed versus what currently exists seems to be a step in the right direction according to many in the Health industry. However the methodology of funding and considerations for not only the Management of Hospitals but also GP’s Primary Care, Aged Care, Disability Services, Dental and Mental Health all need to be put into the mixing pot. Our Country Regional & Local Community Hospitals also need to have their fair share of the spotlight and appropiate funding for services in any rearrangement proposed and implemented.

A truly viable solution to sort out the existing systems so as it is equitable to all stake holders will not be easy.

The devil will be in the detail and our Prime Minister loves detail.

However based on the Insulation Batts Installation Scheme Bureaucratic Debacle ‘ Attention to Detail ‘ does not seem to be an element of the current Job Descriptions for our Bureaucrats or Public Servants ! In reference to the Insulation scheme a Senior Labour Minister admitted that they had not dotted the ‘ I’s ‘ and crossed the ‘ T’s ‘ prior to the scheme being implemented. I hope a lot more planning has been put in place for this Health Care reform overhaul proposal !

If the State Governments do not co-operate then will the Prime Minister use this to have a plebiscite to ‘put it to the people’ about the Federal Government takeover by way of a referendum question posed to us at the upcoming election ? I think he should so that even if Labour are not re-elected but the Federal takeover is voted in with a Yes Majority then it will still proceed!.

However I believe the Prime Minister will not put it to a referendum but will in fact use this as a BIG CARROT as part of his Re-Election Strategy. Vote us (me) in again for another term and I will then get the Takeover underway ! mmm !

As such, Mr. Abbott and the Liberal / National Party need to state their case and offer an alternative for our Health & Hospital Systems that is both Effectively Communicated & Palatable but more so meets the Obvious Concerns and needs of the Medical Practicioners and the Wider Australian Community at Large.

Whatever system is proposed needs to ensure that in the future there cannot be any more Blame Game and Hot Potato tossing of responsibility between our Elected State and Federal members as it makes them all look very Poor Leaders and the Wider Community somewhat foolish for voting them in.

So in short the Hot Potato Tossing of Responsibility between levels of Government needs to be squashed to provide the type of M.A.S.H the Community needs & deserves !

What do you think ?

Cheers

Jingoes Jack !

(Have your say today Mate by Joining YAKMATE at http://www.yakmate.com.au/ to receive your Login & Password.

G’day YAKSTERS,

The Insulation Batts Installation Scheme may have been stopped last week but the real repercussions of this now and into the future are yet to be fully realised.

The Fly By Nighters (like Fruit Bats) will simply ‘ fly away ‘ with pockets full of cash and the Genuine Long Term Insulation Professionals will be left holding the bag and picking up the pieces, in some circumstances I suspect, for years to come !

There has been much written and said in the media especially over the last 6 mionths about the Government Insulation Batts Scheme with most media reports focussing on the obvious deficiencies of the scheme. Various Indsutry bodies (Insulation & Electrical) & Unions had raised their concerns directly with the Environment Department & Ministers office but all seems to have fallen on deaf ears.

One prominent Radio Broadcaster (Ray Hadley - 2GB Sydney) has been highlighting : - the tactics of unscrupulous fly by nighters entering the industry pressuring people, the offering of kickbacks, the performing of illegal dumping of old batts, rorting of the scheme so as all varying size installations seemed all to end up at the Government rebate figure & of course the safety issues etc for at least 6 months.

He (Ray) was able to provide names of those acting illegally, he was able to provide names of those in the community being harrassed by these shonks but he (and the Wider Community) received little feedback from the government. He has been tenacious in his efforts of attempting to get this scheme stopped & highlighting possible safeguards / fixes that should have been in place for the scheme to operate Safely & Successfully.

The Genuine Frustration & Concern of the Government’s (more specifically Minister Peter Garret’s) inaction to obvious wrong doings could be heard in Ray’s voice time & time again and his concerns were supported greatly by the Wider Community ! In the minimal feedback he (Ray) & we received from the Government they stated that they were in fact taking action and had banned and removed the Registration from a few hundred companies BUT they would not release this list to the Community … Why ?

Don’t you think that if you had Batts put in by one of these companies you would want to know from a safety perspective so as you could have an inspection done of the installation as a priority ? Has the Government written to these people to advise them to get their insulation checked ?

As well as Banning these shonks did or are they (the Government) going to attempt to retrieve the large sums of money they may have earned from doing the work prior to being banned ?

After numerous attempts for months by Ray to get Minister Garret on the show and he finally aggreed to appear. The Minister provided an often uncomfortable & unconvincing delivery in his answers to Ray’s questions.  Within two weeks of this discussion with Ray the Minister finally canned the Scheme.

The Environment Minister (Mr. Garret) has certainly been under direct attack on many fronts and rightly so. He should have put a halt to the scheme much earlier to address the obvious oversights & deficiencies in the scheme. However, we are forgetting two other possible major components as the cause for all these problems from the outset.

Firstly the Politician comes up with the Plan but I am pretty sure he did not design how it would be implemented.

There would be a group of Bureaucrats & Public Servants in the Environment Department along with staff in the Ministers Office itself that have a lot to answer for. It is this hidden group from the public eye that came up with the methodology to implement, run & monitor the Scheme.

Who are they ? We will never know, Mate !

Should they still be in a job ? NO. Mate !

Secondly, information / communication flow. Who knew what and when ?

It has recently been revealed that the Minister had not actually read the Full Risk Assessment report on the scheme from one of the largest legal firms in Australia. Why ? This was a major $2.4 BILLION dollar Scheme so surely time should have been found. There is now debate as to what the Environment Department did with this risk assessment information received back in the first part of 2009 so far as information flow to the Minister’s Office Staff and then obviously what was conveyed, in a briefing, to the Minister.

Was there any Selective Filtering of the risk assessment information passed up the line early last year or is there now Selective Filtering of information of what actually occurred for self preservation and damage control within the Government & Department ?

At the end of the day, there have been four deaths thus far attributed to Poor Training & / or Workplace Safety during the operation of the scheme and also a number of house fires casued by poor / incompetent installation.

The main question here is, Will these companies be held to Account & How ?

There has been damage suffered by long term professional insulation businesses both in reputation (as an industry) & in financial consequences. Some of these companies invested heavily with the $2.4 Billion dollar scheme scheduled to end once all funds had been exhausted which was forecast to be a 3 year period. This should have been to 2011 - 2012.

The Minister does have ultimate responsibility for the overall scheme and its consequences as he has always had the ability to stop this scheme whenever he wanted to do so & review the situation. He also should have built in a mechanism to ensure the quality of both insulation product used and the installation itself.

The Government is now telling people that are concerned with their installations to get the original installers back to check their own install !!! This type of inane thinking is what has us all say ‘ You Are Kidding Mate ! ‘ Do the Government really think the Shonk installers (if contactable) will say ‘Oh I did a Bad job but I will come out and now fix it to make good’ ? I doubt it as you will probably not be able to find them for dust ! What is the Government (or Hidden Bureaucrat suggesting this to the Elected Representative) reasoning or thinking here ! Zero, Nada, Nought, 1 - 1 etc !

IN THE MAJORITY, ON THESE TYPES OF GOVERNMENT SCHEMES, SELF REGULATION DOES NOT WORK, MATE !

IT NEVER WILL, ESPECIALLY BY THE SHONKS !

I wonder how many future home owner pre purchase inspections will find issue with the Insulation ?

The Minister has his portion of blame & accountability to answer for but I suggest that those hidden from the public who designed & implemented all aspects of the scheme at the outset from the Registration of the Shonks to the Monitoring of the work performed should EQUALLY hang their heads in shame and be held ACCOUNTABLE for the negative outcomes of this scheme !

What do you think, Mate ?

Cheers

Jingoes Jack !

(Have your say today Mate by Joining YAKMATE at http://www.yakmate.com.au/ to receive your Login & Password.