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One of those weeks with nothing particular on work wise, so decided to spend it on the water over at Rottnest. The 18km swim from the mainland to the island is on tomorrow so it was easy to get moorings mid-week.
A family of dolphins were doing a roaring trade taking herring from around the boats in the mornings and evenings. They and a couple of small sharks were also responsible for nicking a couple of snapper off the hook when reeling them in a pointless exercise.
Have to laugh at the whole news source and facebook stoush this week. I am not a huge fan of FB but am on it to catch what various friends around the place are up to. I quite like it being free of stupidity and conspiracy stories. You wouldn't think people would rely on that platform for their news but there are all types.
With an election on over here, it wasn't such a flash thing for the opposition leader and his people to suddenly lose their FB pages, but credit to the premier and people that did in pausing to use it as a platform until that was sorted out. There is a bit of decent thought about democracy it seems.
Watching how the alleged rape case pans out in federal parliament house. With a fair mind there seems to be some rules lacking on mandatory reporting that would be the course in private business. We will see how it pans out but at the least there needs to be new governing legislation put through on standards and independent adjudication. Ministers may or may not have been trained on how to handle situations which will need to be looked at and people "remedied". You have an entire class of politicians and staffers running the country that have no experience in the real world or even managing. Clearly a weakness.
Weakness of ministers seems to a a global phenomenon
 
Afternoon all,

Well the tennis is over for another year and so is the outrage of allowing tennis players into the country. The next big stoush will be on the Olympics which seems is not wanted by the people of Japan for fear of the virus situation getting worse in Japan.

Hard to believe the words from Smoko about the sexual assault case given government bodies have clear guidelines on how those matters should be dealt with. Seems parliament house is like the Vatican, the rules of normal society don't apply. Clearly a case of coverup given the timing of the incident was very close to an election cycle so a scandal in the Lib's would not have been wanted. Now the same dude has been implicated in 3 other cases. So seems he is a serial offender and has obviously got away with it before. He obviously knew the culture which meant he would be allowed to get away with it. The fact there were two senior female ministers who knew about the issue yet the PM claims he knew nothing about it until this month is once again very hard to believe. Also because at the time it was also considered a serious security breach. That stuff gets documented in normal standing orders and security reports which he would of been privy to. These are standard govt processes.

We in Melbourne are still in restrictions till Friday but have freedom of movement with restrictions on how many people are allowed at your house and other gatherings. The lockdown meant I couldn't travel across the city to continue with the painting tasks at my mum's place. But did manage to do one small painting and repair task at my place before the heat set in for the week.

Will be spending the next month travelling across the city doing more of those painting tasks at my mum's place. Will feel like having a job again getting up with the alarm clock and not getting back home till the evening. Lots of long days ahead. Pain will be part of that. Can't spend too long up a ladder these days. However all that depends on whether we end up in another lockdown. Hopefully not.

Seems VIC is going it alone in building dedicated quarantine facilities outside of the main population areas. The Avalon area is used by the budget carriers for people who live in the Geelong area and further into the country. No need for those people to travel into the city to catch flights both domestic and OS. It's on the way to Geelong and also where they hold the Air Show every year. So whilst it is outside of Melbourne city it's not far from the city. Geelong is the second largest city in the state. Avalon is not out in regional VIC as in the country. But is far away from any populated areas.

Seems the govt has changed their original phases for the rollout of the vaccine. Was originally that people over 65 would be part of the first phase now they are in phase 2 and the govt have lowered the age to 50-69. So two of my siblings will be in phase one as they are both over 70. It seems ironic that the rich will get the vaccine before the less well off because of their age. Most politicians will also get the vaccine before the main part of the country. Once again based on the fact that most pollies are old white dudes. Not doubt the millennials will have something to say about that on social media.

Facebook screwed themselves with blocking govt sites and charities. Rather dumb move. They are fine with facism, mass murderers and fake news but block the BOM, charities and disaster relief orgs. All they have done is given other countries the courage to move against them. Facebook will become Fakebook. If people stop using it cause they can't go to one place to access other info, well then there is no need for it as a social media platform. It will only be used by people to post their holiday photos and dumb shit they shot on video and of course crazy cat people. On the positive side may be this is the time for govt and other organizations to have more of a presence on-line and not rely on third party platforms. Google is much smarter paying out a few million compared to a profit of a few billion is just change for them. Facebook has a lot to lose in this fight.

Was expecting some of the wet stuff today but nothing yet. A much nicer cooler week ahead compared to last week.

Hope the rest of the week is good for you.
 
Afternoon all,

Well it seems Facebook has come to it's senses and realised that it got it wrong. Think it has more to do with the potential loss of users than govt pressure. The young are quick to anger and vote with their fingers. No doubt the govt will feel this is a win and another tick to win the next election which will come later this year after the rollout is completed and they get tick number two. So all on track for the LNP to retain power doesn't matter what they cock up for the rest of the year or how many sexual assault cover ups or money rorts they do, they can't lose. Was interesting that the AFP basically said that that MP's could face criminal charges if any further sexual assaults are not reported. Wouldn't think the pollies need to be told this considering all other govt bodies have to comply with the law.

Been a rain on, rain off week. Got some of the wet stuff last night which was a surprise. Managed to get a couple of painting tasks done earlier in the week despite the rain. Was going to turn around and head back home since the rain that happened on the day was not forecast. Funny how it was only in the part of Melbourne that I was in. Nothing on my side of the city. But that is how the rain has happened all this week. Not consistent in Melbourne.

The lack of proper rain is now impacting the trees. The ones that normally shed their leaves for Winter are already losing their leaves due to the lack of rain. I noticed this a couple of weeks ago. Last time I saw that was when we had a heatwave in Melbourne with temps in the 40's all week. The normally leafy trees down St. Kilda road in the city were shedding all their leaves. This was in Jan of that year.

Seen the flooding in NSW which would normally be the top news story, but it's all about the vaccine rollout or stuff ups. Latest one is the wasting of vaccine vials by the private contractors not handling the left over vials properly. Does the govt not get it. Private industry is not a govt service provider. The fuckups in elderly care facilities keeps happening. Govt contractors continue to fuck up during this pandemic but they keep getting contracts. Why the local hospitals are not in charge of administering vaccines to elderly care facilities makes no sense. The same fuckwit that is charge of nursing homes just keeps acting as if this isn't his problem.

Smoko just keeps showing himself as having a mental block when it comes to addressing the safety of women in the workplace. He just doesn't get it, neither does it seem most of the men in parliament. Saw female politicians just hanging their heads when he was talking. They just knew he was talking bullshit. They all need a shake up which comes down to the voting public. The voters put them there so it's up to the voters to remove them. The time of the middle aged men in power needs to end if things are going to change in the work place.

A rain free weekend coming up in Melbourne, although they said that most of this week and it didn't happen. Hope the weekend is good for you either way.
 
Long weekend over in the west. I haven't got plans, just going to wing it, maybe call a few people up and have a bbq or two. Maybe a bit of early morning beach but it looks like early sea breezes in for the next few days so could be dawn specials.
Quite enjoying life with no school aged kids. All made it to uni now. Actually they are all still at home and they and boyfriends eat me out of house and home, but very little driving around, and most importantly, no more private school fees!
Entering election finals over here. Interestingly the Liberals have already pre-conceded the election, saying they couldn't possibly win against McGowan so please vote for them in the Upper House and if you felt a protest vote might get some attention. Smart move. They also made a policy saying no more coal mining or coal power, a liberal stalwart platform, greater environment and green living moves. Some of the old timers are fuming at the changes, but they know they have to get back in touch with people if they want to have a realistic chance in 2 or 3 elections' time. It's pre-voting now, and some of the food trucks have set up outside the pre-poll booths, so might as well go and vote early this weekend and get my hotdog.
Hotdogs, democracy snags, bunnings snags. Funny how there are different definitions of it around the country. Definitely in a hotdog bun, top cut, or a panini side cut over here. We see some of the old time sausage in a slice of bread efforts in other ends of the country.
The local Bunnings now has a policy of no see through shirts and visible bare chests. I noticed that on the front door during the week and was puzzled. I know to make a dress code you have to make it equally applicable to men and women. It's why it is illegal for councils to enforce topless bathing bans on women, and fines, after challenges upheld. But Bunnings... Have we had a gaggle of unrestrained chests on women coming off the beach? Surely the tradies and weekend warriors are ok with that. More research will have to be done, ie. the weekend manager down there might have to have a chat with me. Stand by for reasons.
So apparently I am now a non-binary gestational foetus carrier, a vulva owner, a chest feeder. Anything but a woman. I am all for a fair go for everyone, but I bristle even at cis-woman. How hard is it. Just woman. XX genome woman if you so desire, but whats with all the crazy words.
I'm off to work out when I will watch the Dockers AFLW side this weekend. They are having a good run. After the way Ross Lyon treated them in their opening seasons I will cheer loudly if they bring home the first silverware for the Dockers.
Have a good weekend.
 
Just went to vote in the state election. I like early voting, it saves me from going through all the how to vote mob and hanging around with others. Only issue is that there is not hotdog and cake stand at the end of it. Legitimately, I don't know if I will have to disappear somewhere that saturday so best to get in slightly early and take care of it.

I love mandatory voting and all the deviation from centre controls that it brings. Each time though, the voting card gets longer and longer. There were seven candidates on the lower house list, one of which was acceptable, another at a pinch, and then 5 people that I had to debate in my mind how far away from the seat of power they should be kept for everyone's safety. As if someone might hold my vote up for scrutiny, I actually sit there and work out an order of offensiveness.
Then comes the upper house one. Still one above the line or number all fifty something below the line for a legit vote. The number of crazy parties and peanuts angling for a preference swap has not abated. Even the parties list are not that flash, but I couldn't be bothered working out on a fifty scale who was worse than the others.The Feds have the just number one to 6 below the line shortcut which would be better. The number of variations of party names using the word "Liberal for..." was terrible. Liberal for Climate Change, Liberal for Anti-Mandatory Vaccination, Liberal Christian, Liberal for Fluouride Control, etc. The actual Liberal party was about two inches in from the far right hand side, so if you were a Liberal voter you might have given up in desperation by then. There were already a bunch of waste of oxygen people in the upper house of the last parliament who spent their time selling their votes and mucking around, so it will be interesting to see if the numbnuts who think it is funny to vote for some crazy name push anyone through.
More interesting will be the predictions that the Libs in opposition will lose so many more seats that the Nationals will take over from them as the official opposition. If that's the case they will lose all funding for staffers and would have to go cap in hand to the predictably Labor government and beg them for extraordinary funding. They would probably get it as the parties themselves don't really want to disrupt the advisor industry in case they find themselves in opposition later on. Good old Morrison decided he and the feds wouldn't bother flying in to lend a speaking opportunity.

Doubly not now that Mr Porter has found himself in a difficult situation. As a woman I am well aware of the rape culture and difficulty in finding a voice and being heard, let alone gaining a conviction. In equal measure, the justice system is that every person must be presumed innocent until proven guilty. I can't get past the last point to further enable the first so something else needs to turn up to sway the point. As it turns out, Christian Porter's electorate is being abolished at the next election to redistribute one WA seat to Victoria, so the chances of finding another safe seat to be parachuted into now are probably minimal. As it was, he played the evangelical christian right game at the last election as his electorate has an increasing demographic is that, so that's a dead end. It's a hard situation as trial by media ensures that regardless of criminal outcome, it is effectively the end of a political or after politics business career/ reenter the law field. Morrison will be needing to go disappear overseas shortly to do his usual hide and try avoid this one. Unless Jenny reminds him again...
 
Afternoon all,

Well the end of another busy week for me. Did another couple of painting tasks at my mum's place. Don't really mind doing the work just the travel across the city on multiple days is pain in the arse. The traffic is back to normal since most office works are allowed back to work. After a full days work I then have the joy of dealing with heavy traffic all the way home. Oh joy. The other issue is that the local council won't issue me a parking permit so I can't stay at the property beyond a certain limit. I'm pissed off because I'm paying the rates and all the other expenses on the property but not entitled to a parking permit because I don't live at the residence. They are happy to take my money but I'm not entitled to anything.

Just to add to my trip across the city is that the city local council have decided that this month they would close down Albert Park Lake for works. That's the Grand Prix race track which gets a huge amount of local traffic. So naturally that has caused traffic chaos and even longer delays during peak hours. So I have to do the Cook's Tour of the city to get around all that crap which just adds more time to the journey.

When the story first broke about an MP at the centre of rape allegations, I had a feeling it would be the AG since after the 4 corners episode he was front and centre of that investigation of his history towards women in general and all the derogatory things he has said and written about women in the past. So the guy has form. This incident wasn't a one off. Whilst the cops won't pursue a criminal case, it doesn't mean the incident didn't happen just means they aren't confident of a prosecution. We have a poor track record in this country of women getting justice in these circumstances. The other rape case and the details of who didn't do what just keeps getting worse. In both cases the govt is backing their own, if this happened in any other party the govt would have enquiries all over the place and you can bet the LNP would be after blood. But when it comes to their own, suddenly there is nothing to see or hear. What I find alarming is that some of the female MP's are backing the boys club in the LNP. Even when watching The Drum, the one female Lib supporter and ex-pollie was backing the LNP on these issues.
Party loyalty first, morality a distant last. As for the AG's performance at his press conference well he isn't winning any acting awards. His arrogance was on show, rather disgusting.

Just realised that it's a public holiday in VIC on Monday. The Moomba festival is back on. Don't think there will be a Moomba Parade. Moomba is only happening because Danny Boy told the Melbourne Council to reverse it's decision to cancel Moomba. Given he has been very strict on issues with the virus, it's interesting how he was happy for Moomba to go ahead yet the city council wanted it cancelled. Anyway Moomba is back on. Lots of memories of going to Moomba. Was in the parade one year as part of the Little Athletics. Not sure if they still have that for kids these days.

Hope the weekend is good for you. Having some sun on the weekend here in Melbourne, which will make a change from the overcast conditions all week.
 
Another week of painting and driving across the city on multiple days. Definitely feels like having a job, but have made lots of progress and can see the end. Still not much by way of traffic in the city centre. Even though we can now have 75% of people back to work here in Melbourne, it doesn't look like a lot of people are taking up the option. Not much by way of people traffic in the city so those businesses which rely on office workers aren't doing that much better. Only saw a few people with luggage making their way to Spencer St to catch the airport bus. Not many people on the PT either. Speaking to a small business owner in my area, they indicated that business still hasn't picked up even with the higher level of people now allowed to go back to work.

Has been a weird weather day. Suddenly got very humid. It was only supposed to get to the low 20's. Started off cool and I was painting in sunshine which then ended in cloudy overcast weather with a heavy burst of rain. Was doing the task under cover so at least the painting didn't go to hell. No rain was forecast this late in the week. Getting a proper lot of rain on the weekend.

So the govt is down 3 MP's and still nothing to see here. At what point does the cabinet become unworkable? Given all three are key roles in the govt. Smoko is still sticking to his guns and protecting the boys club. Barnaby must be eyeing off one of the jobs going spare. Can't see how the AG and the Def Minister can keep their jobs.

At least the LNP aren't as bad as the Republicans in the US. They are royally fucked. Now they are making pilgrimages to Rump's golf course like it's some holy site. They haven't reached the bottom yet. Have to demolish a house to rebuild it.

So no vaccine for everyone by Oct, now could be Dec but probably more like next year for both doses. The vaccine rollout is like an IT project, over promise and under deliver.

So Job Keeper finishes in a couple of weeks and so does the support for a lot of people who need it to keep going beyond this month. All it will take is yet another large line of people outside a Centrelink office to trigger the govt to do something. Those images are a bad look for the govt. Which is the only reason they raised Job Seeker and implemented Job Keeper, all about the optics.

Who would of thought the remnants of the British Empire would be a tad racist? I mean given their desire to impose their will on people's from other countries, oh and did we mention the attempts at genocide. So when its' reported that a member of the British Royal Family made racist comments, not sure why people are shocked. I mean the English class system means they even look down on their fellow countrymen. They deported a lot of them to provide free labour to a new colony on the other side of the world. Do people not know the history of the British Empire? Won't find it on Fakebook or Twittering. And lets not talk about what they did to the textile industry in India to prop up their own textile industry in England. It had nothing to do with tariffs, had a lot to do with physical injuries of the locals.

Hope the weekend is good for you. I'll be having a rest before another week of travelling across the city. Also the petrol prices have been higher the last couple of weeks, seems that's just for me. Funny how it suddenly went up when virus numbers got better. Surely a coincidence, right? Well they better make the most of it cause they are in a dying industry.
 
Evening all from humid South Singapore / Perth. This place does not do humidity well, it feels like a summer evening in Sydney. We have it until Sunday when a strong system will blow it into the wheatbelt.
Talking of wheatbelt, some of the marginal areas are reporting moisture penetration down to 40cm so there are some happy farmers out there. A good time to sell the farm when its raining and there is some turnover over here.
WA election is on Saturday. About 60% have already voted. We will have to see if the predicted rort happens and the Libs go down to 2 seats and the Nationals take over as official opposition party. Labor has done alright running the place but have a bit of an issue with small business, tourism and education. The only problem with a weak opposition is that some of the governing party members that are a bit on the weak side don't get rolled, so there is not a natural selection process of new blood.
Laughing my head off at the Labrador. The kids and their uni mates were having a daytime skinny dip in the pool and the dog kept coming and going with piles of clothes into my home office. Was it universal that there was always that one person that would pinch everyone's clothes when they went for a nudie? It's the dog here.
 
Pretty much as predicted, the libs get 2 with a possibility of a 3rd, and Nationals get 4, Labor likely to end with 52. Most interestingly, McGowan wins control of both lower and upper houses so no impediment to passing laws. There was no doubt this was going to be the outcome given the performance, but there has been an extra 25% of people voting labor for perhaps the first time. As they say about a number of things, it only stings the first time.

Scorcher of a 5-6 day period coming up over here It's already been a week without sea breezes but we are looking at 37-39 for the next few days. The beach is as flat as a tack with the offshore winds blowing out. The roads are packed as everyone is driving to work and then heading to the beach straight after.

We received notification of a party from the people diagonally behind. An "adults party" and they hope we are broadminded enough to accept what we might hear or see. Obviously we don't give a hoot, but I hope it lives up to what my mind says it will be. They are escapees from Victoria that bought the place unseen during the lockdown period. Paid a pretty penny for it, but as it turns out the price increases over the last few months will even out their purchase price. If they bring some entertainment to the neighbourhood then all is good. Pretty hard to see into anyone's house around here.

Going between a couple of desert sites and Esperance port for the next few days. It's a great part of the world on the ocean, but the scrub land is pretty desolate. Not quite the beauty of the North in the wet season, but that will be in April.
 
Morning all,

End of another very busy front of the week doing multiple painting tasks. Those 12hr days took it out of me. Reminded me I'm on the old side of life. Taken a day to recover from most of the pain. Feeling more alive today. Managed to line up a tradie to do another repair task on the other property. Got a cheap range hood installed. Looks very space age. Only issue is that the buttons are on the top rather than the front, so even me at my height can't see the lettering on the buttons. So will need to make some labels to put on the front. The sparky that installed it didn't charge the extra cost so all up I was happy to pay for a new one. If I was installing one for my place I'd spend the extra money. Also was surprised the range hood is "plug and play". Good to know for the future.

Was quite warm by mid week here in Melbourne so was sweating whilst finishing off those painting tasks. The paint was drying by the time I got from one side of the window to the other. Not ideal. Had painting tasks in the past where the paint was drying on the brush. That was when I was younger and less aware of when not to paint.

The drive across the city every week has become a numbing experience. Don't quite switch off but am on auto pilot most of the time. Chaos still abounds with the closure of Albert Park which continues to make one of the main paths thru the city a car park. Finding lots of local traffic on both sides of the city but not much thru the city. Doesn't look like the centre of Melbourne is coming back to normal any time soon. The road crews working in the city out number members of the general public. Don't see the normal office worker crowd going out for coffee these days.

Watched the footy last night. Was good to see footy back at the G and the crowds are back. Although given the size of the ground it still looked rather empty. It just looked like more people cause the crowd was spaced out. Was surprised to see Smoko there. For a photo op obviously and of course he was sitting with the Premiers. He looked totally out of place. Josh looked more at home. Seems Smoko is happy to go to a sporting match but too scared to meet with a group of women wanting to talk to him. Not a good look nor good leadership.

Had to laugh at the Nat's leader when he was talking up Avalon as one of those half price flight destinations. Just shows he talks crap on most things. Nobody flies down to Avalon if they want to go to the Great Ocean Road. A vast majority of those tours leave from Melbourne. If anyone has driven that area you can't miss the number of tour buses coming from Melbourne. The Great Ocean Road is a challenging drive, not for everyone. Done it in all types of weather. If you don't like blind corners, do the bus tour.

The whole scheme from the govt for the tourism boost only benefits the two main airlines. Does fuck all for everyone else in the tourist industry. It just sounds like a typical Canberra based decision even though it was the two main airlines who came up with the list. Yet another list spending public money that the govt doesn't due any diligence on. They love giving govt money to private industry with little to no oversight. But you make one mistake on your dole payment or pension and they want to jail you. A majority of the businesses that benefited from Job Keeper to provide profits and bonuses to their management don't have any intention to pay the money back and Smoko and his mates reckon that's ok.

The warm weather is set to remain for the weekend here in Melbourne town. Not getting any of the rain currently in the north till Monday onwards. Was hoping to do another painting task next week but in an odd way the rain is making me take a break. I'm sure my body will appreciate the short break.

Hope the weekend is good for you. Wet day timetable for most of the east coast.
 
Afternoon all,

Well Smoko's performance at that press conference today was rather pathetic and attacking a journalist with a one-upmanship on sexual assaults. A rather disgusting display from the leader of our country. The attempts at crying were just crocodile tears. These issues aren't going away and the govt is not doing anything to address them. Some how Smoko is making it about his feelings. WTF!

The rain keeps falling and the floods keep coming. We haven't had much in Melbourne as yet compared to NSW or even QLD. Has been raining on an off. There is another front coming to VIC from the SE which isn't part of the two rain fronts hitting the east coast. The people who battled the bush fires only to lose their homes in these latest floods would be devastated.

Local councils need to stop allowing houses to be built in flood prone areas which is why the Brisbane floods were so devastating years ago. The greed of local councils and developers needs to be addressed to ensure people aren't put in harms way. With climate change being a real thing we need to rethink where people should live. It's like people buying a house next to a railroad track then complaining about the trains. There is a reason those houses are cheaper. The govt of the day were dumb enough to put a munitions factory in a flood plane, because they wanted votes. The stories of people being broken by the latest floods is devastating and continuing to do the same thing, doesn't make sense. It's ok to keep saying people in the regions are resilient but at some point people break bringing a lot of other issues with that scenario. Now the NSW govt wants to build more houses in flood prone areas. Makes no sense.

Spent several hours on the phone today trying to resolve a couple of things but ended up going nowhere. After waiting on the phone for 2 hrs the organization I was trying to talk to, hung up on me mid way thru a conversation. To say I was pissed off is an understatement. All up a waste of a day.

Hope the rest of the week is good for you.
 
Afternoon all,

Well Smoko's performance at that press conference today was rather pathetic and attacking a journalist with a one-upmanship on sexual assaults. A rather disgusting display from the leader of our country. The attempts at crying were just crocodile tears. These issues aren't going away and the govt is not doing anything to address them. Some how Smoko is making it about his feelings. WTF!

The rain keeps falling and the floods keep coming. We haven't had much in Melbourne as yet compared to NSW or even QLD. Has been raining on an off. There is another front coming to VIC from the SE which isn't part of the two rain fronts hitting the east coast. The people who battled the bush fires only to lose their homes in these latest floods would be devastated.

Local councils need to stop allowing houses to be built in flood prone areas which is why the Brisbane floods were so devastating years ago. The greed of local councils and developers needs to be addressed to ensure people aren't put in harms way. With climate change being a real thing we need to rethink where people should live. It's like people buying a house next to a railroad track then complaining about the trains. There is a reason those houses are cheaper. The govt of the day were dumb enough to put a munitions factory in a flood plane, because they wanted votes. The stories of people being broken by the latest floods is devastating and continuing to do the same thing, doesn't make sense. It's ok to keep saying people in the regions are resilient but at some point people break bringing a lot of other issues with that scenario. Now the NSW govt wants to build more houses in flood prone areas. Makes no sense.

Spent several hours on the phone today trying to resolve a couple of things but ended up going nowhere. After waiting on the phone for 2 hrs the organization I was trying to talk to, hung up on me mid way thru a conversation. To say I was pissed off is an understatement. All up a waste of a day.

Hope the rest of the week is good for you.
Yes, have to say that I am unconvinced on the press conference. I'm not sure wishing it to go away is the right action being looked for. John Howard and the guns moment here.
Revealing knowledge of the Sky news toilet incident before it can be formally put to the male involved is going to be a bit of a clanger. You can be background briefed on something before HR in a private organisation but not briefed on a rape in your own parliament house being investigated, or allegations against your Attorney General....?
Wankgate is a bit of a wtf. Allegedly, a couple of the large circle of email sharers were hand in cap to their various ministers for a payrise two months earlier. Certainly now it is don't pass Go don't collect $200 off you go. Now, in any other industry, these people, who are not public servants but contract employees of individual parliamentarians, or one of the few party contract employees, would be named as contractors of such and such organisation. I can assure you that any of the mines we work with would have named the contractor, shot the bloke out through the gates, and the contractor company would have been cap in hand in front of someones desk before lunchtime to see if they still had an ongoing contract. The employing party has a duty of care on selection and screening of employees, and responsibility for their actions in a wider workplace. Would love to see who their employing office is.
 
Yes, have to say that I am unconvinced on the press conference. I'm not sure wishing it to go away is the right action being looked for. John Howard and the guns moment here.
Revealing knowledge of the Sky news toilet incident before it can be formally put to the male involved is going to be a bit of a clanger. You can be background briefed on something before HR in a private organisation but not briefed on a rape in your own parliament house being investigated, or allegations against your Attorney General....?
Wankgate is a bit of a wtf. Allegedly, a couple of the large circle of email sharers were hand in cap to their various ministers for a payrise two months earlier. Certainly now it is don't pass Go don't collect $200 off you go. Now, in any other industry, these people, who are not public servants but contract employees of individual parliamentarians, or one of the few party contract employees, would be named as contractors of such and such organisation. I can assure you that any of the mines we work with would have named the contractor, shot the bloke out through the gates, and the contractor company would have been cap in hand in front of someones desk before lunchtime to see if they still had an ongoing contract. The employing party has a duty of care on selection and screening of employees, and responsibility for their actions in a wider workplace. Would love to see who their employing office is.

Yep Parliament house sounds very much like a place where societies rules don't apply. Staffers are at the mercy of their individual MP's and since they are not public servants, even though calling them contractors, just means they can be fired on the spot without a reason. Found it ridiculous for that female govt minister to say the wanker dude was a good guy, apart from the wanking on desks. Really! Shows the rather low bar they set for employing staffers. Obviously no criteria which means it's not a coincidence that attractive young men and women are employed. As for the attitude that MP's don't know the difference between right and wrong because it's the 'Canberra bubble' is yet more horseshit and is nothing more than brand protection which is rather pathetic. If that's the standard our pollies set, well we need better people in politics. The old school tie crap has a lot do to with why we have crap politicians. The current bunch of clusterfucks are only there cause their respective factions put them them up. Has nothing to do with merit. The people who have the skills, just leave cause they can't stand the bullshit. There aren't any criteria for employing staffers, it's who you know. But on the public purse and the perks they get like free flights and accommodation. Might be long hours but when you are nothing more than a personal servant you don't get a say. The actual public servants would be really pissed of at what is going on in Canberra because it tarnishes their reputations. A majority of public servants don't work or live in Canberra, the ones in Canberra just get paid more money which is why people go there. It's kinda like working those highly paid blue collar jobs where that level of pay is for that region. The same type of job in another region wouldn't pay as well. There is fuck all expertise in Canberra in the public service. Most of it is actually in the major cities and regions.
 
Morning all,

Yep up very early, mainly cause I went to bed rather early. Well early for me. Been over at the other property nearly every day this week. The task I'm doing got bigger than I expected so I'm back over there again today, but thankfully it won't be a long day. Could do with a rest. So I'll be doing the opposite to most people this Easter, I'll be home having some much needed down time.

Wasn't a good driving day yesterday. Felt like one of those days something was going to happen. Had a one near miss from a fuckwit in a sports car. Who the fuck drives a drives a sport car with the top down in the middle of a city in a 40km zone, then tries to cut people off. The smell of car exhausts must turn them on. Saw about three of these middle aged dudes in similar cars in the space of 30 mins. All were trying to race the lights and of course failing. Anyone familiar with the main roads thru the centre of Melbourne knows there is no point rushing. You'll only go from one red light to another given it's only 40km/hr on those roads now. Used to be 60 then 50. Then some backpackers ran in to on coming traffic so it's now 40. If it gets any slower, well all need horses. I like the NZ rules. It's just 50 in their cities. Simple. You aren't constantly watching the speed signs. Here in the city centre you go from 60 to 50 to 40 then back up to 50 then 40 again then 60. They city council have totally fucked up the driving routes in the city.

Well you just know the news is going to be full of what Mr Potato Head and Cash doing dumb stuff in their new jobs. Mr Potato Head in charge of Defence. Holy fuck sticks Batman! Before you know it he'll have his picture mandated in all Defence offices which will have to be saluted each morning. The black shirts will get another run in some new Defence organisation. The Chinese govt will not be happy if he focuses his attention on them, unless they take him to lunch. As for Cash well the sale of white boards is going to go up. Not sure why but she reminds me of those clown games where you put the ping pong ball in the mouth and it lands on a random number. Never know what you get. She is very random. You know that any non-LNP states are going to be in the firing line. Then there is Roberts. Just going from one failed job to another. Can't wait to see what he fucks up next. Ever since Julie Bishop left it seems the govt has opened a can of those fake nuts, all the snakes have come popping out.

Another warm day coming up in Melbourne town and a warm Easter weekend. The mornings have been on the cold side so you know Winter is on the way. Also have noticed over the last month how the days have been getting shorter. I'm now coming home in faded light. Almost need the car lights on when coming home. Thank Christ daylight saving's time is ending on Sunday. Now that's one thing we can get rid off now. It's gone past it's use by date.

Don't quite understand the early wrap up of the lockdown in Brisbane. Had nothing to do with health advice, unless health advice now comes with the caveat on major public holidays. So it's ok to have a lockdown on non-public holidays and it can end early due to traffic concerns. They said the new strains of the virus is different, didn't think it knew our public holidays or high traffic times. That's one smart virus. May be it should run for an MP job. Can't be any worse than the ameba's we currently have.

Hope the Easter weekend is good for you no matter your religion. Funny how no matter what religion people follow they all take off Easter. Still, a public holiday is a day off.
 
Hope everyone had a good Easter. Maybe you are back on the job, maybe a few more days away. I didn't go away this year, just spent lazy days on the beach and doing things around the place.

The near misses are continuing. I'll give leeway that we are 3 million doses short of where we thought we should be due to EU export bans, but the hold outs in the medical, quarantine, transport areas are unforgivable. No jab no shifts. Overall our rollout is starting to look like a bit of an unorganized disaster, like Japan. I booked my mum in for her shot next week. Fortunately, her doctor at his new practice was on the list so she got in. She tried to book her friends in with her and they turned them down saying they will only vaccinate their own patients. If you start allowing gatekeeper bullshit to creep into this then there will be plenty of pockets of unvaccinated people you have to try mop up down the track when you are ready to open borders and let it all flow through.

The clothing optional beach goers are getting a bit of win over here in the west with 5 new beaches about to be gazetted for status. Nothing really new, as a few of them have been in use for years and the councils never bothering to change the status quo. Good fishing beaches so the fishers and the nudies can happily coexist. A couple more in the metro area north and south so that gives people in the outer suburbs more options than having to head to Singleton Dawesville or Yanchep. The retirees around Mandurah had long been advocating for legal status on beaches near them as their travel options get less as they get older. Good for all.

The grey nomads must be starting to get ready to leave the southern states and head north and west. I doubt they will be wanting to be stuck at home again this year. Queensland should be fine now and the restrictions on entering WA from there can be offset if your journey across the top takes 2 weeks through the NT at present which most of them do. That should ease off. Broome and Exmouth are booked out May through to September and central and gulf coast Queensland look to be welcoming a few people once the water has settled into its streams. With all the rain and water about the CQ Gemfields will be full of people making a bit of money along the way. Grey nomads and the previously mention clothing optional beaches go hand in hand. They might be white Victorian bums at the beginning of May but they aren't by the end of May. I wonder if there is data on the propensity to get your gear off by state. Especially away from home territory.

Quick Sydney trip midweek. I was kind of hoping to extend it to the weekend and get down to Melbourne, although Swans up in Sydney for a game might just be the ticket to go looking for at present. I have to say, I am liking all the changes in AFL. Spectators game again for sure.

Let's see if there is announcement on a Kiwi travel bubble this morning. NSW is the sticking point with them, but they are ok with the other states.
 
Great thread misswannie, the WA government needs real life people like you in it!
You need to get nominated for next election, or maybe move here to Tassie and get us back to real 🤗

Gbert
 
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Tassie could use a bit of a jumpstart. It takes money to create more money and economy. If we were like the US and state taxes then it could be the new Delaware or Nevada, no corporate state taxes, easy overheads. Actually the equivalent on that is payroll tax elimination so that it is not just corporate registration but actually bums on the ground. Tassie had a good run with stamp duty on house purchase with the Airbnb boom, but that's a once off and increased rental costs just means less money flowing in the goods and services economy. The key indicator is how many times an injected dollar turns over in the community. It used to be thought that 3-4 hands was a good sense of movement, more if it is small stores and suppliers. Current stimulus injections are in the low 1's so no circulation and not a huge effect for the spend. At the end of the day, unless there is a direct tax on tourism or agriculture, the only measures of success in state governments getting enough money in the coffered to do projects to make more money are mining royalties, toll roads, gambling taxes, and property stamp duty and turnover. At the very least, I can recommend some good clothing optional beach strategies for Govt! I wonder if the winter solstice nude swim is on this year in Hobart?
Politicians overall are being shown up for not having the skills to manage or create. This is not surprising given the backgrounds and the structures of the organisations they belong to. Preselection and policy creation is not in the hands of the voting public. By the time it has come to seeing the candidates for an election the behind the scenes wrangling of the local branches of the political parties and their handful of members have done their work. The West is having its issues with the invasion at party level of the evangelical right. Got right through to nut cases getting preselected and then the media and public torching them on the day. A few other areas playing with those seemingly easy votes and funds. You get strange power plays then that get people like Amanda Stoker firstly elected (on a senate ticket, well disguised of course. Handmaiden) then given a powerful position that her background is not conducive to. People are allowed to have opinions, controversial ones at that. The issue is always allowing opinions to become institution by awarding them power. I hope Grace Tame keeps shooting the arrows into that one.
As for nominating for election, powerbroking or policy creation is more fun. Mind you, if the Libs do go through with a quota system to balance genders there could be some blokes pushed out of seats to hand them over. You always run the risk of people constantly wondering whether you are there on merit or there to make up numbers. Upper House in WA voting rules will most certainly change before the next election. Preference swapping allowed a couple of Daylight Savings Party people to get in with less than 80 primary votes, a couple of Legalise Cannabis Party people in with less than 20 votes. One of the blokes in the DSP is a software engineer that lives in the US and hasn't been resident here for decades. If he is not able to take up his seat, on preferences again the next candidate would be a Cannabis Party lady who didn't poll even a single primary vote (you have to question someone who didn't even vote for themselves to give one vote...) You definitely want to reform the system before the next one, in which case it might be fun to take on the Faceless Men.
Might have to run as the Naked Candidate to counter the argument that my precluvities to not wearing clothes is a debatable item.
 
Morning all,

Well another eventful week for me. Started off doing the last external painting task for the other property, then organizing the next round of repair and reno tasks. Have to find one other tradie so an added task. Then the week ended with my PC dying. So now have a new PC only issue it that the new PC's don't have things like CD drives or card readers so spent nearly $200 getting these additional things plus the antivirus didn't work as it saw my old PC as still a valid device. So was easier just to buy a new antivirus. If you want a tower system these days, they are hard to find as laptops are now the main PC's which is such a rort in that they don't last long so you have to buy a new PC more frequently. If you are paying over $800 for a laptop you are nuts. Of course unless you are claiming it as a work expense, but a lot of people can't do that. Never seen dudes digging up a road, getting on their laptops. So basically the whole computer market is aimed to ensure consumers keep buying new computers every 3-4 yrs. Had my last PC for 10 yrs and it was a high end machine so it coped with all the respective software and hardware changes over the years. In the future will investigate going to a customized computer company. Also will look into building my own PC.

The new PC is quick although has taken a couple of days to get used the dual HD's. Realized that the smaller one is for only for programs and the larger one is for personal files. Only issue as usual is getting back old emails. They are hard to get back and even on doing a restore. Just one of those things you have to get used to. Main thing is that I have access to my email accounts again.

So Prince Phillip has passed away and we are getting a different story about him compared to the focus on some of his past comments. He did have a long life so his family can be thankful for that. Anyone living into their 90's has had a good run at life and seen a lot of changes in society and could find themselves not recognizing the current society. We like to think as time goes by society gets more enlightened, but just because things change doesn't mean things get better. Progress is very much subjective based on who it impacts.

Happy to take a break from having to travel across the city every week. Given all the roadworks going on in the city at the moment it just makes the journey a pain and tests your patients with other drivers who couldn't find their arse with both hands. Frankly don't how some of them got their license. Still see lots of people on their mobile phones, most evident at traffic lights. They are totally oblivious to changes to traffic signals then get honked at, at which point they then speed away. At those moments you never see a cop. Cops are good at handing out fines to honest people, but as usual they are never around when it counts.

More evident of the change of seasons not only with less daylight, which is more evident in the south here in Melbourne, but also with the trees losing their leaves. Winter is on it's way. Getting a brief taste of cooler temps here in Melbourne this weekend. Rain was predicted but not seen much of that yet. Seen lots of it to the west so I know it's coming.

Hope your weekend is good for you. I intend to do fuck all apart from do some more work on the new PC.
 
Two days of being at Scomo events. Not up in the mining areas with them tomorrow but they will be at the football tomorrow evening. Not a huge Eagles fan, but anyone but Collingwood so its Eagles for the win.
At least the man has had the sense to realise that the commonwealth doesn't have a health department, its best left with the states and mass-vaccination programs will have to go forward.
If you can't fight McGowan then it is better to start aligning with him. Scomo cleared the air and finally came forward with it was in Australia's best interests for WA to have sealed its borders and kept the mining industry pumping in the exports and tax dollars. They haven't forgotten that he sided with Clive Palmer's High Court challenge to try and force the borders open, which killed the Liberal party here, but at least he is putting the ledger straight.
Apparently it is the states fault for not creating new quarantine facilities to allow greater number of people in. By greater numbers, he qualified that as Pacific farm workers. Said facilities would not be for Australians or visitors. The media reported it as being him flagging non-hotel quarantine for business and family emergency visits overseas upon return if vaccinated. Not quite how he flagged it in person. The actual statement was that once all people were vaccinated, any increase in travelling numbers would likely be met with approx 1000 covid cases in the community per week and would the population be able to adapt to that reality and the various measures and closures through 2024. A bit of a shot into the dark to gauge reactions. Of course those that refuse to get vaccinated will get decimated but will we say thats their bad luck or will them clogging the hospitals, morgues and crematoriums cause a public backlash after relatively few or no community transmission cases. It is an interesting argument. The average Australian would say you are on your own if you refuse to get with it, but would they really sustain that viewpoint with the projected carnage? Clearly he doesn't know which way the opinion polls will flow (probably should book a call with Hillsong and take directions from the top) so he is not going to make a call on it yet.

Past that, the cyclone ripped up the midwest of the state on Sunday. With the labour shortage caused by all of the incentive schemes to get people to build new homes and get the building industry moving, the people who have lost their homes are looking at 2 years to get a building start. Could be tents and dongas for 2 years for them. Commonwealth emergency funds have been released which is good, but apparently it is shire and postcode based, so there is a whole section of people who's houses have no roofs but are a mile into a postcode that is not on the list. Computer says nah. Not that the computers or ATMs or eftpos machines are doing anything yet as power in the towns will not be restored until friday and to some sections it might be another two weeks. To one of Scomos little aids who quipped at least it is not summer so they won't miss their airconditioning, yeah the sky and stars overhead from the missing roof probably nullifies that.

Apparently the salute at the SAS barracks this morning was a bit slow in coming. They still have not forgiven him. All off doing 20km beach runs this afternoon in punishment by all measures. Probably should have laid on some skimpies and twerky dancers earlier to lighten the mood.

In better news, it is heating up again from tomorrow. Not spectacular temps but late twenties none the less so a bit of salt and sun shall be on the cards.
 
Morning all,

Another early rise. These early nights are making me feel like an old person. Problem then is I'm up very early. Not getting any more sleep. 6hrs does me, always has.

Had to dash off across the city yesterday and ran into very heavy traffic on both sides of the city and thru it. Seems they can't get their coordination right with all these road works. They have closed off Albert Park till the end of May. It has been closed since late Feb which continues to create a traffic jam down the main feeder road to the West Gate. The West Gate was built to ease the traffic going thru the city centre. Well that doesn't work if you then close of the major streets thru the city.

Dealing with an old school tradie who doesn't do credit card or technology. It's cash only. Had the total opposite with a young tradie who only dealt with technology and the receipt was sent to my mobile, which is ok but to claim expenses it has to be on paper. A few more tradies to deal with with the other property. Still trying to get time to do stuff at my place and I'm running out of good weather.

Had an annoying issue with Office on my new PC suddenly deciding to hijack all my documents. Office came with the PC but I never turned it on so was surprised to suddenly find it became the default software for all my docs and also defaulted all my document shortcuts to Office software. Only way to stop that was to uninstall it. It's expensive software that you don't need for home use. Plenty of free software that does the same job.

So Smoko saying that we could get to 1000 virus infections a week when we open up and somehow control those numbers at that level. Well that's not how this virus works. 1 person infects 3 other people so it's multiples of 3 at a minimum. So to say we can get a weekly amount of infections is just total BS. 1000 infections will lead to 3000 the next week then 9000 the following week, etc. If politicians reckon they can control the virus they are totally bullshitting the public. Once it's in the community you can't control it without lock downs and reducing the movement of people. The acceptable level of virus in the community is zero since we are not all vaccinated. As for home quarantine well that is also a bunch of BS. We have seen people can't be trusted to stay home. The latest outbreak in Qld was due to one person not isolating after they got a test, so imagine what would happen if we allow returning travelers to go home with no controls. It would be numpty time. We would be locking down entire cities again. These dumb ideas are all about the govt allowing businesses to feely open up with no rules which means the govt don't to support people. The LNP don't believe in things like Super, or welfare or having to support people. "If you can't get a job you're just not trying hard enough", which is their mantra. Fuckwits.

As for the Olypmics well they should just cancel them. Most people in Japan don't want it because of the continuing high numbers of community transmission. There are now talks about a 4th wave in Japan. They don't want an influx of OS visitors which could make the situation worse, plus there is no guarantee that athletes will not take the virus back to their respective countries. The only reason for the Olympics to go ahead is money. As for athletes being given the vaccine, well no, and certainly not at the expense of the vulnerable missing out. There are still old aged homes who haven't received their doses of the vaccine. So choosing between someone's Nanna not getting the vaccine to give to a fit elite athlete, well that's a money decision not a practical medical decision. It's like the comments that some economists made at the height of the pandemic who said we shouldn't do lock downs because the virus mainly impacts old people and them dying is ok and an acceptable risk in business terms. Totally heartless comments made by people who worship money above all else and who only care about themselves. If we were to allow economists to run the military, we would all be speaking a different language, lose our freedom and own fuck all. Essentially we would be Hong Kong, but the economists would get their fee which is all they care about. They are never impacted by their own decisions. They are akin to mercenaries. Like financial advisors who get paid even if they give you bad advise and you lose the lot. The biggest failing we have made in this country is to allow accountants to run companies which is why we can't make anything anymore and have become a service economy and we have seen during the pandemic how vulnerable that has made us. If you can't generate wealth thru a strong industrial sector you're totally at the mercy of others. China is only a global power because they make things for other countries. Take that away, their economy falls. We don't even sell our own oysters in our supermarkets. Why are we importing oysters from China when we have the best seafood at our doorstep? It doesn't make sense.

As for the vaccine rollout well the Eagle has turned into a Turkey and now Scomo has eliminated any targets which shows how bad things really are. He doesn't like criticism but was all bravado about saying we were leading the world. Not sure how you lead from the back of the queue. There are less affluent countries who are doing a better job of vaccine rollout. There isn't any coordination between the Feds and the state govt's who actually do medical care. The flu jab is done by states and territories not the Feds so why the Feds are controlling this is nuts as they don't have the expertise. They should just get the fuck out the way and let the local govts get on with it.

Another cool day here in Melbourne. Not as cold as yesterday. We struggled to get to even 16C. A couple of degrees warmer today but still overcast. Will be watching the AFLW Grand Final this afternoon. Funny how they don't get the same hipe as the men's AFL Grand Final. That should change. Hope the weekend is good for you.
 
Morning all,

Another cold morning start here in Melbourne. Seems we are coming close to those days where temps in the mid teens are normal. Nothing above 18C for the next 7 day forecast. Was only 15C in Melbourne yesterday but was kinda warm in the sun, so not a chilly day. Had to drive across the city yesterday and the traffic was ok. At least it flowed unlike my last trip across the city on Friday last week. With the long weekend coming up will see if I can do a small painting task. Normally wouldn't because of the colder weather. Have put away the fans and the portable cooler. Using the heater again at night.

I see that the cycling races are becoming more frequent so it's nearly time for cheese and wine nights. Will see how much of Le Tour I get to see since I'll still be busy doing work on the other property.

Put the car in for a service on Monday at a new place. Walked home then back to pick up the car. Walked thru the new park area, which I almost never do. Saw that the council has turned it into an off leash dog park. Previously it was just a footy field. Also saw the new sporting complex. All looks rather smart and at least now that space is being better used.

Has been a very expensive couple of weeks. New PC then paying for a reno and also new tyres on the car. It's good to have money, but very easy to spend lots of it quickly.

So the vaccine rollout continues to be a clusterfuck. Now the govt wants to rollout the next phase without finishing the first phase. There are still lots of people in phase 1 who haven't even received their first jab. The VIC govt has forced the Feds to act in pushing for mass vaccination centres. The GP network is a slow way to rollout the vaccine and GP's will only take people already on their books. So young people and men who don't go to doctors are not part of that cohort. Jeff's shed here in Melbourne is one of those mass vaccination centres but yet another screw up in that security was turning away people who didn't have an appointment, even though you don't need one to go to one of these centres. That was quickly corrected. It seems crazy that whilst people in aged care facilities are part of the rollout, the staff of these facilities are not part of that rollout. Thought they were part of the frontline workers, if not then why not?

So in NSW now they want cops to be policing primary schools. WTF! Yep traumatize primary school kids, that's the way to get kids to trust cops. What's next? Are they going to arrest toddlers for taking another toddler's toys or lollies. These idiots do realize that what happens to you as a kid you remember for the rest of your life. The culture in the police force continues to be about only enforcing laws and if you're not a cop well then you are a potential criminal. That seems to be the mind set. Fuck all about engaging with society and certainly not interested in preventing crime even if it's brought to their attention. This culture comes from the top. So to change the culture, need to get rid of top management and put in their place people who don't see citizens as the enemy. At times the cops think they are the military, that is a dangerous mindset. Also dangerous when we have seen the level of corruption in the police force over decades.

Not sure what ANZAC Day will look like this year. Lots of talk about who will march, who is allowed to march, what types of crowds are allowed. Just seems very confused.

Hope the rest of the week is good for you.
 
On the road. Heading out from Kununurra shortly for a few visits here and there then will head back down towards Broome then along the coast all the way back. I started off in Sydney last week, then caught the (re)newed Sydney to Broome direct flight and drove up from there. This is always a great end of the world.

Anzac day services seem to be a bit of a debacle around the place, notwithstanding here in WA. Some are restricted in number, some have been cancelled, some are going ahead without any problems. Lots of politicians (the PM while he was over here) and the Murdoch opinion writers trying to make hay on it and why football matches could have 50000. The head of RSL WA was on the radio and set the whole thing straight. Over here anyway, the planning for Anzac marches and ceremonies took place between RSL, police and government departments at the beginning of february with the restrictions in place at the time the basis for planning. Like the football, it has to be ticketed and allocated seats to go above certain numbers. Zones have to be established, and you check into the event, and then into your zone for any contact tracing that might be needed if things went wrong. Some RSL and councils decided that was too hard and cancelled, others got to it and put the measures in place, just like every other event. Since that time, allowable numbers have increased. RSL WA in view of the delayed vaccine rollout, age of participants, and voluntary staff not capable of quickly amending plans and booking personnel for requirements, decided to leave the dawn service number capped at 10000 ticketed. They clarified that they could have increased it with planning, but decided it was not in their organisation's capability to do it. Notably, other councils have lent personnel to their local RSL branches and have successfully increased the registered attendance numbers over and above the unregistered limits. Nothing like tying up talkback radio and getting the narrative off other issues.

The great debate in the Kimberleys are the Broome beach nudies again. Outside of the immediate town beach, you can do whatever you want there. With the increased number of people 4wd down the beach to find spots they have to go through areas where everyone is naked, which seems to inflame sensibilities of some newer visitors. Council says quite rightly they don't care, the town beach limits have been there since the 30's, everyone can do their thing. It's not that Cable beach and 80 Mile beach are short, some people just don't like driving on the sand to find their spot.

Mid 30's up here, Perth is going to be 30 over the weekend, hopefully another month of good beach going weather to keep everyone happy.
 
Afternoon all,

Had a mixed bag of weather here over the last few days. Didn't hear it, but we had some rain and cloudy weather, then some sun, now it's back to cloudy again. Managed to do one small painting task even though the mornings have been chilly. No different today. Don't have central heating so was at the mercy of the cooler air temp to dry the paint which took longer. Was actually colder outside than inside so opening the doors to speed up the drying wasn't an option. Since we are getting warmer temps towards the end of the week, decided to do another painting task, a little larger one this time. Normally would of packed up the paints by now but I've spent most of the good weather doing painting on the property on the other side of the city. Seems ironic that I've put away the fans only to find out we are expecting temps in the mid 20's by the weekend. Gotta laugh. Well at least I guess I can finish the beers in the fridge.

So Tassie is off to the voting on the weekend. Yet another test of the COVID processes for conducting such events. The wise would of already voted. Will be interesting to see if people stick with what they know or go for something new. All the other states that have voted during these COVID times have returned the incumbents. So will Tassie break that trend?

Well the hotel quarantine is just becoming a bigger shit fight between the Feds and local govts. Lots more voices are agreeing that hotel quarantine is not failsafe and the virus will leak out into the community whilst we continue to use hotels which were never designed to manage any type of pandemic. The true cost of redesigning these facilities will come out later which will just add to the debt of each local govt. Don't expect the Feds to pick up that tab since they have washed their hands of any responsibility for quarantine. The mismanagement of the vaccine rollout to the disabled facilities is just another case of a clusterfuck from the Feds. It seems ridiculous that pollies can get the vaccine but disabled people can't.

The COVID situation in India is tragic but is yet another case of the govt of a country worrying more about votes than people's lives. Same thing is happening in Brazil. These govt's can't expect other countries to make up for their shortcomings. Mass gatherings are just a dumb and very stupid policy. The bigger issue for India is that there isn't much by way of social welfare, so locking down large areas means people don't eat. The govt doesn't have the capacity to put any form of financial assistance in place for people. It's a place where if you don't work to don't eat and you don't get a pension unless you have a govt job. So you can't equate what we went thru to what is happening over there. As for the restriction of people coming back to Australia, well the WA Premier has a point. Why are we allowing people to go OS for social reasons at this point in time? Most of the world is not COVID safe and the chance of bringing back the virus or a new strain of it is still rather high. But even if you manage to avoid all that, you can catch the virus in our hotel quarantine system, which is just nuts. We have the areas to make this safe, just needs the will from the Feds to make this happen. I mentioned before there is Fed govt land that can be used for this, but the Feds don't want to be responsible if things go wrong. They continue to be happy to blame the local govt's for the issues with quarantine. Once again it's all about votes, not people. So we will continue to have lock downs in our capital cities till this issue is resolved and local small businesses will continue to lose money.

ANZAC Day was interesting. A much more subdued ceremony this year and you had to check-in which meant some people were turned away. But at least they were able to hold a ceremony. Given the ages of some of the veterans, that was probably their last one, so not marching was not an option.

Saw some of the Oscars. Was on earlier than normal and people in LA discovered that LA used to have a train system which would of come as a shock to the younger ones. The PT in LA sucks. But you can blame that on the oil companies who purchased the train network then shut it down to force people to drive cars. Good old private industry, there for the people...who make money from others loss. The Oscars this year shows you can do the same thing will less excess and yes there was less atmosphere but it was more intimate.

Just did the eligibility checker for the vaccine in my age group and it seems I'm eligible as of next week but will have to go to one of those mass vaccination centres in the city. Just rang up my GP and the standard message is..."don't panic, we don't have enough vaccine and will only get small quantities...". They are only vaccinating people in phase 1a. Gives you lots of confidence...not! No way will Smoko call an election this year. Prior to all this COVID stuff I had thoughts of going OS once I sold my place before I got too old to travel. But now it seems going OS in the next few years is a no go. Never been to the Antartic. Seems the only safe place. Only have to worry about freezing to death and the possible odd angry penguin.

Hope the rest of the week is good for you.
 
Finally back home after a bit of crisis crossing the country. I don't mind being on the road but there is a great joy in getting into your own bed and your dog leaning on you like a permanent attachment. Face masks for a few more days here. Face masks are actually welcome at the moment. Prescribed and private burns have blanketed the city in smoke, with visibility 100m and some aircraft grounded. 30C so went to the beach in the afternoon to get out of it. All barring 2 middle aged blokes were correctly wearing face masks. Quite a laugh when you think there is more material on the face than the rest of the body...

Booked in to the mass vaccination centre next week for the first jab. With 12 weeks in between, that's an August final shot. Poor sods in India are doing it tough but their travelers are bringing it in and around. Sensible that we have banned inbound travel from affected regions for a month at least. Something dodgy on the outbound process with certificates of covid testing showing negative and then airport testing in arrival showing positive less than 24 hours later. On the subject of testing I had to do a test when we came back into Perth after a contact of a contact was supposedly in the same restaurant two days ago. 11am up the nose and throat, 2pm sms message saying all clear. Barely enough time to get home, throw the washing on, have lunch and that was the end of self quarantine.

It's a fair debate going on at the moment on what are allowable reasons to leave the country. The restrictions are not on the going overseas but the expected return. Effectively, we have gone against the principle that citizens can return anytime they want already, so it's not too bad to go the next step. The argument to leave is valid, and should be allowable, but effectively that dismisses the queue of people wanting to return. Now, I have people that I know that have been out and in twice in the past 12 months. Some use the plus 3 months rule, others are prepared to buy the highest business class fare for the return leg and bump economy passengers bookings. I don't think it is unfair to open up the commonwealth immigration detention centers at Curtin, Yongah, and Christmas Island. Basic and austere says Dutton, yes, but horses for courses. You want that at the given time frame of 5000 arrivals per 14 days, then $x fees, if you want hotel rooms then a different schedule and $y fees, no complaints. All red zone country processing through those centers as a matter of course, and then let the other cities handle the lesser threat countries through the hotel quarantine system.

Could Melbourne handle two F1 races in a year for the next seasons? The offer is to Australia but realistically you are not going to invest in the infrastructure elsewhere for only a few seasons, so effectively Melbourne traffic disruptions twice a year? Singapore has its hand up for two as well.

AFL had to do an empty stadium in Perth last week, but am hoping there will be a percentage of fans for the local derby this weekend. So far it is on track for lifting of restrictions on Saturday. I would like to go to the match but the membership levels are so high that only a full stadium allows for any casual tickets for this one, and no generous soul has invited me to their corporate box as of yet. Overall, I am not displeased with how the season is going so far. Some fast and high scoring matches so the rule changes have not been in vain.

Southern Hemisphere El Niño effect is back at neutral now and foreseeable through to September. Indian Ocean Dipolar is neutral. This apparently means a bog standard winter here, in an era when most of us will be scratching our heads to remember which year in the last 20 was standard conditions. The farmers are all seeding and going into the breech hoping that means rain. Some have gone the other way and said grain exports to China are too risky a prospect at present, but they will run sheep instead and take advantage of the animal protein high prices.

Hopefully the weather holds out warm through May for some decent beach going, but might schedule in a couple of week long trips up the coast to Exmouth or Broome for the winter months. I really am solar powered and feel the happiest with sun and salt, so am going to run with that when I can.
 
Afternoon all,

Well another chilly start to the day here in Melbourne town. Hasn't helped with the next painting task so had to wait much longer for things to dry and cure. Just waiting for paint to dry, so hopefully with the warmer weather from tomorrow, I can get the job done by the end of tomorrow, if not well will have to wait till Sunday. Will be the last painting task at my place. This burst of warmer weather forecast for Melbourne in the next few days will probably be the last. The mornings now are consistently in single figures.

Managed to get a tradie to come by on Saturday to look at the next task at the other property, so will be off across the city on the weekend. Since it will be a fine day will be hacking a few trees at that property. The weather for the front end of next week is looking like crap.

The road closures in the city are still in place. The road resurfacing on the F1 track continues, all in preparation for the rescheduled F1 later in the year. Question is how much of the population will be vaccinated by then and will there be a limited amount of OS visitors? May be only Kiwis. One thing is for sure, if it's not safe for large crowds to gather then Danny Boy will kill off any large gatherings. So if the Feds want people to attending mass sporting events with free movement well then they better get their shit together and get people vaccinated. People won't blame the local govt, they will blame the Fed govt.

Most of the Indian community seems to be taking the closure of flights to India well. Then again if Aussies were brought back last year like Smoko promised, we wouldn't have people trapped OS. The only people who have travelled are those who can afford the excessive cost. As to why we have allowed people to travel for reasons other than compassionate grounds, seems to be only now coming to light. The criteria seems at odds with what is going on OS. Why for instance did we allow cricketers to play in the IPL? It benefits only them with those large sums of money. Had nothing to do with anything else. Now their greed has put them in a dangerous situation. Can't feel sorry for them. Attending weddings OS is not a reason for travel, they can zoom or skype the wedding. Attending funerals is a different case. At the height of the outbreak here in Melbourne, most family members were not allowed to attend funerals. The limit was only 10. A number of funeral directors were offering funeral services to be viewed on the internet for those family who couldn't attend. They weren't charging for that service. So just because these events happen OS, the rules are different. Why? The virus hasn't suddenly gone away, if anything it has become even more infectious.

The day has turned chilly again. More coffee needed. Has been sunny, but out of the sun their isn't any warmth. Hope the weekend is good for you.
 
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