ANDREWS AND THE STOCKHOLM SYNDROME

It’s amazing how public opinion can be swayed by firstly inherent unshakable beliefs and secondly by continual spin through words and actions.

It doesn’t seem to matter what travesties have occurred because all is forgiven as a matter of course.  The infamous ‘Stockholm’ syndrome is alive and well even on a grand scale.  The perpetrators or captors do horrible things then convince their victims that they are in fact good people and to be admired through spin and their dedication to cause.

I refer to Andrews and his mis-management of Victoria.  As a politician he seems to conform to the definition – a person who acts in a manipulative and devious way, typically to gain advancement within an organization.

This is not a political comment but a management issue.

Victoria is now trillions of dollars behind in direct costs plus eye watering losses of productivity and has seen some 800 people die as a result of Andrews mal administration of the so called Covid 19 second wave.   This is not subject to discussion as it is proven beyond any doubt.  A government with collective amnesia about who spent some $30 million to use private security in hotel quarantine instead of free ADF, refused the best contact tracing system, refused to replicate what other states and territories achieved and how they did it and watched as infection rates soared and ruined people’s lives does not deserve to manage anything.

Constant vacillation over imposed restrictions and mixed messages all demonstrate a government out of control.  And, as we had precedents from all over the world and within Australia there was and is no excuse.

You can tell when a manager is out of his depth by the guilt trip of working 80+ hours a week in an effort to redress his own inabilities and dysfunctions and to be seen as ‘working hard’ so that people will see him getting more and more exhausted and feel for his dedication when in good management, interactions are controlled and delegated – not micro managed.

Mr Genuine then imposes more and more ‘restrictions’ in an effort to fix the issues he created.  Restrictions which have been proven as useless.  Still our ‘captor’ is seen as in control, dedicated, working hard and focused on his agenda of saving us.  The spin is fear  of death as well as ‘sympathy for his dedicated plight’ saving us and some 60% of people actually believe him.  The Stockholm syndrome on a large scale is alive and well.

Andrews behaviour is foolish and dangerous as has been clearly demonstrated.

Good management is around 40% dedicated and focused work and 40% strategic planning with the remaining 20% being interactions with professionals who actually know what they are talking about.  All of this accounts for perhaps 7 hours a day with the rest taken up with life, kids, golf, future.   Not hard! 

Out of control people work long hours with exponentially diminishing returns to try and do the job they are incapable of doing.  For example, an expert ‘numbers’ person adds up a series of numbers in say 2 minutes whereas a person who does not see numbers as friends takes 4 minutes and has to work ‘really hard’ to get a result.  Apart from the stress and anxiety of being out of their intellect zone it’s taken twice as long and cost twice as much.  WIth Andrews he has proven to be well out of his capability zone having to work really hard to ‘catch up’ and what happens? - blunders, bungled processes, bad decisions and lost time.  But, in this case, also 800+ lives.

One cannot just ignore what’s happened as that would disrespect those who had unnecessarily lost their lives, those who have suffered mental health issues as a result of the mal-administration and those who have lost their business, savings and financial security.

Remember, this terrible second wave need not have happened if Andrews had replaced ‘working hard’ real with cognitive thought with a team of experts  leading to good management.  All he needed to do was watch what our federal government and state and territory governments were doing and replicate same.  Not unprecedented and not out of the ordinary unless you are a narcissist depending on and fixated by the need to be seen as one in absolute control.

The cost to Victoria is immense in terms of reputation, human suffering and financial loss.  Worse, Victoria has negatively affected Australia’s reputation and caused massive financial loss.  All this borrowed money will have to be paid back with interest for negative benefit – just catch up.  Remember it was Andrews who spent $1.2b to NOT build a road.  Financial insanity!  How about selling out infrastructure Victoria to a foreign power with a secret MOU which caused such alarm bells as to force the Federal Government to enact legislation to be able to override rogue states making questionable decisions.  How about Andrews and his management team suffering collective amnesia over spending $30m on private security for the botched hotel quarantine when professional support was offered for nothing.

It goes on and on and on.

What now?

We can’t change a government out of term unless supply is threatened and the body politic turn on the elected representatives through a motion of no confidence and this won’t happen unless people cross the floor and vote against their own inabilities.  Not likely.

But, public pressure can mitigate change.  Change in management.  Let the politicians play at politicking and set in place a professional management team to transparently rescue Victoria and reset the bar.  Disaster management, yes, but far more.  For example how can we aspire to be anything unless we have a clear communicated vision leading to strategic directions leading to strategic plans leading to action plans leading to focused action.  Yes, this is textbook business 101, is not new but is proven.  Don’t ignore the millions of words written and acted on by companies and organisations worldwide for decades and decades.

I suggest Victorians demand the introduction of a highly qualified professional bi-partisan management team to rebuild Victoria from the top down starting with a vision we can all rally behind.  This is not working hard but working smart. Treat Victoria as the failing organization it is and deal with required interventions instead of replacing focus with shouty rhetoric and having to be seen to be working hard to mitigate inability.

Imagine what we can achieve given focus, strength of purpose and an innate desire to act!  All we need is a new professional, proven, high powered, respected and focused management team capable of leading that charge. The ‘jigsaw’ people capable of building a coherent picture from seemingly disparate pieces then handing the ‘plan’ to the ‘block’ people to action within explicit guidelines. [Reference jigsaw/block people to descriptions I coined some 30 years ago to describe the two critical areas of business needed for success.   Simple, intuitive and true.]

The first and hardest stage in this process is an acceptance by all that this is indeed necessary.  In this case not too hard given the obvious dysfunctions of this government.  It takes a good manager to recognise personal shortcomings and deal with them by seeking professional advice.  It takes an idiot to waddle through dysfunction with horrendous outcomes.  If Victoria was a company, Andrews and his senior team would possibly be in goal from breaching his own legislation on corporate culpability leading to death.

But, politicians seem immune from actual responsibility continually wafting around with shouty seemingly sincere voices working hard  to fix disaster whilst sinking further and further behind.  These people are NOT our Stockholm heroes but merely elected ‘block people’ attempting to do a ‘jigsaw’ persons job.  The second lurches from disaster to disaster whilst the first strategises, plans and sets in train specific objectives to achieve desired results.

This thinking is not hard and has been around for decades and decades.

In an ideal world Andrews would announce the formation of an arms length transparent advisory powerhouse professional management team ‘with teeth’ to set in train a program to reset Victoria away from the pariah mendicant state we have become.  This ‘powerhouse’ to be seen as the independent team advising the government on what to do before the government applies themselves to focused action.  Not behind closed doors but out there working with Victorians.  A definite separation of responsibility.  The bi-partisan powerhouse defines what needs to happen, why it needs to happen and when Vs the government’s responsibility to make it happen within commercial time frames. 

There are many issues requiring this powerhouse including bush fire plans, covid19 plans, strategic vision development, infrastructure planning, homelessness plans, image creation, et alia.  Quite a long list!  Imagine how the world could see Victoria as the state embracing the future through powerhouse professional management away from shouty ‘look at me’ inappropriate rhetoric.  Wow!

Politicking and narcissism need to be removed whilst the adults take over.   Indeed, Andrews could be seen as a professional manager instead of the politician who killed Victoria.

Belt & Road Dan strikes out!

Rowan Dean [AFR] wrote of Premier Andrews - “.. a cesspit of self indulgent cosmopolitan culture and disastrous financial management.. ” and “… secret deals signed with Beijing overlords …” and “… his bungling treasurer …” .  His opinion of his Federal counterpart was not much better.  “… the scheming eunuch Al-Bo and his insane proclamations which would send Australia into a death spiral [paraphrased but not much] …”.

Victoria, from a debt free prosperous and viable state to one of eye watering debt owed to ‘someone’ who will expect interest and security.  That someone will own some $50 billion’s worth of Victoria.

Apart from secret deals with a regime which has, does and is proving on a daily basis to ignore the world in which it sits [HK, Taiwan, S^th China Sea, global trade rules, Australia, USA, et alia] possibly putting our sovereignty at risk and, spending billions of our money on a power trip whilst ignoring funding from the Federal government on independently identified essential infrastructure [East West link] and funding the destruction of heritage properties [Sandringham golf course] and proving a lack of rational thought by banning activities during our exposure to the global pandemic such as fishing, golf and archery which are all, by their very nature, social distanced.  All as a “look at me I’m doing something to stop this pandemic all by myself”.  

A laughing stock from Canberra and even from the other states who have not followed his bizarre behaviour.   He is on his own in the real world and out of control but out of control threatening our sovereignty, our financial security and our future.  He even claims to have closed the borders despite the Prime Minister doing just that.  Perhaps it didn’t occur to him that he CAN’T close ‘national’  borders or claim credit.

We need a return to slightly right centrist and intelligent government.  A government which supports labour initiatives albeit with a dose of reality and professional management. 

Where is the liberal party currently?  Where are the voices of dissent?  I can’t remember anyone with enough presence and basic gumption since Kennett.  Stop this Premier before he destroys Victoria. 

Last thought, how about spending say a billion on solving Victoria’s homeless ‘crisis’ instead of funding level crossing ‘maintenance’ projects.  Priorities are wrong.

FINANCIAL ASSESSMENT BY BANKS

The dysfunction surrounding financial assessment of a proposed borrower is currently NOT about the borrower per say but about ‘productivity system intervention’ of the process designed to reduce staff costs for the FSP.  Indeed, to achieve ‘productivity’ targets everyone is lumped into categories and ‘assessed’ by software with little ability by people to press anything other than button a or b.  Quick?  Yes  / Simple? Yes / Accurate?  No.

As a matter of fact, it’s rubbish.

For example, I had occasion to shop around for a new home loan with a major bank and was unfortunately transferred to an idiot with no capacity for rational thought [indeed 3 times with 3 banks].  The monthly expenses that they insisted we incurred were a bank construct by a team of further idiots divested from reality [See AFR Sat 17/8/2019 report damning banks incompetence].  He / they just couldn’t understand the fact that we run a company with tax implications affecting our expenses.  He did not want to understand pre and post tax expenses.  A simple concept for anyone with half a brain but not for this bank employee making decisions between A and B. 

Dysfunctional for both the bank and the client!

To further this dysfunction it has been adjudged [same case – see comment on Caviar] that a client can actually self assess their expenses with some degree of alacrity.  ASIC lost the case to Westpac because the judge said that a prospective purchaser could adjust their spending habits to suit their commitments quite easily.  He virtually threw out the banks system of personal assessment.  Drive a Porsche before the house purchase but drive a VW after because there is only so much money. 

Simple.

There is no such thing as one size fits all and no such thing as a low level bank loans assessor with enough knowledge to make informed decisions.  Pushing button A or B doesn’t cut it.

They deal with a financial process over common sense.   So called productivity gone rampant.

The fix?  Training, training, training.  Front line bank staff need to understand finance.  Not just how to press button A or B. 

Assessment is all about risk factors.  Risks for the bank albeit now the impetus is shifting where bad advice and or bad process negatively affecting a client is also seen as a breach of fiduciary duty by the loan assessor / bank with responsibility subsumed by the bank and the application of pecuniary penalties. 

However, in effect, the banks risks are low because they have assurity through say a mortgage guarantee.  The problem for the banks is when the value of that guarantee slips below the outstanding loan as they would then be trading insolvent.

All the risk is on the client being able to make payments.  In the beginning by good financial analysis [not the aforementioned idiot] but no one can predict future events.  We all hope life is tickety boo and that we remain the person our dog thinks we are and we remain financially fluid.  This is where good planning comes in.  There must be a safeguard built in to protect people against short term issues.  A ‘nest egg’ by any other name.  The availability of money to pay loans in times of stress.

These are readily available with products such as offset accounts and interest only loans.  Both allow a financial hiatus in times of stress.  The trick for a lot of people is to keep the ‘de-stressing’ contingency balance without spending it. 

This is where the whole financial system needs to be adjusted and thought through.

We all want our own home and the Porsche returned but banks lending 95%+ disallows this life ambition as there is no risk contingency.  Really, only unemployment can cause headaches because without a contingency the Porsche is gone once again followed by the home.  Not good.

In an expanding market, the banks risks are low as is the overall financial position of the borrower because asset value increases will leave a balance to start again in the event of default.  Not good but not life threatening.  However unemployment in a contracting market will be devastating for the opposite reasons.

Therefore it is critical to factor in say a two year contingency balance to cover expenses in the case of unemployment et alia.  This is not available money to retrieve the Porsche but a controlled fund by the bank [not the idiot] to be made available with proven hardship.  A de-stressing fund.

Let’s assume the idiot gets retrained and becomes human and has to assess John & Mary's home loan application.  Financial alacrity is critical in understanding the expense patterns of the borrowers.  Understanding, not computer driven assumptive rubbish.

John sold the Porsche, structured his finances through a holding company and had the minimum deposit [the sacrificed Porsche].  The assessor analysed past credit card statements to ascertain willingness to repay debt, analysed EBIT to ascertain capacity to repay including pre and post tax expenses, and, sought a credit rating to ascertain past issues.  All keeping in mind that the client wants his house and will fight tooth and nail to make sure it’s kept in the family.  In the same way we drive a car just metres from death yet we have a self preservation instinct stopping us taking risks.

The big difference we need to initiate is the contingency balance concept where the borrower and the bank are assured of financial survival over say a two year default cycle through no fault of John or Betty.

It’s simple and it’s based on an assumption that values will always increase in the long term with short term fluctuations being irrelevant. 

The assessor has figured out that John & Mary pay their debts on time most of the time, have no ‘material’ credit defaults and have a steady income able to sustain a 95% mortgage with the Porsche sale as deposit.

The assessor has also calculated 2 years of expenses for John & Mary as a total figure which happens to come to 5% of the purchase price.

He then offers John & Mary a loan with an interest rate based on a REAL risk assessment [not by the idiot].  In this case they needed 90% leverage for which they received a nice lumpy cheque.  However, their debt was actually 95% with the 5% reinvested by the bank as an offset only to be accessed in a proven emergency such as unemployment.  All these 5% ‘s can reside in a special bank fund controlled by the bank with offsets automatically deducted for outstanding debt.  In this way the client is not tempted to spend it and they receive the benefit.

Simple.

Everyone wins!

This simple change almost eliminates risk for both the bank and the borrower as well as de-stressing everyone because everyone knows there is a ‘2 year nest egg’ of available money if …. !!

I urge the FSP’s to think this through by real breathing humans analysing risk, returns and the provision of a ‘forced’ safety buffer.  It’s a much a psychological comfort system as a financial safety net which would allow everyone to relax just a little bit more toward that tickety boo nirvana.

John & Mary have their house, a dog who believes they are close to God, two expensive kids and John has his Porsche back.  Life is good. 

Security through planning.

Andrews out of control

Our State Government is out of control - again.  Like 5 year olds having found the lolly jar and woofing without thought, the Premier has no fear about ruining Victoria’s heritage or spending what he doesn’t have plunging us once again into massive debt.

The iconic bathing boxes are but a further example of his lack of a history led vision. 

How about Andrews turning an internationally recognised St Kilda ‘go to’ icon into a tram stop.  Acland street has gone and so has the history because some idiot thought it appropriate to build a tram super stop  a hundred meters or so from the already existing super stop outside Luna Park.  This is lunacy and vandalism of our history. 

How about Andrews giving $10m to destroy the last inner Melbourne sand-belt ‘peoples’ golf course being Sandringham.  A public course for over 80 years and what should have been treated as a national icon and lauded as a traditional test of golf.  One of his excuses was that women couldn’t play golf on a normal course and needed a shorter course.  This in itself is sexist and demeaning.  The course should have been treated with respect and with professional grounds people creating excellence.  Not so.  Sandringham golf course is now bulldozed and another slice of our history gone with it. 

How about permits being issued from the State Government at odds with the local council to destroy 2 Victorian mansions at 23 Brighton Road St Kilda and replacing them with 17 by 2 story dog boxes thereby also creating access nightmares .  How about wasting $1.2b of our money by NOT building something being the East West link which will have to be built anyway.  This is lunacy!  And, where is the money coming from to fund all the spending?  This is a big question!!

History proved that Cain / Kirner sent us nearly broke and smashed our international credit rating  – “ Ms Kirner was, of course, a senior member of a deeply dysfunctional government [Cain] which presided over the Pyramid, Tricontinental, State Bank and Victorian Economic Development Corporation financial disasters which undermined the state’s economy and saddled the government with a significant debt burden.” [Australian] – The damage was massive and it seems nothing has changed.

The world wants to impeach Trump before he destroys it.  He is a laughing stock as is Andrews amongst anyone who actually thinks.  Neither are funny.  Perhaps we can impeach Andrews?

How about a proper parliamentary enquiry into ‘our’ finances? 

How about Heritage Victoria actually doing something to preserve our history and planning decisions being transparent before the event? 

How about so called ‘developers’ locked up for frenetic night time demolition of historic buildings? 

How about ‘real’ public debate on contentious issues not just so called consultation ‘after’ the event has been actioned?

Kennett had to rescue us the last time from an out of control government including their unions who were also at their dysfunctional worst.  Think how many tram strikes, power blackouts and sheer angst we had to put up with before Kennett.

Now, who is going to challenge Andrews?

I hope someone will step up.

Ms Leigh Sales 7:30 Report response to kitchen nightmares

Ms Leigh Sales

7:30 Report

Good morning,

When we arrived home last night we sought your program on i-view because it addresses what we do for a living and, there are two sides to every coin. 

Firstly, we are not seeking publicity as our little restaurant is busy most of the time.  But, what we are seeking is to deliver another side to the proffered restaurant turmoil replacing the Dickensian workhouse image of steam, fire and sweat eating poor unsuspecting and desperate cooks trying to produce God like food whilst an uncaring overlord is beating them to a pulp with a blunt spoon [with apologies to Alan Rickman as the sheriff in ‘Robin Hood’].

Why bother?  Because, whilst there are sweat shops out there controlled by meglamanic [my word - sorry] uneducated and personally uncomfortable dropkicks, there is actually no need.  But, as long as the sensationalist macho 100 hour sweat box is accepted as the norm, our industry will fail to attract professionals.  Professionals who want to have fun in a constantly challenging environment.

And, it is fun!

Only last week we had a few anniversaries.  I turned 71 as the only overworked cook/dishwasher, our current 16 seat restaurant also turned 16, my other half [Ulla, the lone swan around waitress] and I celebrated 20 years of 24/7 and we popped another cork in honour of our first wedding anniversary.  Add on activities pursued together such as golf [very very average], archery [better], travel [lots] and people [all sorts] and life is a treat.  Indeed, we eat out a lot [we have to, to keep abreast of trends] and enjoy, everything. 

We work around 30 hours a week!

The work is challenging and at times physical [I don’t look a day over 71] but that IS the challenge and one to embrace as the opportunity.  Bending, turning, lifting, thinking, planning, fixing, washing, and even cooking.  On top of that we get to run a business whilst still having time to pontificate at length about personally felt issues.  For example, I spent years downsizing companies globally after they had lost their vision yet I don’t see either of our current Prime Minister hopefuls expound any sort of ‘strategic’ vision for our country.   They deal with minutia because they believe it wins votes whilst as a country we flounder in a sea of conflicting uncertainty.  Where are the vision building strategies? Indeed, where are the strategists?

Anyway, that’s irrelevant to this short note.

Too much fun, but we have now decided to sell our business and allow someone else to realise the opportunities therein.  No, we are not retiring [tried that 16 years ago and it didn’t work] but seek a new challenge wherein we can get excited once again.  Dad was still working as a consulting engineer and was studying anthropology as he turned 93 [right up to when he shuffled off this mortal coil] and I really hope to be able to continue ‘life’ as he did.  Indeed, I see a cranky centenarian post stroke still trying to change the world whilst perhaps studying law.

Restaurants tick all the boxes and yes, we own the bar.

Best regards,

Jon & Ulla Langevad [I could list multiple degrees but at 71 who cares]

Mon Ami Restaurant is fully owned by Langevad Pty Limited and has been awarded ‘French restaurant of the year – Australia 2018’ by Travel & Hospitality Awards [London] and ‘Best Brasserie – Australia 2018’ by the Luxury Travel Guide [London] and 2 hats from Gault & Millau 2018 [Paris] and maintains a greater than 90% review score Australia 2018