A speech written for 'our companion' Daniel Andrews

 Dear adoring peoples of Victoria,

I am worthy of all accolades and supplications from Victorian peoples.  ‘My’ peoples. 

Some may say my department’s complete amnesia over just who ticked off on a $30m ‘security’ expense which contributed to the deaths of around 800 people was inappropriate but I say that money was nothing compared to my new and necessary debt now glad-handed to the people of Victoria costing circa $30m each and every day in just interest alone.  Anyway, 800 is just a blip at the crematorium and not my voters / peoples as they were all old. 

Some say I could have cured homelessness, exposure trauma, crisis accommodation and the general housing crisis with a mere month’s worth of interest payments but please understand I needed to spend more and more on personal staff and fund appropriately under-costed pre-election so called infrastructure and, remember I had to pay over a billion dollars for not building a road and a crazy amount to renege on pre-election promises for the commonwealth games.  And, I needed a pay rise.

Corruption?  All fake news.  Red shirts?  We all have a red shirt – so what!  Anyway the Coates enquiry was handed down December 21 so no one cared just before I wished all my peoples a happy lockdown.  It was indeed unfortunate that the ADF refused to lob tanks on the streets to control the recalcitrant mob wanting a breath of fresh air. 

Still, I had fun giving $19m to Sandringham golf course to build an unnecessary driving range even though it compromised that heritage golf course and bankrupted a few not-my-peoples.  But note, I really needed to close the old but serviceable driving range in order to make a pre-election promise to build a new netball centre ‘for the kiddies’.  Never was a good idea so I abandoned the netball idea just after the election and pulled down all the ‘look at me’ advertising boards.  Close call, nearly had to actually build it.

And please remember, my esteemed labor predecessor John Cain has a stadium named after him for also sending Victoria into a massive debt spiral so it’s only appropriate the peoples of Victoria can now supplicate at my feet beholding my magnificence through my now closer-to-God status for my great works leading my name into history as your ‘companion’.

Daniel Andrews  [insert Royal-ish wave photo]

 

Not actually funny.

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.

Lock down in Victoria - government in fear

 The Andrews government in Victoria is responsible for some 800 deaths [800 of the 900 for the whole of Australia!], billions of dollars of debt for Victoria and Australia and the bankrupting of thousands of small business.  As every part of ‘Australia’ faced the same pandemic it is indeed obvious that Victoria’s failures were specific to Victoria and Andrews.

Obviously, Andrews and his key advisors [the memory lapse 8 et alia] lacked or knowingly suppressed [for private political agenda reasons as no one in their right mind kills 800 people!] the necessary intellect to construct the correct course of action remembering the rest of Australia was and is fine.

Victoria failed.

Indeed the facts were known and there were worldwide precedents to learn from yet Andrews ignored those facts and the second wave was born out of the mal-administration of hotel quarantine.   Apart from his lack of cognition choosing the wrong course of action Andrews and his so called team couldn’t step back and deal with the outbreak at an intellectual level [thus affecting success] but instead choosing to display a complete lack of actual intelligence with knee jerk ‘rules’ set at random without validation by experts.

Fear had set in.  Fear at government level is dangerous as the action of conation drives knee jerk actions based on that fear rather than intellect driving ‘step back’ thought.  The four modes in this respect are determine real facts, take quick action to halt dysfunction, implement long term fixes and follow through reforming and adapting on the way.  Not rocket science.

The federal government analysed the global situation, closed the borders and set in train the need to quarantine those seen at risk.  The same federal government also offered expert support to enable the states to deal with the quarantine thereby taking care of the first two management issues. 

Australia at this point seemed to be leading the world in decisive action so now it was up to the states to implement and follow through the quarantine process.  People were dying all over the world so the need for urgent action was critical but driven by cognition and intellect.

Victoria failed. 

Instead of implementing successful strategies with the support of the federal government as did the other states, Victoria decided to spend a few more million contracting private untrained security guards to monitor the quarantine process.  The result being some 800 deaths from a 99+% certainty those deaths were the result of maladministration of that private security.  Cognition and intellect had taken a back seat.

Now, fear had really set in but with rampant obfuscation, politicisation and blame shifting.  Those in charge were out of their depth both cognitively and intellectually.  Sheer panic and the fear of being blamed drove Andrews to want to be seen as the saviour instigating knee jerk curfews, travel restrictions et alia all the while the wearing of masks, social distancing and basic hygiene were proven to be the most effective anti-covid measures.  The Andrews lockdown is causing thousands of bankruptcies and significant mental health issues which has and is decimating our state.  No other state has chosen Victoria’s so called remedy because their systems were in place using the federal government’s offered support.  No out of control ego, no empty rhetoric just cognitive action driven by intellect.

Victoria failed and it’s cost Australia some $14 billion dollars and 800+ deaths.  This so dysfunctional and punctuated by the fact that NSW has more cases than us but is open and thriving.  NSW manages the outbreak whilst we have a dearth of cognitive intellect.

Collective amnesia at ministerial level

‘Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he’ [proverbs 29:18] – The so called crisis council being Daniel Andrews, James Merlino, Tim Pallas, Jacinta Allan, Jenny Mikakos, Jill Hennessy, Martin Pakula and Lisa Neville obviously had no vision, no oversight, no responsibility,  no management expertise and it seems no memory as all suffered inexplicable group amnesia over the refusal to use the offered ADF but instead to use private contractors costing millions of dollars and 800 lives.  Failing to act in good faith is a failure to ‘keepeth the law’ with the result being confusion and chaos with no concrete ‘vision’ of returning to normal.   

Once more unto the breach [a second wave of Covid] we are still stuck in minutia by being enveloped in a blame game that is both brain dead and dysfunctional but is still costing innocent lives and billions of dollars.  Please don’t blame others or point to other countries misfortunes because Australia was under control with Covid 19 until Ruby Princess [28 dead] and Andrews quarantine maladministration [800 dead!]. 

This is a ‘management’ issue where elected politicians with little management experience pontificate from on high whilst the visionless minions try to make sense of gross stupidity and criminal mismanagement.  800 deaths and a trillion dollar debt is criminal. 

There is no doubt that the Victorian labor government has been and is responsible for putting Victorians at risk through and by the mal administration of the so called second wave.  Not only though as there is still the ramping up of unsustainable debt, not having a clear vision for Victoria, selling our sovereignty to a rogue power and failing to even make common sense.  Andrews is the self appointed leader of that dysfunction but not the only culprit.  The ‘gang of 8’ comes to immediate mind as a group of senior government people so far out of their comfort zone that collective amnesia has set in - as ably demonstrated at ‘the enquiry’. 

No one is to blame so it seems for 800 deaths and a trillion dollar debt. No, not me, can’t remember, no one told me, my computer crashed, was sick that day, the dog ate the memo, aliens stole the email.  Sadly, these are responsible adults holding down key management jobs yet they come across as 10 year old kids determined to get out of trouble by any obfuscation or fabrication possible.

It’s pathetic but worse it’s ‘adult’ pathetic with known consequences.  Acting in bad faith doesn’t even come close.  Mindless narcissistic drivel but with enormous ramifications for their victims – us! 

It’s easy to devolve to minutia during periods of brain overload, as a matter of fact sometimes necessary to keep our sanity.  But, this is not what we pay our leaders for.  We pay them to actually think strategically.  Simple.  Shouty is not good.

This last week has been all about minutia and finger pointing over small things.  Good television but led by pontificating idiots focused on blame shifting away from themselves.

May I repeat, this current so called second wave has been caused by the collective labor government and bureaucratic affiliates with each identified player adding their useless two bob’s worth.  Let’s focus on 800 deaths and a trillion dollar debt instead of who said what to whom at 3:27pm.  Or, is that too hard?  Simple statistics show huge flaws in management and rhetoric.

It is a management problem!

Andrews has been and is wallowing in a sea of ineptitude.  Not only are his shortcomings on show but it seems all concerned are also wallowing.  This second wave should never have occurred yet it did because of sheer incompetence by a whole gaggle  of politicians, bureaucrats, advisors and public officials.  “I am too senior and beyond reproach”.  Yeah, right.

The solution?  We, the affected, demand Andrews and his cohorts apply some degree of intelligence to fixing the mess they created.  Not only Covid19 but the debt burden and the sale of Victoria to a foreign power.  Can they do this?  No.  They need help in the form of real and proven leaders from all sides of politics.  Think what Don Argus did for Coles Myer after a management import created disaster.  A calming strategic influence – right time right place.

I mean really, a curfew no one wanted or thought necessary [except Andrews], draconian lockdowns the same professionals thought unnecessary and a political ‘roadmap’ which was and is a joke to any business or indeed any thinking person.

I would be happier if it was the same Mexicans who invaded Telstra management and tried to screw the company before an Australian steadied the ship [Thodey]. In that case one could just ship them back to their home hole in the ground but we have an elected Government bent on staying in power by any means.

Therefore, we are stuck with the labor collective for a while albeit they must accept support from the real adults lest we all sink. Adults who think strategically such as Kennett, Keating, Costello and Gillard.

Oblivion is but a small step when good people fail to act - 800 lives lost and a trillion dollar debt is not political playtime.  When the country divides, political leaders have failed.  Simple, but watch the fools try and shoot the messenger.

It’s a shame that the pandemic response is but one of Andrews failures.  A big one, but just one.

Andrews 4

 PREAMBLE:

Very broadly speaking, there are two types of people who deal with planning but from different perspectives and mindsets.  Each has a role to play but rarely do both attributes reside in the one person. 

There are the ‘block’ people who build success by gradual change from the bottom up.  This is the minutia set, the people who are happiest when dealing with individual issues and are critical to the success of basically everything.   Nuts and bolts!  Without their dedication to keeping stuff happening we would not have a world.  Their ‘escape’ is for example ‘science fiction’ where their brains can wax lyrical and expand into the unknown.

The second lot are the ‘jigsaw’ people who can visualise the big picture and how all the bits fit.  There are less of these people because the demand is less.  Dealing with minutia for these people is hard because inherent focus is different.   Their escape is to for example to meticulously clean the golf clubs before challenging the unwinnable [grass].

This gets really hard for sole traders and small business people.  ‘Poiders Plumbing’ is run by a block person happily dealing with minutia but needs to understand and market himself as a jigsaw person in order to thrive.  Wendy’s events business is all about bringing together the many facets of a function to create success but has real difficulty in hands on.  Different people, different jobs.

In management there is a dysfunction line when people cross the boundary between minutia and jigsaw - either way.  A great manager decides to ‘roll up his sleeves’ and get stuck in.  A noble cause?  Not really.  It may be therapeutic for a while but his mindset is in a different place and it will not work long term.  But, every now and again, devolving to minutia is a defence mechanism to stop us going crazy.  Going the other way, the minutia person enters an expanded universe over the line and is immediately uncomfortable because there is no one-thing on which to focus.  Again, it will not work.  Everyone has heard the expression, ‘promoted to a level of incompetence’.  Well, this can be a reason why.

This dysfunction rears its ugly head when we look at our elected representatives coming from all walks of life expected to cement our collective future in a changing world.  They love the election because they can pontificate at length about single issues pretending they are in control.  Not so.  The ‘look at me’ syndrome is born of shouty people who would be better served by a job within the bureaucracy.  Shout long enough and people will believe. 

An expression used a lot by people who are basically out of control is ‘we are working hard’ but all they are really saying is that they are in fact out of control and having to work harder and harder to keep their collective heads above water.

The in control person says, ‘We are achieving our published goals and, this is how we are doing it’.

In charge, but wallowing around without a clear and communicated vision and subsequent plan does not cut it.  It confuses the block people trying to action anything and it confuses those who need to know.

ANDREWS:

When a crisis hits all the management flaws come to the surface.  Good times management is relatively easy as all is tickety boo and we ignore small issues because in the big picture they don’t really matter.  ‘She’ll be right mate’.  And, for the ‘lucky country’, this axiom has worked for years and years.

Now we have an axiom contradictor in the form of a virus threatening and indeed changing our way of life.  The pressure is on and merely ‘working hard’ is insufficient.

Andrews ‘roadmap’ delivered yesterday as a plan to beat the contradictor was inept because it had no vision other than ‘please God may the virus go away if we are all good little boys and girls’.  There was no vision of a future other than a return of sorts to pre-Covid.  He delivered same in his shouty voice and stare down manner trying to be seen as in control.

Yet we know, he was responsible for the mal administration causing this second wave, huge monetary losses and hundreds of lives.  He is out of control and has been for the last 8 years.  An elected representative out of his comfort zone but refusing to do what all good managers do, seek advice from experts, develop a vision people can identify with and take transparent action to achieve that future.

Hard?  Of course it’s hard.  It’s hard in good times let alone during a crisis.

Victoria has a tough road to follow to get out of the world perception that we are the out of control pariah mendicant state.  We need a mantra which can both lead and enthuse. If I may quote from Robin Sharma - “I am more than I appear to be, all the worlds strength & power rests inside me.” A great line which could also serve Victoria well as we bolt out of this crisis.  Victoria - "I am more than I am being quiet, determined, respectful and focussed." 

This is the sort of focussing vision we need to be supported by a bunch of real goals thrusting us into the future.  Not a minutia led ‘level crossing maintenance’ objective but real visionary stuff.  The sort of vision Keating, Button and Howard had, combined with the strength Hawke had to galvanise a nation, the financial smarts of Costello and the CEO Premier showcased by Kennett.

What we have is quite different.  We have a minutia led Premier trying to focus on just one thing being to eradicate the virus.  It happened on his watch and he is responsible for the mal administration costing billions of our dollars and many many lives.  He needs to fix it.

But is he capable?  Obviously a minutia / block thinker trapped in a jigsaw thinking job.  So, no he is not capable.  Worse, he has refused to recognise obvious shortcomings and get appropriate help.

None of us can claim to be the absolute fund of all knowledge but the better of us recognise this and seek support.  The more serious the matter the more this is critical.

Obviously, my opinion of Andrews is not very high as it relates to the job he is not doing.  But it doesn’t mean there is not a way out.  Andrews needs to cede management control for Covid 19 to an expert team removed from government – as good managers who know their limits do.  He also needs to develop a vision for Victoria which people will gladly follow.  He needs to communicate a positive ‘carrot driven’ plan to extract ourselves from Covid normal to be seen globally as a dynamic state dealing with pressure.  He also needs to develop a set of long term goals people will flock to.  Then he needs to action those goals through transparent plans communicable to us mere lemmings.

Basically, business 101.

We don’t have basic business ‘101’.  We have people trapped in the wrong job.

 

andrews [small a]

Dear all,

Angry does not describe how I feel about Daniel Andrews. 

His government’s absolute mismanagement of our state has cost us, Victoria, literally billions.  Billions we don’t have because he’s spent it and had to borrow squillions from the Chinese just to feed his ongoing funds mismanagement.  The last time it was this bad was under Cain / Kirner. Go figure. 

Worse, Victoria is now the pariah state and seen as such by the rest of the country.  It’s cost us personally circa $30,000 over the 10 weeks of the last lockdown and something similar this time - and we are only one tiny little restaurant.  We will survive because we are financially secure – ish, have a great customer base and have planned for this sort of contingency.  Hundreds of businesses will not survive.

In terms of sport, he has finally figured out that we can still play golf because it’s naturally self distancing.  The rest of the country figured this out long ago and continued to play during the last lockdown.  We were then seen as a joke.  I despair.

Similar, archery is a non contact, naturally socially distancing sport.  This is a no-brainer.  Yet it’s banned.  Why, when golf driving ranges are open?  What’s wrong with archery when it’s so similar to the golf driving range?  No logic – no sense.  [UPDATE 15/7/20 - HE'S NOW BANNED DRIVING RANGES AS WELL]

We have a second pandemic wave because the premier sent a whole raft of mixed messages.  For example, allowing 10,000 people to march in the city.  She’ll be right mate. 

It’s not right, mate!  Idiot.

Now we have security guards also allocated by Andrews looking after hotel quarantine allegedly screwing detainees then tootling back to their family's with a healthy dose of COVID.  Fantastic.

How about a few religious festivals where bunches co-mingle generating more and more very healthy COVID infections which are on the march - with a healthy disregard for humans.

Then he gets on TV and espouses responsibility without taking blame for the absolute mismanagement.  Mismanagement which has cost us money, lives, huge disruption and a loss of reputation.  The KIWI travel bubble just burst. 

This is not a liberal / labour gripe, it’s a plea to get rid of Andrews before he destroys Victoria. What does it take for Victorians to see through this shambolic disaster?

We have been forced into this second and now necessary lockdown because of absolute mismanagement.  How many lives have been ruined by his continuing out of control crap.  No, it’s not easy but then there are supposed to be bunches of very bright people advising the Victorian government supporting good decisions.  Apparently not so.

This needs to be treated just like the rogue local councils which were stood down because of ineptitude and replaced by an interim bunch of ‘change agents’.

I look at the Victorian government hierarchy and, as I said before, despair.  Unfortunately the ability to get elected does not mean talent at anything other than getting elected.

Victoria has a narcissistic rogue government which is out of control but before we succumb and fold let’s bring in a focused management team to take over and try and resurrect disaster.

This is not a change in government, it is a change in responsibility.

And boy, are there several people who could make this happen in the short term, even if they were very very reluctant.  Paul Keating, Julie Bishop, Geoff Kennett, Peter Costello, Julia Gillard et alia.  Give me 10 minutes and even I could think of a team of 10 which could change the world.  People who are respected for their intelligence, ability to recognise and create change in the face of great odds and garner a following from us mere lemmings.  It would be nice if just one person could lead the change but there just aren’t too many Churchill's around.

If I can see this disaster as an overworked cook / dishwasher [now currently underworked] then everyone can. 

Speak up and stop the crap.

Regards,

Langevad J  [MBA et alia]

LEADERSHIP

Once upon a time there was a man who the world watched with envy as he transformed his patch from just plain broke to one marching towards success.  He was a great leader and people admired him for the dedication he showed to making every post a winner.  Other leaders aspired to garner some of his charisma as they said nice things and longed for photo opps. His record on respect for all was just shoved under the carpet because the world could see what he was doing and how he needed to do it.   Then he invaded Poland.

Fast forward 80 or 90 years and we have another leader, a great leader, a leader immersed in cementing his patch as indefatigably supreme. Just like the previous leader, respect for all was low on the list of priorities as he spread his patch’s control by land grab and economic stealth whilst making others dependant on his endless treasure chest.  The world watched exponential growth, strength and fortitude whilst others sought photo opps.  Unlike the last leader this man was quiet, enigmatic and focused with no shouted rallies or look-at-me antics.  One could say inscrutable.  Then he invaded …

How about yet another leader who espouses narcissism and self along with absolute distain for anyone outside of his narrow thinking - the blond spinnaker man with his finger on the red button but without the intelligence to determine just.   A man without letters from a long line of leaders without letters leading a country already shamed with indeginous genocide and sovereign invasion.

This dysfunction happens because we let it.  Indeed, even on a local level, we have a so called leader who is irresponsible and weak as well as being on a power trip with no one to stop him.  He confuses strength with stupidity, maintenance with strategic growth and public safety with an inability to appear strong. Mouth noise replaces lucidity.  Allowing 10,000 people to protest shoulder to shoulder whilst banning groups of more than 10 people in say restaurants under strict social distancing rules during a pandemic is insane. Pity.  

 What does it take for us to recognise a pattern?

The sad thing is that all the above mentioned men are self promoted leaders seemingly doing wonderful things for their own patches albeit at the expense of anyone who stood in their way.  But, in the end, at the expense of their own patch.  They all self promoted greatness but reality disagreed.

History is full of these people and at all levels of government yet we continually turn a blind eye hoping it will get better.  America is currently imploding where respect has left the building and plague terrorises.  The shallowness of past glories laid bare to reality.  Indeed, a new reality in which ‘others’ seek a foothold through quiet, focused and specific incretion.

So, who are the good guys?  Is it Mr Enigmatic, the blond flyover, the lost premier or perhaps our man from Hill song or is it perhaps just everyone and anyone who actually gives a toss?

The media get away with rabidly stupid comments, statistics and data which a 10 year old could see though - yet people believe.  They want to believe because even someone as dysfunctional as those mentioned above are better than wimp after dodgy after hopeless.

What a day for the human race. Not.

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.

Covid, Golf, Archery, Business...

One of the things about being human is that we tend to self preserve.  For example, driving a car we don’t swerve into oncoming traffic or we don’t go too near the edge of a cliff.  This is a given even for the dross but always excepting those fantastic people who put themselves in harm’s way for others - like any person dealing with Covid19 on the front line.

The other axiom about being human is the fact that it enables the ‘bullshit’ meter.  We can tell/feel when something is array or doesn’t meet the common sense test despite that something being touted as true and correct by the pontificators often with an obvious brain / mouth disconnect.

Add Covid19 to these two axioms and the pressure mounts on those charged with preserving our way of life to get it right whilst taking people along with the logic on the way to getting it right.  If that fails then people will ignore any edicts seen as failing the so called ‘pub test’. 

There is no ‘one size fits all’ when we discuss protecting ourselves from Covid19.  Blanket restrictions are easy but will be ignored with the instigators mocked.  But, there are always exceptions – closing our borders quickly was a great move and if there were doubters the Ruby Princess validated that position. 

But, pontificating without substance is a crime against humanity because it treats people as idiots and we are not!  Self preservation and the bullshit meter kick in and we begin to see just how lacking in common sense those in charge are and/or the ‘look at me’ lengths they will go to try and prove they are actually intelligent and doing something.

Just as examples.  People need an outlet or they will go troppo and disobey.  As far as I understand it, staying at home is a blanket restriction to stop interaction thereby stopping exponential infection.  We have the experts telling us that Covid 19 can live on surfaces we touch and can only spread by close contact with an infected person or off that surface.  1.5 m being the distance of safety and face masks are not necessary.   Therefore, it follows that as long as we sanitise by alcohol or soap and keep 1.5 m apart total isolation is not necessary. Why is this important?  Because the economic damage caused by ‘over the top’ restrictions is haemorrhaging our country.  The exception to this is isolating people returning from a known ‘hot spot’ or identified as possibly infected. 

How about Victorian [only Victoria] golf courses being closed costing millions of dollars in job keeper / seeker and lost revenues.  The way I and most others play golf is in absolute isolation spending far more time in the bushes than anywhere near others or indeed real grass.  With a few simple rules golf can help people avoid going troppo.  For some reason, golf driving ranges were also shut down.  Driving ranges are designed around self isolation with each person in their own bay at least 1.5m apart.  This is a no brainer as it’s basic self preservation against getting your head knocked off.  The people shutting driving ranges down are seen as stupid pontificators avoiding actual thought.

The other activity / sport is archery which was shut down and now suffers from a 10 person per acre edict.  In archery each target is roughly 1.5 m to 2.5 m apart centre to centre with easy changes to separation.  This automatically complies with the 1.5 m rule yet archery was shut down.  Now it seems archery can only have 10 people at one time in a field of over an acre.  Where is the common sense?  Archery is another activity which automatically practices self distancing.  Logical really as no one wants to be shot!  More millions lost.  Now, do we count the number of people on a train, tram or bus to make sure there are just 9 before we jump on? There goes a few more million.

People will self preserve.  Just look at the behaviour of people walking on a footpath.  They will go to great lengths to make sure they keep 1.5m apart.  I do.

The key to people protecting themselves seems to be the 1.5 m separation and fanatical hand washing.  This is easy.  As Patsy from ABFAB said, “I would never have thought my hands would consume more alcohol than my mouth.”

It is imperative we protect ourselves whilst doing stuff such as golf or archery to stop going stir crazy and both make and spend money.  OUR government is not a separate financial entity, it’s our money they are taxing and spending and it needs to be both sourced and judiciously spent.  I reckon our State’s debt alone with our current government will approach $100 billion with a small part being due to Covid19.  The interest alone on these borrowings is eye watering.

If I can make a plea – think through edicts before proclamation because they can be too encompassing remembering we will self preserve and one size does not fit all.  The excuse, erring on the side of caution, just shows a lack of thought.

People will protect their patch given logic and proof.  As they are doing with 1.5m separation and hand washing.

We need to return to normality ASAP for our countries’ sake.   Business and personal activity must be preserved.

Our restaurant is take away only and my wife and I now play extremely competitive table tennis for money [$1] on the dining room table.  The first stops us haemorrhaging too much money and the second keeps brain and reflexes alive.  We went to the driving range yesterday as it’s now open – no change in talent [ho hum] – look forward to scrabbling through the bushes on the course – ‘preserving’ the grass.

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.

Premier Andrews supports the destruction of the ‘people’s’ golf course at Sandringham.

Blatant gender discrimination, disregard for heritage, spurious reasoning and little concern for the ‘people’s golf course at Sandringham underpin Premier Andrews supporting the destruction of ‘our’ public golf course.

At its most outrageous, he agrees that shortening the course would attract more women - you have to be kidding!  I would hope that a golfer is a golfer and gender irrelevant.  Premier, do you have ‘girls’ seats in parliament so they perhaps hear better being the weaker gender and unable to match it with the men? 

What a fantastic city Melbourne really is with great public spaces and a culture that was developed with everyone being able to play sport.

Tennis at every corner, cricket at every suburban oval, footy everywhere and golf - the worlds most popular game available to all through a range of suburban traditional courses. 

Courses that were not manicured like the Americans are prone to do, nor world beating in complexity like the Asians but natural courses that the whole fandangle could rock up and challenge.

Enter Sandringham.  True to its name, a sand-belt public course next to Royal Melbourne [where God played] and Victoria [where his disciples supplicated on] but available for a game for a few dollars and no membership and, just a few metres away, an extensive driving range where professionals congregated, lessons could be had and commiserations could be heard over a post hit beer.  Pretty good really. 

Melbourne, golf, public space, life and the average person.

Now, this history is at risk.  Instead of preserving this people’s course Andrews has decided to support the selling off of great sections, to change the historic layout, to incorporate yet another driving range and to turn it into a fun park that ‘women and children’ could enjoy even implying that the current golf course was too hard for women.  This is really sad.

Sandringham golf course is something to be treasured as a national icon for all to enjoy.  A proper suburban un-manicured 18 hole challenge that is part of the history and culture of Melbourne.

Don’t screw up this non-elitist public space because it can never be replaced.

In good faith,

Jon Langevad

I am biased having first experienced golf at Sandringham some 50+ years ago and still try to defeat self humiliation on a semi regular basis.

ACLAND STREET DOWNGRADE

Since when does PTV dictate what happens on our streets?  Is it lawful for PTV to demand the inclusion of so called tram ‘super-stops’ especially where it is obviously not in the best interests of Melbourne’s history or tourist nature and serves little benefit?

For example, PTV has managed to ruin Bridge Road in Richmond, Fitzroy Street in St Kilda and Bourke Street in the city with the inclusion of the concrete behemoths commonly known as ‘superstops’ and now they want to add another lump of concrete in the middle of Acland Street St Kilda only 100m or so away from the from the existing super stop outside Luna Park.

The stupidity of this is amazing.

Acland Street is a go-to spot for any and all local, national and international tourists because it is somewhat quirky with frenetic bustling people fighting for room with cars and trams.  It is this chaotic mix in a grung-ish setting which makes it unique.  Parking’s free, if you can get one, and trams rattle through dodging tripped out tripped off or tripped up peds.  Add the odd Ferrari or bikie and the picture is complete.  All things for all people.  The cruisers, the diners, the rubberneckers, the locals and the transient homeless all cohabitating.

Fantastic.

Now some closed eye bureaucrat wants to plasticise the street into yet another boring as bat-shit foreign inspired mall.  The same as any other grassed in plastic have-a-nice-day space. Has Melbourne lost the plot [pun intended] in as much as we seem to want to destroy our icons in the name of stupidity.

Why not build a 'vintage' tram line between St Kilda and Port Melbourne instead and increase the tourist potential instead of destroying it?

Think what will put Melbourne on the map in 50 years and it will not be super stops!

The farce with a sad end that is Fitzroy Street St Kilda.

AN OPEN LETTER TO PORT PHILLIP CITY COUNCIL

Concerning Fitzroy Street ...

In my opinion the Councillors for the City of Port Phillip, PTV and Vic Roads should have to personally reimburse the 18 or 20 businesses which have turned up their toes and given up in Fitzroy Street.  If it had been that just one or two failed then one could possibly blame the operators but being there are so many who have gone broke it would seem that there is more to it than just an incompetent operator or two.  From top end to plebeian, they have all failed to meet their owners expectations lost money and had to just close.

Who’s to blame?  The overriding answer is simple – people are in public authority positions of power wherein they can make decisions about which they have little expertise, historic perspective or strategic view.  This describes the Port Phillip City Council, senior city management, PTV and Vic Roads.  As far as the council are concerned, a bunch of people elected on some criteria far removed from what should be essential skills. There are many examples proving this point such as at least 18 years of no action on the Port Melbourne foreshore despite having an acceptable urban design framework for the whole period.  Examples such as the stupidity surrounding the original design for the triangle site which thankfully, due to public force, was eventually withdrawn but still cost us millions of wasted dollars.  Another example is the cost of car-parking.  A 10 year old reading ‘statistics for dummies’ could analyse usage [read tourists], rates against time and costs and see that there is a correlation between high costs of parking and empty spaces.  Drop the costs and people will come and nett profit for the council would remain as is.  Simple but too hard for some people to digest.

A fourth example is Fitzroy Street and its destruction as a must-go-to destination for both Melbournian’s and tourists.  This is a direct result of a weak council failing to recognise what Fitzroy Street was all about and acquiescing to minority groups and statutory authorities by allowing these groups to create urban havoc all without a feel for the area, its history and its future.

When there are 18 vacant shops in one smallish street, with past tenants ranging from high end restaurants to boutique businesses - just closing down - there can be no escape from the fact that there are major issues with the street itself.  Traders across all levels walking away from millions of dollars says quite clearly that the street is the problem and not the traders.

Given the inescapable fact that the street is the issue then what’s happened?  Once again the answer is simple Fitzroy Street has become a throughway but in fact it should all be about recognising that not every street in every suburb needs to transformed into a super fast tram route with channelled traffic and dedicated bike lanes.  This is because some roads deserve to be slow and visual so the strolling rubberneckers can see, taste and enjoy.  Not every street needs a few more tons of concrete to create unneeded and unwanted super fast throughways for cars, trams and bikes.

St Kilda is ‘Melbourne quirk’ and that’s what people expect and want to see and be a part of whilst being kept safe away from the disaffected. 

Changes to Fitzroy Street have destroyed its character which in turn means that it has lost the ability to attract both tourists and normal Melbournians.  It does however attract the bottom end of society and the drug affected.  With the ‘ice’ epidemic it has now become seedy and dangerous.   Take the Gatwick Hotel for example – it is a dangerous place.

The solution is unfortunately not simple.

Firstly, and in the immediate short term, the disaffected have to be removed.  CCTV is but one of the critical tools to make that happen.  Councillor Touzeau said, whilst recently voting against the installation of CCTV,  ‘everyone has the responsibility to make the sort of world we want to live in’.  This is just plain stupid and far removed from the real world.  Especially so given the Council created the problem in the first place. 

Secondly, Fitzroy Street needs to be made a ‘slow’ destination street by creating a streetscape for both pedestrians and destination visitors through creative parking.  There is no need for a somewhat dangerous bike lane and there is no need for any tram super-stops other than at the beach end [already installed] and St Kilda station end [already installed].  The middle bit needs rethinking.

There is need to remove the dangerous and little used bike path and replace it with 60 degree free parking because car parking correlates to visitors.   Then add lots of mature trees breaking down the long visuals, large quirky sculptures and more non-food retail.  Then add public seating in the middle of the road under the canopy of shade trees where people can just sit and watch the slow trams and the streetscape; after mandatory facia regeneration. 

We need the development of a ‘tourist’ precinct where wandering becomes an art form instead of a dice with dropkicks.

I personally remember the days when we ventured to dinner at Tolarno’s [since closed as Mirkas - once again] wandered around after dinner and absorbed some of the quirkiness of the street before returning to our dormitory suburbs. Successive councils have destroyed this ambience.

This council has to make a decision.

Are they going to recreate Fitzroy Street by removing the disaffected, recognising that Fitzroy Street is not a speedway for trams, cars and bicycles and spend some of our money creating a streetscape which will attract tourists and locals alike seeking a quirky but safe immersion experience.

This is a no-brainer – YES.

And with a properly designed triangle site and Acland Street precinct we have a chance at creating a world class tourist area.  Let’s not wait another 20 years.

Say thirty million dollars over 3 years is absolutely nothing in terms of the financial return and the benefits to all Melbourne.

ANDREWS AND THE EAST WEST LINK - LATEST

In the AFR [Lucille Keen] on Saturday  the 23^rd of May 2015 said it was reported that just last month our Victorian Government paid $339,000,000 just to cancel the East West link with lost sunk costs amounting to $500,000,000.  Add on the thousands of hours of Government time foregone and the $1.5 billion lost from the Federal Government and the problem becomes gigantean remembering this is OUR money he is squandering.

Now infrastructure Australia has weighed into the ‘cancel it at any cost’ decision by Andrews stating that Victoria has lost the opportunity through not building East West to create a traffic plan for a key section of Victoria’s future. Instead Andrews is going to spend money on level crossings in marginal seats.  This is minutia thinking at its worst.  No future thinking, just repairs in marginal seats.

He has no project ready to start right now worth anything in terms of long term strategy and has foregone thousands of jobs and cost us billions through this decision and, he has cancelled the proposed airport link.

Victoria deserved better, MUCH BETTER.

CAR INDUSTRY

When do we start taking the initiative and look outside political and media driven doom and gloom? 

When do we start to believe in our own Australian expertise and stop flailing about in discontinuous rage as another ‘foreign’ company withdraws ‘hurt’ when the going gets tough but after profiteering for years on uneven playing fields at the expense of our country?

When do politicians stop trying to assure the yet to be unemployed that they are trying to create new jobs through all sorts of ill-thought-through initiatives to make themselves look important and to be seen as doing something? 

Instead  …..  why don’t we bite the bullet and produce our own cars and other vehicles?

We will soon have 3 newly vacated plants which do and can produce cars.  Why don’t we produce our own world leading new-design taxis, government cars, town cars, military vehicles, scram jets, super tractors, planes, farm bikes, fun cars [Moke-a-like] or any other vehicle which is useful for us as a country and can be sold elsewhere?  And no, don’t call any the Kangaroo or the Wallaby or the bloody Dingo!!

I am really sick of the prevailing oh-woe-is-me attitude where we import expertise [because we are so backward, stupid and don’t have any talent] only to find the imports are wanting [EG. The Mexican triumvirate at Telstra or multiple managers at Coles Myer or several Australian icons currently in trouble with imported management].

We have sold our soul to foreign manufacturers who can’t manage a decent profit other than the ‘incentive fees’ we pay them [Ford worldwide a couple of years ago].  And, we accept foreign management just because they are foreign and must therefore be much better than us.

This is utter bullshit!

Abbot and Shorten – how about working together with an Australian collective spirit and foster/create/allow the creation of something special?

We are really that good!!

Yes?

How about starting by immediately enforcing Australian only isles at supermarkets?

There is an issue developing with the way we treat people who read what some may call subversive material.

When I was a lad I read everything I could about homemade firearms with a view to building something which went bang!  You remember, a penny bunger down a lump of pipe with a ball bearing thrown in on top – point it at the fence and wait - only to suffer the ignominy of a hiding from Dad when a large hole appeared.  Or, reading up on how to make a boat only to launch an old door off Black Rock beach and float to glory.  Half a mile out and it dawned on our collective pea brain that we were heading into the shipping lane faster than we could paddle back to shore. Rescued by a fisherman and another hiding.  How about reading up on making a bow and arrow only to have my best ‘friend’ shoot me in the face – quivering arrow embedded in my cheek and, you guessed it, another hiding. This is normal boy’s stuff, adventure and projectiles. 

There were a plethora of books available for boys to ponder over and discuss what would be considered by today’s moral police to be subversive and indeed even anarchistic as well as deeming those evil tomes for corrupting the minds of boys leading them into the paths of terrorism and world domination!

Can you imagine what one of moral turpitude could write about my antics as a boy?  “Terrorist plot foiled by fisherman when youths caught in shipping lane on homemade boat waiting to sink American container.  These same despots have previously been caught developing home made weapons of mass destruction designed to inflict maximum damage. They have also been caught with terrorist instruction manuals. They should be immediately jailed for the rest of their horrible and unchristian lives!”

 Sounds like a big call for a couple of 10 year olds somewhat lacking in a sense of self preservation and an overinflated sense of adventure with no allergies or colds or disease or, brains.

The exampled news article from the moral high ground person was created from the very dark side of their own thoughts and desire to sell news papers turning a couple if idiot 10 year olds into perpetrators from the ‘axis of evil’.

I have read part of David Hicks book yet I don’t think I will be developing any desire to go and follow some passion in another country through and by just reading his book.  I can remember reading books by Dennis Wheatley as a kid on the occult and being fascinated but I don’t think I will be buying a pointy hat any time soon.  At our school we had a church service every morning – 2400 sessions of attempted indoctrination - yet I have no desire to pursue a role as a religious do-gooder. 

I have read the bible dozens of times and indeed have a couple of those inculcating tomes floating around the house somewhere.  Does this mean I am a religious extremist with views taken from a collection of part phrases?  Not bloody likely.

As I am scrawling this I am looking around at our library.  Right there in front of me is another mine of information allowing me to research possible malfeasant targets.  This incendiary publication is innocently called the ‘The White Pages’.  I can slobber over this whilst wearing my pointy hat and thinking of my antics as a “despot youth reading unchristian terrorist instruction manuals such as Popular mechanics”.

Then there is the internet.  That terrorist inspired publication, The White Pages’ is on-line!  God help us all.

This week a person was arrested for reading ‘subversive’ material and accused of a crime because someone somewhere deemed the material subversive and of Al Qaeda origin.  Every bloke should therefore be arrested who had read the White Pages, Popular Mechanics, The Bible, any thriller novel or has seen any ‘action’ movie over the last 50 years.

Mao Tse Tung tried to remove Chinese culture by removing books. Stalin and Hitler did the same. These delightful despots believed that if you removed people’s ability to seek information then you gain control.  The sad thing is that they nearly pulled it off and worse, their idea of censorship is still alive and well in today’s challenged dictatorships.

It has been proven time and time again that people will seek information and then disseminate what they think is right and what is wrong.

There will always be people who read into a sentence just what they want to hear and make judgements based on no fact.  Take the fictitious article written about my attempts to sail to glory as a 10 year old - nothing to do with reality.  It’s not the act but the reporting which creates angst.

It’s not what people read, it’s how they interpret it. What’s more, if too many books have been burnt then the total picture is not available and people will make decisions on limited and possibly spurious texts.  Not good.

I was lucky because as part of my 2400 church services we discussed all religions on equal terms with an overriding agenda not to judge.  Obviously, as a Presbyterian school, the preference was to guide us into the true light of that belief, but not at the expense of intellectual understanding.

The same cannot be said for other doctrines which attempt to blind and demand adherence to what is a very small section of life.

Therefore, the issue is not what they read but what they DON’T read.  Balance in everything is good whereas dictated opinion is bad.  Take ‘Reds under the beds’ and ‘George Orwell’s1984’ as examples.

I personally don’t think it an issue that someone reads a subversive document.  Every Christian, Muslim, Mormon, Christian Scientist or orthodox Jew could also be accused of subverting another’s chosen true way if all we had to judge on was the specific written word of each doctrine.

Every one of those believers who decry other’s beliefs should also be arrested and jailed as was the person downloading alleged Al Qaeda subversive material.

Perhaps not a good thought as this act alone is heading towards Hitler’s idea of a free world.

I personally have been threatening to read the Koran.  It’s about time and like Popular Mechanics, The Bible and the White Pages, it’s an obvious terrorist book designed to subvert the masses into a proletarian uprising.

Can you imagine how the same writer who wrote the fictitious article on me as a floating kid could perceive this wanton act.

“Brainless dropkick youth previously guilty of terrorist plots grows up to continue his life of subversion and anarchy by downloading and indeed even reading the other side’s religious text!  His intentions are obviously Armageddon generated from the axis of evil.  God Help us all”

Yep, if that drivel is what we believe and those beliefs guide our actions then truly, ‘God Help us all’.

Jon Langevad   

Ford Motor Company

Pardon me if I have missed the point but I thought Australia gave Ford Motor Company umpteen million dollars in exchange for longevity, new models and the creation of about 300 jobs – post GFC.  A contract. Now we believe our money went to the United States to prop up their ailing head office and Ford in Australia are downsizing and shedding some 330 jobs – a 600 job differential. Maybe I am being too simple but as a taxpayer, I want my money back for breach of contract and/ or perhaps a lien on the factory with a view to calling in the loan and installing someone good at crisis management – say for instance Jeff Kennett who is a proven whiz bang at pulling our State out of financial disaster.

Ford are obviously producing cars that few people want and they must have ignored their own market research to do that.  Why do we as taxpayers have to pay for this mis-management?

I know we have a Labour Government who is desperate to be seen keeping people in work but where do we draw the line. It seems we have paid millions to lose 600 jobs.  I just don’t understand.