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I rather enjoy this not having to rush up of a morning, and drive halfway across the city every day, think I could get used to it, but not yet, especially with a view to a few rather busy weeks I have ahead of me!! So it is simply too early to get into too much of a relaxing mode just yet.  But I’m pleased at the opportunity these times give me for a daily walk. Yesterday’s medical check-up confirmed that my current weight is the lowest it has been for a decade or so, so in one respect, I must be doing something right!!

As for today’s date, amongst other things, it means potentially a major change in the way parliament will be operating. As a consequence of last year’s Federal election, the new Senators who were elected,. Officially take up their positions today, and those who were defeated last August, left their roles yesterday, officially. Senators are elected for a six year term.  The outcome of the new Senate situation sees four new ‘Green’ senators take up their seats, meaning that the Greens will; have the balance of power in the Senate, and because they have ‘got into bed’ with the Labor Government [or is it the other way around?], the Opposition Coalition will not be able to block any measures of the government at the Senate level, unless the Greens support them, highly unlikely. In fact Bob Green, Greens leader, has already suggested that should the Liberals win the next election, they will be hampered by a Senate opposition, which so long as the Greens and Labor team together, legislation not supported by those two groups will not get through!!

The Senate has 76 seats, and as of today it will be comprised of 31 Labor members, 29 Liberals, 9 Greens, 5 Nationals, 1 Independent senator, and 1 from the Democratic Labor Party. This means no side of politics can win a majority of 39 seats in the Upper House [Senate] without the support of the Greens, which at this stage can be expected to favour Labor in most circumstances.  The leader of the Greens is Bob Brown./He  has been a member of the Senate for the past 15 years and became the Greens parliamentary leader in 2006. The 66-year-old former doctor and Tasmanian Wilderness Society director has been recognised as the first openly gay member of Australian Parliament. He has campaigned against deforestation and nuclear energy, while backing same-sex marriage, the rights of asylum seekers and action on climate change.

I guess I will wait and see how this ‘new’ arrangement turns out. Generally, I am not in favour of a minor Party [such as the Greens] been given the balance of power over two major parties, and the fear is that this power has the potential to be used incorrectly, and against the broad interests of the community. On the other hand, perhaps the community has only itself to blame because of it’s inability to clearly decide between the two major parties last August, and in the process, electing new ‘Green’ Senators  –  it is only natural that for a minority government to succeed, of the nature we now have, it should depend on minor groups sand/or independents in order to run government. The Liberal Party is in no confusion about what this all means, and from their online media report today, we read that     ‘Already in a formal alliance with Gillard Labor, the influence of the Greens moves to a new level from today as they gain control of the balance of power in the Senate.  Bob Brown is on the record about the Greens’ agenda  “The Greens are about recreating Australia for the new century street by street, community by community, city by city.”   The Greens want to transform Australia root and branch – not for the better, but for the worse. Their goal stretches well beyond introducing a job destroying economy-wide carbon tax that will push up prices and add further cost of living pressures on already struggling Australians and their families’  That media release then goes through an extensive list of taxes and social reform agendas amongst other things, which I won’t detail here, but which, as far as the Opposition is concerned, provide numerous examples  of the extreme policies that the Greens want to impose on Australia. Actually, some of the social changes which have been hinted at in Green policy speeches, etc make interesting reading, here’s a few of them:-  not all exactly extreme, but with some cause for concern in places.

• End the Northern Territory Indigenous Intervention;
• Legalise cannabis for medical use;
• Support needle and syringe exchanges, and medically supervised injecting rooms;
• Ban on junk food advertisements during children’s television viewing hours;
• Limit Commonwealth power to override territories legislation;
• Give 16 year olds the right the vote;
• Enact a Bill of Rights;
• Full public funding of elections;
• Change the national flag.

So, it will be interesting to see just what kind of success the Greens have in achieving those aims, as well as the numerous policies they have articulated in respect to taxes of various kinds, etc. From what I read, they are a tax orientated party, which doesn’t auger well for the ordinary citizens of this country, who already face  a heavy burden of a wealth of taxes!! I am particularly interested in whether the current approach of constant negativity by Opposition leader, Tony Abbott will be modified  to any degree over the next few weeks.

Meanwhile, I have just scanned  a very interesting, but lengthy article from the ‘Election blog’ of political analyst, Antony Green [no connection to the ‘Greens Party’] on the subject of the possibility of a Double Dissolution of Parliament, when both the House of Representatives and the Senate are dissolved together, and full elections are held for both Houses. In a normal election, only a half Senate election is held, hence the arising of the kind of situation referred to above.  Unfortunately, Antony’s ‘little’ piece was quite long, otherwise I would have included it with this contribution. I shall retain it for future reference, when and if the subject arises. The double dissolution was devised by the 1891 Constitutional Convention as a mechanism for resolving deadlocks between the House of Representatives and the Senate. Only six of Australia’s 43 elections have been double dissolutions, and only the 1974 double dissolution produced a joint sitting. Despite the state-based origins of the Senate and the double dissolution provision, disputes between the two chambers have always involved party politics rather than state issues.

No visitors here for a week – I think Jodie has fixed her computer problems, so she had no incentive to come over and borrow Susie’s computer while the latter is away – now due back on Sunday according to her advice to me late this afternoon [in response to my enquiry]. Another quiet Friday night ahead of me!  The Men’s Wimbledon semi finals were being played tonight  –  I had the tennis on in the background, though was busy with other things for most of the time.  Men’s Singles Semi Final results were:

Rafa Nadal [Spain] defeasted Andy Murray [Britain] 5/7, 6/2,6/2,6/4, and
Novak Djokovic [Serbia] defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga [France]  7/6, 6/2, 6/7, 6/3

Both matches pretty well ending as expected though I was hoping that Murray would have come through against Nadal  – looks like Britain will have to wait another year for a Wimbledon winner!!!

On such a date, I should be at the office, especially for my last ‘end of financial year’ occasion as a full time employee!!  However in fact, I’m having a couple of days off, let’s call it a deserved rest, with a couple of medical appointments included. All is organised on the work front end of year situation, and most of the work in that respect will be taking place next week anyway! So took advantage of all that, and did not rush myself this morning!  Although, having being an early riser most of my life, one always feels that the day is been wasted, if one stays in bed too long of a morning! But at least commitment was missing today, and after some late viewing of the Wimbledon tennis, today came at an opportune time.

Today’s emails included another one of those DNA connections through the Genebase system, though really, no form of permanent connection has ever come of that very broad based catch up with ‘very past’ ancestors, and certainly from that point of view, I’ve achieved very little in the 18 months or so since I signed up for that much publicised DNA test, aimed at discovering one’s ancestral origins, though much beyond the ‘family history research’ I’m currently engaged in.  Genebase  claims to allow you to search  for immediate family lines!!  That might perhaps happen rarely through the family tree details that members are able to place on the site, but from the DNA ‘match contacts’ you are advised of from time to time, well, nothing has certainly arisen from that direction.  At least today’s ‘match’  had a photo with the name, like my own profile, a younger chap from Germany! But as with most of the previous matches, probably little point in contacting him, as any kind of reply is seldom forthcoming. Interestingly, another online request came to me from a current Face Book friend, who was originally a ‘penfriend’ from the old ‘letter writing’ days [‘pre emails] – apparently, she was seeking details of those old penfriend organisations, as she had  another friend who wanted to join up. While I wonder at how much they are used these days, I would imagine that there is still some kind of ‘international penfriend’ organisation still active, will try and find it for her!

One reason for being home today, was to attend an annual ‘diabetes’ assessment at the local medical clinic. Overall, things not going along too badly, and generally under control, so long as I keep it that way. Interestingly, a couple of years ago, the weight was a bit of a concern, out of balance with height etc, but it seems my efforts over the period since then, despite a few ups and downs have brought that correlation almost together, and we haven’t got far to go, before the actual weight is where my doctor suggested it should be a couple of years ago!! My aim is to be there by the 18 October!!

Apart from the little medical trip, and a bit of food shopping, it was a relatively quiet and peaceful day for your personal essayist here. Would have like to have got onto some reading, but my work on bringing the family history records up to date and into some kind of printable version seems to be dominating a lot of my spare time at the moment.  No visitors all day, and the mail only consisted of my latest cd selection of songs from the AMRAP organisation which I now feature on a Monday night.

Today’s media was paying a lot of attention to the political ramifications that will arise here in Australia when the 1^st July arrives tomorrow, and I shall touch on that tomorrow. Also a lot of praise been extended to Bernard Tomic for his ‘losing’ efforts at Wimbledon yesterday, generally regarded as a star of the future!! Let’s hope it happens that like, and he doesn’t ‘lose his way’ along the road as so many of our young up and coming sporting stars do these days, as other things in life become more of an attraction, or perhaps\ distraction!! Of course the big news from Wimbledon yesterday on the broader front was the defeat of Roger Federer, by the French player Jo-Wilfried Tsonga – the first time Federer had lost in a Grand Slam from being two sets up, losing 6/3,7/6,4/6.4/6,4/6  Despite the loss, Federer, who turns 30 in August, remains confident he can add to his Grand Slam total of 16.  “I think I definitely can, yes. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t the case,” he insisted.  “I think I’m playing well. I thought my game was plenty good enough this year to win the tournament. Unfortunately there’s only one that can win it, and the rest go home empty-handed.”  It was a second successive quarter-final loss at Wimbledon for the Swiss former world number one, Tomas Berdych the man to beat him last year, and Federer’s last Grand Slam triumph remains the 2010 Australian Open.

Tonight, the Women’s Singles semi finals were played – I watched part of the first game, but opted for another reasonable sleep as the clock went past 11.30pm!   In those matches, fifth seed Maria Sharapova swept past unseeded German Sabine Lisicki 6-4 6-3 to romp through to the Wimbledon women’s final, while eighth seed Petra Kvitova battled past Victoria Azarenka 6-1 3-6 6-2 to reach her first Grand Slam final.  The Czech, also a semi-finalist last year, was utterly dominant early on from the baseline with her crisp and accurate hitting. Belarusian fourth seed Azarenka, whose yelping noise when striking the ball has caused amusement and annoyance at the grass-court Grand Slam, stormed back in the second set though as Kvitova struck eight unforced errors, but she couldn’t maintain the comeback. Personally, I find it totally distracting and unpleasant to watch a match where the female player is engaged in so much on court screaming and grunting, another reason I switched off tonight, as Azarenka was playing!!

I realise that I do makes various contributions  on the case of Australia’s ‘refugee problem’, so when the following statistics were sent to me,  I felt the need to record these details for future reference, and just in case there is an interested reader.  Like we say ‘off air’ at the radio, if you don’t like what you are listening to, the solution is simple, switch off!! Same advice applies here.

On the 20 June 2011 it was recorded that the  UN REFUGEE FIGURES SHOW ASYLUM FEARS UNFOUNDED.

‘UN figures released today confirm that Australia’s share of asylum applications remains at just 1% of

the global total.

UNHCR Global Trends 2010, released today to mark World Refugee Day, reveals that the number of

people displaced by persecution and conflict rose by 400,000 last year to 43.7 million. Of these 15.4

million are refugees, 840,000 are asylum seekers and 27.5 million are displaced within their own

countries.

Of the 10.55 million refugees under UNHCR’s mandate, 75% come from just 10 countries of origin –

Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burma, Colombia, Sudan, Vietnam,

Eritrea and China. Just 10 countries host 62% of these refugees. They include Pakistan, Iran, Syria,

Germany, Jordan, Kenya and Chad.

By contrast, Australia hosts 21,805 refugees according to UNHCR, just 0.21% of the global total. In

2010, Australia received 1.04% of the world’s asylum applications and, as at December 2010, hosted

0.45% of the world’s asylum seekers. Australia’s contribution to refugee resettlement is more

substantial, being ranked third in the world with 8,516 refugees welcomed last year.

Refugee Council of Australia CEO Paul Power said the statistics brought much-needed context and

realism to the shrill and unbalanced national debate about asylum seekers.

“Few people outside Australia can understand why there is so much political division in Australia about

asylum policy, given that Australia’s share of global need is so small,” Mr Power said. “These figures

reveal that Australians should ignore politicians and others who try to whip up fear about the nation

being ‘swamped’ by asylum seekers. While some Australians make so much fuss about a comparatively

small national challenge, much poorer countries across in the Middle East and Africa and the Middle

East put our country to shame by showing much greater generosity towards people attempting to

escape persecution and torture.

The actual tables of statistics  relating to the above followed, but I won’t burden readers with a set of charts and tables!! I think the point that is being made in all this, is summed up in the last sentence above. We don’t know how well off we are, in contrast with the ‘refugee’ problems faced in many other parts of the world!

Meanwhile, on the same subject, a few days later, another pro-refugee support organisation called ChilOut [whose primary aim, as the name might suggest, is to get all refugee children out of detention].

Last Thursday, ChilOut released our report ‘No Place For Children: Detention on Christmas Island’ at Parliament House. The report was launched by Judi Moylan MP (Coalition) a long time supporter of ChilOut’s work, as well as ChilOut board members Dianne Hiles and Jo Hind. The report was written after Dianne Hiles and Jo Hind travelled to Christmas Island to investigate the conditions on the island for children.
The executive summary of the report states:
Australia’s mandatory detention regime has been found to be arbitrary. For all people who do not hold a valid visa, it is the first, not last, resort. This is its ultimate point of failure: the system is fundamentally flawed. While it imprisons children as a first resort and for indefinite periods of time, it contravenes international law and common sense morality. Children should not be locked up. Ultimately the government must recognise this and legislate to prevent the implementation of policies that breach Australia’s legal and moral obligations.
ChilOut visited Christmas Island in April 2011, and has grave concerns about a variety of risks that children in detention are exposed to there. If Australia is unable to keep children safe in off-shore facilities for which it is wholly responsible, what hope is there of human rights standards being maintained in facilities managed on our behalf in other countries? The immigration detention regime does not keep children safe and presents significant risks to their ongoing wellbeing.

I notice a comment was made today I think, by the Federal Immigration Minister expressing pride that the government had met it’s commitment to have all refugee children out of detention by the end of June  – well, not quite all of the children, apparently as an aside, he did mention that there were still 325 children to be moved from Christmas Island and other centres!!!  As ChilOut says ‘Unfortunately, not all children are being released by the 30 June deadline. We do not know what the Minister intends for the rest of the children in the long term . And without legislative change, there is always the chance that new children will end up back in detention’. Like the GETUP organisation, ChilOut is also seeking volunteers and financial support to help with their campaign.  One has to wonder at times what would happen to the many disadvantaged and sidelined groups in our society were it not for the work and efforts of these volunteer support organisations, which by their very nature have to depend themselves on the generosity and support of the broader community. So much of what they do – the question must be asked, why are not governments providing for these things?  A question that I don’t really have the answer to.

By ‘off-colour’, I mean unwell! After the radio show last night,  while it was almost 1am before I got to bed, I thought I felt fine at that stage. But I was awake again within an hour, and was suddenly feeling decidedly unwell.  It felt like a form of pain from a chest infection, only mild, but enough, I must admit to leading to a small degree of ‘panic’  [I guess, somewhere along the lines of the ‘panic attacks’ that both my sons have experienced at different times].  I know my thoughts went to the heart, and while I felt reasonably certain that was not the problem, my mild sensations of panic and concern, and the fact that I was alone, didn’t help matters a great deal!!  So I guess I was awake for the next 3 hours – was actually not keen to go back to sleep.  Two cups of black tea, had a bit of a soothing affect to some degree, while the tennis on the TV – well, I’d obviously missed earlier, another great win by our Bernard Tomic, who won his way into the quarter finals on Wednesday night, and couldn’t get much enthusiasm for the matches that were on at this time of the morning

I guess it would have been nice to have been able to forget work, and simply remain at home  this Tuesday – I thought of it, but that old bugbear of commitment came into play, so instead, I simply slept a little longer [when I did get back to sleep], and rang in to say I would be a bit later than usual. I must say that for most of my day in the office, I continued to not feel as well as I would have preferred – nothing serious, just that feeling below the surface that something was not quite right! And another radio show to do this evening, but much earlier, and a shorter version tonight.

Putting aside notes about health and work issues, there have been a couple of interesting ‘animal’ documentaries on the TV over recent weeks dealing with various forms of the ‘ape’ and ‘monkey’ world, and in the course of those programs,  we were reminded of Jane Goodall.  Dr Jane Goodall is an internationally-acclaimed primatologist, environmentalist and UN Messenger of Peace. She is also the best-selling author of “Hope for Animals and Their World” and “Reasons for Hope: A Spiritual Journey”. Goodall began studying the social organization of chimpanzees in 1960, in what is now Tanzania, under the mentorship of famed anthropologist and palaeontologist, Dr Louis Leakey. Her work at Gombe Stream would become the foundation of future primatological research and redefine the relationship between humans and animals. In 1977, she established the Jane Goodall Institute, which continues the Gombe research and is considered a global leader in the effort to protect chimpanzees and their habitats. “Roots & Shoots”, the institute’s global environmental and humanitarian youth network, has groups in more than 120 countries. In 2002, Goodall was appointed to serve as a United Nations Messenger of Peace, then reappointed in June 2007 by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. In 2004, she was invested as a Dame of the British Empire and in 2006, received the French Legion of Honour as well as the UNESCO Gold Medal.

The interesting thing about Jane Goodall, was that she  grew up with chimps from a young age and has been studying them, in her unique and unorthodox manner, since the early 60s. Because she was not scientifically-trained, Goodall observed things that others may have overlooked.   Instead of numbers, she used nicknames for her favourite chimps. Fifi and David Greybeard, she believed, displayed unique and individual personalities. This unconventional idea became the foundation of our present-day understanding that it isn’t only human beings who have personality and rational thought, and emotions like joy and sorrow.  Certainly watching the documentaries about the chimps and some of their other family members, it was not hard to see the reality of that kind of reasoning in many of the interactions between the various members of the family group.

In contrast to the comments at the beginning of this contribution, Bill was feeling okay by the time he returned home this evening, after another 2 hours on air. A brief exchange of text messages with Susan over a couple of minor matters, a light meal, some tennis, and not too late a night – in fact, while only of six hours duration, my sleep would be uninterrupted!  Rare for this guy!

Following his email of a couple of days ago regarding their cycling trip in Japan, I had a brief message overnight from Robert –  –  ‘Weather has been great for last 3 days and great riding through beautiful country side; but may change again tomorrow (weather not country side).  Those hot baths get addictive after a 100+ km ride!  Two more  days riding’.  I believe they will be back in Australia at the weekend.

Meanwhile, the ‘Earth Team’ group, which I used to be a ‘semi-part’ participant of a few years ago [think I went to 2/3 meetings] continue to be very active in trying to promote environmental practices, and ways of living. It’s not just the scientists, politicians and ‘greenies’ who are pushing issues in that respect, but many other groups and organisations. The ‘Earth Team’ is associated with the Uniting Church of Australia, and one area they have tried to promote over many years, is the use of Fair trade products by Australian consumers. Fair trade is an organized social movement and market-based approach that aims to help producers in developing countries make better trading conditions and promote sustainability. Fairtrade is about better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world. By requiring companies to pay sustainable prices, Fairtrade addresses the injustices of conventional trade, which traditionally discriminates against the poorest, weakest producers. It enables them to improve their position and have more control over their lives. According to Wikipedia, the movement advocates the payment of a higher price to producers as well as higher social and environmental standards. It focuses in particular on exports from developing countries to developed countries, most notably handicrafts, coffee, cocoa, sugar, tea, bananas, honey, cotton, wine, fresh fruit, chocolate, flowers and gold. I think there is at least one coffee lounge establishment here in Sunbury which sells only ‘fair trade’ coffee, along with a number of other items which come under the above categories.  Anyway, the latest email I have received from the Earth Team group notes that   “Over $3 million has been invested in Ghanaian cocoa growing communities since Cadbury launched its Fairtrade certified Dairy Milk chocolate range. This has helped improve the lives of more than 45,000 farmers and their communities. Thanks to everyone who has contributed by buying fair trade”.  It may not be felt that the movement would achieve much success in our kind of consumer driven society, but with numbers like that, affects are possible in areas of the world where such assistance is valuable.

While not quite related to the Fair Trade issue, I like a little quotation that appeared in  the  Earth Team’s email,. Which simply said  –  “Like water, be gentle and strong. Be gentle enough to follow the natural paths of the earth, and strong enough to rise up and reshape the world. ”  [attributed apparently to someone named Brenda Peterson].

And while on the subject of the environment the GETUP campaign team are not resting on whatever successes or otherwise they might achieve – today, they had left Tasmania behind and were up in the far north west of Australia, in the Kimberleys. More correctly, at the moment, they are looking for support from the community to actually create this new campaign  –   as far as I can see, aimed at keeping the area as a kind of national heritage site, in preference to allowing mining companies and other developers to take it over. In describing the Kimberleys, they remind us that    ‘The Kimberley is almost twice the size of Victoria, and one of the rarest environments on Earth today.  This large-scale relatively undisturbed reference site will be critical for understanding how regeneration of ecosystems might occur in the face of climate change.  It is one of the last great Indigenous homelands with 47.7% of the population identifying themselves as Indigenous’.  But GET UP haven’t forgotten Tasmania, and in the same breath   ‘In the Styx Valley of the Giants in Tasmania – home to the tallest hardwood trees on earth, some of these giant trees are being quite literally blown up. The trees are so huge loggers can’t safely fell them with chainsaws, so they use dynamite to bring them down before they are woodchipped and shipped overseas to be made into paper.   In one logging coupe in the Styx – TN047A – which is due to be logged in the next 3 months, Tasmanian devils were captured on infrared film foraging at night for food. Tasmanian Devils are at real threat of becoming extinct. But the habitat of these devils could be saved by the agreement reached last week between the logging industry and environment groups. This agreement could see the immediate protection of up to 570,000 hectares of high conservation value forest if the government commits to fully fund it’.   GETUP is pushing for the government  to support the industry agreement, and  because  they  have just over a week left to influence the Federal and Tasmanian governments before they make a crucial decision about whether to act, the organisation is calling for financial support to meet the costs of an advertising campaign before that happens.

Back in my ‘real world’, today was Committee Meeting day in the office, so normal routines were all over the place, but thankfully, I wasn’t required for the meeting itself, just had to make sure there was some lunch available. While tonight, I headed off to the radio station again, for the second of my new late Monday night show. Despite finishing at midnight, I think I am going to regularly feel like continuing behold that time – the variety and different genres of music that I am trying to promote is a format that I really enjoy presenting, and while 3 hours may seem a long shift on air, I generally feel enthusiastic enough to continue. However currently, we have a three hour limit on shows performed by individual presenters, and I have to stand by that requirement. The other factor of course, is that I need to be up in the morning for another day’s work!!  I generally feel pretty good at midnight, but 6 hours later, is generally a different matter!!!

Only briefly saw daughter Susan today – her return in the early hours of this morning, did not last for long. Spoke briefly today before I went out for a late morning walk, and not long after I returned, Susie was off again, and said she’d not be back until sometime next week!!  Apparently visiting someone today/tonight, and then back up to Bendigo on Sunday. I don’t think she even had the opportunity to visit her Mum or Nan on this ‘quick’ pass through ‘home’!!  I have to admit that when she left again, at around 12.30pm [after I’d organised the payment of her next month’s rent up in Bendigo], I felt rather unhappy about  the brief arrival and departure! Seems to be the way things are at present.

Overall, it would be a quiet weekend for this writer, with a great deal of my time devoted to more work on the family history, while outside, the gardens continued to be somewhat neglected.  With the winter season currently upon us, not a great deal of growth was happening in any case, though some of those weeds did need my attention! All in good time! Left on my own again this weekend, it was a case of housework, shopping and a bit of cooking, though not always as enthusiastic about the latter as I should be, when it is only this writer I am catering for.

Tonight, Australia’s  Bernard Tomic played his third round game at Wimbledon, I didn’t see the game [need some sleep occasionally] but awoke to the news that he had achieved another surprising win, and would next come up against Robin Sodering, who had just knocked Lleyton Hewitt out of the tournament. With the eventual defeat of our remaining lady in the tournament earlier this evening –  as I noted on Face Book during the evening –‘Come on Jarmila, a big effort for your adopted country, as our only girl left in Wimbledon, a tough call against the No. 1 player in the world, but you have all Aussie tennis fans on your side tonight!! If you can take her all the way, not much sleep for me, but who cares!!’  And later on, at the conclusion of the game –  ‘It’s over, Jarmila lost 3/6 2/6, too much class, the World No. 1, taught our girl a lesson in how to win a match without being too fancy. Think I’ll follow Wozniacki from hereon – world no. 1 yet never won the major tournaments, just plays  a lot of tennis very well!  Now, to bed or not – our last remaining man is about to play! Well, if he wins, I can watch his next game, if he loses, glad I didn’t sit up to watch it!  Even Casey Stoner is losing his MotoGP tonight’  –   in fact, he did come in second in tonight’s 6^th race of the season [forgotten where it was], but still remains in front of the 2011 MotoGP Championship, is riding in great form at present.

Sunday morning early, found me up at the radio station as usual, with my usual greeting of rabbits running in all directions as I approached the station entrance!  Apart from a walk later on, my return home soon after 9am would see me stay there. Probably should have made the effort and gone to the football in the city – but Jodie, who would have gone to this game [as boyfriend, Ash, barracks for the opposition] was working all weekend, and while I knew James would be at the game, he had his own group of ‘drinking and partying’ friends to join him these days, and I really preferred to be part of a quieter group!  As things would turn out, I would probably feel rather glad that I decided to remain at home, and watch today’s match on the TV again.

I noted the other night, Carlton coach Brett Ratten’s comment that a similar effort [to last weekend’s match against Sydney]  against West Coast  Eagles today would be a good indication of his team’s improvement this year, as West Coast themselves  have been in really good form.  Well, if today’s game was going to be such an indication, it was a deflated one, because the Blues were defeated for the first time in a number of weeks, and sitting there at home watching that game unfold, was to say the least, rather frustrating and disappointing, a relatively poor display, against a team, which admittedly, played very well, deserved the win, and rather outclassed our Carlton team.  It was an extra disappointment, because it negated Carlton’s chance to consolidate a position in the top three places of the competition, and even challenge for second spot, had they kept winning. Despite that, they have been having a good season, but with a injuries creeping in, and a definite  weakness on the forward line which I have noticed over recent weeks – simply no regularly consistent tall players to be able to rely on to take marks and kick goals on a consistent basis. West Coast really did stand out and dominate in that aspect of the match this afternoon.

For the record, final quarter by quarter scores were:

Carlton Blues:          2.3.15     4.6.30      9.7.61      Final:  10.7.67

West Coast Eagles:  2.6.18      8.10.58   12.11.83   FINAL: 15.13.103

Meanwhile, in the Formula 1 European Grand Prix tonight, Australia’s Mark Webber finished in 3^rd position, behind  teammate, Sebastian Vettel [again] and  Fernando Alonso.  The current Championship ladder sees Vettel well out in front  –  Sebastian Vettel [186 pts],  Jenson Button [109], Mark Webber [109], Lewis Hamilton [97] and Fernando Alonso [87]. I think Vettel would need to stop racing for the rest of the year for Webber, or anyone else to have a hope of taking his position!

And so the weekend has indeed flown away – a bit of a sporty discussion., I realise, but then, that is me, from time to time!!

These days, one doesn’t get a great deal of feedback about the ‘kid’s’ [all adults now] activities, which I guess is fairly natural. So in many ways, I have to depend on the occasional Face Book entry of one or other of them to find out what is going on. So I was pleased overnight to notice a ‘conversation between eldest son & daughter, commenting on their current studies – both are currently undertaking post graduate teaching courses, and James in particular is doing a few ‘school’ placements as part of that course. His descriptions range from ‘up half the night doing lesson planning’ to ‘awesome day at school’ actually presenting those lessons. Overall, sounds as though he is enjoying what he is doing – always thought he would be good with the younger kids [he is training at the Primary level], and it is appearing as though in the long run that feeling will be proved correct. Susan on the other hand is training at the Secondary level, and as she hears of James’ adventures teaching the younger kids, it seems to confirm her personal preference to teach the older students when she has completed the course. I gather that Susie has fallen a little behind in her program for the year, as, in her own words, she got a little distracted [by the boyfriend breakup] – certainly, she has being spending more time on campus over the past couple of weeks, presumably in an attempt to make up that ‘lost ground, which is good to hear.  Also good to know that there is some definite communication with at least one other member of the family.

Certainly, I hope that both continue with these particular courses –  it will really only be distractions that cause problems, and I think it is probably the kind of distractions which the son faces that I worry about more these days – works hard all week, currently both studying and part-time job but tends to ‘party’ just as hard over the weekends, and other periods when the pressure is off!!  Certainly, not as socially conservative as was [and still is] his father!!

On a more national front, Federal Parliament this week was either celebrating, or trying to forget, that today was the 1q2 month anniversary of when [as Tony Abbott puts it] ‘Julia Gillard knifed Kevin Rudd and replaced him as Prime Minister, and much is being made of the claimed existing rift still between the two factions, and suggestions in many circles [especially by the Opposition] that Kevin Rudd wants his ‘old job’ as Prime Minister back, and is discreetly trying to undermine Julia Gillard in the background. True or not, Tony Abbott is obviously going to persist in his pushing of those innuendos, and with the following kind of argument, which appeared in today’s Liberal Party release.

“Twelve months ago today, Julia Gillard knifed Kevin Rudd and replaced him as Prime Minister. Ms Gillard – the very person who had been involved in every key decision of the Labor Government and was the Minister responsible for the waste, rorts and mismanagement of the $16 billion BER program – said Mr Rudd had to go because “a good government had lost its way”. But a good government doesn’t lose its way. A bad government does. And everything this Labor Government does just turns out to be a lemon.  In her first press conference as Prime Minister Julia Gillard said her priority was to fix three problems:

1. Labor’s disastrous mining tax,
2. The flood of illegal boat arrivals and
3. The lack of community consensus on climate change.

One year later and the mining tax remains unresolved.  Instead of leadership, we have witnessed the embarrassment of Julia Gillard’s East Timor ‘solution’. This has been accompanied by a $1.7 billion budget blowout in the cost of building and running detention centres for the more than 11,400 illegal boat arrivals who have taken advantage of Labor’s weak border protection policy. Now we have Julia Gillard’s Malaysia ‘solution’, except that Malaysia has not agreed to any deal!  Julia Gillard’s weak, directionless and incompetent handling of these issues is only exceeded by her blatant breach of trust with the Australian people in reneging on her promise that “there will be no carbon tax under the government I lead”.  Labor’s carbon tax will unnecessarily drive up prices and threatens thousands of Australian jobs and crucial Australian exports.  For Australian families, a carbon tax means only one thing: more pressure on already stretched family budgets as it flows through to higher electricity, gas and petrol prices and more expensive groceries.  For young families planning to build a new home, Labor’s carbon tax will mean higher costs for building materials.  For workers in many of our manufacturing industries Labor’s carbon tax means uncertainty about the future of their jobs.\  The cost of living is skyrocketing and all Labor has to offer is a carbon tax that will make cost of living pressures worse for average Australians and their families.  Julia Gillard has continued Labor’s incompetence, wasteful spending and economic mismanagement:

• The Budget deficit has now soared to almost $50 billion – the second largest since the Second World War.
• Net government debt will climb to a record $107 billion in 2011/12 – equivalent to $4782 per person.
• Labor is now borrowing $135 million every day.

Australia continues to drift under a weak, directionless and increasingly divided government.

Julia Gillard is not up to the job of Prime Minister. Even her colleagues know she isn’t up to the job, and Labor powerbrokers are talking about who will replace her. Meanwhile, Australians are paying a high price as our country continues to drift.  On the first anniversary of Ms Gillard’s leadership, the contrast could not be clearer between an ineffective Labor Government and a Coalition with clear direction, good policies and strong leadership”.

The Liberal Party under Tony Abbott have been repeating these arguments adnausem for months now, and as I think I have noted a few times recently, the negativity and lack of firm alternative approaches to much that is being attacked [as demonstrated through the tone of the above statement], is starting to grate on this Liberal supporter, not enough to change sides, but certainly enough to begin thinking that we have the wrong leader and/or the wrong ‘approach’ to the whole question of opposition and presenting one’s party as an alternative government. It seems to be working in the polls, but I am yet to be convinced that this approach is pleasing the majority of the electorate.

Meanwhile from the GETUP organisation, news of their latest campaign push – on the environment this time.  ‘In the early hours of this morning, the Tasmanian logging industry and environmental groups signed off on a final agreement to protect 570,000 hectares of ancient high conservation value forests, with the majority of it being protected immediately. The conflict between these two groups has been a part of the political landscape for a generation of Australians – but last night’s agreement can end it.  This turning point will mean nothing if the agreement does not have the full commitment and financial support of State and Federal Governments. Environmentalists, unionists and loggers have over a year negotiating this agreement – [and GETUP suggests that now is the time for it’s supporters to come in – by sending an email to our local MP or Senator, asking  them to commit to implementing this agreement by creating Australia’s newest national parks for Australia’s oldest trees] –     Ending the 30 year deadlock hasn’t been easy. Both sides have agreed to significant compromises. Long-held positions were challenged and set aside in order to come to an agreement that can deliver real environmental protection and a sustainable timber industry that is competitive in the 21st century marketplace.   The agreement opens the way for the government to immediately save almost half a million hectares of Tasmania’s ancient native forests. Like the Daintree rainforests and Kakadu, Tasmania’s forests are a key part of our national identity.  Despite the fact that the newly released agreement is a complex one, which addresses some issues up front and leaves others to be resolved through ongoing processes, GETUP needs to show the government that is it not just the representatives of the timber industry and environment groups who support an end to the conflict over Tasmania’s forests, but the ordinary people of Australia’. This kind of debate over forest and water resources in Tasmania has been going on for decades, and obviously, any outcome will have affects on lives, employment, and perhaps the long term future or otherwise of many small towns and communities that have always depended on the timber industries for their survival.  I haven’t  seen the details of the ‘agreement’ but presumably this kind of effect, etc will come into the document in some ways, and not just be all favourable to the environmentalists.  GETUP have provided the reference to the ‘agreement’ details, and maybe I should try and find time to study it to some degree!!

My football team is going into this Sunday’s game against the West Coast Eagles [another team on the rise of success] with a fair degree of confidence [much different to recent years]. But as coach, Brett Ratten said last night  ‘CARLTON still has a way to go before the swagger truly returns to Visy Park’, but he concedes that he is starting to see some parallels between his third-placed Blues and the dominant teams he was part of during his 255-game career less than a decade ago. The coach was at pains to point out that winning finals is the only true measure of a team, but this year’s resurgent defence at least has him confident his current group is on the right path to emulating the successful teams of the club’s past.”When people look at Carlton, they look at the swagger or that type of thing, but I think it’s more about our attitude and our hardness,” Ratten said from Visy Park.
 “I think when you reflect a bit [maybe people] have looked at Carlton as a flair team, but I think our great success at our football club has been [built on] our defence. “It’s been a long time since we’ve been in finals and won them, but reflecting back to 1995 when I was part of that [premiership] team you look at Stephen Silvagni, Peter Dean, Michael Sexton and Andrew McKay; they were just ruthless and hard. That was where our Carlton spirit came from.”  Ratten said the Blues still have a lot of work to do this season, despite recording nine wins from 12 games, and don’t yet deserve to be considered a genuine threat to premiership favourites Collingwood and Geelong, having been beaten by both this campaign.  Carlton’s stocks have risen in the eyes of many after last weekend’s clinical disposal of former bogey team the Sydney Swans and Ratten said a similar effort against West Coast this Sunday would be a good indication of his team’s improvement this year. West Coast have been in really good form,” he said.

On a more personal front again,  I received an email from Robert tonight, from Japan, where he and Evelyn were on a ‘cycling ‘holiday’,  planned I noticed, so that they would be back in time to watch the Tour de France!!  Anyway, in a joint email, sent to his son, Stuart, and myself,  Rob had the following news.  ‘Half way through our Hokkaido cycling trip. Riding is going well but weather not too kind for past 2 days – rain and freezing (top of 10C); riding with 3 layers + rain-jacket + arms + long-fingered gloves! It is summer! Hopefully things will improve tomorrow! Only 2 decent climbs so far (one of 14km and the other of 10km); Evelyn did well on both.  Thursday morning we were on north-east coast when at 7.00 am there was another large earth-quake off Sendai (centre of last disaster) which we felt way up north. Interesting in the coastal town we were in that night, to see tsunami evacuation directions everywhere and sea walls about 2 metres high (the Sendai tsunami in March was 35 metres)!   All meals are pretty much traditional Japanese, so will be desperate for a steak by time I get back. No need to have brought clothes for evening as every night for dinner we wear kimonos and slippers! All hotels we stay have only tiny bathrooms in room (if any), but all have communal hot baths – takes a bit of getting used to but relaxing after a long ride.
Tonight in a nice hotel on edge of A caldera lake (Akan); room actually has beds so a change from sleeping on futons. A beautiful spot (whole country is very scenic); tried walking into town after dinner (not in kimonos) to see some local parade, but freezing so returned to hotel after half hour”.
 

Overnight,  Australia’s young tennis star, Bernard Tomic continued his rain interrupted 2^nd round match at Wimbledon  –  I have to admit, I wanted to watch it, but eventually, thinking he would end up losing anyway, gave it away at around midnight, not long after Susie came home – presumably from Bendigo via somewhere else she had been tonight.  Earlier, Jodie called by briefly again, dropping off some bread from her part time  workplace [Bakers Delight], had a brief spell on Susie’s computer, and in response to a text she sent to Susie, discovered that the latter was returning tonight, but when, she didn’t know.  I hoped, as the night got later, that she was not out on the highway somewhere, but I don’t really get told much about her goings on these days. At least when she and Jimmy were together, I generally had some idea of where Susie was from one day to the next. Currently, I seem to know, or be told, very little about her comings and goings!! Anyway, back to Bernard Tomic, he fought back from two sets to one down overnight against Igor Andreev, and eventually went on to win his 2^nd round game in five sets, a great effort from one who should not really have been expected at this stage to win even the 1^st round at Wimbledon. This followed on from his first round win over the number 29 seed, Nikolay Davydenko.  I wonder how long he can keep up this great form? With Saturday approaching, we have Bernard, and Jarmila both to play in 3^rd round matches – would love to watch both games, but up all night of a Saturday, is not a good option for this writer, with his early Sunday morning radio stints!!

I notice that the National Seniors organisation is sponsoring an Australian film production which deals with taboo subjects faced by ageing males.  Titled ‘Codgers’, it tells the story of five senior Aussie men, four of them mates since war service.  They exercise together, chew the fat about their families together, laugh, tease and sing. They solve the problems of the world, agreeing to disagree.  Subjects raised within the film, include such topics as ageing with dignity, friendships and self-worth, together with questions relating to the existence of adequate incomes in retirement,  and men’s health issues.  It has been adapted for the screen from the award-winning stage comedy, Codgers [which I didn’t see], and  stars Ronald Faulk, Ron Haddrick, Edwin Hodgeman, Jon Lam, Russell Newman and Shane Porteous.  I suppose I should begin to take note of all these kind of issues – well actually, in most instances, I am anyway, but do need a bit of work on the future financial area!!!  Time is getting short, so guess I had better make some positive moods in that direction – I’ve never been one to constantly have money and material needs on my mind, but perhaps it is those who possess the most wealth, who think about such things the most.

This week, there has been a very challenging, and at times emotional TV series [over three nights] on the SBS channel, called ‘Go Back Where You Came From’, it features the ‘adventures’ of  six ordinary Australians who take on the challenge to live like refugees for 25 days, and in the process, undertake amongst other things, a perilous boat journey. Much emphasise was place on our attitudes towards refugees, and in particular the different perceptions of the terms of boat people, refugees and asylum seekers.  Generally, these perceptions, and attitudes such as referring to the boat people as illegal immigrants, criminals, etc are pushed by political persuasion and the kind of aggro that has been built over the past decade or so, by the nature of government policies.  I think a point that myself and couple of friends on Face Book agreed with was that the program would have been better shown on mainstream commercial television where it would reach a wider audience, and generally, that part of the Australian community who have willingly accepted the type of political innuendos about refugees we constantly get from our leaders, who claim compassion in their policies, but seem to have forgotten the true meaning of that word, or extended their ‘compassion’ in the wrong direction. It needed an audience, where people felt ashamed of the way they act, and the way they think and feel about refugees in general, and while doubt many viewers such as myself, were even left with that time of shame, there was a market of potentially millions, who seldom consider tuning into SBS, and missed that opportunity.

The program encouraged comments from viewers, and the one that follows, more or less expressed many of my feelings. The contributor wrote:-    “SBS- I can’t thank and commend you enough for what you have been able to put together. What an amazing concept- one of the best ways to encourage real thought and challenge assumptions than to allow all of us to walk in the shoes of others. The format of this program is outstanding and really effective in pulling out some of the aspects of the refugee experience that we often forget to consider or take for granted (loss of documents, belongings being taken away etc). One really powerful point I found in last nights program was where the congolese lady mentioned that peace in Australia is felt in the absence of gun fire. So often criticism surrounds people seeking refuge in Australia for “our jobs”, “our land”, “our money” or whatever when simple things like this, that should be a universal right, means more than anything else in the world to these people. What a simple thing to share!”   Another comment, put it to the government directly – ‘I really wish the Government, the Opposition, and the Media would overtly recognize and emphasize the small proportion of immigration represented by boat refugees and say openly “This is a tiny problem compared to immigration by air. By and large these are the kind of people with the courage and determination that we need in Australia. We are not ashamed to accept them in the same way that we accepted the refugee boat people from Vietnam. Therefore we will no longer have our policies determined by scaremongering.”

As often with these matters, I was ‘risky’ enough to initiate a ‘conversation’ on Face Book about the subject, and had a few friends joined in. Most of their comments seemed to be in line with mine, with one exception , a family member who came over with the kind of misguided and misunderstood perception of the whole process that I was referring to above – the kind of opinion that needs to actually try and learn something from shows such as this one. Still entitled to her view of course, but unfortunately, I can’t relate here what she had to say  – after receiving one or two responses, including mine, below, that one ‘opposing’ viewpoint pulled her contribution from the discussion [deleted it], so we really only had the one side of things represented as a result, although the responses tend to suggest the other views. Anyway, the following are some of the comments made, and I’ve simply used an initial for the contributors – [B] for Bill, and the others I have left anonymous, for their comfort.

[B] Folks, if you get the chance, SBS tonight/Thurs 8.30 pts 2 & 3 of  ‘Go Back To Where You Come From’ – Ep 1 last night , I was disturbed to think that the racial prejudice & associated ignorance displayed by a couple of the participants is presumably typical of the way many Australians think. Yes, well I liked it, although it disturbed me a little. [A] made a good point on another feed – that it is wasted on SBS, should be shown on mainstream TV [7,9, etc] where it will reach a wider, and probably an audience that needs to see something like that – give them a bit of reality instead of just what is fed by politicians, etc

[S]If it was on Channel 9 it would be shot as an expose’ on wicked people smugglers and no-good queue jumpers ripping off Your Tax Paying Dollars. I think the participants are pretty typical of most Aussies and their attitudes to boat people, Bill.  By ‘most’ I mean ‘the majority’. I’m told that we’re a bit more tolerant in this part of Australia but that Queensland, Western Sydney and Western Australia lap that stuff up. Just ask Alan Jones.

[B] Comment 1 – probably true. Comment 2 – I don’t accept the word ‘most’ – a high proportion, yes, but there area lot of individuals, groups and organisations in Australia who work very hard to the welfare of refugees, esp the ‘boat people’

At this point, a point of opposition against the boat people, and some antagonism in general to refugees was expressed, and the following couple of pieces came in response to that viewpoint.

[R] Asylum seekers are people seeking asylum/ refuge who may or may not be refugees – once assessed most people who arrive by boat are found to be refugees- i guess this is due to the extremely dangerous and arduous journey involved- generally only the most desperate attempt it.

[B]  Thank you R, your explanation is why people who don’t watch SBS should do so for 2 hours tonight/tomorrow, they will get a wake up to the reality of both classes of refugees/asylum seekers, as the participants in the program are no doubt going to do when their journey is over. If the option is to ‘hitch’ a ride, or stay where you are and face certain death, as thousands of innocent families have under the Burmese regime, as just one example,, or spend up to 20 years over the border as a stateless refugee in Thailand [as thousands more continue to do], there is no choice to my mind if you want to ‘try’ and protect your loved ones – except for the majority, they don’t even get that choice to ‘hitch’ a ride, as they simply don’t have the resources to sell up what is left of their lives, to the vultures with the boats. There is no ‘last desperate attempt’ to find a better life, most don’t even get that opportunity.

[S]. An asylum seeker is still someone who is a refugee. According to the figures claimed in the program last night, 1% of refugees in the world are resettled in new countries by the UNHCR. Saying that asylum seekers aren’t real refugees is a bit like saying that you aren’t entitled to Government assistance if your house burnt down on Black Saturday, if the CFA never attended to that particular fire. People like to think that there are cut and dried rules about being a refugee and that there are right ways and wrong ways but the system seems pretty broken to me. People are trying to survive anyway they can to find a safe haven. Maybe you should watch the show to get more information about the issue.is a bit like saying that you aren’t entitled to Government assistance if your house burnt down on Black Saturday if the CFA never attended to that particular fire. People like to think that there are cut and dried rules about being a refugee and that there are right ways and wrong ways but the system seems pretty broken to me. People are trying to survive anyway they can to try and find a safe haven. Maybe you should watch the show to get more information about the issue?

[B] Watching the final episode, can’t find the words to describe how it leaves one feeling, perhaps someone else can find that word for me! Highlyconfronting, emotional, a real wake up call to how we think about the rest of the world.

[R] Do you mean that in the sense that there is horror and chaos out there beyond imagining and that if we think that our talk of queues and turn taking, here in margarine ad land has one iota of relevance we are deluded?

[B]  Something along those lines R – I recall the comment made by one of the participants, that we are indeed a lucky country, and peoples – travelling with that group, that would have been an instant realisation. I was ‘almost’ beginning to like that girl named Raquel, I think, towards the end, she was almost starting to suggest that she had a heart that could feel for the misfortunes of others. Perhaps the return to the participants next Tuesday night will reveal how the journey actually changed any of them.  Tonight’s [3^rd] episode, quite heart rending at times.

I had another brief visit from Jodie again this evening, think she stayed for about an hour or so, leaving just before the above program commenced. I guess when she gets her computer fixed, the visits won’t be so frequent. Meanwhile, I think I am expecting Susie back from Bendigo tomorrow. Can never be sure of her movements, but she has been up there since Monday of last week, the longest absence this year. She is tending not to commit to specific times at present [not to her family anyway], so we [me anyway] just wait and see!!

Well, it seems to vary, between yesterday today – generally known as the Winter Solstice here in the Southern Hemisphere.  The seasonal significance of the winter solstice is in the reversal of the gradual lengthening of nights and shortening of days. Depending on the shift of the calendar, the winter solstice usually occurs on Dec. 21 or 22 each year in the Northern Hemisphere, and June 20 or 21 in the Southern Hemisphere^.  From Wikipedia, I read that   ‘The winter solstice occurs exactly when the axial tilt of a planet is farthest away from its star, depending on the polar hemisphere of reference. Earth’s maximum axial tilt to our Sun during a solstice is 23° 26′. More evidently from high latitudes, a hemisphere’s winter solstice occurs on the shortest day and longest night of the year, when the sun’s daily maximum position in the sky is the lowest.  Since the winter solstice lasts only a moment in time, other terms are often used for the day on which it occurs, such as midwinter, the longest night or the first day of winter’.  It’s actually a comforting thought to realise that from this point onwards, it will ‘slowly’ begin to be light earlier in the morning, as darkness comes a little later each night. O know that when going up the radio station on a Sunday morning, it is always much more pleasant to do so  in the early morning daylight, in preference to the current darkness.

 Now, I was a little annoyed that prior to my brief sports reporting appearance on the radio this morning, that I was unable to obtain from any source,  two of the Australian girl’s results from Tuesday at Wimbledon. All news was about Tomic, Hewitt or Stosur, the other two completely ignored, and I had to wait some time today before discovering the outcome of those two games, which is seems had been deferred until Day 3 [tonight, our time!!]. Annoyed, because I had wanted to provide a ‘full’ overnight results service of all the Australians at Wimbledon!!  Unfortunately, my ‘host’ was not as interested or concerned as I was on that matter!!! Amazing how so often, we are only interested in the big names, unless someone else is winning!

I was reading a few notes from my former University’s alumina online publication the other day, and found the following little story about a former graduate of the university [Melbourne University], and I thought I woul;d like to share it with my many readers!!!!

“At 8.30am on 11 May, BCom/LLB alumnus Paul Hameister was privileged to be the first climber for the 2011 season to stand on top of the world.   At the same time, he became the 68th Australian in history to summit Mt Everest.   Paul attributes his achievement to the support of many others including his guide, well-known New Zealander Dean Staples, their ‘superhuman’ team of sherpas: Lhakpa (7th summit): Tendi (4th summit) and Gelu (2nd summit), the team at Adventure Consultants who provided infrastructure and support for the entire trip, and the core Melbourne support group who cared for his wife and children while he was on the climb.   Paul also acknowledged the support of his mother and his father who, at the age of 69, walked heroically with him to Base Camp at the start of the journey.

‘I will save the detailed stories for another time, suffice to say that aside from now being 10kg lighter, still coughing up blood and some frostbite on my face (kisses from Chomolungma herself), I am in relatively good shape.’  Paul’s account of the summit tells of a journey not without its trials and tragedy, which makes his achievement all the more significant.  ‘There was only one other group on the mountain on the 11th including Apa Sherpa, the world record holder for number of summits (this was his 21st summit). They summitted an hour after us. Apa Sherpa had the good sense to let us break trail for the night.   ‘The following day the weather turned for the worse but, encouraged by our early success, a number of groups had a crack. However, none made the summit and sadly, the veteran Japanese climber Takashi Ozaki lost his life from HAPE (high altitude pulmonary edema) on 12th May. He had climbed six of the 8000m peaks including Everest previously.  ‘It has been a very cold season and I have had reports of summit attempts in recent days resulting in bad frostbite injuries that will require amputations. Most groups are still on the mountain at Base Camp waiting for the weather to improve.  ‘The summit itself is the most magical place I have ever been and I will never forget my first sight of those prayer flags fluttering in the wind. 

‘For me though, the 45 days I spent on Everest (and the months of training) will forever be the high watermark in my life of selfishness as a husband and a father and I have an incredibly unique wife to have allowed me this self-indulgence.   ‘Most importantly, I want to thank my wife and kids, without whose strength, support and love, the achievement of this dream would not have been possible.   ‘Now for some rest and some quality family time. The night I left Melbourne for this journey, my nine-year-old daughter Jade made me promise that I would come home safe. I am delighted to still be able to tell my kids that we don’t break promises in our family.’  Making this trip all the more remarkable is the $25,000 that Paul and his group together raised for an educational scholarship program in Nepal. The program supports 70-80 at-risk young kids in Nepal and will now be able to run in 2011 and 2012 and make a real difference to their lives.  The Faculty of Business and Economics wishes to congratulate Paul on his amazing and inspiring achievement and dedication.  Paul graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Commerce in 1991 and a Bachelor of Laws in 1992. He is the Joint Managing Director of Hamton Property Group”.

Contributed  as a part of Bill’s blog  –  I was a part-time student at the University of Melbourne for 7 years in the late 1960s/early 70s – should have been only 6 years part-time, but a lack of concentration one year, meant I ended up having to repeat a couple of subjects. However, we persisted with the course, and eventually came out with a Bachelor of Commerce Degree, no special achievements, or anything, just the basic degree. It was actually my second attempt at that Degree – when I first arrived in Melbourne in the middle of 1966, I commenced the course the following year, but because of the clash with a new found ‘social life’ which I’d rarely experienced before, gave the studies away for a couple of years, started again in 1970, I think! The main study areas were subjects of accounting, economics, legal studies [mainly of a commercial nature], and a few other minor areas. I believe the most favoured subject I studied, which was probably the least of value in terms of future employment, was called ‘Economic History’. I remember that our main lecturer was a man who is today one of Australia’s most renowned authors and historians, Professor Geoffrey Blainey. At that time, the highlight of the year was a field trip with Professor Blainey to an archaeological site somewhere to the east of Ballarat – have often tried to recall just exactly where that was [on somebody’s property I would imagine], but because I didn’t actually drive, but travelled as part of a bus tour, didn’t really take in properly, exactly where we went.  Also, I think my attention might have also been slightly distracted by one my fellow female students, who basically became one of the few friends that I made during the course of those years at the university, only going there usually of an evening for late lectures [I was working full time], and to the Bailleau Library sometimes of a weekend.  Often wondered what happened to that friend – can’t even recall her name, so a little to track someone down under those circumstances!!!

Incidentally, I finally discovered the fortunes or otherwise of our other two Australian girls in the Wimbledon Round 1 competition.  Anastasia Rodionova was unfortunately defeated by her Czech opponent, Andrea Hlavackova  6/1, 6/2, rather convincingly it seems.  However better fortunes for Jarmila Gajdosova [formerly Groth, changed back to her maiden name following a relationship breakup since last year] who had a 2 sets win over Alona Bondarenko of the Ukraine, 7/5, 6/3.  So I think she is our only female representative through to the second round.

This is becoming a bad habit, combining more than one day into a blog!!  But sometimes [quite often in fact] other tasks of the day get in the way!! Anyway, we are experiencing a cold and Wintry week in this part of Victoria, and if you are a regular or irregular air passenger, more disruptions from Monday onwards as a consequence of a further ‘bout’ of volcanic ash spreading across the oceans from ‘that’ volcano in Chile a couple of weeks ago – in fact, I believe the volcano is ‘still’ spewing out ash and material etc, so the problem, certainly as it affects air flights may continue spasmodically!  For me, that is one aspect of daily life that generally won’t be of concern to me personally.

By Tuesday however, a cloud of volcanic ash had virtually paralysed the Australian east coast operations of most domestic airlines, and basically disrupted the travel plans of up to 60,000 passengers, and costing the tourism industry, an estimated $10 million a day. This is all a repeat of what happened less than two weeks ago.  The comment made by one convention spokesman was ‘We’re now looking at a case of constant shock syndrome in our industry. If it’s not a natural disaster domestically, it’s our two biggest inbound markets hit by tsunamis and earthquakes, and now we have major aviation disruption with more than 500 flights cancelled’.

Meanwhile, over in ‘sunny’ England, Wimbledon was underway on Monday – as far as I can tell, only one Aussie competitor competing on Day 1 [Monday] – another ‘girl’ we always have high hopes for [as do they, I guess] but disappointment usually follows! No exception to that with Jelena Dokic who went down in a hard fought match against the 2010French Open winner, Francesca Schiavone of Italy, 6/4,1/6,6/3.

There is a rather interesting debate going on in Ballarat at present, between the Ballarat Art Gallery, and a newly created Australian Centre for Democracy, at the Eureka Stockade in Ballarat. The Gallery has received a request from the Centre that it lend the latter, the Eureka Flag which has been on display in the Ballarat Art Gallery since 1895, when it was first loaned to the Gallery, and has basically been associated with the Gallery displays for over a century.  The current display was a result of restoration work in the 1970s, on the original flag,  as donated to the Gallery by the King family, who had first placed it on loan in 1895. The story of the ‘Eureka Flag’ can best be summarized as follows

“We swear by the Southern Cross to stand truly by each other and fight to defend our rights and liberties.” Beneath the starry flag of rebellion, that oath was taken by hundreds of gold diggers at Ballarat in 1854. The Eureka rebellion led by Peter Lalor was a short lived revolt against petty officialdom and although a military failure, led to political and personal benefits for many Australians. The original Eureka flag, first raised on Bakery Hill and then flown over the Eureka Stockade and torn down by Trooper King during the bloody battle in the early morning of Sunday December 3rd, 1854, is now proudly displayed at the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery. Australia’s only rebellion is a highlight of history and inspiration for poets, novelists, journalists and filmmakers.

 The most recent edition of ‘Association’, the oddly named title of the quarterly magazine of the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery [of which organisation, I am a Member] has highlighted the nature of this request, and then allowed space for both sides of the ‘debate’ [on whether the ‘loan’ should take place] to present their view. Those views are quite extensive – I’ve selected just one paragraph in each case, as representative of the gist of arguments being presented. In introducing those opposing views, the Gallery Director noted:-  I imagine that most members would have a position on the issue and some would hold those views very passionately. I think it completely appropriate that two well respected members of Ballarat’s arts community present the opposing sides of the debate’.  Incidentally, my reading of the complete views of the Centre’s argument ‘suggest’ that the new organisation is seeking, in the longterm, more than just a loan of the flag! And again, there is much more material included in both arguments, but in noting the event in this daily contribution, I needed to try and find one major aspect of each argument. A closer reading of the entire document in each case will possibly reveal a number of pertinent points, and I await with interest, the outcome and final decision of the Board of the Gallery, which will be presumably partially based on the two arguments.

So for the argument ‘that the Eureka flag should stay at the Art Gallery’, we note that ‘In December 1973,Prime Minister Gough Whitlam came to Ballarat to unveil the restored Eureka Flag above the staircase and made a landmark speech identifying Eureka  with our quest for national identity. Many other political leaders have come here to pay homage. Such a reverential tradition should not be abandoned for the sake of making the new Eureka Centre more commercially viable’……. A repeated argument is that the flag should be at its ‘home’ – the site where it flew over the stockade. Apart from the fact that we have still not settled the question of where exactly was the stockade, I contend that the most important site associated with the flag is indeed Bakery Hill, in the centre of Ballarat, where an estimated people gathered under it at a public meeting at the end of November 1854 and vowed to fight for their democratic rights as citizens. The Gallery is close to Bakery Hill and it is in the very heart of the historic city of Ballarat, in its most important heritage precinct…’

From the other side of ‘Where should the Eureka flag be?’, the writer begins with ‘The answer is…a no- brainer – it’s logical home is the Australian Centre for Democracy at Eureka. Yes, I know many arguments have been mounted in support of the Eureka Flag staying at the Gallery – its long residency there, the emotional bond Gallery friends and Association members have forged with it, a putative visitor pulling power, the free access to it and so on….[but]  now is the ideal time to re-connect it to its original life, to re-invigorate it as an emblem of resistance…the Eureka Centre will be able to achieve what the Gallery hasn’t been able to, providing the Flag with the essential context, weaving it back into the events of the past so that it takes on enhanced meaning in the present…[and]…as the historical icon of the Eureka Rebellion, belongs at the institution built specifically to celebrate this event’.

Certainly, to my mind, the above subject matter added a rather ‘tasty reading morsel’ to this latest edition of  the magazine referred to. My own view – being conservative by nature, I believe the Gallery is entitled to retain the Flag as an essential part of it’s ‘Eureka’ display which was the original purpose and hope of the King family in initially loaning it to the Gallery, and then donating it permanently. It is well protected environmentally where it is currently, and constant moving and relocating of the fragile material must have a detrimental affect on the item itself. I feel that most of the Board will think that way, but then, they may not be as conservative as this writer.

Onto music, and more specifically,  my new Monday night program –  second edition tonight, and while there was no specific direct feedback during the program [which is of 3 hours duration from 9pm until Midnight], I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed what I was doing, and the variety of music [and comedy] genres that I had programmed into those 3 hours – basically, a mix of folk music, Blues, jazz, some international [world] tracks, a bit of Australian country music [in fact the program is aimed at a high proportion of Australian artistic content, which is also an aim, of the radio station], together with a few selections from past years, and a little comedy segment, which so far, has concentrated on playing some old comedy sketches from many decades ago – tonight a sketch performed in France at the beginning of World War 2 called ‘The Proposal’ by a couple of English comedians  – Arthur Askey and Richard Murdoch. This, and last week’s equivalent sketch [Laughing Gas], I had copied from an old vinyl recording which had been in my possession since the 1960s – I must have played that recording times in that decade, because I notice that my transcribed version to CD did admittedly have it’s share of little background noises which I had been unable to get rid of, however the overall sound and copy was quite good, I felt. Over the months ahead, I do hope to build up a reasonable listening base, because apart from other presenters, most of us don’t generally hear from the general public – I guess a natural inclination not to get on the phone and ring the station you are listening to unless it is one of the talkback stations. We have to therefore [most of us] rely on research and surveys to get some idea of a total audience. However, I present my shows on the basis that there are many people listening, and I attempt to sound as though I am speaking to, and playing the music etc, for each of them individually!

Of course, getting home after midnight, is not much fun for someone of my age, but one soon adjusts to things like that, although I will find it very difficult to achieve a great desire to attempt to sleep for some time afterwards. That should not be a problem once I finish work, but at present of course, a relatively early Tuesday morning start remains necessary!

Meanwhile, Tuesday’s results for Australia at Wimbledon [Day 2] were a bit of a mixed ‘bag’ of outcomes. From my point of view, the big disappointment was the vanquishing of Samantha Stosur – bundled out in the 1^st Round two years in a row, after once again, promising so much! She played a girl ranked about 282 [or 262] in the world rankings – and well, quite literally, ought to be ashamed of her performance, it was a very poor effort for someone of her abilities and current world ranking –  defeated by unseeded Hungarian girl, Melinda Czink 6/3, 6/4.  A couple of our men got through to Round 2  –  young Bernard Tomic defeated former world number 3, Nikolay Davydenko 7/5,6/3,7/5 [ a promising result], while the ageing Lleyton Hewitt ‘teased’ us all again win his win against Kei Nishikoro [Japan?] 6/1,7/6,6/3  – in view of the spate of injuries he suffers these days, Hewitt is probably happy to get a win, and we don’t really expect him to progress too much further into the tournament, certainly I doubt he will ever win another Grand Slam tournament to add to his previous Wimbledon and US Open titles! Meanwhile, Australian qualifier Marinko Matosevic lost to the Argentinean, Tuan Ignacio Chela 6/4, 6/4, 6/7,6/2, which seems on paper to have been a pretty good effort. Anastasia Rodionovic and Jarmila Gajdosova [Groth] were scheduled to play Tuesday, but their games must have been deferred until Wednesday.

I notice that the recent ban on livestock exports of cattle, etc, to Indonesia, may have some more unexpected outcomes. Australia’s Agriculture has just visited Indonesia, in an attempt to solve the crisis, but on initial reports, his visit has failed, in the interim at least, to resolve the crisis. A warning was given today that the expiry of the June quarter import licences [next week] could put Australian farmers at ‘real risk of a longer term lockout’ from the Indonesian market, for their cattle sales. The June quarter cattle import licences expire in eight days and exporters have run out of time to ship the 10,000 to 12,000 cattle stranded at northern ports, even if the export suspensions were lifted immediately. Importers of Australian cattle cannot apply for third-quarter licences from July 1^st without clarity on when and how their supply resumes, and apparently the Indonesian Agriculture Minister has the final say on who gets permits and when. So the consequence of the Australian government ban, could see Jakarta ‘lock out’ Australian cattle exporters!!  Unlikely, but the warning has been given! I don’t think I would like my future family livelihood to be too dependent on that industry in northern Australia at the present time!

Tonight, I was back at the radio station, but just for 2 hours tonight, until 8pm – show music night, as usual for Tuesday. Tonight was Program No. 292, and while it would be nice to reach the 300 mark, I have made it clear to the station management, that I will willingly relinquish that spot as soon as a new presenter for that time slot has been found, or a current presenter wishes to move there.  I would like to place my emphasize on the new Monday night show, so at this stage, barring a replacement, plan to finish up Tuesday in late August [if not earlier].

As soon as I returned home this evening, I had Jodie’s company for over 2 hours – well, she was actually doing some work on Susie’s computer, but nevertheless, it was always good to see her.  Must say however, that I did not like the sound of her cough – she has not been 100% well over recent months, and seems to pick up a few viruses. Working late hours also, a couple of hours a week at a western suburbs gymnasium/leisure centre place.