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I found this brief response to my enquiry on line yesterday of my brother, up in Rockhampton, Queensland  –  “Hi Bill no wind in rocky but been humid and rainy last 24hours” [Colin]. Didn’t really expect him to have been affected by the cyclone, however wanted to be sure. When I went to bed last night, I almost felt guilty that I was able to do so without any fear of the night, because up north, there was every indication, that thousands of people were in for a terrifying night in the darkness as the cyclone hit the coast. Overnight, about 175,00 people were without power, either through planned switch offs or as a consequence of transmission lines being hit and damaged by the winds.

As daylight came in Queensland this morning, and the winds slowly began to weaken [though still with gusts up to 100 kph] people began to venture out into the streets to assess the damage. Little known of many of the smaller and more isolated communities around the coast, and grave fears are held for property damage in those places. Potentially, a lot of structural damage to essential services was anticipated. There were reports of the devastation of banana plantations – 90% of Australia’s banana production comes from the affected area –  while sugarcane production is likely to be similarly affected. Premier Anna Bligh has said this morning, that at this stage, there have been no reports of any deaths or serious injuries as a result of Cyclone Yasi,. She said Cairns had been spared the worst of the monster storm, with the smaller communities of Mission Beach, Tully, Tully Heads, and Cardwell bearing Yasi’s full force.  The category five Yasi crossed the coast at Mission Beach around midnight (AEDT). It was early this morning downgraded to a category three and is still considered dangerous.  This following report from 7 News gives some idea of the overnight situation, and indications that the town of Tully has borne the brunt of the storm.

“North Queensland residents are expecting daylight to reveal widespread destruction from Cyclone Yasi, after a terrifying night where the region was battered by the worst tropical storm in living memory. Early reports suggest the communities of Mission Beach, where the category five monster made landfall about midnight (AEST), nearby Tully, and Innisfail, 50km north of ground zero, are the worst hit. But Yasi’s fury has been felt hundreds of kilometres away, in Cairns to the north, and Townsville to the south, and all the places in between. And Yasi, with its wind gusts of up to 290km/h, is far from done with north Queensland. Yasi was downgraded to a category four at 3am (AEST) then to a category three at 4.50am, but the Bureau of Meteorology warns that it is still dangerous as it makes its way inland, where it is expected to hit Georgetown – 400km from the coast – later on Thursday morning. “Over the next 12 hours, as the system continues to be fairly intense and moving towards Georgetown, there’s still going to be fairly strong and damaging wind gusts up to 125km/h as it spreads inland,” a BoM statement said. The BoM warns other inland towns are also in the firing line, with communities including Charters Towers, Hughenden and Julia Creek at risk of very strong winds on Thursday, extending possibly as far west as Mt Isa on Friday. Tully, just inland from Mission Beach, appears to have suffered a devastating event, with locals describing scenes of widespread destruction and worse than Cyclone Larry in 2006”.

Google map shows the area expected to be hardest hit by Cyclone Yasi as it crossed the coast last night.

Obviously, as the morning progresses, more detailed reports of the damage caused will become available as emergency personnel, police etc get out into the communities. There was one story last night of a call for help from a group of six adults [all in their 60s] from an isolated community on the coast, who had earlier in the day decided to ignore suggestions to evacuate and get out of the area. Waters from the ocean surges were threatening to engulf their 2 storey residence, but at the height of the cyclone approach, no emergency personnel were able to attempt to go to their assistance. The public had been repeatedly warned, that if they chose to ignore evacuation procedures, they would be likely to be left to fend for themselves until it was safe for emergency personnel to venture out. Fair enough!

Meanwhile, in breaking news, there are reports of another ‘serious incident’ involving Australian troops in Afghanistan –  waiting for further information on that, but when they say that a further announcement will be made after next of kin have been notified, it makes it seem obvious that deaths are involved!  [9.05 am, Thursday].

As the day progressed, the news from up north became more depressing – stories of almost the total disintegration of small towns, and in particular houses and businesses, hard to imagine the trauma of returning to your home only to find a virtual pile of rubble where your whole life has collapsed into!  While thankfully at this stage [and much of this is due to preparation and warnings] there has been no reported loss of life or serious injury,  the anticipated widespread destruction has obviously occurred in many towns and communities. Apocalyptic is one word being used to sum up the scene at Mission Beach. “Nothing’s been spared. The devastation is phenomenal, like nothing I’ve ever experienced,” a veteran of at least five cyclones told the ABC.  Cairns and Townsville, where thousands spent a very long, nervous night in powerless evacuation centres, appear to have been spared any serious structural damage, and worst-case scenarios about damaging storm surges. However I note in Townsville [the city where I went through a cyclone back in 1971] has suffered flooding in some parts, and now faces a serious water shortage issue due to contamination and damage of the water supply. While in Tully, just inland from Mission Beach, is among the worst hit with roofs torn from homes, and banana and cane crops decimated.  Cassowary Coast Councillor and Tully resident Ross Sorbello said there were scenes of mass devastation in the town.

Major General Peter Cosgrove, who led the recovery effort after Cyclone Larry, said the main priority must be counting heads.  “It’s particularly important in rural communities where you have farmers that are isolated. Emergency workers have to make sure people are safe,” he told the Nine Network.  The premier said a major logistical task was now looming, initially to free up evacuation centres for people whose homes had been hit, and then to rehouse those people. “We don’t know the extent of it yet, but we are planning for a very significant homelessness problem, for potentially, you know, several thousand people,” she said.

On another front, as indicated earlier, Australia has lost another soldier in Afghanistan, our 22^nd death since the launch of operations in 2001, and the first for 2011. Corporal Richard Edward Atkinson, 22, a member of the Darwin-based 1st Combat Engineer Regiment, died in the explosion of an insurgent improvised explosive device (IED) about 9.30am Afghanistan time on Wednesday. Another Australian soldier was seriously wounded. He was treated at the scene then flown by US helicopter to the hospital at the main base at Tarin Kowt. He is now in a satisfactory condition.  This was Corporal Atkinson’s first deployment to Afghanistan but he had previously assisted in Operation Padang Assist, a humanitarian mission to Indonesia following the 2009 earthquake. Both soldiers, members of the Australian Mentoring Task Force (MTF-2) were participating in a foot security patrol with the Afghan National Army at the time of the incident. The incident occurred in the Tangi Valley near Deh Rahwod, about 30 kilometres west of Tarin Kowt – the same area where Australia’s last fatality occurred and a known insurgent hotspot.

Of course the other world hot spot [amongst many] at the present time is over in Egypt, and I was disturbed at the recent news from Cairo that partisans of President Hosni Mubarak had  stormed a crowded anti-regime rally in central Cairo, sparking pandemonium in which at least 500 people were hurt and one killed, witnesses say. Pictures on the TV tonight showed participants from both sides sending vollies of stones across the crowds, while we saw the unusual sight reminiscent of the ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ where I believe supporters of the present regime charged into the crowds on horses and camels. At this point it appears that the military have not taken sides, merely trying to maintain some semblance of peace. The real concern I think will be created when and if the army forces decide they have to ‘stand’ on the side of the government [or vice versa]. If not already serious, there is potential for the situation in Egypt to become quite critical. Now there are reports of western journalists being targeted and attacked, and robbed of their camera equipment, etc by pro-government supporters – presumably being upset at the truth of the situation there being revealed to the world!! Tension had been rising from early morning when Mubarak supporters began staging their own rallies around Cairo, saying the president represented stability amid growing insecurity, and branding as “traitors” those who want his departure.  Reports I read, indicated that they also gathered for a rally near the square, where thousands of anti-regime supporters pressed on with demands the 82-year-old president step down immediately. Not satisfied with Mubarak’s insistence late on Tuesday that he would serve out the rest of his term and ignoring army appeals for them to go home, the protesters vowed to stay in the square until he left. Witnesses and reporters said bands of Mubarak supporters raided the square early afternoon without warning, some on camels and horses, creating mayhem that quickly degenerated into violent clashes.

Meanwhile, on the ‘home front’ news of a more pleasant nature – at our radio committee meeting tonight, it was wonderful to see our Station Manager, who has been seriously ill [almost to the  point of death] over the past couple of months, come to the meeting, and as his recovery process and health continues to improve, he has plans to be back on air with his regular programs within a couple of weeks. Tonight’s meeting also included some discussion about the excellent article that appeared in this week’s local paper, promoting the station, and hopefully bringing it into the public’s mind within the local community more than recent surveys have indicated. I intend to transcribe that article over the next day or so.

At 10 am this morning, the Queensland Premier Ana Blyth was warning residents of tropical North Queensland, that if they have not yet evacuated their homes, or made adequate preparations, they have just three hours of a ‘window of opportunity’ to do so – tropical cyclone Yasi has been upgraded to category five as it nears the north Queensland coast.

Reports this morning, indicated that the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) in Brisbane said that at 5am AEDT Yasi was about 650km northeast of Cairns and the same distance northeast of Townsville, moving west southwest at 30km/h. The cyclone has now reached category five and will continue to move in a west-southwesterly direction during today,” the BoM said on its website this morning.  Winds with gusts to 90km/h are expected on coastal islands later this morning, then extend on to the coast during the day. Gusts over 125km/h are expected between Cooktown and Ingham this afternoon, and gusts reaching above 280km/h between Port Douglas and Cardwell this evening.   Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from low-lying areas as the cyclone approaches, with its full fury expected to hit the region around Cairns sometime after 10pm today. The Australian Defence Force was called in to evacuate hundreds of patients from two Cairns hospitals who started arriving in Brisbane on Tuesday evening.

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said on Tuesday mandatory evacuation orders were being given in council areas from Cook to Hinchinbrook for people in flood-risk areas. Cairns Airport will close at 10am (AEDT) today. Yasi is expected to be Queensland’s worst cyclone, covering something approaching twice the physical size of Cyclone Larry, which devastated Innisfail in 2006 and left a $1.5 billion damage bill.

Further updates to follow!

Ten  hours later, which just 2 to 3 hours before landfall of the cyclone, a storm which is believed to be the strongest storm in the last 92 years – presumably that applies to North Queensland, doesn’t take account of Darwin’s Cyclone Tracy on Christmas Eve/Day 1974, which admittedly took everyone by surprise in a town that was not ready or prepared for a cyclone that year. In Queensland today, it would be fifficult not to be aware of what was coming – and by now, this evening, the advice is, if you have not evacuated away from potential areas likely to be worst hit, then you should stay where you are, in most cases, in homes. Predictions are now that this is likely to be the most catastrophic cyclone ever to hit Queensland, with 300 kmh winds, associated with huge ‘tidal waves’ [in some areas estimated at likely to reach 8-9 metres], a combination  that is expected to devastate a vast stretch of highly populated coastline. In fact, evacuations in far north Queensland have now ceased, with residents being warned to prepare for isolation in their homes as Cyclone Yasi bears down. That isolation and accompanying terror could last for up to 24 hours.

While my brother Colin & wife Angela are a few hundred kilometres south of the expected southern perimeter of the cyclonic area, I would expect that they too [in Rockhampton] are likely to experience some fairly wide weather. I guess they are also grateful at this time, that they didn’t decide to settle on the coast [as was suggested to them] but instead located inland. Premier Anna Bligh, who was very prominent during the recent Queensland flood crisis,  told reporters in Brisbane people should stay in their homes and bunker down for the biggest cyclone since World War I and prepare to “become a first-responder”.”No one should be leaving home now. The time for movement and evacuation has now passed,” she said.”We expect to see very dramatic acceleration of wind and wind gusts over the next 24 hours. It is now time for all movement and evacuations to cease.” More than 10,600 people are in evacuation centres, including school halls and shopping centres, to ride out the storm.

Already, electricity has gone down – 3000 properties in Airlie Beach – and the streets in the northern towns are deserted. People are now being urged to remain in their homes, buttress the smallest room in the house with mattresses and doonas, and stay there. They should take enclosed shoes, food and drinking water to last until the cyclone completely passes. “This is, I know, an incredibly frightening time,” the Premier said.  Meanwhile, disaster co-ordinator Ian Stewart warned people the emergency services may not be able to respond to calls at the height of the cyclone, as it would be life-threatening to them. “People are going to be virtually isolated for some time,” he said. “Understand that for some point it becomes too dangerous.”

Meanwhile, thousands of kilometres away down here in Victoria another vicious heat day seems to be producing storms of it’s own as I see the lightning flashing outside to the tune of huge claps of thunder. Down in East Gippsland, they are probably hoping for rain, as they battle a series of bushfires which have broken out in that part of the state – ironically, the areas that didn’t get as much rain as the rest of Victoria over the past few weeks!

Today seems to be all about the weather!  But why that, because it is certainly what is dominating the news today. Though I must say I’m getting sick of hearing Julia Gillard tell us what great displays of mateship Queenslanders are displaying, how tough they are, they will get through all this, blah blah blah  –  no different to the rest of Australia, yet the way she is carrying on, it’s as if they are a separate breed performing acts of ‘bravery and courage’ that the rest of Australia hasn’t got. Of course they are, but no different to anywhere else in the country in the same circumstances, as we’re already seen down here in Victoria and other parts of the eastern states over the past few weeks. She sounds so pathetic the way she carries on sometimes, would be  creating a better impression, in my view by keeping her mouth shut sometimes!! To me, her method of trying to sound supportive and sympathetic comes out in another way – the word mushy comes to mind, but I’m actually searching for something else, I heard the word used last night to describe the woman, and I thought it fitted perfectly –  one of those solutions that is on the tip of your tongue, but you can’t draw it out!! Later maybe@

In the meantime, Tony Abbott continues to voice opposition to the PM’s flood levy proposals. I get annoyed occasionally at his ‘opposition for the sake of opposing’ but I do think that this plan like others of recent years by Labor  [take the East Timor refugee processing centre, which will never happen anyway] have been put forward without a great deal of thought and planning. Abbott writes [and in doing so, he rightfully points to the ‘Australian’ character instead of just Queensland]:-

Thankfully, a  partial cool change came through late this afternoon which gave some relief to the high 30s of most of Tuesday. Officially, one month of Summer remaining.

At the radio tonight, I was pleased that both my preceding and following program presenters both came to do their programs for change, and I wasn’t left feeling like an island midst a sea of that ‘lack of commitment element’ I was referring to a day or so ago! Had a couple of special treats to broadcast tonight, including two preview tracks from the new Australian produced musical of ‘Dr Zhivago’ based on the book [1957]  and movie [1965] of the same name. Australia’s Anthony Warlow was to play the leading role, and if the music I played today –  [was I first on air to play these tracks on radio, anywhere?]  –  was any indication of what a wonderful we were in for, it will be a performance to look forward to.  The ‘musical’ Dr Zhivago opens in Sydney on February 19^th, and comes down here to Melbourne in late April.  As well as playing these two new tracks, I included in the segment, a recording from the original movie soundtrack by the MGM studio orchestra, and a Roger William’s piano version of ‘Lara’s Theme’ [mix of the old and the new].

My ‘damaged’ [virus inflicted] computer was finally returned to me today –  I had been managing with the laptop over recent weeks, so had not been too concerned to pressure Jimmy [Susie’s boyfriend] to rush things. My main concern had been the potential loss of dozens of word and excel files, so I was particularly relieved to discover that these appeared to be intact!  Phew!!!  From this point a much more organised approach to copying of wanted files etc was to be in order! Also received advice that my motor mower repairs/service had also been finished and the machine was ready for pick up – until sigh of relief, as the grass around my place has really being starting to concern me. Met the ‘elderly’ neighbour whilst out walking on Saturday morning and ‘apologised’ to him for the state of the nature strip in front of my home which currently stood out a little from some in the vicinity, and explained the lack of a machine at present. He actually offered to run over that section later in the week, although I indicated that I ‘somewhat optimistically’ hoped to have my mower back within a day or two! For a change, that optimism paid off!

Tuesday night, and ‘The Late Session’ TV chat show was on again –  I noticed that over the last few weeks there seems to be a bit of similarity in the nature of subjects discussed. Today’s topic – ‘gender politics’!!  – about that little thing referred to as ‘X’ and ‘Y’ – and a light hearted look at where men and women are today –  are women taking over the world in the creation of a new gender order [someone asked, does this mean that in times economic crisis, more men will be laid off than women, or if the battle of the sexes is over, why are there still so few women perched on top of the world’s corporate ladder?  Interestingly however, while few in numbers, there are women in 2011, who are corporate leaders of industries, such as mining, technology etc which would not have been considered a generation ago.  And while they might be few at the business pinnacles, there is no shortage of working performing the roles of political leaders – very obvious here in Australia at present – Prime Minister, Premiers, Governors, etc. So tonight’s topic tried to canvass just where Australia’s men and women see themselves today, and the ‘mix’ of guests as usual with Waleed Aly [the host] provided a range of ideas. As for the host, well FOR a man so given to precision in language and order of thought, Waleed Aly’s career is a fabulously sprawling accident. Aly, 32, is a lecturer and doctoral candidate at Monash University, an author, essayist and opinion writer, he is host or co-host, fill-in host, regular guest and, in one case, co-creator of six radio and television programs. He has been a lawyer, is a qualified engineer and has been on the executive of the Muslim Council of Victoria. He would chuck it all in in a flash, he says, if the band in which he plays guitar, Robot Child, could crack the big time

 Now, I like to look at the bios of these dinner guests each week, because often in that way, we can get an idea of their approach to the topic in advance of they may answer any questions posed, etc. So here they are – tonight’s guests, with bios complements of shows promotions.

Ann Sherry
Corporate heavyweight Ann Sherry has presided over probably the most interesting and difficult “restructures” of all: a shake-up of Australia’s male-dominated business culture.  She says bluntly, that things have to change “before I am dead”.  Starting her career at a time when job advertisements in her hometown of Brisbane were divided by gender, Ann has done more than her share to break through the glass ceiling for women in the years since.  She has held senior bureaucratic roles in state and federal government, including leading the Office of the Status of Women. Her major banking positions included CEO of Westpac New Zealand and CEO of the Bank of Melbourne. As Group Executive, People & Performance (Westpac), she was a major driver of cultural change, community engagement and customer focus in commercial and retail banking. In 2004, Ann was made a Member of the Order of Australia for her work improving the corporate world’s attitudes to gender equity, diversity and work-family balance.  She is currently the CEO of Carnival Australia, owner of P&O Cruises. Her transformative skills were sought by the company reeling from the shocking and tragic death of Brisbane woman Dianne Brimble during one of its voyages.

Jackie Loeb
Jackie Loeb has been told she’s very funny … “for a woman”.  Acutely aware of the gender imbalances in the Australian stand-up comedy scene, the Sydney comedian has been known to use her dark art as “a great way to vent and seek justice”. And her take on body image now officially has her labelled “the comic who got down to her bra and undies”. “Comedy is not embedded in our culture the way it is in America,” she says. “There you can have a gay woman comedian on television. It’s not even an issue. Ellen de Genere’s sexuality is secondary to the fact that she’s a brilliant performer.” A comedian, actor, writer, vocalist and musician, Jackie’s comic career began in 1992. Her solo show, Jackie Loeb Sings the Worst Songs Ever Written was a hit at the 2010 Sydney Comedy Festival.  Yet Jackie says she’s simply your average woman. Like a humble, ordinary sponge cake. (But you’ll have to watch her on The Late Session for more of that!)

Emily Maguire
Emily Maguire grew up wishing girls could have as much fun as boys.  “Femaleness” and girlie stuff seemed a burdensome bore; something to be rejected. Back then the greatest compliment possible was that she wasn’t like most girls.  But by the time the Sydney-born woman reached adulthood, her wistfulness had morphed into feminism. “Feminism,” she says “comes from living a life”.  Emily’s articles on sex, religion and culture have been published in the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the Griffith Review and The Monthly. She’s tackled perving, prostitution, double standards, the pope, share-housing, feminism, assault, celebrities, and “bad” behaviour. In 2007, she was awarded an Edna Ryan Award for her writing on gender issues.  Emily’s fiction and non-fiction works include Princesses and Pornstars, now re-worked for teens as Your Skirt’s Too Short: Sex, Power, Choice, The Gospel According to Luke, Smoke in the Room and Taming the Beast.

Richard Glover
Broadcaster and writer Richard Glover is still perplexed how “5 per cent of men” – the ockerish, beer-swilling, sports-mad and sexist ’70s Australian stereotype – managed to convince everyone they represented Australian masculinity.  For a young Glover, the expectation was akin to being strapped into a straight jacket. So it should come as no surprise that the confused adolescent sought and found refuge in Canberra’s feminist theatre scene. A truly formative experience, he says. Richard has spent the past two decades writing his humour column for The Sydney Morning Herald. According to Augusten Burroughs, “He’s made ordinary family life extraordinarily entertaining.”  Richard presents the daily Drive program on ABC Radio in Sydney, and has been shortlisted for the Walkley Award three times, for both radio interviews and newspaper journalism. He’s written 12 books, including the bestselling In Bed with Jocasta, The Dag’s Dictionary and Desperate Husbands.  His 2010 collection of stories, Why Men are Necessary, is a humorous take on Australian family life.  Richard lives in Sydney with his partner, Australian writer Debra Oswald. They have two children.

Roy Masters
Roy Masters grew up at a time when Australian men were “stoic, drank a lot of beer, smoked a lot of cigarettes and harboured a lot inside.”  Roy has spent most of his working life either participating in or chronicling a male-dominated sports field. He began his career as a teacher coaching school boys league and went on to coach first grade rugby league for a decade. He is St George’s longest- serving coach and Western Suburbs Coach of the Century.  Roy was an inaugural member of the Australian Sports Commission and served on the board for 25 years. A sports columnist with the Sydney Morning Herald, Roy’s television appearances include the ABC’s Offsiders and Q&A. He has written a number of books on the football business, including Bad Boys, which discusses sex scandals and other bad behaviour across football codes.  His latest book, Higher, Richer, Sleazier, discusses sportsmanship, money, drugs, and the future of modern sport.

I must say that as an indication of  Ann Sherry’s ‘business’, she had to unusually leave before the end of the program to ‘catch a plane’, strange she was unable to schedule a full hour to the program. As for our stand-up comic, Jackie Loeb, she also vanished briefly towards the end of the session [to go to the bathroom??] – while she was away, a bit of a discussion began about the ‘relationship’ between Prime Minister Julia Gillard and her partner/husband –  then suddenly, Jackie reappeared at the table in the guise of Julia Gillard, and ended the program performing as our PM. Extremely realistic and well down.

Next week’s discussion is apparently on the subject of age and wisdom – if 70 is the new 50 [hope for my future years ahead, on that basis!!], the comment is made that one of the guests for that program is the grand total of 8 years old!!  I wonder who?

We’re in the midst of a run of top 30 degrees at the moment – up to 40 yesterday, 39 today, and 38 forecast for Tuesday –  and even though one managers to spend some time in a relatively cool building, somehow the heat of the day still seems to permeate into one’s psyche – or maybe it’s just age, high temperature days get at me more than they ever did in the past!  Anyway, one can’t complain too much this Summer – we’re had two months of mainly mild weather, but of course, with  school going back in most cases this week, it is to be expected that the summer most of the kids have probably been waiting for will now arrive!!!

On Sunday, I was looking through some old papers and folders that my mother had kept, and amongst her collection of letters, post cards, etc, I found a number of such items sent to her & the family by one of my old girlfriends from the late 1960s – we were no longer an ‘item’ by that stage, but had kept in touch [as I tend to do with old friends], and in fact, still keep in touch today, 40+ years later!  Most of this correspondence was written while my friend was overseas on an extended trip with her parents, although judging by her stories of some of the guys she met up with in Europe, she certainly spent a lot of time away from the parents. While most of her letters were dated, they didn’t spell out a year, and although I could work it out approximately,  I decided to let her know that I’d found her correspondence, and was just trying to confirm what year she had been travelling. Part of her response, received today, was as follows, and like the original letters, almost read as a fascinating personal travelogue  [I wished I could have got something similar from Adam arising from his recent brief trip ti the UK and France!].  The following paragraphs form a part of that response.

“Nice to hear from you again……………..I am so glad I wrote to your Mum. I have no recollection of doing that,  but so glad I did. I left Australia, as you say, on the 4th of June  1972. I was going with Alan then. I remember him out at the airport. My  cousin was married on the 15th October, 1972. Mum & Dad travelled over  to Italy on a Norwegian cargo ship, which had first class accommodation  for 12 passengers.( I didn’t go by ship as it was way too expensive &  just as well I didn’t go on the ship as the first officer was really  yummy & we would have spent every spare minute enjoying ourselves,  which we did when we met again later in Norway!) They trained it up to  Stuttgart, picked up the mercedes, that Dad had ordered through Lanes  here in Melbourne. Then they drove to Frankfurt where they waited for  me to arrive.

We then drove up to & around Scandanavia for 3 months,  arriving back in Manchester in time for my cousin’s wedding. I was supposed to be going overseas for only 3 months, as the Repat. said  they would keep my job for me. On route, I decided to stay longer & see  if I could get employment In Britain. Mum & Dad were to continue their  travels without me. When we arrived in Britain I found that unless I  was prepared to live in a dive in shared quarters ( I was only a lab.  ass. then, I did all my tertiary study when I returned) I could not  possibly afford to stay there. So Mum & Dad said that seeing I was  already there why not stay on, they would lend me the money for  accommodation, & the travel would be free as they were going anyway, &  I could pay for whatever I might like out of whatever money I had. A record was kept of this & I repayed it all in the first year when I returned to work in early 1974. We returned to Melbourne, you were the  only one of my friends to greet me, on the 16th December 1973. So I  spent 19.5 months away & Mum & Dad spent about 22 months away. The  reason why they spent such a long time, was mainly to do with the tax  on the car. If you & the car, stayed out of the Australia for 15  months, you could return with the car tax free. The tax was quite  substantial, but I can’t remember the details. Our time inBenidorm,  Spain was from the 5th of November to the 10th of March. In other words we wintered there. I can remember wearing my very  brief bikini on the balcony of our first floor apartment that had a bird’s eye view of the little peninsular, beach & the sea with its magnificent sunsets.

I seem to recall that I received your wedding  invitation when we were in Benidorm & that you & Shirley married sometime in Jan. 1973—correct? I’m afraid there was no chance of my  returning to Melbourne for anything by that time, as I was heavily involved with a …..Spanish guy ( with a distant Arab background]! …………….There were thoughts of a more permanent situation, but  his mother was rabidly R.C. & made it very clear her ‘boy’ was only to marry a Spanish girl, & not a foreigner. So, with that opposition I  decided I would not be able to carry all that opposition &  unpleasantness on my own in a foreign place. Needless to say I did not  marry Domingo–it means Sunday in Spanish, & I moved on. I think that’s  about my life history William!”

She went on to comment on the current situation in Egypt, as I had asked her whether her husband had any family over there mixed up in the political turmoil and violence. She noted that “ Yes, things are certainly on the move in Egypt. About time too. Not at all sure that it will turn out as they would like it, so we’ll have to wait and see. K….. comes from Ismailia, which, if you look at a map  you’ll see it is situated on the Suez Canal, about 1.5 hours drive from Cairo. There are a lot more people being killed & injured than is being reported in the press, according to Mum. In fact we haven’t heard  anything about Ismailia on our news & it is not an insubstantial sized  city– over 1 million. All of K…s family are in Ismailia, except  one brother who is working in Chad as a geologist. He…works all over the place—Niger, Chad, Mauritania, Morocco, the Siani desert near the border with Israel. They are unlikely to be  activists, more likely to be just passive. They have often said, why  vote, as nothing changes. That is so, because Hosni Mubarak had  everything fixed. Who has ever heard of a leader legally receiving 95%  of the votes. Stuff & nonsense!!!!!!”…………………………………………………….

So, there I gained an interesting insight into the current situation in Egypt which seems to be worsening by the day. I get a little annoyed at the Australian tourists over there complaining that our government is doing little to help them get back here [not actually true, though there are logistical difficulties because of the general turmoil in Cairo and surrounding areas] – my understanding is that this trouble has been building up for a while, and people travelling should have had plenty of warning that problems were brewing. That is a bit of a generalisation, but in this case, I feel that our ‘Labor’ government is being unfairly blamed!

I ended my day with a short visit to the radio station tonight – one of my fellow presenters wanted to do a short interview with someone from the Committee on various aspects of life at the radio station- for a thesis he was preparing, and also as part of an article he was planning for the station’s next ‘Newsletter’. I told him to make sure that I was given the opportunity to ‘edit’ the newsletter piece before he submitted it  – some people at my station don’t like others ‘saying what they think’ which I have always done since I have been involved with the station, and can always be assured of grabbing hold of any perceived opportunity to ‘attack’ this writer via complaints, etc!! Not that such a response worries me personally, as any of my criticisms and/or suggestions of improvement ‘always’ have been directed towards the improvement of the station’s presentation to the community – which should always be our prime aim, above the petty inadequacies of one or two individuals! Having said all that, at the present time, our station is in a better situation than I can recall since joining up back in 2005, so my only ongoing concern these days relates to the aspect of ‘commitment’, a discussion for another time!!

Well, early this morning, Australia took part in the Asian Cup [football] Final for the first time in their history, against Japan, who were going for their 4^th title. Other teams to have won three times are Iran and Saudi Arabia. According to FIFA, Australia is Asia’s top ranked team, although they have not always performed in that way recently. However, they did put in good displays against defending champions Iraq, and Uzbekistan to get to the Final, and I was feeling quietly confident of a win against the Japanese. There are a couple of layers to this match given the stylistic differences between the two sides and their colourful history on the pitch, which really began on June 12, 2006 in Kaiserslautern. It was then that Tim Cahill wrote a famous chapter in Australia’s football history with his two dramatic late goals to sink the Japanese, kicking off a rivalry that will be mutually enjoyed for years to come. Japan of course got a measure of revenge when they knocked the Socceroos out of the 2007 Asian Cup on penalties at the quarter-final stage. The stakes are considerably higher this time around.
The Final, as mentioned yesterday, was at 2am this morning  – no TV for me, and despite various internet sites promoting live telecasts, I couldn’t find one. Not even a direct broadcast on a radio station!  Pathetic! Nevertheless, I did wake up [maybe I’d  not even been to sleep] and with a bit of radio dial twisting, found one of the commercial which was providing a rough description of what was happening from the Fox Sports telecast. That, I had to be satisfied with! However, I would not  be satisfied with the outcome – the Socceroos suffered heartbreak in their bid to lift the Asian Cup for the first time as Japan won Saturday’s final 1-0 in extra time in Doha.

Substitute Tadanari Lee struck in the 109th minute to shatter Australia’s hopes and give Japan a record fourth Asian Cup title, their third in the past four tournament The Socceroos were gallant in an enthralling contest played in front of 37,174 fans at Khalifa Stadium and enjoyed the majority of the chances. But it was a single defensive lapse that cost them. Up until that point the Australian defence had been rock solid The match went to extra time after a scoreless but entertaining 90 minutes in which both sides created several good opportunitity.   After the game, captain Lucas Neill said that  “We always felt in control of the game even though we gave away a lot of possession to Japan it never felt they were really going to hurt us. “In our defence we felt solid and strong and then one lapse in concentration and maybe a moment of fatigue in extra time, it’s gifted them the goal”.  With the match seemingly heading for penalties, Australia’s defence was breached for only the second time in the tournament, and Australia’s players sank to the pitch with agony as the final whistle sounded.  “You can imagine how disappointed we are,” coach Osieck said. “We definitely could have won the game, we just didn’t convert.\  “But I have to say that I am proud of the players, in their performance and their attitude throughout the tournament”.  [Actually, close to the end, I must have dosed off because I didn’t see that goal scored, the match was suddenly over when I came to, thinking that the penalty kick situation was in play!

Trying to keep cool this afternoon, I watched an interesting documentary on the folk singer & activist, Joan Baez – interesting life and background, much of which I’d not previously being aware about. I decided while watching this, that my show next Tuesday night would include a feature section of her music.  Interesting that her early career – she was inexperienced, frightened of performing, suffered panic attacks – this went on for a year or so, but nobody really became aware of the fact amongst audiences, etc!  More about Joan, on Tuesday night.

Late this afternoon, was sitting in comfortable air conditioned house watching the Mixed Doubles Final – partway into the second set, at 5.35 pm, when the power goes off!! For how long I wonder!  Presumably, not just here, but in the area, due to the heat I suppose! Disappointing. I discovered in fact that 124 properties were affected, and that the anticipated time for no power was 4 hours!!!  Never did get to learn who won the Mixed Doubles [until next day], and I only eventually managed to see the second half of a rather uncompetitive Men’s Final – Andy Murray vs Novak Djokovic – he won that rather easily [Djokovic] 6/4 6/2 6/3. It was an extremely hot day, although the finals today were played with the roof closed, but somehow the Scotsman didn’t seem to have his usual levels of energy, seemed tired, and as a consequence, was unable to inspire the crowd – they wanted to be on his side, but his energy levels and fight back abilities on the court were not enough – if he could have generated the crowd a little, that would probably in turn have  regenerated his own play. Anyway, by the time that match was over, my energy levels were at a low ebb also, and I called it a night. I think it was after midnight when Susie returned home from her Big Day Out, an event which apparently saw hundreds treated for heat exhaustion, etc, and a number taken to hospital – presumably, all of ‘mine’ got through the day and ‘night’ –  I’d communicated with Susie a few times by text, this evening re the power blackout etc, so I was confident she and Jodie had not had any problems.

Australian Open Tennis 2011  – main results:

Men’s Singles Final:  Novak Djokovic [Serbia] defeated Andy Murray [Scotland]  6/4,6/2,6/3

Women’s Singles final:  Kim Clisters [Belgium] defeated Li Na [China] 3/6,6/3,6/3

Mens’ Doubles Final: Bob Bryan & Mike Bryan [USA] defeated M Bhuppathi & Leander Paes [India] 6/3,6/4

Womens’ Doubles Final:  Gisela Dulka [Argentina] & Flavia Pennetta [Italy] defeated Victoria Azarenka [BLR] & Maria Kirilenko [Russia] 2/6,7/5,6/1

Mixed Doubles Final: Katarina Srebotnik[Slovenia] and Daniel Nestor[Canada] defeated Chan Yung-Jan [Taipei]and Paul Hanley [Australia] 6/3,3/6,10/7

Junior Boy’s Singles Final:  Jiri Vesely [CZE] [No. 1 Seed] defeated Luke Saville [Australia] 6/0,6/3

Junior Girl’s Singles Final: An-Sophie Mestach [Belgium] defeated Monica Puig [PUR] 6/4,6/2

While Julia Gillard ended the week fighting to contain a growing public and political backlash against her $5.6 billion flood reconstruction package [including the levy proposal], the overnight result in the tennis saw Andy Murray come out on top, over David Ferrer, defeating him in four sets,  4-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-1 7-6 (7-2). Murray is described as having grown from a talented teen to a man shouldering the burden that afflicts all British players in terms of Grand Slam wins. The Brits most recent ‘attempted hero’ was Tim Henman who couldn’t break the drought of big wins, which date back to Fred Perry in 1936. For Murray to beat the hoodoo, he must beat a man who knows his game as well as any other. Djokovic has been in outstanding form in the past six months, twice beating Federer in grand slam semi-finals and falling to Nadal in a US Open final described by many as one of the best ever played. He has also studied his rival from the opposite side of the net since the pair were 10, because that was their ages when they first played against each other! . It promises to be an entertaining game on Sunday night.

As for the flood relief proposal, I see that the organisation GetUp is organising a national petition calling for my suggestion yesterday, that we establish a permanent natural disaster fund, viz;

‘Cutting climate initiatives to respond to an extreme climate event is head in the sand policy. Instead we need to set up a permanent natural disaster fund using the billions of dollars handed out each year in fossil fuel subsides.
We know that the Government is already monitoring the news cycle after the anger over their flood levy. That’s why we want to put our message in major newspapers next week where the Government won’t be able to miss it’.  Hence:-

“To the Australian Parliament,
Paying for climate events of today by cutting climate change programs doesn’t make sense. Instead lets create a permanent Climate Natural Disaster Fund and pay for it by reducing fossil fuel subsidies, which cost the taxpayer over $10bn a year”.

GetUp seems to achieve some results with it’s petitions – will be interesting to see where this one goes!

Meanwhile, I think Prime Minister Gillard, when Parliament resumes next week is also facing further backlashes over her refugee policies. Last year, she almost created scorn, with her proposal for a refugee processing centre in East Timor, which seemed to have been ‘planned’ without much consultation with the Timorese leaders themselves. Now, I see that proposal has been dealt a further blow by Malaysia’s Prime Minister, Najib Tun Razak, who claims to have no knowledge of the plan. I wondered at first, how he was getting into the picture, but as reported in today’s ‘Australian’; newspaper by Foreign Editor, Greg Sheridan:

“In an exclusive interview at his prime ministerial office at Putra Jaya, just outside Kuala Lumpur, Mr Najib, when asked whether his government had given any thought to the proposed East Timor centre, said: “No, I’ve not been alerted about that proposal.” Mr Najib’s comment indicates that Ms Gillard’s proposal has failed to make any headway in the region, and follows the declaration by East Timor’s Deputy Prime Minister, Jose Luis Guterres, this week that the centre should not be built in the fledgling nation and would be better located in Australia. It also indicates the inability of Canberra to get any regional leaders to take the East Timor idea seriously, despite nearly seven months of ostensible Australian diplomatic and political activism on behalf of the idea. Ms Gillard lobbied Southeast Asian leaders on the proposed East Timor processing centre at the East Asia summit in Hanoi in November and then went to Malaysia to try to sell it there as well. Mr Najib was sick during Ms Gillard’s visit and she saw Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, who would not commit to the idea”

There is little doubt, that despite all the current emphasise on the floods and reconstruction proposals, the Opposition will continue to create controversy and public opinion on the long ongoing refugee question, as well they should in this case. The whole question seems to be going nowhere, while the problem itself continues, and lives continue to be lost and/or  the hopes of thousands for a free and safe life, held in limbo in respect to the refugees and asylum seekers looking for refuge in Australia.

Something [or someone] annoyed me a little this morning. I’d been out in the back garden for a couple of hours, ‘literally fighting’ with an invasion of blackberry bushes which have taken over my gardens along much of the rear fence. Whilst I was doing that, the woman on the other side of the fence [a bit of a green thumb] started up a conversation with me [which I really didn’t feel in the mood for having] – it was a conversation ‘through’ the fence – we couldn’t see each other because of the height of the fence, and the trees and shrubs along it’s perimeter, and on my side, also the blackberry bushes!! ‘I’m not blaming you Bill – but, those blackberry  bushes  are starting to encroach on my side of the fence, they made my dog sick [not your fault Bill] but I’m still telling you. I could see where they were going over the top of the fence\, and in fact one of the purposes of the previous two hours was to get rid of them. But presumably there was some encroachment under the fence also. Anyway, whilst not wishes to prolong the conversation as long as she obviously wanted it to go, I assured my back fence neighbour I was doing the best I could to remedy the problem.  After all that of course, I realised once again today, as I did last week, that my ‘back garden’ has got away from me over recent months, mainly due to lack of time and energy, and it was becoming more and more obvious, that I needed some help, to get things back into the condition the garden was in a year ago, and where it had been in all of the time we have been here. And with my damn lawn mower still in for repairs, even the length of grass was depressing me – not so much on the property, but on the nature strip out in the street – had always prided myself on keeping that in order as the ‘public’ face of my place, so not been able to do that at present was a concern! Maybe nobody else cared, but I did!

Anyway, as we went through the afternoon today, one could feel the temperature slowly rising, and in the process, giving us a taste of tomorrow’s predicted 40 degrees in Melbourne  –  where for the two big crowd pulling events – Australian Open Men’s Final, and the Big Day Out [BDO – all day rock show] at Flemington Racecourse – extra medical teams have been put on standby in case of heat related problems.  The latter wouldn’t normally concern me, but only because three of my ‘kids’ are going to the BDO, and as it consists of an all day outside event, with little shade, in the sun, I just hope they are all sensible and look after themselves. I think there will be some red faces returning to Sunbury, late tomorrow night! The only ‘kid’ not going is eldest son, James, who called around briefly late this afternoon, with his new dog ‘Murphy’ [appropriately named after one of James’s favourite Carlton footballers] for a short visit. He has recently resigned his full time job, and is about to commence two years of study at the Australian Catholic University in Fitzroy – seeking his Primary School teaching qualification.  Hopefully, he has realised that suddenly he will not be able to do a lot of the ‘money eating’ activities he has indulged in over recent years. As already indicated, I will have a daughter and a son, both going for teaching qualifications this year, and in both cases, a post graduate decision, not something they had planned to do, until recently!

The Australian Open Women’s Tennis Final was played tonight –  between China’s Li Na, and Belgium’s Kim Clisters [the girl we like to claim as a ‘defacto Australian – something which goes back to the days when she and Lleyton Hewitt were a ‘romantic’ item]. Kim has already  played in 7 Grand Slam finals. She lost the first four she competed in, then won a title before retiring and settling down to marriage and a family. She made a comeback 2 or 3 years ago, and has since won two more Grand Slam titles. Tonight is her 8^th final. For her opponent, Li Na, well, she is the first Asian player, male or female, to play in a Grand Slam final, and I believe that for that privilege, regardless of the outcome, she has been named a national hero in China!

Interesting start to tonight’s game – the full cast of the musical, Hairspray, currently showing at the Princess Theatre, came out onto Centre Court, and performed one of the main songs from the show, before singing the Australian National Anthem. As for the match, Li Na lost the first two games [didn’t win a point] before fighting back, and from then on, until early in the second set, she appeared to be dominating Kim Clisters. I guess one would have expected her to be tight and extra nervous at the beginning, with the weight of the expectations of a nation the size of China on her shoulders, but she seemed to overcome that, and went on to win the 1^st Set.  The 2^nd set was dominated by broken service games by both players, but eventually, the experience of Kim Clisters began to show out – she hadn’t won 3 Grand Slams already without the ability to be ruthless on the court, and that was how her game was beginning to pick up. Kim went on the win the 2^nd Set, good for the capacity crowd at Rod Laver Arena. Unfortunately for Li Na, for the bulk of  the 3^rd Set she was playing catch up tennis, and she was also starting to let things around the court worry her, as the true professionalism of Kim Clisters began to take charge of the court –  flashing cameras, extra noises in the crowd, moths on the court – little things like that seemed to rattle the Chinese girl a little bit, although she never gave up, and it was a gutsy performance, but in the end, Kim Clisters proved too strong and experienced, and went on to win her first Australian Open title of Li Na 3/6,6/3,6/3. Incidentally, Clisters was the second ‘mother’ to win the Australian Open final – the other of course was our own Yvonne Cawley [Goolagong] back in the 1980s.

My other interest tonight is the Asian Cup Final  – it had been suggested today that I go out to a local pub where the Final will be telecast, in the absence of my not having ‘Pay TV” here [the only TV coverage of the match – Australia versus Japan] –  but at 2am in the morning, for someone who seldom frequents hotels in any case, that was not really an option. So in the early hours of tomorrow morning – [another Saturday night for me with not much sleep]] – I hope to pick up either a radio broadcast of the game, or at the worst, some progressive reports through the radio!! I’m still disgusted, that an event of that nature, with Australia featuring in their first ever major international football final, that free to air TV channel, SBS, has not been able to come to an arrangement with Fox Sport to share this one telecast! Quite a disappointing effort by SBS which promotes itself as the ‘soccer’ channel!!!

My day began with an early morning visit to the radio station. The Friday morning volunteer presenter is a professional broadcaster from one of Melbourne’s major commercial stations [3AW], and in his partial retirement, he has been with us here at Sunbury over the past 4 years or. A year or so ago, after I had finished [not by choice] my involvement for the Saturday sports show, Ron invited me to call in during his program [which at that time, was on a Monday morning], and spend 10 minutes giving a brief rundown of the weekend’s local sporting results. Since he has changed his morning to a Friday, that format has changed a little – it’s not really appropriate to be going over the previous weekend’s results in too much detail, so now we concentrate on a sparse look at those, while placing emphasised on the games and other local activities ahead this next weekend. I also generally attempt to give out a few racing tips [horses] for Saturday’s race meeting in Melbourne together with a brief reference to the Friday country race meeting.  I generally advise listeners NOT to put their life savings on my horse tips  –  I certainly wouldn’t!!!

I expected Susan  to head up to Bendigo again today – she wanted to have a look at another possible accommodation venue. Jodie was going to join her on the drive today. However, overnight, she must have decided to go with the place she visited on Thursday, and apparently sent off a deposit. I hope it’s a good choice for her!

I feel like I have just had a couple of weekends, and here we are with another one coming up. Am I complaining? I think in fact this is the weekend when three of my four kids go to the ‘Big Day Out [BDO]’  – something like a non –stop rock concert with numerous bands performing at different locations within a set area. Not sure where it is being held this year – perhaps down at Princes Park in Carlton again. Must ask Susie before Sunday [the day of the event]. Susan, Jodie and Jimmy went over to the Big Day Out in Adelaide last January, when they failed to get tickets for the Melbourne version. At Christmas time, I was rather shocked to hear that Jodie had ‘lost’ the tickets for this year!!!  She and Susie were planning to drive to Sydney for that city’s version of the event, and Dad was not too keen on that idea.  Anyway, hadn’t heard that trip mentioned for a while, and an enquiry the other day, revealed that Jodie had found the missing tickets!!! Relief!!!  Hence the Melbourne event this Sunday.  Adam Also attends the  BDO , it is just James who has never really seemed that interested in going to concerts of any sort – don’t think he has the patience to ‘sit’ or ‘stand’ through something like that.  Meanwhile, I think Adam is also going to a ‘Tool’ concert this weekend – maybe tonight!  I’m sure there will be a comment  of some sort on Facebook that will answer that question for me!!

Thinking of entertainers, I note that the Academy Awards are coming up soon [on February 27], and there was a bit of excitement in the ‘entertainment media’ the other day, when it was learnt that nine [9] Australians had been nominated for the 83^rd Academy Awards. Jackie Weaver has been nominated for Best Supporting Actress for playing a tough crime matriarch in Animal Kingdom. Other actors nominated were Geoffrey Rush for Best Supporting actor in the role as speech therapist Lionel Logue in ‘The King’s Speech’; and Nicole Kidman for Best Actress for playing a grieving mother in ‘Rabbit Hole’. The other six nominations were in non-acting categories. Rush, in commenting about the character of Logue said that ‘Here was a very interesting imperial colonial story and one of the key protagonists happened to be a very idiosyncratic Australian character’. I really must make an effort to go and see that movie within the next few weeks!

Late Friday night, and one set apiece in the second Men’s Semi final of the Australian Open – Andy Murray [Scotland] vs David Ferrer [Spain]. I’m hoping the Brit will win it!

Today, the Federal Government, through the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, introduced a flood levy. People with an income of $60,000 will pay just under $1 extra per week and a person earning $100,000 per year will pay just under an extra $5 per week in tax.  There is already much debate [and in some cases, almost outrage] within the community at this imposition, and predictably I suppose, the Federal Opposition has opposed the idea. Tony Abbott’s initial response, when the levy was first hinted at was a rather tame reaction of  “It seems the prime minister is going to call this a ‘mateship tax’. But mates help each other, they don’t tax each other.   In fact, with Federal Parliament due to resume within a week or so, the first debates of significance are going to be focused on this proposed new tax – because of the closeness of numbers in the Lower House, the Government may have some trouble actually getting the levy passed!  At this stage, it is intended to just apply to the 2011-2012 financial year, as basically a one-off taxation levy, and then as indicated, on only a certain percentage of taxpayers..

The main question being asked is that after donating to the flood appeals, do we also now need a flood levy?  From my point of view, hopefully the bulk of donations were aimed at helping to meet costs faced by individual home owners, and small businesses, etc, whereas the need and purpose of the levy  is aimed at partially meeting infrastructure costs, such as repairs to roads, bridge, rail lines and other government and public facilities. Many arguments are been put along the lines that the governments should meet these kind of costs from their existing resources, or reduce spending in other areas of government programs, etc. The absence of emergency ‘disaster funds’ is also being criticised, while suggestions such as reducing foreign aid in preference to looking after our own are being put forward. I must say, I’m a little disappointed to see that the Opposition have come straight out following the announcement, in total disagreement with the proposal [though not suggesting that I am total agreement myself].  I guess I would have like to have seen a little politicising of the issue by the opposition groups and the adoption of a more statesmanlike stance with all members of parliament on the various sides prepared to work together in a bipartisan manner – sad that it’s obvious right from the start, that this won’t happen!  Mind you, it could perhaps be argued that the government’s proposal has an element of ‘protecting’ the planned return to surplus in the next year or so, which also reflects a political motive.

I have no concern with the concept of all Australians providing assistance in one way or another, but there are various disasters of this nature which occur from time to time, and yet there have been very few proposals of this sort – to the people concerned,  are the floods any less tragic or traumatic then those people who died and/or lost everything in the Victorian bushfires of February 2009,  the cyclones that affect various parts of our coast, and so on. Or is the beginning of a regular response whenever a national crisis occurs  – turn to a new tax?  I personally prefer the idea of the introduction of permanent levy of some sort on ‘all’ taxpayers, with the precise purpose of paying all monies so raised into some form of ‘disaster relief fund’. A permanent Disaster Fund is in my view, a necessary burden for our country as we see the billions of dollars damage this country has suffered in the past few years and have had to meet the recovery expense of with no outside help. Australia is generally a front runner when there is disaster in another part of the world, and yet we seem to have no permanent fund to meet local needs. We are a wealthy country, and I don’t believe we should need to depend on support from other countries when disasters occur here. One suggestion I noticed today was a figure of an extra dollar per week be added to our annual individual taxation [$52 a year, not excessive] or pro-rata based on salary levels, and that business pay a percentage according to annual profits. While that kind of suggestion is too late for the current flood situation, it is an opportunity. I maintain that $52 a year is nothing when it comes to preventing much of the grief that comes with these sorts of disasters, particularly the personal economic grief that follows on.

So I’m not interested into getting into arguments against the levy based on cries of past mismanagement of government funds, on things like the stimulus package, school building programs, insulation fiascos etcalong the lines of ‘‘This levy announcement and the resultant backlash from the public in loss of public donations is unquestionably the worst possible thing a financially incompetent federal government could do. It is governments’ job to build and rebuilt infrastructure from existing corporate and government taxes, that’s what we pay taxes for isn’t it and how could they have gotten the financial planning so wrong and still be in government’.  I might well, in fact probably do, agree with many of those sentiments, but really, I’m more interested in meeting the current situation,  but in an efficient manner which is properly controlled, and as well as putting attention to those immediate needs of damaged infrastructure etc, looks to the future and the almost certainty,  that floods, fires, storms, etc, will occur again, as surely as night follows day.  Funding of this sort is absolutely necessary, especially when you look at the ‘untold’ [yet] damage caused in both the Queensland and Victorian floods in particular, to the food production areas of the entire country, and the impact it could have on our national economy? And all of this following hard on the heels of a decade of drought!

Overall, it seems we are in for the usual round of heated debates in Federal Parliament in a week or so. Might be a change from  the refugee debates, though that subject should not be overlooked. Meanwhile, a little closer to home, and of more personal interest, Susie did another trip up to Bendigo today [this time on her own, which as usual worried me to some degree], seeking to finalise accommodation arrangements for her forthcoming year of studies in that city. Finances were going to be a problem, which was why I was glad to be able to be a position to provide some support in that area. Unfortunately, in the accommodation area, she had to commit to the full study period [8/9 months] even though she would not be there for the entire period, understandable from the viewpoint of the provider, but making the whole process a little more expensive than really necessary. She was not expecting any handouts from her Dad, but constantly referring to any assistance I provided as ‘loans’, and while that aspect was of no immediate concern personally, I was not worried about arguing one way or the other. I simply wanted to assist while I was in the position to do so, as I had been doing on different occasions with Susie’s three siblings. I know that in twelve months, my circumstances will be a lot tighter, so in many ways, this ‘out of town’ study and living arrangements had come at a good  time.

This afternoon,  at the Australian Open Tennis, the two women’s semi final games were held. Good results in both cases, as far as I was concerned.  Tennis reports tell us that   

[1] China’s Li Na stunned top seed Caroline Wozniacki Thursday to set up a historic Australian Open final with Belgium’s Kim Clijsters. .Li clawed her way back from match point down to become Asia’s first female Grand Slam finalist 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, and lies one win from a maiden major victory which could ignite tennis’s growth in her giant home country.  It was sheer delight for the beaming Li, who was beaten by Serena Williams in last year’s semi-final, and heroically recovered from a dreadful start against Wozniacki which she blamed on lack of sleep.  “I didn’t have a good night’s sleep last night,” she joked. “My husband (snored). I woke up every hour.”  Li, China’s number one, saved the second-set match point with a crunching forehand as she finally came alive and overhauled her fading opponent on a sun-baked Rod Laver Arena.

[2] Meanwhile, Kim Clijsters says she is in top form ahead of Saturday’s Australian Open final against Li Na.  The triple Grand Slam-winner proved too strong for Vera Zvonareva, beating the Russian 6-3 6-3 in one hour and 13 minutes at Rod Laver Arena on Thursday.  The result means Clijsters will leapfrog Zvonareva and be world No.2 behind Caroline Wozniacki when the next rankings are issued.   The Final on Saturday night promises to be an entertaining game, particularly because we haven’t got the same players, eg, the William’s sisters playing – I’m afraid I find it boring having  those two dominating every year!!

Similarly with the men – while Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are crowd favourites, and admittedly, normally, the best two players, I’m less inclined to watch their matches than I am with other players. So, as a consequence of last night’s exit by Nadal, and the outcome of tonight’s Men’s 1^st semi final, we will also have a new pairing in the Men’s Final on Sunday night!  In both cases, I will look forward to ‘wasting’ a few more hours in front of the TV, watching the Australian Open Finals That situation came about  because ‘Novak Djokovic signalled a possible new order after ending Roger Federer’s title defence at the Australian Open in a titanic semi-final on Thursday. The resurgent Serbian third seed wore down the 16-time Grand Slam champion 7-6 (7/3), 7-5, 6-4 in three hours to repeat his semi-final win over the Swiss great when he went on win his lone major title at the 2008 Australian Open. Djokovic will now play the winner of Friday’s semi-final between British fifth seed Andy Murray and Spain’s seventh seed David Ferrer in Sunday’s title match. Significantly, it will be the first Grand Slam for three years without Rafael Nadal or Federer. With world number one Nadal out of the tournament amid fresh doubts over his fitness, and now Federer vanquished, Djokovic’s triumph may have signalled a changing of the guard at the top of men’s tennis’.  While I’m not particularly a fan of Djokovic. I was not as unhappy with the result as Susie was, she was hoping Federer would fight back, but tonight was not his night! Incidentally, the two Finals’ days over this coming weekend, are expected to be the ‘hottest’ days of the tournament, in the middle 30s. I think the players will be glad that the matches are scheduled for the evening in each instance!

Certainly, upon looking out the window this morning, on this Australia Day public holiday, it did not seem like a typical ‘Australian’ summer’s day  –  drizzling rain, overcast skies, and [pleasantly] cool conditions. I immediately felt for Susie, who with a group of friends had planned a day down at one of the popular southern coastal beaches – Torquay.  Wandering into the kitchen before she left, it seemed as though she was catering for the whole group – sandwiches and other food everywhere – presumably it was a joint contribution, but Susie was doing all of the preparatory work for their beachside luncheon!!  For myself, I had planned a day at home – there were local Australia Day celebrations planned for this morning, down at Sunbury’s Village Green,  but it was going to be a bit of a damp affair for a while, the way things were looking above. Meanwhile, I assured Susie that the day’s weather was going to improve, and by the time she and her girlfriends reached the coast, it would be a fine day – perhaps not so warm for the swimming they had hoped for. Personally, I don’t mind the beach when the weather is cooler, cloudy, even rainy, means it is less crowded, and has an environment that is not going to ‘burn’ one to cancer inducing proportions!

Before all this happened however, I happened to be awake earlier this morning, with the radio switched on quietly in the background, and was rather pleased at the Soccer result – Asian Cup Semi Finals  –  Japan defeated the Korea Republic, after a penalty shoot out, when scores were still level at the end of extra time. More importantly, in the second Semi, Australia had a mammoth win over Uzbekistan, whom I described yesterday as the form team of the tournament – the final score – Australia defeated Uzbekistan  6- 0, unbelievable.  Still annoyed however, that there was no free to air TV coverage of the tournament, nor even any kind of direct radio coverage that I could find. I wondered had stayed awake long enough to watch it  –  he has his own Foxtel TV [note I with extreme jealousy  – actually, not really, I could never have the time to watch pay TV enough to justify the cost, even though there are occasionally events such as this present Asian Cup that I would relish the opportunity to see!

One of the features of Australia Day each year, is the announcement of the ‘Australians’ for the year [2011]. The winners were actually announced at a ceremony last night, and were as follows.

The 2011 Australian of the Year is a Victorian businessman and philanthropist Simon McKeon is the executive chairman of Macquarie Bank’s Melbourne office, but performs the role on a part-time basis, freeing himself to support a range of causes and organisations, He has been a director of World Vision for 15 years and is a director of the Global Poverty Project. He volunteers as a counsellor for heroin addicts in St Kilda, and works with remote indigenous communities. Simon McKeon is the executive chairman of Macquarie Bank’s Melbourne office, but performs the role on a part-time basis, freeing himself to support a range of causes and organisations, He has been a director of World Vision for 15 years and is a director of the Global Poverty Project. He volunteers as a counsellor for heroin addicts in St Kilda, and works with remote indigenous communities. Mr McKeon, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 10 years ago, is also chairman of the CSIRO and Business for Millennium Development, an organisation that encourages business to engage with the developing world. He recently retired as founding chairman of MS Research Australia and founding president of the federal government’s takeover panel

The Young Australian of the Year is the teenage sailor Jessica Watson. At the age of 16, Ms Watson endured 12-metre seas, 75-knot winds, storms and loneliness throughout her seven-month solo journey round the globe.

 I thought this was a much deserved award to Jessica, and I commented to that fact in a note on Facebook this morning, while at the same time, acknowledging that not all would agree. Helen, a friend here in Sunbury didn’t agree. She noted that ‘Sorry Bill, but I don’t agree – about Jessica. I thought Australia Day honours were for those who ‘make a significant contribution to the community’. I don’t feel that lone sailors contribute to anything other than their own satisfaction and subsequent publicity. Often their personal adventure results in thousands being spent on search and rescue [luckily for her this didn’t happen]. I felt a response was justified in this case, and replied as follows.  ‘Fair enough Helen, and thanks for your viewpoint. I guess that I was looking at it from a different angle, and applying the contribution to the community aspect in a broader sense = the actions of a young person getting out and inspiring others her age to be adventurous, and get beyond the rut of video games, and the like, that was how I saw her contribution to a part of the community. The motto I apply to her, and the difference between her and many of us –  the difference between a dreamer and a doer. Like it or not, she was an inspiration to thousands, not just in Australia, but around the world, as evidenced by the overload to her blog throughout the journey.  I would apply the same philosophy to and I feel similarly about ‘The Australian of the Year’, Simon McKeon, whose work in community, and not for profit areas, etc, inspires others to take the lead and participate for the benefit of the community, but obviously in a different way to Jessica.   However I accept that we don’t always agree with the ‘reasoning’ behind the type of decisions that come up with these Award recipients – one only has to ,look back at the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Barak Obama, just a few weeks after he came into office p- basically awarded for the ‘potential’ he represented rather than what he had actually achieved to that point in time in respect to world peace, which two years down the track, still appears to be little changed!!

The new Senior Australian of the Year is Professor Ron McCallum, the first totally blind person to have been appointed to a full professorship at an Australian university. The New South Welshman is a fierce advocate of equal rights for the blind, and is one of two deputy chairs of Vision Australia, and one of 12 members of the first monitoring committee for the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Finally, the Local Hero is a Sydney man , Donald Richie, who has saved more 160 people from taking their own lives at a notorious suicide spot. The 84-year-old lives by the infamous cliff, and keeps an eye out for people likely to jump. He then coaxes them away from the edge by inviting them into his house for a cup of tea. Mr Ritchie has lived near The Gap for almost five decades and has kept up a voluntary watch from the window of his second-storey bedroom for most of that time. In the early years, Mr Ritchie tried to physically restrain people wanting to jump while his wife called the police, but since then he has taken a more hands-off approach. He’s been recognised multiple times for his efforts; he was given a Medal of the Order of Australia in 2006, while both he and his wife Moya were named Woollahra Council’s Citizens of the Year in 2010.  My late mother and her family used to live just opposite The Gap also, probably not many houses from where Mr Ritchie lives, may even have known each other back in the 1950s/60s. She told us of various incidents of suicides and/or attempted suicides taking place at that location. I’ve  wandered around the cliff tops myself on the occasional visit to the area, in fact one year, with brother, Robert, we watched the start of the Boxing Day Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race from The Gap, and I can easily testify as to how potentially dangerous is the cliff face on the South Head of Sydney Harbour

Of course, in addition to the above principal awards, there are some 700 Australia Day honors handed out – and as I do each year, a perusal of the list of names, failed to find ‘my own name’ listed J Another friend was kind enough to suggest that ‘It’s because you are too modest to put yourself forward – maybe next year J’  Too kind, indeed!

As a matter of interest, the outgoing Australian of the Year, Professor Patrick McGorry, yesterday described Australia’s mental system as dysfunctional, and piled pressure on Prime Minister Julia Gillard to deliver additional funding for mental health care and prevention. “We want to see Australia invest to the level of other developed countries, like New Zealand. New Zealand spends 11 per cent of its health budget on mental health care, we spend 7 per cent. Countries in Western Europe are even more appropriate,” Professor McGorry said. “Money is important, but it has to be put into new models of care, not more of the same, not just incremental patching up of this dysfunctional system that’s currently operating in this country.” Professor McGorry also said that as somebody born overseas — in Ireland — he had always felt privileged to have become Australian, but that our society is growing less equal as the years pass. An interesting comment, and certainly throughout his year in the role, Professor McGorry has been very active in speaking up and for the mental health environment within Australia.

To more mundane matters, as I suggested at the beginning of this piece, my plan was a quiet day at home, and I think that was generally achieved – bit of writing, reading, housework, and other research, in what remained a cool day, although the rain from early this morning disappeared. Apparently down at the Torquay beach resort, the weather was perfect all day, so the decision of Susan and her friends to have a day at the beach was a good move. It was quite popular down there today also, with a number of Australia Day festivities happening, as was the case throughout Australia.

Incidentally, in the Australian Open Tennis tonight, a bit of sensation in the men’s quarter final stage of the competition, with hot favourite Rafael Nadal, hampered by some kind of hamstring injury, was defeated by fellow countryman, friend and Davis Cup team-mate, David Ferrer, in straight sets. I think the admirable thing about this loss was that instead of pulling out before the match ended, because of his injury, Nadal played through to the end, though it was obvious a loss was inevitable – I think he hinted later, that he wanted Ferrer to win the match, by playing it to the end, rather than getting it on a forfeit. He didn’t want to talk about the injury out of respect for his opponent who had played a good match and deserved the win.

Meanwhile, on the cricket scene, in the 4^th of the seven one day matches between Australia and England,  the Aussies, chasing 300 runs to win the game, fell short by about 35 runs in the end I think.  Maureen was quickly back on Facebook to be sure I noted that result!!!

With a public holiday tomorrow, and other staff taking time off later in the week, I decided to take today off, on official leave, and try and spend some time in the garden – well, I did manage the best part of half a day, after an earlier walk, but eventually, the volume of maintenance required in the backyard, wore this ‘ageing’ gardener down, as I decided that the task required more than one of us. However, there ‘is’ only one of us, lol, so this one will just keep plugging away, bit by bit, until the job is up to date. My main problem is a large patch of the dreaded blackberry bushes which seem to have taken over part of the rear garden area – I’m disinclined to use any kind of poison because of the affect on other plants, the birds in the area, and any potential danger to my daughter’s two cats! Digging the plants out is a difficult and tedious job, and unfortunately, poisoning the plants seems the only option. I did notice for the first time, that they are actually budding some actual blackberries!!!   Anyway, work stopped in the early afternoon, as the temperature outside started to rise!

Australia’s Womens’ cricket team doesn’t get a great deal of publicity, and most of their achievements probably go un-noticed unless you were a keen supporter. I take notice, as a broad supporter of any Australian sporting team. So in a summer punctuated by defeat and humiliation, Australia’s women’s side has restored some much needed pride to Australian cricket. In what one writer described as a potential  watershed moment for the women’s game in Australia, Alex Blackwell’s side succeeded where Ricky Ponting’s failed, by reclaiming the ‘Ashes’ on home soil. In response to Australia’s seven wicket win in the one-off Test match at Bankstown Oval in Sydney, Blackwell said that  “We have received some huge support from the men’s side and despite what happened with them this summer there were some efforts there that we took a lot of inspiration from,”  “It means a huge amount for us to win the Ashes back and I’m so proud of the girls. We take a lot of pride in wearing the Baggy Green.  “Winning the World Twenty20 championship in the Caribbean was a highlight for us and winning the Ashes now, we are on a real high at the moment.”  England have held the ‘Women’s’ Ashes since 2005. Meanwhile, my cricket loving friend over in England was pretty dismissive of that result – it meant nothing because there was only one test played!!!  But I’m happy to take whatever wins we can achieve, especially against England!@!!

Showtime, my Tuesday night regular show, tonight featured some songs by well known Australian folk singer John Williamson, from a 2002  album of his, called ‘Gunyah’ in which Williamson introduces each song with a little preview of how  the song originated. is an Australian country music singer-songwriter. Williamson has released over thirty-two albums, ten videos, five DVDs, and two lyric books. He has received more than twenty-three Golden Guitar Awards at the Country Music Awards of Australia and has won two A.R.I.A. Awards for Best Australian Country Record. John’s middle brother Robin died of cancer in 1999. Williamson’s 2002 album “Gunyah”, in particular the track Salisbury Street, was dedicated to Robin, and was one of the tracks I played tonight, the lyrics of which appear below. John wrote them, after he had taken his brother on one last boat cruise on his favourite river, the Murray

John Williamson Salisbury Street Lyrics:
Now’s not the time for wailin’
While there’s water in the river
We’ll all lay down and cry when it’s gone
I’ll be a jackass and laugh at every sunrise
Celebrate the day when it’s born

[Chorus]
And we’ll cruise one more time down the river
While our hearts overflow-ow with joy
And we’ll reminisce our days down Salisbury Street
Salisbury Street, Salisbury Street
Yeah we’ll cruise one more time down the Murray
don’t wave the river gums goodbye
Just thank ’em for the shade and the stories 

The Late Session on SBS tonight – an interesting discussion about ‘families and their influence in our lives’ in tonight’s program – you could almost say, that I currently look forward to this program late every Tuesday evening, with much anticipation.  Many of the participants in these shows, while either famous or generally well known in their own fields of entertainment, the arts, etc, are quite often not familiar to myself, so I find the show a rather fascinating learning curve, which gives me the opportunity to learn more about the personalities that feature in our public areas of life in Australia. Because of the nature of the program, a casual chat show around a studio dinner table,  the ‘private’ lives of these guests, often to a certain extent become very public, but by personal choice, just by coming on the show. Tonight’s guests, for example, spoke about the influence of families and the kind of relationships they had experienced as part of their family life. One interesting little moment – one of the male guests was speaking about his partner, and when he suddenly referred to that person as ‘he’, one of the females at the table quite innocently off the cuff exclaimed ‘Are you gay? I never realised!!’.  Anyway, as usual, I found it an interesting hour of discussion, together with as couple of musical interludes, this time performed by a couple, who were not actually part of the chat group – a father and daughter ‘music hall’ style duo, whose names I didn’t catch, but were certainly good to listen to, and appropriate to the setting. Anyway, tonight’s guests were:

 Julie Catt –  a Counselling Psychologist, from Sydney, CBD, and  Paddington, specialising in  relationship and couples counselling and therapy, gay and lesbian counselling, anxiety, etc. She provides quality, confidential psychotherapy, coaching and counselling for individuals and couples needing support in making changes, finding direction, or negotiating a rocky period in their life.

 Virginia Hausseggar    – a journalist who has been the presenter of the 7pm ABC Canberra News since 2001. She was previously a reporter and presenter of the ABC’s “7:30 Report”, and was a senior reporter at Channel Nine and the Seven Network on flagship current affairs programs. In addition to broadcast, she is a columnist and leading commentator on a range of social and gender issues and is published across various Australian media. She was awarded the United Nations Association of Australia Media Peace Prize for her coverage of Indigenous Affairs in 1996. She is the author of “Wonder Woman: The Myth of Having it All”^[1] which examines issues of feminism, fertility and female choice.

 Fiona O’:Loughlin –  is an Australian comedian, known primarily for her stand-up comedy; for her television performances, on ABC TV’s Spicks and Specks, and Channel Ten’s Rove Live and GNW; and a series of advertisements for Heinz soups.^[1] She has performed as a headline act in the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and the Edinburgh Fringe festival.

 John L Simpson  – film producer, distributor and writer

 Christos Tsailkos  – is an Australian author of the novel ‘The Slap’