AUSTRALIAN POLITICS Updated 15/5/2014

WHO ARE WE NOW?

Australian politics - reading between the lines.

By Frances Harris

The Abbot government has just made a powerful statement in the budget 2014, about how they regard their Australian citizens, and importantly how they expect us to feel about each other.

Now for all you mothers and fathers who decided to live a low income lifestyle due to your own poor career choices in life, don’t blame the government when you can’t take all of your flu ridden family to the doctor at once because of the seven dollar co-payment, and if you can’t return for the results of the diagnostic tests and medication, it’s simple. Just pick out the one who looks the sickest, maybe that looks like has pneumonia, excluding the parents of course, and deal with them one at a time. All it takes is some forward planning.

That, we are told is fiscally responsible, and if it happens the disease is undiagnosed ‘bird flu,’ or some rare biology contracted from a rich person who’s returned from overseas, just suck it up. You are doing this for the Liberal Party, your country and the economic bottom line. I wonder how Europe coped with the black plague or even the bubonic plague, in the eighteen hundreds. Maybe we can take some guidance from what they did. There are lots of old graves in the local cemetery that show how Australia managed the crisis. I hope there is planning in this budget for the endless possibilities. Maybe the new super research centre can find cures, in six or seven years’ time. We can learn a lot from history.

Now with the expectation that the cost of getting a degree at Australian Universities is likely to triple:  - the age of entitlement for the rich has arrived, again. Finally our government has gotten rid of all those poor people who are taking away opportunities from the rich, because they won’t be able to pay back their HEX debt in one lifetime. The way is free for anyone with money to become a professional student; perhaps a parking spot for the errant young adult, if you will. That is not to make less of the smart wealthy students who deserve their place on the high stage. They should be applauded for their abilities.

What about the war torn and abandoned people oversees, some without food, medicine or shoes on their feet; who are in their plight through no fault of their own? The government indicates; they can wait. We need to withdraw some of their allocated budget for the paid parental scheme. Both are worthy causes, and one can realise it is a statement about Australia’s place in the world and what we think about the weak and vulnerable everywhere. We have an image to keep. The apparent message from the government is: We aren’t prepared to take care of our own weak and vulnerable shown in the new budget cuts, so why should we pay for those in other countries? Life is about standing on your own two feet, sometimes without shoes and a matching handbag.

Now that there are plans to slash staff at the Tax department, I guess the retrenched staff won’t be transferred a bolstered Investigation unit that tracks oversees money transferred to Monaco or the Swiss occasional bank account. Six months in the dole will be good for the character, make them stronger.

And if it is you who happens to have a child who is struggling to keep up at school and you don’t own a king’s ransom for tutors and the like – just get used to it. This is good for all of us and good for the country – right? We don’t want to be breeding a race of future dole bludging welfare recipients.

So for the poor and needy in Australia, if we see you out on the street with the begging bowl, because they are unable to keep a roof over their heads, or put food on the table, we who have more have been encouraged shut one eye as we pass you by and remember, it’s because this is good for Australia. - We all have to share the pain equally.

COMMUNICATIONS IN AUSTRALIA

  THE EVOLUTION OF COMMUNICATIONS IN AUSTRALIA

By Frances Harris



25^th April 1770, the first recorded communications system in Australia was listed in the logs of the HMS Endeavour, first noted by naturalist Joseph Banks off the coast of new South Wales. Captain Cook wrote that fires sited along the coast were cooking fires tended by the local aborigines. They were later found to be signalling fires informing other tribes that there were strangers in the area. The succession of fires was a very effective and fast moving means of alerting tribes ahead that a ship filled with strangers was on its way.

The first fleet landing in 1788, resulting in a fledgling British penal colony at Botany Bay made up of 759 convicts and nearly as many military warders, was isolated and fairly detached from the homeland. Even in a time of near starvation, after the sinking of their supply ship Guardian, there were few ships travelling between Australia and England which made it difficult to get word out in time to avert a tragedy. It took two years before the Governor received a reply to his dispatch to England.

The initial planning for the colony was purposely meant to foster trade and to isolate the undesirables. When the convicts ended their sentences, it was intended they would not be easily able to find their way back to England. In 1790 when the Lady Juliana carrying mail from home arrived with the second fleet, people went wild trying to get their letters and parcels from the ship. It was recorded that the recipients  ripped open their mail with trembling hands. In Tasmania the local postmaster arranged for open letter bags to be placed near ships to be filled by anyone who wanted to communicate with their home country. Incoming mail was advertised in the Hobart Town Gazette.

Other colonies launched their postal services promptly and by December 1829, Western Australia had a sound postal delivery established five months after settlement. Post Masters earned their money applying levies to incoming mail, but soon found that most of the services were unprofitable. There was always the entrepreneur looking for other ways to cash in.

As the postal service developed, and the squatters moved further inland from the east coast, mail was carried by the postman on foot, on horseback, on carts and sailing ships to assigned destinations. The gold rushes and opening of sea ports saw the expansion of the postal services around the coast and drove them deeper inland, but the system was stretched to breaking point. Postal addresses were included in isolated gullies and out of the way places. One of the major drawbacks for the communications systems in Australia was the problem of illiteracy. Much of the wider population was unable to read, spell, or write coherently. So if communications were sent, there had to be someone at the other end to read it and be able to respond.

By the 1850’s, as the diggers of New South Wales and down south moved further inland, so did the telegraph poles and lines. In 1872 the telegraph cable arrived from Europe and Asia. The overland wire continued its installation southwards until Darwin was linked with the southern cities. Progressively layers of new technologies went on to enhance the old communication systems, like Morse Code, the telegram, telex, coaxial cable, STD phones. Satellite has seen an array of new communications systems cascade across Australia and the world until we now have extensive  social and business networks supported with Wifi, and are steadily taking over from fixed line phones and cables.

So what’s next? Maybe tele-transportation, or a direct line to the stratosphere. It will be interesting to see.

SUCCESS

SUCCESS

By Frances Harris

 

Added to the influences of early childhood, the true quest for identity and success, in a hefty slice of humanity seems to begin when one boy first notices a girl, or a girl notices a boy. Immediately the calculations and questions begin to mount up in their heads - Am I worth enough? Am I good enough to make it with that person? Is my family likely to meet with their approval? Do we have enough in common? How do I need to compensate to change my present circumstances? Springing from the answers to these questions, determines much of the course of the rest of their lives. We start by settling on the common driving forces innate in most humans and these among many are; food, sex, comfort and approval. It should be a pretty simple formula for success really, unless we decide to take a closer look.

On the opposite side of the coin, there is the highly motivated, driven set who slice through and dispose of apparently wonderful relationships and situations to reach an unattainable destination somewhere out there in the stratosphere. The theory - it’s better to have a short and happy life than a long and miserable one, is silently on the radar. Some of these are the people who drop dead at the office, or the body gives out unexpectedly, sometimes much earlier than most. They strive to be forever young and nearing the end of the journey, are unable to recognise their loss of youthful looks and stamina, leading at times to some very mismatched, indulgent relationships to the point they too could be working against their own interests. Right here, the name ‘Silvio Belersconi,’ comes to mind. Those that are lucky enough to survive, leave plenty of time for regret.

So why, with all this intense analysis by the brain of the smartest creatures on the planet do we have so many differences. There are nerds, geeks, skinny little bald guys who always get the girls, gothics, bodgies, bogans, widgies, punks, rockers, and stunningly natural beautiful women who are happy to wear cut-off jeans, unaware of their looks and like to study turtles in a muddy pond? Then, on the perimeters of the struggle, there is a bunch of grumpy commentators who unhappily observe life from the outside looking in. 

Putting all of this aside; so who are the people that have settled their identity questions early in life and go on to enjoy long happy productive lives, without missing a beat? Well there is no better place to find them than recorded in small local newspapers. We find them tucked away in comfortable, mostly suburban homes, with a harmonious loving family who have taken up the same formulas of their loving parents to produce happy families of their own. These people had learned early in life that it is not necessary to push and shove others out of the way to succeed. They are of constant, mid-weight, eat healthy, exercise moderately, forgive easily and laugh often. They are quietly seen in the local newspapers holding hands and celebrating their eightieth year of a happy a marriage. They are rarely mentioned in the mainstream press.

So success begins with the sharpness of the eye of the beholder, and made from decisions ignited early in the impressionable years. They choose their behaviour. They are the ones you’ll often find on the Queen’s honour list for centenarians.



SHIFTING THE WEIGHT

SHIFTING THE WEIGHT

By Frances Harris

It looks so easy; just reduce the food intake and exercise regularly and the pounds or kilos will peel off automatically – right?  Well, that’s the theory, but there’s one little hitch and is called the addictive brain. David Kessler, former head of the Food and Drug Administration (USA) and paediatrician and professor of paediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco has something to say about this. He claims there is a ’sweet spot,’ in the brain, that if engineered  the combination of fat, salt and sugar in the right quantities, (FSS) the product you crave, perhaps potato crisps and cakes, will become almost irresistible. I won't even mention the ice cream aisle. Evidently when stimulated in this way the reward centre of the brain lights up like an amusement park after dark. This should explain why people continue to eat well after they are hungry.

 Looking back, it makes sense to me. I can remember the times I walked down the potato crisp and cake aisles of any supermarket, and was instantly drawn to them like a magnet. My thoughts would instantly race into defensive mode, making excuses to myself why I had to buy them.  ‘It’s only this once,’ or ‘if I hide them it will avoid the arguments,’ and ‘even though I bought a packet yesterday, I don’t get them that often.’ And there is one more; ‘if I eat the chips or cake first, followed by a healthy lunch, they should cancel each other out.’

It seems food manufacturers discovered the human, ‘sweet spot,’ well before the rest of us were made aware of it, and they’ve been making the most of it ever since.  In fact, they have encouraged we crisp and food lovers to happily following like lemmings on the way to our own demise. After slowly reducing my exposure to the trio (FSS) I have dropped a dress size, now that I recognise the pitfalls. I’m avoiding the potato crisp and cake aisles like the plague. Wouldn’t it be great if scientists could come up with a patch to ween us off (FSS) like there is for cigarettes?

It’s true, exercise is a must-do for people who want to be healthy, but calories – in, and calories – out, must be in balance to loose eight. Just like any addictive element, (FSS) can’t be stopped overnight. I started off by purchasing the smaller size of sugar instead of the bulk pack. I like to put it, as well as salt on food after it is ready to eat where reasonable. That way the ingredients are unlikely to be added during the mixing stage, then again when the food is ready to serve. I discovered when cooking many meat products, add lots of spices to replace salt, then a little water at the base of a pan will stop the meat from burning, before a smudge of natural fat leeches out as it would anyhow. No added oil is necessary or the doubling up of fat.  The formula is working and I have a lot more energy.  Then finally, more vegetables are on the menu. If you spread the vegetables over the plate first, then place the meat on top, it's less obvious that the quantity of meat has been reduced.

With the extra energy from diet changes, I am able to do more exercise with less effort. It’s hard to get started, but everything gets easier with these few simple changes. See below where I’ve been walking regularly and riding my bicycle.  

Walking track at the end of Main Street, Mornington, Victoria, Australia.

Elwood Beach walking track, Victoria, Australia.



A PEACEFUL LIFE

A PEACEFUL LIFE

Good morning everyone!

My name is Frances Harris and I hope to devote this site to all things fun, interesting and light (not lite, meaning calories).The sun is shining outside my window just now and everything is peaceful. Parallel with every post on this site, I hope you will enjoy your day.

Let’s now imagine it’s your day off. I mean your day off from everything, including stress. No thinking of anything bleak, just seeing the wonders of life and appreciating the small, but not insignificant things. My signature flower is the daisy and as I look out my window this morning I see their little faces reaching upwards, maybe even laughing, while they drink in the sunshine. Sometimes they sway in the breeze. I feel somehow, with their snow white petals and golden faces they are trying to saying hello!  I would like to talk to them back, but I don’t think my neighbour would understand.



Daisies in my garden

So today is a new day, I’m out of bed and boiling the kettle ready for a cup of tea. I spare a thought for the people I love then ditch anything pressing for now. Clear thoughts and a free day are my idea of pure bliss. The next thing to do is to plan what I’d like to do with my day off. First, I have the choice of a stroll around a shopping centre maybe?  Or there is a walk on the beach, both real possibilities, I think. Yes - the beach wins. The housework can wait.

First I have a leisurely breakfast of corn flakes, crushed nut mix, raisins and with a little sugar. All finished, everything is done, then I‘m ready to go. Shortly after that I get in the car and leave the driveway. An easy scenic drive going the long way to look at beautiful houses, takes me to the beach in Beaumaris, Victoria Australia. It’s the place I grew up, and coming back here has a lovely feel to it. People walk their dogs and take their children in hand to enjoy the fresh air, salt water and sun shine. The rock pools are still here, where my brothers and I used to swim and explore. Shallow sand banks make it a very safe place for children to play in the water. We spent many happy hours doing just that. In my entire life I have never heard of a child drowning in this spot. Walking paths and seats placed along the shore make it a wonderful place to sit and unwind.

 

 

This is one of the walking paths I use at Beaumaris beach.

These are the rock pools and volcanic rock formations at Beaumaris Beach. I like to walkout  the ends and watch the birds. It is not unusual to see dolphins cavorting further out.

This is one of the safest beaches in Victoria for children to play. There is a mass of interesting shells resting in the sand.

This is the last stop, the kiosk at Beaumaris Beach on the east side.

After a stroll around this most beautiful area, and squeaking my toes in the sand, watching the birds, children, dogs and their owners cavorting in the sun, I stopped off at the kiosk for a rest. It is here you can get a top class coffee or hot chocolate to warm your heart on a cool day. I choose chocolate with an added incentive of two chunky marsh mallows. I love to watch them melt in the mug as I stir in the mushy sweetness.  This is the end of a very relaxing interlude, leaving me energised, ready for the next adventure. I think I’d like to come back again.