Posts filed under 'General News'
I honestly don’t understand the thinking of the powers-that-be in the Labor Party on this one.
By-elections for the federal seats of Mayo and Lyne will be held on September 6.
The polls come as a result of the resignations from parliament of former foreign minister ALEXANDER DOWNER .. and former Nationals leader MARK VAILE.
House of Representatives speaker HARRY JENKINS says he’ll issue writs for the by-elections on Monday .. rolls will close on August 8 .. and nominations close on August 14.
The government will not run a candidate in Mayo .. and is not expected to run one in Lyne.
At last year’s federal election, Labor recorded a rather large swing towards them in Mayo as the AEC results show.
Alexander Downer won the ballot for the Liberal Party with 45,893 votes (51.08%) which was a pretty reasonable distance ahead of the ALP’s Mary Brewerton who received 27,957 votes (31.12%). Admittedly it is quite a gap, however Ms. Brewerton had a swing towards her of 14.63% whilst Mr. Downer had a swing against him of 2.56%. With the swing clearly showing that a large number of people lost confidence in Liberal Party, if you were the Labor Party, wouldn’t you at least try to play the “Alexander Downer ditched you, but we’re here for the long haul” card?
The seat of Lyne is a similar story according to the AEC.
Mark Vaile won for the National Party with 41,319 votes (52.26%), ahead of the Labor Party’s James Langley who managed to receive 25,358 votes (32.07%). The swing wasn’t as exciting as the one in Mayo; Mr. Vaile lost 4.44% and Mr. Langley gained 5.52%, but there is still plenty of votes to gain with the “we respect your decision to vote for us” campaign.
I’m not saying that it would be a definite win for Labor in either of these seats, but surely it’s worth a shot? Or was their 2007 election victory over the coalition and the independents by 83 seats to 65 to 2, giving them a majority of the House of Representatives, enough to make them believe that as long as they have a majority, those who didn’t vote for them last time are of no importance?
At the very least, wouldn’t you want to take advantage of good opinion polls while they’re here and give yourself a shot at having the advantage of incumbency at the next general election?
Oh well, if they want to waste a good opportunity, who am I to try and stop them?
Samuel
August 1st, 2008 at 08:49am
Stories like this one make me about as sure as I can be that I don’t ever want to work in a petrol station or convenience store, especially overnight.
Police are searching for a man who robbed a Brisbane service station armed with a fluorescent light bulb.
The offender, who’s been described as chubby, walked into the Shell service station at Breakfast Creek in Brisbane’s north about 4.45am (AEST) today [Monday] and demanded money, police said.
He used the fluorescent light tube to threaten a female worker, before fleeing the scene on foot with a sum of cash.
He is described by police as caucasian, about 180cm tall with a chubby build and blue eyes.
He was wearing a singlet with white stripes down the sides, shorts, white sports shoes and a dark balaclava at the time of the robbery.
I would imagine that getting whacked over the head with a fluorescent lightbulb would be quite painful and I can see why it would be an effective “scary weapon” for use in an armed robbery…but it really leads to the question of what can’t be used for that purpose?
If I was working in a petrol station overnight, I think I’d have a nervous breakdown within a week as I would end up looking at everyone who entered the store with some suspicion…not just because the bag that they’re carrying might be filled with lead and could be used to injure me, but because they might be concealing almost anything potentially painful under their clothing.
Of course, they don’t even have to conceal a weapon, let alone have one:
Police are appealing for public assistance in relation to an armed robbery at Campsie overnight.
About 7pm the victim, a 26-year-old Campsie man was walking along South Parade talking on his mobile phone when he was approached from behind by two youths.
One of the youths punched the victim to the head area and he dropped his phone and a sum of cash which one of the youths picked up.
Perhaps I’m just naturally paranoid…a number of people have told me so over the years. All I can say is that with lunatics roaming the streets wielding fluorescent lightbulbs and sums of money from petrol stations, and more lunatics punching people in the head, why wouldn’t you be paranoid?
Samuel
July 15th, 2008 at 08:23am
I must thank Stuart Bocking for talking about tours of the Lucas Heights Nuclear Reactor this evening because it reminded me of a story I saw on Channel Seven’s Sydney Weekender a couple weekends ago.
The Mount Piper Power Station is a new power station near Lithgow, operated by Delta Electricity, and they run free tours daily at 11am. Unfortunately they don’t allow anybody (except television travel programs) to take cameras on the tour, but it would be good to go there and have a look around anyway. Even though I don’t like power lines, I’m fascinated by power stations and substations.
The fact that it is free and that you don’t need to book makes me inclined to disappear to Lithgow on an upcoming weekend as I would like to see the insides of a power station. I’d also be interested in touring a telephone exchange at some stage…not that Telstra run tours of them, although it couldn’t hurt to ring them and ask I suppose.
I had a strange dream about touring a power station the other night. In this dream, if you drive through a tunnel somewhere near Gungahlin, you end up in a power station which has a “drive-by tour” track. I think I’d rather walk around a power station though…I’d see more and it would be much more interesting.
Samuel
June 28th, 2008 at 12:05am
I ended up spending some of the afternoon at the Legislative Assembly watching the debate surrounding the no confidence motion tabled against ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope last week. In the end, the only people to support the motion were the Liberal opposition.
The Chief Minister survived the motion 11 votes to 6.
Oh well, there’s always the election on the 18th of October.
Samuel
June 25th, 2008 at 06:26pm
If you think back three years to 2005and the height of the media excitement around the Schapelle Corby trial, almost everyone had an opinion on whether she was guilty of smuggling drugs or not, many of those opinions appeared to based on nothing more than a whim or whether she “looked like a drug smuggler”, A smaller number of opinions seemed to be based on selections of information presented at the trial and regurgitated by the media in a manner which would be impossible for an Australian based trial. Regardless of the opinions, the only person who really knew for sure was Schapelle Corby, for everyone else, it was a guess.
In the end, an Indonesian court found her guilty, and based on that, plus Schapelle’s body language of hitting herself on the head in a “why did I do something so stupid?” type of motion upon hearing the verdict, I formed the opinion that she probably was guilty. I don’t know for sure, but the evidence seems to fairly strongly indicate it in my mind.
Today, long after the story should have died, it still lingers and has returned to prominence with the revelation from one of Corby’s lawyers that he made up the whole “a baggage handler did it” defence:
SCHAPELLE Corby was in a Bali hospital under guard last night as a documentary revealed her ex-lawyer said Alexander Downer had suspected her family was behind her notorious crime.
[..]
The claim is made by Corby’s former defence lawyer, Robin Tampoe, in an explosive new documentary Schapelle Corby: The Hidden Truth.
The three-hour documentary screens tonight and Tuesday night on Channel 9.
In the documentary Mr Tampoe admits fabricating the defence that Australian baggage handlers could have planted the drugs in Corby’s luggage.
“Baggage handlers didn’t put drugs in the bag, nothing to do with it,” said Mr Tampoe, whom Corby sacked after she was sentenced to 20 years’ jail.
“Now she (Schapelle Corby) believes it. They all f—— believe it.
“It’s not true. That’s why you can’t put direct evidence relating to baggage handlers, ’cause they didn’t do it.
[..]
Mr Tampoe admitted in the documentary making up the theory after hearing ABC radio talkback in which callers discussed alleged corruption among airport staff. He no longer practises law.
He will face the Queensland Law Society next month over a misconduct complaint by Mercedes Corby.
Asked what he would say to the baggage handlers of Australia, Mr Tampoe says: “Sorry about that guys. Poor buggers. I won’t do it again. Thanks for the defence.”
If you think about it, the baggage handler theory was far fetched anyway. Illegal drugs are a rather valuable commodity and the people who take the risk of transporting it from one place to another in bulk amounts do so in a relatively controlled manner, they’re not going to “forget” to remove the drugs from a bag before shipping it overseas, and they’re not going to whack the illicit substance in some random bag that they may never see again. They’re going to know exactly where the bag is going, what it looks like, when it will get there, and how they’re going to get the substance out before anybody notices.
The inherent risks of transporting this stuff are too great to not take extreme care, admittedly mistakes will occur from time to time, but if the drugs in Corby’s bag had been planted by a baggage handler, there would have been at least a trace of suspicious activity by a baggage handler…but there wasn’t, so that defence fell flat on its face despite the media having a field day with it.
It’s unfortunate that this story is still dragging out and that everyone who has even a remote relationship with the Corby family seem to be doing their best to cash in on the saga. I have to wonder why we seem to be so content to make such a glorified spectacle of a convicted drug smuggler, and why the media think that her mental state, three years after her conviction, is of any interest to the general public. There are many people in Australian prisons who have mental health problems but we don’t make their plight a front-page news story…I don’t see any good reason for Schapelle Corby to receive media attention unless some amazing evidence comes to light showing that she is innocent, or (and I certainly don’t wish this on her) she dies, in which case she would deserve fleeting media attention as a person who was once in the public eye and is now no longer with us.
I don’t have the faintest clue why this story keeps getting a run in the media, perhaps somebody can enlighten me. Have I completely missed the point here? Does Schapelle deserve the attention? If so, why? And could it really be true that this story is so much more important than everything else going on in the world that it needs to be dragged up over and over and over every few months?
I just don’t get it. Unless I’ve completely missed something here and I’m looking at this from the perspective of another planet, I just can’t see any reason for the continued interest in the story. She was convicted, she is in prison, and her appeals failed; surely that should be a sign for the rest of us to move on.
Samuel
June 22nd, 2008 at 02:14pm
On Monday I resigned from my job as Senior Customer Service Representative at AussieHQ for mostly personal reasons. The job has now been advertised, so the question now is who will get it when I leave?
(Image taken from the Seek version of the job advertisement)
If this sounds like the job for you, then you might as well apply because I won’t be in the job for much longer. The job advertisement can be found on Seek, CapitalJobs and Whirlpool.
Other jobs currently on offer at AussieHQ
Customer Service Representative: Seek - CapitalJobs - Whirlpool
Customer Service Manager: Seek - CapitalJobs - Whirlpool
Assistant Manager – Corporate Services: Seek - CapitalJobs
Accounts Receivable Officer: Seek - CapitalJobs
For what it’s worth, I have every intention of remaining a customer of AussieHQ and think anybody who is interested in one of the available jobs will enjoy the work environment. For those of you who do decide to apply, best of luck with your application.
Samuel
May 28th, 2008 at 12:23pm
I’m a tad late welcoming them back, but none-the-less, welcome back to the only animated online series (Samuel In Dolgnwot) excluded, that has really every interested me. Frank and Dale are back for a second series. A quick warning though, there is some coarse language so if you don’t want to hear coarse language, don’t follow the link.
By the way, do any of the 2UE (or associated network stations) listeners recognise one of the character voices? I’m not going to say any more than that right now…maybe next week if nobody gets it earlier.
Samuel
May 28th, 2008 at 11:24am
I just worked out how Aldi manage to keep their prices down. They get people off the street to write instructions on their products and then don’t pay them for it.
How else could they explain the instructions on a lasagne box saying to put the lasagne in a 1200 watt microwave for fifteen minutes. After 4 minutes and six seconds in an 1100 watt microwave it was overflowing; I can only imagine the melted plastic goop I would have been having to clean up if I had left it unattended for 15 minutes.
I’m not sure that the idea of putting the lasagne (in its plastic container) in a conventional oven for half an hour would have been much better.
Now, let’s hope that they actually paid the people that put the lasagne in the plastic container. If not, I will probably expire.
Samuel
May 23rd, 2008 at 09:17pm
In case any of you are wondering where I will be turning for coverage of Wayne Swan’s first federal budget tonight, it will be John Stanley and Stuart Bocking on 2CC (relayed from 2UE). 2CC have been claiming that the coverage starts at 7pm although the Fairfax Syndication schedule indicates that it starts at 7:30pm and runs until 9pm.
It will be good to once again hear John Stanley’s analysis of news and current affairs on 2CC. It will also be very interesting to see how good or bad Wayne Swan’s budget is.
Samuel
May 13th, 2008 at 05:13pm
As a long-time loyal customer of St. George Bank I am rather disappointed that they have agreed to merge with Westpac Bank. Whilst it’s nice to know that St. George shares are being deemed to be worth 1.31 Westpac shares each, forever proving that St. George is a more wonderful institution, the fact of the matter is that I loathe Westpac, and the thought of St. George becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Westpac or even worse being melded in to the very essence of the Westpac existence is a horrifying thought.
It has always been comforting to know that a nice big happy green dragon that I met at the Canberra Show, and with whom I shared a meal of fairy bread, has been looking after my banking needs with a friendly green smile.
I also have to agree with the concerns of the unions about bank branches closing. Westpac and St. George are adamant that branches will not close, but with the Civic St. George and Westpac branches about two doors away from each other, I find that very hard to believe, even if the two brands operate somewhat independently.
My personal feelings aside, I can’t see any logical reason for the regulatory bodies to block the merger, so I suppose I will just have to enjoy the nice warm glow of Happy Dragon while it lasts:
And get ready to run before my accounts are devoured by the not-so-friendly W.
With all that said, I’m sure that with all of those valuable shares, Happy Dragon will enjoy a nice retirement, and a never-ending supply of fairy bread. It’s just a pity that I probably won’t be coming along for the ride.
Samuel
May 13th, 2008 at 12:53pm
On Saturday I started a new photography series which will appear shortly (probably tomorrow) and on the way there I had to travel along Old Cooma Road which starts in the ACT, and within a few metres is in New South Wales. Palerang Council (the people responsible for Queanbeyan amongst other things) are currently upgrading Old Cooma Road, albeit just a bit behind schedule:
A bridge on Old Cooma Road is currently being upgraded, and I decided to stop and take some photos of it. The full set of photos can be viewed on the photo gallery at http://photos.samuelgordonstewart.com/OldCoomaRoadBridgeUpgrade however I’ll share a couple of them with you here.
The scene as you approach from the west:
The new bridge:
The temporary detour bridge. I’m surprised that it remains stable.
Would anybody (who hasn’t already been told by me) like to guess where I was going on Saturday that required me to travel along Old Cooma Road? I took plenty of photos of my destination, and as a clue, I intend on visiting similar sites in the coming weeks to take photos of them. Anybody?
Samuel
April 29th, 2008 at 10:30am
Plenty of people think I’ve gone near-enough to completely mad with my post about turning on all of my lights during Earth Hour…somehow I don’t think the organisers would mind as it just proves that even people such as me who see almost no sense in the theory of anthropogenic global warming are thinking about Earth Hour and giving it more publicity.
Anyway, the reason for this post isn’t to try and convince people that I am sane, rather it is to show the perspective of Michael Carden, somebody who has spent an awful lot of time fixing broken electronic devices.
Most modern pieces of electronics make use of a switchmode power supply. Everything from TVs and DVD players, to computers and kitchen appliances are likely to have one, and in general they are a wonderful thing. Small, light, cheap and able to run from the mains power in most parts of the world without caring whether they’re plugged into 110, 115, 150, 230 or 240 volts. They (mostly) just work.
[..]
If you have this device plugged into power all the time, a small part of its switchmode power supply - the part responsible for kickstarting it from completely off - never gets used. And this part almost always contains a handful of tiny electrolytic capacitors that play no part in the running of the device until it’s disconnected from the power outlet, and then connected again. Then it’s their job to get the power supply started. These little beasties don’t like heat very much, but they usually live in a hot place (the switchmode power supply) and so as the months and years go by, the heat slowly kills them. They can die completely and you’ll never know. Unless you unplug the device or switch off the power outlet.
So I’m wondering what will happen if thousands or millions of people switch off everything at the power outlet all at once. I think that there’s an excellent chance that quite a lot of stuff won’t come back to life when the power goes back on.
Michael goes on to point out that the percentage will be quite low, but if you’ve never turned off the microwave, the DVD player or the cordless phone at the wall, so you really want to risk it?
My other thought on the subject is this. The electricity suppliers have their systems set up to expect a certain minimum load that never goes away. While I’m sure that their systems are designed to cope safely with the sudden loss of load when everyone switches off, I can’t help but wonder just when they tested this.
Hmmm, it’s one thing to be voluntarily without power for an hour, with a switch to turn it back on at any time a couple metres away, but if enough people take part in Earth Hour and something does go “bang” in the power grid, how many people are actually going to enjoy Earth Week?
Samuel
March 29th, 2008 at 02:29pm
I could have been certain I misheard this story this morning:
We could see graphic warnings on alcohol bottles .. and a ban on under-age drinking at private parties .. under a national plan to curb binge-drinking.
Prime Minister KEVIN RUDD will ask state and federal leaders meeting in Adelaide on Wednesday .. to consider labels warning about the dangers of excessive drinking.
The graphic warnings I don’t really mind, but the “ban on under-age drinking at private parties” is the part I thought I misheard…did anybody stop to think, before issuing the press release, that it would be a ban on something which is already illegal. I would have thought the term “underage” would have been enough to work that out.
Samuel
March 24th, 2008 at 11:54am
Paul B. Kidd on 2UE this morning referring to the Rudd government’s promise to do something about petrol prices:
“They have done something, it’s gone up!”
For the record, I think that the ACCC sound like they will soon have enough information to do something constructive, but to the same extent, I got a good chuckle out of Paul’s comment.
Samuel
March 24th, 2008 at 07:40am
2UE News is reporting that there was a small fire in the kitchen at The Lodge, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s official Canberra residence today, and two staff were treated for smoke inhalation.
It is apparently not known if Mr. Rudd and/or his family were in The Lodge at the time.
I can’t find this story anywhere else to verify it yet, and I didn’t see any emergency services near The Lodge when I went past there twice in the last few hours. Regardless, I hope everyone is OK.
Samuel
(originally posted 7:05pm: Promoted back to top of page at 7:51pm)
March 21st, 2008 at 07:51pm
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