Archive for August, 2009
Back on Friday the 13th of March I was clearing out my hotel room in Deniliquin when I heard this bizarre exchange between Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard and 3AW’s Neil Mitchell. I believe that, had Julia just used the word “no”, Neil would have been caught off-guard, and nobody would have blamed her seeing as “no” would have been a perfectly honest answer…nobody can guarantee what the actions of third parties will be, so why Julia felt the need to ramble around the answer was beyond me, but highly amusing.
[audio:https://samuelgordonstewart.com/wp-content/JuliaGillardWithNeilMitchell20090313.mp3]
Download MP3
It was great fun listening to it, even if I started yelling at Julia and the radio at one point (actually, that could be why it was fun).
Samuel
August 7th, 2009 at 09:02am
Jon Stanhope has formally recognised the Ngunnawal people as the “traditional owners” of the Australian Capital Territory, based on the incredibly impartial advice of the Ngunnawal Elders Council. He says he has done this to quell the “confusion and distress within the community” over a debate between the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people over who “traditionally owns” the land.
Matilda House, from the Ngambri people is annoyed, but has a great quote.
“Mr Stanhope has made his mind up so how would I ever change it?”
Well definitely not through one of his consultations, that’s for sure.
Ms. House is also confused about who she distressed by declaring herself to be a Ngambri person.
“It’s a gutless accusation because what stress have I caused? What stress have I caused? You know I’d like to know who is stressed out in this community over my decision to say who I am.”
It’s the first I’ve heard of anyone being distressed about this supposed confusing debacle. Perhaps it was just an attempt from Chief Turnip Stanhope to get the media to focus on a good news story rather than the fact that he has let his federal Labor colleagues wriggle out of yet another financial commitment. If so, well done Jon, it worked. Top story on ABC Canberra News is the very politically correct Aboriginal story.
Gotta love the state-owned, state-run media. I know Jon does.
Samuel
August 7th, 2009 at 06:57am
It’s the Limbaugh effect!
Rush Limbaugh has a link to a story on Sweetness and Light placed at the top of his website, and then asks his listeners to visit his website and click on the link.
It’s a good thing that Rush had a printout of the story to read to his audience, because the website didn’t last long once everyone started trying to visit it. It’s only just starting to recover now, fifteen minutes later.
Update: OK, so maybe “recover” was the wrong word. I can occasionally get the page title to load…nothing else though. End Update
Further Update: Half an hour later, Rush notes that Sweetness and Light is being “bombarded” and gets the key images of the story republished on his own site. End Update
Samuel
August 7th, 2009 at 02:23am
Still not content with my suggestion of getting the past and present Chief Ministers to stand on each others shoulders for a day to celebrate 100 years of Canberra, Jon Stanhope has announced that the 2013 women’s Australian Open is coming to Canberra (warning: large photo of Jon Stanhope not-quite-smiling on linked page). For the record, it’s golf, not tennis, although how anybody is supposed to tell from the title alone is beyond me.
Chief Minister Jon Stanhope today announced Royal Canberra Golf Club would host the Women’sAustralian Open as part of the 2013 Centenary of Canberra celebrations.
“I am delighted this hallmark tournament will be played at Royal Canberra during Canberra’s Centenary and have no doubt it will be one of the highlights of the year,” Mr Stanhope said.
“This four day championship, during Canberra’s 100th birthday year, will attract many of the world’s best female golfers and bring strong interstate crowds to Canberra.
“The Women’s Open will also enhance Canberra’s reputation as an international sporting destination while promoting the centenary celebrations to millions of television viewers around Australia, across Asia and the northern hemisphere.
Oh yes, because Slӧrdge, watching the golf on his television in Norway, is really going to ring his travel agent and book a holiday in Canberra when realises that we’re the town of one hundred candles. He might even bring his rugby union team with him to marvel at Canberra Stadium, which doesn’t spent most of the year under snow.
Seriously Jon, that you’ve got a major golf tournament to come to Canberra at a yet-to-be-decided date is great, but don’t expect it to do any more for our international standing than the GMC 400 did.
Samuel
August 6th, 2009 at 12:32pm
Unlawfully sketch, draw, photo or paint fortifications. That’s what two journalists from The Daily Telegraph have been charged with after testing the security of the Holsworthy Barracks in Sydney.
Police were called to the scene shortly before 2pm, responding to a report that two men had entered the reserve and were taking photos.
Army personnel detained the men until police arrived.
Police seized a laptop and camera for further examination.
[..]
They are due to appear in Liverpool Local Court on 25 September 2009.
Is it time that we stop outsourcing the security of the front gates of our military installations?
Samuel
August 6th, 2009 at 11:05am
Remember that ridiculous sparring match between John Laws and Neil Mitchell last week?
Well it turns out that Lawsie came to his senses a few hours later, and asked Neil Mitchell’s answering machine to pass on an apology.
[..] the matter is unlikely to wind up in court. Mitchell told Green Guide that Laws left an apology on his answering machine the afternoon of the incident.
‘‘He said, ‘Please pass my apologies to Neil, I might have overreacted’, which was a very decent thing to do. And I left a message on his machine saying, ‘Thanks for the message, appreciate it’. It’s all over, as far as I’m concerned.’’
Who would have thought that the answering machine would become the modern-day equivalent of the legal secretary?
Samuel
August 6th, 2009 at 09:55am
A sure sign that the government has too many bureaucrats. This ad, from page 17 of yesterday’s Daily Telegraph:
DEVELOPMENT OF A NATIONAL COMPACT
The Australian Government, as part of its social inclusion agenda, is exploring ways to develop a stronger relationship with Australia’s third sector. One way to do this is through the development of a national compact. A second stage of consultations on the development of a national compact will begin on 3 August 2009. An online forum will be launched as part of this consultation. Interested people and organisations are invited to share their ideas about what a national compact should look like and what it will include.
To find out more or to register your interest to participate in the online consultation forum, please visit www.socialinclusion.gov.au or www.fahcsia.gov.au
The ad then continues with phone numbers, but doesn’t actually explain what it’s rambling about. So I went along to the social inclusion website, and found this:
Promoting social inclusion requires a new approach to developing and implementing policy and programs. This new approach requires strong partnerships between all levels of government, business and community organisations to address economic and social disadvantage in Australia.
Oh, so this is a socialist attempt at giving paper pushes the power to spread wealth around. I say attempt because, the amount of bureaucracy involved in this is bound to make it another expensive and confusing white elephant.
Many Australian Government departments are involved in the social inclusion agenda, and a number of them have established Social Inclusion Units to focus on this priority. The Australian Social Inclusion Board and the Community Response Task Force have been established to involve the community and business sectors at the highest level. A new National Compact, or agreement, is being developed between the government and the not-for-profit sector as a way to develop a new and stronger relationship, based on partnership and respect.
“A new National Compact, or agreement”…government double-speak before it’s even getting off the ground. This is just another “look, we’re doing something, we’ve got a review going, aren’t we wonderful” facade, aimed at preventing people from realising that nothing is actually getting done.
(Thanks to Padders for noticing the ad and republishing it).
Samuel
August 6th, 2009 at 07:32am
An email to 2GB’s Jason Morrison:
G’day Jason,
I did the same as you when Andrew Robb’s name was floated as a replacement for Malcolm Turnbull. I laughed. Who knows, this may still be a joke…one can only hope.
Enjoy your morning in a cold tent, and be thankful that you’re not in a tent in a five degree Canberra.
Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra
August 6th, 2009 at 05:51am
In a move which reminds me of the annual Talk Radio Day at the UN, Australia’s radio industry is having a massive outside broadcast this morning to celebrate digital radio.
In Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide, bits of the CBD are being taken over by the collective breakfast teams of numerous radio stations, both commercial and government owned. Community Radio is not involved in the event.
Sydney’s event, in Martin Place, has lost three of its biggest names, with 2GB’s Alan Jones off sick (although Alan was never going to be there, it was going to be Jason Morrison on-site crossing to Alan in the studio. Jason will now be hosting the show from Martin Place as he continues to fill-in for Alan) and the two unmentionables from 2DAY FM who are “in recess”.
The full list of stations and places running their breakfast shows from a central location for today’s publicity stunt are as follows:
Sydney – Martin Place
2SM, MMM, 2DAY FM, Vega, 2GB, 2CH, Sky Sports Radio (known, until recently, as 2KY), 2UE, Nova, SBS, ABC Local Radio, The Edge (digital-only station).
Melbourne – Federation Square
3MP, Magic, Fox, SEN, 3AW, Nova, Vega, MMM, SBS, The Edge, ABC Local Radio, Sport 927.
Brisbane – Reddacliff Place
4BC, 4KQ, MMM, B105, Nova, 4BH, ABC Local Radio, RadioTAB.
Adelaide – Victoria Square
FIVEaa, SAFM, Cruise, ABC Local Radio, MMM, Nova.
Perth – Forrest Place
Mix, 92.9 (Austereo station), Nova, 6PR, 96fm, 6IX, ABC Local Radio.
If I didn’t have many other things to do, and if Alan Jones was going to be there, I’d probably make my way up to Sydney. As it happens though, I’m sure there will be enough people turning up to see their favourite radio presenters without me being there as well.
Samuel
August 6th, 2009 at 05:30am
A story from Victoria’s Herald Sun about Aboriginal criminals in New South Wales being given a non-prison option simply because they are Aboriginal.
YOUNG indigenous offenders could be sent to work on a cattle farm in northern NSW instead of jail in an Australian first aimed at curbing incarceration rates.
The property Balund-a, near Tabulam in the state’s far north, will house up to 50 men and women aged between 18-35 who would otherwise be sent to prison.
Corrective Services Minister John Robertson said he wanted to address the high indigenous incarceration rates, with more than one in five inmates in NSW jails of Aboriginal descent.
Well Mr. Robertson, it will certainly do that…but how many 50-people-per-year farms are you going to need in order to make a useful dent in those statistics? And what exactly are you trying to get at with this sentence?
Mr Robertson said so far, 13 of the 14 would-be inmates who have spent time at Balund-a have avoided time behind bars upon their return to court.
There is no context for this sentence. Either it means that 14 people who have been to the farm so far have re-offended and didn’t receive a court sentence, in which case I fail to see how it’s related to the story, or it means that people sent to this farm are being sent back to court once they are done, so that a judge can have a look at their report card and decide whether to send them to court, which would be an amazing waste of time for an already overcrowded court system.
Mr Robertson continued:
“If we can keep 50 young Aboriginal men and women in this region out of prison each year and give them a chance to make something of their lives, then the program has been a success.”
And what about the rest of us? If Aboriginal offenders are worthy of a rehabilitation farm, why aren’t the rest of us worthy of it? What makes them so special?
The most amazing thing about all of this is that, elsewhere in the country, similar programs are being conducted in prisons, not outside of them.
It is based on existing Aboriginal programs in prisons such as Yetta Dhinnakkal near Brewarrina and Warakirri at Ivanhoe.
Is Mr. Robertson so obsessed with statistics that he can’t see his way to implementing such programs in the safe environment of his state’s prisons rather than on remote farms?
Regardless, as long as such programs are being offered to Aboriginal offenders and not to everyone else, it’s a racist policy.
Apparently the percentage of people in prisons who are Aboriginal has never been higher, and the government wants to lower that percentage. That’s understandable, but perhaps it’s time that they investigated the living conditions of Aboriginal children. Aborigines aren’t criminals by nature any moreso that white folk (for lack of a better term) are, so there has to be a reason why they are growing up and turning in to criminals at a much higher rate than everyone else. I think it has to do with the way they are being raised as children.
Over the years I have seen many Aboriginal families come and go through the area in which I live. Almost all of them have been visited quite regularly by the police, almost all of them have been “known” as drug-dealing households, and almost all of them have had incredibly foul children. What chance do these kids have? It’s a well established fact that the pre-primary school years have a huge impact on children and shape their future. If you grow up in a household with criminal tendencies (or worse) then you are very likely to see such activity as “normal”…your morals will have been corrupted. If the government is serious about preventing Aborigines from becoming criminals, then it needs to take a good, hard look at the environment in which these children are growing up.
Once they’re all grown up and out there causing havoc, and on “not you again” basis with the local cops, it’s too late for “rehabilitation programs”. By that stage what is needed is the solitary confinement prison system which I have talked about before.
Samuel
August 6th, 2009 at 03:50am
I have missed two of the last three days on this blog, after not missing a day since the 20th of June. It’s not as if I’m short of stuff to write about either.
Alas on Monday I was too busy to even put a few photos online and rejected Maritz’s weekly column, and yesterday I spent virtually the whole day in bed after falling down the stairs on Tuesday.
Stay tuned, I haven’t disappeared, although I am sorry that it has been so quiet here in the last few days.
Samuel
August 6th, 2009 at 12:46am
Yesterday Woolworths announced that they are launching their own pre-paid mobile phone service which will run on the Optus network. Woolworths are touting it as a simple solution with a single price structure and no confusing “cap” deals. On that front, they are right, however when it comes down to the actual cost of it, it’s not quite as cheap as Woolworths might like us to believe when compared to other providers.
The basic deal is:
Cost per 30 seconds: $0.15
Flagfall: $0.15
Cost per text message: $0.15
Coast per MMS: $0.50
Sounds good on the surface of it, but that has more to do with the fact that other providers have made their own deals sound expensive by charging you in credit rather than real money, and converting real money to outlandish amounts of credit.
For example, Vodafone’s advertised pre-paid rates are:
Cost per 30 seconds: $0.88
Flagfall: $0.35
Cost per text message: $0.28
Cost per MMS: $0.50 (video messages cost $0.75)
Optus:
Cost per 30 seconds: $0.78 (charged in 60 second blocks)
Flagfall: $0.35
Cost per text message (to other Optus pre-paid users): $0.25
Cost per text message (to other carriers): $0.29
Cost per MMS (to other Optus pre-paid users): $0.25
Cost per MMS (to other carriers): $0.29
Video MMS does not appear to be supported.
Telstra:
Cost per 30 seconds: $0.39
Flagfall: $0.30
Cost per text message: $0.25
Cost per MMS: $0.50 (video messages cost $0.75)
Virgin Mobile caps:
Cost per 30 seconds: $0.45 (charged in 60 second blocks)
Flagfall: $0.40
Cost per text message: $0.25 (free to other Virgin Mobile users)
Cost per MMS: $0.60
Video MMS does not appear to be supported
Virgin Mobile Bean Counter:
Cost per 30 seconds: $0.10
Flagfall: $0.25
Cost per text message: $0.10
Cost per MMS: $0.60
Video MMS does not appear to be supported
Naturally there are many more providers and options, but this is enough to run some comparisons on for now. The above prices are all in “credit” rather than real money, so to find out the real cost they need to be converted back in to real money. In most cases, the more you recharge with, the more “credit” you get for your money. For the purposes of this comparison , I’m going to calculate the cost of using the services after recharging with $30 and $50. As the Woolworths services is clearly aimed at the lower-budget end of the market, there’s not much point in running comparisons against the more costly options, however I will include links to the plans so that you can run your own comparisons. I’m also rounding all figures to the nearest cent for readability purposes.
Costs in real money:
Woolworths Mobile:
Credit is equal to real money in this service
Cost per 30 seconds: $0.15
Flagfall: $0.15
Link to plan.
Vodafone $29 cap:
$29 of real money equals $150 of credit. Therefore each dollar of real money is equal to $5.17 of credit.
Cost per 30 seconds: $0.17
Flagfall: $0.07
Cost per text message: $0.05
Cost per MMS: $0.10 (video messages cost $0.15)
Link to plan
It’s worth noting that this plan also provides an additional $150 of credit specifically for use when calling other Vodafone customers.
Vodafone $49 cap
$49 of real money equals $350 of credit. Therefore each dollar of real money is equal to $7.15 of credit.
Cost per 30 seconds: $0.12
Flagfall: $0.05
Cost per text message: $0.04
Cost per MMS: $0.07 (video messages cost $0.11)
Link to plan
It’s worth noting that this plan also provides an additional $350 of credit specifically for use when calling other Vodafone customers.
Optus “Bigger and Better Freecalls”
Credit on these plans is equal to real money, however the $30 plan comes with 300 minutes of free calls and 100 further minutes of free calls to five Optus pre-paid numbers which you nominate. The $50 plan has 500 free minutes and 150 further minutes of free calls to your nominated five Optus pre-paid numbers.
There are a gazillion other plans and options, each with their very own list of difficult to compare extras and addons.
Cost per 30 seconds: $0.78 (charged in 60 second blocks)
Flagfall: $0.35
Cost per text message (to other Optus pre-paid users): $0.25
Cost per text message (to other carriers): $0.29
Cost per MMS (to other Optus pre-paid users): $0.25
Cost per MMS (to other carriers): $0.29
Video MMS does not appear to be supported.
Link to plan.
Telstra:
Telstra organise their caps as “packs” which you buy with your credit balance. Credit is equal to real money.
Cost per 30 seconds: $0.39
Flagfall: $0.30
Cost per text message: $0.25
Cost per MMS: $0.50 (video messages cost $0.75)
Link to plan.
$20 text pack: 12 cents per text message
$50 text pack: 10 cents per text message
$20 photo MMS pack: 37 cents per message
$50 photo MMS pack: 34 cents per message
$20 talk pack: 37 cents per 30 seconds (plus flagfall) charged in 60 second blocks
$50 talk pack: 34 cents per 30 seconds (plus flagfall) charged in 60 second blocks
Link to “plus packs”.
Virgin Mobile $35 cap:
$35 of real money equals $180 in credit. Therefore each dollar of real money equals $5.14 of credit.
Cost per 30 seconds: $0.09 (charged in 60 second blocks)
Flagfall: $0.08
Cost per text message: $0.05 (free to other Virgin Mobile users)
Cost per MMS: $0.12
Video MMS does not appear to be supported
Link to plan.
Virgin Mobile $45 cap:
$45 of real money equals $320 in credit. Therefore each dollar of real money equals $7.11 of credit.
Cost per 30 seconds: $0.06 (charged in 60 second blocks)
Flagfall: $0.06
Cost per text message: $0.04 (free to other Virgin Mobile users)
Cost per MMS: $0.08
Video MMS does not appear to be supported
Link to plan.
Virgin Mobile Bean Counter plan:
Money and credit are equal in this plan.
Cost per 30 seconds: $0.10
Flagfall: $0.25
Cost per text message: $0.10
Cost per MMS: $0.60
Video MMS does not appear to be supported
It’s amusing that this plan is advertised as being a cheap plan for people who want the “best deal around”, and yet it actually costs more than the most expensive of the Virgin caps.
Link to plan.
It’s quite clear from all of this that Woolworths are not the cheapest of the lot, however with the complexity of the plans offered and advertised by the rest of the mobile providers (and I haven’t even come close to examining the entire competition), the Woolworths plan does come across as being a simple and cheap option. The competition have their own “credit for cash” deals to blame for this because, as much as “$320 credit for $45” sounds great, the advertised call rates in credit don’t sound great. The fact that it takes excessive use of a calculator to compare the plans also works in Woolworths’ (and Virgin Mobile’s Bean Counter plan’s) favour as most people won’t bother.
Woolworths also have another plan here which they aim to use to gain some extra market share. They are going to stop selling recharge credit for other mobile providers in their stores and “participating fuel outlets”. It’s cunning, but considering that I buy all of my credit via the Internet or phone call using a pre-registered credit card, it’s not a killer blow.
I’ll be interested to see how much market share Woolworths manage to pick up. Their plan simplicity will probably get them a decent chunk (not huge, but decent) and with any luck will have the knock-on effect of forcing other providers to clarify their plans, which would benefit all consumers.
Samuel
August 4th, 2009 at 06:30pm
The ACT Liberals have managed to extract information from the government about the amount we’re feeding in to those parking meters in order to avoid one of the government parking inspectors extracting even more money from our collective wallets, and it is over $1 million per month.
It has been revealed through Questions on Notice that the Stanhope-Gallagher government paid parking cash grab is over $1 million per month for commuters, the Shadow Minister for Urban Services, Alistair Coe MLA said today.
In 2007-08 well over $12 million was collected through paid parking in parking meters and ticket machines. In the city alone there was well over $5 million collected.
“Slugging Canberrans with huge parking costs is an easy cash-grab by the Government and it’s only going to increase with significant parking fee increases introduced this financial year,” Mr Coe said.
Alistair Coe then provides a table of the figures.
There is a slight problem with the table though. My calculations show that the combined total from Civic, Phillip, Belconnen, Tuggeranong and Manuka is $10,546,541.35, which leaves a hole of $2,169,911.20. It’s quite possible that this couple of million dollars comes from Dickson and other unlisted areas, but it’s a pity that these areas aren’t at least listed as “other”.
Regardless, Alistair does make a good point about what the government are doing with this money:
“The Stanhope Government has made little progress on improving the public transport system. Without a reliable public transport service many Canberra families are forced to drive their cars.
“Based on previous years’ data, the government will bring in at least $2m extra from the 20% increase in the cost of parking brought in on 1 July 2009. What extra services and improved parking facilities will Canberrans receive for this money?” Mr Coe said.
Ah, well that’s simple Alistair. More bicycles for public servants, more photos of Simon Corbell sitting on said bicycles with a “I have no idea what this thing is” look on his face, even more eye-popping green paint on buses, and even bigger cars for “the Stanhope-Gallagher government” (please don’t tell me that they intend on marrying).
And none of this even takes in to account the amount we pay to private parking operators.
Samuel
August 4th, 2009 at 08:05am
As I noted the other day on Facebook, these months are going too quickly, and it is hard to believe that it’s time to do another monthly update of Barack Obama’s polling figures. It’s safe to say that July was not a good month for Mr. Obama by any means, be it due to a backlash to his plan to socialise healthcare, his decision to put himself in the middle of a private dispute between a professor and a cop, turning it in to a national racial debate, or being the bloke in charge when a government program (Cash for Clunkers) had its budget so badly underestimated that it ran out of money within days, throwing buyers and dealers in to a state of confusion.
As always, the figures presented herein are taken from the Rasmussen Daily Tracking Poll.
July saw the raw approval and disapproval lines crossing, so that most of the latter half of the month saw more people disapproving of Obama’s work than approving of it. I should also point out that there was no polling on July 3, 4 or 5 due to the Independence Day holiday.
Data courtesy Rasmussen Reports, LLC
In June we saw the “strongly approve” vs “strongly disapprove” figure, known as the “Rasmussen Approval Index”, cross in to negative territory. In July we saw it in free-fall.
Data courtesy Rasmussen Reports, LLC
As usual, to put this in context, here are the graphs for all of 2009.
Data courtesy Rasmussen Reports, LLC
Data courtesy Rasmussen Reports, LLC
These numbers must be starting to cause some concern for Democrat officials who would be well aware that conservative commentators are pushing for as much of a backlash against the Obama administration in next year’s mid-term elections as possible. On the flipside, those of us on the conservative side of the fence are very pleased that these figures are showing that the gloss has well and truly worn off. Obama is no longer being viewed in terms of his personality, and is instead being judged on his performance.
Samuel
August 4th, 2009 at 06:59am
Channel Nine’s new youth-oriented digital station “Go!” just appeared on my television’s station list. At the moment it’s just a static screen with a music bed and a looped voiceover reading the on-screen text in a faked “I’m a young person with a slight British accent” voice.
Hopefully the station’s content is better than this.
Samuel
August 4th, 2009 at 04:35am
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