NT5224

Hi Pete! My apologies... My bad. I didn't spot the sarcasm.🤣 Sad thing is there are many people who actually say stuff like that and (even worse) do that... The next property to mine has started growing cotton! 😱 Its just crazy. Investors and shareholders will do well in the short term and other properties along the river will jump on board -and it'll be the next Darling. As I said I'm not a greenie, just somebody with the capacity to learn from past mistakes and current policy settings up here break my heart. The polies and corporates reap short term rewards but know they'll be long gone by the time the wheels fall off and it'll be somebody else's problem. But we'll still be here and our blackfella neighbours Rant over. Sorry for jumping on that comment! Alan

Hi Pete! I'm sorry but I don't agree with you. The water that flows in northern big rivers irrigates the woodlands and Savannah's that photosynthesise the oxygen that people in southern states breath, and scrubs the carbon from the industries and pollutants produced there. The north is the lungs and life support of Australia. Native vegetation has been largely cleared in the southern states. Thats contributes to drought, high ambient temperatures and water scarcity as well as many other environmental problems. The 'developed' southern states are net producers of GHG. The value of the ecological services the north provides to the rest of the country and globally is many times that of the formal economy. It is priceless. In fact, Our lives and those of our grandchildren rely upon them. I am not a hippy tree hugger. But I own a property and know how things go in the Top End. We live with nature, like our blackfella neighbours, not try to change and mold the environment to our short term profit. How did that work out in the Murray Darling? Politicians and developers in the south are hungry to develop the north for short term economic benefit, for votes or whatever, and its convenient for people down south to buy into that vision. For the sake of Australia, the world and our grandkids I hope that doesn't happen. Cheers Alan

Hardly anybody lives up there? 🤔

I with OME on this and take a very dim view of our governments priorities. I had an even worse view of Boris Johnson over in UKstan who at least had the courage (or stupidity) to publicly state his intent to go the herd immunity route to protect the economy (the 'economy' being his big business chums, financiers, bankers and company directors). Now of course he has been forced to change track under the weight of public pressure. But contrary to independent WHO advice, the UK deliberately stalled the application of strict containment measures for about 2 weeks, thus exacerbating the spread. What awful political judgement! In a few weeks from now, people will start dying in UK who contracted Covid 19 during that period while its leaders were swayed by the pressure to 'keep the economy running'. Scomo is obviously subject to similar pressures as Johnson, with those who want to see as little disruption to the economy as possible. Lets hope our political masters can find the moral courage to do the right thing. I heard that Tassie is lifting up the drawbridge to better manage its Covid 19 problem. I wonder why the Territory doesn't do the same? At present there are no confirmed cases yet (although this may be because the government refuses to test anybody but overseas arrivals). They don't want acknowledgement that Covid 19 is in the community because that will push them to a more draconian response -and further expense. Also whats the exit strategy? Is a quarantine just postponing the inevitable? When I think of the risks of Covid 19 hereabouts Im really worried about the vulnerability of our Indigenous Territorians who might be very severely impacted... Alan

Yesterday I spoke with my sister by phone. She is a school teacher in UK with a chronic heart condition, living in a high density area. She also has a teenage daughter of her own and delivers supplies to my elderly parents both in their nineties... The poor woman was almost on the verge of panic. My wife and I spoke with her for about an hour to try and reassure her. Boris's decision to keep the schools open is clearly motivated to preserve as much of the economy as possible and some would argue favours the interests of big business and finance over the people he was elected to protect. My sister said everybody at the schools was expecting the schools to close, but the UK government has said that if a student falls ill with the virus they have to go home for seven days. There will be no longer be 'cleanup' efforts at schools after infected pupils are removed, as too many cases are now expected. The pandemic is expected to run rife through the schools and teachers are expected to go in to school and teach, with the result that they too will contract the virus, with no option to self isolate. My sister was in tears telling me that that her daughter and our parents depended on her and she couldn't afford to get sick herself, no least because she feared for her own life. While she does have a disposition towards panic, I thought that Boris Johnson's policy made no moral or medical sense even before I spoke with her. Bizarre times folks! Alan

I took a break from circuits in the C172 yesterday and ducked into closest woolies. Place had taken a beating. While shopping for fruit a woman in the next isle started coughing. I noticed everbody in the store glared daggers at the poor woman who became totally self concious and immediately just left, almost in tears. We apparently don’t have Whu Flu up in the Top End just yet, but the atmosphere in the store when the poor woman coughed was toxic. I felt awful and appalled that we Aussies are now treating each other in such an un-matey way. I would have followed her out but needed to get back to flying. Anybody getting a sniffle these days can expect to be ostrichcised ( is that the right word?) OME? Alan

I think the evacuation from Wuhan was quite a complex issue. Many of the evacuees were not expats in the traditional sense, but dual nationals (Chinese holding Australian passports). Their normal place of work and residence was actually China, but they took the opportunity to leave Wuhan under the evacuation deal to escape the lockdown enforced there. Which is fine, they're still our fellow citizens. But many are also citizens of China, and DFAT must have pushed hard and expended political capital to relax the restrictions on their movement to get them out. Usually dual nationals when resident in a country of one their nationalities are unambiguously subject to that countries laws and regulations. For example, if Im an Aussie dual national from Nunavut, and Im living over there and get forcibly drafted into the military, or jailed for being homosexual (neither of which is likely to happen in Nunavut!) then DFAT are not going to challenge this given my local citizenship and being subject to local regulations, even if these local laws and regulations are inconsistent with those in Australia. But in this instance Australia has pushed hard to get dual nationals out from Wuhan in defiance of the local travel ban. Alan

Why's there no ACCA DACCA on here yet? Im not really a fan, but they certainly brought a dose Aussie attitude to the world. But does anybody remember an old combo called Sebastian Hardy? I saw them live once. Four plucky Aussies who back in the 1970s went toe to toe with Poms and the Krauts with their symphonic rock noodlings. Admittedly not very Australian, but quite extraordinarily accomplished music. Alan

Great looking English pub that! Id go for running one of them any day over nuclear site engineering or banking. You obvious know your wines and your Yorkshire puds. Alan

Jerry_Atrick Thanks for that clear exposition. You're over in UK, so I defer to your better informed insight of the Brexit issue. Im no fan of Mr Farrage as you can tell. I agree had he resigned before the latest elections he could have walked away with his EU life pension. But I consider it gross hypocrisy that he constantly criticized the institution and agitated against it it on account of its lavish spending and cost to the British tax payer, when he then walks away at considerable cost to that same taxpayer on the EU purse. His pension alone will account for a part of sum within the terms of settlement the UK pays to the EU for its departure. Was any of this interest declared prior to his campaigning against the EU? Mr Farrages contribution to the EU was essentially disruptive at best and I believe there were questions raised about him claiming EU expenses to orchestrate campaigns against it. Will Mr Farrage be renouncing the priviledges of EU (German) citizenship for his own children, given he is so ardently against the EU? I find the blatant hypocrisy astounding, even in todays world when our expectations of those in public life are already so low. I agree that the long term outcomes and cost benefits of EU departure will take several years to become evident, but unfortunately by then it will be too late to do anything about. Application of the precautionary principle would have suggested the need for a better informed decision before the decision was made. What was the quality of information available to the decision-making public in UK prior to the referendum? Remember this was a decision of monumental social, economic, and strategic importance to the UK and at the time the public voted there was no knowledge of what Brexit would cost, what it would look like, and how it could be implemented. Three years later these things are still unknown and yet Brexit has occurred -in the absence of any knowledge. That to me says it all about the calibre of Britains political leaders. History will judge. Alan

`This is a good point and well put. Gave me cause for thought. I agree completely that politicians will always want to 'do stuff' to make themselves feel important and leave their mark, and adding to regulation is often what they do. However in passing legislation, I believe it is not uncommon for an act to stipulate that it repeals or replaces earlier legislation, or at least clarify how it aligns with what is already there. Otherwise, there'd be conflicting bits of legislation everywhere. Bush lawyers would have a field day! But we are certainly becoming over-regulated. Like many rationale Aussies I totally support regulation (of sensible things). Its the non sensible that gripes me. I am all for income taxation and would happily pay even higher taxes if that money was spent on causes that I consider worthwhile for our society: Health, education and public welfare. These things make our society happier healthier and more equitable. I am more dubious about bankrolling politicians' personal expense accounts, or investing billions on leaky diesel powered submarines. Surely our number one strategic threat in Australia is now climate change and associated impacts. That's where the money should be going, not to our security apparatus. Less the 'Police' state, more the 'Firefighter' state? Alan

Hi Folks! A few points to stir the hornets nest... Personally I've been appalled by this Brexit mess over in UK. I think its madness, the Brits have slit their own throats at the bidding of their demagogues. Was reading the other day how their poster boy Mr Farrage used his final EU parliamentary speech to attack and lambast the institution as corrupt and venial. He will now gracefully retire on a lifelong pension from the institution he had decried as corrupt, to be paid by the British Taxpayer as part of the EU severance package. He has defended this pension and his intention to claim it in multiple media interviews. I find it quite astonishing that the British public could be so blindly conned by somebody who clearly had so much to personally gain by Brexit. Mr Boris de Pfeffel comes across as the most unscrupulous and least trustworthy politician in a profession known for such vices. He has been caught abjectly lying to further his own agenda on multiple occasions in his career and private life. The guiding principle of his life seems to have been the pursuit of personal power. Im dumbfounded as to why the electorate vote for such people? Have the standards of public life fallen so low? Wouldn't a voter expect even a modicum of trust in their politicians? I suspect the Brexit campaign has played directly into the hands of a small group of economic brokers who will assume dominant roles in import and export transactions across a range of commodities and services. I've seen this time and again around the world in countries which operate outside of frameworks regulating international trade and commerce. And guess who benefits? The next obvious stage the saga will be Scotzit. Five years ago when the Scottish independence referendum was held I felt the best interests of Scotland lay within the UK ( not that the views of a bushman in the Northern Territory counted for much in that debate!). Now my view has completely changed. The Scots have as much a right to their own referendum and as much respect should be given to the result as Mr Johnson insisted was given to the very narrow and ambiguous Brexit referendum. Of course Scotlands territorial North Sea oil will be a major sticking point. Brexit is also going to open huge issues in Northern Ireland and threatens to unravel all the progress made under successive peace agreements. So the legacy of Mr Johnson's lust for power may well be the dissolution of the United Kingdom. I think this is really sad. I hope he's worth it. Alan

Hi folks! Sorry but Im going to call busllshit on some of you cossetted darlings shreiking 'Police State". Thats strong language. Im basically apolitical, (although slightly left leaning) and have to say while it has its faults, liberal democracies like Australia are among the best places on this planet to live and we're all bloody lucky to do so. Much as we ridicule and lament our home grown politicians, the apparatus of state, and the bumbling incompetence of our executive and bureaucracy, they are nothing on the horrors people in other regions have to endure. So lets guard against the erosion of our freedoms and liberties and the growth of ever pervasive surveillance in our lives. Lets resist against the senseless culture of airport security which lines the pockets of well connected security contractors and has no genuine security value. And lets turn the spotlight on political and judicial abuses where they occur, and reign in the appalling powers of the ATO, and hold it and its executives to account like the rest of us. A healthy democracy should be constantly challenging and checking itself. Discussions like this one are part of the process. But at least we are free to have the conversation and ask the questions Alan

Wow! That dashcam video was absolutely terrifying! I cringed just watching it. Stupid woman will doubtless carry the consequences of her recklessness for the rest of her life. Drinking and driving is ill-disciplined and selfish, and I really dont have a great deal of sympathy for those who are caught. I own up to driving of those nasty ladder chassis 4WD's but am uttlerly unrepentent. But other than other outback residents and farmers, I'll agree most of the weekend warriors and recreational users of such vehicles are idiots.. I spend a lot of time and money fixing the fences that they cut to break into my property, collecting their rubbish they leave their campsites and fighting the fires they light. And occasionally rescuing them when they get bogged and dig huge impassable holes in my tracks. Alan