Politics is a dirty word

  Many Australians now feel they are living in a third world country following a spate of natural disasters – fires, flood and winds which have demonstrated the inability of our politicians and bureaucrats to meet basic emergency requirements. Part of the problem is the illusion that this is one country, In reality it is a group of seven states and territories, cobbled together in a Federation which ensures that they compete with each other and impose a huge cost on citizens with the duplication of services. Health and education are the responsibilty ofeach state in addition to department officers and ministers at the Federal level. More than 5,000 calls for help were made to the Victoria State Emergency Service on Friday after wild storms lashed the state.24 hours later, at least 200,000 homes remained without power. Residents in Vict o ria are amongst the most disillusioned as the latest failures follow the mismanagement of the Covid19 virus outbreak, earlier storm damage, ...

  Chinese magnesium shortages are impacting carmakers and other manufacturers with a wide-sweeping shortage of aluminum and steel. Magnesium is required in the smelting process as an alloying agent,  China has become a dominant supplier of magnesium but exports have dropped because it is suffering production problems as a result of its economic issues and power shortages. Other countries seem to be slow to step into the market and the magnesium shortfall. Countries such as Australia ands various african nations have significant magnesium deposits. In the past, Rhodesia used to supply much of the world’s requirements and the Zimbabwe mines are still operating.

  Victoria’s Covid 19 outbreak is back to record levels and demonstrates the failure of the State Government’s handling of the pandemic. Almost 2000 new cases yesterday and 25 deaths show the ineffectiveness of the Government’s response. If politicians, bureaucrats and academics really believe their hype that Covid 19 vaccines protect people from the virus, cases would not be growing and they would not be so vocal about people who choose not to be vaccinated. Using their logic, it is the unvaccinated who are at risk from vaccinated people. For the unvaccinated, the safest thing is to stay home rather than face contamination. But the politicians here seem to want the outbreak to grow as they are relaxing movement conditions despite the growth in contamination.

  If politicians, bureaucrats and academics really believe their hype that Covid 19 vaccines protect people from the virus, they would not be so vocal about people who choose not to be vaccinated. Using their logic, it is the unvaccinated who are at risk from vaccinated people. For the unvaccinated, the safest thing is to stay home rather than face contamination.

  Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews is seeking new powers to declare pandemics and have public health orders enforced for three months at a time. It seems that the Government has made deals to win the support of key cross benchers in the upper house, including the Greens' leader, Samantha Ratnam and the Reason Party'sFiona Patten. New pandemic laws to replace the controversial state of emergency powers are expected to be introduced into the Victorian parliament. Under the new laws, the Minister for Health will sign off on public health orders, rather than the Chief Health Officer. If it becomes law, the premier will have an excuse to keep his daily propaganda television show designed to control the gullible public .

  Russia and China have mounted joint naval patrols in the western Pacific Ocean. Early In October, warship cooperation exercises were conducted in the Sea ofd Japan and additional exercises have been held since then. The moves are seen to be countering aggressive posturing by the United States and its allies, including Australia.

  This week the Victorian Auditor-General's Office (VAGO) released its report on Victoria’s biodiversity . In a damning report VAGO heavily criticises processes of the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning( DELWP ) The major criticisms include : DELWP cannot demonstrate if, or how well, it is halting further decline in Victoria's threatened species populations. Much of the data used in the models is old and likely outdated, and has some critical gaps. This raises questions about the reliability of the modelled outputs and the decisions they support. DELWP’s cost-benefit approach can also miss endangered threatened species at extreme risk of extinction. DELWP has no transparent, risk-based process to prioritise these species for management. Further, DELWP continues to make limited use of available legislative tools to protect threatened species. Funding available to DELWP to protect speci...

  The Covid passport trial by the Victorian Government is a major disincentive for people without smartphones to be vaccinated. Non vaccinated people are only at risk if they come into contact with people who are vaccinated and carry the virus. If they remain at home, they suffer little or no risk. So they may as well stay home and be unvaccinated. If they get the vaccine but don’t have a smart phone, they will be discriminated against and won’t be able to go anywhere because they are unable to demonstrate a so-called “Covid Passport”. To make the playing field level the Government could provide everyone with a fully funded smartphone such as enjoyed by politicians and bureaucrats.