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Is it only me who is confused?

I have been debating with myself whether or not to make this post, ever since the announcement of the Royal Commission into the Victorian bushfires was announced. Each time it was mentioned I was sure I heard a figure of $40 million being the cost of the enquiry. No, I thought, I must have misheard the figure — maybe it was actually $4 million.

So now I am confused. Why, because it appears that the Victorian government has allocated $10 million to aid the 7000+ victims of the bushfires (something less than $1,500 per head),  but four times that amount to find out why they are victims.

The royal commissioner will have about $100,000 per day to spend during his enquiry. Some quick arithmetic gives the result that the commissioner could employ about 500 people earning average weekly earnings for this amount. On the other hand, most royal commission money is paid to lawyers. If there were 100 lawyers involved in the enquiry, there would be $400,000 per head available to them.

It also crosses my mind that governments are generally very quick to announce royal commissions, but notoriously slow at adopting any recommendations they might make. If we are to spend $40 million on an enquiry it had better be good enough for every last recommendation or suggestion to be adopted without any question from the government at the time.

So, is it only me who is confused?

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No to Australian Bank “Disloyalty” ATM Fees

Australian Banks are apparently not making enough profits so have announced new ATM fees including a “disloyalty” fee for using another bank’s ATM machine. The new fees means that we could be paying $5.00 for a visit to an ATM! Read more about the plans here.

This has to represent all that is bad about our banking system and the way that banks are taking advantage of technology. Firstly, how can anyone suggest that we do not suffer under an evil cartel. The bank leaders in Australia could form a synchronised swimming team and not even have to practice before winning gold at the Olympics. Secondly, can you imagine any bank having the gall to require their tellers to demand $5.00 from customers before serving them? Unfortunately, it’s easy to rip an estimated $200 million per year from customers when it’s done by a machine!

OK, maybe their synchronised actions do not qualify as a cartel in the legal sense, but I’m sure that Joe Citizen wold be unimpressed by arguments that it is pure coincidence that the banks all raise and lower interest and fees by remarkably similar amounts, generally within hours of each other.

Anyway, inspired by a campaign against a stupid copyright law change in New Zealand which has seen the Twitter trend #blackout reach Number One spot, I’m launching #disloyalty to see if we can send a message to any banks considering this unfair fee.

At the time of the launch, a search of recent tweets referring to the disloyalty fee found just one result from @sdipietr

And another thing, I’d love to hear an explanation from from St George (Westpac) why a credit card charge in a shop is reflected in my account balance in real time, but the reversal of the same transaction – 5 minutes later, same credit card, same eftpos machine, same computer system, same everything except the direction of the money flow –  takes 3 or 4 days to be reflected in my balance.

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Totally Incomprehensible

Remains of the Narbethong Sawmill BusinessFor the last four days since the horrific fires in country Victoria, we have been exposed to amazing stories of tragedy, bravery, selfless contributions, and horror. We have seen grown men and women reduced to tears, and even political leaders unable to retain their composure in the face of the enormity of the disaster. Australians from all walks of life have unselfishly committed time, money and anything else they can spare to try to mitigate the effects on those who have been directly affected by the fires. Contributions and condolences have come from all parts of the globe.

So it beggars the imagination to hear the reports tonight that a member of the Victorian Police Force apparently felt that the owner of the Narbethong timber business who had lost everything in the fires, and and whose son is still missing, had not quite suffered enough. It is simply impossible to understand what this Police Officer was thinking when he issued an on the spot fine for driving a vehicle without number plates.

This officer  should be immediately publicly named by the Commissioner of Police and summarily dismissed as being a individual totally unsuited to the role of a guardian of society. This lunacy cannot possibly be tolerated or condoned in any way by any rational thinking human being.

The only “good” thing about this situation is that a commercial  news channel was prepared to broadcast details of the event so that we could all hear about it. However, they did not go as far as to name the Police Officer involved even though the name was in their possession at the time of the report.

Now something has to be done about it. And in a public forum, not behind closed doors.

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Marysville Gone

Just up the roadIt is devastating to hear the news about the destruction of Marysville in the bush fires (wild fires to our US friends) of February 7, 2009.

That area is one of my favorites which I visit regularly. To put this in context, I have included a local map which shows that the destroyed town was literally just up the road where I filmed my helmet cam which I published here just a few weeks ago.

Just a couple of weeks before then I rode through Marysville and remember the relaxed atmosphere of people sipping latte, the tall trees and classic Victorian mountain bushland.

Since, making the video, I have ridden to Narbethong and beyond on two other weekends experimenting with the helmet cam settings, and just because it’s how I relax. Once the rescue and cleanup is completed, I’ll take helmet cam for a ride to see the aftermath first hand.

We all go through life dealing with the adversities and hurdles dealt out. But it is always a wake up call to be reminded that others have to find the strength to overcome far, far more serious adversity. Yesterday, the worst that I had to deal with was surviving in 46C heat whilst trying to meet self imposed deadlines.

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If only it were true

Here’s another in my occasional series of humourous signs. This one was found on an advertising board at Arthur’s Seat in Victoria, Australia.

It’s a pity they didn’t include a photo of the tree bearing bottled cherry port!

Bottled Cherry Port Tree

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19Seven is getting a face lift

I’m working on installing a new theme for my blog and I’m doing it live. So if things look a bit strange for the next hour or so, please be understanding. The content will still be here, just the presentation might be a bit erratic until I have finished!

The core changes have been completed and everything looks to be stable again.

Now on to some fine tuning 🙂

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Come in for a quote

Come in for a quoteHaving moved to my new MacBook Pro, I’ve been re-organising my photo library to take advantage of the power of the Mac. And having a great deal of fun doing it!

Anyway, I came across this gem which I photographed a few years ago in Hardware Lane, Melbourne. It remains one of my favourites from my humorous signs collection. Luckily, I resisted the temptation to go inside and ask what were the factors which resulted in a higher cost waxing.

Not sure what this says about my sense of humour though.

Enjoy!