Sometimes we have particularly interesting speakers at our Rotary meetings and last night's was certainly one of those. I happened to be Chairman so I had the benefit of sitting with her and introducing her. It was Diane Fingleton, a name that I remember from newspaper reports about 10 or 11 years ago.
It's an interesting story. She was a solicitor with Legal Aid in Brisbane and she was offered appointment as a magistrate. It was at the time when affirmative action was putting women in senior jobs but there was lot of resentment from the Establishment who saw their mates missing out. The problem was that she eventually became Chief Magistrate, appointed by Peter Beattie, an ALP Premier. Not good enough, old boy!
The man who thought he should have got the job, and his mates, made life very difficult for her. You know how it works: insolence, condescension, half-hearted support, etc. it came to a head when a couple of other magistrates tried to undermine her authority and she wrote one of them an email accusing him of disloyalty.
Next thing she finds herself charged with workplace bullying. The old boys ganged up on her and she found herself in court, found guilty and sentenced to 12 months gaol. On appeal, this was reduced to 6 months. The only concession made was that she was put in protective custody with child killers and others who might be vulnerable in an open prison.
She managed to get leave to apply to the High Court who voted 6:0 that it was the most serious miscarriage of justice which had ever been brought before them. It should never have got to court. Unbelievable!
I remember the newspaper reports at the time. She was portrayed as a labour lackey, promoted above her ability and a thug to boot. In reality, she had an excellent degree, was well experienced and very well-suited to the position. To talk to her now, she is intelligent and personable, the most unlikely ex-con you could expect to meet.
On a personal note, she and her brother, Tony, were the first members of her family to go to University. Tony was a swimmer and won a scholarship to Harvard. He wrote a book about his life and it was made into a film called Swimming Upstream, starring Geoffrey Rush and Judy Davis. I downloaded it last night.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Sunday, August 25th ...
As I write this, Marilyn has just brought me a cup of coffee in the mistaken belief that I am checking my emails and replying to them. In the past I have referred to Marilyn as 'my better half', 'the light of my life' and 'a gem'. Now Mr Abbott has given me a new term of endearment - 'a woman of calibre'. Of course he was talking about highly-paid women who want to have children, but you see my point.
Talk about foot in the mouth! Yes, yes, I know what he was trying to say and I certainly agree with him, but he has to be more careful in playing the elite card, and there is another concern behind his words: does he really believe that a woman's calibre can be measured by the amount of money she earns?
But let's look at the sentiments behind his comment. I know my heart sinks when I see the young women in our local supermarket, scruffy, smoking and foul-mouthed, and wonder at the future for their kids. A decade or more of baby bonuses and family benefits has made motherhood an attractive career choice for poorly-educated and feckless females who have no imagination beyond the next dole payment. You see them hanging around the mall in groups with their prams and screaming toddlers, filling in their days with mindless chatter. It's rare to see a father but, if you do, he looks to be about fifteen, with a bewildered stare and his jeans hanging around his bum.
Is this the future? Are these Tysons and Tyanas the citizens of our brave new world? I can see what Abbott is trying to do, encourage those at the deep end of the gene pool to breed, but doesn't he have the wit to be politically correct? He's leaving himself wide open to criticism when he speaks his mind and every explanation from his minders weakens his position.
However, I think his implied assumption that a woman's worth can be measured by her earning potential is another issue entirely. Some commentators are saying that he is focusing his attention on young female lawyers, reluctant to get off the promotion treadmill and anxious about the mortgage on the big house in Hunters Hill or Toorak. I know that the law is a preferred option for bright young women today but I wonder how many choose that profession for the chance to benefit our society or do they just see the potential dollars at the end? What about those who match their intellect with a strong desire to do good and join Medecins Sans Frontieres, or some such.
The other problem, of course, is that this a very odd thing to be his 'signature policy'. Is this the most pressing issue facing Australia today? I don't think so.
Talk about foot in the mouth! Yes, yes, I know what he was trying to say and I certainly agree with him, but he has to be more careful in playing the elite card, and there is another concern behind his words: does he really believe that a woman's calibre can be measured by the amount of money she earns?
But let's look at the sentiments behind his comment. I know my heart sinks when I see the young women in our local supermarket, scruffy, smoking and foul-mouthed, and wonder at the future for their kids. A decade or more of baby bonuses and family benefits has made motherhood an attractive career choice for poorly-educated and feckless females who have no imagination beyond the next dole payment. You see them hanging around the mall in groups with their prams and screaming toddlers, filling in their days with mindless chatter. It's rare to see a father but, if you do, he looks to be about fifteen, with a bewildered stare and his jeans hanging around his bum.
Is this the future? Are these Tysons and Tyanas the citizens of our brave new world? I can see what Abbott is trying to do, encourage those at the deep end of the gene pool to breed, but doesn't he have the wit to be politically correct? He's leaving himself wide open to criticism when he speaks his mind and every explanation from his minders weakens his position.
However, I think his implied assumption that a woman's worth can be measured by her earning potential is another issue entirely. Some commentators are saying that he is focusing his attention on young female lawyers, reluctant to get off the promotion treadmill and anxious about the mortgage on the big house in Hunters Hill or Toorak. I know that the law is a preferred option for bright young women today but I wonder how many choose that profession for the chance to benefit our society or do they just see the potential dollars at the end? What about those who match their intellect with a strong desire to do good and join Medecins Sans Frontieres, or some such.
The other problem, of course, is that this a very odd thing to be his 'signature policy'. Is this the most pressing issue facing Australia today? I don't think so.
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Friday, August 23rd ....
So Bradley Manning has now declared that he is a woman and wants to be known as Chelsea. What are we to make of this? Bradley said he gave the secret stuff to Wikileaks to start a discussion about some of the behaviour the US gets up to in the name of fighting terrorism. Boy, I'll bet he didn't anticipate the lack of humour shown by the Pentagon, or the very fine print of the First Amendment which takes all the fun out of criticising big government. Maybe, when that proved to be a disaster, he is trying to foment another conversational topic.
And why Chelsea? Sure, he can pick any name he likes, but why Chelsea? I googled Chelsea and found that it is a name which grew out of the 1960s and is growing out of favour in every country except USA and Australia. I found the following analysis of the few people in the world who are called Chelsea.
. Your first name of Chelsea has given you an expressive, diplomatic (?) and refined nature.
. Although you have a good appreciation of material values, business ability, and skill in organizing and managing others, your success is restricted by a lack of self-confidence and initiative.
. You have very expensive tastes, and your desires could well exceed your initiative in providing for them through your own efforts.
. Personal appearance is important to you (did you see the picture of Bradley/Chelsea in a blonde wig?)
. You are always well-groomed yourself, and you judge others by your own standard.
. You do not like to rough it or use much physical energy (he was in the army, for goodness sake)
. Through your diplomatic ways you are able to call on the assistance of others to avoid such matters (you'll need all the diplomacy you can muster to survive 30 years in jail)
. You have good business judgment but lack the confidence to carry out your own ideas unless assisted by an associate (is the associate's name Julian?)
. From a desire to eat too many rich foods, your health could suffer through kidney and generative troubles or any problems affecting the fluid functions of the body.
I don't want to make fun of Bradley. He must be an extraordinarily brave person to become a whistleblower but it is really bad luck that he did it in America. If he had tried the same caper in Australia and changed his name to John Gay, he might have got away with a few hours of community service.
By the way, does he now go to a Women's Prison?
And why Chelsea? Sure, he can pick any name he likes, but why Chelsea? I googled Chelsea and found that it is a name which grew out of the 1960s and is growing out of favour in every country except USA and Australia. I found the following analysis of the few people in the world who are called Chelsea.
. Your first name of Chelsea has given you an expressive, diplomatic (?) and refined nature.
. Although you have a good appreciation of material values, business ability, and skill in organizing and managing others, your success is restricted by a lack of self-confidence and initiative.
. You have very expensive tastes, and your desires could well exceed your initiative in providing for them through your own efforts.
. Personal appearance is important to you (did you see the picture of Bradley/Chelsea in a blonde wig?)
. You are always well-groomed yourself, and you judge others by your own standard.
. You do not like to rough it or use much physical energy (he was in the army, for goodness sake)
. Through your diplomatic ways you are able to call on the assistance of others to avoid such matters (you'll need all the diplomacy you can muster to survive 30 years in jail)
. You have good business judgment but lack the confidence to carry out your own ideas unless assisted by an associate (is the associate's name Julian?)
. From a desire to eat too many rich foods, your health could suffer through kidney and generative troubles or any problems affecting the fluid functions of the body.
I don't want to make fun of Bradley. He must be an extraordinarily brave person to become a whistleblower but it is really bad luck that he did it in America. If he had tried the same caper in Australia and changed his name to John Gay, he might have got away with a few hours of community service.
By the way, does he now go to a Women's Prison?
Friday, 23rd August ....
It's good to see that white-collar crime still enjoys its preferential status here in Australia. John Gay, the erstwhile CEO of Gunns Timber, has just been sentenced for insider trading. As his company was crumbling around him, he sold $3.1 million worth of shares knowing that their value would plummet within days.
A deal was worked out that he would plead guilty on the understanding that he would not admit that he knew that the shares would drop, only that he should have known that this was a possibility. This is a CEO who was paid $1 million salary and recklessly brought his company to bankruptcy by stubbornly trying to build a pulp mill in an unsuitable area even when all the odds were stacked against him.
Oh, and his sentence was a $50,000 fine. Thank goodness he wasn't caught shoplifting or he might have been sent to gaol.
Gunns had been Tasmania's biggest company for many years but is now in receivership. They built a new head office in Launceston about 5 or 6 years ago, when it was riding high. It was a modem single storey structure which soon became the focus for demonstrations by the residents of the Tamar Valley opposed to the site of the pulp mill.
The site has been bought by Bunnings for a new megastore and a couple of weeks ago the bulldozers rolled in and demolished the relatively new building. No attempt was made to salvage anything; even the airconditioners were still in place. I know it was probably cheaper to do it that way but we're obsessed with recycling in every other area and I wonder how worthwhile it s to keep washing out our milk cartons when the same effort is not expected of industry..
A deal was worked out that he would plead guilty on the understanding that he would not admit that he knew that the shares would drop, only that he should have known that this was a possibility. This is a CEO who was paid $1 million salary and recklessly brought his company to bankruptcy by stubbornly trying to build a pulp mill in an unsuitable area even when all the odds were stacked against him.
Oh, and his sentence was a $50,000 fine. Thank goodness he wasn't caught shoplifting or he might have been sent to gaol.
Gunns had been Tasmania's biggest company for many years but is now in receivership. They built a new head office in Launceston about 5 or 6 years ago, when it was riding high. It was a modem single storey structure which soon became the focus for demonstrations by the residents of the Tamar Valley opposed to the site of the pulp mill.
The site has been bought by Bunnings for a new megastore and a couple of weeks ago the bulldozers rolled in and demolished the relatively new building. No attempt was made to salvage anything; even the airconditioners were still in place. I know it was probably cheaper to do it that way but we're obsessed with recycling in every other area and I wonder how worthwhile it s to keep washing out our milk cartons when the same effort is not expected of industry..
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Wednesday, August 21st ....
I'm a bit of a political junkie so I can't stop switching on the TV to see what Tweedledum and Tweedledee are up to. But, it only makes me more depressed when I hear Joe Hockey struggling to make sense of their Paid Paternal Leave policy, and Kevin Rudd flailing around trying to find that killer-blow. I watched him in a press conference in Brisbane this morning when he was asked whether his idea of a special economic zone had been dreamt up on the plane trip to Darwin. As he explained, hand on heart, that he had been talking about this with colleagues for a long, long time, Tanya Plibersek in the background dropped her eyes and flicked them from side to side. I don't know much about body language but I think she was signalling her discomfort and that she was hearing a lie.
I've lamented before that this country deserves better but, unfortunately, neither of the two leaders seems to have the desire nor the capability to rise to the occasion.
Maybe, we need a write-in space on the voting paper or a 'Neither of the above' box. A commentator the other day said that if 'neither of the above' was on the paper, he or she could well be our next prime minister.
I've lamented before that this country deserves better but, unfortunately, neither of the two leaders seems to have the desire nor the capability to rise to the occasion.
Maybe, we need a write-in space on the voting paper or a 'Neither of the above' box. A commentator the other day said that if 'neither of the above' was on the paper, he or she could well be our next prime minister.
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Friday, August 16th ....
I've just been reminded that it's been a week since my last post. And what a week it's been. We could be suffering the least interesting election campaign ever. Neither side is offering a real vision for the future of Australia and I'm absolutely fed up with the personality attacks from both sides.
I'm watching ABC 24 and there's a news story running across the bottom of the screen:
'Chinese zoo under fire for disguising hairy dog as a lion.'
It just shows that some people will believe anything. (If you're paying attention you might see the relevance of that anecdote to our election campaign.)
By the way, I'm working at a polling booth on September 7th so I'll be at the heart of it for a few hours.
We watched an interesting movie the other night. The Last Station is the story of the last days of Leo Tolstoy. I had no idea that his beliefs sparked the birth of a movement of people who espoused vegetarianism, chastity and passive resistance to a tyrannical government. Even Gandhi was influenced by this movement. Christopher Plummer played Tolstoy and Helen Mirren was his much younger wife, Sophia. Great stuff!
I can hear the garbage truck coming up the street. When I was out earlier, all the bins were lined up at the kerb. Apparently, there's been an announcement that, if the bins are overfull, they won't be collected. Last week, the recycling bins were out as well and about one in five wasn't collected. So what happens now? These householders are going to have to get rid of all that rubbish before the next collection in a fortnight and more stuff is starting to pile up.
Well, as you'd expect every park bin is full, every unlocked jumbo bin has been loaded up and a few bags have started to appear under trees in quiet streets. We're being swamped in rubbish!
I'm watching ABC 24 and there's a news story running across the bottom of the screen:
'Chinese zoo under fire for disguising hairy dog as a lion.'
It just shows that some people will believe anything. (If you're paying attention you might see the relevance of that anecdote to our election campaign.)
By the way, I'm working at a polling booth on September 7th so I'll be at the heart of it for a few hours.
We watched an interesting movie the other night. The Last Station is the story of the last days of Leo Tolstoy. I had no idea that his beliefs sparked the birth of a movement of people who espoused vegetarianism, chastity and passive resistance to a tyrannical government. Even Gandhi was influenced by this movement. Christopher Plummer played Tolstoy and Helen Mirren was his much younger wife, Sophia. Great stuff!
I can hear the garbage truck coming up the street. When I was out earlier, all the bins were lined up at the kerb. Apparently, there's been an announcement that, if the bins are overfull, they won't be collected. Last week, the recycling bins were out as well and about one in five wasn't collected. So what happens now? These householders are going to have to get rid of all that rubbish before the next collection in a fortnight and more stuff is starting to pile up.
Well, as you'd expect every park bin is full, every unlocked jumbo bin has been loaded up and a few bags have started to appear under trees in quiet streets. We're being swamped in rubbish!
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Friday, August 9th ....
I've spent the morning helping to lay a concrete floor in one of the pavilions we use for the Craft Fair. The building is owned by the Redline Bus Company but we've done a deal with them to contribute towards the cost for a guarantee that we can have the use of the place for the next few years. Part of the deal was that we would contribute 40 hours or so of labour and this morning was the first stint of that. Talk about Dad's Army ... The geriatric gang we put together was matched only by the old fellow who was in charge of the project. Happily, he had a couple of energetic off-siders who did most of the work while we chatted in the corner.
No wine-making today. It was a big day yesterday and we bottled most of a batch of raspberry. The process is labour-intensive. One person operates the bottling machine, one bottle at a time; another works the capping machine, one bottle at a time. The third tries to look busy. No conveyor belts nor robots for us. It's truly hand-made.
It seems we are rapidly running out of bottles so Jamie is getting some quotes from various distributors. He's also refining the labels ready for a print run. Pamela has been getting her labels from a local fellow who screen-prints them in small lots at 45c per label. Jamie wants to get the cost down to about 10c without sacrificing quality so he's getting quotes from bigger operators.
It's already clear we need to streamline the operation to make it more efficient and structured so we're re-organising everything. Great fun!
No wine-making today. It was a big day yesterday and we bottled most of a batch of raspberry. The process is labour-intensive. One person operates the bottling machine, one bottle at a time; another works the capping machine, one bottle at a time. The third tries to look busy. No conveyor belts nor robots for us. It's truly hand-made.
It seems we are rapidly running out of bottles so Jamie is getting some quotes from various distributors. He's also refining the labels ready for a print run. Pamela has been getting her labels from a local fellow who screen-prints them in small lots at 45c per label. Jamie wants to get the cost down to about 10c without sacrificing quality so he's getting quotes from bigger operators.
It's already clear we need to streamline the operation to make it more efficient and structured so we're re-organising everything. Great fun!
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Wednesday, August 7th ...
I had a go at the Vote Compass being touted by the ABC. Very interesting and it put me just where I thought I would be. (And that's my secret!). What I liked about it was that it focused on issues rather than personalities or the rubbish they espouse.
No winemaking today; things to do in Launceston for Rotary so my chapped, bottle-washing hands are having a rest. I went to a tele-conference on a project trying to help with hunger and malnutrition. A local scientist has compiled a database of 25000 food plants and It is being used to develop better crops for areas of the world where people can't grow enough food for the population. I think it has lots of potential.
I'm writing this and trying to watch QI at the same time. Some of the things they talk about are so bizarre. Apparently, a dog has the same ecological footprint as two Toyota Landcruisers. That's a worry and I know people who have a Landcruiser and two dogs, and that's a bit over the top.
No winemaking today; things to do in Launceston for Rotary so my chapped, bottle-washing hands are having a rest. I went to a tele-conference on a project trying to help with hunger and malnutrition. A local scientist has compiled a database of 25000 food plants and It is being used to develop better crops for areas of the world where people can't grow enough food for the population. I think it has lots of potential.
I'm writing this and trying to watch QI at the same time. Some of the things they talk about are so bizarre. Apparently, a dog has the same ecological footprint as two Toyota Landcruisers. That's a worry and I know people who have a Landcruiser and two dogs, and that's a bit over the top.
Monday, August 5, 2013
Tuesday, August 6th ....
We had terrible weather last night - strong winds and rain - but it's much nicer today. We had another day in the winery putting the finishing touches to some Raspberry before bottling on Thursday. I don't know how many bottles I've washed. The reclaimed bottles have a front and back label. The front label is some sort of vinyl so survives the cleaning process but the back one is paper and needs to be removed. It's not particularly hard, just tedious.
In between bottle washing and filtering., I've been reading the latest novel by JK Rowling, under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. When the novel, The Cuckoo Calling, was released, it was an immediate success and some of the critics suspected that the author wasn't really a first-timer. Sure enough, JK put her hand up and accepted the acclaim. It real is good.
Tomorrow is a day catching up with commitments to Giant Steps. There's a ceremony in the morning to open a new playground. Somebody has invited Eric Abetz to attend. Not my favourite polly by any means. The year before I started at Giant Steps, the school had a financial crisis and went to their local federal member (Eric) for some assistance. They were given $25000, a paltry sum which wasn't even enough to pay the staff's back wages. The school only survived because staff took pay cuts, reduced their hours or took voluntary redundancy.
I arrived in March and Eric was one of the local worthies who came to see me. Unlike the others he had no good wishes for me; he simply wanted to tell me that it was no use asking him for any further financial help. He had done all he could and would do no more. $25000! It was just a fraction of what he spent on self-promotion every year. Clearly, disabled children didn't matter in his world.
The only other contact I had with him was when he wanted to show off one of my staff who had completed a Work For the Dole scheme and actually got a job out of it (one of the very few). He invited Peter and me to the Liberal Party Conference which happened to be occurring in Deloraine. When I arrived, I found I had to pay for my dinner!! Money not wisely spent. The only two politicians who have ever been seriously supportive of Giant Steps have been John Beswick, the State Liberal Minister for Education who went against the advice of his advisors to offer Giant Steps annual funding, and Bill Shorten who has done more for disabled people than any other politician, before or since.
In between bottle washing and filtering., I've been reading the latest novel by JK Rowling, under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. When the novel, The Cuckoo Calling, was released, it was an immediate success and some of the critics suspected that the author wasn't really a first-timer. Sure enough, JK put her hand up and accepted the acclaim. It real is good.
Tomorrow is a day catching up with commitments to Giant Steps. There's a ceremony in the morning to open a new playground. Somebody has invited Eric Abetz to attend. Not my favourite polly by any means. The year before I started at Giant Steps, the school had a financial crisis and went to their local federal member (Eric) for some assistance. They were given $25000, a paltry sum which wasn't even enough to pay the staff's back wages. The school only survived because staff took pay cuts, reduced their hours or took voluntary redundancy.
I arrived in March and Eric was one of the local worthies who came to see me. Unlike the others he had no good wishes for me; he simply wanted to tell me that it was no use asking him for any further financial help. He had done all he could and would do no more. $25000! It was just a fraction of what he spent on self-promotion every year. Clearly, disabled children didn't matter in his world.
The only other contact I had with him was when he wanted to show off one of my staff who had completed a Work For the Dole scheme and actually got a job out of it (one of the very few). He invited Peter and me to the Liberal Party Conference which happened to be occurring in Deloraine. When I arrived, I found I had to pay for my dinner!! Money not wisely spent. The only two politicians who have ever been seriously supportive of Giant Steps have been John Beswick, the State Liberal Minister for Education who went against the advice of his advisors to offer Giant Steps annual funding, and Bill Shorten who has done more for disabled people than any other politician, before or since.
Sunday, August 4, 2013
Monday, August 5th ....
There's snow all around the Tiers this morning. I had to go out early to drop something off at Giant Steps and was amused to see one of the patients standing outside Deloraine Hospital having a smoke, dressing gown, bare legs, slippers, thin cardigan. You have to be prepared to make sacrifices if you want to smoke nowadays.
Bottle-washing today. We've had to 'recover' a bit of wine which was probably bottled before fermentation had completely stopped. It had become 'spritzig' which lots so people like but not what we want. So it's gone back into a vat for more filtering. We can't afford to throw out all the bottles so they're being recycled. Jamie cuts off the aluminium foil top, and I clean the bottles with caustic soda and lots of hot water. The blueberry wine has stained all the bottles so we need to remove that with the caustic soda before rinsing and sterilisation.
On Saturday I was using a pair of faulty rubber gloves and now have a nasty caustic soda burn on two of my fingers. Occupational hazard!
Bottle-washing today. We've had to 'recover' a bit of wine which was probably bottled before fermentation had completely stopped. It had become 'spritzig' which lots so people like but not what we want. So it's gone back into a vat for more filtering. We can't afford to throw out all the bottles so they're being recycled. Jamie cuts off the aluminium foil top, and I clean the bottles with caustic soda and lots of hot water. The blueberry wine has stained all the bottles so we need to remove that with the caustic soda before rinsing and sterilisation.
On Saturday I was using a pair of faulty rubber gloves and now have a nasty caustic soda burn on two of my fingers. Occupational hazard!
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Friday, August 2nd ....
Thank goodness we're back on line. The modem arrived this morning so we're now connected to the NBN. At least, if Malcolm Turnbull locks the rest if Australia into the 19th century copper network, Some of us will already be on fibre.
Our new home number is 03 6319 1900. The package we've signed up for includes free phone calls in Australia so we hope to reduce our mobile packages. One can only hope.
Nothing much is happening today. Marilyn is baby-sitting and Jamie is organising the computers in the winery. Tonight we're going to a Trivia competition to raise money for the local community house.
Our new home number is 03 6319 1900. The package we've signed up for includes free phone calls in Australia so we hope to reduce our mobile packages. One can only hope.
Nothing much is happening today. Marilyn is baby-sitting and Jamie is organising the computers in the winery. Tonight we're going to a Trivia competition to raise money for the local community house.
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