Adventure Ausrama Blog

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) says that banks are "dragging their feet" trying to hold on to old ways of running payments by card. Banks need to catch up with the rest of the world. Instead of installing new systems they are concentrating on making more money. If they do not act soon the RBA will intervene and use its regulatory powers. The existing system is costly for the consumer and business to use. Even though computerization has been adopted the actual methods used are over 3o years old in some cases. The RBA had to force banks to make their charges known when giving them the right to set their own rates for ATM usage. Furthermore, charges for interchange of funds paid by credit card to businesses had to be capped. The problem is that the RBA is only a "watchdog". Other countries have bodies that run the private sector banking system. Coalition Governments have made the market too free. Every corporation is doing its own thing. A Labor Government should

Bigfoot or yeti? Australia has its own "monster" living in the outback. It is called the bunyip. Most Australians live on the coast. But people continually travel this broad brown land all the time. With few dense areas to hide in why isn't the bunyip seen more often - if it exists. Aboriginals firmly believe in the existence of the bunyip, and many white people do as well. Though Aboriginals describe the creature in physical terms saying that it has dark fur, horse-like tail, tusks and a dog-like face, they do say it is a spirit, which can disappear when it wants to. Those who claim to have seen the animal invariably see it near water such as streams, rivers, lakes or wetlands. A mysterious booming sound does seem to have been a reality in the past. Many people went searching for the source of the sound in the mid 19th century. When wet areas where the sound came from were drained for human habitation a dull silence remained, very disappointing. An explorer actually clai