Adventure Ausrama Blog

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South Australia is going to test driverless cars for use on roads in that state. This is premature. We have the hacking problems of "normal" vehicles to deal with, let along allowing potentially dangerous ones loose in Australia. There is also the important question of who is responsible if there is a collision involving a driverless car. This is way too soon. The South Australian experiment will be the first in the southern hemisphere. Legislation is to be passed in state parliament on Thursday. It will allow testing on road with cars being driven by people. It is obvious that if there is an accident the insurance company of a normal vehicle will not pay out. It is common knowledge that insurance companies keep taking annual premiums when they know a legal problem exists which takes liability away from them - note the payouts refused in recent floods. Wanting to be the first state to adopt new technology is stupid when such cars will be driving illegally with ...

You cannot change the way people think. Legislating will change behavior for a time until civil unrest or violence moves things back to the way they used to be. This will be the case with Internet laws in Australia to stop piracy. Only when the programs demanded are made available at a fair price will piracy stop. The same will be true will new "compulsory" vaccination. Some people would rather go to jail than immunize their children. Their religious or moral beliefs may seem misguided to others, but such parents are entitled to their faith. Similarly, attempts to stop paracetamol poisoning will fail because society has been inculcated with the concept that you pop a Panadol when you feel the slightest pain. We learn this as children. A crying baby makes a mother reach for the paracetamol syrup. Babies love the sweet, fruity taste. Putting all analgesics on prescription will boost the income of doctors and pharmacists. The cheap brands will not be ava...

The Premier of Queensland, Campbell Newman, is carrying out a "pet" policy that appears to be solely his own. Remember, John Howard and Kevin Rudd were shown the door by voters for pushing out pet policies, ignoring advice from cabinet. Campbell Newman thinks voters will thank him at the next state poll for clamping down on the freedom of bikies. Under the new rules police are hounding bikes out of the state. This is forcing police in those states to take action as well. It is certainly contagious. Freedom of association has clearly been limited and the laws don't make any sense. If each of two brothers belong to two different bikie clubs they cannot associate socially. This is a restriction of human rights. The government is interfering in the freedom of the judicial system. Judges have criticized the new laws. Severe language is used in the legislation. An Offence are named "Vicious Lawless Association". Furthermore, a "defendant" ...

This country has longer "proving" times for consumers. It means that a product must do what it expected to do for longer than in other countries. The public is well protected here. Fisher & Paykel a New Zealand company recently lost a court battle because it did not exchange faulty goods. Clearly, businesses do not like the protection laws. It is not only foreign firms like Apple that are ignoring or trying to circumvent Australian consumer laws. Harvey Norman, a large chain of franchises, has had five of its stores fined for not abiding by the law. Companies continue to fight to the High Court where all cases so far have been lost. The law is very clear - a product must serve its primary function for a decent period of time. If it doesn't, a refund or exchange for a new item must be given. Because firms are wasting court time the fines are increasing. They have reached $32,000. Besides the fines, stores are ordered to display signs setting out co...

According to the NSW government, ethics is the nearest thing to religion. There is an admission here that religion somehow dictates the mode of behavior in adulthood. In centuries past this was most definitely true. You have only to read the accounts of people who were at deaths door, like being adrift at sea in a boat, to perceive that life after death was paramount in people's thinking. Not going to hell was also important. Teaching ethics as an alternative to religious education in schools seems to be a logical option. Next year the NSW government will allow parents to choose secular ethics as a subject for their children instead of religion. Some would argue that religion does not really teach people how to behave in society. It is more important than that. Believing in God is paramount, not how one behaves toward his/her fellow Man. Behavior is secondary to being submissive to God. The problem with ethics is the supposition that there is a correct way of social interaction. St...