Adventure Ausrama Blog

Life insurance is a con. We all know that. They take your money. Then when you make a claim they force you into court to make you back down or run you up a huge legal bill. I cashed my life insurance in when they stopped paying the share investment bonus that doubled what you paid in. Now if you close the policy you get back "less" than you paid in premiums. No one is perfect out there, so when they say they will make people have genetic tests before they can take out a policy you should be afraid. The big three insurers say they have not had one complaint from consumers so far. Unfortunately, the ones who had genetic tests have not made any claims yet. There will thousands of complaints when the insurance companies fail to pay out. Thankfully, you cannot be forced to have a genetic test currently. However, you must hand one over if you have already had one - by law. Just why the government made giving up private information compulsory under force of law is a myster...

We need more privacy. What's that say Australian police? They are ignoring the public and installing a system that intercepts emails and keeps them for future perusal. It is called "deep packet inspection". Whether they will need permission from a judge like phone tapping is not yet known. The American NSA has been using the system for a few years. Data collection is immediate, in real time. Everything is caught by this new technology - content, duration, location, times, dates, email addresses and even phone numbers when used. Australian Federal Police say it will be used as a "system tool". Does this mean it will not be used routinely? You can bet your bottom dollar it will be used all the time if they can get away with it! There will certainly be a public outcry. It has been compared to the post office opening mail to see the content. As the system will be on all the time and will be used to continually monitor someone, it is not similar. The po...

There is not much doubt that the majority of Australians believe judges to be too lenient in sentencing. Drivers have been convicted of dangerous driving and homicide and have been given suspended sentences. Premeditated murderers have had to serve only five years in jail. It seems once judges get their positions they favor convicted criminals. No wonder state governments are looking at legislation to force courts into tougher sentencing. The South Australian government is planning new laws to limit the use of suspended sentencing. Chief justice Chris Kourakis claims this is interfering with the independence of the legal system vis-a-vis government and the executive. But if judges do not sentence and meet public expectations intervention is necessary. Serial offenders are given a slap on the wrist and are released to continue their illegal behavior. Some even laugh their way out of court. Intervention is also needed to have the criminal history of suspected offenders known a...