Adventure Ausrama Blog

politics funding cuts to CSIRO Malcolm Turnbull loves private business so much so that he is making massive funding cuts to CSIRO. The public/private body is sacking 110 highly skilled employees from the Oceans and Atmosphere division. More sackings are in the pipeline because CSIRO has been forced into this position by first Tony Abbott and now Malolm Turnbull. The soft smile of the PM is only a thin veneer over the right wing belief that the market solves everything. No work being done here! We would be driving on dirt tracks if road funding was not public. The poor would be dying in the streets if medical treatment was private. There would be no trains to the city for daily commuters, as the only private rail tracks transport minerals to the coast. Rural people would have no means of communication if Telstra had not been a public enterprise. The copper wire still used for the Internet was put down over a century ago and is still being used in some places. We always ge...

New medical discoveries are pushing the cost/patient envelope as more low-end subsidized drugs are taken off the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and new $1,000 plus a week treatments are being added at the top end. Rationally, it is obvious that this will result in fewer patients benefiting. Recently, I went to the pharmacy with a script for a medication that I assumed was still subsidized. The chemist arrogantly said drug companies are not making profit any more: you should pay the $60.00 . I responded saying, how do you know anything about my finances and if you believe pharmaceutical firms need sympathy you are absolutely stupid and unfit to be in the profession . Upon leaving the shop I thought I shouldn't have said that. However, on consideration I believe that I was right. It needed to be said. Pharmacists are a protected breed. They make millions when the government pays them full-recommended list price which it is set artificially high by drug companies. New...

It is not necessarily my view but when I was growing up I was told that all Catholics are bigots. It is due to the way they are brought up, being taught to hold strongly to dogma from the Vatican. This may not be true because the majority of adult Catholics do practice birth control even though this is banned by the Church. However, their upbringing is narrowed somewhat by the curriculum of Catholic schools which drives teachings of the Holy Scriptures into a child's mind. The church of business was Protestant, at least initially. Now, it seems that the Catholic Church provides adults with a far right leaning. For example, a Catholic like Tony Abbott couldn't be further to the right. If he could move further he would fall off the edge. He loves business and hates everything else. His attack on the tertiary sector is public knowledge. He thinks that money can be taken from scientific endeavour and business will somehow continue to make a profit. This view, o...

Our beloved Australian prime minister has put his foot in his mouth yet again. I don't believe that I have experienced such a pig headed, mislead person who has gained the highest position in the land before. He has weighed into the debate of Western Australia's intention to close down remote Aboriginal communities, despite the first Australians being born and bred there. It is a case of whites controlling the lives of black people because Caucasians dominate power and authority in Australia. Western Australian governments of both persuasions have a history of being bigoted toward Aboriginals. There have been cases in the past of whites buying votes at state and federal elections by giving Aboriginals alcohol. This is despicable behavior. Tony Abbott, the Australian prime minister, has said that aboriginals should be forcibly moved to cities because they are a drain on the welfare system. He believes that they will fill job vacancies that do not exist in built...

Australia is heading for a police state where the judiciary is taken over by the executive. With the new Internet data law being forced on a public who do not want it, things are moving very fast. If Labor goes along with the changes that is the end for free Australia. Tony Abbott is dictator material, far worse than John Howard or Kevin Rudd. If he wants something done his way he just does it. Running rough shod over his cabinet he is a real Caesar. He holds that the individual is subservient to the state. This is stuff from the novel 1984 . Watch out, he could legislate to force Protestants to become Catholics like himself. He loves his church, wears it on his "shirt front" - the pun is intended! He claims that the police force doesn't do its job properly. Watch out for Abbott's storm troopers goose stepping down the street, entering houses and taking you off never to be seen again. Some overseas publications are calling him a monster. Obvi...

There isn't much doubt that Tony Abbott the Australian prime minister is an ardent capitalist - odd for a person who calls himself a Liberal. This goes to show how Australian Political parties do not follow the international norm. Like most things in Australia our political system could be seen as unique with ardent conservatives forced to join the Liberal Party to secure power. Tony Abbott is being accused of interfering with the G20 statement, taking out "fair" and "inclusive" in the description of desired economic growth. Apparently, he blatantly left in “promote economic growth and jobs growth by strengthening the private sector”, highlighting this. Australia has been told that it has left the moral high ground of previous G20 meetings. Inclusive growth" is interpreted as a free for all in economies. Just getting there is important. Whether you run roughshod over the rights of people or not is not important in Tony Abbott's eyes. T...

The Abbott government has a clear policy driving its actions : it strongly believes in the free market mechanism and is "trying" to balance the books like a successful business. However, a government is not a business. It operates to benefit its people. You need a heart to understand what your citizens want. Unfortunately, Abbot does not have a heart. He is selfish in forcing his beliefs on the Australian people, because that is what they are - beliefs. The market will not provide a fair health care system. In the US market health care runs riot over the welfare of the people. This is what Abbott wants to foister on Australians. Tony Abbot is not interested in democracy. Belly aching about not being able to get his $7 GP co-payment through the senate was laughed at by delegates at the G20 conference. How obsessed can one be? He is definitely too selfish for words. He wants to force his views on the country like John Howard did. Note, Howard not only los...

Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his mate Maurice Newman are both as thick as a post. They are both climate change skeptics. Business advisor Maurice Newman wants a Royal Commission into the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) claiming that it has doctored temperatures to support global warming. If anyone is looking for a phantom in the cupboard it is the couple above. After all, Tony Abbott blindly believes that there is a God. How stupid is that in this day and age - religious fanatics not withstanding? In regard to God, you can knock on the door but there is no one home. So the Australian weather authority is lying. What about weather departments in other countries? The poles are clearly melting. Global warming is a fact. Take note skeptics: scientists are telling the truth. That is the trouble with "businessmen": they don't want a free market; they want a fixed market. They want to legislate to ban any reports of global warming because it is bad for business. In t...

By bringing back Dames and Knights is Abbott acting like Putin. The comparison can be made. Neither consulted his immediate political advisors before they acted. This is reminiscent of Kevin Rudd before he was shown the door. It could also be said about John Howard before he ignominiously lost his safe Liberal seat when he lost his last election. Total power totally corrupts and Tony Abbott is acting as if he holds all the power. Of course, the Senate is controlled by Labor, the Greens and Independents at the moment, so he cannot do everything he wishes. It also seems certain that he will not fully control the Senate when the newly elected Senators take their seats. The worry is the leader and cabinet can do many things that do not have to be reviewed by the Senate. That is why they call it the executive. Leaders of some countries have even gone to war when this power has not been given to them in the constitution. The "knee jerk" behavior of a leader is wor...

The age of entitlement is over for Australia - unless of course you vote for the Coalition. This is the the message of the A$324 million drought package comes across to Australians living in cities. The motor industry got not support, neither did SPC. Eighty per cent of Queensland is suffering drought. It is a serious crisis. However, a government must be seen to be consistent. Taking the hammer to trade unions is to be expected from a conservative government. The Liberal-National Government is not in the center politically in Australia. It is definitely conservative: plainly an anachronism that we have to live with. The National Party would bring back tariffs if they had the power, but they will remain Liberal Party lap dogs forever. Of course, other countries put up barriers against agricultural imports, so Australia should do the same. However, how can a government say one thing and act in a contrary manner. It cannot be taken seriously. A turn here, a flip there ...