DEBT CEILING CLIFF IN USA...

In my opinion. the only reason the USA is not in recession like in Europe is because of the Federal Reserve pumping money/credit into the USA economy but unless the hard headed Republicans dont play ball by lifting the debt ceiling and allow tax increases then I'm afraid the unemployment rate will head to spanish levels if not similar to Greek levels. Mitt Romney [not a bad guy really,] said he could do better to reduce unemployment...he was delusional in my opinion because in my opinion Obama had done a stirling job with the Federal Reserve to keep it at those current levels, but it wont last if the Republicans continue and want to destroy the USA credit rating.
It was irresponsible in the extreme what they did last year and I'm affraid the ego of that guy John Boehner who made America look like a bunch of kindegarten kids....a totally irresponsible act to gain political brownie points.....and i bet the smirk on his face yesterday says we going to get more of the same.

The reality is that those with money and assets always end up being responsible to pay for deficits sooner or later as the poor cant pay which afterall they get their income from government handout paid through taxes or borrowings. There is no easy way out of our debts or deficits, call them what you will..UNLESS you want to do what the Greeks are attempting to do now.

The Republicans seem to want to destroy US wealth by playing these silly debt ceiling games which will affect the whole world economy, thats why i follow it so closely.

The Republican tried to blame China for Americans' financial woes, yet it was your consumers who wanted to buy their goods...they were not forced by gun to their head to buy and borrow to buy Asian goods? You cant blame the Chinese for them sticking to their knitting and being more efficient and more cheaper than the other nations who pay their staff too much. You cant blame the Chinese for MINDING THE OWN BUSINESS and not wastimg money fighting wars they cant win. Dr Ron Paul had similar ideas of trading not going to wars...but the egotistical Republicans pushed him aside to choose Mitt Romney the better looking younger but not so wise a guy.

The Democrates did not scare your illegals who have lived and worked in the country for years, yet the Republicans called them illegal Aliens..as if from outer space and wanted to send them back. How foolish to scare potential voters.

The Republicans wanted to have more ships than the USA had 70 years ago, when technology has since taken over warfare needing less ships and more aircraft carriers and drones, more satelittes etc and the Republicans wanted Obama to beat his chest more and threaten more people instead of using more diplomatic methods.

These are some of the reasons why the Republicans lost, not because anyone thought Obama was perfect...just better for the times we are in these days.

STAMP DUTIES GO ON FIRE SERVICES LEVY

The removal of the Stamp duty on the Fire Services Levy on Insurance Premiums in Victoria was long overdue as it was part of the original deal to be replaced by the introduction of the 10% GST on almost everything and which the ALP in Victoria decided to keep anyway. So well done Liberals.

Now thanks to the Greens Party we have another gst named the Carbon Tax, basically a 20% GST but with this 10% held and redistributed by the Federal Government and in the wash help it get into surplus I would speculate..

I remind people that the original gst was introduced using the argument that we had an aging population on non-workers and now I'm hearing the same recycled argument being used by the Superannuation & Insurance Industry for their own selfish reasons so they wont be hit by the removal of the current tax benefits.

The Superannuation tax advantages were introduced by the then Treasuer Peter Costello to avoid inflation and when some people were convinced to sell their investment properties to get the tax benefit of superannuation, but i bet they have now not only lost their tax benefit but some more ontop. Too many people get banboozled by the tax savings into making illogical investments and eventually end up losing everything.

If Super cant work without these tax sales incentives then they should never exist and people should keep away from them.

The Super industry want the Super Levy to go to 12% and they want to keep to keep the money longer by getting the compliant government to legislate against lump sums being paid out to retirees.

Why is it so important for the Super industry to hang on to all the peoples money longer? Is it because maybe they are losing it faster than they are getting it in and they cant afford for their ponzi schemes to be found out?

In my opinion there is NO advantage for Australia to have an increased employment tax of 12% as there is no such tax in Asia and anything that is being manufactured in Australia now can very easily be made in Asia, but our silly politician like to keep peddling the lie that they will be helping Australian workers... only that their will be less manufacturing workers jobs, less telephone jobs, less accounting services jobs which the banks and telcos are already shifting overseas in anticipation.

Eg when Goug Whitlam gave Australian clothing & footwear workers equal pay for women in the 1970's and reduced Tariffs ....thousands of those women lost their jobs to Asians.... so instead of a pay increase ..they got no pay at all. All those factories are now apartments for wealthy government workers on equal pay or better.

GENDER WARS

Federal Politics was hotting up yesterday.
Every time the Labor Party gets into trouble they appoint women to clean up the mess. Who remembers Dr Carmen Lawrence Premier WA 1990,  or Joan Kirner Vic Premier 1992, and more recently in Qld Anna Bligh Premier 2011.

All these women inherited a mess from the their male Labor Premiers and then lost the state elections and were never given a chance to lead the party in good times. That is sexism in my book.
Now Labour has a front bench of many women who are trying to bamboozle the voting public into believing that somehow Tony Abbott is a women hater. The consistency of their story indicates that they are conspiring to destroy Tony Abbotts character and to hopefully increase their chances of regaining their lost support base and win another term. Its is a Labor Party tactic used before on many a time i suggest,  to use the women to destroy his support using gender warfare. The acting going on is amazing to say the least and i dont believe for one moment that Prime Minister Julia Gillard was not acting when she bought in her father into the parliamentary debate yesterday to call Mr Abbott a woman hater. In my opinion it was a misuse of the parliament for her to continue her attack on him in such a vile attempt against his character. Successful barristers can be the best actors when trying to sway a jury.

What Alan Jones said in private was both uncalled for and silly, because any father would be very proud to have a daughter become Prime Minister...it goes without saying and more especially from a union coal mining family. What the journalist did to make news of it was much worse by inciting and aiding and abetting these attacks using social media which is taking over the mainstream newspaper media and in so doing this journalist has inadvertedly helped in destroying his own newspapers' relevence in the market place. I doubt that any of the advertisers affected by the Alan Jones war will so easily forget the newspaper group who interfered with their advertising messages.

The poor policies of the Labor Party cannot be shouldered by the Prime Minister alone who is really not leading the government by a majority of Labor Members but a coalition of independents and the Greens who dictated that the price of government for the Labor Party would be ... the introduction of a Carbon Tax. Julia Gillard said "there would be no carbon tax under a government I lead"...was not untrue because she does not really lead a govt of Labor Members, but a govt inluding the Independents and the Greens who I would suggest are really ruling the roost. It a matter of interpretation as to whether a political lie was told to avoid losing votes, but its not an unusual event in Australian politics.

Having said the above, i do feel that opposition party members need to be utilised better in parliament for the money they earn rather than saying their policy is better than the govt. I dont believe their job description is to oppose everything unless its for spending or borrowing too much. But surely these Liberal Party members could be set to work doing something more useful to earn their keep instead of virtually being on expensive unemployment benefits and the same applies to the State Labor Party members who must think they are on a long holiday season till just before the next election.
Any opinions for debate readers?

SUPER FUNDS MELTDOWN TO NIL

Imagine another another financial meltdown and all the Local Govt Super funds are lost. My question is how much will our ratepayers be up for AGAIN to cover the total loss? Does anyone know?

Dont dismiss this possibility as this scenario is very likely in the current economic climate. In such event locals will ALSO need to chip in extra for the State Govt Super Fund AGAIN and how much extra tax will have to be raised to replace those funds.

Both Super Funds have lost substantial $billions on several occassions and ratepayers and taxpayers have had to chip in to replace those losses... its just that people forget history. I don't forget because i was involved in institutional investment in the money markets when under the Whitlam Govt interest rates rose to banks paying up to 26%pa for 4 years and as a consequence reduced the face value of bonds and other assets substantially..

The Govt Super funds were set up by acturial 'experts' giving assurances that using 'professional' investment managers the super funds would earn enough to be self funding...however the reality has been the opposite on several occassions.

This is why I am totally against the concept of superannuation being worth anything of true value for this country except for those feeding off it.

Even the Industry Super Funds are attempting to gain an advantage by meddling in the partial involvement of the Australian economic management which is the role of the Reserve Bank and the Federal Government. IMO this philosophy will fail to do justice for their members security over the life of the funds no matter how clever they think they are or how good their advertising implies the reverse.

But as far as Local, State and Federal Superfunds are concerned .... most ratepayers and taxpayers would be staggered as to the contingent liabiility overhanging ALL taxpayers which are not quantified because the liability numbers have been transfered to be only relevent to the Super Fund bodies, yet are very relevent as we taxpayers are ultimately responsible. So I ask the question AGAIN?

HOW MUCH would our ratepayers need to raise AGAIN, if ALL the Super Funds were lost by the next economic meltdown, which would also substantially reduce the ability of most ratepayers to find the money to pay.

So if the Landowners and new Candidates can understand that set of numbers, then they might realise how super protected and expensive each extra hour of each government employed person is as a local government employee and why how important it is to economise and reduce staffing levels and or convert as many full time employees to contract staff.

I challenge anyone to prove me wrong?

SWINBURNES UNI MONUMENTAL ERROR

SWINBURNE HAS MADE A HUGE ERROR OF JUDGEMENT in my opinion by reducing the expenditure in the services sector at LILYDALE where the electronic media cannot work to train people with hands-on skills.

They are only thinking inside their own survival mode and not the reality that less buildings will be needed in Hawthorn in the future when the theory and mathematics subjects will be able to be taught via webnars in online learning classes which is already happening now and even Melbourne Uni has embraced that medium joining many overseas organisations.

If Swinburne management were really planning for the future...they have got it totally wrong. The State Government has seen the future and cut funding accordingly, but Swinburne have chosen to keep the empire growing in Hawthorn when in reality less resources will be needed at that location and only time will prove the government and me right.

COUNCIL PROFIT SHARING TAX

The meaning and intention of the OPEN SPACE CONTRIBUTION appears to being misused and treated like just another tax for general revenue by Councils and Shires and thus if the ACT is not being used according to the intended law then the term should changed to reflect the true TAXING nature as indeed it has become a SHARE OF DEVELOPERS PROFITS TAX which some Councils like the Greater Dandenong Council are requiring that developers pay the several $million 'CONTRIBUTIONS TAX' prior to gaining subdivision approvals to offer OFF THE PLAN pre-sales to the public and prior to getting funding from bankers who always require pre-sales evidence before lending them the development money to proceed with providing more housing in that region.  These types of demands are resulting in no deals going through part application stage as developers would need $millions more in equity to proceed with the projects. The alternative be that Councils be required to use that OPEN SPACE CONTRIBUTIONS money for its proper intended use and to buy land for Parks & or Recreation use in the outer fringes of Melbourne or Victoria in lieu of the lack of such land availability in the inner suburban areas, rather than it going into consolidated revenue.

Councils are already buying land outside their boundaries for rubbish disposal Land Fill sites and Councils like the CITY OF MELBOURNE should be required to use those PUBLIC OPEN SPACE CONTRIBUTION collections for purchase of their own PRIVATE OPEN SPACE for use by their ratepayers outside their council boundaries.

This would increase the demand for GWZ land which is currently the cheapest land available today, it sometimes being next door to smaller parcels of land up to 40 times more valuable per square foot and the proposal a more equitable means of getting a protected "Green Wedge" Open Space supply of land instead of expecting private landlords to pay for the original Greenie plan by Liberal Party Premier - Rupert Hamer. It was Sir Rupert Hamer who came up with this socialistic plan to let the private owners pay for the Greens Lungs of Melbourne idealism which is silly considering that the whole of Victoria and Australia have more than enough government Crown Lands & designated National Parks and extesive millions of acres of green grazing farmlands providing fresh air for the major cities for the Lungs of Melbourne ideal.

The true financial stakeholders are the landowners and their bankers who are never consulted or been considered for invitation by letter for discussion; whereas the Green pauper and public housing groups seem to get all the attention as claiming to be stakeholders deserving influence in other peoples private property rights and in so doing debasing the asset cover held by the banks and putting the borrowing landowners at grave risk..which the Planning Ministers and their Department staff never consider in their deliberations.

If Victoria is to be run like a Socialist State by the Liberals then I wish they would just be honest about it, so we can decide whether to fight them from the trenches or to move to WA or QLD perhaps. Its been a 40 years punishment for GWZ landowners whereas murderers get substantially less these days.

DONT SUPPORT HOUSING FOR BAD BEHAVIOUR

Motherhood Statements are ok for political purposes, as long as the Shire Oof Yarra Ranges dont waste any more of our rates money on attempting to keep criminals, drug addicts and the agressors in domestic violence situations in our Shire. Many of these people are homeless because they cant live peacefully with their families or the general public at large. They want and expect everything for free everytime they get evicted by family or from private housing moving around with more assistance than any other group they cause problems for. These people get rent assistance of $117 pf, they get free 2 - 4 weeks rent & bond every time they claim they cant live with others so they can keep more of their centrelink payments for their bad habits. They trick the charities into giving them free food by telling more lies about kids to feed while really buying for their various addictions.

I feel it better that they be encouraged out of our Shire neighbourhoods and into areas where their behaviour will be more readily accepted and a cold night or two in a tent or park might be a good lesson to change their bad behaviours, but i urge the general public not to feel sorry for these con artists and charlatans who can play meekness when they want assistance but are really not the type you would ever want to associate with. So I urge our local councillors not to be taken in by the calls for more public housing for these rejects of society as I doubt whether they would want them living next door.

The State Government is responsible to make better use of its housing stock by weeding out those who sublet their houses/units while they live in better housing. And just look at the flashy cars in front of some public housing.

The State should do what the Qld Govt is doing and move single people out of 3 bedroom houses into 1 Bedroom units and free up larger properties for more deserving cases. They should permit spare rooms to be occupied by other relatives [for a rent to State] without getting evicted or allow their backyards to be used for caravan parking and accommodation. The State already has $billions tied up in publuc housing which just needs to be better managed not increased and rents increased at least to cover outgoings and bond rate cost of money for property where the average cost of a bedroom is nudging higher than $100,000 and when one realises that Shire rates are over $30pw there is little reason for rents to be lower than costs which for private landlords also includes insurance, land tax, cost of bank loans and now with the loss of negative gearing benefits [for 1st house], most houses should be renting for around $600pw yet public housing is still less than $100pw. A huge subsidy in my book from both government and private investors.

Of course if the Shire were honest about housing affordability it would also support the subdivision of more land for new housing instead of trying to increase Crown land holding above the current 55%.

EDITOR WANTED

Yes, Im looking for a community spirited Editor or writer who can better put my daily views into better written english. The volunteer position might better suit a budding young writer who wants more exposure so that he might get other paid jobs in copywriting or similar.

UNIONS & GREENS POLICY CAUSE HUGE JOB LOSSES

 Gina Reinhardt tried to tell our blinkered Federal Labor government that with cheaper wages available overseas of around $2 per day and the increasing costs of wages in Australia was threatening our competitiveness in both Minerals exploration and Export income, but the Treasure Mr. Wayne Swan brushed it off as being inconsequential last week. A serious issue swept under the carpet by our Federal Treasurer proves he is living in the dark...head totally in the sand OR a very good actor. Mr. Swan is ignoring that what is in the best interests of Gina coincides with Australia’s best interests too. It’s called EXPORT INCOME which earns us tax revenue. If China can get its iron ore from African Mines where wages are 150 times cheaper than in Australia, then ALL Australians need to worry even if the Treasurer has his blinkers on.

A classic example of what Apartment builders are now doing is in the following story... reading between the lines...a reader would realize that Lend Lease is IMPORTING the timber frames AND it will SAVE ON CONSTRUCTION COSTS & WAGES as it takes only several weeks rather than several years to build a ten storey apartment complex. The increased use of timber for housing must go against Greens Party policy, but more timber from forests will be needed and not all timbers will come from Certified sustainably managed forests into the future.

Forests are a renewable resource and Lend Lease is building the tallest timber building in the world. The building is constructed from cross-laminated timber, which Lend Lease say has a structural strength similar to concrete and steel.

“Concrete and steel buildings are carbon intensive but timber, as well as being renewable, has the advantage of storing carbon. Timbers used are also sourced from certified sustainably managed forests,” says Lend Lease’s Murray Coleman.

“With the structure being built entirely from CLT, Forté will reduce CO2 equivalent emissions by more than 1,400 tones when compared to concrete and steel – the equivalent of removing 345 cars from our roads.”

A survey found that 67% of respondents said they would live in the 10 Storey timber apartments in Docklands. The question is now whether the timber will be sourced locally to maintain jobs locally for flow on jobs or are the Greens Party wanting to shut down more local industries so we will need to import more goods from China? And please remember readers...that anything we manufacture in Australia can also be manufactured much cheaper overseas...as Gina Reinhardt is trying to warn our blinkered government...so with this knowledge in mind, the only people in real jobs will be politicians and the public circuses which are helping foreign workers replace more local jobs. Who are our politicians really helping?

Has the penny finally dropped with One Union has at long last starting to show concern for the potential loss of current and future jobs in Tasmania forestry and Mining  when National Secretary of The Australian Workers' Union, Paul Howes, said on ABC last night that it will be objecting to the proposal of the Greens coalition party member in Tasmania to Heritage list more forests. Mr. Howes admitted that there would be no jobs for the next generation of Tasmanians and they would have to move away from Tasmania for work or otherwise be dependent on welfare if the Heritage listing of the Tarkine Region.

 

Paul Howes said a blanket listing of the whole region on the National Heritage List would bring forward the closure of mines at Rosebery and Savage River.

"Mining is a crucial part of the economy of North West Tasmania – a region that already has an unemployment rate of 8.4 per cent, well above the national rate of 5.2 per cent.

"Destroying the mining industry will lead to further economic and social disadvantage in North West Tasmania."

 

 

LOST FARMS

Why are so many of our current and previous politicians so intent in diverting investment money away from local real estate such as farms and encourage the accumulation of foreign and local financial assets through the impost of a Superannuation Levy system on employees wages? While we think we are so smart with investing overseas on questionable easy investments,like the Prime Mortgage Funds, Shares and other financial instruments; the much smarter asians are buying up prime farming land using our billions spent on imported good. The imported good will sooner or later end up in landfill but the farms will still be producing food for asian countries.

Surely others can see the stupidity in public policy when both politicians and the public are so mezmerised into believing will generate a safe retirement without buying any local real estate. IMO I cant see how this direction will ever have the desired effect other than to dispossess another generation of a decent retirement as more than one extra financial crisis will surely wipe out the value of most financial assets.

Well actually, i do believe i know why Peter Costello Tresurer in the Howard government indroduced taxation incentives to encourage the sale of property to be invested into Superannuation Funds...was implemented to discourage property inflation during the Howard years which was at a high risk of occurring during those years, and explains why the govt decided to pay off debt and not reduce taxes or dish out other benefits.

IMO most Australian well watered farmland is substantially undervalued by locals but my views are confirmed by the contuing buying spree of more prime farmlands and probably helping to keep our $A higher than otherwise might have been the case. What is not known is whether the foreign buyers are using their own capital reserves or whether they are borrowing locally to fund purchses in both mining and farming assets. Too complex for me to really say...only the RBA would know.

The 9% Levy soon to be increased through bribery to 12% is no more than fools gold which in my opinion which on top of excessively high wages is assisting in the demise of Australian Industry which in addition with Carbon taxes are forcing such companies as BlueScope Steel to reduce expensive staff in Australia and employ Asian staff at around $1.50- $3 per hour.No super Levy, No Workers Comp, No EPA conditions, No Carbon Taxes, No Maternity/ Paternity Leave or Holiday Loading...maybe just some bribery?

The remaining Private Sector is then left to support the unemployable, the old, the sick and the Local, State and Federal govt workers whose benefits are underwritten through taxation. Are we going back to the Kings & Serfs of old? Where the King and his men decided what the serfs could do with their land and how much in taxes they should pay to support the King & his entourage of administrators?

An article in last month Lilydale Leader [18th July 2012 ] almost went unnoticed and few people made any mention or the seriousness of what happened to FIONA and Craig Mitchell of Belgrave and shows what does happen when State listerns to Council Planners and the Greens getting together to protect the environment but in so doing they also destroy ratepayers private wealth.

FIONA and Craig Mitchell's Belgrave home is now uninsured because their long time insurers, Australian Unity underwriters have withdrawn from providing insurance in Belgrave, Sassafras, Olinda and Monbulk due to the high fire risk of these heavily wooded areas and the bushfire risk was too great to cover them. The insurance company said an independent study [commissioned and based on Council research I bet] showed 80 per cent of Belgrave was a high fire risk, and it would not be renewing anyone's insurance policy in the area.

Few people may realise the serious consequential disavantages to all Yarra Ranges ratepayers but more particularly to homes and businesses in those non-insurable suburbs and the costs of conducting any businesses in those areas, when banks refuse to lend money unless they can get any form of insurance and this withdrawal of funds must result in substantial property price declines and substantial premium increases on insurance premiums offered by the few insurers who may still offer insurance. Property price drops will result in banks calling for a reduction of overdrafts and housing finance contracts causing a great deal of grief for many families in those areas.

Many businesses will need to pay an average but maybe higher General Fire, Contents & Public Liability insurance of about $100pw [ 50% of which are State charges] and this may result in a long painful demise of many varied businesses, some closing sooner, others taking longer to close. Property price falls will decrease the Yarra Ranges rateable collections for those areas and increase the rate in the $ for all other Yarra Ranges ratepayers. Everyone gets squeezed thand to the Red & Blue GREENS.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT SUPERANNUATION POLICY FAILURE

In my opinion progressive State Governments in Victoria Australia have failed miserably and been costing local property ratepayers bigtime because it has failed to get the Local Government Superannuation Scheme funding and investment arrangements right. In my living memory i recall that ratepayers have had to kick in $billions for the loses incurred by the Local Government Superannuation Scheme and local governments other merchant banking failures on at least three occassions.

Others might know the history better but i seem to recall the Kilmore area Council lifting rates by a massive 100% some years ago to cover for the losses incurred when their co-operative money market market MAV venture with other councils went broke, and during the Paul Keating recession we had to have another super fund went broke when the State Bank went broke. We forget history repeating itself but our policy makers are NOT protecting we ratepayers.

In my opinion it would be safer if NO NEW funds were put back in to cover the losses of the Local Government which are now running to several $billion because we would be risking losing it all again at the next financial crisis of which i estimate there will be several more. The Defined Benefit Schemes would be better funded on a Pay As You Go basis, so Councils would know how much it is really costing to employ all those extra staff and perhaps be a little more prudent in their hirings of staff..

I urge Ratepayers to look at this issue and contact your local MP's to demand a change to protect our own incomes.

WHY HAVE LIBERALS GIVEN BROTHELS & ACCOMMODATION EQUAL BILLING AS PROHIBITED USES ON GWZ LAND?

Whilst I welcomemost of  the proposed new Planning Scheme amendment

ACCOMMODATION & BROTHELS are both regarded as Prohibited Uses on GREEN WEDGE ZONED Land which is still an illogical comparison for Accommodation use to be placed at the same level of prohibition and then with the State Liberals proposing to giving councils more flexibility on local issues makes no sense at all either when recently the Yarra Ranges Building Compliance dept sent an Order to a GWZ land owner claiming they could not house any fruit pickers, just the farmers family, otherwise they would have to change the home to a Class 1b building under BCA guidelines by getting another building permit and new occupancy permit for their already established home of 40 years.. A Class 1 a dwelling is a sole-occupancy-unit, whereas a Class 1b is a residential building of less than 300m sq floor area where no more than 12 unrelated would be resident and has more than 1 sole-occupancy-unit. They concluded that a bedroom is also classed as an attached bedroom room rented out to a separate tenant such as a fruit picker in a dwelling, is a sole-occupancy-unit [SOU is defined in the BCA].

I however would suggest that a seasonal fruit picker is not a resident and therefore the council claim is wrongly based, however this is an example of how quick the compliance officers are wanting to take issue and create legal battles without first giving consideration on how seasonal fruit pickers can be better housed without them having to sleep on tent stretchers after a hard days work bending over picking strawberries is something our planners and building compliance officers have never had to do in their lives. Changing building classes for seasonal fruit pickers is not an economical proposal for either farmers or investors who would want long termers to provide longer term income. The Yarra Ranges compliance team like to play like the role of Sheriff of Nottingham while the Economic and Agri-business departments are trying to negotiate longer term solutions, yet the only problem solver is going to be a Dept of Planning solution to over ride the Sheriff mentality. I do suggest farmers go direct to Matthew Guy to have the problem resolved this year instead of risking viability of our farms in the longer term.

This capricious interpretation of current laws & with then giving extra flexibility to Councils can only continue to have serious long term consequences for farmers when touring fruit pickers need to sleep in their cars or pitch tents on crown land because of the beauracratic interpretations of both building and Planning laws which puts Accommodation use in the same prohibited category as brothels

RED GREENS CREDIT SQUEEZE HAS STARTED, BUT BLUE GREENS NOT HELPING US EITHER.

An article in last month Lilydale Leader [18th July 2012 ] almost went unnoticed and few people made any mention or realised the seriousness of what happened to FIONA and Craig Mitchell of Belgrave and shows what does happen when the lazy State Government listerns to Council Planners and the Greens getting together to protect the environment but in so doing they are also destroying ratepayers private wealth.

FIONA and Craig Mitchell's Belgrave home is now uninsured because their long time insurers, Australian Unity underwriters have withdrawn from providing insurance in Belgrave, Sassafras, Olinda and Monbulk due to the high fire risk of these heavily wooded areas and the bushfire risk was too great to cover them. The insurance company said an independent study [commissioned and based on Council research I bet] showed 80 per cent of Belgrave was a high fire risk, and it would not be renewing anyone's insurance policy in the area.

Few people may realise the serious consequential disavantages to all Yarra Ranges ratepayers but more particularly to homes and businesses in those non-insurable suburbs and the costs of conducting any businesses in those areas, when banks refuse to lend money unless they can get any form of insurance and this withdrawal of funds must result in substantial property price declines and substantial premium increases offered by the few insurers who may still offer insurance. Property price drops will result in banks calling for a reduction of overdrafts and housing finance contracts causing a great deal of grief for many families in those areas.

Many businesses will need to pay an average but maybe higher General Fire, Contents & Public Liability insurance of about $100pw [ 50% of which are State charges] and this may result in a long painful demise of many varied businesses, some closing sooner; others taking longer to close. Property price falls will decrease the Yarra Ranges rateable collections for those areas and increase the rate in the $ for all other Yarra Ranges ratepayers. Everyone gets squeezed thanks to the Red & Blue GREENS.

STAND UP AND BE COUNTED

Hi, this news blog is an attempt to create some competion in the news madia especially as government forces wish to NATIONALISE the media group to suit themselves and also as a medium to express my views which have never been accepted by the toffy nosed literacy experts in the Age Newspaper and more recently the closure of the Herald-Sun group to prolific letter writers like myself who have freely offered and had published hundreds of opnion pieces in both their newspapers and more recently online. There recent attemptes to monetise their newspaper offerings has resulted in the defacto censorship of public opinions and so I had to move offshore to continue with my very opinionated contributions. Bob Livingstons Liberty News has opened up his online newsletter with open arms and they have received several hundred of my ramblings on politics both in Australia ana USA. The USA system of government is strange to say the least and some of the gun enthusiasts are even stranger imo, but their system of political freedoms has permitted me to express my various opnions and debating angles without severe censorship. I have been called all manner of titles for daring to suggest they implement our Medicare type service in America but I've been called everything communist, a stalanist, a socialist etc and yet i am able to write back with many more opinions without being shot at yet..lol


It's been pleasing this week to see Clive Palmer a long term member of 43 years of the Australian Liberal Party come out to stamp his public views on a variety of topics on political policy directions.

I have a number of current friends who and now elderly Liberal Party members who have been complaining to me about this and that happening in politics over the years or complaining about the poor callibre of our leaders, etc but as always I say to them...what did you do about it when you were a member? They give all manner of some poor and some fair excuses like "I offered to serve on policy committees but I was never invited" OR " I did not have the time with career issues taking up most of my time"

The now successful politicians were able to take the leadership because of the many others who kept quite and did not Stand up and be counted. Jeff Kennett in Victoria was an example of an elected dictator because no one else dared defy or challenge him and we know who they were that just waited for their time to come without rocking the boat.

I've been waiting to hear from some younger politicians to support Gina Reinhart in her quest to get a board seat in the Age Newspaper but the silence is deafning. Here we have a situation where an Australian business woman has purchased a rather large stake in the Fairfax Media Group and the board have shown more loyalty to their staff than their new part owners.

It beggars believe that we have a new owner of a rather large stake reported to be 18.6% and full of ideas to increase readership of the Age Newspaper and other newspapers and yet the Board of Directors are tied by governance matters and we have politicians like the Greens and the ALP who wish to stop media commerce by attempting to NATIONALISE the Fairfax Group to stop an Australian buying Australian assets, yet sit ideally by while other foreign interests keep buying up our other enterprises with the help of former politicians called Lobbyists? Who are these GREENS & ALP politicians really working for?

So in my opinion Cliver Palmer has hit on a very important topic when he has put a resolution to his party administrators that Lobbyists should not be part of the party executive. This issue is far more inportant than just a few former politicians making money on the side on top of their hefty government pensions. It raises more suspicions in the eyes of the voting public about the very real possibility that some politicians nearing retirement may already be working for the best interests of large corporations who have offered them or their children and grandchildren jobs now or into the future or paying the current politicians to delay their retirement until a later date. Of course there is no evidence to say anything like this is happening now, however I'm sure i'm not the first to think this way.

Oh and in case anyone reads this blog...does anyone know which Victorian organisation was charging its clients $250 per hour for looking for people who did not exist...or preparing tax returns which the tax department did not want?

I believe in free enterprse  and competition, so lets create more news blogs to compete with the soon to be nationalised Age Newspaper and Media group...and maybe those Age editors who recently resigned could start up their own blogs so they can own and also have editorial independence and then some Age readers may move over to read your blog....just as you feel the articles were driving people to buy the newspapers and not the classified, something your Board of Directors may never have contemplated when the editors won their argument so many pre-internet days.