Counting eggs before they hatch (Part 1 of 4)

Posted to The Age (13/1/2011) on 13/1/2011 at 2:54 PM
Commenting on “Counting eggs before they hatch”
http://theage.domain.com.au/real-estate-news/blogs/domain-investor-centre-blog/counting-eggs-before-they-hatch-20120110-1pt5n.html

Costs of material and labour have soared substantially and new constructions are not good proposition for many, unless they are replacement of properties in prime areas. In the 50’s to 70’s blue collar workers could earn a lot more than white collar workers until Paul Keating decided that Australia needed more people to be academically qualified and the switch from trade oriented training to college and university education. With those pieces of certificates and degrees, the paper-qualified workers’ income began to climb, and less people would turn to the less glorified jobs including those related to construction.

The older tradies are retiring fast, and there are not enough to replace them. Australia is still facing a shortage of tradies, and enrolment in TAFEs is still disappointing. If it is not for the overseas students or new migrants doing these courses, the labour cost will even sky rocket further.

End Part 1 of 4

The trouble with Kevin is, well, Kevin

Posted to The Age (9/12/2011) on 9/12/2011 at 11:09 AM
Commenting on "The trouble with Kevin is, well, Kevin"
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/the-trouble-with-kevin-is-well-kevin-20111208-1ol9i.html

@bowski, "How embarrassing for us as a nation for these 2 bananas to represent us on the international stage", was it a question or a sigh?

Can't you remember former PM Paul Keating had warned us about Banana Republic? Was there a hidden message?

The adage says "if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys." With the recent pay increase for the PM and MPs, we shall be paying more than peanuts; it's more like paying for Queensland bananas when floods destroyed the crops. Now, do we get bigger or better monkeys to run this nation?

Oops, did I just say Queensland banana? Oh no, we are getting a Queensland monkey as a replacement!

Paul Keating: How I told the Queen we did not need her anymore

Posted to Letters to Editor, The Australian (21/10/2011) at 10:28 PM (Not published by Newspaper)
Commenting on "Paul Keating: How I told the Queen we did not need her anymore"

I really find what Paul Keating said to the Queen, as quoted in the article "How I told the Queen we did not need her anymore" (Australian, 21/10/2011), rather naïve, disturbing and insulting to our national pride and independence.

He said, "I reminded her that on our doorstep stood 200 million Indonesians - the largest Islamic country in the world. Australia had to be relevant in these places." I wonder whether any Indonesian President would ever make a statement that Indonesia had to be made relevant to China, which has the world’s largest population of 1.3 billion. It is unthinkable that Indonesia would kowtow to China’s communist regime and put aside their Islamic belief in order to gain favouritism from China.

Paul Keating further remarked, "With a monarch whom a great number of Australians, especially of non-Anglo descent, feel no association with, nor any affection for." Did he really believe that non-Anglo descent migrants could associate with or have any affection for the Australian Prime Minister whose ethnicity and beliefs are so different from theirs?

As long as boundaries of nations are drawn and shown on maps, citizens of those nations are unlikely to form one tight unit. In addition to this problem "individualism and human rights" is the catch phrase of the day.

Australia appears to be racially tolerant, and a promoter of multiculturalism, and yet Paul Keating and many Prime Ministers of Australia forget that we can co-exist as Australians without any pretence with other Asian neighbours. We MUST trade as Australians, live and identify ourselves as Australians.

This is not about soul searching or being arrogant. This is our dignity!