Australia: News and Views

The flying kangaroo as Qantas is sometimes known as, is more than a little embarassed by the chaos in airports around the country yesterday. In Perth passengers were locked out the Qantas terminal for hours after baggage handlers and other ground staff walked off the job with no notice.

The union seems unclear on what their problem was- in the end its become clear that the issue is that JetStar, Qantas’s low-cost arm, had given their ground-handling contract to another group and thus put the Qantas staff out of a job and the union out of joint.

Already rated as the least reliable airline by Australian travellers you have to say that the union is doing themselves no favours - having just persuaded several thousand more passengers that hell will freeze over before they fly Qantas again. Virgin Blue and other operaters were unaffected.  Although the union may like to say that they are all about safety - the reality is that they appear to be all about protecting their members in the short-term and to hell with the big picture- like does Qantas even have a chance of surviving the current economic crises which has seen travel cut back significantly.

Qantas likes to pitch itself to the business traveller - but those are the ones’ who want a good chance of getting to their destination  on time -regardless of how nice the inflight service is concerned.  They may well be booking with Virgin Blue next time!

Lawyers, who needs them? Well I’ll tell you this for free if ex-barrister, turned law lecturer Bryan Pape wins his legal challenge to prevent the Rudd government from paying millions and millions of $900 payouts to Australian tax payers he is not going to be Australia’s most popular lawyer.

Brian Pape, has links to the National Party and is now a University of New England law lecture. His argument is that the government is:

[he] will argue the payment is unconstitutional and the government has no power to offer the bonus.

While the commonwealth would argue that its taxation powers gave it the right to provide the payment, labelling it the Tax Bonus Act did not make it an act of taxation, Mr Pape said.

according to the Herald Sun. Which pretty much goes to prove that lawyers will argue black is white if you pay them enough - or just cause they feel like it, which is what seems to be happening this time.

The tax office wants an urgent decision from the High Court on this one as its due to start printing cheques within days, as payment are due to start being paid in April - just days away.

I’ve said it before - don’t spend those payments until you actually have them in your bank accounts Australians!

OK disclaimer: I am a New Zealander and a resident of Australia. I could not believe my eyes that the NZ Herald is up in arms because because an”online expat guide” has disshed and called Auckland  “horrible soulless city” NZ Herald.

The Australian anonymous bloggers less than glowing review of Auckland (dull was mentioned) has Auckland’s tourism CEO angry:

“Maybe they’re just envious that Auckland recently rated ahead of every Australian city as a tourist destination,” Osborne said.”

OK people let us get a grip here please! Its not an “onine expat guide” - its a bloody blog, and quite a good one too - check out the fushnchips blog its nicely written, rather dull layout, with no obvious monetisation yet - its quite new -  its not a bloody online expat guide.

These guys don’t even know how to properly hide their personal details on their hosting.

Geeze - I agree with them acutally - ony the tourism chief of Auckland could claim that Auckland rates higher with tourists than Sydney or Melbourne or even Perth. I mean please,  lets think about this: Sydney Harbour v. Auckland Harbour, Sydney Harbour Bridge v. Aucklands, Melbourne’s eating options v. Auckland.  Sorry I have been to both - and you have to be bloody kidding! Auckland is somewhere you fly into and out of New Zealand - its good for some last minute shoping that is it. The bloggers mention that they can’t get a major Australian newspaper in the town - that’s pathetic Auckland - you can in Wellington BTW - maybe time to choose a better town ?

Fush’n chips I like you guys keep it up- you have controversy on a 3 week old blog and a backlink from a newsite - nice one - keep it up!

Auckland tourism: you have what to compare to this?

Tragic news that British actress Natasha Richardson is dead at 45 - after a tragic skiing accident.  Natasha is a member of a British acting dynasty and is the eldest child of Vanessa Redgrave (actor) and the late Tony Richardson (director).

Details are unclear but it Natasha was on a skiing holiday with husband Liam Neeson at the Canadian ski resort of Mt Tremblant. She fell while learning to ski on the beginners slopes and was medi-vac’ed to New York’s Lenox Hill Hospital where she died surrounded by her family including her young sons: Michael and Daniel.

Details are sketchy but the Irish Times is reporting that  she fell during ski school and was laughing and joking with staff. She refused medical attention at the time but medical help was called later when she complained of a headache.

That’s pretty scary - its exactly how I would behave  in the same circumstances: there is no suggestion that she was anything but a beginner or at best average skiier having a bit of a refresher. I mean hitting your head is pretty common when skiing -  you don’t expect it to be fatal unless you collide with something solid like a tree or other structure. There was some early confusion of reports that she was brain-dead but not actually declared dead. But it sounds like she was critically ill when medivaced to New York and died at the Lenox Hill Hospital sometime later.

Natasha Richardson and Liam Neeson appeared to have the rarest of all things in celebrity land  - a solid marriage and strong family. They shunned the Hollywood lifestyle and had built a solid family life away from it.  RIP Natasha Richardson

Brendon Walters isn’t the biggest star on the front of the Australia movie cover, but he’s the one everyone is talking about. The cute little Aboriginal boy was plucked from obscurity - discovered at the local swimming pool in Broome, by Baz Luhrmann’s scouts.  Brendon Walters stole many hearts both during filming and particularly once the Australia movie was released. Nicole Kidman took him under her wing as they hit the publicity circuit. Perhaps a little unlucky to come up against Slum Dog in the Academy Awards - it would have been the  perfect fairy-story ending if he’d got the Best Supporting Actor. For fans of the Australia Movie though, its a great idea to have a second look at the movie. The scenary really is worth having a second look at particularly the spectacular Darwin scenes and of course the north Kimberley landscape - showing off in the scenes set at Nicole Kidman’s station “Far Away Downs”.  For the women of course Hugh Jackman as the Drover is always going to be a highlight particularly when the shirt goes west. Or that stunning ball scene when he actually gets out of his drover gear and into a tuxedo.  Australia has been justifiably used as a part of Australia’s Tourism campaign to get visitors to the stunning outback particulary the Kimberleys, Darwin and far north Queensland where much of the Australia Movie was filmed.

There is a scam happening trying to cheat Australian’s out of the $900 or $950/person payout from the Federal Government. The scammer calls you and pretends to be from the Tax Office and asks you for details such as your birthdate, tax number, bank account number. If someone contacts you asking for these details HANG UP immediately! The ATO has all the details that it needs from you! They will not call you! If you need to change your details - contact them using the details on the ato website and inform them  but do not ever give out personal information to someone pretending to be from the ATO, your bank or any othe trusted institution.

This is an elaborate con which even gives you a fake 1800 number to call if you are concerned. The scammers want your details sothat they can then change your details and pocket your  stimulus payout! Don’t be a fool and fall for this one! If you get a suspicious phone call hang up immediately - if they try again contact the police - or at least tell the caller that you are going to - that should stop them!  With around 10 million Australian’s likely to get a payout from the government in the next couple of months you can see why someone wants a cut of the action - just make sure its not you. You will get your payout of $950 or $900 if you are eligible - but tax payers will not be paid out until April, while those receiving Family and other benefits from Centrelink will be paid out this month

The Australian Surf Championships are on schedule for their third and final time at Scarborough Beach, Perth.  The surf champs open on the 16th March and run through until the 24th March.

The Scarborough area is all set up with a lot of temporary seating setup to  supplement the permanent arena at the Scarboro beach There are temporary road closures in the area and the West Coast Highway wil have a temporary speed limit of 40km/hr - I can’t confirm the rumour that the Police pay for the the extra traffic management duties by the speeding fines but you have been warned.

Surf Clubs from across Australia  will converge on Scarborough Beach with events for all ages and styles from adults to masters, men and women, boys and girls will be represented in the week of competition. Surf skies and canoes are lined up ready to be used and the swimmers have been checking out the local surf conditions.

In fact the surf at Scarborough has been pretty flat for the last week and a little rain is forecast for tomorrow, but according to Queensland competitors the sea is a better temperature for the swimmers than the rather too warm Queensland coastal waters.

At least there have been no shark attacks in the area! Good luck to all the competitors and supports for the Australian Surf Champs at Scarboro, Perth!

From tomorrow the government’s stimulus payout starts to flow to all of you who are hanging out to spend all that lovely cash! Tomorrow the following $950 payouts will start to be made:

• Family Benefit Part B $900 payout;
• Family Benefit Part A $950 payout for school-age children; and yes some families will get both these payments;

For the rest of you waiting for payouts to students, farmers experiencing drought and the education re-entry payment will have to wait until later in the month.

Those who are tax payers and expecting to get their 900 payout because they earned less than $80k last tax year will have to wait until April for their expected payout. Its a good idea to spend the time while you are a waiting for the government’s stimulus payment to make sure that the tax office has your up to date details - for quicker payment you should be getting paid direct into a bank account rather than waiting for a check - which will take longer to arrive. You also need to have filed your 07/08 return and you won’t get any payout if you didn’t actually pay any tax last tax year - i.e. you earned less than about $11,000.

Well it had to happen. As  payday for the $900 payout to many working Australians draws nearer, some enterprising retailers have found the perfect price point for that must have HDTV digital television - $900 - obviously. Some will even throw in a free Kevin Rudd t-shirt to remind you who is paying for it! I nice touch I thought.

Of course the irony is that the $900 television that you may consider using your $900 payout on will no doubt be made in China - so how exactly does spending your $900 payout help save the economy?

To be honest I have no idea why spending your payout on Chinese imports will help the Australian economy- but if you want to help your family’s maybe you might want to save the cash or use it to pay off your credit card bill