OUTBACK AUSTRALIA

If you have never visited the centre of Australia I urge you to do so.
It is a totally unique experience. Beautiful, Harsh, Rugged, Surprising, Remote, Isolated, Spiritual, Unpopulated, are just some of the words used to describe this area.
There are many ways to travel to and experience this area.
You can do it in luxury by flying in and staying in 4star accommodation and be taken around in conducted tours or...
You can drive (but remember the vast distances involved)
If you drive you can see many things in just a normal family sedan but if you really want to experience it in its fullest take a REAL four wheel drive and camping gear.
The most important thing of all is to allow sufficient time to fully explore the towns, the gorges, the aboriginal culture, the icons and the people.
If you have never driven and camped off road for long periods before PLEASE get together as much information as possible before you attempt it. Unprepared people die out here.
Remember, water, food, sufficient fuel (in one area the fuel stops are over 500km apart), let people know where you are going and when you will be back. Be aware that in summer the temperature during the day can reach 45to50c and the nights can drop to below Zero.
If you are really going a long way off track take more than one spare tyre and a puncture repair kit.
CB radio or a satellite phone and GPS are recommended.
Above all take away only photos and leave behind only foot prints.

THE GREAT WESTERN HIGHWAY and TRUCK TRAFFIC

The upgrade of the Great Western Highway from Penrith to Katoomba is mostly now complete. the few remaining sections will be finished later this year or early next year.
This leaves one hugely important question for those people who live in Blackheath, Mount Victoria and to a lesser degree Medlow Bath. What are the plans, if any, to upgrade the highway through these villages.
Many hundreds of trucks pass through the main centres of these villages each and every day. Through Blackheath there are numerous traffic lights, including one set right in the heart of the village, this causes these trucks to brake and then restart with all the associated noise and pollution. It is impossible to hold a conversation on the footpath in front of the shops and pubs in this area.
These villages should be quiet, attractive, calm and pollution free areas in the midst of a national park and heritage area.
Will some one please advise us when this horrendous assault on our nerves, hearing and health will be alleviated.
I might add that it is congruous that just beside the highway is a main rail link. Could this freight be placed on rail ????

ILLEGAL BOAT ARRIVALS

The Labor Party is saying that their Papua New Guinea solution is stopping the boats. Well! Yet another boat arrived today with 208 people on board.
The Prime Minister of PNG does not seem to know or understand what is in the document that he signed with Kevin Rudd. It appears that the document says that real asylum seekers will be permanently settled in PNG or other co-operating nations. It would seem that Australia is not totally or specifically excluded in this arrangement.
This, I believe, is yet another ill thought out, bungled arrangement by a government that makes a decision, announces it without full consideration of all the consequences.

KEVIN RUDD's DECISION MAKING

The latest idiotic policy from Kevin Rudd proves conclusively that he has not changed his ways. The dividing off of the top half of Australia and treating it differently in the way of company tax was announced by him without consultation with some of his senior ministers. The first they heard about it was on the news. Policy on the run; made up as he goes.
This announcement has been met by horror by all the state Premiers, Business analysts and most thinking people. Image......All the banks and big Australian Companies moving the address for their head offices to Darwin. It would perhaps just need to be a post office box !!!
To me this indicates that the Labor Party are starting to get desperate.

THE NEW SOUTH WALES SOUTH COAST AUSTRALIA

We have just returned from a week in a house at Bawley Point on the beautiful south coast of New South Wales. From our bedroom, lounge room and kitchen we had 180 degree views of beaches and rocky headlands. It was just a 2 minute walk to a wide sandy beach.
We saw whales, dolphins, seals and each day there were about 50 kangaroos on the grass near the beach. It is still the middle of winter here but it was so warm that my son and grand daughter went swimming.
This is a magic part of the world. Unspoilt deserted beaches, national parks, rugged cliffs, rock ledges and plenty of wild life. Many varieties of birdlife: magpies, butcher birds, black cockatoos, crimson rosellas, rainbow lorikeets, just to name a few.
There are no high rise, no 'resorts', no main roads, no airports, just small villages and an unspoilt paradise.
If you have not been there do yourself a favour and go.

THE 2013 AUSTRALIAN ELECTION

Well what a few weeks it has been. I go away on holidays and all hell breaks loose.
We now have a date for the election 7 Sept. The first one on one debate is over. The initial gloss of Kevin Rudd's return as Prime Minister is rapidly wearing off and all the polls suggest a Liberal National Coalition win.
Firstly the election date. Just the day before he announced in K Rudd was saying he had no idea as to when it would be BUT a poll out that night caused panic and it was called the next day.
Subsequent polling suggests that the Labor Party under K Rudd is falling further behind and their hysterical scare campaign about the GST being applied to food under a Coalition Government has been shown to be just grasping at straws. How many times must Tony Abbott say that they have no plans to change the GST.
The first debate. K Rudd at times looked rattled and had to constantly refer to notes whilst Tony Abbott spoke freely without notes and appeared comfortable under the spot light.
I look forward to the next few weeks.

CHRIS BOWEN THE FEDERAL TREASURER AND THE BUDGET BLOW-OUT

Well here we go again. From the budget brought down in May to now (Aug) the expected deficit in this years budget has almost doubled to over 30 BILLION dollars.
One must ask the following questions.
Was the previous treasurer so inept that he drastically undervalued the expected deficit.
Was an attempt made to hide the true extent of the deficit.
Can anyone truly believe that this is the true depth of the problem that this Labor Government has created.
Why should we, the tax payers, believe anything this Government has to say.
They are, and will, blame anyone and anything for this huge deficit except their own ineptitude. It is only a few weeks ago that they have promised billions in school funding, disability care, scrapping of the carbon tax. All costing billions that they knew the country could not afford. Well we just cannot afford any more un costed, grandiose spending from this government.
PLEASE BE GONE AND SOON