The illusory thin blue line

‘The thin red line’ refers to the British Army’s red-coated soldiers during the Crimean War’s Battle of Balaclava in 1854 [1]. The derived term ‘the thin blue line’ refers to police [2]. As I’ve written, due to my Save Albert Park experiences I’ve no respect for Victoria Police force members [3]. An item in last Friday’s Age validated my view [4]. It says that in Victoria in 2008/9, over 50% of all police caught speeding in police vehicles without justification were cautioned but not fined. The equivalent figure for non police is but 2%. Police said the discrepancy was likely due to police better understanding the law that allows the option of a warning if a driver has a 2-year-plus clean driving record and was less than 10 km/h over the speed limit. Deputy commissioner Lay encouraged all Victorians given a speeding fine to investigate if they’re eligible for a warning instead. No, Mr Lay. No investigation’s needed. It’s up to the police to tell speeders if they qualify for a warning rather than a fine. Police who fine speeders who qualify for a warning, are at least morally deficient, and at worst acting illegally. But what do you expect from a police force whose chief commissioner was caught illegally carrying bullets onto a plane, yet received no penalty let alone the compulsory one applying to that offence [5]. Thin blue line indeed. No wonder law abiding citizens like me have no faith in the police. For they give us no reason to have any.

The Hon (?) Jeff Kennett

Today I write of aggression, provocation, arrogance, disgust, hypocrisy, dishonesty, contempt, immorality and despisal:

Twenty months ago I wrote of Jeff Kennett – the Honourable Jeff Kennett though I know of nothing honourable about him – and how he aggressively, provocatively, arrogantly and disgustingly orchestrated the subjugation of Albert Park, one of inner Melbourne’s oldest and most loved and used public parks, into a car racing track [1]. He shrugged off all criticism. Indeed he verbally attacked and threatened anti-GP protesters. Me included.

From 11-16 April in Melbourne, there’s an international conference titled Healthy Parks Healthy People [2]. And, stone the crows, guess who’s the opening Keynote Speaker? Why the self-same Hon Jeff Kennett, Chairman of beyondblue: the national depression initiative [3]. Kennett said: ‘…parks and open spaces are no longer simply about recreation – they are about enhancing the mental health and wellbeing of the community. Parks play a vital role in providing space for exercise and physical activity, which is important for the management and prevention of depression and anxiety. They are also a hub of community activity – facilitating social connectedness and inclusion’ [4].

Wowee. What a hypocrite Kennett is. His dishonesty, contemptuousness and immorality are breathtaking. Like Tracee Hutchison [5] ‘I despise the man and everything he represents’. He disgusts me. He’s an insightless buffoon. I don’t wish him well.

farmdoc's blog post number 681

Last Sunday night Sweetheart Vivienne and I watched, the 2-part Australian Story titled ‘Something in the Water’. Originally screened on ABC TV last month, it can be streamed from here [1, 2]. It’s about water pollution in north east Tasmania [3]. I found it riveting – partly due to the focus and persistence of Drs Bleaney and Scammell. But much more so due to the nay saying – no, antipathy – by politicians and bureaucrats who have clearly lost sight of the fact that their only raison d'être is to serve the Tasmanian public interest. I should’ve known better. I learnt the lesson years ago that politicians and bureaucrats march to a different drum. From 1996 when the first F1 Grand Prix [F1GP] was held in a subjugated Albert Park, it’s been obvious to the proverbial drover’s dog that the event in that location’s a triple-bottom-line disaster. And it always would be. Years ago Save Albert Park advocated a purpose-built state-of-the-art permanent venue. Our proposal fell on deaf political, bureaucratic and media ears. In fact it was met with scorn. Until now [4]. Why the change? I don’t know; but 2010’s an election year. Of course now even a permanent venue’s anachronistic – because in this peak oil era, motor sport’s immoral and antisocial. In any event (pun intended) judging by this Herald-Sun item [5], you can’t rely on Premier Brumby or F1GP boss Walker (pictured) to make wise decisions in the public interest. I don’t.

farmdoc's blog post number 675

The State of Victoria has fixed 4-year electoral terms. Thus, unless the 2010 Federal election’s held on Saturday 27 November, this’ll be the date of the next Victorian election. That’s about eight months after the Sunday 28 March date of the 2010 Australian F1 Grand Prix – which is a mere 32 days from today. Last Saturday Peter Logan, media officer of Save Albert Park, kindly copied me in on his letter to State and Federal politicians. I’ve edited his letter thus:

The Grand Prix problems for Victoria are getting worse. With the costs out of control and the loss of the naming rights sponsor, we’ll be hearing more about this problem in this election year. Since it came to Victoria in 1996, the event has clocked up an operating loss each year, to a total of A$204.36M. The GP Corporation’s annual reports show, damningly, that the taxpayer costs far exceed the reported operating losses. Save Albert Park claims total taxpayer support of the 2009 F1 Grand Prix alone was A$86.6M.

What an economic disaster the Australian F1 GP is. Environmental and social too. And the cruellest irony is that the politicians continue to obliviously shrug off rational criticism and obliviously hype the event up. It’d be Grand if the voters got rid of these Prix come 27 November. But I’m too old and wise to think they will, The Wisdom of Crowds notwithstanding. Ho hum.

farmdoc's blog post number 673

They’re gone. And it’s quiet again. Our house guests arrived on 2 February, stayed with Sweetheart Vivienne and me for a week, spent a week in Hobart, then returned to stay with me for a week. Until yesterday. They’re Canadians from Ottawa. We met almost a decade ago. Via Save Albert Park. Mark, a Professor of Communications, is an expert on the effects of major events. Maya’s a Police Officer. This was their third visit to us in Mole Creek. In late 2006 Marina was two years old. Now she’s a five-year-old teenager. This was the debut Mole Creek visit for Mateus – who maintains the M alliteration but is better suited to his nickname: Pug (i.e. an abbreviation of Puggle). I don’t know if Pug’s your typical Terrible Two, but if not then he comes close. When he’s good he’s very very good, but when he’s bad (i.e. exhausted) he’s horrid. During their 15 days in Mole Creek we did much: reminisced, laughed, joked, walked, sightsaw, farmed, and fed goats/sheep/Petey Boy/ourselves. But a 2-year-old inevitably curtails holiday aims. I hope The Canadians had a great time here – as would befit our wonderful friendship. And if they didn’t, I hope the fault wasn’t mine. When les Canadiens were here, I wondered if the noise (90% due to Pug) would ever stop. Now they’ve gone. And it’s quiet again. And it doesn’t feel good. I hope we see them again. Soon. But not before Pug turns three.

farmdoc's blog post number 597

Maybe it’s a hangover from my Save Albert Park years, but I cringe whenever I hear someone utter the words ‘world class’. Because in my experience people who’re doing or making something genuinely world class – i.e. among if not the best in the world – simply go about their business without crowing or bleating about it. And conversely, those who bang on about doing or making something ‘world class’, are big-noting if not fooling themselves and others, for in the main they’re aspirational nobodies and wannabes but neverwillbes. This, I suspect, is a minority view among my countrymen. I see Australians as generally a parochial lot. Maybe because we’re a second-world country far from all the first-world countries which we aspire to emulate or surpass. And we don’t see third-world countries as fair dinkum competitors let alone national role models. Of course the media have a stake in perpetuating our faux sense of national self-importance on the world stage. That’s par for the course for them. Segueing across to golf, that’s why I found this item by sports journalist Jake Niall (pictured) in last Saturday’s Age, to be so insightful and thus refreshing. The fawning over Tiger Woods in Melbourne recently made me cringe. And clearly it made Niall cringe too. Also I like what he wrote about Olympic medals vis-à-vis Peter Carey and Tim Winton. So I hereby add Jake Niall to my list of favourite journalists.

farmdoc's blog post number 428

I’ve previously written of Corporate Darwinism vis-a-vis the Global Financial Crisis [GFC]. Well, folks, it looks like the GFC’s arrived in F1 land. Last Friday eight F1 teams, including Brawn, Ferrari, McLaren, Renault, Toyota and BMW Sauber, via their Formula One Teams Association [FOTA], announced their intention to leave F1 and start their own breakaway series, after they’d failed to resolve their dispute with F1’s governing body, the FIA. The dispute was due to the FIA imposing a US$60M (A$75M) budget cap for each team. FOTA says the new series will have transparent governance, encourage more entrants, and listen to the wishes of the fans including offering lower prices for spectators. Good stuff. The major drivers, stars, brands, sponsors, promoters and companies historically associated with F1 will all feature in this new series. Whoopee. The Australian Grand Prix Corporation’s contracted to hold the F1 Grand Prix in Albert Park until 2015. Whilst the Corporation and the Victorian Government are sounding brave and optimistic, they know that without the major teams and drivers, F1’s dead. It remains to be seen if FOTA’s move is brinkmanship or fair dinkum. Bernie Ecclestone won’t send his cash cow to the abattoir. All will become clear in the next few months. The days of the winning drivers spraying Moet may be over. Perhaps the GFC will achieve what Save Albert Park couldn’t. Oh what fun.

farmdoc's blog post number 399

Way back in the foggy blur of my schoolboy years, bolt upright at his desk beside me, sat my classmate and friend Demos Dimitriadis. Even at his then tender age, his olive-skinned good looks personified the Greek heritage he was so proud of. His name Demos, he said, means ‘the people’ in Greek; and his ancestors gave the precious gift of democracy to the world. Demos, the exultant young Greek Australian, was right, of course. Democracy – government by the people – is a precious gift. And a gift so fragile it must be continually cherished and nurtured. Or it will wither and die. Which is a consequence too terrible to contemplate. A major reason for my passionate involvement in Save Albert Park is the Grands Prix Act’s removal of democratic rights. It’s ironic how governments – which govern at the pleasure of the people – are so intent on eroding the full force of democracy. The latest governmental onslaught – in Victoria and Tasmania – is on planning. It’s too easy to remove democratic checks and balances in the name of expediency. How could anyone reasonably object to cutting red tape? But removing public input from planning decisions diminishes their rationality and increases the likelihood of political cronyism if not frank corruption. I wonder where Demos Dimitriadis is today. And what his ancestors would make of all this.

farmdoc's blog post number 349

When I was a nipper I thought the purpose of newspapers was to disseminate news. Only when I was much older did I realise their true purpose was, is, to sell advertising to maximise profit. In recent years and probably longer, newspapers have become less concerned with the truth. If they ever employed many fact-checkers, I doubt they do today. So they publish factual errors. Most errors probably go unnoticed; but when one’s picked up, the newspaper may run an inconspicuous retraction. Then it goes on its merry way, unrepentant because sensational but wrong articles sell papers, but retractions don’t. I was sensitised to this issue when I was Save Albert Park’s media spokesman. And I was reminded of it last Thursday by this article in the online Jerusalem Post, according to which the New York Times published (after the story had been discredited) an erroneous article, on its front page ‘above the fold’. But the subsequent retraction was on page four. I think a retraction should occupy the same space, and be as equally prominent as, the erroneous article. If newspapers were ethically responsible, this would happen. But they aren’t, so it won’t. Robert F Kennedy, paraphrasing George Bernard Shaw, said: ‘There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?’. So maybe one day…

farmdoc's blog post number 201

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) (pictured), one of my heroes, was an American philosopher and writer. His writings, especially those on non-violent resistance to government injustice, inspired Tolstoy, Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. In the 1830s and 1840s, to protest the slavery that the government condoned, Thoreau refused to pay the government’s annual poll tax. In 1841 he was jailed for his refusal. In his essay Civil Disobedience, published in 1849,Thoreau contended that each person owes a greater duty to his own conscience and beliefs than to the government. Thus he encouraged people to non-violently disobey laws they believed unjust. Non-violent civil disobedience is a legitimate form of protest in civil society – aiming at least to bear witness to the abuse of government power, and at best to reduce that power by changing its enabling legislation. We used it effectively in Save Albert Park’s campaign. This week Still Wild Still Threatened signalled a willingness to abandon its protest if all logging in the Upper Florentine Valley ended. The Tasmanian Government sanctimoniously replied that it doesn’t deal with people who break the law. The relevant law – which excludes the public from public forests that are being trashed – is a diabolical law. So if the government won’t change that law then, in the spirit of Thoreau, the People must resist the law and then change the government.