Observations Of a Nobody

I am Who I Am. 

At 68 and a lung doctors assumption that I will clock off in 2020 I think I may start to accumulate some thoughts and observations I see now without malice or retributions. 

After being  in the front line for most of my life either at work or in sport its interesting for me  to look about and try objectively to see how succession works and how people accept that across my landscape. 

My history evolved from leaving school at 15, apprentice boilermaker, boilermaker, cab driver, telecom linesman, Telstra manager, business owner, now on a disability pension from asbestos. 

Outside interests are football, golf primarily but participated in many other associations including politics. Those interested still persist today but have stepped back and now take a broader view of how things have evolved over my time and how the younger people are managing the situations similar to what I/we  addressed in the past.

Please if I fall into the dialog of “the older I get the better I was” syndrome kick me in the balls if you can find them. 

Being trained in PR and human behaviours, industrial law, unions,  as part of a extensive and clinical journey I was privileged to do via Telstra helps me achieve a broad vision of how people , many friends and acquaintances, manage their lives after ceasing or winding down to retirement or what some see as a new start to new life, volunteer organisations, Non for profit organisations (NFP), charities, men sheds, you get my gist. 

Yes, I was caught up in that scene  for many years and I feel I did contribute some of my skills and time to help or assist  in those organisations mainly a golf club. I had the experience in retail hospitality, as part of my previous business, actually running a business skills, and I had free time to offer and labour to save costs. 

After taking up roles from committee to president gave me a fair idea of how the business works, and at times I was guilty of thinking I had all the answers when problems arose. I forgot I was not running my business but was running a organisation with varying experienced people in roles with good intentions but not used to making decisions that people who live out of the till to make a wage do. Hard decisions, practical decisions and at times unpopular decisions, which they took personally not in a business context. I was hard to keep the natives on track, a skill in fact keeping them in the loop, yet guiding them to what’s good for the members may not be good for the business.

This scenario is not uncommon in NFP organisations often frustrating and chases good experienced people away as they cdo not have the time or patience to educated, sometimes the willingly uneducateable. 

As I have said above people see volunteering as a chance to give back and give people the opportunity to work in community starting always in good spirits, but over time human behaviour takes varying paths, and often people revert back to their working days and consider other volunteers  as subordinate. 

Me, guilty as charged at times and when I realised the fact I was going down that road I set a personal benchmark time limit box of  3 years to be in any position of authority within a NFP.      

 My theory is one year to learn the role, one year to implement any improvements and one year to prepare a succession to the next occupant of the position. 

This prevents hierarchy development and siege mentality around election times, where factions  and  enemy of the club syndromes are created by those who struggle for relevance in their lives. 

Probably loss of relevance for some is undereestamated. Many in their previous working careers see themselves as having some social status above that of others due to their jobs or professions and expect that status to transfer to their volunteer positions. This attitude translates to some as social discriminators which divides organisations sometimes with  irreparable consequence. Exclusivities of company, and information sharing are weapons of survival used by the factional leaders to keep their status in tact, and often not seen by those who are being manipulated. 

This happens commonly in clubs and  practiced by both sexes but more efficiently by the female members commonly called Queen Cow Syndrome.  

I could continue with this factional issue but I believe my time would be spent better on solutions.

The Three Year Succession Plan distributes depth of  experience across the organisation which does not mean people have to stand down but have to surrender that particular position. Half Committee elections are also a tool that retains experience and corporate direction but introduces new talent to educate, and after two terms ie 6 years one  must step away entirely for a term before renominating. 

Cry’s of not filling positions will occur but that also will contribute to innovation in managing new business and managerial opportunities.

Unfortunately with often shrinking memberships due to attrition (people falling off their perch) the effort to go out and sell the c clubs to new prospective members is not given its true priority. Culture, that non inclusive culture is a cancer that must be irradiated. Youth must be encouraged and the practice of belting people with rule books must cease, regardless of code or sport. Fun is the primary and critical  objective not fucking rules and the people who think rules are the primary part are usually the toxic group trying to exert  their  personal status to any newcomers. Rules are learnt over time not thrust upon by autocratic dinosaurs. 

Levels of committee or what I prefer boards should be flattened. Experience people who have little time are more efficient than those who heap[s of time with lethargic attitudes. This causes untold  frustration to those who’s skills are current, not superseded. 

Amalgamations and partnerships must be considered as part of any business plan, IN GET A BUSINESS PLAN, a Professional Plan,  and stick to it, and make sure the membership know that plan which will explain someway of contentious decisions at times. 

Well that’s about my views and experiences and as a good citizen I have no interest in maintaining/ creating my status. In fact I’m a nobody other than an observer of situations and conversations and thats the way I want it, and I can let go and just be me and talk to, accompany anybody, I want without judging who or what history has allegedly occurred. 

As you can see with this article could make my own enemies and don’t need to told who to like or dislike as I don’t have to make those decisions, I just treat people as I find them. 

If the hat fits wear it, and I am who I am. 

 

     

           

 

Our Women Set the Standard

Tis the time of the year to review 2018 and in sport no one could deny womens sport and sportswomen have carried the banner for our youth to follow.

The male contribution across most codes has been less than admirable and although the press may choose to overlook the facts but our papers and reports are littered with cheating, domestic violence, drug abuse, corporate deception,  and general grubby behaviour from our so called professional athletes and clubs  and yet not one life ban imposed. 

The fact is, compared with professional players worldwide our lot has far too much time on their hands. Overpaid and overrated compared with players who compete overseas where 3 games in 11 days and sometimes less times is common. Imagine the cry’s of our prima donnas if their schedules similar, and just maybe they would not have the time to misbehave as they would be under constant scrutiny publicly and privately. 

Secondly of greater concern is the influence of betting organisations are having on our sporting culture. Codes are selling their souls to these parasites with scant regard to what message they are sending to our future  sportsmen and women inviting corruption into the sanctity of developing minds.

We have a lot of work to do to tidy up the shop in 2019 if we want to meet standards our women have set on the world stage don’t we? 

 

Upholding Journalistic Standards

Maybe I’m one who should be honoured to get a run occasionally in this forum but I actually think public debate is good for democracy. To be honest I was one of the first to burr up about taking Courier Mail copy and pasting Bolt and Murray in my QT.

Over time I have realised it’s important to have them there as it allows the masses to judge where the benchmarks of journalism are set in Australia and it’s becoming quite clear those columns make people aware of the lower end of the debate.

When people aspire to take this country back to the Menzies era of white Australia, coal burning, climate ignorant, society and try and spin that as the good times do not have Australia and our grandkids future at heart.

The light has finally fallen on the conservative ranks that climate change is not a political football and the right wing nutters like Bolt And Murray are so far out of step with real Australians views their opinions will only add the present to governments struggle for credibility, so keep it up.

In regards to our ABC every government regardless of ideology has bellowed bias from its inception and that’s great for our democracy and the cries from the crackpots from the right who want to silence it highlights its importance of a broader perspective, on political and social issues which is not on the media barons agenda who desire to claim the entire debate on their networks and engineer it accordingly.

Merry Christmas and let’s get to the polls.

Less Overheads better for Ipswich Ratepayers.

As our Council administrators get on with their jobs and we see basically nothing has changed in regards to day to day life of ipswich ratepayers.

Council staff are getting on with what they do best, so the question at the end of the day is “are we over governed” when it comes down to this extra layer of divisional councillors and the costs involved.

Remember please Local Government is facility of State Governments, not a seperate level of government.

In a world where we everybody has to qualify with qualifications to make a living under and directly overseen by superiors daily, I think the days of people being given massive wages on a popularity vote is well out of step with current society standards.

We cannot revert to any part of previous administration practices or culture or nothing has been achieved out of this dissolution process as it will re infest.

Ipswich is blessed with people of exceptional talent as we have seen by the top 100 run by QT, all of which I’m sure many have the skill sets required from hands on experience to sit on a board or take responsibility for facets of our great city.

No they may not be good at giving ratepayers money away to boost their own popularity come election time, or grabbing microphones or headlines at look at me rags, as true managers of our great city need to be business and socially focused on the city as a whole, not just 10 little patches each with if we are to believe the spin each like Shiltz and no nothing about the rest.

Less overheads would be better for ratepayers and qualified not popularly Appointees would serve our new beginning better come 2020.

One Law for All

          Keating said LAW IS LAW.

Australia went to a plebiscite on Gay Marriage and endorsed it overwhlmly  and it was  passed int Law accordingly. Agreed not all accepted  the law but that’s democracy.
Im sure some people incarcerated disagree  that robbing from the rich and giving to the poor is also conflicts with their faith in human equality but I’m sure any calls for special treatment would be totally rejected, the law is the law.
So, calls from  faith based entities calling for the special right to discriminate in schools is similar to reclassifying the laws of theft into categories justified theft for those who honestly believe they are doing the right thing and illegal theft for the rest.
People choose to follow faith, some choose not to have faith, the law should apply to both regardless and none should have a divine right, or above common law.

Our Visit to Queensland Parliament..

The invitation came, we thought no, then why not.

My local State Member Jim Madden’s office emailed me a invitation to join him and some other constituents to a afternoon BBQ and tour of Queenslland Parliament House on the 2nd December 2018 and after some hesitation both headed off to a unknown destination for a adventure. Not bad for two over sixty sixes.

Planning as I do the journey I proceeded past my beloved German Club and proceeded to cross the Story Bridge, down Ivory Street, past the old Waterside Workers Club of my childhood, left at the Customs House and down to what I thought was Parliament House,confusing that with the Parliamentary Annex which was our destination.

Typically we asked security who sent us to get a parking available but not explained to the security guard it was for disabled, consequently we circled the place twice then out of frustration returned to the guard who said Oh, park right here, this is the place your looking for. R..I..G..H…T..!!!!!

On entry we were scanned, X-rayed and interrogated all part of the hospitality then aimed towards the lifts and told the 7th floor was the target zone.

On entry welcomed accordingly and after introductions proceeded to have light refreshments and good conversation with fellow Ipswich people.

The subjects were broad but all ended up on a political narrative with topics from all levels of government with varying opinions, complying with the location.

After a sumptuous lunch, love the snags, we set out to tour our place of democracy in Queensland.

And impressive it was, steeped in history and tradition, and enlightening to us who follow the political game on what we see via the media and how it really is.

I got to sit in the Speakers Chair and that was recorded, as that is not how it works in my house where she who must be obeyed reins and often I’m in the Opposition.

We were treated to a extensive history lesson and fittingly the day concluded in the Parliamentary Chook House, home of the chickens who look after the herb and vegetable gardens used in the Parliamentary kitchen. Yes they do have real chefs and people employed in hospitality.

Really it’s a experience worth engaging in if you truly interested in how our democracy works.

Thanks Jim Madden Alp Member for West Ipswich. And staff for a memorable balmy Sunday afternoon indulging in Queensland history.

Time for our Youth To Shine.

Oh dear, the older we get the more wiser we are supposed to become.

We will always get those who think the old days were the best, the lifestyles were simple, so that’s good enough for us today, why change, and Now that group has become a political movement.

I’m a 50’s kid and we lived a dream compared to our parents, but ask our parents now if they lived a dream you will get a completely opposite response.

I’m yet to see those pushing the Trumpian ideology of protectionism, anti climate, anti migration, anti equal women’s opportunities, racial and religious divide, provide one forward thinking policy. They see our countries future is to go backwards to the way it was.

The hate youth involvement because it shakes the foundations of what is your place in society , your too young to understand, the cry, forgetting that youth today has 1000 times the access to information that was only available when a newspaper was finished being read or when the radio TV was turned on.

At 21 I could not have a beer in a pub but I could go to war at 19. Only the well off could go to university regardless if you had the talent, as long as you had the money, while the state school kids had to fight for a single grant, and the trades were regarded as the lower end of the class divide., and the shop assistants and labourers were servants.

They will have you believe they were the good times, and they were for the privalaged.

I see a case in today’s world for the voting age to be dropped to 16 as those young people today know and are aware and mature as much as some of the so called adult punters that go to the polls and vote informal deliberately, or turn up just to avoid fines.

We’ve run our race, started wars, split nations, invented weapons, diseases to destroy the the planet, yet say to our youth your too young.

What utter rot.

The LNP’s Trump Faction hard at work.

I would be the last person to tell the LNP how to do their business, however putting that aside I do take issue with the media description of them having a “female” problem within their ranks.

The truth is they have a “male” problem and if you look at their team sheet the line up speaks fo itself. People like Abbott, Abetts, Dutton, O’Sullivan, supported by the Kroger’s support fed by Jones and Hadley and Sky after Dark no wonder the boys club mentality sets a very slanted platform for any person who wishes to contribute let alone a female.

Personally,politically, I hope they don’t change, dig coal, close the borders, deny climate change. Reject renewables, and bully women out of the way, but that’s not good for our nation, any nation, and Victorians agreed, Saturday.

We need to install a government/governments that will look to our future, provide adequate and timely infrastructure and jobs with plans for our kids and elderly that will accommodate our growing population, and stop the scaremongering and fabricating excuses for ideology incompetence, and the real question is the LNP prepared to pay price of keeping the Trump faction worth loosing women’s participation at the ballot box..

The baseball caps have it Scomo.

Our Lingo is Precious.

Since the last round of musical Prime Ministers I have noticed a number of suttle image and cultural changes that trouble me.

Firstly it’s the new baseball capped advertising billboard PM mirroring Trump, then comes the lingo where our Returned Service Men and Women referred to as Veterans, our Emergency Workforce of Police and Ambulance, Fire Fighters and support are blanketed with the term of First Responders, all lazy American terms or lazy English..

Lets not hand over our culture and language and reject Americanisation or we will be left with that word “bunch” as a description for anything plural instead of a bouquet of flowers.

It starts with the little things that are important if we are to remain who we are.

Murdock Media rails against Federal Corruption RC.

Paul Murray’s spin on the introduction of a Federal Royal Commission into Political corruption he describe as “overreach” cannot go unchallenged.

The tarnishing of political opponents were not far from his pencil I recall when the Trade Unions were and former Prime Ministers had to front commissions commissioned by the Coalition days after the election. His support for a Banking enquires was in line with Coalition policy until they were dragged kicking and screaming to the bench, which leave me thinking why the resistance to a Federal Iccac and what do the politicians have to hide?

When the media takes a stance against government transparency I question its ethical standards regardless of which side of politics you support. Protecting politicians is not the role of media unless you want a media landscape like America.

I hope this hung parliaments first job is to announce that Royal Commission into Political Corruption and we will see which side screams the loudest and after Murray’s article it’s becoming obvious one side is clearly nervous.

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