Retired infantry officer. Conservative by nature and politics; Happily married and father and grandfather of eight. Loves V8 powered Range Rovers, Golden Retrievers, good books and technology and think there should be open season on Greenies.
Born in the mid forties and overdue for servicing but most parts still work.
After settling down post Cape York a phone call from my younger sister remined me that the escapism offered by four-wheel-driving to the Cape has a use-by-date and it has expired.
My 85 year old Mother has recently moved into an aged hostel and she is now stressing about her home. My younger sister, still with family at home, is trying to do all the organization herself and my Mother’s pleas to come over and help can’t be ignored.
Who amongst us can ignore maternal plea’s?
Ait tickest are reasonably priced but I would need a car for mobility during the “sell the house” period and therein lies the difficulty. About $4,000 to hire a car for a month.
I have decided to drive.
The problem is my mother lives in Albany, WA and I live in Brisbane. To put that in perspective for foreign readers, I am driving the equivalent of London to Newfoundland, London to hundreds of kilometers east of Moscow or New York to San Francisco and then back again.
I could almost rename my blog ‘On the Road Again’ permanently.
What’s wrong with these people, Age readers all of them?
Don’t they understand what’s going on in the world?
In
this article from the BBC, Tony Blair has called for tougher laws and a global drive to tackle the “evil” ideology behind the London bombings.
Talks are to begin on bringing in new laws covering preparations for attacks and to make it easier to deport people trying to “incite hatred“, he told MPs.
We need something like that here in Australia.
Catch a Cleric preaching jihad….send him back home…..immediately…..without appeal.
Another report has been released detailing ‘abuse’ at Guantonamo Bay.
Aljazeera carry the story on their front page alongside reports of terrorists blowing up kids in a free chocalate queue in Baghdad and British police attempts to sort out the London bombing attrocity.
But looking into FBI reports of abuse, the investigators found multiple instances at the prison, including the use of duct tape on at least one prisoner’s face, a threat to kill another prisoner’s family, and inappropriate touching by female interrogators.
Oh, my God…duct tape over the terrorists face. How barbaric.
Almendha goes one better by carrying a story of an art exhibition in Rome with
Guantonamo Abuse as a
theme.
To be sure, it’s a weird world we live in.
Well, it’s all doom and gloom in the labour and union ranks as they predict the end of civilized society as we know it with Howard’s IR reforms.
As the IR laws haven’t been submitted to the house yet I must presume they are basing their predictions, as they are often do, on the premise that anything coming from the Conservative benches must be bad for the worker.
The unfair dismissal laws are getting a hiding as the Unions predict every honest and loyal servant will be sacked at the whim of the boss for trivial misdemeanours, but any employer acting that way is simply going downhill fast. The only people who need fear unfair dismissal laws are those bludging slugs that hitherto, bosses have been forced to keep on as it was simply to expensive to dismiss them.
Rob Corr, over at
Red Rag is attacking with both barrels loaded with emotive language cartridges.
Courts may face a shortage of jurors…..granny had better get used to those kerosene baths…..anyone who wants a pay rise will be forced to sign away their holidays and the proposed scrapping of unfair dismissal laws will silence whistle-blowers
and mentions
….job security should comes first with corporate profits and conservative ideology a distant last.
Maybe, but the worker better hope his company has corporate profits – it’s the source of his wages after all
Labor’s new advocate and Primate of the Anglican church, Dr Phillip Aspinall, says;
The purpose of unfair dismissal laws is to prevent unfair dismissals. If a change there means we’re going to allow unfair dismissals — that is, expose vulnerable people to unfairness — that is a real concern, not only to the churches but the whole community.
This emotive, simplistic and illogical statement doesn’t hold water as the purpose may have once been to prevent unfair dismissals but in reality it ended up preventing any dismissal for almost any reason and therefore does need changing.
The Unfair Dismissal laws, in fact, became Guaranteed Employment-for-life laws and has subsequently held back many businesses by forcing them to carry deadweight.
And the best plug for IR Reform is Paul Keating saying we don’t need it.
Back at the desk in Brisbane. Unfortunately it’s still only 15 degrees celcius but I can’t insist on perfect weather all the time.
I checked in at A.E.Brain’ site and found a link to London Calling. I have included it on the right hand menu. Go read as it emphasises the fact that we are at war and it could well get worse.
I have a lot of admin to do and Legacy are demanding my presence but I will now post regularly again after having all my batteries recharged.
Currently resident at Fishery Falls, NQ – just 10 odd kilometers north of Babinda at the house of an old Army friend Denis Quick. Denis has a weekly column in the Townsville Bulletin on current and historic defence matters and has agreed to providing guest posts on kevgillett.net and this will commence on my return to Brisbane. Another opinion can only help.
The trip has been uneventful in respect of vehicle or tyre damage with poor fishing (inclement weather) but I have met some very interesting characters and will post on them later.
The Discovery handled the Old Telegaraph Track with ease and in due course I will post pics of the car going vertical into river crossings and climbing river exits that no sane vehicle owner would attempt.
This week promises a few days R & R on Magnetic Island out of Townsville, a few beers with old army mates and then home by the weekend when my leave pass runs out.
Until then.
To cold here in Brisbane – 24 degrees during the day but approaching single figures at night. As happens every June I get the bug for warmer climes and load up the 4×4 (SUV) and head north.
This year I am going right to the top of Cape York Peninsular. I’ve already been up once but this time I’m taking my two brothers-in-law and my elder son Stu with a mate of his, Rocky. We taking my Disco and Stu’s V6 Triton Dual-Cab. It is not a small undertaking as Cape York is very, very remote and there are rivers to ford (and risk the V8 Discovery) and a lot of severe 4- wheel driving through some frightening but spectacular mountain passes.
There is one section of the Old Telegraph Track of about 40 km that took us the best part of two days to negotiate on the last trip.
I will post along the way when there are computers and internet but as I said, very remote country.
If I don’t post much you will know why and if you visit, then here is some reading about the one of the last remote treks in the western world-
Flora and fauna, Wikopedia, some
pics and an article by another Discovery owner –
Cape York
The big trip to the tip.
As you beaver away in your airconditioned office think of me in the wilds….enjoying it.
AUSTRALIAN hostage
Douglas Wood is well and undergoing medical checks following his rescue more than six weeks after being kidnapped in Iraq.
It appears he was rescued during a military mission by and Iraqi forces.
Wayne Errington and Peter van Onselen, two Australian academics have a go at Bob Geldorf and his plan to raise more money for Mugabes Dachas in Europe.
As much as we all enjoy lectures on African poverty from musically gifted white multi-millionaires, we should at least consider, just for a moment, the possibility that rock musicians have a limited understanding of the global economy.
I couldn’t agree more but include movie stars as in the same category. Stick to singing and acting guys and let the politicians, diplomats and world leaders sort out the worlds economy.
Well worth the time to
read
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