I was driving the girl home on a Sunday night, we had spent the day together and it was time to take her back to her house. In the vehicle, this catchy song came on the radio, I was trying to listen to the words as the girl was talking to me and looked like I was being attentive to her. Naturally, I made reference to the song, but she was talking about her issues, so nothing I said was going to register.

I was trying to catch key words in the song as I did not know the title, I was pretty sure it was The Killers, but not entirely, it just had that ring to it. Why I wanted the key words was so I could type it into google to find the song. Naturally, I picked up “jealousy” in the chorus, “he is taking off her dress now” and “it started with a kiss” as well as “he takes off her dress now” so that was enough to load some sentences in and start searching. This is an old song, so you think it would be pretty easy to pick. I knew the song, but I never knew the title of the song after all these years. I knew that had to change as I wanted to listen to it when I am working and have YouTube playing in the background.

Nope, nothing, using jealousy as a search word on YouTube was a total failure, the other sentences led me nowhere either. Ok, start again, I still think it had The Killers sound to it, so better to start searching for their songs and see if I get lucky. I just hoped I was tight about the band, I have been wrong plenty of times before, then I overthink it on the trip home and lose the tune in my head. Then I am really annoyed with myself, need to focus, need to keep singing the song in my head, I turned the radio off so I was not distracted.

Even worse, I saw the song in the list and skipped straight over it, because I did not think that was it. I was well aware the song was about infidelity, I didn’t know it happened to Brandon Flowers after he worked out his girlfriend was actually cheating on him as a young guy. The song has some degree of paranoia, he doesn’t want to believe what he knows is true, he is becoming a little obsessive. What is great about the song is that plenty of people have been cheated on, we know the feeling as lived experience, so we get it. That is why the song works, a catchy tune and great guitar intro help of course, add those lyrics and message, Mr Brightside is a sure winner.

When an individual falsely accused of misconduct in the workplace by a recalcitrant management intent on reprisal, there is an incredible stress on them. False accusations in the workplace are typically raised by individuals who are attempting to cover up their own misconduct, so there needs to be a fair and equitable process to address these allegations in a timely fashion.

The first task is to prevent termination, when an individual has been denied procedural fairness, this becomes somewhat difficult, but still possible. This is especially true if they have suspended and had their ICT access revoked. This would make it difficult to present evidence to defend themselves, this does not meet the criteria of procedural fairness. This would tend to indicate arbitrary and capricious acts are being created to manufacture misconduct. If victimisation is too overt, then the managers expose themselves to personal liability, sometimes these people cannot hide behind job titles and will be held accountable.

Imagine their panic if they had engaged in safety abuses and it was documented, not a great reason for attempting disciplinary action. That might make some senior managers very nervous, that might take some interesting explaining to the safety regulator. Imagine if the person held a safety representative role, was a previous safety representative or had indicated they were seeking to become a safety representative. There are specific legal protections for Health and Safety Representatives to prevent them from being targeted for potential misconduct. What the regulator must do is ensure temporal proximity protects Health and Safety Representatives from manufactured misconduct from unscrupulous employers.

I am not a proponent of the death penalty, it was officially abolished in Australia in 1985, that was way too late, but at least we moved on it. I don’t believe the state should kill prisoners, I am not soft on the judicial system, I believe in life imprisonment for certain offences, if you murder a person, you need to go to prison for a very long time. That should not be the sentence that we have in Australia where prisoners are released after 15 years, you need to be at least 30 years minimum in prison for taking a life.

Interestingly, in Western Australia was the last state along with New South Wales to abolish the death penalty. The last person hanged in Western Australia was Eric Edgar Cooke in 1964 at the gallows in Fremantle Prison. This is where it becomes interesting, Cooke was involved in at least twenty violent crimes and eight deaths. However, Darryl Beamish and John Button were wrongfully convicted of some of Cooke’s crimes. Darryl Beamish was convicted of murder and sentenced to death by hanging in 1961, his death penalty was commuted to life inprisonment and he was parolled in 1971.

Beamish returned to prison a number of years later for assaulting a young girl whilst on parole. Beamish had been in the view of police for burgalary offences prior to his inprisonment and had molested four young girls. So it is fair to say, Darryl Beamish was on the radar of the police and whilst burgalary is annoying, it may require a period of inprisonment of a couple of years for repear offences. Aggrivated burglary where violence is involved has a much higher sentence, Beamish was not convicted of this crime though. Child molestation is a very different issue, Beamish should expect a lengthy prison sentance for these crimes. But this is not what he was convicted for, it was for murders committed by Cooke. After six appeals, Beamish was exonerated

John Button’s case was completeely different, Button was innocent and had not committed any crimes. This was a miscarrige of justice where Button was convicted of manslaughter by killing his girlfriend Rosemary Anderson in 1963, Button was sentenced to ten years inprisonment and eventually released in 1968. Button was not sentenanced to the death penalty. Button never gave up, he fought on and lost a number of appeals, in 1998 his case was championed by a journalist and a number of top lawyers took on his case pro bono. It was not until 2002 that Button’s case was quashed where vehicle crash experts determined that Cooke was the [most likely] culprit.

The last person hanged in Australia was Ronald Joseph Ryan in Pentridge Prison in Victoria in 1967. So, whilst Australia kept the death penalty, it was rarely used. It is not the role of the state to kill people, that cannot be justified in any sense. However, we must follow the rule of law and if people break those laws then there should be consequences, that is where people lose their freedom and are incarcerated in the prison system.

For some, a week in Singapore can be a long time, it is a great city/state with so much to offer. It can be argued Singapore is a gateway to more exotic South East Asian locations. That is what I used to think before, but now I have changed my mind. Coming from Perth, Singapore can be a destination in itself as it is so close. I really like the place now, it is easy to get there and there is enough to do to keep me interested.

Hanging around the Albert Centre Market and Food Centre area is an interesting way to spend the morning. At the Albert Centre Market and Food Centre we had a traditional Singaporean breakfast of kava toast, two soft boiled eggs and the sweetest coffee I am ever likely to drink. For $3 SGD, I am not going to complain, this is pretty good value, even if the bread and coffee are a little sweet for my tastes. I love being in Singapore, even if only for a few days.

The old city centre in Luxembourg is well worth seeing, it’s a bit of a hike down to the river but well worth the walk. We entered from the Limpertsburg district, which really wasn’t much of a walk from our hotel. We enjoyed the walk, it was great looking around the city before entering the old quarter.

The old quarter in Luxembourg City is very interesting, we easily spent the day wandering around the old city. From where our hotel was, we walked along the city area of the new city and then headed down to the old city. I had not done any research on Luxembourg City, so I had no expectations. This is the way I like it, the day is not planned, just walking around and enjoying the new experiences.

We spent a few days down in the old quarter, mostly in the morning we would spend our time in the old city before moving out to the higher ground looking in. What was interesting is the modern city surrounding the old city. We could see the modern and historical aspects of this interesting city. We used Luxembourg as a transit destination from where we were in Trier, the next stop was Brussels, so this was the perfect stop over.

How could these idiots bugger this up so badly, this is one of the reasons I am against the death penalty. This form of punishment is inherently cruel and inhumane, it is not the job of the state to kill people. This is what we tend to see from less evolved societies where they have public executions on a Friday in some middle eastern countries.

Christa Pike was a troubled woman, there is no denying that. She had an alcoholic mother who exposed her to alcohol in the womb. Pike was sexually assaulted as a toddler, as well at age 11 and age 17. It was clear she was neglected by her alcoholic parents, so there were mitigating circumstances. For myself, this does not excuse what she did to Colleen Slemmer in 1995, her murder was premeditated and brutal. What Pike did to Slemmer was inexcusable, she deserves life in prison with no chance of parole.

Pike was not well behaved in prison, she attempted to murder an inmate in 2001, and also attempted to escape in 2012. The escape plan was poorly conceived, and included the assistance of a corrections officer. Prison authorities learned of the escape planning and launched an investigation, the prison escape plan was not considered imminent when thwarted. So this was not a sophisticated escape attempt, what it does show is she was trouble in prison too.

Christa Pike was given the death sentence and this was eventually conducted on the 30th of September 2026 after all avenues of appeal were extinguished. I am trying to work out how they botched it up so badly. Pike was strapped to the gurney with a cannula already in her arm when the blinds for the witnesses were opened at 7:26 PM. She had entered the room at 6:41 PM and prison officials had spent over an hour attempting to establish an IV line. Apparently at least seven needles had been used to no effect.

At 7:30 Pike made her final statement, I will not publish that as I believe that is just a rant with little to redeem her statement. The drugs were administered at this time, according to accounts, Pike then complained of pain in her arm at 7:34, and then kicked off her sheet at 7:39. According to accounts, a sign [of some sorts] was displayed to indicate the drugs had been administered at 7:41 PM with the blinds closing at 7:46 PM. According to processes, if the person remains alive after 5 minutes, a second round of drugs is to be administered.

The blinds were reopened at 8:05 PM and Pike was seen to be moving and squirming on the gurney. Her attorney could still hear her breathing and requested permission to contact the rest of her legal team. According to reports, her attorney then reached a telephone at 8:22 PM and attempted to contact the Tennessee Supreme Court and Governor’s Office who did not pick up. So a member of the legal team was dispatched and she drove to the Tennessee Supreme Court where an emergency motion was put forward to stay her execution and provide emergency care.

The Tennessee Supreme Court had a brief hearing beginning at 8:50 PM, witnesses were led out of the prison at 8:53 PM where they reported to waiting media hearing Pike snoring. Tennessee Supreme Court hearing ended at 9:05 PM as the judges noted Pike had already been hospitalised, so the hearing was now mute. Pike was rushed to hospital and placed on a ventilator, she was unconscious, intubated and breathing via an incubator. It was reported both arms were swollen and burned.

The medical team considered her brian dead and even prepared to remove Pike from life support. The next day Pike regained consciousness and spoke asking “Where am I, and who are you?” Pike was well aware the state had tried to execute her who remained shackled to her bed. She was later allowed to get up and move around her room. I was at work and had been following this case via the news media. I was reading the BBC as they tend to be less biased. I was certainly not going to follow US news media for this case.

So what happens now, at time of writing Pike is being held in hospital where I would expect her to remain for a reasonable time. The Tennessee Governor has ordered a full investigation, halting the next execution scheduled for early December. The Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner has rendered his resignation, this is scheduled for the end of the month and has not taken effect yet. However, he should be the first of many to be forced out, there should be a large-scale purge of officials connected to this mess.

Its not really the end of the world, Cape Leeuwin is a lighthouse on the point where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean, also the most south westerly tip of Australia, it does feel like the end of the world overlooking the two oceans. The section of ocean is very treacherous, the sheer number of shipwrecks in the region necessitated the lighthouse.

The Cape Naturaliste lighthouse is still operational, moving to fully automated operation in 1982, the kerosene burner and clockwork mechanism was totally manually operated and now run on mains electricity operated by the Australian Maritime Safely Authority. The lens was rotated by a counterweight driving clockwork mechanism with a pressure kerosene mantle type beacon. The lighthouse was completed in 1896 and constructed from local materials, the lighthouse keeper’s cottage is open and from May to September the lighthouse is a great vantage point for migrating whales. 

Out-gunned, out-manned, and out-resourced, the Ukrainian military has plenty of constraints they need to contend with. The battleground of Ukraine is a brilliant testing ground for weapons systems, the Ukrainians have to be resourceful, they are testing weapons for a number of weapons manufacturers and nations.

Australia has gifted 49 retired M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks to Ukraine, this follows the M1A1 tanks given by the United States previously. The tanks have been assigned to the 425th Separate Assault Regiment Skela, formally Skala. This is a frontline assault group involved in the defense of Bukhmut and counter-offensives in Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia. Formerly a battalion, with the tank and artillery reinforcements, this is now designated a regiment even though some may claim this is closer to a division with around 13,000 personnel.

What we have learnt is the M1A1 Abrams has serious deficiencies that have been exposed in Ukraine. Australia has now taken possession of the M1A2 variants with enhanced armour, improved targeting and communications. There are concerns related to the survivability of the earlier M1A1 models. The M1A2 upgraded arrangements include Commander’s Independent Thermal Viewer [CITV] allowing the tank commander to independently scan for targets and pivot the main gun instantly without directing the gunner. Ammunition Data Link [ADL] enabling digital communication between the fire control system and smart rounds for point-detonate, delay, and airburst effects.

The Auxiliary Power Unit [APU] has an under-armor power generation allowing the tank to operate sensors and communications without idling the main turbine engine, thus lowering its fuel use and thermal signature. The M1A2 upgraded armor package includes improved counter-IED electronics and compatibility with active protection systems. Finally, the digital electrical architecture replaced legacy wiring with dual processors continuously analysing system data and support future networking needs to ensure current wiring practices.

With Chinese military forces asserting aggressive maneuvers in the South China Sea and maritime approaches, the risk of escalation is seriously increasing. With threats made against Taiwan by President Xi Jinping, western nations are increasingly concerned. The lack of a consistent approach by the Trump Administration raises further concerns, there is no strategic direction, instead an approach mired in a series of chaotic missteps and uncertainty.

The Indonesian islands provide a defensive barrier for warships approaching Australia’s northern and western approaches with Sumatra, Java, and the smaller islands of Bali, Lombok, West and East Nusa Tenggara, through to Timor-Leste providing a barrier. Papua New Guinea and West Papua provide protection for Queensland and the Northern Territory. Naturally, this does not protect Australia from ballistic missiles fired from the Chinese mainland.

The infrastructure in the North West of Australia includes oil and gas fields, iron ore load-out facilities and iron ore mines. This is serious economic infrastructure, attacking and destroying this places whole industries in jeopardy. Western Australia lacks military bases, airforce bases to begin with, air power in the form of fighter jets, there are no F-35 or F/A-18 on the west coast. Neither is reconnaissance aircraft based in Western Australia including E-7A Wedgetail electronic warfare, P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol, and MC-55A Peregrine, as well as the unmanned MQ-4C Triton aircraft.

The key to the defensive strategy is area denial, ships traversing through the Indonesian islands could be detected early with bottlenecks between islands creating a target rich environment. With upgraded infrastructure on Cocos-Keeling Islands and Christmas Island. This should include radar systems to track shipping, where fighter aircraft can operate, and missile defences. Air defence systems should be based on the islands to protect the region as well as an army contingent to protect the island from invasion. I reckon that would be a pretty good posting for defence force personnel too, sure the nightlife will be quiet for the young ones, but the location would be idyllic.

Ok, so strategic management is the continuous planning, monitoring and analysis allowing an organisation to meet its goals and objectives; where does that leave me as a budding strategic planner? Strategic management involves managing resources to create a competitive advantage in an organisation, this is planning and the management of high-level organisational resources and processes.