In order to develop a diversified investment portfolio, fixed interest, namely in the form of bonds normally fulfills the diversification requirement. For most industry linked or managed superannuation portfolios, you would expect to see around 10% of asset allocation in government bonds.

The bond market isn’t as straightforward as many think, the bond market is large though and whilst I have learned about the bond market, I do not have the access to the market to purchase bonds. The advantage of bonds as a regular investment income generally providing greater investor certainty than share dividends with repayment of the initial investment on maturity. This is a low risk strategy to seek capital preservation, this is an excellent investment during turbulent times. 

If a manager is telling you, or a group of you, that his [or her] leadership team is providing you with leadership, then you need to think very hard about what you are being sold.

Firstly, if they feel the need to tell you they are providing you with this highly-questionable interpretation of leadership, then you need to question their interpretation. The first question I ask is, exactly what leadership model are you applying here? The responses are typically comical, I have never received an answer with a comprehensive model applied. They just cannot answer the question because they do not know, they know the term leadership is fashionable and that is about it.

Based on my experiences, these so-called [and self-promoted] leadership teams are nothing more than self-elected, self-indulgent and noticeably self-preservation groups. This is based on an application of cronyism and favouritism masquerading as teamwork but are really self-serving obstacles to productivity and efficiency. From what I have directly witnessed, this is a cohort of people engaged in self-promotion with the sole task of getting out of work. I see people in positions with measurable duties, these people are no longer frontline staff engaged in non-aligned activities related to their actual job description.

I live in Perth, this is pretty much the end of the world insofar as international travel and proximity to major cities is concerned. Since covid, that curtailed my international travel prospects as the frequency of flights has been reduced as airfares soured.

There were outrageous airfares for a population starved of international travel, there were people willing to pay these prices and the airlines were happy to gouge customers. I did not want to play their silly games so instead I holidayed at home. I had become accustomed to international travel, I was making anywhere from three to five international flights per year so it was an interesting time for me.

We have a weekend house, so my free time was spent 80 kilometers south of Perth, it is on a river so it is a pretty scenic setting. On Thursday evening I would leave work, already halfway there to spend the Friday and Saturday at the house and return home on Sunday around midday. So, whilst I was missing international travel opportunities, the time spent down the house was worthwhile. The house is old, it is far from luxury yet this is what I love about staying down the house, I love the 1950 vibe of the place.

So heading into 2025, I made some decent payments on a rental house I purchased and that will reduce payments over the next three years. Once I roll over this mortgage my payments will be halved so this will improve my income from the property. Then I plan to live overseas in a cost effective country in South East Asia or Europe where I can spend the Perth winter abroad. The rental property will subdise my travel accommodation and I will draw down my superannuation. I am now in countdown mode with approximately four and a half years left in the workforce and really happy now.

I love diving in the Philippines, Balicasag Island is still my favourite location after my first trip in the early 1990s. After a long lapse, I have returned on many occasions enjoying every single trip.

Alona Beach itself has changed greatly since my first trip; sure, there has been plenty of development on the beachfront, however the basic vibe hasn’t. The actual diving around Panglao Island has deteriorated somewhat, the walls are fine but marine life is almost non-existent now. The quality of diving around Balicasag hasn’t deteriorated greatly with schools of jacks and barracuda frequently sighted around the island; the vertical and sloping walls maintain their world class appeal.

One side of the island offers vertical walls while the opposing side slopes away in a gentle fashion to about 16 metres before a more gradual vertical drop. Directly in front of the island offers a sloping reef with plenty of options to enjoy the barracuda. The schooling jackfish tend to congregate on the vertical wall but have been known to move around to the sloping area. I still try to get back to Alona Beach once a year to dive even after all this time.

I am viewing the Canadian response to the Trump tariffs and I am pretty surprised, the normally overly polite Canadians are responding forcefully. I am liking what the Canadians are doing here, they are really responding to what can only be described as threatening and coercive, Trump’s tactics are not obtaining their intended impact.

What US President Donald Trump has done is built a sense of belief in Canadians, there is now a deep nationalism in Canada. The Canadian response to the Trump tariffs has been nothing short of spectacular. Whilst Trump announced nations were cosying up to Trump kissing his arse, as explained in his own words. “Please Mr President, let’s do a deal” Trump bragged on camera, the Canadians are instead boycotting US goods and seeking alternative markets for their goods and services.

What nations are seeing is the Canadians led by the impressive Mark Carney are seeking trade deals with like minded nations who believe in fair trade. The leaders of Western nations are seeing a trade impasse with Trump that does not damage their economy, whilst the US is still the largest economy in the world, there are many options that do not require a nation to engage in a poor trade deal with the United States. Whilst sharing a common border, the obvious choice is to engage in trade with the largest market, there are more options for the Canadians to explore.

I am watching with interest the beginning of the second term of the Trump presidency. Trump began with pardons of the January 6 rioters, hard to believe. Trump will never be able to sell a law and order narrative now, he is compromised here. On the same token, Biden granted a whole bunch of late presidential pardons including family members. I can see the reason why, US politics is toxic on both sides and Joe was concerned they would go after his family. Then the whole notion of presidential pardons circumnavigating an independent justice system beggars belief.

Trump is moving the military down to the Mexican border, in fairness to Trump, that was a major policy and his government is acting. I have no issues with countries protecting their borders, we live in a world with sovereign countries and borders. Likewise, I am critical of the Biden Administration halting work on the southern border wall, that was just stupid politics.

Kamala Harris as Vice President was tasked with the southern border issue and failed spectacularly. Everyone knew Trump would run for office again, the best way to neutralise the Trump groundswell would have been to finish the wall and take away his policy. But no, the Biden Administration instead offered Trump a huge soapbox to stand on – that was stupid politics.

Whilst some are saying Trump is keeping his promises, he said he would end the Russian invasion of Ukraine in one day, talk about spectacular failures, that deadline has been and gone. Trump thought he could deal with Putin on a personal level and has been openly critical of Zelensky. Trump is a tall man in charge of a strong country, Putin is a short man in charge of an imperialist country believing they can rebuild the former Soviet empire. Russia is not a strong country, the invasion of Ukraine has been a strategic and tactical failure.

Donald Trump is egotistical, he will not want to be played by the weakened short man and made to look like a fool on the international stage. Donald Trump will only have credibility if he assists Zelensky in negotiating a favourable outcome for Ukraine against a weakened and exposed Putin. If Trump gets played by Putin he will be the laughing stock of the world. The strategy is to play on Trump’s ego and ensure a positive outcome for Ukraine and allow Russia to exit with a degree of face saving.

There was another White House ambush, this time it was South African President Cyril Ramaphosa meeting Donald Trump. President Ramaphosa was seeking a reset between South Africa and the United States, he was clearly mistaken.

What played out in the White House was absolutely a diplomatic faux pas this is not how diplomatic negotiations take place between nations. President Trump then began playing a video for President Ramaphosa in front of the cameras. What is interesting is that President Ramaphosa did not recognise the location of the video. As it turns out, the video was from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the DRC does not even border South Africa, this is a central African country.

The best diplomatic comeback came from President Ramaphosa who said “I’m sorry, I do not have a plane to give to you” with the comment going straight past President Trump. The humour came from Trump not even picking up the sledge, this was a world class burn, whilst I do not agree with South African government policy, this was a brilliant comeback from President Ramaphosa.

There is a Work Health and Safety Act in force in Western Australia, this Act of Parliament is required as unscrupulous employers expose workers to unnecessary risk. The WHS Act 2020 is supported by Regulations 2022 providing greater detail for business enterprises. The regulator, that is Worksafe in Western Australia provides further information in the form of Codes of Practice, Guidance Notes, and Information Sheets to assist in interpretation.

Older buildings in Australia were constructed with asbestos materials, whilst no new buildings [or products] should contain asbestos, we must always consider possible contamination. Therefore, all facilities, especially older facilities, must have an asbestos register and an asbestos plan. There is also a duty for employers, known as the Person Conducting a Business Undertaking [PCBU]; plus there are officers acting on behalf of the PCBU. An officer is a person with decision making capabilities, basically management, but definitely not leadership.

So in 2025, it would be unthinkable that workers [and others] would be exposed to asbestos in a state government organisation. When harsh penalties are imposed at the PCBU and officers, one would expect they take their responsibility seriously, or so you would think. So you could imagine my utter disbelief when management who were aware of the asbestos threat directed workers without an asbestos management plan, personal protective equipment including coveralls and a respirator to clean out an identified asbestos area to be more than concerned, I was mortified.

The special military operation was supposed to be over in a matter of weeks, how did that work out for Russia? A lightning raid that failed with the battle of Hostomel Airport decisively won by Ukraine, that was the real failure of the war in February 2022.

Then there was the convoy to Kiev failure, beginning on the 24th of February 2022, the convoy from Belarus headed south towards Kiev. Belarusian dictator Aleksandr Lukashenko had stated publicly that Ukraine would be taken in two to four days. As a Putin fanboy, his predictions are looking pretty silly now, the Kiev convoy was defeated at Hostomel. As Russia had assembled a large force in Belarus, Lukashenko had sought personal gain, he had better think himself lucky Joe Biden had prevented the Ukrainians from any counter offensives in Belarus to drive the Russians out.

Now Finland has joined NATO and expanded the border northwards, another strategic failure for Putin who had claimed the war was to eradicate NAZIs and stop the expansion of NATO. What has happened is NATO has expanded its border with Russia and Finland, Sweden and Norway feel threatened. Whilst Poland was always NATO, this country has taken the threats seriously and built its military might to more than purely defensive, Russia might think about trying to take Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania but they would not get any further.

Now Ukraine has counter-attacked and taken territory internally in Russia. Now NATO has increased military budgets, the fear of the Russian military has diminished with Russia being the second best military in the world to the second best military in Ukraine and Putin had better be concerned that they do not become the second best military in Russia.What Ukraine has done is demolish the Russian military threat, they do have aspirations for further military conquest but first need to rebuild their forces. If Europe has any foresight, they have seen what has happened over the past three years and will increase military expenditures and capability.

July in Perth sees the temperatures drop, we are in the middle of winter and when we do not have rain, there are clear skies that lead to horribly cold mornings but fantastic days of sunshine. Some days you can get around in short sleeves, you always make sure you have a jacket close just in case the wind whips up.

June and July are the months we get the most rain, over the period of 1876 to 2016 we see around 170 mm of rain in those months. From 1994 to 2016 the rainfall dropped on average from 130 mm in June to 145 mm in July. So what we know is June and July are cold and wet, August is still wet with around 130 mm of rain before September drops off significantly. All I know is July is early sunsets and late sunrises, cold and rainy conditions that I force myself through before life becomes great again.