So if the object of superannuation is to provide an income in retirement, and to replace the age pension for those who are in a position to do so, why does the government keep changing the rules to disadvantage those who make the effort to save for their retirement?

Patronage is typically described as the practice of rewarding allies and supporters with important positions based on their partisan loyalty. This is generally aligned to political appointments where department heads are appointed based on political persuasion, favours owed or to engage in the stacking of organisations with compromised people who will pursue a political agenda.

In a workplace setting, especially in government departments, patronage may be described as awarding supporters positions of power without meeting selection criteria. These rewards are offered to individuals who will consolidate a power base to the appointer. Typically, these are not the most competent individuals, they are rewarded for their loyalty to the appointer. These individuals are selected to a degree for their ability to do anything to keep their role, they will execute the instructions of their benefactor without question or remorse.

They offer a degree of support, or as a favour owed and will do the dirty work for their master in return for the gifted position. The appointee will exert proxy power through their hand selected cronies, this provides a fairly high degree of power to be exercised for these individuals within the department where they operate. When an organisation has a mission, values and vision statement, the appointer can keep at arm’s length to claim they have not breached any standards.

Generally these individuals are unlikely to progress on their individual merits, they are typically not a threat to the authority of the leader. As such, the leader does not feel concern for their position, whilst they may have the ambition, they typically do not have the knowledge, skills or abilities to pursue independence. They follow the directions of the appointer, they are not chosen for their abilities, they are appointed into a role where they act under the authority of appointer.

These appointees are generally aware of their limited abilities and know they can be replaced with another person offering absolute loyalty should they get a little too ambitious or display rebellious ideas. They enjoy the power they exert through the authority they are entrusted, they are offered protection as reward for their efforts so the appointer can typically claim to operate with some level of integrity. This is a difficult concept to grasp for many of the staff in these departments as they are ridden roughshod over, they know the truth.

My worst business decision by far was to enter into a business partnership with a friend  – never again will I trust a partner with my financial future. Naturally I had my concerns in the planning stages, I heard all the warnings and I viewed the behavioural changes first hand. My business partner was lazy, I already knew that so I should have been better prepared for the inevitable – not so.

Openness and trust cost me not only the direct funds I invested in the business, it almost cost me my retirement savings and my financial future. It also cost the non-financial aspects of extreme personal stress and definitely damaged my professional reputation. My credit rating was affected almost to the point of beyond repair so I have to respectively disagree with Felipe; never again will I trust a business partner with my financial future.

The Suunto Stinger was a pretty decent wrist worn dive computer, it was exceptional at the time. I really liked the look of the Stinger, it made a diver fashion statement to identify a diver well before dive fashion brands took off. Plenty of people wanted a Suunto Stinger as their dive computer and daily wearing watch, it is a pretty big daily wearer watch though.

The Vyper took off at the same time, just about every divemaster and dive instructor had either the larger wrist mounted plastic Vyper dive computer or the smaller stainless steel case and bracelet Stinger watch/dive computer. The newer range of Suunto dive computers sported the RGBM algorithm, a series of profiles I was not so enthusiastic about, what was great at the time was the safety stop timer – that was a real hit.

Then Suunto came up with the D4, D6 and D9 dive computers with rubber straps and eventually the Stinger went out of production. I knew a German dive shop owner who requested to Suunto that they offer the Singer to him. Suunto were happy to reopen the production line again for 100 units that he promptly sold through his chain of dive shops.

My former partner now living back in Japan was interested in snapping one up as well. She was pretty stylish, she knew what she liked and had the disposal funds to purchase quality products. I missed my chance and ended up with the D6 computer, good for single dives only and was harsh on batteries. The Stinger is not an easy battery change either, it is pretty expensive and based on my D6 experience, the batteries do not last all that long so I am not keen on the Suunto battery life.

I have requested a Section 82 intervention by the safety regulator in Western Australia after the organisation failed in their duty of care to staff members. The safety regulator, a state government known as Worksafe is tasked with the role of regulating the health and safety of workers in the state.

When you apply for a Section 82 intervention, this relates to the Work Health and Safety Act 2020 in Western Australia. An Act is an Act of Parliament, that is a law and that is supported by Regulations [2022] that provides details to interpret the Act. This legalisation is further supported by Codes of Practice and Guidance Notes.

So I set a deadline and the response I received was the individual making the bullying claim has provided no evidence of workplace bullying. So I can supply documented evidence from safety committee meetings where I raised the issue. The safety committee meeting minutes are vaguely written, I would argue intentionally so to offer little detail. However, I can show to a regulating authority that the issue was at least discussed.

The organisation has deliberately avoided the issue, I will show via internal emails where I have previously raised the issue and the matter has been dismissed. That is because the A-team of non-performers have been involved. Known internally as the three stooges, they have done everything within their power to bury their misdeeds.

A Section 82 requests the safety regulator to intervene in an unresolved matter to solve a health and safety issue in a workplace. That is what I have informed them what I intend to do, and this is what I will follow through with. The organisation believes I am making threats, not so, I alerted them to my intentions, I gave them an opportunity to respond and they were once again dismissive. Now I have escalated the matter to the regulatory authority to review and make an independent decision.

The 3G network is shut down, there is no chance of ever reviving my Nokia 5110 mobile phone, for me, that is a big misfortune as I would prefer the 5110 over current smartphones. When my then girlfriend returned to Japan, she took my prized 5110 with her. I had loaned it to her to use while she was here and I never saw it again.

For me, I am not glued to my mobile phone and I could do pretty much without a mobile phone. I know the world moves on and the Nokia 5110 is a relic of history, I never had a more robust mobile phone that was easy to carry around. There was a phone you could drop and not worry about breaking the screen, you were more likely to break whatever you dropped the phone on. To my mind, that was the best phone I ever owned and even though the network is no more, I would be happy with a modern version of the Nokia mobile phone.

The S/el chronograph was my first serious watch, I purchased it when I was working in Guam back in the late 1990s. Designed by Eddy Schöpfer, the S/el designation is sports/elegance. The S/el is a 200 hundred metre professional dive watch that could be worn with a dinner suit or wetsuit – it really could.

I pretty much wore it full time for 19 years before I decided a larger mechanical timepiece was going to be my new watch. For a while, I wore my new Aquaracer for a week and then swap back to me S/el for the next week, but that was just a hassle. So, my S/el sat in a safe except for when I was training; I would wear my chronograph during a run to time my cardio time. The aim was to run the same circuit and try to improve my times, my chronograph was a pretty good run timer.

As I was a dive guide and dive instructor, this was my dive watch. I was decompression diving back then pretty regularly and used the chronograph to time decompression stops. This was an excellent dive watch, the chronograph function so so important for him at that time. When the battery ran out, I had the battery removed and placed the watch into retirement. This won’t be permanent retirement; at some time in the future, I will look to power up my old S/el again and this timepiece will get some wrist time again.

I have been a fan of Omega for a long time, I am a diver and I have an engineering trade background. It is no coincidence that I would be drawn to the engineering prowess of an automatic timepiece. Sure, I like of the aesthetics of the Seamaster line, they have a fine heritage, they have a number of lines within the Seamaster range – I feel an affiliation with the brand.

Scuba diving was a relatively new activity when the Seamaster was released, Omega has a history with the British military supplying timepieces to the RAF during World War II. The Seamaster is well suited to the Royal Navy as the timepiece is water resistant, rugged and accurate. The Seamaster was released to coincide with Omega’s 100 year anniversary and is the oldest timepiece in their current collection.

The Seamaster range has evolved with the professional range of timepieces; the Seamaster 300 released in 1957, Diver 300 released in 1994, Aqua Terra released in 2003 and the Planet Ocean was released in 2005 providing a series of price points and variations. There are limited edition series from James Bond, Michael Phelps to Spectre and models have the option of chronograph and GMT variations.

The range also includes the 1969 Bullhead and Proprof 1200 released in 1970, both very distinctive timepieces. I note with interest that the re-release of the Railmaster finds this particular timepiece as part of the Seamaster range. But I really don’t think so, maybe that was the closest family they could identify as the Railmaster is suited to engineers, scientists and technicians. The Seamaster goes back a long way with Omega and is my favourite range based on not only my diving preferences but the aesthetics of this special timepiece.

You have to love Donald, share market meltdowns, bond market declines and the undermining of the US dollar as a reserve currency. The erratic and self-centered President has caused mayhem in financial markets with economists predicting a 60% chance of a recession.

Another stunning backdown after his earlier capitulation on tariffs, with the exception of China, all countries will now pay a 10% tariff on imports. The Trump Administration has now rolled back tariffs on China including electronic components such as semiconductors, smartphones, computers and other electronic goods. The Trump Administration has listened to the concerns of Silicon Valley and as a result we have another high profile backdown by the Trump Administration.

Trump rattled on that world leaders were kissing his arse in a press conference, this was another misleading statement. Bond market leaders have instead kicked Trump’s arse, he is looking pretty stupid in front of MAGA supporters. Yet, they still believe Trump is saving America and saving the world, the greenback is losing its status as the world’s reserve currency. This is clearly a poorly conceived policy, there has not been a proper and comprehensive business plan. Everyone can see Trump and his advisors [notably Peter Navarro] are making it up as they go and have not taken all precautions that a detailed plan should.

The White House meeting in front of the media where Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky was paraded in front of White House media and castigated in front of the world was an absolute disgrace. This is not how you treat a visiting national leader, Ukraine is a country under attack and Zelensky is doing a superb job keeping his country in the fight. 

The meeting was a set-up, Zelensky was sitting up surrounded by a supposed allied nation to sign a minerals deal. This was a poor deal for Ukraine, Trump was acting as a colonial power, there was no security arrangement. All Trump was attempting to do was recoup military assistance, nothing more. This is despite the Biden Administration clearly articulating that they are spending less than 2% of military expenditure to pretty much neutralise the Russian military. 

Trump is not a complex person, he views the world as a New York real estate deal, a world of power and influence he inherited from his father. Trump is all about personal relationships, he views Vladimir Putin as a personal friend, he likes to be flattered, to be told he is a smart guy and Putin knows exactly how to play him. We can clearly see Putin is a smarter operator than Trump, the mayhem of Trump is just a distraction to poor policy. 

Trump personally hates Zelensky, his recorded telephone conversation where he used government military influence in an attempt to gain political advantage lead to his first impeachment. Trump attempted to force Zelensky to investigate political rival Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, Trump had withheld military aid to Ukraine and wanted Zelensky to dish up dirt on Hunter Biden. This amounts to requesting foreign interference in an election and improper use of office.