We are now mid way through June and it is cold, grey and miserable, I am looking forward to my next overseas tropical dive holiday – I am counting the days down.

The clouds are massing and the rain sets in; the nights are cold and the days are short – I absolutely hate winter. Winter has just begun and I am wishing it was summer again, what makes me more miserable is I know it is summer in the northern hemisphere. I was able to escape the 2014 Perth winter, unfortunately wintertime 2015 is real for me – ouch.

In some instances, I am not concerned as study obligations require me to spend time indoors, if the days are miserable, I don’t mind wasting the days inside during winter so instead I can maximise my summer days instead. Roll on summer.

Throughout 1975, the Whitlam Labor government attempted to raise an overseas loan of $4 billion USD, an extraordinarily large amount for the time. Known as either the Overseas loans affair or the Khemlani affair; the attempted raising of funds by the Minister for Minerals and Energy, Rex Connor and Treasurer Dr Jim Cairns severely tarnished Australia’s international reputation.

The Whitlam government attempted to borrow money without federal consent from Middle Eastern countries and bypassing standard procedures as dictated by the Australian Treasury. The loan was intended to fund a number of natural resources and energy projects that included a uranium enrichment plant, the electrification of interstate railways and the construction of a natural gas pipeline.

Pakistani finance broker Tirath Khemlani was commissioned by Connor to secure the loan. Ultimately, no loan was actually obtained, no commissions paid but the government was made to look reckless and foolish. Wracked by self-inflicted economic difficulties, the political and social impact of the loans affair scandal, the Whitlam Government was particularity vulnerable throughout 1975. Whitlam, forced to sack Cairns saw a massive swing against the government and the election of a Liberal Party candidate that had been held by the ALP for 60 years.

Although Connor’s authority to raise loans was withdrawn in early 1975, he continued to liaise with Khemlani until Herald newspaper published documents supplied by Khemlani. Connor directly denied Khemlani’s version of events, Khemlani then flew to Australia and provided the Sydney Morning Herald with copies of the documents refuting Connor’s denial. Connor was then forced to resign from the Cabinet and replaced by an aspiring Paul Keating.

The resignation of Connor forced Opposition Leader Malcolm Fraser to act; Fraser announced that the Senate would defer passage of the supply bills until Whitlam called a House of Representatives dissolution election. With a fair degree of arrogance and some trepidation, Whitlam refused to call an election after the Cairn’s sacking saw sweeping swings against Whitlam’s faltering government. Instead, Whitlam arrogantly attempted to desperately hold onto power knowing full well that his government beset by corruption would be decimated now that the Australian people were now aware of his government’s improper dealings.

Weeks of constitutional crisis ensured as the parties confronted each other in parliament embarrassing the Whitlam government’s proven acts of impropriety. Fraser used its majority in the Senate to block government budget legislation citing the loans affair as extraordinary and reprehensible circumstances. Whitlam was paralysed, his refusal to call a lower house election forced Governor General Sir John Kerr to act, he sacked incumbent Prime Minister Gough Whitlam installing Opposition Leader Malcolm Fraser as interim Prime Minister on the proviso that Fraser passes supply through the senate and calls an immediate election leading to the constitutional crisis of 1975.

While the full face mask has been around for scuba divers for decades, a full face mask for snorkeling is relatively new. While some scuba diving purists are going to hate it, the fact is, the snorkeling market is much larger than the the scuba diving market and any device that makes your customers more comfortable in the water can only be a bonus.

The sad fact is, most dive shops don’t cater for snorkelers and tend to take a very condescending attitude whilst trying to sell entry-level scuba diving courses, “well maybe you can upgrade to scuba in the future.” The fact is, many of these people are happy snorkeling and don’t want to become a scuba diver, you just pissed off a larger market than your current crop of scuba divers.

The Easybreath Mask produced by the French sports manufacturer Tribord isn’t for serious skin diving requiring dives to depth, it is produced solely for the snorkeling market that is distinguished by maintaining their position on the surface with maybe short shallow dives from the surface – I reckon it is a great product.

I was watching CNN whilst on holiday, I don’t normally have access to cable television, so CNN is kind of a novelty for me. The topic was IS, ISIL or ISIS, whatever you wish to know them as. I must say, I did enjoy the analysis from the American perspective in short holiday bursts as it is not a news station I usually have access too, but you do have to be careful where you gain your news from.

A Pentagon spokesman explained the name that is now used for the Islamic State (IS), Islamic State Iraq Syria (ISIS), or Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is Daesh. I guess this makes some sense, this isn’t an actual state and they are a hard core bunch of self-named terrorists. However, there is some truth in the term Levant as this is a historical geographic region and this threat to humanity needs to be taken seriously.

Daesh did gain a whole lot of territory very quickly during the leadership vacuum of Syria brought on by the civil war and the ousting of Saddam Hussein by coalition forces, so they gave the appearance of success. This appears to be short-lived yet the threat remains, should they actually be successful here, they will gain traction and become entrenched in the region for a long time.

The Montana class battleship was designed to be the successor to the four Iowa class fast battleships in service during World War II, a further two Iowa class battleships were under construction but scrapped at the end of the war. Although slower than the existing Iowa class battleships due to increased size and armour plating; the Montana class design had superior firepower with 12 x 16 inch main guns arranged in four turrets as opposed to the Iowa class 9 x 16 inch guns arranged in three turrets.

Further firepower included 20 x 5 inch secondary guns, 10 x 40 mm bofor anti-aircraft guns and 56 x 20 mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns. The Montana class battleships were designed to rival the Japanese Yamoto battleships in terms of firepower and armour. The battle of Jutland saw large battleship engagements in WW I: however, the operational requirements of the Pacific war placed a premium on aircraft carriers to attack both ground based troops and warships, not naval engagements with battleships of a previous era.

As the Iowa class battleships were designed with the speed to escort the Essex class aircraft carriers; the Iowa class was retained as fleet support. The battleship was actually obsolete prior to World War II due to vulnerabilities to aircraft and restrictions imposed by the Washington Treaty. Instead battleships were utilised as naval artillery for shore bombardment to support the marine landings of the Pacific theatre of war.

The attack on Pearl Harbor delayed the construction of the Montana class battleships as the North Carolina and South Dakota class battleships damaged at anchor required repair and refurbishment. In 1942 the design was approved and construction authorised with completion expected in late 1945. The battleship was cancelled following the Battle of Midway where the strategic focus changed to air supremacy and aircraft carriers.

An interesting comment from Spephen Schwarzman; even entrepreneurs need to work from formalised business plans, but these written plans must not be static – they need to be fluid. Some of my poorer entrepreneurial endeavors have occurred when my business partner either deviated from or refused to follow and update formal business plans. This has unfortunately cost me dearly; this is why I was initially surprised at his comments.

As co-founder and CEO of the Blackstone Group, a New York city based private equity investment bank and largest alternate multinational asset management and financial services corporation, Schwarzman would know better than most what entrepreneurs require, he has a multi-billion dollar business empire founded on entrepreneurial activity. Naturally, entrepreneurship is based on managing risk and taking opportunities when they present. I do have a problem celebrating failure; you certainly need persistence and stamina but I hate to see failure romanticised – I have had enough of that already.

I understand the concept of the visa, especially a working visa, the incumbent is checked by the immigration department against a set criteria – all good. Less so a holiday visa, beforehand a holiday had to once send their passport to an embassy or consul for checks. The fees were paid, background checks completed and either a large stamp or decal wasted a whole page of your passport.

These days, a visa is done online, the traveler is registered, a series of questions asked requiring detailed answers, sometimes no fee is due and you have an electronic visa lodged in the system ready for arrival. No doubt, database are accessed with a computer program running a series of automated checks against known offenders, people of interest and no doubt cancelled passports and fake identities.

But a visa on arrival, you pay the fee, receive your change and then walk to the immigration officer for the usual entry checks, they attach the decal to your passport, stamp you in and that’s it. No real checks against national and international database, you know you are just being charged a pretty expensive entry fee – it’s a rort.

Walking up towards the customer service centre on my last day before the Christmas break, I stumbled across our belated manager sunning himself on a seat out the front. We needed to discuss the issue of my flexible hours agreement partial success, so we did it there as he clearly wasn’t performing any useful work at this point anyway. He explained to me he didn’t feel the decision was correct and he fought it to the end, he was naturally arrogant in his attitude, regardless, a less than independent arbitrator ruled against him – ouch.

It is difficult to concede that you have been outplayed in all facets of a negotiation, he has been found to be negligent in his actions, his only defense is to hide behind his position. My strategy is simple, present facts, no emotion, withhold no information and use calculated reason – a simple yet effective strategy. Their strategy is also simple, use evasive tactics, block any questions, hide behind an inflated position and continue to evade reasonable questions.

Furthermore, he then explained that while I signed the agreement and he signed the agreement, the director has not signed the document. However, the agreements were lodged with human resources, we were working within the framework of the agreement, we were also paid as per the agreement – therefore, an agreement was in force, this is the definition of an express contract.

The failure of the director to knowingly sign such an agreement is a very severe indictment on the strategic portfolio, a systematic failure at so many levels. Reviewing the mission, vision and values statement, the concept of fairness had eluded him, such a document to him is a just nothing, this is the second level of my fightback, their own values statement.

I tried to explain the concept of the express and implied contract to him, as he is somewhat challenged in managerial concepts, he was more than a little confused. Regardless, he was under the impression that as a dictator, he has total domination, oh how wrong was his thought pattern. He was outed, after the Corruption and Crime Commission investigation he mysteriously began working in another area due to his apparent superior skill-set. 

The concept of the implied contract was explained to me in the context of seeking the consultation of a medical professional. Sitting in the waiting room of a doctor, you do not pay for the consultation up front, you meet with your physician, they interview you, run a series of tests, decide on a course of action and then return with results for further diagnosis.

I agreed to the terms of the contract, worked in accordance with the agreement acting in good faith. This brings me to my next point, although I acted in good faith, it is clear my manager is acting in a manner not fitting the position of a competent manager. I cite the organisational vision, mission and values statement and reference the integrity value “We conduct our business in an ethical, open and honest manner that treats our clients and colleagues with respect and understanding.”

It is clear the personal values of my manager do not extend to the requirements of the organisational vision, mission and values statement. It is clear my manager is collaborating with the director to circumnavigate the terms of the employment agreement. As the principal of trustworthiness and honesty has already been established when I was able to prove that a meeting had not taken place regarding the FHA, I was able to be reimbursed partially for the FHA.

It is my claim that my program manager is not acting in an honest and ethical manner while his personal integrity is being called into question. This is the reason I have decided to pursue alternate employment, I refuse to work in an organisation that pays such scant regard to their own stated values. The values statement is the most important organisational document, ethics and integrity are the most important organisational factors that should be considered.

It was early in the 2000s I was diving down in Dunsborough on a regular basis – that was about weekly on many occasions. I was running dive tours with a strong Japanese clientele, it was fun times for me as I would take a minimum of four people to dive the West Australian south west coast.

A favourite shore diving location was Eagle Bay, a reasonably short drive out of the Dunsborough township heading to Meelup. We would park the bus under the trees, gear up and swim out to a small reef in about 6 metres of water. The crystal clear waters of the Indian Ocean were great in the morning before the wind arrived – plenty of marine life in a wonderfully scenic location. We would take a couple of shore dives early, head down to Meelup Beach to have lunch under the shade of the large trees before heading back for a spot of wine tasting at Wise winery – I can’t remember why I ever handed this job in? I was having the time of my life – I’m sad it is all over for me.

A Friday night and drinks with my old man was in order; on the trip from work to my parent’s house, I stopped off at the local bottle shop and purchased a 2008 Penfolds Bin 28 Kalimna shiraz – I am glad of my choice. The shiraz exhibited classic Bin 28 fruits and maturation complexities, satsuma conserve and a very faint cigar box background, as per their tasting notes. You have to love the internet, I went online and downloaded from the Penfolds website the 2008 tasting notes.

Aromas of a basking Sunday roast and simmering Beef Bourgogne shadowed by tumeric and dark Calamatta olive were also described in the notes. Full-bodied and assertive – the shiraz was certainly that. It was also described as neither bullying with alcohol nor oak with dense layered texture and all bases covered with blueberry Barossa fruits exposed – I totally agree. The Bin 28 is a softer style wine, I like the Bin 28 as it is a smoother style, it doesn’t need to be drunk with food, it is a pretty decent sipper.