Another shark attack in Western Australia, the great white shark is immediately held responsible and calls to cull re-emerge. Attack, such an emotive word, is it better to use the word incident? 

Of course, more than likely, the great white shark is responsible. The great white, bull, tiger or even bronze whaler tend to be the shark species that tend to be involved in the majority of bites and deaths. The death of a surfer is tragic, no one denies this, I never knew the guy so I probably lack the emotion of losing one of my friends, however, friend of not – I believe culling is a bad idea.

So how would you cull sharks? As seen by the tracking data from South Africa to Western Australia, this particular great white shark possess no passport. Heading to Australia\’s north west coast from South Africa was almost a straight line with more deviations on the return trip. However, if the great white is not territorial, hanging around a certain area is not likely so they tend to move in and out of certain areas. The chances of slipping past baited drums must increase in such a case making baited lines in certain areas less effective.

The Drowning Report, tabled in parliament listed 284 deaths for 12 months ending June 30, 2012, this is of course awful. The latest report to 2013 lists 291 deaths, a slight increase on the previous year. One has to ask about the risk to the public from shark attack, from 1788 to present, less that 200 people have perished nationally from shark attack, there is also 700 non-fatal attacks in that period. In Western Australia, 185 deaths are attributed to traffic accidents (2012) yet the public outcry is far less emotive. 

The baited lines will catch and kill unrelated species. Sharks are alpha predators and having no limbs to feel, the method to explore tends to be through a bite with most victims receiving a single bite before the shark swims off. That being said, it is not a small bite, a single shark bite to a human is definitely life threatening, it is not something I would like to treat as the damage to the limb is extensive with massive blood loss and shock.  

Shark nets are not the answer either, they are too indiscriminate, capturing non targeted marine life that may also be on the endangered or protected species list. Size doesn’t appear to be an issue either, whales are routinely trapped in shark nets, they are an ineffective measure that causes widespread damage to the whole marine eco-system. 

Abbott’s first 100 days as the Prime Minister of Australia have been interesting to say the least. The left wing Guardian newspaper teamed up with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation to release sensitive security information regarding spying allegations.

It is expected the Guardian will be releasing further information as the Abbott government settles into office, the Guardian could have released the information when it was first obtained in May. But why would a left wing socialist newspaper embarrass a Labor government when it was apparent it would lose office shortly? I am more than just a little suspicious of their motives. All in all, the government handled its first major hurdle well, there will be more challenges to navigate.

Holden announced it would cease manufacturing in Australia, as expected, Bill Shorten claimed the iconic Australian manufacturer (owned by the Americans) was lost on his watch dutifully forgetting this government was less than 100 days old and the policies of the previous government (of the last 6 years) had no bearing on the decision whatsoever – ouch.

Lets not forget both Ford and Mitsubishi had announced closure of their manufacturing facilities during the Labor government. Abbott moved quickly to abolish the fringe benefits tax debacle of the Labor government for business use of vehicles, but in all fairness to the previous Labor government, it was not one single action that brought Holden undone. In soccer – they call it an own goal, that is exactly what Bill Shorten did. Now Toyota is the only manufacturer in Australia, the plan to reskill South Australian workers from car building to defense projects such as the air warfare destroyers is warranted. Can\’t really see Toyota staying much past five years as the infrastructure for other vehicle manufacturers will soon shut.

Likewise, the Australian taxpayer shouldn’t subsidise the car manufacturing industry if it is unable to survive on its own merits. Any fool sprouting the line that the Liberal government looks after its mates in big business had better look hard at themselves, the Labor government poured billions into the highly unionised and inefficient auto industry for no net return.

The Gonski funding model was a disaster for the Abbott government, they should have been more pro-active in this one – another own goal to Abbott. There is some interesting literature on schooling success from Finland, Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan and Switzerland – all advanced economies not necessarily spending huge amounts but instead concentrating on quality. Funds have also been diverted from higher education and vocational education – this has all the makings of a disaster.

Asylum seeker boat traffic is significantly reduced, not withstanding Indonesia withdrawing cooperation over the spying saga. Carbon tax scrapping is held up in the senate – that was always going to be the case. Same too with the mining tax – an inept opposition not wanting to admit their failures. The commission of audit to identify waste was an excellent plan, with so much wasted over the past six years – we need to be smarter how we spent sparse funds.

The media policy was warranted to start, after six years of daily press releases amounting to nothing, the public had grown tired of white noise – time to start building a narrative in the new year. 2014 is the time to get spending under control, the budget needs to be brought back into surplus and I hope Abbott and Hockey have the political will to make this happen.

Another night out in Perth and another glassing attack, people are so concerned about shark attacks in the West, but your chances of being glassed at Perth’s popular nightlife venues are far greater than being bitten by a shark.

The Broome police officer, still in uniform at the hospital required 18 stitches to his face after a bottle was thrown at him while making an arrest in 2011. This is an unbelievable workplace injury, he will be scared for life, the justice system requires a massive prison term for the perpetrator of this attack, no minimum sentencing, the maximum available.  

We need serious action by the government, most likely in the form of mandatory sentencing of no less than three years (with no parole) for anyone involved in a glassing attack with the magistrate having the power to impose a harsher penalty when required. There has been so much press regarding shark attacks, the real danger though happens to be nowhere near the water.

Christmas is behind us, a relief to many, I would imagine the time for life to start to normalise again before New Year’s eve and the Perth Cup on New Year’s day next week. Ok, then after new year, back to normal life.

Boxing day is a day of recovery, boy did I need recovering after sampling an amazing 2005 Upper Reach reserve chardonnay, 2010 Upper Reach reserve shiraz, a handful of other excellent wines finishing off with a Wise Tokay. A day spent inside slouched on the lounge flicking between the Sydney to Hobart race start and Boxing Day test match at the MCG was always on the cards.

The traditional Boxing day test between Australia and England drew a record crowd of 90,831 people to the ground beating the record set in 1961 between Australia and the West Indies. With the Ashes returned to Australia, England are now 0-3 in a 5 test series are looking to return some pride to their performance although it didn’t look that way early on with slow scoring and a general lack of intent.

The Australians named an unchanged team for the MCG test, England in apparent disarray made a number of changes due to retirements and poor form. The day was, as expected a great spectacle and I enjoyed very much getting over the ill effects of another successful family Christmas day.

The start of the Sydney to Hobart race, Australia’s premier blue water event is on way too early for me, still, as a yachting enthusiast, I have to drag myself out of bed to witness the start of the great race. I just couldn’t imagine myself hanging off the railings of a maxi yacht headed to Hobart after over indulging on the big day, maybe it is time to get involved in more blue water races on the West Australian coast, that means showing a little more self restraint. All in all, Boxing day turned out just as I expected – pretty happy with that.

Bali is not universally known for its diving, however, there are some great dives in Bali, none more so than the Liberty wreck at Tulumben. The afternoons at Tulumben can be magnificent with the still water, reflective cloud cover and beautiful contrasts looking towards the horizon. Sure beats the hell out of being left in Kuta for any amount of time too, Bali is such a beautiful island once you venture past the main population areas, once I have landed, I love getting up in the island’s north.

After a number of dives at the Liberty wreck in the morning followed by the Tulumben wall later that day, I look forward to Bali diving coupled with a relaxing afternoon. Still in study mode, I need to be a little selective with my afternoon post dive activities. I reckon this is a pretty productive and relaxing  way to spend my afternoons.

I was meeting with a representative of the Small Business Development Corporation relating to an issue where a contractor acted improperly in my business causing me severe financial distress.

His advice was “Incompetence isn’t illegal, otherwise a large portion of Australia would end up in jail.” Immediately I thought of Wayne Swan, the hapless and disorientated treasurer of Australia from 2007 until 2013. 

Despite six years of claims to post a budget surplus, Swan failed to a surplus even on a single occasion. Wayne Swan is a dickhead, it is hard to explain it any other way. Joe Hockey, then shadow treasurer described Swan as the gift that just keeps on giving – a great joke.

That’s a funny and ultimately true sledge as Swan claimed to post a budget surplus each year before retracting the statement at the last moment. What isn’t funny is Swan’s legacy of debt, mismanagement and incompetence. Accused of economic vandalism by former Reserve Bank of Australia board of director Warrick McKibbin, withdrawing money from the reserve fund to bolster the budget surplus was poor judgement – ironically the budget surplus never eventuated but the bank was left extremely exposed.

Calling Swan a vandal is a little harsh, to become a vandal, one has to deliberately undertake an action, Swan, of course had no idea what he was doing so couldn’t possibly be undertaking a deliberate act. To keep the budget surplus in context, Peter Costello, the previous treasurer delivered twelve budgets from 1996 to 2007 with ten budgets in surplus. During that time frame was the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997 with the dot.com bubble collapsing in 2000.

The global recession of 2001 affected the United States, European Union and other advanced economies, but avoided by the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia with Indonesia escaping unscathed. Australia avoided recession during the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, that much is true. In its simplest terms, the GFC was a debt crisis. As can be seen by the graph, Australian Commonwealth debt was climbing steadily when Peter Costello became treasurer and reduced debt to almost nothing.

Costello actually sought to totally pay off all Commonwealth debt but was persuaded to hold a small amount of Commonwealth debt so as to maintain debt markets (bonds and treasury notes) to establish a base for future pricing. Costello instead poured excess revenue into the Future Fund meeting the future liabilities of civil servant superannuation. Australia had been insulated predominantly from the GFC by low government debt and demand from China seeking Australia’s natural resources.

It is hard to explain Wayne Swan’s logic, blaming taxation revenues as the reason behind being unable to balance the budget, reducing spending is easier when you change government and hence direction. Despite Swan’s claims that a revenue decline will wipe out the budget surplus, Australian Treasury clearly indicates revenue increasing making his claims ludicrous.

I just love watching the 49er in action; when we are out on the water sitting on the side of a cruiser, seeing these fast two person performance dinghies roar past with their asymmetrical spinnaker set, skipper and forward hand perched on the solid wings supported by the trapeze wire is pure joy, reminding me of my dingy days of so long ago.

The ISAF World Sailing Championships held in Perth during December of 2011 saw mostly light winds for the whole regatta, this was a shame as these yachts can really get up and go in a bit of a breeze. I do get to see 49ers, 14 foot skiffs, moths and a whole host of other performance yachts close up on a pretty regular basis in 25 knot winds – I love it.

During the week I was preparing research for my essay on organisational development and change, I had to head to Whiteman Park anyway and decided this is the perfect place to study and prepare. With the mercury working towards the mid to high 30s, time spent in the shade was at a premium. You sweat a bit, but who cares – still beats being cold.

Seated out in the park under the pergola, my study area consisted of a number of texts, supporting study notes and a portable tablet computer. The major advantage of online based university study is the ability to study where ever and when ever I choose. I still have to maintain their trimester schedule, but don’t have to race to lectures when I am able to watch them online at my leisure. This is of great benefit to a person working full time – I see no value in a mature worker taking time off paid employment to study full time and work part time.

Christmas is summer, with the trimester timetable I am able to study over the Christmas break of the traditional semester holidays. Feeling better with the trimester system; fast tracking university and college certainly whilst still enjoying the summer weather, maybe this has been the best change project I have been involved in – breaking the shackles of the classroom.

I was seeking to purchase a small refrigerator to replace an older unit; so whilst browsing local retailers, I decided Harvey Norman had the model I desired in stock, I could take a unit immediately home with me. 

Wandering through the Harvey Norman showroom, I decided to look at inverter split system air conditioners as October was warming up and summer was a mere two months away. Man, do I regret that decision. It took two months of phone calls, discussions and organising to finally receive my purchase – their attitude was appalling.

I support local businesses, I understand costs are higher as showrooms, salaries and supply chains all need to be paid for. But a bricks and mortar business competing with online sales must develop a competitive advantage, superior customer service is paramount, my experience is anything but good customer service. 

It is a shame really, I have been willing to pay higher prices as they employ Australian workers, but at what point do I cut my losses? Now is a good time to draw a line in the sand and no longer accept second rate customer service. From now on, the Harvey Norman showrooms will be the place to view the products in the flesh, gather technical specifications and measure sizes. Unfortunately, all future purchases will be online from their competitors as I am no longer willing to accept such shoddy treatment.

Greens Senator Adam Bandt’s shameless politicisation of Typhoon Haiyan linking typhoons to global warming to the devastation of the Philippines is disgraceful. Just as he blamed the Sydney bush fires of last season on global warming, he is incorrect again. Despite the fact they were lit by arsonists, the fires burned out of control due to the fact that the area had not been burnt off in years, aided by strong winds and soaring temperatures.

Lets get this right, is he blaming soaring summer temperatures on global warming, ok, what about the cold snap of Europe a couple of years back – explain that? People have died, they have been left homeless and their lives devastated – he is using this as an exercise to justify his political leanings, that is, the carbon tax – this is an outrage.