Showing posts with label state. Show all posts
Showing posts with label state. Show all posts

Queenslanders Mock New South Wales Number Plates

Car owners in New South Wales can now purchase number plates with unique Australiana views in the background of the numbers. Of course, the views are limited to four. This defeats the object. People want to personalize their plates not have the same view as many others.
new south wales nsw number plates with australiana views background
Australians do identify with the particular state they live in. They are extremely parochial about it. Whether they will accept plates that signify nationalism is questionable. A person from NSWs visiting Queensland could be open to ridicule.

It is a money making gesture not a "good feel" program put out by the state government. For a background view and a personalized number the price starts at $427. And you have to pay $102 every year from then on to keep it. If you have money to spare, then go ahead and get one. Not me. I can see it for what it is.
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South Australian Legislation to Allow Driverless Cars on Australian Road is Illegal

South Australia is going to test driverless cars for use on roads in that state. This is premature. We have the hacking problems of "normal" vehicles to deal with, let along allowing potentially dangerous ones loose in Australia. There is also the important question of who is responsible if there is a collision involving a driverless car.
Driverless car vehicle odd shaped
This is way too soon. The South Australian experiment will be the first in the southern hemisphere. Legislation is to be passed in state parliament on Thursday. It will allow testing on road with cars being driven by people. It is obvious that if there is an accident the insurance company of a normal vehicle will not pay out. It is common knowledge that insurance companies keep taking annual premiums when they know a legal problem exists which takes liability away from them - note the payouts refused in recent floods.

Wanting to be the first state to adopt new technology is stupid when such cars will be driving illegally with no insurance. If they can be used even in tests, everyone should be able to drive with no insurance.

There will be a High Court challenge to laws exempting testers from having to abide by design rules and the insurance obligations. Some road specifications are federal laws that states do not have jurisdiction to override.
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Other Side Dog

"No wait!  The message is coming through."
Funny Animal Pictures by Ty Buchanan
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Queensland Anti-Bikie Laws are Challenged

The Premier of Queensland, Campbell Newman, is carrying out a "pet" policy that appears to be solely his own. Remember, John Howard and Kevin Rudd were shown the door by voters for pushing out pet policies, ignoring advice from cabinet. Campbell Newman thinks voters will thank him at the next state poll for clamping down on the freedom of bikies.

Under the new rules police are hounding bikes out of the state. This is forcing police in those states to take action as well. It is certainly contagious. Freedom of association has clearly been limited and the laws don't make any sense. If each of two brothers belong to two different bikie clubs they cannot associate socially. This is a restriction of human rights.

The government is interfering in the freedom of the judicial system. Judges have criticized the new laws. Severe language is used in the legislation. An Offence are named "Vicious Lawless Association". Furthermore, a "defendant" has to prove his innocence, not be proven guilty.

The government has written the laws so a minister can expand a law at his own whim. This is very bad government, dictatorial even. Vicious Lawless Association carries a mandatory penalty of 10 years in prison. Members of bikie clubs in other states have been arrested and charged while on vacation in Queensland. The legislation can be expanded to cover workplace, sporting and recreational clubs, including political parties that a government wants to suppress.

Stefan Kuczborski a member of Hells Angels had lodged a High Court challenge against the freedom of association restriction.  A woman has been arrested for going with her husband because she was dressed in bikie gear. The main target of the legal challenge is that the government has broken the constitutional code of separation of powers by making judges bring down mandatory sentences.

In Australia constitutional challenges are won and lost by the political bias of judges on the panel who are appointed by changing federal governments. Decisions tend to be very close with split outcomes possible. The fear is that the legislation is implicitly supported by both leading political parties and this will sway the decision of High Court judges.
Politics by Ty Buchanan
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Privatization Is Not the Answer for Government

Australia is going down the same road as the British by privatizing public resources. There is a major problem with this economic theory. That is, that once resource are sold and the money is used to pay off debt it cannot be sold again. When railways, electricity and water are privatized they are no longer under public control. Ordinary people are at the mercy of private enterprise who have been shown to continually increase charges beyond what citizens can bear.

This is the cold reality of what the future will be like. Politicians of the right have put faith in private enterprise for a century or more. The trickle down benefits of wealth are shown to be completely wrong. The riches of nations is still being consolidated into fewer hands. The poorer are poorer still. Despite consumer goods being widespread, very few can afford a Ferrari. Millionaires have been superseded by billionaires. And the these consumers of all things monetary still want more.

When services are outsourced to the private sector there is one significant effect - wages and conditions get worse for lower-paid workers. Casual and part-time employment becomes the norm. The Premier of Queensland is stripping the public sector of "unneeded" departments. This has personally affected me. My son was dismissed after more than ten years of loyal service when his department was closed. Now the state government has to pay enormous costs to private industry to obtain these necessary service and the debt has not been reduced.

Like the nonexistent trickle down effect it is faith not economics. Some things still need to be kept in public hands. Are we going to have toll roads everywhere with road taxes payable to private companies? This will definitely not happen. Water supply is too important to be privatised. It is best handled by councils as local monopolies. The present experiment of having separate bodies manage water will fail in the end. It will go back to councils.
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Politics by Ty Buchanan
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Council Surveillance Cameras Could be Banned in Australia

While some countries have embraced general camera surveillance others are still cautious. The problem is that in national constitutions people have a right to privacy. Cameras placed in public streets clearly trample over this right.

Nowra, a town in New South Wales, has come face-to-face with this issue. An Australian rights campaigner, Adam Bonner, took the local council to a tribunal and a decision was made to order the council to desist from breaching the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act. It was not an instruction to turn the cameras off but it had the same result.

The Administrative Decisions Tribunal New South Wales decision has thrown a spanner into the works nationwide. State bodies set precedents for national courts. It has shown, however, that people can act locally to stop camera surveillance at local government level. One person has stopped a council in its tracks.

The Nowra Council did not help itself by telling the tribunal that the cameras were not operating when they were. Just how the council will ask people if they give permission to be filmed is unknown. Just telling them with a sign will not satisfy the tribunal decision. Signage already there is deemed by the tribunal to be insufficient.  This also brings into question whether police have the right to install fixed speed cameras.

In the UK burroughs with no camera surveillance have higher arrest levels. CCTV is not an effective crime deterrent. People see it as punishment for offences rather than as a preventative method.
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Cat on Throne

"Just 'Your Majesty' will do."
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Funny Animal Photos
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Beetles Attack South Australian Museum

"Just 'Your Majesty' will do."
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Funny Animal Photos
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