Dusty Plains

Well done and very insightful on your part.

Its not a competition between nations as to who jumped first and who stood by holding the drinks. Australia unlike a host of other nations, certainly jumped early, but for a number of reasons. Firstly, In late February Aust. was still coming to terms with the summer bushfires insofar as the recovery operations were still active to a certain extent. We were still in disaster mode and certainly Scott Morrison PM was probably reflecting on the Aust. bushfires and whether or not he should have been more forthright in stepping up as the leader of the nation under stress during those particularly dark days during the bushfires. He was not going to let that happen again, when the mirky picture of Coronavirus started to form a distinct picture. He jumped, probably on good advice from equally good experts that he had called together and declared that Aust. would treat Coronavirus as a Pandemic quite early on, and from that point onwards. I posted that some time ago here on PIO. The other factor is that,although Aust. respects world bodies such as WHO and the UN, yet..... since the East Timor fracas in 1999, Aust. no longer takes direction from the UN and for that matter, similar world bodies. I was in Darwin in 1999, associated with, but not a member of, the ADF, and I remember the frustration of the assembled "UN" invasion force waiting in the hotels in Darwin for the UN to shoot the starters gun and go into East Timor. I also recall that the Canadians were there in Darwin as well and I just may have a had a beer or two with them. . So the point is. Aust dived in early because it was already revved up, following the 2020 Summer Bushfires, and was an early bird in this respect given that disaster was on the front burner anyway. . It was never going to wait by the phone to receive a call from the UN or the WHO. Overall the antipodean forces assisted the decision making of other world leaders to pull their finger out and make the hard decisions such as those that Australia had made. largely because of the benefit that Australia was still in disaster mode, and still socially stressed when those decisions were made.

That may be the case however for me its the House of Lords, and its function as a house of review. As we know the members are not elected by the people. Instead there are Lords, peers, various seat warmers, wall flowers and feather dusters. What is going on there? Paul Keating once stated that the members of the Australian Senate were basically "unrepresentative swill". At least they are elected by the people.

Although, the older Chinese, some Russians and ( although not mentioned) the Thai people, can be quite the monarchy type, wherever it exists.

I saw the Queen's message to all of us in relation the current COVID disaster ( yes it is a disaster) . Now here is a woman in her 90's who has just been through a signficant family upheaval, but at the same time she is bound to duty, and she has no escape plan offered to her at all. She cannot just take off to the nearest palm tree on an island that serves chilled Gin and Tonic and to get away from the daily hum drum of being a Monarch.. Well I was impressed. I am not a royalist, or for that matter, any other matter or thing that has the nominal suffix "--IST" attached to it. Her sure and steadfast monologue and the optimism that it carried, was very well received.

And his mate Desmond TuTu, issued an order in the ANC to put poison into the mouths of ("blonde-haired children") in South Africa. Another hero of the Left? No, just another criminal. And gee whiz things have improved in Africa since(??)

Indeed. Four More Years, and four more years of entertaining ourselves here on PIO, especially having a ball against those who are averse to world leaders who have blonde hair!! They just cannot bear it. Here is something. Its a quiz. Question: Who was the last Secretary General of The UN to have Blonde Hair??????????????

I recall some time ago there was this particular talking head on Aust. TV who was referred to as the resident Royal watcher on the news. I cannot think of his name but he was always introduced as being well connected with the Palace or often described as a friend of the Royal Family. He would report on all the Royal "scoops". This particular person was a constant contributor to TV news for years, that is until someone in Kerry Packers Office at Channel 9 called up the media people at Buckingham Palace, only to be told that they did not know any such person. Oops! This guy was a complete fake and a conman and carried on the masquerade for years. It just goes to show that when it comes to the media they will believe anyone who has a "scoop"

Yes apparently there may be a civil action to follow.

George Pell is to be released, if not already released, His conviction has been quashed by a unanimous decision of the 7 high court judges in the High Court, on the basis that the single witness was found to be unreliable and therefore there was insignificant evidence to justify the decision of the Victorian Court. That is the end of the matter. No further appeals are available.

From memory, it was that particular model that was being posed during the Australian Republic Referendum in 1999. It was very much based upon the US system and was summarily rejected by the electorate..

A very insightful article in the SMH examines why COVID-19 appears to have significantly different impacts on per-nation basis. The article also asks: "In Australia the nation’s doctors, health workers, public health advisers and politicians are asking themselves a profound question: will we be spared this wave of death?". Article found here: https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/the-puzzle-of-coronavirus-a-huge-variation-in-rates-of-death-and-severe-disease-across-the-globe-20200402-p54gkr.html

Well some of my information in a previous post has emerged as being from an unqualified source, namely one of the passengers on board. However the fact remains that when the Ruby Princess docked in Sydney, carrying 3796 passengers and crew, there was already COVID-19 on board even though the ships doctor could not detect any cases. The scneario now is that, had NSW Health given the advice for passengers and crew to remain on board and not to disembark, it is likely, on the basis that COVID-19 is known to spread more easily aboard passenger ships than in the general community, would we now be seeing efforts to provide health support to potentially thousands of passengers and crew stuck on board a ship in Sydney Harbour? I don't believe it was a stuff up. The call had to be made either way. Now, what to do with the people aboard other ships just off the coast of NSW.

Yes but seemingly all fished out since then, or perhaps, as a local yokel told me, "Ever noticed how fat the many dolphins are up here in PS"? Hmmmm. Port Stephens may have had fish in the 70s but I also had HAIR in the 70s.