Dusty Plains

Canadians and Australians have a unique relationship. That is, we are not the USA and at the same time, we are not British. Canada and Australia share diplomatic services world-wide. For instance, if you are in a country that has no diplomatic Canadian office, such as South East Asia for instance, then the local Australian diplomatic service will provide you with a new Canadian passport and the like if necessary. Equally, the Canadian Diplomatic Service will also assist Australians world wide. This has been a "CAN-AUS" arrangement for years My advice is that you will fit in, given that Canadians and Australians are not just trying to prove a point, given that we have no "point" to prove, do we?. Also, Australia has more skiable snow fields than Europe, so bring your skis. We love Canadians because they have no baggage, political, social, or otherwise, so come on over' Now, "Spiders" as you have suggested. I live in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, and the possibly of encountering one of the worlds most dangerous spiders is found in the greater Sydney Area, yet particularly in the Blue Mountains. I have lived in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, for forty years and we have spotted only two spiders in that time. Welcome "Big Guy". Oh, and please excuse the odd Brit on here with the usual negative diatribe.

Thanks once again for a negative review and actually a very poor knowledge of living in Australia. Perhaps you would be happier elsewhere and yes I know why. Give it a rest please. Its not North Korea after all.

Here is your chance. Just let it flow.

Be happy (I am) that the English language, world-wide, has many grammatical variations, including vast variations on the predominant vowel bank: "AEIOU". Check out the New Zealand News hour and vowels galore that just do not work for Australians. Is that a "pig, or a peg?" I am stuffed if I can translate it. Yet these nuances are what make the English language word wide. When I went to school, if you were using two adjectives to describe a noun then you have to hyphenate the two, or more hyphens more according to the adjectives. So in the case of a blond haired suspect at a bank robbery in Bondi then that person is a blonde-haired suspect. Syllable breaks are even more common. UK: YOG-URT Australia: Yoe-Gurt. UK: Caff ( usually a tea room or coffee house) Australia: Caffay, given that the word "café" is pronounced given the agrave accent on the "e" UK: Garage: "Garridge" ( where you park your your car under shelter) Australia: Gararrge: UK: Homage: "O'marge" Australia: "HOMidge" and so it goes on.

The ABC, as you have suggested provides emergency bulletins in times of the usual and perennial flood, fire, and storm impacts to communities across Australia. That particular arrangement however emerged about 15 years ago, and it is still going on, yet it is no longer the primary source of emergency warnings I live in one the most historical bush fire prone zones in Australia right here in the Greater Sydney Area. Emergency notifications are now also made with an arrangement between emergency services and Telstra. If bushfires or similar are effecting me I receive a directive on my mobile phone to either leave the area now or to remain in place ahead of expected bushfire impact or similar. I do not have to sit alongside a radio or television and wait until my locality amongst many others is called up usually in alphabetical order and advice given. Telstra is a carrier and not an emergency service but it will carry directives from emergency services into specific areas. Initially the arrangement was that Telstra would carry directives from emergency services to mobile phone customers based on their billing address in relation to being within a threatened area. But that was determined as insufficient given that people who do not live in that area may be passing through or simply engaged in an activity in that area also needed to be notified of emergency impacting on that geographical area. Telstra came to the party in this respect and charged governments an absolute arm and a leg to carry real-time emergency warnings to all mobile phones in a particular area. Yes, an arm and a leg was paid but only if there was an emergency and still far cheaper and far more effective than what we still pay the ABC whether there is an emergency or otherwise.

Agreed, but a "mandate" can also relate to the premise of having general or wide ranging support or influence as a popular entity acknowledged by a major proportion of society (sorry if I sound like a dictionary). In that case the ABC at 25% has no valid claim in terms of a mandate.

Generally, ABC and SBS combined, account for about 25% of the free-to-air audience, while the commercial channels combined, account for the remaining 75% of the audience. 25% is hardly a mandate.

No I don't expect that, but at the same time I also do not expect the ABC to hold a Labor / Green government to account either. Not all of us consume media simply for the purposes of politics.

Perhaps there is the opportunity to rethink ABC continuing to be wholly dependent upon taxpayers. Just like Netflix and similar the ABC could operate on subscription service only. If you like the ABC then take up a subscription then I and many others would not have to support the ABC and pay for its legal fees every time the ABC loses a court case.

Of course you can opt out of paying for advertising. It does not matter which way you look at it, there is an opt-out on every point that you have made in relation to commercial interests. Also suggesting that I may be prone to making poor choices due to commercial television.... really? I think you may be scratching for something to win argument, and it is not working for you. As opposed to commercial TV and advertising, the ABC has NO opt-out provision. You and I and the rest of the population must pay for it whether we watch it or not, and whether we are not in the country but still paying tax to the ATO, we still have have no opt-out. Hopefully the return of the Liberal Federal Government in Australia will review the opt-out scenario in relation to the ABC.

A creepy Frank Thring reminding us to get a Radio and Television License. Australian TV ad from the 1960's

You could say that, however commercial television is free-to-air to consumers, because you and I do not have to pay for it. The advertisers pay for it. I do not pay for it whether I watch it or not. You and I can elect to pay-for-view such as Netflix and Foxtel, but we can opt out at any time. In 1957 Radio and TV licenses were introduced to fund the ABC. At least during that period people could opt out of buying Radio and TV licenses, which were eventually quashed in 1974. Since then the ABC pulls its funding from consolidated revenue, namely our taxes. You and I cannot opt out, and therefore we are forced to fund the ABC.

The ABC has never been free-to-air ever since its first transmission in 1956 or perhaps '57 when it was working out of an old church hall in Darlinghurst in Sydney. The commercial channels, as bad as they are, still represent the only free-to-air transmissions in Australia. The ABC lays claim to being "independent" media. Clearly however, the ABC has always been wholly dependent upon funding from all Australian taxpayers, most of whom rarely watch it. That means that all Australian taxpayers including private citizens, businesses and industry, must contribute to the ABC even if they do not have a television or radio. That means that the ABC, for instance, is more dependent than the BBC. Would that make the ABC one of the most dependent media services world wide? It would seem so.

I must be the typical new Aussie. I have a small skin cancer on my right nostril and will need plastic surgery in January. I recently had a full blood test and all factors were good except for one, namely that I was low in vitamin D. Weird.

We have a Glaswegian woman as part our extended family here, who is dearly loved, and has been in Australia for 30 years or so but still has what we thought was a wonderful Scottish accent. But when her mother comes over for Christmas and they get chatting to each other, well its a whole new dialect. We have to get an interpreter in. Sometimes I can pick a Melbournian as Melbournians have some quirky pronunciations of certain words. For instance the word "beer" in Melbournian is often pronounced as "bee-ah". Would you like a BEE-AH"? Consequently, we get gems like: " I spent my caree=ah as an enginee-ah" Was that South or North Korea? And finally Rudolph the Red Nose Reindee-ah.