I am sure that I can rely on readers to add to the list of the multitude of sins for which, if he were a Catholic, he would be doing penance – if he only admitted that he had done wrong.

Looking back over just the past year, there are far too many things for me to hope to encompass them all, let alone dig back further into his very grubby history, so let’s go over that year roughly chronologically.

He put himself forward to be elected, first as an MP and later, as PM.

Ergo – he voluntarily took on responsibility for this country’s government, then, in the middle of an unprecedented fire season, he skived off to Hawaii with his family, and left his office pretending they did not know where he was.

When it finally filtered through to him that his absence was a really bad look, he crawled back – he could have come back faster – and made out that he had not realised how badly we had missed him.

Actually it was not him, personally, whom we missed, but a competent leader, and his return did not even begin to fill this gap.

In the last hour I have been watching a program which included graphic shots of those fires, and recent news indicates that the people whose homes were destroyed in an end of world type scenario – and among whom were many to whom he personally promised help in the recovery process – are far from even part way towards being properly helped and accommodated.

And some of his photo ops left the very unpleasant impression in our minds that – like Trump – he thought it was all about him.

So for a few weeks he argued with state leaders as to who was responsible for handling fires – refusing to recognise that fire does not respect state boundaries, and arrangements to bring in foreign water bombers, and firefighters, is a national not a state responsibility, as is mobilising assistance from the defence forces.

So far this is succeeding in highlighting the fact that he primarily sees his job as expecting to be able to delegate, and then just ensure he gets some headlines, photo ops and good press, courtesy of Murdoch.

Then COVID-19 let its presence be felt – but there was no ready-made action plan, because during the period since 2013 in which three Coalition Prime Ministers had been in power, no effort had been made to ensure that government plans for emergencies such as a pandemic were brought up to date.

When Morrison established a National Cabinet, many of us heaved a sigh of relief, thinking that we might have, at last, a sort of consensus government, and for a brief moment that did appear to be the case.

But Morrison is all about power and politics and not at all about people.

He established the Australian COVID-19 Coordination Committee, loaded with industry heavyweights and biased towards fossil fuel supporters.

He also decreed, on health grounds, that Parliament should go into recess, ensuring that he could beaver away, working towards policies which ignored the increasingly urgent need for action on global warming, and instead piloting policy towards increasing use of gas – with no clear end in sight – in the guise of transitioning to renewable energy.

Can I just throw in here, that the numbers denying climate change might be decreasing, but so is the time available to tackle it and save what is left of the Reef!

When – and before Victoria’s second wave – the pandemic seemed to be coming under control, despite mess ups like the Ruby Princess fiasco, he then became insistent that we had to ‘get back to normal’ as soon as possible.

The guilt here lies firmly in his insistence that we can ‘snap back’ or ‘return to normal’, after the massive disruption to employment, and also lies in the extent to which Federal government responsibility for Aged Care Homes was so non-existent as to cause massive grief to the many families who lost their elderly loved ones unnecessarily because a pandemic protection plan was completely ignored.

Because states were allowed to close borders, in many cases a much needed action, to limit community transmission of infection, friction between national and state governments over policies to be followed arose and was badly handled.

Without a hint of an apology for years of bad-mouthing the ALP for their ‘debt and disaster’ resulting from their successful financial handling of the GFC, Morrison, almost certainly at the urging of the National Cabinet, developed a partially successful program to provide assistance to selected groups.

The policy should have been introduced earlier, certainly should have been much more inclusive, and is being cut short long before it should be.

Much of the above shows the PM to be guilty of hubris and, more importantly, really bad judgment.

Hundreds of people are dependent on assistance from charities and, in turn, charities are running out of funds because so many unemployed can no longer afford to make donations!

Above all Morrison is guilty of using the wrong criteria in developing policy.

People, who are barely managing to feed a family, cannot put money back into the economy, because every cent goes on essentials.

Free child care was a brilliant idea, not least because it enabled many women to return to work. But it was short lived, being the first really good idea that was scrapped for all the wrong reasons.

At present, the honeymoon on rent and mortgage payments is ending, and many people may well be losing their accommodation unless the government come to the rescue.

Is the government even contemplating providing much needed social housing?

Of course not – because it fails to begin to understand the dire situation so many face.

Morrison is guilty of allowing those who stand for Parliament to be almost exclusively white males, who have largely come up through party ranks, and have little, if any, first hand experience of holding down a job – let alone losing it – and whose willingness to follow party lines leaves little room for integrity and innovative thinking.

Given that this is a pandemic, that Australia is far from alone in being in a financial mess, what Morrison is most guilty of is putting the economy as a higher priority than people’s lives.

Hundreds of jobs cannot be created overnight but the sheer insanity of expecting people to return to having to apply for non-existent jobs to justify receiving help from Centrelink – and to be offered a level of help that would not begin to cover essential basics – is more than insane.

It is cruel beyond belief.

Are we surprised?

Sadly, not really, because we have seen the depths of cruelty in the treatment of refugees who have committed no crimes.

I am continually flabbergasted by the fact that Morrison’s approval rating in handling the COVID-19 pandemic is going up.

If I was dubious about polling results before, I have now lost any vestige of belief in their accuracy.

As restrictions are released, please think seriously about protesting publicly about the utter failure of good governance exhibited by Morrison and his den of thieves.

And feel free to add to the list of missteps for which he is guilty.

‘Gordon Legal launched the [Robo-debt] action on behalf of an estimated class of up to 600,000 people last year [2019], claiming the government unjustly enriched itself and breached its duty of care to people who “were vulnerable to any unlawful or unreasonable” action by the government.’

 

‘Last year, a Senate inquiry into the scheme took evidence that more than 2000 people died after receiving their initial robodebt letter, of which a third were considered “vulnerable” by the Department of Human Services. Chair of the inquiry, Greens senator Rachel Siewert, wrote a piece for Crikey saying that while correlation was not causation, she had been “told of five families (and there have been other media reports) who believe their family members’ suicides are connected to receiving a robo-debt letter”.’

And the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison “expressed regret”.

The way many people are treated by Centrelink officers – particularly after so much of their business was outsourced – means that people often have to be pretty desperate before they seek help from that organisation.

They also include in their numbers, many people who are not necessarily well-organised in their financial affairs. When you are desperate, you can easily make mistakes, and it is probably an insignificant proportion of beneficiaries of welfare packages who go out of their way to rort the system.

But, even if there was an innocent mistake, they are then faced with a government which, reluctant to alienate the wealthy – who include generous donors – turn a blind eye to the underpayment of tax by high earners, and turn, instead, to develop an openly illegal system to claim money which, in many case was not owing.

And when people cannot survive without their welfare benefits, they cannot afford to question the validity of the claim so, in many cases, they paid up.

The government was guilty of claiming money on false pretenses and they not only owe a refund – plus interest! – or a cancellation of the debt demand, they owe a bloody big apology!

(I am just a former maths teacher, but I could see, right from the start, that people receiving a regular income, but who lost their jobs, would have many weeks while in work when they were definitely not entitled to Centrelink benefits. But add in the weeks with no income, and the average fortnightly amount was not a true picture of actual income.)

A less than delicious irony in this matter is that the Minister responsible for authoring the scheme – Stuart Robert – is clearly a technology connoisseur, running up massive bills for home computer use, for which he then claims a refund (at our expense) from government.

Was he chased by debt collectors or subjected to the public shaming issued to Peter Slipper?

Does Christmas really fall in July?

Watching current events in NSW, we have a front seat view of how Ministerial conduct should be held in check.

And NSW is not the first state which normally comes to mind when you are trying to find any jurisdiction in Australia which is, or has been, not partly or wholly corrupt!

Mr Morrison has got too big for his boots.

His party has, rashly, allowed him to swan around in 2019 being variously Daggy Dad, or Mr Nice Guy, as well as telling porkies about Labor policies, and – because the ALP managed to make their campaign too complicated – the Coalition won the election against all the odds.

Miracle – my hat!

He blotted his copybook with the Hawaii trip, which his office initially denied was happening.

He did not make a good fist of the bush fires but he was saved by the bell from further criticism on that front when COVID-19 took centre stage.

We are now into the next bush fire season and I am sure the bookies are taking bets on whether rainfall from the La Nina will suffice to dowse the fires before they get out of hand.

Morrison’s current preoccupation is with trying to ensure no State Labor government gets re-elected.

The NT is a minnow and they are being useful in helping quarantine the returning Australians who have been desperate to get back, so they are not currently being under attack.

The result in Queensland will soon be known.

WA has always wanted to be separate from the rest of Australia, and it has massive resources which means that it does more to support the rest of Australia than do most states, so it avoids the extremes of Federal harassment.

The whitening of the reef continues apace, as does the melting of ice at the Poles.

Some islands on the USA coastline are disappearing into Chesapeake Bay, but those interviewed still blindly support Trump and his dismissal of the causes of the adverse effects of global warming.

And Morrison is a supporter of Trump – a side effect of which is the current trade attacks on Australia by China.

Let’s face it.

The world is in an almighty mess.

The desire for power and the greed of those who already have more than enough are pushing us closer and close to the abyss.

Maybe the Romans had it right – ‘Eat, drink and be merry – for tomorrow we die!’

How is it I usually end?

I am still trying, but time is running out!

What do we want?

ICAC!!

How do we want it!

With real teeth!

When do we want it?

NOW!!

1. Almost the longest running crisis is Global Warming, which clearly is a global issue, requiring the cooperation of all nations.
2. The more recent, but also intractable crisis, which is being tackled individually by practically every nation on earth, is COVID-19.
3. The third also affects many countries by differing degrees, but has to be handled by each affected country in different but appropriate ways. It is corruption and it appears to be deep-seated and endemic.

Much has already been written about Global Warming and it is dispiriting that Australia has a government which – at least up to a point – has been willing to seek scientific advice on health, but refuses to even consider seriously scientific advice on the causes of climate change.

With the exception of a decreasing number of journalists, most articles available online and in print, are increasingly accepting the existence of climate change as an issue requiring increasingly urgent attention, and some countries are very positively engaged in trying to reduce emissions and move towards becoming carbon neutral.

Australia is not among them.

Consensus on COVID-19 appears to be that we are dependent on a vaccine to help bring it under control, and measures taken to date to reduce transmission have had seriously adverse effects on our economy.

The current Australian Government sees acquiring a reputation as a good manager of the economy as being the most important issue that faces them, and, to that end, has closed national borders reluctantly, while criticising Premiers for closing State/Territory borders, is pressing for a rapid return to ‘normal’, and seems to be prepared to destroy lives in the process – if not through infection, then by the damage done through inadequate financial support for hundreds of people their policies have necessarily thrown into unemployment.

Just as it has relentlessly pursued a hostile course of action against genuine refugees, whose only ‘crime’ has been arriving by an unacceptable method after some arbitrary date – and Kevin Rudd must share the blame for the damage that has resulted – the government now dreams of a rapid return to higher employment and higher productivity in a climate where waves of infection make any rapid changes non-viable.

When our Immigration Minister, Peter Dutton, and Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, talk about Australian values, I hear a hollow laugh echoing in my brain, when I regard the total lack of compassion or interest in general well-being which is exhibited in the Coalition government’s actions.

While I think that, in general and in the past, the ALP have generally shown more signs of putting people before profits when it comes to the crunch, I feel absolutely uncertain that the ALP would, if in power, be able to fight the self-interest power-seeking habits of the Coalition, if the latter were in Opposition and led with anyone with the gutter instincts of a Tony Abbott.

The achievements of Labor through the Rudd/Gillard/Rudd governments were remarkable, given the destructive attitude of the Opposition.

In times of crisis such as this, attempts to achieve a reasonable degree of cooperation and consensus is vital, but almost impossible in a constantly adversarial framework!

Seeking valid amendments to legislation when significant points have been overlooked is the job of the party which does not win a majority.

No party is ever always right and constantly seeking to overthrow a properly elected government which is not behaving corruptly is unacceptable.

So there we come to the elephant in the room.

Too many of our governments are and/or have been corrupt.

The Sports Rorts affair should have gone to an ICAC and heads would have rolled.

Many other programs which have been run by government have been similarly and severely biassed in blatant attempts to buy votes in the next election.

Both major parties have been guilty and neither of them is falling over backwards to install a truly effective Independent Commission Against Corruption – which is alarming, because that reluctance to be answerable for their actions indicates that they fear being found out!

Many decades ago, before I became completely disenchanted with religion, I used to attend a very low church C of E, where services were conducted by a very fatherly Vicar.

I recall reference being made to seeking forgiveness for both sins of commission and sins of omission – and this came clearly to my mind in the revelations this week into Gladys Berejiklian’s life.

When she advised her partner not to give her the details about his business interests, I wonder which of these reasons applied?:

• She was in a personal relationship with him and wanted to leave both his and her work outside the door, or
• She was aware that he might not be acting entirely appropriately and did not want to know.

It the latter applies, then she has been guilty of the sin of omission, because, knowing both of them shared the same behavioural constraints as do all MPs – but with her having the greater Parliamentary authority – she should not choose to ignore illegal behaviour on his part.

Many of Australia’s governments have been under the corruption looking-glass – in fact I am struggling to think of one which has not at some time or other – but, when a nation is struggling – as we are – under the pandemic and the economic fall-out, the last thing we need is a corrupt government.

And – folks – you and I both know that is exactly what we have got!

We have had a threat of legislation for religious protection thrust down our throats – which might not have been corrupt but was straying well beyond the proper parameters for government.

Disgusting actions by government are prosecuted in secret – primarily in a useless attempt to minimise embarrassment to the government.

When it come to parliamentarians misbehaviour, we have had people like Bronwyn Bishop chartering helicopters and expecting us to pay – and that is the tip of the iceberg in the parliamentary rorting of allowances.

Too many Ministers have had a tap on the wrist when they should have been consigned to the back bench or asked to resign.

Inconsistencies about who can repay a debt and who will face prosecution are strictly decided on the basis of party allegiance.

The pre-pandemic Sport Rorts must be re-examined, as must some of the other grant systems which have been being biased to Coalition supporters.

Clive Palmer should never have been allowed to act as he has and donations to political parties, and transparency about from whom, how much and to whom, are desperately needing attention to ensure a higher level of integrity.

Politicians deserve to be on the nose because too many of them see entitlement where it does not exist.

There are some – a few – grass roots members who do stick to the rules, do the best they can for their constituents and probably resent being treated with the opprobrium which the majority of politicians thoroughly deserve.

I am sure the Victorian government has made some mistakes in their handling of the second wave of infections.

I am equally sure that Daniel Andrews has lost a lot of sleep and seen little of his children. He certainly has not had time for photo ops building a cubby house or a chicken run – let alone enjoying a holiday in Hawaii.

But because Mr Andrews is a Labor Premier, he has been lambasted with criticism and hassled to open up his state by the PM and Treasurer Frydenberg.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, NSW reported more new infections than Victoria, and, had the NSW Premier been Labor not Liberal, as the revelations of her relationship with a corrupt former Victorian MP were revealed, as sure as eggs is eggs, Morrison and Frydenberg would have been demanding her resignation!

Ministerial responsibility, codes of behaviour, resigning after wrong-doing – all seem to be ancient history.

Getting away with all you can and never admitting you were wrong is the current look in politics, and it has been turning us right off the people who – far from acting for our benefit – seem to see us as a necessary evil to be noticed when they need votes.

Surely we cannot put up with all this much longer?

However long we keep putting it off, realistic action on Global Warming is essential – and other countries lagging behind know this all too well. But the outcome may never be as good as it might have been if we continue to delay.

The pandemic is going away no time soon, and we have got to concentrate on planning to slowly opening our borders, while controlling the levels of infection.

As far as corruption is concerned, we need an ICAC – NOW!

The people making decisions seem to have no understanding of the damage they are doing because their eyes are on the ultimate prize – a sinecure with generous benefits in a branch of a global corporation whose bidding you have been doing in return for generous donations.

And if those at whom I am pointing a finger want to deny any truth in what I say, then please establish an ICAC and clear your name in public!

I end as always – this is my 2020 New Year Resolution:

“I will do everything in my power to enable Australia to be restored to responsible government.”

Perhaps I have not lived in Australia for long enough to know how the rot set in!

While we are far from being the only part of the world where the adverse effects of increasing levels of inequality are destroying society, that is no cause for complacency.

So many issues in recent times, many of them pre-COVID-19, have highlighted how the Australia, which we tried to project to the world in 2000 as a Dinky Di paradise is dead, buried and cremated. (Thank you, Tony Abbott, for the quote! You certainly helped the rot set in!)

A large part of the problem has stemmed from the politicians – but we elected them!

So, quite clearly, some, at least, of the blame lies with us!

Look at the greed of shareholders which led to the revelations of the Royal Commission into Banking. Remember – the directors, who are responsible for choosing the CEOs, are voted in – and out – by the shareholders.

True, the most influential shareholders and the directors whom they elect are, in many case, all part of a tight knit circle with fingers in many pies, so that the shareholders with smaller holdings cannot make their voices heard.

Look at the increase in numbers of our prisons, which signifies not – as many would have it – an massive increase in crime, but rather a failure on the part of society to intervene in ways which divert individuals into more socially acceptable paths.

Too many children are growing up in dysfunctional homes, and effective interventions seem to be beyond the imagination of the relevant government departments.

Take one example: Drugs!

The minute a drug is illegal, it is immediately attractive to many, and if the drug is one of addiction, future prospects are not good.

Many turn to drugs because they feel life holds nothing for them, sometimes because of mental illness and sometimes because of failure to get necessary help and support.

And because there is always an element in society which is happy to make money out of other’s misery, when an addict cannot afford a fix, theft is the obvious route to satisfying the craving. Decriminalise drugs, and the prices tumble!

Many involved in law and law enforcement have tried – and, sadly, failed – to explain to politicians that other countries have gone down the path of decriminalising drugs and – lo and behold, the sky did not fall down! In fact the prisons were no longer overflowing!

Most recently, the pandemic has revealed the long term failure of governments to ensure proper services, staffing and care levels for elderly citizens spending their last days in Aged Care Homes run by for profit organisations, which have been subject to totally inadequate supervision and regulatory processes.

And another issue, which has been a running sore during the pandemic, has been the failure to recognise the very limited ability of many security firms to offer a higher standard of security service than can be expected from a nightclub bouncer.

I was asked the other day whether I had been as involved in politics when John Howard was PM.

I was not.

And as I answered the question, I realised it was because, at that time, I had been working full time, and while I was aware of the unpleasant policies which were being increasingly adopted, I had other things foremost on my mind.

Now I am in the enviable position of having retired, with a comfortable superannuation scheme – of a type which is no longer available to young people starting a career – with a home which cannot be taken away from me – short of an earthquake or another Cyclone Tracy – and with time to watch what is happening here in Australia as well as elsewhere in the world.

So I am wrong to be critical of younger people, who often have far too much on their plates to even notice what is going on around them.

That might change, however, with so many people unable to find work and so few jobs available for those seeking them.

I do wish to highlight two particular areas where I think the cruelty of the government must be addressed.

The first is one of which many out of work are only too well aware.

Fortunately many people have been able to survive, up to date, because the Coalition copied the ALP’s actions in the GFC, in providing financial assistance to at least some of those whose jobs were lost because of government decisions to shut down anything which prevented suitable social distancing, and so reduce the cross infection rate.

Not everyone was looked after. Many were totally ignored, while some benefitted from unintended generosity because the program had been developed in haste.

Without any ability to prove that things are, or soon will be, improving, the government has just embarked on reducing the support currently available to some – but not all – of those out of work, or on JobKeeper and any who now seek unemployment benefits will again be expected to be looking for work in order to continue receiving support, and probably have an unrealistically low level of assistance, replacing JobSeeker.

But reducing support will harm those who have benefitted from a partial moratorium on bank foreclosures and rental evictions, now that they will be expected to resume payments – plus interest accrued – with no hope of doing so. It is insane and downright cruel.

How does the government expect these people to survive?

They also appear to plan to bring forward tax cuts – completely ignoring the fact that the people who most need financial help – which, by being spent on necessities, would go straight into improving the economy – will get very little, while the greater share will go to those who will tuck it immediately into savings – so not helping the economy by one iota!!

How on earth did we elect such idiots?

Finally I want to raise the issue of a neglected group of people, who are being deprived and cruelly tortured, and who seem to have been pushed to the back of most people’s minds.

You might have an inkling of who I refer to when I say that if Peter Dutton were to appear in public wearing jackboots and waving a swagger stick I would see that as a truthful representation of him and his policies.

And, remembering that Scott Morrison headed up Immigration before Dutton, his facade of religious conviction could be seen as a consequence of indoctrination, similar to that which produced the Nazis and the SS!

Yes – I know it was Kevin Rudd who stated that no refugees who came to Australia by boat after a certain date would be allowed to settle here.

I wonder if he regrets that decision and the damage and death that has been the consequence?

He did it to save himself from a barrage of criticism over a flood of boat arrivals.

Why should so many people suffer so much in a futile attempt to save one individual from embarrassment?

We have seen many die, from suicide and from neglect. We have seen billions spent to maintain this cruel policy.

We have seen hours of court time – and more millions of our money – wasted by government attempts to prevent sick offshore detainees from getting urgently needed medical attention in Australia.

The pandemic has prevented – hopefully only temporarily – the relocation to other countries of some of the refugees, so they languish in offshore or onshore detention, under the control of security contractors who seem to regard themselves as sharing the role of corrections officers – even though the detainees have committed no crimes.

It is so sad that Australia has no Human Rights laws to protect those suffering these human rights abuses.

Refugees from some countries – Iran springs to mind (remember – an Australian is being detained there for no apparent crime!) – cannot return home because they would be put to death for fleeing their homeland. The conditions under which they are detained here are inhumane. They are denied time out of doors, they cannot exercise properly, they are, in fact treated more cruelly than murderers – yet we let it happen.

Is ability to feel compassion totally dead in us as well as in our leaders?

In a recent article I wrote “We need a government which does not ask “What will it cost the economy?” but, instead asks “What more do we need to do to make sure people are not struggling to survive?”

I end as always – this is my 2020 New Year Resolution:

“I will do everything in my power to enable Australia to be restored to responsible government.”

I sometimes wonder if it is in becoming a parent, responsible for the health and well-being of a tiny morsel of humanity, that we first experience a real awareness of the interdependence of human beings.

For those who wait until they are reasonably mature adults to give birth the first time, it is often a total life-changer.

The fact that, without your almost continuous monitoring and attention, the baby’s very life is at risk, takes an enormous amount of adjustment.

My first child was born with a stridor, and I was regularly asked by total strangers if my baby had whooping cough. At 9 or 10 weeks old, he was admitted to hospital for 10 days for assessment of his condition. I had been struggling with breast-feeding, and, by the time he was discharged he was totally bottle fed.

I felt a total failure – a feeling I can imagine has been shared by many new mothers over the years! And – now that many men are – thank goodness! – becoming more actively involved with their children from a much earlier stage of their development than was traditionally the case – they, too, are more emotionally involved in many of the earlier adjustments.

Children need a level of structure in their lives, IMHO, if they are to become self-sufficient as they themselves mature, and part of that structure is awareness of how their behaviours affects others.

Learning to share toys, for example, and generally learning empathy from as early an age as possible make it much easier for the child to be aware of the needs of others, which can often be even more important than their own!

Recent events in some exclusive schools plus regular reports of bullying in schools give us a much clearer picture of why sexual harassment and bullying in the workplace are the eventual outcome of parental – and educational – failure to encourage the child to recognise the needs of others.

The problem is not exclusively male, either. Schoolgirls can have social cliques and be remarkably cruel to ‘outsiders’!

And it might be appropriate to add that increasing awareness of the conditions applying to those in the ASD spectrum, add a further nuance to what can be expected from an individual who might be supremely intelligent, but oblivious to their impact on others.

So, however independent we might become as adults. we still live in a world with massive variations in needs and aspirations, so, without rules, life can be very hectic and often unpleasant!

A cursory reading of the new Testament of the Christian Bible, reveals that the Jews practised a form of Sharia Law, as do countless Muslims all round the world to this day.

Many countries have, however started (and I stress the word ‘started’ – we have still a long way to go!) moving away from the real cruelty associated with the ‘eye for an eye’ thinking which underpinned the foundation of ancient laws. Even the death penalty, now seen in some some countries as being actually judicial murder, is being abandoned, in part on the basis that, if the law has been administered unjustly, you cannot bring back to life someone who has been wrongly subjected to the death penalty!

But Australia is far from having properly embraced human rights – despite our government preaching to countries like China and Russia – and the USA – of their failure to do so!

If we operated under a proper Human Rights system, we would not have refugees incarcerated both offshore and in onshore detention centres, or released into the community with no right to any benefits nor to seek work. Just think about the utter cruelty of that scenario!!

And, most importantly, the Biloela children would be living in the community!

We have politicians who are strong on touting values, but if the laws they devise are based on their values, I do not wish to share them!

I value compassion, tolerance and empathy, but the laws I see added to the Statute Books, and the behaviour I observe from those in power, do not coincide in any way which what I see as values related to human rights.

Given the plethora of complaints available online, I am far from alone.

To be a democracy means the people are responsible for forming a government from the adult population which bases its laws on the wishes of the people.

Somewhere along the line, the question of having a majority rears its head, and the smaller the margin, the more important it is to take note of the minority views.

All polls in recent years have moved the numbers of those wanting the government to introduce, as soon as possible – because time is of the essence – realistic policies to counter global warming. These policies would have to include reducing, as quickly as possible, reliance on fossil fuels.

We cannot force other countries to follow suit , but we are actually lagging way behind many other countries who have long since realised the need for action.

We could lead the tail-end Charlies – but, instead, we have, it appears, a cohort in power who believe that, by supporting the policies of the fossil fuel giants, they might be assured a financially beneficial sinecure, post-politics, and to hell with the rest of us!

The actions of the former Minister for Sport, and others in Cabinet, in openly ensuring grants went to those most likely to support the Coalition, has left us in no doubt that we are led by a corrupt government.

I heard the first mutter yesterday that an early election might be in the wind.

Should that transpire, we need to look incredibly closely at the integrity and aspirations of the candidates, because both major parties are failing us badly!

The old cliché that you get the government you deserve, irks me greatly, because I am fairly sure that a majority of us do not deserve the government we have been lumbered with!

I end as always – this is my 2020 New Year Resolution:

“I will do everything in my power to enable Australia to be restored to responsible government.”

“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were: any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.”
― John Donne, No man is an island – A selection from the prose

When politicians use the power, given to them by the electors, to benefit themselves rather than than the people as a whole – not even exclusively those who voted for them – we begin to lose hope in any likelihood of integrity, transparency and compassion being displayed by our governments.

There is, in my mind, no doubt that there is serious corruption across our whole system, starting with politicians, progressing through business and industry (look at the latest news about Westpac) and replicated by many with more limited power, particularly in local governments.

The consistency with which the Coalition government has refused to institute a Corruption Commission, while, pre-COVID, giving priority to trying to protect those whose religion enables them to reject scientific fact about sexual diversity, is cause for major concern.

Maggie Thatcher has much to answer for!

While we have never had a truly cohesive society, few people can exist in isolation, and many individuals, for a variety of reasons, need help far beyond anything they can achieve alone.

There will always be people who rort the financial system – by whatever means they can muster – but they are not exclusively people who are unjustifiably on social security benefits!

Look at Clive Palmer! How many have been damaged and defrauded by his actions while he seeks to further enrich himself by carrying on unfounded litigation?

Look at the millionaires who avoid paying their fair share of tax.

Look at politicians who raise their own incomes while reducing welfare payments for people with no hope of finding employment.

We can be ‘wealthy’ in many ways – in terms of financial assets, in terms of depth of knowledge and in terms of friends and acquaintances.

Each has its merits, but for any who enjoys any of these benefits, there is – or, I think, should be – an obligation to allow other to share in them.

Those with power, likewise, have a moral duty to use it in ways which minimises harm and maximises help to others.

We currently exist, precariously, in a system where it seems that those with most power use it to benefit those with least need of support, while the majority, whose needs are greatest, are closely scrutininsed and heavily penalised if they even only appear to have stepped out of line.

Prime example is Robodebt – where a system, using an algorithm which could be seen, from the very beginning, to be fatally flawed, wrongly forced powerless people to ‘give back’ money they did not owe. The government finally admitted it was illegal and undertook to return the money that had been wrongly demanded (is that process yet fully completed???) but some lives, lost in the process, are gone for ever.

The most recent protection racket is for Alan Tudge who will, hopefully, be sued for his treatment of an Afghan refugee.

My blood boils when I think of the use by Dutton and others of ‘character tests’ in relation to those seeking visas,when the ‘character’ of Morrison, Dutton, Tudge, and several others in government, is so dubious that even the ‘pot calling the kettle black’ does not begin to cut it!

As a child, I always wanted to be a teacher. In fact I think that various professions – usually among the so-called caring profession, like nursing, medicine and teaching – are a vocation. Because maths was always my best subject at school, I became a maths teacher, but,when in later life I studied law, it was because I wanted to help those whose lives were being damaged by being unable to afford good legal advice. Given the chance of using alternative dispute resolution methods, I chose to concentrate on mediation, because it assists people to sort out their own disputes and develop appropriate negotiation skills in the process.

I have been incredibly fortunate in having been able to have a very thorough and broad-ranging education and, at risk of sounding conceited, being called a leftie and a busybody, I see it as important to help those who have not shared in the advantages I have been able to access.

I grieve over the number of people who do not realise how corrupt the Coalition is – and, sadly, it seems, Labor has lost its way, some of the Union bosses are as corrupt as the corporate bosses! – so there are few with the public’s ear, other than, for example, a few like John Hewson, who have any real care about the issues and the necessary solutions and who are are working on trying to get the integrity, transparency and compassion necessary for good governance.

If we care, we all have a part to play. We cannot afford to let the Coalition go down the policy path they are currently espousing.

Time is not on our side!

Eventually we will emerge from the COVID-19 crisis and once more mingle with the rest of the world. But, without energetic action by politicians throughout the world, keeping down global temperatures remains massively important and our chances of doing so are diminishing with every day which passes.

I am beginning to understand the loss of hope which drives too many to suicide.

It feels like someone insists they do not need water in the radiator of an internal combustion engine. They refuse to recognise that the absence of water will guarantee the engine might be permanently damaged with all the consequent problems they will then experience.

Please join in helping others to realise the Coalition government must change its policies or get out of government!

I end as always – this is my 2020 New Year Resolution:

“I will do everything in my power to enable Australia to be restored to responsible government.”

It seems that people have lost sight of the purpose of electing a government.

I say this because it appears that too many are voting for a party representative because they have always voted for that party.

But they do not first stand back and look, in a dispassionate way, at the party’s policies and record, and they are too ready to accept derogatory statements by their ‘own’ party about the ‘other’ parties, without bothering to seek an independent fact check.

While most, if not all other, developed countries praised the ALP’s handling of the GFC crisis, with its instant provision of funds to everyone to ensure the economy slowed down as little as possible, and with its funding of community projects to keep business functioning, the Coalition kept up, and maintained, long past its use-by date, a barrage of criticism over mounting debt.

The Coalition then came back into government, promising we would soon be in surplus – as if that was actually an important if not vital goal. At least one Coalition Treasurer (who should not have been in that job if he believed what he was saying) likened budgetting for the nation with a household budget process.

There are serious consequences for households which run up debts, whereas a country, particularly with a high level of employment, need not incur any serious consequences.

Hockey’s grasp of economics would appear to be nonexistent, (you absolutely must read this brilliant article!) but, instead of being demoted, he was shuffled off to a cosy sinecure as Ambassador to the USA!

Would you not appreciate such a reaction to being sacked as incompetent?

Only governments can afford to show that level of stupidity!

I wonder how many of those ardent supporters of the Coalition have registered the massive increase in our deficit created PRIOR to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Of course the government was about to confirm a budget out of the red, until the pandemic hit, but do people really understand what that means?

Big fanfare – BACK IN BLACK – somewhat prematurely as it turned out!

The normal annual budget, estimates how much the government plans to spend (expenditure), on projects and services, and to receive (income), through taxes and other sources, in the coming financial year. They do make some allowance for unexpected contingencies and they try to reach a balance between income and expenditure.

So – a balanced budget applies to the year in question, and means the government spends all it receives in that year.

If receipts exceed expenditure, we generate a surplus – which can be used to pay off existing debt.

If the reverse is true, then we increase the deficit, which, in turn, increases our interest payments.

One of their annual outgoings, therefore, is interest on the loans which are responsible for our deficit, and, since interest rates are at an all-time low, increasing debt is not as much of a concern as the Coalition makes out.

Despite the slagging off at Labor by the Coalition, simply because of debts accrued to maintain the economy through an unexpected crisis – namely the GFC – the Coalition now finds itself in the same situation through COVID-19, and has to go down a similar path.

Have they done as well as Labor did?

NO!

Why not?

They were not so quick off the mark, they created policy on the run, giving to some to an unreasonable extent, while failing to support others. And, with no clear path to recovery, they ignored the need to go in fast and go in strong.

They were probably urged to follow Labor’s example by the National Cabinet, and it must have been a bitter pill to swallow, given their extended criticism and the fact that it was quite contrary to their fundamental ideology.

They have left a massive number of people – those on certain types of visas, refugees in the community, the majority of people, whether performers or support staff, in the arts community – without much, or, in many cases, any support, and they have raised levels of anxiety unnecessarily.

Because they have such a rigid mind set – debt bad, economy master, people servants – they do not know how to adapt to a long and painful recovery period.

From the beginning, Morrison’s snap-back attitude has refused to accept that the world has changed, permanently, as a result of COVID-19 AND – and it is a VERY BIG AND – they are doing their damnedest to ignore GLOBAL WARMING.

I will not buy in here on the major change that has resulted from China’s ambitions for world dominance and its effect on Australia’s economy.

By surrounding himself with advisers, predominantly from the Fossil Fuel Supporters league, (an entirely appropriate use of FFS!) Morrison has now committed himself to the wrong energy policy, despite having ignored the fact that business leaders have been pleading for so long for one which takes climate change into account.

Whatever else happens, the grid must be reviewed.

Ideas about carbon capture and storage have been proved to be misguided.

The relationship between greenhouse gases and global warming is now accepted by an increasing number of our population, and one of the most harmful of these gases – methane – is linked to fracking.

Yet the top of the Coalition government’s current policy is fracking in the Beetaloo Basin in the NT, and elsewhere, as well as developing a gas pipeline across Australia.

Ar the same time, one of the co-founders of Atlassian is planning to back a project leading to exporting solar energy to Singapore, generated from the NT.

While export dollars are important, why not use Australia’s share of solar energy, plus the associated battery storage, rather than a fossil fuel gas pipeline, to lower our power prices – and significantly reduce our emissions?

People like Trump – who continues to beaver away and undo every positive contribution to the people of the USA made by Obama – and Morrison – who, inexplicably, can use science against COVID-19 but is not even prepared to discuss action on global warming with any conviction, and puts out highly inaccurate summaries of our non-progress to meeting out Paris target – are prepared to use fake news accusations and spin to convince people that positive future-looking policies are misplaced.

IF we do meet the target, it will not be a result of government planning, but a consequence of public action in installing rooftop solar, which could create problems unless the grid is properly upgraded and battery use expanded.

While at the start of 2020 the expectation was not good, the pandemic led to a reduction in a variety of emission types, duly changing predictions. But that trend has now reversed.

We cannot afford, for the sake of those who come after us, to let the ideologues’ blindness and prejudice destroy the world.

Recourse to the legal system to reduce access to fossil fuels is beginning to show signs of success in several states, and one of the most recent cases against Adani, initiated by a group of teenagers, backed by the Environmental Defenders Office, based on human rights is currently before the courts.

We should not have to fight so hard to preserve the world in a viable condition, but greed and selfishness are mighty barriers to achieving fairness in life.

Antarctic glaciers are being undercut by warmer water.

Polar ice is retreating and Polar bears are struggling to survive.

Siberian tundra is defrosting and releasing methane.

Australian bush fires have reduced some species to the verge of extinction.

The West coast of the USA is ravaged by wildfires while the East coast is being damaged by storms.

This is just a sample of the global warming related events which are occurring in greater numbers and with greater severity.

And you can fact check all of these claims!

But numbers matter! And we need to think what action we can take to force governments to act in OUR best interests – WE being the majority who are doing it tough!

People power does not only apply at the polls, and those who accept that government policies need reversing have got to help in the work of challenging the lies and spin!

Your voice matters if you want Earth to have a future!

Mars is not a real option, just a pipe dream for a few.

I end as always – this is my 2020 New Year Resolution:

“I will do everything in my power to enable Australia to be restored to responsible government.”

Years ago the “I see no evil, I hear no evil, I speak no evil” 3 wise monkeys ornaments were frequently on display.

Abbreviate that to “Blind, Deaf, Dumb”, drop the word ‘wise’ and use the modern connotation of Dumb as being Stupid, and you have summed up Morrison.

The news this morning included warnings that cutting the levels of current Job Seeker payments would damage the economy, and statements by Morrison that, if industry did not invest in a new gas-powered electricity generator on the East Coast, the Coalition government would step in and do so.

In relation to the first point, Morrison is so besotted by the ‘economy’ that he ignores the fact that wealthy people increasing their wealth is actually less important than ordinary people – for many of whom, finding work is like looking for a needle in a haystack – being able to put food in front of their children and replace their worn-out school shoes.

In relation to the second point, I do not know whether he ever listens to any experts who have no conflict of interest in the recommendations they make, but I have seen a myriad of reports from banks and insurance companies which warn of the dangers of putting funds into what will certainly become stranded assets.

Even Adani is building up his renewable energy business!

When you never mix with people who are not well off, only with those owning the roof over their heads (or at least knowing they cannot lose it, other than in a storm, for which they are well insured!), able to satisfy all basic needs and spend on luxuries, you lose all understanding of what it is like to be struggling to see any light at the end of the budgetary tunnel.

If you believe the ALP, when they instituted the policy denying life in Australia to those who arrived by boat, they anticipated being able to find appropriate refuge elsewhere.

As with much in politics, that was ill-thought through.

Billions later, in times when the Coalition is begrudging funding to keep alive people whose jobs they have destroyed, they continue to pour money into torturing by hope those whose only error was to believe that the Australian government has integrity, and, being a signatory to the UN Convention on Refugees, would grant them safe haven.

I am one of the fortunate few who are retired, have a certain and secure pension, outside the Age Pension, have certainty of accommodation and no desire to travel or spend lavishly. So the two payments of $750 which I received, quite legitimately, as I am entitled to a small portion of the Age Pension, were passed on to the Asylum Seekers Resource Centre.

The government wanted us to spend the money to support the god ‘Economy’, but I had no need to spend, whereas the ASRC needs every cent they can get, to help those refugees so cruelly treated by our government.

Please don’t accuse me of big-noting myself. I follow no religion but I was brought up to believe in social justice and helping those in need – particularly through no fault of their own.

The Coalition moans about the debt which will be born by generations to come. They careful ignore the extent to which the debt which they inherited was massively increased BEFORE the pandemic forced them to shut down business activity.

They also ignore the billions they are wasting, by locking away and cruelly guarding genuine refugees, who could have become productive members of society, instead of desperate, suicidal wrecks.

Has anyone been able to put a figure on what it has cost to date for the Biloela family to be snatched from their home, and the lives of their children permanently damaged? And I don’t only mean in money terms! The cost in quality of life is on-going for their lifetimes!

Morrison is definitely not following in the steps of Jesus Christ.

He is trampling lives underfoot while he worships false gods.

I do not remotely believe in a life hereafter, particularly with Heaven, Hell and Purgatory as the choices lined up.

I do think we will all be judged by those who come after us and I think most members of the current Coalition are unlikely to be judged as having achieved anything worthwhile.

Most of those who subscribe to the AIM Network posts would have similar views to mine, and I do not wish to preach to the converted. So, if you have friends who struggle to understand why Morrison is on the nose, perhaps you could consider passing this on to them.

I end as always – this is my 2020 New Year Resolution:

“I will do everything in my power to enable Australia to be restored to responsible government.”

We have been here before – and we must not forget it.

At least, the world has, and some of its older residents remember at least one lengthy period when we have had the world turned upside down by events outside our control.

We do not need to repeat the mistakes of the past.

There is no returning to ‘normal’, because the most normal thing in the world is constant change, and our failure to adapt to change is the cause of most of our problems!

Greta Thunberg has been the leading voice of young people telling us that we have to take action on climate change.

They, rightly, tell us that it is they who will be most affected by the inevitable costs and changes which we will experience, because we have tried to harness the universe to meet our needs for possessions, convenience and power.

And in the process we have unleashed the dragon!

Interestingly, the current greatest problem in most people’s eyes is COVID-19, yet it is, indirectly (and, hopefully, temporarily) our best friend.

Because of the reduction in manufacturing and travel resulting from the pandemic, we have benefitted from a reduction in greenhouse emissions – nothing like as much as we need, but – never look a gift horse in the mouth.

[I wonder whether younger people know the origin of that saying?

The age of a horse can be fairly accurately gauged by the state of its teeth, so a good diplomat would never examine a horse’s mouth, if gifted a horse – and wishing to sound sincere in expressing gratitude!]

The real gift from COVID-19 is time.

And the benefit will be undone if we let a group of neo-liberals stick to their policies of putting money, power and convenience ahead of the need to care for and properly protect people’s lives.

The economy is their god, but it is no friend to the lower paid majority of the population!

The talk of using gas as a transition to renewables is a smokescreen for a total avoidance of necessary policy change.

And as for building a pipeline across the country – ?????

We know change is being resisted, because, having had RoboDebt clearly declared to be illegal, what was Human Services – and now more accurately named Services Australia (possibly having recognised that the very title of that Department was an oxymoron!) – is still beavering away trying to find out who has been overpaid benefits, when everyone out of work is struggling to make ends meet on hand-outs!

Before the pandemic, unemployment was high, as was insecurity for those fortunate to have employment, wage rises were a distant memory for all but those who did not need them, and numbers of active job seekers far outnumbered the numbers of positions available.

Privatisation and out-sourcing in the name of efficiency are two of the means whereby the world of work has been de-humanised.

As each day goes by at present, PM Morrison appears closer and closer to the concept of a petty dictator.

Every time I see the video of his ignominious attempt to make a woman shake his hand for a photo-op, when he belatedly returned from an ill-timed holiday overseas (‘must keep my children happy while other peoples’ kids are being terrified by out of control fires” – such a good look!) I feel sick!

I was born well after WWI – the Great War to end all wars – some hope! – and the Great Depression, but for almost all of WWII, I lived in the western suburbs of London.

Food rationing came in very early on, concentrated orange juice for children was essentially medicinal, eggs and milk were dried, only once during the entire war did we have rump steak in the house – which my father brought back from Dublin after attending his father’s funeral in Belfast and visiting his older brother in Eire – and ‘offal’ was a regular source of protein on the weekly menu.

The car was laid up for the entire period with no petrol available except for those designated as needing private transport.

Clothing coupons meant our basic winter and summer wardrobes consisted of school uniform, one on, one in the wash, something old to change into after school and something suitable to wear to church on Sundays.

If you grew out of your uniform or your shoes, you had to be measured up to prove you needed additional coupons.

Years after the war was over, I was horrified to read the story of a boy who was probably about 12 and living in London when the government evacuated children to the country. I think his father was in the army, his mother was working in a factory and he was sent to one of the more western counties to a farming family, to be well away from the areas being regularly bombed by the Luftwaffe..

He was underfed, made to work like a slave and got the strap if he stepped out of line.

The contrast between the appalling conditions he suffered and the much more limited discomforts we had faced made me feel ashamed that I might have ever complained.

And there was no magic switch back to normal when the war ended.

Clothing coupons were required from 1941 to 1949, while food rationing did not end until July 1954.

Our first real summer holidays, post-war, were in North Wales from 1948 to 1952, and we had to take sandwiches to eat en route because cafes and restaurants were not yet open.

We were hardly destitute as far as my family was concerned, but waste and extravagance were definitely off the menu.

But the plus side was that we had to make our own entertainment, events and parties were almost non-existent – food coupons prevented catering for more than immediate family – so the pleasure obtained, from anticipating the very infrequent treats, more than offset their rarity!

It is not until you cannot have something that you really appreciate how much you can go without.

And if you are doing so as part of a whole-of-society set of restriction, there is readier acceptance.

We expect so much that we do not need, and if we accept that we have to forego some activities and lower expectations – well – we are capable of biting the bullet and accepting the facts of life.

But we need to be led by people who are explaining what and why we have to do without and leading by example.

What riles many people at the moment is that those who are out of work, as result of government policies, and likely to remain so for an uncomfortable amount of time, are being reluctantly provided with limited assistance – at least some of them are! – but face having the amount reduced without any likelihood, that their living costs will also be reduced.

The government’s strategies seem to indicate that business get top priority, when it comes to financial assistance, but people are regarded as bludgers if they are not making umpteen job applications daily.

Do any of those devising these policies have the first idea how soul-destroying it is to complete job application after job application, often getting no acknowledgement nor hearing if the vacancy has been filled?

To say it is demeaning would be a gross understatement!

AND POLITICIANS ARE CONTINUING TO DRAW THEIR FULL ENTITLEMENTS, EVEN THOUGH THEY HAVE NOT BEEN ATTENDING PARLIAMENT, AND HAVE SUPERANNUATION FLOWING INTO THEIR ACCOUNTS.

What is going to happen to rental and mortgage payments if unemployment increases?

Stop blaming Dan for Victoria and start putting your own house in order, Josh Frydenberg!

And PM – when will you take responsibility for the private Aged Care Home debacle – resulting from your hatred of over-sighting regulations?

If I started listing all the wrong moves the Coalition governments has made since the pandemic hit, I would be up all night!

I will mention the worst, which, in my opinion, was allowing young people to draw on their superannuation. Thereby the government has cheated many of them out of comfort in their old age!

In fact I think the Coalition government is pretty ignorant about superannuation generally!

I see that Extinction Rebellion is starting to get active in the UK and I am sure that events in Australia will be publicised as soon as mass action ceases to be illegal because of COVID restrictions.

We owe it to our children and grandchildren to put pressure on the government to remember what the past has taught us – that change is good and inevitable and we will not survive unless we recognise that.

We need to learn from the past not try to return to it!

Alone, we have limited power.

Together we can change the world!

I end as always – this is my 2020 New Year Resolution:

“I will do everything in my power to enable Australia to be restored to responsible government.”

I was 10 when I started my first year in the Secondary Grammar School in the UK.

The school system at that time saw us spend 2 years in the Infant School (I missed out on optional kindergarten because I was ill!), and in our time there we learned how to read and write and recite our multiplication tables.

The basic 3 Rs!

Then, normally, another 4 years in Junior school where Arithmetic was almost exclusively spent doing calculations involving the Imperial measurement system – and learning useful short cuts like 12 stamps at tuppence ha’penny cost 2 shilling and six pence, while 1 cwt (hundredweight) of coal at £3/10s per ton cost 3s/6d, there being
12 d (pence) in a shilling (s) and 20 s in £1.

Older, Anglo readers may remember the mass of arithmetic this involved! Non-Anglo readers will wonder why the hell we did not latch on the the metric system – or, better still the Système International – a whole heap sooner!

That is by the by – except that is helps to explain that, while we did study some history and geography, as well as reading and spelling, during that 4 years, we did not get round to science until secondary school.

My recollection is that in my first year at the Grammar school, we studied Art, Biology, General Science (as a precursor to Chemistry), English (Language and Literature, separately), French, (Latin came with Chemistry in the second year), History, Geography, Mathematics (as 3 strands – Arithmetic and Trigonometry, Algebra and Geometry (which was the beautiful logic of Euclidean geometry), Music and Scripture (that was a requirement of the Charter of the C of E school I attended). And, of course some form of Physical Education – sport or gymnastics, nearly every day.

No time for boredom when you add on homework!

But a fantastic background to learning across the board.

Later we streamed into Arts and Sciences and I dropped Latin, Art and History while keeping Biology, Chemistry, English, French, Geography, Maths, Scripture, Phys Ed and Music (goes with maths I will come back to this later), Geography and, later, Physics.

Early learning (PLEASE TAKE NOTE IF YOU ARE THE MINISTER RESPONSIBLE FOR PLANNING EARLY EDUCATION) is really important as it is usually the most firmly embedded. I have had no occasion since I originally learned about photosynthesis to describe it in detail, but it is firmly fixed in memory!

So I come to the crux of this exercise ~ solar energy and sources of power generally.

In Biology, among other things, very early on we studied the oxygenic version of photosynthesis. This explains how, employing the chlorophyll in the green leave of plants as a catalyst, the plants use the energy from the sun to combine the water drawn up through the roots and the carbon dioxide entering the leaves through the stomata (I was not sure I had remembered that term correctly, so I checked it out before writing this, 70+ years later) to form carbohydrates for use in growth, and in storage, sometimes in roots – all the root vegetables – or in fruit.

A bi-product of this daylight process is oxygen, exhausted via the somata, from which we benefit. At night, some of the carbon dioxide is excreted through these same stomata.

This is a simplified version of a complex process and there are other varieties of photosynthesis, since, among other things, not all plants have green leaves.

The important constituent of the air we breathe is, of course oxygen, and the damaging part, is the greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide and methane.

Destroy the trees and reduce the oxygen available, while retaining the carbon dioxide, no longer required for photosynthesis. LUNACY!

Solar energy is readily available to us in most parts of the world – the North and South Poles are a bit short during their winters while the sun stays below the horizon – but it is far from being the only available form of natural energy.

We grossly under-use wind energy, which, in the Northern Hemisphere is providing an increasing source of renewable energy.

The strongest winds in Australia are not necessarily blowing in areas of high occupancy, but we are surrounded by sea, and most of our major cities are close – sometimes too close! – to the coast. Tidal energy is a constant source of energy which is greatly under-used, and even the currents in streams and rivers – provided our inefficient water policies have not destroyed the flow of water – can be enough to generate a modest amount of energy.

I sometimes wonder how much Australians know about what is happening elsewhere in the world?

I know that social media has, sometimes quite reasonably, become a pariah, yet I have found Tweeters of high educational value. One is @MikeHudema and if you opened a Twitter account to browse through his site, you would find the exercise valuable beyond measure. His theme is “We have the solutions. Let’s implement them.”

These floats turn ocean wave power into electricity.

We have the solutions. Let's implement them. #GreenNewDeal.#ActOnClimate #climateaction #climatecrisis #cleanenergy #go100re pic.twitter.com/MHbuNebqEE

— Mike Hudema (@MikeHudema) August 31, 2020

Now, Tom Lehrer, is the link to tie music and maths together.

When I did my maths degree, my thesis was on Non-Euclidean Geometry.

The very word ‘maths’ has the effect of making many shudder and tune out. Please hang in there!

Euclidean Geometry is a series of propositions and theorems which relate strictly to relationships between lines, shapes and angles on a flat surface. You will all have encountered several aspects of this in school geometry, and if you have ever used an atlas, you will have seen the problems that arise when you try to transfer a portion of the curved surface of Planet Earth on to a flat piece of paper.

This situation can be handled by using spherical geometry, and while for ease of use, if we are trying to calculate distances from a map, we can use trigonometry, if we want to be more accurate, we need spherical trigonometry – which I have taught in the past to those studying cartography.

But when it comes to space travel, we are in a whole new place!

Now please – just hang in there because I want you to enjoy Tom Lehrer as much as I do, but you need a bit of background to do so!

The two branches of non-Euclidean Geometry which I studied were one which was developed by Bernhard Riemann, on which Albert Einstein founded his Theory of Relativity. Hence the reference to space!

The other was more curious, in that it was developed, simultaneously and independently by a Russian called Nikolai Lobachevsky and a Hungarian called Janos Bolyai.

Scientific research of any kind abhors plagiarism, but the existence of that in this particular case has never been substantiated.

But it makes a delightful basis for imagination to run away!

So enjoy Lehrer’s take on the possibilities!

And never again say maths is dull – but PLEASE take scientific research seriously and tell the government to act on global warming!

I end as always – this is my 2020 New Year Resolution:

“I will do everything in my power to enable Australia to be restored to responsible government.”