Why I won't be officially reprimanded for my social media use

I have been dragged into the office and unofficially reprimanded for my social media use. The first question was after a number of print-outs of my blog posts were held up asking if this was me, naturally I replied yes.

Firstly, Observations in an Undemocratic World is my blog, secondly there is a picture of me on the page and thirdly I stand by what I write. I was never going to deny writing this.

Now let me explain for the record, I do not dislike this particular director, he is undoubtedly an usual fellow by virtue of his communication methodology, but I don't think he is necessarily a bad person.

I fully expect he is under pressure from others higher in the organisation to get this sorted and then hampered by not allowing him the latitude to make the decisions to make this go away.

The union representative speaks well of him and his attempts to do the right thing by the union members instead being burnt by higher management. Based on his personal experiences, he now only pursues causes he believes he can win.

Despite our professional differences - I hold no personal animosity towards him.

A number of weeks before I was questioned over my social media use, a colleague contacted the Minister of Training and Workforce Development over workplace issues.

He was reprimanded for his social media use giving me the impetus to write about the issue. It was pretty easy to trace it to him as he used his personal account to write directly on the Minister's Twitter account.

So I decided to write a post titled Twittergate and the perils of social media in relation to his social media use and his misguided attempt to ensure better outcomes for the students in his care. Let's not forget, this is all about student outcomes and his intentions were purely for his students.

But my case is different, firstly I took the organisation (who will forever remain nameless) to the Industrial Magistrate's Court over intentional breaches of of a certified agreement ratified in the Industrial Relations Commission.

Despite their attempts by the state solicitor to get the case thrown out of court, the magistrate declined the motion allowing me to refile.

This was due to my poor wording of the submission as it was never expected to be tabled in the court but he felt the case had merit. The points raised in the submission were directed at the internal audience of my employer and not for legal dissection in the Industrial Relations Court.

Probably had they handled the issue better it wouldn't have made it that far and the issue would have been dealt with in a positive manner.

I believed the actual threat of legal action would be enough for them to back down as they were acutely aware that they were wrong. They held a different point of view; they thought if they could apply enough pressure I would wilt.

What they didn't know was that certain managers and people in positions of authority had over-stepped the mark and scope of their authority.

I had kept all written communication and the verbal threats and intimidation contained certain information that was not in the public domain. Whilst I can't verify verbal threats as it is illegal for me to record such conversations without personal consent, only certain people in positions of authority were in the know to the details of such threats.

This is confidential information and somehow I seem to now know some limited details of the corruption enquiry when they questioned me in an attempt to flush out the anonymous reporter in breach of legal protections. 

We then went back to mediation where they admitted they were wrong and I dropped the case based on a handshake. Needless to say, they then denied parts of the meeting and backed down on their word.

So here we go again, they thought that once I dropped the legal action I had lost my leverage; what they didn't know was that I was in possession of information that would support my legal action and take it to a whole new level.

So when they came across my social media accounts, they were not going to officially reprimand me because I had not posted on the Minister's Twitter account.

I hadn't named the organisation where I am employed so it wouldn't be unreasonable to conclude their were stalking me on social media based on my actions in the Industrial Magistrate's Court.

It would be difficult to explain how they actually came in across Observations in An Undemocratic World including my Facebook account and other social media accounts.

Finally there is the use of the State Solicitor and the costs involved in an unsuccessful attempt to defeat me in the Industrial Relation's Court when they later admitted wrongdoing in return for me to drop legal action.

I have had it with Hewlett Packard, no more

I have had it with Hewlett Packard, no more. This is the last time I will own a HP computer, it drives me insane, the slow processing, locking up and generally not performing.

I don't really want to have to purchase a new computer as this one is reasonably new, what I never want to own is another computer like this one. For a minute, let's forget it was loaded with Windows 8, the most useless operating system I have ever had the misfortune to use. Let's forget about the fact that this computer will just not upgrade to Windows 10 and has compatability issues with just about every program I run. Do I run disk scans - you bet. Defrag the drive, yes I do. Do I run the problem solving program? Well I try but it locks up with no resolution so this is the last HP I will ever own.

A denial of carriage

Standing at the check-in counter allowed me to witness a denial of service by an airline. A gentleman was checking-in until the counter staff detects his passport has less than six months remaining and he is pulled aside and will be denied carriage. He actually took it reasonably well, he made a couple of phone calls to his friends and was planning to head back to the city.

He was given advice to immediately head off back to the city and get to the passport office that afternoon before the office shut for the Christmas break. I understand the reasoning, he needed six months remaining on his passport despite only taking a week's break in Bali. Should he get injured requiring hospitalisation then he will have an expired travel document but although plenty of people get involved in scooter accidents, most don't require six months work of medical treatment and should they need such treatment, it can be organised during the bed rest.

Missing a work flight

Over the past decade I haven't flown much for work, the previous twenty years I flew on a regular basis and never missed a flight - this was all to change.

So when I missed a 7am flight for work, I knew I was in trouble. The flight was paid for by the client whom we were consulting as they outsourced their maintenance training. We were experiencing a number of difficulties due to non-aligned strategies and whilst we had plenty of reasons for this, we needed to get back on track quickly - this just blew that.

I was booked to fly Virgin Australia from Perth to Kalgoorlie and there wasn't another flight to Kalgoorlie by Virgin until around 4pm. I had effectively messed up a two and a half day visit. I was thinking, this could be the issue that really blows the relationship apart.

Breaking into a stressed state, I felt like throwing up, this missed flight was my mistake and I knew it. I had ordered a taxi and it was late to arrive, I am guessing this is when the taxi drivers cross over from nightshift to dayshift. I went onto their automated booking system and booked the taxi later than I should have.

Regardless, plenty of people make it to the airport on time so there is only one responsible person at fault here. There is no value trying to apportion blame to taxi drivers, it was me who booked the taxi too late and left no room for late arrival.

Enquiries with the Virgin floor staff were no help so I quickly jumped onto a terminal bus and made my way to Terminal 4 and purchased a ticket with Qantas on a midday flight. This last minute flight was fairly reasonable and since this was my mistake I didn't mind placing this charge on my credit card.

Trying to call our office and going onto voice mail didn't calm me, I rang the phone number on my business card and it wasn't working so I know why clients get agitated. I couldn't get through to the client either, they went to voicemail too so I was really getting annoyed.

I am of the belief that whilst it isn't ideal when you make a mistake, the way you approach the solution is the primary factor in achieving favourable outcomes. Despite my initial stuff-up, I was determined to ensure this was a successful trip for both the client and ourselves and it turned out to be exactly that.

Bitcoin - bubble or hysteria?

I am hearing many stories about crypto-currency and the associated payment system Blockchain transaction leger. 

I am also closely watching how bitcoin is reaching unprecedented levels of speculation making tulips look like just a minor bubble. You know you are witnessing a speculative bubble when everyone is talking about it so I'm interested to witness what will happen next.

So I read there will only ever be 21 million bitcoins minted, so there is a finite supply that apparently won't be increased. So far, in an attempt to create an artificial scarcity by the anonymous creators are controlling the release of bitcoin to create demand. 

But unlike tulips, possibly the first financial bubble to implode, there is no physical actual bitcoins you attain, instead they are purely a electronic transaction although people are willing to trade bitcoin for actually currencies, goods or merchandise.

So crypto-currencies are both a payment system and a currency of sorts, yet are not backed by a standard such as gold or other precious metal. Instead bitcoin is a decentralised currency that is not associated with any country or bank. 

This is a peer-to-peer payment system and not supported by an economy as national currencies currently are or as gold once backed national currencies.

Previously national currencies were once backed by the gold standard under the Bretton Woods agreement implemented directly after the second world war. Although, that policy was repealed when American President Richard Nixon ended the convertibility of US dollars to gold in 1971 in a series of economic reforms.

The argument is that as an economy grows so should the currency in circulation. The gold standard acts as a brake and limits economic growth with monetarists arguing that recessions are created by limits to money supply.

I'm expecting bitcoin to go higher in the short term as demand soars as supply is set with people willing to apparently purchase at any price. I am also waiting for the implosion that follows every speculative bubble and this speculative bubble won't be any different.

The Breitling Navitimer

The Breitling Navitimer is a classical timepiece featuring a unique aeronautical design for pilots. Whilst not a pilot myself, I am still able to appreciate the style and functionality of the Navitimer.

The centrepiece of the 1952 released Navitimer is the rotating bezel activating a circular slide rule allowing pilots to perform complex calculations for navigation and aeronautics. Whilst modern commercial aircraft utilise GPS and computerised avionics, the Breitling Navitimer remains a favourite timepiece of pilots and aeronautical engineers.

The slide rule is no longer required for normal commercial aviation requirements but maintains the aviation inspired heritage of pilots. I wouldn't purchase a Breitling Navitimer for only one reason and that is I'm not a wannabe pilot and don't want to be running around pretending to be something I'm not. I will leave the Navitimer to the people who have earned their flight status.

How did it come to this?

I began my employment at my current state government employer in 2006 and worked really hard progressing through a series of levels after five years service and successfully completing a graduate diploma to gain the prerequisite qualifications to progress further.

I then undertook tertiary education to further enhance my formal qualifications at a considerable financial cost and time because that is what is required. I also undertook every challenge that was offered, worked overtime without remuneration because the job required quality outcomes. I was up to midnight most nights preparing for the next day and weekends were written off for the first two years.

Then, when I was preparing to go on long service leave in mid 2014 and nearly worked myself into a state of exhaustion, I noticed a shift in attitude going on that wasn't rewarding hard work, it was rewarding alliances that agreed primarily with one person to shore up their power plays.

These people are pathetic, they did not even have the courtesy to speak to me face-to-face, they just undermined me at every opportunity knowing I would be away from the job for three and a half months. This was really the period I lost respect for these individuals - sad really.

So upon from my return from three and a half months break in September 2014 after everything had changed, I set about fixing this up. I already knew these people could not be trusted, I was threatened off-the-record and told that if I ever repeated this threat - it would be denied.

Until that time, I had been a model employee, albeit somewhat opinionated but the attitude of those you had been entrusted in a management role changed all that. What they had never expected was my resilience and appetite for a fight - they didn't get to walk all over me as they expected.

JJ's Kitchen Chinese Restaurant

I was fortunate enough to finally not have a busy schedule so I decided to head down to JJ's Kitchen, a Chinese restaurant in the southern Perth suburb of Thornlie for lunch yesterday. The restaurant is part owned by a work colleague and managed by his partner so I sought the restaurant out as I really wanted to see the business he invested in first hand. As she is from northern China not far from the North Korean border, the cuisine has a distinctly northern Chinese theme.

That being said, their lunch-time chef is a Chinese/Malay gentleman so a number of dishes have Malay and Singaporean influences. As such, I didn't order off of the main menu instead reaching for the lunch menu specials and a laksa was my choice with spring rolls as an entree. I was pretty happy with my choice and there are plenty of future options for lunch.

Normally if I skip out from work to head out for a meal, I go to the food hall at the Maddington Shopping Centre. Heading in the other direction, I can drive down to the Thornlie Shopping Centre that isn't that much further and get a better quality meal for a better price. A better option in the future will be to order take-away and get them drop it to our workplace now that I have had a chance to see the place - a much better option.   

The TAFE South Australia fiasco

So TAFE SA has been found non-compliant against national regulatory standards; that is the state government funded and managed Technical and Further Education college in South Australia. 

So far, the Chairman has been fired with the South Australian government appointing consultants to review quality assurance processes and a possible Senate investigation likely.

The question is, could TAFE colleges in Western Australia also be found non-compliant after the damning independent review by the national auditor in South Australia? So far fourteen courses have been found to be sub-standard. 

Now courses have been suspended and no longer allowed to enrol students until the non-compliant courses have been cleared. The questions are; will students have to be re-assessed? Will further academic study be required? Who will pay for this?

Could funding arrangements in Western Australia be affected or any other state or territory in the country for that matter? Could rorting even take place in the form of resulting fraud so full funding could be claimed when students are rubber stamped? 

With all the regulation involved monitoring vocational education and training in Australia, could misappropriation of government funds even occur? The was no indicators of misappropriation of government funds, this was purely related to compliance. 

Whilst these possible abuses appear to be vastly different to the challenges affecting TAFE SA, the question is, could they occur in different jurisdictions in Australia with pretty much the same results achieved by different means?

Drugged and robbed in Manila

In a story that was retold to me by a young English woman on a trip to the Philippines left me shocked and outraged, I have read about this type of incident happening before but I never really believed it. I thought these stories were more urban myth than reality; this really goes on go with young solo travelers targeted.

She arrived in Manila and headed out to Intramuros, an area just south of Manila central with a wonderful Spanish influence courtesy of their rich colonial history. According to her she was befriended by a couple of women who invited her out to lunch, she duly accepted their kind offer. 

Apparently a male also came to lunch and was introduced as the husband of one of the females. She is where her story becomes somewhat hazy as she was drugged at lunch and loaded into the back of a taxi where she was driven around Manila and her bank account emptied via her credit card.

She recalls being in and out of consciousness where she was being kissed by a male accomplice but doesn't speak of any sexually explicit activities going on. I did ask her if she felt sore or had and injuries, she replied that she did not. 

I did point out that there may have been photographs taken as she only remembers a small part of being kissed. I did unfortunately advise her to go and get some tests done for sexually transmitted diseases as she had established some form of inappropriate activity occurring in her description of events.

Upon being dumped and slowly regaining consciousness she made her way to a police station where she reported the incident when she was still affected by the drugs. The police took a short statement but were anything but enthusiastic about pursuing the matter further. 

She was shown a photograph where she was able to identify the male offender where the police stated that this individual was known to them but they wouldn't be taking the matter further. The police cited the reason as being that she will be out of the country when the trial would be expected to occur; she replied that she would be in attendance when a trial is set. 

All she required was sufficient notice to organise flights and accommodation. The answer was still a resounding NO. One suspects the police are in on the scam taking a share of the profits in exchange for not investigating this crime. 

Keeping in mind that this is the same police force given special permission to execute drug dealers, this is somewhat perplexing that they should not be keen to investigate a known criminal group using drugs as a way to incapacitate vulnerable women.

A coward's punch condoned by the justice system

So here we go again, homegrown thug and genuine loser Dylan Robert Thomas has been sent a clear message by the justice system - your actions are condoned. 

In June, Thomas punched, without warning, seventeen year-old Sam Ortiz with so much force that Ortiz, already unconscious, fell backwards striking his head on the pavement risking life threatening injuries.

We have a serious societal problem where young people go out and get drunk before punching people whilst they aren't even looking. We also have a justice system not only supporting such behaviour, this decision endorses one punch attacks - this is why we are where we are right now. 

Thomas avoided prison and was instead warned by the magistrate about the mindset of young thugs and one-punch attacks. Ortiz has been left with headaches and memory loss no doubt other injuries. 

Thomas then went and assaulted another person in a one-punch attack twenty minutes later in the same area. If the magistrate wanted to send Dylan a message then he would have enforced prison time, that would make thugs think about actions and consequences. 

In a pathetic turn of events, Dylan and his family left the court smiling away taking selfies as if this is a big joke, unfortunately these fools are correct. This is the justice system, they walk free and mock the people they assaulted. 

The one and only Sir Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney last played in Perth in 1993 so it's been a while, so when Paul wandered out on NIB Stadium in Perth on Saturday night we knew we were in for a treat - Paul really knows how to entertain a crowd. 

We were not disappointed, three hours of top class entertainment on a balmy Perth Saturday night. It might have been 36°C during the day but the evening really cooled off making for a wonderful evening. The moon hanging over the stadium really set the tone, Paul stepped back to enjoy the atmosphere and we did too.

Paul casually wandered on to the stage to a rapturous applause with his left-handed Hofner violin bass slung across his shoulder facing downwards opening with A Hard Day's Night, Junior's Farm and Can't Buy Me Love. Paul played some old Beatles songs, some Wings material and newer songs including the Rihanna and Kayne West FourFiveSeconds song he collaborated on. 

What I learned was that some of the old Beatles songs sound great live, much better than the studio recorded material we are used to hearing on the radio. Paul has an absolute on-stage personality, he is a humble guy and despite all his adulation over the decades, he is a great bloke.

You knew there was going to be some Wings material and Band on the Run as well as Live and Let Die were going to light the crowd up. There was some Helter Skelter, Sergeant Pepper as well as Blackbird and a tribute to George Harrison with Something that began on George's old ukulele. 

I'm not going to list all the songs as we were entertained with a 40 song setlist; he had the WA Police Pipe Band on stage for Mull of Kintyre with bagpipes as part of the 8 song encore. We had an on-stage proposal and a whole bunch of fabulous stories between songs, this was a fantastic Saturday night and I am glad I was a part of it. 

A failure of strategy

The strategy of issue avoidance and stalling in the misplaced hope that I just give up has proved to be a failed strategy. If anything, this has just strengthened my resolve; I will not only continue to pursue this issue but I will increase my pressure on senior management until they address this issue.

This is moving to a case of challenge accepted, not can I also negate your stalling tactics, the roadblocks placed in my path can be navigated around. I am more than happy for the spotlight to be turned on our strategic business unit and our practices be placed in the public spotlight. 

When you have engaged in corruption the spotlight is not really want you want, the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2003 is designed to prevent acts of revenge against a whistleblower.

I will highlight not only poor public sector practices in a public forum, I will highlight governance failures at the highest levels. This can be a real career killer for the ambitious managers within the organisation. 

This is a strategy I am more than happy to engage in. Why not have some personal ambition at stake? This is very much a strong motivating factor. You have a requirement to prevent misappropriation of government funding and report abuses of position.

The major issue arising from poor governance and corrupt practices being allowed to flourish is that somebody must pay. A Registered Training Organisation is exactly that, an organisation registered to defined standards as set by a governing authority with registration suspended or cancelled should abuses be identified.

Should our competitors find out about our flagrant abuses then they have real issues through lost business, government funding and then there is the reputational damage to the business and the loss of market leadership.

One has to seriously question the strategy of providing a poor service to clients, over-charging both clients and apprentices, misappropriation of state government funds, an abuse of position and the abuse of a government authority. 

The is not an appropriate use of taxpayer funds and serious ramifications need to be asked about the leadership, or lack thereof to abuse a position. We all have a ethical responsibility to prevent abuse of a public system, it shouldn't be a choice between doing the right thing or career progression put at stake. 

ISIL's Toyota fleet

In what must still be a branding nightmare for Toyota, the prevalence of ISIL to wantonly parade around in Toyota branded vehicles must have been more than a little disconcerting. The Hilux was so popular with Daesh fighters that it has become a central fixture of the ISIS brand strategy. Whilst ISIL is all but defeated in Syria and Iraq, the splintering of terrorists to other areas especially in the Asia-Pacific region impacts us all.

The utility vehicle is fast and maneuverable packing plenty of firepower with a 50-calibre weapon mounted on the rear easily defeating soldier's body armour and penetrating lightly armoured vehicles such as the American built Humvee. The United States authorised a probe into Toyota to determine its sales strategy to terrorist organisations, a serious international business like Toyota wouldn't jeopardise its international reputation for what is relatively minor sales; however, they could be doing more to track the third party sales though.

It is fair to ask, how is ISIL getting its hands on new Toyota vehicles? One expects brokers are buying vehicles and forwarding them to the fighters; however, as every component is stamped with a serial number, it isn't difficult to trace the distribution channel and then shut down the broker/buyer. Toyota has a very strict policy preventing buyers purchasing their vehicles with the intention of para-military use or for terrorism. This supply chain is no doubt sophisticated and new vehicles are getting through; combined with the durability of the product and the availability of spare parts - this vehicle is perfect for their activities. This needs to be shut down and shut down quickly.

Diving the Padang Bai cruise ship jetty

Heading up to Padang Bai on the west coast of Bali is a pleasant drive from Seminyak once breaking free from the hectic Legian and Denpasar traffic. Padang Bai is the ferry staging point for Lombok's Gili islands and is also a pretty good muck diving location - I like the place. 

The cruise ship jetty was constructed to attract cruise ships further up the coast from the usual port of Benoa and around to the eastern side of the island. Unfortunately in an almost laughable case of poor design and mismanagement, the jetty was designed too short not extending into deep enough water for the draft of cruise ships. 

Instead, on the one occasion a cruise ship did arrive, the tender transported the passengers to the jetty but as the jetty was constructed for cruise ships, it required passengers to climb up from the tender. After their day out and passing through immigration, the passengers were left on the unprotected jetty in a tropical downpour, no more cruise ships docked at Padang Bai jetty instead providing an expensive fishing and diving structure.

A spring weekend at Rottnest Island

I was lucky enough to be once again be invited out on the boat of a sailing colleague for a weekend at Rottnest Island during what is the sailing season. We were at the beginning of the season with summer approaching, it is time for a little fun and relaxation combined with a few drinks.

We were skipping a sailing weekend, this was the Governor's Cup with all classes sailing together in in race with a handicapped start. The yacht owner hates this race as the start is confusing, we are all bunched up and fighting for space, rounding buoys are a fight with collisions and damage galore. We sail in a restricted class with identical yachts, the racing is close and competitive.

While I was there, I began to reflect on what Rottnest Island means to the locals. What gives me some hope is successive state governments have not buggered up the island for the common people. Rottnest Island is not an exclusive enclave for the movers and shakers of the business world or Perth high society - Rottnest Island is truly for the people.

Naturally, an invitation on board a Riviera 48 is a pretty exclusive ride. The owner usually moors in Thompson Bay on a permanent mooring he owns. Thompson Bay is the main bay on Rottnest Island with only a short trip on a tender to the main settlement. The Perth weather in November should be consistent, so some time spent on a reasonably sized boat on the water in an idyllic location can't be beaten.

On calm winter days, Rottnest Island is marvelous, what makes this experience even better is the lack of crowds in the off-season. The Christmas to New Year break is the period when the majority of businesses are closed for summer holidays and Rottnest Island is flat out with activity, this is our summer holidays. Mid November, Rottnest is still busy but not over the top so I was happy about this invite, it would be fun without the crowds.

I have to question the logic of heading over to Bali at Christmas time during the middle of the wet season dealing with the crowds and heavily increased prices. Rottnest Island is assessable to just about everyone, there are so many families spending their days in harmony with the island, I was amazed with the laid back approach of the floating residences from large to small, everyone was friends with everybody else. What a great place, maybe it is time for me to invest in my own floating holiday house.

Beating the street

As a young guy, I purchased Peter Lynch's Beating the Street to assist with my share investing education. the lessons in this book are squarely aimed at the New York Stock Exchange on Wall St. 

I took some of the lessons learned and tried to apply them to the Australian Stock Exchange, whilst this was good advice to seek out value following smaller capitalised shares. I soon learned that the ASX at the time didn't have the liquidity of the NYSE and the superannuation funds providing the liquidity for trading the leading 50 companies in the index and forget about it if the company wasn't in the leading 100 companies.

Sure, there are some specialist funds trading in smaller capitalised shares but they are in the minority. Even the larger Australian mutual funds tend to invest 30% of their fund in international equities and 25% of the fund in Australian equities with international funds cashing out when exchange rate risks bite. I quickly learned Wall St strategies didn't work out as well in the ASX as they did on the street - but then again, it might have been my execution. 

The yes vote succeeds

So the plebiscite has been decided with the yes camp winning the popular vote 59% to 41% The Parliament has been given the mandate to push the legislation through the lower house without any hindrance with the bill to then likely to pass through the Senate without any obstruction.

The people of Australia have returned their survey questionnaires, it wasn't a vote apparently hence the Bureau of Statistics managing the process but it offered a pretty good indication of what people wanted. The survey asked a simple question leaving either a yes or no box to tick and a return postage envelope for the response. More than 80% of survey forms were returned offering a definitive answer - the yes vote wins. So we are going to have same sex marriage legislated in Australia probably before Christmas.

I hate National Mutual

Back in 1989 as an apprentice I decided to look after my financial future and invest in a retirement security plan, a precursor to mandatory superannuation. I didn't know much about investment back then and signed on the dotted line for the worst investment of my life.

Skip forward to 2017, for that 28 years of investment I am now the proud owner of exactly half a year's current salary. So much for their claims of the magic of compounding interest and investment returns. If I had just waited a couple of years, I would have been able to invest directly though my personal self managed superannuation fund. Based on my personal investment returns, I could have grown that sum of money into a high quality investment stream for my retirement.

So where did my money go? Their high fee structure sapped all the investment returns, they didn't post the investment returns and the fund was closed to new investors but wasn't combined with other funds to gain a critical mass of funds. Running a self managed superannuation fund isn't a cheap option but at least you have control of the investment criteria, returns and asset class selection. Why pay a manager to do what you do only to under-perform your actual returns for an outrageous fee?

Furthermore, they did not open an online account for this fund informing me that this is an old fund and they will not build an online portal. I would have to ring and make a personal appointment with their adviser during business hours to find out any information or wait until the annual report was mailed out. When I asked for details of how much I had contributed, the exact fees deducted and investment returns I was told I had been sent paper based copies annually and I should work it out myself. Now there is some excellent customer service for my outrageously high fees.

Pretty much all other funds have online access accounts including AXA and AMP accounts as the fund has been sold a number of times. It was pretty much this account that didn't go online tending to indicate the importance of this fund, I was always told this was an old closed fund but wasn't allowed to change funds within the group. Why would they?

They had a cash cow and I had signed on the dotted line all those years ago. I had always maintained my contributions, albeit these were minimum contributions for most of the period although I had made two large lump sum payments during the period. I had also allowed the monthly direct debit payments to be inflation adjusted but I knew these payments mostly went to management fees, this basically prevented a negative return.

So why didn't I get out earlier? Well, there is a clause where they keep a percentage of the account and that percentage reduces every year. I waited until now as the US market has been on a fairly large bull run and I needed to lock in those profits to account for the percentage of the account they would keep. Also keeping in mind how difficult it is to actually withdraw your money, they placed every difficulty and road block in my path.

I have never tried to leave the Church of Scientology, an outlaw motorcycle gang or the NAZI party, but I can only imagine it wasn't as difficult as getting out of the old National Mutual Retirement Security Plan and I have never felt the inclination to move to South America.

Finally, I have cashed out now and combined the funds with a low fee industry superannuation fund and even losing a percentage of the fund I will still be ahead. Fortunately, I opened an industry based fund so at least employer contributions were not profiteered into this account. With twelve years left to retirement, I have lost the advantage of compound interest but by combining these funds I may be able to salvage something of a reasonable retirement benefit after more than fourty years of employment.

Line - the messaging app

Working in training and education, I see rampant mobile phone use at the most inappropriate times; the most favoured app for students to chat with during class is Line, the messaging app. I can't say I knew too much about it before except for seeing the logo and green coloured screen when I bust them using their phones.

So I decided to do so research into this app, what I do know now is that this is a pretty popular communication app, these young guys are on it all day and this chat seems to take priority over everything. Fail a class, no worries, chat comes first. I have heard from employers that they answer phone calls and messages during job interviews and during performance management sessions.

For this very reason, many companies have banned mobile phone use during work hours, some employers even go to the extreme of locking mobile phones in a safe box during the hours of work. Can you really blame employers? So I set about and downloaded myself an app as well, I can chat to people when required but I must admit, if I used this app once a month, that would be heavy usage for me. Needless to say, I won't be caught using this app when I should be working.

Andrew was right

I was miserable and I knew it, I had to get out of this job but the redundancy packages, redeployment and finally severance packages robbed me of opportunity as the state government finances collapsed as the mining construction boom derailed the state economy.

My toxic work environment formed a large portion of my personal stress; I hated my job and I knew there was only one option - get out of this place. I read Andrew's advice very carefully and I was determined to put it into action. I am aware I needed to leave, the problem was the individuals who were robbing me of opportunity by their corrupt practices were also exposing themselves to investigation.

Regardless, I believed in myself and I knew I needed to generate opportunities. First, I needed to pick up my certificate from Torrens University. I then needed to network at the awards ceremony when I flew to Adelaide and see what opportunities present themselves outside of the sphere of the Western Australian government.

Finally I needed to check international employment, I originally was employed in the construction and mining industries - I could capitalise on this experience. Yes, Andrew was right, there are opportunities that I need to pursue, I need to find happiness in my work and get out of my current corrupt employer.

Post MBA - where to from here?

So I'm done, whilst I haven't graduated yet, I need to reflect on what's next from here? The Western Australian economy is close to recession and has been in severe downturn since about 2014. The state government has the highest debt in history in both absolute dollar terms and in relation to economic output.

I want to stay employed in the public sector for at least the next couple of years, I have twelve years until I can access my retirement benefits and I have two years until I qualify for my second round of long service leave. In Australia, long service leave is twelve weeks paid leave after fifteen years service to a company. In order to attract high quality candidates, the state government cannot match private sector salaries so conditions of employment have to be competitive. Hence, state government employees qualify for long service leave after seven years of continuous service.

Another benefit of state government employment is the ability to take secondary employment part-time as long as it is authorised. The thinking is the public service wants to recruit staff from the private sector bring job-ready skills, extensive experience and contemporary knowledge to government departments. This allows individuals such as myself to generate a second income, maintain private sector skills and knowledge as well as gain experience in new areas.

As I'm in training and development I would prefer to remain in this field but there are not any current opportunities in the state government as the government has just announced another round of redundancies and plans to rationalise and amalgamate departments. Previously there was an official hiring freeze of six months plus unofficial pressure placed on department heads to not hire as a redundancy pool exists where displaced people sit in a recruitment pool. 

I have nothing to complain about, I have retained my employment and although I will not be receiving any pay increases for the next three years as the state government has capped salary increases. I just have to wait until next year until I get a clearer picture of where I am going, the rest of Australia is moving again, hopefully Western Australia has seen the worst of the downturn. 

The new world tour

As Paul McCartney prepares to return to Perth twenty four years after he kicked off his New World Tour at Subiaco Oval in 1993. I expected a fairly laid back acoustic show - boy was I in for a surprise.

Now, Sir Paul will return to Perth for an outdoor concert at NIB stadium on December 2. I'm really looking forward to this concert and I won't be reading any critic's reviews. The local newspaper, The West Australia wrote a stinging review that was received very poorly by anyone who was at the concert. The next day, my fellow concert goer friend and I were walking around with concert t-shirts and I was constantly asked if the concert was really that bad.

I couldn't believe it as it was a fantastic concert, there was so much going on with big screen monitors arranged around the stage, helicopters flying overhead, flame throwers and all matter of props. That surprised me, I was there for the music and Paul didn't disappoint - he was terrific. Based on what I saw at The New World Tour, I reckon his new tour One on One will be just as good.

Eating out in Hong Kong - Fisher & Farmer

Heading down to the Tsim Sha Tsui area of Kowloon, the interactive mobile phone that was offered by our hotel recommended the Fisher and Farmer restaurant. So off we went on a stunning Friday night in Hong Kong.

This was apparently one of the restaurants in Hong Kong to visit, arriving at 8 pm without a booking was always be troublesome and after waiting for an hour we were seated. There wasn't much of a wine list so the drinks were beer, so the choice was Corona. For the meal, we started with a dumplings as the entrée, the Peking duck was recommended but I can't say I was overly impressed and since desert wasn't on the cards, we left even without coffee.

I'm neither a Hong Kong local or Chinese resident so while I wasn't much impressed with the Peking duck, this reputation of this restaurant is highly rated and the Peking duck is a specialty. It is not difficult to work out the issue stems from my tastes and not their cooking, I wanted local food and not westernised food so in that respect, I got what I wanted and appreciate the meal for what it was. The acid test always is, would I go back and eat there again, the answer is a resounding yes.

A yes or no vote

A same sex marriage plebiscite has been called in Australia, we will now vote on a non-binding instrument to guide politicians on how to vote in parliament on the same sex marriage issue.

To be honest, I couldn't care less either way how the vote goes as it doesn't really affect me. But apparently, it isn't a vote, it is a survey and managed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and not the Australian Electoral Commission. I feel no real connection with the same sex marriage issue but I understand plenty of people feel strongly on the issue. What is ironic is that a civil union exists in Australia where same sex couples are considered in a de facto relationship have property rights just the same as heterosexual de facto relationships.

The brigade of campaigners for the yes vote have been very vocal on social media, when I say vocal, they abuse any person who argues the no vote. Whilst I don't really know the yes/no vote split, the vocal minority are possible attempting to shout down a silent majority. We saw with the US presidential election where Hillary Clinton was the unbackable favourite fall short in actual voting.

Now most of us don't understand the American electoral college voting system, it isn't a majority voting principal but regardless, the system was known before people voted. The fact is, regardless of the voting system, Clinton didn't win. The same could happen in Australia so I guess the yes camp is getting vocal despite the fact that it could be alienating people who are undecided.

Is this how the same sex marriage vote will go? I'm unsure, but the yes camp is aggressive, obnoxious and abusive. This alienates people, especially people who don't have strong views on the subject who could well be willing to vote no to shut the yes camp up. Naturally there is poor behaviour in the no camp as well although they appear to be somewhat subdued. Once the plebiscite has been counted, I just hope we are done with this and the public accepts the survey results either way.

Finally getting an iPhone

So I finally have an iPhone, not a new one but an old hand me down iPhone 4 and I am wondering what all the fuss was about. Yes, the iPhone 4 is small, easy to slip in a pocket and for me - easy to lose.

So I have an iPhone 4 and I do like it as my travel phone; my main mobile phone is an Android and since I am familiar with the Android operating system, that is my preferred operating system. I must admit, I do like the size of the iPhone 4 and since my eyes have been lasered I am able to read the screen now.

What irks me is the only software that runs on the device is Apple specific so I am unable to upload all the music loaded on my computer in MP3 format. What I like about Apple products is the battery life, they certainly out-perform my Samsung products. At this point the iPhone 4 remains my travel phone as I just purchase a sim card at every destination - I am enjoying my first foray into Apple products.

Making cool uncool

So after a trip to Hong Kong, I decided to purchase myself a pair of Adidas Stan Smith as I used to wear the Adidas brand to school as a teenager. It appears white sneakers are back in vogue again and they were pretty popular in Hong Kong.

My seventeen year old nephew disagrees, he thinks I purchased the most generic sneaker around; with his Asics Get Lyte III, he apparently knows cool. In fact, I get the distinct impression that I just may have made cool uncool in his eyes. He is probably right, I am pushing fifty after all so I fall slightly outside the brand's market segment. An old bugger trying to remain cool in his own eyes when he wasn't ever cool to start off with probably isn't a great look. But what do I care? The older you get the less you care about other people's views anyway.

A November graduation

So my online studies have come to an end, my course ended at the completion of the second trimester 2017 after beginning in the first trimester 2015. Before that, I had undertaken a Bachelor of Training & Development beginning in 2012 and ending in 2014. So I really feel this has been pretty much non-stop study during that time over two qualifications.

I really didn't think I could complete another trimester of study, I was totally spent and I just had enough. I had taken a three month break in mid 2014 before taking on a further unit and then starting the master's degree. That's way too much study over a prolonged period and I now have to turn this into a career positive in a depressed employment market.

One positive being in the training sector is consulting with industry representatives directly or indirectly through industry associations and advisory boards. The general consensus is that economic indications are tending to see a mild recovery leading to a mild hiring increase of trainees and apprentices in the technical fields. I am also receiving sms notifications on my phone from labour hire contractors offering employment opportunities.

I really need to generate opportunities and need to be a little creative as the recovery is soft and still in the early stages. We have now seen the bottom of the downturn and the tentative recovery is looking positive. So I will be booking flights to Adelaide so pick up my certificate but the real reason is to network with my classmates so as to generate leads for future employment opportunities. Now it is time for me to get serious and get out there and make the last two and a half years count.

Hong Kong imported produce

I had read that fresh produce was both difficult to obtain and expensive to purchase in Hong Kong. It is well known that the cost of living is very expensive in Hong Kong and imported food in the form of fruit is highly prized.

So when I was in Hong Kong, I set about to see if this in fact true so when the opportunity to wander around a typical Hong Kong market arose - I was pretty enthusiastic. What I saw was somewhat different from what I had read in magazine articles. The author stated single strawberries were sold on wrapped pummels for extridinory prices, my investigations indicated otherwise.

I viewed pummels of strawberries similar to what I purchase in Perth. Likewise, Royal Gala apples were loosely sold and stacked on displays So I'm more than a little suspicions of this reporting. Yes, the cost of housing has skyrocketed in Hong Kong, yes the cost of living is high but I found no evidence to support the notion that fresh fruit and vegetables are so expensive in Hong Kong that they need to be sold in single units.

A pretty good night at Buto't Bulat

Having arrived in Iloilo well after dark we were faced with the question of where to eat. The plane had been delayed numerous times throughout the day, the morning flight was cancelled, that left the early afternoon flight, more waiting with no staff interaction ensured patience was drawing short, our departure not long before sunset had totally wasted the day.

Notwithstanding the unprofessional conduct of Cebu Pacific, we were excited about being in Iloilo as we were informed the local seafood was outstanding so we headed out to Buto't Balat for dinner.

I decided to begin with a dozen raw oysters in shells that looked like they had been just plucked from the water, not much effort had been placed in presentation but I didn't care. I was in the Philippine province, there was no need for fanciness here.

The local prawns were better presented, not over cooked and the fish was exquisite. If you get the basics right then the rest takes care of itself and this is a pretty good restaurant.

Black Tuesday - the 1987 stockmarket crash aftermath

Ok ok, I know it is referred to as Black Monday when the New York Stock Exchange went into meltdown but for those of us in Australia, it was the Tuesday when the carnage began following the lead from Wall Street. Not that I would really know because as an eighteen year old, I wasn't yet invested in any sharemarkets.

I had bought into my first mutual fund in May 1989 and purchased my first shares in 1990; so whilst the memory of the 1987 stockmarket crash was still very raw for many, I was just beginning my journey in independent investment.

I look back at the projections from my mutual fund where a twenty year old making a twenty dollar a week contribution would at retirement have between $1.5 million to $2.9 million in this investment account depending on earnings. I finally cashed out of this fund at age fourty eight with only $55,000 in total.

I never believed these projections, so despite the dire warnings to stay away from the sharemarket after the 1987 stockmarket crash, I wanted to become an investor. I thought I could do better but decided to run dual accounts just in case I messed up and lost all my money; at least I had a back-up plan to support my retirement.

I would never had guessed that this particular fund would be such a poor performer and I, a novice out-performed the fund managers. I may not have out-performed professional fund managers in terms of gross returns, but in the case of net returns with their fees deducted, I find I am way closer that I should be. No correct that - I am way out in front.

So I find myself in the precarious position, I joined this mutual fund and I contributed equal to $20 per week for twenty eight years indexed to inflation so my actual contributions were much higher. Plus I put a couple of lump sum payments in and looking at the actual investment returns, despite their assurances.

I pretty much pulled out my contributions with out any real earnings - that all went to the fund managers. They also charged me a percentage of the fund to pull my funds out before age sixty as I signed a fourty year contract.

So how does this relate to the 1987 stockmarket crash? This is my worst investment ever and was pretty much born from the fear of the stockmarket crash and how I could be left with nothing in retirement.

With twelve years to run, I would not have had enough to fund more than a single year of retirement at $60,000 - even the full pension pays $23,250 annually that leaves the majority of pensioners living below the poverty line.

Although I wanted to invest directly myself, the aftermath of the 1987 stockmarket crash caused me to rethink investing and be more conservative. If only I had backed myself in and just invested in assets directly, I would have been so much better off - I only have myself to blame.

The Rolex Yacht-Master II

I was somewhat interested in the Rolex Yacht-Master II, not as a timepiece for myself but more as an example of quality engineering linked to one of my favourite pastimes - racing yachts. So during my research of this masterful timepiece, I took a peek at the price and nearly collapsed. The Rolex website lists the Oyster 44 mm steel and Everose gold Yacht-Master II at $31,950 AUD - whoa.

Whilst I never held any ambitions of owning a new Yacht-Master II, during an internet search I was able to find the cheaper all steel model at the bargain price of $23,650 AUD with the yellow gold model pushing what I thought was the upper limits at $55,250 AUD. Well, that was until I viewed the white gold and platinum model at an outrageous price of $61,050 AUD and I really started to feel giddy. Nonetheless, I see the Yacht-Master II as a stunning example of the Rolex brand and even if I owned one I would never wear it on the boat as too many opportunities for it to be snatched from my wrist by getting tangled in a sheet only to lose it overboard.

The Australian flu season

It is hard to believe a flu season exists, but that is exactly what it is the flu season? The flu vaccine is a common preventative measure in Australia with a vaccine formulated annually before the beginning of the flu season. Although for many, the flu vaccine didn't work this year eroding confidence in the vaccine, now I have to decide if I will trial the vaccine next flu season for at least some protection.

The H3N2 strain has hit harder this year than other years, the flu vaccine apparently mutated faster than anticipated rendering the vaccine useless for many people. For the first time in over a decade, possibly fifteen years I had a dose of the flu and it really sat me on my arse.

They say you quickly work out the difference between a cold and the flu, I certainly had a decent case of influenza. Even worse, I caught mine just before I went on two weeks leave overseas and it really destroyed my holiday, I had a couple of days struggling to get out of bed, I couldn't dive and going out to dinner and drinks was pretty much off the cards. I can't complain though, plenty of people died this year and I just had a slight inconvenience.

Yes, I have had colds in that period but I quickly increase my echinacea dosage and burn it off in a day or two. So what happened? I reduced my vitamin C dosage after suffering kidney issues from what we think was an over indulgence in the vitamin.

My resistance was lowered and I was exposed to a colleague coughing profusely in the workplace without covering up. He refused to take any time off saving his sick days instead wiping out over half the office so the lost time was excessive costing the business unit excessive sick leave payments. Like most other employers, every year we lose staff to sickness during the flu season, all thanks to one selfish person.

How my MBA allowed me to detect corruption in the public sector

As an MBA candidate, research skills are high on the learning agenda; likewise, critical thinking, deductive reasoning and self-reflection are key acclimatisation skills for successful candidates to possess.

Leadership is difficult to apply in an online learning format; whilst the theory may be learnt by reading reference books, it is not an ideal learning environment. Likewise, writing assignments and active participation in case studies allows practical application to be considered less haphazard to embed than pure book learning.

Aside from leadership, pretty much all of the skill-sets are eLearning compatible within a learning management system. These analytical skills are reproduced in the workplace allowing core business concepts to applied in a actual business environment.

A key MBA skill is to identify an issue utilising contemporary diagnostic frameworks, apply analytical concepts to determine a course of action, implement a range of solutions and monitor results.

After two and a half years of part-time tuition; I found it relatively simple to identify a series of abuses of position, a complete lack of academic leadership, coercion, threats, fraudulent financial reporting and the corrupt promotion of staff willing to engage in activities to support the ringleader.

The critical thinking, deductive reasoning and self-reflection skills I learnt during my course certainly assisted in the identification of the corruptive forces acting against the strategic business unit.

A plan needed to be devised to fight the corrupt forces, their strategy was to sideline me, derive me of information and undermine my influence. So the first step is to inform upper management to gain their support so as to address this issue internally.

The other option would be to try and cover it up - this was unfortunately their selection. What was needed was more than reporting of corrupt dealings, a series of solutions including an implementation plan and monitoring.

Should the second option be pursued then the Corruption and Crime Commission, Public Sector Commission, Auditor General, Training Accreditation Council, Department of Training and Workforce Development, Governing Council, Australian Quality Standards Authority.

Even the Minister may need to be informed if instead of internally rectifying this problem isn't addressed. If there is no acceptance that an issue exists by senior management then an external team may need to be brought in to clean this mess up.

I am offering them solutions, I hope they finally make a smart decision and get serious about combating corruption. The issue of corruption in the public sector is a pressing issue that must not be taken lightly, not when public funds are at stake.

Wouldn't it be ironic?

As I battle the forces within the strategic business unit where I am employed; the parasites are taking credit for my work to intentionally undermine my leadership. I ask myself, instead of defending myself, why not go on the offensive and force these very people who believe they are untouchable to defend their actions? I need to put the stress back on them and see how they react.

I didn't start this action but I certainly have the tenacity to not give up, to not let this group of people to run over the top of me and take advantage of my work. So if I have to act offensively, I have to be ruthless and I can't be too concerned how these actions will affect this group or their careers - they started it. Let's face it, they have attempted to sink my career to advance their personal career prospects. So wouldn't it be ironic if by acting offensively to secure my position, I damaged their career prospects. Now that would be a new take on the rule of unintended consequences.

Paradise lost

This is the famous Kuta Beach after some stormy weather; this is not the image the Indonesian authorities would like to be released to the world - you can't really blame them for that.

It is clear it wasn't worth getting in the water, yet plenty of people are more than happy to swim in this ecological disaster - I have no idea why.

Walking on the beach is hazardous, the number of syringes I saw washed up in the rubbish is appalling, large numbers of drug addicts randomly discarding their needles on the beach is a bio-hazard, this issue needs to be addressed.

Surfing through the rubbish, I ask myself - why would you come here and surf in the rubbish dump? The fact that Kuta Beach is a top surfing destination is still a mystery to me, yet people arrive daily in their droves.

Is the third world polluting the earth?

I can't say I have traveled the whole world just yet, I haven't even seen all of Australia although I have seen plenty of the West coast and central inland centres through my employment. I have been lucky enough to explore most but not all of Western Europe and some of Eastern Europe. Likewise, I have spent some time in some Middle Eastern countries with so much more to explore.

Although I have made many trips to South East Asia, I still haven't explored all of the countries in this diverse region. I have seen some of North East Asia but I know there is so much more to explore, these are future trips I am looking forward to undertaking.

I have still to venture to the Central Asian sub-continent countries of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Africa is large continent with so many countries to visit, yet I have only seen a couple and I have never even set foot in Central and South America but I have seen parts of the North American countries of the United States and Canada.

What I have noticed traveling through developed and developing nations is the attitude to waste management, recycling and the care for the environment. There is a distinct trend where developed nations adapt excellent waste management programs to efficiently dispose of consumer and business waste.

Developing nations, aka the third world choose to not collect rubbish and residents just throw their rubbish on the ground or into rivers where it is swept away and is no longer their problem. The prevalence of developing nations to rely on plastic plastic packaging is immense coupled with poor waste disposal practices of developing nations means this becomes all of our problem.

Unfortunately, nations and individuals solely focusing on their own actions won't solve the plastic entering the ocean issue and decisive world leadership is required. This is really the domain of the United Nations with more funding, research and education required to address this worldwide issue that now affects all of us.

It is easy to cast blame on the developing world; the degree of pollution I have personally witnessed in developing nations is unbelievable with the residents not only passively accepting their fate, they actively participate in the destruction of the natural environment.

This is the world that we all live in, we are all consumers to a degree and the burden of cleaning up the environmental destruction of the earth by the third world now rests on the leadership of the developed world.

A rainy Hong Kong day spent indoors

I was all excited, today was going to be a walking tour of old Hong Kong to view all the colonial era architecture - well that was the plan anyway. In short - it rained, then it rained some more and then it poured.

This wasn't just a light sprinkle, it poured all day and well into the evening; this is where it was decided that this day was going to be spent indoors. Well, what what can you do? I still enjoyed Hong Kong and I didn't need to worry about sunburn I suppose. The shopping malls along the strip at Hong Kong central were very nice, but I didn't fly to Hong Kong from Perth to hang out in shopping malls; but that's exactly what happened - oh well.

Getting accepted into an MBA program

It is often argued that the top MBA business schools use their reputations and branding to attract the best candidates to their schools. The Stanford Graduate School of Business has a 6% acceptance rate, Harvard Business School has an 8% acceptance rate while Oxford's Said Business School not only recruits 95% of candidates outside of the UK, the school has a one in four acceptance rate.

Getting accepted into INSEAD, IMD, IE Business School, ESADE or the London Business School are all outrageously difficult - the better the brand, the harder the school acceptance is. The question is, do the best candidates really benefit from MBA education or is the networking opportunities and school reputations the key to success post graduation?

Half a day in Singapore

I worked an extra shift, I was rostered on, yet I accepted the overtime and made my life really difficult. I was off for a long weekend in Hong Kong with a layover in Singapore - it was definitely worth it.

I stayed back at work and printed out all my readings for my last uni unit, my flight and hotel details and a HK MRT map that included directions to my hotel. Then in my rush to leave work full of joy, I stupidly left all printed material in a neat pile on my desk - arrrgh.

So I arrived in Changi Airport at 4:30 am, I was really tired and found a quiet length of carpet for a short sleep, there wasn't much going on in the airport at that time and most shops were shut.

I had my alarm set for 6 am and got going to an airport also just waking up. Over the years I had spent so much time in Changi Airport so hanging around was an option so by 7:30 am I was on the MRT headed for Chinatown.

Lugging my hand luggage, I had already gotten in trouble for being 2kg over weight. I felt the ache in my shoulder; 9kg isn't that heavy so what was this soreness in my shoulder? I wandered the streets of Chinatown before heading across to Boat Quay and a short walk to Marina Bay.

By 9:00 am the Singapore tropical sun was causing plenty of sweat, I was enjoying watching all the office workers scurrying like mad trying to get to work on time. By the time I was walking past the Merloin.

The novelty of late office workers had already worn off, I was covered in sweat and ready for the air conditioned comfort of the Marina Bay Sands shopping complex.

My plan was to have breakfast at TWG Tea, wander around the shops for a while and then catch the MRT back to Changi Airport for a 3:15 boarding. I really enjoy their red berry South African tea and whilst a red curry barramundi is an unusual choice of breakfast - I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Catching the morning train ensured the carriages were crowded but I was planning on the afternoon rush to not start too early leaving me plenty of time to get back. For me, this was an ideal way to spend my stopover in Singapore, all I had to do was not miss my flight.

Assaulting a former Prime Minister

This same sex marriage plebiscite is more than a joke, the yes camp is certainly vocal but they have really overstepped the mark. I am receiving vote yes messages on my mobile phone, there is advertising on television and people are getting outlandish. I hate to judge a person based on his appearance, but he even looks like a fuckwit and his actions would support this impression.

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott was campaigning for the no vote down in Tasmania. When walking down the street, a man approached him and held his hand out to give the impression he wanted to shake his hand when he headbutted the former Prime Minister. This pathetic loser who supports the yes campaign pretty much sums up the yes camp. This is the highlight of his life, a coward act against a former Prime Minister, a dirty act needing to assault a person who isn't looking.

This raises a serious questions, the United States has a whole department to protect the President. The Secret Service is tasked with not only defending the current President, former Presidents also receive a security attachment. Do we need to provide increased security for former Prime Ministers? This loser who is proud of his actions may have provided the impetus for a security overview. He needs to see a serious charge he is required to defend, this is an assault of a public officer and should result in automatic imprisonment.