Are you part of the voiceless?

 "This voiceless group makes up nearly one-third of the people of Australia. Perhaps they educate their children in religious schools. Maybe they are unjabbed and remain Covid dissidents. I am guessing they value freedom and patriotism. Resent Woke corporatism. Feel that customer service no longer exists. Are ashamed of what is happening to our culture. Cheer on battlers and champion small businesses. Maybe unfurl an Aussie flag on Australia Day. Fear the coming digital surveillance state. Mourn what we have lost."

https://wentworthreport.com/2022/07/09/australias-true-voiceless/

I've had four COVID 19 innoculations, but align well with the author's other suggestions. 

I served my country in the Air Force (RAAF) during the Vietnam Era and worked for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) for 15 years before it was abolished.

ATSIC was the primary body that provided indigenous Australians with a bottom-up voice to the Australian Public Service agencies providing it with a cornucopia of generous benefits not available to any other of the 97% of Australians.

ATSIC built hundreds of houses, created work programs through its Community Development and Employment Program (CDEP). It provided a variety of infrastructure and other benefits and even provided ultra-low interest mortgages for anyone who met their guidelines. (indigenous and able to repay).

ATSIC had Regional Councils of elected representatives across Australia who, at considerable expense to the taxpaying public created Regional Plans that were to direct funding to projects that communities prioritised.

In the end, like many other well-intentioned government programs, ATSIC failed.

Now there are other agencies, do-gooders and funded bodies intended to serve the interests of the 3.5% of people who are indigenous or of indigenous descent.

We have 10 current part-indigenous representatives in our Parliament who can speak for the others. We don't need to mess with our Constitution to provide a voice for indigenous Australians.

The Australian electorate will never fall for guaranteeing places for indigenous people in Parliament who are appointed on race and not ability and popular appeal.

It will never happen.

#Robinoz 

PS: Race-based programs run by Australian Governments should be abolished and replaced with programs that provide help to all Australians based on genuine need

Everything depends on time and place

 

Time and Place are the most important aspects of our human existence.

Everything happens at a time in our lives and at a place.

We are born at a time and a place; we avoid traffic incidents that occur at times and places where we aren't. We get married - or divorced, find friends, celebrate birthdays and so on.

Last, we die at a time and place.

My wife and I were discussing our visit to the Culloden Battlefield near Inverness, Scotland. We revisited photos we had taken and it occurred to me that we had visited at the right time and place, in 2019 and not 1745.

According to records, the battle, which lasted only 40 minutes, resulted in bitter defeat for the heavily outnumbered Jacobites. Some 1,000 of the Young Pretender's army of 5,000 weak and starving Highlanders were killed by the 9,000 Redcoats, who lost only 50 men.

If we are at the right place at the right time, great things often happen. Conversely, if we are the the wrong place at the wrong time, the outcome can be disastrous or even deadly.

Have you ever been at the wrong time and place?

#Robinoz

Omar Khayyam - An Outstanding Philosopher Poet

My son gave me a copy of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam for my birthday via his mother when he was about 18 months old. That was nearly 50 years ago.

In all the years since, I have read hundreds of other philosophical texts, poems etc, and I always return to Omar's work in times when I need to reflect a little.

There are some favourite passages I like because of the stark reality of what Omar says. One is displayed above.

Even as long ago as Omar lived, humankind was trying to deal with the big issues of whether there are gods, lives after death, and a cornucopia of saviours who had been mentioned throughout history. Protagonists whom the late Joseph Campbell referred to in his title: "The Hero with a Thousand Faces." 

Well before Christianity he said, there were dozens of religions that spoke about prophets and heroes who reincarnated to help them solve their problems. They came and went at the same speed as human imagination.

Given the state of our world today, we could certainly do with a contemporary saviour to resolve our thousands of challenges.

Anyway, I hope you like Omar's opinion above. I do.

#Robinoz

A change is as good as a ...

 

A common expression is that a "change is as good as a holiday."

That's obviously not the case when a corporation/institution changes its badging, logo and everything associated with it.

Generally it costs a lot of money to rebadge an organisation. Business cards, stationery, promotional media, internet sites, documentation, signage, clothing, and much more have to be realigned to reflect the new image.

When I first studied at the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ), it was called the Darling Downs Institute of Advanced Education (DDIAE). That was in the late 70s. Later, it became the UniSQ and in the late 90s I completed a Master's degree online as a part-time, external student.

As my degree majored in educational technology, much of my studies had to do with internet design, audio-visual production, computer-aided instruction, and associated topics, so doing it online was perfect.

Back in the days of the DDIAE, it was one of Australia's most recognised distance education universities. In those days, there was no internet available and all external study media arrived in the mail. It was always on time, a week or so before commencement of a semester. It was always excellent quality and the system worked like a medium-priced Swiss watch.

You did the reading, wrote assignments and posted them to your lecturer who responded in due course with your grade and commentary about your work.

Nowadays, much is delivered online and face-to-face if you are lucky enough to be able to attend in person.

I have many fond memories of my days studying with the DDIAE/UniSQ (and two other universities).

The new logo represents a pine cone, very common in Queensland and it's a pleasant change from the now retired coat of arms style logo that preceded it.

Long live the UniSQ.

#Robinoz