Month: October 2000

It was eerie, indeed, to swim silently along the deck railing and up a stairwell where once sailors ran. And then to drift in through a window in the bridge and float around the main compass like a ghost where once naval captains with binoculars bellowed orders to the other ranks elsewhere on the ship.

The navigator’s chair is still there, though coral is slowly building up. An angelfish glides by taking a cursory interest in what was once a proud part of the Australian Navy. Now HMAS Swan it is sunk in 32 metres of water off the coast of Dunsborough, 200kms south of Perth.

It makes a brilliant dive. You can peer in where once sailor slept. You can see rusting machinery and look into the black hold where once munitions were stored. The warship grey is hardly visible now, after three years of coral growth. The 112-metre-long ship also provides a home for a huge range of fish. When I dived it a school of pufferfish had congregated around the bow. I had never seen them school before.
Continue reading “2000_10_october_carnell count-back”

The European Convention on Human Rights is at once a statement of the obvious and yet a truly remarkable document.

Read to the average trucking-stop diner (the Australian version of “”the man on the Clapham omnibus” it would evoke a response something like: “”Yeah, it’s a bit long-winded but it all sounds fair enough to me, mate.”

This week, the convention became incorporated in English statute law. It means anyone in Britain can call upon its clauses to prevent their rights being trampled upon. Until now, people in Britain had to exhaust all English court appeals before going to the European Court to get their rights enforced. Until now it has meant British courts could by and large continue to enforce laws that, while on the whole fairly good, occasionally trampled on rights to freedom of expression and fair and open trial.
Continue reading “2000_10_october_bill of rights”

It appears the ACT is maturing politically.

Incidentally, who cares about ACT politics? Surely, all those who care whether their rates will double next year, a block of flats going up next year, joining car rego queues each year, whether enough industry will come to town to give our kids jobs.

Perhaps more people are realising that you cannot whinge and be apathetic at the same time and that you should not leave your interest in state-level politics to a knee-jerk vote once every three years.
Continue reading “2000_10_october_act poll forum”

The Australian Democrats are attracting 18 per cent of the vote in the ACT federal Senate race, according to polling done in conjunction with the ACT election.

The Democrats are picking up a swag of support from people who indicated that they would be voting Labor or to a lesser extent Liberal in the House of Representatives.

Democrats candidate Wayne Seivers put it down to the Tampa refugee issue and the war in Afghanistan. He said that many otherwise-Labor people had said they had moved to the Democrats because of Labor’s position on these questions.
Continue reading “2000_10_october_act fed polling”

Chief Minister Gary Humphries is willing to deal with the Democrats, offering a Ministry or a coalition, so the Liberals can stay in Government.

He told ABC radio that the previous Liberal administration had elevated Independent Michael Moore to the ministry and he was willing to deal again – “”from a full-scale coalition through to an informal membership of cabinet, which involved a capacity to separate from cabinet such as with Michael Moore, through to less formal relationships with other independents and crossbenchers”.

ACT Democrat candidate Jane Errey said all options were open, but party president Wayne Seivers said it was a ploy to damage the Democrats federal Senate campaign by painting the Democrats out to be closely aligned with the Liberal Party which was not the case.
Continue reading “2000_10_october_act count”

The following are the questions asked in the weekend’s Canberra Times Datacol opinion poll. They are followed with the percentages for each option and the undecided/uncommitted/don’t know last.

Thinking about Kate Carnell the Chief Minister of the ACT do you approve or disapprove of her performance? (33, 56, 11)

And John Stanhope the Leader of the Opposition do you approve or disapprove of his performance? (32, 31, 37)
Continue reading “2000_10_october_aboutpoll”

A women’s factor appeared to be at work in yesterday’s election.

In the old Legislative Assembly there were only two women among 17 members.

In the new Assembly it appears that up to three Democrat women will be elected. In Brindabella, the woman Democrat, Jeanette Jolley was ahead of her more visible male Democrat counterpart Dominic Mico.

The new Labor member is bound to be a woman, either Christina Ryan or Katy Gallagher.
Continue reading “2000_10_october_womens vote”

There are no substitutes for trust and people doing the decent thing, as a recent NSW Court of Appeal case reveals. The court will not do the decent thing for you. And there are some strong lessons about making effective wills and making sure your loved ones have made effective wills.

The facts of the case are brief. Derek and Gwendoline McDonnell, husband and wife in their late 60s, decided in 1986, to make their wills. Each had two children by previous marriages. It is a fairly common set-up these days. Lots of people find themselves dealing with children of previous marriages and are forever balancing the rights and expectations of children with the rights and expectations of the new spouse. It is one of the reasons for so much tension between step-children and new spouse.

Anyway, Derek and Gwendoline attempted to resolve the tension through their wills. Each left everything to the other, provided the other survived them by 30 days. (That is a common clause that avoids difficulties arising from people dying together in some catastrophe.) The next clause said something like, “”If my spouse predeceases me, then I leave everything to the four children (of the previous marriages) in equal shares.”
Continue reading “2000_10_october_wills forum”

List all your property.

List all potential beneficiaries.

Do a rough matching.

Ask and answer as many what if questions as you can think of, both about the people and property. What if various people die in various orders before you? What if you dispose of property? What if you acquire more?
Continue reading “2000_10_october_will tips”

Why do people vote the way they do? And do they even know why they vote that way?

These questions have arisen from some work done by Datacol, The Canberra Times pollster, along with the polling for the ACT Legislative Assembly and the Federal ACT seats.

The answers have been made more interesting and paradoxical now the vote is in.

Some of the paradoxes to emerge are:
Continue reading “2000_10_october_why people vote”