I remember back in 1974 on Christmas Day waking to hear about the cyclone in Darwin and the terrible loss of life and the devastation of the city. At the time the prime minister, good king Gough, had just flown Qantas to the UK for his summer break. On that same day, the deputy prime minister Jim Cairns and several ministers and a military person flew into Darwin to survey the damage first hand. Planes were rerouted, military forces were called in and within 24-36 hours the troops were on the ground. Gough caught the next plane back to Darwin, (there was no RAAF personal plane for a PM then) and he toured the city and not only spoke to survivors, he listened. The city was evacuated within four days and the military put in charge for several days and the clean up and reconstruction was underway. No mobile phones, no communications nor computerised functions, just people on the ground who knew what to do.
I was living in inner Newcastle on December 28, 1989 when the earthquake struck. The street where I was living lost about 50% of its homes and the rest suffered damage. Thankfully the house I was living in survived with not much damage. The next day the prime minister Bob Hawke and the liberal premier of NSW arrived with ministers to see what needed to be done. The city was closed down and we were not allowed to enter but to remain in our streets. The military arrived the next day and were on each corner ensuring that only residents could enter the street to prevent any property being stolen. Some houses had the walls missing with the whole inside exposed. These guys were great. They met with the residents, pitched in and helped with the clean up, they could not do enough. The politicians promised no one would be left behind in reconstruction and they delivered.
I also remember the horrible loss of life at Port Arthur. I was never a Howard fan but he went there. He listened, he comforted people and he acted. Same thing in 1998 in Katherine. The town was flooded with terrible damage to the houses and shops. He went there. He visited shelters and promised he would help. To his credit, he did just that and the town was rebuilt.
I remember the bushfires of 2019 as I was in one of the outbreaks. Where was the help when it was needed. People are still waiting for the assistance that was promised. I look at the poor broken people of northern NSW and where was the help. Nothing but hollow promises and blame shifting. What has gone wrong with this country.
We are a very wealthy country and known for our generosity and mateship. It seems that if you can palm the responsibility off onto crowd funding or well meaning and helpful volunteers then you can just ignore the poor people who suffered. Those poor people need assistance from the various governments. It is our money, not their personal bank account. The disaster these people are trying to cope with may well be our disaster next time. If only we had those people of yesteryear and their values, irrespective of their politics, around today things would be much different.
I don't get it.
-- Edited by DMaxer on Thursday 10th of March 2022 10:11:17 AM
-- Edited by DMaxer on Thursday 10th of March 2022 11:30:04 AM
There's a falseness to modern life these days.
Everyone wants to appear to be doing the right thing even if they're not.
That goes for all levels of government, business & individuals.
Too much politicing & not enough genuine grass roots assistance for those in need.
Well Northern Rivers lost approx 150,000, animals, this time round, most of the vets and many, many volunteers, are trying to save what they can, these people are paying for the stock feed, dog and cat food, chook and duck feed, you name it out of their own pockets, 99% of these people have also lost their homes, businesses and animals themselves. Northern Rivers Facebook page, have many, many calls out for washed away stock and horses. Their are 12 helicopters in the air , being paid for by donations to find, feed and rescue animals. A company Rotorwing, paid for all the fuel for his use for the first week, over 150k dollars, and he lost everything other than his helicopter. All these privateers, have not seen an ADF helicopter in the air for the past 10 days. It is a credit to all the volunteers, that are saving people and animals, all without the help of the worst government we have ever had when it comes to a state emergency. Lismore will not be rebuilt, this is the sentiment that the locals currently have. My sister in Ballina lost her house, she went to Casino, to see how their business faired and on the way back went thru the Lismore cbd, and she said, it is like bomb went off. No shop has been spared, none at all, she cannot see it coming back. The water in Lismore city rose as high as the top wires on the power poles, thruout most of the city. Only 13% of Lismore city in the surrounding hills survived. The general consensus is the city wont be rebuilt, and if the state intends to rebuild it, they will have to supply a state sponsored Insurance scheme., because no insurance company will ever cover it again.
From your past view....... Welcome to the future.
From your present view...... Welcome to the future.
From a future view........ It is only going to get worse from them.
We are dictated to by media, we have CEOs of many councils in Aust earning more than the Prime Minister.
Those same councils offer little support-in any emergency but do not hesitate to approve the new construction of buildings in questionable areas.
We are collectively frightened to comment, call it as it is or even offer mild criticism for fear of legal action.
Then we have the organisations that are nothing more than a front for collecting donations and financial support by so many good Aussie citizens only to have that money taken to pay exorbitant wages and fees being taken by the very ones that claim they are helping.
To top it all off we have insurance companies who happily collect ever increasing fees for covering those who may suffer during these disasters but when it comes to pay out they seem to find a loophole which saves them a claim.
A bloke said to me once about insurance companies paying for natural disasters.
*Someone may start a fire but it is pretty hard for someone to start a flood.*
There was a business owner being questioned by the media in a flooded NSW regional town and he quite openly stated that although his business and many others suffered flood damage, he would not move as the town was his town.
We are in different times to what existed during previous times in Australia. I dont know where we are expected to go as these disasters become increasingly worse and when it is all over nothing will improve if change is not made.
Lets not even mention the money we send overseas at the drop of a hat to help others when we cant seem to even want to help our fellow Aussies.
Scomo:
Is an hour a week Christian.
Only cares if he is re-elected.
Thinks the money in treasury is his.
Lacks foresight.
Is not a visionary.
Can't plan a week ahead.
Is a reactionist.
Lacks tact.
Is a good used car salesman.
Sucks up to big business.
I was under the impression that Scumo was a diehard christian and all the people who were suffering suffered because they weren't christians and that was God's will. Scumo doesn't care about people. He thinks God cares about people.
The Minister for Sports Rorts was on the ABC this morning defending the slow deployment of the ADF. Shotgun Bridget informed us that it has only been in the last twenty years that the ADF has been used for natural disasters.
I recall as a little bloke back in the mid fifties that my dad was among a thousand police officers that were deployed to Maitland for the floods. I remember my mum explaining it to us as reports came over the news and later seeing footage of it on the news reels at the local theatre. He and others were given a lift back home in an Army truck and all us kids had our picture taken standing in front of it by mum using the Kodak Box camera. I must have imagined that.
I also remember General Stretton arriving in Darwin in the first twenty four hours and taking over the evacuation. He evacuated the city within four days. I guess I imagined that too.
I remember working out in Cobar in the mid seventies when the fires raged between Cobar and Balranald. I remember seeing all the exhausted military men that saved people, stock and property and the grateful reception they got from the locals. I must have imagined that one too.
I recall, or I thought I recalled, military helping out when I was in Newcastle and the cheers they got from the locals. I must have imagined that one too. Floods and fires in Qld throughout the nineties, I am sure I saw reports of them being there too, but, there you go, memory is a tricky thing.
Am I the only person suffering from these deluded memories or has this ailment affected others in the forum.
-- Edited by DMaxer on Friday 11th of March 2022 10:18:05 AM
-- Edited by DMaxer on Friday 11th of March 2022 10:18:38 AM
I agree with Rob (on this one occasion ) inequality is getting worse. Some of those poor people who lost everything in the flood couldn't afford insurance. They can ONLY rely on charity.
The rich have become ticket and the poor have become poorer. There are so many millionaires and billionaires who don't pay any tax at all and yet the ATO take some one who's over claimed a hundreds dollars or so.
What the rich people don't realise is that the poor, who they are sucking the money out of, will no longer be able to afford any of the products that the rich are producing.
I know that the ADF aren't trained in natural disasters. The too 'don't hold a fire hose' and, I knows this is going to hurt a few people's opinions, the Chinese military have been know to form human chains to hold back the flood waters when levees break.
The problem is that the states and territories have to ask for help before the ADF can help and maybe they asked too late? I don't know.
In 1974 the Navy sent 13 ships, 11 aircraft and 3000 personnel to Darwin. It was the largest disaster relief operation in the history of the RAN. Perhaps they were just passing through at the time and thought they might drop in.
According to the local member for Page, Mr Hogan of the Nats, he contacted the Minister for Defence at 6am on the morning the water started to rise. Perhaps he didn't fill in the correct application form and so it was not actioned.
I don't think the brave local people, the four truck loads of Sikhs giving out free hot food or the 30 odd Fijian abattoir worker have had too much training in disaster rescue but that didn't seem to stop them.
Those poor people up north will never forget this, nor should they.
I have had a few overseas postings as a civilian after countries have either had upheaval or disaster and have seen the ADF in action. They get communications up and running, attend to medical issues and have temporary accommodation erected. They can ensure water and sewerage issues are taken care of and most of all, it is the reassurance they give so people understand what is going on and help is there. One does not need a five year degree from Harvard to assist in flood or fire crisis. It is a matter of proper tactical response and strategies by those in charge of the rescue and the rest make up the workforce.
-- Edited by DMaxer on Friday 11th of March 2022 10:43:21 AM
-- Edited by DMaxer on Friday 11th of March 2022 12:02:15 PM
A government representative appeared on media Ch 9 this morning and was being questioned quite vigorously and rudely I might add about the response time to this flood disaster to be called, well, a disaster.
Her comment toward the end was that they, the Govt waited until a committee of disaster observers actually declared it a disaster.
Doesnt this smack of a similar thing we all observed while we waited with baited Covid breath while our respective health representatives made a decision wether to close the local gym and pub.
It is beyond a joke, it is a ploy to put in place a line of excuses that cover any government representatives ar$e.
This not only makes us extremely inefficient in dealing with how we handle anything but the cost to the taxpayer is astronomical because all these so called experts are all drawing a wage agreed upon by the very govt that they are protecting.
In days gone by there were no *scapegoats* because those responsible actually got up off their bums and did something immediately an important decision was required.
This is the problem when most of the politicians who have risen up the trail of brown nosed ladder climbers come from a legal background. It is in their DNA to protect their own from any attack.
Those with other qualifications or maybe even without qualifications are mostly contained by the two big powers into the ranks of the back bench or the independents.
Within this pool of candidates we may find people who can actually operate under pressure and more to the point, be able to accept responsibility.
But,
Unfortunately Practical people dont want the job either because thrown into the now failing equation is the MEDIA whose sole purpose is to ensure that failure even when only inferred, will be there to sell their news stories. These folk who may well do the job properly dont want or even need the responsibility because they all pick up their attractive salary and retirement packages wether they perform or not.
DMaxer in his subsequent posts today is absolutely correct.
We are a good nation being lead by lazy losers whos greed out ways their perceived responsibilities.
A lot of them may have obtained a degree in law but I can only think of three in the present parliament that have actually practiced law in the private sector. They seem to come through the university politics then move on to being a staffer in a politicians office and then are rewarded by the party with a winnable seat if they performed well for the party.. They do not bring many outside life or business experiences with them, just political chicanery, rat cunning and the donors' agenda.
I am optimistic about the future however. There are some outstanding independents who have had a gutful, standing in the next election. All we need is for a few of these people to be added to the cross bench and things will then happen. In the present status quo, politicians do what the party wants, which may not be necessarily what their respective electorates want. The benefit of a good independent is that they are there for their community, not the party.
I think we are about to enter some seriously interesting times.
A lot of them may have obtained a degree in law but I can only think of three in the present parliament that have actually practiced law in the private sector. They seem to come through the university politics then move on to being a staffer in a politicians office and then are rewarded by the party with a winnable seat if they performed well for the party.. They do not bring many outside life or business experiences with them, just political chicanery, rat cunning and the donors' agenda.
I am optimistic about the future however. There are some outstanding independents who have had a gutful standing in the next election. All we need is for a few of these people to be added to the cross bench and things will then happen. In the present status quo, politicians do what the party wants, which may not be necessarily what their respective electorates want. The benefit of a good independent is that they are there for their community, not the party.
I think we are about to enter some seriously interesting times.
I was reading today that our fearless leader is heading to WA in the next few days. Whilst there, you can join him for dinner should you wish. The cost, a mere $14,000 per person. I wonder what you get for that and I don't mean what's on the menu.
Meanwhile, up in Lismore, the poor aged people who were evacuated from their aged care centre are lying on mattresses in a hall. The mechanical equipment used for lifting them in and out of bed was lost in the flood. I thought that the ADF had been deployed to assist in aged care but then I guess they can't take photos of each other and also help people at the same time.
Don't you just love the place Australia is becoming.
I was reading today that our fearless leader is heading to WA in the next few days. Whilst there, you can join him for dinner should you wish. The cost, a mere $14,000 per person. I wonder what you get for that and I don't mean what's on the menu.
Meanwhile, up in Lismore,
They are cooking dead cows on piles of rubbish, that way one can clean up 2 of 3 issues. Just need to find a politician to get the fire going!
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) inequality is getting worse. Some of those poor people who lost everything in the flood couldn't afford insurance. They can ONLY rely on charity.
