Perking up

Channel Seven’s Today Tonight has not been shy to find stories about people being apparently crushed by WorkChoices in the past (“all I done was look at stuff on th’ net all day. It’s rool unfai-ya!”). Last night they aired a story that shows WorkChoices must be bad:

Unemployment in Australia is at a record low, meaning the worker has the upper hand for one of the only times in history.

And that means bosses are becoming very generous.

According to a Drake Recruitment survey, about 99 per cent of companies in Australia are providing some form of non-financial benefit to staff.

Businesses are throwing extra money at their staff, but the big increase in rewards is coming in the way of perks, better known in official circles as non-monetary or financial benefits.

The Drake Recruitment survey of employers found the top five non-financial benefits. Dominic Toledo from Drake said they were common across many jobs.

“The main ones are work-life balance, which includes flexible work hours, family-friendly start and finish times, the ability to work from home, workplace accessories such as laptops, mobile phones, home Internet connections, opportunities to work overseas,” Mr Toledo said.

Clearly the Aussie notion of a fair go is under attack. Those poor, poor Australian workers.

Birds poisoned

THOUSANDS of birds have fallen from the skies over Esperance and no one knows why.

Is it an illness, toxins or a natural phenomenon? A string of autopsies in Perth have shed no light on the mystery. All the residents of flood-devastated Esperance know is that their “dawn chorus” of singing birds is missing.

I blame global warming. Meanwhile, the ABC is positioning itself to accuse the Howard Government of being behind this. Better stay tuned to Four Corners for that one!

Sense spoken

An opinion piece has appeared in today’s Sydney Morning Herald about the young guy killed in Griffith, NSW just after 2007 began. No big deal, right? Okay, now these words have appeared in today’s Sydney Morning Herald:

The most disturbing element in the murder of 17-year-old Andrew Farrugia in Griffith during the early hours of 2007 was the inevitability that someone like Farrugia was going to be killed by members of the feral underclass that exists in many rural towns with large Aboriginal populations.

Andrew Farrugia died for one reason only. He was white. This is the defining reality of his murder. It is the most important single fact in this tragedy. Whatever the outcome of any trial, there are ample witnesses who have told police that this not only appeared to be an unprovoked attack but a case of black on white violence.

The rest of Paul Sheehan’s article is definitely worth a read, however the over-arching point of the column condemns the culture of censorship that has pervaded the media. Under no circumstances will you see reports on criminal activities citing that the offender was “of Middle-Eastern appearance” or that they were Aboriginal.

Still, on the topic of violence carried out by Aboriginals, it really shouldn’t be such a taboo subject. I grew up in a NSW town north of Sydney with a large Aboriginal population. In certain parts of town, house break-ins, vandalism, anti-social behaviour and violence are common. But you’d never hear about it, and the police never did (or do) anything about it. Why? The perpetrators are Aboriginal.

For some reason, in towns like this, simply because they’re classified as a minority, they are absolved of all responsibility with having to act like decent human beings. That rule needs to be scrapped in favour of treating people who act stupid accordingly.

Now, finish reading Sheehan’s column.

Road carnage

In the last few months, the media has been up in arms about the “disgraceful” amount of people being killed on Australian roads. And I agree — it is a disgraceful amount.

As of this morning, the holiday toll stands at 23. Of these, P-Plate drivers — or holders of a Provisional licence — play a significant part.

People are demanding action from relevent State Governments to ensure people don’t die on our roads.

With all this in mind, let’s have a quick look at how a lot of these people are being killed. From the first article linked to above:

A P-plate driver, 24, died on Christmas Eve when his out-of-control car rolled several times before slamming roof first into a traffic light at Casula in Sydney’s southwest at 9.15pm.

Two 10-year-old boys who were riding their bikes along the side of the Hume Highway told yesterday of their narrow escape in the crash.

“The lights went red, he was speeding, he put the breaks on, he spun backwards and he flipped and hit the pole,” Neasen Roach said yesterday.

Despite AAP failing to spell “brakes” correctly, it would appear this accident — while undeniably tragic — happened mostly as a result of driver error (or dare I say idiocy). From the same article:

Hours earlier a 17-year-old P-plate driver died instantly when his Ford Falcon hit a pole after skidding in the rain on a notorious bend on Slopes Rd, North Richmond.

Again, tragic and unnecessary, and there isn’t much there to suggest if speed or driver error was a factor in this one. However, ruling out any kind of mechanical failure, a majority of crashes like this tend to happen as a result of the driver not driving to the conditions of the road. It’s a bit more difficult to lay blame on the driver for this one, but the point remains that you can’t really do much about the weather conditions apart from simply drive to them.

Now we need to look at some other kinds of stupid behaviour. From the SMH article linked to above:

In Newcastle on Christmas Eve, police allege, a 21-year-old P-plate driver tried to avoid a random breath test by reversing away. When she was stopped she returned a blood alcohol reading of 0.15, and her licence was suspended on the spot.

What an idiot. Yet it is happening too often:

An L-plate driver has been charged with drink driving after a car almost plunged over a cliff on Sydney’s northern beaches.

A recurring theme in tragic holiday road accidents is that it usually involves somebody being an idiot. Most road accidents are caused by somebody being irresponsible or simply negligent.

Yet there are scores of people who keep calling for State Governments to do something to “fix” the problem of people being killed on the road. Short of sticking large run-off areas, crash barriers and sand traps to the side of every road, there isn’t much a government can do that would significantly reduce the road toll. Instead, they opt for lower speed limits, more speed cameras and a higher police presence on the road.

This only serves to infuriate motorists more.

Making sure young drivers spend more time on their Learner’s licence (or Provisional licence for that matter) will not stop young people from being stupid on the road. Likewise, sticking a speed limit of 90 on a freeway-grade road will not do much to stop people killing themselves. If people want to do 160 km/h along a freeway, regardless what the speed limit is, they will do it. This is the problem every government faces — you simply cannot legislate against stupidity.

Another issue that this leads on to is that we have State Governments who are convinced they can fix the problem of people dying on the road. Victoria and New South Wales are soon going to have young drivers on Learner’s licences for two years, and on my drive to the Mid North Coast of NSW from Brisbane a few days ago, there were a few more fixed speed cameras than I remember seeing. Yet with all of this in action, we have a road toll that keeps getting worse?

There is only so much a Government can do. Imposing restrictions and conditions on drivers will do nothing but infuriate all law-abiding motorists. If Governments are serious about cutting the road toll, they should be putting every cent they make from speed cameras, registration fees and fuel excise to building higher grade roads. Idiots will always be idiots, but if road infrastructure is built to a grade where the chances of running into a tree or down a ditch is lessened, there is a good chance that less lives will be lost on our roads.