Gordon Wilson, ARR.News

What a stuff up! The Solomon Islands entering a security agreement with the Chinese Government has all the ring of the fiasco of the signing of the Darwin Port agreement with a Chinese company with very close ties to the Chinese Government. The pattern for both agreements from an Australia point of view is remarkable similar, probably best called the ‘do nothing syndrome’.

On 15 March 2022, NSW Budget Estimates Portfolio Committee No 4 saw Justin Field MLC and David Shoebridge MLC once again argue the closure of selective harvesting of native forests in NSW.

Some stories just keep on giving! The ambush of Prime Minister Scott Morrison at the National Press Club on Monday 31 January by Peter van Onselen raises many questions. The first point is that we have only van Onselen’s word that the message was sent by Gladys Berejiklian and that a Minister was the recipient and replied. Van Onselen does not say whether the Minister is a Federal Minister or a State Minister.

Chris Jordan AO is the Commissioner of Taxation. He was previously Chair of KPMG and partner in Charge of the New South Wales Tax and Legal Division of KPMG. Commissioner Jordan has expressed a desire for ATO officers to carry guns.

The NSW Minister for Local Government, The Hon Shelley Hancock MP, a week out from the local government elections released a consultation paper.  The paper concerns the operation of the Code of Conduct provisions of the Local Government Act. These are contentious provisions both in their terms and in their operation ... The Code of Conduct provisions are a bureaucratic supervision of community-elected representatives.

In 1809, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote: None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free. On 24 July 2021, in Sydney, the NSW Deputy Health Officer, Jeremy McNulty, was asked at a press conference why approved rapid antigen Covid-19 tests were not used.

History is a fascinating subject. But it takes work and extended recall. It contains lessons. Particularly about humans and States. George Santayana wrote: “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” (1905) and from Winston Churchill in the House of Commons: “those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it” (1948). These two were not the only people to muse on history, supposedly repeating itself.

In July 2021, timber mills in NSW have or are running out of timber in the middle of an Australian and international timber shortage, where timber supply comes from the NSW State Government. People have or are about to lose their jobs. These are real people. The little people or the battlers. Not the high paid executives of multinational companies. On 2 July 2021, one of these battlers in desperation called the ABC in Tamworth. The company for whom he worked had run out of wood and could not get any from the State supplier, because it was all going to one big company, the mate of the Government. Boral.

Readers may have noticed stories concerning Minister Pavey handing the operation of graveyards to the NSW Public Service ... The Jewish faith and the Islamic faith are supporting the Roman Catholic Church which is in Court with the Government. The People of the Book have united in the issue of looking after the dead.

Anzac Day in Sydney in 2021 saw the unthinkable occur. The 7th Division Banner was not marched. This is the Division of the Australian Army that fought the Kokoda Track. This is the banner that in recent years was preceded by a jeep in which sat a representative of the New Guinea Highland tribes who provided the ‘fuzzy wuzzy’ angels. It made the news every night of Anzac Day in the past decade. Not a mention of this momentous event.