Qantas mess.

Airlines, like other public transport infrastructure, are capital hungry, expensive to maintain and, usually run on the proverbial sniff of an oil rag. They are certainly not an attractive proposition for small investors.

I spent 32 years working for Qantas before stress-related illness obliged me to retire on the advice of medical specialists. It IS an Australian icon and, I was proud to be associated with the company where I was fortunate enough to witness the propellor-driven era and it's transition to ever bigger and faster jet power, though I was never in awe of aircraft per-se ... perhaps, because their inherent romanticism was somewhat dulled by its association with work(?)

Apart from the forging of life-time friend-ships, I came away with the over-riding memory of almost constant belt-tightening on the expenditure side in a largely futile endeavour to match ever ballooning operational costs with revenue aspirations. That's not to say there weren't a goodly number of years when the company showed a healthy profit. But, it does illustrate that airlines are predominantly in the 'discretionary market', where the general state of the economy dictates good, bad or indifferent trading conditions in much the same way as weather rules the viability of farming. Except, that enormous capital costs are a stable requirement of success, no matter what shape the market is in.

During my entire tenure with 'the big white Rat', the company was wholly owned by the federal government, though expected to operate as a commercial enterprise. Typically, the owner was grateful for whatever QF was able to contribute to the coffers ... but, extremely reluctant to contribute capital to properly maintain it's investment! Hence, staff hire and capital expenditure 'freezes' were almost as common as 'Weeties' for breakfast. And, intermittent staff retrenchments are by no means a rarity in QF history.

All the same ... they seem to have dug a very big hole for themselves on this occasion and, whatever the outcome, some executive and board decisions should be closely examined to determine if they were justified in the light of world economic conditions since the GFC of 2008.

Multiple choice?

Some eccentric is alleged to have voted 15 times in last September's federal election.

If it weren't for the probability of a hefty fine for not voting at all, I reckon a lot of thoughtful people wouldn't even bother turning up at polling booths in the current Australian political talent drought!

Never mind the polls...

As ever was, the initial 'flush' of new government appears to have begun to change it's optional meaning from 'fresh', 'glowing', etc. to the more pedestrian 'down the drain' interpretation. The dire predictions of budgetary slash and burn in May, certainly wont enhance the Abbott regime's faltering popularity with a disquieted electorate, who perhaps expected more muscle in the action department and less between the ears?

More ominously for many Victorian voters, would be the unexplained appearance of former premier Jeff Kennett in one of Abbott's photo opportunities yesterday. This state is still dealing with major service delivery short-comings which can be attributed directly to the 'Thatcher'-like destruction wrought by Kennett's manic stewardship of the state from 1992 to '99.

Wrong?!

So, the decent and strong Minister for Border Security fell at the first hurdle in trying to live up to his leader's glowing character assessment?

Why am I not surprised?

Back to earth?!

The Australian Test team's galactic series of victories crashed back to earth overnight in Sth. Africa.

The comprehensive loss should dampen prevailing fan hubris as well as providing a timely 'heads-up' for the players?

Leaning Tower...

Last night, son and grand-daughters visited for dinner ... which materialized in the shape of  3 x medium take-away Pizzas. During the sharing out process some grief was displayed when, through misadventure, one segment of the edibles ended up on the kitchen floor.

The mini-crisis immediately started me thinking 'what if...?'

 

Navigation Hazard?

A week or so ago, Clive Palmer indicated he would be voting against any legislation aimed at amending the Qantas sale act to help ease the airline's current economic malaise. His stand is mainly based on a desire to preserve Qantas as an Australian-owned company based on its historically iconic standing in the country.

Though his vote may not be decisive in the Reps., it could represent an insurmountable obstacle to the legislation 'flying safely' through the senate.

Sick of politics?

There's nothing new under the sun. The stunt inquiry into the wellness or otherwise of Australia's public health system is virtually the same as the Jamison Commission of Inquiry of 1981,when the then Minister for Health (Michael McKeller greeted the findings with this motherhood statement- "The fundamental goal of this Government (coalition as it happens) in the health area is to ensure that all Australians have proper access to health care services of high quality at a cost the individual and the community can afford."

So. what happened during the interim? In short... the 'goal' has never been reached by either successive coalition or Labor regimes, due to a combination of grandstanding and sabotage by both sides aimed at serving only their own political aspirations.

And here, +/- 33 years later, I have little doubt that the oncoming Abbott inquiry will be as 'efficacious' for Australians as all the rest of the costly circus performances we've had to suffer since 1981!

A scan of a cartoon I had published in May 1981 is included as evidence of how easy it is to re-cycle your own ideas in response to politician's antics over the ages.  BTW ... note the little squirt wielding a razor.

 

 

Geelong woes!

As if things in Victorian regional city Geelong weren't bad enough already with industry shut-downs and massive job-losses in train? Late yesterday afternoon, a freak tempest dumped flooding rain on the area, causing inundation of CBD streets and businesses as well as delaying an AFL game at the local stadium.

Sounds like the exclamation point to some kind of curse?

Victorian Job losses

Premier Napthine seeks federal help to address the impact of recent heavy job losses on the Victorian state economy.

Great Ape?

Treasurer Joe Hockey likens Virgin Australia to a 2000lb Gorilla in comparison with little struggling Qantas.

What planet is this man really from?

Poll results

How do 'insiders' view opinion poll outcomes which show the leaders of both camps 'on the nose?

Not all devastated, I bet!

Birthday e-card ideas.

Filled-in some 'stay indoors' time today (it rained fairly consistently around these parts this a.m. keeping me off the walking track, but finally ridding us of the pall of smoke which has been hanging over much of Melbourne for almost a week)... doodling salutations for this year's crop of family birthdays, which can be observed with e-cards rather than the snail-mail type.

Here's a 'rough' for one that might suffice in the case of weight-challenged reles/friends?

Book illustrations.

Book illustration is one facet of cartooning in which I haven't had a lot of experience. Unless you are writing the books yourself, or are acquainted with authors of humorous literature, it's a fairly hard area to break into.

Nonetheless, opportunities to become published in that form do arise from time to time. One such was in 1992, when the NSW Dept of Health in association with the 'QUIT for Life' organization canvassed Australian comic prose writers and cartoonists to consider contributing to a book aimed at using laughter to reinforce the Quit smoking program. Many cartoonists responded and, the book titled QUIT for Laughs was duly published by Allen & Unwin (ISBN 1 86373 249 7) later that same year. I sent off 3 'toons, the first two of which (reproduced below) made the final cut.

These are scans of 'kept' originals. Hence the evidence of correction 'white-out' on the third sample.
Maybe the editors thought it was 'damaged goods'?

Fool tankers?

How bad does a transport company's maintenance record have to become before the relevant safety authorities consider annulment of their right to operate? Especially one whose primary business is to transport essential, but also volatile liquid fuels all over the country?

And, does 'essential' take precedence over 'volatile' in that risk-

management decision?

   

Great Scott!

So much for the 'spin' that tightening border protection and immigration laws is primarily aimed at saving 'boat' people from losing their lives at sea. So, what about someone who has risked that hazard and, made it here safely to preserve him/her self against imminent torture and/or death in their country of origin?

The immigration minister is hell-bent to plug that gap by scrapping the provision for issuing 'complementary protection visas' to such people. Instead, he means to determine whether they go or stay arbitrarily based on his judgement alone. That has the whiff of an 'act of god' substituting for an expectation of fair treatment under the rule of law, let alone international human-rights treaties to which Australia is signatory.

WHERE do we dredge these 'posers' from?!

Poli-Blocks?

Ruminating about political caricature recently, I was reminded of how most humorous depictions of notables begin by equating their heads with geometrical shapes... e.g. among the current ruling group in Canberra, in my view, PM Abbott's head is basically elliptical, Morrison and Cormann are square/rectangular, while Pyne and Bishop (the younger) are basically triangular.

Recently, the great Alan Moir has taken the basic formula to a new level by always substituting a lightly embellished bland yellow circle for treasurer Joe Hockey's nut. Joe's head IS more or less roundish... but, AM's yellow circle is probably related to more of JH's perceived characteristics than just basic shape(?) Whatever, since political cartoonists are generally not fond of wasting time, effort or space on the caricature aspect of their critical comment... maybe we all should look at substituting minimally ornamented geometric shapes to depict political and celebrity entities?

Starting with the premise that they are mostly block-heads, but with no particular personnel in mind...

Lizard of OZ?

The federal government has apparently set in train 'scoping' preparatory to selling off Medibank Private, which I think originally evolved from the Fraser government 'turfing' Whitlam's earlier tentative foray into establishing a form of public health system for Australia.

That, together with the imminent emasculation of medicare is real 'good news' for the 'battlers' among us... (I don't think!). Or just one more abdication of responsibility by succeeding administrations?

End of the Line?

Last trip of the Gravy train. Over indulgence by companies, labour or governments?

If the cap fits, wear it!

Great big mistakes?

Beware of great big stunts which may reveal great big things like great big spending waste on great big unproductive investigations, great big ostensibly 'kosher gift' revelations, or any other great big bunglings that might be innocently left in the purview of such great big devices!

 

Mmmmm!

How about... what if the old WW2 adage about Loose lips is no longer valid in a civil undertaking (as described by sickly Johnno... aka Min. for Defence)?

What... me making monkeys of the military? NEVER! They are in full control of that operational matter themselves!

Week-end walk-about in times past...

During the late 1970s-early 80s my business card was inscribed 'Cartoonist and Illustrator'. As a matter of fact, I had never really thought of myself as anything but a drawer of (hopefully) funny pictures. Whilst I could depict whatever my eye could see well enough, I didn't reckon I had the patience to satisfactorily illustrate other people's written copy or ideas... nor did I think anyone would ever ask me to do so.

However, sometime in 1981 the editor of Australian Hospital (a tabloid health industry trade newspaper which had been a regular home for my 'pocket' type cartoons) apparently decided to experiment with a front page lead story illo and, sought my help in 'making it so'. These articles were dealing with serious health issues of the time so, hardly lent themselves to my normal light-hearted approach to current affairs. What did suit my style in those days (drawing big using a brush and ink) was the accompanying decision to splash the illos across 6 columns!

Here are some of the early published outcomes.

Life get's sickening, don't it?

Until yesterday, being somewhat of a fringe-dweller, I had never heard of the Hon. David Johnston MP... let alone as Minister for Defence.

Still, I can sympathise with his sense of nausea at the alleged unfair bucketing of his bonzer sailor people by that wicked ABC. I myself, am constantly fighting off an imminent chunder at the sight and sound of politicians of all ilks bleating on about their fantasy fears and solutions to non-problems on the multitude of ABC broadcast channels.

Strangely, I never notice any of them on ABC3 for which their latent talent and intellect would seem so admirably suited?

What was that Joe?!

When I first saw it this morning, I thought 'that can't be right... a mis-quotation, perhaps?' But, no. The witty(?) homily featured in today's cartoon was repeated in separate articles reporting the expressed wisdom of Joe Hockey in yesterday's speech on how he means to save us all (economically) from ourselves.

Being the federal Treasurer, Joe must've done quite well with mathematics whilst in school.  However, he now often demonstrates that he perhaps wasn't always paying attention in classes dedicated to English usage(?) My understanding of the sentence in question is that governments are uniformly incapable of running enterprises of any (even pseudo) commercial nature. Furthermore, people who choose such governing parties are sic.'losers'!

Very astute of you Joe. As part of the electorate, I humbly admit that we elected your shower last
September. What possessed us to do such a 'loser' type thing, I cannot imagine?!

Sparrow-Hawke?

Howe's that for an unexpected somersault? Echoes of Hawke and the accord?

The Spring Street Jungle.

The Victorian Parliament resumed yesterday after a xmas break which had been preceded by probably one of the most unruly sessions ever witnessed in any Australian parliament since federation. Needless to say, the circus performance continued, despite solemn undertakings by the clown elements that decorum would be restored.

Box score so far is that the former speaker has now resigned (or, fell on his sword, as it were) after actually shutting-down the house a week or so early at the end of 2013. But, not before roundly lambasting his nemesis, the 'rogue' former government, now independant member for Frankston, who remains to hold the fate of the administration's legislative program in however he chooses to vote on any issue before the house. In the first division after replacement of the speaker, the 'naughty' chappie caused the government's proposal to be defeated when he sided with the opposition.

So... one supposes it is going to be business as usual, at least until the next scheduled general election due later this year.

Cull considerations?

Or, food for thought?

What's in a name?

I see the so-called Liberal Party are scoping moves to trademark the word 'liberal' so that no other political entity can confuse the electorate with words like 'liberal democratic' in their title! The bloody sheer cheek of it is astounding!

Firstly, it tells us the 'Liberal' party's assessment of the electorate's collective intelligence. They apparently consider we don't understand plain english and/or, are incapable of studying and comparing political policies as propagated by various 'hopefuls' in the lead-up to a poll! Well... if there is a shred of truth in their conclusion, it may boil down to the old question "What's in a name?

In my opinion, the only thing about the so-called 'Liberal' party which fits the dictionary meaning of the word's small 'l' version... is their elected members' attitude to gathering of parliamentary perks! It is actually a misnomer. They are a CONSERVATIVE (Tory) party and, so as not to mislead the electorate they, themselves. should change their party name to more accurately reflect their real driving philosophy. And, if needed to prove my point, the so-called 'Labor' party operates a similar subterfuge. Despite the phonetic fiddling with spelling of the 'key' word, their original aim was to represent the 'labouring' classes. Again IMO, not one of their parliamentary representatives has done a day of hard physical labour perhaps since the time of Ben Chifley, (the actual engine-driving PM) and his ilk. They may perhaps more accurately describe themselves as a Socialist party... but, because of the slur cast on that description by its association with radical 20th century communism... don't hold your breath waiting for the ALP to take a dose of remedial 'salts' any time soon.

So.. the 'name slanging outbreak' is just that. Un-justified, small-minded and, unproductive behaviour like this is the reason why the intelligent Australian electorate is heartily sick to death of the gang of impostors we currently have to put up with in parliaments all around the country! Either get on with what we are over-paying you to do... or GET THE HELL OUT!

Another backward glance...

This denizen of the archives comes from Nov. 1985. It served to illustrate an article in Graphix, a
printing trade magazine, marking Rupert Murdoch's acceptance as a U.S. citizen the previous September.

As I recall, only crocodile tears were shed on his departure from these shores.

Beaut walk spoiled

This morning was magnificent. At 7.10am, Sun just up in a totally cloudless sky. Not a breath of wind, but an invigorating tingle of cool air enough to encourage a lift in walking gait and the inhaling of fresh air. Exhilarating!

Then came the #$**%# bush-flies!

All at Sea?!

What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive". A homily planted on me by my Mum, when I was but a callow youth. Apparently our Immigration Minister, Mr. Morrison, was not similarly blessed in his formative years(?)

Despite the 'grilling' by opposition senators yesterday, Mr. Morrison exuded an aura of deception... even if he was not deliberately trying to deceive. In isolation. a fairly simple, straight-forward question like "Did you read such and such a document before declaring it secret?" should have drawn an unambiguous "Yes or No"...without placing national security in the slightest jeopardy. But, no such response was forth-coming (judging from what was played back on TV at any rate). And, as that question seemed to become the 'hot potato' in the entire Q & A session ... what is driving Mr. Morrison's demeanour? Has attempted subterfuge addled his memory to the extent that he no longer recognizes what's potentially dangerous from harmless media fodder?

He may think that he is serving me and other constituents well by treating us like mushrooms, presumably too frail of mind or temperament to be exposed to the truth? Wrong buster! You and your ilk need to realize that all Australian's are not to be measured by your own fears and cupboard skeletons. Abandon the obsessive secrecy... or get set for the shortest possible term in your current exalted position,

You could do worse than commit the above adage to memory.