Athletes with Disabilities

I'm full of admiration for anyone with a disability for trying to rise above that disability.  It harks back to Douglas "tin legs" Bader, who rose above enormous difficulties to fly a fighter aircraft after losing the use of both of his legs in December 1931 but, within 10 years, was back flying fighter aircraft and had become an "ace" for the number of confirmed "kills" he made in aerial combat.  I do not suffer any such disability so I cannot even imagine the immense difficulties that must be presented to anyone with a profound disability who seeks to rise above it.

The same is most certainly true of all the athletes who will participate in the London Paralympic Games that are scheduled to start with the opening ceremony, early tomorrow morning - my time.  Indeed, I am already setup to record the event because I can't get up so early, due to other commitments in my day.

That said, I must be missing something because there will be at least one athlete at those Games who has already competed in the Olympic Games, among all the able-bodied athletes.  I applaud and admire Oscar Pistorius for being able enough to rise above his very significant disability to be able to compete at that level of the international competition.  At the same time, however, I have to ask whether an athlete who has already proven an ability to compete on equal terms with able-bodied athletes from all over the world, should have the right to compete in the London Paralympic Games.

Surely this is unfair to all those other competitors who have not yet been able to compete on the same equal terms.  I'd really like to know why I might be wrong in this assertion because it's totally beyond my public school education and comprehension.

What is happening at Qantas?

In the recent past, we've been led to believe that Qantas is facing higher fuel prices because of the high Australian dollar.  It seems to me that it wasn't all that long ago that we were told that Qantas was facing higher fuel prices because of the low Australian dollar.  I'm not an economist but it seems to me that one of these statements must be incorrect because, so far as I know, all world airlines pay for aircraft, aircraft parts and fuel in US Dollars - yet Qantas is an Australian company that ought to be paying all such bills with Australian dollars.

Maybe I'm missing something here but it seems to me that a high Australian dollar really should mean that the Qantas fuel bill should be less, in terms of Aussie dollars than US dollars.

Of more recent times, I have noted the following news item which has been carried by many media outlets right around the world :-

http://www.businessdayonline.com/NG/index.php/aviation/42876-ethiopian-airlines-to-save-cost-on-fuel-acquires-787-dreamliner

This article refers to cost savings of 20% on fuel, by an airline in Ethiopia! The latest exchange rate between the Ethiopian Birr (ETB) and US Dollar (USD), via website XE reveals that, as at today's date and a local Australian time of 12:30 PM, 1 ETB would buy slightly less than 6 US cents!  Despite this, the airline can afford to buy TEN (10) such aircraft and, as a result, their fuel costs for this type of aircraft will be dramatically lower.

Contrast this with the latest statement from Qantas CEO Alan Joyce, that Qantas has cancelled their order for the same aircraft type, but will buy them for Jetstar.  This suggests to me that he wants Jetstar to be more competitive than Qantas and save more money on fuel costs, as well.

Again, I'm not an economist, but this all starts to look like Qantas is being led to slaughter on the altar of world airline competition and cost savings.  I begin to wonder how Ethiopian Airlines can afford such a purchase, yet Qantas cannot - especially as fuel prices seem to be an issue affecting Qantas, due to the high Australian dollar, compared to the extremely low Ethiopian Birr.

If the issue centres on the massive financial loss reported for last financial year by Qantas, this too must be questioned, I believe.  I'm sure that Qantas has not made a loss for a very long time and have to wonder what happened in the past year that created such an impact on their bottom line.  For quite some time now, there have been suggestions, mostly a bit muted but nonetheless expressed, that Qantas is subsidising Jetstar into profitability by paying for such items as fuel.

Maybe there will come a time when the media will start asking some real questions about these matters.

Can A Certain Irishman Lie Straight In Bed?

It seems to me that I heard the previous CEO - and Managing Director of OUR airline - saying that the airline was in troubled times when the Australian Dollar was low, against the almighty US Dollar.  At the time, I was one of many who nodded sagely, because I knew that most every airline in the world purchases aircraft, aircraft parts and fuel - to name just 3 major items of expenditure - in US Dollars.  This stood to reason because, so far as everyone knew, Australia's flag carrier earned it's money in Australian Dollars.

Sure, it's more of a global economy than ever before in the history of this planet, but OUR national airline presents its financial situation to responsible government agencies here, in Australian Dollars.  Thus, is it not reasonable to expect that all monies paid to OUR airline in foreign currencies arrives on OUR shores in OUR currency?

Okay, so that was then and this is now.  I just saw the most appalling interview on ABC TV's 7:30 program, in which we were told - with totally straight face - that the current woes of OUR airline are due to the HIGH, repeat HIGH, Australian Dollar!  Really?  WTF happened?

Either the previous CEO and MD lied to us all those years ago, or we are being lied to now!  Which is it?  It surely can't be that both are correct!

A quick and simple Internet search reveals that both the former CEO and MD had, on at least one occasion, had drinks with his replacement.  Is there a transparency issue that needs to be addressed here?

I confess to believing those who claim that the Lo-Cos spawned by OUR airline, excluding those that failed and were summarily swept under the carpet, are enjoying a free ride at the expense of OUR airline.  Those voices seem to have been around for a while, most especially during the reign of a certain Irishman.  The voices are, once again, getting louder.

When will the Australian media wake up and smell the issue for what it is?

I can but note that the former CEO and MD received a golden parachute from OUR airline, which undoubtedly played into the airline's bottom line somewhere along the line.  Believe it or not, my Internet research shows that this former CEO and MD of OUR airline is now the Chairman, yes, CHAIRMAN, of Tourism Australia!

He certainly landed on his feet and I'm guessing that the current CEO expects something similar in his future, while he aggressively denies any benefits to his current employees.  No, I don't believe that we all have equal rights in that regard, but I would have hoped that anyone with similar credentials, and with a WILL to ensure the survival of OUR airline, would be entitled to a similar type of reward.  That's only fair.

Sadly, OUR airline appears to have no such leadership and the future is far from rosy for it.  If we don't stand up for it now, we WILL lose it to those whose only desire is to destroy it.

Consideration for Rate Payers?

I write on behalf of the Body Corporate, McLeod Court, CTS1505, 171-179 McLeod Street, Cairns North and, in the first instance, address this communication directly to Cairns Regional Council.  On 9 August, 2012, as the result of a request by us through our Body Corporate Manager TcmStrata, we received email from our Managers stating the following :-

"I have just received a call from Graham at the Cairns Regional Council and they have advised me that your request for the bitumen to the driveway entrance area has been added to their list of works to do.
They are hoping to have it done by the start of this year's wet season, but he said that the Council will definitely have it done soon.
However, he said that they wont be laying bitumen to the whole shoulder, just the area in front of the entrance to McLeod Court."

Needless to say, we were elated that the Council had seen fit to act so quickly on a very minor request from a property where owners have been paying rates for 3 decades already.  Those hope were dashed, however, by an email from Gordon Robb, Project Officer, Infrastructure Management at Cairns Regional Council, dated 20 August.  I probably cannot repeat the contents of that email verbatim, as that might be interpreted as containing "privileged and confidential information intended only for the use of the intended addressee(s)".

However, it basically said we must either wait until the next financial year, or enter a 50% cost sharing arrangement with the Council.  Neither of these options is acceptable to us because, in the first place - and as already stated - we have been paying ever-increasing council rates for 30 years without having seen one single improvement at this end of the block in McLeod Street.  We find the offer of a cost-sharing deal to be ridiculous because, if Council can find 50% of a very small cost, surely you can find the other 50% of a very small total cost - after all, this isn't a new Performing Arts Centre which we will, in all likelihood, never use.

We are not even asking for the whole block to be sealed, only the area encompassing the vehicular access to the property.  Here are a few photos to illustrate the situation :-

Above is the area in question and you will note that the bitumen seal ends immediately before our driveway.  Below is another view of the driveway area, showing how neatly the bitumen ends at the alignment of our property - note also the potholes and, worse, the jagged edge of the road which all of our residents' vehicles must negotiate.

Below is a view from our driveway access to the end of the block, where Charles Street intersects McLeod Street.  We are NOT asking for this area to receive any special attention from Council, even though it would make a fitting end to the entire block between Grove and Charles streets, so that it doesn't look like the poor end of town.  A view reinforced by the fact that all the rest of the block has bitumen seal.

Below is a view of bitumen seal that exists adjacent to the Charles Street intersection.  As none of the Body Corporate members have ever seen the original plans for construction of this property, we can only guess as to the reason why the Council provided this as the vehicular access to the property. My guess would be that it was a blunder made many years ago - either by the Council or the builder, or perhaps both.  In any event, it serves no purpose and is of no use to our residents' vehicles.

I know that many people, myself included, voted the previous Mayor out of office because we saw that the so-called Cairns Entertainment Precinct as a waste of money that would not serve the majority of people who pay rates in the Cairns Regional Council area.  Many people that I speak to have said that, if the Council really wanted to do something for the benefit of the majority of the people they serve, making the roads better would be a good start.

We, at McLeod Court, aren't asking for even that much.  All we want is to avoid costly repairs to our vehicles, due to jagged street bitumen edges and potholes that provide a most challenging obstacle course to our property.  As a counter proposal, can we send our vehicle repair bills to the Council?  We would probably accept THAT sort of offer.