COMMENT. Melbourne — A colleague of mine, of mature age, a professional director, told me he does not understand one thing about Melbourne’s directors.
How so many directors keep getting roles with less than stellar performance.
As a competent, good Director, he is mystified.
Shhh…
Of course no-one in the community says this publicly. I am a member of peak body AICD, and never heard it there! Truth begone! Top-down folk there.
With some Directors, often I get the feeling they want to investigate, interrogate you, and pick your brains. That’s if they can’t …

COMMENT, Sydney — The NSW Government of Carr-Iemma-Rees has ended.
Nobody has admitted it yet. The decline trend is well in its death spiral, the day Iemma resigned. There is no rebirth without change.
“The Governor may…..remove from his office, or suspend from the exercise of the same, any person exercising any office, or place, in the State…”
– The Royal Instructions, Clause 10
NSW, Doomed.
NSW politicians have destroyed Australia’s most prosperous …

COMMENT, NSW — Today the NSW government release the mini-budget. ABC have it here.
A patch/hatchet job to make up for years of fundamental neglect.
The 3 Amigos: Carr, Iemma, Costa.
Neglect under Bob Carr (especially), Morris Iemma & on to Nathan Rees.OK, Nathan hasn’t had a chance yet.
A special word goes to the spectacularly self-aggrandising Michael Costa. Costa managed to leave fingerprints 3 inches deep on several disastrous portfolios.
Infrastructure.
In an economic & property boom, no funding was spent on:
1) Transport
2) Schools
3) Infrastructure
4) Urban Planning
5) Roads
6) Energy infrastructure.
Wasted opportunity.
Property Developers.
Instead, the whole process …

COMMENT, Melbourne — The Rudd Government today announced $6 billion in life support for the local Australian car manufacturing industry.
Manufacturing skills, infrastructure & cars are important.
Rudd’s $6 Billion on the Amex.
The Rudd plan is broadly positive, however it has a large cost. $6 billion to be precise.
One of the problems with Government intervention in the economy is that Governments see costs, and not opportunities. Costs not revenue increase.
It’s unimaginative.
But when I’ve worked for Government that’s what I normally find. Lack of imagination.
Most farsighted ideas will be killed. Or implemented in …

COMMENT, Melbourne — It seems politicians at the State Level in Australia are determined to destroy local manufacturing.
Consistently the Victorian Government in Melbourne, & NSW Government in Sydney import trains & trams rolling stock.
According to The Age, $3.6 Billion dollars of import orders in the last 18 months.
For citizens.
The imported trains & trams often have problem working in different climates, on different rails, and with different power requirments.
Furthermore, the seats in imported trams provide less effective seating, being often too small for the Australian market.
For local manufacturing.
If the Governments do …

COMMENT, Australia – The International Monetary Fund have just said that property prices in Australia, like the UK, are so intrinsically overpriced as to be a high risk to fall.
Long-time readers will know that I have been predicting this fall for some time. Friends will recall I have held the belief that Australian property has been strongly overvalued in recent years.
Why will house prices fall in Australia?
Property in Australia is globally overvalued. It is simply more expensive to purchase or rent an equivalent home here than most other cities …

REVIEWS, SYDNEY — When in Sydney, unless frequenting exclusive restaurants or suburban secrets, it is hard to find a decent food at any price. Reasonable prices in the city are harder.
In nearby Melbourne, it is easy to have a good-size quality meal in small café venues. There are Melbourne city venues where you can get decent lunch specials of classics like veal for $10 or $15 a plate (about 6-8 EUROs), the latter with a glass of wine.
Prego, in Melbourne CBD on Collins St, has one such special.
In …

ANALYSIS, Sydney — Property prices in Sydney (and other Australian capitals) are more expensive than almost any city in the world.

New York? Paris? Boston? Vienna?
In general, better value than Sydney, as has been reported in numerous media stories today. Property prices are at 7.5 average median earnings.
And we’re not talking Park Avenue property here, more like Queens.
Sydney suburban Bondi is a sleazy second rate suburb, not comparable to Park Avenue. Yet property is priced in the millions of dollars.
There seems little doubt that Australian capitals of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and …

COMMENT, USA, Australia – Let’s start with the USA economy.
US sliding into a chasm
The debate on whether the US economy is in recession or not seems to be over.
The bear is among us.

For months people have been standing up that the US economy is not as bad as first believed. The US recession was predicted by 2thinknow in December 2007, using our innovation models.
Before Christmas, many were sitting on the fence. I called this recession, in this journal, in straightforward terms before Goldman Sachs, or UN made their announcements.
Of course …

Rudd’s 2020 summit is a good idea, but will it fulfil its promise?

ANALYSIS, Global — In many Western countries, as well as elsewhere in the world speeding has become popular.
It gets dangerous when aggressive drivers speed in suburban streets where young children play. It is playing dice with school-children’s lives.
And I have lost count of how many times I have almost been run over in the city. Especially by aggressive taxi drivers.
My aging mother has also been almost hit by 4 wheel drives 3 times in a 6 week period last year crossing at a zebra crossing.
In Melbourne, Australia, aggressive driving is …

ANALYSIS, Australia — The significance of Kevin Rudd beating substantively John Howard as Australia’s leader cannot be overstated in terms of global politics.
Background for our global readers: Rudd is from the Left, although a moderate. Howard was from the Right, and part of a NSW branches of the Right that are increasingly moving far-Right, by Australian standards (although not yet Neo-Conservative).
And Australia generally prefers moderates and punishes radicalism.
The true significance of this win, has been lost on some commentators. Here’s why…

COMMENT, Global – When I say global I mean English-speaking countries, like USA, UK & Australia. Here there is a rise of info-tainment disguised as journalism.
As an example: In Australia we have a program called Sunrise. It’s morning current affairs, sort of – really more about social issues and controversy.
The 2 presenters are:
Koch: A balding ex-Finance guy, who started as a leading Finance guru.
Mel: And a parochial Canberra reporter who somehow can read an auto-prompter.
And a team of mostly nice presenters who get shuffled around like a deck of cards, …

ANALYSIS, Melbourne, Australia — We have to look at technology as something to utilize for a practical outcome.
Australia needs new ICT policies.
Why we don’t have an ICT Export industry!
According to the AIIA, domestic production of ICT is worth between 4 and 5% of GDP.
ICT exports were once around $7.8 billion per annum, in 2000, according to AIIA.
Now, under Howard, these have declined to $5.4 Billion according to Austrade.
There’s no reason we cannot more than double ICT exports in 5-10 years through government policy.
Canada is a country closes to Australia in …

COMMENT, Global – Today we are coming into a world where the ability to yell loudest counts for more than the structuring of logic in an argument.

Australia is having an Election on November 24. The rhetoric is thick and fast.
The Australian televised political debate, and subsequent wrap-up; has been full of the usual political shenanigans.

COMMENT, Melbourne – Yet another Yarra Tram crash today. 4 people injured.
At the same time, on 3 occasions today I have seen ticket inspectors, and been asked for my ticket.
What may I ask are we paying for?
Unsafe, unclean and unreliable transport.
The woman behind me had the same idea. She told the ticket police, why did we have to have tickets, given the trams weren’t running this morning again?
Melbourne’s citizens are getting increasingly hostile to the transport inspectors, and the failling of another tram.
We the citizens of Melbourne, need a …

COMMENT, Sydney – I was staying in the Crowne Plaza Parramatta again last night.
In the next room, someone was smoking drugs.

TRAVEL COMMENT, Sydney — Having retired at a graceful hour last night, I was hoping for a good night’s sleep.Not possible.

The nice view I had of Darling Harbour, was interrupted (like everything in Sydney) by 24/7 traffic.

TRAVEL COMMENT, Sydney — Tonight I am in the glamorous Sydney, in the Four Points Sheraton at Darling Harbour (actually the old Hotel Nikko).
After having spent my day in the not so glamorous suburban Parramatta.

COMMENT, Global – Which cities have the best espresso coffee in the world?
Well we may have some ideas about which have the worst… But the best?
Before we get to that let’s look at some interesting facts and insights about why coffee is important…