2013 Australian Federal Election on 7 September 2013

Brief voting history of Australia

 

Australia has a democratic voting system, where Australian citizen’s vote for the Prime Minister. As Australia is still a part of the Commonwealth of Great Britain, they have a representative for them which holds the title of the Governor-General. She relates important factors to the Monarch of Great Britain, whom at this time is Queen Elizabeth II. Voting in Australia's federal elections has been compulsory, for citizens, since 1925.

What about those people who aren’t citizens?

However, people, such as me, who are not Australian Citizens, cannot vote. I am a permanent resident and don’t vote in elections in Australia. I’ve been asked many times over the years about voting, and sent the enrolment forms in error, why don’t vote? I don’t vote because I don’t believe that I SHOULD be made to vote. If I want to, that’s fine, I’ll vote, but why should I be made to vote? I want to have the flexibility to have that decision to vote or not. I hate having my hand forced on this subject, because it’s something important and I shouldn’t have to be rushing into a voting booth just to put my name down or rush into a booth to vote if I haven’t been able to do my research. 

Further, in Australia, you might be voting for a one of the lower types of parties – called the Greens or Democrats out of the many different options – and if they lose, which they will because they are the lower voted for option, and then they give “preferences” to either one or the other of the main parties.  For instance, if you are voting for one of the lower parties, when they don’t realize they won’t win, they give your vote to one of the others that you didn’t even vote for! To me that just doesn’t seem correct or right.

The third and last reason is why should I vote for someone who runs things here, but then has to report everything back to a representative of another government that’s on another continent? That sounds even screwier than my vote going to someone I didn’t even vote for. 

I do have to respect Australian people don’t get a choice the matter – the must vote, so they do the best they can for whomever is running. Good luck I always wish of them. 

Australia’s Current Election

On Sunday, 11 August 2013, Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd had gone to see the Governor-General to trigger a Federal Election for the Australian people. This election will be held Saturday 7 September 2013 across Australia.  You can click on this statement, for more information on the timeline or election information.

At the present time, there are 2 major front runners of the 2 main parties in Australia – Kevin Rudd and Anthony (Tony) Abbott.

Here is a small 90 second video explaining Australia’s Federal Election.

There has been much discussion leading up to the election about main topics of concern for people living in Australia. These are:

• Education – which will cover Gonski review, and reasons why not to cut back on any education spending.

• Economy management - which will cover job security, cost of living, wages of ministers, wasting  of federal monies.

• Infrastructure – which will cover why to keep and increase spending on roads and rail.

• Health – which will cover aged care, federal funding for dentists for everyone, disability scheme, and Medicare.

• Immigration – which will cover boats, border security and asylum-seekers.

Another issue that has been raised is trust. This fits in each and every topic, so I will cover this in each one. 

 Online voting

Many people can take part in many of the online voting options by downloading the application or app for the program they are watching. An example for this would be the 7 News app for watching tonight’s debate on 7Mate. You open the app and on the bottom it says voting and you click on that and a question appears. You keep clicking on your opinion and this will be reflected on the screen. I have trialled this app in the past weeks and it does work.

Future Blogs

For the next few weeks – until the election on 7 September- I’ll be covering each of these topics.

Next week’s topics to be covered will be next week Australian Federal Election 2013 – My View on- Education & Economy Management, so come back then when I tackle these 2 topics. 

Did I miss a topic that you want covered? If so, let me know! If you have any other question regarding the electoral process, let me know and I’ll try and explain – even if I have to look it up.

Do's and Dont's of Business & Customer Service – My View

This past week, I had a phone call from a business I have been doing business with since it started.  The business was beauty and spa treatment one. The phone call was from the women that run it for an owner that has just changed. The women saw that I had an appointment this weekend and called me to let me know the new owner was no longer honouring the membership I bought in May 2013. I was using the membership, so it was active, and as you can see by the date, it was current as well as it’s only the beginning of August. The membership deal the woman was talking about was a membership which was $200 for $400 worth of product of services. I have been steadily using the membership as the limit was down from $400 to $250 in a few months. However, none of the customers knew about the business being sold nor about the new owner not honouring the memberships until customers either came out of having the appointment finished or making a further appointment. I only knew about these happenings because of them seeing my name and knowing that I have a membership.  How poor and sad of a new business owner to not honour a steady base of customers? 

My tips on owning a new business

Visit the intended business

Upon talking to the new owner, he kept talking about not knowing about the memberships and because they didn’t know they aren’t libel for them. Well, if they would have done a bit of knowledge searching of the business, questioning either in person or over the phone, then they would know what the score is. Anyone can ask those types of questions, so there was no cause in tipping anyone off about the purchase in case anyone decides to go ahead or not go ahead. 

Ask about literature about the business & communications with customers

Before the new people took over the business, we had monthly or at the very least quarterly, newsletters sent to us. These were just a small reminder on products and services, deals and other new and interesting information. If the new owners would have just asked about seeing any of these, then they would have known about the memberships and vouchers. 

Ask questions to the customers of the business

I know many people were using memberships and vouchers of the business, especially if they have been long term customers. My husband’s been getting me vouchers for massages for the last 3 years, which I love, through the business and that also promotes the business again. 

Follow the business through Social Media

Social media is free. All the apps, websites, and information contained are free. No one has to know who you are – you just have to search for the business name. Most businesses have an online presence now because it’s easier to promote and for people to forward and spread the word about your products and services. 

Search for a website

Even through the lowest and smallest businesses have websites. It’s one of your main marketing areas and after the set-up, usually the modifications are cheap, so it’s pretty cost effective because of the customers it will bring in.

Use the services or products of the intended business

This seems almost like a no brainer, but believe it or not, the new owner didn’t do even use the services or products of the business.  I know if I were to buy a business, I would be checking out the people pretty thoroughly as they are what you are going to be basing your imagine and quality upon, so why wouldn’t you? 

Take a business course and learn terms and conditions

When I speak to management about how they handle certain terms and conditions, and it’s usually an interesting conversation. Owners don’t understand that when a customer pays for a membership, voucher, products and services, they are actually entering a contract with the place in business. In my current circumstances, the new owner is still under the misunderstanding that I have a contract/agreement with the old owner – I don’t. My agreement/contract is with the business whoever the owner is and not with whomever owns the business. 

 

What you don’t do if you are going into business

Don’t lie to your customers – be truthful

I know I have caught owners of businesses out either in marketing, online or social media documentation and I have made them match what they said. If they put it in writing, then they have to stand by it. Most countries have a customer protection agency to protect us as a customer. If the business doesn’t stand by it, and you have tried to get them to stand by it and they won’t, exercise your rights and report them. I don’t like people who lie. Liars have not use to me and aren’t worth the time and energy. 

Stand by your advertising material

As I stated above, if your material online or off stays something standby it. Don’t take the money for the service if you’re not going to produce the goods or services. Again, see my comment above about the protection agency. 

Know your products and services that are offered 

There’s nothing worse than owning a business and not knowing what’s going on within it. If you have to test out a service or product do that before you offer it to customers. Besides, make sure that the new or modified product or services are at level with the current standards of all of the other products and services – how are you going to know unless you’ve been there? 

Accuse customers of things

I have actually had employees of business accuse me of being late, not knowing what I was talking about and even of being dumb because they had such bad procedures and follow through that they didn’t know when I, as a customer, had an appointment for. For instance, I had an appointment for a few days before Easter. Upon me arriving at the store, I went to open the door and found it locked and dark. I called and left a message about it. Days later I got an irritated call because I never showed up for an appointment. She called me a range of things but one of them was dumb and not knowing what I was talking about. 

There are probably more tips of what to do and not to do in a business, but I had to stop somewhere didn’t I? Let me know what other tips you have for businesses?

Customer Service

One thing I cannot fault with the business, I had the dealings with this week, is with the actual employees which are performing the work. These people in each instance are hard workers and know what they are doing, and make the experience great. When you can walk away from a business or an appointment feeling great and like something worked, it’s a plus and needs to be rewarded.

Customer service is not easy. I’ve been in many of these types of jobs and, at times, can be one of the most challenging areas to work. I’ve had employment in Hotel Reception, Receptionist and a few other positions where all of the customer service attributes are mixed within the position. Not easy, but the more experience you have and how you present yourself to people will give you or not give you the feedback either you deserve or want. Give the people what the terms of whatever the contract or agreement is, and everyone will be happy. 

The problem is management, or the owners, don’t understand that they actually affect customer service and, in turn, the customers. In my current instance, the management are making the people who have to do the customer service have a very difficult job, when it shouldn’t be, and are making many customers very unhappy by not sticking to the agreements. 

 

In closing, businesses just have to be truthful and upfront with customers. You do that and everyone with Amala Spa and Beauty this past week, the customer service couldn’t have been better because of the fore thinking and truthfulness of its employees. However, the management is another story. I talked to both the new and the old management, in trying to sort things through, but I’m not sure who did what and I shouldn’t be. I know there was an agreement in writing for the business and there was some verbal agreement, but I’m not sure what that was. Neither party are willing to cover the agreement – each saying the other is the party responsible. In this instance, I’m going to follow through what the Australian Consumer Affairs agency says to do before contacting the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. Hopefully, it will be resolved before this; however, I’m very doubtful.  Unfortunately, there’s been other customers in the same instance as myself because I informed other customers on Amala Spa and Beauty’s Facebook account. Social media can be a blessing and help with marketing, but it can also affect a business’s reputation and business negatively as well.

will be happy and content. Go against this and there’s heartbreak all the way around. In my current circumstances

Climate control or Green House effect - Does it affect you?

How many of us have heard of the Greenhouse Effect? How many of us know exactly what that is? It is defined as the rise in temperature that the Earth experiences because certain gases in the atmosphere trap energy from the sun. Most of you out there are saying “Yes I know this already” but what you might not know that this term also covers the 2 types of greenhouse effects - The ‘natural' greenhouse effect (it keeps the Earth's climate warm and habitable) and the 'man-made' greenhouse effect (the enhancement of Earth's natural greenhouse effect by the addition of greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels (mainly petroleum, coal, and natural gas)). The first has always been there and been normal but the other is due to man-made machinery and use. 

The first type of greenhouse effect, is normal and we cannot and don’t want, to do anything about. Why? Because this keeps Earth the warm and breathable place that everyone loves. 

The second type of greenhouse effect is not normal and we CAN do something about. If we do not do something soon, it will tip the weather balancing scales and all hell will break loose. 

 
There are some who don’t care – It won’t affect me.

This will affect all of us here on Earth. How?

Glaciers Melting 

Some people will be forced from their homes because the oceans will rise due to the glaciers melting. Don’t think this affects much? How about the availability of fresh water for irrigation and domestic use, mountain recreation, animals and plants that depend on glacier-melt, and in the longer term, the level of the oceans. Further evidence is shown by the pictures which show just how much they have melted. 

Retreat of Whitechuck Glacier, Washington

Glacier in 1973

Same place in 2006. The glacier has retreated 1.9 kilometres (1.2 mi)

Droughts, heatwaves, bushfires, and flooding

If that doesn’t convince you, about the number of droughts, heatwaves, bushfires and flooding that every continent has been experiencing? I currently live in Australia, and we have experienced each and every one of these. We’re setting new records since records began in the 1800’s. There have been fires in places that either seen them a very long ago or haven’t seen them – ever. It’s the same with flooding, heatwaves and droughts - from Europe, to Canada, to the US, and Australia. As I said
above, I live in Australia and we are hotter, more humid and have seen bigger and angrier bushfires and droughts than I’ve ever seen before. When you look outside of your house at noon and see what should be sun and it’s almost like a fog until you open the door up and it’s smoky like someone left the wood fire door open outside and the smoke backed up out there, you know there’s trouble some place and you go looking. That was what it was like for us on Black Saturday. The trouble was less than 2 blocks away in the form of a bushfire that was moving very fast. My husband took off to help the neighbors up there and I stayed back grouping things together and to look after the house so our house could be protected from embers. We did loose homes that day – about 10 from memory – but at least others weren’t lost due to people like my husband and the volunteer firemen. Beyond that, there were 173 people who died and many others that were affected either by that lost or by other losses or traumas. 

Because of the loss of homes, life and agriculture, this affects everyone because of costs going up in things like insurance (for the home, car, life, etc), food (due to loss of crops, equipment, water to be brought in due to not having any to grow the crops, etc), and life (due to workers not being there or not being able to bring in the crops that are there).

We all eat, we all have to live some place and we all have to have water to live. Still doesn’t affect you? I think not as these are the basics that we need to live, so yes it will affect you. 

What will happen if the major climate control factor – the Gulf Stream – stops?


Most people don’t know it, but the thermohaline circulation, which supplies the ocean currents around the world, is a major factor in keeping the climate like it is. However, there is evidence that shows this circulation slowing down due to the warmth of the oceans. It’s also due to the salinity of the oceans which is lessening due to the glaciers melting. This trigger has localized cooling in the North Atlantic and can lead to cooling or lesser warming, in that region. There could be sufficient freshwater could be provided to interrupt thermohaline circulation. It is believed that the Younger Dryas are a period where this might have been the case, although there is some disagreement as to its cause. 

If this does happen, it could trigger something that changes Earth’s entire climate. It could either make the temperatures get very warm or it could even throw the planet into another ice age. I have read and watched programs which have cases for either of these events happening. The way I look at it, if the circulation stalls, then something bad is going to happen either way. Then look out because no matter where you are on Earth, you’re in the crapper. If you don’t believe me, watch the video below from someone that makes a career out of science. 



If we all chip in and do something now, then we can slow these events down and, in time, turn it back to make sure Earth will stay liveable – not only to us but for the future generations.

Family History – why is it so important?

About 8 years ago, I started to do my family history. This is the searching for who the people who make up my relatives through both my mother and father. Then I took a break on the searching and recently I have started again.

Why do you want to know? 

Contemplating the complex family history I have

I want to know who made me who I am. I know my own experiences made part of my personality up, but what about those other characteristics come from? Who were those people who came before me? What diseases did they have and, in turn, could I have? These are just a few of the questions I have. To me, they are very important because I want to know why I am the way I am because of my family’s history. 

I never knew either of my grandfathers at all. As for my grandmothers, I used to spend some time with her each summer vacation from school. My other grandmother I saw 3 times my entire life and then she just sat there. My parents never talked about the past – at all. When I was growing up, I always had friends that would talk about their grandparents, and in some cases, great grandparents. I had a grandmother, but that was it and it never occurred to me to ask that one question – why? 

Family Interviews

My grandparent’s headstone in Salisbury Mills, NY

When I first started the journey to answer some of those why questions, I took out my grandmother’s obituary, which had passed when I was a teenager, and found I had a starting point. I started looking up the names on Ancestry.com and found – almost nothing.  As I’m pretty stubborn, I figured the only other way to find out any questions would be to start to ask those questions to the oldest people in the family, which at this point are my mother and father. It was a starting point. 

I asked my father some questions and it was glanced right over and not much else was said. I asked a second time and got a “Ya know.” and “You’ve met your grandmother.” and that’s as far as it went. As for my mother, I asked her and she said, as plain as day, “Why do you want to know? They are all dead.” And I told her that I wanted to know my past relatives which included her side. She got really quiet and then went onto another subject. The next time I asked her about family, my grandmother directly, she told me very upset “She is dead. Leave her ALONE. She’s finally getting the peace she never had when she was alive.” I told her I wanted to know where she was buried so I can pay my respects and she just told me “NO”. Another dead end. 

This is when I left the conversations. Then a few months ago, my husband found more information and told me about it, and that got me interested again. Round 2 had started. My father’s been very helpful but in small doses. The last time he brought up the subject, as “your little project”, I asked a few more questions, but he let information out. I know it hurt him because, for once, I could hear the hurt and loss in his voice.  Finally a win.

My Great Aunt Genevieve

  

On my mother’s side, I tried again as well. I got a very terse email back stating that a picture I sent to her was of her aunt and that her grandfather wasn’t very nice. I then emailed back stating some of the facts as I knew them, but she had taken them the wrong way and got very ticked off and I could hear the hostility in her writing about her relatives. It was very little that she let go and some of the information she mistook. The last email I wrote to her on the subject, recently, was about what I knew as fact and what I wanted to know. Since then, she hasn’t emailed me back, so I guess I have a mother that is currently not talking to me. 

Family Interviews are very important. They can give you information in small doses that you might never have known before. The way a person says a word, and a word or more can also cause you to ask more questions. 

Why is this so important?

This is very important to me because once we lose that generation, then any information we had about our great grandparents is gone. Any luck with knowing if we have other family out there is completely gone. As my parents are getting older, we have to face the facts that someday in the next 30 years; they will not be with us any longer. If we want those ties to our ancestors then we need to get that information NOW. I feel for some families because the generation that they have left might have dementia or some other trauma which they cannot get the needed information. 

I would love to know if I have first cousins out there. We might be able to talk about our family and how we’re alike. Then there’s the medical history as well. How can you be preventive when you don’t know anything about why your past relatives have died? Are there things we can do now, to prevent the current and future generations from getting a disease or illness and live longer?

The past is just a story

I have seen the above picture on Facebook, and told myself that it is a story, but it’s not JUST a story. Each of us has a story to tell – just like our past family has, and in researching them, you can finally tell their story. Sometimes in telling that story, it will actually change a current story – and in some cases break the cycle. For each one of us, that story is different and in others it can be just the same. Don’t believe me? Then let me focus on one circle in my family. 

I have been told my grandfather had diabetes. No matter what I did, I couldn’t lose weight, but kept trying. A few years ago, I was diagnosed with it. I took a stern stand and controlled all sugar I was eating. After years, I finally lost weight, and in doing so, I actually reversed the diabetes to normal levels.  If I hadn’t known about the diabetes, then we wouldn’t have been looking as early as we were and I could have done real damage which couldn’t have been reversed. 

I have broken the cycle on my side by watching and tightly controlling the sugar and diabetes. It was extremely hard, but it can be done. Now everyone in the family is watching what they eat and is encouraged because it can be done because they have seen it. So by breaking the cycle, it’s changed my story and my sibling’s story. 

Can you imagine what can be done if it had been physical abuse? Or mental abuse? Researchers have said:

“Emotional abuse of a child is commonly defined as a pattern of behavior by parents or caregivers that can seriously interfere with a child’s cognitive, emotional, psychological or social development.^[6] Some parents may emotionally and psychologically harm their children because of stress, poor parenting skills, social isolation, and lack of available resources or inappropriate expectations of their children. They may emotionally abuse their children because the parents or caregivers were emotionally abused during their own childhood. Straus and Field report that psychological aggression is a pervasive trait of American families: "verbal attacks on children, like physical attacks, are so prevalent as to be just about universal."^[23] A 2008 study by English, et al.found that fathers and mothers were equally likely to be verbally aggressive towards their children.^[24] “and physical abuse is aligned with this view. If we find that our past family members had any abuse in the family, then we can break this cycle. That way no abuse happens for further generations. That is an important story – stopping or limiting what we can. 

Staff Sgt J. Sherman's wings

There are good stories as well as bad stories to be given. For instance, my father was in the US Navy. My nephews, two of them, have either served or are serving. Upon my research, I found that my mother had a cousin which served in World War 2. He died on a training mission. His memory is being kept alive by a plaque in France, as he had no wife or children. 

 

Further, I want to “visit” any relatives… they have lived and loved or we wouldn’t be here. I have to respect that. Why did they do the things they did? If they didn’t then we might not have been here at all, but you ARE here so shouldn’t we honor them by remember what they were – both the good things and the bad? 

People who take on being the family historians are trying to do just that – show both the good sides and the bad of each person and to tell their stories. In doing that, it will release whatever good and evil is known so it cannot be done for future generations. That is the important part. 

I do know this – family is important. When you have nothing, they will still be there to give you confidence and unconditional love. Should those who have lived before us have any less of a story to tell or be unrecognized? I don’t think so, as people, we are all important. Further, those of us who want or need to know this information, please give some family historians some respect and information after all, its for the future generations of your family.

Family History Week is going this year for the whole month of August. To find out more here's the website. 

Some of my family in 2004