Gentlefolk,
This post describes some of our activities during June 2022.
The contents of this post are in the following sequence:
Photos of our activities during June 2022.
Book.
Federal Election held 21 May 2022: final results.
Some news items which caught my eye in June 2022.
International trade.
Final of the 2022 Super Rugby Pacific competition. The Brumbies Rugby Union Team, their last two games in the 2022 Super Rugby Pacific competition (4 and 11 June 2022).
First, some photos of our activities during June 2022.
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| Lunch with the ex-Austrade group: from left, Pat Stortz, Les Boag, Jim Enright, John bush, Ian Ffrench, and me. |
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| Geoff McKie, the convener of our Austrade lunch group, wasn't in the previous photo because he was on the phone arranging for medical attention for John Bush who wasn't feeling well. Thanks, Geoff, for all your attention and care! |
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| Vera and I were the hosts for the June meeting of the Guys & Dolls group. We arranged lunch at the Burns Club in Kambah. The Star Buffet has a wonderful range of food: Japanese, Chinese, and Western. From left: me, Nadia, Neil, John, Geoff, Dianne and Ross, Donna, Paul, Marlene, Vera, Helen, and Dominic. |
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| Saying goodbye to Patrick and Kaye O'Hara before we left Canberra for Queensland, |
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| We stopped at Forster and had a look at the Palm Lakes Over 50s Resort. It is a huge project (will have over 300 homes). |
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| Vera with Joanne Jessop of Palm Lakes Resort. |
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| We stayed with Siri and Bob Morrison in Nambucca Heads. |
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| My favourite walk is around the beaches at Nambucca, I've never seen so much driftwood! |
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| Someone made a "humpy" using the driftwood on the beach. |
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| We called in to see Irene and Dennis Smith in Tweed Heads. Dennis was Vera's boss at MC Computer Services 25 years ago. They are a great couple. |
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| Next stop was Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast where we stayed for a week. |
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| We had a two-room apartment in the Southern Cross on the Esplanade at Burleigh. Good facilities and just across the road from Burleigh Beach. |
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| Andrew, Caz and kids came for the long-weekend, and then Paul and Niniek joined us. The apartment was a bit 'tired' but comfortable. |
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| I swam most days: a quick body-surf in the ocean (water temperature was 21C) and then in the pool (water 26C), followed by a spa. |
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| Sunrise from our apartment, stunning. Lots of people out walking, running and surfing. |
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| The view later in the morning. We were on the 7th floor. |
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| A view of Burleigh beach from the north headland. The beach is about 1.5km long, quite beautiful. |
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| With Eddie and Jay-Jay on Burleigh beach. |
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| Caroline and Andrew on our balcony. |
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| Andrew bought tickets to a rugby league game, Gold Coast Titans played South Sydney Rabbitohs. |
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| South Sydney dominated the second half and had a good win. |
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| Enjoying the footy. |
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| Walking home after dinner, we came across this impromptu drums group (and dancers) in the park. |
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| Caught up with Hugo Hofgartner at his place in Gaven. |
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| Paul and Niniek joined us for a couple of days. Here we are having coffee on the balcony of the Surf Club, with wonderful views across Burleigh beach. |
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| Lunch hosted by Lia and Bruce Timbs at their lovely canal home. From left: Paul, Endah, David, Lia, Vera, Bruce, Nora, Doug, and Niniek. |
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| We saw the Roberts family in Brisbane. Watched Nate play rugby for Geeps. He was half-back (#9) and captain. They had a good win. He will represent Brisbane Met-North at the Queensland Rugby Championships in Hervey Bay in July. |
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| We took the family to our favorite restaurant in Brisbane. |
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| Tom did a pork shoulder on a BBQ rotisserie for dinner - delicious! From left: Sid, Nate, Vera, Jen, Kurt, and Tom. Jen and Tom are both great cooks. |
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| Vera and Nate (15). |
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| Kurt will turn 17 next month - where have the years gone??? |
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| Vera and Sid (13). |
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| Jen is always so positive and full of fun. |
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| After Brisbane we had 4 nights at the Points North apartments in Coolangatta. |
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| The Coolangatta Surf Club opposite our apartment. |
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| Coolangatta Beach. The waves and undertoe were quite strong. |
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| Greg and Shana Mills joined us for 3 days in Coolangatta. Greg and I had a body surf at the southern end (Greenmount Beach) every morming. Relatively small waves, but with a powerful sweep down the beach. |
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| Greg and I played golf at the Coolangatta Tweed Heads Golf Club. Great course, wide fairways and good greens. A most pleasant afternoon. |
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| Getting ready to hit off. |
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| One afternoon we took a drive up to Mount Warning, which is in a huge (and I mean HUGE) caldera. Must have been an incredible volcanic eruption millions of years ago. |
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| We had lunch in the attractive village of Tyalgum. They have kept many of the old buildings. |
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| The old E S & A Bank (English, Scottish and Australia Bank) building has been preserved. This was quite a thriving community 100 years ago. |
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| Looking south, View of the mouth of the Tweed River, from Point Danger. |
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| We went for a drive to Fingal Head and Kingscliff. Greg showed us this interesting rock formation |
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| Lots of Pandanus trees in this area - fascinating root structure. |
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| Stopped in Forster again on the way south, to see Geoff and Albert. |
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| From left: Geoff, me, Vera, Albert. |
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| Geoff and Albert invited us for dinner, and then we watched the second State of Origin rugby league game - this time NSW prevailed 44-12 (Queensland won the first game 16-12). The third and deciding game will be played in Brisbane in 2 weeks. |
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| In Sydney we had dinner with two of my former students at the China University of Petroleum, Yu Zhi Chao (Charles) and Yu Ya Qi (Romulus). Wonderful to see them again, and that they are both doing well. From Sydney we headed back to Canberra (we are heading back into cold weather, the minimum temperature in Canberra last night was minus 5C!). This trip up to Queensland and back has been a very good break. |
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| We accompanied Andrew when he took the kids up to Waverley Primary School yesterday morning, before we drove back to Canberra. |
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BOOK
Bill Bryson is a wonderful author and I enjoyed this book very much. It was published in 2015 and updated his first book on Great Britain "Notes from a small island". He has an eye for the ridiculous, the unusual, and the funny.
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Federal Election, 21 May 2022: final results
Note: figures have been rounded.
There were 17.2 million registered voters, of which 14.7 actually voted giving a turnout rate of 90% (a decrease of 2% from the previous election). Voting is compulsory, and all registered voters should vote. Names are crossed off a list, but a person may decide not to complete the ballot paper. Also, fines are small if they don’t attend, so the non-attendance rate is creeping up.
House of Representatives
The HoR has preferential voting. Just because a candidate gets more primary votes they might still lose if preferences from other candidates don’t go their way.
Party | Primary vote (million) | % of total | Swing (%) | Seats won (number) | Change |
Liberal National Coalition (Conservative) | 5.2 | 36 | -6 | 58 | -19 |
Aust Labor Party ALP | 4.8 | 33 | -1 | 77 | +9 |
Greens | 1.8 | 12 | +2 | 4 | +3 |
One Nation | 0.7 | 5 | +2 | - | - |
United Australia | 0.6 | 4 | +1 | - | - |
Katter | 0.06 | 0.4 | - | 1 | - |
Centre Alliance | 0.04 | 0.3 | - | 1 | - |
Independents | 0.8 | 5 | +2 | 10 | +7 |
Total | 14.7 | 100 |
| 151 |
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Two party preferred
Party | Votes (million) | % of total | Swing (%) |
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ALP (Labor) | 7.6 | 52% | +3.7% |
Liberal National (LNC) | 7.0 | 48% | -3.7% |
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Invalid/Blank HoR votes | 0.8 | 5% | -0,4% |
Turnout | 15.5 | 90% | -2.2% |
Registered voters | 17.2 |
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Labor won 77 seats in the HoR, one more than required for a majority in the 151 member HoR. So they can govern in their own right. But legislation has to be passed by both the HoR and the Senate.
Senate
The Australian Senate has 76 Senators. This time 40 were up for re-election. Voting is by proportional representation.
If the LNC oppose a new Bill, Labor will need the Greens plus one more to get a majority in the Senate to pass legislation.
Party | Votes (million) | % of total | Swing % | Seats won | Total number | Change |
LNC | 5.2 | 34% | -4% | 15 | 32 | -4 |
ALP (Labor) | 4.5 | 30% | +1% | 15 | 26 | - |
Greens | 1.9 | 13% | +2.5% | 6 | 12 | +3 |
One Nation | 0.6 | 4% | -1 | 1 | 2 | - |
UAP | 0.5 | 4% | +1 | 1 | 1 | +1 |
Pocock | 0.06 | 0.4 | +0.4% | 1 | 1 | +1 |
Lambie | 0.03 | 0.2% | - | 1 | 2 | +1 |
Patrick | 0.02 | 0.2% | - | - | - | -1 |
| Number (million) | % of total | Change % |
Invalid/Blank Senate votes | 0.53 | 3.4% | -0.4% |
Turnout | 15.6 | 90% | -2% |
Registered voters | 17.2 |
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The new Albanese Government has started well. But they face huge challenges (rising interest rates, crashing stock market, slowing economy (even talk of recession), A$1 trillion debt (Covid response), global inflation, strained supply lines, escalating energy and food prices, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, etc, etc).
A tough gig - we can only wish Albo and his Ministers all the very best in this daunting task.
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News items which caught my eye during June 2022.
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Global
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UK celebrated Queen Elizabeth’s
Platinum Jubilee (70 years) on the throne. Real Madrid beat Liverpool in
Paris to win the Champions League, but French authorities accused of poor
crowd control. Canada trials de-criminalising
drugs (MDMA, cocaine) for personal use. Bank of Canada raised official
interest rate 0.5% to 1.5%. Euro Zone inflation 8.1% for 12
months to May 2022. French Tennis Open finals: Ida
Swiatek beat Coco Gauff and Rafa Nadal beat Casper Ruud. It was Nadal’s 14th
French Open win and 21st Grand Slam. UK High Court permitted sending
illegal immigrants to Rwanda. World Trade Organisation (WTO)
Ministerial meeting 12-15 June, first in 5 years. Annual QS rating of 1,400 universities:
top 3: MIT, Cambridge, Stanford. Australia had 5 in top 50: ANU (#30),
MelbourneU (#33), SydneyU (#41), UNSW (#45), UQ (#50). Super Rugby Pacific Championship: Christchurch
Crusaders beat Auckland Blues 21-7. Canberra Brumbies were the only Aussie
team to make the finals. Widespread flooding in India,
Bangladesh, China. Economist ranking of livable
cities. Best: Vienna, Copenhagen, Zurich, Calgary, Vancouver, Geneva,
Frankfurt, Toronto, Amsterdam, Melbourne. Worst: Damascus, Lagos, Tripoli. Bloomberg’s “most at-risk countries
of housing bubble bursting”: NZ, Czech, Hungary, Australia, Canada, Portugal,
USA. G7 leaders (USA, UK, Canada, France,
Germany, Italy, Japan) met in Germany. NATO meeting in Madrid. Russia first foreign debt default
since 1918 (sanctions have blocked access to foreign banks, so can’t pay). EU members agree to phase out sales of new internal-engine cars by 2035.
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Russian invasion of Ukraine |
Passed 100 days since Russian
invasion of Ukraine. USA to give Ukraine advanced
rocket systems which can hit targets 70km. EU countries (except Hungary,
Slovakia, and Czech) agreed on partial ban of oil imports from Russia. Leaders of France, Germany and
Italy visited Kyiv. EU to fast-track Ukraine’s membership
application. Sweden and Finland will join NATO. Putin's aggression has actually strengthened NATO, the opposite of his intention.
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USA
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House of Representatives Committee
investigating the “6 January 2021 Insurrection” holds public hearings. US Supreme Court overturned Roe
& Wade, the 1973 decision which gave constitutional right to abortion; will
now become a State responsibility. President Biden signed into law a
(minor) gun control Bill. May inflation rate 8.6%. Federal
Reserve raised official interest rate 0.75%. USA hosted “Summit of the
Americas” in LA (Not invited: Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua). Elon Musk ordered all staff back
to office, minimum 40 hours per week. NBA basketballer LeBron James made
Billionaire. 2022 NBA finals: Golden State Warriors
beat Boston Celtics; Stephen Curry MVP. USA dropped requirement for international visitors to be Covid negative. US deficit in goods & services
trade $87B in May. Cosmetic company Revlon filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Over 50 dead illegal immigrants found in a truck near San Antonio,Texas.
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Australia |
Labor’s new ministry sworn in: 23
members (includes 13 women). PM Anthony Albanese; Deputy PM and Defence
Minister Richard Marles; Foreign Minister Penny Wong; Muslims Ed Husic (Industry) and Anne Aly
(Early childhood education); Linda Burley first indigenous female Minister
for Indigenous; Two special Assistant Ministers for the Uluru Statement and
for the Republic. New Parliament will sit on 26 July. PM Albanese made official visit to
Indonesia, our nearest big neighbour. Australia’s Q1 2022 GDP increased
3.3%. Reserve Bank raised official
interest rate 0.5% to 0.85%. Australia to pay France’s Naval
Group A$830m compensation for cancelling the submarine contract. After 4 years in detention for
illegal entry, Sri Lankan Nadesalingam family returned to Biloela on bridging
visas. David Pocock (Independent)
confirmed as second Senator for the ACT (Liberal Zed Seselja missed out). The Fair Work Commission raised
the basic wage by 5.2% to A$21.38 an hour. The Socceroos beat Peru (penalties)
to qualify for the World Cup. Energy crisis on East Coast averted
by Energy Market Operator. Crown Casino takeover by
Blackstone for A$9B.
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China |
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi
visited countries in the South Pacific and encouraged them to sign Security
Agreements with China. Covid-induced lockdown in Shanghai
ended. China launched its third crewed-mission
(2 men, 1 woman) to the Tiangong Space Station.
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INTERNATIONAL TRADE
My 30 year career as an Australian Trade Commissioner gave me an interest in matters related to international trade. I subscribe to Bloomberg's excellent daily newsletter "Supply Lines - tracking Covid-19's impact on trade" (former title 'Trade Matters').
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| USA goods (merchandise) exports in May totalled $176.6B, while goods imports totalled $280.9B, giving a deficit in goods trade of $104.3B. The good news - this was the smallest defcit this year. |
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| 19 of the world's 20 fastest growing chip firms over the last 4 quarters were in China. The $550B semi conductor chip industry is changing due to US-China trade tensions. The Chinese are striving to become self-sufficient. |
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2022 Super Rugby Pacific competition.
The final of the competition was played in Auckland on Saturday 18 June between the Auckland Blues and the Christchurch Crusaders.
Everyone thought it would be close, but the Crusaders dominated the first half. with about 70% possession and territory. The Blues were constantly on the back foot, and their lineouts were awful (they only won 9 of 19 lineouts in the game). The Blues were more competitive in the second half.
The final score of 21 - 7 gave the Crusaders their 13th title, a remarkable record. They have been the most successful team in Australasia over the last 25 years.
Interesting that 3 Barrett brothers play at the top level: Jordie plays for the Wellington Hurricanes, Beauden plays for the Auckland Blues, and Scott is captain of the Christchurch Crusaders. A family of champions.
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Played in Canberra 4 June 2022
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Played
in Auckland NZ 11 June 2022
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Brumbies
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Hurricanes |
Brumbies |
Blues |
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Half time
score |
15 |
22 |
7 |
20 |
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Full time
score |
35 |
25 |
19 |
20 |
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Tries |
4 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
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Conversions |
3 |
- |
2 |
2 |
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Penalty goals |
3 |
5 |
- |
2 |
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Kick success
rate |
75% |
63% |
67% |
100% |
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Possession |
47% |
53% |
53% |
47% |
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Territory |
62% |
38% |
47% |
53% |
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Kicks from Hand |
32 |
22 |
18 |
27 |
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Passes |
83 |
151 |
109 |
124 |
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Runs |
74 |
117 |
89 |
86 |
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Metres run |
232 |
390 |
250 |
443 |
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Clean breaks |
1 |
3 |
2 |
5 |
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Tackles |
130 |
105 |
92 |
107 |
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Missed
tackles |
21 |
6 |
31 |
14 |
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Defenders
beaten |
6 |
21 |
14 |
31 |
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Offloads |
3 |
5 |
4 |
12 |
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Rucks won |
60 (90%) |
100
(94%) |
65 (92%) |
58 (92%) |
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Mauls won |
9 (100%) |
1 (100%) |
9 (90%) |
5 (100%) |
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Turnovers
conceded |
7 |
14 |
10 |
11 |
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Scrums won |
2 (100%) |
3 (60%) |
5 (100%) |
5 (71%) |
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Lineouts won |
13
(100%) |
11 (78%) |
14 (82%) |
8 (80%) |
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Yellow cards |
- |
2 |
- |
2 |
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Red cards |
1 |
- |
- |
- |
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Penalties
conceded |
10 |
10 |
10 |
12 |
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Source:
ESPN https://www.espn.com.au/rugby/matchstats accessed 5 and 19 June 2022.
...
That's it for another month.
The trip to Queensland went well. We did 2,161 kms and used 158 litres of diesel at an average cost of A$2.23 per litre. We were very lucky with the weather - May was a wet month on the East Coast, but June was dry! We had nice, sunny days everywhere. Cool days and cooler nights, but sun makes all the difference.
We arrived back in Canberra yesterday. It was about 12C and not bad, but at about 4pm the temperature dropped by about 5C with an overnight minimum of ZeroC. Ouch! Today's forecast is 3-13C. Welcome back to winter!
A couple more photos.
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| My brother, Papa Andy, in Rarotonga. |
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| Michael Kramer and his son Peter are avid flag collectors. They acquired these flags on a recent visit to Cyprus, Georgia and Armenia. They have a flagpole in front of their house in Hornsby (Sydney) and fly flags on National Days. |
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Best wishes, stay healthy and keep smiling.
Vera and Alex Olah
Canberra, Australia
Thursday 30 June 2022.
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