Life, Down Under. The digital diary of Vera & Alex Olah

Friday, 30 June 2023

Post #266 30 June 2023

Gentlefolk,

This post describes our activities in June 2023.

The contents of this post are in the following sequence:

Photos of our activities during June 2023.

News items which caught my eye in June 2023.

International Trade.

A bit of Humour.

Herewith photos of some of our activities during June.

The highlight of our month was spending 10 days in Brisbane and surrounds - good to get out of Canberra's winter.

We went to a concert "Russell Crowe's Indoor Garden Party" at the Playhouse Theatre. Russell is best known for his acting (Oscar winner) but he obviously loves performing live on stage; he was onstage for over 2 hours, singing, playing the guitar, and chatting.

Russell Crowe (59, and carrying a lot of weight) chatted about his life/career during the concert. Perhaps the funniest story was about the time he was 'fucked' by a huge tarantula spider. PM Albo was in the audience (he and Russell are both passionate South Sydney Rabbitohs supporters).

Saying goodbye to Marjana Sadu, who has been a good manager of RMC Golf Club. I've been playing socially twice a week, enjoy the game, but my lower back suffers.

One of the big stories this month was Ben Roberts-Smith losing his defamation case against three newspapers. Talk about an own-goal!! Despite all the adverse findings, the War Memorial has decided, for the moment, to keep keep the display of Ben and the Victoria Cross he was awarded for bravery in Afghanistan.

I went to this event (really a book launch). Professor John Blaxland is an expert presenter.

Co-author Clare Birgin discussing the book.

We attended the Annual Ball weekend of our dance club. Dances and lessons were held on four consecutive days/nights, New Vogue, also called Sequence Dancing (eg Swing Waltz).

COTDC Vice President Ken Hopkins does the "welcome to country"

Former President Duncan Souter cut the cake.

Vera & I enjoyed the Ball. We normally dance twice a week, on Tuesday nights at the German Club and on Thursday nights with the Canberra Old Time Dance Club at St Benedict's hall.

ACT pool competition finals held at the German Club. Impressive skills.

Leo Joseph playing Blues piano and singing. We are fans!

Author's talk at the Asia Bookroom.

Author Michael Laffan (Princeton U) was interviewd by Greg Fealy from the ANU.

We watched the semi-final of the Super Rugby Pacific competition which was played between the Hamilton Chiefs and the Canberra Brumbies. We put up a good fight, but lost to a better team. Only one try was scored, by the Chiefs, with 5 minutes to go. From left: Paul Nicoll, Nick White (Brumbies half-back who is joining the Force next year), David Evans, and me. In the Final a week later, the Crusaders beat the Chiefs.

Visited the Portrait Gallery. Actor Hugh Jackman.

Author Tim Winton.

We have a soft spot for painter Tom Roberts as our son-in-law has the same name.

Our nephew Moritz completed the Cairns Ironman in 12 hours 26 minutes: 3.8km ocean swim; 180 km bike ride, 42 km run. What a champion!!! Moritz came from Germany about 5 years ago; he is now the Service Manager for Tesla in Melbourne; he took up Ironman as a hobby during Covid.

Our U3A Australian History group visited Mulligan's Flat eco sanctuary. The Canberra Govt set aside 140 hectares on our northern border with NSW, to be kept in its natural state. Impressive.

Part of Mulligan's Flat eco sanctuary which we saw on our tour.

We were delighted to receive a photo of Trade/Commercial Counselor colleagues we met in Singapore nearly 30 years ago: Steve & Donna Craven (USA Embassy) and Ildiko & Denes Hunkar (Hungarian Embassy). They caught up in Budapest., at the elegant New York Cafe.

Vera & I spent 10 days in Brisbane, house-and-dog sitting while the family went camping. I played golf with the three boys, Kurt, Nate and Sid before they left.

Nate did golf for PE at school last term - he has really improved.

Bulcock's Beach, Caloundra (Sunshine Coast, north of Brisbane). As you can see the river mouth is silted up at the moment. We were researching the property market - looking to escape winter in Canberra - everything is pretty expensive! The Sunshine Coast is a pleasant area: King's Beach, Moffat's Beach and up the coast to Mooloolaba and Maroochydore.

Called in to see Bron and Daz Hensley at Maleny in teh hinterland of the Sunshine Coast. We met during our India tour 3.5 years ago (just before Covid hit).

View from Mary Cairncorss lookout at Maleny of the Glasshouse mountains.

A tangle of vines and branches near the beach at Mooloolaba.

We spent a couple of days at the Gold Coast researching the property market. Popped in to see Hugo Hofgartner at Gaven. Indefatigable - Hugo was in the middle of his next project, building a big shed at the front of his yard.

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News items which caught my eye during June 2023.

Global

Top 4 on Bloomberg’s 2023 Billionaire’s List: Elon Musk (192B); Bernard Arnault ($187B); Jeff Bezos; Bill Gates.

India: train crash 288+ died and hundreds injured; Indian airline IndiGo placed an order for 500 Airbus A320s for an estimated $55B. PM Narendra Modi’s official visit to USA.

France: passed a new law protecting consumers from misleading information from online “influencers”. Widespread anti-police demonstrations following the shooting of 17 year old Nahel at a traffic checkpoint.

OPEC+ decided to cut oil production to stabilize prices; but remained soft.

UK: Prince Harry sued Mirror Newspapers for unlawful information gathering. Former PM Boris Johnson resigned, anticipating that the House of Commons Privileges Committee would find that he had deliberately misled Parliament. Actress and politician Glenda Jackson died aged 87 (Women in Love; A Touch of Class). The courts decided that the Govt's plan to send illegal immigrants to Rwanda was unlawful as Rwanda was not considered a safe destination.

World snooker: match-fixing scandal - some Chinese players banned.

World golf: The PGA, DP World Tour, and LIV Golf agreed on a partnership, ending months of turmoil in golf.

Football/Soccer: Lionel Messi will join Inter Miami in the MLS League. Swedish soccer star, Zlatan Ibraminovic, retired aged 41. After success leading Celtic in the Scottish League, Aussie Ange Postecoglou was named new Manager of Tottenham Hotspur. Manchester City beat Inter Milan to win the Champions League (Man City had already won the FA Cup and the Premier League, got the trifecta!).

Tennis: Novak Djokovic beat Casper Ruud to win the French Open – his 23^rd Grand Slam. Top 4 GS winners: Djoko 23; Nadal 22; Federer 20; Sampras 14.

Italy: entrepreneur and 4x PM, Silvio Berlusconi, died aged 86.

Indonesia: next Presidential election will be held in February 2024, frontrunners: Anies Baswedan; Ganjar Pranowo; Prabowo Subianto.

New Zealand: officially in recession after two consecutive quarters of negative GDP (-0.7% and -0.1%).

A boat full of migrants (mostly from Egypt, Syria and Pakistan) sank off Greece; 104 rescued but 100s drowned.

Remains of the submersible ‘Titan’ found near the Titanic wreck; 5 occupants died in the implosion; remains salvaged to assess cause.

Canada: passed the “Online News Act” to force platforms such as Meta and Google to pay for news content. Widespread wildfires in Canada have burnt an estimated 7.7m hectares which affected air quality across a large area including parts of the USA.

Turkey: The new Finance Minister doubled interest rates to 15% in an effort to control inflation (running at 40%pa).

Brazil: Trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro commenced; he is accused of abuse of power and spreading false information.

Islam: about 2M Muslims participated in the hajj in Mecca.

Russian invasion of Ukraine

Belgorod (inside Russia) attacked again – dissident Russians or Ukrainians?

Heavy fighting around Bakhmut.

Ukraine’s anticipated counter-offensive began.

The big Nova Kakhovka Dam on the Dnipro River collapsed, causing widespread flooding and damage. Ukraine blamed Russia and visa-versa (but why would Russia destroy a major water supply for SE Ukraine and Crimea?).

Russia deployed some tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus.

Following disagreements with the Russian Military Command, the Wagner mercenary army (estimated around 25K strong, funded by Russia) led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, “mutinied”; extraordinary scenes as they marched from the conflict in Ukraine towards Moscow. An agreement was brokered: Prigozhin was given safe haven in Belarus and the mercenaries were given the option of joining the Russian Army or disbanding.

USA

Congress (Senate 63-36, House 314-117) passed the Debt Ceiling Bill, to avoid defaulting on govt debt of $31.4T (valid until January 2025).

Congress blocked a Biden initiative to forgive some student loans – Biden will veto.

Mike Pence announced his candidature for the Republican Party candidate for the 2024 Presidential election. Former New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie, also nominated.

Trump was indicted for mishandling classified documents – pleaded “not guilty”; claimed a witch hunt; increased his popularity amongst Republicans.

Purdue Pharma (Sackler Family owned) settled for $6B to avoid litigation related to America’s opioid crisis.

NBA: Denver Nuggets beat Miami Heat to win their first Championship. MVP Nikola Jokic.

Economy: Inflation rate in May 4% (down from 4.9% in April); US unemployment rate rose from 3.4% to 3.7%. Fed Reserve did not change interest rates in June.

Jim Hines, who broke 10 seconds when he won the 100m sprint in 9.95sec at the 1968 Olympics, died aged 76. His record stood for 15 years, finally beaten by Calvin Smith in 1983.

A prolonged ‘heat dome’ brought very high temperatures to Texas and neighbouring States; several deaths.

President Biden announced $42B to expand high-speed internet access; will benefit an estimated 8.5m families and businesses.

The US Supreme Court ruled that colleges and universities can no longer take race into consideration in their admissions policies - end of 'affirmative action'!

Australia

Parliament passed the Bill to hold a referendum later this year on the constitutional inclusion of an Indigenous Voice. In the Senate the Greens sided with the Coalition to delay a vote on the Government’s A$10B Housing Bill.

Victoria Cross winner, Ben Roberts-Smith, lost his defamation case against 3 newspapers which published articles implying his guilt of bullying and killing civilians in Afghanistan. Federal Court Judge, Anthony Besanko, described Smith as “an unreliable witness”.

South Australia adopted increased penalty to A$50K or 3 months jail for “obstructing a public place”.

Central Coast Mariners (CCM) beat Melbourne City 6-1 to win the A League championship (first title since 2013). Jason Cummins scored a hat trick.

Kathleen Folbigg was pardoned because of doubts about her conviction (she served 20 years for killing 4 babies).

Economics: GDP rose 0.2% in Q1 2023. Reserve Bank raised interest rates 0.25% to 4.1%; 12^th rise.

Super Rugby: The Brumbies beat the Hurricanes in the Quarter Finals, but were beaten by the Chiefs in the Semis. In the Final in Hamilton, the Crusaders beat the Chiefs 25-20.

First time the majority of recipients of the King’s Birthday honours (total of 1,100 Awards) were female.

Bus accident near Maitland: 10 dead, 11 injured.

Govt established the High Speed Rail Authority to (again) assess feasibility.

Several women accused Senator David Van (Lib, Vic) of sexual harassment; he resigned from the Liberal Party and will sit on the cross-benches.

Lowy Institute’s “SE Asia Aid Map” showed the region received about $28B in development finance. Major donors: ADB & World Bank, followed by China ($5.5B), Japan ($3B), Korea ($3B), EU ($3B). Australia ($0.9B).

Queensland won Rugby League’s 2023 ‘State of Origin’ series, beating NSW in the first two games.

Kylie Minogue had her first Top-10 hit in 13 years with “Padam Padam”.

Former leader of the Aust Labor Party (2001-3), Simon Crean, died aged 74.

Under fire PwC sold its govt Advisory Division to private equity Allegro Funds for $1.

China

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Beijing; met his counterpart and also the Chinese President.

Beijing had its hottest June day in 60 years (41.1C).

New Zealand PM Chris Hipkins made an official visit to Beijing; China is NZ’s biggest export market (mainly lamb, dairy, and timber products).

China’s Central Bank shaved official interest rates to boost economy.

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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').

Here are some of the more interesting graphs in the Bloomberg newsletter during June 2023; they are largely self-explanatory.

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A bit of humour

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That's it for this post.

We are enjoying our time in Brisbane, where their minimums are Canberra's maximums!!!

Best wishes, stay healthy and keep smiling.

Vera & Alex Olah

Brisbane, Australia

Friday 30 June 2023

Wednesday, 31 May 2023

Post #265 31 May 2023

Gentlefolk,

This post describes our main activities during the month of May 2023.

The contents of this post are in the following sequence:

Photos of our activities during May 2023.

Covid 19 pandemic - good riddance!

Some news items which caught my eye in May 2023.

International Trade.

Too good not to share.

Winter arrived in mid-May. The first half of May was good: clear blue skies, temperatures between 2C and 18C, but little wind so pleasant. Then winter arrived: temperatures from minus 5C to 14C, often cloudy with a biting wind, so unpleasant. The Bureau of Meteorology said the mean temperature (average of max & min) for Canberra in May was 7.8C, the coldest in years.

Our highlight of the month was a visit to Sydney. The main purpose was to see our friend Angie Zhang who is undergoing chemo - she is bearing up well so far - we also saw Andrew & Caroline and the two grandkids.

Here are some puzzling questions to brighten your day:

Photos of our activities in May.

Vera with Ketut Nanik. Their mothers were sisters from Singaraja, Bali. Ketut and her husband Adrian Clynes moved to Canberra a few years ago.

I attended this talk by the Ambassador of Costa Rica, HE Armando Vargas Araya. My eyues were opened about Costa Rica, a relatively small country of 5 million people situated between Nicaragua and Panama in Central America. Did you know that in 1948 Costa Rica voted to abolish the military? Yes, they do not have a standing army. Panama followed suit in 1993. Actually, according to Wikipedia there are about 20 countries (most small island states) which do NOT have a military. Isn't that amazing, to think of a world without arms!!!???

President of ACT AIIA Heath McMichael with Ambassador Araya.

Betsy Phillips' birthday party (the number on the balloon was kind!).

Vera's cousin, Maggie and her husband Joop, visited from Sydney.

We went to a Shortis and Simpson concert at Smith's Alternative Cafe.

John Shortis and Moya Simpson in convert with Nigel and Beth who run Smith's. It was another wonderful night of entertainment.

Tony Maple led a guided tour of Queanbeyan for a group from the Australia China Friendship Society.

An estimated 60,000 Chinese came to Australia during the gold rush (1856-85), mostly to Victoria but several thousand also came to the Braidwood/Major's Creek/Araluen gold fields about 80km south of Canberra/Queanbeyan. About half managed to return to China, and the others stayed here, many becoming market-gardeners.

Tony told the story of Bill Tankey whose father Tan Kee came to Australia from Fujian Province; he married Catherine West in Sydney in 1854. Bill was the second of their six children. Bill moved to Queanbeyan in 1888, had seventeen children from two wives. He was enterprising and had several jobs (including as a contracting company which built part of the railway to Cooma), and died in 1939. He is buried in the Catholic Section of the Queanbeyan cemetery.

The group in Strawberry Lane, Queanbeyan. In the 18902 Bill Tankey managed The Queanbeyan Leader newspaper which had offices here.

I watched the Brumbies v Highlanders at Canberra Stadium. The Brumbies won an entertaining game 48-32. The Brumbies have been the best of the Australian teams in the Super Rugby Pacific competition and are currently sitting 4th on the ladder (so will make the finals).

A photo of the Volunteer Guides of the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House. Difficult to see, but I am in the centre at the back.

My father Akos Olah was born in Hungary on 19 May 1912; my mother Edeltraut Gorner was born in Germany on 18 May 1920. Both have long-since passed away, but we always think of our parents during May at the time of their birthdays. This photo was taken about 1985.

My mother with her sister Magda, photo taken in 1950. We emigrated to Australia at the end of that year; brave new world!

Jen sent this framed family photo to Vera for Mother's Day. It was taken in Bali last month.

Andrew and I watched the South Sydney v Parramatta Rugby League game at the new Stadium in Sydney. Souths were the favourites, but Parra blitzed them.

We watched Jay (6) play soccer for Easts Football Club. James (holding the ball) scored a good goal.

The games are at Queens Park, just 10 mins walk from their home.

Here is Eddie's soccer team (also Easts) getting advice from their coach at half time.

Dinner with Sydney friends, from left: me, Vera, Howard, Angie, Nikki, and Charles.

Angie Zhang; she is undergoing chemo at present. Brave girl!

Andrew's soccer team (all in their 40s); their competition is on Sunday mornings.

Andrew's team played students from the University of NSW - oldies v youngsters - but they acquitted themselves well, with a final score of 3-all.

We saw this play at the Belconnen Community Theatre. Good fun, entertaining.

After the play we met some of the actors. From left: Kim Wilson (lead actor in the play), Vera, Robin & Tieke Brown, and Noel Cock.

On 13 November 2015 terrorists launched an attack in Paris, killing 131 and injuring almost 500. This film describes the action by the police to find the perpetrators before they can strike again. The film is frenetic and fast-paced (very different from 'normal' French movies).

In Australia this film was called "Cairo Conspiracy", set in Egypt in Arabic with English sub-titles. Adam is the son of a poor fisherman. He is offered a place to study at prestigious Al Azhar University in Cairo. Shortly after his arrival, the Grand Imam dies and Adam becomes an unwitting player in the power struggle to select a successor.
A good movie, with fine acting and a suspenseful plot.

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Covid 19 pandemic, January 2020 to May 2023.

Is it really over???

In May 2023 the WHO declared the Covid 19 pandemic was no longer a global health emergency. It was still around, but the number of new cases and deaths had fallen sharply and were being managed effectively.

Could this cursed pandemic, which has dominated our lives for the last 3 years, really be over?

The following table shows the top ten countries by number of cases, and deaths. The figures are taken from the Worldometers website, based on statistics from individual country government sources. But The Economist thinks these official figures are "rubbery" and that the real figures could be two or even three times more.

Covid 19 Pandemic, Top 10 countries (ranked by number of cases). Figures have been rounded.

Source: www.worldometers.info accessed 26 May 2023

Country	Cases of Covid 19 Millions	Deaths attributed to Covid 19 Thousands

Global	689	6.9M
USA	107	1.2M
India	45	532
France	40	167
Germany	38	174
Brazil	38	703
Japan	34	75
South Korea	32	35
Italy	26	190
UK	25	225
Russia	23	399

Australia	12	21
China	0.5	5

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News items which caught my eye during May 2023.

Global

World Health Organization said that “Covid 19 is no longer a global heath emergency”; 765 million confirmed cases, 7+ million dead.

Coronation of King Charles 3^rd in London. Thousands attended including PM Albanese and GG Hurley. A grand spectacle, the British do it well.

The Americans nominated Ajay Banga to be the next President of the World Bank. He is an Indian-American who was CEO of Mastercard.

Two mass shootings in Serbia; gun controls introduced.

Imran Khan was arrested on corruption charges; freed on bail. Big protests.

Israel – Gaza heavy fighting.

The annual Eurovision song contest held in Liverpool was won by Loreen from Sweden.

Womens soccer: Chelsea beat Man United to win the FA Cup for the 3^rd time; Sam Kerr scored; record crowd 77,390.

Turkiye: Recep Erdogan (52%) narrowly beat rival Kilicdaroglu to win a 3^rd term of 5 years as President.

Thailand: the Opposition ‘Move Forward’ Party defeated the Govt (will end 9 years of military rule).

Cyclone Mocha devastated Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Europe’s Champions League final next month will be between Inter Milan and Manchester City.

Although Arsenal led most of the season, Man City won England’s Premier League (3^rd successive win). Leicester City (The Foxes) relegated to second division (they won the Premier League in 2016). Luton promoted.

Bayern Munich pipped Borussia Dortmund to win the German Bundesliga for the 11^th time. In France, Paris St Germain won its 11^th championship; Messi scored giving him a total of 496 goals, one more than Ronaldo.

The G7 (USA, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan) met in Hiroshima, Japan. President Biden cut short his overseas trip and returned to Washington to resolve the debt ceiling stand-off.

Greek election won by Centre-right New Democracy Party (new PM Mitsotakis).

Syrian President Bashar al Assad attended the Arab League summit in Saudi, first time since 2011.

To combat emissions, France banned domestic short-haul flights of less than 2.5 hours, where train options exist.

Brazil declared a 6 monthly animal health emergency to contain the spread of avian flu (H5N1).

A Canadian report accused China of interfering in the last two federal elections (2019 and 2021). Denied by China.

Netflix began stopping the free sharing of passwords / access outside the subscriber’s home.

Germany has experienced two quarters of negative growth (Q4 2022 -0.5%; Q1 2023 -0.3%) which is the technical definition of recession.

The EU Digital Services Act obliges companies to tackle false/illegal online content.

350 leading academics and technocrats signed an open letter warning Govts of the potential dangers of unregulated Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Russian invasion of Ukraine

According to the BBC major military aid donors to Ukraine so far: USA $47B, UK $7B, Germany $4B, Poland $3B.

President Zelensky visited several countries during May to shore up support: Vatican, Germany, UK, Arab League summit in Saudi, and the G7 meeting in Hiroshima.

Russia extended the Ukrainian grain export agreement for 2 months.

USA agreed to allow supply of F16 jets to Ukraine.

Two separate drone attacks on Moscow were blamed on Ukraine (denied). A Russian anti-Putin group attacked installations in Belograd.

Russia fired missiles and drones at Kyiv for 3 consecutive nights; most were shot down, little damage.

Everyone says the Ukrainian counter-offensive is imminent.

USA

Talks to increase the “debt ceiling” (set to expire on 5 June) dominated the media during the second half of May. Some House Republicans wanted big spending cuts, but Biden disagreed. A provisional agreement was reached on 29 May which still needs to pass Congress. Wall Street was volatile but steadied.

A Manhattan jury found that former President Trump sexually abused (but did not rape) E. Jean Carroll and awarded her $5M for battery and defamation. Trump will appeal.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared that he will contest the Republican nomination for the 2024 Presidential election. Trump is way ahead as the preferred GOP candidate at present.

The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 0.25% (to 5.25%); the 10^th hike since March 2022.

US GDP increased 1.1% in Q1 2023; inflation rate was 4.9% in April, falling.

The FIDC accepted a bid of $10.6B by JP Morgan to purchase First Republic Bank (14^th largest lender in the USA) which became insolvent.

In Q1 2023 a record 32 million passengers passed through NY airports (Kennedy, Newark and La Guardia).

Writers strike in Hollywood demanding better conditions.

Tests on two new drugs by Eli Lilly, Lecanemab and Donanemab, appear to slow Alzheimer’s Disease.

Richard Branson’s space coy Virgin Orbit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Goldman Sachs paid $215M to settle a sex discrimination case (offered female staff lower pay and conditions).

Elon Musk announced Linda Yaccarmo as the new CEO of Twitter.

Warren Buffett sold his stake in Taiwan’s TSMC.

California, Arizona and Nevada agreed to reduce extraction of water from the Colorado River, in exchange for $1.2B in Fed Govt aid.

Queen of Rock & Roll, Tina Turner, died in Switzerland aged 83.

Florida passed a new law prohibiting citizens of certain countries from owning property within 10 miles of critical infrastructure such as water plants and power stations: China, Russia, Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, and Syria. Texas may follow suit.

South Carolina law banning abortion after 6 weeks.

President Biden appointed Air Force General Charles Brown Jr as new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is the second Black American (after Colin Powell) to lead the military.

Australia

The Reserve Bank raised interest rates by 0.25% (to 3.85%). Unemployment rate edged up, from 3.5% to 3.7% in April. Inflation rate also rose, to 6.8%.

The CEO of Qantas for 15 years, Alan Joyce, announced that he will be replaced by Vanessa Hudson (current CFO).

The Federal Govt said it would contribute $240M towards a new stadium in Hobart, which was a provision of the AFL to approve a Tasmanian team in the competition. The stadium has been controversial in Tassie.

The Federal Govt banned recreational vaping; sales thru pharmacies allowed.

Rents in Australia increased by an average of 11.7% over the last 12 months.

Westpac Bank announced half-year profit of A$4B (up 22% on year earlier).

Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell visited Beijing for talks with counterpart Wang Wen Tao.

NSW banned political donations from clubs with slot machines (similar bans on property developers, tobacco and liquor companies).

ASIC figures: there were 828 company insolvencies in March 2023, almost twice as many as in March 2022.

The Govt offered the APS a 10% pay increase over 3 years.

Erstwhile super star entertainer, then convicted child molester, Rolf Harris, died in England aged 93.

The Victorian budget raised charges on large companies and rich individuals to raise funds to pay off the A$31B spent during the Covid pandemic.

PwC investigated for misuse of confidential govt information.

Premier of Western Australia, Mark McGowan (55), resigned from parliament citing exhaustion. He became Leader of the WA Labor Party in 2012, and Premier in 2017. Labor won the 2021 State election with a huge majority.

China

About one-third of China’s 2M military personnel are conscripts serving for 2 years; their focus is on space and cyber-warfare.

Chinese comedian fined $3M for joke about the military and Xi Jin Ping.

Q1 2023 China (1.07M) passed Japan (1M) as world’s biggest motor vehicle exporter. China’s exports of MVs in 2022 totaled 3.2M; big jump in exports of new energy vehicles.

China banned the use of Micron computer chips from infrastructure projects, citing network security risks.

First Chinese-built airliner, C919 starts commercial flights; single aisle, twin engine, 164 seats, range 5,500km. Orders for 1,035 aircraft received.

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