Build military equipment here
THE Federal Government’s announcement on developing a defence industry is nothing new. What is newish is their idea to develop and build military equipment for sale overseas to fund a build-up of our military capability. The troop carrier Bushmaster built in Bendigo has been cited as one of our most successful locally developed military machines in recent history. It has been battle tested and found to have effective protection against improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Over 1000 smaller versions are to be built in Bendigo under licence to French Company Thale, many to be exported. There is no reason why Australian-developed ships, submarines and aircraft could not be built in Australia, especially if profits are invested in our defence. I also hope the Government is considering boosting the budget of our Defence Science and Technology Group. We need the best brains in the business. There is no doubting the capabilities of our potential enemies in cyber space. The projected 100 military personnel being trained in so-called information warfare unit is woefully insignificant.
Low interest
REMEMBER choosing a bank and they advised you the interest rate would be x per cent guaranteed? Have you checked your bank’s interest rate policy recently? If you are with one of the big four or even others, you might be surprised to find your interest rate is as low as 0.08 per cent. Yes, about 1c a week for every $1000 in your account. Less than the inflation rate. In other words, you are paying the bank to spend your money. If you leave that in the bank for five months they might consider paying a bonus bringing your total returns to 0.05 per cent to 2.13 per cent from whatever remains after shareholders, executives and employees have removed their snouts from the trough. Ask the question. You can only gain. tractive to customers and profitability suffers. Most hotels have substantial seasonality and it is essential to them staying open that they have a wide suite of products. There are no new products and services to replace them. We would have no option than to cut direct labour costs (many jobs are flexible and provide essential additional income to families) and stop all discounts, community donations and capital projects to realign our business to the new operating realities if the Labor/ Greens were to form government. great number of traces of blood in various directions. We learnt that 10 men and two women were wounded and would die, apart from a number shot in the legs. On Friday we left the place for my farm at Deddington (just south of Evandale) with the two men, woman and child, but the two men could not walk. I was obliged to shoot them.”
In 1968, the Tasmanian government, apparently unaware of Batman’s dark secret, named the Tamar River (Kanamaluka) bridge after him. Mr Hodgman now knows this history but refuses to reconsider this mistake.