Build communities

Image: webstockreview
 Bell Cares community based home care service is the brain child of Lesley Bryce. It is worth reading the linked  article to understand just how good this idea is and how we need to lend support to thinking it through so that community based homecare becomes a solid part of the Australian way of life. It has been established in the town of Bell in Queensland. The article mentions it is going to be trialled in other Queensland council areas and also in South Australia and Western Australia. This idea centres on establishing this programme in towns which are quite a distance from city areas and hence facilities. It is about using local community members to help each other. At the moment it is privately funded. There needs to be a business model where it is properly funded as a concept so that wages are guaranteed and there is an avenue of employment for those who wish to help others. 

For many , it would be attractive to have local work. We all go through different stages of life and need flexible working arrangements at times. It is a way of skills sharing and skills upgrading. The helpers can learn from those who need help. It ought not only apply to those who are older or older and infirm. It ought to apply to anyome who needs help. Not everyone has the physical strength to complete some tasks like shifting furniture. Not everyone can get their bins and rubbish out the front of their place. Not everyone can sew buttons on or repair curtains. Everyday there would be people who have things they want to do but cannot do them themselves. We can go online to find and hire helpers but if we centered it on our communities and local areas it would draw people together. There would be other benefits. It would be a different way of getting small job tradie help , medical help, housework help . I got someone to repair my fridge. He was someone who liked to work but could no longer do anywhere close to a full time job. He lived in the local area. He was easy to deal with and it was better than what often becomes tradie hoo ha. If he doesn't want to do the job he says. He was happy just doing bits and pieces. I got my fridge repaired. He got to use skills he loved using. 

One of the market gaps is people who own homes but don't have the income or energy to run them properly any more. Some of that is the process of ageing. Some of it is illness. We haven't even seen the impact of long covid yet , so I am thinking creating community based help and making that normal is a good way to help people keep thriving. 

Bring back sub editors

 Image : Quick thinking saves unconscious driver  from being struck by Sunlander train

This isn't the first time I have read rubbish in captions or in the shortened version of the Google search. There is currently a trend for English users to have totally lost linguistic control. Sometimes sentences finish half way through. Sometimes the word order is wrong as in this one. I am not sure what the problem is. Lack of sleep? Lack of rest? Too much enthusiasm? You know, it doesn't take much to check print before it goes online. I can write rubbish too but I check or someone in my family checks.  The story itself is a winner. Living proof that technology is worth it. Mobile phones and caring people make a good combination for saving lives and  preventing accidents.  The situation was dealt with competently and well because people can and do connect. When the story goes to press it then needs to be checked and a suitable heading found.

Daniel Morcombe

Image : Adelaide Now

Australia has done what it does really well. It has stopped today and rallied around Daniel Morcombe's family. He went missing 9 years ago on December 7th and is now laid to rest on December 7th. ABC News 24 broadcast the public part of the funeral for those who wished to be there but who were not living in Queensland. You know, it is so much better to be standing in line to offer some care and hope to a family which has suffered so much than to be standing in line for the latest iPhone 5. Queuing to help humanity. The red is for the colour of the T Shirt he went missing in. Maybe the funeral would have been earlier had authorities not quibbled as to who would release the remains. They were only discovered recently so for all these 9 years Daniel's parents had no idea where he was. His twin brother Bradley was so shaken at the funeral. You could see it. He managed to play his part to get Daniel to the hearse but you could see the awful strain it was for him. We have all wondered why you would murder a little boy like that. How do you get such a thought in your head? We have felt for the parents as they have waited and waited and waited. Today the media have treated them with such care and honour. The SES attended, his school did a wonderful job of showing consideration and thought for him. Then there were thousands of Queenslanders who stood by and lent their strength to those mostly deeply hurt by this. It was a very touching and dignified event which was managed extremely well. Something to be proud of. The respect for Daniel has been enormous. It was obviously meant to be. He was meant to wait until this anniversary. His spirit is strong  and has shone all these years and will live on with the Daniel Morcombe Foundation.

Rescue the cat, please!

Image : Cat Alliance 

"One group came armed with machetes, hammers and a steering wheel lock.

"It's such a basic neighbourly dispute. There are other avenues to sort these things out."

5 hospitalised

Machetes, hammers, steering wheel locks and hospitalising 5 people do not make a basic dispute. Fighting over the ownership of a cat in such a violent fashion doesn't bode well for the care of the cat. So, what happened to the cat? Isn't there a duty of care for it to be with  responsible owners?

"The RSPCA believes that an animal’s welfare should be considered in terms of five freedoms which form a logical and comprehensive framework for analysis of welfare within any animal use together with the steps and compromises necessary to safeguard and improve welfare within the proper constraints of an effective livestock industry.

1. Freedom from hunger and thirst: by ready access to fresh water and a diet to maintain full health and vigour.
2. Freedom from discomfort: by providing an appropriate environment including shelter and a comfortable resting area.
3. Freedom from pain, injury or disease: by prevention through rapid diagnosis and treatment.
4. Freedom to express normal behaviour: by providing sufficient space, proper facilities and company of the animal’s own kind.
5. Freedom from fear and distress: by ensuring conditions and treatment which avoid mental suffering."

5 freedoms

Do these people have children?

Queensland votes

Image: Duckpond

Duckpond has a good run down on the situation so far in Queensland. Queensland does have a situation, that's for sure, and we'll sit back and watch it play out. Anna Bligh has done the right thing by pulling out. She has worked non stop for the state, she has put in hours and hours of her time and her skills are extremely high level. She really is not valued and thinks this is all her fault. She is right to walk away and to stop any further besmirching of her capabilities and the incredible effort she has put in.. I guess Queensland might feel better now it has a proper man doing the job. The representation of women has now fallen to around 20% so that is a pretty clear indication of what they think of women politicians and the right of girls and women to participate in the democracy which has  been lauded all week. On the good side, I thought it was a very civilised affair and the commentary on ABC24 was very sane and informative too. Queensland now has a government which is probably 78 LNP seats out of 89 and so there is effectively no opposition. The LNP has a leader with no parliamentary experience and it has quite a few new parliamentary members with no parliamentary experience and the number of women representatives is considerably down. Nearly 12% of the vote went to Bob Katter's newly formed parted and the Greens don't appear to have a seat so there will be no  discrete environmental representation. So the message is  - we don't want Labour, we don't particularly want women, we don't want Greens and we don't want experienced politicians. We want a lot of new people and the  only party we want to run the state is the LNP and yet the LNP doesn't have 50% of the vote. It might make it to 50 but even so this is a very strange picture. So, we'll sit and watch, shall we?

Beauty disavantaged welcomed in Mt. Isa

Image via WikipediaThe mayor of Mt Iza has had a lot of worldwide interest in his comments about beauty disavantaged women being welcome in Mt. Isa because of the gender imbalance. We have had more than one story like this from around the world and in this day and age of connectivity and easy travel, well, why shouldn't we take advantage of our technology to solve some of our social problems in a nice way? There is now nothing to stop towns and areas from recruiting people that they need to keep themselves viable. Mt. Isa is one of our oldest towns with a long history and a feel of its own. Maybe they need an internet site to mix and match. It seems to me we have a number of people who cannot find partners because the world has changed. The internet is one way of redressing those imbalances and could stop people form being lonely and isolated.That the mayor has been advocating for his people is a good thing.