Cranky Queenslander

Brisbane Airport Corporation is a very greedy company. You only have to look at the millions of dollars profit it is raking in from every direction, watch it sell off airport land to the highest bidder, and go there to pickup a loved one to feel the sting of the BAC profit machine.

While I have no problem paying to park in the car park when I am taking people to the airport, I have a problem paying to pick them up.

When they are flying out, I like to go into the airport and see them off at the gate; I like to enjoy an overpriced coffee and slice of cake with them while we wait for the boarding call. I don’t mind helping the BAC make money while this happens.

But when I am there to pickup someone who is flying in, I just want them to phone me when they have their bags, and drive round to the pickup point, have them jump in, and we go.

I don’t think I’m alone in this feeling, but the BAC wants to sting us all for some parking dollars.

They could do something to meet us halfway though. How about creating a small area, about the size of the Kingsford Smith Memorial site. Setup two or three rows of angled car spaces, such that a car can pull in from one side and pull straight out the other; Set this up for people like me who want to sit in our cars for 10 minutes until our passengers are ready.

Now, why not charge $1 for the privilege?  Have a cash only machine on the boomgate that lifts it to let you in for a buck. I’d be happy with that.

This just in via the Australian; Bureaucrats still don’t know how to teach kids to read and write. While they continue to flap about wondering what to do next, we continue to pump a generation of kids through our school system that can barely read and write.

The solution is simple, and should be implemented immediately;

Step 1; Define minimum learning outcomes for all school grades. Ensure teachers are fully aware of what they are being paid to teach the kids (and that might require the watching of less movies at school), and test the kids to ensure the teachers are doing the job.

Step 2; Identify the kids that are, for whatever reason, struggling with the basics, and setup after school tutoring classes with specialist teachers who can help.

Step 3; If kids really struggle, hold them back a year. There is no point sending them on to more complex studies when they don’t understand the stuff that came before.

Step 4; Pay teachers what they are worth; If one teacher can teach even the slower students to the minimum standard or better, then they should be paid more than a teacher who cannot.

There are probably a hundred other good ideas that will never happen in our socialist society, such as requiring parents to attend parent teacher interviews regularly. When I visit my son’s teacher at this time, she is usually just sitting there twiddling her thumbs, because many parents don’t even book an appointment, and of those that do, many don’t show up.

Perhaps that could be a good place to start; Holding parents accountable for their children’s education as much as the teachers?

I can’t help but think that drawing attention to the pre election talk of Kevin Rudd’s communist leanings and love for communist China would make me seem like a bit of a sensationalist, but I can’t help myself.

Word through this past week that Kevin and his crack team of legislators are going to force all Australian ISP’s to censor the internet, blocking permanently web sites that they deem inappropriate.

They are using the word “illegal” to determine what sites will not be visible to Australian eye’s, but that is just a nice way to make most people feel like this is not a problem.

Take a look at China. They use the same rhetoric about their censorship efforts. They block stuff that they say is illegal, but we all know their definition leaves a great deal to be desired, at least by freedom loving western standards.

The fact is that Australia is supposedly a free country, and we should not be subjected to mandatory censorship. We all have it within our power to perform our own censorship on our own internet connections, decided what is best for ourselves.

It’s time to get in touch with Minister Conroy and voice your disapproval now!

Suggested Reading;

Ars Technica | Crikey