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ANZAC Day

25 April, ANZAC day - this day marks the anniversary of the landing of Australian and New Zealand troops on the beaches of Gallipoli. It has become a day to remember those who have fought and died in the defence of their country. It is a day to pause and reflect, not a day to celebrate or commemorate war.

“The Ode” is a central part of the ceremonies and services to mark this day.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

LEST WE FORGET

The Ode is the fourth stanza from “The Fallen” by Laurence Binyon which can be found in full here.

“You can’t coach that”

The Bionic Eye, tax reform and golden gurus

The talk-fest that was the 2020 summit has included as one of its proposals the development of a bionic eye to enable the blind to see. The idea behind the 2020 conference was “harness the best ideas for building a modern Australia that is ready for the challenges of the 21 st century.” However, Australian opthamologists report that they are on the way to developing such as device and may in fact be ready to implant the device into the eye of a volunteer within weeks. Strike one for the 2020 summit.

Another of the key recommendations was for comprehensive tax reform. This is hardly revolutionary. Various groups have been calling for tax reform and simplification of the tax regime ever since I can remember taking an interest in such matters. Does the government really need to sponsor such an event to come up with such a fundamental idea? It worries me if this is the case. Strike two for the 2020 summit.

Then there is Ernie and his ”golden gurus”. The 76 year old suggested that Australian needs to make use of older Australians as workplace mentors - to be termed golden gurus. As a rapidly aging Australian with not enough superannuation and the prospect of retirement a long way off, this sounds like a great idea. You can now consider me Coach Guru.

“You can’t coach that”

Sporting Role Models

When are we going to to wake up to the nonsense about sporting stars being role models. The only relevant thing they should be modeling to young people is their ability to play the game (or swim the race etc) and, as an extension of that, how to conduct oneself on the sporting arena.

Where is it written that a good footballer is automatically going to be someone of good character? Players are selected based on their ability to play the game, not on whether they are going to behave like good role models away from it. Players should be held accountable for their conduct on the field, their behaviour off the field should be judged according to the same criteria as the general public. If I get caught drink driving on my way home from work next week then I would be a bloody idiot and an appalling role model for children. This wouldn’t however place my job in jeopardy and I wouldn’t fined by my employer. Yet this is precisely the position many athletes find themselves in.

Many would disagree with what I have said here, and I can see that they may have a point. How can we not expect children to look up to the sporting stars that they worship on TV? By definition, if a children try to emulate their heroes then that footballer, swimmer or athlete is going to be a role model.

The key to my argument is parents. It is parents who have the capacity to be the most significant influence on children and their behaviour, for good or bad. Parents should be able to provide a filter through which children see the behaviour of the favourite sporting stars. Let parents be role models for children. Let sportsmen and women be the models that inspire sporting prowess.

“You can’t coach that”

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