CFS Compensation and PITS

Hello world and welcome to the blog...and another delightful dissertation today delving into the multiple motivations, precursors and symptoms behind that collective affliction known as PITS - Politically Inspired Tehrets Syndrome.

But First: it is simply unacceptable for Country Fire Service volunteers to be excluded from Workplace Insurances and access to potential compensation re diseases contracted as a result of their fire-fighting efforts...these people risk their lives to protect their communities, our communities...and beyond the obvious immediate hazards of an actual fire, the proof of the tangential dangers is presently being played out in the Blue Mountains following the fires in October 2013.  

Rehabilitation and rebuilding efforts are being stymied by the extensive Asbestos contamination in burned out properties, and it is inconceivable that some of this contaminated material won't have made it's way 'off-site', not least of all during actual fire-fighting, possibly carried on the intense winds associated with bushfires, etc, and is only one example of the many pollutants/contaminants encountered by CFS volunteers.

I heard the recent Wingfield Dump fires cited as an example of where potentially toxic fumes were being expelled, and that these fires were attended by CFS units, as are a number of similar fires...for example, I am aware that a large pile of timber, organic waste, old painted doors, and other rubbish covering about the area of a tennis court and 6-8 feet high, was recently burned off on a block on Bay Rd immediately adjacent the Pines Caravan Pk, and that this was done with the CFS in attendance...anybody driving past will have seen this or since noticed the pile mostly gone, the remainder surrounded by burnt ground.

I would consider this generally a good thing that the CFS were there...it shows good planning and safety practices, good practice for the CFS, test out their equipment, etc...but, 1) I thought it was illegal to just burn rubbish and the landholder and the CFS should have known that, and 2) for nearly 2 weeks the pile continued to smoke, and therefore the CFS was back there with a tractor and a tanker turning the pile to expose and douse the smouldering piles of refuse and plastic bags...god knows what sort of fumes were coming off that pile...for nearly 2 weeks.

Not a great example of exemplary conduct by anyone involved, but it is just possible that the CFS were responsive rather than responsible re the fire, but whatevs, there's a classic example of the sorts of fires the CFS attend...another good example are hayshed or other shed fires on farms, where various chemicals may be involved and/or the cocktails of fumes emitted by burning machinery, vehicles, etc....

I'd have thought the obvious thing to do would be to ensure that anyone and I mean everyone on the 'fire ground' had state-of-the-art breathing apparatus and other Personal Safety Practices equipment that would minimise if not completely negate any exposure and/or necessity for costly insurance and treatment, because 1) it protects the health of the person in the first instance rather than planning to pick up the pieces after, and, 2) a penny of prevention is worth a pound of cure, or some bollocks like that...providing equipment now is definably much cheaper than decades of treating resultant negative health impacts...and far more responsible.

Unless of course your government, your elected officials, don't give a damn and consider your personal health to be much like the rest of you, irrelevant...which brings us to PITS - Politically Induced Tehret's Syndrome...and from there straight on to the following,  

Disclaimer: as a 'recovering sufferer' of various Mental Health issues and a Cancer survivor, all partly covered in previous posts, I don't have a problem with cracking bad jokes about either, that's exactly what I'm doing here in this here post in this here blog. 

I am not a medical professional and PITS is merely a creation of my own twisted sense of humour...however, if you find yourself displaying symptoms of PITS, do not seek medical advice because it's just an indication of the onset of sanity.


PITS is the uncontrollable, expletive laden reaction to being exposed to a politician, pretty much any politician, and/or their handiwork...and it doesn't matter where you go or what you do, if you half give a damn, it's going to find you...it can be triggered by media reports about the latest rape of a child in a South Australian school; or the latest cuts to government services and jobs in your community; or your latest 'globally astronomical' utilities bill and/or rates notice; or ricocheting around the inside of your car whilst thudding across the potholes of an underfunded road on your way 450kms for a minor health check-up; etc, etc...

Until recently in South Australia we suffered a specific and chronic spectrum of PITS known as Rannting, resulting from the Empirical reign of Premier Mike Rann (2002-2011)...whatta piece of work...and Mike's undisguised disdain for anything outside of North Tce, Adelaide, led to a virulent substrain, Rannting Regionalis, re Mr Rann's relentless self-promotion and clinically dictatorial decision making that has come at a huge cost to everyone else in the state.

Be it his voluminous multi-million dollar, taxpayer funded personal retinue of spin doctors and lawyers, his extraordinary conduct re the announcement of BHP's supposed massive expansion of Olympic Dam (made in Melbourne mind you)...his endless posing with Lance Armstrong...his unilateral decision to eradicate Democratic process re development of Wind Turbine sites...or just his pivotal role in helping the Lutheran Church cover-up the gross abuse of a class of 7 year old children at St Martins.

And I'm not going to skip over these things just because I've covered them before...the dictionary perfect Fascism of Mike Rann's Wind Turbine legislation and the St Martins Child Abuse Cover-up are only two (albeit extreme) examples of just exactly what sort of 'Democracy' we have and exactly what sort of 'Society' we are...  

As I say, I believe that I may have mentioned them previously...just in passing...then in stopping and reversing back over them...before rolling back onto them again...and then just sitting there spinning mu' wheels with my arm and head hung out the window screaming incoherent abuse at some cows in a paddock about a mile off in that direction...I call it a PITS Stop...ahh thankyou...  

For Balance: I've heard/seen stuff from people like Liberal MP Mitch Williams saying that the recent inclusion of Forestry in paying for whatever percentage it is of their recently announced 'water license grants', is an unappreciated, unwarranted, detrimental impost on Forestry, with implications for negatively impacting future investment in Forestry, etc.

In a previous post I stated that I believe that this is a net gain for Forestry at the expense of other irrigators who have had their allocations cut, and reportedly in some cases to an extent that may render those agri-businesses unworkable and/or unprofitable...which are basically the same thing. But there are multiple water issues currently unfolding across SA so,

Tomorrow: Oh Mr Hart, Water Mess.

From the mighty Murray to the Blue Lake, with some slippery frickin' Frackin' and a De-sal Plant to boot, it's all hands to the bilge pumps as we dredge our ways through the waves of conflicting information re the Wet Stuff...and no, that's not the Wine Equalization Tax...although there is irrigation involved in wine making...and Fracking in Penola...ah, damn it, yes, including the WET stuff...as well as the Wet Stuff...my head hurts...

I am Nick Fletcher and that was a post in this here my blog...cheers and laters...