welcome 2006

It is good to be back with the first Hinch Says for 2006. Even though you may have thought that I finished up on radio last year under churlish, conditions. But I don’t resile from that – to use that awful word.

I hope your Christmas and New Year were satisfying and meaningful. Mine were. I went to Hollywood to write the first draft of a black comedy movie and achieved that. And then Christmas Eve – thanks to Qantas --  I pulled an elaborate stunt to get back to Australia so I could spend Christmas Day on my balcony with my new fiancée and her parents. And, if you saw New Idea magazine late December  then you will know why am so chuffed and contented.

A few issues to raise, first day back, and I would like your comments on 96 96 1278. When you are a journalist, on leave, with no daily deadline, maybe you do think “outside the square” as they say. And I did a bit of that. With no microphone to shout down.

There were some bizarre stories. The Herald Sun had a Page One effort called “pokie curse”. It was about people who gamble too much on poker machines.  And a follow-up story said that the Bracks Government had spent “just 13 million dollars” to help problem gamblers.

Thirteen million dollars! Only thirteen million dollars!  Why should tax payers spend ONE dollar to support problem gamblers. The same newspaper runs pages and pages of glamour shots during the Spring Racing Carnival – where people who can’t afford it spend millions of dollars on hats and shoes and dresses and bets. Should the taxpayer help them? The newspaper covered the issue –extensively – again today.

Take responsibility for your own life for crissake. If you win on the pokies you won’t call Crown or your local pub and offer to give some back!

And there was another lulu. And I am not just picking on the Herald Sun. I write a column for them. But I read: “High petrol prices are killing the dream of home ownership for thousands of people in Melbourne’s outer suburbs.”

Well, if you can’t afford to pay for petrol then you shouldn’t even think about buying a house. Rent one. And maybe you should sell your car. I know people who could not afford a deposit on a house until they were forty. That happened. My parents were over forty before they could put a deposit on a basic state-owned house. Now, young couples think there is some God-given right to own a place at twenty. And they lie to the bank about their incomes and their outgoings.

In a silly story about high fuel costs the other day  -- and I do own a gas guzzler – they referred to the “petrol pain capital of Melbourne”.

A bus company owner named Dom Sita said prices were getting so high that four of his professional drivers took public transport to work

Well, hello sunshine, so do millions of other people.  The fact that your people drive for a living means nothing. If you feel so strongly about it then shout them a cab.

Two enigmas dominated the news in recent weeks. The first was Australia’s richest man, Kerry Packer who died on Boxing Day. I call him an enigma because he was a true philanthropist. He gave millions of dollars to charities and hospitals over the years. Maybe hundreds of millions. He was a huge man with a huge philanthropic heart.

And yet with staff he could be an obscene bully. A dominating and feared bully

The other enigma in the news was Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Now in critical condition after a stroke and bleeding on the brain. In his military career he was a ruthless, tough hawk. In recent times, with his aganda to pull Israeli soldiers and settlers out of Gaza he was seen internationally as a man of peace.

Monday, January 9, 2006

©Copyright Derryn Hinch 2006