The Global Meltdown: A timeline

Interesting little map from Crikey.com.au and worth taking notice of. Click on image for global info.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You’ll notice Gosford City Council is not on the map! Wonder why?

Over-65s to double by 2036

Many of those people will be living alone, and not all of them will have friends or family to check on their welfare. In several cases this year elderly people have died alone in their homes, their bodies not discovered for weeks, sometimes months. If this is a reflection on modern society then something is rotten in Denmark!

Happy to retire

The challenge of looking after those who are old and alone has never been greater. Data shows that one in five people in NSW will be aged 65 and over by 2036.

One of the saddest stories was that of Jorge Coloma, 64, found dead in his public housing flat almost a year after he was believed to have died. We, as a society, need to change our attitudes toward senior citizens.

The latest demographic data from the NSW Department of Planning, published today [Monday 20th October], indicates that looking after the elderly will become a greater challenge for the community over the 30 years.
Between 2006 and 2036 the number of people in NSW aged 65 and over will increase by 111 per cent, representing the fastest growing age category in the state, according to the projections.

In comparison, the number of people aged between 18 and 64 will rise by only 21 per cent.
By 2036 people aged 65 and over will represent 21.5 per cent of the population, compared with 13.5 per cent in 2006.

The aging population was the result of the baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1965) shifting into these older age groups, combined with falling mortality rates, the department said. The youngest of the boomers will reach 65 by 2030, which is when the annual growth rate of the 65-to-84 age bracket is expected to slow.

The aging population is the main driver behind a growing number of people living alone, the department said. The number of lone-person households is expected to increase from 646,500 in 2006 to 1.06 million by 2036, up 64 per cent. In 30 years 29 per cent of all households will consist of only one person.
The projections do not include any figures for whether housing would become more or less affordable by 2036, but the elderly and those living alone are already among those hardest hit by the housing shortage and high rents.

Aging will also generate large growth in the number of households consisting of couples without children. Projected to rise from 654,000 in 2006 to 1 million by 2036, there will be almost as many couples without children as couples with children.

People looking after children on their own are also on the rise, with single-parent households projected to increase from 654,900 in 2006 to 1 million by 2036, up 53 per cent. In Sydney the number of lone-person households is projected to increase 69 per cent from 377,900 in 2006, to 637,500 by 2036.

Again, this is the largest percentage increase of all household types, and is driven largely by the growth of the elderly population. It means that by 2036 more than a quarter of people in Sydney will live on their own.
Single-parent households will rise by 48 per cent, and the number of households without children will rise by 56 per cent. Whilst these figures represent the state of NSW it is fairly obvious here in the Gosford region there will be an impact.

The question is will the Central Coast’s infrastructure be positioned to deal with the strain?

A scenic entry into Gosford

Beautification of the waterfront around Iguana Joe’s restaurant and bar will happen [at some time] but in the meantime travelling over the Brain McGowan bridge along the waterfront is delightful.

The RTA is building a new and improved intersection on the corner of Dane Drive and Masons Parade  with a significant left turn lane which takes traffic into Gosford past the police station and council buildings.

The gateway to Gosford along the Central Coast Highway from West Gosford has the opportunity to give Gosford CBD a much needed lift.

The suggestion from Tony Myers of Oliver Myers Real Estate is about capitalising on the beauty of the waterfront and directing drivers into Gosford from that intersection. This means coming into Gosford from a southerly approach.

Tony says this is a much nicer approach to the city centre than the conventional route and will give a far better impression rather than entering Gosford via Donnison Street. He has a point.

This approach to Gosford will introduce new business and investers by the front door. All that would be neccessary would be a couple of signs directing traffic this way. Of course locals will not use this route but visitors would, and no doubt appreciate the short drive along the waterfront.

Click on the image for a bigger picture. A sign could be erected and positioned close to #1 on the map.

Good idea or what. Cheers Tony, it might get some mileage!

The power of Ten

No, it has nothing to do with ten councillors. If you want people to come in to the city centre, you’ll have to give them a reason. There’s a theory in ‘placemaking’ that to make a place worth visiting there must be ten things to do in that place, and a destination needs ten places in it.

Brisbane Water Jetty; copyright Val Bridge

If we take the Central Coast as an example to this theory then Gosford is one of the ten places in the region. This in turn leads to ten places in the city to encourage people to visit. We already have a few but could we make them more accessible?

Here is an extract from the Projects for Public Spaces web site.

“Underlying all PPS’s work is the “Power of 10″ the idea that at least ten focal points are necessary to make a great place, with each of those areas offering ten things to do. Public spaces exhibiting the power of ten offers depth, meaning, and intuitive connections that create satisfying everyday experiences.”

Colleen Worthy-Jennings said that the Gosford city revitalisation team are using this theory. So how does Gosford stack up against this power of ten?

Can you make a list of ten things you’d like to do in Gosford? Who does your list appeal to, families, shoppers, singles, business visitors, day trippers, holidaymakers? No this is not a survey! Simply to see if you have a view.

Today many people eat their lunch in Kibble Park with friends and listen to music. Meet friends, eat lunch in the park, and listen to music, that’s three things.

If you were to list ten things Erina offers to attract visitors how does it compare to Gosford. We are not suggesting it compete with Erina Fair on a retail level, but we sure offer much in the way of potential.

For starters we could do with a purpose built civic centre, perhaps a cinema. We used to have a roller skating rink, kids and families loved that! The waterfront is our jewel and provided it is developed with thought it could be our own ‘darling harbour’. However, it must be for the people, not just for those who can afford some luxury apartment overlooking the Brisbane Water.

Newcastle has done it with their waterfront; Wollongong too, has developed with thought. Gosford on the other hand appears to be the poor cousin. Why?

Pokies under threat from Family First

 

 

Thing of the past?

The Australian pub industry and registered clubs are in a state of deep panic over two bills which were recently introduced in the Senate by Senator Steve Fielding of Family First.

When Fielding introduced the Poker Machine Harm Reduction Tax (Administration) Bill on February 14 and the Poker Machine Harm Minimisation Bill on June 19, they passed under the radar of the media and the liquor and gaming industries.

But Fielding’s motives turned clearer with a Sky TV interview in which he said his aim was to banish all pokies from Australia’s pubs and clubs in 10 years. In future, he said, pokies should be restricted to dedicated gambling venues such as casinos and race tracks. Now the liquor industries have fine tooth-combed the two bills and found to their horror that the Fielding plan spells financial doom for pubs and clubs and revenue disaster for state governments which have become dependent on the gaming tax dollar.

Here are just some of the proposals in Fielding’s poker machine harm minimization legislation:

Poker machines to be re-engineered to accept a maximum $20 note bet. NSW machines currently accept $100 notes. Poker machines to be modified to accept no more than $100 of credit at a time. NSW machines currently allowed up to $10,000 at a time. Poker machines in future to have no more than one pay line. Current machines have up to 25 pay lines. Poker machines to allow a maximum of a $1 bet per spin. In NSW the current max bet is $10 per spin.

Senator Steve Fielding; Family First party

The maximum jackpot to be limited to $1,000. The current maximum in NSW is $10,000. Future machines to be adjusted to have a spin rate of five seconds. NSW machines currently have a faster 3.5 second spin rate. ATMs in pubs and clubs to pay out a maximum $100 per cardholder per day.

To put these measures into some kind of perspective, consider this:

If the bet is reduced from $10 to $1 (a 90 per cent reduction), the game spin is slowed from 3.5 seconds to 5 seconds (a 30 per cent reduction), the amount that can be fed into a poker machine reduced from $10,000 to $100 at a time (a 99 per cent reduction) and note acceptors reduced from $100 to $20 (an 80 per cent reduction), these combined measures would reduce gambling revenue by half.

In the 2006-2007 financial year, the NSW Government received $1.1 billion from poker machine tax. This would be halved. In his harm minimization tax legislation, Fielding proposes a new Commonwealth tax on gross gaming revenue in 2009 of 1 per cent, growing to 4 per cent in 2012, 10 per cent in 2015 and then 5 per cent per year until it reaches a maximum of 30 per cent.

A spokesman for the NSW liquor and gaming industry has said Fielding’s taxation schedule and his plans to modify poker machines would lay waste to pubs and clubs and wipe many of them out of existence. Each year Australians put more than $7 billion of their hard-earned into pokies in pubs and clubs, a figure which is a national scandal. While every right-thinking individual wants an end to Australia’s pokie dependency, Fielding’s plan is shallow populism.

Let’s see what Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull can do about it.

Comments welcome.