I have been watching the judicial inquiry into the escape of coronavirus from the hotel isolation program when incompetent and apparently corrupt security companies were hired to guard people who had returned from overseas and were placed in compulsory hotel isolation. The incompetence of these guards allowed the virus to escape into the community resulting in 18,000 people being infected. 700 deaths and $15 billion in economic cost. Not to mention 5.5 million people being locked down for weeks on end.
The inquiry has heard evidence from umpteen government officials and bureaucrats. health experts and government ministers. It appears that partly as a result of being promoted on the basis of seniority rather than merit, they are now so aged and senile that they can’t remember anything about who, how, when and why the decision was made use security guards in preference to police or military (as in other states.) After four weeks of inquiry it appears that no one can remember anything. They are all clearly suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
I sense a business opportunity here for a smart entrepreneur like me. I have thought out a scheme to create a business that earns commissions by referring these government officials to appropriate nursing homes. The time is right, the market is there and we have the skills to make it work. Current plans by the federal government to introduce greater flexibility for small businesses to trade in tough times also provides an added stimulus.
I’m going to follow the lead of Donald Trump. He will tell you that he knows all about business and that he is the greatest businessman of all time. (After all, he is the greatest of everything else!). His businesses have gone bankrupt six times but I can risk bankruptcy once and then join that esteemed club of which he is the world’s greatest member. Like Donald Trump, I am going to employ all my family members in this business but unlike Donald, my family members are actually capable and qualified to handle all the tasks that I will be assigning them.
My son is a lawyer and he can draft an ironclad contract that will define inflexible terms and conditions for our services. My daughter is a qualified geriatrician and she can make formal examinations and assessments of the level of nursing home care that each of these bureaucrats require to treat their dementia. That will be at no cost to them because she can bulk bill Medicare and they won’t have to use any of the money in their fat superannuation funds for her medical services. This plan will, no doubt, increase her income and allow her an opportunity to develop some branding and then my son can provide his legal services for registration and copyright. My wife is a good administrator as she was proven in the 30 years that I ran my own consulting business. After all, she does tell me what to do all the time. In my consulting career, I taught classes in negotiation skills so I’m sure that I can come to some good profit making agreements with the nursing nursing homes for commissions and appropriate care. I also have enough IT skills to plan and manage the business. All, in all, this is a great opportunity for us.
I just need to see my accountant and formalise my business plan and away we go. Lickety-split, we will soon have all of these bureaucrats in a comfortable nursing home environment that takes away the stress of them having to work 7.6 hours per day and where they can live out the rest of their lives peacefully, not having to remember anything ever again.
Back to the lockdown, we are now in our eighth week of being confined to home, with more to come. I saw this calendar a couple of days ago and it shows just how much time we have been forced to spend at home this year. I’m quite angry that we have lost almost a whole year of our lives . With a competent administration, it wouldn’t have happened. We have missed our family and we have missed a year of travel. We will eventually become too old to travel extensively and this is a prime year of missed opportunity.
Our little plant nursery on the ledge outside our kitchen window is doing well. We managed to find some spring seedlings (petunias) at a local nursery that also doubles as a take away coffee shop In the current environment. The coffee shop is legal but I’m not so sure about the nursery part. Our lavender cuttings a re growing well and we have some more vegetable seeds – tomatoes, parsley and lettuce coming on.
As a result of the falling number of new virus cases that I reported in my last blog, we are now allowed out for two hours of exercise each day (instead of one) and the curfew has been loosened to now begin from 9.00 pm each day, instead of 8.00 pm.
We have found a couple of extra opportunities to get out of the house over this last week. We had both of our cars serviced this week, so that got us out to different parts of the neighbourhood. When we do go to shop, I have been taking a roundabout route home just to have a little more time out. We are still restricted to stay within 5 km of our house. Wouldn’t it be good just to be able to take a picnic out to a local park? A non-local park would be even better.
We are forging ahead (in hope) that the reunion of my army unit next August will be able to go ahead. The people on our committee are doing a good job of maintaining some momentum in our planning. It is something that we are lall ooking forward to.
Otherwise, nothing much else’s changed. I’m now off to see my accountant.
