Aussies XLVIII

[OldLordPlumm]

Going down the Bondi to be racist?

Saw something about someone saying to please stop using the southern cross or Aussie flag as a swastika.

Funny how we need advertisments to tell Australian to get involved on their national day. Can you imagine that happening in the states telling people to celebrate 4th of July?

The Perth skyshow has a bad reputation due to some years where it was mismanaged causing mini riots to break out and that has frightened some people off.

[Stubby]

The Perth skyshow has a bad reputation due to some years where it was mismanaged causing mini riots to break out and that has frightened some people off.

They have totally banned drinking this year. All grog will be confiscated.

Talk about Un-Australian.

[Jeor]

Australia Day barbecue with some friends...I think that's an acceptable sanctioned activity. ;)

And Pax regarding that housing bubble...well, for obvious reasons (having bought a place lately) it would be nice if the dip wasn't too bad. But then again, I'm not exactly going to sell this place in the next few years so I don't think it'll really affect me. The fundamentals of my place (within 500m of a train station, supermarket, bank, post office, pizza place etc) should hold it up anyway. I expect the bubble would be in the more speculative suburban areas.

[Ski the Swift]

Going down the Bondi to be racist?

Saw something about someone saying to please stop using the southern cross or Aussie flag as a swastika.

Funny how we need advertisments to tell Australian to get involved on their national day. Can you imagine that happening in the states telling people to celebrate 4th of July?

The Perth skyshow has a bad reputation due to some years where it was mismanaged causing mini riots to break out and that has frightened some people off.

It's a hard date to remember, many fellow Australian's are still in a drunken haze from their festive holidays. The Americans have the advantage of having six months to recover and remember which date they celebrate :P

I don't know how I feel about the whole southern cross tattoo issue. On one hand I can see it as being completely yobbo and most likely a dig at what they think are 'non-Australians'. But on the other hand, there are others who get it solely on the point of being patriotic. Other tattoo's that could be used instead of the southern cross are what? Boxing Kangaroo maybe?

Regardless what the masses want to get put onto their bodies/wear on t-shirts, etc it is always going to be criticized by someone somewhere. Then that symbol becomes a target for people to start calling an Australian swastika.

End of the day, us Australian's are just a pack of whingers. :P

[Skyrazer]

Well, The Economist is convinced that Australia is experiencing a massive housing bubble (see table at bottom of article). They have calculated the Australian market to be overvalued by more than 50%, having examined the current house prices to rents ratio versus the long-term ratio. Luckily, the mining boom means that most Aussies aren't going to default on their mortgages in the near future (or at least not nearly as many as did in the US in 2008), so it's not likely that we are going to experience the foreclosure/price reduction spiral that occurred in the States. But it is a bit of a worry for people like me who are going to be entering an overpriced housing market in the next few years. From my point of view, it would be nice to see a bit of a pricing correction occur before that time.

I'm keeping a close eye on market confidence as it doesn't take much to swing it in an upward/downward trend and with the FHOG now fully rolled back and 3 consecutive rate hikes with some more forecasted, we'll see what happens. I'm also keeping an eye on bank lending as a tightening of lending could mean an upcoming credit crunch of some degree which would be an absolute doozey. Check this out. Add in the fact that our household debt has exceeded our annual GDP.

I'm no expert at all and I'm not making any predictions at this point, but I do believe we have a housing bubble that can potentially spell some disastrous consequences. As a young worker who has saved quite a large sum of funds and looking to become an owner-occupier some time in the future, I'll be keeping a keen eye on events in the not-so-distant future.

[brook]

We're hoping to sell this house and upgrade sometime in the next 12-18 months so I'm watching the market but our house value is already so low and rents in this area are relatively so high that I don't really see how we can have much to worry about. Average rental prices for the suburb are actually higher than our minimum mortgage repayments as it is and the vacancy rate is near 0%.

[Jeor]

We're hoping to sell this house and upgrade sometime in the next 12-18 months so I'm watching the market but our house value is already so low and rents in this area are relatively so high that I don't really see how we can have much to worry about. Average rental prices for the suburb are actually higher than our minimum mortgage repayments as it is and the vacancy rate is near 0%.

Same thing here Brook - I was actually surprised that my mortgage repayments (admittedly stretched over 30 years, but still paying off principal and interest) are much cheaper than renting. My mortgage adviser told me to go for the lowest possible repayments, that way if I do find myself financially in trouble I'm not obligated to pay too much. Of course currently I'm chucking in a fair bit extra while rates are low, but from what I hear, rents around this place are definitely more expensive than my mortgage. I've considered renting out the second bedroom for some extra money but I actually enjoy my privacy and complete independence at the moment so we'll see how that goes. ;)

[Skyrazer]

If you've bought a place to live in and not to make a profit off (ie. investment) and you've paced yourself responsibly so you can weather some rate hikes, then I wouldn't really worry what the housing market does. Just focus on picking away at that morgage (within your means of course) and ignore whatever trend the market takes. A property is for the long, LONG term, ALOT can and will happen in that timeframe.

Same sort of thing for "trading up". If the demand is there, go for it as you shouldn't have much trouble finding a buyer and whether the property market is inflated or subdued, it doesn't really make a difference. It will be obviously more difficult to sell of course if demand is waning however (such as after a bubble burst).

[gryphon strike]

If you've bought a place to live in and not to make a profit off (ie. investment) and you've paced yourself responsibly so you can weather some rate hikes, then I wouldn't really worry what the housing market does. Just focus on picking away at that morgage (within your means of course) and ignore whatever trend the market takes. A property is for the long, LONG term, ALOT can and will happen in that timeframe.

Same sort of thing for "trading up". If the demand is there, go for it as you shouldn't have much trouble finding a buyer and whether the property market is inflated or subdued, it doesn't really make a difference. It will be obviously more difficult to sell of course if demand is waning however (such as after a bubble burst).

I understand what you mean by trading up but thats something best done when cashed up and the market has dropped. Something that has not happened for quite some time.

I confess to thinking about buying a small place in the country, that may cost a bit or may cost little I guess it depends on what I can afford and what I find that I like.

But you are of course right in what you say, property is a long term investment and I am glad noone here has mentioned equity since I hate that term the way the banks use it. I mean how can you have too much equity?

[Paxter]

Bah. Crappy day.

I just had a phone call from one of the parents at my cricket club, and he complained to me about the coach of his son's team. He alleged that during the last game, the coach said to his son, while the boy was setting off for a run during a game: "run, run, you lazy shit!". So of course the parent was very concerned about this and rang me up to ask if I could speak to the coach involved. So I ring up the coach, and fed back to him what the parent said to me. Naturally, he was very offended and angry about the allegations and denied that any insulting language was used. However, I happen to know that this coach has a track record of aggressive behaviour in junior sport and therefore there is at least some chance that those words were used (not that I told the coach that). Anyway, despite assurances from me that I wasn't accusing him of anything and that there isn't any concrete evidence that such words were used (and thus I can't take this any further), he got pretty angry with me and threatened to quit his coaching role. Of course, I'm desperate to keep him in the job because we don't exactly have any coaches waiting in the wings to take over his job. So now I'm regretting even telling him about the allegations. Maybe I should have just told the parent that without more concrete evidence I can't really do anything.

Anyway the coach said to me that he would speak to the parent concerned personally next weekend. Not sure how that will go. But now I have an angry player, an angry parent and an extremely angry Under 14s coach. And I'm stuck in the middle, and I probably should have handled this differently. Fuck this presidency gig. Any advice?

[Ski the Swift]

Should of told the angry parent that you "would look into it" and then not look into it. Seems to be the way the higher ups handle the company I work for and look at them, major Australian electrical contractor :P

[Paxter]

Hope everyone is enjoying Australia Day. Is anyone following Sam Kekovich's advice in the food department this year? Or has the ad made you cringe so much that you are ordering pizza instead?

Should of told the angry parent that you "would look into it" and then not look into it. Seems to be the way the higher ups handle the company I work for and look at them, major Australian electrical contractor :P

This probably wouldn't have worked because the parent is likely to follow-up on it with me. *sigh*

[delete this account pls]

Pax, firstly, call the parent back and give them a head's up, otherwise they'll feel like they've been ambushd by the coach when he approaches them. Explain to the parent that the coach denied the claim, and without further evidence their isnt much you can do.

Also, call the coach back in a few days, give him time to calm down.

And maybe try to be there if/when the coach talks to the parent.

Good luck! Sounds like a crappy situation all round.

[Paxter]

Pax, firstly, call the parent back and give them a head's up, otherwise they'll feel like they've been ambushd by the coach when he approaches them. Explain to the parent that the coach denied the claim, and without further evidence their isnt much you can do.

Also, call the coach back in a few days, give him time to calm down.

And maybe try to be there if/when the coach talks to the parent.

Good luck! Sounds like a crappy situation all round.

Thanks for the advice Brades. I'll give the parent a call tomorrow night.

[gryphon strike]

Nah no lamb just lobster and steak ohh and Avatar.

Good film, fantastic 3D effects but really I mean it just human history we find an " inferior race/tribe etc" and find something we want and use it as justification to slaughter them.

Even so a nice day in all :)

[Hereward]

How does the coach know which parent to talk to? Unless you told him, which would probably have been unwise, it suggests he's guilty as charged, no?

[Jeor]

How does the coach know which parent to talk to? Unless you told him, which would probably have been unwise, it suggests he's guilty as charged, no?

Depending on how Pax phrased it, it might have just been a "I had a call from Mr X who was unhappy that..." etc, which I think is a reasonably natural way to start the call. You haven't done anything wrong, Pax, and I second Brady's advice about calling back the parent now. It shows you have followed it up and it also forewarns the parent that the coach might be on the lookout for him. As for the coach himself there's nothing you can really do, I'd say just let it go and if he wants to chase it up himself at the next match he can.

I've had a little bit of experience with this sort of thing, as I coach the tennis team for the high school that I work at, and things can get pretty heated. I remember one parent (thankfully from the opposing school, not ours) who was screaming at their coach for the coach simply telling the tantrum-throwing kid (smashing racquets, sending balls out of the court) to get a grip and concentrate on the game. The other coach was pretty embarrassed about the whole thing and ended up pulling the kid from the match and forcing a forfeit after some more shenanigans a few points later, which of course made the parent even cheerier. I heard the other school's coach had to have meetings with his principal just to clear up the whole situation later on, thankfully the parent was already known as a problem. Gee, I wonder where that kid got his tantrum-throwing behaviour from.

[Paxter]

How does the coach know which parent to talk to? Unless you told him, which would probably have been unwise, it suggests he's guilty as charged, no?

Hereward, I told the coach who the parent involved was because I thought that he had a right to know the identity of the person making the allegation against him. Also, I asked the parent whether he wanted to remain anonymous and he said that he didn't really mind if his name was mentioned. How does my decision to reveal the identity of the parent involved suggest that the coach is guilty?

Man this situation sucks.

[Hereward]

Apologies for th confusion, I thought the coach had said he would talk to the parent, knowing who it was because he knew whose child he'd called lazy! Sucks to have to deal with this kind of stuff without even getting paid. My sympathies.

[Paxter]

Depending on how Pax phrased it, it might have just been a "I had a call from Mr X who was unhappy that..." etc, which I think is a reasonably natural way to start the call. You haven't done anything wrong, Pax, and I second Brady's advice about calling back the parent now. It shows you have followed it up and it also forewarns the parent that the coach might be on the lookout for him. As for the coach himself there's nothing you can really do, I'd say just let it go and if he wants to chase it up himself at the next match he can.

Yeah, that's pretty much how I started the conversation Jeor.

I'll definitely call the parent tomorrow. Hopefully the coach will just put it behind and get on with the season (and if he did in fact say those words, ensure that he doesn't say anything similar again). I just can't afford to lose any more parent volunteers at this stage of the season. Plus the guy is a good cricket coach, if perhaps a little bit too competitive to be coaching 13 year-olds.

@Hereward: Actually the coach did remember the incident in question, but he claims that he said "run,run!" rather than "run, run you lazy shit!". The coach also told me during the conversation that the player in question had a "heart the size of a pea", which I suppose he said to me in an attempt to call the integrity of the player into question. Personally, I just thought it was a pretty insulting thing to say about the kid :dunno:.