26 Mar 2025

On FOCAL POINT:

• Andrew Davies, Team Manager at See Differently, is just back from the CSUN assistive Technology event in Anaheim in the US. Andrew shared his observations and interactions. 
• Jane McNamara, Consumer spokesperson at NBN, had news about faster internet may be needed to keep up surging demand for new technology and shared tips to access the best solution for you.
• Howard Dickinson, President of Australian Blind Bowlers, previewing this year's National Championships in April. The Nationals will be held in Mandurah in Western Australia. 
• Phil Vandepeer, co-founder and co-presenter for Focal Point, spoke about this year's Federal Budget.

Resources:

See Differently: http://www.seedifferently.org.au

CSUN: https://www.csun.edu/

NBN Australia: https://www.nbnco.com.au/connect-home-or-business/check-your-address

Blind Bowls Australia: Email: [e-mail] Web: https://blindsportsaustralia.com.au/blv-bowls-guide/

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

S1 (00:09):
Good evening and welcome to Focal Point here on Vision
Australia Radio 1190 7 a.m. in Adelaide, online at VA radio.org.
VA Radio Digital in Adelaide and Darwin through the Reading
Radio Network and also your favourite podcast or streaming service.
Peter Greco saying great to be here for Focal Point.
A big welcome on behalf of Phillip Napier. And a

(00:31):
big cheerio to Wendy McDougall listening in this program, coming
to you from Ghana land. Coming to you very shortly.
We'll catch up with Andrew Davies who's just stepped off
the plane after going to the Sea Sun conference. What
did Andrew say? Also catch up with Jane McNamara from NBN.
A huge explosion as far as devices connected to the

(00:52):
internet goes and data downloading. We'll see if you're getting
the latest and the greatest as far as your internet
connection goes. Jane will have some tips then. We'll also
catch up with Howard Dickinson, the president of the Australian
Blind Bowlers Association. They're nationals coming up in Western Australia very,
very soon. And Phil Vanderpool will join us, co-founder and

(01:14):
co-presenter for Focalpoint. Phil will give his review his immediate
thoughts after the budget that's been handed down. If listening
through 1190 7 a.m. in Adelaide around the clock for
your listening pleasure. Lizzie and Sam are here with studio one.
Lizzie had a birthday during the week and made this
absolutely magnificent birthday cake. Absolutely delicious. It's been very, very popular.

(01:39):
It's gone like hotcakes. In fact, you could say there's
not much left. It's just a trifle. Let's find out
what's on studio one tonight.

S2 (01:51):
We go back to school. We talked to a few
friends and find out what has changed and what hasn't,
and what we can learn from all of this. So
join us at eight for studio one.

S1 (02:03):
Always great talking technology. And who better to talk technology
with than the team manager from the RSPCA differently at
the RSPCA Andrew Davies. Andrew, great to catch up. Thanks
for your time.

S3 (02:14):
No thank you Peter. Always great to speak to you
about technology.

S1 (02:17):
Now you're just back from the California State University.

S3 (02:20):
Yeah, I've been back about a week now. It feels
a little bit longer, but yeah, I had a break
in in Anaheim traveling around the season conference, which was
celebrating their 40th anniversary. So yeah, an absolutely amazing conference
to be at.

S1 (02:35):
What attracted your ears or eyes or fingers?

S3 (02:38):
Well, I guess for me it all started in in
Melbourne Airport and we kind of checked into my flight
just waiting around to jump onto the next plane to LA.
Turned to my right and there's the guys from Nvidia Access,
which is they were traveling over for the conference as well.
They were presenting. And a lot of people kind of say, oh,
what's kind of cool and what's new and exciting happening

(02:59):
in technology. And I always kind of go back to
those guys to start off with, because what they developed,
I'm sure they could have sold out a million times over.
But still, to provide that kind of free software, going
on to like an international stage like season to promote
it and speak to some of the people that they're
working with over there. Yeah, I've always kind of got
to give them a big pat on the back for

(03:19):
the amazing work that they do. So that was kind
of one of the first cool things. And then they landed.
And then it was kind of straight into the conference
and having a look around the exhibition hall. So for
those listeners who might not know about CSUN, it's kind
of broken up into a couple of different areas where
you have a huge exhibition hall with a couple of
hundred exhibitors, and then you've kind of got the papers

(03:43):
and the journal articles and things like that on the
other side of it. So. And unfortunately, we don't have
anything like that in Australia. We've got Tech Fest, which
kind of showcases off the products and things, but we
don't have the high value talks and things like that
coming forward.

S1 (03:57):
So was there like a theme or a focus or
an emphasis that kind of made an impression?

S3 (04:02):
There's always like the accessibility focus and a big part
of the exhibitors and a big part of the talks
that are set up over there are about accessible websites
like website checkers and how we can actually fix it
as well. So that's always kind of great to see
the kind of other areas that kind of made up into,
like your Braille devices and products and mobility and then, yeah,

(04:26):
people giving some talks on those as well. Yeah.

S1 (04:28):
Well, you told us a number of years ago, look
out for wearable technology. That's kind of going to be
the next big thing, if I can put it that way.
And you're right on the money with that.

S3 (04:36):
Yeah. And it's evolving all the time. And so we've
gone from having like the acesight low vision glasses and
things like that. And now you're looking at like the
Ray-Ban wearables as well, getting some really cool glasses and
that have got the built in accessibility features. And then
they're getting more and more links to that. So like
Be My Eyes is now a participant on that. And

(04:57):
then there's a couple of flavors of the glasses coming
out as well. So we got to try on a
new pair called the Echo Vision. Pretty similar kind of
style as the Ray-Ban glasses. Haven't been fully released yet
over in the US, but they will be shortly. But
again with us that the link to the eye. And
that's why you can take a photograph, have the information

(05:19):
kind of read out to you. So it gives a
really big description for me. I took a photograph of
a gentleman stood in front of me, and it told
me absolutely everything about him, that he had a bald head.
He was smiling the color of the shirt. He was
wearing his body language. And then it went on to
describe the scene around us as well. So it gave
me a lot of information, and we kind of gave

(05:40):
the feedback to them as well. Sometimes that's exactly what
somebody's going to need, but at other times you might
just want that short, sharp kind of information. So they're
always working on that. So yeah, there was a couple
of new wearables out there as well. And we also
got to try out the new Eastside core, which is
a development from the Eastside for that we currently have. Unfortunately,

(06:01):
that's not going to be out for about another 12
months here in Australia. But it's it looks really, really good.

S1 (06:06):
What about in Europe, Brian? Well I guess that well
is there much sort of new that can happen? I
guess we're aware of the monarch and the dot pad
in terms of multi-line refreshable displays. I mean, is that
kind of, uh. Well, I was gonna say, is that
what's going to end?

S3 (06:21):
Um, I think for the monarch and the dot pad,
we've got to spend time with both of those teams.
We actually were fortunate to bring a monarch back with
us to Adelaide. So my my hand on luggage was
an extra 26 grand heavier. Uh, but yes, we've got
that here at the minute and we're looking for a
few people to kind of give it a test out.

(06:41):
So we really look at how we can use that
in the education space, but also for people in like
an employment area as well, and just do a bit
of testing to see how it can be used in
those environments. There have been some updates with that, as
well as a dope pad as well. So they're the
kind of the two big talk about Braille devices over there.
We're also working with Humanware to bring across the Une

(07:04):
to South Australia, which is a real interactive, fun way
of somebody learning Braille. So rather than just giving a
new user a Perkins Brailler to start typing away on,
this is a really interactive way of doing that. So
you can have a sort of a teacher can have
like a leaderboard and a display online and provide content

(07:25):
to them, and so they can practice their braille at home.
But also we can have some challenges and things like that.
So really test your Braille skills and Braille speed and
things like that. So again we'll have that probably in
the next few weeks. And then there was another one
called Codex which is from New Haptics. That was quite impressive.

(07:46):
But it had a kind of a new way of
producing Braille through like almost like a compressor kind of braille.
So it was really interesting to see. It had a
huge box with it as well. So it's not a
portable device. So if you're in a workplace, it's kind
of got to be linked to your PC and it's
optimized for Jaws, but it's not something that you would
kind of travel around with. So. And then what else

(08:07):
was it? There was like the activator keyboard as well,
which kind of can be linked into a Qwerty keyboard.
You can have your phone attached to it as well.
And their Braille cells were really interesting because they were curved.
So they tried to look at like the ergonomics of
like your fingers.

S1 (08:23):
And.

S3 (08:23):
Things like that. So yeah, people often say Braille is dying.
Text to speech is kind of the way forward for people.
But but for me and for definitely for C, definitely
team like Braille is kind of that key tool and
key resource to to help with literacy and everything like that.
So the more products.

S1 (08:40):
Keep flying that flag and keep flying that flag.

S3 (08:43):
Yeah, the more products like that and more interactive ways
we can make kind of Braille fun and interactive. And yeah,
we want to make sure that people are actually using it.

S1 (08:52):
What about in terms of mobility aids or ways to
get around? You know, not so many years ago it
was either a guide dog or a long cane. And
that's where the full stop came. But there's so much
more these days.

S3 (09:02):
There was definitely plenty of people there with guide dogs
and cairns and things like that. There was people walking
into each other at times, but it was kind of
so friendly over there. But like if someone bumped into somebody,
it was like, oh, sorry. And off you go again.
There was plenty of guides, and Jamie and I were
definitely helping people navigate around. And the venue did have
good maps kind of installed, which is like an indoor

(09:25):
wayfinding navigation. They had plenty of volunteers to support people
as well. Um, but a couple of new things that
we kind of got hands on with was the guidance cane,
and that was kind of it's not ready for release yet,
but that was really interesting. It has two wheels on
the side, which are probably around 7 to 8in on
each side. So decent sized wheels in between there. It's

(09:48):
almost like having a mini ball and ball which kind
of moves you around. Then there's a telescopic handle and
that handle. It has a couple of, um, what are
they called, like motion sensors or detectors, so that if
it detects an obstacle in front of you, it's going
to guide you around there.

S1 (10:04):
Wow.

S3 (10:05):
I had a bit of a walk around with it.
It's really interesting. As you're moving towards somebody, you do
get that kind of vibration coming back towards you. And
there are other things available like the mini guide and
things like that that can kind of link into there.
And so it's going to be really interesting to see
when that's released. And I think in like Adelaide where
we're kind of pretty flat, it would work nicely. Mhm.

(10:26):
But I'm not sure how it would go work and
kind of go on upstairs and things like that. But
the future developments of that is you'll be able to
program your route into there and it'll help you able
to navigate to that route as well through like the
haptic feedback and everything. So that was quite interesting. We
got to play around with the new Ambae tech 360
roller tip as well, which was really interesting. And how

(10:48):
that actually something that moves in 360 kind of rotation
is still being able to attach to a cane. Was
quite interesting to see how that was done. And so
we'll be bringing those across as well. And then there
was I can't remember the name and I apologize, but
it was an attachment that you could attach to your shoe.
And again, it gave you that haptic feedback as you

(11:09):
were walking along to help you navigate into areas. So
it didn't give you the like sensor to say that
you're coming to an obstacle, but it would help keep
you in the line of where you wanted to go to.
So that was quite interesting as well. So there's always
these weird and wonderful things that are kind of get
talked about, and it's always nice to see them kind
of being released like a year or so down the line.

S1 (11:30):
And you recently you have had the Braille challenge at
see differently becoming a traditional event.

S3 (11:35):
Yeah. So it's our second year that we've run the
challenge here in South Australia. And as I said before, yeah,
we're really trying to encourage the usage of Braille. And
so we worked along with savvy. And so I think
we had around 35 students come along for the two
day challenge. So it was a great opportunity for the
students to kind of showcase their skills. And my kids

(11:55):
are going for like the NAPLAN testing at the minute.
So not to kind of just slim the kind of
tests and things like that, but it's a great way
for them to show their skills at different grade levels.
And Humanware were one of the sponsors for that. And
I think the it was a brilliant 20 that was
given as a prize to the winner. And it was, yeah, unbelievable.

(12:18):
Like the the student who when it was over the
moon with it. Um, so again hopefully that helps them
through those kind of transition points of, of life as
a kind of leave school to then maybe looking for
work or higher education and things like that, that they've
now got this amazing device to kind of support them
with it.

S1 (12:35):
And uh, of all ages or kind of most school
age kids that were taking part across the age range.

S3 (12:41):
Yeah. So it was only for school aged children. Um,
but I've been speaking with Michael Traynor here about can
we kind of replicate that for some of our older
clients that we see on a daily basis here as well,
just to make it something, again, fun and exciting for
them to do you. Obviously they then get like that
social aspect of running an event like that as well.

(13:02):
So it gets people out in the house meeting new
people and with a bit of a fun challenge at
the end.

S1 (13:07):
Well, especially for kids who might be in mainstream school
and maybe not get to meet many other kids who
have a vision impairment, it's a great way to kind
of know that you're not the only one out here
that is living the life like this.

S3 (13:18):
That's it. So yeah, last two years it's really only
been South Australia based for this challenge. I know we're
in plans for next year's event to make it even
bigger and better. And and hopefully one year we can
send our winner over to the States.

S1 (13:31):
Yeah.

S3 (13:32):
But to take part in, in a major challenge over
there where they get thousands of of Braille users competing
so well.

S1 (13:39):
Certainly from a passionate Braille users point of view, it's
very heartening to hear stuff like that because, as you say,
the thing that talked about it for a little bit,
but hopefully like Mark Twain, it is a glossary of exaggerated.

S3 (13:52):
That's it. Definitely.

S1 (13:53):
And if people want to find out more about any
of the stuff that you've spoken about today, and maybe
pick your brains a bit more about some of the
things that you've seen at CSUN, and also other things
like the challenge, maybe for the future, how can we
find you? Where can we get in touch with you?

S3 (14:06):
Yeah, anybody can give us a call on 1300 944 306. We
can have a chat to them about kind of all
the products that we experienced at CSUN, the products that
we've got here at the minute, because it's not always
that kind of new product that might help somebody. There
might be products out there that people aren't aware of
at the minute, and that might be able to help
them to kind of do any of their daily living activities.

(14:29):
There was a couple of other products that we kind
of saw, which kind of really cool. I thought as well,
because we kind of get a lot of clients coming
through who have been through that kind of AI generation now.
So they've had iPhones, they've had iPads, but they might
need a magnification tool. Until. So there's a few cool
new cameras that you can now attach to your your
devices so you get that high quality camera. And some

(14:51):
of those have like the text to speech them as well.
So it'll take a photograph and read it out to you,
but a lot more portable so you can have your
13 inch iPad in this little camera that collapses down
into a nice little bag as well to be able
to use. So yeah, and we'll hopefully be bringing those
in pretty shortly as well.

S1 (15:07):
We'll speak again soon. Andrew.

S3 (15:09):
Thank you so much for your time. Peter.

S1 (15:10):
That's Andrew Davies there. The team manager, the team captain
at sea. Definitely the technology area. Now all those details
up on our show notes. Some really interesting research has
just been released regarding where we're heading to as far
as the connections with our devices go. Let's chat about
it with Jane McNamara from the NBN. Jane, great to

(15:33):
meet you. Thanks for your time.

S4 (15:34):
Good to be with you, Peter.

S1 (15:35):
I don't want to get too bogged down in the statistics,
but do you want to run through some of the
major ones? This is quite staggering as to how many
devices we've got, how many we're going to have in
their connection to the internet.

S4 (15:46):
Absolutely. We know that 2 in 5 Australians haven't actually
updated their home internet setup in the past five years,
nor their NBN plan, and we actually risk falling behind
noting our growing demand. You know, those connected devices we
all love to use at home and the next generation
of technology, which we know Australians are really excited about. Today,

(16:09):
the average Australian household downloads ten times more on the
NBN network than it did ten years ago, and that's
expected to double again by 2029. And look, if we
think about those devices in the home that we all
love to use or need to use, you know, things
like not just TVs and phones and laptops, we're talking about,

(16:31):
you know, smart fridges, the security monitoring cameras, baby monitors,
you know, smart vacuum, smart lawnmowers. There's so many things
and all of these actually need fast and reliable broadband
via the NBN to make them work, but not only
make them work. How do we use them all at
the same time so we can have a very peaceful

(16:54):
home life?

S1 (16:54):
So there's more than one of the family, Jane.

S4 (16:56):
Absolutely. Yeah. We've, you know, to think about to think
about those connected devices. I don't know about you, Peter,
but I did a quick count myself. And, look, there's
only me and one other in my household, so I
wasn't expecting it to be quite a, you know, that
25 which the average Australian household has today. But I
have 15. So for two people, you know, I thought, gosh,

(17:18):
that's quite a lot. But 44 by the end of
the decade seems extraordinary. But Australians, we'd love to be online.

S1 (17:26):
Well I did a similar sort of exercise, Jane, so
I'm not sure if we were thinking the same way,
but similarly, yes, it is quite amazing. And a lot
of the stuff, I mean, without being too much influenced
by advertising, a lot of the stuff now you almost
can't do without, can you?

S4 (17:40):
I agree. And you know, actually every day we have
20 million Australians using the NBN network. And the NBN
network actually carries 80% of the country's data traffic. So,
you know, it really does go to show that we
we love to be online. We need to be online
for everything from, you know, connecting with family and friends.

(18:03):
Maybe you have a business from home, you work from home,
learning online, telehealth, all of these things, you know, require
that fast and reliable broadband. And if we think about
the future, we actually know that 79% of Australian households
are actually really interested in some new emerging technologies. So

(18:26):
that means not just today and tomorrow. Are we going
to be using all of these connected devices. But you know,
the new technologies keep coming online year after year. So
we kind of know that Australians are really eager to
embrace things like cloud gaming. Something we call immersive entertainment,
and things such as 8-K streaming.

S1 (18:48):
Okay. I'm streaming. Fill me in. We actually talked about
immersive education entertainment just a few weeks ago. I'd never
heard of it until then, but, uh. Uh, what's this
other thing you're introducing us to?

S4 (19:01):
Yeah. So 8-K streaming is almost like the the quality
in which the devices can stream, you know, your, your
favorite shows, your favorite sports. You might have heard of
4K streaming, which is kind of the latest, but that
will become 8-K streaming in the near future. And, you know,
cloud gaming is, you know, for all those gamers out
there that, um, you know, love to do that online and,

(19:23):
and play with friends and families and, you know, across
the globe as well. So, uh, all of these things
are new and definitely on the horizon.

S1 (19:32):
And of course, without wishing to make sort of a
social comment, if you like gaming, things like sport and
some of the other streaming services. I mean, if we
don't use them like free to air television probably isn't
providing them. So either we are doing ourselves out of
that opportunity or, you know, we we don't get it.

S4 (19:51):
Yeah, it's so true. And one of the things that we,
we do know with the technologies and how they're changing
and the new, the new, exciting things on the horizon,
is that they they do require a lot of data.
So we know that we're using a lot of data today.
But with some of these new emerging technologies, some of
them require up to 120 times more data than our

(20:15):
current devices. So, you know, it's it's exciting. Absolutely. But
we need to make sure that, you know, our in-home
setup is correct for the NBN. We've got to make
sure we're on the right plan so we can use
all of these devices and technologies concurrently. And, you know,
the other thing is we've got so many upgrades available
on the NBN. It's really important that our listeners also

(20:38):
check if an upgrade is available at their home and
business so they can get the fastest and most reliable
NBN technology.

S1 (20:46):
Well, that's going to be one of my questions, John.
I mean, all those points you made are very, very relevant.
What about if you like at your end of the bargain?
How are you situated to kind of, uh, give us
the service or, you know, provide us with this extra
data that we're going to need?

S4 (21:02):
Yeah. And look, it's a great question, Peter. And really,
you know, since the NBN finished the initial rollout back
in 2020, connecting every home and business across the country, we,
you know, embarked very quickly on an upgrade program. And
we've been upgrading the NBN and the various technologies that
serve every home and business across the country every year

(21:26):
to make sure that the network can keep pace with
Australia's insatiable demand for technology and fast and reliable broadband. So,
you know, at the moment, we've got more than 4
million homes and businesses across the country that can actually
upgrade to our fastest, most reliable, you know, most, uh,

(21:46):
resilient technology, which is called our NBN Full fibre. And
that's the technology where servicing the majority of Australian homes
and businesses with and that's fibre optic cable all the
way from the street to your front door. And so
we continue to invest in the network. We continue to
upgrade it, the capacity of the network, but also the

(22:07):
technologies in how we reach homes and businesses to make
sure that we're not just keeping pace with, you know, today,
tomorrow and five years from now, but we're talking 30
and 40 years from now. So we we definitely do
invest in the network to make sure it can keep pace.
But we as customers, you know, and and residents and

(22:29):
business owners need to do a couple of things as
well to make sure we leverage it. And that really
comes back to, you know, making sure you know what
technology and plan and upgrade is available at your house.
And you can jump onto the NBN website, nbl.com.au and
use the address checker on the home page. Should also
really check the in-home setup. So there's a couple of

(22:50):
things that we can do at our home and business.
Things like checking the age of our Wi-Fi router and
modem that needs to be upgraded every couple of years,
similar to your mobile phone, and making sure it's centrally located,
you know, and up high away from interference. Things like,
you know, TVs, microwaves, those sorts of things can actually

(23:11):
interfere with the signal. And really important is making sure
you check which NBN plan you're on and, and have
a conversation with the phone and internet provider that's currently
providing your plan to make sure are you on the
right plan, should you be on a different plan? And
can you do me a better deal and hopefully save
our listeners some money on their NBN plan?

S1 (23:32):
Was going to ask you about that as well, like
the ISP or the, uh, the people that we've got
the internet connected to or with, what sort of role
can they play? Because I guess it's like anything, you know,
sometimes you don't know if you don't ask and they're
probably not going to come to us and say, hey, listen,
do you realize you could, you know, do better?

S4 (23:49):
Absolutely. And you know what? I think it's it's such
a good reminder as well. You know, we're all very
time poor. Uh, we don't have enough time to do
things like checking our NBN plan and our health insurance.
You know, those things that we should regularly check to
see if we can get a better deal and save
some money. And, you know, always that lesson of shopping
around to see if someone can offer you something you know,

(24:11):
a bit better or at a better price. And look,
you know, the reason NBN came about was to, um,
bridge the digital divide and, and bring about competition. And
there's more than 150 phone and internet providers that you
can choose from. And okay. Yeah. Look, using the NBN
website nbl.com.au and using the address checker on the home page,

(24:32):
it will actually tell you what plans are available for
your home and business, and what phone and internet providers
will actually sell you a plan. Because not all providers
sell all the plans and to all parts of the country.
So it's really important to do that research. And you know,
competition is such a good thing. Peter, I'm sure you
will agree. And, you know, being able to do a

(24:54):
little bit of research, talk to family and friends, talk
to your current phone and internet provider because they'll want
to keep your business. But equally, some independent websites like finder,
Canstar and Whistleout have done a lot of the hard
work for us, and they've actually done a lot of
comparison work and and looked at the different providers, looked

(25:15):
at the different plans and come up, you know, with
recommendations on, you know, what might be a good fit
for you. So it's always a good time to check
your plan, see if it's the right plan, but also
to see if you can get a better deal.

S1 (25:28):
We're going around Australia on the Vision Australia radio network,
and you kind of touched on 4 million or so
customers that probably could upgrade. How many of those would
not be in the metropolitan area? Because that's obviously very,
very important as well.

S4 (25:41):
Absolutely. And look, we we use a range of different
technologies to connect every home and business. We, we service
the majority with our fiber technology, but we also use
fixed wireless and satellite technology for some of those more
regional and remote locations. And and each of those technologies
have undergone a significant upgrade program to make sure they

(26:05):
deliver really fast and reliable speeds. And so in terms
of that upgrade program, all homes and businesses will be
able to find out if they've got an upgrade available,
whether that's a fiber upgrade, whether that's part of the
fixed wireless upgrade program where we've, you know, delivered extra
fast speeds on that technology and indeed our satellite plans

(26:27):
as well. So it's really important that people don't just
assume they've, you know, on the right plan. Uh, I
would really encourage everyone to check their address and find
out what upgrade is available and what plans are available.
But also, if not now, it's really important to register
for updates and and we'll actually communicate with you when

(26:50):
one of those upgrades is available at your home and business.

S1 (26:53):
Cost of living crisis. Of course, as we're all experiencing, uh,
getting it improved or getting it upgraded doesn't necessarily mean
it's going to cost us a lot more.

S4 (27:00):
No, Peter, there's actually some, you know, uh, those independent
websites that we spoke about will give you, you know,
that kind of price comparison. Uh, the upgrades, uh, don't
necessarily they won't incur a cost, but you might need
to get a different plan to realize those extra speed benefits.
So you might need to get a higher plan, which might,

(27:24):
might not cost you anything. But there might be, depending
on which phone and internet provider you choose from, but
the actual upgrade itself doesn't require a cost by the customer.

S1 (27:35):
Jane, you mentioned one thing earlier that I meant to
ask you a bit more about. So you talked about
having your modem up high?

S4 (27:40):
Yes, yes. So thank you for bringing back that point. Peter,
so often most Australians actually hide them away in a
cupboard or, you know, behind maybe in the laundry or
some other odd location, but we really need them to
have pride of place, particularly centrally, if possible. Um, you know,

(28:01):
in the living room or the kitchen or where, you know,
the majority of the family and people kind of spend
their time and those devices are all working together. If
it's central, it means that Wi-Fi signal is stronger. If
we tuck them away in a cupboard or a drawer or,
you know, somewhere down the other end of the house,
it really impacts the strength of that Wi-Fi signal. And

(28:24):
then you'll notice things like buffering dropouts. You know, you
can't stream your show or your teams call starts dropping
out or freezing. They're really good signs that either your
modem is out of date, it might need a refresh,
or it's not in the right location and it can't
reach you. Sometimes, you know, you might be down the
other end of the house or, you know, those sorts

(28:47):
of things. So making sure it's central and up high
are the two best tips there.

S1 (28:52):
So rapidly running out of time at night with your
cast off, if you like. You worked in the area
of emergency services. Uh, that's kind of very, very important
as well, because it's kind of all related in terms
of being connected and, uh, being aware of what's going
on and, and making sure that we're going to be
as safe as we can be.

S4 (29:08):
Oh, absolutely. And, you know, I think the other thing
that I'm reminded of as well is always reaching out
to vulnerable members of your community, you know, whether it's
your family and friends, whether it's your neighbors, you know,
your network, making sure that, um, everyone has that sense
of connection, Not not just with the technology, but with

(29:29):
people as well, and how we can make sure that
everyone knows, you know, how to use technology, how to
make sure we can, you know, all be online, how
to use all of these devices. So you're absolutely right, Peter.
It's it's so important that we, we all know and
are learning together about how to make the most of,

(29:51):
you know, such significant connectivity and for, you know, every purpose,
including emergencies.

S1 (29:57):
Very important message all around. Jane, if people want to
find out more, what's the best starting point.

S4 (30:01):
If we all jump on the NBN website nbl.com.au. Use
the address checker on the home page. It will tell
you all the important information about upgrades, the plans available,
the sorts of upgrades that are available, how to choose
the right plan and what providers are available in your
area as well and you know, would love to join

(30:24):
you any other time. Peter. Take calls from your listeners
or update you on any other important topics to do
with connectivity and broadband.

S1 (30:31):
When you do that, Jane, thanks for your time.

S4 (30:32):
Thanks so much.

S1 (30:33):
That's Jane McNamara there from NBN. Talk about now and
the future. You're listening to Focal Point on.

S5 (30:40):
Beating Australia Radio 1190 7 a.m. via radio digital and
online at VA radio.org.

S1 (30:50):
Well our major event for a long ball is our
nationals coming up next month. Not too far away at
all happening in Western Australia. Let's chat about it with
the president of the Australian Blind Bowlers. Howard Dixon. Howard.
They're good to catch up again. Thank you. Nice to chat.

S6 (31:04):
To you, Peter. And yes, the 25 nationals are coming
up very, very soon. It's all getting a bit stressful.

S1 (31:11):
I was going to ask you how things are coming along,
but I guess if it wasn't stressful, then you're probably
not doing your job properly.

S6 (31:17):
Well, it's not just me, but. Yeah. No, there's probably
some truth in that too. Yeah.

S1 (31:23):
Now it's being held at Mandurah for love Gone West Australia.
So where is that compared to say, Perth?

S6 (31:29):
Well for a start it's Mandurah, not Mandurah.

S7 (31:32):
There you go.

S6 (31:33):
And it's about 75 80km south of Perth. It's the
original holiday seaside town on a huge great water inlet. Water. Playground, fishing, swimming, crabbing.
Think of it as a very large bay with a
very large inlet. That has been a holiday town probably

(31:54):
for since since I came to Australia in the 60s. But, um, yeah,
it's it's more almost a suburb of Perth now.

S1 (32:02):
Yeah. It's idyllic.

S6 (32:03):
It is actually. It's quite an idyllic place. Um. Bowling clubs. Lovely.
It's got four greens and one of them covered, and, um,
it's only like a five minute drive from the centre
of town and from the beach, so it's quite, quite handy.

S1 (32:18):
So the whole kind of circus, if I can put
it in a very jovial way, kind of moves to
that area for the nationals who don't travel to and
from Perth on the day.

S6 (32:27):
Uh, no. I don't know that anyone will be travelling
to and from Perth on the day. Pretty well. Everyone
will be staying in Mandurah. Certainly all the interstate visitors will. Um,
there is a train line that runs down there, but
it's about a 50 minute train ride, so it's quite
a train ride. Um, and yeah, most people will be
staying in Mandurah. Um, we've actually booked out thanks to

(32:48):
the generosity of Dolphin Quay Apartments. We've actually had a
great deal and booked most of that out. And they
overlooked the Marina, so it's a beautiful spot.

S1 (32:56):
I was going to say, Howard, I mean, on a
serious note, when something like this happens, it kind of
is a nice little, uh, tourism boost for that local area.
You've got the players, obviously, their directors, uh, other, uh,
you know, people coming along. So it's probably a nice little, uh,
fillip to the economy.

S7 (33:12):
Well, it's.

S6 (33:13):
Okay for these sort of events, particularly with visually impaired
and blind bowlers, we tend to put everything on. So
the lunch is provided and the dinner is provided at
the venue. But, um, people will go out for a
drink afterwards. They'll probably, um, they get their breakfast in
their rooms and they'll probably get breakfast beforehand. And yeah,
it's it's somewhat of a fillip, but, um, Amanda is

(33:34):
a pretty busy place, but it is going to be
outside of school holidays and after Easter. So therefore it'll
be a handy thing for the for for a few
people in town.

S1 (33:43):
Now you talked about a cupboard green. So it's obviously very,
very important just in case it rains. I mean it
never rains in Western Australia, but you never know.

S6 (33:51):
Well, it can rain in Western Australia and when it
rains it tends to really rain. But then I suppose
comparing it to some of the rain that the eastern
coast has had. Yeah. We don't get rain at all. Almost. Um, yeah.
So the covered green, we're planning not to use it,
but it'll be our fallback and it'll be for, for
others to have a go on. Um, I'll mention actually,
if you don't mind. Sure. Whilst the championships start on

(34:13):
the 30th of April, we're actually having a roll up
day for the visually impaired and blind bowlers who are
competing in the championships on the 29th. And we're actually
holding a come and try day where we're basically asking
anyone who would like to give bowls a go to
come on to Mandra, to the Mandra Bowling Club from
about 930 onwards, and we're going to have bowlers there,

(34:35):
directors there and bowls and equipment there, and we're actually
going to see if we can get some interest in
others trying the sport out and giving it a go.

S1 (34:44):
Great way to spread the word.

S6 (34:46):
Well certainly trying.

S1 (34:47):
Yeah. And of course, you know, you can hear about
the sport, but we're actually having a go and it
gives you a much different perspective on it of it.

S7 (34:54):
Yeah, yeah. Um, people.

S6 (34:56):
Who watch it. So the vision enabled and those who
don't have huge vision impairment, they get something out of
watching it and it opens their eyes to what's possible and,
and the limits that some people put on the vision
impaired and blind, which are not valid. And of course,
for those who are visually impaired and blind, it's a
great thing to give it a go and realise that

(35:16):
it's something they can do. And unlike most sports, it's
something they can do and compete in across the state
and compete nationally, like at our national championships and compete internationally.
The International Blind Bowls Association International Championships is being held
in 2027, and this championship is where we in Australia

(35:37):
start selecting our team.

S1 (35:38):
All right. The pressure's on. Howard, what about in terms
of numbers. Both the individual numbers and also the states represented.
How is that looking at this stage.

S6 (35:46):
So we only have four states at present. That's New
South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia. I'll come back
to that if you give me 30s later on. Um,
but of those we now have 31 bowlers. We've lost
a couple. Unfortunately, a lot of our bowlers are aged. So, um,

(36:06):
sometimes as you get close to a championship, you lose
a couple. Not to death, but more to, um, but
to sickness, to medical issues and just to general life
issues that get in the way. So we've lost a couple.
We've got 31 bowlers and about 70 people in total attending.

S1 (36:23):
All right. That sounds fantastic. You want to touch on
the states issue? I think I know what you're going
to say, but tell us.

S6 (36:29):
Okay. So one of the things we're trying to do
is actually start getting some interest in other states. And
the two we're focused on at the moment in Tasmania
and South Australia. And as part of that, we're actually
in the process of looking at trying to hold our
next year's 2026 national championships in South Australia down, down

(36:49):
at Glenelg. And we'll be doing the same thing there.
We'll be holding a come and try day to get
people along to give it a go, see what it's
like and hopefully through that we can get a South
Australian Association up and running and increase South Australia's participation
in some blind bowls.

S1 (37:07):
Regular listeners of the program, how would know that there
was a time when South Australian or South Australia was
a very strong team when it came to lawn bowls?
Were people blind or visually impaired? so hopefully we might
get back to that day. I guess, as you say,
you know, people do move on and, you know, don't
play any longer. But nothing wrong with trying to start again.

S6 (37:28):
No, no. And it's quite sad that we lost South Australia.
It was before my time and I must admit, I
don't have a lot of intelligence as to what caused it,
but at the same time, having a state association up
and active and holding regular events is a good way
to actually spread the word and get people trying it.
A lot of people, vision impaired and blind, have no
idea that blind blind bowls is possible. And what's more

(37:51):
important is they don't realise that it's a game where
they can truly compete with vision enabled people through the
help of a director. They use the same equipment on
the same greens at the same time, and some of
our bowlers beat vision enabled bowlers. In fact, some of
our bowlers beat just about every vision enabled bowler. So
if you're free on the 29th, 30th or even any,

(38:13):
any day up to the 7th of May, come along
and have a look because you'll be shocked. You'll be
surprised and hopefully you'll be motivated to get involved. We
always need vision enabled people as directors and volunteers. And
of course, every vision impaired by a bowler that we
can get on the green and having a go regularly
is good for them. It's good for their family and

(38:34):
their friends, and it's good for us.

S1 (38:35):
To a great point, we'll certainly put that information up
in our show notes. And we've talked about directors in
the past. Are you and other people involved? Well, what
about the other kind of ancillary staff that put a
nationals on you want to talk to about that? I
guess the organising committee and other sort of volunteers and
other roles for the, for the championships.

S7 (38:52):
Um, yeah.

S6 (38:53):
That's it takes a village to hold a championship. I
tell you that basically, when you think about it, you've
got the bowler and the director and the bowler and
the director are basically full time bowling. That's their job
sitting around them or all the people you need to
have a championship come together. Now there's a whole range
of people and I would hate, hate to forget someone,

(39:15):
but I probably will. but not name people. If you
think about it, you have to have markers. Markers to
assist spotting the jack and tell the distance of the
bowl and keep a score for the for the games.
For the individual matches, particularly for individuals. You also have
to have some umpires, and we're hoping to have two
umpires available for the whole time. You need a technical director,

(39:38):
somebody who oversees everything from the point of view of
compliance with the rules and vision impaired and blind bowls
has rules. It has the Bowls Australia rules, but it
has some special rules put in place to deal with
the fact that they're vision impaired and blind. And then
you've got to have a tournament director, someone to actually
run the event to look after, making sure that we've

(39:59):
got things each team needs to bring along someone to
manage any issues. They call the team manager, but they're
the interplay between the bowler and the directors and the
the championship itself. So if somebody's got a problem, somebody
has got a health issue, somebody needs some assistance. There's
a problem with equipment. There's a problem with venue. Then

(40:19):
that's the person who gets involved. So all of those
roles are essential. And then, just like any other event,
you've got to have first day coordinator. You have to
have somebody who knows the venue can look after the venue,
make sure it's set up right each day, making sure
it's cleared up properly each day. And then for us,
we need chefs. We need bar staff. We need catering staff.

(40:40):
So the list is quite long. The role of the
Manjira Bowls Club, the present, their president Denise, their committee
and Dean tyres, who is like the administrative office, has
been integral and really important to the work we've done
so far to get to the stage. We are and
will be even more important once we start competing on

(41:02):
the 29th.

S1 (41:02):
Well, a big thank you to them. And as you
kind of touched on an important tournament because in 2027,
a more international flavour tournament, of course over the years
we've had some very, very good bowlers represent Australia at
different international tournaments.

S7 (41:17):
Yeah.

S6 (41:17):
And has the latest, the last one where the Australia
is the International Blind Bowls Association champions wield the championship
from the last year. And um, basically we've got some
world class vision impaired and blind bowlers. In fact, I
should be should be much more frank, shouldn't I? We've
got some world class bowlers full stop, and they've done

(41:38):
a brilliant job in the past, and we're hoping they'll
do a pretty good job moving forward. Oh, I forgot
to mention, obviously we've got a national coach that's going
to come and have a look at the team and
actually do that. Got a couple of national selectors and
we have to have a national team manager. The list
goes on.

S7 (41:54):
Yeah.

S1 (41:55):
Well it's certainly as you said, it's a rather large
village to put on this tournament, which is fantastic. And obviously,
as you said, a bit of a, a hope that
maybe next year held in South Australia. So again, a
way to kind of spread the word and hopefully engender
a bit more interest in the state that at the
moment isn't kind of represented at this this tournament.

S7 (42:15):
Yeah.

S6 (42:15):
No. So that's a really big thing. And if anyone's
on the line listening in from South Australia and thinking, hey,
I'd like to be involved and maybe not just as
a bowler, maybe actually as part of the organisation and
setup of something like that, get them to get in
contact with me. My email address is ab AWB a
president p r e s I'd e n t 2021

(42:40):
at gmail.com. We're always looking for more players, more directors,
but we're also looking to actually see what we can
do to get the right people in place to get
a South Australian Association and indeed a Tasmanian association up
and running.

S1 (42:54):
So I guess a little bit of experience with lawn
bowls would help. But, you know, I guess you've got
people there that can kind of, uh, if people got
the enthusiasm to kind of harness it and point them
in the right direction to, to make things happen.

S7 (43:05):
Yeah.

S6 (43:05):
So I'm going to throw a spanner in your works there.
I have to be honest, before I got involved in
vision impaired and blind bowls, are to play bowls for
about five times in my life, okay? And I'm a
64 year old man. Basically, you don't need to know
bowls or be a competitive bowler to have the passion
and the enthusiasm for bowls and for vision impaired and

(43:28):
blind sport. And it's that sort of people we really need.
People who bowl a lot are great, but they tend
to be focused on their bowls and not so much
focused on how do we actually get more people bowling. Um,
so yeah, no, you don't have to have a lot
of background in bowls. It isn't a harm, but you
don't need to. And you can play an important role
in moving this forward, moving our association and indeed moving

(43:53):
blind and vision impaired bowlers into the space of doing something,
getting that joy of life, of competing, of collaborating and
working with other people and enjoying life overall.

S1 (44:07):
The social interaction. How? Give us your email address. We'll
put that up with our show notes and we'll keep
in touch with you. And I think I spoke to
you just before coming to where we'll hopefully catch up
with a bowler or two leading up to it, and
then afterwards as well to let people know, uh, how
it's all going. So give us your details and we'll also,
as I say, put them up with our show notes.

S6 (44:28):
No worries. And, uh, Peter, very anxious to get a
bowler on you. Just give me a date. I'll get
you a bowler. No problem.

S1 (44:35):
Right. Well, you're you're the sort of people we love
to work with, Howard.

S6 (44:38):
No worries. And thanks to you and your show, you're
doing a good job.

S1 (44:42):
And your email address.

S6 (44:43):
About AWB, a president p r e s I'd e
n t 2021 at gmail.com.

S1 (44:52):
Howard, good to catch up or keep in touch.

S6 (44:54):
Thank you very much.

S1 (44:55):
Thanks to Howard Dickinson there. Who's the president to. Certainly
hasn't been involved or didn't play much before now, but
certainly sounds very full bottle on the nationals coming up
in Western Australia at the end of April. If you
want to get in touch, you've got Howard's details and
as always, if you missed them, consult our show notes
or if you miss those, give us a call here
at the radio station.

S8 (45:15):
But if I quickly sort of doesn't mean much. They're
hoping that. Well, why not? The government of the federal
government provide the service anyway, in particular looking to go nuclear.
That's quite good. Sometimes it's almost like being next to
the radio station. Yeah, it's an interesting one.

S1 (45:33):
I know that voice. You know that voice. We all
know that voice. That's Phil Napier, co-founder and co-presenter for
Floating Point. Phil, good to have you with us again.

S8 (45:42):
Good to be with you, Peter. And just a little
something to think about while we're talking. Actually, you realize
that it's five years ago that you and I decided
not to do the program from the studio due to Covid.

S1 (45:55):
Five years? Yeah, that'll be right. Yeah, towards the end
of March. Where has that time gone? Where has that
time gone? It has. Yes. All right. Now, we must say,
like the budget has just been handed down. Obviously, a
lot of the more finer detail will be gone through
in the days and weeks to come with a fine
tooth comb, but sort of initial impressions.

S3 (46:17):
Ball.

S8 (46:17):
Initial impressions. Well, firstly was that it wasn't as exciting
as perhaps I thought it might have been. In fact,
it was basically a stuff that I think we already knew.
It was a case of just them reiterating what they've
been telling us over the past few weeks as to

(46:37):
what's going to be in the budget. It seems that
these days they tend to leak all this stuff out
so that the media can get hold of it, and
then they do the budget and people sort of say, oh, well,
you know, no shocks or anything. It was just a,
you know, a budget.

S1 (46:53):
The lock up is almost a waste of time, isn't it?

S8 (46:55):
Oh, I think so, yes. Although they get to see
the more finer points of the, the budget. So that's the,
the sort of that happens lots of spending. But of course,
the Medicare subsidy and the prescription subsidies. I mean, that's
that's going to be a good thing. Of course, when

(47:17):
you look at all of this and you look at
the budget and then you think, okay, going to an
election and they get thrown out, it's all going to
change anyway.

S1 (47:23):
Potentially, yeah. Of course, the Medicare, Medicare and the those
sort of things that they've all been talked about before.
So it's not really new.

S8 (47:33):
No, no. Apart from that, I think that that's basically
what we're going to be sort of looking at. And
I think that it was a nice speech, if anything,
in Parliament. But yeah, it's just nothing, sort of as
I said before, that really stands out.

S1 (47:51):
Well, the tax cuts, as you say, were a little
bit different, I guess, for particularly for people on lower income,
you know, $5 a week or whatever it is. That's
going to be extra is going to be welcomed if
you're not earning a lot of money. I guess if
you're earning a middle amount of money, if I can
put it that way. It's probably not going to make
much difference to you, but I wonder if that's a
little bit of a, um, what's the word, a sweetener

(48:14):
for an election win as far as, uh, aiming at
lower income earners go?

S8 (48:20):
Yeah, I think that that's that's probably going to be
the key to the whole thing. Of course, we will
see sort of some electricity bonuses and what have you.
I don't know that they're going to make a lot
of difference, but they might just make a little bit
of a difference because, um, you know, they talk about, uh, what, $300, $75?

(48:40):
I mean, that today in today's money is, is getting
compared to what it might have been 15, 20, 30
years ago.

S1 (48:49):
Well, especially compared to what the bill is, $75 up
a 3 or 4 or $500 bill doesn't really take
much off. And of course it's only two at the
end of the year. So there's two more to come,
two more $75 ones to come before the end of
the year. And then I guess we see what happens
from there.

S8 (49:05):
Yes, yes. Yeah, that's going to be the thing. Um,
you want to talk about budgets and how much people earn.
I mean, back in, say what? In the 90s or
even early 2000, if you learnt about three, $400 a
week or fortnight, that was, you know, quite a bit. Nowadays,
if you're earning $1,000, I mean, uh, that's, you know,

(49:29):
today's money is, is not much. It's, that's how that's
how things have changed.

S1 (49:34):
That's a good point. Probably it is actually under the
average wage. So if you're earning $1,000 a week, $50,000
a year, you're actually earning less than the, uh, the
average wage. I feel, um, interesting that the rate at
which the NDIS spending is speeding up or going ahead
is slowing down. That's almost not making sense. But I

(49:55):
think they were worried about the fact that it was
increasing at the rate of 14%. It now looks like
they've brought it down to 8%. So I know people
probably get sick of me saying this. So there. That's
slowing down. So are there less people getting it? Are
the same people getting less? I guess that's the question
that I'd ask.

S8 (50:13):
Well, that's something I you know, that I haven't heard
anyone actually make any comment on. I would say that
there are probably less people actually getting on the NDIS
than there was before. I mean, I would say that
they are now looking carefully at the eligibility criteria as

(50:33):
to who gets the NDIS and who doesn't.

S1 (50:36):
Well, I guess it's a little bit like the DSP
field going back a long time ago. It seemed like
almost every budget, the criteria for getting the DSP was
getting tighter and tighter.

S8 (50:46):
Yes. Yeah. Yeah, I think that that's what they're doing
with that. They're trying to sort of look at who has, um,
a disability that would require the NDIS or whether they
can put them on another scheme, so to speak. That
would be perhaps more appropriate to their condition, but I

(51:06):
think that's partly why they've brought that down. So that's
a good thing. And that simply means now that the
money spent for those who do need the NDIS is
going to be going to be much more available.

S1 (51:19):
And also what services are allowed, if you like, or
part of the list, because I know a few people
have spoken to us about the fact that music therapy,
which is being reviewed at the moment, but they look
like for a moment that music therapy wasn't going to
be included on the services that people could get. That
is now under review. So the status quo for now.

(51:40):
But if and when the decision is handed down, that
might mean that a few people missed out on that
particular service. Which means of course, it's saving as far
as the budget goes.

S8 (51:50):
Yeah, yeah. I mean, if people who have disability are
struggling to actually get things like music therapy and they
find that that's important, I think they should get it.

S1 (52:02):
No, Frankly, I couldn't agree more. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I
think I think, like a lot of things, too. It's
people making decisions that don't really understand the situation. I mean,
we've heard about people, for example, you know, saying, can
I have jaws, which of course is the screen reader
for windows computers? And people say, well, what's jaws? So
it's kind of.

S8 (52:21):
Like, what, a shark or something. Yeah. The movie. No,
I know what you mean. I know what you mean. It's, um.
You know. Oh, um, how much is jaws? What, $500
and a bit more. Thank you.

S1 (52:33):
Yeah. Yeah. I feel so sort of, uh, do you
think this is election winning? Election losing? Or did they
think it's going to make much difference as far as
the election goes? And then I answer that question. Then
I'll ask you about what? About the date of the
next election.

S8 (52:49):
I don't know, I think that the majority, because there
was something Sarah Ferguson was trying to get to, was
what the average public is going to think of the budget.
And I think what she's getting to is that what
they will think of, um, the tax cuts and all
the other things that they're bringing in as to whether

(53:10):
that's going to mean that, whether the government has really
overcome any of their problems. Now, if they don't see that,
then they'll vote against it. But the other thing you
have to be aware of is that tomorrow night will
be the, um, uh, budget in reply speech. Now, what
will the opposition come up with?

S1 (53:31):
Well, just on that, there's a bit of a talk round,
of course, depending on when people hear this. And as
we said last time, as far as an election announcement goes, uh,
you know, by the time we get off air, it
could have changed from when we're speaking on air. But
there's a bit of a talk around that. What Anthony
Albanese might do is actually call the election Thursday afternoon,

(53:52):
Friday morning to try and kind of take the attention
away from Peter Dutton's budget. Budget reply speech.

S8 (53:59):
Well, that could be an interesting situation because then you
can imagine the opposition screaming blue murder because they haven't
had a chance to run their budget in reply. Um,
into effect.

S1 (54:11):
Well, I think they'd be able to do their speech.
I guess it's whether the media would be able to
give it as much attention as. Oh, now we've got
an election, you know. Uh, Mr. Albanese is going to
government House. ET cetera. ET cetera. All that, uh, all
that ritual that goes with the sort of stuff that
we kind of like, because we're not very exciting people.

S8 (54:30):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. True, true. Well, we'll see when that happens.
What are the two options? It's the 17th of May.
What was the other one that was.

S1 (54:39):
Well, I think the the.

S8 (54:41):
One.

S1 (54:41):
The 10th or even the 3rd of May. Of course,
I don't know if it matters, but the 10th of
May is Mother's Day weekend. I know it's on the Sunday.
I don't know if that'll play into the thinking.

S8 (54:53):
You know, I've got a funny feeling it might be
the the 17th, because they'll need as much time as
they can to speak their words. Because don't forget, you've
got the the Easter period. And and there'll be times
there where politicians won't want to go out, um, and
campaign during the Easter period just to be. Yeah. Of course. Yeah.

(55:16):
And uh, also the Anzac Day, uh, which was the
Friday after that, um, you know, politicians will won't be
at the dawn services in their own state. I know
Penny Wong usually, uh, participates in the dawn service here
in Adelaide, so I think that that will be a
part of the, uh, the problem for them in being

(55:38):
able to campaign for, um, um, election, they may use
part of that as an opportunity, but I would think
that they would want to be a little more sensible
and have some thought to both the Easter period and
the Anzac Day.

S1 (55:54):
Yeah. So it might be called soon and then perhaps
a longer than normal election campaign. But as you say,
a couple of weekends where they're almost on, you know,
on or away. Away on assignment, as it were. Yeah.
And the interesting thing is, though, that the Prime Minister
said almost all along. Oh, he favours the, the parliament

(56:14):
running its full course or the term running its full course.
So if that's the case then the 17th is the latest.
He can go, he might say, well I've always said
I'm going to go the latest I can going to
go full term. So that could kind of back up
his point.

S8 (56:29):
It certainly can. And it's an interesting situation to see
where that um goes. So we'll see what happens I
think I think the 17th will probably be um, the
date because it's away from Mother's Day. It's um, it's
further away from both, um, Easter and Anzac Day. So
I think that's when he'll go and that's when, although

(56:52):
will probably be sick of all the, um, political advertising
on radio and TV. But yeah.

S1 (56:59):
Just one quick one to ask you last time about
Clive Palmer, and you gave me a good answer by
not giving me an answer or ignoring the question virtually. Uh,
just a quick one. What do you think about Jacqui
Lambie and the Jacqui Lambie Network? Any thoughts about that
and what role it might play? I mean, obviously it's
going to be only in the Senate. I don't think
they've got any lower house, uh, candidates. Uh, might, might

(57:19):
be even outside Tasmania. Something to think about.

S8 (57:22):
Oh, she's got a couple of things that she was
a bit annoyed about. Last night I was watching on, um,
the insiders that I saw her talking to David Speers,
and she was sort of angry about there was some
what was some fish stock or something, um, that she
was a bit annoyed about because they were, um, dying
sort of thing and that no one would sort of

(57:44):
like putting in money or anything to fix the problem.
I don't know, she'll get she'll get back in as
a seat, but I don't know whether she'll make much
of an impact.

S1 (57:54):
All right. Well, Rex Patrick, of course, a former senator
is the candidate in South Australia, so we'll see where
that goes. Phil, always great to catch up. Thanks for that.
I'm sure there'll be more stuff about the budget and also,
of course, the election in the next few weeks. And
regardless of when the election is. We'll certainly chat to
you before then because we'll chat at the end of April.

S8 (58:12):
We certainly will. And we'll see how it all goes
and how it all unwinds. And by then we'll probably
have a bit clearer indication as to who we think
might win. But yeah.

S1 (58:23):
Stand by for any bloopers by either party.

S8 (58:26):
That'll be interesting to watch.

S1 (58:27):
Phil Vanderbilt there, co-founder and co-presenter for Focalpoint. Our audio
described show of the week. It's coming up April the
1st Tuesday evening 730 NITV. Part of the SBS network
for Kings. The popularity of boxing had never been higher
in Britain when a tragic incident made people stop and contemplate.

(58:53):
Four Kings right at em this coming Tuesday evening. 730
NITV audio described and rather appropriate that after the rather
sudden and early death of George Foreman, four kings, our
audio described show of the week some birthdays. Before we go,
here's people that you've heard all these people on the

(59:15):
focal point over the recent times, or maybe not so
recent times, depending how far back you want to go.
Lauren Henley having a birthday. What a wonderful advocate. Of course,
a past winner of the Blind Australian of the year.
Happy birthday to you, Lauren. Julianne Bell having a birthday
during New South Wales, having visited Adelaide for the fringe.
So happy birthday to you Julianne. Touring with Melissa Bucholc. Also,

(59:39):
happy birthday to Nicole Demara who up in Queensland there
hopefully is getting very close to getting a PhD may
already have it. So Nicole, a very big happy birthday
to you. And speaking about fine advocates, Emma Gordon having
a birthday does some great work, particularly in the area
of deaf blindness. So Emma, a very big happy birthday

(59:59):
to you. I hope life is going really, really well.
I hope life is going really very well for you two.
And thank you so much for making time to listen
to this program. We really appreciate that. Reminding you that
Focus Point is available on that favorite podcast platform of yours.
If you like the program, please tell a friend. We'd
always love to have more listeners. On behalf of Philip

(01:00:21):
VanderMeer and a big shout out to Wyndham McDougall. This
is Peter Greco saying thank you, Sam Rickford for your help.
Thank you, Pam Greene for yours. All being well, focal
point back at the same time next week. In the meantime,
be kind to yourselves, be thoughtful and look out for others.
On Vision Australia Radio this is focal point.