Activity in the city

So, the City Council is concerned about low levels of activity in the city.  Maybe dining vouchers will help.  “It’s important that we’re doing everything we can to bring workers back to the city,” Lord Mayor Capp is quoted as saying.

Very quiet!

I was in the city this week, and it certainly seems that there’s some way to go. 

Meanwhile, out at Chadstone on a working day last week, there seemed to be plenty of people around of “employable” age around.    Leaving aside the mothers and the retired, I wondered how they were occupying their lives and how it was that they had time to spend at a shopping mall (especially in the food court).   Are they shift workers, or maybe taking a break from “working from home”?

Busy in the food court

Queues at the designer stores….and presumably not tourists?

Noisy Miners

The noisy miner (Manorina melanocephala)  is a native bird (a member of the honeyeater family ), but it’s  proliferating in our suburbs,  driving a dramatic decline of small “bush birds” which they aggressively chase away.     Their aggression isn’t limited to other birds;   they also swoop on people and especially on dogs.  Around here, they’re far worse than magpies,

They’ve come to dominate the parks in our area, and are now encroaching into suburban gardens.    They like trees with upper foliage and an open structure beneath and between trees – as is typically the case in parks.   They avoid dense or tangled shrubs.

This year, for the first time, I’ve noticed them even in our courtyard, attracted by the callistemon.

I thought I was doing the “right thing” by planting “bird attracting” native flowers – but the issue turns out, we’re attracting the wrong sort of bird!

Bunches

I’ve occasionally wondered why some vegetables are still sold in “bunches”, instead of by weight.    Many years ago, for example, carrots were sold by the bunch, but that ceased long ago.    Yet asparagus and one or two other items are still sold by the bunch, with no weight marked.     I don’t have any real problems with this, but it does seem a little anomalous.

Ho3ever, perhaps things are about to change.    Our local Coles has just started selling asparagus by the kilo. But the reason given is not that this is in the interests of “transparency”, but in order to save rubber bands, for the sake of the environment.

Regulating cryptocurrencies

A Senate committee has reported on the regulation   of cryptocurrencies in Australia.     The Select Committee on Australia as a Technology and Financial Centre’s final report covers the regulation of cryptocurrencies and digital assets, as well as a number of related issues.   It suggests establishing a financial markets licensing regime for digital currency exchange providers (DCEs) and implementing rules for custody of digital assets.    The idea is to enable DCEs to demonstrate a high level of commitment to consumer protection and operational integrity, without imposing obligations that are so onerous as to drive local operators out of the market.

Bitcoin ATM (in Sydney)

The context is set out in the executive summary – “The scale and speed with which cryptocurrencies and other digital assets have progressed in recent years has surprised governments, regulators and policy makers. With a global market now totalling in the trillions of dollars, the tremendous potential of blockchain technology and decentralised finance is becoming recognised by mainstream institutions and investors. Recent survey data shows that 25 per cent of Australians either currently or have previously held cryptocurrencies, making Australia one of the biggest adopters of cryptocurrencies on a per capita basis.”

Hence, it’s considered that developing a custodial industry for digital assets may lead to significant economic opportunities if Australia can become a leading jurisdiction.    “Australia has significant potential to keep advancing as a technology and financial centre, if we grasp the opportunity to update our regulatory frameworks, drive innovation and enhance our competitiveness”.

The bottom line is that by offering a regulated environment, holders of cryptocurrencies may be attracted to Australia.   I can see the logic in this for “manstream” holders of such “currencies”, but of course there are some users of cryptocurrencies for whom anonymity is the whole point.   It’s hard to see these  users taking advantage of an exchange regulated as is proposed, even with the added security that it would offer!

The committee made quite a number of other recommendations as well, including in relation to taxation treatment of cryptocurrencies and about the “de-banking” of some people.

Melbourne Cup

We had just a small group over to relax and enjoy the Melbourne Cup. It was a lovely day and the company was good.    In the race itself, the hot favourite Incentivise was passed by Verry Elleegant (who won by 4 lengths).     It was good to see the atmosphere out at Flemington.

After lockdown

Like many others, I had some pent-up shopping requirements that had built up during the recent lock-down.    Top of the list was a new mobile phone.

Seemingly it’s inevitable that we have to update our mobile phones sooner or later, and so it was that I was in the market for a new one. I had done a reasonable amount of research during lockdown as to  what model would be suitable, but didn’t want to commit until I could “touch and feel” the various short-listed options.

Big queues at the checkout

So I headed to Southland to have a look around.  There were crowds, but generally things weren’t too congested.  The exception was at the checkouts at some of the stores.   In particular, the queues to pay at K-mart were stupendous.    People must have run out of socks and basics during the lockdown and needed to stock up!   I decided that my need for this type of item could wait. 

I did buy a new phone, however (obviously not at K-mart);  more on that soon.

Storm damage

There were quite a few branches down following the high winds.     Nothing too serious in our immediate neighbourhood, although of course there was significant damage and disruption in other areas.

Power line down

A large silver birch tree was blown over but no significant damage

A lot of litter

Travel post pandemic – and travel agents

I see that the travel agents are hopeful that travel post-pandemic will mean more business for them, given that most travel will be more complex, as there are so many extra issues that will have to be considered.  These include matters such as which countries can be visited,  requirements for the need for covid tests (when and what type), procedures at transit stops and probably much more.

I’ve  already encountered these issues when looking into the possibility of a short trip to a single overseas destination.   A big part of the problem is that the information on the web often isn’t up-to-date, or, if it is, the information is to change in the near future.   In other words, there have been announcements about what changes are proposed, but the official sites don’t reflect these proposed changes so you can’t be sure of the details.  Even the sites that refer to recent developments sometimes contain links to information that’s about to be outdated.  The lack of “certainty”, even from official government sites,  is very troubling.

In the meantime, the issue is, how many travel agents will remain?   Around here, a number of retail travel agents closed down during the pandemic, leaving empty shop fronts.  Several others have “down-sized”, moving to sites with less exposure (and presumably cheaper rent).

The City, post lockdown

I headed into the city for lunch this week. “Non-essential” retail isn’t yet open, so perhaps it’s not surprising that things were subdued, to put it mildly.

The train was very quiet

Retail isn’t open yet

A number of vacancies, so some retail won’t be returning

Another vacant shop

Some outdoor dining in Degraves Street, but quiet just the same

… but retail re-opens soon.

Bank responsibility for scams

There was an interesting column in the media recently suggesting that the banks ought to take more responsibility where customers are scammed.    The suggestion was made that the banks are good at picking up the tab if the fault lies with their systems, that is, if the bank has been “hacked”, but that it’s much harder to get recompense out of a bank if the customer has made an “error”.    One area identified in the piece was where a “pay anyone” payment is made to an account set up by a scammer.

I can’t speak from personal experience (touch wood), but seemingly the banks are less forthcoming with assistance where a customer makes a payment to a fraudulent account as a result of being misled by a scammer.    The point made was that the banks don’t “match numbers with account names in transactions”.   Consumer groups are suggesting that this ought to occur.

But I think the message that banks display when setting up such payments has acted as a bit of a “lightning rod” for these groups.  Typically, you get a message along these lines –   “Account names aren’t used for payments so a wrong BSB or account number may mean the wrong account is paid and the funds can’t be recovered.” 

Now many of us find that “pay anyone” is a convenient function, and I’m not sure it would be possible for banks to match all the details each time (NAB actually state they they “cannot” check these details, suggesting that there’s an inability to do so), unless they insisted that  the payer include the exact name of the account to receive payment as part of the transaction.   This could be extremely cumbersome and I’m not sure that it would solve the problem.   Perhaps wider adoption of the “pay ID” system is needed?

However, all this needs to be seen in the context that there are already a number of safety features in the “pay anyone” system, such as the banks seeking a second verification when the payment is to be made is to be made to a new payee.   

Perhaps there’s scope for improvement in the “follow up” by banks when  a customer finds that they’ve duped into making an error.     Speed is of the essence in such cases, so as to track down any fraudulent accounts that may have been set up by scammers.    I don’t think it’s too much to ask banks to follow up if payment has been made to a “fraudulent” account.