As of today I won't be posting updates on this web site. I will instead by using my web log (www.theotherdrphil.typepad.com) to record thoughts and current projects. Click here to go to my blog.

Thanks to everyone who commented on my web site. I will be retaining it but making it more interactive with my blog.

C u on the other side :D

Here it is, September already and a new political era has begun in Australia. I don't know of anyone with the wisdom - or courage - to try and predict what it means to us all so we shall just have to wait and see.

It is frustrating, though, because being able to shape and thereby in a way predict the future is such a simple thing to do but in the world of high finance and politics there is far too many people intent on shaping it their way regardless of what the rest of us think. I mean, look at the problems caused during the recent financial crisis by those more determined to maintain their personal lifestyle rather than create long lasting change for their country and its people. Greed is good, as someone once said, and even better when you are the one benefitting from it.

The work I'm currently doing is good, if not at times frustrating. When ambition and bureaucracy clash there is one almighty bang and only one is left standing - and it ain't ambition. I have tried to keep my focus on the fact that the work I'm doing is not for me, or the government, or even for the teachers and trainers who will benefit financially from it. The work I am doing is for my grand-children and the hope that they can receive a far better start in life than I received, or even that which my children received. The work I'm doing is a very good example of how the future may be shaped, but I'm finding that unless it is shaped in a way which benefits others then there is no way I will be able to get anywhere near the vision I have.

It is a shame really, but because it involves my family I'm not going to slow down.

In the meantime I am involved in a very interesting - and exciting - project to restructure the training conducted throughout the Australian Army. It is a dream I've had for nearly 20 years now, and it too is rather personal. For many years I have been getting more and more frustrated at the number of soldiers killed during training and as I was the person who had the most influence on the current training system when it was introduced back in the early 90s I feel the most burden because it has not been followed very diligently at all. But at last I have an opportunity to do something about it - and I shall.

More on these later when the dust settles from the recent election and the wheels of progress begin to turn once more.

Phil

I have been back in Australia nine months now and boy, have a lot of things happened.

The collapse of the US financial institutions has really demonstrated the chaos theory. As you'll recall these theories are based on the concept that 'a butterfly flaps its wings in Brazil and a tidal wave crashes into Japan'. In other words, a relatively small occurrence in one place multiplies and bifurcates in all directions until a major, and often totally different, outcome is felt somewhere else.

And so it happened in Australia. The US finance sector went into meltdown and suddenly all those who had made a good living out of borrowing and lending money found that their supply had dried up. Not only that but those they were beholden to were also demanding what they were owed. As a result not only did banks and lending agencies close their doors but businesses of all sizes and even whole nations were brought to the brink of collapse.

But not here. Lucky for us our government found that there was a large pool of money left around as a result of the GST imposed by the previous government. Most of this money had been parked in something called The Futures Fund (which someone once told me was allocated to public servant superannuations) and, guess what, the future was upon us quicker than expected so into the vault went the government with their wheelbarrows and pickup trucks and out they came with shopping list in hand and a sparkle in their eyes.

Because of this many are saying that we've been spared the worst of what was looking at becoming a full blown recession. But the sceptic in me is questionning this. Not that we've missed the recession but whether or not it was the government spending spree that did it. For example, quite a few businesses have had to shut their doors claiming that the economic collapse was the cause, but many did not. And the difference between the two? Those who went out of business were in the main skating very close to the edge before the economic problems hit us and might very well have gone out of business anyway.

Companies that were running on credit - like most of the banks and financial institutions - came up against some very serious problems when the credit ran out. Banks and Credit Companies were okay because they had some very heavy backing, but the poor small trader who was relying on others to pay their bills so that they could meet their credit liabilities ended up in deep trouble when the cycle was broken. As for those who successfully made it through the recent times, in general they did so because they followed Holmes a'Court's lead during the financial problems of the 80s - they were cash rich and had a good plan to get them through.

Most, if not all of our small and large, private and public, organisations found themselves very quickly, and unexpectedly, traversing the divide between a stable and controlled working environment to one that was fast racing through complexity to chaos. As a result they found themselves confronted with trying to survive in a position where, totally due to circumstances that were outside of their control, a stable environment morphed into one which is complex and ended up in a situation where chaos (the kind described above, not the kind we find in the lounge room after a good party) reigns supreme.

A question worth pursuing, in my opinion, is whether or not we got through the recent troubles because of what the government did or in spite of it? I mean, many land developers and real estate agents retained their high flying life style because of the additional money injected into their coffers through first-home owner grants, and our international trade was maintained because of the spending spree which followed the financial handouts, but what of the future? How long can this last? And are we prepared for what is going to occur? Those who look very closely at where the government money is being spent (eg, on regional projects) are beginning to ask whether or not there is a long-term plan (ie, beyond the next election) or have we just been chasing a quick and publicly acceptable solution to a problem that may or may not have been.

A question that I have been pursuing for many years now is whether or not we can train individuals and groups to survive in environments that could be characterised as complex or chaotic. As readers will have noted in my writings over the years I firmly believe that our current VET system does not allow this to happen which is why we must look for an alternative vocational training pathway. Not one that replaces the existing system but one that enhances it by recognising that workplaces, and the economy, are very unstable and generate a lot of issues which add to the complexity of the environment in which they operate. Why no-one is aiming their training at that environment is beyond me. And why the so-called Education Revolution is doing little more than support the current system and not press ahead with a more futurist and real time workplace focus is just as perplexing. So, is an Education Revolution really going on or is there just a lot of fluff and bubbles dressed up like progress but in the end all we'll have is little more than what we've already got - only a more bumped and bruised model?

Maybe we will all have found out the answer by the time I post my next musings.

Take care.