This was decided by the same political party that conducted a Royal Commission into one industrial union and gave it 18 months to do its job.

It was to have been an inquiry only into the banks but pressure groups in Mr Turnbull’s team didn’t want that. They extended the inquiry to include the whole financial industry and gave it a year in which to do so.

The inquiry is directed to present an interim report by September. That is an insult to the Australian people. And now there is even talk of including problem gambling in the inquiry.

One doesn’t need to be a legal genius to realise that an inquiry into the far more complicated financial institutions will be vastly different from one into the banking industry alone. Having sat through many court cases, your ancient scribe could visualise highly paid legal teams taking a year just to debate, say, what is, and what is not a financial institution. It will take strong leadership to ensure this doesn’t happen with this inquiry.

It is an insult to the voters’ intelligence to limit the inquiry into 12 months, if one into one union needed 18 months.

And this is a government that has steadfastly refused to join with the present Opposition to create a federal form of ICAC. The voter must wonder who and what they are trying to hide – and why?

The next election is going to be an interesting one, isn’t it?    

Our family hosted an American couple recently. They had a brief visit to Australia – brief because Americans get only two weeks’ holiday a year – so there wasn’t much time for travel.

The middle aged couple enjoyed their brief visit, saw kangaroos aplenty, loved the South Coast beaches and enjoyed our lifestyle (they were also strong supporters of President Trump).

As they were about the leave one of them asked: “But where do the poor people live?”

This was the second time an American visitor had asked me the same question – and I found it difficult to answer. Maybe there are suburbs or some of those high-rise buildings where the poorest people live and there are regular reports of homeless people in the cities but we don’t seem to have the ghettoes common in many other countries.

It is many years since this ancient scribe visited the US and found it to be an amazing country but it does seem that the Americans miss out on many of those benefits we take for granted in Australia and in most other Western countries.

Of course there are poor people in Australia but, unlike many other countries, we have things like unemployment benefits and pensions for out oldies and people unable to work for various reasons.

So, when we whinge about governments and politics in Australia we should also recognise that we have lots of great benefits in our country that many other countries lack. We are very lucky. Maybe the Americans could benefit from longer holidays, long enough for them to visit and spend some time in other countries.

They could certainly learn a lot about unemployment benefits, aged pensions and a more protective health system, simply by visiting other countries.  

There was peak of puritanism during the reign of Queen Victoria, when even the word ‘leg’ was considered offensive and ‘polite’ families even clad the legs of their pianos with pants. It was a time when ‘ladies’ could be very easily offended. It was also a time when some of the world’s greatest romances were written.

There seems to be some of that puritanism still around when something one man was reported to have said to one woman becomes a national or even international news.

Sure, there are people who offend ordinary decency but there are many more who can cause lots more damage, be they speeding drivers or drug dealers but that doesn’t become sensational news.

We have suddenly become quite puritanical, so much so that someone has to make it clear, just where is the dividing line between ‘romance’ and ‘harassment” in human relationships.

It’s getting quite ridiculous. There has always been some light badinage between the sexes, from both sides, but now we have become so puritanical that only the very brave – or very silly – would make any comment that could be misinterpreted.

The sad fact is that many people, male and female, are going to miss out on a long-term relationship because the males have learned that any comment, even a compliment, could be misinterpreted. Where is the dividing line between romance and harassment!

That’s not asking much, is it?  

Someone once said that a good government is one that takes care of those who are incapable of helping themselves. So, why are we still hearing about problem gamblers and nothing being done about the huge number of poker machines around the state?

Australia is said to have more of these machines per head of population than any other country. That surely doesn’t portray our politicians in a good light. We ban certain drugs because they can become addictive but we turn a blind eye to the gambling industries which can also cause huge damage because some people become addicted to them. What is the difference?

Sure the registered clubs will say they provide services to the general population and most of us enjoy a good meal and a pleasant time at one of the clubs – but if our good times are being financed by people with problems, maybe it’s time to say, “No, thank you”. We treat drug dealers as criminals because they benefit from the weaknesses of others.