World Netball Championships!!!!

I tried, but I just couldn't resist! This July, Australia is defending it's title at the World Netball Championships! I'm a keen netball fan and so I'm pretty excited but I can't help but feel slightly disappointed at the amount of media coverage it's receiving here in Australia.

The Australian Netball Diamonds have always been one of Australia's best and most consistent sporting teams. Yet, because it is a female dominated sport, it doesn't receive the same amount of attention as other sports might.

Australia and New Zealand have won every title between them since the World Netball Championships started (back when it was called "Women's Basketball") with the one exception being 1979 when it was a 3 way tie between Australia, New Zealand and Trinidad & Tobago. Australia has won a total of 8 times, coming runners up 3 times and the tie in 1979. They have placed in all of the 12 World Championships ever and yet it is an ACHIEVEMENT (yes, achievement) that they have secured any finals to be live and other games on delay.

For a while, I had been doubting that any netball would be shown as it is usually overlooked. The fact that there is any is almost a miracle. If it was something like football, tennis, even soccer it would most likely get a shot but sometimes when I know there is a netball test on, I look in my TV guide only to be disappionted.

Our female athletes across all sports are world class professionals that deserve just as much coverage as the men.

Don't get me wrong, I love the footy and reading about it in the paper. I just wish that I didn't have to flick right to the back of the sports section to read a tiny little paragraph about the netball. But, of course, it's not that simple. Nothing worth it ever is.

It's All Junk (Food)?

I have already written a blog entry about obesity and starting being active young but I feel that I didn't cover off another very important and controversial part of what is essentially the same topic.

Fast food ad campaigns aimed at children.It has been a controversial issue for many years now and it seems that this issue just keeps popping up.

An article written for The Age claims that children's exposure to fast food ads has not changed since the industry self-regulation started in 2009. According to the Medical Journal Of Australia, there was no difference between the number of fast food ads in children's television hours in 2009 and 2010 (1.3 ads per hour). This is alarming because it means that though the industry has promised, it still hasn't come through with the goods in what they promised.

It is a well researched fact that people are at their most influential in their childhood. This is the time that we need to be teaching young kids to live active and healthy lifestyles. Albeit, if they are sitting in front of the television they are not starting very well but during times where children might be watching the television, we need ad campaigns that make healthy and active lifestyles look appealing to children.

I'm sure a lot of people have seen the movie Wall-e and though that is exaggerated and also about the environment, I can't help thinking that if we don't do something, humans could be like those people in a couple of hundred years.

To me, I think it's horrible that people live their lives like that and we need to be targeting the children. You can imagine how bad a parent might feel if their child asked them to come outside and play with them but they couldn't because they simply were to big and unfit to play with them, as much as they would've liked to.

There are clear links between healthy lifestyles and happiness. We all want to be happy.

Activity and Kids-How They Fit Togther

Overweight and Obese people are unfortunately becoming more and more common right across the world, and is becoming more and more common in children, sadly. I think there are probably 2 main reasons for this:

1. The Technology Era
2. Parents Worrying About Letting Kids Out To Play

Technology is taking over. Most people will have mobile phones, game consoles, computers, Facebook accounts etc. While I do love using things like Facebook and my phone, I also find it sad that it means people won't go outside, enjoy the fresh air and actually talk face to face with people.

With more and more people inside their own houses, parents are less likely to let their kids play out the front of their houses, walk round to friends places or go across to the playground by themselves and people don't always have time to take their kids outside. I kind of think that this is partly caused by the over publicised abductions of young children. In no way am I condoning those kind of things but I do think that they scare parents and because everyone has their kids inside, there is no one they trust that they know will be keeping an eye out for them.

All of this adds up and (along with many other personal factors, I'm sure) it means that obesity rates are steadily increasing by the year.

I think the solution is to make it "cool" for young kids to play sport. When I was around 8 or 9, playing netball was the cool thing and so I started playing. I still haven't stopped. By making it the cool thing to do, it will get more kids involved and fit.

Being fit and active is a lot of fun and is scientifically proven to increase your levels of happiness. By passing this on to kids, it will bring a happier place to live in the future.

It's Not A Nanny State, It's Called Being Able Breathe Properly

In my opinion, plain packaged cigarettes are a good thing to be happening and it's pretty clear to me, that the ones who are campaigning against it are the ones who do smoke.

Why should the rest of us be punished? I don't like walking behind clouds of cigarette smoke and it's not really fair on the rest of us.

The whole campaign of the "Nanny State"is, I think, pretty ridiculous. It's not a matter of being told what to do-it's not stopping people from smoking. The whole point is to make smoking less attractive and smokers the "uncool" ones.

Having recently visited Europe, I must say that it has made me appreciate the work the Australian government has done a whole lot more. Walking around places like Italy and France, smokers are not on the "outside" like they are in Aus. Smoking is more normal there and, something you don't really see in Australia, there are plenty of shops that are simply "Tobacconists" . It was astounding but it made me appreciate everything back home.

Smoking is legal, there is nothing stopping people from smoking. All I'm saying is don't kick up a fuss because it's not going to help anyone. Others become passive smokers, have walk away when you want a ciggie and then be sympathetic when you get sick from it.

I'm not saying don't smoke (well, actually I am) but just don't smoke anywhere near me.

We Really Are Lucky

As I sit here on my nice chair, typing on my laptop, what I want to talk about is something I have virtually no experience of. I would count myself as pretty lucky. I have a happy family, I live in a nice house and go to a good school but I know that I am one of the lucky ones.

All over the world, approximately 1.4 billion people live in, what's defined as, poverty (living on less than US $1 a day). That's out of the 7 billion people in the world. The closest experience I have had is doing the 40 Hour Famine and I definitely would not like to live like that for the rest of my life.

World Poverty can be ended in our lifetime, it's not an issue about money or anything. It's a matter of determination.

We talk about Billionaires and Millionaires but why do people need that much money? It's ridiculous! We don't need huge mansions and fancy cars. But there are people out there that need food, transport and a roof over their heads. I know how easy it is to get caught up in the scheme of daily life, I do it all the time, but I think that we don't really appreciate how lucky we are.

In my view, people can end to complain just for the sake of complaining. About police, about traffic, about anything they can think of but we are so lucky to have those things. There are many countries with no Police or with completely corrupt Police. Traffic and cars, well those things would hardly exist in many villages in 3rd World Countries.

We all have our own lives, dramas and issues but we need to put it all in perspective sometimes. We are not the centre of the universe and we need to see further than the things immediately around us.

I know how lucky I am and I hope one day I won't be a lucky one because everyone else is in the same position.

Animals In Indo...

If you haven't heard about the uproar, you must have been living under a rock for the last month or so. Yes, the one I am talking about is the Animal Cruelty uproar. After the ABC's Four Corners aired an episode showing Australian cattle being inhumanly slaughtered in Indonesia the Australian Government was pressured into a suspension of all live cattle exports to Indonesia.

The footage was pretty horrible and I think just about everyone thought it was important to stop the cattle exports but that's not the only thing it has affected. I decided I'd do some research on how these exports will affect the relationship between Australia and Indonesia.

Some Quick Facts:
Australia usually imports live cattle to around 28 countries (mostly in the Middle East) but 80% of exports go to Indonesia.
In 2009, Australia exported 954, 143 cows (remembering 80% went to Indonesia)
Australia also imports chilled meats.

For all Animal Activists, it was a great result to for the suspension of exports but the Australian government has said they will lift the ban as soon as the slaughter houses in Indonesia are up to scratch. However, several issues have come out of this. The most significant one is that Indonesia has threatened to go to the World Trade Organisation because Australia is being "discriminatory" towards them because they are the only ones banned from receiving live imports.

Also, the Animal Rights Activists want all live exports from Australia to be banned. While this might seem OK, Australia doesn't have the facilities to look after all these cattle and I'd bet there's hundreds of people in 3rd world countries eat Australian meat.

The fact is, it's very complicated. It could take it's toll on the Industry and affect hundreds of farmers and their families right across Australia.

So while it's probably a good thing for protecting our Australian Cattle, the affects are not quite so simple. Not very often is there a simple solution and there is definitely not one here. Eventually everything will work itself out....

Are They In or Out?

Sometimes I can't help but feel sorry for refugees. I can't help but think that we, as Australians, can be a bit harsh and should speed up the processing of refugees.

Every couple of weeks it seems that one of the major detention centres are in the headlines for everything from riots to lack of space. We shouldn't need huge detention centres, we need big processing centres to get people out of there faster!

Letting people into the country willy, nilly isn't the solution though. Australia is a beautiful country and needs to be protected sometimes. I think that we need a better way of establishing who is a refugee and who's not because I'm pretty sure that a fair portion of the people in detention have a pretty fair claim to be a refugee.

The problem started because the previous governments haven't been fast enough in the past to process refugees and it has caused a backwash of people stuck in detention. I believe it's not too late though. Something needs to change pretty quickly though.

When I think about it, it doesn't make sense. "Boat People" are just the same as us. They may look different, have different experiences, come from another culture or even speak another language but the truth is we all want a place to call home. Even the "Boat People"

I'm not saying that we should just open up our doors and pile them all in. I'm saying that something needs to change. As we all sleep in our comfortable beds in our nice warm houses, there are lots of people out there who don't have those things, they don't have any where to call home....

So much for Australia being the "Lucky Country". If you can get inside it that is.

We All Bleed Red Blood

Racism. I mostly thought it was a thing of the past. I thought everyone realised that it's pointless by now but I guess I was wrong. There's always got to be someone who thinks they are better than everyone else, that will use anyway they can to prove that-anything that is different about them.

Australia is one of the most multi-cultural nations in the world. On average, over 200,000 people migrate to Australia each year and there are too many cultures to count. We are a centre for refugees but also for many other migrants.

Despite this, Australia has a history of racism. Ever since white people came here over 200 years ago. Firstly, the whites took over Aboriginal land and forced them into corners. They even took their children from them! They refused to even acknowledge that they were actual people that existed in Australia and had the same rights as everyone else until 1967.

Next there were issues with the Chinese who had come to Australia during the gold rush. The Chinese were often bullied or even completely ignored and were looked down on for being successful miners from going over others used mines that had been discarded in the hurry. This meant that very few of the Chinese stayed and settled down in Australia, most went straight back to China.

It has taken a long time to get to were we are today and some of the biggest advancements, I believe, have been made in sport. This includes people like Neil "Nicky" Winmar (pictured) and Michael Long.

As I said earlier, I thought racism had pretty much died but on the weekend there was an incident in the VFL involving refugee North Melbourne rookie, Majak Daw being racially abused by a supporter at his game.

Racism isn't dead because all the stupid and mean people in the world have not died.

My favourite line from a Black Eyed Peas song (One Tribe) is "We are One, We're all just People"

It's a pity that in this world, there are still people too blinded by hatred to see that everyone's different but that's why they're beautiful.

Females Umpiring Footy... What of it?

Chelsea Roffey is a game-changer. She was the first female umpire in the AFL. An extraordinary feat for any female! The only catch is that she is a a goal umpire rather than a boundary or field one. So why haven't there been any? It's the 21st century, for crying out loud! But I think there are more factors in play than what there might appear...

Firstly, the first female will not be given an easy time. In soccer, a female umpire was criticised by 2 TV commentators for "not knowing the game". The commentators got in big lot of trouble but you can only imagine how it must have felt like for her.

It all comes back to the stereotype of girls liking shopping and makeup while boys like sports and cars. This view is quite old-fashioned and not at all correct.

To take that step on to the field will be a big step for any female. On the field at any one time there are two teams of 18 big, strong players on top of trainers, other umpires and various other officials. Just running around with those guys would be quite intimidating. You would have to be very fit and have a commanding presence. Umpires have to control the game, females can be slightly disadvantaged in that regard as they usually have a smaller build but, having said that, if you look at the AFL umpires, they are not usually as big as some of the players and I personally think that quite a few umps are footy-lovers who didn't think they had what it takes to get to the AFL so they took up umpiring.

To me though, it would be the crowd that would be the most intimidating. Crowds like that can be unpredictable and will almost certainly criticise female umpires decisions that they don't like with the "What does she know? She's a female" excuse. It's not fair but it's most likely true.

My main point is that it's anytime now that a female throws the ball up in the centre circle but it's not going to be easy for her. There are lots of female footy fans and there are limited ways to get involved. It's only a matter of time now-once we've got one, who knows how many could follow!