Horoscopes

Cancer

JUNE 22 - JULY 22

As Mercury’s mental energetics relax in your sign into a more empathic, less logical and factual communication style, you don’t have to spend a motza on feeling good. A home-cooked meal, close homies, a series binge or good book make simple pleasures this week’s winners, especially round 3 July full moon.

LEO

JULY 23 – AUGUST 23

Your majesties might be unusually vulnerable to verbal impatience and explosive emotions this week, so easy does it. A Mars power surge and Venus/Pluto clash suggest it’s best not to dictate, because the pushback could be intense. If you sense a power struggle brewing, press pause and bow out gracefully.

VIRGO

AUGUST 24 – SEPTEMBER 22 the government “backed away from the unpopular idea” and called the decision “a win for common sense”. Now a group of academics has revisited the statistics and released a report saying a further rise is warranted to ensure the country has a sufficient supply of workers into the future. Macquarie University Business School Professor Hanlin Shang and his co-authors say there should be three more pension-age increases over the next 27 years. They suggest 68 by 2030, rising to 69 in 2036, and 70 by 2050.

July’s celestial weather predicts a period of constructive planning in preparation for the future. A time to reassess values and commitments and set a realistic trajectory. Uranus advises that by looking where you mightn’t normally be inclined to, you could be pleasantly surprised by an opportunity hiding in plain sight.

Professor Shang says Australia’s low birth rate is one of the key factors.

“Less people in the working group and

LIBRA more in retirement will make the old age dependency ratio (OADR) higher,” he said. “What this means is there is less working people to support elderly people. And with more elderly people in the population, this will create a burden for the government pension system.”

Professor Shang and his team should read, or hopefully re read, “The Age Pension in the 21st Century” by 2018 Actuary of the Year Michael Rice. He revealed the cost of the age pension as a per centage of GDP will fall, not rise in the decades to come. There will be far fewer full pensioners, and far more part pensioners and self-funded retirees.

Week Beginning July 4

SEPTEMBER 23 – OCTOBER 23

After last month’s busyness you’re likely to be craving order, simplicity, and less rather than more. This week’s planetary mix of water, fire and earth elements are geared towards impulsive, emotional action, so your diplomatic air-sign skills might be required to provide a more logical balance of feeling and facts.

SCORPIO

OCTOBER 24 – NOVEMBER 22

This month’s nurturing energy turns up the volume on self-care. Which may initially involve becoming acquainted with your shadow side but, hey, why not start learning to love it? At this time of year, intimate experiences, which include getting to know yourself, can be both enjoyable and inspirational.

SAGITTARIUS

NOVEMBER 23 – DECEMBER 21

With Jupiter spending a year in your sign’s eco-friendly sector of health, organization and service, you indie-spirited global nomads might be inclined to find travel less inviting this month than small intimate gatherings and heart-to-heart bonding conversations in a domestic setting. Well okay, not all of you...

CAPRICORN

DECEMBER 22 – JANUARY 20

This year’s full moon, in your practical and goal-oriented sign on 3 July, is your annual signal for a midyear review and progress assessment to rejig goals and strategies, where necessary. Capricorn is regarded as the eldest of the three earth signs, and this is your season for spending quality time with the clan.

Aquarius

JANUARY 21 – FEBRUARY 18

At this midpoint of the year, it’s time to step back, acknowledge your progress and celebrate whatever you’ve managed to achieve. And, as always, remember to thank the people who’ve been part of it. Pass anything that’s just not working into the too-hard basket until conditions start looking more auspicious.

PISCES

FEBRUARY 19 – MARCH 20

When Neptune, Pisces’ planet ruler, retrogrades, your receptivity can sometimes make you a magnet for unscrupulous people. It’s definitely worth shielding your energy field with an extra layer of protection during July, whether that’s increased online security, healthy boundaries, positive thinking, salt baths, more discernment…your choice.

The “burden” simply won’t be there. The pension was 2.9% of GDP when Peter Costello’s 2002 Intergenerational Report predicted it would grow to 4.6% of GDP by 2042. But it was it was just 2.7% of GDP five years ago, and Rice Warner projected “expenditure to fall to 2.5% of GDP by 2038.” It added “the downward trend will continue well into the future.”

It’s predicted to be just 2.1% of GDP by 2060. Why? Superannuation has been delivering, just as Paul Keating predicted. His “magic of compound interest” has been adding to the retirement incomes of millions. We reject calls for raising the age to 70 on both fiscal and social policy grounds. Many people exit the workforce because of ill health. We should consider a Canadian style system where you can opt to get the pension earlier but get a bit less.

We’ve also argued the best way to tackle declining participation is to provide incentives to those who choose to work longer. Our Let Pensioners Work campaign calls for a reduction in the income test taper rates so you can keep more of your pension if you choose to continue working. This is fairer than raising the pension age because it rewards people who want and need to work.

Pensioners who chose to work would benefit from extra income and their participation would also help the economy.

If you are on a pension, and you want to keep working it’ll be a win for the economy, it’ll be a win for the pensioners, and it will be a win for the government.

A note to politicians, our latest poll of more than two thousand people showed just 7% support the move to 70, 45% are fine with 67 and 46% want it back to 65.

An election winning policy would be to lower it back to 65 as they’ve just done in Canada.

ARIES

MARCH 21 – APRIL 20

Feeling drained from too much output? Healing planet Chiron, dipping into its annual retrograde in your sign, suggests you start saying ‘no’ to requests you know will be exhausting. Prioritize how you spend your time, money and resources. Invest them in what will give you the most return and stability.

TAURUS

APRIL 21 – MAY 20

Jupiter, largest planet in our solar system, is embarked on a yearlong stay in your sign. Associated with expansion and largesse, Jupiter’s superpower of generous sharing will attract benefits during this cycle, so keep giving freely, especially throughout the increasing clench of upcoming planetary retrogrades.

GEMINI

MAY 21 – JUNE 21

Gemini’s mentor planet, Mercury, in your money zone and the sign of very clever budgeting, invites you to make a smart start on the last half of the year by refining your master plan, pinpointing what’s working well, putting anything too difficult or resistant on hold, and remembering to celebrate small wins.

Take fight to Telstra

The coverage of the recent Telstra failures in Beerwah and the discussion in this week’s Glasshouse Country and Maleny News (June 27) have made interesting reading. However, it is very apparent that nothing is going to change unless the residents and businesses of the Glass House Mountains and Hinterland area continue to take up the fight.

But who do we take the fight to?

Telstra- NO. they won’t do anything as they already have what they want- ie: All of us mugs paying our bills each month while they don’t and won’t provide the service that we are paying for. They will simply continue to roll out their standard response- “If you are not happy with the service we provide, you can go somewhere else.” Evidence of this is the installation of new 5G coverage which they can charge for and sell new devices but with no guarantee of providing the service.

Telecommunications Ombudsman- NO.

When I took the issue of local coverage to them, they advised that they could only intervene on contractual type issues and could not force Telstra to improve the coverage. The best that they could do for me was to refer the issue to the Telstra disputes resolution team.

Local Government- Definitely NOT. They are only interested in the eastern side of the Bruce Highway and are happy to keep us on the western side as a rural backwater. This is very clear from some of their recent decisions. State Government- LOL. As far as Anna is concerned, Queensland stops at the Pine River Bridge.

Federal Government - The local member is in opposition now so even if he was interested in doing something, he simply wouldn’t be listened to by the government. When he was in government and I raised the issue with him, he wasn’t really interested but promised to get back to me. He never did.

Perhaps we need to find a way to take it directly to the actual government and have the federal minister responsible for the communications come and talk and LISTEN to a representative group of residents and businesses.

Remember. It is not only increased coverage that we need, but it is improved quality of coverage from the existing infrastructure.

MH, Glass House Mountains

Is this what we asked for

I’m sure many of your older readers can remember the analog mobile phones. These had a range of over 70Ks. Theoretically with just two towers, one on the Gold Coast and one on the Sunshine Coast, you could drive from the NSW border to Noosa without losing connection. Compare that to 5G which has a range of between 1.5 and 5Ks. It is also line of site whereas analog signals to some extent followed the terrain.

Unfortunately for me I live in a dip about 900m from the GHM tower and have no signal in my house. My Telstra modem has a 4G backup which has never worked. In the event of a power cut I have no access to the emergency services. Should we have a bushfire or flooding the State Governments emergency phone contact will not reach me or my immediate neighbours.

However to come to the defence of Telstra they have had to deal with local NIMBYs. I recall when the local tower was first suggested there was great hue and cry about how ugly they look and the dangers of radiation. Which, contrary to some of your readers, was debunked years ago. Consequently it is buried in the trees opposite the Glasshouse turnoff. These trees affect the signal strength, especially when wet with rain.

Recently it was suggested that small 5G transmitters could be mounted on streetlamps in our housing estates, which would give all the coverage we would need. However I can’t see that getting past some locals. At the end of the day we partly have ourselves to blame for our current lack of service.

Derek Browning

Issues since the 70s

I was intrigued by Chris Coote’s article GC&M News 27th June, about poor service from Telstra, which comes as no surprise to me at all.

I experienced very poor service from Telstra as far back as 1979 when I lodge a request for a phone connection to my new house in Buderim, and was informed it would take up to 8 weeks for the phone to be connected.

About a week later, my Boss asked if I had the phone connected so I could be contacted should I be needed in the event of an emergency, at which time I informed him the application had been lodged and it would take up to 8 weeks to be connected, he then handed me a form to give to Telstra, requesting a priority connection, for members of an emergency service, and since I was a Firemen with the Department of Army Fire Service, I qualified for a Priority connection.

However, it seems even back then, Telstra was not swayed by this fact, and the very abrupt service centre employee informed me that being a member of an emergency service is of no consequence, and it will now take up to TEN weeks to be connected, so after I informed my boss of this fact, he simply said,

“OK, Leave it to me”, I’m not entirely sure what he did, or to whom he spoke, but it is suffice to say, by the time I arrived home the next morning after completing my shift, I was greeted by four Telstra employees connecting the phone to my house.

A short time later, after I was satisfied the connection was up and running smoothly, dumped Telstar as my Phone Service Provider, and have never done business with them since, maybe if more people dumped them, they might change their attitude, and start providing the SERVICE we pay for, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

Peter Bowles, Glasshouse Mountains

Doing our share

There is a feeling of unease about the future that grows more intense as the media reports on violent conflicts around the globe. Human actions are involved in multiple wars and uprisings world-wide, most notably in Ukraine, Syria, Iraq and their surrounds. Added to these are numerous incidents in Africa and to a lesser extent in South and Central America, and now the open threat from China to “capture” Taiwan. The United States no longer can aspire to the role of global controller having made terrible mistakes in seeking to control the future of Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as adversely interfering with political developments in many other countries.

Quite apart from the murderous conflicts so many of our fellow humans are caught in we have the ongoing destruction of the incredible natural ecosystems that provide us with life support. Those of us with the disposable income to afford food that requires a high natural input of agricultural and natural resources are unaware that in the long run food productivity will decline, while in the meantime millions in particular regions already suffer from an acute shortage of nourishing food.

Besides the inequality of impact on the environment due to the enormous gap between the resources (income) of the richest