Some Early Reflections On Nuisance Calls

At the end of June this year, several weeks after I had added my mobile phone number to the Do Not Call Register maintained by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), I started a spreadsheet where I record all the nuisance calls I now receive.

Ultimately, at the end of this coming June, I plan to send those numbers to the ACMA and hope that they take some action against those account holders.

Whilst recording the two latest nuisance callers onto my spreadsheet just now, I noticed a pattern emerging in terms of the non-landline numbers inflicting themselves on me.

I will share those with you now:

0485-961-598 Solar Panel pitch

0480-852-242 Hung up when I answered

0485-962-123 Call about electricity providers

0485-837-704 Health Insurance comparisons

0485-837-539 Solar Panel pitch

You can see some patterns there – most of the numbers start with 0485, and the one outlier starts with 0480. Two of the numbers start with 0485-837.

Which suggests these are all part of one big block of phone numbers which have been sold to those telemarketing call centres which operate in violation of relevant consumer law protections.

In terms of landlines, I have received nine calls from numbers which start with 03-9022 – one of those calls was a solar panel pitch, another was a cleaning services pitch, and the other seven all hung up when I answered.

So the takeaway from all this so far is that you should not answer calls from those numbers, and I do hope that when I provide my spreadsheet to both the ACMA and Telstra in mid 2026, one or other or both of those bodies takes action against these sacred cowboy call centre operators.

In the meantime, if you are so inclined, feel free to call those mobile numbers above to enquire about their services. If enough people do that, it might give them some mild annoyance, which they richly deserve.

But… as I found out to my lasting regret when, last year in a very benevolent mood, I actually agreed to get solar panels installed by one such company who rang me on spec like that, don’t actually agree to any services from them. They will do a half-arsed job.

A Quick Look Through Footscray Shopping Centre

My mother wanted her hair cut last week, so I accompanied her on the bus to Footscray, to attend the Vietnamese hairdresser in the Footscray Market.

Footscray has changed a lot since I was a kid, so I did a bit of reminiscing whilst I waited for her.

Describing Footscray to outsiders might help make it seem more intriguing, so perhaps more people might come and visit.

Leeds Street was the first part of Footscray to turn Vietnamese, in 1981. There were two Vietnamese jewellery shops which opened up – one in the Footscray Market on the Leeds street frontage, and one on the other side of the street. The one in the Market is still there, although I am not sure as to when it is open as I have never seen it thus in recent years. The other one has since closed. Quickly after that, the rest of Leeds Street was filled up with other Vietnamese shops and then, by the late 1980s, Vietnamese restaurants replaced the moribund Italian cafes (apparently hives of the newly booming heroin trade) in Hopkins Street opposite the market. The only remnant of the former Italian presence is Cavallaro, the cake shop which has been there for almost 70 years.

There are a lot of Vietnamese restaurants still there in Hopkins Street, although Hy Hy, the first generation restaurant I used to enjoy visiting 25 years ago, has been gone for at least 15 years, replaced by fancier next gen establishments which might be more swish, but seem less yummy to me (sorry folks, I like sizzling beef with plum sauce and I hate that I can’t get it anymore).

I would say when looking at Footscray Shopping Centre now that the Vietnamese precinct is more or less restricted to Leeds Street and Hopkins. A lot of businesses have apparently moved further west, to Sunshine or St Albans. (I rarely visit St Albans anymore – I don’t have family there these days, and I don’t currently have any friends in Sunshine, so I can’t really comment at great length on those suburbs.)

The rest of the main shopping area, Nicholson Street and Barkly Street, and the non-medical part of Paisley Street, is now an African precinct, although it is peppered with hipster bars and abundant kebab shops. At one point, about 14 years ago when I was at the height of my mania for Ethiopian food, I has tried just about each and every Ethiopian restaurant in Footscray, and knew the owners of several by name.

Some are still there, and some new ones have opened, but the ones I enjoyed most are now long gone. I miss them, but I do have an Ethiopian restaurant a little more accessible to me in Maribyrnong Road which I can frequent more easily.

A lot of the pubs of Footscray are gone, or going, or replaced with hipster bars. Between the Plough (early convert to gastro pub) on the Geelong Road corner, and the Footscray Hotel (whose days, I suspect are very limited) just after the newly converted Moon Dog Brewery (a giant rodeo beer barn), there are a huge number of bars along Barkly Street – Slough, Josephine, Little Foot, Cheeky Pint, just off the top of my head. But I miss some of the pubs – the Barkly and the Royal are redeveloped facades. The Bayview was flattened almost 40 years ago, as was more recently the Belgravia on the corner of Nicholson and Buckley. The Courthouse is business as usual, poker machines and pub TAB, much as it has been for the past 30 years, at the south end of what used to be the bottom half of the original mall area.

When I meet my friends to eat these days, it is either opposite the Town Hall at the Station Hotel, which has a good steak house, or for yum cha at Golden Horse, at the Leeds and Barkly Street corner of the Market.

There are still lots of worthwhile places in Footscray to visit, although I mostly will avoid the problem area which is Nicholson Street, and you will not catch me there after dark any longer than it will take for me to find a taxi.

Posh Spice Officially Becomes A Lady

It’s now almost 30 years since the Spice Girls burst onto the pop scene with Wannabe, their debut single. They did not go by their nicknames Ginger, Baby, Scary, Sporty, and of course, Posh at that time. The media quickly gave them those monikers.

At the end of Wannabe, they introduce themselves by their Christian names, and when Victoria is named, they sing that she is a lay-dee.

Victoria Adams, the artist soon to be known to the world as Posh Spice, did not actually sing on Wannabe. I suppose her voice was not quite up to it in comparison to the others.

Later, after Ginger left the Spice Girls, she did finally get to sing on Wannabe.

Not that it really matters. They all made their pile of cash, and no one more than Posh Spice, who chose a husband who matched her celebrity and ability to generate cash.

With David Beckham receiving his knighthood from the King this past week, his wife, who has popularly been known as Posh Spice for almost thirty years, has now officially become a Lady, just as the Spice Girls insisted when she was introduced in that song so long ago. She is now Victoria, Lady Beckham, if you want to know how exactly to address her.

And as a Commonwealth Constitutional Monarchist, this pleases me greatly.

Suzanne Vega To Fly With Angels To Australia!

As anyone who knows me well would know, Suzanne Vega has been my favourite singer since I was 17. Kate Bush and Tori Amos come in closely behind her.

Suzanne Vega has toured Australia five times – 1987, 1993, 2008, 2014, and 2018. I was not cashed up enough for concert tickets in 1987, and I was not aware of her 2008 and 2014 concerts until it was too late.

A music reviewer did describe the 1987 concert as ‘as exciting as a Carlton – Hawthorn grand final’, which was to say that it was so perfect as to be boring. I do hope that reviewer lost their job, as obviously they had nothing sensible to say.

But I did attend her 1993 concert at what is now Hamer Hall, and her 2018 concert. The 1993 concert was in support of 99.9 Fahrenheit Degrees, her fourth studio album. Whilst it was, in my view, a weak album in comparison to her self titled debut, and her most successful second album, Solitude Standing (I still prefer the debut album), in concert there was not a weak song in the entire set.

Then, in 2018 she toured to mark the 25th anniversary of that album, and the 30th anniversary of Solitude Standing. That concert was at the Palais, and the supporting act was Deborah Conway and Willie Zygier (fun fact – I used to work with Willie Zygier’s brother).

I am more prepared in these days of ubiquitous internet. I signed up to her fan email list for updates about two years ago, and today it all came to golden fruition with an email advising that she is touring next September. I have already hopped online and bought my ticket, carefully picking an aisle seat (I like aisle seats).

Concert will be at Hamer Hall, so I think it will be a pretty good one – not stadium sized like Taylor Swift, but still a decent crowd.

It’s something to really look forward to.

Charlie’s Pizza Reopens

It is now nine months since my paesano and Footscray stalwart Charlie Morabito died. His pizzeria in Droop Street near the Ballarat Road corner has been a Footscray institution since 1974 and I was worried that it was going to close forever.

Good news! One branch of the family has taken over management of it and reopened the shop on 21 October.

My brother, who was a regular customer there late night, is quite pleased and has already resumed dining there, although the new owners are not as chatty as Charlie was.

There is not much left of the old businesses of the Footscray of my childhood, and I am relieved that this one relic of that era will survive, for a few more years at least.

The Catering Test – A Hidden Sign Of Economic Downturn

I suppose, as Honorary Secretary of a small Italian group, I probably count as an Italian community leader.

Yeah maybe. Sort of.

Last year that community involvement bore some fruits. I got an invite to a gala dinner organised by the Italian Embassy. I also had a pass to the VIP section of the Italian Festa. So some fun events there.

This year, it does not appear that the Italian government is having a gala dinner of any sort in Melbourne, and nor was there a VIP section in the Italian Festa (over the past weekend). I suppose that this was due to reduced funding from the Italian government for such activities.

Similarly, as I have written in this blog recently, the catering at the Treasury Wine Estate AGM last week was rather underwhelming compared to last week. There were hardly any canapés, and only a few trays of lamingtons as dessert.

Nor did the wine last to 1pm like last year. The fun ended at 12.30pm.

One of the more sour shareholders at that AGM did also raise a question about the number of staff parties which Treasury employees seem to hold.

Looking at these incidents all coming together at the same time, I get the feeling that probably, this year, there is less money flying about to pay for hospitality. That in itself is probably an economic indicator.

Vale Ace Frehley

I’m actually not objective about the significance of Kiss as a part of rock history. I’m not sure whether their impact is that of a true super group, or whether they were just a niche band with a large and loyal fanbase.

That’s because they have a large foothold on my childhood memories. Just like ABBA when they toured in 1976, Kiss initiated a giant frenzy in Australia in 1980 in the lead up to their November tour.

Or… at least it was the case in my primary school, where Kissmania ruled. The perspective of an eleven year old is a tad more limited than that of an adult.

Forty five years on, I believe my brother still has the combined collection of Kiss cards we had at the time (I let him have all of mine).

The concert at VFL Park in Waverley in November 1980 drew 45,000 people. That I remember details about a concert which I did not even attend is significant.

I’ve been to see Kiss three times since then, twice in the 1990s, and once about three years ago. Those concerts, at the Tennis Centre, were only a third the scale of that first tour in 1980.

When Eric Carr, the replacement drummer when Peter Criss got booted out, died in 1991, the number of death notices in the Herald Sun was quite impressive.

‘Goodbye Little Caesar’, one of those death notices read.

Now Ace Frehley, the original lead guitarist from Kiss, has died, after falling and injuring his head in his home studio.

74 is not that old – not when compared to the fragile souls I visit regularly in nursing homes in my local area. So I cannot help but feel a degree of shock at this.

But Ace did not live a sedate life. He partied quite hard, and drank very heavily for much of his career, hence causing his forced departure from Kiss in the early 1980s. Given that I have read the autobiographies of all four original members of the band, I am skeptical about the sincerity of the loud lamentations from Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. Gene did seriously bag Ace in his memoir, Kiss And Make Up, some 20 years ago. Ace returned the favour, somewhat more articulately, in his own memoir, No Regrets, 5 years later.

But Ace is dead, and perhaps Gene and Paul have felt it best to bury the hatchet in memory of their lost band mate, rather than out of commercial self interest. After all, no man is an island, and all that. Ace’s death might well remind them of their own mortality, and indeed of that of all of us.

I cannot help but feel sad about Ace passing, as it represents the severing of yet another of the links to my childhood, to the frenzy which enveloped my school for most of 1980.

At the Treasury Wine Estate AGM

As is now my custom, I attended the Treasury Wine Estate AGM on Thursday.

This time I planned in advance – a friend got a proxy from his wife to attend and two other friends who are not shareholders simply bluffed their way in.

Even though the share price has crashed in recent days, the meeting was relatively calm, although I would have to say that I do not find the governance issues raised by the Australian Shareholders Association monitors to be particularly original nor convincing.

What did disappoint me though was the quality of the catering. Last year was best practice – two hours of open bar and lots of canapés and yummy desserts. That would rate 10/10. This year, hardly any canapés and dessert was a tray of lamingtons. I rate that 4/10.

But having three of my friends there to share the freeloading fun made up for it a little bit.

Why Does The Treasury Wine Estate Share Price Remind Me Of A Tom Petty Song Today?

I just checked my share portfolio on the Commsec app and am reminded that my decision to liquidate most of my Treasury Wine Estate shares two and a half months ago was an unintentionally astute move (unlike most of my share purchase and sale decisions).

You see, this morning Treasury did a revised earnings guidance in which they advised that ‘depletions’ (whatever that means) for Penfolds in China have not met their expectations and that they have to withdraw their earnings guidance.

So the share price went, yet again, into free fall (hence my musical ear worm right now is Tom Petty’s song ‘Free Fallin”), crashing from about $7.30 at open to $6.30.

I booked about $2000 in capital loss at the start of August, whereas if I had sold at the time of the last AGM, I would have booked a $2000 capital gain (which would have been concessional as I had held the shares over 12 months).

The main consolation is that instead of holding 1000 shares, I only hold 100 shares now, so my loss is only around $150 and I have no intention of selling that minuscule parcel as it is my AGM ticket.

Which reminds me. The AGM is on Thursday at 10am. It will close at 11am. At that time, there will be the most swish corporate AGM catering of any ASX listed company, with two hours of open bar with Treasury Wine products. That includes Penfolds Bin 28 shiraz.

How much of that can I drink to make up my losses?

Anywho, I mentioned this at the Soul Pattinson Investor Briefing (a very well catered event) last week to an acquaintance from one of my Bottle Clubs, and he will crash the AGM to enjoy the catering with me. If any of my other friends wants to join me, please send me a text and I will send the details.

Australian Rules Football Enters A Golden Age In Queensland

In March 2005, I decided to take a two week holiday and travel around various parts of Northern Australia I had not yet visited: Ayers Rock (my heart skipped a beat when I first saw it from the plane), Alice Springs, Darwin, Townsville and Cairns.

I ended the holiday with a few days in Brisbane, which I have visited from time to time, albeit rarely (I am much more familiar with Canberra, Perth and Adelaide than with Brisbane or Sydney).

During my sojourn in Brisbane, I stopped into the Storey Bridge Hotel, which is not far from the Gabba. There was going to be an AFL game at the Gabba that night, it being around the start of the AFL season, and the pub was going to get busy. When talking to the bar staff and expressing my surprise that a rugby league city like Brisbane was going to have much interest in AFL, I was told that due to the threepeat (ie the three premierships in a row which the Brisbane Lions won in 2001, 2002 and 2003) the Lions were now as big as the Broncos (ie the NRL team) in terms of local support.

Last time I was in Brisbane was in August 2015, when I did go and watch the Western Bulldogs play the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba, and I must say that it’s a great place to watch football.

Even though some would say that the early 2000s were an excellent time for Australian Rules Football in Queensland, I would argue that the events of the past month have seen it enter a Golden Age.

My reasoning for that is the following:

. the obvious – Brisbane won its second premiership in a row yesterday

. the somewhat more subtle fact that Brisbane announced a membership record of 75,000 members this year (as compared to something over 60,000 for the Broncos in the NRL)

. the Gold Coast Suns not only played in its first final (at long bloody last), but it won it and then played off in a semi final against Brisbane

. a Gold Coast player won the Brownlow Medal

. Southport, Gold Coast’s reserves team, played off in the VFL Grand Final (ie the AFL’s main reserves competition).

If I was an AFL official, I would be very happy with how things are looking. The local Gold Coast NRL team, the Titans, has about 16,000 members compared to 30,000 for the Suns. The other two NRL clubs in Queensland, the Dolphins and the Cowboys, also do not have very high membership numbers (29,000 and 11,000 respectively).

I have not done any deep diving into crowd numbers at matches, nor, much more importantly, TV viewership in Queensland, but right now, both Queensland AFL teams are highly competitive at the same time for the first time in history. This is going to turn into strong growth in local interest in Queensland in Australian Rules Football, which can only be good for the AFL and to the detriment of both Rugby codes.

I also should note that the COVID in 2020 (time sure has flown by) did force the AFL to lifeboat the entire competition to Brisbane for that season, and the AFL Grand Final in 2020 was played at the Gabba. This itself, as I reflected at the time, showed how AFL had grown into a mature competition which could play away from its cradle in Victoria and probably caused interest in AFL in Queensland to increase.

It is a shame that the Gabba is not going to be rebuilt as a larger stadium for the Olympics in 2032, but this does have a silver lining in that there will be no interruption to the momentum currently enjoyed by the Brisbane Lions in terms of disruption caused by a home ground rebuild.