Gisborne Limousine & Chauffeur Services

17/07/2024

Re the attempted assassination of Donald Trump and my belief that abortion is wrong, can we not ask “If we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another?”

19/06/2024

From the time that Bob Hawke first visited Israel in 1971, accompanied by his daughter Sue, he became a passionate advocate of its right to live in peace, to grow and develop, and to realise its full potential. He saw this as a vital interest of the democratic world, and famously observed, “If the bell tolls for Israel, it tolls for all of us”.

Let us hope Albanese can understand this

14/06/2024

Chris Bowen and Anthony Albanese have forgotten that Australia has a nuclear reactor in the southern Sydney suburb of Lucas Heights. It’s been there for half a century.

The following are with a radius of 100 kilometres from Lucas Heights – it takes in all of Sydney, Gosford, the Blue Mountains, the Southern Highlands, Nowra and Wollongong.

11/06/2024

Human life is not a problem, it’s a gift. The problem with our world is not children being born. It’s selfishness, consumerism, individualism, which render people complacent, alone and unhappy.

The problem is not how many of us there are in this world, but rather what kind of world we’re building. At the institutional level, there is an urgent need for effective policies and courageous, concrete and long-term choices to sow today so that children can reap tomorrow. A greater commitment is needed from all governments, so that the younger generations are put in a position to realise their legitimate dreams.

11/06/2024

Dear Phil,
“As a 45 year old woman, as a mother, as a child psychiatrist, I could not hold my head up if I didn’t speak about this. It’s too important”

Dr Jillian Spencer is courageous in a way that most of us can only dream of.
Despite enormous pressure to keep quiet, Dr Spencer – a specialist child psychiatrist – has publicly expressed concerns about the “affirmation” model of care being provided to children and young people in gender clinics in Australia.

This has been costly for her career, to say the least.
She has been directed by her employer, the Queensland Children’s Hospital, to affirm and practise the affirmation model in treatment of her patients against her conscience.
She has been stood down from her position on the grounds that she is a danger to trans and gender diverse children.
Jillian has decades of experience as a psychiatrist, caring for thousands of patients in that time.
And so-called ‘affirming care’ for gender questioning children is an issue she feels strongly about.

In her professional judgement, it’s a really serious child protection issue.
And while the majority of child psychiatrists and mental health clinicians are keeping quiet, Dr Spencer has courageously spoken up on this issue.
It’s much easier to stay silent rather than stick your neck out and become a target.
Her words should resonate with every concerned Australian:
“As a 45 year old woman, as a mother, as a child psychiatrist, I could not hold my head up if I didn’t speak about this. It’s too important”.

Dr Spencer is fighting for the freedom for doctors to take a holistic, evidence-based approach to clinical treatment.
There is so much at stake.
A landmark win in this case is so important.
It will be good for children and doctors.
It will ensure health practitioners are given the freedom to rely on their expertise and experience, rather than being compelled to comply with political dogma in such a contentious area.
A win will mean protection of conscience for the medical profession to act in the best interests of vulnerable children.
We need the courage of people like Dr Spencer.

John Steenhof
Principal Lawyer
Human Rights Law Alliance
I’ll defend fundamental freedoms >>

10/06/2024

Noa turns from icon of October 7 horror to beacon of hope for Israel’s fight against Hamas

Noa Argamani was the face of the October 7 atrocities, her face a haunting picture of terror and distress as she was driven away on a motorcycle by Hamas terrorists.

On the weekend, rescued against all expectation, her picture with her father is now the symbol of hope, endurance and deliverance for the Israeli people.

Like so many young people, Argamani was at the Supernova music festival when so many of her friends were murdered, many after r**e and torture. She was taken hostage.

“Don’t kill me!” she screamed as she was driven away, her arm outstretched, pitifully, towards her boyfriend, also kidnapped that day.

Her rescue operation, carried out by Israeli commandos, was the kind of daring, high-risk and ultimately successful effort that recalls an earlier Israel, the nation of the Entebbe raid of 1976, when commandos rescued Israeli and other hostages taken to Uganda on a hijacked plane.

That the Israeli commandos on this occasion got the four hostages – Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv – out alive, in an operation in broad daylight, is almost a miracle. The Israelis have apparently known the location of a number of hostages over the past eight months but couldn’t devise a plan that would not result in the ­hostages being instantly killed.

The operation resulted in a lot of Palestinian casualties in Nuseirat refugee camp. The death of innocent Palestinian civilians is an appalling and ongoing tragedy, and the world is right to be exercised about it.

But let’s be clear where the primary moral responsibility for this tragedy lies.

The four Israeli hostages, like thousands of Hamas terrorists, were embedded among Palestinian civilians, precisely in order to make it morally costly for Israel to rescue the hostages, or attack the terrorists.

But as David Brooks wrote ­recently in the New York Times – how exactly does the world actually expect Israel to provide for its own security, to destroy Hamas or to rescue its hostages?

The Israeli commandos in this operation experienced a fierce gunbattle.

That also tells us that as well as Israeli hostages, Hamas terrorists with heavy weaponry were embedded in the middle of Palestinian civilians.

It is impossible for the world to say to Israel that it cannot seek to rescue its own citizens from terrorist captivity. Though the reporting of this is often confused in the ­Australian media, the most senior American diplomats have made it clear for weeks now that the party which has prevented a ceasefire is Hamas.

If Hamas would release even a portion of the Israeli hostages it still holds, there would be a ceasefire tomorrow.

US President Joe Biden wants exactly that sort of ceasefire, with a prolonged period of a huge ­infusion of more humanitarian aid into Gaza, followed by negotiations for a permanent ceasefire and new governing arrangements within the territory.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu merits serious criticism for failing to advance a plan for Gaza after the fighting stops.

He should make such a plan clear and work to bring that day about as quickly as possible.

But the aggressor here was Hamas. And the reason this appalling suffering by the Palestinian people continues is also Hamas.

Hamas now claims it does not even know where all the remaining Israeli hostages are. Some Israelis were taken hostage by non-Hamas Palestinian individuals and groups.

But this shocking tragedy of Gaza over the past eight months was deliberately and knowingly engineered by Hamas. As the brave former senator Nova Peris has demanded: where are the demonstrators shouting as they march: “Free the hostages and end the war?”

The effects of the rescue of ­Argamani and the other three hostages on Israeli politics is unknowable, though it seems for the moment to have forestalled centrist leader Benny Gantz leaving Israel’s government of national unity.

Nor is it clear how it will play into the dark and nihilistic calculations of the Hamas leadership.

But one young woman’s rescue is a new symbol of hope for Israel.

GREG SHERIDAN FOREIGN EDITOR
Greg Sheridan is The Australian's foreign editor.

08/05/2024

Male and female He created them

The real issue in gender change is not an abstract “nullifying of differences” in the sense that they ought to be ignored in matters of rights, privileges, and human respect whenever the differences are genuinely irrelevant (see Part 1: Nullifying differences). Rather, the problem lies in refusing to accept the differences which God has deliberately designed into human nature—the differences which constitute our identities as his beloved sons and daughters in Christ. To say “sons and daughters” in this context already indicates something special about our specific creation, special because it was intended by God. Thus, as human persons with intellect and will, we must learn to recognize a proper distinction between Divinely-intended differences and differences that arise when something has gone wrong in our fallen world.

We know, for example, that it is normal for a human person to have two legs and, if one is missing, that is a defect in nature which we ought to correct or make allowance for as well as we can. Both the two-legged and the one-legged man, woman or child are human persons, but the one-legged person has a natural defect which is subject to correction or accommodation in view of his or her essential human dignity. We also recognize that the human person is so constituted as to go through normal stages of human life—infancy, childhood, adolescence, maturity, old age—and we provide for these generally in accordance with their respectively universal human qualities. In the same way, we recognize that when a one-legged man pretends that he can run on two legs, he is either joking or diseased in mind; and that when a child demands adult privileges and responsibilities, he is out of touch with reality through immaturity, passion, or pride. Because of our own possession of and reflection on our human nature, it is impossible for us not to know such things unless our human faculties are injured materially or spiritually in ways that blind us to reality. Moreover, the failure to recognize these fundamental realities dooms any human society to disaster.

In the same way, we know from both nature and Divine Revelation that God created the human person deliberately as both male and female, that the distinction between them is first and foremost a bodily distinction, and that the overall purpose for this difference is the loving union between the two, that they might grow intimately in service to their Creator, especially through the procreation of children with Him for both the expansion of the human race in this world and the eternal happiness of each willing person with God in heaven. Again, notice that we know through both the visible operations of the natural law and the confirmation of Divine Revelation that this maleness and femaleness is neither a mistake nor an accident but is intended by our Creator, and that it is to be treasured and honored throughout life:

Then God said: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth…. Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh. [Gen 1:26-28; 2:24]
And Jesus Christ Himself said:

“From the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh.” [Mk 10:6-8; cf. Mt 19:4-6]
Whatever bizarre errors secularists may fall into, it defies reason that someone who claims to be a Christian can deny Revelation in favor of an imagined origin of gender in feelings attributed to one’s personal essence, or to the human soul (as we saw Sister Jeannine Gramick do in Part 1 of this series). To the contrary, it has always been understood by the Church Christ founded that the difference between male and female is intended by God, biologically determined (fundamentally if not exclusively as a provision for the procreation of children), and not to be considered an accident of nature, a defect, or any contradiction of some deeper identity. For God willed that this foundational difference was to be expressed bodily. Masculine sex-and-gender inclinations in women and feminine sex-and-gender inclinations in men are therefore instances—so common in all of us—of feelings that are unfortunately out of touch with reality, which is why such concerns have long been treated psychologically, emotionally and spiritually. Indeed, every personal temptation participates in this disjointedness!

It has taken a highly technocratic culture, largely divorced from the natural and Christian understanding of creation, to reframe the solution to sex-and-gender questions in terms of whatever we may desire, for whatever reason, at whatever moment. This is one of many bad results of a false culture deliberately divorced from the concept of God and outrageously attached to a principle of complete human autonomy—the fallacy that we come into existence randomly and so depend solely on our own wills for personal understanding, fulfillment and happiness.

But all of mankind has recognized maleness and femaleness as a fundamental pattern of nature, and for the Christian, and especially for that Church which was intended by Christ to teach the truth about what it means to be human, the fundamental goodness of the distinction between male and female can neither be ignored nor treated as a flaw in the human design. As with all medical issues, then, it is permissible for us to correct malfunctions of our male and female biological systems when they are somehow broken in our fallen world, but it is not permissible to reject our maleness or femaleness as this has been fashioned in us through our Creator’s love.

It follows that where no biological disorder exists, gender dysphoria is an illness to be treated; and/or a temporary emotional or psychological confusion which may be corrected through normal maturation or treatment; and/or a temptation to be rejected and conquered through prayer and spiritual growth. In other words, this problem is akin to the problem of homosexuality, especially in that spiritual growth and closeness to God come through resisting a temptation that we know through both reason and Revelation is contrary to our own good. Indeed, sexual temptations are generally so varied and so strong that the vast majority of Christians must exert themselves spiritually over a considerable period of time to find the peace which comes through the subordination of our sexual inclinations to God’s plan, God’s love and God’s will.

Moreover, it should be no surprise that two factors in our current culture contribute mightily to the incidence of prolonged gender dysphoria just as they contribute to the rising incidence of homosexual desires—namely, first, the familial wreckage and intense personal rejection and confusion suffered as a result of divorce and the general breakdown of the family; and, second, the depredations of a deadly culture which extols the pursuit of “happiness” through sexual temptation and experimentation.

After all, we are sexual persons by nature, and so our sexuality naturally creates very strong drives within us—which can be more or less disturbing and wayward. For a great many of us, therefore, it is largely through the struggle to subordinate our sexual feelings to the will of God that we repair our fallen nature and become the whole, integral men and women our loving Father is calling us to be in Christ.

06/05/2024

Gemma Tognini: Stop the populist dross
Young women should know that significant social change is not easy, not swift, not fun, nor super-stylish, writes Gemma Togni

Let me share a story about my great-grandmother, Antonia Tognini.

It’s a story about the kind of courage which, when I think about it, is extraordinary — yet for so many like her at the time, pretty common.

I had been thinking a lot about what courage looks like for women these days and what kind of message we’re sending to the next generations of young girls, including my nearly 14-year-old niece, young women who are growing up in a world that is complex, challenging and quite often very unfair.

My thoughts have been gestating in an incubator red-hot with disdain since a bunch of Hollywood actors implied that courage is as simple as wearing a borrowed black frock and tweeting about it. More on that shortly but first this story and a quick history lesson.

When the Italians ditched Mussolini towards the end of 1943, signing an armistice with the Allies, the Germans weren’t too thrilled. They responded by mobilising troops from Rome ­towards the north. Playing to type, Italy was divided.

Diehard Black Shirts fought alongside the Germans to the end. The Italian Resistance fired up across the country.

The result? A quasi-civil war.

As generally happens during a war, regular search and arrest activities happened in places where the partisans were known to be active, such as villages including my family’s in Italy’s far north.

The story I am sharing, albeit a greatly condensed version, is how my great nonna, Antonia, harnessed balls of solid brass and bluffed the N***s to save her son’s life, and her own.

It happened like this. Antonia was unlucky enough to be home one day when the fascists came looking for my then-teenage nonno who had just joined the resistance and was hiding out nearby. In short, Antonia played the dumb peasant, swore black and blue he’d nicked off to Switzerland.

As I type these words they feel strangely surreal.

When I stop to think about what she did, what was on the line, I can only imagine her stomach churning. Perhaps a trickle of sweat down her back, knowing that if she were caught lying it was a firing squad in the village square for both, with the house being torched to ram the point home. Now, I’m not suggesting this is the only face of courage, though it’s a pretty good one.

What I am suggesting is that these are the stories that we should be sharing with the young girls in our lives. This is the inspiration we should be ­offering them, not the populist dross we’ve been served up by a parade of borrowed black frocks at the Golden Globes.

Case in point. Ask the women whose courage in speaking up actually started this Hollywood hashtag party. They refused to work with men who tried to compromise them. They paid dearly. And perhaps not surprisingly, the first to break the silence claim they weren’t invited. “Victims aren’t glamorous enough,” one ­tweeted. No free black frocks for them. What a sham. What a message to send, glorifying that which is cheap, easy and ultimately disposable.

Not only does it send the message that courage doesn’t come at a cost, it also tells young women that significant social change is easy, swift, fun and super-stylish.

Sadly, just about every woman I know has faced unwanted or inappropriate sexual behaviour at work. That’s not an exaggeration. I know I have, in nearly 25 years of professional life.

In my case, I didn’t navigate through by getting the sisters to wear fuchsia and tweet about it. I dealt with it because women and, importantly, brilliant, strong and decent men in my world affirmed my conviction that taking a stand, private or public, will always cost me but never rob me.

Has it cost me work? Yes. Do I ­regret it? Not on your life.

I will make this one concession though. The intent behind the whole “Why I Wear Black” And “TimesUp” campaigns is admirable. They are trying to build further momentum ­behind what can only be described as a ferocious, overdue and collective cry of enough is enough.

But intent without substance is like wind without a sail. Ineffective.

The degree of change needed to make sure this sort of behaviour is nuked off the landscape is driven by the substance of women like my great-grandmother and probably many of your relatives too.

Aunts. Sisters. Mothers. Partners. Grandmothers.

Theirs are the stories of courage we should be holding up as the ­standard.

Courage is the battered woman who packs her car in the middle of the night and floors it, having no clue what’s next.

It’s the single mum who keeps it together day in and out to provide a stable environment for her kids.

It’s the woman who draws a line in the sand about inappropriate behaviour at work, without certainty of having any support let alone a positive outcome, fully aware that there may be a cost, but does it anyway.

Without fanfare. Without a tweet.

These are the women who deserve our admiration. These are the women who we should be showing our young girls and saying, see? If she can be brave, you can too.

Gemma Tognini is a communications executive and a regular Sky News commentator. This piece is published courtesy of The West Australian.

02/05/2024

Until all mankind, without exception, undergoes a great change, wars will be waged, everything that has been built up, cultivated and grown, will be cut down and disfigured, to begin all over again after that.

09/04/2024

Be careful to be gentle, lest in removing the rust, you break the whole instrument.

08/04/2024

The world's biggest taxi killer is UBER. Over the last decade in particular Uber has been defending allegations of misconduct, corporate espionage, hacking of computer systems and knowingly launching Uber X illegally in Victoria and other states without regulatory approval.
It has been left to the licence holders to fight back while the regulators stood by and watched. The government produces statistics every month showing how many new businesses have started here in Victoria but does not explain that every new operator of a taxi or Uber must have an ABN. This is where so many ''businesses'' start.
Uber has done everything in its power to kill off the taxi businesses of so many hard working Victorians while the regulator stood by and watched. In fact, you cannot visit the regulators office anymore, you cannot have your phone calls answered or if they do answer most of the staff have little or no idea, and you certainly will never get an email response.
Private emails by Uber have been unearthed in recent court cases which shed an unflattering light on Uber. Their use of spyware, obtaining personal details of drivers and their plans to crush opponents. There is some concern that the government breached the privacy details of some drivers by allowing release of information to Uber as well.
If you ever want to kill off a business, then Uber will show you how easy it is to manipulate governments in doing so. It is worth reading about.

01/03/2024

Surge in parents racking up debt to fund childcare: ‘Procreation is financial suicide’

It is a pity we think this way. Look at China and Japan with their one child policies or preference for boys over girls.

And here in Australia the lack of love for children who are seen as, and sometimes treated as, liabilities.

Because of poor parenting and school teachings, many of our children are confused. Scott Morrison recently spoke of the lack of our Judeo Christian values being eroded. He is most likely correct because our country appears to be rejecting family life in favour of woke behaviour and money.

People complain about child care and the high prices. But is it too high a price to care for your own children, to stay home with them and nourish them especially in their first 5-6 years? Stand up for your family and don't worry about what others think about being a good mother by staying home and looking after your baby. No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow. Grow with your child and you will glow.

30/12/2023

A NEW YEAR MESSAGE TO ALL

Thank you to all who have had contact with our various businesses in the last 12 months.
We hope we have been able to assist you.
NEW YEAR brings glad tidings for most but not all.
May 2024 bring you joy, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness and self -control.
For those less fortunate we pray for your well-being and hope that you may find peace. Please try to have the courage and faith to follow your passions and realise your dreams.
From our drivers to all of you.
PAX TECUM

Call now to connect with business.

16/11/2023

For many persons in the Macedon Ranges, transport by taxi, limousine or rideshare vehicles is difficult.

For some explanation:
Victorian commercial passenger vehicles operate regulated fares in Melbourne, Bendigo, Ballarat and Geelong. In other areas like Sunbury, Gisborne and Woodend, the fares are deregulated and that is why some fares set by local operators are atrociously high.
The deregulation of the industry under Labor means that some companies do not even operate in the evening or on weekends. It is no use ringing a Melbourne based company like SILVER TOP or 13Cabs because unless the destination has Melbourne or airport written into it, it is unlikely that you will be given a ''hearing'' so to speak.

Our company in the 1990's did everything it could to embrace the taxi industry only to be thwarted by poor governance. There is really no excuse for this lack of direction by government who also charge taxi drivers and others a fee for service as well. (Your flagfall includes a levy every time you step into a commercial passenger vehicle).

So where possible pre book any out of town work on 1300 13 9740 and while we cannot guarantee anything, we shall at least try.

Home At Personalized Chauffeur Drive we’re more than just a chauffeur service. We offer many and varied services at more than reasonable prices. Whether you travel for business, leisure, daily needs to super-fast parcel delivery, Personalized Chauffeur Drive cover it all. Let us take the worry out...

16/11/2023

With this pathetic Labor government showing a complete disregard for the police in Victoria and in also closing police stations in the evenings, another issue arises re public safety issues especially for taxi and rideshare drivers.
Drivers who are now forced to use the police to report anything and everything, will no longer have access to the police stations to report crimes such as assault or robbery or non payment of taxi fares.
Unfortunately, with SAFE TRANSPORT VICTORIA so much full of spin and no action and their associated closure of reporting incidents to them (unless police are in attendance), the poor old taxi driver is left to overcome these difficulties on his own.
The regulator advises:
"Incidents that must be reported:
the death of any person
the serious injury* of any person (this includes but is not limited to incidents that require emergency medical services assistance)
attendance by police
attendance by a health professional."
So from a taxi drivers perspective all we can see here is the regulator not showing much interest in assaults or robbery and now we wont have police stations open either.