@powder the longer I live the more I admire Orwell and 1984. Though the details of the book weren't very accurate, Orwell got what no one else did long before we caught up -- namely that technology would be irresistible to power, not just government, as would be the urge to manipulate and control. It is the most prophetic novel in English from the 20th Century, in my view.

There is a simple one touch answer - turn the aeroplane mode on. It kills in and out transmissions faster than proselytising godbotherers take you to their pie in the sky.

@FrayedBear No matter what the 'tricks' that can be used, I still prefer my land-line and Answering machine.

@Triphid I'm told that with the introduction of NBN that no longer works during power cuts because it is no longer powered with its own independent supply.

@Triphid My 96 yo acquaintance had to use his mobile to call an ambulance during a power cut occurring at Gosford about 50 miles north of Sydney only a couple of weeks ago. Like you he is disdainful of smartphones.

@FrayedBear IF one knows what to do during a power cut one can disconnect their land-line from the NBN system modem or, as I have, a standard plug in and go older style land-line handset that I can just plug in anytime.

@Triphid I was told by a 96 yo who now has difficulty getting on hands & knees particularly in a blackout & when in need of anambulance.

Get real mate.

@FrayedBear I am 100% real, as real as you can get, I do NOT want to be tracked every second of every day by anyone, the government especially.

@Triphid My expletive is inregard to a crap tlephone ystem that requires a 96 yo with a broken leg or hip to crawl around unscrwing a phone conection on the wall to replace it with nother st that was thrown out because it was decribed a obsolete in order to be able to call for an ambulance!

As for the monitoring app - and the reason why Australians are told not to wear masks to protect each other is because Mr Dutton's infamous face recognition and spy cams in the streets do not work when you wear a mask!

The first person manufacturing masks that look like Morrison, Dutton, Plibersek or any others of the wannabe dictators will make a fortune!

@FrayedBear Err, you no longer 'unscrew' the connection of your land-line, it merely plugs into a wall socket in case you were unaware of the fact.
Such an innovation HAS been around for decades btw.
Plus a 96 y.o. would, most likely, have an alert bracelet or button either on their person of sited on a wall within close and easy reach.

@Triphid lol. I havent had a landline phone for about 25 years. As for my 96 yo having an alert system that is a long sad story of elder abuse, medical, corporate & government corruption with questions asked in parliament and promptly shoveled under the carpet - sounds a bit like your compo settlement.

@FrayedBear There are at leastv 3 people within a 3 minute walk of my house thathave the 'Alert Systems' installed in their houses, they consist of a pendant with an Alert button on it plus a large red button affixed to a wall about less than an arms length from the floor in a hallway, each sends a rapid, UHF radio signal direct to the Ambulance Service and the Police when pressed which includes the precise location from which the alert was sent, range of between 10 and 15 kilometres.
Mr. Walters, born at 11.59 pm on March, 31st, 1921 has had to use his twice in the last 10 years and has survived each time.

@Triphid I'm sure that there are many who have benefited. About 2 years ago I had to call 000 ambulance NSW from 1200 klms away to ensure that he got one after having sat doing nothing with a nose bleed for two hours! Alert buttons only work if you are prepared to push them and are connected.

@FrayedBear Well the type 'I'm lucky not to have been an April Fools baby' and the rest have are very efficient, professionally connected and are serviced every 3 weeks as well.

@Triphid I think when you are 96 abused by family, medical professionals and having lived under Nazi fascism your views become engrained.

@FrayedBear Hey, I WAS abused in almost ALL the ways you can imagine by my mother as a child, as for 'abuse by medical professionals' well in ALL my years as a nurse I can safely say that I know of ONLY 4 occasion where a Medical Profeesional abused a patient/s.
But can also remember, very clearly COUNTLESS cases of Medical Professionals and Workers being abused by patients, etc, etc, but never once have I seen either a Doctor or a nurse retaliate against and abusive patient, etc.
As a nurse I have been spat upon, had faeces thrown at me, kicked, punched, sworn at, copped verbal abuse in words and terms that are beyond imagination, etc, etc, but have kept my 'cool' even though the thought of a quick slap around chops had crossed my mind.
Err, may one ask how you actually lived under 'Nazi Fascism' perchance?

@Triphid I refer to my 96yo acquaintance who grew up in Holland under Nazi occupation. It is he who had a hospital wongfully tell his daughter that he had had a stroke & should sell his house to buy one of their units. Furthermore his GP's demented geriatric partner wrote to the RTA to get his driving license cancelled. They had to reissue it. All elder abuse of the worst sort bar physical violence though it took 2 years to recover from wrongly prescribed medication to wrongly lift his normal heart rate and low blood pressure from 62bpm to an abnormal 80! He also lives on his own and still safely drives.

@FrayedBear Well perhaps your 96 y.o. friend might consider taking the matter up with A.M.A. as a recourse.

@Triphid Pissing in the wind. He brought it to his State MP's attention, labor I think,- no reponse. You are not allowed to call out the health service!
I reported an incident at the local hospital several years ago when a dental drill exploed off the air hose into my mouth. I was lucky not to end up looking like Karloff with it sticking out my neck.I had two years of bureaucratic ineptitude, lies, misdirection and frustration. Only a few months ago I was told that it had occurred because routine maintenance had ceased on the instruction of the department head in order to save money. However the problem is far worse in that dentists are not trained to daily examine equipment - even my car spray painter does that every day!
Professionals? Crap.

@FrayedBear Hey, all I can do is to make my suggestion as to what he can try to do.

@Triphid Sadly many still think that Australia is not run by corrupted bureaucracies and accountable employees.

@FrayedBear Aw, Geez Louise M8, how about taking a 'happy pill' for a change PLEASE, as they say, " Yesterday is yesterday and what was done yesterday is passed and cannot be changed, today is today and tommorrow is the future and that is where changes can be made."

@powder I hope so too.

Morrison was spouting about how some things the population were doing during lockdown were un-Australian. This is the surely the most un-Australian suggestion ever.

I refer to the grit and determination of The Castle. I’m a Pom with an Aussie wife and been here for 13 years now and my respect and admiration for Australians has only grown stronger.

What has happened for politicians to be able to push Australians around. ‘There is something rotten in the state of Denmark’ to paraphrase Hamlet!

@powder Hey, what else would one expect from a self-righteous, Happy Clappy Jesus Chappy God-botherer?

@powder Prick!

@Geoffrey51 Hey, isn't that being just a wee bit nice to ScumMo, after all, pricks are useful aren't they....LOL.

@Geoffrey51 I tend to think it is probably because of all 'hype' they've spewed out about Terrorism, etc, etc, over the last few elections that has allowed them to erode away at our Civil Rights so radily and easily.
After all, scare tactics are the best weapon any politician has in his/her armoury, is it not?

Sadly, in my honest opinion, the NOW generations, for the most part, are so bloody apathetic that they just don't give a flying f**k any more.