"0tterbot" wrote in message
.com...
"David Hare-Scott" wrote in message
...
I don't really think this is OT but I have labelled it as such in case.
Many aspects of the future of this country are tied up in this - not the
least of which is whether or not the ratbags in Canberra can ever put
aside party politics to get on with actually governing.

Here is the executive summary

http://www.thebasinplan.mdba.gov.au/...cutive-summary

One point to note about the process, as opposed to the content, is that
both Parties voted for the Water Act of 2007 that specifies what the
Commission must do. So any polly who now says the Commission is not
doing what they should be doing is either ignorant or a liar or both.
Similarly any who say there is a solution that will make everybody happy
should go back on to their medication and preferably resign public
office.

I feel confident that we will now see a rush of populism as those who
need to shore up shaky numbers will snatch some headlines by taking the
part of the irrigators who are currently feeling pain whether or not it
is in the irrigators' or the nation's long term interest to do so.

i suspect that if there were to be a noticably big rush of populism you'd
have seen it by now (from the liberal party of course - not the nationals
as they can't seem to manage to participate in big rushes of anything at
all, really :-) it's not clear to me that any self-serving... oops, i
mean, self-respecting politician is going to get too animated about a
bunch of disrespectful angry rednecks having town meetings & putting on a
bit of performance art when all that has happened is that the matter is
finally open for discussion. there's no mass of public support either way
really - which makes it hard to fit a definition of "populist", you must
agree.

on some level, everyone knows that if the river dies then all the towns
along it are going to die anyway, water entitlements notwithstanding.
there will always be groups of people who argue voraciously against their
own self-interest (as well as the interests of everyone else) & it's
frankly time to ignore that sort of carry-on in the pursuit of a solution
that helps everyone & where everyone has to change some of their
behaviours or expectations. being ridiculously optimistic at times, i hope
to see such a solution at the end of this process!

philosophically, it completely exasperates me that country people &
farmers especially, long regarded as the biggest whingers the world has
ever seen or ever will, are acting out that stereotype for the cameras yet
again, & cannot gain anything at all by doing that, instead of trying to
participate helpfully & help solve the problems for themselves & everyone
else.

i grew up in an irrigation area & there, whingeing is like fresh air or
sunshine, they apparently need a little every day just to be going on
with - it must be something in the water g. (i don't live in such an
area now, & there's not much to whinge about here, except the local
council :-) i am tired of such people purporting to be representative. we
don't live in a world where it's just 1953 every day of one's life - it's
time to move on & make some changes & make real plans for the future.

thanks for listening to me whinge! g
kylie
p.s. i think bob katter is fairly adorable in many ways really, but i also
disagree with the perennial idea (one of his personal favourites) that
"rural areas" are all going to drop dead within weeks without endless
subsidies, special treatment, big water entitlements, gobs of middle-class
welfare, and so forth. if that were really true, the kindest thing to do
would be to let them die, ... which i very much doubt would actually
happen. it is probably past time to call the bluff of some of these
people. the irrigators merely should be going first.

I used to be a constituent of Bob's, he is not universally loved there, but
he is a noisy axle (needs greasing). I admired his stand when the other 2
supposed rural reps went commo. I prefer to eat Australian rice, first the
drought and now maybe faceless cityites will prevent that. I want this
country to grow it's own food. I do not support waste in any industry. I
lived in the Victorian wheat belt for a while and in southern inland Qld as
well as up north with Bob. We don't sell enuf overseas to be able to afford
to be net importers of food. I am watching a local farmer increase the size
of my little village by selling the odd paddock or 3 to developers. More
people less productive land, catch 22?????????