SG1 wrote:
"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.

Amen to that. That doesn't mean necessarily that we should grow all foods
regardless of the climatic suitability or cost effectiveness of it.

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?????????

This is another continuing problem. Many towns and cities were established
in the most fertile part of the region - usually near rivers. Our planning
people keep allowing them to grow and plant houses instead of food. At some
point the comparably little good soil we have in reasonable rainfall areas
needs to be protected. Right now it is more profitable to dig it up for
coal or subdivide for building lots.

David