Politics – Everybody's got something to hide except for me and my monkey

Another post this week in the lead up to the election. Who knows, maybe this will actually become a habit.

Politics is lacking in many areas, and the most glaring is truth. Why is it so hard for these people to tell the truth? Why do we need spin doctors working the angles?

It's because they do not serve you the tax paying public.

Every election I hear a dreaded plea from all sides, the promise of “Tax Cuts” and the people just eat it up. I do not believe in tax cuts. Tax cuts mean less money for the government to do their job. I don't want to pay more tax, but I want to pay the right amount of tax. In fact, I think they should change it from tax to subscription.

Each fortnight I have an amount of money taken from my pay to be used by the government to build roads, expand, replace and maintain infrastructure, provide health care and social services, law enforcement, border protection, and dozens of other services. I consider this my subscription to live in this society. If you do not pay this subscription the services disappear or are replaced by private providers at an increased cost directly to the user.

When I am happy with how the government utilises my subscriptions I take the minimum tax return, when I am unhappy I take back as much as the system will allow me. I consider this my monetary protest against the government. Sadly, this only works for the federal government and not the state.

I have had many discussions with people regarding a range of topics to do with government services where people don't believe they are getting value for money. I agree for the most part that our governments squander the funds of the people. Over recent decades there have been bouts of outsourcing and privatisation that have almost always lead to an increase in costs on the community at large, and often with a reduction in quality of service/product. There have been bouts of downsizing and streamlining, which again has usually resulted n increased cost and poorer service.

In this state election, both sides have said they're going to cut back the public service and I wonder why? The Public Service has less people in it now than when the population was smaller than today. Labor have hired a private firm to analyse the Public Sector for ¾ billion $ in savings. Liberal have said they want the same saving but are going to work with Senior Public Sector employees to gauge where the reductions should be. I can pretty much tell you where they'll come from – Administration. Administration is the easy target in all downsizing of the Public Sector and the public will get behind it because Administration aren't Doctors, Nurses, Police, Fire, or other 'Uniforms'. Administration are the people who do their typing, answer their phones, do the filing, and generally enable the 'Uniforms' to be out of the office doing the job their paid for. There is a great deal of paperwork associated with these 'uniform' functions, and plenty more as Parliament legislates extra reporting for this that and the other.

For some reason the public don't seem to get this side of the equation. There seems to be a general opinion in the public that Public Servants are paper pushing bludgers, and I admit there are a few out there but they are the minority. Like anywhere, there are people employed who just aren't right for the job. Like I said, they are few. Should the many be penalised because of a few the rort the system? No, I don't think they should.

What is needed is a hard look at who they have and why they have them. An example of this is my recent trip to Melbourne. I ate out a lot and found that the quality of the service staff was generally of a very high quality. Competition has forced a higher standard of service. Here in South Australia we take what we can get. This attitude is true beyond hospitality and permeates every industry.

Tax cuts also mean increases in other revenue areas such as licensing, fines and stamp duty. Never trust a government that says that they'll give a tax cut and take nothing away elsewhere. It's all lies. No government will harm its revenue stream in such a way – If they give with one hand, they'll be taking with the other seven. On the radio I heard an ad by someone to do with the election that some party is promising to lower taxes for businesses to allow them to hire more staff. This made me chuckle a little as a number of companies that I've worked for would just take the extra profit and run and not worry about hiring any more staff (or at least not unless they actually needed to because of workload and not doing so would impact profits).

A large area where the truth is somewhat lacking is regarding employment figures. Today I saw some propaganda regarding job creation in South Australia. Currently Labor says that it has been responsible for the creation of 110,000 new jobs. What they don't report is ho many jobs have disappeared nor the ration of full time to part-time positions. I think these are vital pieces of information to contextualise these 110,000 jobs especially in light of the Government removing 1200 Full Time equivalent positions last financial year with at least another 200 Full Time equivalent positions to go in the next financial year. I think it's important to declare these jobs as equivalent to full time employment. It gives shape to the statistic. For example, if the 110,000 jobs were actually part time positions at half time, that would mean the equivalent of 55,000 FTE. It's a stark difference in the power of the numbers, and it is all about numbers.

To win at politics, you need to control the information, or more specifically the interpretation of the information. You need to ensure that the words you use take on the meaning you want with the public. If everyone interprets what you say differently then there is chaos and no accord can be reached. If however you control the language and make your opponents use your words, terms definitions, it puts you up a step because they have to try a take that power from you. No easy task.

When you control the language, the truth become malleable and loses any meaning beyond what you give it.

I would like to see this change, but I know that it won't until people reclaim the power they have given away, until the government is forced to listen to the people and do as they demand. People need to take back the truth and demand better of their government. They need to destroy the spin and make politics straight.

Like I'm fond of saying, I'm an optimist.

Politics: Lame Ducks sitting in a row

So, it seems that the political debate has finally warmed to room temperature. There are policies starting to appear, but very thinly formed and filled with rhetoric and catch phrases. I'm honestly having a hard time working out who not to vote for.

Each party representative this election has no major view for the future, is regressive, poorly spoken, and going by all the Election posters that have littered the greater metropolitan area – a robot. The photos of these people make me mistrust that they are even of the same species as me. The smiles are rigid and fake, their eyes glazed and mistrustful. Basically the photos convey a contempt for he voting public I didn't think I'd see in this marketing rich society. Did each of the parties decide to outsource their marketing to the lowest bidder? Or did they do their own marketing (and if they did, go hire a reputable company now, you may save your seat)?

I have seen ads on TV and I can't figure out which party they support until the rapid fire 'authorised by' at the end. Do our politicians, their parties, and the marketing guru's they should have hired, have so low an opinion of the population that they believe no effort should be made to win us over? Are South Australians so die-hard in their voting preferences that poor performance doesn't matter?

Any way it flows, it looks like this election will have an interesting result, if only for the myriad of independents flooding the market who have yet to declare their preferences. There was an article in local press earlier his week that stated that there were four seats where independents looked like they'd win out and that it could take days or weeks after the election for them to choose their preference. This appals my sense of democracy. These people should be forced to declare prior to the election which way any vote to them will flow – this is what I mean by I don't know who not to vote for. I long for transparency, and I know I shall probably never see it.

I have said before that the only way to change to political system is to enter into membership with a party and start to build power within. The only problem with this is trying to choose which party to join. None of the parties actually share my philosophies of social justice, egalitarianism, progressive transparent governance, environmentalism, corporate/social balance. These things just don't occur in a single party. I could start my own party but tat seems very much like pissing into a cyclone while standing on a flagpole, mostly because nobody would believe what I said unless it was scandalous, and scandal sells newspapers and doesn't build an independent political activist power. So I guess it means that must simply keep doing what I'm doing and try to influence people through conversation to think and act regarding our society.

Regarding voting again, this morning I heard a very funny quote from Rann which went something like this: Just because you don't like me, doesn't mean you should vote against me.

What made me laugh about this is that 'media' Mike, the politician 'adored' by the public is suddenly on the back foot after years of him telling us how likeable he is and we have finally found out that he is not.

He then went on to discuss the 'great wins' that his government has achieved. While he may have scored some wins, it's all the losses that concern me more. So many projects that have been announced then turned into something else like the tram to nowhere which is now the tram to football park but was supposed to be the tram to North Adelaide – linking the Festival Centre, Adelaide Oval, the Women's and Children's Hospital, and the Entertainment precinct of North Adelaide into the network. After a recent trip to Melbourne, I must say that I like the idea of trams running the city grid and major arterials out. It works there and runs on time. I'd love to see something similar occur to Adelaide where the Public transport system runs on time so long as it not out 10 minutes either side of he scheduled stop. I am deeply concerned about our water usage and storage and very disappointed that the promises to increase the reservoirs has become a phantom of the budget.

Another thing that has really got me about this election is all the new independents that have come from the woodwork on single policy platforms for the Upper House.

This increase in upper-house activism seems to be directly linked to the general dissatisfaction felt across the state. There are the 'law and order', 'save the RAH', 'gamers' and more. It astonishes me that there is a party that is based around computer games getting a better rating system to ensure that adults are free to choose their entertainment as well better restrict the availability of explicit material to minors. It's a cause I agree with, but seriously a party based around this? The Gamers of Croyden are doing their best to be more than a single policy group, but this issue is one that should never have gotten to this point and highlights how out of touch our governance is. The RAH party is another one that gets me. I think that most people would want a new hospital built to the best standard we can and designed for expansion – sadly this isn't what the labor party want either, they just want something shiny that doesn't go anywhere near far enough to meeting near future demand.

In the mail today I received some personally addressed propaganda from Robyn Geraghty, the current member for Torrens. She asks me if I want our community to go forwards or backwards then lists off some dot points, most of which mean nothing to me. Two points are specific to seniors – I'm a long way off of being a senior – and I don;t really think concessions are the way to go but what can she do to change the living costs of our society or improve the pension or superannuation? Nothing because she is powerless in these matters. She mentions eduction, but Super-Schools are nt my idea of bettering education, how about more resources? She mentions hoon drivers, but their plan is to take away their licenses which will just mean more unlicensed drivers and bigger strain on our courts and prison system. She mentions that Labor have put 600 more police on the streets, but has not mentioned that the government has been getting rid of support staff for these very same officers forcing them to spend more time off the street.
And to top it off, Robyn wrote a little PS – With your support I can continue to work for you.

I wonder if this little note will sway anyone? Personally, I'm not. To me, this letter highlights how out of touch Robyn and Labor is. Will she be getting my vote? No, I don't think so. So I should be glad that now I have one person on my list of 'who not to vote for.

So, until my next blog, goodnight reader.

Politics: Elections

Some mornings I look up into the sky and wonder what the point is. All around me people are hurrying to get themselves ready for the work day, I can hear the cars along the main roads near my home ferrying people to their destinations. Nearby I hear a TV broadcasting the days news and I really have to wonder what's it all about? We dedicate so much of our time to work so we can have leisure time that we are almost always to tired to enjoy.

And then, every four years we have an election where the politicians throw around catchphrases like work life balance and it gets under my skin and crawls. These politicians, so removed from the every day world that the rest of us live in, telling us that their goal is to create a better balance.

And that brings me to what people do to entertain themselves. On the news over the past few days (and repeatedly on and off when there is nothing better to say) the state government has been putting forward the idea that 'hoon' drivers should have their licenses stripped permanently if they are a repeat offender. This topic came up at dinner last night and it got me wondering: Why do they always jump ahead to the banning stage? Surely there must be steps in between for them to consider.

Regarding the 'hoon' driver: Has the government considered setting up licensed arenas/tracks whereby these people could fulfil their urge to do burnouts, race others, or just get their cars up to very high speeds for a nominal fee? The track could be equipped with first aid, fire control facilities, safety barriers, etc. Surely, if these people wee given a legal alternative, they would take it? What's that you say, there already exists such places? True but you have to use their cars and they are quite expensive. The 'hoon', I believe, wants to use their own car that they've had kitted out to their specifications.

Now there is another thing, the car kits. We have made easily available all manner of ways to improve the performance of cars over and above the factory specifications. Are these to be banned as well? Or maybe restrictions made on their sale – not available to anyone under the age of 21, subject to successful completion of Defensive and Offensive Driving Certificates?

Maybe the government needs to look at the skills we give to drivers, the basic knowledge we ask them to have to hold a license? There is a written test to get your Learners Permit, followed by a mandatory number of lessons behind the wheel to get your Probationary License. A Full License is granted upon a certain amount of time spent with your probationary license. There are also certain limitations on the vehicles that people with these licenses can drive. I believe this should be enhanced. In order to gain your full license, I believe that you should have to undertake Defensive and Offensive driving lessons and need to pass a skills test. By adding these hopefully the driver will learn more about handling a car in a variety of conditions and make the roads safer.

And that is a big point – Safer. This I all about making it safer to travel on the roads and simply banning repeat offenders from holding a license won't do. How do you stop them driving unlicensed? You can't. If you want to solve the problem you need to go back to basics and start at the beginning. But what of the hundreds of thousands of drivers who have licenses but are poorly skilled? You enforce them to do undertake these Defensive and offensive courses to improve theirs as well, then you make mandatory skills testing every five years to maintain your license.

Too far you think? Certainly not as far as banning outright for life and promoting the unlicensed use of cars.

Dangerous driving is serious issue and one that cannot be buttonholed into 'Hoon' or 'Drunk' or 'Drugged' drivers. The problem is global and needs to be treated as such.

Another entertainment topic: Drinking

Having a drink is part of our culture. Friday night after work, Saturday night on the town. These are things that are promoted as being OK by most. However drunkenness is not.
Most nights in any country/city/town that allows for the consumption of alcohol there will be people drinking to get drunk. If they keep it to themselves and avoid making a spectacle most people let it slide. It's when it becomes a spectacle that people start o take offence (usually completely ignoring any time they might have done it themselves). That's when the media circus starts and society is bombarded by tales of drink gone bad.

I personally like a bit of a drink and spent time last week tasting a variety of wines in Victoria. Did I get loud? No I did not, but I did get nicely buzzed. I did however see a great many people completely snozzled and making asses of themselves. And of course it all makes me wonder, if this such a taboo thing to do, why do we allow it to keep occurring? A large part of it I think is cultural – Australia has long talked itself up as a working class beer swilling culture able to handle copious amounts of alcohol. We also spend a great deal of money on anti-drinking advertising which does little to dissuade people.

So, do we invest more in the anti-drinking advertising? Do we continue to raise taxes on alcohol?We've been doing these things for years with little effect. Maybe we need to think of a new way of teaching people about moderation. Who knows? Certainly not me. I do enjoy my alcohol, be it wine, beer, or spirit. And I do it in moderation for the most part.

So what is the point of this blog entry? Nothing really. Maybe it is just to complain about how none of the political parties actually understand the people, their responsibility, or anything that really matters. And for those that don't vote, don't come complaining to me when the government does what you don't want because you couldn't even be bothered to take part.

So, on the election... What's there to say? I'm not sure what any of the parties are going for although I have been told that Labor launched a website today. Maybe it will contain more lies for the public to chew on like week old gristle. Maybe there will be promises of water resources and environmentalism. I doubt it will be substantial and like most things this current government has said they'll do, it will disappear like so much hot air.

The election is but a few days away and I've only heard hot air and personal attacks. I heard that the Liberals want to do 5 things immediately upon entering government:
1.Fix the RAH. A fine and noble thought, but in order to fix the RAH there are some serious works that need to be done. The RAH is our central hospital. It is a mismatch of architectural styles having been added to over decades. It is a rabbit warren and not particularly user friendly. I would rather see a new one built and the land handed over to the botanic gardens to create a wonderful public space. Although, I don't want it built over the rail yards.
2.Use Storm water retention for drinking water. Have they looked at the toxins that are in our storm water? The run-off of the city is filled with a vast array of pollutants. How about they actually build the reservoir expansions that have been promised us for years? How about they force industry to use recycled water instead of potable drinking water?
3.500 Tasers for police. This should have already been done and it is a crime that it hasn't. Wasn't this already blocked by the upper house?

There were two more, but at the moment I can't remember them. That's how memorable the liberal hyperbole is. I'm not sure if I've even seen a Labor advertisement. I think I'll look them up today and see what I can find out. Maybe there'll even be another blog this week.

I guess this means that my only reader will7 be asking me what I do want out of all this. Well, here we go, and please remember that I'm an idealist.

I want and honest government, with complete transparency.
I want every politicians earnings to be laid bare for the public to see.
I want every decision and debate published. I want politicians to use the common language and talk straight.
I want politicians to declare their individual beliefs and stand by them, and if the party overrides I want them to tell their constituents.
I want a strong opposition that doesn't spend their time arguing for the sake of arguing and blocking things because it wasn't their idea.
I want parliamentary privilege revoked and politicians held accountable for their words.
I want them to stop playing Sudoku (or any other games) in Parliament.
I want a progressive government willing to do what it takes to bring this state forward rather than waste another 4 years..
I want government that is unwilling to sacrifice public service and infrastructure for the sake of a credit rating.
I want a government that will accept the best bid not the lowest for projects.
I want a government that supports its citizens.

There's more, but I'll leave it at that. Like I said I'm an idealist. If ever such change is to occur we need, like so many other things wrong with our society, to go back to basics and start rebuilding from the ground up. The current administration and its opposition are equally poor choices to serve the people.

In politics, the elected officials serve the party first and the party sets its own agenda for what should be done.

When was the last time you as a citizen were asked your opinion regarding something in your community/electorate/state? I've never been asked. I have sent suggestions and received a form letter response, but never a personal one.

Welcome to democracy, Australian style, where your vote counts for less than the printed ballot paper.