Yes Malcolm, but when and how?
Crying in the pretzels hasn't worked too well thus far!
Rhrosty.

Its always a pleasure to read Malcolm King's portents of doom about the City of Churches or is that the City of Desiccated Shrubberies?

Adelaide appears to have caught the British disease of rusty yet dreary UK midlands towns of the 1970s. The head of ASC was a Brit until levered out.

Its no coincidence that the Greens Party thrive in South Australia - proving that if you shrink an economy (eg. hopefully to reduce Global Warning) then that economy and its people suffer.

Bright young thing politicians who are forever Upper middle class can always fly away.

"graveyard zombies straight out of Stephen King's Pet Sematary" is a hoot. Not talking about RSVP or Eharmony?

You sound too imaginative for dusty Adelaide Malcolm. Get your Ticket of Leave and escape before they razor-wire Adelaideistan.

Pete

OK Malcolm, that's the easy bit. You've enunciated the situation. So now how about the reason, & perhaps a cure.

I'll have a go. To start with the place should never have existed. A little bit of arable land in the middle of a huge desert, It can't actually exist unless the eastern states are generous enough to send a heap of their water, which they could use more effectively themselves, down that big drain the Murray.

The only thing it ever offered without subsidy, was a living for a few subsistence farmers. It produces a few grapes, a bit of milk, a little wheat, & catches some fish. Still it is doubtful it could feed itself, without eastern help.

Yes it could have developed a nuclear industry, but ratbag greenies somehow prevailed to stop that. The population must have a suicide complex to have allowed that to happen. About the only useful thing they have done was supply an atomic testing area.

What to do about it? Well to start with we must stop wasting good eastern rainfall being used to fill a bloody great fresh water waterski dam, for Adelaide's unemployed to play in.

Then we must stop the ridiculous make work schemes, like building bad submarines in such a ridiculous part of the country.

Then we must rescind it's status as a state, [along with Tasmania of course], as it's population & usefulness only warrants territory status. Time to stop it, [& Tasmania], effecting the numbers in our national parliament.

Then harden our hearts & let it fade into history as a failed settlement in a hopeless area.

Perhaps have Israel rule over Adiladistan?

Then hook up a huge desalinator to a nuclear reactor - along with untold but efficient arms industries?

Now you're talking plantagenet, apart from the Efficient bit, the SA workforce has been feather bedded & over paid for too long to become efficient this centaury.

Oh & the arms industry. They have proved they can't build subs, or cars for that matter, so manufacturer is out, but they may be able to develop a nuclear industry, with imported labour.

So lets say, "I'd like to see that" but you'll have to swing it past the radical lefties & greenies.

Any future strategies involving change will be resisted strongly to maintain the status quo (most places including Australia).

Many phenomena in Australia and elsewhere are viewed negatively in Australia e.g. pay rates, the dole, immigration, population growth, environment etc. but such dog whistling keeps the media and citizens away from underlying causes.

Ageing (permanent) populations who live longer and are committed to voting, with politicians often now having two generations above them (vs one in the past). This means politicians (media etc.) are absolutely beholden to the baby boomers and oldies (while the growth of youth in Australia's population are largely temporary immigrants, with no voting rights nor access to benefits).

Related, this week Prospect from the UK commenting on the Tory Conference described the over 65s as the pampered generation who have locked up their benefits, rebates and pensions, possibly at the expense of younger generations http://tinyurl.com/ke8f7n3

Concern for democracy is that it becomes dominated by insider oldies versus outside young ones, whereby Greens, LNP and Labor = conservative, or the DLP.

Seems clearer that there appears to be strong inter generational issues emerging in the first world and elsewhere, but it seems that one still gets the benfits, while the young can expect something much less in future....