The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
The Forum - On Line Opinion's article discussion area



Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Main Articles General

Sign In      Register

The Forum > Article Comments > Sustaining growth > Comments

Sustaining growth : Comments

By Kevin Pittman, published 26/7/2006

There isn't enough water, power supply can be shaky, roads are a health hazard, doctors are in short supply - but the sunshine is lovely.

  1. Pages:
  2. Page 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. All
“All infrastructure in South East Queensland is totally inadequate”

Yes, just about! It certainly isn’t just water supply or health or congestion on our roads or the power network, but many others that Kevin Pittman didn’t mention, such as overall environmental degradation, both of the natural and humanised environment, and the police force and law enforcement in general.

“Are politicians going to try to slow down growth in any way until we fix any of these problems? The answer is 'No'.”

Well we finally have an author who has at least asked the great taboo question!

“State and local government are addicted to the extra revenue they get from a growing population. And many politicians and local government councillors are addicted to the campaign funding they get from “civic-minded” developers - legislation to constrain growth is unmentionable.”

Yes… and this is the absolute key point that we need to get around – and make our governments accountable for implementing balance, instead of grossly pandering to this future-destroying continuous growth dogma.

No matter what government does, the problems won’t be fixed until they get it through their thick heads that the growth (human expansion, not technological development) issue itself MUST be addressed head-on, and full-on.
Posted by Ludwig, Wednesday, 26 July 2006 9:08:29 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
It is quite clear that the Queensland government has more than it's hands full just managing the problems of the South East, let alone those of the rest of the state. And the inescapable conclusion is that it is seriously under-delivering to all.

Yet, we still have this absurd situation where we fly MPs from Cairns, Townsville, Rockhampton and Roma all the way to Brisbane to listen to endless debate about problems in the South East. What a waste when they could have remained closer to home working on their own problems and comming up with solutions that might actually work.

It is the first duty of any professional to his clients, to recognise those circumstances and situations when they cannot deliver the quality and quantity of the desired service. Merely "faking it" in the hope that one won't get caught out is normally regarded as a serious breach of professional duty of care.

And there is no shortage of MPs from legal and other professional backgrounds that have had this drilled into them before they entered Parliament.

So when will they be true to their own professional ethics and split the state into two or three new states within the commonwealth so that the elected representatives can bring the proper focus and attention to the problems of their own region. And actually fix something after a proper process of careful consideration.

Ersats autonomy like regional medical boards etc, will not fix the fundamental problem if the decision makers are still spread too thinly over too many nuances within too many issues. We need a regional state health minister, working with a federal health minister, and liaising with local MPs at both levels, to spend their own regional share of GST funds on their own priorities.

But anything would be better than the joke we've got now.
Posted by Perseus, Wednesday, 26 July 2006 10:39:04 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Because of the crises (continuing to grow) it is clear that the Beattie Government (which has been in power for a long time has no idea of how to govern Queensland.
Posted by baldpaul, Wednesday, 26 July 2006 11:29:59 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
"The real problem - is that we have an ageing society where the supply of young people is less than we need --."
'Taint necessarily so.
Apart from currently living beyond the means of our environmental and social resources, the "real problem" is more likely to be an unbalanced society in regard to age structure - whether young or old. And the only way to give some permanance to overcoming that is to stabilise our population.
We would then need to adjust our social/economic system to such stability and the subsequent slow variation of its age structure and associated health and productive capabilities.
On a per-capita basis, costs such as health and education associated with the first twenty years of the younger portion of our population are far in excess of the aggregated costs associated with the post-workforce component.
The basics for stabilisation are in place - Australian women have already chosen a fertility rate of 1.8, less than the 2.1 replacement level, although it will be another generation before that takes effect. When it does, immigration can be adjusted to provide stabilised numbers.
However, what seems to be the "most likely" situation (according to demographer Peter McDonald) is a population increased to 31.9 million by mid century. That supposes the most likely immigration intake, and represents an increase of about half above Australia's present population.
The most ardent advocates of increasing population are the Business and Property councils; and Governments (of all persuasions) that depend upon income from such things as stamp duty from property sales, and election campaign support from the noisy end of the business community. As long as the numbers increase, age structure is only a subsidiary consideration.
Bernefits from population increase accrue to only a select few of present society. The downside of a slide towards a Mexico City style of social environment is left to future residents for remidial action.
It is no fun, watching an accelerating slide in that direction.
Posted by colinsett, Wednesday, 26 July 2006 11:34:00 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
"On a per-capita basis, costs such as health and education associated with the first twenty years of the younger portion of our population are far in excess of the aggregated costs associated with the post-workforce component"

Education, certainly. Young people go to school.

Health, I think not. Curious to see this data.
Posted by TurnRightThenLeft, Wednesday, 26 July 2006 1:12:50 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Rest assured I won’t go to Queensland: the sunshine isn’t lovely, it’s far too hot and you don’t even get a decent winter. I like winters. The rest of your problems sound familiar.
Posted by Robg, Wednesday, 26 July 2006 1:26:19 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
  1. Pages:
  2. Page 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. All

About Us :: Search :: Discuss :: Feedback :: Legals :: Privacy