I'm a non-breeder and I resent my tax being forked over to people who spawn young to gratify their ego and primal instincts.

That said, the OP is ridiculous. "Families receive too many handouts, therefore children shouldn't be protected from drowning". Do people go to the polls and vote using this kind reasoning?

Nice spray Hasbeen - I certainly hope that feel better now, and that you washed your hands afterwards. Given the litany of woes that you relate, it's fascinating that you refer to me as miserable and humourless. I'm not the one with guard dogs and electric fences, whingeing about having to patrol my property with a shotgun.

Look, I agree to some extent about the ever-increasing burden of regulation on many aspects of modern life, and in the current case the proposed fee for mandatory inspections seems outrageous. However, I was responding to the appallingly selfish premise in Cuphandle's original post - as well summarised by Sancho.

I think that it would be much more effective if those who are upset by the proposed new regulations and costs were to voice their opposition in reasonable and logical terms, rather than ranting and raving about "breeders" and "lefties" while displaying callous indifference to the deaths of far too many little kids in domestic swimming pools throughout Australia.

Hasbeen: << I recently did the maths on council rates, & charges. If they keep compounding, as they have for the last 8 years, they will exceed my gross income in 2022 >>

I wouldn't worry too much, old chap. If you keep up your current approach to life you'll undoubtedly have given yourself a stroke or heart attack well before then.

CJMorgan:

I noted the vitriol of your most "menstrual" comments and advise you that I am NOT prepared to enter into the "little girlie" exercise of trading insults and name-calling!

This is an Opinion Forum and we each can have our say without resorting to criticizing one`s paternity!

I wish you well and hope that the nail-holes in your feet and hands heal quickly!

Kneejerk Reaction: (continued from my Original Post!):

This latest act of insanity cannot prevent or lessen the incidence of drowning when parents are NOT in total control of their children, which seems to be a very commonplace situation in today`s society,...just visit any local Shopping Centre or Mall and take note of the number of uncontrolled children running riot in the shopping areas...( and woe betide any parent who smacks their child for being naughty!)

Point of interest Anna Bligh,....are you and your minions going to compel the current owners of Cubbie Station to install a child-proof fence around their monstrous dam? Are you going to insist on a fence around Wivenhoe and all the other dams in Queensland. Are you, while we are at it, going to fence all the rivers, creeks and for good measure all of the ocean front?....You people are a bunch of Knee-jerk reactionaries, who will jump at every opportunity to grab a few extra votes, and whose mentality needs some very serious investigation!

I suppose a lot of people are fed up
with councils raising their rates,
and imposing certain laws on their
constituents that will mean their
being forced to outlay even more money.

That's a perfectly natural resentment.

None of us are keen to part with our hard earned
cash. Especially during tough times.

But, tough times don't last. Tough people do.
And, if these laws mean that careless people will be
forced to take extra care with the fencing of
their pools and thereby possibly saving small children's
lives - perhaps we should look at the bigger
picture after all?

I know it's frustrating that we are being forced
to have to pay for someone else's lack of responsibility.
And it's fair enough to say, "Be responsible for your
own kids." But obviously not everyone is. That's why
the Council is bringing in laws for the good of
the entire community.

And if bringing in these laws will mean saving even
one child's life - won't it be worth it?

That's the decision that each has to make here.
What kind of a community do you want to live in?
The kind where people care about each other?
Or the kind where - people only care about themselves?

I know what kind I would like to live in.

Interesting that the Qld government's swimming pool proposals have the support of the LNP Opposition:

<< The State Opposition says it supports an overhaul of Queensland's pool safety laws, but believes it is long overdue. >>

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/12/15/2446180.htm

The review, and its bipartisan support, may well be prompted by this sort of thing, reported on ABC Local Radio this morning:

<< AN INQUEST into the death of Laidley toddler Hannah Plint has heard the backyard pool in which she drowned and its surrounding fence, built by the property’s former owners, had not been approved by council. >>

http://www.thechronicle.com.au/story/2008/12/16/girl-drowned-unapproved-pool/

One wonders how such unapproved pools and ineffective fencing might be detected without some kind of inspection.

Kneejerk Insanity it isn't.
In fact - alles ist in ordnung im Qvueenslandt!
Why we cannot have a society where swimming pools owned by the alleged upper crust are situated in cosy enclosed spaces - you know, where children wouldn't usually 'attend' without specific enticemen - I mean invitation from those who, hey hey, specifically wanted them there.

I mean - let's get real. You sorry set that argued amongst yourselves, above, haven't mentioned the recent water crisis, or how certain pool safety installations might also minimise evaporation from your rarely used status symbol.

Your utter disregard for children of your district would once have had even Hitler chewing the carpet and issuing papers against you.

Then your own disregard for your own health goes something like this - this week, five goannas, two cats, a koala, five guinea pigs, oh and that possum. Oh well, another handful of chlorine'll fix that.

Exactly how many fistsful of pool chlorine does it take to absorb the bodily fluids of a drowned child?
I only wish to God that we did have feral elephants roaming the back yards of Kenmore and Indooroopilly.
This society, or what passes for one, has gone past greed and selfishness.
Though, as I said earlier, nothing can be expected of sense and self-determination by the populace, when an even more mindless government continues making laws that do not need be made.

Canute did not ask to be placed before the incoming tide to prove he could halt the tide. He did that to prove that kings too were mortal.
Bligh expects too much. In that at least the squallers above are correct.