Ludwig

I suppose you have a point. After all the minerals belong to all Australians. Its Australia. Another thing its pretty wild and woolly in NT & WA. I dont mind it myself but my point is we can have two states not becoming civilized. One of our daily problems Ludwig is coordinating the different states with the different so called codes of practices. Its a nightmare already. I think they are basing their strategy on greed tbo. What I mean by that is- they feel the minerals are theirs and not the Australian public's.
The fact is these resources belong to the whole of Australia - not just western Australians.
My other concern would be WA have a bad habit's of putting all their eggs in one basket.
We have seen this with live exports because they have not bothered to have alternative markets. Therefor its quite unsustainable.

As soon as something goes wrong the entire industry stops.

Now they want to do likewise with minerals. If it were up to me I might allow it - because when the minerals run out in 50?

Thats when they will want to return to the fold.

A very dangerous idea for peoples grandkids-- but no skin off my nose

Cheers

I think perhaps it should be kept in mind that all our existing state and territorial borders are purely political constructs; they have no geographic, ethnic or cultural significance.
Why not go back to the original 500 odd aboriginal nations? At least they are/were culturally and linguistically significant. Of course, then you would have the nation enclosing such places as the Hammerslys asking why it should subsidise other nations which just happen to share the same island/continent...

Hi Ludwig,
My sentiments exactly, I am evenhanded about the whole thing, I just wanted to throw my hat into the ring so see what other's thoughts were.
Perhaps some things should change at the behest of the Feds, for example, a uniform Hospital system, same with Police and other Major Government agencies, but often times, the Feds, hand down policies (although, I cannot name one yet ((I am full of a bad cold right now)),
which have no bearing on the different ways of life applicable to the larger States/Territories of this wonderful vast Country. Unfortunately there is an endemic problem with our City pollies, whereby some of them have no idea about the folk who live remotely in W.A., I would imagine it is the same with Qld.
Good to hear from you Ludwig.
NSB

Hi Ludwig,
I agree that Barnett was totally right to increase/impose mining tax. I become a little antsy when I see the millions disappearing into the ether of faraway countries. My main beef is with the massive spending proposed to re-design the Perth fore shore and such like.
Ah Me! the vagaries of life. Will go out and do some grocery shopping and then rest my weary body and nurse my dreadful cold., and dream of warmer climes.
NSB

Yabby, you wrote:

<< At the moment the place is treated like a cash cow and little else. .. WA gets a few scraps and all the costs of infrastructure to bankroll the rest of the country >>

I can’t see it. I can see a quality of life, including infrastructure and services, which is just the same as for the rest of the country. There are no significant differences.

This indicates a pretty fair wealth distribution mechanism, I would think.

So, in what ways do you think WA is not getting a fair deal?

Ludwig, you are wrong about services mate.

But to start with I have mentioned that my son is the 4Th generation of this family serving in our defence force, so I guess we must approve of Oz.

However the lack of resources, particularly where the money that pays for them comes from is disgusting.

Drive from Broken Hill to Moranbah, & compare the road to those around Brisbane, or particularly that total waste of space Canberra, & you will get an idea.

Again think just where you would like to have a heart attack. Much better to be a city based public servant, than one of the miners, or stock men who pay that bureaucrats salary.

If the infrastructure & services were a bit better distributed, there would not be so many complaints. If there is to be an imbalance, the large teaching hospitals, & universities in Qld should be some where up Rockhampton/Mackay way, definitely not in Brisbane.

While you are relatively well treated in the Townsville/Cairns region, the rest of the state is basically a mine for money to be wasted in George st Brisbane.

This is not sour grapes either, I'm in chopper range of PA hospital, where my heart attacks have had great treatment.