Finally, I registered to vote today. Phew, and about time. I’m very keen to cast my vote in the upcoming federal election, due sometime later this year. Australia is in a political shemozzle – there is a distinct lack of checks and balances, and a distinct feeling that we as a people are being railroaded by our elected ‘representatives’. A great case in point is the proposed Bell Bay Pulp Mill in Tasmania. It was failing the approval process, so what did the Tasmanian government do? It threw out the approval process and made a new one, specially designed to accept the mill proposal. Opponents of this erosion of proper process were thrown out of the governing party. This lack of tolerance for dissent speaks volumes – it raises my dodgy alarms, no doubt.
As it turns out, it looks a lot like the Tasmanian government had given the developers tacit approval way before the original approval process was wound up. The developers have been crying foul because they’ll lose money if the mill doesn’t go ahead. What does this say? They’ve signed contracts already. What does this mean? The Tasmanian government does not know what the words ‘representation’ and ‘democracy’ mean. The development was challenged in the high court, and the challengers lost. The response of the developing company was, effectively, ‘we’re big and have lots of money. Bow down ye peons and let us walk over ye, or else’. The Tasmanian government is curiously silent. The Australian federal government has benignly said ‘we can’t find any problems with whats going on’.
Stack that on mountains of lies and deception surrounding the war in Iraq, the Tampa affair, the GST and who knows what else, and we have a government that clearly cannot be trusted, and should not be allowed to take the reigns again. I’m happy that I will have my chance to kick ‘em out. Or at least, try. I’m thinking, once again, the Greens are the only viable way. They may not get in, but astute politicians will read the results, and hopefully pay attention to where there constituents place their vote. So vote with your conscience, and live in hope…
On to more savoury topics: In 12 days time I will be sailing south for Antarctica! Its so close, its unbelievable… I guess it will still be sinking in until I have my first spew over the rails in a 10m swell… arrr…
Hope you’re all happy – enough for now!