Corangamite and the ongoing injury to democracy

If Labor win Corangamite in 2019, it won’t be a victory for democracy, but a complete denial of it.
It’s time to reflect on what’s happening when Lake Corangamite is no longer the centre of a rural electorate and Colac is now the entry point to the deep south- the last stop before the border.

Our forefathers throughout history would be aghast at what we have done with the 150 representative areas they agreed to for all of us.
(The Australian electorate consists of 150 divisions )



So how did this sea change happen?  A new doctrine was introduced by my generation that was designed to make democracy simpler. The modern progressives among us insisted that democracy should be boiled down to one principle.

Instead of facing the paradox of what we inherited in two houses and the complexing idea of riding representation, the progressive pedants  made it all about numbers.  If only Hegel/ Marx could see his followers now - choosing quantity over quality.
 Without really thinking about it, these blinkered idealists gave us the dominance of the majority and the subjection of the small voice, the city over the country.
This new democratic doctrine has meant, for example, that when you have a problem in your local area, chances are you won’t don’t know which local shire Councillor is there to listen to you and see the problem first hand on the ground.

The simple nonsense of numbers means more and more representatives now represent themselves,  and their own interests and ideas,  rather than the interests of the people who elect them to work in their own area .Imagine this kind of leadership doctrine in your own home,  if you have lots of children

No reason for complacency
If our democracy is to survive and continue to work  ( because in a technological society what doesn’t work gets thrown out ) the young people of this country are  going to have to insist their parents were wrong,  and their grandparents were right .

Our young people will have to take issue with the simple but stupid changes made in my generation to how a democracy is supposed to work. 

This will mean a new generation will continue their great leadership in focusing on issues of how sound ecological decisions are made and what structure (however imperfect ) is still  the best form of government known to anyone ( Churchill). 

Until young people resist the simplicities introduced by my generation , the biggest, the loudest and the nosiest will continue to win.   Its not natural ,but the naturalistic fallacy at work  

Apathy rules - especially it seems by those in power

A good rollout and a good idea of who the candidates were; a credit to Colac DCC . People listening to discussion on OCRFM would realise what a wide range of comments were made, making the evening a really worthwhile way of thinking about who to vote for . I can only wonder why considering Brian Crooks and other Councillors concern to improve local government and accountability ( the talk on many lips) why most Councillors were not there . Maybe they think nothing will happen here while Labor is in power . The absence of Labor suggests they believe less in the effectiveness of a good old democratic discussion in, like last night , and more in their right to rule . I hope Polwarth sends the message that its not going to be taken for granted - certainly this was the feeling at this excellent candidates meeting. Don't forget the free train trip today - Thanks to David O'Brien - putting all the TALK about extar trains on the real line between Colac and Geelong.

We maybe country but we do know waste when we see it

Please consider the independents and the young people who are standing for you across these electorates.

Several young people standing are well educated and thoughtful people I know well. They know and care enough to want to change things that are clearly wrong  ;and know when to ask questions. They both have young families .   

Remember 
Provided you put your favored party 2nd,  you will get 2 effective VOTES-- 

 Why bother ? ---Political parties reflect public and party confusion , free spirits provide hope. We need locals who think and act LOCAL 

Why environmental overlays don't work ,

If the reasons why the overlay car has no wheels , were fully explained easily the public would have rejected the idea decades ago when -Overlays  first started to be used to try and locate  " problems".

The first thing to remember is that if you go looking for problems --you will always find them . People on the public payroll do it so easy its a wonder we ain't all broke over it .A better process has a demonstrabale positive focus- not just talk or 'worry" as you might expect people who don't KNOW the environment worry more - more than reasoned resilience scientists do  .
The second thing is that on the surface it sounds reasonable - "we are trying to protect biodiversity and prevent salinization and so on" . The fact is that good decisions here take real expertise and real respect for land managers and without properly trained and accountable interaction the result can be poor ( Name one land manager in the State of Victoria who would sign the performance test  of the authors here )

The clincher is the fact that the 4 headed monsters who have made an industry out of mapmaking  have never been asked by Parliament why they are dumbly  trying to map things that move .

I am not publishing " the answer " to a better way to do bioversity planning till the Government recognise the big problem of this moving feast madness in the first place - all these overlays confuse and conflict , let alone mislead an efficient risk management assessment process. They are so deep in incompetency sh..... they too don't know why it doesn't work.

Cheeseman misses out again

Why are we not surprised that Rudd has not promoted his friend Mr Cheeseman to high office . Why are  we gasping for air now that the last of the Crean tradition  is to go to.
What do we say of our country ? That we are just irrelevant country hicks? ; That we have lost the fire that created these great men and their contribution to regional politics . Maybe the deal is that regional issues don't matter anymore and all that matters to some is a road outta here .Good riddance I say to those who think that way.

How many Heads of Department or Green experts do you need to get lost in the crossfire?

While most of us agree that Corangamite's current environmental planning processes do not work, our councillors have yet to see that they can safely say “no more “on our behalf.  Cr Russell and Cr Crook spoke at Wednesday’s meeting in Colac as if the sky would fall in if they dare resist the foreign bureau bullies who have built and rebuilt this totally unworkable 4 headed monster that manufacturers overlays. Mayor Russell doesn’t seem to realise that by saying No to one overlay, we might lead the State is saying No to many things that don’t work , like the existing LSIO’s and the SIO’s ; 

Sure, one step is only a start, but every step in the right direction gives us all hope.  We might actually get some decisions, instead of piles of unproductive expensive reports and line on map errors to file and fight over .

How many council environment officers does it take to make a decision to cut a branch or mow some grass?  How many reports, consultants or revived DEPI staff does it take to make a decision about a risk on an overlay boundary?  How many lawyers or Infrastructure Environment Officers ( Advertised position June 14^th ) are needed to make sure our senior executive service don’t make any decisions they shouldn’t on NVR ?

How much further up the creek do we have to go Mr Crook before you and other councillors realise that we have all had enough of things that don’t actually work.  Your idea to make the person’s in DEPI accountable on the ground was a great idea that needs to be taken further.

Councillors won’t get a rap for saying no to C70 . They can, if they think clearly, have the satisfaction of finding out that all this impost is white noise , real misinformation, bluff and bluster. They can also find out that there is a much better, simpler and more credible way to do biodiversity planning.

Please say clearly to the State’s dumb sets of drawing board operators that their ham fisted linework doesn’t work and would they please stop making our people pay for indecisive, imprecise and overly legalized incompetence. 

Colac Otway Shire election Candidates

Don't know about you , but I always find it hard to know who to vote for . Especially when there are no wards and 14 candidates.

 I have included Internet sites where you can find out more about them.
If you know of more internet details please add them to the list -( checked facebook for all)  .
If there are any errors please let me know 

For public purposes only .
Don't forget to listen to my show on OCR FM 98.3 FM in Colac Sundays at 1 

Bob Knowles  Apollo Bay                        http://voteknowles.com.au/

Chris Smith   Swan Marsh   Farmer       http://www.facebook.com/cjmjsmith?ref=ts&fref=ts

Frank Buchanan  Businessman  Apollo Bay      0437 780 070

Terry Woodcroft  Policeman Youth Worker  Colac http://www.facebook.com/terry.woodcroft.3?fref=ts

Stuart Hart       Gellibrand        http://www.facebook.com/stuart.hart.9889?fref=ts

Michael Delahunty   Engineer     Gerangamete

Mick McCrickard   Counsellor Trinity College Colac

Brian Crook  Colac   Teacher  Trinity College Colac

Rod Spence   Beeac

Lyn Russell   Colac        0419 326624

Steven Hart     Lavers Hill

Tony Webber   Apollo Bay

Steve Branwhite   Pirron Yalock

Yvonne Francis  Apollo Bay  

Is He confused or are we?

Mr Cheeseman is clearly prepared to misrepresent the people of this electorate. Unlike him, the people of this electorate don’t easily

change their minds. Unlike him, the people of this electorate are not

swayed by recent mail outs and selective statistics – let alone

ignorant enough to say so.

How about some honesty mate? You want our permission to vote with a

small group who want to let everyone do what they like and call it

marriage.  

 Presumably you will be voting for men to have as many wives
as they can afford, as well as voting to remove discrimination by
those who insist on monogamy because it doesn’t fit
with that wonderful  word  “ equality “.
In your grand scheme to change our language, like in that
novel 1984, you don’t want us to use the words “ gay marriage”.  You
want us, like the pigs in Animal Farm, to use the word “equal”. You
want us to move from words we understand to
words we don’t understand. You may be happy about what you’re voting
for, but we have no idea what we will be voting for. Will you, like those pigs, change
the meaning of equality later?
For you to presume to get our permission for something that we don’t
understand is wrong.
What would you say to those who can’t write to you but ask, “who is my real mother and father, my sister ,my auntie, my nan?“
A few older children may get what they want, but the children of the future miss out. Not much equality there.
Mr Cheeseman, you have no right to misrepresent us in this way.