Politics is a dirty word

  Many countries around the world, including the U nited S tates . Europe, Australia and South America, a re c ur rently showing all the signs of heading for a revolutionary uprising. People have grown increasingly tired of incompetence and corruption demonstrated by politicians and bureaucrats. The groundwork has been around for some years but the incompetent handling of the coronavirus pandemic has brought the issues into focus. A disregard for long-established freedoms has bred resentment and aggression to the point where it could well boil over into full scale revolution.Massive demonstrations in major cities protesting against lockdowns, Covid passport requirements and other measures show no sign of easing. Despite al the lockdowns and restrictions imposed by politicians, infections in many countries are highere than ever, so what was the point in causing so much angst? People are angry, they may not agree about all the causes but they want change and it’s not just a bunc...

  The loss of a Conservative party seat in a By election in the UK should not have been a surprise to the Government. It’s likely that similar things will happen here, given the political handling of the Covid pandemic.It’s not the virus that has caused chaos in the community, it has been the ill-judged responses of the various Governments and bureaucrats which ripped apart families,businesses and communities. Helen Morgan, who won a seat from the Conservatives for the Iiberal Democrats said The re is a general sense of empty promises, a lot of hot air and nothing ever really tangibly happening on the ground." Given our relative population size, the Australian community has been hit far harder than residents ofmany other countries but here there is generally meek compliance with political directives. Hopefully people will eventually come to their senses.

  Problems with Governments and their agencies are not confined to the State and Federal arenas. We have been unable to obtain answers from Bass Coast Shire about breaches of planning permit conditions involving the clearance of native vegetation and siltation problems on land adjoining our property in Grantville. For years the land has been subject to a planning permit for sand extraction however no site activity has been conducted apart from illegal clearing along the river.. Vegetation clearing across the block, right down to Bass River was first notified to the Shire in May 2021 and again early in September 2021. We contacted the Shire office as well as local Councillor Clare Le Serve, President Brett Tessari and CEO Ali Wastie. Cr Le Serve responded on Sept 16 saying she did not know work had started but she would follow up with officers and fellow councillors. We received a phone call from a Shire Planner, a Mr Patrick Doyle on 15.11 seeking further information. We sent ...

 The Australian Government decision not to send diplomats or other officials to the Winter Olympics in China is yet another example of muddled thinking in Canberra. In the current situation, the Government should not be arranging boondoggles for any politician or bureaucrat. This decision is just a sop to the United States and it shows that Australia is not really a separate country. Recent events here, with borders closed have shown that we are a collection of independent states driven by self interested politicians. Rather than rework our constitution, Australia might as well beg to become the 51 st member of the United States. Successive Governments have always done anything the US wants, so it won’t make much difference. Our political system is stuffed anyway so the US version of democracy won't seem too bad!

 With State and Federal elections on the horizon, thoughts are turning to consider how to vote – or if it’s worth voting at all. Some people are indifferent or simply don’t care, but many who choose not to vote have legitimate reasons. motivations vary. They might think that people who vote naively believe that voting is a civic duty and that their ballot will make a difference. Our system of proportional representation means that some very strange people can be elected. We all know that politicians and would-be politicians make a noise about listening to the people and working for everyone’s benefit. It’s a myth that politicians represent the people. They represent only their parties but once they are elected, their focus changes to ensure they maximise their income and benefits before voters realise they are charlatans. Recent events in Victoria have shown that installing independents in Parliament provide no assurance of good government. Greens and other minor party members...