Even the Liberals get lost sometimes

The failure of Vic Liberals to anticipate their reactive politics has to be seen to be believed . 3 years after the most serious bush fire disaster in Australia's history the new government haven't got the guts to tell the Shires that that they must create and nominate open spaces for people protection. The Shires are afraid to move without a lead and even though the inquiry highlighted the need - nothing practical has been done in one of the highest risk areas in Victoria.
Like the previous incompetents,  they build new empires that cry wolf but  fail to address the simple matter of sign posting places of last resort.

Julia beating the conservatives at their own game ?

Offering tokens at election can win elections,  but it won't keep you in government.

While Labor are being forced to accept that, why don't conservatives grab the ground of environemnatl cerdibility that is going begging when the left move right ( as they appear to be doing with uranium and cola seam gas ) . If conservatives can't be celar about who owns eco competencies ( professionals) they will continue to fail to grab the hearts and minds of young austrailians who could vote for them - if only theye were CLEAR
Not doing something or using something because its dangerous ( even politically ) may mean you prefer ignorance and fear  to a mature attitude to risk . The people want certainty; The sort of certainty  that comes with ignoring a panic driven media and political process. The sort of certainty  that comes with boring old career focus by all Australians . The sort of certainty  that comes with politcians who don't tell us "what they think" - cf a professional group such as we have at http://ecomia.blogspot.com  We work best when we don't try to do each others jobs but respect the roles .
Gillard , with the Greens running the show,  knows she has to show how Labor still has some backbone . Her statement today that she intends to make her position clear on some middle sound ground issues is very welcome. ( if not deeply credible on energy policy )  because the NEW doesn't mean throwing out the old . Such stupid reactionary politics characterizes the immature and the ageing media reactionaries in power  and helps explain why Labor has been losing its appeal
No doubt the Greens will seek to mediate a solution to the sleeping giant s wake up call - but having changed everything often ( and therefore undermined their credibility on moral ground  by constantly moving it - the moral ground clearly more passively shared by others ) they are not credible - be interesting to see if they can agree to say something useful or just hug each other over every token word that seems to say they are being taken seriously

Labor's needs to stop selling things and trying to fiddle with the market - ( not god enough at it) Greenlabor's stupid and shallow belief in change for changes sake ( they aren't used to discernment and selling that)  will need a good shake if they are not to STILL go down still  buying technology and clothes they don't understand and can't see the "old hat sale"  notice on .
We know she's been wearing invisible clothes even if the conference doesn't get it yet either .
Change driven by desperation doesn't keep you in power either .
Maybe rather than have debates on conferenence electives on a narrative (and one that isn't modelled on the word NEW)

Conservatives as thick as 2 short planks on the environment

When you hear the carelesscrap that some conservatives produce on the subject of the environment, you do wonder whether they can win the next election.


Our new  conservative Premier (Ted )only this week offering to donate more trees to urban areas.
By using the word" trees", the Libs missed the opportunity to bring thinking people with them . "Shrubs ,habitat  native veg (even ) "would have been better . Not the dumbstupidity of "TREES"(trees being objects of worship, these new brooms aren't down to earth enough to realize that trees on small blocks don't fit and infact helped kill 180 people at Marysville who also didn't accept that biodiversity is fine provided  that it protects SOMETHING (many of our native trees go off like firecrackers with wicks as long as a house is wide). move on and be ahead of the greens in the game !

THE PROBLEM
City based cynicsm,environmental tokenism  and "market will fix everything" nonsense is at the heart of it. Confusion in Nats about whether /what sort of governmnet planning they would support doesn't help .(esp Walsh and the old guard )
The conservatives need to learn how to say NO (avoiding the children in charge scenario that now hangs over them too).  Does not Peter Ryan realize that without credible backing for ENV senior ministers will continue to lack credibility and risk their right to office ?

Get some decent advisers !!!!use the words habitat plants or "design advice"something not so dull and dusted Something that will give the Public service PS something to do other than sing silly old tree choruses in church.-something thats already driven the best PS OUT of the system.

The current confusion and "free for all" WILL NOT protect rural people from the ravages of ignorant city talkers from insisting on THEIR solutions for the country.Clearly the conservatives from the old guard don't REALLY get why independents are a growing force in the country!!!
CLEARLY the ONLY OPTION for conservatives is NOT"in no government" but stronger,smaller and much more locally accountable REGIONAL government . Not 3rd tiers like CMAs , or dumb dumping of responsibility onto Shires ,who will operate only as candles in the real winds of politics and the solid ground of env competence ..

Real reform - not something any of you are credible about

Anyone who has ever advised good politicians knows how overly sensitive they can still be because its not just the truth that matters to them but how the truth is perceived. They must not let the truth be watered down internally or they will be caught in careless compromise  . Which is why its a mystery why they cultivate so much "business is government "nonsense within their own ranks .
Frighteningly for their election prospects,  the Liberal party encourages people whose style is quickfiz and who fail to listen closely enough to be more than bullies in the treatment of legislation and administration. My experience is that,  in recent days,  the "crash throughs" are worse in the Liberal party than those within Labor .
The worst thing too is that rank and file Libs don't see the danger in the style of some of their old leaders and the shallow and ineffective nature of their methods . After all the damage from Kennet Stockdale meant the Libs were out of power for far too long - let alone the reasons why they lost Corangamite  2 elections in a row.
Now we are supposed to believe ( sorry Tony - not credible) that the Libs are prepared to listen . Reith may be focused on particular reform,  but general reform must happen if the Libs are to be taken more seriously as a party of competence,  rather than more of the same old sameold  ---crash through us too  .

Helping the new Liberals along. NSW landslide victory

What Labor doesn't know they just wouldn't know --because they love to worship mere facts . Perhaps they hope that by digesting a whole pile of mere facts,   they will get some morality and purpose instead of the indigestion and " let everyone do what they like stuff" they have been sharing with us across Australia for the last decades .
And if Liberals are going to show some guts and true grit they must abandon their shallow facscination with all things good in business ( because its half the reason Labor and previuos libs went wrong )and get back to recognising the things our old culture does well and why ( way we think about temptation , business freedom and celebration) need that paradigm shift they seem no to have lost sight of
so here's a start
The education revolution - more to resisting state school degradation than new plaster , paint and wallpaper
The environment revolution - don't put the onus on farmers to prove they aren't doing the wrong thing - put the onus on the  department responsible , and if you can't find one , sack all the department heads and NGO'S and Canberra clingers on the drip feed till you do; do a survey starting at the Shires and up to Canberra on all the people meddling or connected with NVR legislation and how many Ha of trees they haven't got sustainably on GPS verified sites for how many dollars  ;  find someone who has put their hand up to defend well argued design with nature onground support and where necessary detailed on ground concern . We are conservationists here

Decision making rather than policy making  Put the metal on those departments and Ngos whose main products are paper !

why don't you add to this list  !Its still a free country !

Don't,whatever you do,tell primary industry how it should work

After all  the joint parties love affair with the market in solving environment is a failure 
-Grattan Inst says govt #climate programs have failed (listen)http://bit.ly/h2f8pN via @amworldtodaypm
Report finds $12 billion of state-federal government climate programs fail to adequately cut carbon emissions.http://bit.ly/gLe3OL
Why ? -we might well ask when both parties agree about method "the market"  Answer 
When both parties still think economics is the preserve of of bookkeepers.when its clearly a much bigger profession 


"Sit on big business and they will innovate , innovate"  ( If in competition ) never sit on a vote ? and not pass the cost on ? 


Carbon farming legislation 
As if to demonstrate the joint desperation of both parties --the danger of ignoring the implementation question over the ideas , both parties still trip over themselves today to announce a revamped sequestration  incentive ( Greg Combey at 12pm today and Greg Hunt on ABC lateline 23rd )


 Taking one to know one they know the idea but not yet how to implement it - seriously dangerous . 
-- taking from the rich or careless is fine if you trust the govt to use the money well 
-.we don't need more bureaubrats.. Tax fuel abusers (eg 4WD) and give sequesters a decent excise
- As if farmers don't already have enough single focused greenclones talkin to them bout things they don't understand
-The earth is able to sustain itself .A coalition of low integrity and accountability wants us to take them seriuosly No
-Only trade unions would think they would be able to tell farmers when they need to be paid and how much
-Always inventing new stuff and talking to solutions in name only shocking #abcenvironment #lateline
-Greg can't see that his proposition for tendered on ground evaluations would sink the liberals in the country

Ten reluctant points to Tony Burke last week

Well I have got to hand it to Tony Burke (Calling the cows back from the high country on Friday).
It maybe that the Libs have got a decent brief for research but what I have seen so far looks like (whitewash or should we call it "blackwash" ) .the media have only got to take some nasty pictures of fenced in areas ( not fair but will happen) and Mr Walsh And Mr Baillieu will be in trouble.

The Libs won't get anywhere by acting in reaction to the conservation excesses of the left. ( Our PM was right to to state greens policies as "extreme" but is  Mr Walsh in Victoria acting a little on the extreme?)
The Libs can only survive by defining their own unique brand of conservation competence ( full not just fire ) and  avoid the impression they don't take it seriously , say with their " high country grazing trial"  .( the brief i have seen on the DPI  website  does not seem to include a proper review of ecosystem resilience and biodiversity issues )
The thinking people of Australia rightly expect , not necessarily an EIS  ( a dumb reactionary tool often ) ,  but a clear commitment to careful research and proper review in this sensitive landscape . I will be the first to state the acceptibility of grazing, but also the first to insist on how it must be done ( based on ALL applied research so far ) .

Liberals keep missing the opportunity to win votes

We saw them on the ground lose a easily winnable seat in August 2010. They would be in power in Austral;ai now if they weren't so trusting in the market and the way they traditionally do things ( throw money rather than logic and truth at a problem ) .
some challenges ( Fuel costs ) require at least a bit of planning . And instead of a tit for tat game over fears face them ( both parties  are both acting like children by not facing their own versions of them )  - libs need to see they have nothing to fear from looking deeper into conservation questions
The appeal of being able to do something about something really big is understandable . Julia Gillard is swept up with a tide of emotion over pricing carbon as if the long lost role of leftish governments has finally found a new home - as an  ally of the market .
The West never grew under such stupidity and secondrate role placement  - it grew by being strong in itself.  Lets hope the lazy liberals too don't keep falling for their own simple rhetoric - that the light shines out of price amd market controls,
Oh yeah , by the way , that makes them as desperate as Labor are,  for an identity . How about a lightbulb moment gentlemen !  .