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 !  .

Are the Libs really ready to govern?

Are the Libs really ready to govern?

I welcome the Libs return to leadership in Victoria and the attitude with which Mr Baillieu has taken to the task .Slow and Steady .
 But can this "business knows best"  group wrench both major parties from their addiction to business led models of governance ; Models that continue to grow government and NGO agencies and go against the very principles of sound liberalism - models that have now created unaccountable activity bureaus whose connection with the public interest is not often seen,  let alone known ( why else do the government want all the stats from them ) .

Do the libs really know why Kennett lost them the opportunity to govern ? I don't think so , so they better listen more carefully than they have been even with 11 years in the wilderness .
I like how the new Libs have started and wish them well . Get some advice off the net before you do what so many Polys have done over the last ten/ twenty years - gone off half cocked - at our expense !
Real liberals understand that the greatest evil is still done in the name of the best intention. 

Are many liberals the biggest intellectual handicap this country has?

So What NICK( Minchin ) ?   So your party (on qanda tonight)  know how to exact the last drop out of the people?  Not clever just predictable .
Is all their careless talk of caring for people just hype ?
Your faith in innovation like that of the Labor power broker below is popular ,but misplaced when it comes to the issues of environment ( not steel and concrete) Don't preach to the stressed about innovation either . I come from a long line of innovators .
The libs insane( short term gain long term pain )  love affair with high returns for shareholders will please  many,....  but never the future .
So what if we have benefited from selling our resources -
So what if we have profited from selling what's not even ours
So what if this generation of innocents on the island thought they were clever to get 12% when they could more easily live with 11% .
Maybe we have a future no different from Countries who rejoice that they have oil  , gas , carbon and cash to sell to buy......... arms ?  It won't be the extra dollars that will be remembered in history but the comfort zone and blind faith of  those who drive their own  poor to do and say desperate things.

Making the most of the moving feast

While Tony is right to highlight the quickfiz politics of Ms Gillard,  Liberals could use the time of reflection on Labors mess to ALSO review their less than brilliant love affairs with the words "innovation" and "change". 


All political parties need to very careful with the old easy sword called "needed change". The people while not necessarily aware of the shallowness of the new paint , can still smell a rat when it comes to sussing what's really behind "the grand imperative and need for change ". 
The temptation of new Labor to change direction is a strong one ( because it has great appeal to many) , but to actually commit to it  is not one that is "necessary" ( after all its too easy to gain a sense of momentum ,purpose and neccessity from the mere appearance of "change").Think of the nature of normal progress - reform not revolution . 
 Surely Julia's decision to talk about a new place for detention centres this week was a case in point - short term appearance largely for effect  and medium term crash  due to evident instability of mind and commitment -when the press ask whether the change is rooted in anything but more hot air politics. ( East Timor refugee camps)
Bask in being representatives of stability - as long as you are!  

Bill Shorten's use of the word "innovative" (QandA last week )( A safer word for change ) is symptomatic, not of his being on the right side of his earth shift (between conservatives and radicals), but of being clearly down the crack in between.


Its very easy too to allow the importance of a marginal argument to cloud the unintelligence of it - clever polys may be rewarded for saying nothing important about such matters  . After all, while many an election is won on the margins, your smart arse ( and often overly cynical ) advisors often never know where new cracks can  appear.( eg the strong swinging Christian vote that helped Labor get into power)   In times of uncertainty and blatant cynical denial by the leading reactionaries  , remember that to encourage good sense is best ; if you are too cynical to believe in all those that seek to do good , try remembering all the intelligent people on all sides of politics who you can alienate by trying to jump cracks . Marriage , schooling choice  and Self Care may be mundane.  but they are the hard freedom stuff on which our democracy is built and if government and their increasingly dopey bureaus think they are going to supplant the private interest in this - we all know what will happen. We will stop paying them to play with serious matters of everyday common sense that have been the private right of choice before the  Labor nanny state politics moved in . Its a power game yes, but  how hard is it for the liberals to win if they just focus on the nanny state of Labor politics in practice .  
If elections are also won by the encumbents losing : (losing faith)  ( lost trust)   , the conservatives need to demonstrate  that they are not cynically standing too close to cracks and , infact encourage people to  live and think in the many safe places some distance away .Trust is important to demonstrate and you don't do it by changing everything too often . 
besides if your world view is in ecomia you'll know there are more cliffs on the edge than in the centre.  

Making the most of Labor's outrageous tax tricks

The conservatives  could win the next election easily if they hunted down all  the rabbits in Labor governments who use tax , rather than reason,  as their way of getting their own way.
Abbott , for example , could add Labor's "BIG little taxes"  to his responses to Labor's pathetic and predictable range of new tax tricks . Why not add Labor's drip feed taxes  and fire fighting funds  to the lexicon of Labor's long time drip feed focus . YHIFOB

-Give us your money and then we will decide what to do with it ( ETS). That labor don't quite know what they are doing (eg  educational revolution based on changing the colour and texture of 4 walls) is a story for another day
-Water is cheap,  so we will put the price up on that and make a real killing ( VIC + NSW could lose office on their poor handling of water issues alone)
- Energy is so cheap we can cover the place with windmills, home insulation and offer energy switching advice to every Australian in their evening meal times. After all Indians Labor comes cheap and the people love listening to us offering help to them . And we can do it all through the tax system without having to worry what sir humphrey says 
- Profits from primary industries are currently so high that it would be obscene for a Labor goverenmnet not to try and give it all back to the poor. The fact that such behaviour is clearly UNSUSTAINABLE --goes against eons of sound bipartisan support for efficiency and value adding in such industries.

CLUE
Middle Australia ,I think,  have had enough of any polys who handout money in the name of disadvantage ( take the reasoning OFTEN used  towards refugees for example -even though there are lots of prejudices her BUT  the reasoning used towards this group is often  that they rort the system - so does LABOR and some of its welded on supporters -----whether they admit it or not  -----Labors drip feed politics  ) There are other egs !

Libs have  a big opportunity to recapture some of the middle ground of Australian politics ( as well as the edge).
 Are they smart enough to know what to say,  and smart enough to say it ! Time is running out .

Overplaying the great big new tax trick

All libs need to be aware that , while they are right to expect the reactionaries to blow the budget  in trying fulfil their idealistic objectives, just being cynical and smart will keep them on the nose in the thinking Australians mind ( more than  few marginal persons!) .
While the high level of comfortable cynicsm amongst the libs  may not matter to some of them( you've got the biggest cynics high in the team - we know)  because they think " the thinkers" group is a minor -many of the rest of the people still have  Libs as on the nose because they often only play at being idealistic, but don't put their money where there mouths are like Labor often does . Lets face it - The libs let Costello go - how stupid and long winded political suicide and unreality was that!

The  libs biggest handicap to my mind both at the State and Federal levels  is that they are truly short of idealism in practice (  if they really believed in liberty they would KNOW how to make small government work and could talk about it --they wouldn't be so prone to doing just what Labor do )  When it comes down to practice and credibility  , the Libs are short of idealism and professionalism in improving government performance.
Examples: Tony got his Big new tax off Barnaby Joyce.  (We country folks cannot afford the quickfiz creative accountancy games many Libs tie themselves up in - and are they still hiding in some comfortable cynicsm about not being country bumpkins even now? .We don't care for arrogance in either party !  )

Malcolm Fraser well put the predicament of Rudd with runaway idealism on Qanda last night .  Would Abbott / Balli-who be able  to recognise the need for a McEwen and a professional PS to make their regional policies more than tokenism. (Vic Libs offer to provide for windmill experts to Shires might get them votes ,but it would only add to regional  ineffectiveness long term- could send em broke (like the CEO idea that Libs cultivated too  ) .
Malcolm Turnbull , for example would be in the same boat as Rudd because he, like Rudd,  doesn't recognise the dangers  of relying on his current advisory system on environment ( key regional competency ) The bureaubrats , while not always idealistic , exhibit the simplicity , arrogance, ignorance and tokenism that comes from decades of politicizing a popular but poorly supported profession .
The only way to stop the bushfire syndrome with environment policies is to grow the competencies back in rural areas. You heard it first on blogger

Strong man politics - only for the desperate

Conservative peoples in deep trouble think the strong man is their key to survival,  or redemption . No doubt many sledgehammer cynics in the liberal party non think tank agree - the simplicity of this idea no doubt appeals to them .
"As long as he looks and behaves like GrandPa Howard " they said before the last election,,, and we know how effective that was . . These dills failure to give Costello a go,  means they should go . Their tired and uninspired cynicism means they should go.
. The liberal party  is,  at its best , a party that promotes idealism (and realism in context ) At both fed and vic level it shows precious little of that at the moment .  Labor won and Labor are still winning on the idealism  front .

No doubt it will take a shake inside to stop them from trying to hide the heavy hammer inside the kid glove .

Our society is indeed in need and , I think , somewhat ready for a hammer - but maybe only one they can see . They can't see Labors , but neither can Labor.

Will the libs take the opportunity to speak tough and be tough where it matters ?

See its not the tough image that matters,  but the tough mind 

Its no use voting in another strong man to lead when he doesn't have a strong mind to guide him .
Hewsons celebration of Turnbull is a example of the Libs current stalemate (as is Turnbulls final speech ). Full of "me, I in the kid glove of we"  and little real  understanding of the needs of the party - let alone the people.

 Does the lib party have some straight up strongs?  ( Hewsons  taunt yesterday )  gotta have ;
The party machine have just gotta give up on the idea that he must look good and sound tough every time he talks . If libs lose at the next election it will be because they would rather look well dressed and stay smartly  cynical than show blatant courage and credible control in dealing with the woosiness and misinvestment that explodes before us .
Joyce will not go away .  |His cries for more than location location concentration by the libs will echo like bombs in their ears,  if nothing is done to address them.


Who do we hate most?. Someone who knows what they should do and doesn't do it . or some party who doesn't even know what its doing?

Knowing the Basics

One recurring trouble with conservatives is even when they "know" the basics, their articulation of them tends to be poor - the sound pointers and symbols move into the background. For reactionaries knowledge of the basics names is simple because they are always warring against them.
When the cons are at their best, they can point beyond the predictable failures of the reactionaries ( bats in the belfrey) --to those symbols- of what works
It means Abbott needs to promote a return to the concrete in science and make a move against the fearmongers . Give the people an an idea rather than give them some more gifts.

Turnbull - Lets pray he knows and shows what real leadership is

Is it Malcolm's own pride that drives him to cross the floor ? or his desire to represent those who elected him ?
While I hope he doesn't end up doing a Latham like dummy spit ,I would much rather he showed real leadership and recanted ; recognising the very responsibilities he knows are his in the situation . That would be really good for him and the Liberal party - some restoration and reconciliation with the best traditions of Liberal and liberated thinking.

Well Done and all the best Tony !

Wish you all the best Tony . Many of us, including some on the other side ( this article is from our local paper today ) are very pleased with your members standing up to this world saving policy provided by a new trading bloc called the UN .

As for those who think we are all far too religious to be taken seriously - Tell me in the sound aussie question "Takes one to know one, eh?"
Who then are the card carrying " Heavenly minded but no earthly use "characters currently in power ?
Trust you too, though, will remember where some of this nonsense has come from - thinking the best models of governance are business models - have to tell you they are not .
Even if you don't believe me, ask yourselves the question "
Why does the statement
"The moral challenge of the ......., " carry more weight politically than "The market challenge of the......? "
Too many reactionaries are themselves in denial about the role of idealism and worldview in human motivation. More HERE

By the way, this latest bit of panic driven sub scientific madness is nothing new .
If you don't believe me BOOKMARK into comments on http://ecosus.blogspot.com over the next few weeks( not linked yet) where I will list in more detail some of the other fanatical nonsense and panic misdirections promoted by polys and wannabes in areas such as salinity, water conservation, bushfire and biodiversity management.- renewable energy over the last decade.

Do environment well and we will be the first to back you !Some sure know how to "talk about it " Others of us "Know how to do it"

Hopefully the above site will help you, and thinking Australians answer the question on everybody's lips - how trustworthy is the advice the Emperors are seeking and if its NOT effective , why is SO!!!
Lets just hope the ABC can move on from some of their favoured old mentors (gurus in the silly old class of mere description) of the past!
Modern science practice needs to move on before there is no one qualified to practice this challenging profession ; and also so that all this careless talk of innovative technology export is more than just talk!

So what's the rush?- to be first to wear the new clothes ?

Liberals whose wisely expressed their doubts about where their leader Malcolm was taking them on internationally significant agreements need to look no further than the truth .

Too many leaders think they know too much and can do too much . Nothing is more certain than this false assumption of power when we don't have it - its killed the credibility of the UN before and it will happen again. Not guilty? -No Aussie wannabe you have ever met?

Lets think about interfering if we have been going the wrong way, but as Senator Minchin says, it is not at all clear that co2 is a noxious gas.
Let's interfere too,if we have some hope of changing things for the better !
BUT lets not jump into a hole, or at least jump into the same hole as Messrs Wong and co - which hole is it today anyway? !
What is also not at all certain is how this puffed up political ambition to carry us all into church and repent ( for an ever changing list of sins that, up until last week, included farting and belching ) will do something positive to protect this very thin bit of gas which protects us.

SO whats the rush? what we can do about all this unwelcome pressure to actnow?
Think my friends . This very thin bit of gas has protected life on earth for absolute eons. Even for the big betting side of the party, even a small wiff of interference from us might be , how would you say , just a little overly ambitious and hasty, at this stage ....on the stage .

Some light at last - well done !

RE 4 corners ABC TV
The undecided's did Australians a great favor by saying so .represented us . Malcolms manourving has its limits, and pleased be those of us to see him and this wrong position restrained by the party machine.

Politics is nothing to get emotional about?

"We don't need those rednecks, ", perhaps this is the sentiment . MR Alby Schultz says he doesn't need Barnaby Joyce from the Nationals this week.
The libs have yet to be relevant again. If the conservatives studied history more closely, they would be more relevant to the story of the day.

Appalling silence of the good people- MLK 1963

This week will mark the end of a lot of hot air over hot air. ETS etc
The tragedy for our democracy is not that we have failed to make a hard decision, but that we don't know what decisions we were supposed to be making. And that includes a whole bunch of sun struck dummies on the opposition benches.
Its tempting to place the blame for this on Labor's widespread ongoing vulnerability to the crisis driven public service that they have been creating, but what do we make of the conservatives failure ( apart from those allowed to be sacrificed as "red necks" like Joyce and Tuckey)to build some credibility
back into their heartland?
Perhaps all those cool seat libs are just as confused as Rudd is about what the debate is about? Tragedy- no better target will they get than good intentions wrapped up in ridiculous clothing!!
What I hate is that these sitting dummies are not prepared to ask questions about all the sus science that is being built into a Public service susScience group that they may one day inherit. After all, all polys rely on good advice; and if one thing Rudd will have to say about all this in the end, it will be - Where was the good advice?- that sustainable science every loved to put on their mast head but few had in their head?- we can tell cause we trained there but we no longer work there ! . The polys are certainly not going to find ecosound in there thinly vieled "industry is the bastard"askmorenow" ads that beggar belief and generate skeptics!! Labors admen couldn't convince cows to eat grass!

What I hate is the liberals unwillingness to find out whats going on - Christopher Pyne will live to regret his statement that 90% of his party are on the same wavelength over ETS . They may be, but the CD is stuck and the samesameold shock jock station is not broadcasting anything but a brilliant load of good intentions -leaving all of us open to the greatest evil on the subject of resource use management (RUM).-wasted billions in both ammunition and surgery
The fact is that RUM is a great ongoing sustainability issue BUT only a huge increase in competency will prevent the whole love affair with global warnings from causing us to bleed this country to death on that important subject.

Idealogues who have created this merrygoround of confusion over targets should themselves be targeted by the libs - but oh no . Don't bother to use your computers to find out whether carbon dioxide concerns are more than skin deep .

Maybe The libs are as confused as the public are on this- So much for their reputation and my belief that their often great commitment is less than credible over this matter .we l;ove to be seen to be a bit green ; haked baked my friend is woosy and its enough to make people sick of you !
Talk about it dummies, before you too end up like Rudd -incharge of an ever changing agenda that has little to do with science/practice and everything to do with spin,scare and blunt instrument tax tactics.
Perhaps the Libs reckon if Rudd wants to let his kingdom fall on the unbelievable scabbard of a huge new tax (that will continue to be embroiled in controversy) let it be .
Some electors surely will be interested to hear about hot air that does nothing but increase government power and confusion,corruption of corporate balance sheets ( no longer the seperation of identities )and graft vulnerability for decades into the future .

Naivete is not something the Libs want to wear, but , if you don't see it in yourself, it will find it's way to the surface.
Allowing an unverified email to assume such importance this week ("grechgate") looks just like an act in that vein - worse, its an act of blatant illiberalism . The 1 witness gaf wouldn't have dealt the credibility blow it has to the Libs had Mr Turnbull not called for heads to roll.
Honor those who lead by doing your homework and doing it quietly and well. That's true liberalism and fairplay--On the basis of at least 2 witnesses please .
Malcolm Turnbull was asking us not only to question Kevin Rudds integrity, but his as well-even more . Our people don't need to have leaders who are too quick to judge.
Not a good week , but one that might cause a few libs to look a little deeper than usual . A quick check too into the treasury of great australian verse on " Takes one to know One? " .
The point is, the Libs must aim higher. Copyright EA

Peter Costello, for all his ability, wasted precious media time today talking about where he's been and what he knows. He, like so many Libs, is happy to count on accounting credits -calling the accountants dream the final destination of ecomia policy . Time to talk bigger and broader.
Libs can only win elections if they aim higher and get beyond mere cynicism, crass conservatism and their favourite fad ; myopic management theory on the environment ( Jon Feine asked him several times to talk environment and he missed the opportunity to draw ecomians towards him )
Remember Malcolm, engineers and accountants can build you the road ( or the pipe!) you see as so important, but only planners know a sustainable destiny and a really good reason to go there !
The greens know that your view is myopic ---why don't you?