Mark Webber Attacks 'nanny State'

[blackrex]

How about the amount of energy that the desal plant needs, from reports that I have heard (people fairly high up in the power generation industry) the desal plant at full output will consume 1/3 of Victoria's total power generation capacity. This plant is also on a guaranteed supply agreement, so guess who will have their power cut to make sure that the desal plant doesn't go off line?

The make up of the organisation involved in the funding of the build and operation of this project is also interesting, with a lot of the union superfunds getting in, so their members get paid exorbitant rates (around 150K p/a is the starting point, according to people that I know who are working there) and you have to have the union cards to work onsite, so there is another way that public monies are being pushed into union coffers.

[HEKT1K]

grand, expensive, useless - you can tell it's a Labor plan from a mile off

[xALmoN]

the thing about desal is that its the only way to go, the skies aren't providing enough water, and i'm not sure if people are willing to drink the water that carried away their own pee/shit.

[Birds]

They just need to get over the mental barrier and realise that we do that anyway

[HEKT1K]

On what grounds do you argue that Alvin? I put it to you that there is more than enough rainfall and existing water, if we were only intelligent enough to do what was best for our state - build a dam.

Mitchell river flooding

People's houses are being destroyed and the rest of us being reduced to crippling water restrictions so that we can have a nice pretty river. Disgraceful.

[xALmoN]

Yet, turning sewage water into potable water or something close to that is pretty energy intensive as well, membrane separation and boiling going on.

[KezR33]

why would you wanna own a tiger/lion?

I think the question is why wouldn't you!?

[Rowdy]

ahh... i was going to add something about mark webber... but it appears this thread has been hijacked no thoughts on the desal plant from me, only that it will create a lot of jobs...

anyway how can we be responsible citizens if we dont have the freedom to make a choice. responsibility is about making the right choices, but ever so slowly those choices are being eroded, and soon there wont be any to make... and i for one am starting to feel trapped.

how about we stop thye knee jerk reactions to incidents, government. your a ruling body, not a knee.

take the time to implement tried and tested systems and practices, instead of slapping a new law over the top of all the others. wankers.

[alr33x]

the desal plant is a far better option, i think some remarks on it may not be 100% accurate 1/3 of the states power supply i doubt, i thought i saw somewhere it will have some solar panel/wind power aspects also? could be wrong.

the problem with building a dam is hoping that it will get filled and regular supply as we have found the rain isnt were we want or need it a desal plant will over come this.

totallly agree unions are a fkn joke look at the west gate bridge biggest waste of money since the $900 handouts, my mate works on that site they do sweeet FA get paid ridiculously and they wont be solving any problems by the time the finish the increase in traffic and home construction int he west will still render it as insufficient to the publics needs. They should be look for a real solution not some patch work make ppl think we are doing something job.

i mean i thought tradies were big tough "men" ? .. yeh right they had to build shelter from the brew huts to the elevator up the bridge cos they arent allowed to get rained on! your fkn kidding me!

[Rekin]

Info on desal plant here. Cbf regurgitating the information. Have a read yourself haha

http://www.watershedvictoria.org.au/content/

[Mohsen]

I think the question is why wouldn't you!?

+1

we should petition for a law to allow us to bring some one

sauvic mascot

[KezR33]

+1

we should petition for a law to allow us to bring some one

sauvic mascot

Imagine the cop who would pull you over with a tiger sitting in the passenger seat!

Sorry, I've always wanted to use that emoticon.

[Sami]

They just need to get over the mental barrier and realise that we do that anyway

they need to make some money while they are at it though

[Priestley]

Imagine the cop who would pull you over with a tiger sitting in the passenger seat!

Stolen from peopleofwalmart.com:

[xALmoN]

But these floods dont happen often do they?

A one time huge release of water doesn't equate to enough rainfall, but then again, i don't know much about Australia,but its been drilled into me that Australia is a drought country and we're running low on water currently isn't it?

Building a dam is going to destroy a lot of usable land no? Where theres water its going to be good fertile land for farming, damming destroys such land. The tree huggers are gonna jump and scream and do whatever it is they do.

On what grounds do you argue that Alvin? I put it to you that there is more than enough rainfall and existing water, if we were only intelligent enough to do what was best for our state - build a dam.

Mitchell river flooding

People's houses are being destroyed and the rest of us being reduced to crippling water restrictions so that we can have a nice pretty river. Disgraceful.

[IOWNU]

Trivial? It's this kind of stuff that is being made out in this thread to be the end of our civil liberties lol. "I can't do a burnout - we need a constitution like the US!"

Political policies are multi faceted but your average voter isn't - when they see something they like they generally swing to it - political parties know this and play into it. That's why a government can be voted out based on a single policy-making mistake, e.g. *cough* AWA's. Given road rules and safety are one of the state government's major jurisdictions, I think policies relating to this are a drawing card for election popularity.

alr33x, that's what I meant by a vocal minority - the kind of people bitching about it are the kind of people who can be bothered writing to a newspaper and bitching about it. Newspaper opinion polls are worthless - not only do they rely on the target demographic of the newspaper reader, but the editor has the ultimate say over what letters make it to the page. The real results come from election votes. The only way to gauge this is to wait and see what the public demand leading up to an election and see how the parties respond in kind. If the winning party acknowledges in their campaign policies a need to loosen our stringent road laws, then I'll concede that a majority don't want things the way they are now. But for now the state government obviously don't recognise a need for this or they'd have addressed the issue instead of just telling Webber he's full of crap. For what it's worth I am typically a liberal voter too.

I said comparatively trivial, road rules certainly aren't about to serve as the key determinant in any election any time soon.

I agree certain key policies can cause voter swing, but generally speaking people aren't going to vote for a single policy unless it is

a massive issue, additionally being voted out because of poor policy is vastly different from being voted in because of potential policy.

Anyways, massive sidetrack in this thread, so going along with it all, this is what I will add:

The majority of voters find themselves in ''strongholds'', Labor/Liberal safe seats.

Certain voters find themselves in swing seats, where the vote swings from election to election depending on mood and these people are the election deciders. If you happen to be in a marginal seat, enjoy having a meaningful vote, because most of us do not enjoy the same liberty.

So a lot of the time when people say ''I'm going to vote Labor next time" or vice versa, it accounts for little. The beauty of a two-party preferred system.

Side-track complete.

[Peter89]

+1 to webber. a rare public figure to stand up against the government, just a shame not enough people do it.

Edited March 30, 2010 by Peter89

[Mohsen]

ïts okay officer. he doesnt like bacon"

Imagine the cop who would pull you over with a tiger sitting in the passenger seat!

Sorry, I've always wanted to use that emoticon.

[Birds]

You people gotta stop seeing the government as this oppressive regime that you're making it out to be. They are nothing but officials elected by us to represent us in the decision making process involved in the running of our country.

I said comparatively trivial, road rules certainly aren't about to serve as the key determinant in any election any time soon.

I agree certain key policies can cause voter swing, but generally speaking people aren't going to vote for a single policy unless it is

a massive issue, additionally being voted out because of poor policy is vastly different from being voted in because of potential policy.

Anyways, massive sidetrack in this thread, so going along with it all, this is what I will add:

The majority of voters find themselves in ''strongholds'', Labor/Liberal safe seats.

Certain voters find themselves in swing seats, where the vote swings from election to election depending on mood and these people are the election deciders. If you happen to be in a marginal seat, enjoy having a meaningful vote, because most of us do not enjoy the same liberty.

So a lot of the time when people say ''I'm going to vote Labor next time" or vice versa, it accounts for little. The beauty of a two-party preferred system.

Side-track complete.

That's my case though man, I'm in agreement with you. What I'm saying is the current take on road laws obviously isn't bothering the majority enough that they want to throw out our government because of it. Therefore it's a moot point - if alot of people actually gave a shit about the trivial issue of whether you can get away with a tailslide or not, then changes to road rules would be a determinant in an election. Gotta face the facts that the only people whinging about the freedoms/restrictions of road rules are car enthusiasts and racing drivers. If it were up to me we would have the 10% tolerance on speed limits but this state seems to like things the way it is. I'm in a minority so I gotta suck it up.

Drawing the bow on giving ourselves responsibility, if it weren't for things like the strict as hell Privacy Act then any fool could use means by which to hunt you down. Withheld income tax and superannuation are things built on the idea that we can't trust ourselves to look after ourselves, and rightly so - there are alot of stupid people out there.

[funkymonkey]

there are alot of stupid people out there.

I think that's what the issue is. The stupid people only seem to be getting stupider and higher in numbers. This means that whoever is elected needs to pander to their stupid demands or create statutes which try and combat their stupid behaviour, and thereby bring about a "nanny state" (oh you like how I brought this back on topic dontcha?)

Regardless of whether someone needs to be cuddled and shielded from the elements, or whether they need to be reprimanded for being a blatant idiot, it shouldn't inconvenience the average person. I've straddled the fucking hump of the bell curve and I don't want my laws changed to benefit those on the fringes. They can fuck off and cease to exist for all I care, which I'm sure Darwinian theory will see to.