As we shambled into 2021 the PM seemed to be cruising towards an early election against a divided opposition and this week started with Gov news that “The Eagle has Landed” meaning the first batch of the Pfizer vaccine has arrived.
Now in less than a week we are a global spectacle. Starting with ongoing revelations about an alleged rape in the early hours of 23Mar2019 during a drunken escapade in the Parliament House office of the Defence Minister. How the pair of highly paid privileged staffers got through security on a weekend visibly affected by alcohol is yet to be fully explained. The PM claims he first learnt of this two year old saga of secrecy known by so many, only days ago and he has initiated inquiries and reviews amid widespread scepticism that he should have known earlier. Yesterday we had the Defence Minister blubbering in the Senate unable to answer questions.
I also saw news that the GovGeneral’s staff have been doing a “Privilege Walk” – one step forward if you catch a bus – one step backward if you drove your car. The expression – “you could not make this stuff up” comes to mind.
Then we have Facebook cancelling links to many Australian Gov www sites leading to many politicians hyperventilating. You would think the internet did not exist. FB & Google have never paid fair tax here and recently Gov has been trying to get them to pay media orgs for Oz news content that the digital giants make a mega-$motza from.
In the middle of this news breaks that a group of Nationals favour developing nuclear power and I heard of a surprising number of Liberals who want a move towards including nuclear in our energy mix.
While I favour nuclear power (and Australia having “the bomb”) I realise that Green, Labor, NIMBY, State Govs and Indigenous issues would likely stymie any moves towards nuclear power plants – the term “snowballs chance in hell” comes to mind.
Meanwhile our water bureaucrats are firmly anti-dam. Let’s see how our motormouth PM navigates ahead after last week.
Monthly Archives: February 2021
“Choice” concerned about water efficiency labelling
I got this email from the consumer organization Choice. ( Do you look at water rating labels when buying a new dishwasher, washing machine or shower head?
Australia’s water efficiency labelling scheme requires many products to include a ‘water rating’ sticker that shows how efficiently they use water. The system is currently being reviewed by the government, so this is a crucial opportunity to keep companies honest and make it easier for you to choose water-efficient appliances.
I want the government to hear directly from consumers who use the scheme, so I’ve put this quick survey together to help shape what we ask the government to improve. Warwick, will you take a moment to share your thoughts?
Together, we can make sure Australia’s water efficiency labelling scheme remains an important tool to keep water-wasting products off the market. Share your thoughts to help improve the scheme now. Thanks for your support,)
My thoughts are that we should be considering the “anti-dam” realities of both State and Commonwealth public services and the negative effect of that on water policy and consumers. The failure over 30 years to augment major municipal water supply dams and the ludicrous squandering of $20Bn on unwanted seawater desalination has been an ongoing multi-Gov disaster.