Yes Minister

Well, well, what have we ‘ere then aye?  Tourism Minister Des Boyle jumped into action this week and bunged out a reply to all those ‘orrible letters to the estemed ed rejecting calls for a Tourism Levy.  Not ‘ere dessy luv.. we aint don’t want it n we aint don’t need it. 

Darl, get with it.. the guvmint gave us amalgamations and told us its for our own better good.  It’ll save money thay told us.  Save on duplications you will.  Ok, sounds great but within a month of it all going down what do we have?  Increased tips fees within seconds and then hints of this new levy.. with a bit longer until budget time what else will they try and sneak on us? 

The message we send is clear.  We don’t want it!  Feedback both in the print media and online blogosphere has been unanimous.. make them use the funds they already have.  Cum on guvna give us a break aye?

Note: Strewthisback is taking a few days break but Standinman is here.. we’ve had technical difficulties accessing emails as well as an overload of spam which may have seen some legitimate comments wiped out.. 

From AAP sources the following article was released today:

One of Telstra’s US chiefs has taken aim at Australia, saying its democracy is sick, its politicians too powerful, its taxes too high and its “she’ll be right” attitude is mere complacency.

Telstra’s outspoken group managing director of public policy and communications, Phil Burgess, also put Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on notice, saying the telco will not hesitate to start more public stoushes with the government if it feels the need.

Dr Burgess said Australia’s civic order - businesses, the media, religious organisations, think tanks, service clubs, peak industry organisations - are tepid, timid and beholden to government.  Instead of trying to spark and influence public debate, Australia’s civic institutions try only to influence Canberra, usually behind closed doors.

“If we do a health check on Australian democracy, the economic organs are doing really well. The political organs are dominated by government and the civic organs are in atrophy,” Dr Burgess told AAP after the lecture.

“To have a healthy democracy, especially when you’re going through rapid change like we are … we need to have everybody involved.”  He also complained about the “enormous power” of government ministers in Australia, saying it limits the “give and take” that make for good policy-making.

Dr Burgess, who has lived in Australia now for almost three years, said civic institutions were also suffering because they struggled to find independent, non-government funding.  “I would say the biggest problem is taxes are so high here the government gets all the money,” he said.

Dr Burgess said the lack of public debate helped nurture a ‘She’ll be right’ attitude which, he said, was one element of the Australia’s ethos he rejected.  “You can do the ‘She’ll be right’ all you want, but there’s a problem,” he said.  “There’s a problem when complacency is so high that people say ‘Hey, what’s wrong? Everything’s fine, why worry about it?’”