Peter Beattie at the Brisbane Institute
On Tuesday evening I had the privilege of seeing Queensland's Premier speak on his vision for my home state. It was inspiring and thought provoking, and reminded me of why he has managed to survive for so long.
Amongst many interesting comments was the following on the topic of groups (I think it is quoted quite closely): "The strength, calibre and character of the people determines the quality of the outcomes." With the State election called earlier that day this sentiment takes on even greater meaning...
After listening to Queensland's Premier spend a substantial portion of his microphone time talking about the importance of personal responsibility, I am left amazed at the ideological convergence of our political parties.
He made a number of interesting assertions and suggestions:
- Queensland is likely to enjoyed continued massive population growth, placing pressure in infrastructure (health, education and the environment) and our methods of value creation.
- Queensland should strive to become a regional hub for aviation, biotechnology and sustainable development.
- We are particularly well-placed to develop and then export technology in clean coal production and processing.
- China and India will compete with us directly in a range of industries. We need to lift our place in the value chain through innovation. Numeracy and literacy are necessary, but we also need innovation.
- We should provide infrastructure and policies that support personal responsibility. In this context, on the health front we have dealt with smoking well and the next target needs to be obesity.
- Building standards will need to change to allow for the reduced frequency but increased intensity of rainfall.
posted by Daniel @ 6:50 am
2 Comments:
Unfortunately Peter Beattie and his Government don't cut it for me and I am at a loss to actually know how to vote for as I am not really impressed with the alternatives either. The issues of major concern to me are water, health and law enforcement but I don't know how these will be addressed and by whom at the next election. If I had a choice I would rather indicate a reason not to vote rather than to be forced by compulsory voting to vote for any of the candidates that don't impress me. I also believe that 4 year terms should happen within all parliaments in Australia following the lead of NSW which has a fixed 4 year term with the election always falling on the last Saturday in March of the fourth year.
Garry
If you want to abdicate your responsibility as a member of the community, perhaps you might be better served finding a nation without compulsory voting... at least this way, you choose between the alternatives.
Solutions are found by bringing together great people within a suitable context... not just by changing the election terms. To bring those great people together, I believe that we ought develop better functioning political parties.
Post a Comment
<< Home