Thing to do on the King's Birthday October) Long Weekend

[nomadpete]

17 minutes ago, facthunter said:

I'd GO for more states. Less centralisation and more competition.  Australia has about the same land area as the USA..  Nev

The (dis) United  States of America seem so fragmented, I can't  see it works very well as a nation.

[facthunter]

That's how the Parties policies have developed. They go ape if you want to marry a Dem. Don't forget they have come from a Civil war over slavery, which hasn't really ended.. The GOP is a disgrace.    Nev

[red750]

Just  think of the cost of changing state nemes. Every sign, logo, etc needing to be scrapped and replaced. Even your car rego plates. Get Jerry to do a cost benefit analysis.

[red750]

P.S. Not mention every map, guide, review ...  The mind boggles.

[facthunter]

Wouldn't have to be done overnight.. I think you exaggerate. Nev

[red750]

I just know that there's an outcry when just one government department changes its name about the cost of throwing out and replacing its letterheads and stationery for no great gain. 

[old man emu]

3 hours ago, facthunter said:

I'd GO for more states. Less centralisation and more competition.  Australia has about the same land area as the USA..  Nev

Creating more States at this stage of Australia's history would be well and truly jumping the gun. The United States wasn't built in a day – in fact it took 172 years for all 50 states to be added to the Union with Alaska and Hawaii being admitted in 1959. It is not a matter of land area, but population and the self-sustaining economies generated by that population.

 

With a population of only 27 million, and most of that confined to pockets around the State capitals, the economies of those areas outside those pockets are not big enough to support State governments. You can't suggest that mineral revenues could do it. Look what we have learned about Kalgoorlie nickel. Australia is still being fed from the government storehouses. We expect our governments to provide health, education, legal services and transport. Private enterprise really doesn't do much of that, and when it does, it relies heavily on government subsidies.

 

Unfortunately, it is possible that the best solution for the next 50 years or so, is to amalgamate all levels of government into a central National government. I say 'unfortunately' because we now have the knowledge that those who govern have little interest in MAGA (Make Australia Great, Also) but only in holding power and wealth while they can.

[facthunter]

Cut the Power of local Governments. They are the worst example of undemocratic behaviour out there.. Canberra is disconnected from many parts of Australia.. Australia is too BIG geographically to be centrally governed. States that are up with it make other states do better.. You see examples of that happening all the time..  Nev

[red750]

Local government has two sections (like other levels of government), the elected councillors and the council staff. And they don't talk to each other.

 

We at the Men's Shed have had an ongoing problem with our local coujncil for more than two years. Our Shed was located in a couple of rooms at the premises of Nadrasca, an organisation which deals with handicapped adults. (I know I've told you this before.) In 2022, they advised that they wanted their rooms back, and we had to vacate by 31 July. Whitehorse City Council came to our rescue(?) and offered to erect a building for us, on the basis that we would share it with other community groups. Obviously this was going to take some time, but they had another building that had been standing empty for more than 12 months, which we could use until the new building was available. We expected to be in the temporary building by Christmas 2022, but so far have not spent one day there. 

 

They set down conditions for renovations which were required before we moved in, which we were required to pay for, but which had to be done by their contractors or staff. Meetings and negotiations have been going on for two  years, and at last we have been given a key after someone tried to set fire to the place. We will still be lucky to be in by Christmas.

 

When our managing body spoke to a councillor recently, he was flabbergasted that we were not in the building. At the current rate, I don't expect the new building to be started, let alone completed, while I'm still on this earth. We have even taken on providing a repair cafe on the first Saturday of each month on behalf of the council, in another meeting room  belonging to the council, but which is far too small to accomodate our members and woodworking equipment. In the meantime, we have been sharing the premises of another Men's Shed 12 km away.

 

 

[old man emu]

The Shed I am going to (still uncertain about renewing my membership) has a dedicated new shed located on the town's showground. It is well appointed with new woodworking equipment of small commercial standard. I think its biggest problem is membership. I only go there on Wednesdays when I take my mate for the aged person's residence. There are only a few blokes attending, but I'm told more do on Saturday. The problem I see is that the blokes I see are older than me, and this town is one of God's waiting rooms. I heard that Wagga's Shed's youngest member is 18 years old. I think that Men's Sheds should encourage young fellows to come along and maybe pick up some skills. By "young" I mean those who haven't retired as yet. I know I'd love to be able to share learning skills with my 35 year old son. My grandsons aren't "men" yet.

 

This video expresses what I think one of the roles of a Men's Shed is.

 

 

[spacesailor]

I can say !.

My teenage 'great grandsons ' aren't men yet . 

but , we seem to do everything early .

spacesailor

 

[willedoo]

2 hours ago, facthunter said:

Cut the Power of local Governments. They are the worst example of undemocratic behaviour out there..

One thing I don't like about local government is their trumped up big brother attitude towards the shire residents. Our local council employs two people full time to study satellite images of our properties. That's their only job, to make sure we're 'complying'. They study one property at a time and compare it to the stored images from a year or two before. Nothing better to do than spy on people obviously. It would be good if they just got out of our lives. I can't see the sky falling in if someone on a rural property puts up a chook house or garden shed without a very expensive permit.

[red750]

I know I've dragged this way off the subject (holidays, governments, councils, Men's Shed), so I might as well continue.

 

When I joined the Shed in 2011, we were known as Whitehorse Men's Shed although we were not associated with the Whitehorse City Council. We werte run by a community health service. They were amalgamated with healthAbility Health Serice, and our name changed to healthAbility Men's Shed. We operate three days a week, Monday, Thursday and Friday. I attend all three days. Many of our members stopped coming when we had to relocated, because the shared Shed is too far and difficult to get to. Some may return when we move back to Nunawading.

 

We currently have about 12 attending each day but many of them don't come some days.In our original location, the Shed operated on Wednesday to provide training for young people, male and female, who were at a loose end, some school drop-outs, where they learnt skills which could help them get employment. It is proposed when we get our own location in our suburb, that this training will continue. Experienced but retired tradespeople act as volunteer mentors, but unfortunately in the meantime a couple of them have passed away. We are also considering providing an opportunity for women to attend on the Tuesday. Our current members, retired or physically handicapped (stroke victims for example) prefer to operate in a men only environment. Our youngest member is probably in his 60's and our oldest is 93. I turn 80 next week.

[red750]

17 minutes ago, willedoo said:

They study one property at a time and compare it to the stored images

They have to make sure you are not breaching any green overlay by cutting down trees or overpruning them. That's what our mob do.

[willedoo]

34 minutes ago, red750 said:

They have to make sure you are not breaching any green overlay by cutting down trees or overpruning them. That's what our mob do.

With our mob it's more building code compliance. Vegetation is fairly well controlled here by council and state government. I forget what they call my local council zoning but it's a green zone affair. With that zoning, you can clear 600 sq.metres to build a house but that's the limit. Council and state government rules conflict a bit. According to state government, most of my place is koala habitat but there's four areas that were previously cleared that are exempt. According to state government there's no restriction on clearing regrowth on those four areas, but council would have different ideas. It's a bit of a legal grey area.

[nomadpete]

I think you might find they also count the roofs, to compare with approved plans.

[willedoo]

As far as unregistered buildings go, I have the feeling that council turns a blind eye to everything that existed before they started using satellite imagery. In the rural hinterland areas, there's a big percentage of unregistered buildings built years ago.

[red750]

Here is an extract from the council website regarding permits to remove trees.

 

[willedoo]

It's both amusing and sad how hypocritical our council is when it comes to environmental protection. They have all the rules and regulations but it's closing the gate after the horse has bolted. We've had massive environmental destruction here over the years and council has been the major cause of it. For sure, the developers have done the actual dirty work but they've been enabled by council. In their greed for growth, council has encouraged, approved and permitted the mess it is now. I'm glad I've owned my place for the last 36 years as I've been able to preserve it as best it could be. Under other ownership it likely would have been converted to bitumen and brick houses years ago. In the immediate area, there's only my place and one neighbouring property plus the lower sections of three other adjoining properties that provide any original habitat for the animal life.

 

I'm not sure how widespread it is but in S.E. Queensland we have a setup called Land for Wildlife. It's a voluntary thing administered by councils and you can join up and register your property. They don't force anything on landowners and there's benefits like being able to get subsidies to remove noxious and invasive weeds. A couple of neighbours are members. I'm not but I've started to look into it.

 

To be fair to council, councils change over the years and the current one isn't the same council that has caused past destruction. The current council is certainly a bit better than past councils when it comes to environmental protection.

 

https://www.lfwseq.org.au/

[willedoo]

5 minutes ago, willedoo said:

https://www.lfwseq.org.au/

I just read through that link and Land for Wildlife started in Victoria over 40 years ago and came to Queensland in 1998.

[Jerry_Atrick]

15 hours ago, facthunter said:

I'd GO for more states. Less centralisation and more competition.  Australia has about the same land area as the USA..  Nev

Same land area, and thanks to resources, could have same productivity.. but mus more of our land is a lot less hospitable.

 

Many of these states would have a lot if overrepresentation and can you imagine the premiers conferences?

[nomadpete]

More states just multiplies the costs to the public.

Multiplies the incompetance and petty pyramids of power.

 

Leading to a process of more and more focus on smaller and smaller areas until there is total focus about nothing at all.

[willedoo]

2 minutes ago, nomadpete said:

More states just multiplies the costs to the public.

Multiplies the incompetance and petty pyramids of power.

Sometimes some states are less competent than the federal government. A new state won't necessarily add to government incompetence in Australia. If it had good government it would improve the national average.

[nomadpete]

1 minute ago, willedoo said:

Sometimes some states are less competent than the federal government. A new state won't necessarily add to government incompetence in Australia. If it had good government it would improve the national average.

Nice in theory, but....

I gave up waiting for any continuity of good governance a long time back.

Ther percentage of poor examples far outweigh the great ones. And one bad lot can undo a lot of good stuff before they leave.

[red750]

Just to clarify....