Tuesday 29 May 2012

Silence is golden

Most mornings, I like to read the dead-tree edition of the paper over breakfast. I'm not choosy as to what I read - whatever is available will do. Unfortunately, most mornings, that is the SMH - but anything is better than nothing.

It struck me yesterday that the state government rarely features in the news these days. When Labor was in charge, a day didn't go by without some government announcement near the front of the paper. It was government by press release - they announced a lot of things, but didn't really get much done. I guess that was a hangover from having Bob Carr - a former journalist - running the show. I reckon he came to government with a media-centric view of the world - if it wasn't in the media, then it wasn't happening. You can see the same thing happening now that he is Foreign Minister - he has to be announcing something new every day. He just can't help himself. He might wake up one day and discover that apart from a few foreign affairs tragics, no one really cares.

Frankly, I'm happy to rarely read about what the government is up to. I like government to operate nice and quietly in the background with minimal interference in my life. Kind of like the sewerage system. It does its job with a minimum of fuss and bother. I don't want my toilet telling me every five minutes about a proposed upgrade to the main trunk running down to Balmain. I don't care. Just do you job, and kindly shut up while you're at it.

The federal government is just as bad - they have to be in the news every day. It's relevancy deprivation syndrome gone mad. That's probably another hangover from when Krudd was running things. As he said, "He's here to help". That says a lot about the guy - he believes it is his job, and the job of government, to interfere in how you live your life. He's here to help you do a better job with raising your family, running your business and interacting with your friends - because you are a useless, incompetent, idiotic booby compared to him - who is all wise and all seeing.

I don't view government as being an important part of my life. I don't view government as being particularly effective and efficient. It has a job to do, and I just wish it would do it and be done with it. I'll judge how well it's performing on the results. What are you going to believe - a press release from the Roads Dept proclaiming that our roads are getting better, or a bone jarring, spine rattling trip down the pot holed main road nearby?

I hope that when Abbott gets in, he enforces a ruthless culling of Press and Media Advisors across the public service - getting rid of 90% of them would be a good start. It would be even better if he can cut them all without a single press release being generated.

14 comments:

JB said...

Good article, BOAB. Getting rid of all the spin merchants would be an exellent idea. Along with the ABC, Department of Climate Change and goodness knows how many other overpaid drones.
Readers please send in more suggestions.

Rob said...

Thought you might be pleased to hear that with solar systems needing to be installed by 31 June to receive the 3x REC multiplier most retailers are now starting to offer and advertise systems with the 2x multiplier applied.
As we discussed RECs are traded on a market so the reduction in available certificates may alter their pricing but as it stands at the moment with STC's trading ~$25 retailers are offering systems with rebates between $0.45 and $0.80 per watt depending on system size. This compares with the rebate 5-8 years ago of $8 per watt, a 90-95% reduction in rebates since that time. Of course during that time total system costs have fallen from about $15 per watt to $3 per watt unsubsidised which correspond to subsidised costs falling from $7 to $2.50 per watt. I'll ask the question again, last year you stated that solar would be economical once it fell below $4 per watt ($20,000 for 5Kw) it is well below that now unsubsidised, do you acknowledge that solar is now economic or was your maths last year faulty? If faulty could you give us a new target for when you think it will reach grid parity?
http://www.energybank.com.au/solar-systems.php

Minicapt said...

Rob
As someone once pointed out:
""There is Thingumbob shouting!" the Bellman said.
"He is shouting like mad, only hark!
He is waving his hands, he is wagging his head,
He has certainly found a Snark!" "

Cheers

DMS said...

What did Rob say?

Anonymous said...

You must be delusional if you think Abbott will get rid of any media and press people. He's as spin obsessed as the rest of them. It's just the nature of modern politics I'm afraid, and it is something which John Howard (and, yes, Bob Carr in NSW) pioneered.

Anonymous said...

I just hope PM Abbott sells off the ABC as soon as he gets in. I'm sick to having to pay for this organisation which is intent on pushing their political bias, I'm sick of smirkers like Tony Jones and Jonathan Holmes, and I'm sick of witch-doctor "science" prgrammes (that's just for starters).

I don't care how much Abbott gets for it, nor who buys it, just get it out of my wallet.

1735099 said...

I'd rather pay my few cents a day and have the ABC available than put up with the daily crap foisted on us by the likes of Jones and Sandilands...
Fortunately, out where I work they're not syndicated.

Anonymous said...

bloody hell numbers is there no blog you won't pollute.

Hey it was your fellow leftards that called you a baby killer when you went to Teachers college.
Now get over it.

1735099 said...

"that called you a baby killer when you went to Teachers college"
I hadn't been to Vietnam at the time I was at Teachers' college.
What an unmitigated dill you are....

Anonymous said...

Well numbers then someone is telling lies all over the internet. As usual it's you. Want the links put up?
As usual you crayon all over someone else's blog and won't allow comments on your owm.

Speaks volumes, doesn't it?

1735099 said...

Briefly -
1. Post your links to these "lies" - or pull your head in.
2. I have never censored comments on my blog.

SimonT said...

BoaB - you read Fairfax?? It is as bad as the ABC; the politically correct version of shock jocj journalism. No quality. Try the Australian it has long been the best paper in the country and since News bought the WSJ it has the best international press too.

Boy on a bike said...

I read Fairfax every morning, because that is all the cafe that I frequent buys in. God knows why. It's good for raising my blood pressure. The last place I ate at always had the Aus - and the regulars fought over it. That owner used to buy 4 copies of the Aus and 1 SMH. You could always tell who was stuck with the SMH - they had the sulky look on their face, and they'd be watching the other customers with papers like a hawk, waiting for one to get up so that they could snaffle their paper.

Anonymous said...

Numbers said:
"I'd rather pay my few cents a day and have the ABC available than put up with the daily crap foisted on us by the likes of Jones and Sandilands...
Fortunately, out where I work they're not syndicated."

I don't get them here in Perth either. I don't know much about Sandilands except that he's a boofhead. I listen to Jones sometimes over the net and he is OK.

You can keep your ABC, buy shares or support it through subscription or whatever, I just want it out of my wallet.