Regional disservices

One of the great threats to the federal dream is often not recognised - the danger that if regional services ( so well funded by Canberra) are not credible, the States , and others , will haul them back .
This is already happening ( DPI victorian rural research) and Canberra clearly doesn't care because rural people everywhere are suffering from the well paid , but not always responsible (moving on yet agin ) services the feds are creating .
For eg People from the big smoke looking for a promotion do a stint in some remote area( When does anyone get a promotion in a small country town -thankfully teachers do)
This needs to change . Its Time gov fund managers did what the people want - insist that so called responsible people live in the area and otherwise show their commitment to the area -its the sort of discriminating and rewards policy that us who are competent can handle .think of the fuel it would save alone ! Can Canberra handle such complexity? This very action might help save the federal dream from the white anting is it celarly getting at the moment !!!!!!
and why should Canberra care? - what represreetaion do small regional communities have in all this.

Close to home too are the wasted regional research dollar efforts ( non accountable soil and risk research and policy impact by some cmas ) and the silly technofix preoocupations of some politicians that will help drag all research back to the cities --as DPI seems to be doing.
I rememember about 15 years go advising the top university specialists in water and earth science research that the most efficient way to "get results" was NOT to create infiltration and runoff reserach groups ( something that still happened) but to drive integration of this complex earth science by building on regional research - unfortunately i lived in the country and my voice was not heard.

Tell us something we don't know Roxon

Protection policy talk is just that unless the labor party moves onto
professions policy

Take an example from our humorists in the background
As Shaun Macalief said so well on Newstopia last week -

For heavens' sake " put the mental back in environmental" - before we all go completely mad over more irrational and blinkered touting at windmills by politicians .

A lot of hot air and touting at windmills at this 20-20 ???

Diversity not Conformity

Scott Morrison ,Former State President of the NSW Liberals has helped Liberals regain some credibility about big picture politics this week by reminding Aussies of the basics of their freedom and the 'liberal' tradition . ,

Too many wannabes of the recent past and many in media church are too easily caught up in the shallow attractions of rawpower and the unity and conformity that that must go with it . Diversity is the price of freedom and intellectual openess; both for those who want to close the mind down, or open it up.
we can chose the boundaries, but others may disgree with us about just how far out we are prepared to set them !

"Australia is not a secular country — it is a free country," Hon Scott Morrison
"This is a nation where you have the freedom to follow any belief system you choose. Secularism is just one. It has no greater claim than any other on our society.

"As US senator Joe Lieberman said, the constitution guarantees freedom of religion, not from religion."