DOH! How Dopey are 'We' on the Sunshine Coast?

From the Editors Desk...

Gee how silly are we on the Sunshine Coast? We seem to get shafted by the State Government at every turn, our Hospital, Amalgamation, Water pipeline, Traveston Dam, the list goes on... We naively thought that people power, getting together as a community to fight what many of us considered an injustice was the 'democratic' way and we would be listened to. How stupid were we? All that money spent on advertising, getting rallies together, awareness nights etc, we should have just paid a 'Professional Lobby Group', as obviously a Community Group lobbying for a cause is just not good enough!

What were we thinking when we all emailed our local members, contacted the Government directly, blogged on the news sites, demanding our Hospital? Gee, what a waste of time, as we still got shafted. The fact that our population needs it desperately, and is growing at an alarming rate, so by the time they finally do build the bloody thing it won't be adequate anyhow, seems pretty irrelevant to the powers that be. If we were smart, we would have gotten together a group, raised some funds, got a developer on board who would make a heap of money out of building the hospital on his land, and then approached the most successful Lobby Group that our money could buy. We might actually have had the sod turning photo opportunity and work starting on it already?

How about those silly people up in the Mary Valley. Fancy thinking that spending all that money on Environmental Experts, Research, Awareness nights, marches etc would work? They should be ashamed of themselves for actually thinking that 'People Power' and 'Public Opinion' mattered! They should have just paid for some 'suits' in Brisbane to lobby for them.

You boys working on getting us a stadium... Sorry you missed the boat now, "Integrity and Accountability" is being discussed openly. Shame on you! You should have thought a little harder in the past and we could have already had the OK for one if you had paid some money to some lobby groups, not wasted that money on proving it would be an economic boost for our economy, great for our community, bring in more Sports Tourism etc. Not to mention that every other region of our size and population already has one PFFT! Those things don't matter, how dopey were we not to know that?

Anyone remember the paper that came back a few years ago in regard to Amalgamation for example? This was supposed to be a 'review' of amalgamating our area (and others around the state), the Sunshine Coast was condensed to basically 2 pages with absolutely no mention of any opposition to the idea. Seriously! Even though there were thousands of people opposed, the Government just didn't happen to notice? Obviously I am just an average punter, but considering what we know now and the fact that Mr Terry Mackenroth was a big player in that 'review', it does make you wonder?

In all seriousness, it may be nave of me, and I know that some Government spin doctors have been burning the midnight oil brainstorming on how to get out of this one, BUT, I do hope that maybe we can get back to some real democratic values. As a lover of history I find it so sad that after all that money was spent on the Fitzgerald Inquiry that we are heading back to almost the same position we were in the final days of the Joh years. Different political party, same result after too many years in power.

I am sure that vast majority of people who stand for parliament start out with great ideals on improving their communities, well at least I hope they do, and I know of a few Politicians that are 'honest' and really do 'care' about their constituency. Unfortunately it must be human nature, that the longer you are in power, the more you 'play the game', 'do the deals', and just drift away from your original purpose. I would even go so far to say that the majority of politicians are not actually being 'corrupt' in the true sense of the word, just caught in a system that over time becomes the 'norm'.

Ms Bligh has told us we can have our say about "the issues of accountability and transparency in the political process" so maybe we should have some hope that we can get it? Everyone, please have your say, click on the link to the right there on the 'Community News' area. You never know, if enough of us start to have a say in our Government, push hard enough, I might actually be writing an article about how stoked are we to be finally getting our hospital? Worse comes to worse, we can wait 12 months for this furor to die down, raise some funds as a community and pay a Lobby Group :(

Cheers,
Noely
The Editors Desk

Permanent Link: DOH! How Dopey are 'We' on the Sunshine Coast?
Publish Date: 07 Aug 09