Government Accountability Gone To The Dogs

I wonder whether I am a minority in Australia when it comes to the topic of Government accountability. It seems to me that increasingly both federal and state governments are behaving like marketing machines rather than elected representatives.

The most recent fiasco of the deal with the Malaysian government is just another in a long line of instances where the PM seems to think that she can "market" the deal rather than explain to the Australian public how their actions actually achieves something.

No where can I find any explanation of just how this deal is going to reduce the flow of illegal immigrants. I am by no means saying that the problem is an easy one to solve. But not one explanation has been offered to the Australian voting public of what objectives the deal was supposed to have achieved. Is it any wonder that Australians are left wondering just how weak our leadership is. And there is little doubt that governments both federal and state are spending vast sums of money on marketing.

There has been a change in many state governments so these new premiers have an opportunity to get back to the business of governing. They are not selling stuff so it is about time they stopped acting as if they were. Sugar coating may fool some of the voters some of the time but as they proverbial saying goes it will not fool everyone all the time. How about getting back to the truth and re-establishing trust and integrity in government. To the new premiers of Victoria and New South Wales, I plead with you to take heed. In the case of Victoria, the controversy over the events with the police force in the past week are an excellent opportunity to come clean and to tell the public the truth. The Police Commissioner is for all intents and purposes acting as if he is not accountable to anyone. This must be stopped and it can only be done with strong leadership from the top to do the right thing


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What Are Local Authorities Doing About Renewable Energy

I have searched high and low on my local council website and cannot find anything about energy. Not finding anything I searched a few more local council websites and came out empty. It seems to me to be a bit strange that despite the Victorian Government making commitments to renewable energy targets that there seems to be little that local councils are going.

Would it not be logical for local councils who have plenty of roof space to make investments and show a good example even if it was on a small scale. Increasing the generation of renewable energy needs to holistic approach . At present, the framework appears to be left pretty much to the utility companies and private individuals and businesses.

Local and state governments seem to be conspicuously absent from the scene. Surely all the heating and lighting requirements of government buildings and libraries would be a logical candidate. After all if we are trying to encourage private residential owners to install solar panels why would the same not apply to government  buildings. I can only image that the energy bills are as costly for a government building as it is for a private residence.

And the same goes for schools and other institutions of learning. All these buildings need to be lit and heated whether by gas or otherwise. And most of these buildings are occupied during the day time which would make it more meaningful in terms of energy and cost per head.