Peter Richardson has been a journalist on the Sunshine Coast for 50 years and is the former editor of the Nambour Chronicle. Last year he published Chapter and Verse, a collection of short fiction and verse inspired by the people and places of the Coast. Peter is now writing a memoir of a half-century of journalism in South-East Queensland. Where are today’s bright young architects?
| Peter Richardson
If you think too much fuss is being made about the affordability, or rather the unaffordability, of first homes on the Sunshine Coast, think again.
Last week’s piece on this subject triggered a swag of responses from thedaily.com.au’s bloggers.
Some of the comments were coolly rational and constructive, some were passionate, and some bordered on the desperate, as in this concluding paragraph from Stelis at Maroochy River: “We are now looking at leaving the Sunshine Coast … which we both grew up in and where we hoped to raise our children. It is a pity that young people are being forced to leave their home (area) just so they can have a little piece of dirt. Whoever said dirt was cheap?”
Good question.
And another from Atapro of Noosaville: “Where are the cheap, modest homes for young people to buy today?”
Where indeed? Cheap and modest needn’t mean dull and poky.
Where are today’s bright young architects, in the same mould as Gabriel Poole et al, who’ll come up with some new-frontier thinking on this?
And where are the developers who’ll see that, with the right product at the right price at the right time, small can indeed be beautiful, even for that sacred bottom line.
Too hard to tick a box
Have I missed something? I thought voting for all three forms of government was compulsory but, judging by even the lowest estimates of how many people did not vote at last week’s Sunshine Coast Regional Council elections, one could be forgiven for thinking otherwise.
So what is going to happen to those who, for whatever reason, didn’t turn up to perform the simple task of indicating who they wanted to represent them?
According to the law as I read it, you can receive an “apparent failure to vote” notice which will ask you to give your reason.
If that is not accepted, you can cop a fine. It will be interesting to see how many, if any, of these “show cause” letters go out.
If they do, it could be a good little revenue earner. Some of the reasons for not voting could make colourful reading, too.
What’s your vote?
And another thing: on the wider issue of compulsory voting, I’ve long held the view that if you can’t be bothered to vote, you don’t deserve the right to have a say in who is to run the country, the state or the council.
And it puzzles me when, say, a federal election is in the offing, lots of our tax dollars are spent on government ads almost imploring us to vote.
Why not just short, sharp media reminders that voting is compulsory and fines apply? In my book, any law that either isn’t or can’t be enforced is a bad law.
What’s your vote on compulsory voting?
Email rich.29@bigpond.net.au.
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Recent Comments
Democracy and democratic systems should be studied in secondary schools and encouraged in the home.
Everything should be questioned and nothing taken for granted. "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance."
Tina Shaw's latest blog piece was a like a little ray of sunshine.
http://www.thedaily.com.au/blogs/reality...
With compulsory voting we have to ask ourselves if representative democracy as we know it is really democratic, I would suggest that it only in a limited sense. Edward Said summed it up well, we live in an "elective oligarchy" not true democracy.
In 1911 Italian Robert Michels published one of the most insightful studies of democratic organisations, a study that still has a lot of truth, though it's not gospel and there have been some exceptions to his "Iron Law of Oligarchy". Michels idea was that as democratic organisations grow in size and complexity they tend to form internal bureaucracies which in turn centralise power and decision making to the bureaucracy the result of which is oligarchy and dictatorship of the leadership over the members.
A copy of this work can be found here:
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng...
It should be noted that Robert Michels became so disillusioned with democracy he became a supporter of the fascist Mussolini. Another interesting read that whilst it has attracted some valid criticism is well worth looking at is Manufacturing Consent by Noam Chomsky in which he examines how western democracies control delude and pacify the electorate. Manufacturing Consent is almost mandatory reading whether you agree with his theory or not in trying to understand how our societies work.
Of course you can't over look Adam Smith, Voltaire, Rousseau, Thomas Jefferson (who even said that a rebellion every twenty or years is healthy for society) and their critics.
Too often you hear people commenting that they feel powerless and that their vote is only one vote that will not make any difference, to a degree they have a point, but free discussion of democracy and politics should become a vibrant part of our community, throwing up your hands and saying it's all too hard or even worse saying that it's all too complex and best handled by those who have experience is a deceitful cop out that results in bad government.
Hope I haven't been too incoherent, just trying to simulate some research and thinking.
What's your vote? I believe it is the government's responsibility to encourage and facilitate voting if they want to:
claim we have a strong democracy and
travel the world promoting democracy and especially if they are going to
invade other countries on the pretext of bringing democracy to those countries.
This country is small in terms of population and we are democratic, unlike America that is a Republic.
Friends of mine argue that most people haven’t got a clue and they vote. That’s what gives us mediocre government.
My argument is: that might be the case while the majority are pretty comfortable ie while govt is doing a reasonable job. However when things get uncomfortable for the majority it is important that they have been engaged with the political system in the long term so they know what to do when it is time for a change.
Perhaps we should just ban voting altogether.
Nice though.
People starting out should consider Gympie or places like Bundaberg. Still great places. But you can get in the door for around $250,000. And there are job opportunities.
Being lazy and expecting the government to do everything with regard to decision making is not a democratic option, we to start setting democratic expectations and delivering.
Looking at the election platform of Bob Abbot with his priority of greater community involvement in decision making is a good start, but it requires the community and individuals to become involved take an interest, take responsibility and not blindly delegate to others.
Hope it never gets to that stage.
And as for the architects - I love everything Gabriel Poole does...so Gabriel not withstanding...
I attended a function this week addressed by reknowned local architect Jim Birrell (and for the recrod...why the hell isn't he invited to the 2020 summit?)
Jim is passionate about returning to a time young couples were able to "pull themselves up by the boot straps"...back when a farmer could subdivide one piece of dirt for a family member - who could in turn, put down a slab and live in a caravan while slowly constructing the family home.
These days apparently the smallest legal subdivision is 200 lots - playing straight into the hands of greedy developers flogging overpriced house and land packages.
There is no simple solution to affordable housing - but a caring community should at least embrace the debate.
Can I direct you to;
http://www.thedaily.com.au/news/2008/may... and comment on " have your say" there
&
www.saveeumundi.org
Mike