Many years ago, in response to questions about public money being used to finance Movies which did not fare well at the Box Office, then Premier Neville Wran said that in future government should only invest taxpayer money in films which were guaranteed to be financial successes.
This provoked a good deal of eye rolling and sarcasm from show biz types who pointed out there was no such thing.
Some went further, saying that if Mr. Wran could actually predict what the public wanted and thereby guarantee the kind of ticket sales which would make everyone involved rich and famous, he should head off to the big time in Hollywood where he could make a global splash and some real money instead of wasting his time and talent in local politics.
The present Premier’s gift for fantasy could actually make that dream come true.
Ms. Berejiklian admits Sydney’s infrastructure is lagging behind population growth but has asked voters to give her eighteen months to get the problem under control.
The chances of that happening are about the same as me becoming the next Pope, but if she wants to spout nonsense, why not make it entertaining nonsense?
She could – for example – go the J.K. Rowling route: how about Harry Potter and the Cauldron of Congestion.
Or follow the George R.R. Martin path with – say – Game of Trains.
The main road on Sydney’s Northern Beaches still mainly makes the same thump, thump, thump noise from the concrete slabs now as it did when I drove my Flathead Ford out to Avalon when I was sixteen.
Apart from the surface not changing much, the width of the road hasn’t changed at all.
But the human silos keep being built to house more and more citizens – many of whom want to get in to the city and back in enough time to spend some time in the homes they pay so much money for.
Ms. Berejiklian, it seems pertinent to point out, at this point, you say immigration isn’t the problem.
This I assume is why you spent so much time attacking Opposition Leader Luke Foley with such vigour when he used the phrase “White Flight” to describe older residents leaving certain areas to accommodate new arrivals.
Mr. Foley was ill advised to use those words, because they distract from the point he was making.
Saying “white” in the context of skin colour in this day and age is a bit like (even now) using the well known Anglo Saxon* “F” word on television – that’s all people remember.
Of course these days in Australia there are so many Social Justice Warriors ready to shout “racist” it was a rolled gold (not the Bill Shorten kind – the real one) guarantee that’s exactly what would happen.
Especially when the “I” for “Immigration” word is much more likely to provoke a big shouty reaction than the “F” for you-know-what word.
Madame Premier, you say you want the states to get together to discuss the immigration situation.
But you already think “the current numbers are about right”.
So why waste time on the meeting?
Why not turn your spin doctors in to script doctors and come up with something that we can all enjoy?
How about an all singing, all dancing musical extravaganza based on the everyday doings of the New South Wales parliament.
We could call it “La La Land”.
*I assume I’m allowed to use “Anglo-Saxon” in this context.
MIKE JEFFREYS 