Problem is lots of pollies have very basic skills. We need that balance of life experience and knowledge in parliament but we need them to know what the boundaries are. Look at the last debacle with nationality or rorting expenses. Some deliberate but some due to naiveity too.
www.theguardian.com
As soon as MTBers show an interest in an area, everyone else wants it.
It is more than that. The Illawarra greens won’t come out and say they don’t support MTB but they get other people and groups to constantly campaign shut down the trails. They won’t lift a finger from a volunteer sense in the escarpment and won’t recognize the poor state of the walking trails vs the mtb trails that are maintained and in better condition. If they were serious about environmental/ conservation outcomes they would be pushing hard for a legal trail network to end the free for all with mtb riders and trail builders.
There is a very unpopular but viable solution to this: we need to pay them more. As much as this may rankle, the best and brightest, the people you'd actually want leading and making decisions on your wellbeing and the country's are not going to be swayed by the circa $190k a year kick off when most will be earning twice or three times that. And that's before you factor in if an MP is actually doing their job they have no time off. It's a literal 24/7 role with some time off for sleeping. Maybe. That's largely why the culture is so shit.
Ricky Muir was gold. The howling at the time of how this rabble of crossbenchers would destroy our democracy. And yet, all of them, left, right, and central, took the job very seriously. The way they looked at each piece of legislation posed, from a standpoint of what is best for our country, should have been a great lesson for the Big Boys.
like we have juries to be judged by our peers, we'd be in a better place if the big decisions could be made by a cross section of the population. The idea would fall down pretty fast though when result people get subjected to manipulation and pressure from people very good at those dark arts
Like most "upper management" jobs politicians often use this position as a platform to move into more lucrative private sector role. Look at Gladys as 3IC at Optus, raking in good money whilst being part of one of the biggest fuck ups Australia has seen in a while.
Yep, should be hit with the wacking stick like everyone else.
I'm related to a current serving pollie (who by all accounts is good at their job and a hard worker). Anecdotally they, and the pollies they hang out with are not over worked and have 'plenty' of time (or the same as other upper management people) for family, holidays, gatherings etc. There are certainly times when they are flat out, but nowhere near 24/7 or 365 days a year
Mike Morrison rolls off the tongue.
Political groups generally side with groups that can give them the most votes and or the least amount of trouble. These backyard environmental groups generally have uni graduates like environmental scientists, sometimes you even get town planners that know all the laws, and a lot of times they actually consult with councils on other matters than MTB trails, so the wrong bear for a political group to poke the eyes of.
Ouch!Mike Morrison rolls off the tongue.
Ah ok, interesting. Things have changed a bit then since I was involved in the space.
I will caveat that this is at the lower level (2nd term). I'm sure that cabinet ministers are flatout, as would be people chairing committees.
Different pollies have different workloads. Cabinet ministers and senior senators who are on high profile committees have huge workloads. Backbenchers etc are not nearly as flat out so plenty of time for drinking and golf.