Crispin Hull

Yesterday’s announcement by Planning Minister Simon Corbell reinforces that proposition. Traffic problems are relatively easy to resolve. People need to move from one place to another. Build a road. Build a railway. Put on some more buses. For several years now, many people from Gungahlin have had to drive through a bottleneck every morning to get to places of work. They have been angered by the fact that people from other town centres – Woden, Weston, Belconnen and Tuggeranong – have had the wonders of dual carriageway expressways to the centre and to each other. Belconnen Way, the Tuggeranong Parkway, Hindmarsh Drive and Parkes Way over the past three decades have provided Canberrans’ birthright to the residents of place – unimpeded free-flow car access to wherever they want to go in under 20 minutes. Except to Gungahlin.

Gungahlin, moreover, is a creature of self-government. It was mostly developed post 1989 on a model of giving large tracts of land to developers. Those naïve governments failed to address infrastructure issues in the same way as the relatively cash-rich federal bureaucracy spear-headed by the former National Capital Development Commission. Transport, shopping centres, verges, landscaping, schools, public spaces were given a back seat to the need to flog off land for houses.

The residents of Gungahlin saw themselves as second-class citizens. Corbell realised soon after his fluke election in 1998 that hell hath no fury like a Canberran denied the birthright of driving a car to work.
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Hundreds of islands dot the Inside Passage between Vancouver and the Alaskan Panhandle.

Holland America line’s Zaandam

Glacier Bay, Alaska
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Thirty years ago – when I was driving a fruit-delivery truck and was a messenger for the CT — I thought there must be an easier way to put myself through law school at ANU. So as a temporary measure I applied for a full-time position as a cadet journalist on the CT.

I was answering the editor’s array of general knowledge questions reasonably well, until he asked me, “”Where are the Limestone Plains?”

I told him I could not hazard a guess and he politely told me, “”You’re sitting on them.” I thought it would be the world’s shortest journalism career and roared with laughed. “”Well,” he said, “”If you have got a good general knowledge and sense of humour you might make a good journalist. You can start ON SUNDAY with a day off and report to the Chief of Staff on Monday.

The day off was a ploy to all the COS to roster me for 10 days without a real day off.

But in fact, every day was a day off. For 30 years, it has been a hobby every day, a joy not a labour.

So a couple of weeks ago when the new general manager after being in the place for just 2 weeks before giving me and Robert Macklin the flick was at least correct in thinking I was grossly overpaid.

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Territories Minister Wilson Tuckey is upsetting local MLAs, particularly Chief Minister Jon Stanhope and Greens MLA Kerrie Tucker over land releases, roads and the size of the Legislative Assembly.

Tuckey is opposed to increasing the Legislative Assembly from its present 17 members. He is opposed to Planning Minister Simon Corbell’s western option for Gungahlin Drive because it will upset the Australian Institute of Sport.

Stanhope is also upset at Federal intervention over the V8 race – with the National Capital Authority vetoing earlier moves to change its date from mid-winter to improve attendances.
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The proposals to reform defamation laws in NSW are welcome, but they carry a small danger for the ACT.

Changes to defamation laws came into effect in the ACT on July 1. The ACT changes seemed likely to bring a welcome toppling of the ACT as the defamation capital of Australia. Hitherto, many allegedly defamed people brought their actions in the ACT because it was the jurisdiction seen to be most friendly to plaintiffs. The law itself, until July 1, was the toughest in Australia for defendants. The track record of the ACT Supreme Court reveals a marked reluctance to find for media defendants and a record of general generosity to plaintiffs. Moreover, the fact that the ACT – with rare exception – does not have juries means plaintiffs who might not cut well with juries prefer to come to the ACT to sue – even if they are suing publications based in other places. Politicians, senior public servants, lawyers and other professionals invariably chose the ACT where they would not have to face a jury of ordinary people who would be more likely to view them with disfavour. It meant that the ACT defamation list was much longer than it should have been – imposing un unwarranted burden on the ACT courts and ACT taxpayers.
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The festering conflict in the Australian Democrats has come to the surface again. The conflict arises out of political philosophy, organisational rules and personality clashes. The first two are long-running and only controllable if the last is absent. As soon as personality clashes arise in the party, the conflict over political philosophy and unstable organisational structure inevitably compound the problem.

On the question of political philosophy, the Democrats are the most democratic of Australia’s political parties. The membership has a huge say in policy. However, the parliamentary team which implements that policy has a large say in how the Democrats aims are best achieved. In doing that each Democrat senator puts her or his philosophic stamp on that. The Democrats generally take a small-l liberal approach on social issues. In that the party is general united. The so-called conscience issues do not cause the Democrats the strife they cause the major parties. The strife arises when the party deals with economic issues.
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It was significant that among the first to offer help and welcome to the new African Union was the European Union. For those might scoff at the idea of the African Union having any chance at achieving even part of its lofty aims to secure peace, good government, prosperity and human rights in Africa, the European experience is worth considering.

At the end of World War II, Europe was in tatters. The war had killed 10 per cent of its population and left its economies in ruin. In the years before the war, despotism, dictatorship, breaches of human rights, economic depression and exploitation of minorities were the norm and an population explosion was about to happen. Also half of Europe was to remain under dictatorship for more than 40 years after the war. In short, Europe was then was much like Africa is now.

The task is not hopeless for Africa, even though there are obvious differences.
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NSW Premier Bob Carr is quite right to express concerns that any increase in Australia’s family and business migration would put an unnecessary strain on Sydney. Regional centres are crying out for more people. Some have had declining population and they have blamed that – rightly or wrongly — for a decline of services and business activity. Mr Carr, on the other hand, points to growing population pressures in Sydney, particularly horrendous traffic problems.

Various schemes have been proposed to attempt to entice migrants out of Sydney. Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock has suggested rules to prevent migrants sponsoring family members to Australian until they could show they had established themselves outside Sydney. Another suggestion has been to give business migrants temporary visas until they get their business up and running in a regional area. Another idea put by Mr Ruddock was to give preferences among people who have studied in Australia to those who studied in a regional centre.

These ideas have some merit because once someone gets a job or establishes a business they are much less likely to drift to the city – particularly a city like Sydney where house prices and prohibitive and commuting costs – in time and money – would make a move less attractive.
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The proposal by former Labor Industry Minister John Button for the Labor Party to sever it formal links with the union movement has drawn widespread condemnation within both the party and the union movement. No doubt it has also caused a certain amount of glee in Coalition ranks – happy to see internal wrangling in Labor distract the party from the main game.

The fact that Mr Button’s plan has drawn such deep and wide negative reaction is perhaps a vindication of what he is saying. It indicates that the influence of the union movement is so strong in the Labor Party that no-one would countenance it being weakened. Opposition Leader Simon Crean has already got into strife for proposing a change to the 60-40 rule under which unions get a majority of voting strength at party conferences.

Mr Button quite rightly points to the lack of democracy and participation that the rule brings. It gets more undemocratic daily as fewer members of the workforce see unions as relevant and fewer members of unions feel they have any effective say in union affairs. Union membership is now slightly less than 10 per cent of the workforce – and the percentage in Labor-affiliated unions is perhaps only half of that. And the percentage of those who are members of the Labor Party would be minuscule. Indeed, former Labor Senator Chris Schacht thought that the Adelaide Crows Football Club had more members than the Labor Party. That small number has a large influence on pre-selections. It indicates that a very few unrepresentative people are have a large say in the party’s (and nation’s affairs).
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Serious doubt has arisen about where, or even if, an extension to Gungahlin Drive should be built. It arises out of new preliminary research done by the Australian Institute of Sport. Several conflicting interests are at stake. The people of Gungahlin are desperate to get improved transport to other parts of Canberra. The people of the inner north are concerned that no freeway should cut through bushland near them. The Australian Sports Commission which has charge of the Australian Institute of Sport is concerned that a freeway close to the institute would affect athletes’ training and thereby the future of the whole institute.

Two governments have a role. The role of the ACT Government is to propose and give effect to transport options for the people of this city. The role of the Federal Government is twofold. First as custodian of the capital city for all Australians it must ensure that the major transport systems within it are workable and to make sure that the significant national interests in it are protected – in particular the preservation national capital open space system that ensures rampant development does not crawl up the hilltops as in many other cities. Secondly, it has a role to look after the interests of the major national institutions that reside in Canberra – including the Australian Institute of Sport.
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