Shhh, it's the silent majority

Geelong Advertiser
Tuesday 21/8/2007 Page: 15

IRRESPECTIVE of what is said in this paper, responses by and large come from the disaffected, disenchanted and dissatisfied minority only. With a rare degree of magnanimity and self-sacrifice I have decided to dedicate this column to the great unwashed and their hitherto unheard- of thoughts on what they really want. So here are the thoughts of John and Mary Smith or Tan, Wong, Cvijic or anyone else with a name ending in `Os' or a vowel. We are fed up with everyone pussyfooting around with politics and allegedly speaking on our behalf.

Let's start with a local issue, fluoridation. Quite simply, the minority, very vocal Nazi-like zealots who bombard the Addy with their selective quotes from dodgy sources are wrong. Even trades hall is questioning its position since it banned fluoridation some 20 years ago and is unlikely to ban it now. Our children deserve to have universally affordable dental care and old fuddy-duddies who scoop their dentures out of a glass each morning should butt out. `Whoopee Do' Michael Crutchfield has correctly assessed the feelings of the majority and the available reliable, authenticated research. Take no prisoners, Michael, and strike a blow for the rest of us.

To the people of the Wonthaggi region, get over it. We need to invest in alternative resources and you've scored a great start in being gifted a desalination plant. Would you rather one of the Federal Government's proposed nuclear plants? This argument also applies to all those who whinge and whine against wind farms, solar towers and everything else that will secure our future on this planet. We have a Tasmanian company called the Roaring 40s which has huge contracts in China, including building the largest wind farm in the world, yet can't get any work in their own country. Do you think China bothered to ask the peasants if they had any objections to a wind farm on their doorstep? We need to commit to renewable alternatives and the self-interested, touchy-feely sentiments of a few objectors should be taken for what they are; the inability of some to embrace change and people's innate propensity to say `no' if given the opportunity. We want to see desalination plants, recycled water from Werribee, wind farms up and down the coast and a solar tower at the back of Bannockburn. Anything other than dirty coal, a lack of water or nuclear power plants.

Councillors getting a pay rise? Not while our collective derrieres point to the ground. When they can fix potholes, get traffic across the city, stop increasing the rates by almost double the CPI, discuss things in open chamber and not their secret little meetings, develop a planning policy that doesn't require camping at VCAT on a weekly basis, then come back and ask again. However, it's a big ask, as part-time councillors are simply just not up to the job.

We need fewer of them and all should be full time and treat it as a career. They should also be required to demonstrate some sort of experience or expertise which might suggest they are vaguely capable of meeting the demands of the job.

We're on a roll here. Bring back nativity plays to school, return the troops as no-one gives a stuff about Iraq and let them kill each other, teach kids maths and English grammar by rote. Bring back the death penalty and implement the Pauline Hanson Muslim immigration policy i.e. none. Howard, don't say sorry on our behalf as we're not. Thank-you John, Mary, Mario, Petros, Agneta, Dragana, Wei and Yuen for your insightful comments. Trouble is, will anyone listen to the majority?