The only politics worth promoting is popularity

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In my post-massive-lunch-pre-nap state a few days ago, I was blissfully scrolling through Facebook, laughing at Milo and watching car videos.

Then I came across this photo posted by Daniel Andrews, Victoria’s Worst Premier:

“BREAKING: We’ve just outlawed puppy farms – and it will soon be illegal to sell breeders’ puppies and kittens in pet shops. We’re the first state in Australia to do this, because there’s no place for these cruel breeding factories in Victoria. Tag your (human) mates. Share. Help us get the word out there.”. From Facebook.

It follows on from a discussion I had earlier that day while unfed and grumpy, and it supports my impression of what the current Victorian government is doing: It is only focused on passing “popular” bills that relate to social politics.

With the bespecticaled wingnut at the helm in Victoria, traffic has gotten worse, public transport is still terrible, and our power situation is getting close to South Australian levels of unreliability.

We all know of the debacle that was the East-West Link; we paid money to not have a road built, a road that will need to be built eventually, but possibly too late, when the roads are far more congested. Melbourne Airport is still an international airport without a train service. Doncaster and much of the north east of Melbourne only has buses. To get from one smaller city in Victoria to another by train you have to go into Melbourne and out again. (Or you can bus it, but if you use that you might as well drive, as you’re limited to the same speed restrictions, and have to stop every ten meters!)

Some work has been done I will admit, however, it’s been a tremendous waste of time, money, and resources. Anywhere you go on a state highway for the last… oh I don’t know 6-8 months at a quick guess… you would hit road works, slowing down traffic to put in barriers, and now that work is done, resurfacing has commenced. The barriers are ok but there is no room for growth on the highways, which will need to happen soon.

Regarding the resurfacing, it is often so much worse than the original road that was there. Driving on the older part of the road is far more preferable in my sports car than on the new surface. It was such a disappointment, but I guess that’s the Labor policy: Waste money, destroy everything, ruin a nation.

We have lost 50% of our state’s power stations, with one working at full capacity to supply what two used to do. Nothing has been implemented to replace this. We still have to use the same level of electricity. And aside from being being ripped off, we should expect a continued unreliable power supply until a nuclear plant is built or Hazelwood gets reopened. Over the recent two hot weeks in Melbourne, my office lost power twice, which is something that had only happened once before in the 6 years of being there.

Policies for infrastructure are being ignored in favour of popular social politics. And with an election coming up they’re probably hoping that the popular politics will help them hold their woeful command.