Not agreeing with Iain

Our rather good local MP Iain Evans has been touting round the idea that serial truants should be penalised by not being able to apply for their Driver's Licence until they have worked out some sort of agreed penalty time for each day of truancy. (perhaps a week for a day)

This has a rather seductive appeal. Largely because the 16-18 age group  is notoriously difficult to penalise in any significant way. So why not punish them in a way that hurts, so that they might perhaps realize that if they do not take responsibility for themselves then there will be consequences.

The difficulty with the idea, it seems to me, is in using an unrelated activity...driving... to address another issue altogether...truancy. 

The problem then is that we think we have addressed the issue, but the truth is that we have not done anything at all to address the root cause. We do not even name the root cause instead all we do is deflect it.

If, for example, the cause of truancy is bullying at school; or drug addiction; or poor parenting or (God forbid) the failure of the school to seriously engage non-conforming adolescents ...then how would delaying the driving licence actually address that issue.

Further, it would seem to me, that it is a very bad principle to do something draconian because it is notoriously difficult to do something meaningful.

Attractive, seductive..yes. But quite wrong headed.

V is for

VICKIE who is one of the curiosities of SA politics, a member of a political dynasty. Her father Ted was Liberal wheeler and dealer, and she seems to me to typify what is really bad about the State Liberal party, a lack of clear vision and a tendency to only whine about their opponents.
Following the defeat of the Liberals on the floor following the 2002 election, Chapman attained the portfolios of Education and children's services. After the Liberals were soundly defeated in the 2006 election, Chapman was elected to the deputy leadership in an unexpected joint ticket with factional rival Iain Evans. Strong backing was received from moderate faction bosses: former Premier Dean Brown and federal Member for Sturt Christopher Pyne.
I would not wish to stand in front of her on a dark night.

Prescience

Even I am surprised by the accuracy of my earlier-rather-later than prediction of the local Liberal party spill (see the entry for March 30). We await the result with interest.
In the meantime the PM looks increasingly worried, not that he is given to smiling, but he always looks sullen and projects a most dismal image. One can only imagine that the prospect (which seems unremitting with every new report) that they will not be able to pull the cat out of the electoral bag must way heavily upon him. Be that as it may, he was oft warned that he would be better to leave at his peak rather than after things started to go down.
Costello must seethe at the thought of the fact that his nemesis will leave only when he is defeated, and he (Costello) will simply not be able to generate enough support to get himself back as PM.
Maybe these are only very short-term projections and don't warrant much thought, but I am on such an high at having been soooooo accurate about Marty's leadership challenge that I am presuming to cast my net wider.
To put my money where my mouth is...it is 8.25 and I am putting my money that Iain Evans will not be the State Liberal leader at midday.

Who'd be a politician?

The ever smiling Iain Evans, leader of the State Opposition is under seige yet again. His popularity rating has never been particularly high. The most that can be said about him is that he is less hard-faced than some of his opponents. One in particular, who shall remain nameless but who is not of the same gender as the Hon Iain.
It's suggested in the press and on the radion today that the next Liberal leaders may not actually be in the Parliament yet. That may be true.
But an interesting discussion ensued about the ingenuous Martin Hamilton-Smith who precipitated the last leadership spill. And lost!
But it needs to be said that Marty has kept his profile high and has ridden his motorbike unceasingly around the State's worst roads. He is often interviewed, and sometimes makes sense!
This is more than the other key players often do. Monsieur Evans and Madame Hard Face often just seem to whine and whine and whine about the Government, and fail to capture the popular imagination.
Although Hamilton-Smith looked like a total goose when denied any factional support in the recent stoush, has he positioned himself so that when next he moves he will not be so easily disregarded. A strange similarity to Senor Rudd's path to glory, which appears to have been successful in the long.
It is interesting to note in the picture alongside, (Marty in the front row with the brown jacket) that the above mentioned other female aspirant is sitting quite in the shade. Far be it from me to say she has missed the boat, but I am putting my money on Opposition Leader Hamilton-Smith in the next six months , not Evans or Chapperson!

Shopping till you're dropping

It is our privilege and our joy to have Iain Evans as our local member. He works hard at his job, is well-liked. He has to be the Leader of the Opposition, and on top of that he is a nice chap (which is not something you can say about all pollies n'est-ce pas?....forgive me if I lapse into foreign tongues in the next few weeks in trying to bone up for Europe I am falling into a melee of confusion about quelle langue est laquelle...which language is which I mean.. any way back to the Honourable Iain)

He kindly sends out his monthly bulletin to those who ask, and this months is about shopping hours. I personally am a bit surprised that he is advocating a seeming deregulation apart from certain sacred days..Anzac, Easter, Christmas, Good Friday...

Shops he says should be allowed to open when they like. By and large I am in agreement with this but I think there is a lot to be said for having an agreed time when shops do not open. I am totally unconvinced that tourists will think Adelaide is a bigger backwater than Hickory Hoontown simply because they arrive on closing day (or half day closing).

The argument, for me, is not in any way religious. It is about shared time. How are we supposed to promote family and community cohesion when we can't actually get a time when most of us are free. I tire, in fact, of trying to arrange meeting times with groups of people and finding that there is simply no time when everyone is free.....there I go wanting to fill free time with meetings...
Can we not, say, have Saturday afternoon off.Or closing all day Sunday?
By and large Sunday opening is good for big shops and bad for small shops who have little flexibility because their staff is small. Which is why I am surprised that the Liberal champion of small business is so keen on this.
Maybe I don't understand this, but there are other, better things to do in your free time than shop!!
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