Nanny State

Well said, Piers.

Individual responsibility was once the accepted norm. These days,however, people who want to stand on their own two feet are the exception - not the rule.

The amount of taxpayer’s funds wasted on paying the ever-increasing armies of public servants to regulate, advise, help, restrict, counsel our fellow Australians is a national disgrace.

For example, private property is no longer “private” with laws that demand a swimming pool fence around a backyard pool. What right has a government (usually local) or here in the NT, the Territory Government to control what occurs in one’s own backyard? Disgusting. All because a useless person was not properly supervising a child; the child was able to exit a property, walk down the road without getting run over by a car,or eaten by a dog, or fallen in a stormwater drain,or raped by a paedophile, or abducted by kidnapper. The poor child, having survived the stroll on a public street, eventually made it to an innoccent pool-owner’s house, where she decided to jump in the water.

She drowned. This of course is tragic, but not the fault of the private pool owner. But it certainly was the fault of the person in charge of the child, who clearly lacked a strong sense of individual responsibility.

“Smoking laws” is another area where the nanny-state decides that the owner of hospitality premises is legally required to make their venue non-smoking by a certain date. It should be no-one’s business whether a business owner decides to allow 100% smoking, 50% smoking or zero smoking. The patrons will soon decide what they prefer. It is therefore purely a commercial decision for the owner - no-one else. Again no role for the nanny state.

On and on it goes. Further restrictions on our lifestyle - decided by taxpayer-funded advisors, who have never earnt a dollar in the real world, and delivered to weak sheep-like politicians to legislate on.

The recent decision by the Tasmanian Supreme Court, to put the responsibility on the drinker, instead of the publican is a breath
of fresh air amongst within a rapidly enveloping miasma of state controls.

Rudd, as you would expect,being a good socialist (or whatever he really is - apart from a show pony), and always keen to waste taxpayer’s money,is a strong advocate of taxpayer-funded “nanny initiatives”.

Remember the alcopops tax, grocery watch, fuel watch, super-clinics.... and so on. All a waste of time, and money except for the alcopops tax - which, of course raised more money for Rudd to squander.

How to fix this problem is of course difficult. Once the population can no longer think for themselves, they are unlikely to vote for a government which wants to allow people to become more self-sufficient, and possess that once common Australian trait of individual responsibility.