SNIPPETS # 44: 'Big Problems I'd Fix…'

SNIPPETS #44

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p.18 Sydney Morning Herald Weekend Edition 19-20th Novembis 2011: ‘Big problems I’d fix to make us a clever country’ by Ross Cameron:

“If I were an absolute dictator, here are my top soluble problems crying out for immediate, creative policy solutions:

4. Build a Water Bank; The Australian continent doesn’t lack rainfall, it lacks the ability to store and reticulate its abundant rainfall. We need a network of high altitude-dams that care capable of storing the energy required to improve the efficiency of our coal-fired base-load generators with hydro-electricity. 

9. Reassess Indigenous Programmes: Let accept welfare has destroyed Aboriginal communities and tear up the rule book. If a remote community is more than 90% reliant on Commonwealth Income Support, it is not a ‘community’ in any real sense and we should turn off the tap. Effort at Indigenous self-reliance must be encouraged and the ‘wild rivers’ madness should be immediately abandoned. After 20 years of operation, the Native Title regime should be assessed against its actual impact on Indigenous wealth creation”.      

 [emphasis ours]