Comforting the fearful

This anonymous post hit my inbox. I delete anonymous posts as a matter of course but I think I may have some fun with this one. It referred to my earlier posts about NSW State politics:

Typical Leftie crap. John Watkins only skill in politics is to cuddle people in a portfolio after an activist reformer with a pulse beat (Costa, Scully) has departed.

What major transport initiaves has John Watkins managed? What new projects has he championed to ease congestion. When ever has he been prepared to take on the militant left public transport unions whose indstrial rorts and old world intransigence should be a complete embarrassment to those of us who defend the legitimate union movement?

I struggle to defend many members of the NSW Govt as they have decided as a job-lot that preservation is more important than reform or progress. One obvious standout is Frank Sartor in Planning who actually believes the Premier's slogan of "Open for Business" and other minor contributors include Cherie Burton in Housing (a public housing kid who rose through the ranks to be the best local MP in Australia taking Kogarah from 0.9% margin to 18% in two elections) and Eric Roozendaal who has turned around the anger on Cross City Tunnel with a commercial approach. None of these have ever been to a Steering Committee meeting.

As to the 'lack of ideology' complaint, this is State Politics, it's not the UN. Balance the books, grow the State economy, deliver jobs, get people to work on tme, keep them safe and gaurantee a decent education and the job is 90% done. Then we can move on social policy reform.

On the great lefties, what has "B'debus" done about promotion of national parks, what has Tebbutt done (a good performer mostly) to take on the Communist Teachers Collective about performance stats for parents, how has Sandra Nori helped NSW women, what has the magnificent Kerry Hickey done to reform local govt, what has Meredith Burgman done to destroy the Leg Council??

Let's get serious about the whole place and tune Mark Arbib into a more productive use of his time. Get all of the talent that NSW has to offer, which is currently inhabitting the ranks of company public affairs divisions, lobby groups and consulting firms and find them a seat. Throw out the bench warmers from both factions and renew the team that seeks to represent Labor. What we need is more people who understand communities, understand the value of a dollar, know how business works and have some experience outside the union office, the ministerial office and the party office.

cheers (anonomys for fear of retribution from all factions)

Our anonymous friend suffers from three major delusions:

1. Anyone who comes into government swinging the axe, ejaculating press releases and jabbering madly is a great activist reformer. The minister who manages a difficult portfolio is somehow less worthy than the thrower of bombs (and tantrums) has been carried out on a stretcher. This is a standard mental flaw among the NSW Labor Right, once you understand this you can understand why the same political machine produced Mark Latham, Paul Keating and H V Evatt. You could splice that bit about "this is State Politics, it's not the UN" to defeat his own first two paragraphs.

2. Not only does he assume that Mark Arbib is capable of being useful, he assumes that "people who understand communities, understand the value of a dollar, know how business works and have some experience outside the union office, the ministerial office and the party office" are the same people who can currently be found in "the ranks of company public affairs divisions, lobby groups and consulting firms". He identifies three of his favourite ministers, none of whom fit this (hard to fit) bill.

3. I bet if you look at the choice of words in the italicised words above, and compared them to the mad rants you see on Labor blog sites like Landeryou, it would be possible to identify this bloke. Somewhere there's a union hack with nothing better to do than this very task. Report back with your findings please.

Labor left only become valuable members of society once they abandon their statist dreams. what has "B'debus" done about promotion of national parks? Um, I know there are National Parks, you know there are National Parks, isn't that enough? By ALP terms this man has more than earned a spot in Canberra. If there was a "lack of ideology complaint" I must have missed it, and am sure I didn't make it. See if you can find it, while I struggle to think who I'd put in the pantheon of Great Reforming Local Government Ministers.

When you're as flaky and self-contradictory as this poster, it saves me the trouble of pulling the wings off your delicate arguments.