Is an election looming? Since I logged onto TASCOSS web page"Our Community Our Voice I have been saturated by emails from all varieties of political candidates offering their election menus. The site itself offering hope for communty harmony and input already seems to have highlighted the age old divisions haunting Tasmania. Their first article from Mr.Cocker(public service union) is on the need for further business investment & and the latest one by Mr. Muller (TASCOSS) is about no tax cuts for business...............

Well it all comes back to the dog chasing it's tail syndrome again in Tasmania. The irony of  Mr. Cockers first blog about needing more business investment and now Mr. Mullers blog about no further tax cuts for business  is not missed here. It just about sums up the  ongoing conundrum  facing Tasmania where business and government see themselves as mutually exclusive with no real need to communicate or cooperate in developing community policy. The whole Tasmanian system, which lacks a clear community structure for policy input pays scant regard to its own citizens views. This track can only lead to more division in an already divided community.

 Polerisation is always counter productive with the effect of losing sight of the fact that most things in our community are interconnected and also interdependent. The whole fabric of  our community is underpinned by a fake elite who think it is their exclusive right to ram their ideas down the throats  of those who are far removed from the corridors of authority. The haves making decisions for the have nots  is just never going to work . The present system borders on shambolic and operates almost daily on that same principle. As the battlers become more disenfranchised they will simply just disengage from the system. Discord will increase rather than decrease, debate will become so one sided as to be rendered useless, and laws will become so unjust that people will operate outside the system.

The stiffness that permeates our bureauacy and political institutions in Tasmania is at the very heart of this fake elitism which purpetuates polarisation,discord,and division. The us and them mentality is clearly evident in our laws,social policy and our inability to apprehend the evolution of ideas.

From cradle to grave in the digital age we have the tools to improve the lives of all our citizens. We simply lack a start,middle and destination in terms of a plan of where we really want to be. With all the hyperbole' thrown out by various candidates from all parties it is easy to see we are not prepared to break the destructive cycle that currently prevails. We will be bombarded with grand visions,empty promises,and embellishments on TV and the papers in the run up to the next State election, and already we know it is one big hoax.

Social Inclusion has a definitive meaning,but in Tasmania it is just another political buzz word that has  washed ashore in a bottle from "The Mainland". All things without creativity usually fizzle and die out. Our political leaders are not of the people, not really. They have not created in themselves  a true sense of identification with their constituents and in turn their constituents sense this. They  do not see that their position rests on the foundation of those below them. They are not in harmony with those whom they serve and nor do they believe the needs of those people to be their own.....

So don't get too optomistic here,don't expect appropriate solutions to old problems. We will still be arguing about them in 5 years time and beyond. I wish this wasn't so,but when one sees how our disadvantaged children,our chronicallydepressed youth ,our drug addicted young adults, our aged frail, our physically and intellectually disabled,and our homless have been and still are treated it becomes  easier to predict the future........

Solutions to complex problems do not come by luck or wishfull thinking,they come from meaningful and gritty dialogue. The Exclusivity of the status quo system will ensure progress  is slow and tortueus... Full steam ahead, it's business as usual...........