Did Mike Baird get it wrong? - YES I SAY

(Looking out a Willow Tree Bowling Club window during CDP 'kingdom come' shite)


When the 'Did-Mike-Baird-get-it-wrong' question was put to the National Party candidate by the Country Labor Party candidate as a kind of 'closing-the-gate' one on mine below:

(Me: "Will you be supporting the current government's trashing of the railway service from Scone to Newcastle Station bearing in mind it was an arrangement made as a result of dodgy deals with dodgy developers and dodgy politicians?")

... his answer to that 'Did-Mike-Baird-get-it-wrong' question was a categorical 'NO!'

Ah-ha so that means the National Party candidate for the Upper Hunter does support the cutting of our railway service to Newcastle Station which is what I was trying to get out of him with my question but he waffled, and prevaricated, and mentioned my views were opinion, and used community angst as an example of community lack of progress, and gave cosy platitudes about his support for an intergrated safe transport plan ...

WTF ... a bunch of donkeys, buses, and bicycle rickshaws could be nicely 'intergrated into a safe transport plan' but we want what we already have and what is already ours:

WE WANT OUR EXISTING TRAIN LINE WITH TRAINS!!!!

So it seems that whilst the National Party candidate dodged my open question with political platitudes and smoke and mirrors, he just couldn't dodge the Country Labor Party candidate's closed question:

Q: Did Mike Baird get it wrong?  
A: No

... So it's Goodbye Newcastle Station and railway line as far as the Nats are concerned - VOTE FOR SOMEONE ELSE 

But in my opinion I say, 'YES, MIKE BAIRD GOT IT WRONG' ...

... of course he shouldn't be cutting the line to Newcastle Station, and of course he shouldn't be opening up that 2km rail corridor and allowing dodgy development to continue notwithstanding those documented dodgy deals with dodgy politicians and dodgy developers, and I'm sorry but after being told ad nauseam that we 'build the lifestyle we choose' and that 'we've all got the same goal' and that 'we're all working towards protecting and enhancing whatever situation we live in,' it is quite clear to me that the 'we' is a figurative 'we' and that the majority of us just don't qualify for the 'We' Club, otherwise ...

Why are plots to cut the railway being upheld?

Why are more mines being approved?

Why is TAFE being destroyed?

These are not the 'lifestyle choices we're choosing,' and I think they rather indicate that we've certainly not got the same goals as Mr National Party Candidate

And furthermore, I just don't believe that mining can co-exist with agriculture, and no, the last 100 years do not prove to me that it does ...

No, I'm far more inclined to believe the country labour party candidate when he says that the benefits of coal mining don't always go back into the community and that 'bullish' predictions of seaborne coal point to 'Coal Armageddon' in 2030, and that 'bearish' ones point to coal having already peaked. 

And I'm with him on the need:

(1) to build community resilience to 'coal-afterlife'

and

(2) to embark on a planning exercise to preserve productivity with the lowest impact for when we reach the lowest price on coal (in 6 years) rather than low productivity and high-use conflict within the community.

Now that's a workable vision.

So in terms of transport, YES MIKE BAIRD GOT IT WRONG!

... and in terms of coal mines ... oh boy ...



... MIKE BAIRD GOT IT SERIOUSLY WRONG WRONG WRONG