The Lucky General | The Lucky General

11/05/202022/06/2020

The Opposition Leader is correct. We need a decentralisation plan

One day a rooster, the next day a feather duster!

By LAURIE PATTON | 11 May 2020

Australia’s Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese is right. In his latest vision speech he pointed to the benefits of decentralisation. It’s time we stopped cramming more and more people into already overcrowded cities. It’s predicted that pretty soon 90 percent of all Australians will live in our sprawling capitals. But does that really make sense?

The current health crisis has seen people forced to work from home. We’ve discovered that with modern technology we don’t all need to gather in CBD offices. It’s likely home working will continue when we emerge from the threat of the coronavirus.

04/05/202029/06/2022

Badly designed. Badly marketed. The virus that has infected the Australian government

By LAURIE PATTON | 4 May 2020

In the same week that Labor front-benchers Kristina Keneally and Tim Watts released a discussion paper examining Australia’s cyber resilience the Government was battling to convince us to download an app that IT experts and lawyers warn has basic design flaws.

10/04/202029/06/2022

Passing the buck — why is there no accountability in public administration these days?

By LAURIE PATTON | 10 April 2020

PREFACE.

Since publication, an inquiry into the the Victorian Government’s handling of its COVID-19 hotel quarantine program has heard that nobody could say where a decision to hire private security guards originated. In a rare move the responsible minister, Jenny Mikakos, actually resigned.

Earlier in the year federal Treasury Secretary Steven Kennedy took ‘full responsibility‘ for a $60 billion over-estimation of the JobKeeper wage subsidy program. Yet he did not resign. Nor did anyone else.

Where does the buck stop these days? What should taking responsibility actually mean?

27/02/202028/03/2020

Telstra bells the broadband cat and spays NBN Co

By LAURIE PATTON | 27 February 2020

Telstra’s decision to only offer a maximum 50Mbps plan to more than half its NBN customers is another setback in the quest for #BetterBroadband and further vindication of Labor’s plan to make Australia what Malcolm Turnbull subsequently dubbed an “innovation nation”. It’s the latest fulfilment of a highly political decision by Tony Abbott to instruct Turnbull to demolish NBN Co.

If anyone knows about good and bad broadband it’s Telstra. And they know that anything other than fibre is second best.

12/02/202029/06/2022

NBN latest — oh dear, what can the matter be?

By LAURIE PATTON | 12 February 2020

You know the tune, so let’s all sing along: Oh dear, what can the matter be?

Or, if you prefer AC/DC, “Dirty deeds, done dirt cheap”. As we approach the NBN’s nominal completion date of June this year the decision to dump 21st Century fibre and cobble something together using old copper wires and run-down Pay TV cables has left too many Australians humming a very sad tune.

The release this week of the latest financial report from NBN Co underscores what a debacle we have on our hands.

11/12/201929/06/2022

Unintended consequences — how NSW planning laws have stolen democracy from ratepayers

By LAURIE PATTON | 11 December 2019

One of the fundamental principles of the democratic system enjoyed in Australia for more than 200 years is the right to make representations to your local MP, or in the case of local government to your elected councillors. Changes made last year to NSW planning laws have denied ratepayers this avenue and effectively handed unbridled power to unelected council bureaucrats.

09/10/201929/06/2022

Miscommunication — minister Fletcher spins his top like turvey

By LAURIE PATTON | 9 October 2019

Communications minister Paul Fletcher today spoke at an industry conference and outdid his Coalition predecessors in an extraordinary attempt to defend the beleaguered National Broadband Network. These are just some of the comments he made to an incredulous audience of IT professionals who know so much more than he does.

06/10/201923/03/2020

Time to stop digging our way out of trouble. A lesson from the past?

By LAURIE PATTON | 6 October 2019

For a mixture of political and economic reasons Australia will continue to rely on mining in the foreseeable future, at least to some extent. Yet unresolved debates over a number of proposed coal mines have exposed a politcial rift that may well determine the outcome of the next federal election, just as the issue had a major impact on this year’s poll.

While the risk is arguably greater on Labor’s side the turning tide of public opinion spurred by concerns about Global Warming suggests both the major parties would be well-advised to start thinking about their future responses to the demands of the mining lobby.

One solution is to create jobs in other sectors for the people displaced when mines close or new mining licences are rejected.

12/07/201929/06/2022

Barbarians at the gate — don’t let them destroy Murray Valley National Park

By Laurie Patton | 12 July 2019

The New South Wales deputy premier wants to allow logging in a national park in the state’s Riverina. John Barilaro says he intends removing statutory protection of the 42,000 hectare Murray Valley National Park – either by de-gazetting the entire area or reducing its size.

Forty years ago we fought to stop the logging of a rainforest at Terania Creek in northern NSW. I cannot believe this issue is back on the political agenda.

06/05/201902/01/2020

How World Movies changed the face of Australian cinema

By LAURIE PATTON | 6 May 2019

SBS has announced that it will make World Movies part of its free-to-air offering. This comes nearly 25 years after its creation as a niche Pay-TV channel.

World Movies premiered the night of the Foxtel launch in 1995. It was immediately one of the platform’s most successful channels. For several years World Movies was only available as a stand-alone channel for an additional fee, which made its incredible take-up even more exciting. Eventually it was placed in the movie tier.