Worming was more interesting this week! Not only did we have more detail about Barnett's canal project, there was also a grab bag of minor policies from both sides that managed to attract media and voter attention.
The ALP plans to drop vehicle registrations by $25, build a new tertiary hospital in Murdoch and expand the Joondalup health campus. However, the hospitals are long term projects that will result in only a few hundred extra beds over the next decade. Take a walk through any hospital and, after noting the many empty beds, you will soon realise that a lack of resources (primarily funding & staff), not beds, is the major problem with our health system.
Meanwhile the Libs are going to rollback the law reforms for private cannabis use, making possession a court matter once again. Add this to his intended partial rollback of equality for same-sex attracted people and defacto couples and a common theme emerges. Barnett continues to promote the "we will reduce taxes" mantra that appears to be his key platform.
The majority opinion seems to be that Colin Barnett, despite his lack of charisma and continued negativity, won the Leaders Debate by a smidge. Though I do not share that opinion I will concede that he still has the stronger chance of winning ... even his canal project has caught the imagination of many voters - go figure!
We were also asked our voting intention regarding the referendum question on Sunday trading hours. The first group was split roughly 70/30 in favour, whilst the second group was almost 50/50 (excluding the undecided). Presumably the second question regarding extended weekday trading will be asked in future weeks.
It is interesting to note that more than 70% voted in favour of daylight saving (last week's topical question), yet this state has failed to support it in three previous referenda. Perhaps the difference lies in the fact that regional voters are not represented in this worm project. In light of that fact, perhaps daylight saving should be introduced for the metropolitan region only. :-)
[+/-] show/hide this post
No comments:
Post a Comment