There have been a number of developments in the past week that have baffled me, and I was hoping that by sharing them with Star Weekly readers we might together make sense of them. My news feed this week has been filled with the following:
1. Local state members Don Nardella and Telmo Languiller will not face charges from police because there is insufficient evidence to prosecute.
2. Indian immigrants want to embrace their new homeland but want their own cultural centre built in their chosen area because it has Indian shops, clothes and restaurants.
3. Community anxiety grows but police numbers dwindle.
Off the top #1 – Both Nardella and Languiller agreed to pay back funds. So was that just done as a gesture of good faith, not because they had done the wrong thing? I am sure a Collins Street lawyer understands this process, but for the rest of us it is mind boggling. Whoever said the law is an ass was spot on.
#2 – Why migrate if you want to live in a community that is exactly like where you came from except more affluent? It is vital that new residents feel comfortable and safe, but as a society we have to start knocking down social barriers, not building or hiding behind new ones. This is certainly not just confined to the new Indian residents but a broader problem across many ethnic groups. Let’s identify the problem areas of assimilation and fix them.
#3 – As Peter Finch said in the movie Network: “We are not going to take it anymore.” It is a state election year and action equals votes. How anyone let there be fewer police on the beat now than four years ago defies common sense with the booming population in our city. We want more police, we need more police –everyone knows it. So make it happen.
Bureaucracy is the enemy of common sense and action. We become weighed down in a sea of written and spoken words and nothing gets done, no change is effected and no satisfactory outcomes achieved. It’s a waste cycle – it wastes our time, our opportunities and our energies. Let’s put a stop to it.
