What's wrong with the world today

[silentC]

I recently spent several hours in a car with my old man. As you do on these long trips, we went into a long discussion on what is wrong with the world today. The topic turned to the local council and the problems they are having. It occurred to me that there is a good reason why they and so many others are in such strife.

Our council is pleading broke. They are currently preparing a submission to the state government for a rates hike of 14% this year, then a few percent more each year for the next 4 or 5 years. The rates already went up substantially last year (30-50% in some cases), and yet they want more money.

Meanwhile, the footpaths are breaking up, the public facilities are falling apart. The whole town is crumbling around our ears. Every week there are letters to the editor complaining about the state of things. They want more services (or the old ones back again) but they don't want to pay more rates. Why can't the council do it's job with the money it already gets?

My own belief is that there is too much regulation. Most of this is imposed by the state government but is administered by the local council.

A case in point: Most will remember the fires in Canberra last year (or was it the year before?) As a result of that, the NSW state government has given the NSW Rural Fire Brigade the power to regulate building in bushfire prone areas. To identify these areas, the task of mapping was given to the local councils. The council must produce a map of the area under their control shaded to show the areas that are bush fire prone. All proposed developments in the shaded areas must complete a bush fire assessment which will determine which level of construction applies to the development.

When these maps were collated, it turned out that something like 80% of the existing residences in NSW were now in bush fire prone areas. To try to quell the rising panic, the NSW Rural Fire Brigade quickly added that the mapping technique had erred on the side of caution and so a large percentage of the houses so marked were in fact not in a bush fire prone area at all. The upshot of this is that a very large percentage of proposed developments in rural NSW now have the added expense of having to do a bush fire report when one is probably not needed and very probably having to use special materials and construction methods as a result.

What has this got to do with the local council? Well, apart from the cost of the mapping exercise, they also now have a permanent bush fire consultant on staff. That's an extra salary that they have to provide for as a result of this legislation. This guy's job is to maintain the map, to liase with the fire brigade, consult to developers, and generally enforce the legislation. I don't know what he gets paid but I would imagine it would be in the middle to upper management level of council remuneration.

The question is, who is paying for him? Did the state government give the council another $60,000 per year to pay for him, or did they say "this is now your responsibility". I think I know the answer to that one.

This is only one of the regulative roles now imposed on the council. You also have the EPA, the Waterways, and soon we will have BASIX. All of these things cost money to administer and in lieu of funds from other sources, the council has to spend the money it would otherwise spend on community services.

Is there such a thing as too much regulation? Would we be better to let people self-regulate and mop up the inevitable messes when they occur? I think that insurance companies might have something to answer for here too...

[kiwigeo]

One major problem I see with alot of local governments is an almost total lack of accountability to the people who provide a large proportion of the money they spend..the rate payers. Add in an air of arrogance on the part of many local governments when dealing with rate payers and its not hard to understand why people get p****d off with them.

The solutions? I dont know. Looking at the 24% voter turnout at my local council's last elections I cant help but think that most of the ratepayers in my area are either an apathetic lot and dont really give a toss how their rates are spent or they feel completely powerless to change things with their vote.

[Barry_White]

That is an interesting thing about the State Government intervention. In my area I lived in a donut council and this council had the one of the lowest rates in NSW. The council had $9 million in reserves and by and large ran fairly effeciently with 9 councilers.

About two years ago the state government forced it into amalgamation with the City council along with 3 other councils. These 3 other councils were running fairly effeciently apart from one that had a million dollar compensation claim against it and was caught up in the HIH debacle.

Now after the amalgamation the 9 million has been spent by the city council and they are in debt. There garbage fees have gone up and I have no doubt over the next couple of years they will be putting the land rates up to be equivilant to what the city council rates are.

And the state government says this is to make it more effecient. In my eye it is.

[silentC]

I suppose what I am saying is that the local councils are increasingly having to devote resources to new regulations that didn't exist years ago and are consequently neglecting what they were elected to do.

Another example is regulation of the use of public land. In the past, the local mob were pretty lax about letting people use public land for various purposes. For example, a local business conducts a surfing school during the holiday season. They are using public land, to wit the beach, to earn an income. Council has now decided to charge them for this, which is fair enough I suppose. They have also raised the charges for all the people who were already being charged for use of public land, such as cafes with outside dining etc.

However, due to the clamp down, they now have to devote resources to administering and enforcing the policy. They have revealed that the extra revenue will not cover the cost of administering it, so there will be even more public funds disappearing on regulatory activities.

Why are they doing it then? To protect them (us) from liability in the event of an accident happening on public property. They believe that by charging a fee and requiring the tenant to have public liability insurance of $4 million, they are protecting themselves from exposure. What they don't seem to realise is that it wont make any difference in the event of an accident because the 'victim' will sue anyone and everyone they can think of.

On the subject of electing council members, I don't believe that the elected councillors have any real power anyway. My Grandfather found that out years ago when he was elected as a councillor. He went in thinking he could change the world but soon found out that getting support for his ideas was very difficult when other councillors thought that it might upset their own plans. The council is run by its administrators and the councillors are simply there to provide the illusion of democracy and to act as a buffer between the permanent staff and the whinging public.

[bitingmidge]

Is there too much regulation?

Nah....80% of the population of the country would be unemployed without the friggin' regulators.

Yesterday I was on our construction site after a Workplace Health and Safety Inspection of all plant and machinery. We have this big sucker of a crawler crane on site for the duration of the project (see pic) and the WH&S Officer was obviously a bit peeved because it was in perfect working order, and all records were immaculately in place.

With all it's tracks removed it travels on an over-width low loader with an escort, and of course is not able to be road registered.

Somewhere under the cab, is an unused plate holder not unlike a number plate bracket.

Blithering Idiot Inspector wrote a defect "improvement" notice because "number plate light inoperable".

Over-regulated????? No, just overpopulated with persons whose heads bear amazing resemblance to genitalia.

Cheers,

P (Sorry if this isn't what you were getting at Silent!)
:D :D :D

[Wood Borer]

Remember back when you were at school and there were those who were good at sport, there were those who were good at maths and science, those good at music, good at art, good at woodwork and metal work, there were those who were popular, there were those who were tough …

Then there were the wimps. The wimps learnt parrot fashion on badly taught subjects like History, Geography and they prided themselves on memorising great bulks of useless information. They never got top marks but never the lowest marks, they never played sport or got into fights or even mildly defended themselves. If they were offended they would almost cry and report the offender to the teacher. They were the goody goody neatly dressed wimps.

Most of us had nothing to do with them on account of them being a waste of space. If they came from a farm, they would probably bring the morning tea to the shearing shed for the shearers when they were 16!!! They certainly would not have been up at the crack of dawn preparing the woolshed or pestering their old man to give them another go at shearing themselves. No, they would have been studying their Economics text on the exciting topic of GDP or perhaps penning a letter to their school principal asking if they can do needlework instead of metal work because the metal is a bit rough on their hands.

These wastes of space have sought and found revenge. They have squirmed their way into administration, law and politics. They assume everyone else is as useless as themselves and they make laws accordingly. They also assume everyone else is as dishonest as themselves and make regulations accordingly.

It is the revenge of the nerds. The weak and stupid have seized control.

Apologies to students of economics, I’m sure it is important but not to the exclusion of living.

[ndru]

I’m sure it is important but not to the exclusion of living.

Tell that to those who have lived through hyperinflation or double digit unemployment :rolleyes:

[B.J.Honeycut]

Remember back when you were at school and there were those who were good at sport, there were those who were good at maths and science, those good at music, good at art, good at woodwork and metal work, there were those who were popular, there were those who were tough …

Then there were the wimps. The wimps learnt parrot fashion on badly taught subjects like History, Geography and they prided themselves on memorising great bulks of useless information. They never got top marks but never the lowest marks, they never played sport or got into fights or even mildly defended themselves. If they were offended they would almost cry and report the offender to the teacher. They were the goody goody neatly dressed wimps.

Most of us had nothing to do with them on account of them being a waste of space. If they came from a farm, they would probably bring the morning tea to the shearing shed for the shearers when they were 16!!! They certainly would not have been up at the crack of dawn preparing the woolshed or pestering their old man to give them another go at shearing themselves. No, they would have been studying their Economics text on the exciting topic of GDP or perhaps penning a letter to their school principal asking if they can do needlework instead of metal work because the metal is a bit rough on their hands.

These wastes of space have sought and found revenge. They have squirmed their way into administration, law and politics. They assume everyone else is as useless as themselves and they make laws accordingly. They also assume everyone else is as dishonest as themselves and make regulations accordingly.

It is the revenge of the nerds. The weak and stupid have seized control.

Apologies to students of economics, I’m sure it is important but not to the exclusion of living.
Tell us what you really think :p I must say I can't agree with alot of what you say. I'm a "nerd" computer systems administrator and yes we will take over the world. However I also play a number of sports on a weekly basis, have a couple of non nerd hobbies like woodworking, metalworking, go-kart racing etc. At school I also enjoyed woodwork/metalwork as much as maths/English and got really good marks in both. Oh yeah and I grew up on a dairy farm too. So I can fix your computer, m ilk your cows and build the table that your coffee is sitting on.

I guess what I'm trying to say is don't blame the NERDS they aren't all as pathetic or stereotype bound as you may think :D

[silentC]

Tell that to those who have lived through hyperinflation or double digit unemployment :rolleyes:
What, and you think economists have any power over that, or indeed anything of value to contribute? ;)

[adrian]

The councils aren't the problem, we are.
We're slack and we don't give a damn. We complain about the state of our roads, schools, hospitals etc and then an election comes along and we put pressure on politicians to lower taxes. Where do people think the money comes from for roads, schools and hospitals.
Unfortunately we live in a country with almost the same land area as the lower 48 states in the US with a population almost the same as New York state.
You can imagine what level of taxes for infrastructure you need to raise to serve a population of 19 million people in an area of 128,000 sq kms compared to a population of 20 million in an area of 8.5 million sq kms. We are highly taxed because it's impossible to have it any other way. If you want significantly lower taxes then we are going to have to increase our population by up to 100 million. Who among us wants the problems that that sort of population brings with it.
As for efficiency, it's up to us to change things. I heard of a junket not so long ago by councillors to California to study their wine industry. Has anyone tasted Californian wines? You could get a better drop by licking the urinal (sorry moderator). How many ratepayers challenged that junket. Every person on this forum lives in a district where such waste goes on but how many people have stood for council or been to a council meeting or written letters to council.
The problem is we all care but not enough to give a damn.

END OF RANT. PART ONE.

[outback]

Changing the topic a bit, sorry.

Our local council went broke.

An administrator was apponted, it was then forced to amalagamate with two other councils. The administrator stayed in his position, we have no duly elected councillors until later this year.

In the last 6 - 12 months more has been done on our local roads, infrastrucure etc than in any time in living memory.

Whilst many will be happy to see him leave so we may once again be ruled by a duly elected group of our peers. I will be sorry to see him go, and have the back biting, faction groups return to send us broke again.

[Iain]

My own personal hate is for the social workers and their amazingly useless contribution to social engineering.
Ever noticed that the number of people in a given community in need of help is directly proportional to the number of social workers available.
I had to work with these cretins and watch them in court offering 'expert' advice to magistrates or judges, usually dressed in jeans and T , not bad for someone whose salary exceeds $40k.
Their reasoning was that it allowed them to talk to the crapheads in court at their own level.
I always maintained that I was to be treated with respect and was NOT on the same level, but then I was not a social worker.
Rant off.

[Iain]

Has anyone tasted Californian wines?
Yes, and I think you being extremely unfair, urinals are vastly superior :D
We have a local council who have junkets to China to visit the sister city every 12 months 'to improve business and trading strategies within the shire with China'.
12 years so far and no imports/exports but the is the hefty travel and accommodation bill for the 'new' councillors who attend every year.
And the councillors who attend generally have no business background.

[Zed]

Elect me as God of australia and I promise I will enforce that :

1) all profits from the TAB & govt sanctioned/subsidised betting agencies will be used to top up govt coffers
2) every 2nd govt employee will be dismissed
3) all prisoners will be forced to work on public projects as part of thier punishment - any bludging, slack or substandard work will incur additional sentance time
4) work for the dole will be mandatory - any bludging, slack or substandard work will incur lower pay
5) fat ***** corporations who feed at the public trough will be taxed at 90%(heheheh....)
6) a flat GST on ALL goods, services and products of 35% will be levied. As a compromise all payroll and hidden taxes will be abolished.
7) black marketeers (including "cash jobs" by contractors) will incur rules 3 & 4 be applied
8) medical insurance will be mandatory & no double dipping will be allowed by doctors and medical insurance companies (I hate !!! that!!!)
9) corrupt officials will be executed
10) media Ar$eholes will be forced to clarify/be truthful/not chase ambulances for a quick dollar
11) cigarrettes will be banned. tobacco companies will have thier assets seized.
12) corrupt, polluting, evil, profiteerring, lying,conniving cheating companies/individuals will have assets seized and rule 4 enforced.
13) customer service must not be outsourced OS
14) industry will be encouraged so as to bring it back to australia
15) all govt elected officials will have thier assets frozen for the term of thier elected duration. cheats will incur rule 9
16) desalination and reforestation will become mandatory projects in all coucil areas.
17) recycling will be carried out correctly
18) rock spiders, murderers, evil criminals, rapists will incur rule 9. no appeals.
19) lawyers will be forced to be honest, non ambulance chasing varieties
20) national service will be compulsory
21) religious orgs will be forced to pay taxes

I will come up with more - trust me....

these are the promises of my candadicy. So help me, me.

[Wood Borer]

BJ,

I'm not talking about Computer Nerds, I am talking about those who have no skills at all apart from making life a misery for others due to their ineptness. Not everyone who works with computers is a Nerd.

What was I really saying? I don’t think we should be given directions from idiots. We should be taking directions from smart people. The majority of people I know making and enforcing local council, state and federal laws are not suitable for the job. I’m not talking about the cops, I’m talking about the politicians, clerks and their management.

I think you will find Nerds were around long before computers. In fact when I typed that post computer people didn’t cross my mind. It was the title of a film that prompted the words Nerds.

ndru,

I am not sure I follow your argument which suggests that if some people have unfortunately suffered due to poor economic management then reading a book on economics becomes one of life's most exciting and important activities. Perhaps the manager of the economy where you suffered had their head stuck in a text book to the oblivious to people suffering around them.

I think you may have misunderstood me. I studied economics as a subject for one year and yes, I had to study the boring dry content but I didn't make it the focus of my life or study it without living. Thank goodness I never studied economics again.

I have been fortunate to have studied but I also socialised and had interests way beyond my areas of study. Isn't there a saying “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”. (no reference to any Jacks on this BB).

[AlexS]

Zed,
You left out the lawyers :D

Then again, that's probably a good idea

[Wood Borer]

In Victoria lawyers until recently were called solicitors. They want to be called lawyers now because somehow they saw a connection between their former name and the activities of sex workers - soliciting.

Why change it now?

[bitingmidge]

In Queensland the sex workers (what a quaint term) want to be called Barristers, so people don't see them as mere solicitors.

P


:D :D :D

[Trav]

I'd like to get in on this a bit.

[climb onto soapbox]

Being employed by the mother of all councils, the fed govt, I think I hvae seen the best and worst of this situation. I see the rot in governments and councils and can understand the frustration that people feel when they hear of clerks being paid $70-80k for doing SFA day in and day out. It drives me mad too.

But people need to be realistic about Australia's culture too. We do regulate everything now (or will soon). Not because people like being regulated, but because if you don't regulate certain things, someone will always find a way to exploit the system.

How often do you hear about some moron who sues the council for not putting a 18ft electrified barbed wire fence near a cliff with a sign on saying 'don't climb this fence as you may fall off the cliff'?

Our society is becoming increasingly letigious as we can no longer take responsibilities for our own actions. Councils need to charge for use of beaches and ovals because if someone trips over a sprinkler on the oval, they can sue the council for it. So the council needs to regulate who uses the oval, ensure that they all have public liability insurance etc. All this takes people.

Yet at the same time, people are less inclined to pay more for anything. everyone supports australian farmers and manufacturers, yet when we go to woolies, we all go straight for the cheapest product. $6 seems outrageous price for bananas, so we shop around to find the cheapest possible price. No wonder the retailers are screwing the farmers to get the best possible price. We do it to them.

In the end, we are doing this to ourselves.

[dismounting soap box now]

Trav the disgruntled

[silentC]

OK, well look: These days, it seems that we have removed 'responsibility' and replaced it with 'regulation'. It's a kindergarten state. We can't move for red tape because so many idiots will not take responsibility for the own actions or lack thereof.

For example, I build a house from logs in the middle of the bush. There is a bush fire and it is burned to the ground. Who is to blame? Me of course. But no, it is the local council/fire brigade/state government for letting me build it there. Yes I'm a silly nong but I deserve to be protected from my own stupidity in future.

The trouble is, because I'm such a silly sod, every other poor bastard in NSW now has to jump though hoops and build concrete bunkers to live in. We have to spend money on studies and maps and consultants in a knee-jerk reaction to a perceived threat. What real benefit do we get from it? Are the houses better-built? In some cases, yes, in others it is a token effort with an expensive rubber-stamp. In still more cases, people who are as likely to lose their house in a fire as Zed is to be elected God have to follow all these ridiculous regulations.

Who is behind all of this finger pointing behaviour? Insurance companies! And I'll bet they employ a sheyet (thanks Cliff) load of economists too.

[silentC]

Councils need to charge for use of beaches and ovals because if someone trips over a sprinkler on the oval, they can sue the council for it. So the council needs to regulate who uses the oval, ensure that they all have public liability insurance etc.
How many people do you actually know who have done something like this and sued? I don't know a single one. I know of a person who fell down the stairs at the golf club and sued the club. Then she did it again and tried to sue them again. I think both cases were thrown out but it still cost the club money to defend itself.

It would be interesting to see some stats on how many successful suits of this nature there have been.

[adrian]

A Sydney council had to pay out millions to a guy who was paralysed when he dived headfirst into a sandbank on a Sydney beach. I think the reports said that he had been drinking and ignored signs to swim within the flag zone.
So now councils are responsible when sandbanks are formed by tide and wave action. :eek: :eek: :eek:

[ndru]

ndru,

I am not sure I follow your argument which suggests that if some people have unfortunately suffered due to poor economic management then reading a book on economics becomes one of life's most exciting and important activities. Perhaps the manager of the economy where you suffered had their head stuck in a text book to the oblivious to people suffering around them.

I think you may have misunderstood me. I studied economics as a subject for one year and yes, I had to study the boring dry content but I didn't make it the focus of my life or study it without living. Thank goodness I never studied economics again.

I have been fortunate to have studied but I also socialised and had interests way beyond my areas of study. Isn't there a saying “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”. (no reference to any Jacks on this BB).

I think the confusion is due to me incorrectly paraphrasing you correctly. I just got the overall impression from your post that you viewed economics as attracting "wastes of space".

Just to explain my point of view: I can immediately think of at least a few people who have contributed towards raising living standards of millions through the development and application of economic policy over the last 100 years, through international aid organisations (World Bank, IMF) or with their own governments.

I strongly believe that without economists our governments would be regulating and spending the public purse based on populists beliefs (ie the stuff you hear on talk back radio). I think it is a useful field of science and needs people dedicated to its pursuit. Of course, there have been some big mistakes using popular economic ideas of the day.

Having said this, I understand if economics is not your cup of tea, nor should it be.

You asked so I responded. I hope this clarfied my point.

Cheers :D

[Ashore]

About two years ago the state government forced it into amalgamation with the City council along with 3 other councils. These 3 other councils were running fairly effeciently apart from one that had a million dollar compensation claim against it and was caught up in the HIH debacle.


And the state government says this is to make it more effecient. In my eye it is.
Always be Careful when they say it's good for the consumer

My favorite with the council is there enviroment protection department
had a neighbour who complained about the noise said I was running a small buissness etc , the same complaint he had made about other neighbours the year before. All rubbish but these enviroment protection officers came out
found nothing but were back two months later another complaint found no problem, again another complaint so told them to deal with future complaints through my lawyer who asked for copies of complaint , no can do all verbal complaints take to ombudsman and no more council visits . And to employ these people to set up their own little empires they use my Rates, i'de rather have the footpaths repaired but no the council has to have its priorities.

[silentC]

A Sydney council had to pay out millions to a guy who was paralysed when he dived headfirst into a sandbank on a Sydney beach. I think the reports said that he had been drinking and ignored signs to swim within the flag zone.
So now councils are responsible when sandbanks are formed by tide and wave action. :eek: :eek: :eek:
Don't get me wrong, I feel sorry for the situation the guy is in - but one of the first things I learned as a young tacker was not to dive into water unless I knew how deep it was. So because he doesn't want to accept responsibility for his own stupidity, the rest of us have to pay.

Actually, in one of those cases, the guy claimed he was swimming between the flags when it happened. Now a typical knee-jerk reaction would be to remove the flags altogether and discontinue the surf lifesaving programme, or maybe to close the beach altogether to avoid future liability.

There was an appeal by the council, which won, then he appealed against that decision and won. Not sure whether Waverly council is going to appeal again. More public funds down the drain.

[adrian]

Always be Careful when they say it's good for the consumer

My favorite with the council is there enviroment protection department
had a neighbour who complained about the noise said I was running a small buissness etc , the same complaint he had made about other neighbours the year before. All rubbish but these enviroment protection officers came out
found nothing but were back two months later another complaint found no problem, again another complaint so told them to deal with future complaints through my lawyer who asked for copies of complaint , no can do all verbal complaints take to ombudsman and no more council visits . And to employ these people to set up their own little empires they use my Rates, i'de rather have the footpaths repaired but no the council has to have its priorities.
I think you are being a little unkind to the envirinmental protection function of local government. If you have a factory that's dumping hazardous waste into a local creek you may finally get a response from state and federal bodies by the time the creek is clinically dead. That's why there is a need for it to be handled on a local level.
I think woodies would agree that timber is a diminishing resource and the state of the environment is crucial to the continuation of the timber industry and to us hobbyists.
It's up to us to make sure that these local bodies are used appropriately.

[silentC]

Yes, that's another one of the little paradoxes we have down our way. We have waste management staff running around making sure that I'm not tipping grease into the landfills and at the same time a different arm of the same department is dumping mega litres of sewerage into the ocean.

Oh yeah, and then there's the tree preservation officer whose job it is to tell me I can't cut down any trees but his mate the bush fire consultant is telling me that I have to.

:confused:

[adrian]

Yes, that's another one of the little paradoxes we have down our way. We have waste management staff running around making sure that I'm not tipping grease into the landfills and at the same time a different arm of the same department is dumping mega litres of sewerage into the ocean.

Oh yeah, and then there's the tree preservation officer whose job it is to tell me I can't cut down any trees but his mate the bush fire consultant is telling me that I have to.

:confused:
A very good point. Although I would say it's a necessary evil. I think it was Four Corners this week who did a story on the health problems of natives in south america because of petroleum contamination of the groundwater. Little kids were swimming in the local creeks and their skin was coming off in chunks. People have no idea of the damage they do when they dump oil in storm water drains or on the ground at home.
As for the sewage being pumped into the ocean, the alternative for the local council is to raise rates so that millions could be spent on upgrading the primary and secondary treatment of the sewage. Problem is, I don't think the local ratepayers would like that so you are stuck with the cheaper alternative.

[silentC]

There is another alternative and that is to stop wasting the ratepayers' money on useless things like bush fire maps and public land use policies and try spending it on the things that really matter, like what to do with all the poo.

The really basic things are being overlooked because of pressure from the state & federal governments, the insurance companies, and the greenies. I suppose if they let the sewerage pile up enough, there will be little threat of a bush fire. Never mind the stench.

I think the purpose of a local council is to look after infrastructure and to leave the lofty ideals to others.

[Ashore]

I think you are being a little unkind to the envirinmental protection function of local government. If you have a factory that's dumping hazardous waste into a local creek you may finally get a response from state and federal bodies by the time the creek is clinically dead. That's why there is a need for it to be handled on a local level.
It's up to us to make sure that these local bodies are used appropriately.
You jumped too quickly It's up to us to make sure that these local bodies are used appropriately .
I am extremely careful and caring of the enviroment but I dont rush in and defend any and all groups that are supose to be pro green just because someone critizes them. The thread was on how councils can waste money & my arguement was that some departments are set up and do just that by running around answering frivolous complaints to justify their budget .




When you get a degree in liberal arts; do you get fries with that?

[kiwigeo]

Im tickering away here at work on a 15 year old HP41 calculator......I think that definitely makes me the biggest nerd on this forum.

[adrian]

There is another alternative and that is to stop wasting the ratepayers' money on useless things like bush fire maps and public land use policies and try spending it on the things that really matter, like what to do with all the poo.

The really basic things are being overlooked because of pressure from the state & federal governments, the insurance companies, and the greenies. I suppose if they let the sewerage pile up enough, there will be little threat of a bush fire. Never mind the stench.

I think the purpose of a local council is to look after infrastructure and to leave the lofty ideals to others.
One thing you might want to try, to aleviate the sewage problem in the short term, is to contact the council and demand that they smoke test the sewage system in your municipality. Many councils have more than adequate sewage treatment but the system is flooded by stormwater in times of heavy rain. This shouldn't happen if the stormwater and sewage systems are kept separate.
The only problem is that you wouldn't want to make it known that you were the one who caused the council to act. I know you're a country boy and many of your neighbours will have smoke coming out of their ears as well as their downpipes.

[adrian]

You jumped too quickly It's up to us to make sure that these local bodies are used appropriately .
I am extremely careful and caring of the enviroment but I dont rush in and defend any and all groups that are supose to be pro green just because someone critizes them. The thread was on how councils can waste money & my arguement was that some departments are set up and do just that by running around answering frivolous complaints to justify their budget .

I can see your frustration with the situation you found yourself in but you can't just pick and choose what types of environmental pollution you allow councils to deal with.
For instance, how would you react if a combined fire station and ambulance station were to be built next to your house. We have that fight going on in Port Macquarie at the moment where just such a station is to be built very near to a large retirement village. Imagine moving away from the city to spend the last few years of your life in a seaside resort only to be confronted with the sound of sirens day and night. I think you would get very noise intolerant and would complain at the slightest noise and you would also hope that there was a body set up to deal with such complaints.

It's easy for you to say that the complaints were frivolous because you had intimate knowledge of the amount of noise you were making but these council and state groups don't have second sight or a crystal ball. They don't have the right , nor should it be mandated to them, to pick and choose what they will investigate and what they should ignore.

[journeyman Mick]

................Is there such a thing as too much regulation? ...

You bet there is!

Mick