Council’s remit for gender diverse potholes
NOT only do we have states which see themselves as walled-off fiefdoms, but now Greens-led councils that see themselves as masters of international intelligence, adept in all manner of military strategy, so much so they object to Australia’s nuclear submarines.
“If nuclear submarines enter Sydney Harbour, they will create a significant risk to human life if there is an accident, or they are attacked by an enemy,” the motion penned by Inner West Greens Councillor, slam poet and lawyer Louise Steer says.
An enemy attack on our navy means we are being invaded by those who wish to take Australia out and are unlikely to leave the Inner West in peace because of their progress on mural art and gender diversity.
What will save them? Their centrepiece policy issues to count backyard birds and trees? Their transition to the “circular” economy?
Does the Inner West genuinely think an invading force will battle cry using gender-neutral terms, count its
electric vehicle charging stations, commend them on a job well done, and retreat? During the bushfires, slam poet Ms Steer berated the government to get “army and navy support”. Apparently, the military’s premier purpose was to protect us from fire.
Few things inspire pathos as the misplaced confidence of part-time local politicians believing they are better informed than national security strategists privy to intelligence briefings and educated in the latest nuclear technology.
This council, which at the same meeting next week will call for a 75 per cent emission reduction by 2030, wants zero emissions.
Well, if you want that, nuclear is the propulsion system to do it.
Their affinity for solar panels and wind won’t work on a submerged vessel, travelling in fluid 800 times more dense than air, tasked with traversing the world’s third-largest exclusive economic zone.
The Inner West Council is not alone in believing they are serious diplomatic players with a deep understanding of power reactors.
In June, the Australian Local Government Association representing more than 500 councils, moved to support the UN Treaty against Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons as national local government policy.
The industry super fund of local government refuses to invest in uranium mining or nuclear.
Councils think it appropriate to direct ratepayer resources to act as a quasi federal Government.
Topping the Inner West’s obsession this year has been gender diversity. It has pondered the importance of equal ratios on local government boards and panels, even though women on the council itself outnumber men and ticked off a policy recently without a single KPI of how it will improve.
It will develop a checklist to “consider gender significance and impact when developing and resourcing strategies, grants and plans” and will give staff “unconscious bias training” while collating data on hirers of venues and grant recipients based on gender.
While councillors discussed it
multiple times this year, only 23 of a constituency of 189,000 provided feedback when the policy went out for public comment.
A pothole to fix is a pothole to fix, a hall to use is a hall to use, regardless of sexual orientation or gender, but somehow now local infrastructure use is set to be a gauge on a social construct. If targets to “achieve holistic gender representation that includes transgender and genderdiverse/non-binary people” are such important use for ratepayers funds, then isn’t the freedom to frolic on such issues worth protecting?
In Russia, which already has nuclear submarines, LGBTI persons often cannot be open about themselves due to the risk of detention, torture or harassment.
Women in parts like the North Caucasus are virtually second-class people, still victims of honour killings.
China also has nuclear submarines – where the “missing girls” phenomenon sees the sex ratio as 113.6 males to every 100 females, with selective abortions due to gender preference, and where government textbooks still refer to gay and
lesbian people as suffering from a “common psychosexual disorder”.
Nuclear submarines can stay underwater for years, limited only by their food supply and the tolerance of their submariners, as they recycle air and water. That “circular economy” the Inner West is so focused on, it’s already happening 200m below the surface of the South China Sea, but if there is one thing sure to bring them up, it’s being stuck in the crew’s mess with a performance poet from the Inner West.
Few things encapsulate the divide between bush and city as ratepayerfunded, social pressure groups masquerading as being closest to the people. In contrast, rural councils focus on roads, water and waste management as their city cousins indulge in lengthy motions beyond their remit, while complaints about core services blow out.
Forever in history, countries have had a bad habit of trying to kill each other. In a world where democracy is becoming a fading phenomenon, the Inner West councillors would be better off with a nation that can defend their unique views.