Rudd's selection

Name:        CHAN, Sin Fong

Subject:     Rudd's Selection

Visit Time: 30/11/2007 12:10 AM

Remark:

Julia Gillard has been handed a new super-ministry combining education with industrial relations. She may be a first-class in her past performance, but she is no Wonder Women or Superwomen.

If the Media Statement - 18th November 2007 posted in the Official Website of the Australian Labor Party is fair dinkum, I can’t see how Julia Gillard could fulfil everything promised by the Federal Labor as commitment to lift school standards, from primary to university, and to establish a National Curriculum from prep/kindergarten to Year 12. The IR portfolio involves abolishing the Liberal’s AWA/WorkChoices and keeping the unions happy, is already a job and a half.

What kind of AWA did poor Julia Gillard sign with Kevin Rudd? She will have to work 24/7, probably she will not have time for her Christmas and New Year holidays.

However, help could be on the way! Maxine McKew, a miracle candidate that removed the previous PM from his seat, is too new to the political game. If given a front bench position, it will not please many, and thus, she is temporarily assigned as the Parliamentary Secretary to Kevin Rudd. My crystal ball tells me that there will be a mid-term reshuffle and Maxim McKew will be elevated to take over the education portfolio from Julia Gillard.

The reshuffle may see Peter Garrett demoted from the front bench and Penny Wong will take over the combined role of Environment, Climate Change and Water. Penny Wong’s appointment just fits in well with Kevin Rudd’s Chinese diplomacy policy. While Kevin Rudd is just a Chinese speaking Australian, Penny Wong is a Chinese speaking Chinese (Malaysian) who came to Australia at the age of eight. In the eyes of the Asians, and Chinese, Labor is not a “racist” political party/government, which Liberal fails to accomplish.

To appoint Martin Ferguson to be in charge of Resources (does it include human/union resources?) and Energy seems OK, but handling Tourism is not a “Bloody Hell” good idea!

Water solution

Name:        CHAN, Sin Fong

Subject:     Water Solution

Visit Time: 28/09/2006 3:48 AM

Remark:

So what, we do live on the driest continent on earth! If we have a problem, then we have to fix it.

When Maxine McKew interviewed Malcolm Turnbull on 26/9/2006 about water initiative, Maxine McKew's question about "there's too little being done on the supply" seemed too difficult for Malcolm Turnbull to comprehend.

If the population of Australia grows from 18 million to 20 million, a mere 10%, then the water supply must grow by 10% as well in order to satisfy normal consumption and irrigation. This has not happened, and with conservative thinking approach, will never happen. Damming more rivers, or building more reservoirs are like taking cookies from a jar of limited capacity and limited number of "cookies".

Many countries are blessed with large and long river systems, and just so happen the rain falls on well-positioned catchment areas. There is a saying, "if Mohamed does not go to the mountain, then brings the mountain to Mohamed" (no offence to all the Mohamed's, and this is not a racist remark). If the rain does not fall on the so-called catchment areas in Australia due to whatever the reasons - global warming, El Nino, etc., then we should consider creating man-made mountains and catchments where rain is abundant.

Building mountains is not a fantasy - if we can build freeways, we can build rivers. The soil from any excavated land and including that from open-cut mines can be piled up to form the mountains. What are the costs? The costs are probably peanuts when we compare that with loss of crops and export income due to draught and bush fires, and in time to come, loss of human lives. With the man-made river system, we can even solve the flood problem experienced in many parts of Australia.

The new river system will be linked to the existing natural rivers. Obviously, there is also a lot of spin-off from a mountain-and-river system - a new environment for aquatic creatures and wildlife, new food chains, increase in tourism and real estate development, just to name a few.

I'm not a futurist. I only consider myself as a spherical thinker.