Dick Smiths population debate?

I hope so.



I like Dick Smith.

perceptions_now wrote on Aug 12^th, 2010 at 8:43pm:


I always thought you were from Adelaide for some reason Perceptions.

I'm voting for Dick Smith, I agree with him entirely.

Come on Tony , you need to push out the first population policy.


And fast!

.... This oppose to a mere Gillard endorsed sustainable population minister.

Gillard impressed Dick Smith with her sustainable population slogan, but that's about it.

We need Tony to really get in on this population debate, without pissing off developers too much.

Can it be done?

iamtheman012 wrote on Aug 12^th, 2010 at 8:49pm:


Been there a few times & it's a nice place, Adelaide!

But, Perth has a lot going for it!

Oh dear, the Libs have sent along their biggest pisspot - and he's definitely off his scone tonight...

Equitist wrote on Aug 12^th, 2010 at 9:55pm:



ahhaha, yeah, he's a bit full isn't he, but he does make a few sobering points.

Hey, look what Labor sent though, the town sheik Lakemba planer, Mr Burker himself.

He hasn't said much!



Oh look...he's speaking...but is he really saying anything?

.....  at the end of the day, they are all taking, and it's a start.

But I would have liked to see both Abbott and Gillard there the way Bob Brown  is there as leader of his party.

Look, we have to start taking this seriously, time to get real.

Now, will the really really real Gillard please stand up?

Equitist wrote on Aug 12^th, 2010 at 9:55pm:




Why did they ask him BACK ?
For light hearted entertainment ?

He was a PISSED disgrace on his LAST appearance

buzzanddidj wrote on Aug 12^th, 2010 at 10:33pm:



Because blokes like him represent the Australian Public more so than your mate Bob Brown. Understand Buzz?

mellie wrote on Aug 12^th, 2010 at 9:04pm:


A vote for Dick Smith is a vote for the Greens. He is an avid supporter of their environmental policies.

If you had bothered to listen to Bob Brown you would realise that he has more brains than the lot of them put together - excluding John Elliott of course who is brainless and a died in the wool Liberal drunk.

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I think Labor are now doing a good job selling their Broadband surprisingly. I wasn't too keen on it - but it's starting to make sense.

Abbott hasn't a clue as to how the coalition is going to achieve a surplus unless it means higher taxes or cuts to essential services. We won't have a surplus for years from either government.

Sappho wrote on Aug 12^th, 2010 at 10:39pm:


Agreed - and throughout the extended boom, that the Howardian Libs presided over, many of today's unemployed and under-employed Aussies could have been funded through education and training to train them up to fill the purportedly unfilled skilled jobs...

Instead, they were shuffled through costly, pointless and counter-productive Welfare to Slavery and Work for the Dole programs...

not quite, sappho, but partially correct. The Australian education system has de-emphasised numeracy and science skills over the decades for a variety of reasons, with the result that there is now a huge shortfall in school students graduating with the subjects or results needed to enter the very professions where there are skills shortages.
If you do not have basic high school mathematics, you cannot enter any of the science or engineering or medical professions. Yet, here we have a school system which encourages students to drop mathematics altogether and concentrate on humanities and arts subjects. So, the country will have plenty of English teachers and librarians and clerks, but nowhere near enough engineers, doctors, pharmacists, and general science-based professionals.
Asking yourself *why* numeracy is not strongly emphasised in the Australian school system, might be a more productive consideration.

mantra wrote on Aug 12^th, 2010 at 10:42pm:


And a vote for the Greens is a vote for the ALP which has announced a nuclear waste dump in the NT, approved a new uranium mine and doubled mining exports to China.

Good old Bob hey?

That what he stands for these days?

Mantra, whilst Dick Smith agrees with some of Greens more lucid policies on environmental issues, I think you will find he's pro- the party who is prepared to deliver a responsible (and meaningful)  population policy, be it Liberal or Labor...the greens just aren't going to be key policy makers because they are flat out sustaining their own party as they pick-pocket starving uni-students and demand compulsory student union fees and sell off their preferences to the highest bidder.

Greens have some rather disturbing policies  Mantra wouldn't you agree?

shampain socialist wrote on Aug 12^th, 2010 at 10:58pm:


LOL...trust a linear Conservative mind to lack the capacity to appreciate the respective influences of nature and nurture...

Someone who has a natural strength will tend to gravitate towards that skill and avoid those things that they are not good at...

A individual person's inherent strengths and weaknesses in IQ (and EQ) are actually fairly consistent throughout their development - and the tendency for one to become, say, an Engineer or a Writer is typically predetermined by natural aptitudes and weaknesses...

It is very rare that someone, who lacks basic mathematic abilities at the age of about 10, will ever be able to achieve the success in maths as someone who is ahead in maths at the same age - regardless of any intensive tutoring maths...

it is not a matter of intensive tutoring to achieve mathematical skill. If the general culture of an education system emphasises language skills over numeracy skills, the tragedy is going to be, as it is already in Australia, that students who might have an innate numeracy ability are overlooked, simply because those who run the system do not themselves have that skill and cannot recognise or nurture it.
The fact that the education system in Australia is now politicised and full of people who have labor leanings has given rise to a "language, humanities-based" perspective, not a numeracy one. The labor side of politics, where most school teachers are from in Australia are big on the talk side of education, but they are crap at mathematics - just look at the labor government as well - can't balance the books, just all talk and credit cards. It's the same malaise in the Australian education system. You people have ruined this country and squandered its innate human skills because of your own blinkered political outlook.

The message given to school students in Australia today, from very early ages, unless the student is an absolute stand-out in maths, is along the lines of "oh, don't worry too much about maths, you won't really need it anyway, you can get enough points to get through without having to go through that".  Students then take the easier humanities subjects and do not *develop* ANY level of numeracy.
Maths has to be worked at and a skill developed to the best of one's ability over the years. It should be mandatory today as it used to be, not dropped simply because there aren't enough labor teachers today who can actually understand it themselves. How pathetic, but worse than that, it de-skills and dumbs down the population and results in industry not being able to recruit enough of the right skills sets.
The laborised Australian education system has seriously failed this country.

shampain socialist wrote on Aug 12^th, 2010 at 11:29pm:


So, remind us again what Howard's excuse was for chronically  underfunding science education, training, research and development - including the CSIRO - throughout an unprecedented period of national prosperity!?

deepthought wrote on Aug 12^th, 2010 at 10:53pm:



You know full well that was a deal stitched up by the coalition with the World Nuclear Association before the 2007 NATO meeting.

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Don't blame one particular party for this poor excuse of an education system - both parties are to blame for dumbing down our kids.

They started using calculators in schools a couple of decades ago - and even some teachers today have to be taught how to spell.

My children went to school during the Howard era and maths just took a back seat on the curriculum - it wasn't considered essential. I taught them Maths and English. Those who were educated during the 60's and 70's were the lucky ones. Teachers were professional educators and physical discipline was used - not only by the schools but by the parents.

I agree with Equitist and Sappho - training needs to start here NOW and we don't need any more skilled labour. Many of them lie on their resumes anyway as corporations have discovered over the years.

skippy. wrote on Aug 13^th, 2010 at 8:24am:


No matter what both major party's say, they are still inclined to the big is beautiful idea (at this time), because they are influenced by big business & Economists, who are convinced that Exponential Growth is not only possible, but that it must happen or the world will end, as was evidenced by the reactions from John Elliott & the big business representative on Q & A last night.  

As Dick Smith repeatedly pointed out, we live on a planet with finite resources, which means that there are limits and we are now approaching many major limitations, as demonstrated by Dr Albert Bartlett in the following series of video's -










1) There is a maximum sustainable Population, for both countries & the planet.
2) The greater the Population, the faster Essential Resources, such as Energy, Food & fresh Water will be used.
3) Population & Energy Growth/Decline ARE DIRECTLY RELATED TO CLIMATE CHANGE.

We are already at Peak Oil, which means that, in all likelihood, the next 20-30 years, will see increasing Demand because the Population is still rising, whilst the great Economic Enabler (oil) will be in terminal decline, as already started in 2005.

The decline of available Supply & the rising Price of our Energy Future, will directly & severely lessen our capacity to sustain our current Global Population, let alone continue to Exponentially increase it!  

In fact, I would suggest the POPULATION/ENERGY problem is not so much a Population Puzzle, it is more a GORDIAN KNOT, which will prove intractable and will finally result in the end of the current Political & Economic paradigm!

Trust me, I'm not a Politician, Economics & Politics can survive without a GROWTH Economy.

However, Economics & Politics will need to adapt, because the human race will not survive any attempt at Extended Exponential Growth!

Btw, VIDEO 3 COMPARES US (HUMANS) to BACTERIA, IT IS APPLICABLE!

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The likes of Elliot would still sing the praises of greed is good.

skippy. wrote on Aug 13^th, 2010 at 12:22pm:



I looked up the history of that Elliott guy, he's a common criminal, ripped off investors then declared bankruptcy when ordered to pay it back. What a jerk!!!!

shampain socialist wrote on Aug 12^th, 2010 at 10:50pm:


Yes I agree that this too is a serious issues... and it seems that this lack of skill in maths and science has bipartisan approval since neither side of politics does nothing to resolve this problem.

Such a despicable thing it is to discourage our own in areas of knowledge that are... lets face it... expensive to deliver, yet mine for minds in poor countries, stripping them of their science/maths based resources.

How are poor nations expected to improve if the means of improvement are always being denied them. How are affluent nations expected to grow their cutting edge, if their people are being dumbed down and their brightest, resulting from their education systems or from the poaching of others, are kept as a scarce resource in high demand.

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Are you expecting a GREENS/Labor coalition ,deepy?

We are the highest growth nation in the world, and are sprawling into metropolis urban slums, of what's been coined by demographer's as the  'Manhattanization' of Australia's cities.

And it's not something our current Labor government went into blindfolded when they preceded to mass-immigrate and place tremendous strains on our buckling infrastructure.

Take a look at this article, the report is due....when?

http://www.fig.net/news/news_2008/sydney_oct_2008.htm


Commission 3 at the 9th Congress of Metropolis
Trends in Megacities – Metropolis Congress 2008
Sydney, Australia, 22-25 October 2008

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Where's the 2010 report?