Oh Can’t Do, what will you screw over next?

I read M1 Transit lanes may hit dead end yesterday, and was struck by the comment from the LNP’s Minister for Transport, Mr Craig Emerson:

"We will always review to make sure that we are getting the best outcome for Queenslanders year in and year out rather than some sort of ideologically driven policy by Labor that is divorced from the reality for motorists," he said.

Having driven in California, coped with the madness which is Beijing’s ring roads, travelled on the expressways in Singapore and made use of Britain’s M25, all of which have transit lanes, I would really love to know how the Minister would describe those roads’ transit lanes. Were they all created by politicians just because they had a strong leftwing bias, or, perhaps, are they a sensible modification to enable the actual flow of traffic? Some of the commenters to that article suggested that the minister who promulgated the T2 lanes was, in fact, a National Party bloke. If Mr Emerson is claiming that he was “ideologically driven” then perhaps he should (a) go and talk to the man, and (b) explain why that Minister is to the left of the current mob.

Not only is there nothing in the Contract With Queensland, I wonder how he’ll cope with the angry talkback radio comments from people who will be forced to spend more commuting time stuck on the M1 as a result.

“Lowering the cost of living for Queenslanders”…. NOT!

I read Speaker to preemptively ban parliament protesters as well.

Ms Simpson said she had signed a directive, which signals her intention to exercise her discretion to refuse access to the public gallery to the Legislative Assembly to anyone not accompanied by parliamentary security pass holders.

She would only exercise her right when there was credible intelligence that protest activity was intended or occurring outside the parliamentary precinct or when individuals or groups were intending to disrupt proceedings of the Assembly

Yeah, right.

I’d dearly love to know how suppressing visibility of parliament’s proceedings (she’s got form, having blocked TV cameras as punishment for coverage of the same-sex marriage supporters heckling her) is supposed to enhance democracy in this state.

Would it be too cynical of me to think that the Singapore-esque majority the LNP has in Queensland will be pretty bloody awful for democracy, for rights, for heritage, for the environment? When you have close to 90% of the seats… you fear nothing.