Political blame-shifting looks to be crowding out common sense in our management of Covid-19.Rather than seeking to build bespoke Commonwealth owned quarantine facilities – with long construction lags and inefficient resource allocation – we should consider the Commonwealth taking over (by lease or purchase) hotels & apartment hotels across the country and managing these using defence personnel. These facilities should have the air management and conditioning systems upgraded to minimise airborne virus spread and structures that allow sound isolation practices. This should give us first-rate quarantine practices across the nation and cut some of the state/commonwealth blame game.

Let's put this to a Citizens Jury and push the political class into action:"Big business is firing up voter expectations of a $10,000 income boost through a bold action plan to break political gridlock and create a bigger, more diverse and competitive economy.In a six-tiered policy blueprint released on Wednesday, the Business Council of Australia calls for a modern tax regime, export diversification, open borders, educational excellence, reduced social disadvantage, a robust federation and a clear path to net zero emissions by 2050."Tom Dusevic, The Australian, 30/6/21

“Victoria in the dark on solar The Victorian Auditor-General has found the state government’s signature billiondollar solar rebate scheme has yet to produce evidence it benefited consumers or reduced carbon emissions. In a scathing report, Andrew Greaves said the program was launched without a business case and insufficient consultation with industry and without considering whether there was any need for government intervention in the solar market. He said the launch of the $1.3bn 10-year Solar Homes program failed to grasp and mitigate the obvious risks of excess demand, market reliance and grid capacity.” REMY VARGA - The Australian 25/6/21

A panel of political players at NSW Parliament last week discussed the difficulty of changing your mind in a world where consisten

Prof Thomas Picketty's work on voter alignment demonstrates the continued fragmentation and movement of voter support between Australian political parties. (Report by Troy Bramston, The Australian 19/6/21)   This unravelling of the bases of the 2 main parties, Labor and LNP, was all too predictable as they have both become so inward focused and have lost touch with their primary role in implementing ‘common good’ outcomes that the broad community can support.   A great opportunity exists for the party who re-connects across the electorate through broad-scale active listening, evidence-based policy formulation and communication, and then action,  focused on faultless implementation.

“Competent government is a beautiful thing to behold. So much militates against it“… in modern-day Australia. “Politics also offers a venue for the playing out of ancient tribal bonds. Large minorities will ally themselves with a political party for life – although today this attach­ment is diminishing. The bond is visceral and not compromised by poor performance, corruption and mediocre representa­tives.”  Prof John Carroll   Putting the focus back on "common good solutions" that the majority of the community support, via inclusion and evidence-based policies, rather than political party dictate or individual ego drive is what we need.