Opinion- 28 June 2008 |
Harry Robinson Admonishes: "Vanity Unfair" |
Not long ago we suddenly
began to say, 'We are a rich country.' Rich became a buzz word. Peter
Costello encouraged us in our vanity by building up bags of money and
labelling them Future Funds and such.
With all that money set aside, we could stay rich no matter what. Wayne Swan
took Peter Costello's place and talked of more surpluses, more funds, more
riches.
Lots and lots of citizens who felt rich shouted 'Yipee' and couldn't buy big
heavy 4WD vehicles, plasma TV screens, Mac Mansions in the 'burbs fast
enough. Some even took out a handful of credit cards to help them spend
their riches. O the vanity of it all.
Mr Rudd came in on a euphoric wave, signed Kyoto, apologised to our
Indiginees, even held an Ideas Summit in King O'Malley's city. It seemed no
rain could ever fall on our Vanity Fair.
Nasty reality began to cast dark shadows. First came the Yanks (always good
for a dash of blame) with their sub-prime loan disasters. They caused us a
little pain here and there, particularly on those who'd run up piles of
debt. But withheld, luxury cars kept on selling, wide screen TVs kept on
selling, fancy restaurants kept on charging much for a little food. House
prices turned spongy.
Worse, the skies refused to rain and rivers ran all but dry. Food prices
began to rise and rise.
Worst of all and this seemed totally unjust, petrol prices -- well, they
jumped, leapt, hurdled over themselves to flatten our Vanity Fair.
We responded poorly. Talk back callers knew who was at fault: the
government. That old Australian cry 'The Gummint Orta' filled the air.
But the gummint couldn't orta. For Mr Rudd and his troops Vanity Fair had
turned into Vanity Unfair.
Opposition leader Brendan Nelson was certainly unfair when he proposed to
cut fuel excise by 5c a litre. A trivial gesture of no interest to anyone
who could compare 5c with 140c. But Prime Minister Rudd was unfair to the
nation when he went into a flap and responded with 'Fuel Watch'\ An even
more futile gesture. Later, Mr Rudd thought he'd make a big gesture and gave
$38 million to the poor little Toyota company to hurry up and build hybrid
cars in Oz.
What difference could 10,000 hybrid cars make when millions of ordinary old
cars are on the road already? How would that help diesel truck owners?
It was time to think not of gestures but of big big solutions.
How unfair of Mr Rudd to be Kevin the Unready!
The natives became restless and loudly so. They wanted a share of
yesterday's riches. Nurses pushed for more money. Teachers began to talk
strike. As did flight controllers. Qantas engineers rolled out stoppages and
passengers bore the brunt.
An infrastructure virus infected gangs of commentators. What this country
needed was upgraded ports, railroads, dams, hospitals, water schemes,
broadbands and more.
And would you believe some academics put in demands for a 25% catch-up
stream of dollars to bring university installations up to scratch? Some
people have no modesty, no shame.
Vanity Unfair has turned into a dog fight for funds.
(Yes, I know that funding has become a euphemism for money, our money,
public money. F-u-n-d-i-n-g
sounds soft and smooth; but it means $s
in multiples.)
There are many dogs in this fight and most of them know how to fight hard.
If academe is to get a fair share of funding, it will need to hire big dogs,
clever dogs, furious dogs. R & D people cannot do it themselves. They don't
have the fighting instincts. Ask yourself how many scientists, R & D
experts, are in the nation's parliaments. Precious few compared to lawyers,
farmers, union secretaries, party functionaries. They are men and women who
thrive on debate and disputation.
Fortunately, the scientific and teaching people don't need to look far for
dog fighting experts. They're on the premises. Most universities these days
teach communications, journalism, political science. They breed
spin-doctors.
Dear Vice Chancellors, you are too sober, too measured for this kind of
work. Enlist your own fighting dogs for the job of winning funds for the
cause of higher education and research.
_________
PS. We are not stuck in Vanity Unfair. Our prospects can still be rich if
only we play our parts well. Our future needs biologists, geologists, marine
experts even mathematicians. One could go on but it is enough to say the Oz
of 2030 needs highly educated minds more than any other commodity. You know
where they come from.