TASMANIA’S Orwellian Department of Growth is bragging about the new speed cameras it has installed that are raking in tens of thousands of dollars to feed the Liberal-run state’s fat bureaucracy.
The department, that incorporates seven ministers and their layers of corporate management bureaucrats, has revealed that during a recent trial of new automatic speed cameras on the Tasman Bridge in Tasmania, more than 700 drivers were caught speeding each week.
And in NSW average speed cameras, which previously only monitored heavy vehicles, will soon begin detecting all drivers in a trial from May 1 at two locations. According to Yahoo News, it’s all very kosher regardless of what drivers think, because “global studies show average speed enforcement significantly reduces crashes”.
This state extortion comes on top of the extortion carried out by councils and their bureaucracies, that fine people hundreds of dollars for merely parking a vehicle on a nature strip, when it’s a safer option than parking on and half blocking a narrow street.
So folks, let’s “grow Tasmania” by fattening up the revenue take from the plebs driving to and from their lowly jobs while Department of Growth ministers and bureaucrats pat themselves on the back because of their new high-tech cameras can more efficiently clock some sucker driving 5.5kmh over the limit.
“Speeding” was traditionally recognised as dangerous driving at a speed that endangers other road users. It happens all the time with hoons and their hotted up cars terrorizing neighbourhoods at midnight but is seldom enforced.
A car in dry conditions on a highway edging 5-10kmh over the limit is not dangerous driving and may not present a danger to anyone.
But in Tasmania “exceeding the applicable speed limit for the length of road by less than 10 kmh” attracts a $101 fine plus 2 demerit points. 10-14kmh attracts a $151 fine and so on upwards. The NSW minimum for speed 10kmh and under is an arbitrary $145. But if you go to court and are found guilty, it’s a massive $2200 – a brazen act of state extortion designed to deny people justice.
The government-grovelling Yahoo News reports that “authorities argue the improvements will enhance enforcement and ultimately save lives”. In other words, big brother government wants you to drive like a scared mouse, constantly watching your speedo for fear of incurring another naughty-boy penalty.
But speeding fines are not the only source of additional revenue for the fat cat bureaucrats down at the “Department of Growth”. There are also instant, electronic fines for breaching regulations around gaming control, animal welfare and parks & wildlife, the environment, liquor and crowd controlling, licensing and litter, public health, fisheries, breathalyser and illicit drug and police offences.
And perhaps we should also look at the growing licensing racket, and the associated growth industry of putting people through paid courses to qualify for their licences. This is a plague across all Australian states.
Meanwhile the seven Liberal ministers running the Department of Growth, are spouting their “grow business” mantra. They have grants to hand out for anyone and everyone starting a small business. Just let them hold your hand and their friendly department bureaucrats will guide you along the way.
Hampered by red and green tape? Oh no problem Taswegian, because a new “red tape reduction portal” is “making it easier for Tasmanian businesses to report regulatory red tape that may be holding them back or costing them time and money”.
“All red tape submissions will be reviewed directly by the Red Tape Reduction Coordinator so appropriate action can be considered,” says the Department of Growth.
Some words of advice from Cairns News to the seven fat cat ministers and their fat cat department heads: Get rid of at least half of your damned regulations and multi-layered bureaucracy and follow the Trump example and get the hell out of people’s lives. Then your state will grow.
The state in a free country has a core role, which is protection of life and private property. Speeding that endangers life and property is obvious when it occurs and can be detected by cameras or observation and no-one objects when it is prosecuted.
