Daylight In State Politics

I have to disagree with John Roskam (The Age, 2/6/2005) and side with the punters: state politics is indeed "parochial, narrow and overwhelmingly boring". This is not because "service delivery" isn't important. It's because there is precious little daylight between the parties. Regardless of the government-of-the-day, we're going to have VicRoads running planning and development policy (cheered on by the RACV), bureaucratic funny-buggers over hospital waiting lists, cash bribes for voters, the tail wagging the dog in education, ineptness and cruel indifference in DHS, decreasing transparency and innovative and convoluted strategies for funneling public money to the Macquarie Bank and its ilk.

The Opposition needs to open a crack and let daylight in, starting with the pokies. Not just tinkering at the edges, but wholesale reform along the lines of the pre-paid smartcards proposed by Linda Hancock (The Age, 1/6/2006). Brumby's already said no - how about it, Mr Baillieu?