Buyer's Remorse (Almost)

Cowface in his element (pic courtesy Brisbane Times)

We’ve just had a state by-election in the seat of Toowoomba South.

Like all the other constituents of this very conservative neck of the woods, I trotted off to the ballot box and cast my vote yesterday for one of the five candidates.

Suffice it to say, I didn’t vote for the successful candidate, one David Janetsky. 

His face has been plastered on election signs all over the place for the past weeks, wearing an expression resembling that of an artificially inseminated cow – the kind of expression that indicates that something wonderful has happened to him, but he’s not exactly sure what it is.

The "something wonderful" was his endorsement by the LNP for the previously very safe LNP seat

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The candidate that gave him a real run for his considerable money was Di Thorley, previously mayor of Toowoomba.

She was a very successful mayor, but in recent years has moved south. She’s returned to Toowoomba to care for her aging parents.

About the only unsuccessful aspect of Thorley's stint as mayor was the end of a scheme designed to drought-proof Toowoomba by using latest technology to purify recycled water to return it to the supply.

Toowoomba has always had a problem with water supply in times of drought, and back in 2006, Thorley floated a proposal to use recycling as a safe and inexpensive solution. The $68 million scheme would have seen recycled waste water flowing into Toowoomba homes from 2012.

There was a major hue and cry, led by a group who called themselves “CADS” – (Citizens Against Drinking Sewerage) and they garnered funds from all the usual suspects to run a scare campaign.

It was rejected by voters at a 2006 referendum. 

Instead, a pipeline was built from Wivenhoe Dam to Toowoomba at a cost of $187 million. We have been paying for that scare ever since. It costs most taxpayers about $150 on every rates bill. And, by the way, the pipeline is a white elephant, and has never been used for its intended purpose.

A recent poll indicated that with the benefit of hindsight, Toowoomba voters would have produced a different result

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Anyway, cowface got in, with a swing against the LNP of 10%

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So what does that show? 

Well, a couple of things.

One is that there is such a thing as buyer’s remorse when it comes to voting, but there wasn’t quite enough this time to change the result.

The other is that hindsight is a wonderful thing, but there are some who fail to learn from history, be it local or national.