Junk for Code : in Perth

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March 27, 2008

I'm in Perth and my days are full. I'm talking to people at Murdoch University about where health care is going in the future. The evenings are taken up with working dinners. Other days are taken up with a conference.

The cartoon is a playful, whimsical joke by Moir about town planning in Sydney and the way they make a mess of things in the name of development:

Alan Moir

I feel schzoid, dislocated in Perth. This is a boom city that has all the effervescence of the bubble economy with the old inferiority complex-----isolated, ignored, ripped off etc by the eastern states. There is little sense of the eastern Carpenter Government using the cash to plan for the future to improve urban life. From what I've seen so far Perth looks to be car dominated, whilst the CBD has little sense of urban life. It's all about business not society.

WA's booming economy, which is based on being China's quarry, is contributing to the nation's growth and prosperity. The state government runs a budget surplus around $2billion or so and yet it is unwilling to spend money to provide the digital infrastructure---cables, power, security and internet connectivity--- to put Rudd's computers into public schools. The Carpenter Government is complaining about having to spend money to link up schools and kids to the internet when they are rolling in a cash and should be using the cash to invest in the future of their state.

An op-ed in the tabloid West Australian by Paul Murray interprets Rudd's computer policy in terms of class warfare! Why? Because Rudd Labor uses the language of a digital divide and social inclusion. I couldn't even follow the reasoning of this Australian conservatism. The article was actually about computers not helping with basic skills of reading and maths and appear to have a negative impact. There was no mention of digital literacy or the internet being a part of every day life. This is not part of Murray's 1950s thinking about education.

| Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at 12:33 AM | Permalink

| Comments (6)

Comments

Paul Murray is an idiot. One of Australia's worst writers. Glad you could see in person some of our fine worsts. Have a look at the plans fore the foreshore. The Premier is pushing ahead, making connections with Dubai and Shanghai, seeingly unaware of what a disaster Shanghai's hi rise has been.

Posted by: The Worst of Perth | March 28, 2008 8:48 AM

WoP
Rudd says that the computer is the toolbox of the 21st century. Murray dismisses a photo of Rudd holding a lap in the air and saying the above as a great photo opportunity during the election campaign.

Well Rudd is right. Murray by some twisted logic claims that giving computers to those who already have them would be of more value than giving them to those who do not have them.

So he is in favour of the digital divide and growing inequality. The working class can have a cheap and nasty education and do the low grade jobs not aspire to be innovators in the digital economy.

Is that Murray?

Posted by: Gary Sauer-Thompson | March 28, 2008 9:26 AM

If Perth blogs are any indication the boom, or the state govt's handling of it, is causing a widespread sense of alienation among residents. It seems to have a healthy economy but a sickening society.

TWOP's right about the plans for the foreshore. Dog's breakfast doesn't quite capture it. The word 'clusterfuck' comes to mind, if I may be so crass.

Posted by: Lyn | March 28, 2008 11:52 AM

WoP + Lyn
Is this what you are talking about?

I'm currently conferencing at the Convention Centre. So it is the foreshore of the river near the Convention Centre? The development that could include up to 1400 apartments for up to 2000 residents, 14,600sqm of cafe, restaurant, cultural and retail uses and 34,000sqm of office space?

If so, it is a good idea to reorient city life towards the waterfront and bring new life to an under-utilised area. More trees? The above development looks as if it is air-conditioned concrete and glass "Leggo land" development.

Posted by: Gary Sauer-Thompson | March 28, 2008 7:12 PM

Gary,
Perth is a sprawling suburban city built on the dream of the dream of a free standing home with a backyard within 25 minutes walk from the beach. That is why there is so little urban life in the CBD.

Perth is also a city that is expected to double in size. Should it continue to go suburban extending down to the south? Or should it become more urban?

If you don't who don't like the idea of sprawling suburbs then you have to accept infill development and high rise living in the CBD.

Posted by: Pam | March 28, 2008 11:14 PM

Pam,
If that is the case---to build up or sprawl outwards---then the view of the river is in a sense the great amenity and compensation, if you like, for living in high rise apartments.

If Perth is going to house 1.5 million incoming people and if Perthites don't want them in high rises so they can look at the river, then where do they want them? Is Perth having this kind of debate?

Posted by: Gary Sauer-Thompson | March 29, 2008 12:16 AM