14 January 2009

Better places to build Canberra?

| johnboy
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The Australian has a bit on the latest round of Canberra bashing in the ranks of the Liberal party.

While it seems the Liberals would prefer there be no national capital at all they do discuss other places a capital might have been put.

Assuming that Canberra would be much the same city wherever it went, where would you have liked it to be?

Let’s go crazy here and forget the constitutional limitations.

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Kramer said :

justbands said :

It shows how incredibly stupid a large number of voters really are. Bashing Canberra is politically popular. Why though does everyone hate Canberra? Because of the politicians.

No, it’s because we have it better than everyone else. We live longer, work less, get paid more, have decent roads, and have great bushland & recreational facilities. We don’t have a beach, but we get to laugh at the Sydney & Melbourne traffic jams on the nightly news.

I don’t think people know any of that until some Canberran tells them.

They hate the politicians and the bureaucrats and that is all they know about Canberra.

… Actually they seem to have a great deal of difficulty with the roundabouts as well when they come here. I love roundabouts.

And if the boredom of living in Canberra gets us down one Friday night, we can be in the centre of less-boring Sydney in three hours, when it takes some people whole live IN Sydney two hours to get into town.

Shhhhhh……

and we got better lookin sheilas…..they wear too many clothes tho

> No, it’s because we have it better than everyone else. We live longer, work less, get paid more, have decent roads, and have great bushland & recreational facilities. We don’t have a beach, but we get to laugh at the Sydney & Melbourne traffic jams on the nightly news.

True. They don’t like hearing things like that either….& are usually quick to add ‘yeah, well…it’s boring!’. Don’t forget that we are fitter, healthier & better educated too.

justbands said :

It shows how incredibly stupid a large number of voters really are. Bashing Canberra is politically popular. Why though does everyone hate Canberra? Because of the politicians.

No, it’s because we have it better than everyone else. We live longer, work less, get paid more, have decent roads, and have great bushland & recreational facilities. We don’t have a beach, but we get to laugh at the Sydney & Melbourne traffic jams on the nightly news.

Why don’t we move the politicians to Wollongong. Then the Canberra bashing will stop and people can pour crap on Wollongong.

We can pour crap on Wollongong any time we like.

yes that winter i spent in cairns was terrible…..got down to 15deg one night, unbearable

Why don’t we move the politicians to Wollongong. Then the Canberra bashing will stop and people can pour crap on Wollongong.

Personally I kind of like it that the rest of Australia hates Canberra. The day Australia looks at Canberra (read Federal Government) with joy is the day I get extremely concerned.

Besides, I like defending the real Canberra that is found outside of Barton, Russell, and APH.

GardeningGirl6:42 pm 15 Jan 09

Growling Ferret said :

Give me 4 seasons, no humidity, hot in summer, nice and cold in winter over Sydneys permanent nice in the city, crap everywhere else rubbish.

I’m not fond of the worst extremes, especially in winter, but I agree. The climate really isn’t that bad and even our supposedly bad winters don’t involve salting footpaths and plowing roads.

justbands said :

It shows how incredibly stupid a large number of voters really are. Bashing Canberra is politically popular. Why though does everyone hate Canberra? Because of the politicians.

It’s the gift that keeps on giving.

Sorry should limit my poor posting to Canberra goss. “7.62 cm to the left”

But while I think about it, Launceston is a hole, or more a hollow alongside a dirty river. To say it would make a better Capital shows poor judgement and taste. It will soon be the city next to the giant pulp mill. Another great idea.

tylersmayhem2:38 pm 15 Jan 09

My investment properties will be worth something to my great great

And VYBerlina takes another opportunity to brag about investment properties. Are we still at school?!

And if not votes, at least attention, which is the next best thing for pollies.

exactly what is the significance of “7.62cm inches”, I am not familiar with that unit of measurement. 7.62mm by 39mm on the other hand would fit great in my Kalashnikov.

It shows how incredibly stupid a large number of voters really are. Bashing Canberra is politically popular. Why though does everyone hate Canberra? Because of the politicians.

Dexi, why do politicians say anything?
It gains them votes.

7.62cm inches to the left would be more keeping with the times, astrojax.

I have to say this is just a “non-story” that the liberal party trot out whenever they can.
Is it some kind of running joke?
Do they get points for getting a Canberra bashing story in the media?
Why do they keep saying this rubbish?

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy1:46 pm 15 Jan 09

Heh heh heh….just wait until global warming floods the coastline….Canberra property prices will skyrocket

My investment properties will be worth something to my great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great grandkids then.

washington d.c.

then we could snuggle right up and have obama tell us what to do, juz like ‘ol george did, and everyone’s a winner – we can escape to nyc for the long weekends… ; )

that, or shift it to wellington and absorb nz as a state and avoid further bledisloe defeats. i also like the outsourcing to india – lunch breaks filled with samosa, chapati and dahls…

failing all that, about 3 inches to the right would be perfect.

la mente torbida said :

Heh heh heh….just wait until global warming floods the coastline….Canberra property prices will skyrocket

and we will probably have a beachfrontage in kambah, pity about the rest of the valley…

la mente torbida11:19 am 15 Jan 09

Heh heh heh….just wait until global warming floods the coastline….Canberra property prices will skyrocket

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy10:59 am 15 Jan 09

You lot are crazy. Let’s relocate to Hamilton Island.

Hunter Uranium Mine.

54-11 said :

How about a couple of Air Force Ones, one for the Senate and the other for the Reps. Then just travel around the country. Then decisions could be balmed on Innamincka today, Lake Eyre yesterday, and Carnarvon tomorrow.

Even better, they could travel around the country with the grey nomads in a fleet of Commonwealth Landcruisers and caravans – and make all their political decisions on what the grey nomads suggest they do.

Saves pollies having to listen to talkback radio………

I love Canberra – and anyone who doesn’t like the place is un-Australian!

NB – I’m just down on the climate after a very poor night’s sleep in my unairconditioned house.

Mind you, the gardener in me wouldn’t say no to an extra 200mm rain per year and fewer frosts to kill my plants.

If it means I can stay here, but SummerGnats moves with “Canberra” then I found the perfect place.

Its called “Bogan, NSW”

Its out in the middle of nowhere, and the “Bogans” can hang with their own and make as much noise as they want

“the climate is not one of Canberra’s big drawcards.”

It is for me!! I hate hot sweltering muggy climates. Give me a winter’s morning in Canberra – cold crisp air, bright sunny sky. Beautiful.

Growling Ferret9:55 am 15 Jan 09

“the climate is not one of Canberra’s big drawcards.”

Give me 4 seasons, no humidity, hot in summer, nice and cold in winter over Sydneys permanent nice in the city, crap everywhere else rubbish.

If you live west of the ANZAC bridge and there is no seabreeze – Penrith and Richmond are always 10 degrees hotter than the City.

Canberras climate is perfect.

+1 Coffs Harbour. Good call caf.

Why couldn’t Sydney and Brisbane have had the slapdown about the location of the capital, rather than Sydney and Melbourne. I’m not a massive beach person, but lets get down to brass tacks – the climate is not one of Canberra’s big drawcards.

I think the engineering challenge of the canal might actually be less than a high speed rail line across a mountain range.

There’s been heaps of talk over the years about a VFT linking Sydney & Melbourne via Canberra. The idea is always written off as too expensive…but how about a VFT between Canberra & Batemans Bay? It’d be much more affordable..& imagine being able to be at a beach or a coastal fishing spot 10 minutes or so after work on a Friday evening (although I like others have said prefer Jindy to the beach)!

Only if we can have a massive waterslide going down the Clyde mountain.

Right on the Clyde river. Civic would be where Batemans Bay is, Gungahlin would be where Durras is, Woden would be where Malua Bay is and Tuggeranong would be out Broulee way. Wouldn’t that have been nicer than where it is now?

Outsource Canberra to India.

At Jindabyne it’s usually fairly easy to drive up to CP to escape the heat (most but not all the time) and very easy skiing access 😀

I hate the beach, so I’d also vote for Jindabyne. It’s far too hot there too, but at least you wouldn’t need to move the electricity for the airconditioners as far! I don’t know what all this nonsense is about needing a beach; airconditioners are much more effective, and they don’t have any bloody sand.

I hate the beach.

How about Rotto? 50,000 flies can’t be wrong ….

norfolk island

Oh, and Jindabyne would have been nice.

shiny flu said :

Around Goulbourn maybe?

Soap and water, shiny flu! Soap and water ….

I think Turnbull was sucking up to Tassie rather than intending to pay out Canberra.

The journalist then pulled a few Canberra quotes from the files to fill out the rest and make it a story.

Around Goulbourn maybe? In and around/near Bugonia and the Budawangs.

I’m rather fond of Moreton NP… although if Canberra were to be there, I’d want MTB trails through there too 🙂

old canberran5:07 pm 14 Jan 09

It was our erstwhile pollies who put it where it is in the first place. They must have hated the seaside, loved stinking hot Summers and freezing cold Winters.
It wouldn’t really matter where Canberra is, someone will want to move it, usually a pollie who doesn’t live there.

tylersmayhem4:41 pm 14 Jan 09

I’m proud of Canberra, and proud to be a Canberran. Leave it where it is I say!

“Feel The Power Of Canberra”. I wish they still had those gems! 🙂

The banks of Lake George and lake Bathurst would have been great, so long as they also connected it via pipe to Tasmania and pumped water through to keep the lakes full…

Ironically, half way between those lakes is Woodlawn Mine, which is currently used as a landfill for half of Sydney’s waste.

On a recent drive out to the airport to drop off a house guest who was catching a plane north to tropical Brisbane, the house guest said, “they should find out whoever made the decision to build Canberra here, dig up their bones, and smash them to pieces.”

I mean, come on, tell us what you really think!

I know where the politicians where they can stick their alternate capital city…

And the article doesn’t surprise me so far as the liberal party’s lack of concern over what the constitution says.

How about a couple of Air Force Ones, one for the Senate and the other for the Reps. Then just travel around the country. Then decisions could be balmed on Innamincka today, Lake Eyre yesterday, and Carnarvon tomorrow.

> It must be Wednesday…
>
> … or the silly season.

There must not have been enough shark attacks or women miscarrying in hospital toilets to report today.

Wide Boy Jake3:13 pm 14 Jan 09

Ozhair said :

Bleh, yet another Canberra-bashing article in the papers.

It must be Wednesday…

… or the silly season.

Skidbladnir said :

Considering we’re dealing with fantasy, and 1890s-1900s fantasy at that, we can get rid of the Greeny EIS considerations, right?

Either a submarine bubble-city off the coast, possibly somewhere deep but near the Great Barrier Reef, or put APH at the peak of Mt Kosciuszko (or hollow it out a la Cheyenne Mountain), with the modern-day mountain townships as workers residences, and make the ski-lodges into MP’s housing.

Why?
No reason at all. This is fantasy, it doesn’t need a reason.

We live in the real world, and we’re stuck with Canberra indefinitely, at least until someone with imagination and real political will comes along.

skid, isn’t it good that the rest of the world still thinks sydney is the national capital??

Considering we’re dealing with fantasy, and 1890s-1900s fantasy at that, we can get rid of the Greeny EIS considerations, right?

Either a submarine bubble-city off the coast, possibly somewhere deep but near the Great Barrier Reef, or put APH at the peak of Mt Kosciuszko (or hollow it out a la Cheyenne Mountain), with the modern-day mountain townships as workers residences, and make the ski-lodges into MP’s housing.

Why?
No reason at all. This is fantasy, it doesn’t need a reason.

We live in the real world, and we’re stuck with Canberra indefinitely, at least until someone with imagination and real political will comes along.

Crikey said :

Eden and god-help-us Dalgety were considered. I understand they didn’t want to build the capital near the ocean in case of a sea attack (probably from New Zealand).

don’t forget the monaro plains, near lake george. there was a plan to put canberra between lake bathurst and lake george. Now, there was a good plan…

it would be a bit cramped, the only bit of jervis bay that is the ACT is the naval base. I still think we should invade NSW and create a corridor of the ACT to the coast…

Eden and god-help-us Dalgety were considered. I understand they didn’t want to build the capital near the ocean in case of a sea attack (probably from New Zealand).

Bleh, yet another Canberra-bashing article in the papers.

It must be Wednesday…

Woody Mann-Caruso2:54 pm 14 Jan 09

On top of the Snowies, with Parliament House perched on top of our highest mountain.

For God’s sake, don’t move it to Jervis Bay – have you SEEN Bateman’s Bay on a long weekend? Imagine that every day of the year!

Oops I meant not too far from the coast. My bad.

Let me see, Canberra is too far from the coast, not too far from home (country NSW), not too far from Melbourne, not too far from Sydney…

Canberra is fine where it is.

justbands (@#8) is spot on… I concur.

like Turn-balls needs *another* reason for Canberran’s to despise him 😛

The Limestone Plains seems a pretty logical spot as far as I am concerned, and we’ve made it a pretty good city (IMHO)…

A least he conceded that the decision has been made – several other prominent Liberals (cough, Howard, cough) would not have…

Coffs Harbour

Leave Canberra where it is, but move Parliament House out to the airport – next to Bland Despot.

I’d put where Jindabyne is.

You could have a seasonal Canberra, Up north for the winter, down south for the summer. It’s fine and 24 in Hobart today.

Jervis Bay would be very nice indeed.

Jervis Bay works. Actually, anywhere on the coast would work better for me. Maybe Mollymook/Ulladulla, a little bit further away from the hell of Sydney.

I prefer Canberra being right where it is.

Turnbull proving yet again what an a-grade moron he really is. It’s not the location that people are critical about in regards to our capital, it’s the function. You could make Wagga the capital, or Darwin, or Perth…& then that’s the city everyone would hate/joke about.

Besides, none of them know ANYTHING about Canberra. They spend their time at Parliament House & venture no further than Kingston or Manuka.

captainwhorebags2:03 pm 14 Jan 09

nth’ing Jervis bay.

As far as the comments from the peanut gallery (Federal Opposition) if old Iron Bar never shows his face in this town again then I think it’d be an improvement. He never even bothered to mask his contempt for the place when he was Territories Minister.

Alice Springs.
After all, no city in Australia is closer to every beach in the country.

*took the bureacratic approach to solving Aurelius’ problem*

Yeah, about 150km due East and a little up the coast..

I’ve never been there, but a quick skim of the place on Googlemaps tells me it’d be nicer than here. Anywhere with surf kicks anywhere without.
And it’s “Jarvis”.

Aurelius said :

Since Canberra’s biggest deficit is the lack of a decent surf beach, I think it should have been put with the rest of the ACT down near Jervis Bay.

+1 Jervis Bay FTW.

We’d have to agree how to pronounce it though.

Since Canberra’s biggest deficit is the lack of a decent surf beach, I think it should have been put with the rest of the ACT down near Jervis Bay. Then, we’d not have these sweltering summer days without the easy ability to go down to the beach at the end of the day in the office.
(Spot the Novocastrian-in-exile here)

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