What is not clear is what will come through in provision for social inclusion - Deputy Prime Minister Gillard, among all her other hats, is Minister for Social Inclusion.
What is also far from clear is how building infrastructure gets the Shoalhaven forward.
The focus on highway building (I had an effective role, with others, in getting the Princes Highway-Island Point Rd intersection rebuilt, I know how important the highway is) does not solve the problems and impacts of fuel prices which will double again during the next council's term.
The focus on hospitals does not solve the problem (may compound the problems) of community health and especially community mental health as those services rust to death by neglect.
We have some rich corners, we have some deprived and troubled corners.
I have placed a copy of a NSW Electoral Commission statistical snapshot of the Shoalhaven here.
We have well below the state average of young people. We have one third more than state average of the poorest income levels. Over 50% have not gone beyond year 10, one third more than the state overall. Only 30% have finished year 12 - the state percentage is 47%.
And as Joanna Gash and Shelley Hancock know, we have high unemployment.
Bickering about such things does not equip us for the future. We have to look for new ways of linking advantaged to disadvantaged communities and empowering especially young people. We have to reverse the alienation from community and government — by example. We have to find ways of making education, training and work, and engagement with community relevant and worthwhile.
Dennis
