The Marj

Well, once again the debate has come up again about the new central hospital in Adelaide. The Marj (The Marjorie Jackson-Nelson Hospital) is a plan by the labor state government to 'replace' the current hospital the RAH (Royal Adelaide Hospital). To give you the facts here is what they want to do.

• it will cost South Australian Tax payers, $1.7 Billion
• to be built on the railway yards off of North Terrace
• it will be 1km away from the current hospital site (RAH)
• new hospital will be in current flight path for Adelaide Airport
• estimated floor-space in the order of 170,000 square metres

So, do we need a new hospital in Adelaide?

I guess we need to look at our current circumstances and take what we can from that. The RAH was founded back in the 1840's and has had continual upgrades since that time. The hospital is involved with medical teachings in conjunction with the University of Adelaide. The hospital has not received an upgrade since the 1990's, so as far as upgrades go it is due for one.

It has come out today that an upgrade will cost around $300 million to add a new wing and increase bed capacity. This seems like the intelligent thing to do considering the current financial world climate. Plus you also have a hospital which people know and trust.

But in saying that there are a few positives about having a new hospital. It would give SA the ability to start from scratch and design a state of the art hospital. It will be built where there is good access to transport as well as an increased patient capacity.

Now for the negatives. It is a very costly exercise which will cost $1.7 Billion to the state. It is going to be built on polluted area and the clean up costs could push the final cost up over the $1.7 Billion mark. Given the ability of Labors estimating on major projects this is highly likely to go above $1.7Billion. It will be under the flight path of flights inbound and outbound from Adelaide Airport. This will cause the rescue helicopter to juggle when to land and take off from the hospital.

Looking at all of the information it is an interesting topic which I am sure will be heavily debated over the coming months and years. I also think this will be a major factor in who wins the next state election.
In my opinion, I think we should do up the RAH, if we need to demolish a couple buildings to build bigger and better ones, so be it. If we do need a new hospital why not put it on the Keswick army barracks site. The Feds are shutting down this base so why not use this land as the new site?

Prospekt86

Paper or Plastic?

Over lunch the other day we were having a discussion about the recent decision to phase out plastic bags. It sounds good in theory, doesn't it? No more plastic bags = two thumbs up for environmentalists. On the flip side though, no plastic bags means that we'll need some kind of replacement.

Most supermarkets don't offer cardboard cartons anymore. There are the re-usable green bags that many people (including my mother) use. However, these raise their own problems; these re-usable bags are apparently made out of more plastic than your regular plastic bag. People can't be bothered to remember them, so will always have to buy new ones - and can't be bothered to do so. Yes, they're re-usable, but if you're constantly buying new ones it defeats the purpose. Who knows how much energy is spent on making them? Are they really better than the regular plastic bag in the long run?

The other option is the paper bag. Bio-degradable? Check. Proven to work? Check. Ready to plunge the world into another environmental crisis? Check. These paper bags would have to come from somewhere - which would mean more trees would need to be made available to make them. According to our minister, the amount of land that is being bought up for tree planting has reached a critical stage. Because of the astronomical amounts that the tree fellers are willing to spend on new land, farmers are losing land. In places like TAS and southern QLD, no more land is able to be used for trees. NSW is considering making a similar law. When no more trees can be planted, where are all these trees for paper bags meant to be coming from?

It seems like there's no win-win situation. No matter which solution is put into motion, it seems like we're really only going to kick off some other kind of environmental disaster...

The Rag

It has been said many times before, but I will say it again. The Advertiser newspaper is a rag of a newspaper. It promotes topics that are written just to stir the pot and that are pointless and should not even be talked about. I mean who gives a toss what is happening with "celebrities" in Adelaide anyway (Adelaide Confidential section).
When they add letters to the editor comments in some of them are an absolute JOKE.
For example, someone had written in about how he received a fine for tailgating from a policeman. This person was annoyed due to the fact that the police car was doing 50-55 km/hr in a 60 zone and the police officer was slowing traffic. He went on to point out that the policeman was doing this just to revenue raise. When I read this I thought, surely this must be a joke, but he continued to write that he has lost respect for the police force for this happening to him. What an idiot, does he not realise that 60 is a LIMIT, not a target. Adelaide drivers need to really have a good hard look at themselves. I could go on about Adelaide drivers for ages, but I won't that will take a whole new post.
Back to the point in hand, how come the advertiser evens bother putting this stupidity in their paper. Don't they have editors to read what is being put in? Are that people in Adelaide are stupid and won't bother reading bits of the paper that they can't be bothered doing properly?
The Advertiser was a key supporter in the countdown to 100. This was an initiative which was to keep the road toll down in SA under 100. Yet they are putting in an article about tailgating. I might add that AAMI insurance did a study and found that SA has one of the worst problems with tailgating in the country.
My next problem with the rag is that they get c-grade celebrities to do d-grade stories. One of these being a radio host on an FM radio station.
She has no idea and is a stupid woman who uses her friends fame to get a job. I mean who cares why she should not be kissing a guy 20 years her younger.

I bet you are all sitting there wandering why I even bother reading it then. Well the reason is that they do have stories which have some merit and have reporters that can actually do a good job. I mean sure they are in a crappy newspaper, but how come i should make them suffer and not support the hard workers which make it worth reading that little bit.

I think we will find that most papers will end up on the Internet and WE will have to find our own news. But until that time I am sure The Advertiser can lift its game and go back to being the informative paper that it once was, and not a rag of a 'UK Tabloid' that it has become.

Prospekt86

Where is the follow up?

Ok, Ok i am getting there. I should have a new post up here I know I am taking my time.
Just reading the news now to see what I can conjure up.

Prospekt86

My First Big Issue

I am sitting here thinking what to write for my first post and I have no idea. So, I will start with the first thing that I can think of. The first big issue is that South Australia needs a kick up the back side. Whether this is due to the people living here, or the people running it, my verdict is still out.

I have lived in Adelaide all my life and it is a great place. But the problem is, it is just that, a great place. There are always arguments about what to do next, whether it be about sport, about city planning or even about where to go. It is not like we are a massive place we only have 1 million people living here for crying out loud.
Here is my main list of what are the main issues for SA:

• AAMI Stadium (out in the middle of nowhere)
• Media Mike ( do I need to explain this??)
• Infrastructure ( Britannia round-a-bout, north south corridor, Victoria Square, public transport)
• The Marg (Replacement hospital for RAH)
• The Media (Don't even get me started about the Advertiser)
• The Murray ( Australia's world famous river system)
• Entertainment (Concerts, hitting the town or anything exciting in general)

Wow, looking at that list there are a few things there. These are the things I am most passionate about and that need to be fixed or worked on. South Australia is a great place, but it can't stay great without some action.