Enough to make a liberal weep

There continues to be massive civil disobedience in relation to speed limits, with two-thirds of drivers routinely flouting them notwithstanding the removal of a few speed cameras that supposedly lacked a safety justification. With speed limits so obviously at odds with community values, an in spite of a pre-election promise to do something about it, enforcement continues to be primarily about raising revenue.

Motorists and other fuel users only narrowly escaped being forced to use premium unleaded fuel as an alternative to E10, with regular unleaded scheduled to be banned. A big campaign led by petrol retailers forced the government to back down although it has retained the 6% ethanol mandate, apparently because tax exemptions and subsidies are insufficient by themselves to prop up the price of wheat.

Following suggestions by a prominent group of Australians, including Bob Carr, that prohibition of drugs had failed and some reconsideration might be timely, the government mused in parliament that perhaps Carr was proposing a free trade agreement with Colombia or its drug cartels.

And while it is now legal to explore for uranium in NSW, it remains illegal to mine it if any is found.

But it is perhaps in changes to the political rules that the government has revealed its true colours.

NSW already has the country's most onerous rules for registering new political parties and maintaining their registration. Now, amendments to the electoral law make it illegal for individuals to donate their own money to either a political party or a political campaign unless they are on the electoral roll, and may only donate a maximum of $5000 per year. It is illegal for the same individuals to pool their money and donate via a club, association, church, corporation or other organisation.

At the same time, parties with parliamentary representation receive millions of dollars in taxpayer funding while those on the outside seeking representation receive nothing, despite being subject to the same donation limits. And full public funding of election campaigns is apparently on the government's agenda.

If all that sounds depressing, there is no reason to anticipate change. The Labor Party in NSW, once dominated by the NSW Right from which Paul Keating and his financial reforms originated, has reverted to a pale green version of social democracy led by former union boss, John Robertson. The chances that it, or the far-left NSW Greens, will hold the government to account are pretty much zero.

Beware Queenslanders. It's enough to make a liberal weep.