Mike O’Connor: George St knee-deep in the bulldust of its own making

A granny flat thought bubble, the DNA testing bungle, people dying waiting for an ambulance ... the state government is caught in a minefield of self-inflicted crises, writes Mike O’Connor.

In Broome, they call it pindan, a fine red bulldust that clings to clothing and shoes and cloaks everything in the rusty patina that is the trademark of the Kimberley.

I spent last week in that magnificent region and saw plenty of pindan but the experience paled when compared to the mountain of bulldust that awaited me on my return.

George St is now knee-deep in the bulldust being generated by the Palaszczuk government as it desperately tries to duck and weave its way through the minefield of self-inflicted crises in which it finds itself.

Granny flats as a solution to the housing shortage is the latest comic thought bubble to burst through the bulldust, changing the rules to allow the rental of these out to the desperately homeless announced as a way to alleviate the problem.

How many of these flats are there?

For a hint of what is likely to come, readers should refer to The Games, starring the late John Clarke, an ABC TV series that spoofed the preparations for Sydney’s 2000 Olympics.

Nobody knows. Are people aware that if they do have one and rent it there will be capital gains tax and income-tax implications, that under new rental laws you can’t refuse pets and that getting rid of an undesirable tenant will be extremely difficult?

Probably not. Oh yes, and there’s the small matter of insurance and liability.

All this adds up to an impressive pile of pindan, with Treasurer No-New-Taxes Dick adding a few more shovelfuls by changing the land-tax rules in a way that everyone who knows anything about the real estate industry says will cause investors to divest themselves of Queensland rental properties, thus adding to the housing shortage. Brilliant!

Watch for developers to also begin sharpening their shovels as they exert pressure on councils to waive planning restrictions so that they can magnanimously claim to be doing their bit to help the housing shortage while blighting the landscape and making lots of money in the process.

Then there is the red cloud of fine dust clinging to the government’s DNA lab where chronic underfunding and a lack of ministerial oversight have led to what is likely to have been a miscarriage of justice on a grand scale.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath.

The government has been aware of the issue but tried to ignore it. Nothing to see here. Shovel, shovel, shovel!

The pindan is also piling up in the middle of the Gabba cricket ground, nominated as the centrepiece of our 2032 Olympic infrastructure, the cost of mooted renovations necessary to achieve this going from $1bn to $2.5bn in a matter of weeks.

Even allowing for inflation, that’s a leap of truly Olympic proportions.

Having experienced the trouser-wetting excitement of being awarded the Games that nobody else wanted, it is becoming increasingly apparent we don’t quite know what to do with them.

For a hint of what is likely to come, readers should refer to The Games starring the late John Clarke, a TV series that spoofed the preparations for the Sydney Olympics, revisiting in particular that episode in which public servants try to cover up the fact that the 100m athletics track is short by 6m.

Queensland Health has all but disappeared beneath an ever-growing pile of pindan, Health Minister D’Ath resembling a rabbit frozen in the glare of a spotlight while thepublic hospital and ambulance system that were once the envy of the nation slowly crumble around her and the spin doctors keep shovelling, a feat remarkable only for its futility.

Former British politician Nigel Farage. Picture: AFP

As the pindan covered chickens of years of laziness and ineptitude flutter home to roost, what better way to attempt to distract the gaze on an increasingly disbelieving public than to start talking about climate change and emission targets.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has said she would make a ”big” announcement on Wednesday that will doubtless be “big” on warm and fuzzy net-zero rhetoric and delight those who profit from renewable-energy subsidies while ignoring the problems that beset the state.

Former British politician Nigel Farage, presently in Australia, offered an unfashionable viewpoint on unrealistic and politically motivated emission targets last week.

“As in Britain, the impact on jobs and energy prices will devastate the average working family in Australia,” he said.

Lofty targets and over-the-horizon aspirations can be relied upon to generate applause from the chattering class but are of little consolation to those people whose loved ones have died waiting for an ambulance.

Meanwhile, the pile of pindan keeps growing and growing.