It will be bad - we just don't know the degree of bad

Gympie Columnist Colin Claridge takes a look around the region and the world and is not too impressed with what he sees

A man holds a message ''More Bregret,'' against Brexit at Trafalgar Square in London on June 28, 2016, after Britain's vote to leave the EU. The crowd weer marching to the Parliament to show their anger and opposition to the Brexit. ( The Yomiuri Shimbun via AP Images ). Picture: Kaname Muto

AS WE near the one-fifth of the way through the 21st century AD, are we entering a phase of tremendous uncertainty or a period of great hope?

Travelling, as I do, into town this week, I was in two minds as to the direction of our local area.

Passing through Tin Can Bay, one can't help but notice all the hazard tape detracts from the recent beautification works. Council needs to do something to ease local frustrations about the area around HA Mallett Park before the natives get really restless.

Proceeding over Coondoo Bridge (with no signs at all of promised construction works) and finally down to the enigma of Cootharaba Road/Crescent Road/Station Road. The enigma as to why money was spent on an unnecessary roundabout while the intersection of the former two roads remains a hazard.

European flag jigsaw piece with British flag missing piece. Picture: CharlieAJA

And finally down to the fenced-off library. Signs stating indefinite closure give such a great impression to visitors.

I have to seriously wonder about local and state spending priorities.

Marry personal experience to reports of buoyancy - in particular our local property market - one has to wonder why the visual evidence doesn't quite match up.

While it's great to see the local economy on the up, those in control need to display that we can have confidence that they are good pilots for growth.

The last thing we desire is to make our area too expensive for long-term residents, particularly in the rental market.

WAITING FOR WORK - Council needs to do something to ease local frustrations, the Coondoo Creek bridge for example. Picture: Arthur Gorrie

The best communities are those with a healthy mix of demographics. No good has ever come from total gentrification of an area.

Timely maintenance is probably more important than pretty new streetscaping schemes. Get the basics right first because first impressions are everything.

Anyone who this week saw the state of the binless bus stop area around Bunnings would know what I mean. It's a bit of a mess.

Speaking of messes, one feels that the Prime Minister would be hoping the start of a new year leading up to a crucial election would be devoid of any messes such as the ones of the previous months.

Fortunately, we have yet to be locked out of Indonesian markets over the proposed move of our embassy in Israel (although with elections also due in Indonesia, the prospect is still a live one), no more Government MPs have resigned in the past few days and economic figures continue to show that the country is still in comparative good shape.

ScoMo's wish for the New Year was probably for fresh air from now to the early Budget in April. He deserves it.

Peter Dutton. Picture: MICK TSIKAS

So.....Why, Pete? WHY?

What did Peter Dutton possibly hope to achieve by his vitriolic little dummy spit? It all looked like a case of sour grapes.

A tantrum of epic Rudd proportions.

It is highly debatable whether Turnbull's lack of presence on the Wentworth campaign hindered or helped the Liberal cause.

The bloke had just been knifed by his own party, so how would Wentworth voters perceive him turning up on the campaign acting like nothing had happened?

Does Dutton think them that gullible? ScoMo might have come from a background in advertising but if he couldn't make Lara Bingle into a credible tourism ambassador, what hope of packaging Turnbull's support in Wentworth with any sincerity?

But that should be consigned to 2018.

There's no point in the Dutton camp dredging it up continuously unless they are aiming to mortally wound their re-election chances.

Voters need to ensure we elect a government that isn't constantly seen to be prepared to knife each other.

We need to see politicians with solid plans to tackle many challenges which will present themselves in the year ahead and beyond.

These challenges will not only be of a domestic nature, so we need to see politicians demonstrate more than a knack with local issues.

Our government will need to exhibit wisdom in the tricky juggling act between our economic dependency on an increasingly aggressive China and our historic relationship with an increasingly unpredictable and unstable White House.

The looming English Armageddon that is a hard Brexit will also require an Australian Government ready and able to negotiate through the economic ripples that it will cause globally. No one really knows to what extent Britain crashing out of the EU will badly affect global markets. It will be bad. It's just that we don't know the degree of bad.

Somewhere between Boris Johnson's haircut and Theresa May's dancing, I suspect.