Antinuclear

The clutch of independents with minimalist primary votes and huge ambitions want attention to the mishmash of offbeat ideas and prejudices they hold dear.

And if Tony Abbott and his ministers want their support to overcome the combined Labor/Greens bloc, they will have to take some of them seriously. And it’s already happening.

Here are a few of the causes the senators are championing and want action on:

WIND FARMS: Senator John Madigan wants an ombudsman to deal with the complaints against wind farms by those who live nearby. He says he’s not obsessed by the issue, it’s just he doesn’t believe the 25 scientific inquiries which have found the turbines are not health hazards. Prime Minister Abbott, who calls them ugly and noisy, is considering the appointment of a wind farm commissioner. He has not considered a similar appointment to deal with the many more complaints about coal seam gas………….

MORE GUNS: Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm supports same sex marriage. And he wants people to take their firearms to the weddings to help celebrate. After the Lindt Cafe tragedy he urged laws changed to allow Australians to tote more weaponry. “What happened in that cafe would have been most unlikely to have occurred in Florida, Texas, or Vermont, or Alaska in America, or perhaps even Switzerland as well” because “statistically speaking” some of the abducted customers would have been armed. Nobody in Parliament thinks this is a good idea.

GO NUCLEAR: South Australia’s Bob Day is another senator who thinks wind power is dangerous because of what he calls the “harrowing” effects on humans and animals. But he thinks atomic energy is a better proposition and wants Adelaide to build nuclear subs. “One of the major obstacles to Australia considering nuclear submarines has been the absence of a domestic nuclear industry,” fretted the man who considered turbines a threat. http://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/cross-bench-starting-make-demands-of-tony-abbotts-government/story-fnu2pwk8-1227406160609