According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there were 1,751,400 public servants in Australia as at June 2008. That's approximately 16% of the entire Australian workforce. With most of the essential services already outsourced or privatised, the vast majority of those one-and-three-quarter-million are desk jockeys who are quick to tell you that whatever you want to do is covered by some paragraph in some sub-section of some section of some arcane law which makes it illegal.
For example, if I want to build a second house at "Riverbend", I'd have to jump through more hoops than I am willing and able to do at my age. And the construction of the house itself is governed by even more rules and regulations.
You live on the banks of the river so why not have a houseboat as a second home, I hear you ask. Well, NSW Maritime will take a fiendish delight in telling you that it is illegal to spend more than three consecutive nights on board or more than 21 nights in a given year.
So here is my wicked Plan B: build a houseboat which requires no building permit or approval, and anchor it on my pond which is not a public waterway and therefore not covered by NSW Maritime's rules.
Ve haf our vays you know!
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You know you're getting older when you try to straighten out the wrinkles in your socks and discover you're not wearing any.
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