Donate NowThis year’s highly un-coveted Nanny State Award was a tight contest, with a horde of strong contenders from around the world, including Australia. The winners were announced on Tuesday 6/12/22 by Emeritus Professor Steven Schwartz at an evening event held at the Centre for Independent Studies.
Lifetime Achievement Award: The judges have given a lifetime achievement award to the Australian Medical Association (the AMA) and its cronies, for calling for a tax on sugary drinks every year since the Nannies were first awarded.
Third place: Queensland government vow to phase out coal-fired power by 2035. Under the plan, more affordable coal power will be axed, generators will be converted to ‘clean energy hubs’, and electricity will come from pumped hydro storage. “To achieve this vision, the Queensland government must create multiple pairs of large reservoirs one above the other all over the state,” Prof Schwartz said. “Given the Queensland government’s record of managing water reservoirs, what could possibly go wrong?”
Second place: traffic ‘experts’ calling for an urban speed limit of 30km/h. Slow cars may be less dangerous, but they harm the economy by making shipping and travel inefficient, Prof Schwarz pointed out. “When setting speed limits, we must trade off economic costs against the safety benefits of driving slower and find an acceptable level of risk. “The next logical step from this call is to go back to the days when it was required to have somebody walk along ahead of your vehicle waving a flag to warn passersby there was a car in motion.”
Winner: all those who wish to rename our towns, regions, parks, and landmarks. Among those honoured by this award is the organisation known as PETA: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. “PETA wants Wool Street in Melbourne to change its name because … well, just because,” Prof Schwartz said. PETA is a repeat winner. It previously won a Nanny for wanting to change the name of Tasmania’s Eggs and Bacon Bay to something vegan.
Sharing the honour of this year’s Nanny with PETA is Bec Cody, an Australian Capital Territory (ACT) politician. Some of her constituents are unhappy because a new ACT electorate was named in honour of World War I correspondent, Charles Bean. Bean, they say, made antisemitic remarks about General John Monash. “In response, Ms Cody has called for a government review of all Canberra’s 7000 place names.