We all know bureaucracies love telling the general population what is best for them.
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How many times have you heard an item on the news and thought "here comes the nanny state again"?
Here in regional NSW, we not only have the usual red tape so beloved by bureaucrats, but we have to try to deal with regulations and decisions that are often made in some office in Sydney, hundreds of kilometres from the affected area.
Time and again, we hear about decisions that have come out of Sydney and seem to be in complete contradiction to what the local community wants and needs.
We can only speculate as to whether it is money or a sense of "we know best" that seems to put the bush at odds with city-based bureaucrats.
At the weekend, an absolutely horrific crash occurred at the intersection of the Gocup Road and Snowy Mountains Highway in Tumut.
In talking to some Tumut people after the crash, it was pretty clear no one was surprised that there had been a tragedy at the intersection.
There have been calls for years for improvements to the "death trap".
If you've lived in the region for any length of time, you will know the Gocup Road was at one time considered to be, at least in parts, very dangerous.
In fact, a $70 million upgrade of the road was only completed in June 2019, but that upgrade did not include work on the almost-notorious intersection.
Tragically, a million dollars' worth of improvements are due to be started fairly shortly.
Just last month The Nationals' Wes Fang announced the work would include "formalising the current traffic arrangement, removing vegetation, upgrading line marking and signs, and installing medians, kerbs and safety barrier to help guide vehicles through the intersection".
There was at one point suggestions of traffic lights, but that was clearly not part of the final plan.
Talk to councillors from Snowy Valleys and they will tell you the plans are not enough.
Mayor James Hayes says a much bigger rethink is needed for the intersection, a view shared by others.
In talking to some Tumut people after the crash, it was pretty clear no one was surprised that there had been a tragedy at the intersection.
But what is frustrating is that the councillors have not kept this opinion to themselves. They have been campaigning for years for large-scale improvements to the intersection, but their pleas have fallen on deaf ears.
That it could be a cost issue is bad enough, but even worse is the thought that the local knowledge of many residents is being ignored by the very people who should have gone straight to the community and listened before they even began the most cursory of planning.
The people who drive through - or try to avoid - this particular intersection are the ones who have a fairly good idea of what is needed to make it safer. It's only common sense and would be the same on any stretch of road in any part of the country.
The residents of Snowy Valleys have enough on their plates right now.
Like most residents of regional Australia, they were battling the effects of drought before the summer bushfires brought so much devastation.
Efforts to rebuild the community with an emphasis on tourism and events have been crippled by the coronavirus pandemic and social isolation restrictions.
Now, more than ever, is the time to listen to the community on what is needed.
It is a sad reality that more often than we would like, the decision to go ahead with a project or not comes down to money.
Now is not the time to be short-changing the people of the Snowy Valleys. They've had enough.
The people of Tumut and surrounds needs to be able to look forward, and with the likelihood of a major boost from Snowy Hydro 2.0, it is even more important that the community is not dumped with yet another short-term fix in the form of a cobbled-together and cut-price intersection.
There is only going to be more traffic going into this region, not less, and a fair amount of the increased traffic is likely to be trucks.
It's time to stop fiddling around with quick fixes and do away with this dangerous intersection and do the job properly. As a start, how about listening to residents?