John Singleton, Australian Business, November 13, 1985, p. 162.

I have never been able to sympathise very much with the Save This and Save That brigade — the people who would have us believe that every rotten building more than 30 years old ought to be preserved for posterity. It has always seemed to me that, if something is worth saving, it will be saved best by the profit motive: ie, it’s worth keeping because it’s worth more that way than a new building is.

It has further seemed to me that if people think ugly, useless old buildings — say, like that old Anthony Hordern Building — are worth preserving, then the best thing those groups can do is save up and buy the things themselves.

If there are enough souls with the same soul, they will make a fortune out of letting all the do-gooders see through the rotten place.

After they have gone broke a couple of times, I feel their enthusiasm will wane.

But now there is an exception: Parramatta Road in Sydney is in danger and for once I believe it is imperative that the National Trust, the Heritage Council, the Department of Planning and Environment and the BLF (who, as far as I can see, share common aims) should step in and do something.

Twenty miles of used-car bunting, sleazy pubs, rundown factories, second-hand hamburger joints and milk bar pinball parlours are threatened by commercial and industrial re-development that would make Parramatta Road no more than just another average street in our very average city.

I believe that Parramatta Road must be preserved in its exact and present form so that, in decades to come, we can show young children where business used to take place. Where people used to buy and sell things, where trade took place. I further believe it would be a worthy Bicentennial project.

After all, it seems dreadfully unfair that it is the only road in the whole of Australia that seems to have missed out on being such a project.

* * *

While we wait for the government to have any opposition on any subject, who is there among us who will explain that the only reason the tax avoidance industry in Australia is so large is that the tax bill is too large?

If the Opposition will not call on the government to spend no more than they take, isn’t it up to business to do so?

Hugh Morgan of Western Mining seems a voice in the wilderness. The media obviously aren’t interested, so who will gather the funds for an advertising campaign to let both parties know there are more votes in less taxes?

Obviously, no one will.

We will always have the sort of government and the size of government that we deserve. May God have mercy on us.