This is only a preview of the April 2001 issue of Silicon Chip. You can view 34 of the 96 pages in the full issue, including the advertisments. For full access, purchase the issue for $10.00 or subscribe for access to the latest issues. Articles in this series:
Items relevant to "A GPS Module For Your PC":
Items relevant to "Dr Video: An Easy-To-Build Video Stabiliser":
Items relevant to "A Tremolo Unit For Musicians":
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Want to do your own home wiring? Repair appliances?
Replace a power point or light fitting?
YOU can help make it happen!
Ever since the subject was first raised in SILICON CHIP,
readers have been asking how we in Australia could convince
our politicians to change the rules which currently make it
illegal for most people to even remove the screws in a light
fitting or power point so they can paint under it!
Here’s your opportunity to help change the rules so that
anyone who feels competent can legally do their own electrical
wiring, just as they have done for years in New Zealand and
many other countries.
We need to abolish the “closed shop” that state governments
around Australia are presently maintaining through restrictive
state legislation.
Photocopy the “Statement of Will” form, insert the name
of your state in each of the spaces provided, and circulate it
among your friends, family and workplace colleagues. Ask each
signatory to circulate additional copies among their friends and
family, etc.
If you have sufficient commitment to the cause, obtain
signatures in public places, such as shopping areas, entries to
train stations, etc. This is, after all, an issue of democracy that
concerns not only electrical and electronic engineers, technical
officers, technicians and hobbyists, but all householders. We
must aim for a maximum number of signatories if we are to
be successful.
Send the completed forms to SILICON CHIP and we will forward them to the relevant state Ministers, along with copies of
published correspondence, editorials, etc. The Ministers will be
informed that their response, or a report that they apparently
decided not to respond, will be published in SILICON CHIP!
While in some ways similar to a petition, it must be our aim
that it is not treated as a petition. If you have access to the Internet, go to http://www.rag.org.au/rag/petqld.htm and study the
onerous requirements that must, by law, be observed in order
to produce a petition that a state parliament will accept. Then
click on Creative Petitioning at the bottom of the page to learn
how easily parliaments can disregard petitions.
Our state parliaments have refused to accept petitions that had
many tens of thousands of signatures on them, simply because
the form of the petition was not exactly correct. If you don’t have
access to the Internet, suffice to say that conventional petitions
to our state and federal parliaments are largely a waste of time.
In addition to circulating the “Statement of Will” form, write
an individual “MY WILL” letter, similar to the one below, to
your local state member of parliament and encourage others
to do the same.
Don’t forget to date the letter and provide your name and
address so the parliamentarian can confirm that you are a
constituent.
48 Silicon Chip
Dear Sir (or Dear Madam),
I know that it is my duty to keep you informed of MY WILL on
any matter that comes before Parliament, or that should come
before Parliament.
IT IS MY WILL that you take immediate action to end the “closed
shop” that electricians enjoy in relation to “electrical work”, and
that you promote the replacement of current electricity related
legislation with legislation that is essentially equivalent to the New
Zealand Electricity Act and Regulation, which allows householders
to do their own “electrical work”, including appliance repairs and
the installation of fixed wiring.
Yours Faithfully,
(signed)
Above all, don’t enter into written argument with a politician.
Politicians are masters in the art of avoiding what they don’t want
to face up to, and become experts in manipulating words to their
own benefit. Should your parliamentary member try to sidestep
(and they are extremely adept at doing so) taking positive political
action on your behalf (ie, they rattle on about what his/her party is
or is not doing instead of agreeing to act in accordance with your
WILL), you simply write back and state:
Dear Sir (or Dear Madam),
Further to my letter of (insert date of your original letter) and
your reply of (insert date of their inadequate or fob-off reply), and
in accordance with my lawful obligation to keep you informed of MY
WILL, I again inform you that IT IS MY WILL that you take immediate
action to end the “closed shop” that electricians enjoy in relation to
“electrical work”, and that you promote the replacement of current
electricity related legislation with legislation that is essentially equivalent to the New Zealand Electricity Act and Regulation, which allows
householders to do their own “electrical work”, including appliance
repairs and the installation of fixed wiring.
Yours faithfully,
(signed)
If you have access to the internet, go to http://www.rag.org. au/
rag/mywillet.htm and learn about the background and potential
power of the “MY WILL” letter. For each “MY WILL” letter you send
to your parliamentary member, send a copy to SILICON CHIP so we
can monitor the level of involvement in the campaign for reform.
If your local parliamentarian shows interest in the issue, provide
them with copies of relevant SILICON CHIP published correspondence
and editorials, etc, or ask them to contact SILICON CHIP directly.
Come on SILICON CHIP readers, you asked us to help you with
this one – if you don’t want more and more restrictions, get those
signatures rolling in!
Statement of Will: Reform of Electrical Legislation
The primary responsibility of parliamentary representatives and governments is to do the will of the people. Electors
must make their will known to their parliamentary representatives and governments.
We, the undersigned, hereby assert that it is our will that the government of *________________________
acknowledge that current electrical safety legislation unjustifiably discriminates against ordinary householders as
well as electrical and electronic engineers, technical officers, and technicians and that the effect of its enactment
has been, and continues to be, to protect a monopoly for licensed electricians.
We also hereby assert that it is our will that the government of *___________________________________
acknowledge that the potential dangers of “electrical work” are grossly exaggerated by the state electrical licensing
boards and that the New Zealand electrical fatalities and accidents statistics belie these claims of dangers.
We further assert that it is our will that the government of *__________________________________________
repeal, in a timely manner, all current electrical safety legislation to replace it with legislation that is essentially
equivalent to the New Zealand Electricity Act and Regulation, which allows ordinary householders to do their own
“electrical work”, including appliance repairs and the installation of fixed wiring.
* (insert state or territory)
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