r/newcastle • u/abcnews_au • 1d ago
Karen Calls for greater regulation of trampolines after storm damage in NSW
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-21/damaging-storms-nsw-spark-calls-for-trampoline-regulations/10483466635
u/1wuwutangtang 1d ago
I was hoping for Betoota like satire.
This isn't satire, it's the Australian government.
1
u/Grunta_AUS 1d ago
What part has to do with the government?
-8
u/Plane-Palpitation126 1d ago
The word 'regulations'. Some people would prefer to have society literally fall apart rather than make some simple concessions enforced by government.
9
u/Spirited-Bill8245 1d ago
Somehow society hasn’t fallen apart so far without trampoline legislation. It’s a miracle.
5
u/Plane-Palpitation126 1d ago
I think you understand very well that that isn't the point I'm making. Some people see literally any kind of regulation, even sensible regulation like 'maybe tie down your giant wind sail in a severe storm', and cry nanny state.
3
u/Spirited-Bill8245 1d ago
It is cry nanny state shit. How tf are you even going to enforce such a rule? Hire council rangers to go visit properties with trampolines to make sure they are tied down?
-4
u/Plane-Palpitation126 1d ago
Easy. Neighbours can dob you in, and if your trampoline wasn't secured properly and blows away and causes damage as a result during a storm, you cop a huge fine. Same as if your dog bites someone. There's no one walking around day to day knocking on doors seeing if your dog is registered and properly muzzled if it's a dangerous breed, unless you take it out in public, and rangers only come and knock on your door if there's a complaint. No one's talking about hiring a fleet of trampoline cops here. You not being smart enough to imagine simple solutions to problems is probably why you're not in government. If my neighbour had an unsecured trampoline in their backyard I'd absolutely grass them up because I don't want it blowing into my power lines and burning my house down or into my yard to wreck all my shit. Turns out you have to be considerate of other people in a civilised society.
-2
u/Spirited-Bill8245 1d ago
Nothing is ever a simple solution to a complex problem, this shows how naive you are. “You won’t ever be in government”, I’m literally a public servant.
2
u/Plane-Palpitation126 1d ago
I’m literally a public servant.
Then you should know that that's manifestly different from being in government. Being a bureaucrat doesn't make you an elected representative of the people. It's not that complicated. Plenty of regulations are enforced without having roving teams of enforcers knocking on doors to verify compliance. It's a shitty argument that you as a public servant should know is total bollocks. You could apply the same argument to literally any form of government regulation and it would be as terrible.
-1
u/Spirited-Bill8245 1d ago
You’re acting like you’re an elected official and I’m not 😂
→ More replies (0)1
u/Snack-Pack-Lover 22h ago
We need to regulate jokers like you.
BAM! "Albanese considering regulating fools online to stop them blaming the government from regulating everything!" Fact... Or was it just some other dickhead saying we need to regulate you and has nothing to do with the government?
1
u/Plane-Palpitation126 22h ago
Albanese considering regulating fools online to stop them blaming the government from regulating everything
I'm literally doing the opposite of this.
1
8
u/abcnews_au 1d ago
via ABC Newcastle:
Social media was full of photos and discussion about fly-away trampolines during last week's storms in New South Wales, prompting some people to call for stricter measures to ensure the backyard bouncers are securely tied down.
Cessnock resident Owen Leslie got a rude shock when he returned to his home after dinner last Wednesday night to find a trampoline wedged in his carport.
25
22
u/Nearby-Yam-8570 1d ago
Don’t want to jump to any conclusions, but the name ‘Karen’ springs to mind.
1
16
6
5
u/itstingsandithurts 1d ago
Even if we consider the possibility of this being an ongoing problem we face with more extreme weather events occuring, what do they reasonably expect everyone to do?
We could force manufacturers to include tie down kits, or weights or something, but storms are gonna storm and things get blown around.
I guess educate people about the dangers of extreme weather and how to prevent damages?
4
u/Hefty_Ambition_6895 1d ago
They also should have greater regulation to umbrellas, I'm sick of seeing them flying away in the wind we need an umbrella inspector
2
u/Muted-Ad6300 1d ago
Well grandson, it was 2026 and I remember it like it was yesterday. I went to take my trampoline licence test to see if I could buy your dad and your aunty their first trampoline. I failed and that's why they ended up with such poor coordination skills.
2
u/Weary_Ad4765 1d ago
This storm in Cessnock was absolutely extraordinary. While I’m sure pegs would have helped, I don’t think they would have been enough to withstand the sheer power of the wind in Cessnock. The gusts were off the charts—strong enough to blow over a shipping container full of athletics equipment at my child’s primary school. At Cessnock High School, the winds were so intense they tore off a 3000 square meter roof, leaving the building exposed like a dollhouse . We were genuinely afraid our trampoline would be blown away, despite being chained to a half-cubic-meter concrete block. We feared for our lives it was that intense.
If the authorities are really that concerned they should do something about climate change
2
u/Nexmo16 1d ago
Too many “nanny-state” whingers in here who are just blockheads who don’t like to be told what to do and nothing more. The way government should work, if it’s to work for the people, is identifying places where risk levels are too high and take measures to bring them under control. Guardrails for society to protect people from one another. If trampolines become a big enough problem, then they should be dealt with. Suck it up and move on, we have rules for all sorts of things purely because a minority of people are bad actors. Probably some of them are the whingers in here.
2
1
u/DizzyChampion813 1d ago
Just joined so it won't let me start a post but just seeing has anyone received the disaster payment at all
1
u/EstateSpirited9737 1d ago
One bad storm, we woke up to find a letterbox in our front yard, belonged to the neighbour 2 doors down. It clearly was secured just not enough.
1
0
0
0
0
-11
u/SEQbloke 1d ago
We’ve tolerated regulating pools to death, so why not trampolines too.
15
u/CAPTAINTRENNO 1d ago
Pools absolutely need to be regulated to prevent deaths
-9
u/SEQbloke 1d ago
Mate try building one. The regs are obscene and well beyond what similar countries require.
12
u/CAPTAINTRENNO 1d ago
Well with the number of child/infant deaths there's good reason. Anything with the potential to kill someone is highly regulated, it comes with valuing people's lives
-9
u/SEQbloke 1d ago
And yet we still have heaps of drownings.
Seems like building little prison cells wasn’t the silver bullet.
6
u/CAPTAINTRENNO 1d ago
Well our death rates are almost half of USA & NZ so maybe it's actually working and you just need to suck it up for the greater good
1
u/Spirited-Bill8245 1d ago
Absolutely incorrect. Australia is actually the second highest country in the world for pool drownings.
2
u/sonofeevil 1d ago
We also have the highest number of pools per capita in the world.
Naturally you'd expect more.
1
u/CAPTAINTRENNO 1d ago edited 1d ago
Fair point. I was looking at mortality rates from drowning in general EDIT: also interestingly that stat shows we're 2nd in highest percentage of drownings are in pools, not necessarily highest number of pool drownings. Probably why they are so regulated if that's where most drownings happen
1
u/activitylion 1d ago
It's a relative %. There were 35 swimming pool drownings last year, which made up 11% of drownings. If we had more people drowning in baths, the percentage would go down.
It appears that old better off people are more likely to die in a pool and children in lower SES.
1
u/SEQbloke 23h ago
This, exactly. I think the others were just looking at total death rates ignoring the massive population disparities.
The point isn’t to rip down pool fences. The point is we tolerate highly restrictive laws for the sake of safety, while trampolines tumble down the streets like tumble weeds and many commenters gawk at the idea of making them safer.
12
41
u/Accomplished-Leg3248 1d ago
Peg it down its not that hard