A number of points about Australia and its government stand out, it often commits legislative action on various activities recreational or business that cripple its operation.
Does anyone else have stories like this?

Here's one of these stories.

Bow-Fishing is an archery sport that the equipment can be got together at around the price for a low wage earner.
The main facets of bow-fishing equipment are...
- a special finless heavy fiberglass arrow and special barbed point(s)
- An arrow slider to connect the line to the arrow to prevent a special recoil problem
- * (take NOTE) a bow of around no more than 40 lb draw weight
- * (take NOTE) and A SPECIAL 15 YARD WEBBED LINE (wet damp first before firing)

However, When the invention became settled with various parameters to the equipment, the Australian government decided to model the legal aspects "from the equipment itself that was on the market reliably sold in the USA"! (OR so to say the sales statistics and what made signifigant safety sense as "product quality of operation").
UNFORTUNATELY the equipment "is made and invented and marketed in the USA to USA recreational consumers whom are ALLOWED much more activity with the equipment than Australia or Britain has ever near legalized"!

So what's wrong.

--- USA people can "bow fish" around 80% of freshwater rivers in season with the "state region / river system fishing license".

In Australia 99% of legal bow-fishing is in "salt water" !!!
The only legal freshwater bow-fishing is in South Australia in a short section of the Murray river AND ONLY UPON Carp ! However, of recent there have been trial areas aside in NSW but those are also only for carp!

--- Fishing freshwater rivers and streams in USA does no require a boat "often" because much of it is done in freshwater along stream banks inland for "many species" (note: does not need discussion on personal preference of conveyance convenience in freshwater!)

In Australia the only way of fishing as a standard personal recreation regularly (bow fishing) means standing at least three meters to five meters up on rocks beside the ocean (*to identify the fish clearly through glare - REQUIRED, use polarised spec lenses when lower down) if you do not own thousands of dollars of boat (dingy) equipment (do your trigonometry , it is more than 15 yards a hit shot (usually , but remains close quarter) and run) !

--- *In the USA the 15 yard web line is only because of FRESHWATER FISHING so common and popular among bow fishing regulars, HOWEVER, when USA consumers move into the saltwater ocean, they change to Dacron line and 100 meters or so of it on the reel for the fact a decent shooting fish can still do a good run if it is hit mildly !
The saltwater Dacron line is actually a woven fishing wire like line, the bow-fishing pre-wet line is a fat heavy material.

In Australia it is legal regulation to use a 15 yard bow fishing line of no more than 80lb break strain, on saltwater fish with taking lengths of usually around 1 meter length (rather large and heavy) !

Apart from crippling the foreign tourist sport industry in Australia , the Australian consumer must spend another PERHAPS 6k dollars for boat equipment to fish in the ocean and to be legal also using freshwater designed bow fishing equipment.

So what is wrong is when they decided to let this equipment in the Australian legislators had NO IDEA WHAT WAS USED FOR WHAT AND HOW !!!!

(careful to not shoot Wobbagong sharks they cruise the edge of rocks around small bays and their small young have a similar shape and speckle pattern).


NUMBER 2 (Quickly)

Similar idiocy again exists with light Aircraft, "in 1970 the Australian average DEATH TOLL was average 6000 p/year" on the roads because of the major highways being principly two opposing direction lanes and in terrible condition with unlimited speed (gone past hundreds of those messes in that era).

No mention of light aircraft in an environment and its country requiring(for many reasons) private personal flight in a personally owned private aircraft anyhow, they simply said they would commit a national program of road reconstruction and driver training (roughly it does not win but the toll is now much much much lower and also more often catastrophic injury(swapped)).


So what stories do you know of (by finding ..."this is mad"...) where the legislators could not care less and simply have no idea ?