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I was thinking more of interference as such. Thinking back over the years, there's always been something:

At one point it was about when pubs were allowed to open.

Then the debate was about when supermarkets were allowed to open and the old closing at midday on Saturdays and so on.

Then there's been debates about what consenting adults do in the bedroom.

Once we stopped worrying about what they're doing in bed, then we argued about marriage.

Now I see that smokers are in the firing line once again, that was in the media yesterday. Now I'm not a smoker, I'm somewhat against it actually, but for heaven's sake I think at this point every adult knows it's unhealthy. If people want to smoke well they really don't need ugly coloured cigarettes to discourage them which is the government's latest idea.

At what point do governments stop telling people how to live their lives? Make them aware of danger, educate them and encourage things sure but over the years there's been far too much outright interference in my view.

Here in SA they "improved" shop trading hours by allowing them to open at 9am on Sunday. OK, well that's an improvement yes but I'm really trying to get my mind around why, exactly, we need to be regulating when groceries can be sold in the first place? Some regulations around gambling OK, alcohol perhaps too, but laws as to when I can buy an apple and a box of corn flakes? What serious problem is that fixing?

So I'm basically saying give people freedom, stop making laws for the sake of making laws about things that ought be a matter for individuals to decide. That doesn't mean we shouldn't have Medicare or that we shouldn't have welfare systems and so on but if I want to buy a chocolate bar, well I really don't need government telling me when I can buy it and then, once I've bought it, reminding me that it's unhealthy. Just let me eat the chocolate and go worry about something more serious - like the housing crisis or homelessness or aged care or infrastructure or.....