Scott Simms, MP and fallow fields

Normally the MP after Mr. Simms' name would mean Member of Parliament but in this case it means Missing Perspective.

Today it's reported that he's working on a private member's bill to put in place fallow fields provisions on the offshore. His office, they say, are working on wording even as we speak.

This may be the last we ever hear of it because as they delve into the issue, they should soon realize that Premier's Williams' call for fallow fields is not a call for legal action, it's pure politics.

Fallow offshore fields means potential petroleum developments that companies want to sit on for one reason or another but that government wants to see move forward.

In this case, however, we have companies who want to move forward but they just can't come to an agreement with Premier Williams on terms.

When Mr. Willaims says he wants "use it or lose it", what he really means is "do it my way or else". That's a negotiating dispute, not a fallow-fields situation.

Mr. Williams is calling for fallow fields provisions, not to force development over the objections of companies who don't want it, but rather to force a development on his terms.

Those two things are not the same thing.

So what will Mr. Simms discover as he proceeds on his merry way? Either that he can introduce substantive fallow fields provisions into the enabling legislations that won't apply in the case of Williams versus Hebron anyway or he will produce meaningless political drivel passing as legislative amendments that will never move off the order paper.