Under scrutiny, the arguement of "public interest' ( as opposed...

Under scrutiny, the arguement of "public interest' ( as opposed to in the interest of the public) Ed Husic, I assume contends that there was a majority of the public who were interested in PEP-11 not being approved.

In order to establish such an contention, Ed would need to conduct a large random sampling of those who are "interested" in PEP-11.

That would be the first obstacle as how would you define or identify those who are "interested'.

Next, the smapling would need to be large and random in sampling. Then, how would you give weight. Would the percentage of those sampled, need to be at a minimum of 50%.

I have heard that 80,000 people signed an anti PEP-11 petition.

The central coast has a population of circa 350,000.

80,000/350,000= barely 23% of people signed the petition.

However, are these the only people who are eligible to be "interested". I think not !

ED would not be able to substantiate his claim that public interest be given siginficant weight in the decision making process.