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Qld sets high standards

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During my commuting days I collected sufficient points to lose my licence over a period of a couple of years. I didn’t keep a tally of points in my head and subsequently, in hindsight, I think I drove whilst unlicensed. I had came to the attention of traffic police on two occasions within one week as I drove to Legacy with software problems running through my brain, I let the car run up to nearly 70 in a 60 zone on a steep hill. The second offence that week brought my points tally over the limit and from that time I was technically unlicensed. As I never received a notice saying so I simply wasn’t aware of the fact. Thank God I didn’t have a prang in that period. I paid no penalty other than the fines but I note the new Queensland Police Minister has resigned his portfolio over a similar incident and whereas he certainly broke the law and should pay some penalty I have difficulty getting worked up about it. The government are reviewing the way people are notified of license suspension but in no way is this offered as an excuse for Gibson’s error.
DAVID Gibson’s downfall could see the return of Queensland police notifying people in person that their driver’s licence has been suspended to avoid letters going astray. Premier Campbell Newman promised to review how the State Penalties Enforcement Registry delivers licence suspension notices, saying there was “great community concern” about the current process.
CanDO has demanded his resignation and thus has set the bar very high in Queensland as different from the Federal government who have left the bar on the ground in the case of Craig Thomson. Voters note this type of comparison.
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Qld Politics

The Earthian leadership change

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Typical of Bob Brown, ever there to stuff me around, he announces his retirement on the day I’m committed to go camping with the Kids thus denying me the ability to to applaud his gift to the nation in a timely manner. Mind you the weekend was better spent with kids and grand kids at Tewantin. A new experience for one daughter with her V8 Discovery as son and I nursed her through beach driving and the Freshwater track to Rainbow beach where we enjoyed lunch and lamented the encroachment of yuppies and the resultant demise of the old pub. She didn’t need much nursing but men’s egos being what they are, she obligingly paid homage to our 4 wheel driving skills. Another daughter arrived with two little girls, one only 2 odd weeks old. In the absence of the family matriarch (read galley slave) we decided to have dinner at the new Noosa North Shore pub. Flash as a rat with a gold tooth the pub is new and symptomatic of the march of the yuppies. A good night though, and should I live long enough, I will regale little Evie with stories of how she had a beer with her Granddad before she was three weeks old. We later gathered under my small canvas canopy as the rain drummed down and sorted out the problems of the world aided by beer, rum and white wine but as no one took notes the world will have to move on without our erudite solutions. The next morning, rum dissapated from my system and salt and sand washed from the Rangie at the car wash, I rolled down the highway and nearly run off the road when I heard Christine Milne saying she will seek to establish a new political support base among rural Australians and “progressive” businesses as part of an intensified campaign against the “vested interests” of the resource-based economy. Yeah, well good luck with that Christine. You need to be aware that your party are literally hated in the bush. Your strange ideas simply frighten people and any campaign against the “vested interests” of the resource-based economy will make it worse. The “vested interests” happen to be the Australian economy and all who depend on it for a high standard of living. The Earthians may have some momentary success with farmers who don’t want Coal Seam Gas anywhere near their properties but that will be about it. Try talking to the cattle live export industry, or at least whats left of it, about a new new political support base. I feel Bob Brown got out while the going was good and that new blood at the helm will only help reinforce the fact that these people are dangerous and the more Christine gets air time, and lets face it, the ABC will give her plenty; the more people will be frightened. All of which will simply benefit the nation overall as people’s wariness will end up being reflected at the polls. Still, they can do a lot of damage in the next eighteen months.
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General Musings, Politics

ALP/ACTU cleaning out the stables

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An emergency meeting by the Australian Council of Trade Unions executive today voted to suspend the HSU after a report on the union was referred by Fair Work Australia to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions. ACTU President Ged Kearney said the decision to suspend the union “was not taken lightly” Believe me readers, this is all part of a ‘keep the ALP in office‘ plan and has little do with ACTU sensitivities. The ALP and associates need to separate themselves from Thomson before the upcoming election or, if against all ALP efforts, the public get the full story. With every ALP and union member looking the other way and whistling while Thomson stews in his own malfeasance, the matter is an albatross around the government’s neck If I had been accused of theft of public monies to use for prostitutes and personal gain I would, if innocent, have moved heaven and earth to bring all the facts out in the open to prove my innocence – within weeks. The fact that all Thomson has ever done, over a period of three plus years, is profess his innocence without any facts to back it up, simply makes him look guilty. The fact the Gillard and company can only repeat the mantra “I have faith in Craig Thomson” simply makes them look complicit. It looks like the government, with all it’s inherent problems, is currently maintaining power based on a criminal. Until they release all details then that is how the majority of people will view the issue. Eighteen months and counting.
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Politics

Directors face jail

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COMPANY directors are facing increased jail terms for everyday business decisions under new federal laws that backtrack on promised national reforms originally meant to ease burdens on board members.
The new federal bill doubles the jail term for company directors who miss the deadline to lodge their annual report with the corporate regulator, taking the penalty to one year in custody. The bill also imposes one year in jail for directors who do not tell the regulator about the appointment of directors or company secretaries within 21 days of the decision, four times the previous sentence for the same fault.
Don’t you just love the ALP’s attitude to business. The union backed government will do all it can to make it difficult to do business. I’m a Director and Company Secretary of a registered charity that provides swags for the homeless. The charity is not-for-profit and I certainly don’t get any remuneration, but if I fail in my duties by, for example, not notifying ASIC within 21 days of a board appointment I could go to jail for a year. Whereas we as a board are doing a lot of work to ensure our governance is up to scratch and I work hard at following the letter of the law, mistakes do happen. Frightening. I can understand the ALP and unions legislating to make business difficult but do they really intend to frighten potential directors away from volunteering to sit on a board of a charity less they end up in jail. Rudd’s original intention of legislating to ease burdens on board members has just resulted in another ALP anti-business solution.
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Politics

More ALP bungling

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THE Gillard government have been forced to hand over millions of dollars of taxpayers’ funds in compensation to Sky News after bungling the $223 million tender to run the Australia Network international television service. Cabinet twice overruled unanimous public service advice that Sky News be given the 10-year contract to provide Australia’s international “soft diplomacy”. Instead, the government aborted the tender process and handed the job to the ABC.
In a highly-critical finding, Mr McPhee said: “The manner and circumstances in which this high profile tender process was conducted brought into question the government’s ability to deliver such a sensitive process fairly and effectively.”
Conroy’s input is also questioned;
He found “perceptions, at least, of a conflict of interest”, arising from Communications Minister Stephen Conroy’s role as the tender approver while also having portfolio responsibility for the ABC.
The ALP’s ABC gets the contract for just a couple of million more and whereas the report suggests bungling what can we do about it other than kick them out of office come election time? The ALP won’t even feel embarrassed about it – that’s how you do things, isn’t it?
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Politics

Henbury Station

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Nothing on TV Monday night. No good movies or reruns of ALP grief so I ended up watching Lifeline. Bad move. They had a piece on Carbon farming and I’m so incensed with the insanity of it all I am writing this at 1:00 in the morning. The Landline clip on Henbury is here RM WIlliams Holdings have somehow decided it would be a good idea to use the governments offer of fronting up with nearly 2/3rds of the purchase price of Henbury Station, near the Alice. The government come up with $9m and RJM, $4m. They then de-stock the station and spend money on looking after the saltbush, waterways and fairey covens (any Greenie will tell you where they are). Coupled with the resultant downturn in cattle produced methane, somehow or other RJM Williams are going to earn up to $25m after they find someone to pay them for something or other, otherwise being touted as carbon credits. This mystery company, who most probably brought the Sydney Harbour bridge the week before, could use that as collateral to splash out on Carbon fantasies. Is this f*****g insane or what? Money earned is to be used in managing the local vegetation. The local vegetation has been a feature of the area long before the Greens insanity invaded the country and no amount of hugging or talking to the tress will improve it. With the removal of the cattle the land will return to what it was like before – marginal for anything other than cattle fattening. According to the Federal government the early estimates is that there could be up to a million tonnes of carbon or more on the property. Who assesses the ‘million tonnes’ If someone is going to pay $25 per tonne, as another report suggests, then just how is this quantified? Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke in the Alice Springs news
“By establishing the science and the economic model for generating income from carbon farming, Henbury will offer a new potential income stream for pastoralists who wish to diversify. “A key requirement of the funding deed is an in-perpetuity conservation covenant for the property. “If the property were to be sold, the new owner would need to manage it for conservation under the same conservation covenant.
That is – permanently locked away, at least until a conservative government arrives and reverse the insanity. With young Ludwig ruining the cattle export industry and Communist/Green Senator Rhiannon calling for the total ban on cattle and animal libers running around filming cattle slaughter to impact on those less worldly people who never ponder the source of the eye fillet, one could easily make a case of there being a concerted plan to stop us eating meat. Like all Green vegan radicals, they are not happy just not to eat meat – they have to stop us all enjoying a steak According to Opposition spokesperson for agriculture John Cobb says the figures are a PR stunt to sell the idea of carbon farming.
“To try and pacify agriculture, they pulled $9 million from somewhere, heavens knows where, to help a very large company buy a station to be locked up and actually do nothing,” he said. “It is a front about trying to convince agriculture that carbon farming is good for them. It is a joke.”
From Fiona Lake
…here’s quote in The Australian from CSIRO ‘site leader’ Ashley Sparrow, regarding ‘revegetating’ Henbury and turning it into a ‘carbon sink’: “…. the rejuvenation would be “a slow process, since most recovery relies on big rainfall events. I would expect in a while, and after some good rains, you’d see fields full of daisies in winter and high grass in the summer”. I think Ashley needs to go and read some of the dairies written by explorers, the first white people to travel through inland Australia. All the photos I’ve seen of Henbury show it looking right now as good as it probably has for a couple of centuries – well before whities arrived in this area with cows.
I’d love to see the business plan – if there actually is one I think it would start with “look for easy money from stupid government to purchase land and when said government is kicked out, which is definitely on the cards, then we will own another cattle property. Nothing else makes sense. All this angst from the Greens. Lead by a man who blamed the 2011 Queensland floods on the coal mines and who, at a dinner celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Greens, addressed the crowd as Fellow Earthians and reiterated his stated desire of a world government;
So let us resolve that there should be established for the prevalence and happiness of humankind a representative assembly, a global parliament for the people of the Earth based on the principle of one person one vote one value
And they have the balance of power in the Senate of a first world country. Just how much damage can these people do in the remaining 18 odd months of this government. .
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Climate Change, Politics

A good weekend

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After all the euphoria of CanDo and his colossal win yesterday, today my fifth child Liz ups the ante and presents me with my fifth grandchild. Evie Marie – natural birth – born on due date – both well. Proud of them both.
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General Musings

Anna quits

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Anna Bligh resigns The hole she has dug for herself is to deep to spin. As mentioned last week
I note the “If Cando doesn’t win who will be the LNP leader?” campaign gained some traction last week but really, If Anna doesn’t win her seat who will be ALP leader, is also a reasonable question.
The lasting question from the election is: Even though Anna did win her seat – who will be the ALP leader? We definitely know who the LNP leader is.
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Politics

Feeling secure Julia?

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I’m a bit disappointed that CanDo let the ALP keep 7 seats but with a by-election in the offering, with Anna finally getting the message and resigning, it could be only six seats soon. In my humble opinion, Labor’s problem is it’s selection of candidates. Too many are from the ALP political class. Look at Kate from Ashgrove – Arts degree…David Hammill’s office…Rob Schwarten’s office…joined Labor Unity Faction…elected! She has been a prisoner of the Labor Party all her adult life and has little experience outside it. How do you help people in the real world when you have never been there? On the whole, they are union officials, ministerial and parliamentary staffs and party employees leaving a dirth of ‘real world’ experience from which to draw policy. Even those from the unions are more likely to have worked as a union rep rather than in the industry the specific union represents. Federal ALP will be shitting themselves. The ALP/Left spin machines will be flat out denying the Queensland election has any federal connections but at the very least it underlines what can happen to a largely incompetent government. I don’t see much difference between the Queensland and federal ALP. Both ALP Leaders are guilty of saying one thing to get elected and then almost immediately do the opposite, Both ALP governments have run the economy into the ground leaving billions in debt, MPs from both ALP governments are largely from the political class and have little experience in business, farming or mining and it shows. Both leaders, and most ministers, are, or in Anna’s case have been, guilty of attacking the man, Campbell and Abbott, and they badly underestimate both. The federal ALP can deny any connections between the Queensland and federal spheres till the cows come home but if they all haven’t had their uh-uh thoughts then they are in for a big, big surprise come federal election day. Altogether a good result and no, I don’t care that we wont have a workable opposition. The ALP deserved to be gutted for what they have done to the state. Now to continue working towards a similar result in Canberra.
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Politics

MRRT to pay Super?

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As I understand it employers pay the workers superannuation so how come the MRRT is being touted by Swan as giving everyone an increase in superannuation guarantee;
“Around 8.4 million workers will enjoy a more secure retirement with the increase in superannuation guarantee.
Paul Kelly in The Australian says;
Labor keeps implying the mining tax will finances the super increase from 9 per cent to 12 per cent. It doesn’t. At present, business is meeting this cost.
Sinclair Davidson at Catallaxy says;
Strictly speaking it [Super] is paid by employers – they write the cheque – but the burden of superannuation falls on the employee. Wages are reduced to the extent of the superannuation payment. So an increase in superannuation contributions means a reduction in take-home pay.
Some of it could be presumably used to pay public servant super but otherwise I still believe it is a means for Swan to balance his budget. And if you think, “well at least I have some money in super“, you want to remind yourself that Unions are very involved in management of superannuation funds courtesy of Keating. Good luck! Business will pay more super reflected in workers receiving correspondingly less in their pocket, or, business will shed labour, but overall unions will have more money to play with in their super funds. Sounds like an ALP plan. If they would just show some inkling of how wealth is created they might improve our situation but while their forte is wealth distribution only, there is no chance.
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Politics
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