Comments on: What’s with Anna Bligh?

By: Spana

Spana — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 01:28:47 +0000

However, abortion law should be tightened and doctors performing abortions should be charged. Abortion is not a just act.

By: Spana

Spana — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 01:25:38 +0000

Bligh has to go. She has sold out unions big time and has become arrogant and power obsessed. I am a unionist and have never ever voted conservative. I am in the teachers’ union and Bligh does not understand the high level of contempt teachers have for her government. Teachers generally vote ALP but I detect a massive swing away from them. Public service anger cost Goss. It will also cost Bligh. I will vote any way I need to to get rid of the Bligh government, LNP if need be. She is selling assets, banning teachers from striking and abusing unions. She has alienated so many and people will not forget.

By: danny

danny — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 23:55:52 +0000

Well if you want to take it up with her personally, and you’re quick, and have $35 you’re prepared to stump up for the privelage ( cash for contact?), there’ll be a

Community Business Breakfast, Wednesday 2nd December, 7.00am for a 7.30am start to 9.00am, @ Era Bistro, 102 Melbourne Street, South Brisbane

“Be part of this special opportunity for an up close and personal breakfast featuring:

The Hon Premier Anna Bligh & Local State Member for South Brisbane

The Premier will present a broad brush picture of all the big community issues from the State perspective: affordable housing, public transport, health, disability care, child care etc.”

You might even get fed, a bit.

RSVP Details

Credit $35 to:
mecu Breakfast Account
BSB: 803 140 Acc No: 23152533
Referencing your name and sending a confirmation email to
michelle.ennis@mecu.com.au
Or drop payment in to mecu Limited at 4/12 Browning Street, West End.

Please phone Michelle Ennis on 3327 5814 with any queries.

By: digger007

digger007 — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 03:01:32 +0000

How corrupt is Queensland?

The Premier and Chief Judge take bribes.

Premier Bligh now has over 100,000 people locked up in her mental hospital jails without trial or even a fair hearing.

Property Developers and other businesses only have to pay and Premier Bligh, through the Mental Health Act, sends the Police out to arrest people and lock them in her mental jails. Then through the appointment of an administrator their property is sold to the greedy property developer at bargain basement prices.

Political activists and people aggrieved by injustices are being removed from society and disappeared this way too. Where someone is High Profile the alternative option of the Courts are used. The property is seized using the corrupt legal system and the victim is made to look like a criminal in the media. Court costs and legal fees does this job well for the Premier and her corrupt bunch of cronies.

By: steve

steve — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 09:11:38 +0000

[•$9.3 million for a new geothermal power station at Birdsville and for mapping potential geothermal sites closer to the coast]

Undoubtedly the highlight of what I thought was a pretty fair budget overall.

http://www.budget.qld.gov.au/budget-papers/budget-highlights.shtml

By: vote 1 pedro

vote 1 pedro — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 04:47:04 +0000

Selling the state out, setting up mega-tribunals to rubber stamp and fast-track developments. Anna Bjelke-Petersen has made the transition to the LNP without anyone noticing.

By: Hal9000

Hal9000 — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 04:44:27 +0000

No, Harry. Wellington wasn’t elected until 1998. Goss survived for six months with a bare majority until the courts ordered a re-election in Mundingburra, on account of some votes from soldiers serving in Somalia weren’t counted. Frank Tanti won the re-election for the Liberal Party. Liz Cunningham then had the balance of power and decided for Borbidge. The Borbidge government decided on the widening of the Pacific Highway.

By: Harry Corbett

Harry Corbett — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 03:26:33 +0000

Forgive the failing memory of an ex-ALP member, but didn’t the Goss government re-form after the Koala debacle with support from the Independent Peter Wellington up at Nambour? Only then did it show how pathetically weak and inept it really was by caving in to the green bobby in Redlands, a seat that had lost anyway, and abandoning the “Koala Track” in favour of the disasterous widening of the existing Pacific Highway link between the Gold Coast and Brisbane. One stupid decision then followed on another. The PSMC “reforms” under the genius of Rudd, Coldrake and Forster (more recently of the QH Inquiry)will go down in the annals of politics as the greatest stuff up of the century. Now we have a PS that can be 100% politicised by any new government immediately it comes to power. No need to wait around for senior PS people to resign from some gullarg at Petrie Terrace. Halleluah comrades, brothers and sisters! Labor can stay in government FOREVER in Queensland and the voters wouldn’t even notice the difference.

By: cc

cc — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 03:13:02 +0000

re anna and abortion

the young woman obtained misoprostol, a drug used in conjunction with ru486 for medical abortion. misoprostol can also be safely used alone for medical abortion however is less effective than ru486 and has a few extra side effects. It is regularly used in south america and other countries where abortion is not legal…

as has been pointed out the charges are not about illegal importation but unlawful abortion – according to the qld criminal code abortion is only lawful if it is to save the mother’s life.

the prosecution of this young woman is outrageous and makes a lie of the claims of many pollies over the years that criminal code sections on abortion are effectively redundant so why rock the boat by pushing decrimalisation. as caroline de costa has pointed this case demonstrates that current abortion laws can and will be used to prosecute women and their doctors.

anna has said for many years that she is pro-choice. how can you be a pro-choice but as premier take no action to ensure no more women and their doctors will be at risk of criminal charges. the majority of qlders and australians support the legalisation of abortion so it would not be a vote loser…

anna is now using the

By: John D

John D — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 01:34:09 +0000

Pedro @ 42: The states are an anachronism that was forced on us at federation. Brisbane is closer to Launceston than it is to significant parts of Qld. My northern NSW rellies come to Qld for serious medical treatment becuase everything north of coffs harbour is closer to brisbane than it is to sydney. On the same theme, NSW is still stuffed even though people from large tracts of the state go to Adelaide, Melbourne or Brisbane if they need capital city type services.

An upper house might protect us from the worst excesses of single house parliaments provided it uses a Senate style proportional preference system but you’ve got be joking if you think a house of Mayors would provide protection.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 01:30:14 +0000

PinkyOz @ 43 – presumably one of the reasons there’s the growth in contractors and outsourcing is because its so hard to make people redundant in the public service – and voluntary redundancy is one of the worst ways to reduce your workforce (except where people working there are really just generic cogs in the machine which I’d imagine is fairly rare). With contractors and outsourcing its quite simple with no bad newspaper headlines.

By: PinkyOz

PinkyOz — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 22:09:13 +0000

Mark,

I’m not trying to go over old points, I’m just trying to give an on the ground picture. What we are experiencing is difficulty keeping anyone on for projects and short term work, and a huge spike in permanent applications. We are seeing increased use of contractors to fill temporary positions that are just unfulfillable and a lot of temporary positions that should have gone permanent by now are being knocked back, most of which is counterproductive and probably expensive.

Working for the public service just isn’t what it was 30 years ago. I’m not saying that this budget will include the big ‘O’ word but watch the next two, there may be a couple of branches that may be facing privatisation at some point, especially in departments perceived to be more bureaucratic then service delivery.

PinkyOz

By: vote 1 pedro

vote 1 pedro — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:57:30 +0000

JohnD at the risk of going against the popular get rid of state governments meme, I actually see that as far too clunky a path for reform. I would suggest the idea (as others have done here recently) an upper house in QLD comprised of regional reps (such as mayors etc) would would be elected to the house of review thus ‘getting rid’ of a whole non-constitutional tier of government and creating a house of review without having to elect more politicians. Or possibly ’super committee systems’ made up of what would have once been local government. With their own chair etc analysing the legislation through the state parliament. Removing state governments is an idea paralysed by the constitution itself and for a reason. Our forefathers were quite visionary.

By: John D

John D — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:38:36 +0000

You are right Adrian@22. We would be a lot better off if the state governments disappeared and the state duties split between the federal government and Brisbane city council size regional councils. We are talking about areas with budgets a bit larger than the Tassie budget so perhaps Tassie could be rebadged as a regional council.

By: still@downfall

still@downfall — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 08:07:03 +0000

Check out the cartoon.

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 07:57:35 +0000

I’d suspect Mark is correct there. Their permanent fear of constant irrelevance (well founded as it is) would preclude them. They’d be terrified to do so.

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 07:43:15 +0000

The funny thing, Al, is I strongly suspect the Nats wouldn’t have gone down the privatisation route (though it would have depended a lot on the relative balance of power within an LNP cabinet and party room). I think they’re well aware of the sort of arguments I was making in the earlier linked post about the necessity of cross-subsidy in Queensland for rail given the geographical extent of the state and the relatively broad dispersion of population.

By: Al

Al — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 07:34:52 +0000

Nice post Mark. If voters wanted a government that would privatise profitable assets and focus on the short-term credit rating, they could have voted conservative. The Bligh Government has been very dishonest with the Queensland public.

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 07:27:46 +0000

And, again as I noted, PinkyOz, they’re the ones being pushed out the door at the moment and little hints are being given to permanent staff through some agencies and functions being identified as “protected”. Note that this was PRECISELY the LNP policy except without the “efficiency dividend” moniker which Anna et al thought was an election winning gimme to Labor.

Somehow, I doubt that the QPSU, QTU, QNU, etc. will be running an active campaign for Bligh’s re-election next time around. That “lesser of two evils” thing only works for so long.

By: PinkyOz

PinkyOz — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 07:12:38 +0000

Chris @ 18

It’s true that there is a relative advantage in job security for public servants, but I have seen my fair share of “Temporary” staff, unusual contracting arrangements and outsourcing projects to know better then to think that the public service is a bullet-proof recession job choice. Watch this space, as to say.

PinkyOz