Moderate or be moderated

We’ve noticed in recent weeks a little friction between posters.. we’re not here to tell everyone what they can and can’t say on the blog but quite simply we’d ask that you try to keep posts brief and to the point and preferably in topic with the article you are responding too.

We’ve let plenty of things go lately that quite frankly wouldn’t be tolerated elsewhere so we’ll just say this.. we love the way debate has increased in recent weeks but lets all do our research, keep an open mind and try to avoid personality attacks.. we are all entitled to an opinion - right, wrong or otherwise.

And finally.. dictionarys and spell check are two wonderful inventions and a little punctuation here and there is great too.. we’ve been cleaning up posts where we can but surely its not all that hard to re-read what you write before you hit send?

Cheers!

Write of reply

On her blog, Sue Brooks regularly comments on council issues and gives her thoughts and reasoning behind how she votes on particular issue.  So its not surprising she’s written a snappy response to the widespread criticism of council’s purchase of new corporate vehicles. 

You’ll find her thoughts here http://suebrooks.com.au/blog/ and while we can’t really fault Sue’s comments we’d like to ask another couple of questions - what is the average age of council’s “works” fleet and how much of this fleet is overdue for replacement?  Actually.. maybe we don’t really want to know!

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Meanwhile, John Neve had the following thoughts:

I suggest you all access the following,
http://www.lnp.org.au it makes interesting reading.
 
Someone may like to answer; all listed federal and
state MP’s, have they resigned and will they now sit
on the cross benches until the “new” LNP is
registered? Have they advised their electorates that
they are now no longer Liberal or National members?
 
Perhaps someone with the appropriate party affiliations
can advise us all.
 
John A Neve

LNP: Hot or not?

Think what you like, the merger over the weekend of the state Liberal and National parties was a great sign for those of us on the conservative side of the fence.  While the naysayers will bleed on about how they will still be the same underneath or whatever, they have made a big step in the right direction.

The nation is desperately in need of a genuine unified opposition and if The Borg can make it happen then good for him.  Some will say he doesn’t have the ability but thats a load of bollocks.  Lawrence Springborg has plenty of ability and given the right policies and people supporting him has a great chance of wiping Princess Anna off her perch. 

We’ll keep up with our hardline stance in saying the LNP would be well advised to steer clear of former Mayor Ted Sorrenson and prove that it is not just the ‘new’ National party by giving loyal bridesmaid Steve Dixon the preselection nod.  We weren’t originally fans of Mr Dixon but given he has embraced the merger in a mature manner and not thrown his arms in the air like school boy Broughie, we’d give him a vote..

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John Neve gives his thoughts on the issue with his response to his nemesis Nancy:

“Queensland’s politics are in better shape today than they been for 15 years”, Nancy Says. If this is true, God help us all. Months of constant bickering between two outdated and inconsequential political parties. Resulting in a weakneed marriage of convenience. What do they offer, that they have not offered before? Where are the NEW faces? The NEW polices? 15 years of a choice between Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. Now Queenslanders have a choice between Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dummer! The LNP, is not a NEW party, it’s two old parties in disguise. Will it fool the electorate? Will the federal power brokers allow it to survive? Will The Borg and Big Mal kiss and make up? For the answers to these and other exiting questions read Steve Dixons lips. John A Neve

Support our Truckies!

Thousands of truckies, outraged at low pay rates and soaring fuel and registration costs, have vowed to bring the country to its knees from midnight tonight, refusing to drive for two weeks.

One organiser said up to 80 per cent of owner drivers were facing bankruptcy and they were prepared to take the Queensland economy down with them.

Supermarket giants Woolworths and Coles have admitted to stockpiling some fresh food items as even they are unsure where this could escalate to.  Wholesalers at Brisbane Markets and Queensland’s largest independent grocery chains were also buying what extra stock they could amid fears the protest had “taken on a life of its own”.

Trucking groups, unions, government and police were last week in negotiations to appease truckies, who say they have been pushed to the wall by unworkable contracts and new laws and fines to combat driver fatigue and road fatalities.

Last year alone, 370 truck drivers died on Queensland roads and the industry is facing difficult times. 

Smaller operators also claim large transport companies are refusing to pass on fuel levies to drivers despite a 50 per cent increase in fuel bills in the last 12 months.  BBS has seen this first hand and it certainly makes it extremely difficult for smaller companies to remain viable. 

Truck drivers were expected to meet at BP service stations at Archerfield in Brisbane and Cluden in Townsville before doing “go slows” into both CBDs at 9am. They are also expected to picket and form blockades at roads in and out of oil refineries.

Bringbackstrewth wholeheartedly supports the truckies who are putting everything on the line to stand for what they believe in.  We hope they can uphold a united front and show the nation that people power can make the politicians take notice. 

Sorry for the inconvenience folks.. this is just as taste of things to come as the people of Australia finally wake up to the mess our politicians and our own apathy have left us in over past decades.

Mail Box

When does manipulation or misrepresentation of the facts, become a lie? Mr Steven Dixon Liberal party stalwart, is reported in our local to have said (26/7/08),that 86% of Liberal party members had voted in favour of a merger! Based on earlier reports many Liberal party members abstained from voting. So what is true? To abstain is a NO vote. So is it 86% of those that voted or 86% of total membership? These born again conservatives want the electorate’s support. Doesn’t the electorate deserve the truth?

John A Neve

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I think many of us have rolled two problems into one.  Climate Change and Resource Depletion are not one and the same. True one can impact and accelerate the other, but they can and should be kept separate.
 
Even if we unite and curb or reduce environmental pollution, we will still suffer from the results or our excesses. Coal, oil, gas and mineral deposits, including Uranium, are finite. The more we use, the quicker they will be gone. While it will be nice to have clean air and water, you can’t live on them alone. To argue about Climate Change while ignoring the rape of our planet is stupid and that’s me being nice.
 
There are answers, some are very simple and not overly expensive. The biggest hurdle is getting us to change our ways.
 
John A Neve

In denial

Well it finally took a non-local paper and a clever journo to flush out a response from council over the CEO’s car but we’re not convinced.  Salary sacrifice and package deals aside, will the council come clean over why Andrew Brien’s new car was ordered BEFORE he was appointed as CEO?

If reports are to be believed, the vehicle was actually ordered during the transition period on a Hervey Bay City Council letterhead.  With this affair there are too many unanswered questions and its hardly surprising to see the lack of transparency in council continuing.

Too many unanswered questions, unaccountable leaders and overall lack of vision, drive and passion to move the region forwards.  It has been months now since amalgamation and all around us other councils are announcing new projects and other advancements yet the Fraser Coast lags behind.  Why do we have two seperate water units?  Either put all water under the control of WBW or shut the damn thing down and manage all water supply under a unified council business unit the same way all other council works departments are run.

While we’re on our little soap box, where are all the ratepayers on this?  Why is no one else jumping up and down and demanding more?  Are we all so content we don’t care if the region fails to ingnite and grow?  The region’s leaders have let us down for too long now - right from Federal member, both State Members and 95% of our councillors (poor Gerard must get so frustrated too).  It is time to unite and tell them all loud and clear it is time to either shape up or ship out.

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Just a quick mention.. today marked the 100th post since we took over from where Strewth! left off.  While we haven’t quite been able to fill the shoes of our predecessor, we’ve done our best and given we clicked over 54,000 hits this week we must be doing something right.  To our contributors and those providing regular debate we say a special thankyou and we hope you all continue with us on the journey!

 

Ted Who?

We had to chuckle today as we read the daily chip wrapper and then tried to digest the evening news.. and both times we had to ask ourselves Ted Who?   Come on mate, you’ve dropped off the radar now you want to pop back up and announce you are running for an as yet un-named party supposedly of the conservative type.  Sorry to say this ted bear but we’re going to get plenty of mileage out of this one!

John Neve echoes our sentiments with the following:

Mr Ted Sorensen’s announcement in our local
(23/7/08), is astounding. Ted is going to put his
hand up for the “new” conservative party! This
“new” party hasn’t even been formed yet.
What are their policies? What are their aims?
How can you nominate for a party that doesn’t
exist? How can you support policies that are
unknown? Easy, you just do what our current
member does, which is toe the party line.
Is Hervey Bay going to replace one MP who
does what he is told, with a new MP who does
what he is told? Give us a break Ted.
 
John A Neve

We’re still here.. just!

Once you’ve followed this site for a while you will notice that we go through quiet phases.  This is purely and simply because we have full time employment as well as being involved in several major projects.  As a result some weeks we rely on contributors such as John Neve to fill the void.

In the begining we started out with several other contributors who regularly had a say.  For one reason or another they have dropped away in time.  Perhaps everyone is content with the way local politics has slowed to a crawl or relieved that their rates only rose by seven percent.  We can all be thankful they didn’t jump as much as some apartments in Brisbane’s CBD did!

All the same, it is our intention to keep rolling along and at least try to stimulate a little public debate on topical issues.  It is up to everyone to share their thoughts and not just leave it to the few regulars.. don’t be shy.. and as always.. we still welcome constructive criticism.

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The inbox has been noticeably quiet of late but here’s what Coastwatcher had to say:

Johnangel, who in another guise basks in the aura of being called a council watcher by the local rag, has taken me to task for my contribution over who has contributed financially to Our Mick’s election campaign.
Perhaps he should live up to the title bestowed on him by Nancy and go watch council if he is not satisfied with the information I have provided.
While he’s there perusing the candiates’ declarations he may also like to check on the fleet of new cars in the carpark - one for each councillor with Our Mick leading the pack in a $100,000 limo.
Our Mick blames the costs of amalgamation for why our rates have gone up so substantially. Let’s not forget the costs of leasing 11 new cars.
Coastwatcher

Who is pulling the strings?

There was plenty of conjecture at the time of the recent council election as to where “Our Mick” was getting the money to run his high-profile campaign. Now we know.
The contribution declarations required to be lodged by all candidates are said to show that “Our Mick” received more than $28,000 in monetary support, nearly all of it from developers.
This raises an interesting conundrum because if “Our Mick” owes so much to the support of developers then should he not be declaring a conflict of interest when voting on development matters and abstain from the vote?
Who else has been compromised by developer contributions? Do we have a similar situation to what happened on the Gold Coast recently where a developer-supported team took over the council?
The contribution declarations have been lodged with the Fraser Coast Regional Council and should be available for public scrutiny.
Perhaps Bringbackstrewth would like to go and have a look and then let the rest of us know who’s in whose pocket.
 
Coastwatcher

Do they have the nerve?

We’ve been thinking about all the stories going around - council debts slowly rising to the surface, infighting among staff and worse still councillors who openly mouth off to all in ear shot about their fellow councilors.

Makes us really wonder how much egg is on the faces of Ms Bates and others who lauded the “safe hands” around the last election.   Come on, lets be serious - the only council without underlying money woes was Woocoo and that was only because they simply had to throw a grader over the odd road occasionally.

David Dalgleish was quoted last week as being overwhelmed by Maryborough’s infrastructure problems - hang on Dave, what about all the white elephants Hervey Bay Council presided over? Then we look out to Tiaro and from what we can tell, they had a plan in place to catch up on their neglected infrastructure but amalgamation ensured that all went out the window.

The state government has just indicated they are prepared to admit they stuffed up calculating the cost of amalgamation.  The purse strings haven’t been closed on assistance yet our fearless CEO comes out yesterday saying he won’t hold his breath and they won’t cover this or that.  What a load of nonsense Andrew.  Swallow your pride son and hold your cap right under the minister’s nose and don’t take it away until you have your share and half that of the next guy.

The money is on the table - if we don’t grab every cent we can, other councils will.  What happened to the rivalry between the Bay and Bundy?  Its gone - look at their council doing every damned bit they can to make the most of what the government is offering!  We will miss out if bury our heads in the sand.

From the Mayor and CEO down, it is time the elected representatives and senior management of the Fraser Coast Regional council all got off their proverbial backsides and started making things happen.  Projects are stalling left right and centre because council has thrown up their hands and guys like Cr Dalgleish are running about telling anyone who will listen how hard the situation is - if it is too hard get out and let us vote in someone who is prepared to make things happen!

We’re none too pleased and once we’ve digested the first budget no doubt the anger will rise even more.  We’ve put up with poor governance for too long.  We must expect better and we must demand our elected representatives stop warming seats and make things happen again.. this region has massive potential but it that potential can’t eventuate on its own.