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 Months of constant bickering between two outdated and inconsequential political parties.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

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.

POLITICAL PRAGMATISM

Yes the conservatives can smell a political cadaver in the wings , political pragmatist, and i agree with some of your sentiment , they ARE out to harness the anti traveston vote to hopefully get one of the off spring elected .

1200 votes should do it , and as you point out , ‘is there a viable alternative ‘?

Would a conservative drovers dog woof it in?

A conservative member in Hervey Bay does not ’sustainable’ use of the environment make.

However i can say that the qld opposition have finally grasped a smidgin of the green perception, based on my discussions with some of them . The young conservatives well understand the need to embrace the urban greeness and they are planning as we speak to make inroads .

Woe betide the young socialists that ignore this at their folly , the ‘tractor driver from Warwick’ , is no fool , his people have watched the Traveston Movie and have had a revelation .

I made this clear to Andrew when i spoke to him at the community cabinet forum , unseating Andrew will have no direct influence on whether Traveston Dam happens or not , ‘there are many ways to smoke a mullett’.

What we need to remember here is that his party has made no arrangement for regional compensation for the Fraser Coast , to account for the economic loss or ‘costs ‘ which the dam will produce for our economy. We therefore have no option but to shake the voting assagai at him and Anna , in the hope that they will come to the fire and barter for the future use of the regions water , and or a share which may be made available to the SEQ for a market value per megalitre.

The river is our regional resource , I reminded both Andrew and Anna that they had failed to come to the fire and negotiate for sharing of the resource , and if they continue with this method of domination , we will stop them , the hard way .

We do not need to lose Andrew , we just need to get him and Anna to compromise, its their choice , they control the labor party’s political destiny in the Fraser Coast.

They know Traveston is not really needed , they just need to find an elegant escape plan , and i and many others are working very diligently to prepare it .

 

Bringbackstrewth writes: Roger you make some very valid points here and hence got lifted to the main page.  What we’re stil cautious about is your statement that we don’t need to get rid of Andrew McNamara - yes on some topics he sings the same tune but on Traveston he has proven that he is still a party man and will toe the party line regardless of what his community says. 

Our politicians are there to serve us and not their party bosses.  If they are talented operators they will convince us that what they want and what we want are the same thing - heaven forbid.  Andrew has failed to do this and unless he turns himself around and shows some backbone he will be thrown out with the baby at the next election. 

There is growing discontent and if “the Borg” gets his team heading in the right direction and quickly the current government will need to take notice and fast!

Damn the Dam let’s protest!

What an exciting weekend we have coming up.  This weekend is the annual Wheels on Wide Bay motoring festival.  Held at Maryborough Park, WOW is an event all car enthusiasts must not miss.  But we digress..

What is not to be missed this weekend is the State Government’s regional cabinet meeting.  The meeting itself will be nothing more than hot air but lets see how many of us can get out there Sunday afternoon with our Anti-Dam posters, shirts, bikinis - whatever and show the government we are not going to back down.  We don’t want your dam Anna - not now, not tomorrow, not ever!

Mail Box

Frasercoastbarfly writes:

Dear BBS

I like reading your site and have a great interest in the council goings on but why do you only focus on the council? What about all the state government problems, stuff ups and ignorance going on?
Just one example is the local member in Hervey Bay Andrew McNamara - the “minister Anna made”
His arrogance to the people in the Mary valley is beyond belief.

Just read his sarcastic reply to Chris Foley’s question to him in parliament recently about the Traveston Dam. Totally ignored Foley’s question and merely used sarcasm to denigrate Mr Foley.

Now the Save the Mary group have asked for deputations with the Ministerial talkfest this weekend and guess what? Yep. Mr McNamara has arrogantly refused to talk to them. Not even given them a reason. Obviously “Not his problem”. The people of Hervey Bay and Queensland are sick and tired of paying a local member/minister $200,000 per year to treat them like insignificant specks of dirt and refuse to talk to them in any public forum.

Strewthisback responds: frasercoastbarfly thankyou for the feedback.. we look forward to adding a state government category and welcome any relevant contributions from all readers.