BTW Kaiser, the Howard government did not sit on its hands and do nothing….they had a $1Billion contract in place with OPEL which Rudd and Conroy cancelled as soon as they took office. Regional Australia would have had their faster speeds by now instead Labor had to micro manage this project and its now blown out to this ridiculous $43Billion figure and with the exception of Tasmania nothing has been done yet.
Politics Super Thread - keep it all in here
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@stryker said:
Ahhh mostly sarcastic..but
I do belive that Nuclear Power is the way to go.and is the solution to alternative energy rather than burning fossil fuels and killing the planet…..but with all the tree hugging unimformed politicians on both sides it will never get of the ground.....unfortunately...
hammertime
Well-known member
@Geo. said:
I agree with you on that one Geo!
hammertime
Well-known member
@senexx said:
haha, mate, I studied and work in Finance and worked previously on the federal budget. I don't need economics lessons.
There wasn't any broad 'examples', they were statements. Your original statement obviously supported spending and Labor with the way it was worded.
Yes we do need some spending. But having the government in control of spending resources, it still has to be spent effectively. You could say that North Korea is going great guns during this because the government spends heaps of their resources, so they must all be getting at least fed during this, right?
The Liberals aren't going to reduce services. That kind of statement is just wrong. But they are going to make sure everything is spent more effectively so we can pay less tax. Getting the private sector involved in broadband is a good thing considering the mismanagement on much smaller schemes.
The tax rate is already destined for heights with the looming inter-generational issues. With low unemployment, spending excessively will only get us to inflation town.. and eventually higher tax rates to pay it all back.
You may find at the end of it all that you will have slightly slower broadband, but you won't have to work for those extra 3 years when you are in your 60s to pay for retirement.
@hammertime said:
They're talking about getting rid of 12,000 APS jobs (correct if the figure is wrong but it's too late to fact check it!). Not all of these people are sitting around twiddling their thumbs. Lose that number and you lost their output.
hammertime
Well-known member
@Yossarian said:
I honestly haven't heard that. If you track down the article, send it on through.
But the APS has got pretty bloated. I'm sure you know as well as me, things could be done much more efficiently. I was in DOFA 5 years ago and they didn't even have a central database to track measures and/or revisions to measures. Everything was done manually through the files. Not sure about it though if it's 12,000, that does sound a lot. It would have to be done through natural attrition.
There was a fair bit of investment just as I was leaving, so I assume there is scope to reduce the workforce. Reducing the administration doesn't mean cutting back on services.
I just hope most are the contractors. They are earning a tonne and are not worth it. I'm talking over $100 p/h for a Business Analyst… crazy money. They need to great rid of that for sure.
Juro
Well-known member
I had to laugh…
There was the local liberal candidate handing out his flyers at the train station this morning. I quickly cast my eye over the slogan "support real action" but for some reason I read it as "support re-election".
There was the local liberal candidate handing out his flyers at the train station this morning. I quickly cast my eye over the slogan "support real action" but for some reason I read it as "support re-election".
@Phineas said:
You're either an idiot or ignorant.
@stryker said:
It's not like we're short of Uranium either. We should be benefit from our own resources practically as well as financially, as opposed to selling it overseas and having it potentially fall into the wrong hands.
It's no brainer really. The French are a great example where 78% of their total electricity is produced via nuclear power. Problem is that every uninformed idiot automatically associates nuclear power with disaster.
@Cultured Bogan said:
Heeey….... I can see a party forming here....
Do you want to hear my idea for the waste....Build a massive rockets at Maralinga...every 10 years or so launch them at the Sun....If the blow up on launch....no biggy...
@hammertime said:
Here's a link
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/national/national/general/abbott-has-ps-in-his-sights/1830024.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
He's talking about actual APS staff, basically a freeze on replacing staff. I understand your point but at a broad level like this proposal it doesn't work. The dead weights hang in there since there are no redundancies so all you do is take out 12000 FTEs actually doing work.
At the end of the day it's simplistic and counter-productive. If you (and I mean Abbott not yourself) are serious about PS waste, identify units that are producing work not needed.
@Geo. said:
I thought the Maralinga "space program" was somewhat subsidised by the British government?
hammertime
Well-known member
@Geo. said:
hahaha. Gold Geo! I think the people would go or that.
Just need to cripple the coal mining industry now to reduce their lobbying power….. oh wait... Maybe that's been Labor's plan all along!!?
hammertime
Well-known member
@Yossarian said:
Yep, completely agree Yoss. It could be bad. Just needs to be structured right when it's fleshed out a bit more. This was announced when he had no costing resources and you can tell it's pretty basic.
They do need to deflate it somehow. Getting rid of flex time might be a start…
@hammertime said:
But I love flex time!!!
hammertime
Well-known member
@Yossarian said:
ha! Who wouldn't? Sweetest deal ever.
The central agencies don't get flex. My boss on the budget once pulled a 8am to 4pm.. the next day! no flex and got shafted on his $10k bonus. Brutal.
@hammertime said:
He should have joined a union :smiley:
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