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examining, and critiquing, aspects of the performance of Australias' government, bureaucracies and
senior officials.|
Turn your active content - the articles below are under distribution to hundreds of web sites globally |
to go to federal election 2013 |
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Every day, in the media, we read that major business leaders are calling for productivity improvements and policy reforms across the same sectors. Yet hardly any comentary focuses on the poor performance and productivity of our governments and bureaucracies folliowing the days of Hawke and Keating. Mediocrity has gripped the nation's wheel house. Australia's ful potential is stymied by a lack of innovative future planning and adherence to traditional policies and outdated, inculcated thinking. We have major infrastructure bottlenecks that stop us from taking advantage of the boom times and the talent of our nation. Local governments, and their patronising state governmments, are bloated and over paid. A local government CEO can earn almost as much as the Prime Minister or a Minister of government or a major corporation. They are focused on short term, parochial interests and are managed by the very average in their communities. The Australian Capital Territory legislature is nothing more than an overpaid local government entity, with a bureaucracy rivalling Australia's largest corporations, yet it carries on as if it is a body of substance and modern government practice. The same people are recycled across our local, state, territory and federal governments arenas, every election period and the same stiflying theories and policies contribute to a myriad of problems. Risk averse, self interested politics, and maintenance of the status quo, has resulted in sectors of Australia being denied the opportunities to achieve what it might have otherwise achieved within our institutions, communities, society and economy. A LACK OF INFRASTRUCTURE This hardly needs explanation. State, and federal governments, have become slaves to the market's demands for a surplus. Thus the state and federal Treasury has captured the political agneda. The modern labor and liberal political leader babbles the mantra by rote and in doing so ensures that productivity is second to their political interests of remaining in office. The ordinary citizen believes the diatribe that the party in government is squandering the electorates money. Every election there is a black hole that mysteriously can only be seen by the incoming government. Through tricks of policy magic and accounting, fear mongering and the sword of slash and burn, they save the day. The cycle of misrepresentatuon, smoke and mirors continues on. HOUSING SHORTAGE AND AFFORDABILITY This vital sector of the nation's social fabric and economy is totally manipulated. The shortage and high prices are maintained through a mix of deliberate action by vested interests and extraordinarily short sighted policy and action by local and state governments. The wealth of people is measured by the value of their homes and properties. Cheap money, and greed, has resulted in the politically unacceptable proposition of having to lower the value of the existing housing base, in terms of the wealth factor, and in some cases this will cause extensive defaults, mortgage stress and pain. Greed is across the spectrum. Local government planning, state government ineptitude in politics and bureaucracy has brought us here and continues to maintain a status quo that simply cannot exist forever. Low interest rates are required for political comfort. Thus we see the hystericak balther from the likes of Australia's Federal Treasurer when banks do not pass on the Reserve Bank lower erates. Informed people know that the Reserve Bank has litle impact on hosuing mortgage affordability and rates but the politicians engage in lies and misrepresentation never the less. Australia's politicians need an ignorant gullible electorate to ensure their political interests and survival. LOUSY HUMAN RESOURCES AND PARASITIC BEHAVIOURS Here vested interests colliode in a gung ho mentality of one upmanship, brinkmanship and maintenance of the status quo. Every election period we get a new industrial relations scenario. The nature of the adversarial system of politics seeps into and corrodes the operation of eevry other part of our society and economy. The situation is exascerbted by the intertwining of union and politics - Australian Council of Trade Unions, Unions, The Australian labor party - the intertwining of liberal politics and business. Factions abound across all sectors and these factions maintain their individual systems of power and influence. Within this mix we find the mediocre working the factions. The parasites who live off the sweat and efforts of others. The influence of trade unions on labor is blasted, in return the warriors return fire against the corporate interests. The Greens and independents add to the degradation of possibility and talent. Being tough is the order of the day. Who can shout the loudest and cause the most mayhem and disruption. Fear and loathing is exploited in what too often is a pantomine of theatrics. The simple proposition is that Australia's employers (government and business) and the worker representatives (the unions and associations) are overall very poor at people management and talent harnessing. DOING BUSINESS WITH GOVERNMENTS AND BUREAUCRACIES Those who engage with governments every day know the dangers and pitfalls here. They also know the substance of this commentary is true. State and federal politicians, and their portfolio bureaucracies, waste hundreds of millions of dollars per year on maladministration and bureaucratic rubbish. Poorly crafted tenders full of verbal diarrhea and risk avoidance, IP transfer and commercial extortion. Politicians do not care how much is wasted in pursuit of their own political agenda. Would one sensibly do business with federal agencies like the Department of Environment, the New South Wales and Queensland's bureaucracies and governments? The reality is that many businesses have no choice than to accept the manner in which Australia's governments, and their agencies, do business. What would be in the national interest and that of business would be for them all to say no. However solidarity, and trust, are not their strengths. Thus they bleat behind closed doors or rush of to a Minister and complain. The assumption that the politician cares is a flaw in their thinking. Claims of "integrity and probity" put about by Australia's public service agencies, and their Ministers, are in mnay instances nothing more than elaborate window dressing. SUBSIDIES AND PORK BARRELLING We pay more for our cars, our food and other consumables, utilities, telecommunications and housing than most developed countries on earth. Despite our larger populationn our cars are dearer than New Zealand. The proposition that retail space in our cities should cost as much as or more than in Tokyo or New York is ludicruous. These costs are a direct outcome of the activities of our local, state and federal governments. Whilst publicly praising the virtues of free trade and market forces governments, at all levels, actively engage in subsidies and market manipulation for their own ends. This may be associated with maintaining employment (as in the car industry), maintaining property and investment prices as outlined previously, maintaning power colectives and sectional interests, the activities of rent seekers and others. Add to this the association interests set out below and we pay the price. THE EXORBITANT COST OF HEALTH IS A DIRECT RESULT OF PROVIDER INTERESTS If one examines the books of a regional, or city hospital, dividing the costs into major elements one will find that somewhere between a third and a half of the funds will be going directly to the medical, and ancillary, service providers. The doctors are the biggest cost impost in a hospital. Reasonable you probably think until you start to look more closely and deeply. The general population probably thinks that doctors are employees of hospitals. They generally are not. They are taking the lion's share of the health budget and are usually doing it as if they have a right. They act with unfettered greed and avarice. The bureaucrats take the majority of the balance and the primary health care delivery people, the burses and hospital suport staff make do with a paltry share. The arrogance of many of the medical profession to those hey work with, the nurses, is stutlfying and obscene. Australia's politicians are afraid of the Australian Medical Association. The Association through a handful of lobyists, political and industrial organisers (this is a high brow trade union masquerading as a professional body) with lucrative cash flows from supporting industries such as the drug manufacturers wields absolute control. What other enterprising soul can open a business and be assured of prosperity through "guaranteed cash flow payments" from a tax payer funded, and governmemnt owned entity, known as Medicare/Medibank? The major bodies controlling health - the practitioners and the health funds - resis change, control the entrants to the market and the manner of operation of the individuals within the health sector. The Health Funds are raising their prices whilst burying massive levels of fraud by the practitioners. A growing percentage of the annual payments members make for their health cover goes to embedded, acceptable fraud. The Preferred Provider Scheme is a significant market distorter but this is ignored by the Australian Competition and Cosnumer Commission. We see the mendacity, and intransience, of the controllers of the health system every day. Those who work in the health sectors know all too well the veracity of my claims. If they speak out they will lose their jobs. And then there are the public examples which are ignored only to break forth. These we see in the death and mutiliation of those who place their trust in the system. How many deaths, maimings and lives destroyed, does it take before anyone acts? Look to Queensland. What galvanise the government most to take action aganst Queensland Health? A doctor mutilating, and killing patients, or a public servant stealing $A16,000,000 from the Health Department? |
 Australia's Carbon Tax ... click |
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In a similar vein I have published, well before mainstream media, events and predictions of great import. |
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Watching the commentary on the demise of Kevin Rudd as leader of the labor party in government in Australia I noted the rush, by the commentators, to get on board and offer opinions and rationale. Perhaps one of the most common refrains from the "insider elite" is " no one knew" or "who could tell?" and "no one predicted this". Readers of this web site would know that someone definitely did know, and predict, the outcome. Similarly the economic watchers were caught flat footed on the global financial crisis, again justifying their lack of intuition by being part of the ignorant pack that claimed that it was not possible to predict. They simply did not know. Therefore generally the rest of us would not know. That also is not true. These are the things I do amongst others, assessing, analysing, predicting and implementing. Politicians, political parties, government agencies, businesses, and corporations, could save a lot of money by reading, and studying, the content of my multiple topic web sites or by simply sounding me out in a conversation. There is a lot more to our arsenal of utilities and skills than blogging and commentary on the internet. Soon I will begin to examine Australia, through the eyes and mind, of the Prime Minister Julia Gillard. (Kevin R Beck, Melbourne Australia, Australian Politics and Governmments |
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The Deepwater Horizon disaster caused headlines around the world, yet the people who live in the Niger delta have had to live with environmental catastrophes for decades... about that disater." |
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The day we discovered we had no leaders in the state of Victoria's government nor in the public service It is not clear to me how the Victorian Police Minister Bob Cameron retains his Ministerial portfolio and why the government lead by John Brumby shows no remorse or shame for its dereliction and in some cases corruption of Victoria's governance. (June 2010: Kevin R Beck) |
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August 2011: Along the eastern seaboard of Australia local governments are engaging in what, on the face of it, looks like unjustifiable policies and actions. They are implementing some highly questionable, and ridiculously stupid, state government directives. Directives based on spurious modelled predictions that the sea will rise 1 metre by 2100. The Kevin Rudd - Julia Gillard federal government is warning that a quarter of a million homes will be swallowed by the sea. Julia Gillard, and climate change proponents, occupying political and public office are proving themselves to be seriously fuudle minded and seriously dangerous. Does anyone not wonder why these people are so wedded to making predictions (fifty to a hundred years out) and acting on them? Did everyone lose their common sense overnight or was it a gradual decline in the sanity of politicians and bureaucrats? Is anyone else questioning what is going on in the minds of the people who are directing our lives and future? People's homes and businesses are devalued immediately. Federal Labor, and the Greens, along with their clones in state, territory and local governments, are destroying the nation's wealth. Meanwhile federal Ministers Joe Ludwig, and Tony Burke, are proving that they are as inept as many of their of their colleagues. Water planning, management theoties and action, initiated under another mediocre Minister, Ms. Penny Wong, trundles along as the labor government works assiduously towards the destruction of yet another sector of the economy, regional towns. Joe Ludwig has cost the livestock industry hundreds of millions of dollars. Now through ignorance other sectors of his portfolio languish under his failured stewradship and lack of intellectual fire power. The two senior agricultural ministers have not seemed to notice that the Australian Wool Industry is a pale shadow of its former self, in the glory days of old. It has great potential but not whilst these two are at the helm and not while the bureaucracy has their sway. The wool industry in Australia has been destroyed by political rent seekers, of all persuasions, pursuing their personal agendas. John Howard and his Ministers did nothing about its plight. It is mired in inteventionist policies, poor management ground down the dead hand of bureaucracy. Ruined by decades of failed government policy, greed and hubris, it is continuing under another myopic Minister, Joe Ludwig. Does Joe know that the wool industry exists and what a bright, visionary and dedicated, Minister might achieve? Tasmania, a state of great potential is in the grasp of the cancerous Greens. Scottsdale is a symbol of their cruel insensitivity and plague policies. Yet the Greens are in ascendancy rutting with the Labor Party at state, and federal, level. The Prime Minister, Treasurer and the two aforementioned Ministers habve taken no action to assist the people whose lives are detsroyed by political incompetence. Scottsdale is a state responsibility and the cowards of the federal castle will always invoke that gutless cant. Better for their political security to concentrate on the nebulous and the reapportioning of the national cake, than to actually engage in creating wealth through perceptive management, skilled administration and vision. Wayne Swan wants another summit, on tax. He has had the Henry Review, the 2020 and the raft of worthless, and disreagrded, studies of the previous Howard, Rudd and and Gillard governments. Another summit because that makes someone, struggling with their job appear relevant and engaged. Swan and Gillard like to continually misrepresent the state of the nation pointing to the false claim of an unemployment rate below 5%. They are unable to come up with any inventive way of creating full time, long term highly skilled employment opportunities. They are wedded to the old hoary Labor low competency skills training model. On the opposition benches, in federal parliament, Tony Abbott has failed to recreate the vision and pilicy rigour of the liberal party. He has instead engaged in factional favours over insprired leadership. There is no evidence that Mr Abbott has the capacity to put an emphasis on policy rigour,integrity and thought provocation. The party lays dorman under his leadership. It suits the coterie of slavish parasites eating at the heart of this once great political party. Tony Abbott, man of slogans and picture opportunities. "Dangerous and Apparently Lacking In Common Sense", Kevin Beck, Melbourne, Australia, The Mosaic Portal, 2011 |
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As I look back over the previous federal goverments in Austarlia I find it difficult to find one that is as inept and deceitful as the Gillard labor government. The campaign for climate change, and the carbon tax regime case, orchestrated by Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard, and her senior advisers, and parliamentary colleagues, is closeted within selected facts, misinterpretations, shaped statistics, falsehoods, spin manipulation and sometimes lies. Ms Gillard is now lost in a maze of political deception and is compounding her situation and that of the government daily. Ms Gillard is of the beief that once she unveils the carbon tax regime, prices, impacts and social security benefits all will be well. The carbon tax will be craftily intertwined with tax reform making it even more complicated for the coalition opposition. The labor government's continued use of deceptive tactics including crystal ball theoretical reports and visions out to 2020 and 2050 presented as fact (examples of selectivity and visioneray claims without citing evidence : 2050 there will be more renewables, 2050 there will be more gas, the current floods and fires are all climate related, the seas will rise a metre and half along the coast line) is a scandal destroying the fabric of good government. Evidence is taken and distorted. The support television commercial featuring Austarlian artists and celebrities uses closed British power stations, belching out black smoke, not Australian power stations. Facts about climate change are selectively chosen, and presented. The government's carbon tax plan is presented as something that will impact Australia's carbon emmissions and in the long run somehow miraculously altering the course of Australia's climate. Federal Labor, and Ms Gillard, are now pursuiung their own ideological interests and not that of the public interest by the manner in whihc our democracy and parliamentary processe are organised and controlled. Australians will,have no say until 2013. The Australian labor party (as is the case with all political parties) has lost sight of their fundamental obligation, ethics and morality. The Greens, as of July 2011 hold the balance of power in the Australian federal parliament. They are an exciting lot, continuously coming up with bizarre and sometimes outlandish concepts such as the end of coal mining by 2050 if not sooner, base load interesting. The Greens add variety and colour and some of their parliamentary members, (like the labor and liberal parties, well what can one say .... All the while Tony Abbott is repeating his slogans and demanding an election. Poor Tony, in the absence of any real policies and arguments he presumes that this is an iligitimate government. He also presumes he would win an election. (Kevin R Beck, "The Decay of Australia's Federal Government", 2011) |
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WHAT MISFORTUNE OF FATE, AND COALESCENCE OF EVENTS AND UNFORTUNATE TIMING, COULD SADDLE AUSTRALIA AT EVERY LEVEL OF GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION WITH THE MOST INCOMPETENT, AND MEDIOCRE, MIX OF POLITICIANS, AND SOME SYCOPHANTIC AND INCOMPETENT SENIOR BUREAUCRATS, IN THE NATION'S HISTORY? 
Are we, as a nation, so detached and stupid, indolent and uncaring, uneducated and immature, as to the value of our democracy and government, that we would allow this to happen? We need to rid the nation of the incumbents in our governments, the political career class of politician. But how do we do that? The quality of candidatenot the best the nation has. The manipulation, corrosion and the corruption of our governance is entrenched. Australia is in the grip of parasites, at every level of government, local, territory, state and federal, who are career party politicians. They have no employment experience outside of the party and/or union machine. Those who are good and competent are slaves to the thugs, and craven leaders of their respective political machines. The time has come to end their control, and the March state election in NSW will demonstrate the loathing the people have for the modern Australian labor party. Let 2011 be a lesson for all political parties.  The Australian Labor Party
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The Campaign To Stop The ETSMinister Wong (again) It's Not Absolutely True "One of the enduring pillars of the climate change issue is that the temperature of the Earth is increasing at an unprecedented rate … we’ve heard it a million times over the past few decades. However, it is well known that the temperature of the Earth has not increased over the past decade, and the lack of recent warming is now receiving serious consideration in the leading scientific journals." (Source: World Climate Report, February 1, 2010) What is to come of you, will you handle the Finance portfolio Minister Penny Wong? Greg Combet The fixer (who made a botch of fixing the solar panel dissater has now taken over climate. And for him the message is the same - Minister it is not true. Counter DIGITS.com:All networked sites, forums and blogs |
 People working in governments in Australia, tend not to listen, usually will not look and too often pretend not to hear anyone who may contradict, or argue with, their beliefs, views, ideologies and fantasies. (Kevin Beck, the Political Dream Time in Australia) |
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Unusual events will separate the real leaders from the "emporers". Observe Anna Bligh in Queensland. 
Is this a future Prime Mibnister? |
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For decades governments have failed to control development and have passed control to councils except where it suits political purpose and they intervene. Thus people and business have built on flood plains, have built along the coast and whole towns have been built where rivers once ran. Concrete has been laid and dams built. The water has had to find new courses and places to go. "I love a sunburnt country, A land of sweeping plains, Of ragged mountain ranges, Of droughts and flooding rains. .... Core of my heart, my country! Her pitiless blue sky, When sick at heart, around us, We see the cattle die - But then the grey clouds gather, And we can bless again The drumming of an army, The steady, soaking rain. Core of my heart, my country! Land of the Rainbow Gold, For flood and fire and famine," My Country Dorothea Mackellar. When Premier Anna Bligh said that the goverment would establsih an independent body to determine if towns and houses would be built again, she was howled down. The affected want to rebuild where they are. People do not want to pay for fllod insurance preferring the cheaper storm water damage type of policy. Then when denied their claim they bleat and the tax payer is asked to pick up the bill via a levy or to contribute to charitable funds. When will anyone ever learn? |
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On my Gillard government web site I ask how a government (Rudd and Gillard) can make so many blunders on almost every major action of their time in government? Of course one can never expect a reply to communications that warn, or criticise, from the members of any of Australia's governments because the ethos under which these people operate is "they are the font of all knowledge" and critics are to be dismissed, ridiculed and all too often threatened. Ms Gillard, and her senior Ministers, run a shockingly ethically challenged and grossly inexperienced government and yet despite time after time getting in a mess they blunder stubbornly on. One may offer assistance or guidance many times but it falls on deaf ears. (Kevin R Beck, Melbourne Australia "The Tin Ear" 2010 On December 6, 2010 prominent Australians wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister... I await her consideed response and sadly expect it to be as ignorant as her, and the Attorney General's first set of utterances. I note that the leader of the opposition, Tony Abbott, and the conservative side of politics is silent, why is that? Could it be that Tony Abbott is no more of a statesman leader than the incumbents? Our choices of leader of the Australian government, at any one time, are extremely limited. Dear Prime Minister, We note with concern the increasingly violent rhetoric directed towards Julian Assange of WikiLeaks. “We should treat Mr Assange the same way as other high-value terrorist targets: Kill him,” writes conservative columnist Jeffrey T Kuhner in the Washington Times. William Kristol, former chief of staff to vice president Dan Quayle, asks, “Why can’t we use our various assets to harass, snatch or neutralize Julian Assange and his collaborators, wherever they are?” “Why isn’t Julian Assange dead?” writes the prominent US pundit Jonah Goldberg. “The CIA should have already killed Julian Assange,” says John Hawkins on the Right Wing News site. Sarah Palin, a likely presidential candidate, compares Assange to an Al Qaeda leader; Rick Santorum, former Pennsylvania senator and potential presidential contender, accuses Assange of “terrorism”. And so on and so forth. Such calls cannot be dismissed as bluster. Over the last decade, we have seen the normalisation of extrajudicial measures once unthinkable, from ‘extraordinary rendition’ (kidnapping) to ‘enhanced interrogation’ (torture). In that context, we now have grave concerns for Mr Assange’s wellbeing. Irrespective of the political controversies surrounding WikiLeaks, Mr Assange remains entitled to conduct his affairs in safety, and to receive procedural fairness in any legal proceedings against him. As is well known, Mr Assange is an Australian citizen. We therefore call upon you to condemn, on behalf of the Australian Government, calls for physical harm to be inflicted upon Mr Assange, and to state publicly that you will ensure Mr Assange receives the rights and protections to which he is entitled, irrespective of whether the unlawful threats against him come from individuals or states. We urge you to confirm publicly Australia’s commitment to freedom of political communication; to refrain from cancelling Mr Assange's passport, in the absence of clear proof that such a step is warranted; to provide assistance and advocacy to Mr Assange; and do everything in your power to ensure that any legal proceedings taken against him comply fully with the principles of law and procedural fairness. A statement by you to this effect should not be controversial – it is a simple commitment to democratic principles and the rule of law. We believe this case represents something of a watershed, with implications that extend beyond Mr Assange and WikiLeaks. In many parts of the globe, death threats routinely silence those who would publish or disseminate controversial material. If these incitements to violence against Mr Assange, a recipient of Amnesty International’s Media Award, are allowed to stand, a disturbing new precedent will have been established in the English-speaking world. In this crucial time, a strong statement by you and your Government can make an important difference. We look forward to your response. Dr Jeff Sparrow, author and editor Lizzie O’Shea, Social Justice Lawyer, Maurice Blackburn Professor Noam Chomsky, writer and academic Antony Loewenstein, journalist and author Mungo MacCallum, journalist and writer Professor Peter Singer, author and academic Adam Bandt, MP Senator Bob Brown Senator Scott Ludlam Julian Burnside QC, barrister Jeff Lawrence, Secretary, Australian Council of Trade Unions Professor Raimond Gaita, author and academic Rob Stary, lawyer Lieutenant Colonel (ret) Lance Collins, Australian Intelligence Corps, writer The Hon Alastair Nicholson AO RFD QC Brian Walters SC, barrister Professor Larissa Behrendt, academic Emeritus Professor Stuart Rees, academic, Sydney Peace Foundation Mary Kostakidis, Chair, Sydney Peace Foundation Professor Wendy Bacon, journalist Christos Tsiolkas, author James Bradley, author and journalist Julian Morrow, comedian and television producer Louise Swinn, publisher Helen Garner, novelist Professor Dennis Altman, writer and academic Dr Leslie Cannold, author, ethicist, commentator John Birmingham, writer Guy Rundle, writer Alex Miller, writer Sophie Cunningham, editor and author Castan Centre for Human Rights Law Professor Judith Brett, author and academic Stephen Keim SC, President of Australian Lawyers for Human Rights Phil Lynch, Executive Director, Human Rights Law Resource Centre Sylvia Hale, MLC Sophie Black, editor David Ritter, lawyer and historian Dr Scott Burchill, writer and academic Dr Mark Davis, author and academic Henry Rosenbloom, publisher Ben Naparstek, editor Chris Feik, editor Louise Swinn, publisher Stephen Warne, barrister Dr John Dwyer QC Hilary McPhee, writer, publisher Joan Dwyer OAM Greg Barns, barrister James Button, journalist Owen Richardson, critic Michelle Griffin, editor John Timlin, literary Agent & producer Ann Cunningham, lawyer and publisher Alison Croggon, author, critic Daniel Keene, playwright Dr Nick Shimmin, editor/writer Bill O'Shea, lawyer, former President, Law Institute of Victoria Dianne Otto, Professor of Law, Melbourne Law School Professor Frank Hutchinson,Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPACS), University of Sydney Anthony Georgeff, editor Max Gillies, actor Shane Maloney, writer Louis Armand, author and publisher Jenna Price, academic and journalist Tanja Kovac, National Cooordinator EMILY's List Australia Dr Russell Grigg, academic Dr Justin Clemens, writer and academic Susan Morairty, Lawyer David Hirsch, Barrister Cr Anne O’Shea Kathryn Crosby, Candidates Online Dr Robert Sparrow, academic Jennifer Mills, author Foong Ling Kong, editor Tim Norton, Online Campaigns Co-ordinator, Oxfam Australia Elisabeth Wynhausen, writer Ben Slade, Lawyer Nikki Anderson, publisher Dan Cass Professor Diane Bell, author and academic Dr Philipa Rothfield, academic Gary Cazalet, academic Dr David Coady, academic Dr Matthew Sharpe, writer and academic Dr Tamas Pataki, writer and academic Miska Mandic Associate Professor Jake Lynch, academic Professor Simon During, academic Michael Brull, writer Dr Geoff Boucher, academic Jacinda Woodhead, writer and editor Dr Rjurik Davidson, writer and editor Mic Looby, writer Jane Gleeson-White, writer and editor Alex Skutenko, editor Associate Professor John Collins, academic Professor Philip Pettit, academic Dr Christopher Scanlon, writer and academic Dr Lawrie Zion, journalist Johannes Jakob, editor Sunili Govinnage, lawyer Michael Bates, lawyer Bridget Maidment, editor Bryce Ives, theatre director Sarah Darmody, writer Jill Sparrow, writer Lyn Bender, psychologist Meredith Rose, editor Dr Ellie Rennie, President, Engage Media Ryan Paine, editor Simon Cooper, editor Chris Haan, lawyer Carmela Baranowska, journalist. Clinton Ellicott, publisher Dr Charles Richardson, writer and academic Phillip Frazer, publisher Geoff Lemon, journalist Jaya Savige, poet and editor Johannes Jakob, editor Kate Bree Geyer; journalist Chay-Ya Clancy, performer Lisa Greenaway, editor, writer Chris Kennett - screenwriter, journalist Kasey Edwards, author Dr. Janine Little, academic Dr Andrew Milner, writer and academic Patricia Cornelius, writer Elisa Berg, publisher Lily Keil, editor Jenny Sinclair Roselina Rose Stephen Luntz PM Newton Bryan Cooke Kristen Obaid Ryan Haldane-Underwood Patrick Gardner Robert Sinnerbrink Kathryn Millist Anne Coombs Karen Pickering Sarah Mizrahi Suzanne Ingleton Jessica Crouch Michael Ingleton Matt Griffin Jane Allen Tom Curtis John Connell David Garland Stuart Hall Meredith Tucker-Evans Phil Perkins Alexandra Adsett Tom Doig, editor Beth Jackson Peter Mattessi Robert Sinnerbrink Greg Black Paul Ashton Sigi Jottkandt Kym Connell, lawyer Silma Ihram Nicole Papaleo, lawyer Melissa Forbes Matthew Ryan Ben Gook Daniel East Bridget Ikin Lisa O'Connell Melissa Cranenburgh John Bryson Michael Farrell Melissa Reeves Dr Emma Cox Michael Green Margherita Tracanelli David Carlin, writer Bridget McDonnell Geoff Page, writer Rebecca Interdonato Roxane Ludbrook-Ingleton Stefan Caramia Ash Plummer |
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Tony Abbott muses that if the party had preselected candidates in NSW sooner, the outcome might have been different. He seems oblivious to the simple proposition that he was not the first choice to be Prime Minister and nor was Julia Gillard. The only reason that labor, and liberal, are sharing the spoils is the two party preferred preferential voting system and the laziness of the electorate to take an interest in how their parliament is made up. They slavishly vote as quickly as possible, they are donkeys. Over a million did not vote at all. Neither party is deemed, by those who take an interest, to have any capacity for policy formulation or innovation. Those who spend a lot of their time trying to do business with governments know too well that there is a vacuum in the nation and that the politicians occupying senior roles, and their advisers, are largely ignorant of anything beyond their sphere of interesta and awareness. Politics has killed the soul of the public service and they are denuded of the resources to challenge the apparatchiks who govern them. Julia Gillard said just before the 2010 federal election that there would be no carbon tax, in this term, now she wants to work on getting one in. Why? Maybe Ms Gillard, and her poorly equipped advisers, are scrambling over Marius Kloppers (BHP) criticism. There is a proven inability, within the senior strategy sections of the labour government, to see ahead. They left education, indigenous affairs and other core elements, of policy management, out of the new Ministerial structure and then had to do a retro fit. The basic principles of good planing are alien to them. They turn to no ones else for ideas and thoughts condemning the nation ot their mediocrity. Their egos, and self perceptions as to their abilities, seem to know no bounds. According to the Greens we are killing our planet, business is the enemy and we should move to sustainable litle garden polots, living in old growth tree houses with sack cloth, never turning on a light, never gambling, never drinking and all the while cuddling koalas listening to the whoosh of windmills in an endeless sunshine. In the world of the do gooders there are people born whose task is to look after every aspect of our lives since we are incapable of self determination. Australia is going along, in the mind numbing suburbs, oblivious to the productivity problems, the lack of infrastructure, poor tax policies and general lack of coherent government at state and federal levels. The Reserve Bank is worried about productivity and bottelnecks and the over reliance on China and India. The Business Council calls Ms Gillard's, and Mr Abbott's, rhetoric on population, and infrastructure, supercficial posturing. According to Mr. Abbott, and the liberal camp, we can never afford to build anything. Tony Abbott has one single jingoism that has apparently embedded itslf in his larynx - "No knew big taxes." That is the sum of his policy ideas and his debating response? He has no idea what a broadband is but he opposes it nonetheless. Tony's problem may be that he is a statistics man, at least he was when he was a Minister in the Howard government. He loved, and demanded, charts and statistics, particularky ones that could be massaged to present whatever he thought reality might be. Now he has no stats and is void of the foundations for thought, and argument, shaping and presentation. He may not yet have accepted that he is not the government. He may think that a good tactic is to simply make it hard enough and cause the government to fall sending us back to the polls and he may think that he will win. He is probably supported in this fallacious assumption by many others. The labor government's tax summit is being manipulated by a mediocre political agenda and a "moderate" Treasurer, Wayne Swan. There is no will for reform as both parties focus on their own political power interests. Gillard's sustainable poppulation is viewed by those who can actually see beyond the front door of their offices, a wider world of possibility, as a dangerous policy stifling Australia's growth. Gillard, like here advisers, is impervious to alternative logic and coherent arguments. They prefer "gut instinct" and political focus group voodoo theories. There is a malaise, if not a cancer, gripping every sector of our federal government and public service. The public servants labour under the dead hand of a Prime Minister who seems unable to articulate a vision other than a sustainable Australia. A Prime Minister who cannot conceive reform because she has not demonstrated that she knows what reform actually is. Tony Abbott offers no cintillating alternative. A new school curricula? A new school building, a carbon tax, are they the extent of her reform agenda? The public service labours under the dead hand of leadership, or lack of it, where Secretaries blithely, or meekly accept the designated "political servant" roles. They have an inflated view of their position and deign to meet, and mingle, only with those of equal, or superior, status positions. The public service labours under the idiosyncracies of some Ministers, who are novices learning on the job. They labour under the dead weight of parasitic advisers, and party hacks, within a vacuum of policy development and innovation. When one meets with the bureaucrats they produce endless numbers of white papers to demonstrate that they have been doing things. When one questions issues like national security, fraud of public funds and hidden theft in the health insurance and payments sectors they produce white papers and framewokrs. These are the currencies of our senior bureaucrats, and the fruits of the modern government. The same old hoary policies, and actions are trotted, out year after year by the political parties. In South Australia, Treasurer Foley continues the modus openadi of cutting costs and the public service. One may ask how is it that the public service has grown under the labor government to suhc an extent that Foley would now claim credit, and brilliant policy, for wanting to cut it? Never mind the logic because these people are immune to the notion that they are the creators of the situations from whihc they will periodically save us. Foley trots out mothehood drivel: "The public sector will be more responsive, more efficient, more focusd, better quality if the conditions that apply to companies in the privates ector are consistent with waht we have in the public ector." When was it that he and the Premier and government captured this enlightened proposition? In Western Australia industry and the community are going to siffer massive gas shortages and price hikes. Whose fault is this? It is obvious. it is the labor and liberal party, that have failed to plan and invest and promote development beyond digging the groun up. They now posture on local gas prices versus wporld parity because they know that they are going to get a belting when the proverbial hits the fan. In Victoria Bracks has built a white elephant desalination plant, because the Department of Sustainable development convinced hin it would never rain again. The people of the state must pay if it is not used and it is environemntally nasty. The Grand Prix Corporation lost megamillions again ($50 million) but the spin merchants of government still lie about the benefits. Ballieu is annoyed because the public service reports all came out at once. That is his biggest worry and his rant to become Premier next November. The nation drifts along in a mist behind a shadowy curtain - weaved by China and India, believing that two commodities iron ore and coal, with some other mining bits and pieces, are the panacea. China, and India, are our economic opiates. We have little if any invetsment in financial and other services, hardly any manufacturing and our physical man made tourism assets are dated, unattractive and worn out. State and federal governments will give tens of millions of dollars to the automobile manufacturing industry and tax reflief, land and other subsidies to mining ventures that employ limited numbers of people. Yet they ignore tourism projects and refusing similar incentives, preferring to defer to tired, and sometimes quite idiotic tourism advertising campaigns like "where the bloody hell are you." Initiatives of short termism. The promoters of tourism destinations like the big banana, and the big pineapple, and the "dog sat on the tucker box" for the regional attraction, believing that Australia should mimmick American tacky. There are pockets of excellence in Australia, driven by entrepreneurs, and local government, of visionary capacities, but not driven by state or federal support and vision. They work to prosper in spite of government and bureaucracy. Australia needs a co-ordinated, national and local, comprehensive detailed, long term tourism strategy backed up with solid economic support policies and actions simuilar to the vehicle and mining sectors. We need borad reserach and development, not commercially focused but also pure quality research. Something more than the CSIRO flagships that at government directive, presume eveything shall be commercialised for the benefit of industry. We also need a well resourced technical, and higher, education policy set. Melding with a life long learning promotion policy that seeks to imbue a love of learning ethos. These needs are as vital as climate change, but maybe more so. Unforunately they are not as romantic, and politically attractive as simple "economic management and surpluses", from whihc apparently all things flow. What have we got instead? A casserole of whatever fits into a three year timeframe and an ever changing set of new Minsitries and associated bureaucracy, designed to reward the politically faithful, all fourty plus of them. We also need to curb the ever growing bullshit .... many aspects of our politics, economy and business have fallen to the notion that ethics is a whatever we believe it to be, or feel is right. The notion that it is okay to spin the story, manipulate perception, frame the truth as we like, masquerade behind falsehoods and boostering, hyperbole and over statement. It is a modern trait, embedded into modern Australian society, that it is okay to overstate, misrepresent and to lie. We can, according to the advertising, now buy luxury for $A20.00, we are captive to slogans designed to fill our craving to buy things. Our stores are full of Chinese junk and feckless, self indulgent objects. The endless trail of the next best, must have technology. Television once showed pictures now it shows an ever ending cavalcade of life's fulfilling experiences in 3D living plasma. Soon the >bubbles will start to burst >and the most significant pop will be the Australian housing bubble. With that will tumble retail and the rest. This is not something that Wayne and the rest of the government want to tell us or have us dwell on. Instead we muts be fed a glass hlaf full, a tonic for our senses. To be comfortable in our fantasy that the government knows best. |
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AND HER LIMITATION IS SHE IS A CONVENTIONAL POLITICIAN AND THINKER. BUT SHE WILL BE PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA IN 2010 - 2012. DO THE COUNTRY A FAVOUR MR. ABBOTT GO AWAY. New interest groups appear such as GET UP and they attract a modicum of attention. They too operate in conventional ways. Under conventional thinking the status quo is maintained. It is only when events create a conundrum like a hung parliament that we see the non conventional rise to the fore - in this case the independents. We can dismiss the Greens because they will be the instrument of their own demise much like the Democrats in Australia. They have no idea how to use power and influence. They have no idea of reality beyond their own limited vision and sense. If you listen to a Green member of parliament they speak of philosophy, of distractions and dreams, theories and notions of lore, and ideology, without the foundation of reality. They are the doomsday mantra groupies. The spoilers, and do gooders, that eventually the bulk of voters do not want to be with. They are shackled by their own idiosyncracies and zeal. Tony Abbott is in charge of the opposition federal liberal party, and by his side is Joe Hockey and Andrew Robb, Tony Smith and Julie Bishop. These people are not quality representatives they are worse than the Greems because they try to represent themselves as something else than they are. They are rat bags. Devoid when it comes to the challenge. look at their negotiation and strategies when it all goes to crap. They have no idea what to do. Such politicians wear the garb of convention, the business suit, they use the language of the "non speak" a meaningless jargon and thirty minute quick and glib line. They talk down to many people assuming that there are a lot of gullible, stupid and unaware types. They present that what they are telling us is not spin. And nor is it. It is lies and calculated, manipulative pretence. These modern politicians are the slugs that infest, slime and degrade our parliamentary processes. They are not only federal, they are state and territory politicins. When caught out they repeat their iognorance, providing fatuous arguments excuses. Ms Gillard's sin was she tried and made a botch of it. Mr. Abbott's sin is that he is probably too scared to try anything risky, play to the populist fear is his style. Thus will never botch it. He drones that under his leadership the economy will always be better. The government surplus will be bigger. Yes maybeit will, but we will all live a boring, aimless and shitfull existence, under the dead hand of convention, and mediocrity. mr. Abbott's liberal party is a construct of a warped personality willing to do anything to win, bordering on a lack of ethical foundation and a bunch of missing moral compasses. He lies, when he says that he will stop the boats. Is this harsh? Only an idiot would think so. Is he an idiot? No, thus it can be reasonably claimed he is a liar in that regard. So what else he ism lying about? Maybe as we look back on his life we might conclude perhaps it is a lot. |
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Below I foretold the demise of Kevin Rudd and also referred to the methodology used to predict electorate voting patterns. Now we have a hung federal parliament with power resting in the hands of a few independents. Time and time again I have written to various members of the labor and liberal parties commenting on strategy, policy and the likely outcomes if they continued with their current modus operandi. They never listen. This is not surprising, after all who am I? A single no body who does not work in politics, in a party or in a polling company. I am not in the media and have no credentails to spealk of. So what if I do predict things? Either by guesswork, analysis and assessment or use a crystal ball. How is that of interest to those who are experts and whose job it is to advise and plan. To listen to or involve others would alter the status quo of power, influence and self interest even survival, within the closeted world of the political party and the parliamentary office. But what if it went beyond predictiion to actual orchestration What if the blending of technology, human networks. Newtorks that traversed work where economy, jobs and career opportunities are provided? Networks of social and other interests. All of which are intrinsic within the design, and motivation, of the Mosaic Portal. What if such a set of strategies were actually reaching hundreds in an electorate, thousands in a state and millions in a nation or the world, and the interaction was a deliberate complex strategy that had been put in place years ago? What then? Is this just a glitch in the dominance of Australian politics and government by the duopoly or is it something more compelling, altering the nature of governments and the operations of parliaments in Australia? (Kevin R Beck, Melbourne, Australia) |
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Your local campaigns gossip, interests, activism, your job, schools, hospitals, in fact anything in your community."If the consent of the governed is extorted through the manipulation of mass fears, or is embezzled with claims of divine guidance, democracy is impoverished. If the suspension of reason causes a significant proportion of the citizenry to lose confidence in the integrity of the process, democracy can be bankrupted." (Al Gore, "The Assault On Reason", Bloomsbury, 2007) |
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