The Rudd factor is now buying into local government , not before time . But before Mr Rudd hands out millions / billions to Local Government to help Australia hold off the recession he should consider carefully where the money is going .
Local government is and always will be a bottomless pit of bad decisions and down right waste , firstly they lost billions in rate payer funds in sub prime mortgage investments in the USA.
What! they couldn't find a housing market here to invest in.
They have down scaled their capital equipment and work force to such an extent they are flat out planning and building an outhouse without bringing in O/S contractors .
A prime example of LG's letting down Ausrtralian owned business is graphically illustrated at Port Macquarie . A $800,000.00 traffic light installation has been waiting for over 4 months on 4 light poles to come from China and they will not get here till well into the new year. By the way the State Labor RTA is not without shame and blame in this fiasco they design and approve such works .
The recession heading our way maybe good for us, it may give all business owners a reality check and make them adjust their quotes and profit margins . The cost of getting anything done has grown out of all proportion.
Some are on about the removal of funds from the Pacific highway reconstruction, the truth is that there was to much money allocated in the short term as a vote catcher and they knew there was never going to be enough capital equipment or skilled workers to undertake the projects over the allotted time frame .
Will be interesting tonight to hear what projects local government has come up with to waste the billions on . Of all the projects that mayors spoke of last night only one was worth a second thought and that involved up grading his towns water supply infrastructure, the remainder had nothing other than a town beautification wish list which in reality could be a source of funding for Scout job week. .
It'ds your money out there so keep a watch on it before it's all gone and we need to kick in again to salvage the system for total collapse yet again
Basil Faulty said
05:42 PM Nov 18, 2008
Great story re the RTA and the Etag business.... seems they just allocate trips to anyone, even if you don't have a tag, even if you do read your statements and know you were not at the toll place at the time on your bill you still have to pay and apparently seek redress via court proceedings which of course is not viable for a $3 discrepancy. If you don't pay any fees that you did not incur they can fine you for not paying a bill that you did not actually get...... This is totally beyond belief. The Minister for Roads was challenged today on this issue and his spin was just insane, he said that he had looked into the case of some guy in Cobar who does not have an etag getting a bill and said that "Frankly the motorist should not bitch about an $11 fine, just pay it and forget the matter" No, the RTA is now firmly in my sights. Trouble is for every minor problem you cause them by challenging every bill, every fine, etc is simply passed on to the motorist as yet another hidden fee or tax. Makes me want to find their mainframe and issue those immortal words "Format N:/" on the command line....
dave06 said
09:36 PM Nov 18, 2008
format "n" holy jumping bathplugs, that frightens the bejabbers out of me and I dont even know what it means!!!!
Basil Faulty said
10:07 AM Nov 19, 2008
Some sobering news this morning from Barnaby Joyce (always speaks his mind) he says that the current collapse of various State Governments is giving the Feds who he claims are in agreement on this topic ammunition to abolish state governments and in 20 or 30 years we will not have state governments at all. I won't live to see it I guess but all you youngsters will. Think of the savings, bloody monumental, especially if taxpayers are not slugged for the perks of retired state politicians......
Basil Faulty said
10:14 AM Nov 19, 2008
dave06 wrote:
format "n" holy jumping bathplugs, that frightens the bejabbers out of me and I dont even know what it means!!!!
Dave, maybe I should not tell you but the "N" drive is where the RTA and other NSW govt records are held, they are backed up onto a "Q" drive elsewhere, but by the time they managed to get the backups installed all hell would have broken loose.... Just look at what happened when the laptop controlling the M5 tunnel died.... The computer age has us all at it's mercy, have you ever seen the chaos when the power goes off at your local supermarket, everything shuts down, including the minds of the check out chicks....
dave06 said
10:29 AM Nov 19, 2008
"check out chicks mind's shutting down" Basil, how does one know when a check out chick's mind is operating, if one answers the obligatory "Hi how are you" then she/he is tottally befuddled and doesnt know what to say next we were in a woolies centre when the power went down in the middle of the day, I have never seen anything darker or more forboding in all my life, now I've been down a coal mine and I swear it was darker than that "n" drive "Q" drive, really Basil I think it's time to take the gin palace for another walk about, computer's do indeed have us at their mercy, we do everything on our's banking, pay rego, gas, power internewt banking, buy stuff off ebay, our little puty's are like our kid's if something befalls them we immediately phone for a techy who then tells us something like P.L.B.K.A.M. now dont cheat but try to work out what this little smart ass was telling us in his "lingo .....................................................................................................................................................it is of course PROBLEM LIES BEFORE KEYBOARD AND MONITER, little @$&^$@#, should have twisted the propellor off his beanie!!!
-- Edited by dave06 at 09:32, 2008-11-19
Wombat 280 said
10:31 PM Nov 20, 2008
Basil Faulty wrote:
Some sobering news this morning from Barnaby Joyce (always speaks his mind) he says that the current collapse of various State Governments is giving the Feds who he claims are in agreement on this topic ammunition to abolish state governments and in 20 or 30 years we will not have state governments at all. I won't live to see it I guess but all you youngsters will. Think of the savings, bloody monumental, especially if taxpayers are not slugged for the perks of retired state politicians......
Well that's good news all round. I'm not in favor of centralized government but it has to have more merit that the crap we deal with now . Labor about to abolish Labor not bloody likely .
I would like see us lose local government as well and appoint administrators for a set term along with development of methods and procedures for consulting the locals of an area on what they need not what they want . Local government no longer provides local employment or services it merely administers contracts and has absolutely no no idea of processes involved in cost estimation, hence accepting quotes 1-2 million per kilometer for resealing a road is OTT.
Local government is a time consuming folly and requires those who serve to put a lot of time into it . That said it becomes obvious that the only people with time on their hands are people with vested interests like Property Developers , Chamber of Commerce members and Real Estate Agents who would kill to be elected There is only one position better than becoming a serving councilor and that's becoming an adviser to council, no care no responsibility taken and everything to gain.
See Mr Rudd last night gave away another $300 million for councils to mismanage .
Local government is and always will be a bottomless pit of bad decisions and down right waste , firstly they lost billions in rate payer funds in sub prime mortgage investments in the USA.
What! they couldn't find a housing market here to invest in.
They have down scaled their capital equipment and work force to such an extent they are flat out planning and building an outhouse without bringing in O/S contractors .
A prime example of LG's letting down Ausrtralian owned business is graphically illustrated at Port Macquarie . A $800,000.00 traffic light installation has been waiting for over 4 months on 4 light poles to come from China and they will not get here till well into the new year. By the way the State Labor RTA is not without shame and blame in this fiasco they design and approve such works .
The recession heading our way maybe good for us, it may give all business owners a reality check and make them adjust their quotes and profit margins . The cost of getting anything done has grown out of all proportion.
Some are on about the removal of funds from the Pacific highway reconstruction, the truth is that there was to much money allocated in the short term as a vote catcher and they knew there was never going to be enough capital equipment or skilled workers to undertake the projects over the allotted time frame .
Will be interesting tonight to hear what projects local government has come up with to waste the billions on . Of all the projects that mayors spoke of last night only one was worth a second thought and that involved up grading his towns water supply infrastructure, the remainder had nothing other than a town beautification wish list which in reality could be a source of funding for Scout job week. .
It'ds your money out there so keep a watch on it before it's all gone and we need to kick in again to salvage the system for total collapse yet again
No, the RTA is now firmly in my sights. Trouble is for every minor problem you cause them by challenging every bill, every fine, etc is simply passed on to the motorist as yet another hidden fee or tax. Makes me want to find their mainframe and issue those immortal words "Format N:/" on the command line....
The computer age has us all at it's mercy, have you ever seen the chaos when the power goes off at your local supermarket, everything shuts down, including the minds of the check out chicks....
-- Edited by dave06 at 09:32, 2008-11-19
I would like see us lose local government as well and appoint administrators for a set term along with development of methods and procedures for consulting the locals of an area on what they need not what they want . Local government no longer provides local employment or services it merely administers contracts and has absolutely no no idea of processes involved in cost estimation, hence accepting quotes 1-2 million per kilometer for resealing a road is OTT.
Local government is a time consuming folly and requires those who serve to put a lot of time into it . That said it becomes obvious that the only people with time on their hands are people with vested interests like Property Developers , Chamber of Commerce members and Real Estate Agents who would kill to be elected There is only one position better than becoming a serving councilor and that's becoming an adviser to council, no care no responsibility taken and everything to gain.
See Mr Rudd last night gave away another $300 million for councils to mismanage .