… especially when it comes to property. The Magpie reports that the pain is theirs, the pleasure is amusingly ours.
Forget Russians spies and bugging The Trumpet, the question for us here is – has the Federal coalition here pulled off the ‘plant’ of all time? Is a top labor figure an LNP mole? You’d be excused for thinking so.
And a council insider’s view of the Adele The Impaler Young’s slashing handiwork on the TCC staff ‘restructure’.
But first …
Question: What did South Australians use for illumination before they had candles? Answer: Electricity.
It’s been a pretty good week for Malcolm Talkbull. Bowing to the blindingly obvious, our PM finally took a big stick of threatened regulation to the swindling energy oligarchs, who would enrich themselves while putting Australia back into the literal dark ages. He no doubt got a big poll bounce out of his rare foray into plain language of a policy declaration that had the energy cheats … sorry, chiefs … ashen of face and brown of buttock – viz ‘Sort out the energy mess in favour of the Australian public, or I will.’
Statements like these from any politician are inevitably followed by a thought-fart over-reach, and so it was with an uncosted flourish from the Realm of Promisedom about doubling the output of the Snowy Mountain hydro operation. That is not to say it isn’t a good idea, but timing is everything in politics and it inadvertently appeared to be just a rush to bludgeonment of an upstart SA premier who gave a pouting and petulant Josh Frydenberg a right old public kickin’
But never mind all that, our Bentley – who in his real life outside the Nest knows a fair bit about the energy issue – was inspired to invoke Banjo Paterson as the PM went in search of the vote from old Regret that got away.
A poem by Bentley …. whoda thort?
Mal’s Unlikely Ally
ACTU Secretary Sally McManus
Amidst all the blah-blah-blah, it takes something really off kilter to make one sit up and take notice these days. But one Sally McManus, the ACTU’s boss of bosses, did that during the week. Even the unflappable Leigh Sales looked totally bemused when Ms McManus said on 7.30 she saw nothing wrong with her members breaking the law.
‘I believe in the rule of law, where the law’s fair, where the law is right, but when it’s unjust, I don’t think there’s a problem in breaking it,’ she said, causing cheering to break out in CFMEU pubs across the land (they all watch 7.30 in the front bar, doncha know?)
With that, all hell broke loose in all of a nano-second, since this was somewhat more bolshie than the Labor/Greens usual civil disobedience line. Bill The ShortUn almost choked on his chardonnay and lobster thermidor, and after a dainty dab with the table napkin, declared ‘I just don’t agree. We believe in changing bad laws, not breaking them.’ Which begs the question about breaking laws IN ORDER to have them changed, a Labor tactic carved in stone. Isn’t changing laws solely up to the voters … well, in theory anyway … by changing their elected representatives?
But that’s neither here not there, as was the most sobering thought about just who decides, if not the voters through the parliament, just WHICH laws are unjust. The right wing think tank Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) summed up that argument comprehensively when it suggested that Ms McManus would then have no problem if employers paid below the mandated minimum wage because they thought it was unjust.
And The Magpie expects an email of support from Ms McManus for his belief that GST applied to Iced Vo Vos is an impost that should not be countenanced. These are esstential sustenance, not just to him but self-regarding politicians everywhere. But the old bird did have a touch of bother insisting that the Coles check-out person deduct 10%. Looks like he will be shopping a Woolies from now on – at Coles request.
But one could be forgiven for wondering if Ms McManus is on the take … from the LNP. Has she succumbed to liberal offers of, say, a weekend beach house, Labor’s traditional and favorite form of blandishment? Because her strident and ill-considered choice of words couldn’t have come at a better time for Talkbull, who started the week floundering around for relevance. And no amount of ShortUn denial will completely repair the suspicion and the damage to the Labor brand.
It is weird. But Ms McManus is sticking to her guns (an unfortunate analogy for one advocating law breaking), grandstanding that she is ‘a unionist first second and third’. Shame, as the head of one of Australia’s most powerful social and political organisations, she didn’t have ‘law abiding Australian’ in there somewhere. Like, maybe, first.
Hey, Hey, The Gang’s All Here … Even When They’re There
Really … when are they going to get a hotel room? The Mullet and Bogan’s very public exchange of endearments is now beyond embarrassing.
Jenny goes for a joyride of extremely doubtful use to India no matter what Adani decides, a free jolly courtesy of the Queensland taxpayer, but she is never far from Bogan’s beating heart. She might as well not have gone as far as the pages of the Astonisher are concerned. While the paper runs the disgracefully manipulative and totally unsupported line of bullshit about some poor mutt named Mary in an Indian slum who will suddenly get electricity if Adani’s mine goes ahead (good luck there, Mary) Mayor Mullet waxes lyrical about the shining example of Mumbai’s airport. It must be a world record bow she has drawn when she tells the Bulletin’s excess baggage Kieran Rooney that ‘Mumbai Airport handles over 45 million passengers a year, and after the visit there, I’m more than ever convinced the Townsville Airport upgrade is a critical factor in growing our economy and tourism.’ Ummm, why? As meaningless and unquantifiable twaddle goes, it’s world class.
But Mayor Mullet is deputy chair of TEL, whose chairman is the gormless airport boss Kevin Gill, who wants to rob ratepayers and visitors of their money through a passenger tax to build an upgrade which will benefit no one but his company. And iditor Ben Bogan is one of this circle jerk that is pushing this line of flapdoodle. Expect to get gypped next time you fly, folks.
Like The ‘Pie said. Mayor Mullet need not have gone anywhere, it’s as though she never left anyway.
Readings FromThe Risible
And nothing much changes at the Astonisher, the paper remains good for a rueful belly laugh. During the week, we were told this.
A viscous attack,eh? Well, he certainly wasn’t coshed with those handcuffs. What, was he clouted with ‘something thick and sticky, between liquid and solid’, like jelly or custard? No, no, my sweets, you meant vicious. THIS is vicious …
… while, from your very own pages on the same day, THIS is viscous.
But the Bulletin is ever anxious to bring us the bare-faced truth in its stories, although this one did raise the question ‘Why bother?’
Note …
Well, they showed us something …,
But even when they do show faces, the paper runs the risk of a swift and expensive kick in the legal briefs. This popped up as a headline in the on-line paper.
And were you, m’dear? Without a word of who was in the photograph, it could be strongly argued that the Astonisher was quoting the person depicted. Sure looked like it, and even when you read the small print, who knows that they weren’t in this transgender age? Which would be news to the wallopers, because she was actually a witness in an on-going murder trial. Lesser publishing sins have cost a lot of money, but in this brave new world of cut price cross-checking and wiser heads, News Ltd seems determined to learn the hard way.
Then there was this as posted in Magpie comments.
The Magpie
March 13, 2017 at 9:31 am (Edit)
Praise the Lord and break out the Iced Vo Vos!!! Townsville is on the real estate runaway just revving for take-off … that’s the word from one of Australia’s leading real estate experts.
Whew, some good news at last, from an independent outsider who can look at the local scene with an unbiased eye.
So who is the expert with the rose-coloured glasses? Why, it’s none other than Tom Panos. And just what does he do when he isn’t singing the praises of our house prices of the future? Our ‘expert’ is in fact News Ltd General Manager of real estate sales. Who works for the same outfit which owns the Bulletin (the paper slowly being strangled by local agents defections to more effective media options) to speak at one of the bogus seminars sponsored inter alia by … ta da … the Bulletin.
But our News Ltd shill isn’t just looking to the future. He exhorts us with this:
‘I see at the moment that Townsville is a brilliant opportunity to buying in as it has built-in value which should over the next five years see the property market grow at a faster rate than any other around Australia.’
Of course, it goes without saying (although Tommy did end up saying it) that the Bulletin is the place to find your dream investment and where you can flog it later on for a massive profit.
Now, all in all, that might be sound advice, but that man in the grubby gabardine overcoat may really just want nothing more than to give a little girl a lolly over in the bushes. Nothing more.
Honestly, they really do think we are fucking idiots. Seriously. They do.
But Ben Bogan has many masters, so we get this during the week.
Now, as you all know, The ‘Pie is no great shakes on his maths (after all, he used to work at The Bulletin) and is no whiz at understanding the property market. But isn’t the above GOOD news? Making land cheaper for first time buyers and the like? And those existing owners dropping a bob or two still have a roof over their heads and something to leave the kids?
Well, that probably isn’t the view of a few developers around town, especially those giving the paper some rare big bucks to push the Rocky Springs sub-division, the new ‘super suburb’ rebranded Elliot Springs (no, it is not named after Sally). This project has been hanging around since Mooney was in power, and finally work is due to start this month and agents are out there spruiking its virtues. But that job is certainly harder if there’s too much competition. So Bogan, being the good real estate bum boy that he is, will no doubt re-print many similar press releases to the one above, to make sure prices can be maintained at a premium at inter alia Elliot Springs.
Council Insider Speaks Out
The following was published in comments during the week, and is given another gallop here because of the overwhelmingly one-sided PR tripe about the Townsville City Council ‘restructure’ being quoted without examination by the Bulletin. The Magpie knows not the value of what ‘Not Happy Jan’ has to say, but it appears an informed point of view which will never see the light of day anywhere else.
Not happy, Jan!
March 15, 2017 at 7:31 am (Edit)
Smoke and mirrors to say the least. Selective reporting and avoiding the truth – definitely. Even with some creative accounting the figures don’t stack. This below is directly from the CEO (verbatim) this week which summaries the full impact of the restructure:
……………..
The proposed structure finally addresses the TCC’s unsustainable labour costs by cutting the use of temporary labour and establishing the right size permanent workforce to do job.
Key changes identified in the plan include:
· converting 101 maximum term roles to permanent positions;
· creating 57 new permanent positions;
· making 147 positions redundant, 75 of which are occupied, mostly in administration due to a reduction in back office and support functions and duplication of roles and accountabilities;
· removing 176 temporary positions. Employees will either be eligible to participate in the merit based selection process for permanent jobs, or their terms will expire in due course.
While the proposed structure is not final and subject to the consultation process, it’s important to provide staff with certainty around the process. Should redundancies be confirmed, the following process will apply to employees:
- match staff with jobs in the 258 existing vacancies in the organisation
2. merit based selection process where applicable (see Staff Appointment Plan included in the TCC Transformation documents)
3. retraining and redeployment
4. voluntary redundancies in identified areas where there are more permanent incumbent staff than available positions.
……………..
Now let’s be clear here for those that don’t know. There are many positions in TCC which are temporary in nature. This is due to various reasons such as the effort required to convert them to permanent. It is often easier for senior leadership to appoint these permanent equivalents to temporary status for a fixed term ie: 3 years or so and then renew. These are not casuals or other expendable roles. They are effectively FTE by definition, just not by status.
I’m not sure how they (CEO and Astonisher) quantify 258 existing vacancies. A quick math check will highlight that restructure will create 158 roles (and a quick check on current vacancies goes to highlight there isn’t a surplus of another 100 positions currently waiting to be filled) whilst removing 323 positions either through redundancy or temporary terms which will expire in due course. All in all adding up to a large unemployed workforce either 1. seeking to compete via merit-based appointment for the very few positions that remain, or 2. Being shown the door once a term period ends and the TCC doesn’t renew.
It’s quite a diabolical mess that the Council is in currently and this restructure of non-management clearly flies in the face of Mullet’s electioneering promises to these staff whereby she accused the former management of conspiring to remove them and that if they voted for her and her team she would get rid of management and save their roles. How quickly she forgets her underhanded promises…
And the sad thing is, how quickly the electorate forgets those underhanded promises as Mayor Mullet and her Gilded Few continue to hand out beads and blankets to we dim-witted natives.
Finally, It Wouldn’t Be A Nest Without Reporting on America’s Slowly Evolving Trumpicide.
The ‘Pie has a theory that Donald Trump doesn’t really care about the Presidency – plenty of evidence there – but is actually pioneering a new form of entertainment – Unreality TV (UTV). Posting his own irrelevant tax return of more than a decade ago to a TV reporter, and then denouncing the media for detailing it even before it is aired (bit of a gotcha there, Donny boy) is just part of the game.
His UnrealityTV is a winner here, as reported every day all over the ‘fake media’ – and that very reporting is what makes it so successful It is hard to believe everyone falls for the ‘Look over there, no, not here, there’. But they do.
Remember this illustration, purloined from a totally unconnected art show about the environment to whip up anti-Islam sentiment in Europe?
Well, maybe this will go down as a similar landmark in Trump’s rampage.
The Magpie Censored
One of The ‘Pie’s regular chores is to scroll through the daily Crikey.com feed, and occasionally, the old bird is moved to pen the odd comment. Most get published, but it would appear the sisterhood was not amused when the old bird took them to task for their reference to the male domination of morning radio host positions as ‘a sausage fest.’ He dashed this off to Crikey.
Re ‘Breakfast Radio A Sausage Fest’ Crikey March 15.
One of the admirable features of Crikey is that, even when one disagrees with a point of view, it is always balanced, as good journalism should be. So given the pejorative headline about a sausage fest, can readers be confident we will at some stage see, in reference to some arena where there is a female preponderance of participation a headline about ‘a bearded clam bake’? Indeed, Crikey being the fair-minded, cutting edge commentary site that it is, there could be some points for cool scored here, if a cosmopolitan, indeed global, nod towards current lower-tonsorial enthusiasms made reference to a ‘Brazilian clam bake’.
It didn’t get published.
That’s all for this week, join us 24/7 in the comments and have your say. Keep an eye on the TownsvilleMagpie Facebook page, and there may even be the odd tweet.
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