Both His Radiance and The Legal Foghorn get a sharp reality check when they try fiddle local government planning laws.
Jenny hill shows all the style of an ageing bag lady with her weird Christmas Tree debacle, which is backed up by a disgraceful council performance on the Charters Towers Road pipe works.
The Voice is suffering laryngitis: proponents still refuse to even hint at what they REALLY want – a leading legal expert outlines the current nightmare scenario of a pig in a poke referendum.
Plus a couple of barrow loads from our favourite funsters at the Shovel, and our regular gallery of Mayhem America.
If anyone has any Christmas cheer still jingling in the pocket, the donation button to help the Nest meet costs is at the end of the blog.
Onwards …
Jakarta Bans Jiggy Jiggy
Obviously the story of the week was featured under the predictable two word headline ‘Bonk Ban’.
Naturally, local media all started hyperventilating from their high moral ground, especially how it might affect tourism to Bali, which they tend to regard as a de facto Australian state.
The word ‘draconian’ is, for once, apt but you have to plough on through a lot of self-righteous indignation before learning that tourists may not be affected by the new law that decrees sex only lawful between man and wife. And you can only be snitched on by a family member or others close to the family. Try anything outside this edict and you’ll be rooted in a very different way … and maybe by a cell mate as well.
However, the economically-aware rules make it unlikely that tourists will be targeted … but even if they are, Bentley reckons it will be a window of opportunity for some sharp operators.
But this line caught The Magpie eye:
“The old code belongs to Dutch heritage … and is no longer relevant now,” Bambang Wuryanto, head of the parliamentary commission in charge of revising the code told lawmakers.
The ‘Pie understands that also on the committee was Mr Wuryanto’s cousin,a sharia law expert, Wambang No Tunku Mam.
His Radiance Gets His Light Dimmed …
… and it’s back to the drawing board for Big Bazza Taylor.
To The’Pie’s great amusement, whispers from afar have winged their into The Nest about a misjudged attempt at greasing the wheels of bureaucracy.
The story goes that Bazza Taylor is building a new gin palace down Brisbane way, possibly in Noosa or even closer to Brissy. As with Baz’s familiar taste for Las Vegas ‘vulgar chic’, the plans submitted for approval were lavish overkill. And apparently didn’t meet the required planning regulations. New gin palace design therefore knocked back.
Now, no one hereabouts will be surprised that Baz has contempt for all authorities from judges on down … and as for some prick in a planning department … well, he’ll show him.
So rather than work around the problem and (gasp!) reach a compromise, Baz called his old mate, Tony His Radiance Mooney, former Townsville mayor and part-time perjurer in courts of law. Mooney certainly owes Baz a favour or two from the olden days, and Baz called one in, asking Mooney to speak to the relevant poo-bah, laying it on the line who he was, his history and his labor credentials (whatever they are nowadays). The idea was that Mooney would try to bully/cajole said poo-bah into being a little more liberal in his interpretation of the building rules.
Story goes that Mooney laid it on with a trowel, singing Baz’s virtues when a citizen in Townsville, and his own long career at the helm of the city as mayor. The ‘Pie is told that the conversation then went liked this:
Mooney: ‘Look, mate, Barry is a good bloke, and a wealthy man, in fact, a millionaire several times over, so don’t you think it wise to cut him a bit of slack in this matter?
Planning poo Bah: Mr Mooney, down here, I deal every day with billionaires, and I don’t cut them any slack. Thanks for the call.
The exact details may vary a bit, and The ‘Pie welcomes His Radiance gracing The Nest with any correction, but the source in unimpeachable.
Making The CBD Look Like Christmas In Kyiv – Mayor Mullet’s Cunning Plan To Show Sympathy For The Ukraine
The CBD is a cheerless place at the best of times, and you’d think you’d be hard pressed to devise a way to how to make it even more so.
Enter Mayor Mullet and her clever – and deeply mysterious – Christmas tree plan. The Magpie was his usual restrained and reasonable self when he reported the matter in comments during the week.
The Magpie
Submitted on 2022/12/06 at 8:07 pm
This is just fucking madness.
The CBD has been struggling for years, with remaining business owners tearing out their hair as they watch the tumbleweeds blowing down the main drag … but the tumbleweed has – thanks to a clearly deranged mayor – turned into pine needles and cones.
In an area that is dying primarily because of traffic and parking problems, Mayor Mullet has decided in her wisdom to move the annual Christmas tree from it’s handy, unobstructive niche near the big screen in Flinders Street across the road to be outside the Cowboys club, and plonked right in the incoming traffic lane on Stokes Street. This has necessitated the blocking off of one vital entry to the suffering Flinders Street business stretch. The unfathomable idiocy of this is enhanced by the unimaginative, unattractive by-the-numbers dross of the ‘tree’ itself, suitably guarded against clamouring hoards of souvenir hunters by a menacing, uncheery red industrial barrier beneath.
There has been no attempt to explain this cockamamie idea. It’s just another kick in the balls for local businesses, coming at what should be a peak trading time. There was a touch of callous malice when Jenny merrily wittered away on the council release “Council has engaged Pop-Up Food Trucks to bring local food businesses to Flinders St for revellers to enjoy, and we’ll be taking over Hanran Park this year to present Sweet Street with dessert options and a pop-up cinema under twinkling lights.’
In other words, again introducing outside businesses to come and compete with rate paying businesses in situ.
Not Sure We Should Report This, But …
… giving our mayor ideas is never a good idea, especially when she is clearly parking mad. But even this might be a bridge too far for her. This an alarmingly stupid, bureaucratic nightmare from who else but the but the ultra woke Poms. … even Orwell or Huxley couldn’t have come up with this one
Back Here, Charters Towers Road Is The Glaring Proof Of The Ingrained Problem That Poisons Townsville
It’s as though everyone has just given up. Put frankly, no one, from. the mayor, councillors bureaucrats down to the manual workers, shows one shred of pride in their city. They just DO NOT GIVE A FUCK. Here’s the proof. And remember, this is not like unattended potholes and the like, caused by nature and general wear-and-tear… this is caused by workers and supervisors – and ultimately the city leadership, who simply do not care.
As reported during the week
The Magpie
The Townsville City Council’s ‘close enough, good enough, she’ll be jake’ Charters Towers Road policy.
Not one single shred of pride from anyone … not from the mayor, who should be down on this faster than a priest on a choirboy but is too busy blocking roads with Christmas Trees and spending $50k on moving a few bits and pieces to Riverway … no pride from the council shiny bums who sign off on this sub-standard shoddy repair work, and no pride in a job well done and with tradesman like skill by the workers themselves. This will how things will stay for months, even years.
Even this small sample is a lawsuit waiting to happen. Like the mayor or anyone else in Walker Street would give a tuppenny toss – council’s got plenty of ratepayers’ money and the services of their cut price consigliere Tony Bligh(t) when the inevitable accident happens.
Jenny Hill is always so satisfied to parrot about all manner of policies that ‘the devil is in the detail’. Well, this shoddy attitude is the detail, exemplified in the CTR works but evidenced across the city.
There is no excuse, this is plain and simple dereliction of civic duty.
BREAKING: JENNY HILL ANSWERS HER CRITICS>
‘I don’t know what everyone is carrying on about with the Charters Towers Road footpath. I have even ordered new uniforms for roadworks inspectors. We at the TCC – that’s me – adopt a very philosophical, NQ approach in relation to reinstating footpaths’:
He Said It, so Don’t Blame The ‘Pie …
Thank heavens, Les, we don’t want to have a blind MP as well as a useless one.
The Indigenous Voice Referendum: It’s Gone From Worthy And Interesting To Very Sinister
And it’s not something that’s been said … it what hasn’t and isn’t being said. The Magpie isn’t alone in this confusion, which is so hard to understand in what remains of a sane world.
The unvarnished plain truth is that certain groups have come up with a plan to give the Indigenous people of Australia constitutionally guaranteed representation in federal parliament. but that’s all we know, and all they are saying. So here is where we’re at now … no one is saying what such a move may involve, and how it will affect indigenous people, or the 97% of the rest of the population. It’s very much ‘put your hand in this hollow log and get a surprise’.
Chris Merritt
Chris Merritt is vice-president of the Rule of Law Institute of Australia. He wrote an incisive column this week in the Australian which pin-pointed where we are in this debate right now.
Some excerpts:
Much of the debate about the proposed indigenous Voice to parliament is barely worthy of that description. It has been clouded by government secrecy. There are no details about the institution’s structure, powers, jurisdiction and whether it will be supported by its own public service. Yet we are seriously being asked to embed this unknown entity in the Constitution. Before that happens, we need to know how the government plans to implement the final report of the Indigenous Voice Co-Design Process, which calls for an administrative structure that is “entirely separate from any existing body and under the control of the national Voice members and co-chairs”. “The national Voice would require a very high degree of independence because of its unique structure. Therefore, it would not be appropriate for its policy and administrative support to be provided by an existing government entity.
That is nothing short of recommending a separate government and bureaucracy beyond the control of the current parliament – and paid for by the general taxpayer. But here’s where it really starts to get sinister.
“ In order to provide an informed view on an unlimited range of matters, the Voice would need a substantial public service. But how big? And how much will it cost? With none of these details on the table, this “debate” has been limited to feel-good assertions from the “yes” side of the argument and increasing concern from the “no” side about the government’s refusal to explain what it is planning. It looks like the main goal is to keep voters in the dark.
Merritt then gets to the nub of the issue, on the current available evidence.
The Yes side of this debate is already fostering divisions but (speaking out against the idea) Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has reframed this debate. She has transformed this referendum into a test of whether Australia will adhere to the great principle that underpins true democracies.
“We are not looking for more division,” she said. “We are part of a liberal democratic Australia and one of our fundamental principles is that we are all regarded as equal under the law despite race, despite gender, despite anything else. Why should I as an Indigenous Australian be governed by a separate entity because of my race? We are here to serve Australian citizens of all backgrounds and it is not right to divide us along the lines of race, especially in our Australian founding document,” Price said.
Price also said in her maiden speech ‘ “The globally unprecedented Voice proposal will divide Australia along racial lines… It will constitutionally enshrine the idea that Aboriginal people are perpetual victims – forever in need of special measures.”
And that is hard to argue with.
Senator Price is going to a pivotal figure in arguing that The Voice will be a racial wedge. We are yet to hear substantive argument from ‘yes’ proponents, and until we do, they are already losing.
And A More Light-Hearted View Of A Couple Of Other National Issues
Some Tiny Green Shoots Of Sanity Are Struggling Towards The Sun In The US
The Magpie particular liked a tweet referring to the Republicans oft-bragged claim that Lincoln was in fact a Republican.
If Lincoln were to see what the GOP has become, he’d run to the box office at Ford’s Theater and buy a single ticket for the balcony.
But the American illustrators and satirists weren’t short of other material … seems they never are.
Seems Bitcoin Is On The Slide …
…. but apparently, it’s been around in one form or another for a while.
And something The ‘Pie has been meaning to ask (genuine question). What has happened to all that regular money used to buy a slice of the bitcoin action? And why was it necessary to do so, anyway? Couldn’t it have been possible to offer goods or services in return for bitcoin? Of course not, Ponzi schemes don’t work that way.
One From The Archives
And Finally, Scomo Honoured
…………….
That’s the week that was, join in comments, just think of a name and have your say. And if you would like to support this blog, the donate button is below. It would be appreciated.
Re the Voice.
The road to Hell is paved with good ideas.
Not if we did it, then it’s paved with whatever we can find to plug the holes. Wags at work reckon young Mooney is smart to keep away from roadworks is that he is a useless limp of crap and would end up as fill.
Les Walker must be the only person on the planet who thinks the public needs to be warned that if you get heart palpitations you seek urgent medical treatment.
Les obviously did come down in the last shower because he somehow has missed the constant warnings and advice about cardiac symptoms in the media over the past few years.
I know you read the Magpie blog every Sunday morning Les (one of your Labor mates told me) so the next time you get heart palpitations, do what everyone else does and call 000. Don’t bother handing out advice to the masses – we already know what to do.
Do ‘we’ Reader? Speak for yourself, you don’t speak for me, you officious arsewipe.
Obviously there are 2 people who have come down in the last shower.
Les, mate, have a bex and a lie down, your getting hyperventilated.
Don’t listen to him Les, just ignore the any palpitations. It’s nothing.
I’ll drink to that!
Team Hill simply arnt business friendly . Nothing says ” Merry Christmas from Townsville City Council ” like stop , no enter , cut off access to Flinders street with the relocation of Councils Christmas Tree and businesses already reporting downturn . All the businesses on the Strand that received add on sales with families making it an evening with ” Stable on the Strand ” then the Council moves it to Riverway . Charters Towers road repair quality isnt up to standard / blocked business access for months and Councillor Mooney should be on site with Council supervisors because the photos in the blog are unacceptable and possible litigation Council with accidents . Steve Belgian Gardens and Steven Wulguru unsupported comments and the blow back by people responding = 40% + Text to Editor some days higher . Freedom of speech is one thing , will the Editor act ? .
Can we please leave the “Tribute to Kiev” monument alone please? You can plainly see that it is the nose of a Russian missle, surrounded by a simulated Ukrainian roadblock, with signage depicting the need for us to stop and turn back from war.
Comrade Jenny has done us a wonderful art installation – fucked up Christmas business for the CBD but that should not stand in the way of ideology.
In that Christmas tree photo the thing that speaks volumes to me is the abandoned shopping trolley. First, the type of people who steal and misuse shopping trolleys, and second, that the council did not remove it as part of beautifying what should be a CBD focal point for the next few weeks.
What type of people are you referring to Dave of Kelso?
That you, Steve of Belgian Gardens, or is it Wulguru?
The type who steal and misuse shopping trolleys.
The comments given out from the immediate shop owners is that the tree was moved to be clear of the dirt falling off the work being done on the Sugar Shaker.
if you care to walk around the columns supporting the awnings the dirt clinging to the vertical steel is very visible.
Stop whining about the loss of ONE Turn into Flinders Street compared to the cost for the replacement of a rather large tree
OR
would you prefer to have NO TREE
Absolutely, no tree, great idea. Never looks convincing in a tropical setting anyway, and especially not in the dreary CBD. Really, who or how many would care less? None is better than this afterthought travesty.
And calling out daft thinking and hypocritical bullshit (including your comment) is not whining, it is giving a voice to the – in this case – the majority to express an opinion. … you really are the Pooh in Winni.
Here’s a thought … would it not be a more symbolic and inclusive gesture by the TCC and Mayor Mullet to construct a humongous (30m say) Christmas tree, and display it prominently on Castle Hill for the season. It could be suitably anchored and lit. Done properly, it could garner wonderful publicity for Townsville. If they’re going to wilfully leave the fucking Saint there, they shouldn’t have a quibble about Jesus Christ and his birthday.
Send a text of your own having a sook about it, Mike.
Trite, but typical.
Now there’s a blast from the past – the Tony Mooney/Bazza Taylor Show. Brings back a lot of old memories about the Pallarenda toilets, hit and run accidents, grandstanding at Michel’s Restaurant, and brown paper bags – all completely above board, of course. If a lawyer of Bazza’s reputation is involved, it has to be legit, right?
Big Ears, You forgot the rezoning of the the two blocks of land at Stanley St at the base of Castle Hill. It was vacant because of potential land slip as per Mines & Energy Dept. But ‘Mudguard’ Carmichael with the help of ‘His Radiance’ got that overturned and built his grand manor on the land. And we all know how that turned out.
I can’t forget the first hand story from a real estate mate, who sold a house to a couple of ‘girls’ who had a strict regime of keeping very fit and purchased directly in front of grub Barry Taylor’s earlier home on the hill.
Bazza decided that the tall palm tree in the front yard of the girls home was blocking his view and sent his ‘yard man’ round to fell said palm tree.
The girls arrived home, saw their front yard was minus a palm tree and after making inquiries, the ‘larger more muscular’ of the girls, went around, rang his doorbell and advised Taylor to his face that if he even looked like visiting their yard again, he would walking around with his two ripped of arms stuffed into his rear orifice !
Apparently even Taylor’s two Rottweilers were traumatised by the visit from the young lady !
That Xmas tree is a fucking disgrace. It’s almost ugly as the inside of Jenny Hill’s wardrobe. It looks like a green nuclear warhead with some bling thrown on it for good measure. A token bogan effort as instructed by a pathetic bogan mayor.
Another “constructive” comment from the “Princess of Useless Abuse!”
I travel to Indonesia regularly for work. I can tell you that all of their standards and so-called rules are all window dressing. If you go to certain clubs for dinner it’s a restaurant theme, but as soon as the clock strikes 10:00 pm the nightclub music starts and the call girls start doing their thing. Go to any 5 Star hotel between midnight and 5:00 am and watch all the tarty call girls leaving their clients rooms with the client accompanying them to the hotel front door doing the walk of shame. There is no shortage of sex and alcohol in the Muslim country. Same applies to Abu Dhabi. Strict Muslim compliance is enforced, unless it’s after 10:00 pm in a 5 Star hotel where you can buy all the booze you like and get your knob polished. The only Asian country I would recommend you avoid if you are a deviant is Saudi Arabia.
Yes, well, whatever, any cut price airfare deals?
But one learns something new every day … ISRAEL IS AN ASIAN COUNTRY.
The ‘Pie was under the impression that S A was not Asian but Middle Eastern …. in fact, both are correct but Middle East is not a continental term, so technically Asia. From Wiki:
Is Middle East considered Asia?
About The Middle East
These Middle East countries are part of the Asian continent, with the exception of Egypt, which is part of Africa, and the northwestern part of Turkey, which is part of the European landmass. The Mediterranean Sea defines the western edge of the region.
I wonder if Les “Restricted access zone” Walker mention of a health scare might be grounds for his standing down at next election? Surely the ALP hard heads know what a vote loser he is. He has no credit left in the factional games. Internal polling must show he drags down the party over all 3 Townsville seats. Pre selection battle lines may be occurring. Just putting it out there Mr Pie. The next state election will be so hard for QLD Labor they won’t hesitate if required to keep in the game. Watch out Loser Les.
OK, and The ‘Pie will put this out there, although not quite as believable as your theory.
How about a current councillor as the replacement candidate? Say, maybe, someone with a strong Labor name. Starts with M.
Well polling in Federal and Victoria shows the youth vote were hoodwinked, sorry electorally persuaded to favour young leftish looking “one of them” types. Even if the young M isn’t he would sell better.
Les won’t stand down voluntarily. Where else would he pocket a package of $280k per year? Nowhere in Townsville. No business with the intent on surviving would hire him. And to be honest, no shitty little two-bit hack business would hire him. His ‘hospital story’ is just out of his personality of being a narcissist with relevance deprivation syndrome. It’s the only attention seeking thing he could come up with. I wonder if Ambo Harpic checked his ticker or have him mouth to mouth?
A bit ungenerous, but one does wonder if a guiding hand of political strategist and mate was behind it. That is not to say that the scare wasn’t genuine, but getting it into the media in this manner seemed to be attempting a profile in responsibility towards the community. Bit of a strange thing to do though, seeking a higher profile by admitting your were an idiot.
Don’t forget who we are talking about here, the many brainless gullible fuckwits of Townsville, there will be many across this town who will find Walkers stupidity somewhat appealing, because it’s the sort of thing they would do, or it somehow makes him more like one of them, an everyday dickhead making stupid decisions, he makes morons feel comfortable.
Winni, the Christmas tree has been positioned across the road from the Sugar Shaker (next door to the Night Owl) for years so I can’t see how moving it to next to the Cowboys Leagues Club would make any difference. If it was in danger of being covered in debris from work on the Sugar Shaker the Workplace Health & Safety prople should be mounting an investigation, and Townsville Bulletin Square should be closed to protect the public.
The tree is indicative of our Labor mayor and council – fake and protected by fencing aka Commercial-In Confidence.
As for Les Walker standing down, he won’t quit until he is voted out or goes to meet his maker.
If he keeps opting to mow the lawn instead of calling 000, that could happen sooner than later.
Yes that is a shock, he mows his own lawn. I thought a lazy politician like Les would be slipping a kid $20 to do it. You know, supporting local business.
Les slipping anybody a twenty is hard to imagine. he would usually prefer in travelled in the opposite direction …’kid, and you can tell your grandkids you once mowed Les Walker’s lawn.’
BYW this has nothing to with black American argot about ‘I’s mowed yo’ momma’s lawn, fool’.
Ah don’t all be to hard on poor old Jenny by putting the Xmas tree on the road near cowboys as she has bought all the people back into the city with it as i have been down to the post office everyday around 9am since last Wednesday and i couldn’t get a park in Sturt st from Denham st down all the way to the old Cinemas, so the people are back but they don’t seem to be in the shops? i just can’t work out where they are ( maybe looking at the Xmas Tree)
It’s free at the moment, so maybe their behind the counters serving the customers who’ve walked a couple of kms to buy what they could get at a suburban S C.
So who’s the villain at the Ville?
And who’s going to be the fall guy? Expect some high end duck shoving about this little yarn.
The Ville’s statement … a recycled release from a recent hint of such matters … and the Bulletin story goes out of its way to ensure that Chris Morris’s ‘plausible deniability’ is recorded … twice.
But this leaves Mr Morris with a tricky choice. He is asking us to implicitly believe that a smart, proven hands on businessman, who derives the bulk of his wealth from gambling, had no inkling of executive naughtiness and unusual movement of considerable nsums of money and chips, and that well paid senior executives would defy him and go behind his back and break the law. So we either accept that, or, to be frank, accept the alternative that he is a dumb bugger who is, like Sergeant Schultz, in the ‘I know nudding’ camp. Heaven forbid that we would suggest he would lie.
Then there’s the initial question: if adverse findings are proven, who takes the fall? This is also tricky, and not just for Morris and the Ville. TEL will have red faces, too, if the fall guy turns out to be Ville celebrity manager Michael Jones.
https://www.casino.org/news/more-australian-casinos-face-accusations-of-violating-regulations-working-with-junkets/
His Sleekness is a prominent member of the hapless Townsville Enterprise board, his presence often trotted out to offer a false veracity to their existence.
Just how The Bulletin handles this is the print issue tomorrow will be informative … the Ville is one of their biggest advertisers. One wonders what the manager of the paper’s advertising and sales will instruct the editor to do.
The Ville has officially been charged now, due in court in January
I see that Cairns Casino got fined the huge sum of $10,000 which is a lot like being flogged with a wilted lettuce leaf and is probably less than the gaming room finds under the furniture and down the side of the couch. Don’t think Mr Morris or his local minder will be too worried.
Did anyone else hear on the radio news this morning that Townsville has had it’s worst year for crime (over 34,000 incidents reported), but according to Harpic, the Queensland government’s “tough bail laws were working” and it could have been worse! Unfortunately I can’t find a replay to hear if my ears deceived me.
Perhaps Mr Morris might also explain why the sudden need for a new, plush High Roller’s Room at the Townsville Casino. If memory serves me correctly, there was no need for one until the big casinos down south were caught out and shut down.
I’m sure he has a reasonable explanation, so come on Chris, give us the goss.
Can’t wait to see Tony Raggatt’s media release report in tomorrow’s Astonisher.
Because the old VIP room is a run down shithole full of local homeless geezers and drug dealers.
Low Roller – Raggart must have missed the cut off time for today’s edition of the paper. Not a word in it about casino capers.
Sorry, incorrect … but not surprised you missed it. Page 5, next to an unfortunate headline for a different – and idiotic – story.
And yes, it is still up on the website, just dropped down a bit as the news cycle moved on.
NASA have introduced a new gender neutral term for an unoccupied space craft its no longer manned or unmanned. Its now uncrewed.
Missing an ‘s’?
Yep I thought that too.
So is the very front part of an aeroplane still being called a cockpit ?
It’s called The Flight Deck, Crackers, and has been for a very long time old mate!
Get excited people, some exercise for the afternoon, just took Les Walkers taxpayer funded totally useless seasons greetings card with magnet glued onto it and put it straight into the recycling bin. He’s too bloody dumb to at least make it a bit useful and print a year at a glance calendar onto it so taxpayers at least get some use out of it.
A half decent Council CEO could’ve overturned Hill’s decision or at least influenced her to change her mind on where to place the Xmas tree. Our part-time TCC CEO has probably been too busy tending to Gladstone Ports Corporation matters and other business matters which soaks up most of his time while receiving a Council payslip. When is this ninny going to fuck off?
Why would he FO? would you? if you were getting a salary like his and only had to do part-time.
The Christmas tree looks just fine Mr.Pie, and its location is also fine as it really only poses a minor inconvenience. I’m not sure as to the reason behind so many people being upset with it. After all, it brings some happy moments to Townsville while we cope with the pressures that life brings upon us. A Merry Christmas to you and your readers.
Your satire is always a high spot of The Magpie’s day.
Exclusive Butt Flog, “The Christmas tree brings some happy moments” For whom, and how? With all due respects to “happy days”
Perhaps Elected Butterflog is referring to the brown paper bags he places under Councillors Xmas tree’s? Nah mate, it’s Townsville, that’s how we do business around here.
Thanks for your input Dolan.
Disgraceful photos on the Everything Townsville FB page showing the dreadful condition of the Townsville Cemetery, TCC can’t even manage the most basic community service.
Link please.
Cemetry FB link https://www.facebook.com/groups/899656876764631/permalink/6115158571881076/
Just picked up today’s paper and tried to find the story about the local casino being charged with conducting an unlawful junket operation. Not on page 1, couldn’t find it on page 2, 3 no, 4 no. 5 – ah there it is, a small single column story tucked away on the inside of the page. Can the editor please explain how a story about a crocodile getting dental treatment (no I’m not joking) was considered more important than serious charges against the local casino. When Star was charged in Sydney earlier this year it was all over the front page of the Daily Telegraph and the Sydney Morning Herald, so why the feeble attempt at a cover-up in Townsville. Wouldn’t be because the casino is one of the paper’s biggest advertisers, would it?
By the way, don’t bother trying to find the story on the paper’s website – it has disappeared.
Strange days indeed – most peculiar Momma.
Hey LR how much money did you lose, I can see the bunch of sour grapes hanging out of your mouth.
Non-exclusive Butterplug, have you gift wrapped yourself and placed yourself beneath Jenny’s Xmas tree? I bet you have…
The disgraceful Mr Ipswich has been released from Her Majesty’s Hotel. I would imagine Paul Piss’ant will catch up with the bloated Paul Tully and enjoy a nice steak and some expensive wine, paid for by Tully’s corporate credit card.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-12-13/qld-paul-pisasale-former-ipswich-mayor-released-prison-jail/101564044
PR,
Easy error to make as we are all getting use to the change.
His Magesty’s Hotel.
No mistake. For Paul Piss’ant it’s Her Majesty’s Hotel. He is a soft little gutless weasel, tried to hide behind a feigned mental illness to avoid jail. Feminine little man.
https://www.cairnspost.com.au/news/queensland/police-shooting-officers-unaccounted-for-after-coming-under-attack/news-story/351e6044ef2050891d4cfefa48005443
A terrible tragedy, but what aren’t we being told?
“Asked about the missing person, Ms Carroll said she was aware Mr Train had been missing for many months.
“We got a request from NSW that a person had been missing for a considerable period of time and then that request was given to the local police to go to this address to check on that missing person,” she said.
“I understand from my brief that that person had been missing for up to about 12 months but people had been in contact with him.
“However, that contact was lost in recent days and they just wanted to check on that missing person.”
Why do you send FOUR coppers to a house in the middle of nowhere to check that a missing person is actually missing?
Makes no sense!
You send at least four coppers because it is a house in the middle of nowhere that might be the location, voluntarily or otherwise of a missing person.
What’s up with you?
Slap my wrist!
I obviously wasn’t thinking straight!
OK, keep your wrist still for long enough for to be slapped.
Rubber Doll, you never do.
I had a bit to do with that area a few decades ago. Even then the inhabitants were mostly eccentric (read batshit crazy) loners best left alone. It was unserviced, cheap land, useless for any form of commercial pastoral activity given the size of the blocks. I can guarantee that there would be heaps of unmarked graves around the place. There’s no way I would be making an unannounced visit.
The main story is behind a paywall at the moment, but another of Anna’s Captains choice females with zero experience, scores a top (read super salary) position organising the Brisbane Olympics.
No one is allowed to criticize nor investigate these appointments as they have been declared off-limits even though she is going to be paid with our money,
Brisbane Olympics: Cindy Hook named CEO of organising …
https://www.theaustralian.com.au › … › “News Story”
27 minutes ago — A US-born businesswoman who has no background in sports administration has been given the job of delivering the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.
Here’s the report paywall free.
https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1131581/hook-chief-executive-brisbane-2032
This poses a major problem for New Zealanders, who will be asking themselves what has a mass school shooting in the US got to do with the Brisbane Olympics.
I was tempted to make a similar comment, only I was going to cite Tasmanian’s…
Astonisher reporter Cameron ‘Master’ Bates is an ideal candidate for a spot on the tourisim desk at Townsville Enterprise. He displays all the necessary talents with his boosting of Ingham.
It is one thing for a hack to make fanciful claims to pad out a beat up a pissweak story, but it really does take a special talent to then present photographic evidence that he is writing bullshit.
This is Master Bates ‘pleasant scenic walk’ through Ingham’s botanical gardens.
Take away the trolleys and you have nirvana, eh, Cameron? Can’t wait for you to come down here and do your take on Boyes Court.
Maybe that should be ‘beautiful cynical walk’.
Poor bugger. Another one with no training writing rubbish
That last shopping trolley photo actually looks like a crab pot.
Wonder if it caught anything.
Looks like a crab pot, Regular? You need to join me at Specsavers for a pair of coke bottle glasses!
https://www.cairnspost.com.au/news/townsville/revealed-the-coolest-car-in-townsville/news-story/e289ccb96820f57761076365fdc70e4a
Just how irresponsible are the morons who run the Bulletin?
I wonder who are licking their lips in anticipation?
And it ain’t Jenny!
“These can really be the greatest Games ever and really put Brisbane and South East Queensland on the global map”. From the mouth of the new ‘American’ 2032 Olympic Games CEO. So much for these Games being for the benefit of ALL Queenslanders. It is becoming more like the SE Queensland Olympic Games. So you should pay for it all yourselves fuckers.
Crisafulli and Last should be all over this Wieambilla disaster.
Now!
This will prove to be a monumental, QPS, fuck-up!
We are lucky here in the Nest to have such a well informed reader with a wealth of detail that has so far eluded all the media. Useless bastards, eh?
Drove through the city tonight and unless I’m blind I didn’t see any buildings lit up in blue and white. Shame on you Jenny and TCC for not paying respect to our brave fallen police officers and providing support to the QPS.
Cairns and other cities paid their respects by lighting up a building so WTF is going on in Townsville.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid02RNMR6SNLDhBg6wancqY8KfSRmTgo4PVM6cnud1aWiaqgkrbcbaFwChWxwUj4TVnzl&id=100064821813069&mibextid=qC1gEa
Good point. Thanks.
It seems the The indigenous Voice to Parliament is not “sinister ” at all, it’s just an advisory body.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/dec/13/voice-to-parliament-wont-give-special-rights-to-indigenous-australians-legal-experts-say
This is not hard news, it is not a new development, it is a partisan opinion by vested interests. And the report itself contradicts a key element and offers the weasel words of one of those seeking the ‘yes’ vote.
The key element – at this stage – is that the electorate will be told the full ramifications of such a constitutional amendment before we are asked to vote in the proposed referendum. Down towards the end of the story, we read: In a communique following the working group meeting, it noted that work would be done after the referendum to finalise and legislate the voice model, indicating the final mechanism would not be settled entirely before the vote. In a communique following the working group meeting, it noted that work would be done after the referendum to finalise and legislate the voice model, indicating the final mechanism would not be settled entirely before the vote.
The government has said the ultimate model was still being debated by its internal groups, and would be subject to parliament negotiations.
Not settled before the vote? Internal groups? Parliament negotiations? That’s the ultimate ‘trust us, we’re politicians and we’re the indigenous industry’ insult by two of the most distrusted groups in our society.
It’s like being asked to put your hand into a hollow log and see what you find.
What do they think we are, all 8 years old?
This was known all along at every step of the process. It’s basically the same as the productivity commission or law reform commission making representations to parliament. The only difference being that its existence is enshrined in the constitution.
What was known all along, Steve? That we’d be voting for something that would be actually decided AFTER we voted? And since it was known to you and other enlightened ones ‘all along’, why was it beyond you to offer a simple uplifting explanation of what The Voice would mean to us all? Instead, you denied the invitation, and incomprehensibly resorted to self-defeating racial slurs because you were utterly unable to do so.
And if it is the same as the productivity commission or the law reform mob, why aren’t they enshrined in the constitution, too. Or more to the point, if the Voice is given those same rights, what makes them so special as to be enshrined – whatever that means – in the constitution. Indigenous Australians, including the bandwagoneering octoroons, have a growing number of voices in the parliament (displaying all the debilitating fractures of Australia’s hundreds of warring indigenous groups). If it just an advisory group, it is rascism-driven tokenism. If it has more powers over more than indigenous affairs, then it is unrepresetional of the Australian people.
Have you read the Indigenous Voice co design Final report Magpie?
No. And Don’t have any intention of doing so, and I’ll tell you why.
A group in our society wishes to insert an amendment into our constitution, but in order for that to happen, there has to be a referendum, where the electorate decides if they accept the idea. So one would reasonably expect that since it was that groups idea, it is their task to sell us the idea, by putting forward a plain English explanation of what it would entail and how it may affect other non-indigenous people (possibly not at all, but we don’t know that).
But that hasn’t happened for two reasons – confusion because of the proponents multi-faceted composition, and sheer arrogance by bandwagoneers like Steve of Belligerent Gardens who seem to think we must read voluminous reports – much of them incoherent bloviating – and inform ourselves of an opinion. If we don’t do that, say people like Steve, then we are racists. It defies any logic that if you’re selling something, you don’t have to make an understandable pitch … that the seller must do this is true at Harvey Norman, in politics and in referendums.
And how arrogantly dense are people like Steve who think they will win the vote of the average person by haranguing, bullying and insulting, even when the most have not expressed an opinion … because they don’t what to express an opinion on.
And listen, Daisy’s Delight, we might scan the document you mention IF YOU PROVIDE A FUCKING LINK.
Another example of how you have the wrong end of the stick.
The report is not hard to find. Perhaps you could have Googled it.
It’s not like anyone has been hiding the report as it’s been readily available on the internet the whole time. Link below for those who are Google challenged.
https://voice.niaa.gov.au/final-report#
Again, you miss the entire point. The Magpie and other readers just don’t have the time to google everything on every topic that comes through comments in order to know what someone is talking about.
The courteous thing to do when referring to a link is to provide it.
Another indigenous body has it’s funding cut. This whole Voice thing is going to end in tears if it ever gets up.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2022-12-13/murray-darling-basin-authority-nban-indigenous-advice-funds-cut/101716942
In this morning’s Bulletin, on page 47, was an article by one Leeonee Thompson titled “The voices that need to be heard”. Near the top was a statement “I strongly believe that the best vote is an informed vote and wanted to reach out to the Townsville Community . . . as someone who grew up locally . . . “.
Bewdy, thought I, finally someone who is prepared to present facts, so I read on.
This was a serious mistake since the what followed was nothing more than the lady’s opinion as a self-professed expert, and regurgitation of the “it will be good for the country and make up for past wrongs” philosophical argument. She seemed to think, as many proponents seem to do, that we just need to vote “yes” and everything will turn out just fine moving forward.
At this stage I’m not convinced.
A pitiful 21 dwelling approvals for Townsville in November, as the last of the houses from the federal Govt subsidy are finished off over the next month or two Townsville builders will once again be fighting over crumbs, Townsvilles unique way of fixing a skills and material shortage, stop building stuff.
Hi Cankers,
The developers are selling land months ahead of it actually being registered – can’t do anything until that happens and given how late in the year some of the registration is happening, there hasn’t been enough time for all the plans and applications to be done.
I do know some builders that haven’t taken on new jobs for months and are either closing completely or moving. Also heard of a couple of builders that may be in strife after signing up everything they could when the government bonuses were on, and have lost $20 – $30k per house after all the prices skyrocketed (house contracts are fixed price). The next few months might see a further shake up.
Townsville part-time CEO and renowned bludger Prins ‘the Prince’ Ralston has made it into the Courier Snail for being one of the top 5 remunerated Council CEO’s in Queensland. His salary, super and benefits package is up around $650k per annum. Not bad when you consider that he spends most of his days working on other business interests. Mr Stinky’s outrageous salary was agreed upon by a group of inept Councillors who couldn’t manage the finances of a kids lemonade stand. Every thing Ralston does his half arsed – guiding Council culture, the TCC budget, regulatory reports, all done cheap and nastily with minimal effort. What has our town done to deserve this?
Voted incorrectly.
Transport and Main Roads Qld would have you believe that the Riverway Drive stage 2 upgrade will start mid 2022. 1st link. Well that did not happen.
Investment Infrastructure, 2nd link, forecast the upgrade to start mid 2024. I wonder if these entities ever talk to each other?
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/projects/riverway-drive-stage-2-allambie-lane-to-dunlop-street-planning&ved=2ahUKEwij_ZOyovj7AhXM3GEKHYPkAp8QFnoECBQQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0smqKMGTw3flVo9TIY-XYd
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://investment.infrastructure.gov.au/projects/ProjectDetails.aspx%3FProject_id%3D110548-20QLD-NP&ved=2ahUKEwij_ZOyovj7AhXM3GEKHYPkAp8QFnoECAgQAQ&usg=AOvVaw36rySL5_qnkJSapcH2TC4H
Something you always wanted to know but were afraid to ask,….here’s the answer
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/dec/14/snakes-have-a-clitoris-scientists-overcome-a-massive-taboo-around-female-genitalia
How cum we never knew? Ask Eve!
Yes, amazing that they bring this into national discussion now … I mean, the talk has been nof little else in the front bars across the country.
After a couple of hours of “mediation” where only one side of the story was presented, it looks like Brittney Higgins is going to get a couple of million out of the Commonwealth government for waking up drunk on a work couch.
They’ve already paid her, the law action has been settled, in less than 2 weeks from the time she lodged the claim. She was aiming for $3m. What a fucking joke, 2 weeks!!!! Try suing the Government over their mishandling your taxes or if you are a veteran with PTSD, the bastards take years and years and years before they reach a settlement with you.
https://theconversation.com/an-indigenous-voice-to-parliament-will-not-give-special-rights-or-create-a-veto-196574
Thanks, that is a good progress report on what talks are taking place and what may take shape. But remember, this very readable overview is heavily weighted to the ‘yes’ argument, written by a strong proponent, and in itself still raises questions for the average Australian about what eventual powers The Voice will have.
For instance, Professor Twomey writes:
The power and function of the Voice is to make representations. It cannot dictate, demand or veto.
What use the parliament or the executive government makes of those representations is a matter for it, as is appropriate in a system of representative and responsible government.
The aim is to ensure those institutions are better informed when they make decisions and exercise their powers on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. There is no intention to create a body that would have any overriding power.
But Professor Twomey and her committee endorse Prime Minister Albanese initial three-point path to the creation of the Voice:
“The first point made by the expert group was that while there were different policy and process approaches that could be followed, the draft amendment proposed by the prime minister was constitutionally sound and provided a strong basis on which to conduct further consultation. That proposed amendment is as follows:
1. There shall be a body, to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.
2. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice may make representations to Parliament and the Executive Government on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.
3. The Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws with respect to the composition, functions, powers and procedures of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.”
Note number 3.
Keeping in mind that we have been told the final framework of a constitutional indigenous voice will be decided AFTER a successful referendum vote, point 3 above is very ambiguous. It can, although perhaps not intended, mean ipso facto that the parliament of the day can put forward laws and amendments – without any reference to the electorate – that can ‘change the composition, function, powers and procedures of the Voice’. In other words, we may well end up with something that not only did we not vote for, but which could be socially fracturing and racist in itself. All because of political expediency of some future day.
Anyone who suggests this is an alarmist and extreme hypothesis that will eventuate in a disfigurement of the referendum voters intentions hasn’t be watching Australians politics in recent decades. There will be governments in the future which will prioritise other issues, especially those pertaining to the retention of power, and would be willing to ‘do a deal’ with Greens, Teals or barking seals like the Katters to get their way. And if that means agreeing to more powers for an ill-defined and divided indigenous group, they will do it. Australians will need to be convinced that this proposal is phrased in such a way – carved in stone if you will – that this never happens and that too is written into the constitution.
As The Magpie has said before, and is confident other Australians feel the same way, we are dealing here with the two most untrustworthy social groups, politicians and the aboriginal industry.
Then if all that guarantees are accepted and the ‘yes’ vote prevails, there is another burning question placed before us … if these are the powers an indigenous advisory group has ends up with (which is nothing more than high class tokenism), why do we need to chuck $50million +++ at a referendum that we obviously do not need. The interested group, if they can get their shit together, could follow the path of other groups advising the government, and create a legitimate lobby group. That too would be a lobby that could not dictate, demand or veto. What’s the difference?
Hey Pie I’m sorry to break it to you but the parliament of the day has always been able to put forward laws and amendments without any reference to the electorate. Your excuse not to support the Voice doesn’t hold up.
True, Cloth Head, but that was a direct reference to the post facto powers of the voice, whose expansion into unwanted areas (well, unwanted by about 90%+ of the population) can be limited by the wording of the constitutional amendment itself.
Let’s face it Steve, at the outset, The ‘Pie asked you a simple question, which you were unable to answer, instead resorting to scrambled slurs of racism, of ignorance, and bullying responses. And subsequently, that question has popped up elsewhere, even from indigenous groups themselves.
Yet you won’t even admit there is a question. If you carried that attitude into your professional life, you’d be sued out of existence by endangered clients.
So far, thanks in part to the likes of folks like you, there is a resounding NO coming up.
The Voice’s power is already limited by the proposed wording to making comments to parliament on matters relating to Indigenous Australians. Your disingenuous concerns are unfounded.
Seriously, The ‘Pie will try not to sink to cheap shots in this debate, but really Steve, your English comprehension is clearly lacking.
‘Proposed wording’? Then it is not at this staged firm as to what the wording will be.
And here’s the real kicker: the indigenous members of The Voice will decide on what matters relate to indigenous Australians … and that could be anything they choose to believe will impact on indigenous people. That is a recipe for chaos and delays, especially given the fractured nature of what is essentially a loose alliance of 350 or so different tribes.
And anyway, these interested parties could form a legitimate (and powerful) lobby group to raise any concerns, and such a group would have the exact same rights and in fluence as what you propose will be achieved by a divisive $50m +++ referendum.
Utterly feeble complaints, as if the final wording will be significantly different to the proposed wording.
And given that parliament can simply choose to ignore or not wait for the Voice to comment, there is no risk of delay.
You’re just casting around wildly for any reason to justify your antagonism to constitutional recognition for indigenous Australians.
‘… as if the final wording will be significantly different to the proposed wording.’
Is that it, Steve? That’s all you’ve got, mate? Good luck, bruvver.
Is that all you’ve got? What reason do you have to think it will be different, given the contents of the Indigenous Voice Report and every single public statement made by anyone on the subject? You’re grasping at straws.
Now you’re just lying.
Get a grip.
Yes Minister . Councillors vote to take the Dimmeys developer to court as the project is taking too long . Mayor Hill says the owner is a FIFO owner with no real connection to the City . Correct me if I am wrong but arnt Willows + Stockland owned by ASX listed shareholders , Castletown and other large projects owned by FIFO who dont live in Townsville ? . Surely the defence for the Dimmeys developer should be to get a copy of Councils last few cbd plans which havnt been achieved as well as ask for the details on Councils Flinders Lane development which is basicly empty .
Wonder if she’d be honest enough to make the same FIFO and time delay criticism of Magnis Energies , which made her look like a eyelash batting fool.
She can get her FIFO of a CEO to look into it….the next time he is in town.
FIFO meaning: Fly In to F**k us Over.
There is little doubt that vFIFO is now a bonafide insult in most instances.
What kind of a contract did they sign? Surely there are Bank Guarantee securities and penalty clauses that enables council to “fine” the contractor if he has not met progress and commercial deadlines.
There should not be a need to go to court with its inevitable delays (even further) and lining the pockets of a few “silks”.
The Radical Bay fiasco comes to mind.
Given the dearth of actual tenants in Flinders Lane, it is now being hired out as an “Event Space” where you need to supply everything except the kitchen sink.
They’ve got a kitchen sink?
Yes they do, but the trouble is that the deros use it as their toilet.
What does this remind you of:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-12-15/murray-river-council-dongmun-greentec-deal-nsw-parliament/101767198
Shades of Jenny Hill and her battery factory/Landsown development?
Just received a message from Ergon advising me what to do in the event of a disaster, it tells me to ensure my gas bottles are filled so I can cook a meal and heat my water, would that be the same gas that the Greens, Teals along with Airbus Albo, Pocock and Blackout Bowen have advised all of us about it’s evil nature.
Perhaps, but just this afternoon, Albo and the others on your honour roll have passed the Energy Intervention bill which will make things cheaper on the domestic front … but not in actual fact, because the offset money to industry is … ours, as in public funds. Peter and paul economics?
Yes, it’s a magic trick and con job
. They make us hand over great wads of our money, then they give us a tiny bit of it back, and all stand around congratulating themselves and telling themselves what a great job they have done, and that we should be so grateful to them.
Make things cheaper, Dear ‘Pie? Only marginally. On ABC RN today we can expect the average electricity bill to increase next year by only, wait for it;
$700.00 a year.
Without today’s legislation the increase for the average yearly electricity bill would $950, according to the wireless.
OK, $250.00 is better than a poke in the eye with a burnt stick, but FFS $700.00!
Sorry mate, your maths are beyond me.
And my visits to BWS will be beyond me
We will get $230 from Albo after our power bills go up by $1000.
You’d never think we lived in a country with plentiful reserves of oil, gas, coal and uranium stuff other countries use for cheap energy, creating jobs and wealth for their people.
Wouldn’t it be nice is we had a local member interested in mining and resources who had cash streaming into Townsville rather than Brisbane.
Well, maybe soon.
You’re damn straight everyone is sick of this pathetic Premier. Poncing around A-list events with her doctor boyfriend who wears those faggoty pink suits. Anna spends all her time promoting females and nobody else, she wastes even more time ensuring her Labor mates fill up Board positions, and she has made sure that Queensland gets loaded with billions of debt just so we can host the outdated Olympic Games. Crime is out of control, infrastructure is shit, and remember – Anna and her mate Jeanette Young forced vaccinations upon us yet meanwhile they weren’t even vaccinated! You can’t make this shit up. I wish she would just piss off.
Congratulations Townsville, national Shit Town of the Year again.
https://www.news.com.au/travel/australian-holidays/queensland/facebook-page-st-towns-of-australia-reveals-2022s-worst-towns/news-story/cd50c36ca4a43cc1f5534e436e07d87c
The ‘Pie is mystified why people – including News Ltd – take this satirical site as some sort of yardstick. Shit Towns Of Australia started as a cheeky belly laugh at local pomposities, the second time around it raised a wry smile, but now, it is so yesterday that it is repetitive and tired The ‘Pie ignores it. Yet it is given legitimacy by those who should know better.
It is the equivalent of a movie franchise that has made one sequel too many.
Overheard a conversation from a council employee – they are coping flak from all sides regarding the location of this year’s christmas tree and needless to say, no one at Walker St is admitting it was their decision to plonk it in the middle of an intersection.
There’s only one shot-caller in Walker Street, that’s the way she wants it, so she has to wear it.
Let’s think about which department is responsible for the roads, which one is responsible for the Christmas events and which one is responsible for the communication of these things, and which one holds the purse strings. Then go to the heads of those departments., and throw in the CEO for good measure. That’s who made the decision, not the Mullet. She might at best have been given some shit options. But this was something that originated in a senior managers meeting. It’s too stupid for anything else.
‘Too stupid for anything else’? The Jenny Hill was almost certainly involved.
She was so quick to defend the decision (‘I don’t know what all th fuss is about’ she told TV), she was clearly hoping for some good time vibes from the tree move.
A lot of these decisions spray like shit from a goose out of either the communications kids or the executive offices. Everyone else just tries not to step in it or be seen to have an opposing view. Better to have a crap tree than lose your job.
What is all the fuss about? No one goes into the city anyway.
Precisely.
Let’s face it the Labor’s energy legislation is designed to simply control and fuck business, distort and manipulate a functioning market and fuck anyone on a decent income and redistribute funds to others who are contributing little or fuck all, typical Labor policy. This one though will come back and bite them, Australia is a pissant on the global market and can’t afford to start interventions in the market, these sorts of things have unintended consequences and a nasty habit of reciprocated actions, something these incompetent dickheads have thought nothing about.
Well, maybe, but what about the hard lesson from WA … back around 2007, when the then premier (Carpenter?) announced a gas reserve for local public use, the industry went berserk, warning that this would be the end of investment in the sector in that state, doom and hot coles etc etc. That was 15 years ago, and in that 15 years, there has been $20billion invested in the sector in WA, exceeding all predictions prior to the hold-back announcement.
The energy industry, led by cretins like Ian MacFarlane here in Queensland, are all piss and wind and the most socially reprehensible groups imaginable. They won’t stop investing in this state or Australia, and they fucking know it. The headlong rush for the lazy dollar of privatisation is what is coming home to bite us on the arse, Cankers, and The ‘Pie for one believes, and always has, that there are some sectors which should always remain in public hands … electricity, gas, rail, petroleum, et al.
And mate, if you want to talk about distorting and manipulating a market, let’s have a chat about free-est of free rorts, oil, and the Asian hub just for starters. The Magpie is no boots and all socialist, and believes in controlled free markets … the control being over what parts of the economy are given full free rein.
And I would’ve thought that the classist and elitist slur towards the bulk of average Australians – your ‘ others who are contributing little or fuck all’ – is not only outdated but really, mate, beneath you. Many of those you judge are ‘contributing little or fuck all’ are in that position because of government policies leaning too far towards the leaky grail of free markets on everything.
Don’t disagree with the Govt owned sentiment Pie, and if the Govt want to control a market then buy the Australian assets off these companies and run them as such, but don’t just impose onerous restrictions on companies who are doing exactly what they are meant too, provide a return on the many billions of dollars their shareholders spent building the infrastructure in the first place. What next, wheat price goes through the roof so to appease the whingers about the price of a loaf of bread they cap the price of wheat, then something else, again and again, if this becomes the playbook of the Govt they could well fuck many years of trade agreements and piss off some very important trading partners, the ramifications will be huge.
Generally agree with the sentiment, Cankers, but I wax making the point that many of those assets should not have been sold in the first place. And the motivation for such sales were multifold … money, of course, no investment required in infrastructure … and one reason somewhat overlooked … a great way to break union power. This last one the unions brought on themselves by irresponsible, greedy and bullying behaviour by a leadership with no mandate to bring this country to a standstill fr whatever they decided they wanted. But under successive governments (and this includes both Hawke and Keating administrations who started the ball rolling), the pendulum has swung too far the other way (the right, for want of a label).
I’m with Cankers Pie . Its a dangerous scenario when a Government sets nationalised pricing / margins / controls of listed / private / Government owned entities . A stroke of a pen Annastascia could have decided to reduce the billions $ Queensland Government profits made from its GOC.s and reduce prices overnight . Lets not forget these profits were after the bils s of debt transferred to them to make her Government look better .
Grumpy,
Regarding the murder of the two police officers, and what we now know about driveway obstacles, CCTV and dug in fighting pits, your assessment was spot on.
The Trains allegedly phoned the cops anonymously and said that the missing Train brother was at the residence. They baited the Cops and then ambushed them. It was a set up from the get-go. The Trains were a bunch of Ice addicted conspiracy freaks. Fucking morons. The only good thing out of all this is that the cops killed them.
Hmmmm?? They were employees, teachers, in the Qld Education Department. Admittedly frequently moving from post to post, but still, in a position to influence young minds.
I bloody well hope the blowtorch is applied to the Education Department re the vetting of problematic transitory teachers.
Someone signed off on their repeated engagements in the Department. That individual must be held to account in the full light of public exposure.
It would be prudent to wait until ALL of the forensics have been completed. You’ll probably find that they know what they’re doing and it won’t include speculation nor guesswork.
Assumptions, guesswork et al belong on feces-book.
Nothing to do with this weeks topics, but on the subject of a voice for aboriginal people.
They already have one!
He may have recently passed away, but his spirt and his stories will remain forever. This man showed no bitterness towards anyone.
I am talking about the great Archie Roach.
The message is in his songs.
Do we know how many rate payer dollars the Mullet has spent on the rev-head Super Pests car race?
The South Australian government has stumped up $35million budget papers reveal. For that every SA resident should get free entry as they have already paid dearly.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-12-16/adelaide-500-budget-blown-out-in-2022/101779892
Sport does n’t get much of a run in The nest, but if you weren’t watching the Big Bash T20 game tonight, you just missed history
The Adelaide Strikers just bowled out the Sydney Thunder for 15. That is fifteen!
That is a losing record unlikely to ever be beaten . Astounding.
If only we could see a similar result at the next TCC election, with the Mayor and her 10 disciples skittled the same way.
As the old saying has it, ‘patience is a virtue seldom found in the young … who are now all old and cranky because they’re tired of waiting’.
An amazing game. Pity only one team actually turned up.
Magpie, that match was an epic beating for poor old Adelaide. What the actual fuck? I’ve never seen anything like it! Even the Adelaide players were laughing!!
Think you’ve got that back to front. It was Adelaide which thumped the Thunderstruck Sydneysiders.
Aagh yes, you are correct. The Townsville humidity has affected me.