The Stockade State

Baillieu's ministers slipping and sliding

2011-12-14T17:36:00.000+11:00

What's the worst thing that can happen with a new government? One that (as normal) gets in because the previous government were so incompetent . -Answer: They make the same mistakes the previous government did.
And why would they be silly enough do that ? They might think business knows best and they might not realise the bureaubrats have great ( well intentioned ) dreams but will spend great amounts of public money chasing them. They might let the 2 biggest groups in town still lead them (the bureaubrats and the businesses who rely on them )cause they don't listen to anyone else ( Yes Minister is still popular !) .The biggest threat is clearly still the biggest threat.
As those of us who worked in the PS - such scenarios are not only likely through the term , it seems today, going to limit the reform possibilities under the Libs? Not unless the Ministers twig to the tax rich driver groups who talk them into things. The best intentions cloaked in gifts paid for by the poor.
O' Brien clearly wasn't warned by his advisors that his approach would win few friends (which means he's being snowed still)
His whitewash of the smart meters sounded like he and Ted had failed to see the danger.
Even if there is something good about smart meters, the Minister O'Brien gave the distinct impression he and the new lib government had learnt nothing about how to waste public money ,,,and worse ( cause its easier to implement ) calling for an end to "all the crap about saving us money " and helping us manage how much we spend ( Nanny O'Brien)
To be credible with a patient overtaxed public they should've maintained the rage and ditched the crappy ads ( fed funded-- who cares ) that tell us we are all going to save money and stopped the "token gestures about " more monitoring".
If this slipping is symbolic of the snowing that is going on amongst them , its a very serious disease .

Liberals falling into the same traps as Labor ?

2011-02-14T09:42:00.001+11:00

It frightening to hear Ted failing to talk differently from Labor about health reforms after his trip to Canberra . His new government have to chance to tweek the system and should keep saying SO. Ted's rhetoric on performance assessment was tired and old reflecting the bad old days of Kennett where numbers were the things that told the essential truths of performance .The bad old days when polys thought accountants knew everything and trained public servants knew nothing .When good doctors and nurses left in disgust - still a risk !
If Libs can't get the idea they need to rebuild the public service( and stop slagging it ) they will too go the way of Labor - incompetenet advice and competent people abandoning the system - Ted would do well to say for eg " Public service a good place for good people to work " and Make it real ! !) Take those desperate nurses and teachers " we need you " ads that Labor produced to try and redeem the damage of early retirees from accountancy driven performance measure simplicities .
Ted had a great opportunity to sell QUALITY performance review but he blew it by talking QUANTITY REVIEW . He could have said ( to Neil Mitchell) "Sure more bureaubrats is a risk BUT "our input to the process WILL BE to restore the role of PROFESSIONAL REVIEW ( doctors and nurses etc) not the role of mere accountants and ledger driven specialists. This what Victoria's new goverenment will do " .

Less talk of " we know we need to listen " and more "we have heard and we are prepared to make the tough decisions" ( before the next election looms ) to prevent fourth tiers of government from building - Instead of adding like Julia has with fey( old NSW man) - a new fourth tier . " MY MINISTERS WILL hold agencies to account directly for what they are doing " .Now you are really talking !
No poly ever admits it , but being in government is plain hard work - because THE SOLUTIONS are specific ( have to be able to control the bureau and who better to control the bureau than old bureaucrats) and require sound public service ( not consultancy )advice). Years of opposition won't generate off the shelf magic puddings to replace the white elephants of the past ( after all the white elphants like MYKI smart meters and Desal plants ). The devil is still present . and its in the detail and the dumb assumptions hidden inside it .

Nixon said he can't remember , Brumby is happy to " not know " what's happening

2010-10-06T09:39:00.000+11:00

Which is worse ? Cockup coverup or plain " don't wanna know " in a leader ?

In a totally uncredible performance John Brumby failed to talk to names and particular issues mentioned in The Age yesterday' After all, his very new finance minister would have to defend the indefensible instead of offering a takes one to know one response ( "explain your figures"diversion) to divert attention from his stupidity in the area of spending . Must be hard to have such incompetence in your " team" .

Presumably the well intentioned leader of what is a wheelbarrow fulla holes will continue to say " I don't wanna know " to both the public and his colleagues as he did in response to the names mentioned in the Age articles yesterday-

"I don't know and don't need to know" is the implication. This could mean " I don't wanna know' Either way" it is a matter for Him "because for particular members of staff were named in the Age .

Nixon said "I don't remember" . Its much easier to say "I don't know" . Both are great for those determined to cover up crap ! neithe brumby of those he tries to cover for are worthy of office .

The party he stands up to defend are not worthy of defence .I reject the question he says. There are no dumb questions most thinking people would say .

The detail in the Age was clear and John Brumby failed to be clear even resorting to the totally unacceptable line that somehow it wasn't his business TO FIND OUT .more here

Chicken little growth

2010-09-17T10:04:00.003+10:00

There are at least 3 reasons why we can't trust Brumby's government on matters of environmental threat
1. The major constituency are easily threatened because they don't know.. Polys exploit this means of control and more and more becasue they cultivate a mood of non independence in the Public service.
2. Vic Labor have had time to cultivate people who are as arrogant and ignorant as they are- without confession
3. Now risking the truth on the whole truth on a regular basis . Scientists are alienated by constant meddling in their workplaces Again polys meddle and risk , not only there own exposure to the truth , but that of the publc as well . The Government are stupid enough to institutionalize and therefore preserve for eternity the reality of a single threat when threats are mediated rare and regulatable to those of who still operate as indepenedent scientists ( see post below DSE ---the department for servicing emergencies; That way too the government are not responsible - the Dept is? )
The Hugh Millars of this world are obliged to keep their organisation alive by spinning and hyping into whatever issue inflames the passions of the panic prone .
There is of course always threats ( and even farmers rely on the science in this case preventing the city from seeing the real truth - that being , that there is no need to panic ! ) .
Hugh and his team including many now in DSE are jeopardizing the long term independence of his very own staff by not talking the truth . In talking up the "amenity" effects of having locusts down here buzzing around ( nothing new) he is playing word games with risk - in other word he's drumming up concern when he should be hosing it down . The point is they allow fear to drive everything and not science and familiarity with the environment . Absolutely No need to say " everybody is involved " as the ad does"- bit of patronising psychological drivel .
This process is not new . the cultivation of crap on risk has ruined many PS institution's .
What a tragedy for Victoria- the end of independent experienced science on environment and the dominance of those schooled in mere description - most of whom who have yet to find their feet in the real world .
The development of the institutionalized chicken little phenomena is threatening the independence of advice from the Public Service . Take the way Penny Wong controlled the CC debate by institutionalizing it and seeking to sink the more legimate and more balanced advice from Garrett's department . Not that they know things now , till we tell them. I could be wrong , but then kinder is easy when you have played and won at Senior level.

Wet behind the ears on water- and most issues of environment

2010-09-07T09:52:00.002+10:00

State Labor are experts at disaster management. See earlier posts . Their clones in the water authorities are ready for anything that looks like a disaster .
Floods this week in the northern rivers .
But don't give them or their myriad of water authorities a planning job - like diverting flood water to be stored for example. Normal things are not planned for -just extreme thoughts
John Brumby gives himself and his team a clap yesterday even though their planning outside of emergencies is complete crap .
Just closed down Lake Makoen and let the water go because they have a policy - but not one that takes in the most reasonable of environmental events - a flood.
Their environmental flow policy is not a policy . It gave someone a nice feeling of warmth at the time, but has only smelt bad and stunk ever since - but no one seemed to notice same till yesterday.

How many slow morning performers does it make to keep the trains running?

2010-07-27T10:22:00.001+10:00

Was Brumby caught standing infront of a dead horse this week. ( New solar ideas from the ever changing climate agenda solvers in Bendigo-- Solar systems - now broke)

The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is

2010-05-20T13:07:00.001+10:00

Brumbys memoirs will be interesting,talking about things he didn't know till the rigors of office hit him . John Cain was aware of many of the dangers ;He did something to prevent the left from being the completely reactionary meddlers they can be, but every day we hear Brumbys cabinet doing "what they think" is appropriate .Only one thing to do when "the children are in charge
".

Brumby's credibility will be the issue

2010-04-07T07:08:00.000+10:00

Like most labor polys later in the year, the leaders ability to manage OUR MONEY will be a major election issue.
Whether they can do/ are doing anything about anything is another matter . Public opinion is not a reliable guide here, so I am just listing areas:
Where the government is actually failing to act credibly .
The cancer of careless reactivity is the key TO THEIR STUPIDITY . Unfortunately the public want government to be active, BUT the cost of failure to act wisely prevents proactivity . Failure at the local level ( schools having to justify their curriculums for eg) will be the key to whether Labor can hold onto power .

BIG REACTIVITY
Like Rudd , they have rushed out to solve the latest crisis ( water ) and ended up making us pay BIG in our rates . As if noone would notice )
BIG TAX Unlike the feds ,Victoria doesn't sem to have a Barnaby Joyce to remind them that all they do is create more tax and a greater public burden
BIG ADS treating us to more nanny stuff. " Have you put your jumper on - its cold out there ".
BIG SMACKS The woosy dummies in labor seats allow Hull s to do what he like with education and his wild weeding out policies. Policies that, like Gillards, will leave only expensive and unworkable monuments to upset many school boards ( not something to do to the labor vote). Hulls thinks targeting" the religious" is targeting tiny - big mistake !
BIGGER CURE DEPARTMENTS
Emergency management . As Bushfire showed , the government allow the blossoming emerging services to grow without making sure they work when they are needed ( several days a year). Neither Fed nor state labor seem to realize that its not just about money .
Its HOW you use our money.

Fanatical behaviour threatens Labors credibility with the people

2010-03-22T13:54:00.004+11:00

LABOR MEMBERS should know that Mr Hulls hamfisted efforts to make EOA do the impossible were met with widespread opposition ( inc Greens) as unsound undemocratic and pretty stupid ( trying to use an administrative court to sort out word games )feb2007/8 below . By trying to reverse the burden of proof and shift parental choice to the courtroom in the new EO legislation he clearly trying to rewrite the rule book . Why does Brumby let this fanatical behaviour pass as reasonable?
Ministers used to know where even angels fear to tread - but clearly not some . We earthlings know how parents feel about sex education and who should teach it.Polys have a right to stay right out of it . Similar has been the consensus view with RE . Watch it fine but teach it and preach it through VCAT - name calling games escalated by bullies ?
Do ANYONE really think polys , not parents and properly trained teachers , should make the choice of who teaches what where?
Vote with Voltaire and don't let the powerless try to use our courts to run their own little word game campaigns.

The Respect Agenda

2010-01-29T12:13:00.003+11:00

What a laugh- if we aren't really crying .
When the children in the street are laughing- its too late mate ! Justin Madden must be wearing rose coloured glasses to think He can fix the invisible clothes problems his own team have created . His own government ministers touting at windmills outside, combined with wanderings in the dark inside, get short term gains but give long term pain go from hazard management through education and health to transport and planning and back again.
These masters of hype think they can do the impossible; They talk the talk but no longer walk the known walk . They don't understand the cost of respect - respect that risks lack of agreement . Respect that grows from insisting on being told what the best respected really think -- are such people still there?
The B govt has got respect ; The B govt has got respect it asked for - the sycophantic kind. The new clothes merchants . Can't get the other objective tough kind back while you don't act effectively against those who only dress well, cleanup and "move on" .

The B govt have specialized in quick fiz and are paying the cost - nothing but emergency services and ever changing emerging services changes. Their truly best respected staff have left- do they not know this?

Respect by contrast to their flickering focus, is based on focused consistency and advice with experience. Now they employ travelling salesmen. People who care can't cope with the crap your usurpers dish out. Having now Changed Everything Often with their model CEO's , they've also weeded out the trained ones who don't agree with the quick fiz instructions that cost the earth .
Madden and co only have those who " respect them "left - ? Unless they blog of course the darkness will continue inside the house and decent advice will come from outside the stockade.

Coercion- Labors grand legacy to planning

2009-10-29T11:56:00.007+11:00

Tony Robinson congratulates himself on creating 40 new tough guy jobs (cost =) to ensure the planning rules are applied to the nightclubs in town - making him the coercion king? Some misplaced pride here , I suggest !
Planning has become anything but planning under Labors influence and while Brumby may rail against the decision in NEVERLANDS case , he doesn't know why this sort of highly reactive and ineffective form of government "planning" will not go away with mere review of that case.
Despite my offer below , I am not publishing "the solution" because someone other than the reactionaries in power need to ACT.

The missing Policy Framework

2009-10-29T08:56:00.004+11:00

Neil Mitchell, or anyone watching the circus, doesn't need to dig very deep to find that nobody is home on decision making where it counts( plenty of decisions that aren't decisions) .
Noone thinks the decision to allow a big new nightspot on the Docklands is a good idea .Probably not even the Premier himself. Councils even opposed it ---as do the Police.
Brumby, the ever pleasant face of his wandering and faceless crew is called to account only to say - "he's not responsible ---VCAT are" .
Which is really the same as saying as the lawyers are in charge. Must be a good job you have Brumby?
The silly and shallow worship of VCAT is dealt with below . The woosy nature of this copout is dealt with above .

As for the PS on the end of the line on Mitchells show (Licencing authority) . " the problem as she sees it is " there is no policy framework on this matter" . PServants no longer make decisions, they are controlled by a myriad of policy documents.
Tis a good job if you can get one - you don't make decisions you just process the policy framework.

Have a look at the Planning schemes. Shock ablock with documents that transfer responsibility for decisions from those WE put in charge to some misplaced concreteness called the P&E act .

Councils are no longer in a position to make decisions. Even when they try, they risk being dragged into court to defend themselves (you heard it) against, not a person , not a body responsible( the greatest degraded idea in these completely distracted schemes) but A POLICY FRAMEWORK .

We are ruled not by People , but policy frameworks - the new self imposed prison of the non decsionmakers who occupy seats of power.

Hypocrisy over his nanny state

2009-09-08T11:16:00.009+10:00

ON 3AW THIS MORNING Brumby pulls out the " You don't want a Nanny state, do you? " to justify his careless support for more gambling tables at Crown.
Is he fair dinkum ABOUT DEALING WITH ALL THE NANNIES in his State service ?
1 Bureaucrat SAYS yes , WHILE 100'S ARE PAID TO SAY no, no no.... TO a simple question. Can I cut here ? A process THAT HAS LITTLE onground CREDIBILITY ANYWHERE IN THE STATE . It would be rational to keep these nannies if they weren't just nuisance value . Some one has to tell us how to behave --it seems?
More important than hospital beds and ambos?

I wonder what the highly venerated Father Bob Maguire would be saying about the nanny state; the proportion of hindrance,to the proportion of real help in practice? new ideas come at a cost- whose lifelines does Labor really support ?To what extent is Labor caretaking or risk taking in its expenditure? !!
The premier also ducks for cover over failing alternative energy ideas ( the solar investment in NW victoria) - "he can't be blamed for supporting all the incentives from Labor"???; these wacky ideas about how to change the world in one term of office."We didn't encourage people to put money into that, did we? " - our advice is free ( apart from the ads ) ....but didn't you read the fine print ?
No careers there either , just short term jobs for people to drive around and learn about carbon trading schemes and higher cost everything; bustrips that have no bus stops yet ! Nanny type jobs where you just sit and do what you are told ! If only the nannies could speak

Make it easy for some, and impossible for others .Why labor be keep these nannies if they aren't more than just nuisance value . Some one has to tell us how to behave it seems --according to New Labor.

.

Does Brumby have the ticker to be tough and truthful ?

2009-08-21T07:35:00.005+10:00

This week, Brumby could easily be confused about what to do to prevent more loss of life in bushfires- he could think shelters: he could think single fire service . lots
He could also simply tell the truth and prove that the children are not in charge .

If he can't do that , he could at least recognise what sound firefighters know - that people who choose to be anywhere near bush on TFD are kidding themselves and implement/ legislate 6.2 (in a form that is not nearly as woosy as it is suggested by the lawyesr driving the ship).
He could also tell that army of nit picking bureaubrats that have been blatantly belingeraant about every piece of branch managemnet for decades that ITS time for them to stopwoorying about a few trees near buildings and go find a decent job.

After all, the largely unwritten reality from the great disaster is that the above bluff agents have reinforced the " no removal, no touch " atmosphere that caused hundreds of people to leave disaster lying right next to them.

No we won't pay - you will- at the next election

2009-07-12T08:46:00.003+10:00

Tim Holding ( this wet week) thinks he can guarantee the enshrining of his other worldly wisdom on water by making claims we will pay for his water making machine for the next 30 years. I trust the opposition are onto the unsustainability of such cloudy and heaven sent distractions - because we are .
Cancel the order mate, before you lose face completely.

Understanding authority in risk management

2009-07-02T10:00:00.007+10:00

The failure of the B government to even remotely understand the sound basis for authority in risk management goes to the heart of their problem - they don't know what it is . Let me summarize Its highly distracted,ineffective and reactionary approaches to problem solving across a wide range of agencies.
While the reforms proposed today in response to the bushfire are very welcome, no progress will be made till the Stockade recognises it has no agencies any more with real authority on the big questions of risk
Oh yes they have ”Authority” in name .......but in name only - the point is, the modus operandi is missing, and they don't know where to find it !
Paradoxically , the accepted myth and false doctrine (the DOPI approach) is - blame the situation as “unusual “ .The premier doesn't even realise that by using the word unusual or extreme , that his DOSE department of sustainability is anything but able to handle its job .Maybe they don't even have any sustainaibility experts in there to advise the premier about the basics of risk estimation .
Extremes should be the stuff a DOSE can talk about ( after all sustainability is about confidence in all circumstances). However all we can expect from DOSE , it seems , is a DOSE of approval for outdated reactionary medicine. The quick fiz and the quick excuse .

DOPI and DOSE are the lead agencies of the B government on environmental matters, but do they really have any idea what sustainability planning implies?

Duplication - the enemy within

2009-06-14T06:48:00.003+10:00

If only our leaders could see what really happens when they let revolution talk run amok amongst themselves. The rev idea has more media appeal than the ref idea, so guess which one they fall for .
If only they could see how preditable their behaviour sometimes is
If only they could see their behaviour as viewers of Yes Minister see it . They might be less inclined to talk revolution and think more clearly about reform.
They think they are creating new forms of responsibiliy when they create departments as if real progress had something to do with printing money- which is what they require of us when they do this !
I wonder if they are stupid enough with the Big Bushfire questions to fall for creating a new department of emergency incident management (Department of Incident Management); DIM in name, Dim in nature
You think its not possible for them to wreck the path to reform with revolution? To even let their character lead by name and nature of the new wonder drug of revolution?
Why they have created DOPI and DOSE to replace any number of more focused organisations since the Department of Constant Name Review CNR was eliminated .

The revolving door of revolution

2009-06-03T08:45:00.005+10:00

Leaders who chose revolution,duplication and distraction over reform risk everything they need to keep leading.
Brumby is choosing reinvention over reform and clearly he and his party aren't aware of the risk long term, ignoring as they are the essentials of efficient and effective governance- our heritage infact.
Brumby has without any flack , started up yet another uneccesary Authority. Growth Areas Authority.
New governments will have to give new names to competent institutions now that Brumby has overused the word authority. The unauthoritative nature of so many new authorties is real. take the Coastal MA. Think of others?

Maybe someone could throw the word "commission" in at this momenton on the revolve.

Where is Baillieu when Brumbys planning fiascos are so obviusly destined to be ineffective and uneccesary for good governance; new Authorities for everything displacing anyone whose really responsible for anything.
You can't really hold onto power for too long if you keep spreading Authorities around like that can you ?

Firing home the blame for Australias biggest disaster

2009-02-23T16:13:00.011+11:00

On the boundaries of branch and bark management.....its confusion reigns

The biggest disaster in Australia's history ! How long before Brumby realises who in his collection of duckshovers is at least partly irresponsible here . He should look closely at :-
the unresolved , unseen tensions between CFA and DSE at practical levels and practical advice procedures ;
- the fashion consciuos elements of DSE; Those elements of irresponsibility in private land advice , like CMAs's, who have presided over the cash, but have not really counted the cost; Presided over decades of failure to be reasonable in the field and kept going a determined , but totally irresponsible, effort by DSE to get Shires to do their dirty work.- creating the biggest bureaucratic bungling over branch and bark management that the world has ever seen?

Symbolized by : " You want to know whether you can cut that timber ?" Not now " Draw us a plan ,and...... put it in writing and we will tell you THEN" Copyright EA

Reigning in the careless conversation

2009-02-12T16:02:00.008+11:00

The B government - it doesn't know who to trust. This of course, is nothing new but a sound leadership would find someone before they took another step. But no we must move on - the old dinasaurs must go - the ones who have fought fires and told us we don't plan.;theose carping old old ones The new ones love to fly the flag of the new broom unaware that its never swept anything up and is running on something thinner and weaker than what went before;The Premier ends up blaming, like some old emperors of the past the gods who brings this worse than ever before disaster on us . Pray to whom and why ? The god of lightning . Not convincing
Being innovative is the flag Brumby flies, but its often fulla hot air : When the smartarsing reactionaries effort fails to even come close to providing the levels of protection in the past -all hell breaks loose ; 181 deaths, many highly preventable, this week.
Every politician who wants to avoid disaster and ineffectiveness should insist on hearing of the voice of experience and discounting the daring overconfidence of the young.
While polys can blame their advisers, but 2 terms is a warning ; the advisors look think and act more like you than they did when you started -you both become responsible for the incompetence .

More Libertarian Fundamentalism from the left

2008-11-27T11:44:00.004+11:00

Real leaders can say No. Politicians need to say No - not easy, but neccesary. Even more important Political parties who want to be real, need to a rationale de politica to say no.
Labor libertarians, its seems, can't say no - neither in practice , nor in theory . Libertarian Fundamentalism leads directly to woosiness - time Labor made that connection so they can have some hope of exorcising it from the kindergarten games of politica celeste a that will lose them office .
After all sometimes political demands demand real protection - real protection for children.
Real leaders need to say no on behalf of children of the future - the no-name children . Those who identity is not ONE name ( the unity in diversity that is the right of every child growing up in a family) --but a nothing name.

Sometimes our leaders are so desperate to gain a sense of momentum that they allow the old fredom fighters to reign supreme in their territory. No more so than with the new ART act --those who would support any new way to allow soemone to get what they want .

The freedom fighter says an intention denied is a crime to be rectified.
These shallow and reactive noisemakers think we need to make child making easier.

Maybe noone has a right to make a child -certainly not another member of the superhuman superbrumby team .

Lets make sure no other self preoccupied persons get into politics

2008-10-29T08:26:00.004+11:00

It could be a line out of Yes Minister Copyright!
Watch what's happening in COlac Otway elections this November

State government meddling in the democratic process is about to reach another turning point . Brumbies legislation to try and remove parochial and personal preoccupations is, acccording to the Age thursday , hamfisted at best, and draconian at worst .

In colac Otway they have already told new councillors (Wilminck) they can't vote cause they " have an interest".
God help the country when councillors "don't have interest" and "aren't passionate about things happening in their area" ; when they aren't interested in "changing the status quo" .
Will those locally who encouraged the removal of councillors under the idea that " you can't vote on something you are passionate about" get back?? What will that say about the democratic process???
The remaining unsacked councillors voted last night on the library shift ; just before the chance we might have had to say No to what they were saying .

Why in the world would those remaining councillors want to be remembered for supporting and testing some of the most retrograde and reactionary legislation in Victoria' s history. The evidence is, around Colac, that the council decision to shift the library , at this time, is not acceptable- too many questions.

On the bigger issues at stake , Fabians of old would, I am sure have said" I may disagree vehemently with a man's opinion , but I will fight to my death to defend his right to put his point - something one trusts you can still do in a council meeting".

The Wonthagi White Elephant

2008-04-10T06:04:00.018+10:00

Brumby will be hopping mad behind the scenes after the AG yesterday looked under the gladwrap ; Holding may claim otherwise, but the scheming had all the backing it needed : it looked and sounded right - nice; too bad the idea isa s thin as ice; sus science and cost benefit analysis. . And there will be more window dressing on water politeness to come; Massive triple bypass surgery is inappropraite and unsustainable for a system that needs lateral care and self care. Sound conservation theory would have told them so- if only this government were into it!
So much for their conservation credentials. You heard it first on blogger.
--The method of producing the water alone, is sus.( see the future)
- Noboby is going to want to buy it ( "we are polys we don't understand about paying for things ") - nobody is going to want to drink it ( we are polys we panic at the very word saltin the water)
Maybe Thwaites should have got an env study done (an EIS )---then at least he would have realised his ideas are not even in the ecozone.
Bracks sacked the real experts in the field, reaping the whirlwind of his own arrogance and lack of wisdom in eco matters. Who else but meglomaniacs would produce those ridiculous ads with the drops of water being created. Never rains but it certainly drips a lot .(You heard it first on Blogger April 11 2008)

The old Superman myth clearly comes back to haunt the reactionaries. Shaw himself, if he were here , would have warned these tired old Fabians about the dangers of simply relying on "good intentions".
Thwaites and his mates got it all wrong. And they got it all wrong because they themselves "knew all about the dry times and how to fix them" ;They set up to do what God does, and do it better. Weighed in the balance , the writing is now on the wall about their presumption and stupidity. The Wonthagi White Elephant
Clearly the Bracks government were overwhelmed by clever care talk by men cloned too closely - those who had never put their toes into the tough seas of managing real wind and weather ( let alone the economia of soil and water in a rural economy) those who show more emotion and gall than experience in matters of conservation.
And we haven't heard the last of costly touting at matters of temperature control . Maybe its a skill they teach down under ?

Clearly superman talk is a dangerous and common form of mental illness amongst the wannabes.

Brumby will have a hard time rounding up the cats that bracks has unleashed on the country. His policy of letting ministers make up their own minds ( running their very own study tours of everything) only shows what a parlor state the so called public service is under his leadership. Under Thwaites the professional public servive in conservation has became the private service of some new pedants - it will take very careful surgery to out the beast . These blokes can do just about anything - they think !

Only a matter of time before this ongoing failure to exorcise the demons of false courage reveals more budget blowouts --where they need not be . The devil, of course, is not interested in the prevention and protection strategies of true professionals ;
but they don't believe in the devil do they? Clearly it would help if they did .

Time too that Nicola Roxon ( talks glibly about the need for protection policy - boy would she go somewhere if she talked profesions policy ) and Rudds team realised that talk goes nowhere if the loud noises from down under is what you are listening to. So IS thats what next week will be - noise?

As Shaun Macalief said so well on Newstopia - lets put the mental back in environmental- before we all go completely mad over more irrational and blinkered touting at some new way to pump all the problems up and over some new hill.

Arse about planning -expensive and unreliable

2008-03-14T10:52:00.008+11:00

Dick Win's love of VCAT ( 774 this morning ) may be warranted , but it is only skin deep . This great institution is failing because everybody loves it to death and is forgeting what upholds it, and with regard to environmentplanning , - what it cannot do well .
So blindly , he's going to keep funding the overly COSTLY VCAT because he believes "its the best thing since sliced bread? " ! The stockade state continues to up the budget for ROME while the country burns! Kings street gets the funding to review more and more paper - a perfect opportunity for those who can afford the lawyers ----to get decisions past there! Building on a floodplain - why ever not?

VCAT was indeed the jewel in the planning crown, but it cannot remain so while the systems which should support it ,are in tatters -or are beholden to it ." Pass it up the line to VCAT" is the implication and action that must be checked . VCAT is no place to stop things that should have been stopped a lot earlier . A court of law is no place to halt the train of indecision and difficult site driven questions that used to resolved with the help of bodies such as DSE . Anyone who has ever played with the law, knows it to be unreliable ; and VCAT on environment - very unreliable!

The best place to stop stupidity is on the ground, at the local level. Dick Win is no longer funding the most efficient planning process . The efficent process is a "Say no early and why" . Presumably the club would love all the decisionmaking to come to KINGS ST , so -----thats just how they fund it .

Labor has let the gaps develop at the local level, so that increasingly the decisions are about right proceddures , not about right practice . If you think its bad now, wait till all this duck shoving destroys VCAT and gives us what we definitely don't need - an even more expensive environment court ---like they have in NSW ! Maybe its fine for developers - they can afford those kind of procedures !

Diversity - the key to survival for public schools

2008-02-16T07:35:00.002+11:00

Face the facts . The push for even more secular education in public schools can be expected to drive even more people of intellect away from them. Look at the facts, and talk to the people who are doing it - even many apparently die hard secularists send their kids off to 'religious schools". see the unpopular but accurate point made by scott morrison this week

Give the people what they want

2007-11-30T11:13:00.000+11:00

Our chief scientist (at the news confernece on Canola )made a point of saying how much he was convinced of a need by those who advocated it . If only we all got the same treatment from Brumby .
Strangely it wasn't Brumby who used the concept in relation to the release of GM canola ---It was Dr Nossal . Dr Nossal did not do the job properly by refering as he did to the market - the issue is simply one of science and practice.
How can a scientist with the standing of Gustav be party to wishy washy talk that seems to put aside critical issues of science ( and our ignornace of the mechanisms of resistance )to assert with confidence the implications of a mere technology . To pu aside caution to meet the need for political confidence.
How does the modern scientist become an advocate for a world view that is watering down the base for sound science research - Quickfix is something that needs no advocacy in the public good stakes - the publics love of technology and what it can provide in the short term.

The decision to allow planting of GM canola is not Fresh thinking. Its appeal is to plain old simple minded and quick fiz .
The great mystery , like the yet unknown mechanisms for organic systems resistance, is how do Brumby's advisers (including those in DPI and DSE) not see what it is they are doing and what risks they are taking?
Has ignorance of danger and distraction ever been the thing that stops pollies from wanting to be the first . Not with science, but with some new toy?
Trust Nossal - why should we ?

The Brumby's coralled

2007-09-01T09:16:00.000+10:00

The premier John Brumby should wonder hard at why he found himself in The Stockade yesterday . Did He not pick up this particular mantle from those who threw it down in a rush ?
Its pretty obvious to us regional people why Brumby became a prisoner. Its called abandonment ; abandonment of common sense ; abandonment of proper resource management planning policy ; abandonment of those of us who don't just talk regional interest, but live and work here and know how the incumbents have been wrecking it - and offering simple tokens instead of substance in water balance matters .
Brumby may have done well as Treasurer and Regional interest man , but a bookkeeper, it must be understood , sees only 2 dimensions, and often only 2 columns of the one page at that .
Time we had leaders in the big picture matters of environment and health, who could get beyond mere accountancy to true accountability .
Maybe one day even Bracks will realise what a mess his managers have made by allowing his Mr Thwaites to draw pretty 2 dimensional pictures of Supernatural Expectations when all the real problems are 3 dimensional and the constituency still believes in a fair go for every one of them !

What will the Brumby do now the horses have bolted?

2007-07-28T06:27:00.000+10:00

Bracks is happy, Kroker and Cameron are happy, but should the people be happy?
(Copyright EA 10am Saturday 28th July 2007)
Thwaites and Bracks resignation is interpreted by ABC Lateline panel last night as "good timing" - not even a hint from the cool cats . the so called political “realists” in the land, that "something is wrong" . Why?

Brumby's challenge ( and it seems Libs and Nats also )will clearly be the very tough business of how to make govt work better . Mr Brumbys huge challenge is to be more practical and effective in dealing with the roots of incompetence. For eg The urgent need to unwind the twisted merry go rounds that Thwaites has created , by cultivating his own Department of Supernatural Expectations (all over the place on water and air issues)and Ignoring all the hard and critical jobs like planning .( Madden doesn’t even seem to be aware of the pile of garbage he’s sitting on )

I wish John Brumby well – he’s got a much tougher job than the cool cats were indicating. As we suggested to Bracks when he came in , new leaders MUST deal very firmly ( cutting off supply) with the diseases within their own households before they can hope to improve what’s happening outside . .
Examples from history - we need visionaries , but do we have any ?
Berthold Brecht was alert to the reality that evil regenerates itself -if you don't nip it in the bud --he was aware after the war, but there were a few visionaries who were aware before . Those very rare persons had a great political advantage, but their leaders didn’t listen to them .

In Victoria , there is no indication from anywhere on the landscape that some more crap is coming – let alone that we are still breeding the problem .

How do we make Victoria work ?– being practical . The cool cats seem to forget that ultimately Politics is practical, and good politics is very practical.Were Bracks and Thwaites practical about nipping Kennetts damage in the bud . Were they victims themseleves of the yes men factor .
Those who get diverted into silly short term and shallow low advice mind games that imitate real politics generate the long term pain which should be the subject of media review . The long term view is what we thought we paid the ABC and Parliament TO get hold of . But we are not reading about it

The practical point IS ; before you can deal with any problem, you have to understand the problem. There isn't one some will say !? 10 billion dollar ones plus all the others that cost/ coast less? Neither side of politics in Victoria, nor the cool cats.it seems to me , really understand the problem.

In between the stable rocks of realit politique( the long term) there is a lot of changing of pants and underpants . Best not to waste too much talking time on that . sh happens .
Vision, sustainability and satisfaction come from good advice. Good advice doesn’t come cheap . With the high risk of wearing no clothes in politics and the complex matters of planning and environment in particular , its always better to buy some. John

Airy fairy Mr Thwaites

2007-07-13T09:05:00.000+10:00

He sounds confused . Perhaps he is ill advised. One day he's talking the dangers of heating . The next day he talks the benefits of cooling.
Was he visiting the Alps to plan for its demise under global warming or, as he says, to promote its future under some new change agency agenda. Time he and Bracks got some real sustainability experts who have some idea of what they are doing- lest the opportunities for good science, good governance and risk analysis vanish into more hot air .

God is God

2007-06-28T18:41:00.000+10:00

Bracks just spent a few million dollars in paper ads last week to tell us he thwaites and brumby can make water.

They never will . Presumably like that powerful king neb they will go into history as not accepting the proper limits of their own authority and their own arrogance .

"Pour the water on mate" Elijah said.

Lost at sea

2007-06-28T11:14:00.000+10:00

Like podger I have no sympathy for polys who cultivate people with their own predjudices. They build the crap level in government to the levels we now see. Full of far sighetd engineers who think water conservation is about piping and plumbing; who instead of talking eco science and risk managemnet, talk expensive engineering solutions to everything maybe thwaites was never a convert to eco science ( maybe he doesn't know what it is?) -
what else explains his strange alliance with Turnbull over engineering solutions to everything ---desalination and pipe projects that will never be used - even if we end up paying for them. Who indeed will be so blessed as to benefir from them . good eco conservationists always consult in depth with economists before they open their mouths! part of wholistic approaches to ecoscience. You heard it first on blogger !

Another 100 million dollar furphy

2007-03-22T23:28:00.000+11:00

Another EES for the port dredging . The dummies don't have much confidence in the first report on the channel, or their own staff , so they call for another opinion - it would be alright if it dug up something new but will it ? place your money now -. it won't . What a waste and what a mess !

Trading in empty buckets

2007-02-21T23:33:00.000+11:00

Graemes said it well on ABCTV this week. as for the stockade group, what can you do to help them until they admit they have a problem . Trading in empty but expensive buckets.

Touting at windmills

2006-11-06T14:00:00.000+11:00

You can always tell a representative of the Bracks governement- They like to tackle the big issues. But only with tokens - like tanks and taps, nothing too tough for the city folks they hope to win with their teething efforts at water conservation .
They like to tackle the big issues ;The ones which require more competence than they have at their disposal . They have got plenty of the right vehicles, but their many cars are in bits and the horses that they ride are only those willing to ride roughly out to wild places under a very tight reign and ongoing financial personal gain .
You can always tell a representative of the Bracks governement- They like to tackle the big issues and forget about the mess that they leave behind - the small parts that could repair the gaping hole .

Tolerance legislation

2006-10-11T08:28:00.000+10:00

The government are making huge mistakes by lecturing us about good and bad behaviour
We might just rebel,esp when you lock up the innocents in the name of a law that a wide variety of Victorains recognise as unworthy of any modern democracy.

You are not allowed to say that!

2006-08-13T20:40:00.000+10:00

There are rare moments in history when only a very few can see the future. Rare moments ,as Waugh hinted , when the progessives even if present, are half asleep. The indicators are there- voltaire, the greens,bikies , liberty victoria, public radio, senior QC's , the opposition parties AND the independants . Those few did not own papers or run columns in newspapers . On 8th August some of that very motly crew acted to Stop The great levelling board from delivering a few mad bombs of misplaced projection. Fancy the labor party encouraging lawyers battles instead of conciliation - i hope the legal aid service is ready for their brilliance $200000 is a lot of dumbing down money to spend in an admin court playing with words and definitions . Herod would have been pleased with their performance .
Jesus could be expected to take exception to the vilification of anyone using the word "idiot " Matt 5:22. The Age last week printed the word in a headline - will they be prosecuted for repeating " hate speech " in the tradition of the western legal system . Should they be? Should they know better ?

Why did the press not really notice this HUGE insult to western legal history and the jewel in Victoria's justice crown? Perhaps they couldn't see the reason because of their grand disinterest in all things "religious"?
They are, like so many of labor's PC correct audience --are starved of real meat - real emotion. And there was a great deal of emotion at that meeting .30 minutes of great passion from a great range of great Victorians. See the DVD on community TV ?

The place is quiet - which means everything is going wonderfully well!!!...? Nobody is buying papers or talking much .maybe its all too hard ? Maybe the only things that matter to the me generation is my graph is going up,(abc business)and my super is safe . How secular can you get when all you eat is as dry as mere materialism . R&R vilification legisilation at least is about something that stirs emotion - paradoxically passion sells papers but the journos can't be bothered promoting their own bosses interest . Asleep most of the time and only aroused by a really big noise?usually a bit late to be progessive then ! Waugh would not have been surprised at the calm before the storm and neither should we.

Where are the well trained lawyers who care enough to say VCAT'S Vetoing Conversation Aimed at the Truth should be heard in something other than a backyard brawl--an word administration court. Its a bit like Herod and his lawyers wanted Pilate to do? Rule on the words used !
We have progessed haven't from there haven't we?

The Claytons surplus.

2006-06-01T19:54:00.000+10:00

You know the one you have when you haven't got one . Nothing symbolises VIc labors unfitness for power than their own cyniscsm about the public they pretend to serve and whose assets they sqaunader and whose carerre they cut short ( the snowy , the comm games have cost jobs and they know it ).

Noone believes the handback of $300 says anything but what is says about their incompetence - they can use it no better than we can, and shouldn't have taken it in the first place.
As for that blatant hypocrisy and cyniscsm shown to us. Do we or do we not have a surplus mr brumby .mr bumbles does seem to be brought in at the last minute to try and sort out the mess cerated by others who do little than seek their own popularity -short term gain long term pain - thems the rules mate !Just wait !

Everybodys into parroting

2006-04-07T09:09:00.000+10:00

Peter Ryan is right about one thing , if labor weren't playing shallow nimby games and neglecting the proper rules of conservation planning,(eg Where should the wind power industry be directed ) the public wouldn't have to parrot the principle of going for the parrot. Shallow "nocommon sense conservation " and throw the simple endangerde species leads in battles have become common with common sense planning principles lost.Fight every battle on your own, and with an endangered whatever is the practice at the moment. Takes one cynic to know one? Feds are only copying .

Surely the only argument allowed in DSE is a colourful bird or tangible feeler friendly furry one. Any argument from anywhere else in the spectrum of sustaiability impertives is no longer funded - the arguments will be as shallow and as short term as the ever more popular birdbath tricks. No pain no gain and Short term gain long term pain .
Feds are only reinforcing the stupid simplicities of this State about how laws and legilislature create better biodiversity.If only real life and governance were so simple out in the bush where sustainability is more than just a simply good idea .

Jeff Bracks

2006-02-14T09:44:00.000+11:00

The great selloff starts again . Selling off the Snowy is a piece of quick fix - unworthy of Thwaites who thinks he is the agent of sustainability thinking .Little does he know . The people may never know but true economians know. Its quick fix . If you want to convince the big picture people you would nominate the current long term return rate and say how much bigger it will be over the next twenty years . Then we might think you have at least some idea of what you are doing and not in some reactive desperate pay for the mistakes mode , throw to education vote mode . Not me in November mate

Great Lobs - but poor job

2006-01-18T18:44:00.001+11:00

The boys seem to be having fun telling us how to suck the right amount of water and keep filling our papers with successful grantees who then move offshore ( age story today) . One way tennis is a zero sum game - play it at your own risk.

BY CONCENTRATING ON LOBS YOU ARE not getting the reTURNS THAT WILL KEEP YOU IN CHARGE

Outstanding injustice - will it be righted?

2005-07-06T18:23:00.000+10:00

BOB Carr on racial and Religious Vilification legislation . "It is clear that most of the people intended to benefit from the new law not only do not want it but are ardently opposed to it. It is therefore not appropriate to proceed with legislation.

Vilification laws should not be extended because they are liable to misuse.
The Victorian experience spells out how anti-religious vilification can be misused. Its Racial and Religious Tolerance Act of 2001 outlaws religious vilification. It has proved very questionable to say the least."

Media banned from AFL Clubrooms -as from Today !

2005-06-22T20:38:00.000+10:00

Did you know that in Victoria now, you can be prosecuted and someone has TODAY , for
1. Not having a balanced discussion
2. Presenting a seminar in a way that was considered essentially hostile, demeaning and derogatory to a group of people .
3. Presenting a seminar that was considered essentially hostile to someone else’s beliefs and practices .
4. Where you might not be regarded as a credible witness in your own defence
5. Where, if you create fear in others, you might be accused of inciting hatred?
This was not a “seminar “ held before a football game to talk about the opposition

The legislation , which is being criticized by civil rights groups , was defended by the acting Premier .
How many teams does he think we should barrack for ?

From the transcript at http://www.vcat.vic.gov.au/CA256902000FE154/Lookup/decisions/$file/islamic_council_of_victoria_v_catch_the_fire_ministries-remedy.pdf

Fairy godfather Bracks

2005-06-10T18:26:00.000+10:00

Simon and Stephen did most of the talking about their own wisdom on this historic day when the Premier granted a shallow wish and closed down yet another regional area ( The Otways ). Brilliant! Management as a principle is getting too hard for most politicians . After all, it gets a lot easier if you just put a big fence around "the problem" and parade 4WDs to manage the locks . ( Flannery of course has learnt his lesson about NSW's oldest lockout area ) If it gets a bad reputation just close it down . It's a simple way to keep the majority happy-the way they like it

Coralled in the cloisters

2005-05-18T20:49:00.000+10:00

labor needs someone who isn't so heavenly minded about practical issues .People who have their feet on the ground are going through a big drought and as providers of our meals need a way to keep going

-Make up your minds -do you want us all to live in bark huts and eat grass or not because the animal activists ( people with their heads in the clouds) are running the agenda on animal management at the moment..... Bob who is charge of what ?
Rob Hulls has acknowledged toda he has done nothing to fix the legal loophole exploited in the Ralph Hahnheuser case.( a whole sheep load sabotaged )

Legislation therapy

2005-05-13T22:18:00.000+10:00

Sometimes, when marketworldview people feel bad, they consume, When marketworldview polys feel incompetent they legislate - adding to our excessively bureaucartic states and risking short term gain and giving us more long term pain .
The Vic government are going to try and review the direction of Education in the next six months - any chance they are overly ambitiuos???
The First big review in 100years and they will do it in six months . I wonder if anyone has bothered to try and remind this overly comfortable majority of its ignorance and risk unaware approach? They want submissions but will they publish them ?

Windpower - the answers are still blowin in the wind

2005-03-05T18:12:00.000+11:00

Touting at windmills has got new status in Victoria as the state government creates its own windmill shrines for its followers to wonder at . When polys are too quick to follow simple green logic they risk the short term gain that marks the new courtiers contribution to history. Experience would tell them that the new clothes are often just old clothes redyed - likely to cause embarrassment long term.
Windpower mills go in where someone who believes the latest fad thinks appropriate - with a mere 300ppm of Co2 in the atmospher any hasty conversion of many of our coastal landcapes to technology shrines and native forests to nothing will be historically irrelevant in the big balance debates of the milleneum - the greens do not know what we are doing and politicians who follow them will find out sooner or later about sound cost benefit issues .If you are unsure ask the promoters of towerful visions how seriously we should take the previous "very seriuos threats" of ozone layer destruction..

Got to come out of the bunker sometime?

2005-02-21T20:25:00.000+11:00

Surely Bracks will eventually join Carr ( with Thredbo and beyond )and NT ( Azaria) to recognise they have trusted the green elements of politics to do too much.( symbolised by their faith in "Parks" and their funding of its growth in influence )
The sooner the better they seek balanced practical advice from some other quarters, the less uneccesary death and wastage of resources . Perhaps its just so much easier to listen to your own voice in the mirror?

Bernard Shaw could see that the greatest evil is done in the name of "the best intention departments" . Why can't they? weed out the enshriners and the impractical and inexperienced fanatics!

Thank God there is someone in the ACT like Doonan and the Stanhope government who are prepared to stand up to the wishywashiness that undermines labors cutting edge and still drives them to half baked overly idealistic and impractial balances in their favoured bunker holes.

Dealing with the real issues

2005-01-17T00:26:00.000+11:00

My suggestion is that Vic labor will go into history wishing it had properly dealt with the Kennett legacy - the growing yes men phenomena. The poor and the noisy we always have with us, but the yes men and the cynics you must know.

Vilification -Big brother Bracks

2005-01-07T14:52:00.000+11:00

Why I've changed my mind on Victoria's anti-vilification lawsPeter Costello was quite correct in his National Day of Thanksgiving address to describe Victoria's anti-vilification legislation as "bad law".

As someone who once supported their introduction and is a member of one of the minority groups they purport to protect, I can say with some confidence that these laws have served only to undermine the very religious freedoms they intended to protect.
Amir Butler is Executive Director of the Australian Muslim Public Affairs Committee.

They don't know what the problem is -koskys perfect class photo

2004-11-29T21:48:00.000+11:00

Well thats clear enough . The really important people in government are the trained capable ones but ever since jeff came along they are leaving - Mrs Kosky's may be over awed by the reactaionary atempt of the rialto towers to talk values but clearly this is just another in labors doomed decsion to allow the yes men to keep reinventing themsleves . Listen harder to those who have left or you will just get reworked and unworkable nicely painted up " values " .

Labors woes

2004-11-29T21:33:00.000+11:00

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FRIENDLY advice for those Labor party officials during their soul searching.

If you think you need to go offshore and look for a campaign manager, then you still have a problem. When will you folk learn that we have some of the best minds in the world in our own back yard? ( see cringenomore blog)

I suggest you have a good look at what is on your home turf, start really listening to what people are saying and pay attention for a change instead of playing catch-up politics. Be a first-rate version of yourself, not a second-rate version of someone else.

Instead of aiming for the silver foxes why not encourage the thousands of young people who don't vote to actually engage in the decision-making process for their future.

For a change they may feel like they are contributing in a positive way.

Reverse the style of the ad campaigns from sledging to a feel-good experience. This, rather than fear, would stop voters from continually flicking stations.

While you are at it, secure policy advisers who actually know what they are talking about from personal experience rather than something they have read in a book.

Following these few measures at least will put your party on the path of some integrity, while at the same time giving politics a much better standing in the community.
Debrah Novak
Yamba, NSW

Dangerous doomsday preachers in their midst

2004-06-17T09:48:00.000+10:00

Unearthly and unatural rushing
Wannabees this week ( at all levels ) seem to be falling over themselves in outdoing the rhetoric about finding immediate solutions to our environmental problems ( =crisises in their eyes ) .
Maybe they watch too much TV,the mediums or believe their own rhetoric?. Bob Brown appears to be left behind in the rush?
We don't want them to panic, do we? -- after all it is only the day after tommorrow. We need them to stay calm don't we? http://esda.blogspot.com