Category: politics

Ethical Standards Check on The Miller Burning.

As a 2 time failed candidate in a council election I understand how the wanna bee’s for Mayor feel when running against a experienced sitting councillor, however when you decide to get inside the ropes you have the accept you have to work harder as you do not have the tool box of contacts, media, knowledge, and interaction with businesses and authorities acquired over time by the sitting member. However when circumstances change drastically as it has in Ipswich we have to look back and see how that tool box was used and was it used ethically.

I’m on the record for asking what was the issue when Joanne Miller wanted to centralise police communications away from Ipswich as I believe all essential services should be within arms length for quicker response time especially now when we have GPS, Instant video, Helecopters, mobile, ect. so having a individual outpost like Yamanto was a little odd especially if no employee would be relocated or displaced, in fact as I recall Ipswich would have a slight increase in staff as a result.

But, as we witnessed a open war was declared by the Mayor and the media on Millar in one of the most vindictive, vile and personal attacks ever seen in my time in this great city. Yes politics is tough and when your inside the ropes that comes with the territory, but when attacks extend to family and even down to a jeans belt, I think we in Ipswich deserved better balanced journalism.

Time has moved on, editors change, circumstances change, as well as the political landscape, so I feel it’s time to ask why that issue exploded as it did, and why the viscous ness?

I get very sceptical when I see politicians and media combining to close down a individual from doing his or her job with such venom so I believe this issue should be investigated by a Ethical entity Under Oath., so we the punters can be sure we have no skeletons that may revisit us later from former are administrations.

Footnote.

Serious questions lay here of the closeness and availability of confidential information regarding police operationns to Council.

All may be in order however as I have stated the joining of media and Mayor to destroy a Minister and MP locally raises questions that should be answered Under Oath.

Edited by QT on  print. 

Will NBN Payback be Rewarded for Turnbull?

Sometimes it’s hard to put aside personal perspectives however I find if you look a the the facts all becomes much clearer.When the Australian people were delivered a 3rd rate speed by the NBN that would not support more than one cable tv network it was clear the Fox carrier would maintain it monopoly in Australia.

That network was managed by our present PM Turnbull successfully after cries of costs to deliver a world class network and would be cheaper to the taxpayer.

In a Senate enquiry it has been revealed the Turnbull government has given, yes given, Fox $30 Million dollars with no paperwork of discussion or account to upgrade women’s sport coverage allegedly.

So it’s a cheaper network build that delivers less to prop up monopoly that needs to be financed to cover women, a expectation to the Australian public that it should prioritise over its American content. Sounds fair? 

Now looking at past history of this marriage between media and government further we saw the Abbott government fiercely supported by the Murdock press, appoints Turnbull to cover the NBN degrade which he manages well enough the gain the prime ministership in the eyes of his colleagues.

Now as the LNP polls crash is that lazy $30 million for Fox a olive branch from Turnbull or will the Abbot stay as their pick? 

As in Yes Minister “all shall be revealed in the fullness of time”
Censored 

Criminalise Rouge Employers

While the federal governments war on the trade unions continues it conveniently ignores employers that underpay employees and when they are caught they can pleaded ignorance without charge if they repay.If I steal money from that same employers business I get charged with theft immediately but stealing from employees as is wage theft is allowed goes unpunished.

I accept mistakes do occur if award increases are missed unintentionally by some small operators however there are much bigger employers knowingly underpaying especially in the retail and hospitality industries manipulating employees to the detriment of employers who do the right thing and comply with the laws.

Theft is theft in all its forms and regardless if a employee or employer infringes the laws should apply equally, and this federal government should pursue and prosecute the employers as hard as they have the trade union movement if they get a sniff of any wrongdoing.

These employees in retail and hospitality have suffered a penalty rate cut so ensuring base rate compliance is critical so its up to Turnbull to ensure laws are in line with the all community standards and rouge employers charged accordingly. 

Mayoral Qualifications Please..

With Mayoral nominations opening in August it’s a good time for us punters to think about what we really want out of our Mayor, what issues we really need as ratepayers, and what we don’t want as well. My personal concern is speculative developments in retail and land development. Just look around our city and towns and we will find land parcels cleared of either vegetation or structures laying idle for years after great hullabaloos of Safety helmeted ,silver shovel, fluro safety jacketed media stunts.

Then we have this fixation that the more retail outlets selling the same stuff is somehow good for competition. That’s fine if they are all on the same playing field, but that’s fantasy. The bigger conglomerate the more council concessions/incentive as the smaller mum and dad shows hit the wall resulting in more vacant premises. 

I agree forward planning is imperative to running any business being council or private abut the risk management facets is where this council comes up short very short, so my I’m looking for a Mayor that can run a business, run council as a business, as well as a demonstrated skill of managing the gap between timely service provision and population growth realising that critical factor in managing not only council cash flow but extends to the cashflow of accompanying businesses as well. 

Media Laws and Ownership vital to democracy 

To the average punter the debate on media ownership takes little or no interest to many.Channel 10’s demise and pending purchase and the ideological and financial attacks on the worth and content of our ABC network is swinging the media menu in Australia more towards network ownership controlled by billionaires. 

That’s fine if journalists are allowed to follow their oath to balance,truth, and fact, and encouraged to write accordingly.

My concern is that oath is not being respected by the owners and pressure is exerted to support the owners views over the code of ethical journalism.

If we want our country’s media to be independent the laws governing media ownership are vitally important, and we the punters deserve factual news, true investigative journalism without bias, or we will go down the road of America and get only the extremes on either side dominating and our news becomes properganda. 

Ducks and Jelly Backs

Not often all the ducks line up in politics but the Gay marriage timeline has certainly got them running, but we’re not sure who are the getting behind.Pyne’s leaked opinion has sent them all into their respective camps reigniting the factional and ideological factions differences among the Coalition. In fairness some of the Labor and minor parties share same views, but the overall majority agree we should take the step to legalise and put it behind us. 

The logic we are expected to swallow is a referendum which in fact will take on a election campaign status funded by us the taxpayer and then supported by the opponents costing the nation millions of dollars which will only magnify the opinion divide over months yet not change the outcome, or we can let our parliament do its job and vote non partisan. 

This government can send our nation and our kids to war on a minutes notice without a referendum yet they Bork at a decision that effects two people marrying. 

Media quotes memorable timelines like Howard Gun Control decision, Rudd’s Sorry, but I’m afraid if this is not sorted it will go down as Jelly Back moment for this PM 

Canabis, The Conversation we need to have.

With our police under the pump continually with major issues concerning public safety, drugs, Domestic Violence, Crime ect is it time to revisit our laws particularly those regarding Canibas?Is is now proven fact the substance has sound medical applications for various conditions and if controlled as it is in some European countries can we release the pressure and resources of our police by legalising it and government regulation, supervision making it a major income flow to the country.

If managed correctly the black market would crash and those funds redirected into boost public coffers, police time re prioritised to higher level crime. 

Government regulation similar to alcohol would apply nationally and maybe we might see a drop in alcohol related crime as other countries have reported. 

It will take brave politics and politicians to start a conversation on this issue publically for fear of being labelled soft on drugs however the value of the crops would decrease, police time would be curtailed, government coffers increased, black market shut down over time and yes some will overindulge initially as they do with other legalised habits but we can have more control if we are smart enough, or we can just continue to play the expensive never ending game of cat and mouse

Checks and Balances

With the last elections in Australia and in United Kingdom it is more than evident that Conservative power brokers demand total dominance over the political divide and will sacrifice any working majority to eliminate the humiliation of negotiations. This high handed approach has backfired on Turnbulls DD and May as the punters slashed their majorities to the brink of extinction, so in should not be any surprise that Peter Dutton demands the elimination of any accountabilities via the court process and install him Camp Commander Colonel Klink of our refugees. 

This ideology cannot go unchecked if we are to remain a democratic nation and its time the Coalition accepted the fact Australians see checks and balances are intricate part of our government process and punish those who desire totalitarian power. 

Take Back Our Public Assets.

It’s hard to work out the logic of the current Coalition parties. In South Australia they were spruking how bad the power network was then when the state government takes back the network from the privateers, takes accountability of its own power the federal government says it’s all wrong. In Queensland the coalition built the failed Redcliffe link with privateers, bought the failed electric trains from Indian fire sale, sacked drivers and stopped training, then say the network is failing the people. 

Honestly the lesson here is do not allow privatisation into our public assets because profit and greed surpasses price and service to the average Joe Citizen. 

We were promised Power, water, telecommunications, transportation, postal all would be cheaper under privatisation and history has proven that was a blatant lie, the ideological experiment has failed and it’s now time to reclaim Our assets back and put the profits back into the public coffers not with the Silver Tail Executives. 

Take the Stakeholders Out of the Domestic Violence Debate.

They say politics and religion are taboo if you want to keep your friends. Well hears a test… 

Domestic violence is a issue politicians and the religions have used to promote their causes on who is getting the moral high ground on fixing the problem.

We see pictures and articles of victims being abused from all over the world and comparisons drawn in our media and politicians on what religion they are and what culture they are and how lucky we are that we are good Christians neglecting to report that We, Australia, have possibly the one of highest domestic violence incidents per capita in the world with some Christian cultures promoting male dominance within the family unit. That goes under the carpet conveniently. 

We are consistently told we are a (Christian Nation). In actual facts are 61 % are of the Christian Faith in Australia, 31% either Atheist or No Religious which leaves the other 8% to all the rest. Yes 8% split up across all the other religions in the world yet if you listen or watch the spiels from the stakeholders protecting their own special patch you would believe the hoards are at our door and theirs is the only one to follow to get you wherever or whatever.

The point I am trying to make is if we continue to listen to the politicians and the churches spiel we will alway be divided on the issue of fixing domestic violence not only in Australia but world wide. 

We need a body of people not encumbered with beliefs or politics fully funded, and I do have some ideas that would be extremely controversial to go about funding that, but that’s another issue, to address domestic violence, with the assistance of our state and federal police as part of every police station in the nation, not just a part time or when needed position but full time. 

The cost of DV in dollar terms and mental health is incalculable considering the damage it does from cradle to cript to any population, so it has to start somewhere and soon as we are loosing the battle right now, ask any hospital worker or policeman. 

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