Hello, welcome, and apologies for a rushed, bit-piece post...I've been volunteering down at the Show, helping set stuff up, etc, and only got back in at 1730hrs...and I'm knackered...and my Internet is dropping out again...again...and again...
Uncle Bobo Does A Downer: in a move reminiscent of dummy spitting silver-spooner Liberal Alexander Downer, former Labor Foreign minister Bob 'Uncle Bobo' Carr has decided to do us all a favour and sod off out of politics, hopefully to never be heard from again...(you're joking aren't you?...he'll continue mouthing off about whatever, whenever because he thinks we need to know what he thinks...and you'd better explain the Downer/Carr dummy spit stuff-Ed)...sure...
At the 2007 Federal election the Liberals were defeated, and career silver-spooner Alexander Downer went from long term Foreign Minister to Opposition, and immediately quit politics...(but not before shopping around for lucrative jobs in the private sector, including at times he was actually meant to be in parliament-Ed)...and thus forcing a costly and inconvenient by-election for his seat of Mayo in the Adelaide Hills...what a knob...
No wallowing around in Opposition with all those grubby plebeians, no working hard to represent the interests of the electorate that he asked to vote for him, not for Lord Alexander...as soon as he wasn't swanning about the planet on the public dollar, as soon as he had to get off...(was knocked off-Ed)...his high horse and actually might have had to do some work for his electorate, he quit...what a class act...
And now Uncle Bobo has done exactly the same thing...lost the election and quits...and he wasn't even an elected member remember, he was appointed by then Prime Minister Julia Gillard using Labor's Senate vote allocation, and now that he's not going to get what he wants for him, he's off...and good shrekin' riddance...Bob Carr is a name I've been hearing for a long time re certain 'protection' issues that I have covered extensively on this blog...
Unwelcome news: that the 'new' Mt Gambier Ambulance Station has been delayed yet again, but I didn't catch what the official reason was this time...only 2 months ago...(possibly less-Ed)...quite, but then it was something about 'soil compaction' or some 'earthworks' issue, whatevs...and whatevs it's now stalled for an undisclosed period...
Joining the long rank of issues that I genuinely hope to be absolutely wrong about, is this latest delay the death knell for the new station?...is it going to happen at all now?...I had thought that it was a 'stunt' aimed at the March 2014 state election, specifically timed to be finished just in time for a nice bit of cross-promotion for the Labor party and their man, alleged Independent and current Member for Mt Gambier, Don Pegler.
Is this Ambulance Station about to go...(has it already gone?-Ed)...the way of the Rehabilitation Unit that was promised for Mt Gambier Hospital but has recently been canned?...and in the discussions I've had, it is the cost of the new Royal Adelaide Hospital that is blamed...(or rather the Labor government who instigated this medically fiscal fiasco that is literally sucking the life out of the states entire budget, but specifically Health-Ed)...as per previous posts.
Absolute Labor stooge, former Chair of the Forestry Roundtable, and current head of the South Australian Forestry Industry Advisory Board, Trevor Smith was just on ABC Radio rolling out the vacuous, pointless pro-Labor rhetoric about the criminal sale...(both metaphorically and literally criminal-Ed)...indeed...the sale of the South East Forestry Estate...yesterday Forestry expert and vocal opponent to The Sale, Jerry Leech, concluded a long list of the problems, mistakes, and negative impacts of the sale by calling for a Royal Commission...get in my son...
But not card carrying Labor front man Trevor Smith...no...for him it's all about the great things the Labor government is doing with the South East Forestry Partnership Program investing $16million into the industry which has been met dollar for dollar by locals, 'at least $32m into the industry'...and how the Forestry Industry has been low for some considerable time, blah, blah.
When asked about value adding, he trotted out the now traditional rhetoric about exciting initiatives from the VVP fibre study and how the Partnership is helping with upgrading 'a number of local mills', and helping them develop processes for the future...blah, blah...and yay...not one idea of substance, not one actual example...
Then when specifically asked about whether he was optimistic, if The Sale had been for better or worse?...he just waffled on about there being 'a whole range of issues' and 'it's all about the long term relationship between government and industry', and that 'the industry has had great support from government', and then the ultimate seasoning of the wound, 'our conditions on The Sale were accepted by the Treasurer'...('our' being the Forestry Roundtable).
And at this point I was very disappointed with the normally astute and politely brutal interviewer Annette Marner...(the Velvet Sledgehammer, if I may?-Ed)...if you must...because she didn't hold him to account over the minimal log supply contracts currently in place, contracts that the bloody Forestry Roundtable continues to promote as some great achievement of theirs...bollocks...
All nicely rounded out with the observation from Mr Smith that anyone who talks down The Sale, etc, are "doomsayers" and criticised 'all this talk of ongoing doom and gloom that will now hopefully be put in it's place'...(mostly paraphrase and some scribbled quotes).
I'd invite Mr Smith to come to Mt Gambier and have a look at all the houses for sale, the businesses closing, and the people leaving town...and when Forestry SAs ludicrous 5 year contract is gone, that will be those jobs leaving Mt Gambier as well...and what then with the Fire Prevention that Forestry SA are supposed to cover...could it work the other way and this Fire provision necessity actually save the jobs that will be surplus to necessity when the 5 years are up?...lord knows...
Only for that to be followed by discussion about the McCain's closure of their SAFries plant at Penola, meaning 59 full-time jobs gone and with them the peripheral jobs, money coming in to the local economy, potentially loss of contracts for growers, etc, and the talk is about ensuring entitlements are secure, WorkCover cases aren't compromised, etc, and 're-training' for other jobs elsewhere...forget the sarcasm, I wish them all the best 'cause it's going to be tough...
Sorry to stop here so abruptly but the Internet has just cut out again...having a few probs...
Tomorrow: The Demolition Deconstruction Thingy
Sorry not today but needs a lot of work...
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers, laters, and timmmmberrrrrrrrrr...
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