Discussion Random Discussion

[Yawkey way]

What did the Mexican firefighter call his two sons ? (Hose A and Hose B.)

His poor daughter with the bad teeth was named Juanita.

 

[Yawkey way]

We had/have policy for workplace safety.
Why wasn't it enforced along with every other work place in the country.
Do you think we have special policy for installing TV antenna's, digging ditches etc?
How on earth did people ever put insulation in roofs before?

Someone at the appropriate authority needed to keep an eye on it.


I agree with Gringo, that public organizations are privatized to try to get them more efficient.
I don't quite understand why the government can't make these organizations efficient in their own right. The culture at the old SECV was just totally putrid, inefficient , lazy , corrupt.

Even when the government puts things out for tender, ( ie desalination plant ) it seems that the vultures see dollar signs and turn it into a junket.
How does that happen?

Efficiency is a simple smokescreen, after all who doesn’t believe the public servants aren’t all lazy and incompetent.

The liberals push that line despite it being absolute crap because it’s plays well with voters, like all the people on Newstart or dsp are ripping off hard working Australians. The real reason is they pick off profitable pieces and transfer the wealth into private hands, it’s a massive scam. Just watch them come for some juicy public service functions having won the election.

 

[gringo2011]

Efficiency is a simple smokescreen, after all who doesn’t believe the public servants aren’t all lazy and incompetent.

The liberals push that line despite it being absolute crap because it’s plays well with voters, like all the people on Newstart or dsp are ripping off hard working Australians. The real reason is they pick off profitable pieces and transfer the wealth into private hands, it’s a massive scam. Just watch them come for some juicy public service functions having won the election.

They keep giving contracts to dodgy operators like the security firm on Muanus and the Robodebt stuff that cost the UK 43 million pounds of public money to fix up, we contracted to * it up here. Absolutely insane corruption.

 

[Mowman]

If anyone gets a chance listen to the Andrew Krakouer interview on Triple M today
the young man speaks so well and has got his Sh1t together the AFL should have him working for them

 

[StCicatriz]

Met my first dinky die MAGA nut yesterday. I went into a truck accessory store to buy some gear and this guy started a conversation by asking if I had heard of the idiot who lost $800,000 on a bet he laid that Labour would win the election.

I said no I hadn’t heard, but man that would hurt. Serves him right he says cause it was Turnbulls son.

‘Alex Turnbull?’ I asked. He nods. I say he went pretty hard campaigning against the Libs after his ‘Dad got knifed in the back’.

That was some kind of trigger for the guy. He hit the roof. Accused me of hating on Abbott because I am a sheep. Told me the iconic photo of Abbott in his budgie smugglers was taken 5 minutes after he pulled a drowning girl out of the surf. Also said that Abbott spends an extended amount of time out bush with ‘the abos’ and is the single greatest supporter of indigenous communities amongst all politicians. Also goes on to say he is not a misogynist and if you study his family he quite clearly is pro women and LGBTQ.

I said I don’t think he has been good for Australia and I think he is a divisive leader.

Guy starts shouting asks me to list his divisive policies. 6 seconds later I haven’t said anything he shouts ‘I didn’t think you could. Typical lefty.’

Then he shakes the product scanner in my direction and shouts for everyone in the shop to hear ‘I’ll bet you don’t like Trump either?’.

‘I can’t stand the man’ I say.

Boo Yah! He’s off on a tangent about how Trump has single handedly turned America into the economic powerhouse it currently is and has almost lifted the ‘latinos and blacks’ (his words not mine) out of generational poverty. Actually shouts ‘NO COLLUSION, NO OBSTRUCTION’. Told me I needed to watch more FOX so I could get some balance in my life.

Then he calmly took my $30 bucks and gave me some change. Blew my mind. I said I respect the fact you have an opinion, but I don’t respect your opinion and left.

Always thought I’d have to go stateside to meet a MAGA Trumpian. But seems like we are sprouting our own.

Now my question to the board is has anybody else heard those stories about Abbott? Are they verifiable?

man the brain dead are every where. they literally drink up everything they read online. especially US media, despite having ever lived there nor having the ability think for themselves beyond the US view they're reading.

it's quite scary how they've demonised the "left" like it's a slur. i guess we should be thankful it's no longer race, religion, gender or class.

the funnier one i read is someone posting an anti democrat meme in support of the libs here. so i ask this knuckle dragger with his facebook profile that looks like he's been smoking meth the last 10 years, wtf does the democrats have to do with the current election. he's like lefties mate. i'm like you do realise the democrats are further to the right than our liberal party. he seriously didn't get it, beyond the US takes somehow being applicable to our parties over here.

they're ******* brain dead and its scary that they vote.

 

[VDS66]

man the brain dead are every where. they literally drink up everything they read online. especially US media, despite having ever lived there nor having the ability think for themselves beyond the US view they're reading.

it's quite scary how they've demonised the "left" like it's a slur. i guess we should be thankful it's no longer race, religion, gender or class.

the funnier one i read is someone posting an anti democrat meme in support of the libs here. so i ask this knuckle dragger with his facebook profile that looks like he's been smoking meth the last 10 years, wtf does the democrats have to do with the current election. he's like lefties mate. i'm like you do realise the democrats are further to the right than our liberal party. he seriously didn't get it, beyond the US takes somehow being applicable to our parties over here.

they're ******* brain dead and its scary that they vote.

Demonised the left, unions, protesters and now school kids who protest.

Helps when you have Murdoch as your propaganda Minister.... The Goebbels of the 21st century.

 

[VDS66]

Efficiency is a simple smokescreen, after all who doesn’t believe the public servants aren’t all lazy and incompetent.

The liberals push that line despite it being absolute crap because it’s plays well with voters, like all the people on Newstart or dsp are ripping off hard working Australians. The real reason is they pick off profitable pieces and transfer the wealth into private hands, it’s a massive scam. Just watch them come for some juicy public service functions having won the election.

Old mate Premier Ted made a tidy sum when Kennett sold of our schools.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

I'm not pointing the finger at either side of politics.

But Public service absolutely does become inefficient. Its not just propaganda , and its not necessarily laziness. ( though i have observed first hand the ability for those who are lazy doing a good job of hiding in clear view in a publicly owned organization ).

As for selling assets? Money isn't easy to come by. Both Joan and Jeff were trying to fix up John's ("We appointed a few dills but we weren't crook.)" recklessness.


From wikipedia.
Later in 1988 Kirner was elected deputy leader of the party and became Deputy Premier of Victoria. When Cain resigned after a collapse in his political support in August 1990, Kirner was elected Labor leader and thus became Victoria's first female Premier. By this time the Labor government was in deep crisis, with some of the state's financial institutions on the brink of insolvency, the budget deficit unsustainably high and growing and the Labor Party deeply divided on how to respond to the situation. The party hoped that the elevation of a popular woman as its new leader would improve its position, but Kirner never succeeded in gaining control of the crisis into which the state had plunged. The conservative-leaning Melbourne newspaper[clarification needed], the Herald Sun, reacted unfavourably to a Premier from the Socialist Left[citation needed], dubbing her "Mother Russia". She was lampooned alternatively as a sinister commissar and as a frumpy housewife in a polka dot dress. She seemed unfazed by the Herald Sun[citation needed] and gradually won some respect[citation needed], though she was unable to improve the government's standing significantly.

During 1991 and 1992 Kirner took several decisions to cut government spending and raise revenue to some extent, however her government failed to cut spending in many areas including education. Most of the Kirner Government attempts to cut spending were actively opposed by trade unions and some members of the government. The interest bill alone was $3.5 billion per year,[10] the government sold off trains and trams and leased them back. Another decision was the sale of the state-owned State Bank of Victoria to the Commonwealth Bank in 1991.[11]

 

[Yawkey way]

I'm not pointing the finger at either side of politics.

But Public service absolutely does become inefficient. Its not just propaganda , and its not necessarily laziness. ( though i have observed first hand the ability for those who are lazy doing a good job of hiding in clear view in a publicly owned organization ).

As for selling assets? Money isn't easy to come by. Both Joan and Jeff were trying to fix up John's ("We appointed a few dills but we weren't crook.)" recklessness.


From wikipedia.
Later in 1988 Kirner was elected deputy leader of the party and became Deputy Premier of Victoria. When Cain resigned after a collapse in his political support in August 1990, Kirner was elected Labor leader and thus became Victoria's first female Premier. By this time the Labor government was in deep crisis, with some of the state's financial institutions on the brink of insolvency, the budget deficit unsustainably high and growing and the Labor Party deeply divided on how to respond to the situation. The party hoped that the elevation of a popular woman as its new leader would improve its position, but Kirner never succeeded in gaining control of the crisis into which the state had plunged. The conservative-leaning Melbourne newspaper[clarification needed], the Herald Sun, reacted unfavourably to a Premier from the Socialist Left[citation needed], dubbing her "Mother Russia". She was lampooned alternatively as a sinister commissar and as a frumpy housewife in a polka dot dress. She seemed unfazed by the Herald Sun[citation needed] and gradually won some respect[citation needed], though she was unable to improve the government's standing significantly.

During 1991 and 1992 Kirner took several decisions to cut government spending and raise revenue to some extent, however her government failed to cut spending in many areas including education. Most of the Kirner Government attempts to cut spending were actively opposed by trade unions and some members of the government. The interest bill alone was $3.5 billion per year,[10] the government sold off trains and trams and leased them back. Another decision was the sale of the state-owned State Bank of Victoria to the Commonwealth Bank in 1991.[11]

Of course it’s possible for the public service to become inefficient just as any organisation can.

Firstly let’s remember it’s government that makes the laws, legislation and sets the agenda with advice from amongst others the public service it’s not the other way around. Secondly there has been an efficiency dividend in the public service since the mid 1980’s I think which requires departments to do the same with less each year. This theoretically forces efficiency measures to be found each and every year.

It’s often the government reacting too or playing off the public’s prejudices or delusions that force red tape as it’s often called onto public servants not the other way around. Selling of assets like our public transport system, power, water etc have resulted in what. Imo we’ve gone from an efficient service driven system to an expensive second rate service driven by the bottom line of foreign companies and shareholders in many instances. What do you think happens when you outsource government services. They sack redundant staff who have a fortune in training invested in them, then the new provider hires fewer people with poorly trained staff on lower wages and bank the profit. Where has it resulted in a better service at a lower cost?. So all this for a 1 off bump to the bottom line, yep that will fix things.

Wikipedia, isn’t this the service that anybody can post too. I seem to have a memory of a friends 12 year old posting an entry. I’m not saying that entry is wrong but I wouldn’t be quoting it as a reference for anything important.

 

[VDS66]

Just got off the phone to one of my competitors who is illegally trying to poach my clients.

All very pleasant until I suggested that if he does it again, I'll rip his spine out through his backside.

I suspect he won't be offering me a job any time soon...

 

[VDS66]

Of course it’s possible for the public service to become inefficient just as any organisation can.

Firstly let’s remember it’s government that makes the laws, legislation and sets the agenda with advice from amongst others the public service it’s not the other way around. Secondly there has been an efficiency dividend in the public service since the mid 1980’s I think which requires departments to do the same with less each year. This theoretically forces efficiency measures to be found each and every year.

It’s often the government reacting too or playing off the public’s prejudices or delusions that force red tape as it’s often called onto public servants not the other way around. Selling of assets like our public transport system, power, water etc have resulted in what. Imo we’ve gone from an efficient service driven system to an expensive second rate service driven by the bottom line of foreign companies and shareholders in many instances. What do you think happens when you outsource government services. They sack redundant staff who have a fortune in training invested in them, then the new provider hires fewer people with poorly trained staff on lower wages and bank the profit. Where has it resulted in a better service at a lower cost?. So all this for a 1 off bump to the bottom line, yep that will fix things.

Wikipedia, isn’t this the service that anybody can post too. I seem to have a memory of a friends 12 year old posting an entry. I’m not saying that entry is wrong but I wouldn’t be quoting it as a reference for anything important.

Brilliant post mate.

Ps: I've seen plenty of lazy people in private enterprises.

Clock watchers are everywhere IMO.

Frankly I wouldn't get too excited every day if I was working behind the counter at Vicroads. No different in the private sector.

I suspect that's a byproduct of wage and salary as opposed to performance.

I have one ex colleague who is going to move to an office that pays a retainer, milk it and if it doesnt work out, move on again.

I think the issue with the PS is complacency and also the funding model whereby they have to spend on order to qualify for funding.

Save money and they give you less.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

Of course it’s possible for the public service to become inefficient just as any organisation can.

Firstly let’s remember it’s government that makes the laws, legislation and sets the agenda with advice from amongst others the public service it’s not the other way around. Secondly there has been an efficiency dividend in the public service since the mid 1980’s I think which requires departments to do the same with less each year. This theoretically forces efficiency measures to be found each and every year.

It’s often the government reacting too or playing off the public’s prejudices or delusions that force red tape as it’s often called onto public servants not the other way around. Selling of assets like our public transport system, power, water etc have resulted in what. Imo we’ve gone from an efficient service driven system to an expensive second rate service driven by the bottom line of foreign companies and shareholders in many instances. What do you think happens when you outsource government services. They sack redundant staff who have a fortune in training invested in them, then the new provider hires fewer people with poorly trained staff on lower wages and bank the profit. Where has it resulted in a better service at a lower cost?. So all this for a 1 off bump to the bottom line, yep that will fix things.

Wikipedia, isn’t this the service that anybody can post too. I seem to have a memory of a friends 12 year old posting an entry. I’m not saying that entry is wrong but I wouldn’t be quoting it as a reference for anything important.

Wikipedia is pretty good. Most pages have the references listed at the bottom.
Is there anything in the extract i provided that could be viewed as contentious. I'm happy to check on it. Its been a long time since i've found anything glaringly wrong on wikipedia.

IMO local government are the worst offenders for efficiency.
Councillors come and go , but the local City CEO ( or equivalent ) sits there year after year doing same old same old, and lifting the rates if they need more money for some overseas study trip ( which is often outside the scope of local government ).

My council came back with a ripper. They went to singapore on a junk... i mean study.
"Oh parks in Singapore don't have rubbish bins, people take rubbish home with them, we can do that " *( ummm they probably get a caning for littering still in singapore ).

They took the bins away.
I lived next to a park. If there was room left in my half bin ( so the big bin could be used for Chinese land fill )... i often picked up the ensuing trash that strayed near to my fence and nature strip.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

Brilliant post mate.

Ps: I've seen plenty of lazy people in private enterprises.

Clock watchers are everywhere IMO.

Frankly I wouldn't get too excited every day if I was working behind the counter at Vicroads. No different in the private sector.

I suspect that's a byproduct of wage and salary as opposed to performance.

I have one ex colleague who is going to move to an office that pays a retainer, milk it and if it doesnt work out, move on again.

I think the issue with the PS is complacency and also the funding model whereby they have to spend on order to qualify for funding.

Save money and they give you less.

I used to work under a guy who was almost a genius at finding better , more efficient ways to do things.
He was very conscious of the bottom line ,improved and made do with old equipment to keep profits up ( rather than purchase capital ).
Lots of great ways to improve productivity were implemented.

As a small subsidiary of a larger company i realised years later.

We should have got new equipment when we could. Profits were "good enough" so no one would have cared. Later things were different and it was off the table.

We should have written down the improvements for production, and sat on them. Later when head office DEMANDED efficiency improvements we could have found something. As it stood the previous efficiency gains counted for nothing once a line was drawn in the sand and we'd done pretty much all we could.

 

[St Muir]

Efficiency is a simple smokescreen, after all who doesn’t believe the public servants aren’t all lazy and incompetent.

The liberals push that line despite it being absolute crap because it’s plays well with voters, like all the people on Newstart or dsp are ripping off hard working Australians. The real reason is they pick off profitable pieces and transfer the wealth into private hands, it’s a massive scam. Just watch them come for some juicy public service functions having won the election.

Big business & Government are the same beast in my experience. They are run on policy, procedure & repetition. They are notoriously risk averse. Efficiency & innovation usually comes from small business who have the decision makers close to the action.

 

[Yawkey way]

Wikipedia is pretty good. Most pages have the references listed at the bottom.
Is there anything in the extract i provided that could be viewed as contentious. I'm happy to check on it. Its been a long time since i've found anything glaringly wrong on wikipedia.

IMO local government are the worst offenders for efficiency.
Councillors come and go , but the local City CEO ( or equivalent ) sits there year after year doing same old same old, and lifting the rates if they need more money for some overseas study trip ( which is often outside the scope of local government ).

My council came back with a ripper. They went to singapore on a junk... i mean study.
"Oh parks in Singapore don't have rubbish bins, people take rubbish home with them, we can do that " *( ummm they probably get a caning for littering still in singapore ).

They took the bins away.
I lived next to a park. If there was room left in my half bin ( so the big bin could be used for Chinese land fill )... i often picked up the ensuing trash that strayed near to my fence and nature strip.

Couldn’t agree more on local government it’s something we could do without imo, at least in the sense that they should be restricted to rates, roads and rubbish. It’s not that I haven’t seen some fantastic initiatives at the local level it’s more the unchecked partisan crap and the outrageous things they do.

That is the level where incompetence and waste are incredible, often dabbling in things that aren’t their responsibility and neglecting things that are. The wiki post is not something I’ve gone over but it doesn’t ring true to me in the sense that there’s no context in the entry as to how the state found itself in that situation, who started the sell offs etc.

It’s funny I worked in private enterprise before joining the government at a few different places including a successful insurance company a relatively successful electronics company and a multinational. I can honestly say that the commonwealth government was head and shoulders above anyone else in terms of the quality of the staff, work ethic and efficiency followed by the state government. The least efficient by a fair margin was the multinational, unqualified staff many in managerial roles who did next to nothing. The place was full of jobs for the boys, long lunches just about every fiddle you can think of. They eventually went under because of the actions of the parent company in the US.

It was funny I met a couple of people who worked there at the same time but who I had little if any personal contact with on a training course several years later. They didn’t recognise me but started to go on about the public service, I reminded then that I had worked for the same company in personnel/payroll at the same time and told them a few home truths. Absolutely beautiful, I blew them apart whilst being as polite as possible, funny watching people shrink before your eyes. People like to puff themselves up, knowing what people do and how much they get paid along with company structures etc leaves little room for them to talk rubbish.

 

[Yawkey way]

Big business & Government are the same beast in my experience. They are run on policy, procedure & repetition. They are notoriously risk averse. Efficiency & innovation usually comes from small business who have the decision makers close to the action.

That’s been my experience although in defence of the government it was once put to me that they couldn’t afford to be on the cutting edge on technology generally.

It was during a redesign of the departments internal systems in conjunction with sun systems, I was part of the design team. The argument goes along the lines that the programs government deliver and that people depend upon can’t afford to fail and that state of the art established rather than cutting edge is the standard.

I think that’s fairly sound reasoning, there have been a few examples of the government getting things horribly wrong when they have tried to innovate. Cost is also a factor, I guess it’s an area where private enterprise really have the upper hand in expertise and working with them through tendering is sensible way to go.

 

[Yawkey way]

Brilliant post mate.

Ps: I've seen plenty of lazy people in private enterprises.

Clock watchers are everywhere IMO.

Frankly I wouldn't get too excited every day if I was working behind the counter at Vicroads. No different in the private sector.

I suspect that's a byproduct of wage and salary as opposed to performance.

I have one ex colleague who is going to move to an office that pays a retainer, milk it and if it doesnt work out, move on again.

I think the issue with the PS is complacency and also the funding model whereby they have to spend on order to qualify for funding.

Save money and they give you less.

Spend it or loose it is accurate to a point, they made a distinction between different types of expenditure.

You have ASL which is the staffing levels required plus all the add ons about another 33% over and above salaries, that’s fairly static unless what you do or how you do it changes plus it’s untouchable. You can’t take money allocated for salaries and spend it on training or equipment for example. So out of some fairly impressive amounts there’s really not that much discretionary spending as the majority of a departments budget is tied up in salaries.

The department of finance also keep pretty decent watch on the binge spending one offs late in the financial year, there are some rules around what you can and can’t do but a bit of new tech etc isn’t a problem. It’s funny but your not really required to do much from year to year on the budget unless something changes it’s just last years plus or minus any one offs essentially. On occasion you might go back and do a zero base budget but not often especially in a regional office which is what the various commonwealth departments are at state level. Head office has already had your input and been through the estimates hearings etc so assuming you can get your staff to do their jobs in accounting and correctly code income and expenditure half the job is done. Most people don’t know what a chart of accounts is let alone reading one so its a matter of building a good excel spread sheet, transferring the information into that and hey presto nice reports along with graphs, recommendations etc. magic haha.

The waste is really in things that don’t show and aren’t reoccurring like deciding to do a new office fit out and then doing it again 6 months later. It varies from department to department some will have loads of travel and cars etc others very little it just depends what they do. Again it’s really fairly mundane stuff say your off Canberra this week for work which my son has been it’s a set standard of accommodation you’re entitled to. You book through the departments agreed provider you never see the money, airfares the same that way the department gets the best available deal then there’s a set amount that you get for breakfast, lunch, tea and incidentals that’s worked out by a tribunal and is periodically reviewed. That’s paid into your account and isn’t reconciled because it’s small bikies and costs more to acquit anyway, if you’re away for more than three weeks it’s a different ball game and it’s all acquitted.

It’s really pretty normal boring stuff not the s**t whack it on the corporate credit card that people imagine and the vast majority of public servants will never drive a com car, travel or be let loose to spend money ever. A big day would be filling out a stationary request or working overtime, that’s fair enough they do a good job, training is usually very good but internal or via computer modules etc.

Up the top of the ziggurat things are a bit different, there’s travel, cars, conferences etc but it’s still small beans considering what they do compared to their private counterparts.

 

[gringo2011]

Big business & Government are the same beast in my experience. They are run on policy, procedure & repetition. They are notoriously risk averse. Efficiency & innovation usually comes from small business who have the decision makers close to the action.

Or through government funded science grants who then get picked up by industry who then complain about public spending on science grants.

 

[gringo2011]

That’s been my experience although in defence of the government it was once put to me that they couldn’t afford to be on the cutting edge on technology generally.

It was during a redesign of the departments internal systems in conjunction with sun systems, I was part of the design team. The argument goes along the lines that the programs government deliver and that people depend upon can’t afford to fail and that state of the art established rather than cutting edge is the standard.

I think that’s fairly sound reasoning, there have been a few examples of the government getting things horribly wrong when they have tried to innovate. Cost is also a factor, I guess it’s an area where private enterprise really have the upper hand in expertise and working with them through tendering is sensible way to go.

The worst part is when government blow money on private contracts. Myki was a disaster, most computer systems in government are terrible etc. The contracting for NBN is outrageous. The ministers are prone to jumping on every monorail salesman that comes their way with a bottle of wine and a few dinners.

 

[Yawkey way]

The worst part is when government blow money on private contracts. Myki was a disaster, most computer systems in government are terrible etc. The contracting for NBN is outrageous. The ministers are prone to jumping on every monorail salesman that comes their way with a bottle of wine and a few dinners.

Highly visible, often against departmental advice and you can’t accept a dart and a pot without declaring it not a ham or bottle of scotch at Christmas which is fair enough.

Bloody ministers and their staff, lobbyists etc their the ones who give the public service a bad name. How many of them end up on boards or with nice fat pay checks from companies using their knowledge and contacts. That or making decisions that deliver windfalls to donors and mates.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

A customer was telling me about a product he sold into hospitals.
( an electric drive for pushing the beds up and down ).
The item was pretty straight forward, and the Hospital Maintenance department sought him out, they had funding cuts, and wanted to see if they could get the drives cheaper.

The issue was that , a company had a contract per bed, to supply and "service" the drives.
Our customer wasn't interested in the service side, but informed them, "there's no service necessary, and showed them with a screwdriver the only thing that ever wore out or needed replacing ".
The Maintenance head declared, we can do that in house.
So they ended up resourcing this particular item saving well over 50% per piece plus the entire servicing thing.

See the issue, ( and i don't have an answer ) is that the only reason they found this cost savings, was that there had been a state funding cut, and they were looking for ways to save money. The money they spent on servicing these widgets went straight from the government to the contractor. It didn't help a patient at all.

People see government and see a license to print money. We don't hear about this sort of thing. We simply hear..."we are going to spend this much on health " with the assumption that the money will help sick or injured people.

 

[Mikka84]

If you want to steal the sandwiches from the fridge or rustle through Richo's desk, now's the time.

Only the cleaner got left behind from the Shanghai trip.. And Hamill. But the cleaner was next in line.

 

[Drake Huggins]

Met my first dinky die MAGA nut yesterday. I went into a truck accessory store to buy some gear and this guy started a conversation by asking if I had heard of the idiot who lost $800,000 on a bet he laid that Labour would win the election.

I said no I hadn’t heard, but man that would hurt. Serves him right he says cause it was Turnbulls son.

‘Alex Turnbull?’ I asked. He nods. I say he went pretty hard campaigning against the Libs after his ‘Dad got knifed in the back’.

That was some kind of trigger for the guy. He hit the roof. Accused me of hating on Abbott because I am a sheep. Told me the iconic photo of Abbott in his budgie smugglers was taken 5 minutes after he pulled a drowning girl out of the surf. Also said that Abbott spends an extended amount of time out bush with ‘the abos’ and is the single greatest supporter of indigenous communities amongst all politicians. Also goes on to say he is not a misogynist and if you study his family he quite clearly is pro women and LGBTQ.

I said I don’t think he has been good for Australia and I think he is a divisive leader.

Guy starts shouting asks me to list his divisive policies. 6 seconds later I haven’t said anything he shouts ‘I didn’t think you could. Typical lefty.’

Then he shakes the product scanner in my direction and shouts for everyone in the shop to hear ‘I’ll bet you don’t like Trump either?’.

‘I can’t stand the man’ I say.

Boo Yah! He’s off on a tangent about how Trump has single handedly turned America into the economic powerhouse it currently is and has almost lifted the ‘latinos and blacks’ (his words not mine) out of generational poverty. Actually shouts ‘NO COLLUSION, NO OBSTRUCTION’. Told me I needed to watch more FOX so I could get some balance in my life.

Then he calmly took my $30 bucks and gave me some change. Blew my mind. I said I respect the fact you have an opinion, but I don’t respect your opinion and left.

Always thought I’d have to go stateside to meet a MAGA Trumpian. But seems like we are sprouting our own.

Now my question to the board is has anybody else heard those stories about Abbott? Are they verifiable?

I worked in Canberra consulting to the public sector, CF. I can verify he was very much into community service in both the Rural Fire Service and in volunteering for several social causes. Most I met spoke quite highly of him on a personal basis. He's a complex person, apparently . His contradictions include his views supporting LGBT (his gay sister publicly confirmed his continued support and love for her, partner and friends. He was also Kate McGregor's biggest supporter after her transition in the military, although they fell out over SS marriage) and on the other hand he publicly opposed Gay marriage. He has some personality quirks and beliefs, which he may have picked up in his seminary days. He did lose me over his support for Pell, amongst other peculiar views. He is a man of the 50's. He would've been in his element in a Menzies' government. As for that jerk in the shop, he wouldn't have got my $30.

 

[Yawkey way]

A customer was telling me about a product he sold into hospitals.
( an electric drive for pushing the beds up and down ).
The item was pretty straight forward, and the Hospital Maintenance department sought him out, they had funding cuts, and wanted to see if they could get the drives cheaper.

The issue was that , a company had a contract per bed, to supply and "service" the drives.
Our customer wasn't interested in the service side, but informed them, "there's no service necessary, and showed them with a screwdriver the only thing that ever wore out or needed replacing ".
The Maintenance head declared, we can do that in house.
So they ended up resourcing this particular item saving well over 50% per piece plus the entire servicing thing.

See the issue, ( and i don't have an answer ) is that the only reason they found this cost savings, was that there had been a state funding cut, and they were looking for ways to save money. The money they spent on servicing these widgets went straight from the government to the contractor. It didn't help a patient at all.

People see government and see a license to print money. We don't hear about this sort of thing. We simply hear..."we are going to spend this much on health " with the assumption that the money will help sick or injured people.

There are rules around purchasing and tendering, it’s not just set and forget.

The rules are strict, specific and who is responsible is identified by what’s called a delegation. It gets back to that red tape that people hate yet would scream blue murder if it wasn’t there. There is or was specialist help available as well, it just seems like people are freelancing with public money.

 

[Yawkey way]

man the brain dead are every where. they literally drink up everything they read online. especially US media, despite having ever lived there nor having the ability think for themselves beyond the US view they're reading.

it's quite scary how they've demonised the "left" like it's a slur. i guess we should be thankful it's no longer race, religion, gender or class.

the funnier one i read is someone posting an anti democrat meme in support of the libs here. so i ask this knuckle dragger with his facebook profile that looks like he's been smoking meth the last 10 years, wtf does the democrats have to do with the current election. he's like lefties mate. i'm like you do realise the democrats are further to the right than our liberal party. he seriously didn't get it, beyond the US takes somehow being applicable to our parties over here.

they're ******* brain dead and its scary that they vote.

Have you read the age online over the last couple of years?.

No wonder these numbskulls are confused, there’s more about trump and the US than our own politics, it’s even a push around election time here. It’s a disgrace imo and the amount of click bait opinion pieces designed to fire people up is just wrong.

Now when you add in that so many houses have Foxtel or some streaming service where the truth is a very different thing depending on who you listen to, it’s not a US view as such it’s just way too much US news and politics in general. It’s become a bloody obsession, it’s no different to getting fired up about the UK and brexit. It’s happening and it’s interesting but how much is too much.