579,

Sorry to dispel your myth, but heavily indebted companies do slash and burn, and cut costs to the minimum.

...And what silence from the OLO pro-homosexual lobby...sucking eggs are they?

...And what silence from the OLO pro-homosexual lobby: Sucking eggs are they?

Wishful thinking let me down on this one.
I'd hoped it was a piece dealing with the governments poor handling of some issues rather than a push for the government to be even more extreme.

I agree that the pattern of rapidly escalating government which Beatty and Bligh had run is not sustainable, that has to change (even if the big government fanatics committed to fund it themselves I don't want it).

I think Newman could do better.
- Jobs for family members and mates should have been a major no-no for the incoming government. It looks like a changing of the guard but the same rot that their predecessors were so fond of. If family members are talented enough to get jobs on merit in ministers offices at a time when major cutbacks in public service numbers are being considered they should have no trouble getting jobs elsewhere. Politically it undermines the governments credibility as does the appointment of mates to key positions.
- The attacks on same sex marriage might cheer up some but at most it was a trivial issue compared to the bigger issues and gives the appearance of too much power in the hands of biggots.
- Dumping large numbers of white collar workers into the unemployment pool at the same time will cause a lot of harm to a large number of people. There may have been creative ways of achieving the goals of reducing the size of the public service that helped the state and those directly effected in other ways. I don't have those answers but a creative government might have found some other options.

The new government looks heavy handed, they look like they are being driven by some extreme agenda's. Newman's claims of humility and responsibility not to abuse the majority they have seem to have been forgotten.

Regardless of how bad federal Labor is the idea of Tony Abbott leading a government with a similar majority must be giving a lot of people cause for concern as they look at the actions of the LNP in Qld.

R0bert

R0bert,
This is the first I hear of nepotism in this Govt. I'd be very disappointed if that were the case. Have you got more detail on this ? Or are you one of those who can't understand that things are grim in Qld due to Labor not due to Campbell Newman. I watched an interview with the Qld opposition leader the other night. She relentlessly denounced the Newman Govt but when asked 4 times in a row what Labor would do she evaded answering as many times. It was simply embarrassing to watch & to see what lack of political quality there is in those ranks.
Wholesale Job slashing is the wrong approach though. Pay slashing is the only way out & also natural attrition. Probably the only way to regain control of the QLd Public Service is to change the heads of Departments right now.

individual, I'm not close enough to the detail to call it nepotism. Perhaps the individuals concerned got their jobs entirely on merit however having ministers children getting jobs with other ministers is not a good look especially at a time when jobs are being slashed.

I'm of the view that Newman had the opportunity to set some new standards in the way government is done which he appears to have ignored. They got their majority because people were utterly sick of the rot with Labor, I don't think that was just about the size of government debt but all the other self serving stuff that has become the trademark of modern politics.

Newman could have set some new standards that would have made things very uncomfortable for the business as usual approach.
- New rules to cabinet secrecy which would have stopped it being used for political protection rather than the well being of the state.
- Making sure that they were squeaky in terms of anything that looked like nepotism or jobs for mates.
- Leading by example, pay cuts for pollies and the introduction of an independently assessable performance pay system based on the overall health of the state after decisions have had time to have effect.

I think a great opportunity has been wasted. Labor took the self serving rot to an extreme, I've not seen any signs that the LNP are serious about reversing most of that rot. Newman had an opportunity to change the face of politics in Australia that has been ignored.

R0bert