Seems ex Queensland Premier Peter Beattie (AKA Teflon Pete since it was said that the brown stuff never stuck to him) has managed to hit Queeenslanders in the hip pocket years after we turfed the clown out of office.

A report just released by State Auditor General Andrew Greaves claims the nine billion dollar water grid deemed essential by Beattie is a massive money pit costing Queenslanders $76 million per month to run. Mind you it wouldn't be the first Teflon Pete / GoAnna the Blight debacle, corporatization of Energex & Ergon costs us at least a billion per annum & privatization of the retail electricity business at least another four billion per annum. Worst of all was the unbelievable Health payroll, cost of which has already reached the outer limit of space and still accelerating.

Praxi, it has never ceased to amaze me how modern Labor governments have helped the rich get richer while milking the poor to do it....Larbor my ass.

sonofgloin - Praxi, it has never ceased to amaze me how modern Labor governments have helped the rich get richer while milking the poor to do it....Larbor my ass.

Politics generally is an 'interesting' game, regardless what colour jersey the players wear, it involves wool-pulling over the eyes of the unsuspecting sheeple whilst saying one thing with a perfectly straight face and meaning the exact opposite. The one and only thing on which we can rely on 100% is whether or not the players lips are moving. Predominance of failed lawyers, failed priests & union heavies isn't an accident, all of those have had considerable experience in the not so fine art of wool-pulling.

Note particularly that the con jobs occasioned by Teflon Pete were continued by his protege' GoAnna the Blight and subsequently by General Disaster, who I might add has continued to happily cream millions from the very misdeeds of Teflon Pete he criticizes so vehemently. I guess its always convenient to have a scapegoat when one is as inept and has such 'interesting' connections as does the General.

Why Pete & Anna are not in jail is a clear indication of the failure of accountability in this country.

individual - Why Pete & Anna are not in jail is a clear indication of the failure of accountability in this country

I've been annoyed about that ever since I discovered what they had done, however certain events in Queensland over the past week or so have not only upgraded the 'annoyance' to seriously enraged but have led me to several potential remedies. Like everyone, I'll take just so much crap but ............... There are a number of paths to be explored but suffice to say Teflon Pete & GoAnna the Blight are far from being the only bloodsucking parasites on the list. I'm not after anything outlandish, merely that bottom feeding slimeball politicians become subject to EXACTLY the same legal processes that apply to everyone else.

Praxidice... what wondrous prose - unfortunately, like the flowers in Grey's Elegy, they're doomed to 'waste their sweetness on the desert air.'
I've never understood why a private company can make vast profits from services that governments only run at a loss... Electricity, Roads, Rail, Waste, Communications, Health... All the services that are the proper function of an elected government that would ensure they were available to all citizens... There's something distinctly rotten about selling off assets constructed with the receipts of general taxation.
There something very rotten about political parties too. A government of true independents, responsible to their electorates, with a rotating chairperson and competent advisers would be preferable.
But we're stuffed. Compulsory preferences ensure a win for one of the large parties.

ybgirp - what wondrous prose - unfortunately, like the flowers in Grey's Elegy, they're doomed to 'waste their sweetness on the desert air.

Thank you kind sir, I aim to please, well some of the time anyway :) :) :)

You are of course correct in stating that private enterprise frequently make a profit where gubmunt muppets lose heaps, however there is a bit more to the iceberg than what is visible. For example, when Teflon Pete corporatized Ergon & Energex, he neglected to tell the sheeple that he'd opened a tap that spewed megadollars directly into consolidated revenue. His protege' GoAnna the Blight & incumbent General Disaster likewise 'forgot' to notify Queenslanders of the itty-bitty billions of dollars they have siphoned off from a hitherto 'essential service', establishment of which was paid for by the sheeple. Mind you there were quite a few 'gubmunt' assets flogged off that were actually the property of the sheeple (stealing as a servant, misrepresentation, false pretences. uttering false documents ??) The private companies which 'acquired' the retail electricity business in Queensland may be more 'efficient' in some ways however it comes at a cost, like around four billion dollars per annum over and above what the admittedly inefficient Energex & ergon muppets had been costing us. (average ten million pa for each of the fatcat CEOs, plus shareholder dividends, operating profits etc etc). Note that even with the inefficiency of public entities, Queenslanders are five billion pa worse off with corporatization and privatization. All this information is in the public domain despite not being considered newsworthy by News Limited or even Fairfax for that matter.

to be continued

continued

An even more iniquitous happening recently was the supposedly 'Independent Commission of Inquiry'. I love the word 'independent', there should be a new dictionary meaning for when its used by bloodsucking parasites. Seems old mate Costello didn't consider it germane to advise the sheeple he was director of a lobbying organization that represented certain 'interesting' parties. The dying duck twigged to the fact that something that smelled extremely fishy but didn't appear to be seafood was going on, and a complaint was lodged with the CMC. Around that time, the General & Friends suggested to the CMC that if the organization didn't keep its snout our of certain areas (I believe the exact wording was 'sensitive gubmunt business'), then it just might encounter a bit of difficulty with funding. Anyway, a few days later the CMC announced that the Costello matter was 'outside its terms of reference'. Hmmmmmm, but then I always was inclined to have a nasty suspicious mind.

ybgirp it's called unions.

Any entity that can very quickly loose millions, or elections is more subject to union pressure. Thus governments, the wharfs, shipping companies railways building & a few others are a soft touch.

A prime example of this was Telecom. The over manning was typical when it was a government department or corporation.

Since privatisation the network is 40% bigger, 90% more customers, & many more services, but the manning is down to 37% of the government level, & still reducing.

That is why unions scream & kick to try to stop privatisation. They loose much membership, once government management is gone.

The other thing is management attitude. Government management is all about said manager not making a mistake. Doing absolutely nothing is safest for job security. Business wants everything done & finished today, if not yesterday. Procrastination, & playing it safe is not good for job security.

In government the more underlings you accumulate is good for your grade & pay rate. In industry getting the job done with less is much better for your promotion prospects & pay packet.

That is why it is so nice to see a politician like Newman start to clear out some make work bureaucrats. Pity he lost his bottle when the job was less than half done.

Hasbeen - Pity he lost his bottle when the job was less than half done.

Its worse than that, the clown mostly got rid of the lower level ones who did 90% of what precious little the public service ever achieved. Whats left is largely complete dumbclucks who exemplify the 'Peter Principle', is galahs who have to be promoted beyond their particular level of incompetence. A few particular departments / quangos like Health, Ergon & Energex have actually had more high level bureaucrazies appointed as that makes them easier to flog to a big company which will run them under MIS-management.

Its worse than that, the clown mostly got rid of the lower level ones who did 90% of what precious little the public service ever achieved.
praxidice,
sadly, I can confirm that, I just hope like crap he wakes up before too long. Where I live they recently presented awards to staunch Labor cronies who jumped ship & now pretend to be staunch Coalition supporters. You know the kind of maggots that no self-respecting maggot would pi$$ on. Bureaucrats of the worst kind from education to emergency services via health & local govt. Why is that pollies can see all the wrong before an election but totally lose sight of it afterwards.

individual

As Bill Shakespeare once said, 'something is rotten in the state of Denmark'. We've seen no end of inexplicable insanity from General Disaster to the point where one has to seriously doubt if he still has all his marbles. Take the latest attempt to demonize PV system owners this week, only a few months after the second of two similar battles had been fought (and won by the sheeple) with Energy Minister McArdle. What part of 'legally binding contract' backed up by a 400,000 plus plaintiff class-action lawsuit don't these idiots understand ??

Thank you [I think[ Praxidice, Hasbeen and individual... I am enlightened and depressed at a stroke.
Last question, Why do only self-serving, stupid people become politicians? Why don't sensible people like us do it?

ybgirp - Why do only self-serving, stupid people become politicians?

David Brin said it all 'It's said that "power corrupts," but actually it's more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power. When they do act, they think of it as service, which has limits. The tyrant, though, seeks mastery, for which he is insatiable, implacable.'

Why do only self-serving, stupid people become politicians? Why don't sensible people like us do it?
ybgirp,
Because just like most sensible things we too are outnumbered by the not so. What Qld in particular needs now is a time machine that takes the new Premier back to the day of the election when his eyes were still open & the top bureaucrats were shaking at the thought of integrity infiltrating their ranks.

individual - time machine that takes the new Premier back to the day of the election

Why do you think that would help pray tell ?? Remember his spell as mayor when he did his level best to send Brisbane down the gurgler ??
I has the misfortune to meet the little worm before he became mayor when he and his 'interesting' mate Caltabiano were running around like dogs on heat trying to mount a couple of 'developers' (AKA atillas) hoping to bulldoze the prime farmland at Rochedale & cover it with little concrete blocks housing a zillion sheeple. He is, and always has been an arrogant grub, the only reason he's stuffing around in politics is to impress the in-laws (wife comes from obscenely rich family)

Great posts, Praxidice, also from RawMustard on your other thread. If we could only pick the politicians by lot rather than by elections...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sortition

People would still be corrupted, but at least politics wouldn't attracted people who were corrupted to begin with.

Citizen initiated referenda (CIF), with voter recall and voter veto, would also help if the elected politicians got too egregious. Perhaps if we kept putting incumbents last at every election and any candidates who offered CIF first, we might eventually get it.

Divergence - Citizen initiated referenda (CIF), with voter recall and voter veto, would also help if the elected politicians got too egregious. Perhaps if we kept putting incumbents last at every election and any candidates who offered CIF first, we might eventually get it.

The only politician I'm aware of who has proposed CIR is DLP Senator Madigan who has a bill on the table. Interestingly enough, the sheeple appear more inclined to throw rocks at him than to commend him.

Big Clive has proposed abolition of the 'professional politician' & again, the sheeple prefer to throw rocks than to support the proposal.

Disappointing in both cases, but then its been said that we get the politicians we deserve.