Rechtub! reconsider your words mate please, if you are right how come I am ever willing to charge my side with wrong.
Look I could easily ignore you, but in truth the evidence for my balance is in my comment history.
Chris Gaff appears to have been too high up in the police force to have seen it much.
But my story about road deaths and trucks is the truth.
Poor car driving kills and often that is the reason for car truck casualty's.
But *for five decades* truck deaths have been the *SINGLE WORK PLACE DEATH* not investigated in NSW at least by other than police no work cover ever.
Police get this mob involved in every workplace serious injury but they just do not get involved in truck deaths.
Rechtub you not me must open your eyes, some, very few, may not believe what they post.
I believe the Fitzgerald inquiry ,at least the man him self, was open and honest.
But what other Royal Commission in this country,s history will be based on such as this?
We waited so long and fought so hard for the child molestation one, this seems nothing in comparison.
Do you think I a unionist under value these deaths?
Never but the reason they died is far from Rudd,s hands.

....Never but the reason they died is far from Rudd,s hands.

Belly, how can you honestly say that, when all he needed to do to prevent those deaths, was to follow the advive of industry experts, and shut, or at the very least suspend the scheme.

In short, he weighed up the cost of young lives, against the cost of removing stimulus, actions that would have cost any company director dearly.

Now I have no problems with company directors being hauled over the coals for malpractice, but why should he be protected when he was the only person with the power to stop the scheme, evidence of that being in the way he eventually did, albeit, too late for those four and the many ligit businesses that suffered.

chrisgaff100,

I read your post carefully and it is true that some who entrusted to uphold the law, abuse it instead. Likewise for those fortunate enough to be able to afford the best counsel are likely to have superior defence in court. Although it is some defect in the prosecution case, or legal technicality that allows any to escape their just desserts as we see it.

However there is no better system. We have inherited the best there is available.

I am more concerned about the creeping changes that are corrosive to that well-developed, well-proved system.

While employed with a couple of the 'Big Four' consulting firms I had some exposure to the operation of three Royal Commissions. I disagree emphatically with the criticisms and inferences being made here as ill-informed, malicious and aimed at reducing the public belief in this RC, in RCs generally and also in our system of government. There are some very foolish statements being made at present.

The Royal Commission is underway and the public should be assured that it will do its job very competently and independently. What politicians do later is a different matter entirely. The report will be tabled in parliament and all can mull over it then.

Belly,
The problem with trucks is very simple and very easily rectified.
First you remove the TWU from the picture.
Second you require all truck drivers to undergo medical tests for
1. Obesity
2. Sleep Apnea
3. Introduce a specialism trucking police force
4. Introduce zero drug (legal and illegal) use
5. Increase penalties to include truck confiscation

Reasons
1. leads to 2.
2. Caused drivers to fall asleep or doze at the wheel.
3, Current police resources are stretched to the limit and corrupt.
4. Should speak for itself
5. That would wake up the cowboys real quick. We do it for
ordinary road users why discriminate. Get rid of the TWU.

onthebeach,
The RC will find what it is expected to find and the public will be appeased. Its a sham/scam at the highest level.
If a RC was serious they would have the power to prosecute based on evidence discovered and imprison the guilty. Instead they recommend and no one gets locked up

Belly,

Your claim to be balanced is clearly flawed, as tho occasional admission of some of the glaring errors of Labor wildly over compensated for by reams of subjective bias.

Labor has form in preventing scrutiny of everything they do, and the extreme consequences of the Pink Batts debacle is justification for an enquiry more far reaching than the coroner's investigation that clearly fingered Labor for negligence in spite of Labor's boycott and deliberate withholding of documentation.

Chris Gaff as I said in another post your position in the Police force did not see you at the coal face on this issue.
First the TWU is no strong union in this area federal interstate transport.
Owner Drivers from the end of World War Two join then leave in disgust.
Post ww2 the industry was small fleet owners and single lorry ex military trucks and usually drivers.
It took days Sydney to Melbourne not hours, cheap freely available drugs ,the very same ones given to bomber pilots in the ww2 bombing of Germany became part of the industry.
That part exploded as other drugs became available every driver knew a brand that was better and some drivers rarely slept.
Razor back and other blockades got rid of road tax and the industry took another step.
Owner drivers took on an extra truck, maybe more.
And handed out the *lollys* stay awakes, to under paid drivers content to drive for the CB radio the air horn and little else.
Meanwhile fleets slowly but surely took on these small contractors to carry their goods and make even more money.
The pills became more needed than ever as deadlines became death traps.
Trucks rolled over every Sunday night and week day in such numbers three firms formed just to repair trucks.
Other smaller one existed but every tow truck driver had his police contacts and knew within minutes who owned the truck
Continued.