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Aussies XXXXV


Stubby

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[quote]Saurian nice introduction there, I will nit pick a little though.
I mean we had the last gov saying that inflation was not a problem and yet they were fudging the figures to make it look like the inflation was at 3% when anyone shopping at the time knew that it was at least 10%
sure plasma TV's were cheaper but the cost of food and rent and all the neccesities of life were way up. Thanks in part to that bloody GST!
I tried before that election to make it clear to people that it meant everything you spent was then taxed at a minimum of 10% even the so called tax free threshold.
I even pointed out that Howard started off saying that all the indirect taxation would be scrapped then he went down to 28 of them would be scrapped then 18 then 17 and in the end it was only one of them that got scrapped!
Trust a politician and you get shafted, its that simple![/quote]


Hi, :)
Yeah that's so true.
We are pretty much on the same page I think.
I actually had people telling me that Howard ( OK lets use names ) is going to abolish all other tax, even income tax. and only replace it with the GST. Now I'm pretty easy going and mostly will accept what people say as what they believe and won't go out of my way to change their minds.
But I couldn't help myself. I burst out laughing. I literally, accidentally laughed in their face. gasped out "You fool" and walked away unable to breathe from laughter.
It was such a sad day. because I realised how royally screwed we were going to be.

On the other hand ( and it's small consolation) that move got Australia out of the massive debt we were in.

That is in fact the only nice/good thing I could say for the Howard government.

Feel free to disagree, cause I know there is alot of Howard love out there.
And for those of us who didn't. well we stood up and said HEC NO, WTF! and what was the general response if any. Well the people voted me in on a campaign base on tax reform, it's what you wanted.
Sure if any of the sales pitch actually contained an ounce of truth in it.
So we had to bite it and adapt.
Or another example of a Stand up that was shut down. The War
OK so which ever side you stood on the topic. go or stay. We all saw the up roar. the marching, the protest, even the phone polls.
And the response. "A couple of million people hardly represents the majority of Australia."
Even the people who were all for going, stopped and said "HUH? What was that?"
It was like we were all let in on the dark side of the joke.
Really that's barely the tip of the iceberg.
And woah look at that I fell in to politics again. sorry
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hey [b]cuellar[/b]
all the sydneysiders seem to have left the bright lights
last one there please turn the lights off ;)
if however you come visiting Godzona ( NSW Nth coast)

hey I'd love to show u around

[b]saurian[/b]
welcome...
we need to listen to iurreptike brains sometimes
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[quote name='Ouroboros' post='1599627' date='Nov 25 2008, 15.39']Hopefully the Rudd government will get their act together and fix this crap. They're dragging their damn feet on some things, no doubt because of the financial crisis.[/quote]
The biggest hassle that Labour has is its internal politics, all the factions tend to hamstring efforts to fix things.
Also there is so damned much to do!
I mean the petrol companies and banks need to be regulated, same with the major supermarket chains. Then there is battling inflation, the financial crisis, getting rid of work choices and the environment, all of which are not small things. There is also the need to get out of Iraq and somehow pay to ensure that the Aussie troops in afghanistahn are properly supported.
Many of these things are going to be fought over tooth and nail by the various factions, not because they cannot agree but because they would rather fight each other than actually do what is needed!
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[quote name='Ouroboros' post='1599732' date='Nov 25 2008, 20.51']And then there's the Opposition.[/quote]
Well if they keep blocking stuff in the senate then Rudd would have every right to call a quick election and get the senate fixed while his popularity is still high

Lets face it the opposition is still in denial about half the stuff that is so important.
Most people realise this and are not likely to vote for them.
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[quote name='OldLordPlumm' post='1601277' date='Nov 27 2008, 06.04'][url="http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=672417"]http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=672417[/url]

Damn woman should just pretend to be an Aussie and then she'll get put into a German immigration detention centre and deported back here.[/quote]
What gets to me is the family is blaming the Aussie gov yet again when they themselves have shown a clear unwillingness to help her.
I am not saying that she has not been mistreated but that her family needs to step up and take on some responsability!
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Ok I'm heading into Sydney this Saturday and I've got an inquiry for you Sydneysiders. I'll be driving in from Canberra (taking the Hume HW) and my destination is Bicentennial Park in Homebush. My question is, how many road tolls do I have to pay and how much are they? Also, are they manned ones or those automatic ones you toss coins into and which lanes do I need to get into to pay as I don't have those electronic cash cards (obviously) that get automatically billed when you drive through.

Sorry for all the questions, but this will be the first time for me I'll be driving around Sydney.
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[quote name='Skyrazer' post='1601567' date='Nov 27 2008, 15.07']Ok I'm heading into Sydney this Saturday and I've got an inquiry for you Sydneysiders. I'll be driving in from Canberra (taking the Hume HW) and my destination is Bicentennial Park in Homebush. My question is, how many road tolls do I have to pay and how much are they? Also, are they manned ones or those automatic ones you toss coins into and which lanes do I need to get into to pay as I don't have those electronic cash cards (obviously) that get automatically billed when you drive through.

Sorry for all the questions, but this will be the first time for me I'll be driving around Sydney.[/quote]
No don't do it!
Even sydneysiders say its a madhouse!

Main thing for people from out of state to remember is that you have to drive in the middle of two lanes of traffic, for some reason in Sydney the line is where the middle of the car goes. :P
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I don't drive and am known for not taking too much notice of my surroundings so while I don't think you should hit any toll roads I wouldn't take my word for it.

I'm pretty sure www.whereis.com.au has a feature where you can get directions that includes info on tolls though
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I don't watch american football, rugby or whatever you people here call "football". I was the REAL football. You know, the ones where the only person able to touch the ball with their hands is the Goalie? Yeah that's the one, soccer! Even that I don't watch too often.

I never understood how a game played mainly by holding/throwing the ball with one's hands was called "football". With this I guess I identify with the people from the UK...

All other forms of mens team sports are generally dominated by ugly men in tight clothing. If I wanted to see that, I'd just go to the beach.

Another "only in Australia": Only in AU could you swear at yell at a customer (while in a customer service position) for giving you more work (which is what you're there for), have them make a complaint and not even get a talking to by the boss, much less still have a job.

In the recruitment side of things, I had an interview for another job. One of my references is in the US. So they told me to arrange a time to call them so that I know they'd be home. So I did. But do you think those slackers actually called my reference? Hell no. They came up with some excuse like "we haven't gotten that far yet". Well if you haven't gotten that far yet, why the hell ask me to set up the time?! I can't even attribute this to AU. No, it seems to happen all over the world.

Is it just me or does it seem like people getting hired in AU know less and less about how to do their jobs every day? I actually had the police officer ask me how to fill out the ticket he was giving me!!!WTF! I should have given him a ticket of stupidity on the job! Next thing you know your house will be burning to the ground and the firemen will have to stop and ask you how to turn on the hose.

As to whereis.com.au (bows down) "We're not worthy!" The site is a lifesaver! I use it daily at work to see how far people are from shifts so the lazy bastards can't tell me it's "too far" when it's 2 kms away and their driving.
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[quote name='Adelle Tully' post='1601666' date='Nov 27 2008, 22.09']Is it just me or does it seem like people getting hired in AU know less and less about how to do their jobs every day? I actually had the police officer ask me how to fill out the ticket he was giving me!!!WTF! I should have given him a ticket of stupidity on the job! Next thing you know your house will be burning to the ground and the firemen will have to stop and ask you how to turn on the hose.[/quote]
Come here to Canberra and take a look at the public service. My mum has been a PS for almost all her working life (over 30 years) and the horror stories she's told me from Health, Immigration, Defence, etc. etc. and other big departments all the way up the "food-chain" has been pretty mind boggling. It makes you cringe to know that our taxes go into paying these idiots' wages to run our vital national institutions...
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[quote name='Skyrazer' post='1601674' date='Nov 27 2008, 21.02']Come here to Canberra and take a look at the public service. My mum has been a PS for almost all her working life (over 30 years) and the horror stories she's told me from Health, Immigration, Defence, etc. etc. and other big departments all the way up the "food-chain" has been pretty mind boggling. It makes you cringe to know that our taxes go into paying these idiots' wages to run our vital national institutions...[/quote]
I am sure you have heard of the policy of incompetance?

Basically it has two versions depending on how dumb the minister in charge of the department is.

The most basic one is that people get promoted to their level of incompetance. In other words when they reach the point they cannot do the job thats where they get left.

The other version is even worse, it is where people who are actually competant get driven out of the public service or left to stagnate because the previous policy has put incompetants in places of power!
Yep thats exactly what happens.
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It's all ass-kissing, superior pleasing, smooth talking crap. In the PS it's not what you've achieved or the work you've accomplished, it's having the right connections, pleasing the right people and saying the right words. Often, doing the right thing or atleast the better thing means placing you at odds with people above and yes GS, that's when you get perfectly competent people getting pushed out or left to stagnate.
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[quote name='Skyrazer' post='1601983' date='Nov 28 2008, 12.36']It's all ass-kissing, superior pleasing, smooth talking crap. In the PS it's not what you've achieved or the work you've accomplished, it's having the right connections, pleasing the right people and saying the right words. Often, doing the right thing or atleast the better thing means placing you at odds with people above and yes GS, that's when you get perfectly competent people getting pushed out or left to stagnate.[/quote]

And this is different from the private sector how? It is only different to the extent that the smaller the business the less inefficiency and incompetance the business can absorb. Your average mega-corporation is no better than your average Govt department in this respect.

And rising to one's level of incompetance operates in all spheres of human endeavour not just public service.

When the wheels of govt turn too fast you get illconceived and incompletely thought through policy and regulation, tainted with too much ideology and not enough pragmatism.

Govt services are a completely different matter, there should be high expectation and decent accountability.

ETA: Yes I work in the public sector. And my dept regularly receives a great deal of praise and gratitude for what we do and how we run our organisation; from those members of public and industry who we deal with the most. We certainly have our arguements and disagreements, but it is never over the quality or responsiveness of our work.
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[quote name='The Anti-Targ' post='1602009' date='Nov 28 2008, 09.55']And this is different from the private sector how? It is only different to the extent that the smaller the business the less inefficiency and incompetance the business can absorb. Your average mega-corporation is no better than your average Govt department in this respect.

And rising to one's level of incompetance operates in all spheres of human endeavour not just public service.

When the wheels of govt turn too fast you get illconceived and incompletely thought through policy and regulation, tainted with too much ideology and not enough pragmatism.

Govt services are a completely different matter, there should be high expectation and decent accountability.

ETA: Yes I work in the public sector. And my dept regularly receives a great deal of praise and gratitude for what we do and how we run our organisation; from those members of public and industry who we deal with the most. We certainly have our arguements and disagreements, but it is never over the quality or responsiveness of our work.[/quote]
Wait a decade or two anti-Targ, sorry but it seems to run in cycles until you end up with a beurocracy that is so inefficient that a massive house cleaning takes place. Thats when the competant people rise to the top again. I would have thought the illconcieved stuff was more the fault of the politicians though. Yes I have worked for the public service and was on the fast track, then I found out just how much ass kissing was required. Not as bad as the time I was put forward to be a basketball ref for the sydney olympics man the olympic system is so corrupt that it beggars description!
Even so spending the rest of my life basically kissing incompetants arses was not for me So I dropped out of that system.
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ok sorry just saw Joe Hocking basically saying that Labour cannot manage mony.

Now I am curious what do you think is better to have a surplus and ignore the problems that are occuring?
Or to spend money to fix the problems?

One thing we know is clear, at the next election it is unlikely that Labour will be trying to buy our votes, since the money would seem to have already been spent. Not a big attempt to buy our vote come the election but rather a steady use of the money to try and fix infrastructure and help the majority of people.
Yeah I know it is clear which way I lean but as a previous post showed I am under few delusions.


So what do the rest of you think?
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