Unions protest

Unions in Queensland, particularly the Public Service Unions, are protesting that the new LNP/Newman State Government is cooking the books in saying that things are as bad as they are as far as the Queensland Government's finances are concerned.

Funny, not a peep out of the unions when the ALP was running the state into the ground.

It begins

The Queensland election campaign has begun.

Anyone up here who has seen Bligh's advert would be feeling sick.

I can't find the video anywhere, but here's a description:

Bligh's noble, emotional Queenslander speech given during the floods in Brisbane, between reading out press releases from the emergency services (the leaders of which were always standing behind her), is the voice over. Scenes of the floods and of Bligh in the thick of it, then striding purposefully, followed by scenes of Bligh and others looking at the damage from the floods, ruined roads, washed-away rail ballast and formation*, overlaid with the kilometres of damaged whatever and how much has been fixed, nought about the cost ....

Without the 2010-2011 flood disasters in Queensland Bligh wouldn't have a fact on which to pin her campaign. And where's all that disaster repair money coming from? Queensland wasn't insured, which is reasonable, but the premium amounts which made insuring every year too costly should have been set aside as self insurance for disaster.

Oh look, Flood Anna for Queensland (thanks to TRB), and look, over here, it's Yasi Anna for Queensland.

 *learnt those techo terms from my brother, the railway nut.

This is damning - Leahy & Arnold double murder investigation

Statements from the Coronial Inquest into the deaths of Julie-Anne Leahy and Vicki Arnold.

Mrs Leahy's half-sister Vanessa Stewart told the inquest Mr Leahy began grooming her before his wife disappeared. 

But Mr Leahy said his sexual involvement with the teenager did not begin until after Julie-Anne vanished.

Ms Stewart, who is now 36, told the inquest Mr Leahy woke her for oral sex on the night her half-sister went missing, and that he coached her in giving him an alibi, something he denies.

More here.

Queensland Flood Inquiry

I've heard a little of this in news reports up here on ABC when I'm travelling in my car.

I must make an attempt to read it - I read the Bundaburg Hospital Inquiry and was horrified by what happened and what was not reported when it happened. Odd things which should have rung alarm bells!

Queensland Flood Inquiry transcripts link.

Yesterday and today have been about the Grantham flood. It will continue tomorrow.

Harrowing hyperbole - first the floods, now Yasi UPDATE 2

Listening to the reports from 'journalists' on cyclone Yasi is truly painful. If you thought that they couldn't pump up the hyperbole any more after the Toowoomba, Lockyer Valley, Ipswich, and Brisbane floods you were mistaken!

"The biggest cyclone ever to hit Australia" was one I heard tonight. Stern anchorblondes babbling, just to talk. Like the descriptions of the water during the flood reports, many are giving the cyclone anthropomorphic traits.

Anna Bligh is doing a marvellous job talking, I suppose the shock and awe of the Queensland natural disasters of early 2011 are lending a bit of sincerity to her speeches. I hope that this doesn't whitewash all the let downs of the ALP in Queensland over the past many years.

Bunker down? WTF? Here, read this for a laugh - don't miss the link to Urban Dictionary. My reaction to the stupid term is the same. Surely the term should be that everyone is embunkered?

Watching the news and seeing the same footage of a huge wave washing over a woman standing at a fence by the beach... interspersed with images of the reporter who is on the phone, and iPhone by the looks of it. Gripping TV. And it's been going for half an hour.

Reporters are renowned for cocking up the facts. I know many stories which have been reported and the facts have been so screwed up that anyone with any knowledge of the subject knows that the whole story is just incorrect. It's happened to me with an ABC reporter. Couldn't get the facts straight. The reporter stuck a microphone in my face and just expected me to speak - I don't speak in public like that usually, I was expecting to be asked questions about what I was involved in. The newspaper reporter was better, but still buggered up the details.

John O'Dougherty needs to get new contacts, his going to blink himself to death - or is it another semaphore secret message like Gillards flapping hands?

And do we really need a pep talk from Julia?

One thing is for sure, after the floods and the cyclone Australians mostly won't be whinging about noone helping them or saving them.

Update:
And now a report from Ingham, where the core of the cyclone has hit.
Core? Core of the cyclone? Don't they mean the cyclone proper?

Reports of an 18m wave at Townsville is inaccurate as waves are breaking over the measuring buoy and it is turning upside down so the wave measurements are inaccurate.

Update 2:
Check this comparison out at Zoe Brain's, what would Yasi look like if it was headed for the US?

Enormous cyclone heading for Queensland

Here it comes...

On track for Cairns, Cardwell and Atherton.

Oh, for crying out loud!

Tourism Queensland's new $4.16 million global brand Queensland, Where Australia Shines has already recorded more than $3.7 million in publicity value for Queensland since its launch last Tuesday, Minister for Tourism Peter Lawlor said.

Okay, sounds good.

However, tonight some mob is complaining that the new advertisements aren't sun-smart.

What? Isn't that why people come to Queensland beaches?

Other people are complaining that "The Outback" isn't represented.

There's only so much they can put into an advertisement.

Levelling the playing field. Status: mediocre

This came to my attention today...
If you fail to indicate, stall, speed, drive with one hand when you're taking your driving test don't worry!
You'll pass!

We're all on the downward slide to mediocrity in everything we do... a level playing field where there are no losers!

God help us!

Queensland LNP begin their campaign

LNP State President, Bruce McIver, says many primary producers are concerned at an erosion of traditional infrastructure facilities and services which is having a substantial negative impact on the rural economy.

“Access to stock routes is under threat by the Labor Party which wants to introduce a user-pays permit system and also plans to restrict usage of tracts of land that have traditionally formed part of the long paddock. This is being done under the guise of environmental protection but there are many who see it as yet another of Labor’s devious deals to win Greens preferences for the next election, “Mr McIver said.

“A more immediate and damaging threat, however, is the slow strangulation of Queensland Rail services for transporting livestock and other agricultural produce. The Bligh government is under attack even from its own union base on this issue but as we see right across the state Labor’s mismanagement of infrastructure is appalling.”

Yet the cultural heritage aspects of the drive are just as important with the Liberal National Party determined that the pioneering tradition of droving should be preserved as an iconic part of the Queensland way of life.

Mr McIver said: “There is little appreciation among many Queenslanders as to just how big a role the Great Dividing Range plays in separating the inland from the coast. These two quite divergent communities share many different opportunities and difficulties and the LNP wants to create greater understanding of each other’s lifestyles. “If Queensland’s economy is to be restored to its former vibrancy and national leadership position, we must provide proper support to the many sectors that contribute to our way of life. Whilst the mining and gas sectors are vitally important to our state’s economy, Labor in their manic pursuit of a quick dollar from these industries, are sacrificing the agricultural and livestock industries.

“What is needed is to involve all Queenslanders in a positive debate about our future prospects. The LNP will start this dialogue through the Queensland Heritage Cattle Drive and ensure all voices are heard”.

Here's the site. It's interesting, and I hope they do raise awareness. Here's the route.

The ALP in Qld has closed many of the branch rail lines, saying they were not profitable, but they used shonky means to work out which lines were profitable and which were not.

It's wet

I'm pretty sure that's Lake Eyre there in the middle of Australia. Click in either picture for a link to the BOM (Bureau of Meteorology), site.

It's so wet the birds have stopped flying...

They're taking the bike....

More pics of the flooding in central Australia and western Queensland at Agmates.

Local places I'd like to visit

As I'm ill again... I've assumed the position on my armchair and I have been watching programmes I don't usually watch.

Today I saw the Channel 7 programme The Great South East.

Some of the featured destinations were places or used tours I would be interested in visiting. The Granite Belt is a great tourist destination. You could spend a weekend there, and it's only about three hours from Brisbane, and only two from where I live. One day I would love to spend a weekend there, maybe two, one in summer and one in winter, to enjoy the different fruits of both seasons. Travelling to Sydney I pass through the Granite Belt area, however, I have never had the chance to stop, except the one time that I travelled through there at the right time to buy some cherries from Cherry Park Orchard... yum! I love cherries.

Girraween National Park is in the Granite Belt, so there is no lack of things to see and places to go... and if I recall correctly, there is a little shop which sells ugg boots.

Queensland State Election

The adverts have started already.

14th March is rumoured to be the date.

I really, really hope so because political advertisements are the worst kind.