Fighting corruption in Australia

[Bruce Tuncks]

I really don't understand why one side doesn't do proper anti-corruption things and then accuse the other side with being the corruption supporters.

[old man emu]

52 minutes ago, Bruce Tuncks said:

I really don't understand why one side doesn't do proper anti-corruption things and then accuse the other side with being the corruption supporters.

Because both sides and the middle are tarred with the same brush. Its getting that way that Used Car salesmen are six places ahead of politicians in the public's perception of honesty in occupations.

[Bruce Tuncks]

That's sad OME. I reckon we should be much better at not reelecting lazy people, but we don't do anything of the sort. This is being written from the safest National party seat in the country, and I don't think our local member is under any pressure at all to perform for her constituents.

[facthunter]

One Party clearly was doing it part time. IF challenged they  would say, We are for SMALL government and then give near half a billion of Taxpayer's money to their top end of town MATES. during Covid. Said Gambling was an essential Service. 12 Million to Gerry Harvey and other such big contributors to their coffers. WAGGA WAGGA got graft from both state and Federal Governments..   Nev

[onetrack]

I was absolutely staggered to see that Fire & Rescue NSW, paid a consultant $6000 a DAY for FOUR YEARS! - simply for a "rebranding and identity" exercise for the FD image!! The mind boggles at the monstrous level of corruption in this country!!

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-09/nsw-fire-and-rescue-consultant-fees/102706526

[old man emu]

I've been referring to the ABC programme Utopia recently. One of the ongoing storylines deals with the the use of the Internet to "connect" government with the public. Time and time again, the storyline will highlight branding and marketing using the multitude of digital media platforms. Inevitably, the results are a failure to communicate the intended message, and big expenses. Having watched Utopia from episode one, I am not in slightest surprised by Onetrack's post.

[facthunter]

I wouldn't take it as totally true. A bit like YEs Minister. it's a satire,  I actually don't care to watch it. It's not subtle enough.  I also believe some politicians DO earn their money and it's a hard job to do in the savage political environment they have to be in  where some crap newspaper can destroy their reputation if it's in their Interests to do that..Nev

[onetrack]

Every episode of Yes, Minister, was formulated exactly around true Parliamentary events, wasn't it? 

[red750]

Don't know if this fits in this thread, not sure where it belongs.

 

The screen of one of Melbournes first, and one of the last, drive-in theatres was pulled down today. The land tax of $1,000 per day was the final nail in the coffin.

[old man emu]

They should have applied for a heritage listing. 

[spacesailor]

Heritage listing ! .

A bit like the ,

Historic car registration.

RORT.

spacesailor

[onetrack]

They could have at least re-erected it somewhere sparsely populated, where the locals would appreciate it. I've got fond memories of country drive-ins, but most of them simply got abandoned, so they were taken over for other purposes. In the country town where I used to live, a tractor wrecker took over the former drive-in land, and now hundreds of stripped tractors lie there.

 

But there's still a couple left going in W.A. In the City, the Galaxy Drive-in still operates in the Northern suburb of Woodvale - despite housing encroachment.

 

https://www.facebook.com/galaxydrivein/

 

And the Koorda Drive-in, about 240kms NE of Perth is the only country Drive-in left operating in the S.W. of W.A.

However, there are still two open-air "Picture Gardens", in Broome and Kununurra.

 

https://www.facebook.com/KoordaDriveIn/

 

Edited August 10, 2023 by onetrack

[red750]

On a later news bulletin, they stated that the Dandenong drive-in was purchased by developers last year. Plans for its use are unknown.

 

We had one about 5 km from us, but it closed at least 10 years ago. The sit is now Wantirna Health, a private hospital, specialist centre and paliative care centre, and the remainder of the theatre is a Trash and Treasure market.

[spacesailor]

Blacktown's drivein  seem to be OK, Sunday it's a market,  with stalls for hire  to sell your old wares .

spacesailor

[Old Koreelah]

In the 70s my wife’s family moved to a new subdivision that contained a drive-in theatre. Before trees grew up to cut the view, the kids could watch all sorts of very explicit stuff happening a few streets away. 
 

In a slight change of character, the place has been replaced by a Bible-Belt church. It went from showing soft porn to supression of human instincts.

 

 

[Marty_d]

Ah, the 70s.  They probably had gems like Alvin Purple showing. 

[red750]

There was one out north of Essendon Airport near where Gladstone Park is now. When I was young, single and broke, and just got my first car, I used to watch the planes land at Essendon (Ansett & TAA were there in those days, Tulla not built), then go and watch movies like Barbarella over the fence. 

[red750]

[old man emu]

22 hours ago, onetrack said:

Fire & Rescue NSW, paid a consultant $6000 a DAY 

That's could be a misleading statement. Not the money amount, but who actually received the payment. Was it a single person, as the alleged corruption infers, or was it paid the the consultant's business entity, which is a fish on a different bicycle?

 

If it was a business, how many of its employees were involved in completing the brief? What overheads did the business need to meet in order to cover those costs, and make a reasonable profit?

 

Let's look at one factor - employee wages. What price knowledge and experience? It all depends on the task and time involved in creating the finished product. Currently, you won't get many small businesses charging less than $100 per hour for whatever they do. I asked my son what his fees for creating and supporting eCommerce sites was. He said for development work it's $120/hr during business hours, but if it's over the weekend, or urgent it goes up to $170/hr. He's a sole trader, working from a room in his house. I'm annoyed at him because he hasn't set up his Super fund (the ignorance of youth!)

 

So you can see that if a business had a couple of people working on a project, as well as administration staff, the business would have to be charging around the $500-750/hr rate. Looking at one of my clients, there is the owner (Chief Engineer) who manages the work and the business, one accounts clerk, one data entry clerk to maintain maintenance records, an operations/stores/safety systems manager to appease CASA, two LAMEs and three apprentices to do the work that brings in the money. That's nine people at an average rate of $50/hr for each of them, the business needs to pull in around $500/hr before attacking overheads and making a bit of a profit. 

 

In my opinion, what was wrong with what Fire + Rescue did was to fix what weren't broke. The work was all image-making. It did nothing to help the organisation meet its KPAs (that's Management talk for Key Performance Areas), which overall involved protecting life and property from major hazards. That the Commissioner allegedly did not follow tendering protocols for something that wasn't really a high priority KPA is what landed him in the poop.

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

Oh my bannanas! They have finally found a Liiberal MP (senator) who seems to have a rational head on his shoulders. And while his line if questioning is pro9bably based on why did the AFP let the controversy of Dutton being briefed on the dodgy as f! offshore immigration contractos being, well, dodgy as f!, he seems quite sharp - and to be honest seems to show some serious incompetence or corruption in the AFP. Real keystone cop stuff!

 

 

BTW, not lost on me the ALP seem to be learning very quickly to ingratiate the swamp...

 

 

Edited August 13, 2023 by Jerry_Atrick

[Jerry_Atrick]

Well, that LP MP did sell me a dummy.. I watched the rest of the vid and Senato0r O'Neill should be PM as far as I am concerned!

 

 

[nomadpete]

We have, indeed, a lovely swamp.

[nomadpete]

A convenient lot of 'not my department' and 'staying in our lane'. And this means to me, a gross lack of ethics is displayed by high level public servants and ministers (who by definitions serve the public).

 

Asscovering excellence?

[Bruce Tuncks]

I was just reading that whenever donations to poor countries happen, then swiss banks etc soon get about 7.5% in secret accounts. I reckon these accounts and those who protect them are legitimate targets. AND I wonder what amount is actually lost in corruption...  it would be a multiple of 7.5%, maybe 5 times?

[spacesailor]

I read , many years ago , a children's refugee collection agency. 

ONLY DONATED " ONE 480 TH " Of their collected funds to those children. 

The directors were driving around in RR cars .

spacesailor