Labor - The Bad, The Ugly and the occasional Good.

[David]

[pietillidie]

^It's very expensive to fix, so the short-termism and lack of discipline means it's always at risk of blowing out.

Everyone wants a free lunch, moaning about crime but voting against spending the money to deal with it, whether directly (intensive programmes to override criminality), or indirectly (general structural programmes to reduce the number of people exposed to risk of criminality).

Crime is a very easy problem to understand intellectually. Once people either have an unstable, chaotic psychiatry, or are embedded in a chaotic, unstable social context, or even worse, both, the costs follow like day follows night.

So, we either care about it enough to spend the money, or accept the consequences of our choices.

[What'sinaname]

Jacinta Allen's faux outrage over the CFMEU corruption is laughable.

[stui magpie]

Actually, Setka's faux outrage when he resigned was worse.

Carrying on that he was resigning to protect the union from unfounded allegations, he knew what was going to come out. Thug and bully and, having ran away, easy target for all the many ex union leaders in the ALP to take pot shots at.

Allen is Dandrews lite. Less abrasive and arrogant but following the same trail that he set to the states financial ruin.

I get to see the waste and excess of the northern end of the north east link on a daily basis.

[Jezza]

The chickens are coming home to roost with Setka and the CFMEU.

It's been a long time coming.

[stui magpie]

^

The game plan at the CFMEU goes back decades to the BLF. Setka just followed the script, he was too dunb to be original but ideally suited as a thug and bully to do what he did.

[think positive]

An old boyfriend took me to. Norm Gallaghers Christmas party back in the day, it was sons of anarchy on steroids even back then!

[think positive]

An old boyfriend took me to. Norm Gallaghers Christmas party back in the day, it was sons of anarchy on steroids even back then!

60 was scary, coup,e of brave dudes speaking up

[pietillidie]

What's the overall sense of how the current government is doing at this point?

[stui magpie]

Which one?

The Federal government is steadily losing ground to the Libs, not because the Libs are doing anything right mind you.

In Victoria, we're potentially seeing a repeat of the Cain/Kirner years, except there's no Liberal leader standing out as an option and nothing to sell to reduce debt.

[pietillidie]

^I don't really have time to follow state politics from afar, but it's interesting to hear how both are going. Cheers.

[stui magpie]

^

You've been overseas for a fair while so I get that, but State Politics is just as important if not more so to the average person here.

The State manages Health, Education, Police and councils. There's been multiple reports that the Vic government were trying to put the screws on the Hospital networks to cut their budgets. I spent 10 years in Snr management in a hospital network, those places run on the smell of an oily rag, there's not a lot of fat to cut and if the budget gets cut, 3 things happen.
1. Elective surgery gets cut.
2. Beds get closed. Nurse patient ratios work on open beds whether there's a body in it or not. Close a few beds across different wards means less nurses on the roster, salary saving.
3. Recruitment freezes. We did that a lot. I tried to explain to the CEO that it didn't work because vacancies were either filled by higher duties (which had a flow on effect), agency, casual or overtime but the finance guys managed to make it work.

None of that matters to young single healthy people but once they have kids, this stuff starts getting important.

The CFMEU shit also isn't helping Labor, federally or state. They control much of the Victorian Big Build and are a key reason why everying is Billions of dollars over budget.

Labor is bleeding primary vote Federally and in Vic, but little of it is going to the Lib/Nats and the Greens aren't getting as much as you would expect. So we're in for fun times here.

[eddiesmith]

I do laugh than now the Federal government is blaming the CFMEU mess on the Coalition...

I can just imagine the outrage if the Coalition government tried to deregister the CFMEU...

Hell, Albo got elected on the back of promising to remove any watchdog over their actions.

[stui magpie]

Hey Hal, what do you think of the CFMEU?

[HAL]

Hey Hal, what do you think of the CFMEU?

The CFMEU, or Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union, is a prominent trade union in Australia that represents workers across several key industries. Opinions on the CFMEU can vary widely. Supporters often praise it for advocating for workers' rights, ensuring fair wages, and improving safety standards in challenging work environments. Critics, however, may point to instances of controversy or assert that the union sometimes takes a confrontational approach to negotiations or engages in activities that some view as excessive.

Overall, the CFMEU plays a significant role in shaping labor relations in Australia, particularly in the construction sector, and its impact can be seen in both positive and negative lights depending on one's perspective.