Cranky Queenslander

The release this week of the game “Modern Warfare 2” has once again shown how poor the system of classification for such things is in Australia;

At the mature end of the spectrum, the Office of Film & Literature Classification has only two options; Stamp the game suitable for 15+, or ban it completely.

Obviously, games like Modern Warfare 2 and Left 4 Dead, while full of gore and adult themes, are not so bad that they need banning altogether.

The ABC’s Sarah Collerton has a good piece on the topic, hitting the nail right on the head; We need an R 18+ classification. As far back as 2005, Bond University released a study showing that 88% of Australians supported the introduction of such a classification for games. With all that support, you’d wonder why it hasn’t happened;

The Problem

Turns out this guy is the problem. South Australian Attorney-General Michael Atkinson. His theory is by not having an R rating, anything that might have been rated R gets banned and the kids are safe. WRONG! Turns out anything that should have been rated R gets a fresh coat of paint (or in the case of MW2, gets nothing at all), and is slapped with a M15+ rating, and the kids ALL GET TO PLAY IT.

I would suggest everyone click on Michael’s smiling face, which will lead you to his parliamentary website, from which you should bombard his inbox with requests to pull his finger out and fix this!

Make no mistake, I am generally unhappy with the way our current overlords are managing our countries affairs; Recent news from Canberra has me offering credit though, but not for a good reason;

Julia Gillards skillful maneuver to erect a Labor Party advertisment at every school in the country, slated to be finished just before the next election, is pure evil genius!

I don’t know how much impact the signs will have at the next election, but it does give me pause to think that perhaps its time for a little electoral reform? Yeah, I know, snowflakes chance in hell, but still, we can dream.

Perhaps it’s time to ensure that there is virually NO advertising at polling places; Perhaps we could legislate for each party / candidate to have the right to erect a table and banner of a limited size, such that they can all line up out the front and ply their how-to-vote cards, and leave it at that?

At the last election it was clear at least at my polling place that the labor minions has been up all night plastering fences with their banners; It might be time to level the playing field for all candidates, not just the big party ones.

Checkout the latest scandal involving our esteemed leader Anna Bligh in the courier mail; Seems she doesn’t see anything wrong with accepting a free stay in a 15 million dollar mansion paid for by a Theiss director; Theiss, as readers would know, make a lot of money on State Government contracts. Nothing sneaky going on here eh?

I think the labour party has been in government too long and forgotten about ethics and morals; It simply isn’t proper to take gifts from people involved in government contracts, and Anna should apologise for it and ensure it doesn’t happen again.

Check out this snippet from Mayor Paul Pisasale this week on the upcoming Ipswich Council budget;

…but we are fortunate that Ipswich is experiencing significant residential growth which will help keep rises in general rates at or near to inflation

So let me get this straight; The council gets windfall gains presumably from selling off land and a variety of taxes and fees associated with new developments, however it is going to spend so much more delivering the same services that all that surplus money is going to be gobbled up?

Is this for real? It’s time the Mayor came clean and explained exactly why rates need to go up so much. Unless the council is rolling out NEW services, then the existing rates should be enough to cover the bills this year, just as they did last year.

I think most councils are guilty of wasting our money; Gold Coast Council recently crowed that they had got their rate rise this year down to 4.2% from a projected 10%. That’s not to be applauded, it is to be expected, and honestly, they should have got it lower.

The problem in Ipswich is that the council is elected virtually unopposed. Until the rate payers of Ipswich wake up to themselves and stop voting for these high taxing councils, these rises will continue to be rolled out.

Now here is the years best example of Kevin Rudd’s "say one thing, do another" approach to leadership. After months of his party’s constant complaints that "Work Choices" might lead the odd worker to be a bit worse off than they were previously, Kevin comes out and tells us that under his new and improved industrial relations package, workers will be worse off.

Okay, so he said he refused to guarantee they wouldn’t be. By his own standards, that’s the same thing. Why do you think he refused? Because he knows full well that many workers will be worse off. We currently live in basically full employment. Anyone who wants a job can get one, and anyone worth anything can get a better one. So how is it that employers are perceived to have so much power? One reason: Because Kevin said so.

The truth is that Work Choices let employee’s negotiate time off to spend with their family, a higher rate of pay for better quality work, or any other benefit they thought would make their lives easier. But now, we are back to the old style, take what the government says I should give you. Guess what? That’s all you are going to get.

Why is it, for example, that childcare centres, who simply cannot get enough staff (ring one and ask, I guarantee they are looking for staff), refuse to pay any more than the award? It’s because they are not allowed to negotiate conditions with their staff, so they are forced to dole out the same deal to all the staff, some of whom deserve a lot more money, and some, believe me, deserve a lot less.

We’ll just add this to the list of broken or forgotten election promises we’re keeping here at Cranky Queenslander. Rest assured by the time the next election rolls around, it will be a long list!

The other day I decided to scroll through the articles on Paul Tully’s Division 2 blog. This is what I take to be Paul’s official local council blog, the place to spread news and information that enriches the lives of his local constituents.

But is that all he is enriching with this foray into the digital media? Check out this entry from the end of April. Here is the quote that made this a must blog about entry;

This new outlet will undoubtedly give the nearby McDonalds store a run for its money with what many people regard as a superior product.

Many people eh Paul? I think most people can see why my eyebrow is raised here, and I think it might be nice if Paul again comments here and lets us all know that he has never accepted any money from anyone connected to the store, and is not getting free burgers or any other kick backs.

But that aside, does anyone want their government representatives wasting their time promoting a multi national burger joint which sells terribly unhealthy food and makes our kids fat?

I didn’t think so.

I was asked to post their reply, so here it is. Short and sweet, it seems there is no political will anywhere to investigate and prosecute those responsible.

Barnaby Joyce tends to run hot and cold, and this morning on ABC Insiders I witnessed comments that I hope he regrets deeply.

When being interviewed in front on what I think was a Toyota Prius, he described the car as being like a sardine can, and suggested the next move was scooters and rain coats.

Seriously, I’d own a Prius if I could afford one, and there is no reason why government fleets should not be predominantly hybrid vehicles.

Get over yourself Barnaby and think about whats good for your constituents, the country as a whole, and the environment.

I was just watching Channel 10 news, and Paul Bonjiorno asked Prime Minister Rudd if he agreed with many people who are saying the government should be getting on and doing something about things and not still talking about them.

Mr Rudd listed three achievements his government has managed to knock over during the four months they have been in office;

1. Signing Kyoto
2. Finalising the agreement over the Murray Darling
3. Planning for a withdrawal from Iraq

Seriously? Mr Rudd is proud of taking four months to sign a document, give Victoria a chunk of money and choosing a date to withdraw some troops from Iraq?

Give me a break Kevin, and actually do something to improve the lives of your constituents.