Cranky Queenslander

Here’s something to puzzle over. I was just searching the Queensland ministerial directory to figure out who I should write to in regards to an upcoming post here at Cranky Queenslander, and I discovered that the Queensland Labor Government does not have a minister for the environment.

I guess Andrew McNamara, Minister for Sustainability, Climate and Innovation, will have to do the job, although I think I might fire off a letter to the Premier and ask her why the environment is nobody’s responsibility.

I’ve written to Premier Anna Bligh asking for clarification on this issue. Perhaps I have misunderstood. I’ll wait for her reply before drawing conclusions about what this means for the Queensland 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.

Local residents and business owners in the western suburbs are probably aware by now of the plans by our State Government to close the Bullockhead St entrance to the Sumner Park Industrial Estate.

I don’t normally have much sympathy for people who have a whinge about new and improved roads, (which reminds me, I should have a go at the whinger on Ipswich Road) but in this case I think the locals are spot on.

I have friends and clients with businesses in that area, and having only the entrance on Spine St to get in and out will be a bad thing for traffic congestion in the area. There is a planned exit to be built onto Wolston Road, but this is not scheduled until 2010!

State member for Mt Ommaney, Julie Attwood, reckons the solution is an urgent upgrade of the Spine St & Sumner Rd intersection, while Main Roads claim they are "working with council to fast track the second exit project"

Instead of all this talk, Julie should get her government to do something about this right now.

Here’s a corker; Race Discrimination Commissioner Tom Calma wants the burden of proof in cases of racial discrimination to fall on the alleged offender, instead of the person making the complaint. [via The Age]

I shouldn’t have to go into too much detail to explain why it is utterly preposterous to think that anyone believes that people should be found guilty until they can prove their innocence.

Andrew Bolt went as far as suggesting we all make complaints against the commissioner himself, and see how he likes being guilty of racial discrimination with no way of proving otherwise. How exactly do you prove a negative anyway Tom?

I’m having a hard time believing that a national "fuelwatch" system would benefit motorists. Our governments plan to introduce a system where all petrol retailers need to register their price the day before, and are not allowed to change the price for 24 hours, seems to me, stupid.

The plan is to model it on the W.A. scheme. The ACCC looked into that scheme, and while they found an average of 1.9 cpl drop in fuel prices in WA, they also pointed out that the drop occurred quite some time after the introduction of the scheme, suggesting that perhaps other factors could have produced the price drop.

They also only tested it in Metropolitan areas. In smaller centres, where there is much less competition, the ACCC worry that the system will drive prices up by giving retailers an easy mechanism with which to control prices.

Service stations under this type of scheme are not going to be able to offer really low margin prices on petrol like they can now. Today, a service station can sell petrol at cost or even below, for a short term boost to turnover. Those prices will never occur within a fuel watch system, as the station cannot afford to sell at those prices for long.

The simple fact is that there really isn’t a conspiracy at the pump on petrol prices. If there is a scam going on, its happening at the refinery. The more we punish service station operators, the more we punish hard working small business owners for trying to make a living.

If the government wants to help motorists, then remove some of the tax on fuel. If it really wants to help, then why not legislate tougher fuel economy standards? How about doing something to get hydrogen powered vehicles on Australian streets? What about flex fuel vehicles? There are plenty of options, but they aren’t being explored.

I thought I would kick off this new blog with a foray into the world of the Labor Party and its plans for broadband in Australia. Today I think I’ll go over the main points of contention as they stand, and over the coming months, will delve a little deeper into some of them as things develop.

Open Access

The only way Labor’s plan has any hope of achieving a positive result for Australians is if the network is open and available to retailers on fair and equitable terms. Senator Conroy’s call for proposals clearly states this as a requirement, but doubt remains as to the seriousness of the government’s commitment to open access.

The reason is twofold. First, Telstra had the capital and the will to build a FTTN network some years ago, but when told they would have to provide open access to that network, Telstra simple said no, and did nothing. Second, the recently scuttled initiative from the OPEL consortium would have provided what the government is currently wanting to provide, and yet they cancelled the contract, which would only have cost 1 Billion dollars. OPEL / Optus and perhaps the G9 are the only groups likely to be able to mount a serious effort to build a national network.

As the goverment is clearly pro Telstra (for reasons I have yet to fathom), it seems a foregone conclusion that Telstra will eventually win the bid. And with Telstra already on the record as being against open access, the public is left wondering how we will get the open network the government has promised us.

Add to that the fact that the Senator has also called for submissions on regulatory changes that may help facilitate the network rollout, and you start to wonder if the master plan is in fact to legislate against forced open access provisions, and to allow Telstra to build its FTTN network, shut out competitors and pocket the $5 billion.