WA Election

[JW Frogen]

It looks like Labor might loose today.

This is incredible given the disarray the Liberal party was in, the lack of political talent the Liberals have (even chair sniffing Buswell is still in the shadow cabinet) and the fact Barnett has all the charisma of a mute Mormon grandmother.

Still, I think the vote is almost entirely a protest against a Labor party riding a once in a century mining boom, taxing accordingly yet delivering few improvements in areas like crime or health. A government so indecisive it has debated a new stadium and it’s location for over half a decade, a government so arrogant it hold referendums on daylight savings and extending hours trading and then ignores the outcome, the will of the voter and says they are going to do it their way anyway.

If ever there was a government that deserved a bloody nose it is the WA Labor Party.

[slimD]

Till the libs get a good leader (not a returned has-been), i hope the current govt is returned. Not that it will affect me one bit, living in Carrs, sorry, Iemma's, sorry, whoever's state.
(Why can't ANY opposition pick a good leader? Politics in general is a big machine that generally works by itself; all that is required to win elections is to have a charismatic leader. being young-ish and good looking helps too - look no further than the competitors over in the U.S.)

[Mattus]

Looks like a big swing

[Mattus]

Yeah it seems to be hung. Worst possible result.

[JW Frogen]

Carpenter was asking for it.

This government is so wasteful and out of touch with normal WA voting concerns, crime is rife here as well as anti social behavior and all the Labor government seemed interested in was new traffic laws to raise more money.

We are in a highly inflationary period yet they gave the state government bureaucracy a 15% pay raise and themselves a raise during an election year!

I know about the state bureaucracy, believe me, it is loaded with spoiled, lazy brats who have a sense of entitlement that the taxpayer works for them, not the other way around.

In the building I know the state workers have demanded and got a gym full of top line equipment, two 7 thousand dollar coffee machines, catered food every Friday and for almost every meeting, televisions, lounges, bonding trips to resorts, messages, yoga.

This is not an office it is a club Med, all at the taxpayers expense.

Courtesy of Labor as this is a highlight department they recently created and has lost 20 million dollars a year since it has been created.

[Hebe]

I know about the state bureaucracy, believe me, it is loaded with spoiled, lazy brats who have a sense of entitlement that the taxpayer works for them, not the other way around.

Froggy, the more I learn about politics, Parliaments and state bureaucracies, the more I realise that this attitude exists everywhere. It's a bloody disease that hinders progress more than anything I can think of.

Especially the lazy! To which I would add both incompetence and cynicism. I've been doing some reading (long overdue, but I found a few authors who are actually readable at last) and it's very depressing indeed.

The few who start off in politics with ideals soon get either rolled or corrupted. Most people are out to screw what they can out of the system, which needs a tremendous overhaul, and a level of cooperation and selflessness rarely, if ever, seen in Australian public life.

I believe people should be paid fairly, obviously, as we're currently fighting a for a fair wages agreement down here, but those other things are unnecessary. We pay for our own coffee etc., and all equipment through the staff association, which is as it should be.

And once you lose sight of who you serve - the taxpayer - you're stuffed morally and practically, since they're your power base. Fortunately, our taxpayers think we're wonderful and we're pretty fond of most of them. But libraries have the advantage there.

Labor needed this wakeup call, and I bet this is just the first one to go.

[White Indigene]

I know about the state bureaucracy, believe me, it is loaded with spoiled, lazy brats who have a sense of entitlement that the taxpayer works for them, not the other way around.

Froggy, the more I learn about politics, Parliaments and state bureaucracies, the more I realise that this attitude exists everywhere. It's a bloody disease that hinders progress more than anything I can think of.

Especially the lazy! To which I would add both incompetence and cynicism. I've been doing some reading (long overdue, but I found a few authors who are actually readable at last) and it's very depressing indeed.

I disagree.

What you are witnessing is the product of massive liquidity, coupled to an aging population unwilling to let go of its elitist position.

The phenomena is new actually, in that society has never seen this sort of wealth, power and material modernity, never in history. So it is new, and those clutching to it with all their might and gnarly fingers, have barely slipped through the historical noose of scare resources.

Hence the collective and aged consciesness views the resources of liquidity as scare, and distribute it narrowly, selfishly.

This will have repurcussions largely, in about another decade, if it is not all resovled before the great buriel of the aged.

[Hebe]

The phenomena is new actually, in that society has never seen this sort of wealth, power and material modernity, never in history. So it is new, and those clutching to it with all their might and gnarly fingers, have barely slipped through the historical noose of scare resources.

Hence the collective and aged consciesness views the resources of liquidity as scare, and distribute it narrowly, selfishly.

This will have repurcussions largely, in about another decade, if it is not all resovled before the great buriel of the aged.

I might be able to respond if I could understand your use of the language. I gather that's it's some sort of blame-game targeting people presumably older than you are.

[Rainbow Moonlight]

Great result for WA if this comes about:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008 ... 357669.htm

Labor-National government.

[JW Frogen]

It could happen but Labor goes into these negotiations with the Hayseeds at a disadvantage to the Liberals, Labor grabbed a Green agenda (no GM crops, no uranium mining) to get Green preferences, and most of the mining boom money the Labor government has spent in metropolitan areas.

Labor has had their chance to spend in the big bush and they have not really so far.

All the Libs have to do is outbid Labor and give the Green Acres crowd the 700 million they want.