The Woodcutter

I understand totally where you are coming from. Some of these cuts are a false economy. I now work in the prisons. We are losing front line staff - part of the dog squad, and psychologists and counsellors. The purpose of prison is threefold:
1) punish the offender
2) act as a deterant to society
3) rehabilitate the offender

We currently work 12 hour shifts. We have been told that we will be working 11 hour shifts in the future with an extra shift in the month to make up our hours. This means that criminals will spend more time locked up in their cells, with less time to participate in useful activities preparing them for release.

This, coupled with losing vital rehabilitation processes provided by professional staff who are being made redundant will not assist in breaking the cycle of recidivism. We will thus have a situation where less criminals have the support to break their criminal behaviour and will be more likely to re-offend.

Our main function is to protect the community yet the spin off from Newman's cuts in the prison service will not achieve this. Indeed it will inadvertently increase criminal behaviour as criminals will be more likely to re-offend.

And that ultimately will have an increased financial bottom line. Cuts in the prison service will prove to be more expensive in the long term. Nice one Newman.

Pollyana

I know on Tuesday afternoon I saw an email with figures relating to the job losses in QFRS. Its not in my email account, a colleague had it, so I can't check the time, but it was definitely sent during the Budget, and it definitely had job loss figures in it. I'm not Kedron based at present so don't know if they had any videoconferences on Tuesday - ours was Wednesday lunchtime.

Pollyana

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/quee...912-25sh6.html

The program is open to young people who are in Year 8 or above and under 16 years old.

Cadets attended training where they were taught emergency skills and went on camps where they put the skills to use.

Cadets were told in meetings last night.

aussietobe

This is what happens when you have 10 years of poor economic management, massive spending programs without sufficient income and lose your triple A credit rating. It is unsustainable. When it is your job that goes, that totally sucks. But no-one has a guaranteed job for life. It is tough ole world and sometimes tough decisions must be made. Unfortunately people don't want to swallow bitter pills, only sweet ones, even though they know it is not doing them any good.

Pollyana

No-one is saying that there wasn't a need for reorganisation. What we are protesting about is the wholesale, dosorganised carnage - entire units abolished, along with the programmes they run. Excellent staff members with many years of very hardworking service behind them dumped just because their current job is on the wrong side of the line, while others are retained when they have no specific skills that fit their area. Several departments are losing real experts, who work in narrow fields and stand no chance of another role because those roles do not exist in the private sector.

Its a badly managed cull, that's the issue.


Meanwhile, we were all told this week that the "Beattie burger" should be phased out asap on all documentation, clothing, publicity material etc and replaced with the preferred coat of arms. Its been in the wind a coupke of months, now we have to be more proactive with it and start chucking stuff out. Anyone got any idea how many $100,000s that will cost? Good financial planning? :hysteria:.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/quee...718-22912.html

aussietobe

Although I don't know the ins and outs I am sure that no matter who or how the cuts were made people would be upset...culls are always painful...but having a massive deficit going forward is not helpful in the long run to anybody

Pollyana

Indeed, but if there is logic and common sense behind cuts like this it is easier to see why the cuts are being made. Most public servants acknowledge the need for an overhaul, but the vast majority of these cuts are completely devoid of logical thought.

fish.01

Far less so. The figures justifying the cuts were politically twisted and exaggerated using creative accounting in their discredited "indepedent" audit done by Peter Costello. Ignoring assets value against best practice, lying about debt figure (6 LNP have had to apologise to parliament), lying about public service increases (most depts have not increased in 10 years but in fact shrunk), lying about the reason debt was incurred (saying it was to pay public service wages rather than infrastructure) etc. Qld had an unfortunate combination of GFC reducing govt receipts, massive catchup infrastructure programme and worst natural disasters for 100 years hit at once. Despite this treasury still forecast a return to surplus in 2 years pre LNP. According to the papers, in the same period Campbell Newman left the Brisbane city council in proportionally worse financial position than Anna Bligh left the state.

The public servants were then demonised. And then ridiculous haste and often ideology was used in determining what got cut. Even people unaffected and unpolitical are complaining about some of the crazy decisions that will cost us money in the medium to long term.

That's the crazy thing. Professionals of all sorts are saying many of the cuts will cost us more and are dangerously short sighted.

Chortlepuss

Many of these roles (especially IT) will be filled by contractors and consultants - on $1000 plus per day. Because they come out of different budgets, they'll be justified on the basis that it is a short term arrangement - which will run and run and cost far more than the competent A0's that they replaced.

Anyone with a brain could calculate the cost/benefit and find that in the long term investing in people is the way to go. But Campbell's not exactly a strategist is he?

Jobs for the boys, dust off your contacts. Again not what you know but who you know!!

Pollyana

Another item on his "hit list" is emergency air support. The Police Air Wing and the Emergency Management Queensland Helicopter Rescue unit were both worked to exhaustion and beyond during last years floods. Many people will remember the footage of the EMQ helicopter winching people from their rooftops in the Lockyer Valley. They operate all year round from three bases Brisbane, Townsville and Cairns. With experienced and highly skilled pilots and crews, EMQ Helicopter Rescue is capable of a range of rescue and recovery operations such as:

•Search and rescue over sea and land
•Air evacuations of critically ill patients
•Transporting medical teams to accident scenes
•Transferring patients between hospitals
•Evacuation of people in times of disaster
•Resupplying communities isolated by natural disasters
•Fire fighting
•Fire spotting
•Containing oil spills with chemical sprays
•Urgent police support


newman's minions have sent out documents for private contractors who may be be interested in operating the service. Obviously this would be done on a profit making basis, as opposed to their current role as a community service. More public servants sacked, more shouting about $$$ saved but at what cost to the community?

Support your EMQ Helicopter Rescue Facebook

cresta57

They can stay in their job until the end of the fire season as it's tipped to be one of the worst for years.
This sucks, we are volunteers that rely on these guys to back us when the shit hits the fan. My support comes via the Maryboro' office & that is to be closed. Bundy halved ditto Caloundra. In the event of a severe or, god forbid, a catastrophic event our support will be an extra 2 hours away & stretched to the limit.
What happens to our training? It's already hard enough to get on a course, now it will be bloody nearly impossible! Out on the fire ground I want a solid well trained crew not blokes with little or no training.
I may very well reconsider my officer position if my life is to be put in jeopardy by bean counters.
BTW we heard a rumour last week about the closures.

Pollyana

Its a disgrace, puts you guys in danger through lack of support, and will inevitably result in a loss of volunteers. Same as the SES - many Emergency Service Cadets went on to join SES of Rural Fire at some point. Axing of the Cadets will affect both services. Changes in the EMQ Regions and a cut in personnel will result in less support for SES volunteers as well.
Kedron is not a good place to be at present, beginning of last week it was like a morgue, now its peopled by stunned and horrified staff trying to work out how to pick up the pieces and glue them back together - whilst saying farewell to friends we've worked with for years, many of whom have no idea where to turn next.

chris955

It is absoluely unbelievable to be honest that because of severe mismanagement lives could be at risk.

GarryP

As I say, it was probably put forward in the expectation that it wouldn't be taken.

It's interesting to note how little coverage the cuts in Queensland are getting nationally. It's almost as if news services are trying to support the LNP by not calling attention to how badly the cuts are being planned - no nasty questions for Abbott to have to answer.

The reality is that there are two big expenditures for the state government : health & education. If you want to cut spend then find ways of delivering these with less cost (which usually means doing less red tape). Both could usefully benefit from some revolution, but healthcare it probably the most urgent (costs will continue to blow out as the population ages). That revolution needs forward thinking and investment - but what's happening is almost exactly the opposite; it's being accountant led. An accountant can never make things better cheaply, its not in their skill set.

Pollyana

THE Grim Reaper has led a protest against cuts to the Queensland fire service - but it was Premier Campbell Newman who was labelled the "ghost".
Gathering outside a State Cabinet meeting in Cairns today, Queensland Fire and Rescue Service crews left boots, suits and helmets in piles on a hill next to the black spectre of death, in symbolic protest over looming cuts to the department.
Urban firefighters are upset that recruit training courses and a popular anti-firebug strategy have been cut by the Newman government.
"There is no greater frontline worker in the fire department than a recruit," said senior firefighter Tim Caswell, of the United Firefighter Union of Queensland.
He said even before the budget announcement, three recruitment courses at the Brisbane-based training centre had been canned.
"Thirty potential recruits have been left in limbo, they'd quit their jobs and everything to get ready to start training when they had the rug pulled from under them," he said.
"In our line of business, recruits are frontline, they work in the trucks and fight fires, and save lives."
He said another cut was to the popular intervention on young firebugs known as FFF (Fight Fire Fascination).