Originally Posted by 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.

Originally Posted by 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).

Originally Posted by fish.01

At the moment 14 out of 14 comments on that courier mail story are critical of Newman. Very unusual for the comments to be that one sided.

Originally Posted by Pollyana

Tis, isn't it. And when you think how much public servants got lambasted in every article at the start of all this - guess it shows that some people are gradually realising that the term "public servants" includes a wider body of people than they imagined, like police officers, firefighters and paramedics.
The tide might be turning.

Originally Posted by chris955

The big problem is as I said earlier that Queenslanders were sick to death of Anna Bligh and would have voted for a sheep in preference to Bligh, I dont usually agree with better the devil you know but unfortunately in this case even she was a better choice.

Originally Posted by 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

Originally Posted by chris955

I couldnt stand Bligh, she couldnt lie straight in bed. The problem is the choice was a rock or a hard place.

Originally Posted by fish.01

Couldn't disagree more. I thought she had far more intelligence and character than the rest of them.

Originally Posted by chris955

Unfortunately that really isnt saying much.

Originally Posted by fish.01

When one appears that is articulate, broad minded, clearly intelligent, determined, passionate and by all accounts a hard worker I find them hard to dislike.

Originally Posted by KJCherokee

In this thread I see a lot of NIMBY comments along the lines of "I agree that he needed to rein in spending but he did it in the wrong places" without anyone suggesting what the right places to cut spending are. Running a state is basically no different to running a household budget - you either match spending to income or you borrow heavily to cover the shortfall in the anticipation/hope that your income will increase in time to pay off the loans and interest before you have to declare bankruptcy.

Bligh seemed to be doing the latter, relying on royalties from mining and coal seam gas to pull the state through. Newman is doing a combination of the two. Which is the better way? That is a matter of opinion - but there's no point in just criticising what he's doing if you can't put forward any alternatives. I know it's difficult to be objective when the job that goes is yours or someone you know, but if you agree that spending cuts are necessary then suggest the other places they could be made.

Originally Posted by KJCherokee

Running a state is basically no different to running a household budget