Broad Shoulders

add "gender recognition" to the list too

lapin_windstar

Historically governments have also flushed a huge amount of money down the toilet by trying to run businesses which the private sector should have been running from the beginning.

JackTheLad

Ordinarily I'd agree with you, but since living in Queensland I've discovered a government that can not only run things uneconomically, they can privatise them and make them even more uneconomical. And we all have to pay.

It's quite a trick, even the UK Tories would be proud of it.

JTL

lapin_windstar

It's a remarkable trick, isn't it? Here in NSW we have a couple of examples of where the State and Federal governments have managed to privatise the asset but keep the risk in Cth/State ownership so that they feel obliged to maintain profitability of the private owners.

Really, you Queenslanders are just babes in the wood when it comes to ineptitude and mismanagement. OK, you had a good run with the White Shoe Brigade but since then, you've really fallen off and lost your touch. You want some public sector mismanagement? Come down here, we'll show you how it's done.

For example: if you employ a lawyer to work full time at a government agency...why would you expect them to give up their own conveyancing business? Or not work at it during working hours? Or not use government facilities and charge accounts to do it? Or pay tax or GST?
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/nsw-mariti...0420-sru1.html

IvanM

An interesting point of view of life out of reach of DSL.
http://www.itwire.com/opinion-and-an...er-perspective

spalen

Bloke is a moron. Here's the key that identified it
I am a publisher, journalist, filmmaker and commentator in this realm on an ongoing basis. The ‘net is vital to me.

Yet he chose to live in a "Small country town" . Nice one. Back to my analogy of building a water mill where there is no water.

The problem is - this is what the Gang of 3 are hearing as they are negotiating to rule australia with their independent kingmaking capabilities.

IvanM

Whether he is a moron on not is irrelevant. It indicates the difference in what you can get depending on whether you are too far from the exchange and the author's situation is far from unusual. His position is not rare, especially in the constituencies represented by the "Gang of 3". One of the keys to Australia's growth without inflation is to ensure key infrastructure is available beyond where it is now.

If he is a moron is he not better out of our cities?

DadAgain

+1

Sure farmers and miners need to be in the middle of nowhere and its somewhere between an 'inconvenience' and a 'major pain in the arse' for *them* to have crappy comms links - but this bloke? Loser.... He has no need to be in that location and moans about it. Easy fix... He doesnt even need to relocate to a major city- just a small town would do for his needs. Get out of the 7acre block move toward civilisation and within ADSL range.

IvanM

Maybe he moved their prior to broadband. A time and place as such existed not long ago.

spalen

Then he's a pillock for chosing to have a career as he described if he "moved there prior to broadband"

I live in a city, IF I want a career as a pig farmer, Im pretty buggered. I could try and then I could complain about the fact I cant fit more than 20 pigs on my 'farm' (my garden) and how all the (city types) complain about my choice of career and the council wont collect all my piggy-poo in their weekly rubbish collections.

I stand by my view - he's a joke. And fixing rural broadband *does not* require 43b$ spend on a fibre to every home. Its not a "all" or "nothing" solution.

IvanM

Net cost will not be $43b and fibre will not be going to every home.
[QUOTE=spalen;8812241
I stand by my view - he's a joke. And fixing rural broadband *does not* require 43b$ spend on a fibre to every home. Its not a "all" or "nothing" solution.[/QUOTE]

lapin_windstar

I'm a fish farmer and I've just moved to Yuendumu. Can the government build me a large-bore water pipeline? I have tap water at the moment but I need a greater volume for my business. Also, I don't want to pay any more for water than someone who lives in Launceston.

Thanks in advance.

IvanM

Show me the economics for all of Australia and do some reading on the snowy hydro scheme.

lapin_windstar

That's proving my point actually - was the purpose of that scheme to provide everyone in the whole country with water and power, or just those who lived somewhere where it was practical? And in hindsight was it a great idea to encourage the development of a bunch of producers who rely on government support in an environmentally unsustainable project?

And was the famous nationaliser Chifley driven by a business case or was it another example of Laborite centralisation and a desire to build big, butch, dramatic projects at government expense?

spalen

Certainly - but since we couldnt find any company to do it for us we're going to do it ourselves as a government using tax payer funds and we're going to give th e same large-bore pipeline to every house in the country just in case they want to start fish farms as well in the future.